Springs Lighthouse Church

Pastor Brian Michaels: Leviticus chapter eight. Father, we settle in before you to hear from your spirit. Lord, as we look at this passage tonight, I know that there are things that will really minister to our hearts about the process of your preparation in our lives so that we might be effective ministers to others. Lord, in our desire to bring you glory and in our desire to be a blessing to your people, Father, we pray that you would be our teacher tonight. You would take us through this text, you would speak to our hearts, you would challenge us, and that you would encourage us and equip us. We ask it all in Jesus' name. Amen.

Well, we finished in our last study, we finished chapter seven, and getting through chapters one through seven, we dealt with various sacrifices and how they were to be offered. You remember that Leviticus is written while the children of Israel are encamped around the base of Mount Sinai. Moses has gone up, he's received the law. He receives these things that are written in Leviticus because it is the handbook for the priests.

If you want to do some study on your own, I'll throw out a couple of passages to you in the course of our study today, but Exodus chapter 29 is where Moses receives the command for these sacrifices to happen and also the ceremony for the priests. As the priesthood is to be instituted, because remember, they've just come out of Egypt. There is no priesthood. The Tabernacle has just been constructed. With the construction of the Tabernacle, they're now ready to institute the sacrifices. Who's going to lead them through the sacrifices? The priests. Who are the priests? Well, we don't have any yet.

Aaron and his sons are going to become the first priests of Israel. Moses is going to take them through all that we will read here in chapter eight, but this ceremony that we're going to read through is what was commanded for Moses to do in Exodus chapter 29. The Tabernacle is standing, everything is ready, and it's time to perform all of this. Why do we, as new covenant believers, take the time to study through something like this? Well, two reasons. There are two ways that everything that we're going to look at tonight is applicable to the church today.

Number one, there are pictures here of Jesus because Jesus is our great High Priest. Everything that we're reading about here that the priests are going to be involved in ultimately points to Jesus because it is a prefiguring of who he would be when he comes and offers himself as our sacrifice. There's a very distinct difference between Jesus and the old covenant priesthood. What you'll see tonight is before Aaron could do anything else, he had to offer a sacrifice for his own sin. That had to be dealt with first. Jesus, obviously, had no sin. He was the one who knew no sin.

His priesthood is better than the priesthood we're studying through. Jesus' priesthood will actually complete the work that the Old Testament priesthood could never complete because it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to remove our sin. They had to sacrifice again and again and again, whereas Jesus offers himself up once and fulfills the whole sacrificial system. If you want to have some fun while we're going through Leviticus, take the time to read through the book of Hebrews because a large part of Hebrews is talking about how Jesus is the better priest than all of this points to.

That's one reason that we go back through all of this, to see the pictures of Jesus' work for us in the Old Testament priesthood. But there's another reason. We see us because we are a priesthood of believers. All of us who have come by faith to Jesus Christ are priests according to the new covenant system. There's no priesthood in the church where one man is elevated above everyone else and he is the mediator that you must come to. You don't come to me and ask me to pray for your sins, right? Please say right. I don't stand between you and God.

But the priest did in the old covenant. The people came to the priest, confessed their sins, and he offered the sacrifice for them. No, Jesus fulfilled all of that. What we understand today is what Peter tells us in First Peter chapter two, verse nine, "You are a chosen people, a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation." That's you and me together. We're all priests together before the Lord. Revelation chapter one, verse six, Revelation chapter five, verse ten, both of those places say that Jesus has made us kings and priests together to God and the Father. Right?

We are kings and priests. Now, think about this for a minute. Under the old covenant, there were three positions of leadership for the nation of Israel, and they were anointed for those positions: prophet, priest, and king. A person could hold two of those positions. A person could be a prophet and they could be a priest, or they could be a king and they could be a prophet. Never under the old covenant could a person be priest and king. And yet, this is what Jesus has made us according to Revelation one and Revelation chapter five. We are kings and priests to God the Father through Jesus Christ.

