THROUGH THE BIBLE - Numbers..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. Numbers chapter 8. Now the Lord spoke to Moses saying, Speak to Aaron and say to him, When you set up the lamps, the seven lamps shall give light in front of the lampstands.

And Aaron did so. He set up its lamps in front of the lampstand as the Lord commanded Moses. And this was the workmanship of the lampstand, hammered work of gold. From its base to its flowers, it was hammered work, according to the pattern that the Lord had shown Moses. So he made the lampstand.

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Take the Levites from among the people of Israel and cleanse them. Thus you shall do to them to cleanse them. Sprinkle the water of purification upon them and let them go with an eraser all over their body and wash their clothes and cleanse themselves. Then let them take a bull from the herd and its grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil and you shall take another bull from the herd for a sin offering. And you shall bring the Levites before the tent of meeting and assemble the whole congregation of the people of Israel.

When you bring the Levites before the Lord, the people of Israel shall lay their hands on the Levites, and Aaron shall offer the Levites before the Lord as a wave offering from the people of Israel that they may do the service of the Lord. Then the Levites shall lay their hands on the heads of the bulls, and you shall offer the one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering to the Lord to make atonement for the Levites. You shall set the Levites before Aaron and his sons, and shall offer them as a wave offering to the Lord. Thus you shall separate the Levites from among the people of Israel, and the Levites shall be mine. And after that, the Levites shall go in to serve at the tent of meeting, when you have cleansed them and offered them as a wave offering.

For they are wholly given to me from among the people of Israel, instead of all who open the wound the firstborn of all the people of Israel. I have taken them for myself. For all the firstborn among the people of Israel are mine, both of man and of beast. On the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I consecrated them for myself. And I've taken the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the people of Israel.

And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and his sons from among the people of Israel to do the service for the people of Israel at the tent of meeting and to make atonement for the people of Israel that there may be no plague among the people of Israel when the people of Israel come near the sanctuary. Thus did Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the people of Israel to the Levites. According to all that the Lord commanded Moses concerning the Levites, the people of Israel did to them. And the Levites purified themselves from sin and washed their clothes. And Aaron offered them as a wave offering before the Lord.

And Aaron made atonement for them to cleanse them. And after that, the Levites went in to do their service in the tent of meeting before Aaron and his sons. as the Lord had commanded Moses concerning the Levites as they did to them. And the Lord spoke to Moses saying, this applies to the Levites from 25 years old and upwards, they shall come to do the duty in the service of the tent of meeting. And from the age of 50 years, they shall withdraw from the duty of the service and serve no more.

They minister to their brothers in the tent of meeting by keeping guard, but they shall do no service. Thus shall you do to the Levites in assigning their duties. Amen. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord remains forever. Beloved brothers and sisters and friends, we have a wonderful passage before us here in Numbers chapter eight.

And it's a chapter that really does have consecration in view. A setting apart of the Levitical tribe unto the Lord is predominantly in view in this chapter. Now, we've already gone through the book of Leviticus, and we've considered together the role of the Levites, in particular the priests, and in particular their role in the tabernacle. And that was months ago. And so you might be thinking, why is it that now we're looking at something that seems pretty, from the beginning, it should be taking place from the beginning when we've already seen the priests and their offerings and the different offerings in the book of Leviticus and their function and their role.

Why now are we reading about these Levites and their consecration or their setting apart unto the Lord? Well, we have to remember that the book of Numbers is not chronological. So to keep this in mind is very important. The events that are taking place here in chapter 8 in Numbers are actually taking place shortly after the erection of the tabernacle. So we have to keep that in mind so we understand the context.

And of course the duties of the Levites is fundamental to the function and the workings of the tabernacle. First four verses, what we have is we have a text that speaks about the lighting in this tabernacle. the light, the illumination in the tabernacle. Now, this takes place. We know that in the tabernacle itself, there's two rooms.

