Sunday: Relationships
“And I will set my tabernacle among you: and my soul shall not abhor you. And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people” (Leviticus 26:11-12).
One point should be clear by now: whether in the old covenant, or new covenant, the Lord seeks a close, loving relationship with His people. In fact, the covenants basically help form (for lack of a better word) the “rules” for that relationship.
Image © Lars Justinen Goodsalt.com
Relationship is crucial to the covenant, in whatever time or context. Yet for a relationship to exist, there needs to be interaction, communication, and contact, particularly for sinful, fallible, doubting humans. The Lord, of course, knowing this, took the initiative to be sure that He would manifest Himself to us in ways so that we — within the confines of fallen humanity — could relate to Him in a meaningful way.
Read Exodus 25:8, the Lord’s command to Israel to build a sanctuary. What reasons does the Lord give for wanting them to do this?
The answer to this question, of course, brings up another question, and that is Why? Why does the Lord want to dwell the in the midst of His people?
The truth, perhaps, could be found in the two verses for today, listed above. Notice, the Lord will “tabernacle” (or “dwell”) among them; He then says that He will not “abhor” them. He then says that He will “walk” among them and will be their God, and they will be His people (Leviticus 26:11-12). Look at the elements found in these texts. Again, the relational aspect comes through very clearly.
Take a few minutes: analyze Leviticus 26:11-12 and Exodus 25:8. Write down how the various elements all fit in with the notion that the Lord seeks a relationship with His people.
| Focus specifically on the words “my soul shall not abhor you.” What is it about the sanctuary itself that provides the means by which fallen, sinful people can be accepted by the Lord, and why is that so important for the process of forming a covenant? |
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I have told the story before of how Carmel and I were in different countries throughout most of our period of engagement. I can still remember the enormous sense of loss I had when I heard the news that her first teaching appointment was to be in New Zealand, while I had to remain in Australia to complete my science degree. We had only recently become engaged and in fact had not even announced it to the rest of the family. And in those days it wasn't as though you could just hope across the ditch (that is the colloquial name we give to the Tasman Sea that separates Australian and New Zealand) It cost an arm and a leg! and back in those days, even a phone call was something you had to budget for and usually book ahead. There was no direct dialing in those days. How do you maintain a special relationship with a person you cannot see for a whole year? It wasn't easy and I well remember Carmel ringing me unexpectedly (her only phone call to me during the whole year) asking me if I still loved her. Of course, I reassured her and it was just as well because another man, who was a friend to both of us had just proposed to her.
We both became good letter-writers during that period of separation. Letter writing was even more important than study and every week I would sit down and write a couple of pages about what I had been up to and likewise Carmel would write to me about what she was doing. It worked. Our relationship survived. Carmel arrived back in Australia at the end of the year and we were married 8 days later!
The covenants: God wants a relationship with us. In some cases he has had a physical presence as in the exodus period, and at other times his presence has been through prophets and apostles. His letter writing (the Bible) is a communication constructed over several thousand years. Our communication back to him has sometimes been somewhat disjointed. What God really wants is the sort of heart relationship that affects everything we do. Here the parallel between my engagement experience and God's relationship with us is illustrative. Carmel and I loved one another before we were separated by circumstances. That love sustained us. It is why we spent time each week writing to one another - keeping the love alive. God wants that sort of relationship with us.
Listen to how Paul describes it:
I love that description of a spiritual relationship.
What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?..... 1 Cor 6:19-20
Relationships
The sanctuary/tabernacle of old was a structure made of man-made material. Today, the sanctuary is our bodies. Christ wants to live and dwell in and among us. He is seeking a relationship with us. He said he is our Savior, Creator, Companion, Father, Husband, Best Friend etc. Are we responding to him by saying yes that is who you are to me. I love you also with all my heart but I tend to go contrary to your will many times. Please bring me back to you and bind my heart to you. There is no stronger love story in the bible dealing with human relationships as portrait in Hosea and his wife. The two 'Ps' in a 'Pod', Hosea and his harlot wife. Yet the Lord promised to heal the Israelites backsliding and he will love us freely. Hosea 14:4. Oh what love is this!! what love is this!!