We see a very distinct difference that is important for us, but we see pictures here that help us to understand our role as we operate as priests, male or female. In the body of Christ, we are all a priesthood of believers. Israel was given a priesthood. We today, the church, have been made into a priesthood. Israel had a priesthood; we are a priesthood. So, verse one. "And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 'Take Aaron and his sons with him, and the garments, the anointing oil, a bull as the sin offering, two rams, and a basket of unleavened bread. And gather all the congregation together at the door of the Tabernacle of meeting.'"

Again, I mentioned Moses is going to be the one offering the sacrifices until the priesthood is established. We'll see the beginning of it in chapter eight, and we'll see it actually come into being in chapter nine. Moses is not a priest, but he's standing in as a mediator in this sense between the priesthood that is being established and the Lord. He's been given the command by God, and so God is establishing this priesthood for Israel. Moses is the instrument that he is using in this early process.

Verse four. "Moses did as the Lord commanded him, and the congregation was gathered together at the door of the Tabernacle of meeting." Now, remember, the children of Israel coming out of Egypt numbered probably between two and three million people. So, it is possible that what is being referred to here is that the leaders of the tribes came to the door of the Tabernacle of meeting. If not, if literally the congregation was gathered there, that's a lot of people. And conceivably, at that point, if you're in the back, you're not seeing any of this. Hopefully, someone's relaying it to you.

Who knows what the process was of all of that? But here's the idea and what is important about this. The point is this is not some sort of secret ritual. This is not a group of Masons. It is not a group of Mormons entering the priesthood with some secret initiation rite. This was public for all to see. And Moses said to the congregation in verse five, "This is what the Lord commanded to be done." Now, we're going to see the presentation of the priests in chapter nine, and before we get to that, chapter eight, what we're going to study tonight, there's preparation.

Because before we are presented as being in a place where we are able to minister to others, which was the priest's job, we have to be prepared. Think of the preparation process people like Moses went through. Before God sent him to Pharaoh, there was a lot of work God had to do in his life, wasn't there? He spent 40 years preparing him for that job while he was in Egypt, learning he was somebody because he was somebody in Egypt. But then he had to spend 40 years out in the desert tending sheep, learning that he really was nobody without the Lord so that the next 40 years of his life, from the age of 80 to 120, God could then use him to be a blessing to everybody.

There was a preparation process. You think of the Apostle Paul. From the time that he came to Christ and understood who Jesus was on the road to Damascus, there was a period of time where he was preparing for the work that God had called him to. And we see this throughout the scripture. David. David was the most amazing king, probably, in Israel's history. But between the time that he was anointed with oil by the prophet Samuel until the time that he actually took the throne was decades. And a lot of that was spent running from Saul, wasn't it?

David's been anointed king. Saul is the king who won't let go and is bucking against all of God's plan, but God's using all of that time to prepare David to be the king he wanted him to be. Don't sell that process short. There's a preparatory process to get us ready for the work God has for us, whatever that work may be. Verse seven, then Moses brought Aaron and his sons and washed them with water. As we go through this process, the first thing that happens is they're washed.

It's interesting because this washing appears to be a complete washing. He's washed completely at first, not only Aaron but his sons, and then there will be lesser washings later. This is again a principle that we see throughout the scripture. We even see it in the New Testament. John chapter 13, when Jesus washed the disciples' feet and Peter said, "You're not washing my feet," and Jesus says, "If I don't wash your feet, then you have nothing to do with me." "Okay, well in that case, Lord, wash my feet, wash my hands, wash my head, wash my whole body."

Jesus said, "You've already been cleansed. You don't need to be cleansed again, but you need these lesser washings." It's the same for us. We're forgiven, amen? We're robed in the righteousness of Christ. We have been cleansed by what Jesus did for us. But does that mean that we live now in a state of sinless perfection? No, we still have this battle. We still falter, we fall, we fail. And so we come for that daily cleansing. Lord, the sin I've committed today, the sin I committed last hour, this moment, Lord, cleanse me anew.

