An Epic Journey: The Journey Home
An Epic Journey • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 2 viewsTransformation of Exodus - A return to Eden
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Good morning, brothers and sisters. Victor Chong is my name. Now, we sort of have a tradition here at EDGE that the last sermon is usually a reflection of what has happened in the year. But this year, we are starting on a new series of messages; I guess perhaps, sometimes things are so bad that it is better to forget and not to reflect. The new series is entitled “An Epic Journey”. The message today is entitled “The Journey Home”. This is the first of a series of 4 sermons centred on the theme of “journey”. Being the first to speak, I have the advantage of being able to pick on any of the journeys in the Bible before anyone else; but I also have the responsibility to give an introduction to the theme.
Well, to begin with, the obvious question is, why “journey”? And what have journeys to do with Christianity and the Bible?
Journeys have always featured heavily in the history and literature of many cultures. There are various literally masterpieces that focus on journeys, such as the Odyssey, The Journey to the West, Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz, the Lord of the Rings, and so on and so forth. There are also historical epic journeys, either epic successes or epic failures, such as the Salt March in India, the Long March in China, Marco Paolo’s journey to China, Leif Erikson’s journey from Greenland to North America in 1000AD, and many more.
There are also many spiritual and Biblical journeys; the Pilgrim’s Progress, for example, is a fictional spiritual journey; biblical journeys include, of course, the Exodus, the Exile to Babylon, the Return of the Exile in Ezra and Nehemiah, the Road to Emmaus, and Paul’s 4 missionary journeys.
Given that the theme of these series of sermon is “an epic journey”, this series would not be complete if we don’t talk about the Exodus. There is no journey more epic, more significant or magnificent than the Exodus. Exodus is the pivotal event in the entire Old Testament, and even the entire Bible. The Old Testament authors will frequently look back to the Exodus as the foundational event in the creation of the nation of Israel.
Prayer
Prayer
Before we start, let us begin with a word of prayer.
The Exodus
The Exodus
Exodus took place around 1500 years before Jesus was born. The Israelites were living in Egypt, and as their number grew, they were perceived to be a threat by Egyptians, who enslaved, exploited and abused them. The Israelites cried out to God, who sent Moses and his brother Aaron to lead them out of Egypt. After coming out of Egypt, they travelled to Mount Sinai in the Sinai Peninsula where they came to witness God’s glory on top of the mountain, and where God gave them his Laws and made his Covenant with them.
The biblical account of the Exodus is recorded in the last 4 books of Mose; from Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.
The book of Exodus gives us the background or context of the journey Exodus, ends with the Israelites arriving at Mount Sinai and receiving the Covenant from God.
The next book of Leviticus records the laws, sacrifices and ceremonies given by God to Moses. This is followed by Numbers, which details Israel’s journey from Mount Sinai and their 40 years of wandering in the desert before they finally arrived at the border of the Promised Land. The final book of Deuteronomy is partly a recount of these events, but written in the format of a Covenant, an Agreement, that signifies the Mosaic Covenant itself.
The journey Exodus is not only a journey from slavery to freedom for the entire nation of Israel, but I want to suggest to you that it is something far greater, far more significant, and far more glorious. It is a journey from slavery to be the chosen people of the Almighty God, Exodus 6:7
I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.
It is a journey of transformation - not only to be the people of God, but also to be his treasured possession, in Exodus 19:5
5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine;
But this glorious inheritance is conditional on the obedience to God’s voice and the keeping of his covenant, most of which are recorded in the seconds half of the book of Exodus and the book of Leviticus.
Put it another way, Exodus is a journey of spiritual transformation of an entire nation, from one who did not know God to become the holy priesthood of the Almighty God. It is not just the opening of a prison door to set a bunch of slaves free; it is as much a spiritual as it is a physical journey that changes the entire nation from being slaves to free men and women to priests; from serving Pharaoh to being free then to being the servants of the Almighty God, from bond servanthood to the treasured possession of the Creator and Ruler of the entire universe.
And this transformation is supposed to take place at the foot of Mount Sinai. And what the nation of Israel is to be transformed into, is informed by the Ten Commandments and the Laws as written in the latter half of the book Exodus and Leviticus.
So, in a way the Laws in Leviticus tells us what it means to be the treasured people of God; and how to live as the treasured people of God; a nation of priests. The book of Leviticus is about the transformation into holy priesthood of the Most High God.
And what we will do this morning is an overview of the book of Leviticus; and focus on one or two major themes of Leviticus. I will try to finish all 27 chapters of Leviticus before the New Year 2027.
