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The Gift of Liturgy · Reformed Thinking

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  Welcome to reformed thinking. Today we are attempting a deep
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  dive into what most readers find to be one of the most demanding
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  sections of the Bible. It's that huge block of text
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  dealing with Israel's worship. We're talking Exodus 25 all the
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  way through Leviticus. Right, it's the design
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  documents, the operating procedures for the Tabernacle
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  and all its rights. It's such a moment of narrative
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  whiplash, isn't it? Oh, absolutely.
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  You've just come through the high drama of the Exodus, the
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  Red Sea, the, you know, the verifying arrival at Mount
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  Sinai. You're on the edge of your seat.
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  And you think the story's about to pick up speed heading to the
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  promised land, but instead the whole thing just grinds to a
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  halt. It does.
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  You're just dropped, seemingly without warning, into what feels
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  like this endless list of legal codes, curtain measurements, and
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  recipes for incense. It's like reading this
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  incredible historical epic and then the author just pauses for
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  what, 40,000 words to give you architectural specs for a
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  portable building? That's a great way to put it.
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  The physical journey from Egypt to Canaan just stops.
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  It stops so that God can set up the relational framework.
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  So our mission today is, I think, pretty critical.
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  We need to look at these laws, these instructions for worship,
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  not as a dry list of rules, but to really understand the
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  theological engine that's running underneath it all.
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  Yes, we've got to look past the sheer volume of this stuff to
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  grasp the central idea, which is how is it even possible for
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  sinful people to have communion with a holy God?
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  That is the right question. That's the whole point of this
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  block of material. It's about making sense of the
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  liturgy, the divinely prescribed rights for Israel's worship.
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  And to see them as a gift. Exactly.
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  These detailed regulations were a gift.
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  They were the mechanism that allowed the transcendent, holy
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  God to dwell right in the middle of his sinful people without,
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  you know, annihilating them. This is how God manages the
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  sacred danger of his own presence.
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  OK, so let's unpack that. I think a good place to start is
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  where the blueprint was first revealed, Mount Sinai.
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  The idea is that Sinai itself is the prototype for the
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  Tabernacle. Yes.
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  And seeing that parallel is essential.
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  Sinai, the mountain of the covenant.
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  It foreshadows everything that's going to happen at the
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  Tabernacle. So the Tabernacle is basically a
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  mobile Sinai. In a way, yes.
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  The Tabernacle, the Mishkin, or dwelling place, is described as
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  God's royal tent of meeting. It's a luxurious mobile palace
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  really designed for royalty but on a celestial scale.
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  In the descriptions of God's presence at both the mountain
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  and the tent, they're almost identical.
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  They are, and that speaks to that constant tension.
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  The analogy shows God is at the same time both transcendent and
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  imminent. OK, I'll break that down.
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  Well, at Sinai he's transcendent.
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  He's veiled in a smoky cloud. There's fire.
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  The mountain is shaking. He is totally unreachable.
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  But he's also imminent. He chooses to descend to that
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  specific mountain to speak with Moses.
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  And the Tabernacle works the same way.
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  Exactly the same way the transcendent God descends and
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  settles in the Holy of Holies with a cloud of glory right in
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  the middle of a Pilgrim people who are all living in simple
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  tents. The contrast is just stunning.
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  The Tabernacle is, in a very real sense, a replica of heaven
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  on earth. And that sense of distance, of
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  awe, is maintained by the veil. At Sinai it's smoke and fire,
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  and at the Tabernacle it's the curtain in the cloud of incense.
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  Absolutely, and that introduces the problem the liturgy has to
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  solve. How can an awesome holy God meet
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  unholy subjects without destroying them?
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  Right, because the people's first reaction at Sinai wasn't
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  just faith, it was terror. It was pure terror.
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  They begged Moses to go up for them because they were convinced
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  they would die if they got any closer.
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  It was this mix of wanting communion but also, you know,
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  basic self preservation. So if the tension is God's
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  holiness versus human sinfulness, what's the solution
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  the liturgy provides? The solution is separation and
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  strict appointment. It's all about preserving God's
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  radical holiness while still allowing for proximity.
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  So rules for engagement? Essentially, yes.
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  At Sinai, God demands specific times.
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  He commands Moses to consecrate the people, and he sets up firm
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  boundaries. Don't even touch the mountain.
