THROUGH THE BIBLE - Exodus 2..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. Now this is what you shall do to them, to consecrate them, that they may serve me as priests. Take one bull of the herd and two rams without blemish, and unleavened bread, unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers sweeped with oil.

You shall make them of fine wheat flour. You shall put them in one basket and bring them in the basket, and bring the bull and the two rams. You shall bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the tent of meeting and wash them with water. Then you shall take the garments and put on Aaron the coat and the robe of the ephod and the ephod and the breastplate or breast piece and grid or gird him with the skillful woven band of the ephod. And you shall set the turban on his head and put the holy crown on the turban, you shall take the anointing oil and pour it on his head and anoint him.

Then you shall bring his sons and put coats on them. And you shall gird Aaron and his sons with sashes and bind caps on them. And the priesthood shall be theirs by a statute forever. Thus you shall ordain Aaron and his sons. Then you shall bring the bull before the tent of meeting.

Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the bull. Then you shall kill the bull before the Lord at the entrance of the tent of meeting and shall take part of the blood of the bull and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger and the rest of the blood you shall pour out at the base of the altar. And you shall take all the fat that covers the entrails and the long lobe of the liver and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them, and burn them on the altar. But the flesh of the bull, and its skin, and its dung, you shall burn with fire outside the camp. It is a sin offering.

Then you shall take one of the rams, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram, And you shall kill the ram and shall take its blood and throw it against the sides of the altar. Then you shall cut the ram into pieces and wash its entrails, its legs, and put them with its pieces and its head and burn the whole ram on the altar. It is a burnt offering to the Lord. It is a pleasing aroma, a food offering to the Lord. you shall take the other ram and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram and you shall kill the ram and take part of its blood and put it on the tip of the right of Aaron and on the tips on the right of the ears of his sons and on the thumbs of their right hands and on the great toes of their right feet and throw the rest of the blood against the sides of the altar.

Then you shall take part of the blood that is on the altar and on the anointing oil and of the anointing oil and sprink it on Aaron and his garments and on his sons and his son's garments with him. He and his garments shall be holy and his sons and his and his son's garments with him. You shall also take the fat from the ram, and the fat tail, and the fat that covers the entrails, and the long lobe of the liver, and the two kidneys, with the fat that is on them, and the right thigh, for it is the ram of ordination, and one lobe of bread, and one cake of bread made with oil, and one wafer out of the basket of the unleavened bread that is before the Lord. You shall put all these on the palms of Aaron, and the palms of his sons, and wave them for a wave offering before the Lord. Then you shall take them from their hands and burn them on the altar on top of the burnt offerings as a pleasing aroma before the Lord.

It is a food offering to the Lord. You shall take the breast of the ram of Aaron's ordination and wave it for a wave offering before the Lord and it shall be your portion And you shall consecrate the breast of the wave offering that is waved, and the thigh of the priest's portion that is contributed from the ram of ordination, from what was Aaron's and his sons. It shall be for Aaron and his sons as a perpetual due from the people of Israel, for it is a contribution. It shall be a contribution from the people of Israel for their peace offerings, their contribution to the Lord. The holy garments of Aaron shall be for his sons after him.

They shall be anointed in them and ordained in them. The son who succeeds him as priest, who comes into the tent of meeting to minister in the holy place shall wear them seven days. He shall take the ram of ordination and boil its flesh in the holy place. And Aaron and his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram and the bread that is in the basket of the entrance of the tent of meeting. They shall eat those things which atonement was made at their ordination and consecration.

But an outsider shall not eat of them, because they are holy." And if any of the flesh for the ordination, or the bread remaining until the morning, then you shall burn the remainder with fire. It shall not be eaten, because it is holy. Thus you shall do to Aaron and to his sons according to all that I have commanded you. Through seven days shall you ordain them, and every day you shall offer a bull as a sin offering for atonement.

Also you shall purify the altar when you make atonement for it, and it shall and shall anoint it to consecrate it. Seven days you shall make atonement for the altar and consecrate it, and the altar shall be most holy. Whatever touches the altar shall become holy." Now this is what you shall offer on the altar. Two lambs.

a year old day by day, regularly. One lamb you should offer in the morning, and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight. And with the first lamb, a tenth measure of fine flour mingled with a fourth of a hin of beaten oil and a fourth of a hin of wine for a drink offering. The other lamb you shall offer at twilight and shall offer with it a grain offering and its drink offering as in the morning for a pleasing aroma, a food offering to the Lord. It shall be a regular burnt offering throughout your generations at the entrance of the tent of meeting.

before the Lord, where I meet with you to speak to you there. There I will meet with the people of Israel, and it shall be sanctified by my glory. I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar. Aaron, also his sons, I will consecrate to serve me as priests. I will dwell among the people of Israel and will be their God.

