P.O. Box 53055    
Los Angeles, CA 90053   

Hello, I'm Connie Jeffery, and I'm Lonnie Melashenko.

LONNIE: We're continuing our trip through the Bible, looking at the book of Leviticus. Connie is that one of your favorite books of the Bible?

CONNIE: Well, I'd have to admit that it's not one that I find myself reading devotionally very often.

LONNIE: You're not alone in that. In fact I'd hazard a guess that more than one of our listeners has had a Bible reading program stall and crash somewhere midway through Leviticus.

CONNIE: Well Genesis and Exodus are books with lots of stories in them, so when you try to read the Bible all the way through, it's not hard to get through the first two books. But Leviticus--wow!.

LONNIE: It's a bit different and takes some real concentration and determination to work through--especially if you're not familiar with the ceremonial system of sacrifices being described. It can seem irrelevant to life in the 21st century.

CONNIE: But in today's message "Leviticus--He Lived With Us!" you'll show us how the Bible's third book is relevant, won't you?

LONNIE: Yes, and we have another perspective on Leviticus as well. In order to better understand how it applies to life today, I spoke recently with Pastor Ted Tessner. His church has built a reconstruction of the Leviticus sanctuary to help people better understand the Old Testament.

CONNIE: Let's listen to that interview now.

LONNIE: Hello Ted. Welcome to our broadcast.

TED: I'm happy to be here, Lonnie.

LONNIE: All the way from San Diego, California.

TED: That's correct.

LONNIE: Ted, you've developed an unusual focus and interest in the book of Leviticus. Particularly through reviving the old tent tabernacle, the Old Testament sanctuary, haven't you?

TED: Yes, our church in San Diego, California built one about three years ago and full size. The one described in Exodus 25-40, and we have put that on exhibit in about 10 different places. We've had about 72,000 people go through it.

LONNIE: Well what is the point of reviving an old tabernacle?

TED: Well as we describe in our overview before we take people through it. We basically state that this particular sanctuary that Moses built is the Gospel in symbols, and we also tell the people that in one year of services of this sanctuary, the whole Bible from Genesis to Revelation is depicted in symbols.

LONNIE: So you hope to accomplish by inviting people in to actually see this or walk through this sanctuary, a new look, maybe a deeper understanding of the Gospel and the story of Christ.

TED: Basically we've had people, like I said 72,000 go through it, all different faiths, denominations, and they have come through this thing, understanding the New Testament, and what Christ did on Calvary. Understanding it even more.

LONNIE: So whereas many people who try to read the Bible, they come to the book of Leviticus, and they find it very difficult. All of the blood and the sacrifices. They just give up, they don't understand what it's all about. What are you hoping people will learn by seeing these sacrificial systems depicted in the sanctuary?

TED: One of the things that I emphasize in the sanctuary, and there were two things that we basically tried to focus on, and that is number one: the character of God which is love, and His plan for helping us to become lovely people, and we tell people this is all depicted in the one year service of ceremonies, and the sacrifice of animals, and blood as you recall the focal point of the sanctuary is the most holy which contains the arc which was made to be the receptacle for just one thing, and that was the 10 Commandments written with the finger of God, a transcript of His character and when that is violated then people are subject to His penalty, which we recognize in the Bible as death. The wages of sin is death, and this program, this service in essence is symbolically representing the release from the condemnation of that law by somebody, substituting themselves in the sinners place, and every sacrifice that was ever killed in the sanctuary system was a representation of what Jesus would do eventually on Calvary.

LONNIE: And I think that's the important crucial point here, that every aspect of that service, every piece of furniture, every grain offering, every cereal offering, every animal offering, in some way depicted some dimension of the great, great gift of Heaven in Jesus, our sacrifice. Well now share a story with us Ted about someone who was especially moved or impressed by going through that tabernacle and seeing your sanctuary.

TED: We had one person in the Loma Linda area that went through the exhibit, she was a young Christian, and she came out the other end, and was talking to me, and she said, "You know, I've only been a Christian loving Jesus for one year, and I kept reading the Old Testament and all this sacrifice and I couldn't understand what it was all about, and I started to become kind of perplexed, but today I finally saw the connection between the Old Testament sacrificial system, and what Jesus would do on Calvary." And she said it was very exciting to her and she thanked me for the exhibit.

LONNIE: Because it was the gospel and symbols as you said Ted. A beautiful expression there. By the way, you even took this on the road into a prison and had a very unusual, rather dramatic response from one of the prisoners.

TED: Yeah, we take the exhibit and parts of it wherever we can, and this last week we had the opportunity of taking it into a prison that had about 45 inmates that came to our study and we presented the overview of the sanctuary as gospel and symbols, and told them what it represents, somewhat, and one of the prisoners came up afterward, in fact we had several interesting observations from all the inmates, but one of them came up afterwards and said, "I've been listening to preaching for over a year here in the prison, and I never understood what they said, but today after your presentation, I understand exactly what the Gospel is all about."

