Why the Tent Matters
If you’re reading our 2026 bible reading plan right now, you know that we are currently in a bit of a tough section. In this plan, we’re not reading every chapter – but rather, selected chapters that get at important themes for understanding the bible as a whole, and more particularly, Jesus. So you might be wondering, if that’s the focus,
Why Leviticus, why?!?
If you’ve ever tried to read the bible all the way though, starting with Genesis, it’s usually around Leviticus that people up tend to get stuck. It’s full of very detailed (read: onerous) rules about sacrifices and offerings and procedures and regulations that are no longer required of us (and never were…we weren’t God’s people in the wilderness!). And this is after fairly detailed stuff describing the ‘tent of meeting’ from Exodus…what’s the deal here?
I mentioned this in this week’s reflection video (check them out every Monday morning!), but here’s the deal with Leviticus:
it’s about how we get ‘into the tent’.
Huh? Let me explain.
The tent of meeting was, more or less, the tent where God would arrive so that Moses and the Israelites could “meet” God. Hence the name, ‘tent of meeting’. Exodus ends with the tent of meeting being finished, but,
“Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled upon it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.” (Exodus 40:35)
Even Moses couldn’t go into the tent to meet God, and he was pretty special. God is just too holy, too powerful, too much…too much glory, too much cloud, too much God for us!
Leviticus, on the other hand, opens with God calling Moses and speaking “to him from the tent of meeting” (Leviticus 1:1) – God is in but Moses is out. The next book, Numbers, begins with God speaking to Moses “in the tent of meeting” (Numbers 1:1) – now they’re both in. So somehow, Moses got into the tent – the tent of God’s presence. What happened to allow that?
Leviticus happened.
That’s what all the sacrifices, offerings, rules, regulations, breads, penalties, goats, oats, and blood is all about: getting us into God’s presence. Because that is ultimately what God wants:
Us, in God’s presence.
God with us – and so, us with God.
When you take a step back and look at the whole sweeping story of scripture, it’s what it’s all about. From the Garden of Eden, we’ve seen that God designed and made this whole thing so that we could live with God. We broke all of it, but where it ends (in Revelation) is God bringing heaven to earth and re-creating a “new heavens and new earth” where, you guessed it, we will live with God. As is said from the throne (Rev. 21:3),
“See, the home of God is among mortals.
He will dwell with them…”
And so while Leviticus may not be the easiest read, these little insights get to the heart of God’s heart: us with him. It’s his intention from all eternity, and his plan for all eternity. The way to get there is the road we call faith, following behind the way (and the truth and the life), Jesus.
And so while we haven’t arrived at our final destination yet (or rather, God hasn’t brought our final destination to us yet!), as we follow Jesus we find that, through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit, God is actually with us. We no longer go to a tent because, in a sense (1 Cor. 3:16), we’ve become the tent. (Incidentally, if you’re curious to read/learn/hear more about this, check out N.T. Wright’s new book “God’s Homecoming“!)
And that’s the gift that Jesus ultimately gives us through forgiveness and redemption:
the ability to receive God’s Spirit.
And speaking of Jesus, this is (kind of) what the letter to the Hebrews is all about. In the reading plan, we won’t get to Hebrews until October, but I encourage you to read it now – even as we’re reading Exodus and Leviticus and Number and such. It’s all wrapped up in there, and the purpose and promise of Jesus shines even brighter the closer we are with these Old Testament books.
See? The tent matters!