Context of Leviticus
Context of Leviticus
The book of Leviticus begins with these words, Leviticus 1:1
1 Then the Lord called to Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting, saying,
The opening word, “then” tells us that Leviticus is part of a greater work, a bigger book. In fact, the first 5 books of the Old Testament, the Pentateuch or the Torah, is believed to be a single big volume. The context of Leviticus, lies in the book prior, the book of Exodus.
The Presence of God
The Presence of God
One of the most important context to understand about Leviticus that is recorded in Exodus is the pervasive presence of God. We read from Exodus that when God led Israel out of Egypt, he went before them in a pillar of smoke during the day, and a cloud of fire during the night in Exodus 13:21
And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night.
And God would meet with Moses face to face at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, in Exodus 33:10-11
And when all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would rise up and worship, each at his tent door. Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses turned again into the camp, his assistant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.
And God’s presence is enshrined among the midst of the Israelites as his presence dwells on the Ark of the Covenant, in Exodus 29:43-45.
There I will meet with the people of Israel, and it shall be sanctified by my glory. I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar. Aaron also and his sons I will consecrate to serve me as priests. I will dwell among the people of Israel and will be their God.
And what is most significant is this promise, in Leviticus 26:12
And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people.
This is significant because God has not walked among his people since the Garden of Eden. The fact that God will once again walk among them means that the Israelites are restored to the presence of God, as man was in the Garden of Eden, and has never been since the Fall of Adam.
And not only did God dwelt among the Israelites and walked in their midst, God also gave them his Covenant and his Laws that would transform them to be wise and understanding, to show the rest of the world, who they are and who is their God. In a sense, the Israelites were to represent God to the rest of the world,
Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today?
Put in another way, the Israelites now dwell in God’s presence, and they represent God to the rest of the world; therefore, they must be holy; as nothing unholy or unclean may come into God’s presence and not be destroyed. And they are to demonstrate to the rest of the world God’s character - his holiness, his wisdom, his compassion - by their way of life.
Holiness of God
Holiness of God
And if we understand this, then the Laws and statutes in Leviticus make sense. The Israelites are living in the presence of the holy God; and as God’s people, they are to reflect his characters. Therefore, they must be clean and pure; as the entire nation is devoted to God; they are to be holy, just as God is holy. Three times the Israelites are called to be holy in the book of Leviticus, in Leviticus 11:44-45
For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. You shall not defile yourselves with any swarming thing that crawls on the ground. For I am the Lord who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.”
And Leviticus 19:2,
“Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.
And again in Leviticus 20:26
You shall be holy to me, for I the Lord am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine.
Holiness and Purity
Holiness and Purity
But what does it mean to be holy? What is holiness in Leviticus? To understand holiness in Leviticus, one needs to first understand cleanness or purity. Here cleanness does not mean sanitary cleanness, as in, it is not the opposite of dirtiness. Cleanness here is the opposite of impurity. The Hebrew Bible uses the same word which in English is translated to “clean” and “pure”; for example, pure gold is also called “clean gold”. “Cleanness” or purity reflects the basic property when most things, including human beings, were created by God, which is “good”, as in Genesis 1 and 2. To be “clean” or “pure” is first of all to be “complete”, “wholesome”, “normal”, in the “right order” and without blemish or defect. So the fish in the sea with scales and fins are clean; the animals that chew cuds and have cleft hooves are clean. This approximates our modern day concept of “normality”. And this is the ground state; the basic state of most things. Animals that deviate from “normality” are thought unclean or impure; sea creatures without fins and/or scales are unclean; animals that chew cud but do not have split hooves are “unclean”, “impure” or “not normal”. Things that are clean become unclean when they become abnormal; for example, because of diseases, injuries, birth defects, or moral failings.
That is why according to Leviticus, sin renders a person unclean, because when God created humans, He did not mean us to sin, rather to do good; and if someone sins, he has done something “abnormal”, something “not right”, something “not normal” as far as what he was created to do or be; and thus become impure or unclean. And this is regardless of whatever the sin is, or against whomever he has sinned, either against God or his fellow human being. Thus, to the author of Leviticus, reverence for our parents is the same as keeping God’s Sabbath, and these are spoken in the same breath, as in Leviticus 19:3
3 Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father, and you shall keep my Sabbaths: I am the Lord your God.
And cheating and defrauding our neighbours is as bad and as much a sin as swearing falsely in God’s name, which if we remember is the first of the Ten Commandments; as in Leviticus 19:11-12
11 “You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; you shall not lie to one another. 12 You shall not swear by my name falsely, and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord.
