14. “The Hope of Leviticus” (Leviticus 26)

 

“The Hope of Leviticus” 

Lev. 26

 

Intro:  We’ve come to the end of Leviticus –  I’m not sure there is a more “out there,” or “stranger” book than Leviticus for a modern audience like us.  I think I can speak for the pastors of our church and say – I hope you’ve had at least half the fun we’ve had – I know personally, I’ve come to see things about God, and see things about Jesus from Leviticus that I’d never fully appreciated or seen before.  

And so this morning, as we wrap up this series, I want us to consider ch. 26 and what I’m calling, “The hope of Leviticus” – which perhaps as we were reading this text, hope isn’t the word that you’d first associate with what we just heard.  For all the wonderful things God says in v. 3-13 – there’s a lot more verses that sound pretty bad.  And we didn’t even read the whole thing.  If you happen to have your Bible open – you will see the passage goes on to further describe the terror of what will happen if the people refuse to listen to God and live out his good instructions and commands.  

I think it’s easy to read this passage and conclude – this passage is merely giving us a carrot and stick ending to the long list of laws and instructions given in Leviticus.  

And Yes, there is a carrot and stick – there are blessings and curses, there are rewards and punishments listed here – But I think what this misses, if this is all we get and take from this passage…… It misses God’s heart.  And it possibly even encourages us to think of relating to God in a transactional way – you do good and God rewards you; you do bad and God sends fiery judgment upon you.  It is a way of reading this passage that fits into the wider reading of a book like Leviticus that is very legalistic.  It misses what we’ve been saying Leviticus is really all about – It misses God’s heart.  It misses his desire that we are meant to see in this text.  

Because I think if we really listen to the intent of this passage, we hear what the God of the universe desires.  We hear his goal for his relationship with his people – what he really wants…… And it’s really what we have seen throughout this whole book – God wants us to draw near to him, to do life with him, to commune with him.

 

 If you’ve been with us through this series, I really hope that Leviticus has been changed for you – that what was probably an unfamiliar book at best, or what perhaps appeared to be a legalistic book of the OT that you had no idea how it could fit with what you know from the rest of the Bible – I hope you have come to see what God was up to, as he sought to draw humanity back to himself as we’ve been saying throughout Advent – that we might be one with him.  

I think we see that again in Lev. 26 – God’s desire that we might be one with him and share life with him, and this is why I think hope is a word that is very fitting for this text.  

Hope rooted in God’s unfailing love and faithfulness and what he longs for his people, what God desires.

So Let’s Begin by first considering what this text shows us about God’s desire: 

In the world of Bible, in the Ancient Near Eastern world, legal texts, like Leviticus that spell out and give instructions for a covenant relationship between people and their king or ruler – they often ended like we see in ch. 26 – with a list of blessings and curses.  We see this in Deuteronomy ch. 28.  Outside the Bible, we have other ancient texts, like the “Code of Hammurabi,” an ancient covenant document that ends similar to Leviticus with a list of blessings and curses – blessings if the people will do the laws and stay faithful to the king, curses if they should rebel. 

 

But one of the things that is different here in Leviticus from those other ancient covenant documents from this period, is that while the texts outside the Bible reference the gods, they do so in the 3rd person – often offering prayers for the gods to carry out vengeance and smite those who should break covenant – but here in Leviticus, it is the LORD – YHWH – Israel’s covenant God who speaks…… he speaks in the first person –  directly to his people.  He speaks personally and intimately.  

While you might be able to argue that other ancient covenant documents used religion to keep everyone in line, afraid of what the various gods might do to them, YHWH speaks directly to his people and communicates clearly – to turn away from me and break covenant, isn’t just about breaking rules, it’s breaking relationship. 

And this relationship God wants with his people is like a marriage, not a cold business contract, where the rules are kept purely out of fear or self-interest rather than love. The relationship God desires is one where there is intimacy and nearness like that between a husband and a wife.  