And 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. Amen. This is the word of the Lord. that we have here before us this afternoon.

I've said on multiple occasions when we've come before you with our corporate reading and with the time allotted, the small amount of time that we allot to the explanation of this reading, we've said in previous times that maybe that amount of time would not do justice to the passage. infinitely rich, it is glorious, it is very Christological, and I hope once we're done we'll see these things. And in the limited time that we have together, I trust that the Lord will bless His Word to our hearts. The context is the establishment of the Levitical priesthood. Yahweh has ordained that He would have a priestly representation of His people, mediators between God and man, to be consecrated, to be set apart.

to be a people who would serve the Lord faithfully in this tabernacle, this moving tent. These men, in particular Aaron who is the high priest, have the terrifying privilege of carrying out their duty in the very presence of Yahweh. Last week in chapter 28 we gave a brief explanation on the clothing by God's grace, and the chapter that is before us, it's more so the priest himself who is in the focus. And it's a seven-day, it's a seven-day ordination. And what we find in this chapter is the preparation of this priest for his priestly duties.

And if I could summarize the text of chapter 29 in one simple question that I believe the text answers so beautifully for us, it is this. What does it take? of God. Whereas the Psalmist would say some five centuries later, who can ascend the holy hill or that holy hill? Now we know that the tribe chosen to be priests, the tribe that Yahweh has chosen is the tribe of Levi.

It's the Levites. And we also know as New Testament Christians because we bred on. We've gone beyond Exodus and we've gone into Deuteronomy and there we're told that the Levites do not get an allotment. So when they go into the conquest and they get the land flowing with milk and honey that God had promised them, they don't get a parcel. They will have cities within the parcels given to the other tribe, but they don't get one.

Why? It tells us, it says, they shall have no inheritance among their brothers. Why? Because the Lord is their inheritance. But their hearts, their souls, their service, their commitment needs to be holy and wholly committed to Yahweh.

But we need to remember this, that the priest's fundamental purpose is to bring glory to God through all that he does. Now that the priests function in the tabernacle, we know it is to mediate on behalf of God's people. But how? How can a simple human being enter into the presence of a righteous, holy God? How can He, without being completely annihilated, in the presence of one who knows not sin and cannot look upon sin?

Well, the answer, beloved, is this. He cannot. Unless, unless Yahweh, unless God makes provision for him to enter. And He does. Verse 44.

I, it's God speaking, I consecrate the Tent of Meeting and the altar. Aaron also and his sons I will consecrate to serve me as priests. You hear that? It's God who sets apart a people for His service. And it's God who makes the provision for them to do the impossible, enter into His presence without being destroyed.

But there's a process to this. And the passage before us is filled with detail that we cannot possibly get into this evening. But every last bit has incredible meaning. And it begins in verse 4 with the washing. It says that Moses is to bring Aaron and his sons and wash them.

Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, Ithamar. Don't for a moment think that you are clean. Just like the rest of us, you are contaminated by sin. And you need to be washed from head to toe because you are unworthy into the presence of a holy God. You must be washed.

You must be cleaned. Yahweh's not concerned with what's on the outside. He's not concerned that these men would bring in from the desert sand some sand and soil to spoil his carpets. It's happened that before there was dust, there was no corruption was the depravity within. That outward washing was a symbol, a symbol to show that you are in need to be cleansed from within.

It's your sin that is corruption. It's your iniquity. It's your transgression against God that needs to be cleansed and purified. And that washing spoke. cleansing.

Cleansing what was typified on the outside to what the reality is on the inside of every man, including the priests. Then Aaron was to, we're told in verses 5 through 9, Aaron was to dress in his priestly garb, which we explained in the previous chapter last week. then he is to be anointed with oil. And the anointing with oil is actually elaborated in the very next chapter, chapter 30. And by God's grace, we'll look into that next week.

But it will suffice to say this week that the anointing here really is to typify the idea of him or the son, Aaron and his son, being chosen by God, to be set apart by God, to be equipped by God for the duty that God is giving them. And then from verse 10 onwards, we hear of the sacrifices. It looks like there may be three, a bull and two rams. But in fact, if we move further down, in verse 36, we're told that a bull is sacrificed every single one of the seven days of ordination. But why the sacrifice, brothers and sisters?