John 3:16-17.
What really is covenant? Is it merely the 'thing' that forms the 'rules' of relationship? Or is it SO much more/deeper?
From a whole-of-Bible perspective, covenant is is a way of being rather than merely a way of doing according to the rules. Let me unpack what I mean...
God is Three-in-One: three 'persons' that enjoy such harmonious connection that there is perfect 'oneness' - unity. And that unity comes at no loss of freedom or individuality.
God is 'love' - pure omni-beneficence. This kind of love is 'compelled' to express itself in the benefiting any and all others to such a degree that without being able to do this, it would literally die of a broken heart.
Ellen White proposes that this beneficence is the core of God's heart - and is parallel to what Jesus was offering the woman at the well: a spring of water welling up within and bubbling over to eternal life.
If we catch what all of the above actually means, beneficence is at the very core of (abundant) life - because it is the very core of life.
The true concept of covenant - so central to and pervasive throughout scripture from beginning to end - has unfortunately been missed because covenant is too often seen as a legally binding agreement. Ty Gibson, in his book "The Sonship of Christ: Exploring the Covenant Identity of God and Man" begins to lift the lid on what the Biblical experience of Covenant really is about. In the chapter entitled "Covenant Identity", Ty begins to unpack what 'covenant' truly is: living for the benefit of all others as opposed to living for the benefit of self at the expense of others. Covenant is a way of life and living - though in actuality it is the only viable way of life and living.
As Ty states "everything wrong in the world is due to broken covenant - which is to say that everything wrong in the world is due to broken relationship, or violated love (beneficence)... All God wants (soul-desires) for the world is covenant faithfulness to be restored as our fundamental mode of existing (truly living). God only desires that each one would care for the wellbeing of all other ones." (bracketed words mine)
When we begin to enter the much deeper awareness/experience of 'covenant' as "dynamic relational flow" arising from the "relational integrity" (Ty Gibson) of beneficence, we begin to understand why God seeks to dwell amongst, in the midst (that is to say, at the very core) of humanity and of each human. For unless God is within our very core (see John 17:20,21), covenant/beneficent-life and living is not possible (see Genesis 6:5).
With brief mention of the notion of God's soul 'not abhorring', this refers to God's soul not wanting to again 'co-experience' the 'gut-wrenching' distress that results when humans use the gift of life to abuse, exploit, harm and destroy others - and themselves also in the process (the 'deeply grieved' described in Genesis 6:6). Unfortunately while God does experience this all too frequently, it is understandable that God's deepest soul-desire/longing is to experience 'covenant' with his created children rather than the heart-break of 'broken covenant'.
I would invite you to begin to explore and reflect upon covenant at the deeply experiential level that it actually is - deepest-core, soul-desire to live in love with God, with all fellow humans and with the material world we were created to be stewards of. This is what we were created for - and what we are being invited to be re-created back to once again: the 'mind-blowing' concept of actually co-sharing in the abundant life quality that God experiences (Greek zoe: John 10:10).
I believe Jesus made the covenant very simple and clear in His teaching. For the sinner, the path is plainly revealed: "Let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow(imitate) Me." In another place He said "Repent ye, and believe the Gospel". The covenant law shows us what we need to repent of, and defines how belief will be expressed by the new life.
Loving God is the simple act of placing Him FIRST in every consideration. Nothing sentimental about it, but rather a practical choice made easy when we see the goodness of God which leads to repentance and faith(Rom 2:4). Yet it is not so much complicated as it is undesirable for most sinners, who's pride and selfishness seems too precious to surrender. It is this personal cost that makes most turn away sorrowful(Mark 10:22). Love of self too easily inspires unbelief, and if we don't know the Lord, is impossible to overcome. This is why Jesus said that knowing God was eternal life.
