In God’s Presence

Four priests entered the holy place, two of them carrying the piles of bread, and two of them the cups of incense. Four priests had gone in before them, two to take off the two old piles of showbread, and two to take off the cups of incense. Those who brought in the new bread stood at the north side facing southward, those who took away the old bread, at the south side, facing northward. One part lifted off and the other put on, the hands of one being over against the hands of the other. . . . The loaves that were removed were delivered to the priests for their consumption within the Tabernacle. (cited in Levy, The Tabernacle, 48)

The priests then ate the bread in the tabernacle area.

When we looked at the fellowship offering in Leviticus 3 we pointed out that eating a meal in the tabernacle area was eating in the presence of God. Moreover, eating with someone signifies fellowship, friendship. People ate portions of the fellowship offering to symbolize that they were at peace with God. The priests ate the bread of the Presence for the same reason. They were enacting their fellowship with God. There were 12 loaves, just like there were 12 tribes of Israel. God invited all His people to fellowship with Him. When the priests ate 12 loaves of bread in the presence of God, they were enacting the relationship between God and His people, the fellowship God intended to have with His people.

Just as God called Israel into a covenant relationship with Him, He has called us into a covenant relationship with Him in Jesus. First Corinthians 1:9 says, “God is faithful; you were called by Him into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ.” Hebrews 4 calls Jesus our “great high priest” (v. 14), and it says that since Jesus is our high priest, “Let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us at the proper time” (v. 16). Through Jesus we draw near to God, and in God’s presence we “receive mercy and find grace.” We fellowship with God intimately. We live every part of our lives in His presence—our schoolwork, our meals, our free time and recreation, our jobs, our relationships, and our worship. Every part of our lives relates to God; we are always in His presence.

Honestly, how is your fellowship with God? Maybe some readers of this book are reconciled to God in Christ but their fellowship with God is limited or non-existent. They do not feel close to God anymore, if they ever felt close to Him. Are we walking with Him and talking with Him through every part of every day? Are we close to Him? Is our sin confessed, and have we asked Him to forgive so that we are clean in His presence? Are our hearts warmed when we read His Word? Do we enjoy times of prayer? If our fellowship with God is intimate, we can answer all those questions with a confident “Yes.” If our fellowship with God is not intimate, it can be. Amazingly, the almighty, holy God of the universe wants us to fellowship intimately with Him. Why not go into His presence now? We can meet with God at any time, wherever we are. God created us to enjoy intimate fellowship with Him.

We Relate to God Reverently

Leviticus 24:10-16 tells the story of a man who “blasphemed the Name” of God. He got in a fight, and in the course of the fight he blasphemed God’s name and “cursed” (v. 11). The crime of the man was not merely using God’s name in a curse; it was cursing God, saying something blasphemous about God or to God. The people “put him in custody” (v. 12). God had commanded His people not to take His name in vain, but He had not given a penalty for that sin. Therefore, after the people put the man in custody, they waited to see what God would say. God told Moses that the penalty was death, and the chapter ends with the people stoning the guilty man.

The tenth chapter of Leviticus records that God put two sons of Aaron to death for rebelling against God and offering a sacrifice that was against His will. The death penalty in Leviticus 24 is for the same crime—failing to treat God as holy. In announcing His punishment in both cases, God also related both deaths to the entire congregation. God judged these cases of blasphemy seriously not only because they were personal sins, but also because they had public effect. He put the men to death so that all the people would learn not to blaspheme Him.

When we read such a story about God sentencing someone to death for treating His name lightly, those of us who know and love God are confronted with our need for balance in the way we think about God and relate to God. Theologians refer to this as the balance between God’s immanence and His transcendence. In the last section we considered God’s desire for intimate fellowship with us, represented by His invitation to eat a meal in His presence. In God’s Word, God calls us to intimate fellowship with Him. He says that He loves us, and He wants us to love Him. He tells us to talk to Him without ceasing. He is the loving Shepherd who carries the sheep in His arms, the loving heavenly Father who welcomes us home, and He calls the church His bride. All these biblical truths direct us to intimate fellowship with God.

On the other hand, passages like Leviticus 24 remind us that the intimacy is not with a mere mortal man, but with the all-powerful Lord of Hosts, Creator of the universe! We must always observe that distinction. God’s holiness, His otherness, is beyond our ability to conceive. His glory, majesty, and mystery are inscrutable. God tells us repeatedly in His Word to fear Him. Hebrews 10:31 says, “It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God!” His judgment of sin is real, and we are sinners. His power and knowledge are unlimited and perfect. We are not perfect, and we have never done anything perfectly except sin. To treat God as if He is one of us, as if we can fellowship with Him in the same way we fellowship with people, is blasphemy of His great name. It is wicked. God ordered a man to be put to death for blaspheming His holy name.