Because blood must be shed. Their sins must be dealt with. Without the shedding of blood, See, we haven't got the time to look at all the elements in the sacrifice. We haven't got time this evening to look at the wafer and the bread offering and why it is that the Lord wants the liver and the kidneys on the inside and why they would be burnt on the outside. We haven't got time to look at all these things, but I want to turn your attention to something in particular, and that is where Aaron's hands and where his son's hands are when those animals brought are being sacrificed.

are placed on the bull's head or the ram's head. That's where they're commanded to place. Why is that? Why is it that they put their hand on the animal's head before the throat is slit, before that animal bleeds to death? Why is that?

It's because they're identifying themselves with that animal. You see, that animal, they're saying, is my representative. That animal is my substitute. Whatever is happening to that animal, I deserve. That animal is going through something that is deserving of me.

That animal is going to die, but in fact, it's me that deserves to die. That animal is a substitute for Aaron and his And that is the flesh of the bull is taken outside the camp. It's unworthy to dwell in the place where Yahweh dwells. And beloved, if that bull is indeed a substitute for Aaron and his sons, could not the same be said of Aaron and his sons? Are they indeed worthy to be in the presence of Yahweh?

No. No, that bull is taken outside and it's burnt to a crisp outside that camp. And you remember a couple of weeks ago when our brother explained to us the bronze altar in chapter 27. You remember what he said about the fires of the altar? They are symbolic of typifying the wrath of God on unrighteousness.

That that animal is placed outside the camp and burnt. That is to say that God's wrath is that is kindled against unrighteousness, against sin, against lawbreakers, which every single person is, is poured upon that sacrifice. And that sacrifice, once again, is a substitute. It is destroyed so that that which it substitutes is not destroyed. Now, the blood.

has been shed, sins atoned for. Now Moses is to take a portion of that blood, and that's something quite strange here. Moses is to take a portion of that blood and place it on the earlobe of Aaron and his sons, and then on their thumb on the right hand, and then on their right big toe. And that might look strange to us, but what does it mean? Why does Moses do this?

Beloved, it is because everything that the priest does is should or ought to be devoted wholly to God. His blood-bought ears are to listen to God's Word and obey. His blood-bought hands are to do the service of Yahweh faithfully. And his blood-bought feet are to walk in the ways of God in the ways of Yahweh and according to His Word, His feet are to go only where God intends for Him to go. Complete, full obedience and complete devotion and set-apartness and consecration to the Lord is what's spoken of here.

And then Aaron, we're told, and his sons would then be sprinkled by the blood of the sacrifice as an association, sprinkled all over their bodies as an association. that animal who died, his blood is sprinkled on me because that should have been me. You know what's interesting? What's interesting is that the perpetual service of the priest in the tabernacle before Yahweh, that in that service, his robes, his coat, his ephod is stained with blood. That blood is a reminder It's a reminder of how serious sin is before a holy God.

It's a reminder of what's necessary in order for that sin to be dealt with. It's a reminder of the price that needs to be paid for that sin to be forgiven. Can you see the pictures? Can you see the shadows in this text? Now washed, anointed, blood cleansed, consecrated, Aaron and his sons, who have had their sins dealt with, now God is appeased, he's propitiated, because the atonement is made.

Now they're able, this is glorious brothers and sisters, now they're able to come in the presence of Yahweh at the entrance of the temple and have a meal with him. They're able to have fellowship with Yahweh. They're able to have communion with Yahweh, with God. Because God of the universe has made provision for them not to be destroyed in His presence. And that's the very reason why He saved them from Egypt in the first place, isn't it?

The last few verses tell us that. It says, this is why He saved them from Egypt. So that they would come and dwell. He would dwell in and amongst them. And that they would know that He is God.

It's for that communion. It's for that fellowship. It's for that relationship. It's Him making His presence known. It's Him making an opportunity, provision for them to have fellowship with Him and for His glory, His glory to be known amongst His people.

And this is absolutely marvellous. But the question we need to ask is this, does the Levitical priesthood accomplish all this? Is the reality in the Levitical it has, what God has for his people, is it found in the Levitical priesthood, or is there something more? The text suggests that there is indeed something more. You see, when the priest dies, we're told, he's replaced with another priest.