Often in the corporate world the leaders will get the people together and ask them to create a vision and mission for the company. The vision is what they want to achieve and the mission is how they will go about to reach that goal.
I believe the vision of the Everlasting Covenant of the LORD is:
I will be your God,
you will be My people,
and I will dwell among you.
To work out a corporate mission one needs to do a S.W.O.T. analysis -
Strengths
Weakness
Opportunities
Threats
Is Leviticus 26 doing a SWOT analysis on the Everlasting Covenant as revealed from My Sinai? I believe it is.
Strengths - the LORD is promising to multiply the people, protect them and make the land fruitful
Weaknesses - the people must agree to live according to His Principles of Life -use His disc operating system/software not the oppositions' system
Opportunities - the LORD will change/circumise/train their hearts and minds and thus their actions and has provided a way to rectify/forgive errors in the process
Threats - if the people reject or despise His Principles then they are breaking the Covenant and will lose the provisions promised.
But the Good News is that if they acknowledge their error in abhorring His Principles then the LORD is willing to re-boot and re-start the Covenant relationship again.
Hi Shirley,
I love your comparisons and SWOT analysis. I am taking Marketing right now and so I could relate to that as never before. Thanks, Tammy
We are aware that Moses had no budget to provide for the extravagant material requested to build the tabernacle.
In Exodus 25:2 God told Moses:
„ Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering; of every man that giveth willingly with his heart ye shall take my offering.“
And actually they did offer their best whether it was gold, wood or animal hairs.
In Prophets and Kings E. White states:
Devotion to God and a spirit of sacrifice were the first requisites in preparing a dwelling place for the Most High“.
Consequently God says: My soul shall not abhor you, or as the NC Version translates: I will not turn away from you“, which reminds me of Hebrews 13:5
„ I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee“.
Amina- looking at the building of the temple/tabernacle, the Lord told Moses exactly to the last minute detail about how it should be done. How large; the length, the breath, the height. Many today are getting together in small committees and making plans for the entire congregation and building large edifice. Church building in our day cant be compared to the time of Moses. He had no mortgage or rent to pay. Have they consulted the Lord before coming up with a size and style for a congregation or are we just want the building to be looking 'good' in the community because as they say, the Lord house should be looking the best in the community. In so doing, we place heavy burdens on the members to keep bringing and bringing to support the buildings. Some congregations are so expensive to maintain, the members choose to rent out the building on Sunday for Sunday worship. Well, with the Covid19 and many had to stay away from the building and congregate on zoom at home, who were the looser, who gained? How was the rent paid for the large empty edifices?
Did we remember the days of Solomon when he built all those places even for so many wives to go to worship their foreign gods, as a result, he taxed the people more and more. Was the Lord pleased? Are we doing this today? Are we asking the people to bring more and more to support the church in the name of love and devotion? What is a church without people?
Speaking for myself, I need a true transformation for this relationship to move on. I need a heart of flesh, a mind that is completely focus on the love of Christ for me! He has been such a great Father, and I have no idea how come He still has patience with me! I can only say that He is wonderful, to Him all glory, all might and power! I've been a rebel while God continues to offer me forgiveness! Thank God for His mercy! Thank God for my life! May my life be all given to Jesus Who has been able to give me more than I can ever deserve!
What I do not understand is why last weeks lesson and this week does NOT deal with Ezekiel 36:16-37. It gives the background and reason for the New Covenant.
They, His people brought shame upon the God they CLAIMED to serve no matter where they were! God had to vindicate HIS name because of HIS people! Has anything changed?
PP 45.3 "As man came forth from the hands of his Creator, he was of lofty stature and perfect symmetry. They were sinless. So long as they lived in obedience to God, they had the robe of light that continued to enshround them..."