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  The liturgy is just the ongoing, systematic way to maintain that
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  holiness. So the regulations aren't
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  arbitrary at all. They're like spiritual safety
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  instructions. That's it.
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  The regulations appoint a sacred priestly class to enter his
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  dwelling, and they prescribe rituals for consecrating the
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  priests and the dwelling itself. The focus is always on making a
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  necessary separation. Is there a keyword for that?
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  There is the Hebrew term is ball.
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  It means to make a distinction between the holy and the common
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  or between the clean and the unclean.
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  And you see that idea of separation everywhere, in food
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  places, time, personnel. So it's not about Israel
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  becoming holy like God, but about God creating a protected
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  zone where humans won't be consumed by His presence.
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  A spiritual safety fence. Precisely.
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  And once that distinction is established and the conditions
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  are met, the goal can be achieved.
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  After the covenant is sealed at Sinai, you see Moses, Aaron, his
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  sons, and the elders go up the mountain.
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  They see God and they eat and drink in His presence.
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  Which is the very definition of communion.
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  It is. The Tabernacle Liturgy extends
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  that same invitation. It allows all the faithful to
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  fellowship with God at His altar using the prescribed means of
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  atonement. The whole point is that where
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  and how God chooses, He and His chosen people can enjoy real
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  communion together. That's what motivates every
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  single curtain measurement. OK, let's slow down and define
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  some terms. We've been using the word
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  liturgy. You mentioned the academic term
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  is cultus. That's right, cultus is what
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  scholars use for the external, visible acts of religion.
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  We're using liturgy because it means the work of the people,
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  and it avoids the sense that ceremonial is just something dry
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  or stiff. This is the work God prescribed
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  for His people to approach Him. The source material gives a
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  really helpful breakdown defining what liturgy is by what
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  it's not. There are four key elements.
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  I think these are crucial for getting past that dry taxonomy
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  feeling. The 1st is material over
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  spiritual. We often think of religion as
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  just a heart feeling, but it always requires physical action.
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  It's embodied. It's totally embodied.
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  The liturgy focuses on physical things, sacrifices, washings,
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  specific actions in a real place.
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  It allows the whole person, body and soul to meet with God.
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  You have to physically bring a lamb, lay your hands on it, see
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  the blood, smell the smoke, which.
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  Resists the idea that you can just think your way into
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  communion. Absolutely.
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  The second point is community over individual.
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  Personal devotion is vital, of course, but liturgy is a
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  collective event. It's God meeting with his
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  people, plural. It's practiced within the
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  framework of the Covenant Nation.
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  And as soon as you have more than one person, you need some
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  kind of structure. Which leads right to the Third
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  Point. Form over spontaneous.
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  The moment you have a community worshiping, you need form, a
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  dedicated time, a place and action.
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  And the Old Testament liturgy is incredibly regulated.
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  The site, the personnel, the seasons, every ritual step.
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  But then you get to the New Testament and those constraints
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  seem to loosen up a lot. How do we square that?
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  Well, the Old Testament was focused on type and shadow.
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  The New Testament is about fulfillment.
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  Since Christ fulfilled the ceremonial law, there are fewer
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  rigid regulations. This allows for more freedom and
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  variety. You saw this tension in the
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  early church, right? The Jewish Christians held on to
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  the old forms. The Hellenist Christians, not so
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  much. And the apostles basically sided
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  with freedom on that point. They did.
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  They agreed that salvation isn't condition on conforming to
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  Jewish ceremonial law, so the New Testament allows different
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  groups to find a style of worship where they best
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  experience communion, whether that's more structured or more
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  spontaneous. Since the veil was torn, the
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  required structure has shifted from physical ritual to
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  spiritual fidelity. OK, in the 4th aspect.
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  Integrated over ideational. Ideational is about, you know,
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  forming thoughts of things not immediately present.
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  Liturgy is meant to be an integrated religious experience
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  and engages you emotionally and cognitively.
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  It's designed to hit you on every level, so you're not just
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  thinking about God, you're participating in worship with
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  your whole being. That brings us to a really
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  crucial connection liturgy and ethics, the relationship between
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  these physical rights and a moral life.