One room is twice the size of the other. We have the holy place, and then we have the most holy place. The most holy place, or the holy of holies, is a place that the high priest enters once a year that's closed by a curtain. And then you have the holy place. And it's in the holy place that we find the lighting.

the golden lampstand, the menorah, candle, or lampstand I should say. And we've already together as a church way back many months ago in the book of Exodus, Exodus chapter 25 in particular, we've already looked at the detail of the furnishings in the tabernacle including the golden lampstand and the intricate detail that Yahweh had given to Moses to be followed in the craftsmanship of this lampstand. We know that it was made out of hammered gold. We know that he was a stalk in the middle and had three branches on each side. So when you count the tops, it's seven branches and each one had a cup which was filled with a particular fuel to fuel the fire that would burn and give illumination to the holy place.

Yahweh was very particular, very particular, in all the details He gave to Moses. And those details were to be followed exactly, all the way to the type of fuel that was in those candlesticks, or the lampstand, the little cups that held the fire. They were made, the fuel was actually from beaten olives, you might remember that, not crushed. beaten, pure olive oil, the best you can get. God was very particular.

And we know it was the duty of Aaron. We're told that it's the duty of Aaron, the high priest, to trim the lighting in that place twice every day. Morning and evening. We're told this in Exodus chapter 30. And that's crucial.

That's crucial because the lampstand, the golden lampstand, is the sole source of light in that place. Remember when we went through the book of Exodus and we looked at the construction of the tabernacle, you would remember that the roofing was made out of many layers, layers of skin and fabric, and they were overlaid one with the other, and you couldn't see through. There was no light that would get in. So apart from this light, apart from God's prescribed light for that place, there would be no dark, there would be no light at all. Without it, the priest could not accomplish a faithful service unto Yahweh.

That would fumble and stumble over themselves in the darkness, and they would not be able to represent Israel in their service before the Lord. Because there was no foreign lights allowed in there. In fact, if they were to modify or bring their own light, then they would die. Something similar to what Nadab and Mabihu experienced when they brought strange fire with the incense. It's the light God prescribes or no light at all.

Think about that when you read verses in the Bible that speak about light. One in particular comes to mind. I'm sure it comes to your hearts as well. Psalm 119, 105. Your word is the lamp to my feet and light to my path.

Beloved, too often, too often people try to explore with other so-called lights. And the result is always corruption. It's always sin. It always leads to death. Always.

Apart from His light, apart from His Word, there's only death. There is no life. But ultimately, the light we know, and the most brilliant and the most wonderful bright light is the Word incarnate. It's Christ himself. And in fact, the next time we're in the book of John, the very next verse providentially that we'll be looking at is John chapter 8 verse 12, where the Word incarnate declares and cries out to the crowd, and he says, I am the light of the world.

Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. Now from there, We go to the majority part of the chapter in chapter 8, and our attention is actually turned now to the consecration of a tribe, a particular tribe, the tribe of Levi. And they're consecrated for service unto the Lord. And again, we see the emphasis throughout the chapter. We've read it together.

We see an emphasis there, an emphasis on holiness, an emphasis on purity, an emphasis on cleanliness. Moses is to take the Levites, and he's to consecrate them, and that is to separate them, to set them apart for the service of Yahweh. And he does this by sprinkling water of purification over them. They're there to shave their body. They're to wash themselves and their clothing.

They're there to be clean before the Lord. If they're going to serve, they're infinitely pure. and thrice holy God, then they themselves must be clean." That makes sense, doesn't it? The external beloved is always a picture of what is expected internally.

So this cleanliness and the emphasis of cleaning on the outside, this ceremonial cleaning on the outside that is required by the Levites, is always pointing to something far more important. And that is to be clean on the inside, to be concerned over sin, and to cleanse oneself before the Lord in a true holiness and righteousness. That's what God is mainly concerned with. But beyond that, In the ritual for the Levites, for their consecration, we see something else, and we see a beautiful picture of substitution. I hope you saw it.

