The Gift of God's Presence (Leviticus 26:12-13)

Children's Lesson (click here)

I. A Serious Epidemic

In the Spring of 2023, the Surgeon General of the United States released an advisory report detailing an epidemic affecting 1 out every... 2 adults in the U.S., with young adults being the most affected group. Research indicates that this epidemic increases the risk of premature death by nearly 30%, along with a greater risk of stroke and heart disease. The condition driving this epidemic also elevates a person's likelihood for experiencing depression, anxiety and dementia. What exactly was this report addressing? An epidemic of loneliness.

As researchers and clinicians grapple with the mental and physical effects of loneliness, we, above all people, should also be thinking about this issue from a spiritual perspective. Listen to how one Christian writer (Lydia Brownback) addresses this topic:

“...we can’t escape the fact that it was God himself who made Adam and then put him in the garden all alone. Sin hadn’t even entered the world yet. In other words, Adam’s initial aloneness was God’s doing, and God did it in order to solve the aloneness by providing Adam with companionship. God went on to provide a wife for Adam; however, [and this is where the writer begins to quote from Elizabeth Elliot] 'he [God] never designed marriage to fulfill the incompleteness or eradicate the aloneness. Rather, it more fully reveals our need for our ultimate destiny—to be in union with him.'”

Let's explore how God's word speaks to that amazing idea by looking together at Leviticus 26. Now, like some of Jesus' detractors, you might be saying to yourself, “Can anything good come from Leviticus?” The answer is a resounding “yes”! As strange and tedious as it can be at first glance (or second, or third glance), Leviticus was God's classroom to teach the Israelites the fundamentals of sin, sacrifice, and sanctification (i.e., living a 'set-apart' kind of life). And, though some doubt the idea, it can be instructive and encouraging for us as well. So...

II. The Passage: “I Will Walk Among You” (26:12-13)

Let's put that statement to the test by reading together from Leviticus 26:12–13. Through Moses, this is what God tells the people of Israel about 1500 years before the time of Jesus...

And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people. [13] I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves. And I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect [or upright].

Now to understand the significance of verse 12, focus on that word “walk”. Do you remember the only time before Leviticus that it describes God walking? Yes, it was in Genesis 3:8, where we read that the first man and woman “heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day”. But we also read in that verse that “the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.” In light of that, think about the significance of Leviticus 26:12. God has promised the people of Abraham that he will once again “walk among” them. You probably know that not long after our first parents hid from God's presence in the garden, they were expelled from that garden... and his presence in that way.

So Leviticus 26:12 is an incredible development; an incredible step back toward Eden. Now notice what the rest of verse 12, along with verse 13, tell us about God's purpose in walking among his people. His plan was to walk among them as their God. Which means they would be his people. Was God doing this on a whim? And what were his intentions in 'walking' among them? Well, verse 13 doesn't explain everything, but it does confirm that all of this is part of God's plan of deliverance redemption. Look back at 26:13... “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves. And I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect [i.e., set free from the crushing yoke of slavery].”

But how exactly was God going to “walk among” them? Well, the context of the entire book of Leviticus is found in its opening verse. This is Leviticus 1:1... “[Yahweh] called Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting”. And that tent of meeting is described in the paragraph just before Leviticus 1. Listen to the description of God among them from Exodus 40:34–38...

Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. [35] And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. [36] Throughout all their journeys, whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the people of Israel would set out. [37] But if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out till the day that it was taken up. [38] For the cloud of the LORD was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys.

You see, the whole point of this tent, this “Tabernacle” was God's presence. The very first verse to describe this tent is Exodus 25:8... “And let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell in their midst.” Did they understand the importance of this gift? This gift of God's presence? Moses absolutely did. In Exodus 33, Moses pleaded with God in this way: “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. [16] For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?” (Exodus 33:15, 16)

Let me point out one more idea, an idea that is crucial when it comes to God's presence with his people. Looking back at our main text in Leviticus 26, look at the verse just before our verses, that is, verse 11: “I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you [i.e., 'loathe you', or 'reject you', or 'cast you away'].” As we've just seen, God's dwelling was in this 'tent of meeting'. But why would God need to reassure them that his “soul shall not abhor [them]”? Because as unclean sinners in the presence of a pure and holy God, that should have been the outcome. But again, that's why Leviticus is so encouraging: God had, for a time, provided a way for them to be cleansed, to be set apart, and to enjoy the gift of His presence.