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  This is so important. Many people assume Leviticus is
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  all ritual and the prophets are the ones who finally start
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  caring about justice, but that's just wrong.
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  Israel came to Sinai to worship God and to learn how to worship
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  Him through the moral law. So they're inseparable.
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  Totally inseparable. The basis for worship is a
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  combination of piety, the first 3 commandments, social ethics,
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  the last 6, and the liturgy itself.
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  They all form the covenant structure.
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  And the narrative itself seems to put ethics first.
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  It does look at the order. The moral covenant is sealed
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  first in Exodus 24. Then and only then does God give
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  the instructions for the Tabernacle, and then the
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  Tabernacle work stops dead for the golden calf incident.
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  It only resumes after the covenant is renewed based on
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  God's grace. So piety and ethics have
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  priority over just going through the motions.
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  Absolutely. This whole structure challenges
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  any idea that religion is just about some mystical
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  participation in essential being or something.
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  That kind of thinking completely fails to account for the reality
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  of sin. Right.
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  This isn't just about feeling a vague divine essence.
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  The law says there's a specific, costly transaction that has to
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  happen first to deal with the dead of sin.
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  Exactly. Sinful people don't just wander
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  into the sacred realm, they need a mechanism, the covenant and
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  the liturgy to be you could say, descend so they can enter
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  safely. But that emphasis on form, on
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  ritual, opens up a huge potential for abuse.
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  The temptation is always toward rigidity or even magical
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  thinking. It's the great spiritual danger.
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  People always try to turn religion into a way to control
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  God. You know, say the right words,
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  wear the right clothes, and God has to respond.
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  But the biblical narrator saw this coming.
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  How so? He placed all the liturgical
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  material in a context that asserts the centrality of moral
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  fidelity. The narrative itself is an anti
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  magical fence. The narrator makes it clear that
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  liturgy without covenant faithfulness is worthless.
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  The prophets later compare empty sacrifice to the sin of
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  divination, the ultimate attempt to manipulate the spiritual
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  world. God is not controlled by ritual.
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  OK, let's dive into the physical reality of the Tabernacle, the
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  structure of the text itself. Construction failure.
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  Construction seems to tell a story.
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  It's a rhetorical masterpiece. It moves from God present at
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  Sinai to the instructions to build, to the golden calf
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  crisis, and then finally to the actual construction and God's
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  presence filling the Tabernacle. The cloud that was on the
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  mountains settles on the tent. It's a successful, divinely
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  sanctioned move of God's royal residence.
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  And then Leviticus opens with God speaking to Moses from the
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  tent of meeting, telling him how to draw near, right?
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  The Hebrew verb is QRB. It means to come close enough to
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  see or speak to God. It's about intimacy.
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  But to get close you needed a core bonin offering.
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  Without that, approaching God meant death.
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  This whole issue, God's eminence and how to manage it with sin is
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  the reason for everything Leviticus.
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  So let's talk about the sacred site.
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  What did it actually? It was a.
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  Substantial structure The inner dwelling was a gold covered
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  Acacia wood frame about 15 feet wide by 45 feet long.
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  It was covered with four layers of cloth and skins, and the
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  innermost layer had these woven cherubim designs.
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  And it was. Divided.
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  Yes. By a thick veil you had the Most
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  Holy Place which was a 15 foot cube with the Ark, and then the
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  Holy Place which was 30 feet long, and all of that was inside
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  a much larger courtyard and materials.
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  Themselves were significant. Very they were.
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  All free will offerings only the best spun linen, gold, special
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  oils, semi precious stones and crucially the construction
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  required divinely empowered Craftsman, Bezalel and Oleab.
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  This wasn't just human architecture, it was a divine
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  blueprint executed by divine inspiration.
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  The structure. Itself seems to express that
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  mystery of God being everywhere but also in one specific place
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  it. Captures that paradox perfectly.
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  God is omnipresent, but he chooses to locate his unique,
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  approachable presence at one specific site.
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  The Tabernacle was the access between heaven and earth.
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  Solomon even says as much when he dedicates the temple.
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  How can God dwell here when the heavens can't contain him?
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  Yet He chooses to and that. Paradox extends to time as well.
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  It does. God's presence is both permanent
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  and intermittent. The ark symbolized his abiding
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  presence, His throne, but the tent itself, with the cloud that
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  comes and goes, reflected his occasional manifest presence.