Now, you remember back in chapter 3, the Lord He said that he's going to take the Levites, this is the tribe of Levites, instead of all the firstborn of Israel. Now you might remember, he gives a reason then and he gives a reason now. And the reason is that when the Lord saved the people of Israel from Egypt, when they were in bondage to the Egyptians, you remember the eve of their salvation. That there was the first Passover. That those who trusted in the Lord would sacrifice a lamb and they would paint the blood of the lamb on the doorpost and on the lintel.

And the angel of death would pass them by. The Lord God would save their life. But the Egyptians weren't so fortunate. the Lord passed over them. And he says, I have consecrated from that day all the firstborn among Israel for me.

They are mine. They belong to me. That's what Yahweh is saying. He says it again in chapter 8 here in the book of Numbers. That Israel, the firstborn, they belong to me.

He chose the Levi tribe. to substitute the firstborn among Israel. You remember that back in Numbers chapter 3, our brother took us through that. And we're reminded of that here again. That the Lord's saying, okay, the firstborn amongst all the 12 tribes are mine, but instead what I'm going to do is I'm going to take the whole tribe of Levi, I've chosen them, they're my chosen ones, and they're going to be the substitute for all the firstborn of Israel.

They're going to be the substitute. And by extension, beloved, we need to see this, that by extension they will actually be the substitute for all of the congregation of Israel also. Because the whole of Israel really is the firstborn son of God. You remember the Lord said that Himself in Exodus chapter 4 verse 22. So the tribe of Levi, which is being set apart for the Lord God, for service of Yahweh, is being set apart for the whole of the congregation of Israel.

They'll be representing Israel before the Lord. And so Levi will be a picture of holiness. And that's why we have the emphasis of holiness and cleanliness and purity and obedience in their service to God. Because that is what's expected among all the people of God. And Yahweh in turn He'll bless not only the Levites, but through them He'll bless the whole congregation of Israel.

He'll bless them with His blessings, with His presence. And also we're told He'll hold back any plagues upon them because they come and approach Him in the tabernacle. Because He knows what their sins deserve. Corrupt, sinful human beings do not deserve to come before a good and holy God. In fact, they cannot.

They would sit under His wrath, under His judgment. They'll be disintegrated. But it is the grace of God that has allowed for them to be able to approach Him in this way through the substitutes. the work of the Levites in their service before the Lord. So the Levites are representing the whole of Israel, and that's why the consecration of the Levites we see in Numbers chapter 8 involves the whole of Israel.

It's a whole of Israel affair. Did you see it? The whole of Israel is there. If Levi is to represent the whole congregation, then the whole congregation is to be involved with their consecration ceremony, because it's this tribe that's representing Israel. How?

How are they involved? Now we know they're there, right? But are they only passive? Is Levi, is the whole congregation to be there? God said to Moses, you bring the whole assembly, the whole congregation of Israel.

Is it that they're going to be simply passive and just watching? Or is this something that they do? In fact, there is something they do. Let's read from verse 9. And you shall bring the Levites before the tent of meaning and assemble the whole congregation of the people of Israel.

10. When you bring the Levites before the Lord, the people of Israel shall what? Shall lay their hands on the Levites. Brothers and sisters, let me ask, where else have we seen language like that? The laying of hands.

Yeah, laying of hands, we've read already as we've worked our way through the Old Testament to this point. The laying of hands is that the offerer or the worshipper who brings his sacrifice, he lays his hands upon the head of that animal, does he not? and the animal is then slaughtered. It's a symbol of a transference taking place. The animal becomes the substitute.

It takes the place of this person on behalf of the person offering the animal. We've seen that. We've seen that clearly so far. God commands and prescribes this in detail. And therefore, God approves of the process.

And in doing so, he's teaching the people of Israel, his people that he's covenanted with, he's teaching them that he'll accept a substitute. Now we've already seen that God will accept a substitute for the atonement of sins. We've seen that in the animals. But here you have the Levites who are now serving Yahweh in the tabernacle on behalf of Israel. The substitution in their acts of service.

substitution in their acts of righteousness because what they do, they do according to the Word of God and God will accept. This is a lesson for the people of Israel. The Levites having had the whole congregations laying hands upon them is the Lord saying, you do this and I will accept them and their service in your place. And we're actually given details about what that service entails a little bit later on in the chapter. We see it in the book of Leviticus and we see it a little bit later on in the chapter, but we also see it in verse 13 in a picture form.