It doesn't affect our standing in salvation, but it affects our standing in current immediate fellowship with God and whether there's distance or some sense of distinction in that fellowship that our sin might cause. So the cleansing has happened. A touch-up will continue. For Aaron and his sons, that cleansing happens here in verse six. And then verse seven, he, Moses, put the tunic on him, Aaron, girded him with the sash, clothed him with the robe, and put the ephod on him. And he girded him with the intricately woven band of the ephod, and with it tied the ephod on him.

First he's washed, then he's clothed. I think it's really important to note that these garments were provided for him. When we're going to talk just a moment about what these garments represented, I think the first thing to note is that they were provided for him. These weren't Aaron's by Aaron's labor, skill, or expense. And whatever it is that God calls us to do, we're not ultimately going to step out to perform that work by our own expense, by our own labor, in our own skill. God will provide all that we need to accomplish his work. He's just that kind of God.

Now, according to Exodus chapter 28, I'm going to tie a couple of these things together here as we go through these articles of clothing. The tunic was to be woven from fine linen thread. Linen because it breathes easily while the priest was doing his work. The idea is that there was to be no sweat in his service. His work wasn't to be labor intensive. And you think about what he's going to do, butchering these animals. That can be labor intensive. But the idea is that God didn't want him seeming like when you watch someone minister and they're always like, "Oh, it's so hard to minister and to serve the Lord."

It's a joy to serve the Lord. Is it exhausting sometimes? Absolutely, but it is a joy. And so, no sweat in his service. The sash was a broad woven band that was to be tied around the midsection. And the main reason that someone wore a sash, kind of think of it like a wide woven belt, the main reason was to be able to gird up your loins for service. You've heard that term? It's reaching down between the ankles to grab the bottom hem of the robe and pull it up between your legs and tuck it into the sash.

It looked a little bit like a diaper, but it was designed for freedom of movement. Because I understand that it's hard to run in a dress. I've heard rumors. I don't generally wear a dress, just making sure everyone's comfortable with that. But it's hard to run in a long dress. It's hard to run in a long robe. But if you can pull that up and tuck it in, then you have freedom of movement as he was working. And it speaks of the priest's service, freedom of service. The robe, a blue seamless robe with an opening, kind of almost like a poncho but a long robe type of a garment.

And it was to be draped at the shoulders and then cover along the body. It had bells in between little decorative pomegranates on the lower hem. So you've got a bell, a pomegranate, a bell, a pomegranate. The pomegranates were different colors: blue, purple, and scarlet were the colors, and they alternated. It would have been fascinating to look at this robe. But we know, of course, the robe speaks of righteousness. We've talked about this so many times, robed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. But even in the Old Testament, that picture is there.

Isaiah 61, verse 10: "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he has clothed me with garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, as a bride adorns herself with her jewels." He's given us garments of salvation, the robe of righteousness, to cover my sinfulness so that when the Father looks at me, when he looks at you, what he sees is Jesus. He sees us robed in the righteousness of Christ. I could not stand before God in my own righteousness.

Because the Bible makes it clear, the same prophet Isaiah, our righteousnesses are as filthy rags in the sight of God. The best we can offer is like filthy rags in the presence of such an amazingly, awesomely holy God. So we don't stand in our own righteousness; we have to stand in the righteousness of Christ. Remember that picture when Jesus told the parable of the prodigal son, which I'm going to be teaching on that parable at the regional conference for Calvary Chapel in June. I'm going to be teaching on this parable, but the main point of the parable is not the prodigal son that ran off; it's the older brother. But that's beyond the scope.

Remember when the prodigal came home? And the father ran out to meet him and he put a robe upon him to cover his shame and the effects of his sinful living. The ephod was a full-body apron that was made with gold, blue, purple, and scarlet thread. And the same way that the sash was a picture of servanthood, the ephod was a symbol of authority. If you're looking for a passage to back that up, Judges chapter eight gives us that idea of that ephod representing authority. So he has the ephod over the robe now.