 

Look with me at v. 12 – where the LORD says – 12 And I will walk among you and [I] will be your God, and you shall be my people.

 

God is saying – this is what I want – I am yours and you are mine.  

 

ILLUST – One of the privileges of being a pastor is the joy of officiating a wedding and being part of two people joining in marriage.  As I’ve mentioned previously, before coming to Trinity, I worked in campus ministry for about 8 years – and one of the wonderful things I got to do was officiate the wedding of some of my students.  I remember one of the couples, they were married at the historic large church just a few miles from campus.  It’s always a wonderful thing to do the wedding, you’re up there with the groom, you have the best seat in the house to see the service unfold.  On this particular occasion, the bride processed down the aisle to Gustav Holst’s Jupiter theme from his composition called “The Planets.” It’s likely you’ve heard it, even if you don’t know it by name.  It’s even in an episode of “Bluey” if you’re a parent of younger kids who enjoy that show. 

It is incredibly beautiful, majestic, and transcendent.  When you hear it, it gives you this feeling that things are right, there is abundance, and harmony and hope for the world.  

 

On that day, the organ filled the room with the hopeful and joyous music as the bride walked forward to join her soon to be husband on stage –

When they exchanged rings we used the historic words from the book of common prayer – “I give you this ring as a symbol of my vow and with all that I am and all that I have I honor you.”  Together in these vows they were saying – “I am yours and you are mine.”

 

It is such a joy to be part of a moment like that.  But as wonderful and great as the wedding itself is – really it is like a seed, it is only the very beginning of what is possible.  The couple are just beginning their life together.  This seed of their relationship and their union is meant throughout life to blossom and grow.  

For those of you who are married, when you take those initial vows, honestly (right?) we have hardly any idea of what it will mean and what God is meaning to do in our life together – you begin with just a seed of what is meant to come.  On the wedding day the seed is planted, and it’s meant to grow over time into something big and strong and fruitful, into something greater than you could have initially imagined.  

 

And this is how we should understand God’s relationship with his people.  As the prophet Ezekiel says – God married Israel at Mt. Siani.  It was there that they entered into covenant relationship.  

After the covenant at Mt. Siani – Ex. 19-24, God gives instructions for the building of the tabernacle – because he wants to dwell with his people.  After the instructions and the tabernacle is completed, God’s glory fills the tabernacle which is how the book of Exodus ends.  But as we’ve said in this series, there was a problem – because initially even Moses couldn’t enter in and draw near to God.  And this is what the whole book of Leviticus lays out – the way to draw near. 

 

This is what all the offerings and the priests and the instructions about clean and unclean and the day of atonement were about.  God was teaching Israel how to draw near and be in relationship with him.  But this was only the Beginning; it was just the beginning of belonging to God, being his treasured possession, knowing him, experiencing his nearness and presence. 

 

Look at ch. 26 vs. 3 and following – God says if you will live by my instructions, hearing them, receiving them, doing them, you will come into my land and you will experience abundance; your crops will be fruitful, you’ll experience peace and wholeness, you will be victorious in battle.    

 

But it’s more than that – because if you listen to what God says here – what he’s describing intentionally echoes the opening chapters of Genesis – he’s saying, my desire is to reverse the effects of the fall.  

 

Like the great Christmas Hymn we sing each year – “Joy to the world” – God is saying, in my relationship with you – I want to make my blessing flow far as the curse is found. 

 

I want to turn back the effects of sin;  I want to restore you to myself.  

 

It’s like God is saying – do you remember in the Scriptures where in the beginning, Gen. 1:29 the trees yielding fruit in abundance? That’s what I’m going to give you Lev. 26:4.

 

Do you remember when Adam fell, the ground was cursed and I said humanity will continue to eat bread, but only through frustration and with great labor?  Lev. 26:5 – In my land you will eat bread to the full – you will eat and be satisfied.  

