Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Introduction

Growing up one thing I would do with my Dad consistently is go to Georgia Football games.

It is about a 3 hour drive to Athens from here and the car ride gave us a chance to talk a lot.

A lot of times he would talk about his childhood and I felt like every time he shared about it I would learn something different about my Dad, see him in a new light.

I appreciated Him more, could be more sympathetic as to why he did stuff.

He never personally made the connections between how things were and who is was.

But I did.

His history which at one point was a curiosity became greater understanding.

Today, because of that, I understand who my Dad is, and as he cares to reveal or continue talking about his life before I knew him I continue to understand him more and more.

OT Related to NT

The OT is like this for us, in that we have heard some of it.

There is a God we have been introduced to and we have come to know to a certain extent and there are these stories and things that are available to us from before Christ, but what is different about most of us in here from what I experienced from my Dad is that you have not made the connection about how the past informs our present and our future with God.

Progressive Revelation

(Make Drawing to help with explanation)

The Bible is what we call progressively revealed.

When man chose death in the garden, he pronounced as well that God would do something about it.

At the appointed time, God sent His son into the world, as He planned

Jesus would be revealed and be our atoning sacrifice at the time that God decided in His wisdom

We needed to be ready to understand all that Christ would do and mean

God said what he would do at the beginning and then he shared throughout how this all would unfold

The NT is the outworking of Christ’s life and sacrifice under the New Covenant, the OT is the history of Covenant God made with His people.

To “really understand” the NC we need to have a better grasp of the OC.

1 Cor.

0:11

All scripture is preserved for the purpose of our understanding

Understanding what God is seeking to teach us has a reversal affect

The scripture spoken of in the NT is mostly the OT

Why we are studying Leviticus, specifically is because it is the lynch pin of the Bible - without it we don’t understand God’s purpose in living life with us

Leviticus is the lynch pin of the Bible - without it we don’t understand God’s purpose in living life with us

Why we are studying Leviticus is because it is the lynch pin of the Bible - without it we don’t understand God’s purpose in living life with us

R. K. Harrison refers to Leviticus as the "seed-bed of NT theology, for in this book is to be found the basis of Christian faith and doctrine"

Temple as Garden

Temple as Garden

Definition of a Temple

A temple in the ancient world was where people went to pray, bring offerings, and participate in rituals for a local or regional deity.

We have seen many examples of this in the pictures we have seen of Roman temples.

But temples was also thought of as where gods dwelled.

And this is the idea that I want to connect with you.

In Rome you could “meet” with or “worship” Artimis, Zeus or Minerva in the temple built for them.

It was a connecting place a home for the god if you will.

The temple structure, its furnishings and its utensils where determined by the god who was to be worshipped there, what they represented and their relationship with people.

Life With God

*Picture of Temple Utensils*

Life With God

So last week we looked at picture of the sanctuary erected at Mt. Sinai with the nation camped around the sanctuary, and talked about how they came to be living around it…And you were like “Great, Rob thanks for showing us a building and some people living around it.”

What does this have to do with Life with God.

God’s original intention for the earth was for it to be a home where he could co-exist with people.

How do we know this: 2 places - and

The original scenario was holy because it was bereft of sin and death.

Man was to protect the sanctity of the garden and extend it.

So that the whole earth would become a dwelling for God and man.

**Hence the idea of Making Garden that we have emblazoned on a sticker.

The vision that we just saw in Revelation is this idea reconstituted.

The “new” is necessary because the old was corrupted.the

garden God’s made a people to live with.

The original scenario was holy was because it was bereft of sin and death.

Man was to protect the sanctity of the garden and extend it.

So that the whole earth would become a dwelling for God and man.

**Hence the idea of Making Garden that we have emblazened on a sticker.

the garden God’s made a people to live with.

We see in that we are fearful to be in his presence when we have sinned and are therefore unholy.

God’s presence requires holiness

God’s presence requires holiness

v.23-24 show that because of sin and death we are excluded from God’s presence in the way that we were meant to experience it.

God is still available, interested and involved (as we see in the Cain and Abel narrative) but we no longer enjoy the communion and closeness that was intended.

Sin removes us from God’s presence

Sin removes us from God’s presence

So here is the connection between the sanctuary or temple and life with God.

God wanted to “fix” what was broken.

God redeemed Israel from bondage in Egypt.

Think of this as Jesus’ sacrifice.

The first born was killed to set Israel free.

God did what only he could do.

Israel placed their faith in God.

They covenanted with Him at Sinai

God dwelled with them, for the purpose of renewal, reversal.

The Holy Spirit in-dwells us for renewal and reversal.

This third (3) part is the connection - it is about restoring God’s presence with His people, and because man has not lived in His presence since the Garden, they must be re-instructed and retaught.

We also must be retaught.

We are those who have not lived in God’s presence previously before coming to faith.

We have much to learn.

When God called Abraham, to bless the world through His off-spring, God multiplied Issac, and Jacob into a people that would become the nation Israel.

In the garden God’s made a people to live with.

God in Israel has made a people to live with.

The Temple was a physical manifestation of the home he wished to live in with them.

This particular vision of life with God is tough for us to conceive of consistently because we functionally treat God like a cat.

We do this by trying to fit Him into our lives... this conception is a mistake!

He is God.

We fit into His life.

Our lives are bound up with His.

This very specific picture of God’s presence existing with men again of Israel hopefully helps us put away that bad idea, by making God much bigger and the stakes much higher.

is life.

Our lives are bound up with His.

God did not set his house in the middle of where they already were.

As if they needed to make room for Him.

He set His presence and they live around Him.

He is the more important party in their lives.

He is the most important party in ours.

Their lives and our lives revolve around Him.

In fact we are not to miss that they would not have life, nor would we without Him making this people specifically for himself.