III. He Tabernacled Among Us

But what about us? We're a long way from the Sinai desert and the Tabernacle and the rules and regulations of Leviticus. How can any of this instruct or encourage us? How should it? Well, as we move from the Old Testament to the New Testament (NT), we discover that the Good News of a Levitical Christmas is found in John 1:14, where we read John 1:14...

And the Word became flesh and [literally, from the Greek, 'tabernacled' or 'pitched his tent'] among us, and we have seen his glory, [Glory like Moses beheld? No...] glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

When Jesus Christ came into our world, he came as a fulfillment of the promise repeated in Leviticus 26:11-13; the promise that God would dwell with us and walk among us. And Jesus did that, quite literally... as one of us. If you had a time machine and could go back and look at that Tent in the wilderness, with the cloud by day and the fire by night, it would have been an amazing sight to behold. But if that time machine could only be used once, then the far better destination would be First Century Israel, to behold the presence of God among us in the person of Jesus. As John said about himself and his fellow disciples, “...and we have seen his glory”.

But again... what about us? We're a long way from the Judean desert and the hills of Galilee and the dusty roads of Jesus and his first followers. How should this instruct or encourage us? Well, as many of you know, but as all of us should celebrate in this season of giving, the gift of God's presence in the person of Jesus Christ has secured for us the gift of God's presence today, in some truly incredible ways. Think about what the New Testament teaches us...

The Father and Son are always with us. Just before returning to his Father, the resurrected Jesus told his apostles, “Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20) That same reassurance comes through loud and clear in Hebrews 13:5, where we are reminded of God's promise, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

The Father and Son are now within us. Jesus reassured his followers with these words in John 14:23, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” How will this happen? Jesus explained this a few verses earlier, “You know him [the Spirit of truth], for he dwells with you and will be in you.” (John 14:17); for in Romans 8:9 he is called both the “Spirit of God” and the “Spirit of Christ”.

Finally, The Father and Son are within all of us. As the Apostle Paul asked his readers, “Do you not know that [all of] you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in [all of] you?” (1 Cor. 3:16) The Tent that went on to become a Temple is actually fulfilled in the Church. As Paul repeated in Ephesians 2:21-22, we are growing “into a holy temple in the Lord. [22] In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”

In a nation that has declared an epidemic of loneliness, in hearts that, like our neighbors, are not immune from those hard feelings of disconnection and isolation, (if you are in Jesus by faith) then you have a gift that is so meaningful in so many ways, a gift that shines like a light in this darkness, a gift that can never, ever be taken away from you: the gift of God's presence. Please hear this: you, believer, even when you are alone, never have to feel lonely. God is with you, and in you. And you are one of us, for God is in all of us in a powerful way. In what ways do you personally need this reassurance? How is God speaking to you this morning? As Moses under-stood, God's presence makes all the difference, doesn't it? And we have more than Moses!

So how is this manifold gift of His presence (far, far greater than that Tent of Meeting...how is it) possible for unclean sinners like us? It's possible because the sacrifices described and prescribed in Leviticus also find their fulfillment in the person of Jesus. Through his once-for-all death, He has set free from the crushing yoke of an eternal slavery. Through his death, He accomplished a cleansing, a covering, a redemption, a reconciliation that will result one day in the fullness of God among us; in a new world, where we will never feel we have to hide from God's presence, where loneliness will be eternally absent, for we will, because of Christ, fully know the God “who is over all and through all and in all”. (Ephesians 4:6) This Christmas, and throughout the year, let's give thanks for the gift of God's presence. And may God help us practice his presence, and imitate his presence with one another, for His glory.