 

Do you remember that my original intent was for humanity to be fruitful and multiply?  Lev. 26:9 – “I will turn to you and make you fruitful and multiply you and will confirm my covenant with you.”  

And the greatest promise and hope of all – Do you remember how in the beginning I walked in the Garden with humanity because I made humanity to know me and dwell with me?  

 

Lev. 26:11-12 – 11 I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. 12 And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people.

 

If you’ve been with us throughout Leviticus you should probably be thinking, especially about that last one – how in the world would that be possible?  

Sure God dwells with his people in the tabernacle, and that’s amazing, but how will God walk among the people? How will that level of nearness be possible?  Right now, God dwells in the tabernacle and only the high priest can go into the most holy place, and only once a year –  and even when he does so he has to shield himself from God’s presence with the cloud of incense……..  How will God walk among his people?  

 

And if we’re just reading Leviticus …. We don’t have the full answer….. but it does tell us something really important – Leviticus wasn’t the goal – it wasn’t meant to be the end – God wants a greater nearness than what we see in Leviticus – do you hear what God is saying – that’s not the goal – the goal isn’t a relationship with his people on one side of the veil and God on the other side – Leviticus is just the beginning.   

 

Through sacrifice and atonement – through God’s presence being with his people, the people were meant to grow more and more.  As they worshiped God and listened to God and lived out his instructions they were meant to grow more and more, to be holy as God is holy…… and somehow, though we don’t know exactly how – the intention of God was greater intimacy and nearness to him would be possible.  

 

God’s desire is to restore people to himself.  To bring people out of bondage and free them from sin and death that they might be his beloved and be fully restored to him.  This is God’s desire for his marriage with his people – and Leviticus is just the beginning.

 

But there is also a danger…….. there’s a looming threat to this relationship – And it is Idolatry – as the chapter opens and we read – “You shall not make idols for yourselves.”

 

Whenever I have married people, Erin and I have always done pre-marital counseling – and at some point early on – we would talk about “baggage” how there’s all sorts of things we bring into marriage and if we’re not aware of them, we set ourselves up for a lot of confusion and potential problems.  

I remember with one student – the young woman initially didn’t understand what we were talking about – for her the only thing that fit the category of “baggage” were things we would consider severe trauma.  She thought – baggage? I don’t have any baggage. But over the course of meeting with her and fiancé it started to dawn on her……

ahh – I have particular ways of communicating – some of which are not helpful. I have ways of dealing with hard things in my life, I have things I’m afraid of, or things that feel of ultimate importance to me – lots of this coming from how I was raised, what I saw in my parents, how I navigated the first 20 or so years of my life – and now those things are going to impact this marriage……. 

 

It’s like God is saying to his people – let me tell you what will be the temptation, the danger for our relationship, the thing that threatens the vision and dream I have for us –  Idolatry.  

Look again at the opening verse.  Lev. 26:1.  God gives 4 different terms to clearly name idolatry and underline the threat.  

 

He says 

Lev. 26:1   “You shall not make idols for yourselves or erect an image or pillar, and you shall not set up a figured stone in your land to bow down to it, (WHY???)  for I am the LORD your God. 

 

God is saying to his people and to us – Idolatry, which the Bible pictures as spiritual adultery – this is the threat and danger for our relationship.  

 

God is saying – Look – 

I’m talking about the things that everyone else around you does and will do.  I’m talking about the things that everyone else thinks and values and builds their life on.  I’m talking about the things that if you don’t do them because you want to be faithful to me you will be so so weird.  

I’m talking about your fears, what keeps you up at night and what you are going to be tempted to do rather than trust me and listen to me.  I’m talking about the ways you try and exert control in life  to deal with the things that feel scary or out of control. I’m talking about the unspoken unnamed things that you have put ultimate value in that push me out of the center of your life.   

 

Don’t center your life – Don’t try to make life work by some other thing, some other pursuit, some other goal – Don’t bow down to idols, because I am your God.  

 

Rather, v. 2  – You shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary: I am the LORD.

