January 10, 2005

Reading through the Bible in one Year:  Genesis 22:1-24:14; Matthew 7:21-8:13

Weekly Memory Verse: 1 Peter 3:18

Good Morning Brothers and Sisters,

I would like to remind you that Moses had went back up on the mountain after giving the people a hand written document detailing the Ten Commandments ad the commands of the Lord when Moses first went up on the mountain.  Now he has gone up on the mountain the second time for the forty days and nights, after this he will be coming down with the stone tablets.  Moses is receiving instruction on the rituals that were involved in worshipping the Lord.  This was during the early days in the Exodus, at this time Israel was being prepared to move into the Promised Land.  God was giving them instruction so that once they entered the Promised Land they could set up and continue with the covenant that they had made with Him. 

Exodus 29 (NASB95)
¹ “Now this is what you shall do to them to consecrate them to minister as priests to Me: take one young bull and two rams without blemish, ² and unleavened bread and unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers spread with oil; you shall make them of fine wheat flour. ³ “You shall put them in one basket, and present them in the basket along with the bull and the two rams. ⁴ “Then you shall bring Aaron and his sons to the doorway of the tent of meeting and wash them with water. ⁵ “You shall take the garments, and put on Aaron the tunic and the robe of the ephod and the ephod and the breastpiece, and gird him with the skillfully woven band of the ephod; ⁶ and you shall set the turban on his head and put the holy crown on the turban. ⁷ “Then you shall take the anointing oil and pour it on his head and anoint him. ⁸ “You shall bring his sons and put tunics on them. ⁹ “You shall gird them with sashes, Aaron and his sons, and bind caps on them, and they shall have the priesthood by a perpetual statute. So you shall ordain Aaron and his sons. ¹⁰ “Then you shall bring the bull before the tent of meeting, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the bull. ¹¹ “You shall slaughter the bull before the Lord at the doorway of the tent of meeting. ¹² “You shall take some of the blood of the bull and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger; and you shall pour out all the blood at the base of the altar. ¹³ “You shall take all the fat that covers the entrails and the lobe of the liver, and the two kidneys and the fat that is on them, and offer them up in smoke on the altar. ¹⁴ “But the flesh of the bull and its hide and its refuse, you shall burn with fire outside the camp; it is a sin offering. ¹⁵ “You shall also take the one ram, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram; ¹⁶ and you shall slaughter the ram and shall take its blood and sprinkle it around on the altar. ¹⁷ “Then you shall cut the ram into its pieces, and wash its entrails and its legs, and put them with its pieces and its head. ¹⁸ “You shall offer up in smoke the whole ram on the altar; it is a burnt offering to the Lord: it is a soothing aroma, an offering by fire to the Lord. ¹⁹ “Then you shall take the other ram, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram. ²⁰ “You shall slaughter the ram, and take some of its blood and put it on the lobe of Aaron’s right ear and on the lobes of his sons’ right ears and on the thumbs of their right hands and on the big toes of their right feet, and sprinkle the rest of the blood around on the altar. ²¹ “Then you shall take some of the blood that is on the altar and some of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it on Aaron and on his garments and on his sons and on his sons’ garments with him; so he and his garments shall be consecrated, as well as his sons and his sons’ garments with him. ²² “You shall also take the fat from the ram and the fat tail, and the fat that covers the entrails and the lobe of the liver, and the two kidneys and the fat that is on them and the right thigh (for it is a ram of ordination), ²³ and one cake of bread and one cake of bread mixed with oil and one wafer from the basket of unleavened bread which is set before the Lord; ²⁴ and you shall put all these in the hands of Aaron and in the hands of his sons, and shall wave them as a wave offering before the Lord. ²⁵ “You shall take them from their hands, and offer them up in smoke on the altar on the burnt offering for a soothing aroma before the Lord; it is an offering by fire to the Lord. ²⁶ “Then you shall take the breast of Aaron’s ram of ordination, and wave it as a wave offering before the Lord; and it shall be your portion. ²⁷ “You shall consecrate the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the heave offering which was waved and which was offered from the ram of ordination, from the one which was for Aaron and from the one which was for his sons. ²⁸ “It shall be for Aaron and his sons as their portion forever from the sons of Israel, for it is a heave offering; and it shall be a heave offering from the sons of Israel from the sacrifices of their peace offerings, even their heave offering to the Lord. ²⁹ “The holy garments of Aaron shall be for his sons after him, that in them they may be anointed and ordained. ³⁰ “For seven days the one of his sons who is priest in his stead shall put them on when he enters the tent of meeting to minister in the holy place. ³¹ “You shall take the ram of ordination and boil its flesh in a holy place. ³² “Aaron and his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram and the bread that is in the basket, at the doorway of the tent of meeting. ³³ “Thus they shall eat those things by which atonement was made at their ordination and consecration; but a layman shall not eat them, because they are holy. ³⁴ “If any of the flesh of ordination or any of the bread remains until morning, then you shall burn the remainder with fire; it shall not be eaten, because it is holy. ³⁵ “Thus you shall do to Aaron and to his sons, according to all that I have commanded you; you shall ordain them through seven days. ³⁶ “Each day you shall offer a bull as a sin offering for atonement, and you shall purify the altar when you make atonement for it, and you shall anoint it to consecrate it. ³⁷ “For seven days you shall make atonement for the altar and consecrate it; then the altar shall be most holy, and whatever touches the altar shall be holy. ³⁸ “Now this is what you shall offer on the altar: two one year old lambs each day, continuously. ³⁹ “The one lamb you shall offer in the morning and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight; ⁴⁰ and there shall be one-tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with one-fourth of a hin of beaten oil, and one-fourth of a hin of wine for a drink offering with one lamb. ⁴¹ “The other lamb you shall offer at twilight, and shall offer with it the same grain offering and the same drink offering as in the morning, for a soothing aroma, an offering by fire to the Lord. ⁴² “It shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the doorway of the tent of meeting before the Lord, where I will meet with you, to speak to you there. ⁴³ “I will meet there with the sons of Israel, and it shall be consecrated by My glory. ⁴⁴ “I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar; I will also consecrate Aaron and his sons to minister as priests to Me. ⁴⁵ “I will dwell among the sons of Israel and will be their God. ⁴⁶ “They shall know that I am the Lord their God who brought them out of the land of Egypt, that I might dwell among them; I am the Lord their God.^[1]

