Leviticus: Tabernacle, the Big Picture

Welcome "Vision of the Kingdom: Leviticus Bible Study" friends! I am thankful you've found our class blog and hope this will be a valuable resource to you throughout our study. Last night I did not get to cover all that I wanted to about the Tabernacle, so I'll be posting several times this week to get us up to speed . . .

Exodus End Game:
We often think that God's goal in the Exodus was simply to free the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. And while this is certainly true, it is not the whole story. God didn't just work to free Israel, but to make Israel His holy people, establish them in the promise land, and to teach them how to live in communion with Him and properly worship Him. From the very beginning when God speaks to Moses through the burning bush, His goal is for Israel to worship Him:

Exodus 3:12
He (God) said, “I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain.”

God of course fulfills this promise and sign by bringing Israel to Sinai (by means of plagues, Red Sea, etc.) and bringing them into His worship. God then empowers Israel to live with Him by giving Moses the Law, and perhaps most importantly by giving Moses a vision of the Tabernacle and the instructions to build it.

Exodus 25:8
 ". . .and have them (the Israelites) make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them."

The point then of the Tabernacle, laws, sacrifices and even the Exodus itself is for Israel to live with God. This is the starting point of Leviticus: the assumption that God desires to live with His people, commune with them and care for them. This is an act of grace on God's part, that then calls for a response from His people. Their response is to follow the law and learn from God how to be a holy people who will reflect His glory to the nations (Ex. 19:5-6).