Let us take a moment to let this sink in. When we think about Laws, we are primarily concerned about whether the accused is innocent or guilty. Here, in Leviticus, the concern is rather about being “clean” or “pure” versus being “unclean” or “impure”. Put it another way, the “laws” here in Exodus and Leviticus tell us what define a person being “clear versus unclean” or “pure/impure” rather than being “guilty or innocent”. “Guilt/innocence” come into the picture only because anything unclean cannot come into the presence of God without incurring guilt and being destroyed.
One of the clearest example that the “laws” are about defining what is pure in heart rather that’s being innocent/guilty is in Leviticus 19:18
18 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.
Holding grudges and not loving our neighbours are not “laws” that can be enforced; but a call to reflect purity of our heart.
Things unclean can be made clean again by cleansing, usually through sacrifices made by the priests to God. Therefore, a man who sinned needs to make sacrifices to be made clean or pure again. The book of Leviticus starts with a list of sacrifices. And only things that clean can be made holy, by devoting, or setting it apart for God, like the priests and Levites. However, nothing unclean can be made holy; it must be made clean first. Clean things are holy once they are set apart for God; they belong to God, and they are to reflect God’s character.
There is one more important point to remember: We are called to cleanse ourselves from sins by offering sacrifices to God; it is not the offering or the sacrifices that cleanse us; and even though sacrifices are necessary for cleansing of sins, ultimately, it is God who cleanses us. The sacrifices and offerings are public expressions of our repentance, and once accepted by God, we are cleansed by God. The prophets made this very clear; merely making a sacrifice does not cleanse us if it is not followed by change in heart and behaviour; as in Jeremiah 7:9-10
9 Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, 10 and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’—only to go on doing all these abominations?
and Isaiah 58:3-5
3 ‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’ Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers. 4 Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high. 5 Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the Lord?
And even the Pharisees understood this when they asked, “who can forgive sin” (therefore cleanse the sinner) except God alone.” in Luke 5:21
21 And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
Purity in the New Testament
Purity in the New Testament
What about the New Testament; what does the New Testament say about purity and ceremonial cleanness?
Well, first of all, the New Testament authors are conscious of how important purity is as Jesus says only the pure in heart will see God, Matthew 5:8
8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
And to be “pure in heart” is to have a “good” heart, a heart that God sees and says “it was very good” as in Genesis 1:31
And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
It is to have a heart of love and grace and compassion; to have a heart that reflects God’s own heart as and when we were created in God’s image.
And we are called to cleanse or purify ourselves from every thing that defile the body and spirit in 2 Corinthians 7:1
1 Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.
The New Testament authors are more concerned about purity of heart than ceremonial purity, because as believers we are purify, cleansed by Jesus’ blood, in Hebrews 1:3
He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
And in 1 John 1:7
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
And Christ offers a better sacrifice than all the sacrifices offered by the priests, in Hebrews 10:11-14
And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
How then does the blood of Christ cleanse us? And just like what the prophets Jeremiah and Isaiah say, we are only cleansed and purify if there is a change of heart; if we confess our sins, 1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
And if we obey the truths in the Bible, 1 Peter 1:22
Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart,
And this purity of heart is manifested in good works, James 1:27
Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
God’s Grace
God’s Grace
What does Leviticus teach us about God’s character? Well, first and foremost, it teaches us God is gracious. God made the Covenant with the Israelites, called them to be His priests BEFORE He even tell them what it requires for them to be so. And He gives them sacrifices to redeem themselves knowing that they would fail to keep his Laws. The book of Numbers show how often and how badly Israel failed, and yet God remained faithful in bringing them into the Promised Land. Who say the Torah or the Old Testament is about Law and the New Testament, grace? The administration of grace may differ, but the Old Testament, the Laws, the Torah is as much about grace than the New Testament.
Summary
Summary
Let us summarise. Exodus is not only a physical journey from the bondage of Egypt to the Promised Land of milk and honey; it is as much a spiritual journey from slavery to royal priesthood; from serving Pharaoh to serving the Most High God. And central to this journey is to be transformed to be pure of heart. A purity that is found when man and woman were first created, a purity in the Garden of Eden before the fall of man, when God saw and said, “it is good.”
It is, to our hearts, a journey home to Eden.
And as we claim to believe in the priesthood of all believers, this transformation is all the more important to us. You see, being priests is not just about having the privileges of priesthood - to privilege to conduct certain ceremonies like communion and baptism and preaching. It is first and foremost about purity of our heart - a heart that is reflects God’s own heart in love, compassion, grace, kindness. It is as much about loving God as being able to conduct communion, it is about loving our neighbour as much as being able to preach the word.
Closing prayer
Closing prayer
Let us close with a word of prayer.