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  It's something we can relate to. We know God is always with us,
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  but we often feel his presence more at certain times.
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  OK, let's move. Inside the Tabernacle to the
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  sacred objects, we have to start with the Ark of the Covenant
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  behind the veil, right? The Ark how is the testimony,
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  the Udu, which was the Decalogue, the stone tablets,
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  God's will in writing? But it also had two other
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  things, a pot of manna to remember God's provision, and
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  Aaron's budding rod to remember his election to the priesthood.
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  What's the? Significance of those three
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  things being together well, they.
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  Represent the conditions for communion.
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  You have God's moral requirements, the law which
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  Israel always failed to keep. You have God's grace and
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  provision, the manna which they needed to live, and you have
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  God's chosen means of mediation. Aaron's rod.
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  It's a picture of failure, dependence, and the need for a
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  mediator. All right there in the holiest
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  place and the lid. Of the Ark, the mercy seat.
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  What did that do? It transformed.
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  The whole object, the ark, was God's footstool, his throne.
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  But the cover, the coppery, the atonement cover turned it into a
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  mercy seat when the high priest sprinkled blood on it once a
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  year. The throne of judgement became a
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  place of forgiveness, and the cherubim on the lid were like
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  angelic guardians of that throne.
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  OK, moving. Out into the holy place we have
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  the table of presents this table.
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  Held 12 loaves of showbread, one for each tribe, symbolizing
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  God's presence with all of Israel.
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  The priests would eat this bread, signifying Israel's
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  dependence on God for their daily provision.
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  It's a picture of a perpetual feast with God and the gold.
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  Lampstand. It wasn't just for light, was
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  it? Oh.
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  Far more, it was a potent symbol.
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  It was shaped like an almond tree, which was the first tree
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  to blossom in the spring. So it symbolized new life.
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  It had 7 branches for perfection.
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  And the light itself spoke of Israel's glory, reflecting God's
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  glory. And all those design motifs, the
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  blossoms, the cherubim, it all linked the Tabernacle back to
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  the Garden of Eden. It was a restored, temporary
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  paradise. There's a.
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  Wonderful detail about the bronze basin for washing I love.
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  This detail the basin wasn't just cast from raw metal, it was
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  made from the bronze mirrors donated by the women who served
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  at the entrance. They gave up the tool they used
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  to check their own appearance so the priest could check his
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  ritual purity before going into God's presence.
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  It's a beautiful human act of sacrifice.
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  OK, so we. Know where God dwells.
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  Now who can go there? Let's talk about the sacred
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  personnel, the priesthood, the priests.
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  The descendants of Aaron had two main jobs.
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  First, they were teachers. Their primary role was to teach
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  God's revelation and make that critical distinction holy and
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  common, clean and unclean. Second, they were liturgy
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  facilitators. They offered the sacrifices and
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  maintained the purity of the sanctuary and their.
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  Garments were incredibly symbolic.
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  Absolutely. The ephod, the breastpiece, the
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  turban. They were costly and sacred.
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  The ephod had shoulder stones engraved with the names of the
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  12 tribes. The breastpiece had 12 gemstones
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  also for the tribes. So the priest literally carried
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  all of Israel on his shoulders and over his heart.
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  When he went before God, he was. Their total representative and.
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  Mediator. The breastpiece also held the
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  Urim and Thummim, which means lights and perfection.
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  They were a means of receiving oracles from God for big
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  decisions. So he bore Israel's
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  representation and the means of divine decision making right
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  there on his heart. Tell me about.
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  Their consecration. How were they made holy enough
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  for this job? It was a.
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  Rigorous 7 day ritual. It involved washing with water
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  and then applying sacrificial blood to the right earlobe, the
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  right thumb and the right big toe.
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  Why those? Specific spots It's a.
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  Pars pro Toto action, the part stands for the whole.
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  You sanctify the extremities to symbolize the setting a part of
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  the entire person for God's service, and doing it for seven
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  days signified a complete perfect sanctification and.
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  Before they could even go in, they had to deal with the
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  incense altar, Yes. The altar of incense was right
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  in front of the veil. Incense was lit morning and
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  evening, so a fragrant cloud of smoke was always covering the
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  mercy seat. This wasn't just perfume, it was
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  protection. It shielded the High Priest from
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  being consumed by God's raw holiness.
