January 31 2012.
The loveliness of our Lord Jesus.
The Book of Leviticus chapter 8:10-30.
Theme: Calling of the congregation to witness the ritual of consecration of the priests; cleansing of Aaron and his sons; clothing of the high priest; consecration of the high priest; clothing and cleansing of the priests and Aaron; commandments given to Aaron and his sons.
Consecration of the High Priest.
Leviticus 8:10 "And Moses took the anointing oil, and anointed the tabernacle and all that was therein, and sanctified them."
The tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry were sprinkled with blood (see Hebrews 9:21).
Now it is anointed with oil.
They had been redeemed and cleansed by the blood.
Now they were anointed with the oil - the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit was now free to move and work in the worship and service of the tabernacle.
"God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth" (John 4:24).
Leviticus 8:11-12 "And he sprinkled thereof upon the altar seven times, and anointed the altar and all his vessels, both the laver and his foot, to sanctify them. And he poured of the anointing oil upon Aaron’s head, and anointed him, to sanctify him."
The act of sprinkling the oil speaks of sanctification.
All was now ready for use, having been set apart for the service of God.
Aaron was not sprinkled but anointed with the oil.
He was just covered with oil!
"It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments" (Psalm 133:2).
Just so the Holy Spirit (of whom oil is the symbol) was poured out upon Christ at His baptism. It is distinctly stated that
"… God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto Him" (John 3:34).
In other words,
God gives to His Son the Holy Spirit without measure.
It must be noted that the oil was poured on Aaron before the priests had the blood applied to them.
Our Great High Priest needed no offering for sin. We do; He did not.
"Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows" (Heb. 1:9).
Clothing of the Priest.
Leviticus 8:13 "And Moses brought Aaron’s sons, and put coats upon them, and girded them with girdles, and put bonnets upon them; as the Lord commanded Moses."
We are told again that this was all done according to the commandment of the Lord.
This reminds us again that we must stand clothed in the righteousness of Christ.
Cleansing of the Priests and Aaron.
Leviticus 8:14 "And he brought the bullock for the sin offering: and Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the bullock for the sin offering."
The bullock was the sin offering for the high priest. The four sons of Aaron could claim it as their offering, as well.
Their sins are transferred to the victim.
That is understood by the laying on of hands.
God wrote indelibly in their souls and burned it into their hearts that they were sinners, even though they were in the service of God.
We find as we go through the Bible that God’s men have always been conscious that they are sinners.
"For innumerable evils have compassed me about: mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head: therefore my heart faileth me" (Psalm 40:12).
Do you feel that you are that kind of a sinner?
God can do something for you if you are like that.
After all, if we do not get sick enough to go to the doctor, we will not go to him.
If we are not sure of the fact that we are a real sinner, we are not apt to go to Christ.
"For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me" (Psalm 38:4).
If your load that is too heavy for you, you can get someone else to carry it for you.
There is Someone who says,
"Come unto Me all ye that labor and are heavy laden. I will give you rest. I’ll take your burdens."
And do not ever try to fool God.
He knows all about you;
so you might just as well tell Him the whole truth about yourself. Tell Him the whole story.
Leviticus 8:15-17 "And he slew it; and Moses took the blood, and put it upon the horns of the altar round about with his finger, and purified the altar, and poured the blood at the bottom of the altar, and sanctified it, to make reconciliation upon it. And he took all the fat that was upon the inwards, and the caul above the liver, and the two kidneys, and their fat, and Moses burned it upon the altar. But the bullock, and his hide, his flesh, and his dung, he burnt with fire without the camp; as the Lord commanded Moses."
This ritual is meaningless until we understand the spiritual lesson.
They followed the ritual of the sin offering with the exception that the blood is put on the horns of the brazen altar rather than on the golden altar. Even the altar which is used for the bloody sacrifices must be dedicated with blood.
This is to remind us that there is no merit in the wood of the cross. There are many people today who feel there is some merit in the cross itself.
There is no merit in the cross!
The merit is in the One who shed His blood for us there.
Though He became sin for us, He was not polluted with sin. He was
"separate from sinners."
Again, let us notice that all of this was done at
the commandment of God.
Leviticus 8:18-21 "And he brought the ram for the burnt offering: and Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the ram. And he killed it; and Moses sprinkled the blood upon the altar round about. And he cut the ram into pieces; and Moses burnt the head, and the pieces, and the fat. And he washed the inwards and the legs in water; and Moses burnt the whole ram upon the altar: it was a burnt sacrifice for a sweet savour, and an offering made by fire unto the Lord; as the Lord commanded Moses."
They went through the ritual of the burnt offering.
The burnt offering followed the sin offering.