Then verse eight, he put the breastplate on him, and he put the Urim and the Thummim in the breastplate. The breastplate, as with the ephod, was made of gold, purple, blue, and scarlet thread. And then it was attached to the ephod with a gold chain so that it sat over the heart of the priest. On that breastplate, there were four rows of three gemstones each. So three, three, three, and three. Each gemstone had the name of a different one of the 12 tribes of Israel engraved on that gemstone.

And when you go back to Exodus chapter 28 and you look at how this is all laid out in the instruction regarding how they were to construct this, the idea was when the priest put that breastplate on, he now has the tribes of Israel over his heart as he goes into minister before the Lord. And what a beautiful picture for us. If we are going to minister for God's people, when we go into the presence of the Lord, what an amazing opportunity we have to carry God's people on our heart before the Lord. Not just for pastors; for everyone of us.

Do you know fellow believers who can use prayer for whatever area of their life? You get to carry them on your heart into the presence of the Lord. That's what Aaron would do. The Urim and the Thummim that are put inside the breastplate, we don't know a lot about them. Literally, the Hebrew is lights and perfections. And you can read about them in Exodus 28, verse 20, a little bit more, but they seem to be two stones that were somehow used by the priest to determine what God's will is, to discern God's will.

It's unsure if one was black and one was white and represented yes or no, if they had yes and no written on them, and he would ask questions and then pull these stones out and God would somehow discern his will. We don't know for sure how this worked, so I'm not going to speculate any further beyond that, but that's what the purpose of the Urim and the Thummim was. Verse nine, he put the turban on his head, a simple woven head covering, a symbol of submission before God. Also on the turban, on its front, he put the golden plate, the holy crown, as the Lord had commanded Moses.

Exodus 28 gives us an additional detail for the turban of the high priest. It was a simple woven head covering, but it seems to be a little bit more elaborate than the ones that Aaron's sons are going to wear in a moment. They've got a more simple head covering. This seems to be a little bit more of a, maybe a raised hat sort of idea. Certainly, it doesn't seem like something we see today with miters that we see Orthodox bishops and stuff wear. Doesn't seem to be something like that. But in Exodus 28, it tells us that there was a plate put on the front that had engraved on it, "Holiness to the Lord."

Because that priest was called out by God, separated out, to represent God to the people and represent the people to God. He belonged to the Lord, as do you, as do I. We belong to the Lord, and our job as priests in the new covenant is to represent God to people as we talk to people about who he is, what his word says. We are his representatives to the people, but we also represent the people to God as we take them on our heart before the Lord and we pray for them and we talk to God about their condition and whatever it is we're praying about for them.

Now, all of this, because that's a lot of information, but all of it is a picture of God's grace, isn't it? It's all a picture of the grace of God. These things were provided for Aaron. They were given to Aaron. Who was Aaron? Aaron was the guy that made the golden calf. And we tend to, because Leviticus is a completely separate book of Exodus, and if you're reading through, you go through Genesis, you go through Exodus, and the golden calf happens fairly early. And then you've got all this other stuff that happens. And then you get to Leviticus and you're reading through this, and you take eight chapters and you're talking about Aaron again.

It seems so far removed from the golden calf. The golden calf has happened as Moses was getting this instruction. And so now when Moses starts to put this all into place and starts to have all of this begin to happen, they're looking at Aaron going, "Dude just made the golden calf." This is God's grace. This is absolutely God's grace. So if you've been sitting here all this time thinking, "I don't know what kind of a priest I'd make," have you made a golden calf lately? Okay, you're doing pretty well.

The idea is again spelled out more fully in Zechariah chapter three. We've already made reference in a previous study to this, so I'll just read through those five verses real quickly. Zechariah says, "Then he showed me Joshua, the high priest." He was the high priest in Zechariah's time the way that Aaron is being installed as high priest in this chapter. "He showed me Joshua, the high priest, standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to oppose him. And the Lord said to Satan, 'The Lord rebuke you, Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this, the high priest, not a brand plucked from the fire?'"