LONNIE: Ted Tessner. Helping Leviticus be a not so difficult
Book. Thank you Ted.

TED: Thank you.

CONNIE: You know, that model sanctuary helps to bring Leviticus to life. The purpose of all the rituals described was to help God's people get a sense of His presence with them--especially His grace. It wasn't exactly like going to church today, but the sense of God's presence ought to be the same.
Let's listen now as the Heritage Singers share the song "You Are Awesome in This Place."

"You Are Awesome In This Place", Heritage Singers, from A Worship Collection CD, Track 4.

CONNIE: The sanctuary that God had His people build for Him in the wilderness certainly gave them a sense of His awesome presence with them. That was the Heritage Singers, the song is found on their "A Worship Collection" CD. You can find more information about any of the music heard on our program at our web page at www.vop.com. Consider this your invitation to stop by an browse around, maybe check out our online Bible school where you can study the popular Discover Bible Lessons.
Israel's sanctuary was designed to reveal more than just the presence of God. It provided a graphic picture of the GRACE of God. All religions in those days involved sacrifices, but most used the sacrifice of animals to appease an angry God. Leviticus pictures a different kind of sacrifice--one focused on grace and salvation--a message that comes through loud and clear in a little book we'd like to send you as our gift this week. It's called Simply Salvation and it's full of great stories that help bring God's plan for humanity into sharp focus. We'd love to send you a copy. All you need to do is call 1-800-872-0055 and ask for it. That's right, just call 1-800-872-0055 and request your free copy of the book Simply Salvation by Mark Finley and Steven Mosley.
We're looking today at a Bible book that many people find difficult to understand, and really, the book does cover a lot of ground that was mainly applicable to the people of Israel and their system of worship God gave them in the wilderness. But, as Ted Tessner pointed out, there are aspects of the book that can help us understand the Gospel more clearly.
Ken Wade, before we listen to Lonnie's message, give us just a brief overview of what the book contains.

KEN: Leviticus, the third Book of the Bible, is a little difficult to wrap your mind around. If you don't have a mental picture in your mind of the tabernacle that Israel built in the wilderness. It's very hard to understand all of the instructions being given, let alone figure out what it all means.

CONNIE: Well Ken, I remember you telling me a few years back, that you sat down, determined to read through the whole book of Leviticus.

KEN: Yeah, but I got bogged down quite fast. Right there in those descriptions of different types of offerings and sacrifices that people were to bring to God. It was confusing to me. What you've got to realize though, I discovered, is the way these things are being written out there instructions given to someone who already understands what to do, and just needs specific instructions on how and when to do it.

CONNIE: Well in that sense, then the first 17 chapters of Leviticus are kind of like a cookbook.

KEN: Yeah. Imagine a person who had never seen a teaspoon or a measuring cup, picking up a modern cookbook and trying to make sense out of all the instructions there. That's essentially what we're doing when we, who have never seen a tabernacle, or participated in a sacrifice, sit down to read Leviticus.

CONNIE: But can't the book seem a bit gory, I mean with all of its descriptions of killing animals?
KEN: But remember. It's not written for people who are picking up their ground ground, and T-bone steak, shrink wrapped in Styrofoam trays at the supermarket. The laws about how to kill an animal for sacrifice were written for people who were accustomed to butchering their own livestock on a regular basis anyhow.

CONNIE: Well seeing it from that perspective then what you have in Leviticus is a revelation of God's plan for demonstrating His grace in everyday events. Essentially He's saying to His people, when you kill an animal for food treat it as a reminder of My grace.

KEN: Exactly! Remember, this animal is dying to give you life. Present a portion of it at the sanctuary. Remember, it is dying because of the sin of the world, not just to satisfy your appetite.

CONNIE: And also to look forward in the sacrifice to a Savior who is yet to come.

KEN: Leviticus contains a lot of other rules and regulations too, of course, but the Savior is the focus, and all of these rules though remind God's people that He has chosen them as a special group, set aside for holiness, and that they should not involve themselves in the corrupt practices of the people among them. They must remain holy to Him. When you see it in that light, these things are not negative but very positive revelations of God's love for His people.

CONNIE: Thanks so much Ken for that reminder, and also for the quick overview of the whole book of Leviticus, but now Lonnie, please share with us your message for today, "Leviticus: He Lived With Us!"