In this chapter, a careful detail is made of the ordination ceremony for Aaron and the priests.  The ordination included laying their hands on the head of the bull so that it would symbolize that it was being sacrificed to cover their sin.  After that, the blood was shed and sprinkled on the altar again to symbolize a sin covering.  Verse 20 speaks of a complete consecration of their lives to the Lord, from their hands, ears, and toes of their feet.  They were then anointed with oil, and sprinkled with the blood setting them apart for the Lord's service. 

Along with the offering that was to be completely burned up, another offering was given that the priests were allowed to eat.  It symbolized that they were holy, having consumed a holy sacrifice.  The sacrifices listed in this chapter verses 35-37 were not repeated, and were special geared just for the initial ordination of Aaron and his sons. 

Notice though, the reason for this ordination service was because it symbolized that Aaron and his sons were made holy so that they could minister before the Lord in His house.  God had fully intended to dwell with Israel when they entered the Promised Land.  He took a personal interest in making sure that they were covered, the atonement was made for their sin and they were cleansed to stand before the Father.  The purpose behind this was because sinful man cannot stand in the presence of a Holy God.  He made it a point to bring them out of the land of Egypt just like He had promised, now He was intending to dwell with them in the new land. 

As I read through this account I wonder why Israel allowed themselves to be drawn away by the temptation that comes in a few chapters.  Yet, think about it, how often have you known the will of God, and found something that looked appealing.  It is easy to chase after the lusts of our flesh, especially when God seems to be silent in our lives.  All of Israel at this time was sitting at the bottom of the mountain watching the clouds at the top, and probably wondering if Moses was going to return to their presence.  During this time Moses was receiving practical and detailed instructions from the Lord to prepare them for the Promised Land and the people were watching the mountain wondering where he had went. 

Ephesians 5:2 (NASB95)
² and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. ^[2]

Refer to verse 41, Jesus was the one who finally fulfilled this requirement, becoming the final sacrificial lamb that made a pleasing aroma before the Lord.  All the symbolic things in this chapter demonstrate the impossibility for a natural man to stand before a Holy God.  Look at all the rituals that were required just so that these men could enter the tabernacle and offer sacrifices before the Lord.  He is a Holy God and cannot tolerate sin in any way.  That is the reason that it was necessary for Christ to die on the cross.  We don't stand any possible chance of standing before God without Christ Jesus.

As a final note on this chapter, check out this note:

The high priest was the supreme civil head of his people. Aaron held this position above his sons that was to continue in the firstborn of successive holders of the office. The high priest was distinguished from his fellow priests by the clothes he wore, the duties he performed, and the particular requirements placed upon him as the spiritual head of God’s people.

Although the office of high priest was hereditary, its holder had to be without physical defect as well as holy in conduct (Lev. 21:6–8). A high priest was consecrated (installed in office) by an elaborate seven-day service at the tabernacle or temple (Exodus 29; Leviticus 8). He was cleansed by bathing, then dressed in the garments and symbols he must wear in his ministry and anointed with special oil. Sacrifices of sin offerings, burnt offerings, and consecration offerings were made for him; and he was anointed again with oil and blood of the sacrifice. Thus “sanctified” to serve as a priest and “consecrated” to offer sacrifice (Ex. 28:41; 29:9), he became “the saint [holy one] of the Lord” (Ps. 106:16).

The most important responsibility of the high priest was to conduct the service on the Day of Atonement, the tenth day of the seventh month each year. On this day he alone entered the Holy Place inside the veil before God. Having made sacrifice for himself and for the people, he brought the blood into the Most Holy Place and sprinkled it on the mercy seat, “God’s throne.” It is with this particular service that the ministry of Jesus as high priest is compared (Heb. 9:1–28).^2[3]

I am going to close here, any comments are welcomed from you.

Father, as we consider Your word today, we praise You that Jesus stood in our place as both our High Priest and the sacrificial lamb who shed His blood to cover our sin.  Give each of us the drive to live our lives according to this truth.

In Him,

Joe Turner.