I want you to have a look at that. Because, you see, the laying of hands by the whole congregation is meaningful for us to know that the substitutionary atonement, that the animal is considered or taking place of the person, and what's happening to the animal is deserving of the person. But God has allowed for this. And so, too, is it meaningful that when we see, interestingly, that the Levites themselves will be offered in verse 13, we're told, as a wave offering. actually before that as well.

Now don't hear me wrong. But verse 13 says not that they are offering a wave offering. That's probably what we'd expect to hear. No. They're actually being offered as a wave offering.

So you have the Levites actually being offered unto the Lord as a wave offering. That's interesting. Now, back in Leviticus chapter 7 verse 28 through 31 is a section that speaks of the peace offering. Now, we're told a bit in detail about how that takes place, the usual process of a peace offering. But then we're also told a little bit of a detail back there that may help us understand Numbers chapter 8.

You see, in Leviticus chapter 7 we're told of the usual peace offering as I said earlier, but also we're told that the breast of the animal is taken by the priest and the breast of the animal that has just been sacrificed is waved as a wave offering unto the Lord. That same piece of flesh is then given to the priest. It's given to the priest with the thigh of the animal and that becomes the portion of the priest. Beloved, that piece of flesh, that piece of meat is prime and it's given to the priest as a gift from God for those who serve him as priests in the tabernacle. God is giving the priest a gift, that way of offering, his way is offered unto the Lord and then given to the priest as a gift from God for those who serve him in the tabernacle.

And that's what's happening here in Numbers chapter 8. In fact, in verse 19, we're told that exactly. That the Levites are given as a gift from God to Aaron and his sons. A gift to Aaron and his sons, the priests. A gift to assist the priests in their practical service of the tabernacle.

Like the rest that was given to the priest, God's provision for them. Now the Levites are given to assist the priests in this service. In particular, we know as our brother took us through a few weeks ago, in particular setting up and setting down of the tabernacle when they move from one place to another. And so as long as these Levites remain faithful and ritually clean, and as long as they remain concerned for holiness and undefiled before Yahweh as the very representatives of the whole of the people of Israel, the whole congregation, in their assistance of the priests, and the function of the tabernacle, and the atoning work that takes place, then the Lord will bless Israel. And the Lord will not destroy Israel, and the Lord will hold back His wrath upon Israel.

But beloved, even though that's a very gracious arrangement, you have to agree. Because sinners aren't worthy to come before a holy God. They're not worthy for God to dwell among them anyway. When you read through this passage, you have to come away thinking this is not a permanent solution. Can you see it in verse 23 through 26?

There's a limit. These priests, sorry, these Levites, once they get to the age of 50, they cannot continue in their normal function and normal service. They cannot do that. There's a temporariness to what they're doing. Their substitutionary work is temporal because once they turn 50 or if they die earlier, they're no longer in active duty as they once were.

Then they're replaced by a younger generation that comes along. And there's a circular continuity, an ever-changing of the substitutes and the representatives before Yahweh. The old sort of back off and retire and the new ones come. And you have this revolving circle happening. Different hands, different faces are seen around the tabernacle.

Some retire and some die. There's a real sense that their work is not the final product. There's a real sense that they are but a type and a shadow of something far more permanent to come. Something greater. something of unchanging substance to come.

And let's not forget that even though Yahweh has been pleased to accept the Levites as substitutes for the firstborn, that is, for the congregation, there is a glaring insufficiency in them. And it stands out like a sore thumb, and I say that respectfully speaking. because let's go back to the laying of hands that we spoke of earlier. Remember the symbol I said back then of transference from the people of Israel to the Levites? It's good to some degree because it is recognized by Yahweh.

Their service is recognized by Yahweh. But we know that even though they're representing the people of Israel, they are imperfect in their service. That's imperfect in their service. They don't achieve perfection. We know that God requires perfection.