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  Forgetting to wash or perform a ritual correctly meant certain
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  death. So we know.
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  Who can go in and how they're prepared.
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  And his question is when? This brings us to the sacred
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  seasons, right? And.
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  There are two kinds of time to think about here, Kronos and
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  Kairos. Kronos is regular clock time,
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  the daily, weekly, and monthly cycles of creation.
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  Kairos is decisive redemptive time, the annual festivals that
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  marked God's specific interventions in Israel's
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  history. Let's start.
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  With Kronos, the regular rhythm of worship, this was.
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  The daily cycle 2 lambs were offered every single day, one in
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  the morning to start the day, one in the afternoon to end it,
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  a constant stream of communication.
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  Then you had the weekly Sabbath with special sacrifices and the
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  changing of the showbread and the monthly New Moon festival.
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  These rhythms ensured constant, predictable communion in the
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  Cairos. Times.
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  The big annual festivals, they reframed agricultural holidays.
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  Precisely. They took common ancient Near
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  East agricultural festivals and turned them into markers of
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  redemption for Israel. First, you have the spring
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  barley festival, which commemorated Passover and the
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  Exodus, the nation's birth. Second, the Feast of Weeks, or
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  First Roots at the end of the grain harvest, which tradition
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  links to the giving of the law at Sinai and the Big.
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  One in the fall, the Feast of. Tabernacles or Booths Sukov that
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  reminded Israel of their time in the wilderness, living in
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  temporary shelters, forcing them to remember God's faithful
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  provision and right in. The middle of all that, the
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  pivot of the whole year, the Day of Atonement, the day of.
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  Atonement Yom Hakipuram. This was the one day for
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  cleansing the entire community. The idea was at the Tabernacle,
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  the priests, the people, everything had been contaminated
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  by sin over the past year. This ritual cleansed it all so
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  God could continue to dwell with them for another year.
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  It's. Brilliant how these festivals
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  make history feel present for every new generation.
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  That's the. Power of remembrance.
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  It's not just about reciting facts.
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  It allows the community to spiritually participate in the
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  event. Again, it's what happens at
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  Passover and it's what happens for the church in the Lord's
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  Supper. We remember ourselves to the
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  covenant. OK, let's.
• 19:03
  Zoom out a bit and talk about the overall functions of liturgy
• 19:06
  beyond just enabling God's presence.
• 19:08
  The sources list 5 core functions right?
• 19:11
  We have. Separating symbolic, typical
• 19:14
  Sacramento and artistic we've covered.
• 19:16
  Separating pretty well. Distinguishing Israel.
• 19:19
  Let's focus on the deep theological ones.
• 19:21
  Symbolic and typical. People get these confused all
• 19:25
  the time. They do.
• 19:26
  And it's a critical distinction. It's all about how time works.
• 19:30
  Symbolic is synchronic. It's happening at the same time.
• 19:33
  The earthly liturgy is a copy of a heavenly reality that exists
• 19:37
  right now. Exodus says Moses was shown a
• 19:40
  pattern on the mountain, so the Tabernacle is like a 3D
• 19:43
  blueprint of the heavenly court. So the.
• 19:44
  Rising smoke symbolizes prayer ascending to God right now.
• 19:47
  Exactly. Typical, on the other hand, is
• 19:49
  diachronic. It unfolds across time.
• 19:52
  A type is a shadow, a partial picture of something greater
• 19:55
  that will be fully real in the future.
• 19:57
  So the Mosaic liturgy is less like a blueprint and more like a
• 20:00
  movie trailer for a future event.
• 20:02
  And that fulfillment? Isn't just one moment, no it.
• 20:05
  Happens in two steps. First is the fulfillment in
• 20:08
  Christ's life, death and resurrection.
• 20:10
  Second is the consummation at the end of time, the new heaven
• 20:12
  and new earth, the whole Old Testament system, the sanctuary,
• 20:15
  the priests, the offerings. It provides the necessary
• 20:19
  interpretive framework to understand who Jesus is and what
• 20:21
  he did without the. Liturgy.
• 20:23
  Christ's work would be incomprehensible.
• 20:27
  It would. Be it makes Christ legible that
• 20:29
  moves. Us to the more internal feeling
• 20:31
  functions Sacramento and artistic right the.