Some people are surprised by the severity of God’s judgment of the man who blasphemed. On the contrary, I am surprised by the extent of God’s mercy. We are surrounded by blasphemers. At work, at school, and in the media we regularly hear people scoff at the truth of God’s Word, mock God’s people, and publicly deny God’s existence. Yet God allows them to live another day, and another, and another. He mercifully gives them many opportunities to turn to Him in faith. The apostle Paul referred to such mercy as God’s “extraordinary patience” (1 Tim 1:16). Peter wrote that God shows such patience because He does not want anyone to perish in His judgment. Instead, God wants “all to come to repentance” (2 Pet 3:9).

Who knows how many opportunities He gave to the man described in Leviticus 24? Also, God’s judgment of him was an act of mercy to everyone in the man’s life, so that they would not learn to blaspheme from him and go into an eternity of suffering and separation from God. In eternity God will be treated as holy; He will be worshiped as God. We relate to God reverently.

We Respond to People Graciously

Verses 17-23 describe what Bible students refer to as lex talionis—the law of retaliation. We know it as “an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.” The law of lex talionis was never a license for God’s people to be vengeful when people hurt us. First, God did not give the authority of retaliation to individuals but to all His people, the nation of Israel. The New Testament teaches the same truth—punishing lawbreakers is the role of the government, not individuals (e.g., Rom 13:1-7). Second, in the cultures surrounding Israel, “vicious revenge was the general rule” (Cochran and VanDrunen, Law and the Bible, 21–22). Laws like those in Leviticus 24 limited punishment and fitted punishment exactly to the crime. If someone injured another person, the guilty party was not put to death; he was made to suffer in some way that was equivalent.

In Matthew 5 Jesus quoted this law:

You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I tell you, don’t resist an evildoer. On the contrary, if anyone slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. As for the one who wants to sue you and take away your shirt, let him have your coat as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two. (vv. 38-41)

When Jesus said those words He made it clear that the right of retaliation does not belong to individuals. Whatever the government may do in response to wrongdoing, individual followers of Jesus don’t take revenge. We turn the other cheek. Jesus responded to people that way when He was arrested, tried unjustly, and treated brutally. Jesus did not retaliate. Neither should we.

Paul was writing to individual believers and to the church, not to the government, when he wrote Romans 12:17-21.

Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Try to do what is honorable in everyone’s eyes. If possible, on your part, live at peace with everyone. Friends, do not avenge yourselves; instead, leave room for His wrath. For it is written: Vengeance belongs to Me; I will repay, says the Lord. But if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. For in so doing you will be heaping fiery coals on his head. Do not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good.

Retaliation, or punishment for wrongdoing, is the purview of the government. As followers of Jesus, we respond to people graciously.

Christ Fulfills the Tabernacle Perfectly

In Matthew 5:17 Jesus said, “Don’t assume that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.” Jesus fulfills every part of the Law and the Prophets. In the old covenant period God gave the tabernacle and later the temple in Jerusalem to communicate His presence to His people. In the new covenant period God has given us Himself in Jesus to communicate His presence. John 1:14 says Jesus “became flesh and took up residence among us.” Jesus fulfills the tabernacle.

Jesus Is Our Light

The tabernacle had light by means of the menorah. The light from that lampstand was in the tabernacle, the place that represented the presence of God. It must have reminded God’s people of how God had led them through the wilderness by means of a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. By the earthly lifetime of Jesus, the Jews would light a large menorah and carry it in a procession through Jerusalem during the Festival of Booths to commemorate how God led them through the wilderness. The Gospel of John records that Jesus was in Jerusalem during the Festival of Booths. During that festival, Jesus said to them, “I am the light of the world. Anyone who follows Me will never walk in the darkness but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). We no longer light lamps to remember God’s presence or leadership. Jesus is our light.

Jesus Is Our Bread

In the tabernacle the bread on the table in the holy place represented having fellowship with God, symbolically sharing a meal with Him. In the sixth chapter of John Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. . . . No one who comes to Me will ever be hungry” (v. 35). Jesus also said we have to eat His flesh, take Him into our lives, if we want to have Him and His life in us (vv. 51-58). Jesus has given us a symbol of that in the Lord’s Supper. When we eat the bread and drink the cup we symbolize taking Him into our lives. The Lord’s Supper, like the bread of the Presence, is a symbol. The reality is fellowship with God through Jesus. The meal is the physical shadow; fellowship with God is the spiritual substance (Col 2:16-17; Heb 8:1-6). Jesus is the perfect fulfillment of the tabernacle. He is the perfect, final, once-for-all sacrifice for sin. He is our high priest forever. May we live in constant fellowship with Him.

Reflect and Discuss