DA 161 " From eternal ages it was God's purpose that every created being , from the bright and holy seraph to man should be a temple for the indwelling of the Creator. Because of sin, humanity ceased to be a temple for God. Darkened and defiled by evil, the heart of man no longer revealed the glory of the Devine One...God dwells in humanity, and through saving grace the heart of man becomes again his temple. " The Jews did not understand the significance of the temple/ sanctuary/ building. They regarded with pride. Their soul temple or the temple of their heart were truly defiled by unholy thoughts and it was impossible for God to dwell in them. Take note. Dwell in them and dwell among them. The temple was to be sacred. 1Cor 3:16,16. "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy: for the temple is holy, which temple ye are". That is one of the conditions of relationships. We are not to defile so that God should live in us. How do we defile these temples? Misusing our bodies, eating unhealthy foods, watching bad movies, pricking these temples, putting tatoos on the temple, painting the temple, etc. Will God live I those temples? No. Ed 125. " The central theme of the Bible, the theme about which every other book clusters is the redemption plan. The restoration in the human soul of the image of God. From the first intimation of hope in the sentence pronounced in Eden Gen 3:15 to that last glorious promise of the Revelation, They shall see His face; and His name shall be in their foreheads Rev 22:4. "God want to have His name in our foreheads. It's our choice. Rev 3:20. Christ wants to dwell in us, the hope of glory. That's the relationship which should be developed or restored before probation closes for us.
Both the gospel and the covenant are eternal. are they the same? or just different aspects of the fact that Christ wants a renewal of a relationship torn apart by sin?
Good observation Reynaldo.
True life is abundant life (John 10:10). And abundant life is life based on the foundational principle of beneficence (self-giving love to others). And the principle of self-giving is inherently perpetual in nature. Thus it is eternal.
From Revelation’s perspective, the eternal gospel is (a) the truth that beneficence is the only viable way of life and living - that contrary to The Serpent’s false insinuation, God was not holding humanity back from some other ‘more superior’ form of life. And (b) the eternal gospel is that the self-giving Lamb that was slain has paved the way for any and all humans who want to be restored back to covenant (via rebirth from self-seeking to a new heart and right Spirit of beneficence: John 3:3-6; Psalm 51:10).
So, yes, covenant and the eternal gospel are referring to the same thing - eternal abundant life founded on beneficence.
- I will set my tabernacle among you
- My soul will not abhor yours
- I will walk among you
- I will be your God
- I will make you my people
- I will dwell with you
Through the sanctuary God gives us a divine makeover, He cleanses us from all unrighteousness and lives within our hearts, in close relationship with us. How much closer can someone get than living within us? I think of the relationship between a mother an child. Women experience another being living and growing within them, and what connection does this give a mother with her children? A lifelong, loving connection that tugs at the mother's heartstrings. The Savior wants this intimate of a relationship with us. The sanctuary enables us to have this intimate relationship with Him and for Him to be able to dwell with us without condemnation or abhorrence of the sin that consumes us without Him in our lives. This enables us to enter into a covenant relationship with Him. Indeed the covenant is in the very heart, the deepest recesses of the sanctuary. This is a sacred, Holy relationship with a deep, abiding presence in our lives. We are covered by the blood of Jesus.
God's desire to dwell among men can only lead us to conclude that He will help us to gain the victory over sin, since God cannot dwell with sin. The sanctuary teaches us how to be “cleansed from all unrighteousness”.
If we understand the sanctuary as it is meant to be understood, we will realize that God is showing us the way to holiness, for without holiness, we cannot see the Lord(Heb 12:14) and live.
God created all things for His delight. Forming mankind in His image and being called His sons and daughters, while calling Himself our Father, demonstrates we were made for fellowship with God, until sin ruined the possibility of relating to a Holy God face to face. He has made a way for man to become holy again through Christ, both justified and sanctified by His grace through exercising faith.
The sanctuary demonstrates the means by which sinners become holy: by grace through faith.