• 20:34
  Sacramento function lets us feel and spiritually participate in
• 20:38
  the reality being portrayed. For Christians at the Lord's
• 20:41
  Supper, we aren't just remembering something, we are
• 20:44
  spiritually feeding on Christ. The physical rights draw our
• 20:48
  whole being, our senses, into the spiritual reality.
• 20:52
  But how do? We keep that from becoming that
• 20:54
  magical thinking we talked about.
• 20:56
  That's the. Critical distinction and this is
• 20:57
  key to Reformed theology. The grace we experience is not
• 21:01
  in the physical things themselves.
• 21:02
  The water, the bread, the wine, it's not dependent on the piety
• 21:06
  of the person administering it. The benefits are conferred only
• 21:09
  by the work of the Holy Spirit in conjunction with God's word
• 21:11
  of promise attached to the right.
• 21:13
  So the. Efficacy is all from God's
• 21:15
  grace, not our performance always.
• 21:17
  And finally, the artistic function artistry.
• 21:20
  Is a gift from God that moves us beyond words.
• 21:23
  David is the great example here. He transformed the Mosaic
• 21:27
  liturgy into, as the source calls it, an awesome opera.
• 21:30
  He gave them the psalms as the libretto, the temple blueprint
• 21:33
  as the staging, the dances as the choreography, great
• 21:37
  architecture, music, ritual. It AWS us and lifts our gaze and
• 21:42
  it. Reinforces the ethical system
• 21:44
  constantly. The cereal offering had
• 21:46
  provisions for the poor. The purification rituals dealt
• 21:49
  with sins against God in your neighbor.
• 21:52
  The whole system was designed to solidify both their theology and
• 21:55
  their ethical values. OK, we have to.
• 21:56
  Talk about the sacrificial system itself.
• 21:58
  The terminology is so precise. Let's try to define the key
• 22:02
  terms for the different offerings.
• 22:03
  There are a. Bunch, but we can group them
• 22:05
  into 6 main distinctions. Let's start with the.
• 22:07
  Non bloody ones first. You have the minna.
• 22:10
  It's a generic word for gift, but it comes to mean the green
• 22:13
  offering. It's an honor offering,
• 22:15
  recognizing God's sovereignty over the harvest. 2nd is the
• 22:19
  Zeba, the fellowship sacrifice. This was a communal meal.
• 22:22
  God got his portion, the fat, and the worshippers ate the
• 22:26
  rest. Together it create communion.
• 22:28
  So it's about. Relational peace, Exactly. 3rd
• 22:31
  is the Whitla, the burnt offering.
• 22:33
  The word means to go up. This was the one where the
• 22:36
  entire animal, except the hide was burned on the altar.
• 22:39
  It all went up to God. It symbolized total dedication
• 22:43
  and was used to make general atonement for the community.
• 22:46
  How? Is that different from the
• 22:47
  shalamim the. Shalamim or peace offering was
• 22:50
  all about communal celebration. It signified that peace was
• 22:54
  established between God and His people.
• 22:57
  And because it meant all was well, it always came last in a
• 23:00
  series of offerings. OK, now.
• 23:02
  For the two that deal with specific sin 5th.
• 23:04
  Is the E the sin offering? This was the main blood
• 23:07
  atonement offering. The idea was that moral evil
• 23:10
  wasn't just a legal breach, it was a pollution that
• 23:14
  contaminated the holy site. So this offering purified the
• 23:17
  Tabernacle from sins committed unintentionally.
• 23:20
  And last one. The shown the guilt.
• 23:22
  Offering this was for a very specific problem, desecration,
• 23:26
  misappropriating sacred property, for example.
• 23:29
  And it was unique because it required not just the sacrifice
• 23:33
  but also reparation, restoring what was violated, plus a 20%
• 23:37
  penalty. It's fascinating that Isaiah
• 23:39
  says the Suffering Servant would provide the specific type of
• 23:42
  offering and GMM for his people. It's clear.
• 23:45
  Every sacrifice had a job, but what were the rules that applied
• 23:47
  to all of them for. Non negotiable standards.
• 23:50
  First the offering had to be the best.
• 23:52
  No blemishes, the choicest animal.