Keep my Sabbaths, revere my sanctuary – which is like saying – keep drawing near to me – draw near to me in rest and worship, put me at the center of your life and your community – I am your God.  

Idolatry will lay its hands on your life and it will take you away from me.  Don’t let that happen.   Listen to me, draw near to me, worship me, be in relationship with me.  

And God warns the people – if you don’t choose this – if you refuse to walk with me – me, the God of life, the God who is life and who gives life and blessing – if you walk contrary to me you will experience death, you will experience judgment….  And this is what the rest of the passage describes in increasing severity….. 

 

But even here, at every stage – God says, my goal is not to destroy you and ruin you – my desire is that you would be humbled by your sins and all the consequences – that you might turn to me.   My desire is that you would not keep moving away from me toward death, but that you would turn back.

 

The obvious tragedy, if you know the story, is that Israel does exactly what God warns them of – they worship idols and other gods; they commit spiritual adultery against the God who had delivered them to make them his beloved.  They reject their God and his beautiful instructions.  And they experience the consequences of breaking relationship with the God who is life and love and all goodness, they experience increasing levels of death and sadness, until they are completely overrun and taken into exile.  

 

But even there, even in that darkest place there is still hope.  Throughout the judgment section of this passage – did you notice how each paragraph begins with “if” – if you keep turning away, then this will happen …… but what if they don’t…. What if they turn back?  Later in the chapter, in v. 40 not printed in the bulletin, God says – when you’re in exile, when you’re in that place of death as a nation, where you’ve lost everything – if you will confess your sin, admit and own up to what you have done, if you will turn back to me – I will restore you.  I will remember my covenant – I won’t completely destroy you and I won’t break my covenant. I brought you out of Egypt that I might be your God.  This is still what I desire.  

 

In the Old Covenant – the covenant made with Israel at Mt. Siani, the instructions given in Leviticus – we see God’s desire – we see God’s goal – that his people might be one with him.  

 

But in the New Covenant – and in Jesus Christ we see how God did everything to make that dream and that goal reality! 

 

In Lev. 26:11 God says, “I will make my dwelling among you,” and this is what our God does in Jesus.  

 

“Veiled in flesh the Godhead see, Hail the incarnate deity, pleased as man with men to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel” – The Eternal Son, from the Father took on flesh and tabernacled among us.  

 

He came to pursue us! We who were stuck in sin, we who had turned from God, we who were headed toward death – he came for us – Our God became one of us, so that we might be one with him. 

 

He died the death we deserved to die; on the cross he was cut off, for our sake; he experienced the judgment of God for us.  And as he died he said, “it is finished” because it was.  Because at the moment of his death, the curtain – the veil – separating God from the people in the temple, was torn from top to bottom.  The way is open.  Atonement has been made.

 

If you’re here this morning as someone who doesn’t know God, – you don’t have a relationship with God, not like what we’ve been hearing in this text….. Or you’ve turned away from God ….. You don’t have to stay in that place – 

Do you want to know the God who made you, the God who desires you to draw near to him?  The God who is life and love and goodness itself – in Jesus, the way is open.  You can know the God of life and blessing; you can know the hope of belonging to him.  

 

If you’re here as one who knows this hope of belonging to God and being one with him  – God says to you – Abide in my love. Abide in my Son.  Don’t turn away or drift away.  The moment you realize I’m getting pushed out of the center – turn back to me.  Abide in me and trust me and I will grow you, I will make you fruitful.  Hear my word, listen and do what I tell you because I want you to abide in my love and grow so that you might know my joy.   

 

This is the hope of Leviticus – God’s desire – fulfilled in Jesus Christ – that we could be made right and made one with our God.  

 

Let me invite us now to turn to a time of silent prayer and confession – During advent we’ll be using the corporate confession of sin, but first let’s spend a few moments in silent prayer  turning to our gracious God and then I’ll move us to the time of corporate confession.  Let’s take a few moments to pray silently.