But then we go on and ask, since we're talking about transference and the laying of the hands, what about the people's sins? Are they being transferred? You see, when the hands are laid upon the animal by a person offering that sacrifice, we know that there's a transference that takes place. The animal needs to die at that point. The animal needs to shed its blood in the place of the offerer because that's what's being transferred symbolically.

Sin. And the wages of sin is death. The soul that sins shall die. But that's not the case with the Levites. You can see that, right?

They're not going to die. Just after the whole congregation, after the whole congregation lays hands upon them, and as God's declaring that they will be their representatives, their substitutes. What do their representatives do? The Levites, beloved, are unfit to be full substitutes of God's people because they themselves, they themselves are sinners in need of atonement. Because when their hands are laid upon them, they turn around and they themselves lay their hands on what?

The bulls that are ready to be sacrificed. People of Israel lay their hands as though they're transferring to them and then they turn around and they lay their hands on the bulls to be sacrificed. Even the substitute, even this human substitute, needs a substitute. And the substitute of the substitute, i.e.

the bulls and the goats, they can't take away sins. Hebrews 10.4. Yahweh is gracious. God is gracious in his dealing and allowing for the Levites to represent the whole congregation.

But there are facts that we need to face. Beloved, their holiness is flawed. They're humans and they're incapable of perfect holiness. Am I right? Their service to Yahweh is limited and it's temporal.

Once they hit 50, they can no longer serve in the same capacity. Or when they die, they can't serve, of course. And their substitution is inherently insufficient to deal with sin. If there ever was a picture of God's grace in the insufficient types and shadows, as wonderful as they are of the Old Testament, it's right here. Because all along in the mind of God, the true substance of all that we see here is in the predestined one to come.

A better substitute. A holy substitute. A righteous substitute. One that is infinitely holy. One who is perfect and faultless and righteous in every way.

One whose work and service before God is perfect, faultless, and acceptable before God. But not only that, His service is eternal. The thing he does before the Lord is perfect and eternal. It's not temporal. It's not repetitive.

It's not ever-changing. Beloved, it is once and for all. The only one who is worthy, the only worthy representative and substitute for sinners, able to deal with the transference of sin of his people, is Jesus. Because he himself is not in need of turning around and laying his hand upon a sacrifice. Because he himself needs a sacrifice.

He doesn't need a bull or a goat or anything else. Because he's perfect. He's the righteous one. He's God incarnate. And he is the one that everything in this passage is pointing towards.

He's spotless. And his blood is so precious, beloved, that it is sufficient to cover every sin committed by his people from the beginning of time. And it is once and for all. Do we need a priest right now? We have a great high priest in Jesus Christ who has accomplished the work.

He entered into the Holy of Holies, not the earthly Holy of Holies. Have you ever thought about that? Jesus never entered from what we can see into the earthly holy of holies. Why? Because he didn't need to.

He went into the heavenly holy of holies and he accomplished the substance of everything here that was just a type and a shadow of what was to come. He was able to serve and obey Yahweh with absolute perfect obedience. And the transfer of righteousness from Him comes to us. And the transfer of our sin comes to Him. Can you see it?

There's a beautiful exchange that takes place. Those Levites were serving the Lord on behalf of the people of God. But their service was acceptable by God. But the thing is, their service was not perfect. And the people's sins, they couldn't deal with that.

They needed to sacrifice because they need their own sins to be cleansed. But here you have a great high priest in Jesus Christ who not only dealt with your sins and mine if you've come to embrace him by faith, but his service to God is now imputed and accounted for you also. And that service is flawless. It's perfect. And it's acceptable to God.

And the beauty of what Christ has done is He's cleansed the sins of those who come to trust in Him. And He's also accounted, He's also given the righteousness that He has accomplished, that you and I and these Levites and all the priests could not do. And that's being accounted to us, beloved. We have a great high priest in Jesus Christ. We have a complete Savior, and we need no one else.

No other temple, no other priest, no other system. He has done it all. For our sakes, he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Let's pray.