It is quite impossible to comprehend the
beauties and merits of Christ until
the sin question has been dealt with.
The sin offering represents what
Christ did for us on the cross.
He was made sin for us.
The burnt offering represents who He is.
He is the spotless Lamb of God.
We cannot truly know Him until we come to Him and receive His gift of salvation - we accept Him as our substitute for sin.
He paid the penalty for our sin.
That is of prime importance to know.
Fellowship in the New Testament means to share the things of Christ.
Only those who are the blood-bought believers can share the things of Christ.
The priests had to go inside the holy place to see the beauties of that place.
The outside was not very pretty.
In the same way the unbelieving world does not see the beauty of Christ and rejects Him,
but the born-from-above child of God finds new beauties and glories in Him every new day.
Leviticus 8:22-24 "And he brought the other ram, the ram of consecration: and Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the ram. And he slew it; and Moses took of the blood of it, and put it upon the tip of Aaron’s right ear, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot. And he brought Aaron’s sons and Moses put of the blood upon the tip of their right ear, and upon the thumbs of their right hands, and upon the great toes of their right feet: and Moses sprinkled the blood upon the altar round about."
The ram of consecration was actually a trespass offering.
No peace offerings were made.
Why not?
Because the priests were already in the sanctuary, the place of fellowship and communion.
The blood-tipped ear symbolizes the ear that will hear the voice of God.
"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand. My Father, which gave them Me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father’s hand. I and My Father are one.." (John 10:27-30).
Without that blood tipped ear, being born-from-above we are not going to hear our His voice.
The natural man does not receive the things of Christ.
The blood-tipped hand was essential for service.
It is quite impossible to serve the Lord before one is born-from-above.
The blood-tipped foot is essential for our walk before God in this world.
All of this is symbolic of the fact that the total personality must be presented to God.
Apostle Paul says to us today
"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service" (Romans 12:1).
Leviticus 8:25-29 "And he took the fat, and the rump, and all the fat that was upon the inwards, and the caul above the liver, and the two kidneys, and their fat, and the right shoulder: And out of the basket of unleavened bread, that was before the LORD, he took one unleavened cake, and a cake of oiled bread, and one wafer, and put them on the fat, and upon the right shoulder: And he put all upon Aaron’s hands, and upon his sons’ hands, and waved them for a wave offering before the LORD. And Moses took them from off their hands, and burnt them on the altar upon the burnt offering: they were consecrations for a sweet savour: it is an offering made by fire unto the LORD. And Moses took the breast, and waved it for a wave offering before the LORD: for of the ram of consecration it was Moses’ part; as the LORD commanded Moses."
These verses tell that they took parts from all the offerings and put them together and placed them in the hands of Aaron and his sons. They then waved them before the Lord.
This was total commitment to God on the basis of the value of one offering.
"So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation" (Hebrews 9:28).
Leviticus 8:30 "And Moses took of the anointing oil, and of the blood which was upon the altar, and sprinkled it upon Aaron, and upon his garments, and upon his sons, and upon his sons’ garments with him; and sanctified Aaron, and his garments, and his sons, and his sons’ garments with him."
The priests together with Aaron were consecrated with blood and oil.
Blood is for the forgiveness of sins, the work of Christ;
the oil is for the anointing of the Spirit of God.
(The instructions for this were given in Exodus 29:21.)
This speaks of our Lord Jesus who said,
"And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth" (John 17:19).
This should also remind us that believers are to walk before the world as the blood-bought children of God.
This is what Jude meant
"And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh" (Jude 23). \
We can go through consecration services and make promises of consecration, but the real question is what do our neighbors think about us.
Do the people we mix with think we are serving God?
Do they think we are consecrated to Him?
Are we walking honestly before God in this world.
That is what the world looks for, people they can trust.
Too often what the world sees of the Christian is not very trustworthy. They see the lies.
Our life should be so that it would attract the man in the world to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Once
far from God and dead in sin,
No light my heart
could see;
But in God's Word the light I found,
Now Christ liveth in me.
Refrain:
Christ liveth in me,
Christ liveth in me,
Oh! what a salvation this,
That Christ liveth in me.
As rays of light from yonder sun,
The flow'rs of earth set free,
So life and light and love came forth
From Christ living in me.
As lives the flow'r within the seed,
As in the cone the tree,
So, praise the God of truth and grace,
His Spirit dwelleth in me.
With longing all my heart is filled,
That like Him I may be,
As on the wondrous tho't I dwell
That Christ liveth in me.
Thanks: SermonAudio.com
Amen!
Reply to Caryl@cherith.co.za.
THIS PAGE UPDATED: 7-2-2012.