SERMON:
LONNIE: The people of Israel had followed their God out into the wilderness. . . Well, really, they had followed Moses--hoping He would take them to meet God.
Day after day they traveled through barren countryside on foot, struggling up sandy hills and down into valleys oppressed by heat.
Moses had told them they were going to meet God, but the main things they'd met along the way so far were fear, hunger, dust, and overpowering thirst.
Yes, there had been miracles--food dropping from heaven; water flowing from a rock. But they hadn't met God.
Finally they arrived at Mt. Sinai and saw the smoke and clouds and lightning at the top. Then they heard the voice of God speaking to them, and they were terrified.
Quickly they worked out a deal with Moses--you go up on the mountain and talk to God, then come back down and tell us what He said. We aren't worthy to be in God's presence, and besides that, He scares us!
So Moses went up on Mt. Sinai, and we all know the story of how He brought the Ten Commandments down with him.
But He brought something else as well--something we're not as familiar with.
He brought instructions for building a "tabernacle" where God could live among His people.
They spent the next year camped beside the mountain, building this tabernacle. It had an outer courtyard surrounded by a high, curtained fence, and inside the courtyard stood a two-compartment tent made mainly of animals skins.
That was to be the center of their worship and knowledge of God. That was where God Himself would live!
They already knew that their God was a very holy God whom they could not approach directly. They couldn't make any statue to represent Him, for He is too big to be captured in stone or clay or bronze imagery. He had frightened them when He had come down on the mountain. They had wanted to keep their distance from Him.
But do you know what God did when He had the people build Him a tabernacle? Do you know where He had them put it?
Right in the middle of their campground! Right at the center of their lives! Not off on the edge. Not up on some Mount Olympus, far away and aloof. Right at the core of their community.
That's where God always wants to be. For us as well--in the center of our lives, not off on the fringes!
Right there in the center of Israel's campground, God set up a kind of schoolroom to teach them about Himself..
What did He want to teach them?
That He is a God who gives life. A God of grace. And a God of purity.
Now, it may not seem that way to you when you first read the book of Leviticus. In fact there's a lot of killing described--and prescribed--in the book. The first 17 chapters are all about killing animals as sacrifices. So how can I say that God revealed Himself as a God of life and grace?
Well, remember this: In agricultural and hunting economies, people regard the death of an animal far differently from how we see it in our industrial society. I've read, for instance, that when American Indians would kill buffalo, they would hold a ceremony to thank the spirit of the buffalo for coming to them to give them life. The death of the animal was recognized, not as a slaughter, but as the animal's gracious gift of its life to the people.
When you read Leviticus with that in mind, it helps you understand sacrifice quite differently. We tend to think in one direction only--we think of a man who has committed a sin, who realizes that he must now sacrifice one of his animals to atone for his sin.
But what if we take it from the opposite perspective?
What if we see instead, a man who is planning to butcher a lamb for his family to eat. The Leviticus laws simply tell him where and how to kill it. This is the fact that many people who read Leviticus miss: The majority of the sacrifices described there do not involve burning the whole animal on the altar. Usually it was only the fat portions that were to be burned. The rest of the meat was divided between the priest and the person bringing the sacrifice.
This is very clear in the story found in 1 Samuel about Eli the priest's wicked sons who would claim their portion of the meat even before the fat had been burned up. That wasn't the way it was supposed to be done. The priests were supposed to come by while the family who had sacrificed the animal was boiling the meat and thrust in a fork and whatever he came up with would be his to eat. The priest was supposed to take the luck of the draw, not take the choice parts before they were put in the pot to boil! You can read about that in 1 Samuel chapter 2.
The basic rule regarding this is found in Leviticus 17:3, 4:

"Whatever man of the house of Israel who kills an ox or lamb or goat in the camp, or who kills it outside the camp, and does not bring it to the door of the tabernacle of meeting to offer an offering to the LORD before the tabernacle of the LORD, the guilt of bloodshed shall be imputed to that man. He has shed blood; and that man shall be cut off from among his people" (NKJV).

The idea is clear: When you're going to butcher an animal, bring it as an offering--remember that its meat not only provides you physical food, but spiritual nourishment as well--it brings you peace with God as you confess your sin and accept the death of the animal in your place.
Of course this also pointed forward to the death of Jesus on the cross in our place.
There's another fascinating fact about these sacrifices that fits well into our understanding of health today. When you read Leviticus, notice that God always had the priests burn the FAT of the offering on the altar. The people were not to eat either the fat or the blood.
Could it be that we see God being concerned for His people's cardiac health here? "If you must eat meat, eat only lean meat" is a mantra we hear often from health professionals today!
When you really understand Leviticus, you see that it, along with the rest of the Bible, reveals a God of grace. A God who wants to forgive His people. A God who wants to be with His people. Right in the center of their lives, and who makes it possible to come to Him without fear!
Friend, how is it with you today? Is God at the center of your life? He wants to be there. He wants to have a tabernacle, right in your heart, where you worship Him, and where you come seeking forgiveness for your sins. He lived with the people of Israel, in their camp. And He wants to live in the center of your life--right in your heart. Why not invite Him in?