​If the Tabernacle represents both the nearness of God to his people and his separateness, the sacrificial and priestly system which surrounds it represents how these two can go together, especially among a people who are prone to sin continually (Israel itself representing the fallen human race). The sacrifices represents God’s own provision for dealing with the sin and its corresponding pollution among Israel, so that they may be “holy” as God “is holy,” bringing us to a further understanding of Israel’s vocation. What is holiness, how is Israel’s cultic symbolism meant to convey this, and how does this help us more fuller understand the meaning of “atonement”?

Key Text: [Leviticus 1-7 and] Leviticus 16

Office Texts: Psalm 50, Leviticus 16, Hebrews 9:11-28

What is the Tabernacle? How did in function within Israel, and what is its place in salvation history? These are the questions we will address in this lesson. We will find that the Tabernacle represents the paradox of the human condition in a fallen state: God’s wants to dwell with us, be we cannot approach his holy presence as sinners without being consumed by it. The Tabernacle is intentionally designed to reinforce this paradox, and provide for means of grace to overcome it, albeit with significant limitations. Its place as the locus of God’s presence on earth points to Christ, who in his human body makes humanity as a whole, and by extension the earth they are mandated from creation to fill, the dwelling place of God.

Key Text(s): Exodus 35:30-38:20; and Exodus 40
Office Texts: Psalm 15 and 24, Exodus 40, Hebrews 9:1-10

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An artist's rendering of the camp of Israel around the Tabernacle

A chart of Israel's layout according to Numbers 2:1-3:39

​On Wednesday nights throughout the next nine months, we will be walking our way through the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, learning the story of salvation, especially how everything points to and is fulfilled by Jesus.

In this lesson we focus on what happens to Israel immediately after they leave Egypt: they fall into idolatry. In this, Israel begins to clarify for herself and us what her role in redemptive history is, to be the distinct locus of God’s self-revelation of himself to fallen and ignorant man, by which her own fallen waywardness is revealed as the condition of all men before a holy God. By Israel’s example, mankind’s basic inclination toward idolatry will be explored. Yet God chooses her to be the conduit through which the promised “seed” of Eve, by which he will destroy sin and death, will come. 

Key Text(s): Exodus 32-34
Office Texts: Psalm 106, Exodus 32, 1 Corinthians 10:1-22

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The major focus of this lesson is on how the Exodus of Israel from Egypt recapitulates major elements of the creation story, and how the biblical narrative explicitly identifies Israel’s redemption as an act of new creation every bit as miraculous as the first creation. All of this makes it abundantly clear that God, and God alone, is the author and finisher of redemption just as much as he is of creation. The only difference is symbolized by the Passover, a poignant symbol that a substitutionary sacrifice is now needed to spare God’s people from the fate common to all: death. This concrete historical action forms the grounds of Israel’s national identity as a nation set apart by God to be the locus of his saving activity for the human race, the fulfillment of his promise to Abraham to bless the nations through him.
 
Key Text(s): Exodus 11-14
Office Texts: Psalm 77; Exodus 12:1-42; Mark 14:10-25

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