• 23:54
  Second, it had to be accurate, performed exactly as prescribed.
• 23:58
  Native Benabaihu getting consumed by fire for offering
• 24:01
  unauthorized fire is the stark warning there.
• 24:04
  Don't play fast and loose with God's holiness and the.
• 24:07
  Other two. 3rd it had to be representative.
• 24:10
  The animal stood in for the worshippers own life.
• 24:12
  And 4th bloody sacrifices were mandatory for atonement.
• 24:16
  Leviticus 17.11 says it plainly. The life of a creature is in the
• 24:20
  blood. It is the blood that makes
• 24:22
  atonement for one's life. So.
• 24:24
  Substitutionary atonement was built in from the very
• 24:26
  beginning. It's the.
• 24:27
  Fundamental theological principle the shedding of blood
• 24:30
  was necessary for the forgiveness of sins, and this
• 24:33
  brings. Us to the great pivot point of
• 24:34
  the whole narrative the golden calf episode it's placement
• 24:39
  right in the middle of the Tabernacle instructions has to
• 24:42
  be intentional oh it. Defines the whole structure.
• 24:45
  It asks the fundamental question, how can a holy God
• 24:48
  dwell among a sinful covenant breaking people?
• 24:51
  It's essential because it immediately repudiates the idea
• 24:54
  that God is controlled by ritual.
• 24:56
  So. Walk us through that crisis.
• 24:58
  It happens. Right after the covenant is
• 25:00
  sealed, Israel breaks the first two commandments.
• 25:03
  Aaron tries to spin it as a festival to God, but the people
• 25:06
  send into Pagan fertility rites and God's initial response is
• 25:10
  plan A, destroy them all and start over with Moses and Moses.
• 25:14
  Intercedes he does. Based on God's reputation and
• 25:17
  his promises to the patriarchs, God relents.
• 25:20
  Moses comes down the mountain, sees the sin, and shatters the
• 25:23
  tablets. The covenant is broken.
• 25:25
  He makes them drink their sin, basically.
• 25:27
  But that's not. The end of it, no.
• 25:29
  Moses goes back up and offers Plan B.
• 25:33
  Slot me out of your book as a substitute for the people.
• 25:36
  God rejects this. Then God offers Plan C, which is
• 25:39
  the sinner's ideal, really. Which is?
• 25:41
  I'll dwell outside the camp. I'll send an Angel to lead you
• 25:44
  to victory. You get the benefits without the
• 25:46
  inconvenient presence of a holy God and his moral standards, the
• 25:50
  people. Don't want that, no.
• 25:51
  Yeah, in this incredibly moving moment, they mourn.
• 25:54
  They mourn the loss of intimacy with God.
• 25:57
  They realize that was the whole point of the Exodus, and that
• 25:59
  leads. To the final resolution, Moses.
• 26:01
  Takes that plea to God. He asks to know God ways his
• 26:04
  character, show me your glory and God's reply.
• 26:07
  Plan D isn't a show of power. He proclaims his character.
• 26:11
  He says I am. I am the compassionate and
• 26:14
  gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in loyal love and
• 26:18
  faithfulness, forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.
• 26:21
  So God's. Ability to dwell with them isn't
• 26:22
  ultimately based on their perfect performance of the
• 26:25
  liturgy, no. That performance is necessary,
• 26:27
  but the foundation is God's grace and his unchanging,
• 26:30
  compassionate character. The rights only work because of
• 26:33
  the character of the God who instituted them.
• 26:35
  OK, let's. Trace this whole idea through
• 26:37
  the rest of the Bible, the development of liturgy, What was
• 26:41
  happening before Moses? Well.
• 26:42
  Liturgy, in its simplest form, starts in Eden.
• 26:45
  The Garden was the first temple. Adam and Eve were the first
• 26:48
  priestly couple after the fall sacrifices immediately
• 26:52
  instituted the shedding of animal blood to cover their
• 26:56
  shame and the. Patriarchs built on that, yes.
• 26:59
  Abel's altar teaches that God wants our best.
• 27:02
  Noah's altar teaches that only clean animals are acceptable.
• 27:05
  Abraham's altar show that God always provides a substitute and
• 27:09
  Jacob. Of Bethel, Jacob.
• 27:10
  Is the first to name a place House of God.