Now, Joshua was clothed with filthy garments and was standing before the angel. And the Lord answered and spoke to those who stood before him, saying, "Take away the filthy garments from him." And to him he said, "See, I have removed your iniquity from you." Those filthy garments represented his sin. "I have removed your iniquity from you and I will clothe you with rich robes." And I said, "Let them put a clean turban on his head." So Zechariah just pipes up, "Put a hat on him!" And they put a clean turban on his head and they put the clothes on him, and the angel of the Lord stood by.

That's what's being represented here in Leviticus chapter eight. Aaron standing there in all of his sinfulness, all of his humanity, and going through a process that symbolized what God was doing by his grace, covering all of his iniquity and all of his sin so that he could then minister to others. And also verse ten, Moses took the anointing oil and anointed the Tabernacle and all that was in it and consecrated them. So the Tabernacle and everything inside it is now consecrated or set apart, that's what the word means, set apart for a singular use. It was only to be used for the Lord.

So you go into the outer court, of course, was where the laver for washing was and the bronze altar where the sacrifices were offered. Then you go into the holy place, which only the priest could do, and you'd go in and there was the table of showbread and the altar of incense and the menorah. And all of these things now have this anointing oil anointed upon them. So it's sprinkled on them. Verse 11: He sprinkled some of it on the altar seven times, anointed the altar and all its utensils, and the laver and its base to consecrate them.

So it seems what Moses does, he takes this anointing oil. He goes into, he opens up the flap, goes into the holy place. He sprinkles some of this oil on the table of showbread, on the altar of incense, and on the menorah. He comes back out and then sprinkles some of it on the altar where the sacrifices will be offered and on all of its utensils: its fire pans and its shovels and all of those things. He anoints all of this. It can only be used in service to the Lord. Not for anything else. The altar was not a place where you come and have your family barbecue.

Only for sacrificing to the Lord. And verse 12, he poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron's head and anointed him to consecrate him. So Aaron has been washed, he's been clothed, now he's anointed as a symbol, a picture of the Holy Spirit empowering him for ministry. Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord. Exodus chapter 30 gives us some details on this oil. And I think the most important detail is it was not to be copied. No one else was allowed to make this particular blend or mixture of oil.

With the exception of anointing the priest for his ministry, it was not ever to be put on any other human flesh at all. Period. End of story. It was not to be used for personal benefit. You couldn't go to the Tabernacle and say, "Man, that priest smells good. I need some of that. Where do I buy some of that stuff?" You couldn't do it. In fact, if it was ever used upon another human being, it was done under the penalty of death. God was very serious about this.

But it obviously did smell nice. And so now Aaron is anointed by Moses with this oil. They did it differently then than we do today. Today, if you come to be anointed with oil and we pray for you, we're going to put a little smudge on your forehead. That's not how they did this. Today, a little dab'll do you. But then, I mean they poured it over their head. In fact, Psalm 133, you've all heard this psalm, "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious oil upon the head, running down on the beard, the beard of Aaron, running down on the edge of his garments."

What's being described there is exactly what we're reading. The oil running down his head, down his beard, down onto his garments. All this means you could smell a priest. You could smell him coming. The anointing certainly would cover over any offensive smell, and the idea is that the savor of the spiritual should overpower the savor of the flesh. Aaron's still a man. He's still a man with all of a man's proclivities. He is a man of flesh, but the idea is that the power of the spirit working in him and through him to perform this ministry would overwhelm his flesh and that the spirit would be preeminent.

Verse 13, then Moses brought Aaron's sons and put tunics on them, girded them with sashes, and put hats on them, as the Lord had commanded Moses. So his sons serving with him as priests, but not high priests, they have their own garments, but they're not quite as elaborate as the garments of the high priest. Verse 14, and we'll pick up the pace here because a lot of this we just covered in the first seven chapters. Many of these offerings are the exact ones we've just studied over the past few weeks.

He brought the bull for the sin offering. Then Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the bull for the sin offering and Moses killed it. Then he took the blood and put some on the horns of the altar all around with his finger and purified the altar. And he poured the blood at the base of the altar and consecrated it to make atonement for it. Remember that atonement in the Old Testament idea was not to remove sin; it was to cover over sin. Then he took all of the fat, verse 16, that was on the entrails, the fatty lobe attached to the liver, and the two kidneys with their fat. And Moses burned them on the altar.

