Coromandel Baptist Church

Sunday 4 October 2009 Exodus 23:1-9; 25:10-22 and Hebrews 8:1-13

God Gives the Gift of Worship

Last time we were considering the book of Exodus we gave attention to the covenant affirmation ceremony that Israel was given to observe. We saw how this was to be devoid of any connotations of pagan worship, and how the climax of that ceremony was the communion between God and his people, as signified in the eating of the covenant meal in the peace of God’s Presence, which he graciously provided for Moses and the elders (Ex. 24:9ff.).

In Exodus 24:17-18 we see that Moses was called up into the glory cloud of the Presence, there to stay for forty days and nights, in communion with God so that he might receive the instructions about the building of the Tabernacle. This is the next main section of Exodus (running from Ex. 25-31), which concludes with God giving Moses the two tablets of the Law (‘the testimony’) written by God’s own finger (Ex. 31:18). That this forms the climax of this section; that this Law is placed into the Ark; that the Ark is the very first element of the Tabernacle blueprint (see Ex. 25:10ff.); that the Ark is in the very centre of the Tabernacle; and that this Holy of Holies lies at the very centre of the worship of Israel; all alike draw attention to the heart of Israel’s worship. The worship itself is given by God. Every element of the Tabernacle’s construction, as well as all the various offerings and priestly functions, are all given. This fact is in itself at thing of enormous moment, for it tells us that the worship that God requires, he gives…and our efforts add nothing to it!

The Tabernacle and all that went in on in it were designated by God and appointed with great beauty for the representation of his splendour and grace. While we may look at the Tabernacle in different ways (e.g. as the tent of God among the tents of Israel; a portable representation of the great event of Sinai; a representation of Eden) every element of the worship there revolved around expiation and atonement. This wonderful gift to Israel was confirmed as the place of forgiveness and reconciliation pleasing to God, by the presence of the glory cloud coming with power at the completion of the construction (Ex. 40:34-38).

Christoph Barth comments,

…the tent [Tabernacle] was consecrated by the descending of the God’s glory upon it in order that it might be a place of reconciliation. Worship in the temple is primarily the ministry of expiation and reconciliation. The Israelites may also offer prayers and praises, fall down before God, confirm the covenant, and celebrate joyful feasts. Nevertheless, the ministry of reconciliation is as the core of the worship to which the tent was designated. God with Us: A Theological Introduction to the Old Testament (p. 150)

Barth goes on to enumerate three things that underline this observation. Firstly we see it in the vocabulary used to describe the specific offerings made in the Tabernacle/Temple, as well as the worship of Israel generally. Throughout Exodus 25-40, Leviticus and Numbers, words from the stems kpr (covering/atonement) and ht’ (sin offering/purification offering) are of ‘supreme importance’ and they clearly indicate that atonement and reconciliation with God were uppermost in the gift of worship. Secondly, we see it in the physical structure of the Tabernacle itself and the description and function of the objects and utensils placed within it. The Tabernacle was divided into three parts separated by the curtains with holy of holies in the central place, so that all the ceremonies and sacrifices were to allow access but only by means of atonement. There was no ‘open entry’ to the Presence. Thirdly, we see it in the central place accorded to the reception of the priestly blessing as a sign that the gift of forgiveness had been bestowed by God on his people. God reveals himself through the granting of the gift of forgiveness.

While the Law was given as a gift to redeemed people, and while also the Law was to function in Israel’s life as a great force for order and good (hence the reading from Ex. 23), it goes without saying that the Law was given to sinners. That the Law was given in such a way (through examples of its application in Ex. 21-23) that it matched the need of Israel for a peaceful, settled, ordered and fair society was blessing of God’s grace. However, the society to which the Law was given, and which could be mercifully ordered instead of being consumed by chaos, was a society of the sinful…who were in covenant relationship with God only by his own grace. Along with the gift of the Law, God gave the gift of atonement, so that the Israel did not need to live under the condemnation of guilt for their transgression, and so that they could keep his Law by faith with glad and forgiven hearts.

The various terms used to describe the sacrifices (e.g. whole burnt offerings, sin or purification offerings, guilt offerings, peace offerings, atonement offering…as in Day of Atonement, etc.) indicate that worship in Tabernacle and later Temple was commensurate with the deleterious nature of sin. The Old Testament vocabulary for sin is very rich (over forty different words and other significant metaphors), thus indicating that sin affects every element of human life before God. The gift of atonement, then, was for the whole life of Israel, that they might not be destroyed by the sin which in some senses the Law only more clearly highlighted.