Happily Ever After, If. . .

Leviticus 26

About the Sermon

We're familiar with the line, "they lived happily ever after." It marks a good end to a good story. That is not how the book of Leviticus ends because Leviticus is not the end of the story. But it does point us there. Leviticus 26 presents us with a series of blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience. Most of the chapter is cursings, an ominous note of expectation that this covenant will not bring about the intimacy of life with the Lord that we have longed for since the garden.

About the Series

Life. That’s not what typically comes to mind for modern readers of Leviticus. This is that book filled with animal sacrifices. Life with God might sound even more out of touch. The many laws in this book may give us the impression that the Lord intends to keep his distance. Yet Leviticus is not about distance but nearness. The story of Exodus closed out with a problem: the Lord came to his tabernacle but Moses could not enter. How then can any of us get back to Eden? In Leviticus, the Lord answers that question. Yet the tabernacle and its laws are not the end of the story, but a shadow. Together they are a model of the entire cosmos, God’s heavenly dwelling, and the way to fullness of life with God.
Life. That’s not what typically comes to mind for modern readers of Leviticus. This is that book filled with animal sacrifices. Life with God might sound even more out of touch. The many laws in this book may give us the impression that the Lord intends to keep his distance. Yet Leviticus is not about distance but nearness. The story of Exodus closed out with a problem: the Lord came to his tabernacle but Moses could not enter. How then can any of us get back to Eden? In Leviticus, the Lord answers that question. Yet the tabernacle and its laws are not the end of the story, but a shadow. Together they are a model of the entire cosmos, God’s heavenly dwelling, and the way to fullness of life with God.

Sermons in the Series