In my current daily Bible reading program I am working my way through the Torah – the first five books of the Bible, written by Moses. I am halfway through the Book of Leviticus right now. In Leviticus Moses lays out in extremely careful detail the consecration rituals and requirements of Yahweh for Aaron and his sons (the priests called by God). God gave these instructions to Moses who then gives them to Aaron and then to all the people concerning the necessary preparations in order for them to be able to come near to the presence of God. The tabernacle had been completed, and at the end of the Book of Exodus it says that the cloud of God’s presence had descended on it – the cloud and the tabernacle shield the presence of God from human beings. After the cloud has settled on the tabernacle Moses tries to enter the tabernacle but cannot do so.
Exodus 40:35 (NIV) “Moses could not enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.”
The text doesn’t give any details as to how Moses was unable to enter in, but when we start reading the Book of Leviticus we begin to understand why. It was extremely dangerous to come into God’s presence unconsecrated, that is, in an unholy state. And so, Moses is taught by God (and then Moses teaches the people) about God’s exacting consecration requirements so that he and the people can come into God’s presence safely, or so that God can come near the people. These requirements and rituals were very, very serious – they were not religious rules for the sake of rules and ceremony, they were not some mere code of conduct for religious people to be nice. They were given for a far more important purpose than any of that. They were put in place because God wanted to be with His people as much and as often as possible – but without killing them.
Sound extreme? I guess to the first-time reader it would seem like that, because we don’t understand holiness. And the central issue in all of this is God’s holiness. His holiness. This is the major characteristic of God that even the most biblically literate believer, or theologian, can never fully understand for the simple reason that holiness is God’s eternal, permanent state, but it is not, and never has been, any human being’s natural state. We are born into a corrupt sinful world. We are tainted and stained by sin before we can even talk or walk and have never had any real experience of what it means to be holy. We need to be taught.
We need to learn to become holy, as God is holy, so that we are able to come near to Him, and He near to us, without any dangerous consequence. And so, these rituals for consecration requirements were about the kind of relationship with people that God is desiring. He wants intimacy with us, not a distant relationship. He wants us to see and feel His presence. This ongoing ritual consecration required great care, no compromise, no shortcuts - and they were costly. For us to be holy is no cheap exercise – just read Leviticus and you will soon see how much livestock (oxen, sheep, doves etc.) was required for burnt offerings, fellowship offerings and so on. The cost was staggering. But, in total, the cost came nowhere close to what it would eventually cost God when He presented His own Son as the sinless, perfect blood sacrifice for our sin. The insidious and all-pervasive effect of sin is incredibly powerful and enduring – it accumulates, and its effect is only ever dissipated through consecration and God’s sanctifying work in us.
So, Leviticus lays out not a whole lot of overblown religious rules that would make Israel distinctively different to every other nation. No. It wasn’t the rules, as such, but how the rules, or guardrails, shaped a nation into a holy people – in the midst of whom dwelled Yahweh, visibly. This was Israel’s original calling from the beginning when God made covenant with Abraham. Abraham would become a great nation who would be blessed in order for them to be a blessing to the whole world.
I guess, for me anyway, the requirements of the Levitical law could be summed up in one word – exactitude. Exactitude: the quality of being precise or accurate. Exactitude concerning God’s requirements would shape Israel into a holy nation – priests to the world. Holiness – the very “beingness” of God – is such a difficult thing to understand because we have no ability to properly contrast it with anything. Holiness is unique. It is in a category of its own. Yet, God calls us to be holy, as He is holy …
Leviticus 11:44b (NIV) “I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy.”
And this is not just for Israel. The apostle Peter reminds us that holiness is a requirement for proper relationship with God. God wants to be able to come near ALL His people.
1 Peter 1:16 (NIV) for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy."
At the end of Exodus, as I mentioned above, Moses could not go into the tent of meeting – the tabernacle – because the cloud of God’s presence had come down and filled it. Now Moses was certainly not ignorant of sin and its consequences. He had learned so much as he had walked with Yaweh. We are not told the exact reason for Moses’ inability to enter the newly consecrated tent of meeting but reading Leviticus we start to understand. Even the great Moses who walked and talked with God still had no complete idea about holiness … and had to learn of God’s holy requirements. The closer we come to God the more able we are to see and sense our own sinfulness. His glorious, holy presence shines a light on it. The apostle Peter – before he was a follower of Jesus – had this experience. Jesus asked to borrow his boat after an afternoon of preaching and teaching by Lake Galilee. More and more crowds had come and He needed a platform upon which to stand and continue. And so, Peter makes his boat available. After all that, Jesus sent the crowds away and then asks Peter to put out into the deep water to cast the nets. Peter protests that they’re tried all the previous night (when fishing was mostly done), yet he acquiesces and does as Jesus asks. Such a huge haul of fish is caught that Peter calls for help from other boats. It was an astonishing thing. Then this happens.
Luke 5:8 (NIV) When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus' knees and said, "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!"
God was standing on the deck of Peter’s boat. Peter suddenly becomes acutely aware of who Jesus is – and, at the same time, he becomes terribly aware of his own sinfulness. Jesus reassures him, however. Perhaps this, too, was Moses’ experience at the tabernacle. When the tabernacle was completed and consecrated, the visible cloud hiding God’s presence came down and covered it …
Exodus 40:34 (NIV) “Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.”
What is not really conveyed in the English translation is the immediacy of God’s response. The sense in the ancient text is that once consecrated and properly prepared for God, His presence rushed into that consecrated place and filled every part of it. It’s as if God couldn’t wait to fill that consecrated place and be with His people. He had been waiting for this moment for so long. And this is our experience, too, when we carefully consecrate ourselves – God can’t wait to come near and, by His Spirit, fill every consecrated part of us where sin has been purged. And that’s the thing: ensuring we live consecrated lives.
1 Corinthians 6:19 (NIV) “Do you not know that your bodies are temples [tabernacles, tents of meeting] of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?”
Ps Milton