Aaron will die, his sons, and then there's a replacement, and the ordination should continue as prescribed in this chapter to the subsequent priests. that when a Levite turns male, turns 30, from the age of 30 he's ordained and up to the age of 50 there's 20 years of service in the temple. And in verse 39 we're told the sacrifices are to be instituted daily. So one in the morning and one in the evening. So what do we have?

We have death and death, blood and blood. We have animal sacrifice after animal sacrifice after animal sacrifice. Is that really what pleases day after day after day. How long? The bloodshed, the bloodstained clothing, the bloody altars, the constant smell of burnt flesh.

Is that really what it's all about? Now the answer we know is of course not. The blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sin. Hebrews 10.4, right?

It's a temporary picture of a permanent remedy that God has decreed from eternity past. a temporary solution to the sin problem. That remedy will come through a priest, the great high priest, Jesus Christ. You see, he too will begin his earthly ministry at around 30 years of age. He too will be washed at the beginning of the ministry, not by the prophet Moses, but by the prophet John the Baptist.

Not for the same reasons, because Christ had never committed sin. He's not symbolizing on the outside the reality of sin. Inside Christ is perfect and holy and righteous, but he's doing it so that he can fulfill all righteousness as the priest that he is, and also to identify with his people, his people who do require cleansing from the inside. And he's anointed by the Father. Did you know Messiah literally means the anointed one?

filled with the Holy Spirit, we're told, after His baptism, for His service. And His hands, His ears, His feet, all that Christ is in His incarnation was perfectly consecrated to the will of the Father. We've only just finished, as a congregation, John chapter 5. Do we remember what is written? Jesus says to the Pharisees and the Jewish leaders that He does nothing apart from the will.

All that he does is it perfectly according to the will of God, according to the word of the God that Father had given him. All of Christ is consecrated, he is fully set apart for the work of the Father. But here's the thing, as priest, His service is a bloody service. Blood will be shed. Blood will be poured in his priestly service, but it's not the blood of animals.

It's his own blood. Indefinitely, infinitely valuable. and for all. And none of this repeating, day in, day out, morning and evening, morning and evening, no. The sacrifice of our Lord is once and for all.

And He is the one who suffered outside the camp as a reproach for the sake of those who would come to trust in Him. Hebrews 13, 12. He's the one who died as a substitute for undeserving, sinful people like us. And in Him, God is pleased. always had, from eternity past, that glory that he enjoyed with the Father forevermore.

But here's the difference. He now enjoys that fellowship and that communion as the God-man. He will forever be the representative of human beings who will trust in him forevermore. Isn't that glorious? Isn't that glorious?

These are glorious truths for the Christian, for the believers in the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. No more animal sacrifices. The sacrifice of our Saviour is final and it's complete. All blood sacrifices come to a complete end. The antitype is here.

He's fulfilled all things old. No more sacrifices, right? Well, not quite. You see, it's always God's decree that we would establish to Exodus 19 he makes that known he says now therefore and remember Exodus 19 is that is the people of Israel coming out of Egypt before the Lord before the mount and and the covenant is given that they would obey just before the Lord's given this is now therefore if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my command of my covenant you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples for all the earth is mine and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests Now, of course, in that passage you have the big if. If you.

And we know that the people of Israel broke covenant with God. They broke the if. They did not perfectly obey God. But there is one who perfectly obeyed the Father. There is one who perfectly obeyed all the covenant stipulations and brings those who trust in him into the glorious riches of the Father and the covenant blessings.

And he brings them into a speaking to the Christians, but you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. A royal priesthood, covered in his blood and robed in his righteousness, true believers have entered into communion with God. God now dwells not only among his people, hear this, but in His people. He becomes, He is our God, and we are His people, known by Him, and now we know Him. And beloved, may it be said of us as the world comes to an end, that our inheritance is nothing earthly, but our inheritance is God.

So I said before that the sacrifices The blood sacrifices, yes, let's not insult our Saviour. His blood sacrifice was once and for all for all eternity. But there are sacrifices that the priesthood of believers ought to engage in. And I'll finish with this. Sacrifices do continue, but there are different sacrifices.

Romans chapter 12, verse 1. Here the Apostle Paul is speaking to the believers. Listen to what he has to say. I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as living sacrifices. It's not the blood that is required.

The blood of Christ is infinitely valued to propitiate and to atone for the sins of His people. That's a done deal. His work is finished once and for all. But what the Lord requires is willing hearts, those who desire Him, those who love to live their lives as Christ lived his life. Fully devoted, fully set apart, fully consecrated to God.

And continuing, this is holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.