• 27:13
  His vision of the latter showed that this site was an axis
• 27:16
  between heaven and earth. It linked God and man fast.
• 27:19
  Forward to David. What modifications does he bring
• 27:21
  David? Was a cultural genius he took
• 27:24
  the Tabernacle system and prepared to transform it for the
• 27:26
  temple he gave it an aesthetic high point he provided the
• 27:29
  psalms as the libretto the temple design is a magnificent
• 27:32
  staging and the dances and processions as the choreography
• 27:35
  and with the. King came other new sacred roles
• 27:38
  2 New. Figures the king and the prophet
• 27:42
  The king was the political and military leader.
• 27:45
  The prophet stood opposite him as God's direct voice, anointing
• 27:49
  him, but also directing and reproving him.
• 27:51
  It was a system of checks and balances, and then the.
• 27:53
  Prophets start to modify things again as Israel falls away.
• 27:56
  They do. They condemn the false liturgies
• 27:58
  of the bad kings, and they interpret the exile, the loss of
• 28:02
  the temple, and the rights as the fulfillment of the covenant
• 28:05
  curses. It's what happens when you
• 28:07
  prioritize ritual over justice. But even in exile, the faithful
• 28:11
  could maintain fellowship by praying toward Jerusalem.
• 28:14
  And this is where the Suffering Servant prophecy ties it all
• 28:16
  together exactly. Isaiah's prophecy of the
• 28:19
  suffering Servant is the final Old Testament link.
• 28:22
  The Servant offers himself without blemish as the ultimate
• 28:25
  guilt, offering the fission, the one sacrifice that pays the debt
• 28:28
  completely Which. Brings us to the New Testament
• 28:31
  modifications, the ultimate fulfillment, right?
• 28:34
  The book of Hebrews lays it all out.
• 28:36
  The old sites, objects and institutions were just types of
• 28:40
  the true reality, which is Christ.
• 28:42
  Christ is the true Temple, the place where the infinite meets
• 28:45
  the finite, His own body. And today God's temple is the
• 28:50
  Spirit and dwelt Church and He. Fulfills the priesthood
• 28:53
  completely. He is the final high priest.
• 28:56
  The Auronic priests had to offer sacrifices for their own sins,
• 28:59
  and they had to do it over and over.
• 29:01
  Christ, who was without sin, made a perfect single atonement
• 29:05
  once and for all. His death and intercession make
• 29:07
  the whole Mosaic system for atonement obsolete, and we see
• 29:11
  that. Shift in the practices of the
• 29:12
  church the. Signs change because the reality
• 29:14
  has arrived. Baptism replaces circumcision.
• 29:17
  The Lord's Supper replaces Passover.
• 29:19
  The Jewish festal calendar no longer binds us.
• 29:22
  The Sabbath is renewed and observed on the Lord's Day,
• 29:24
  commemorating the Resurrection. Jesus fulfilled the ceremonial
• 29:27
  parts of the law, but wants his people to live out the moral
• 29:30
  parts. That's the.
• 29:31
  Perfect summary. The ritual mechanism for dealing
• 29:34
  with sin is fulfilled in Christ's blood.
• 29:37
  The moral demand for holiness and justice, first laid out in
• 29:41
  the 10 commandments, remains in full force.
• 29:43
  So this. Deep Dive really shows that
• 29:45
  those long, difficult chapters in Exodus and Leviticus weren't
• 29:48
  just cold demands. They were a gift, a framework
• 29:52
  established by God's grace so he could have communion with his
• 29:55
  sinful people, all of it pointing forward to Christ.
• 29:59
  That's right. The ancient liturgical
• 30:00
  regulations laid the groundwork for how we even understand
• 30:03
  salvation. They illustrated for thousands
• 30:06
  of years that blood atonement by substitution was always the
• 30:09
  necessary way for a just and holy God to live in intimacy
• 30:12
  with sinners thinking about. The specific design elements of
• 30:16
  Israel's ancient ceremonial law. The significance of the veil,
• 30:19
  The single yearly sprinkling of blood, the gold, and the copper.
• 30:22
  How does understanding these detailed symbols and their
• 30:25
  ultimate fulfillment in Christ promote A richer, more
• 30:28
  intentional communion with God within the gathered church
• 30:30
  community today?