But the bull, its hide, its flesh, and its offal he burned with fire outside the camp, as the Lord had commanded Moses. The washing that we talked about when we began the study was symbolic of the washing away of sin. But for sin to be truly dealt with, it wasn't just the symbol. For sin to be dealt with, there had to be the punishment of the guilty. So Aaron and his sons would come, lay their hands on the bull. Remember that Hebrew word is one that means you're leaning into. They are transferring the burden of their sin onto this innocent substitute, and the best that that innocent substitute had to offer, his life, was offered up in the place of the guilty.

So now sin has been dealt with, covered over by the sacrifice of this bull. And then the best parts of the bull, all the fat, were given to the Lord and burned on the altar. Then verse 18, he brought the ram as the burnt offering. Remember that signifies consecration of self. I am setting myself aside to the service of the Lord. So they have the sin offering, which has to be dealt with. Listen, none of us get to be priests without understanding the offering that was made for our sin. That's where it starts. We come to Christ.

But then we set ourselves aside for the service of the Lord by the burnt offering. And Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the ram, and Moses killed it. Then he sprinkled the blood all around on the altar, and he cut the ram into pieces, and Moses burned the head, the pieces, and the fat. Then he washed the entrails and the legs in water, and Moses burned the whole ram on the altar. It was a burnt sacrifice for a sweet aroma, an offering made by fire to the Lord, as the Lord had commanded Moses. Again, that burnt offering totally consumed. No part saved, no part taken by the priest. It was all burned on the altar, the entire self offered in service to God.

Verse 22, and he brought the second ram, the ram of consecration. And some have suggested that maybe a better translation than consecration might be installation or ordination because their self was just consecrated with the offering in verse 18. But this is another offering that seems to be specific to the ordination of the priests. And so then Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the ram, and Moses killed it. And he took some of its blood and put it on the tip of Aaron's right ear. Now, we haven't read about any of this previously, have we?

So this is specific to the ordination of the priests. He put some of the blood on the tip of Aaron's right ear, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot. Then he brought Aaron's sons, and Moses put some of the blood on the tips of their right ears, on the thumbs of their right hands, and on the big toes of their right feet. And Moses sprinkled the blood all around on the altar. So again, a very specific offering for the installation of the priests to be set apart for the work that God had called them to.

Blood was applied to their bodies, to the right ear, to the right thumb, to the right toe. To the ear because what they were to hear was to be different. They were to be listening primarily for God's voice. It signified that idea that your ears are now cleansed. Your thumb, representing what you put your hand to. That is now cleansed. The work of God. To the toe, where you go, the places that you frequent, that you're walking on the path that God lays out for you. And just kind of a side note, I love the fact that the King James refers to the right great toe.

When's the last time you looked down at your feet and said, "That is a great toe." But obviously, it means big toe, okay? So if you're using the old King James and you're wondering about that, that's all it means is the big toe. But why the right ear? Why the right thumb? Why the right toe? Does that mean I can still do whatever I want with my left ear, my left thumb, or my left great toe? Of course not. It's because the right ear, hand, toe was the symbol of strength in their culture. The idea being most people are right-handed.

If you're here and you're a lefty, this doesn't leave you out. But obviously, the predominant number of people in the world are right-handed; that's where the strength is. That's why the blood is applied on that side. And here's an interesting note. As the priests will minister in the future, the blood will be applied as it is here on their going in. They're just going in to minister, so they have the blood applied. It will also be applied on their coming out. And I just found that so fascinating because I think it's really easy to understand why would we have to be anointed with the blood on our ear and our thumb and our toe going into ministry.

Okay, well that makes sense because we want to have the blood of Christ applied to us as we begin to minister, right? But why coming out? And I think it's simply a symbol of, number one, ministry does not stop when you leave the spotlight. So you may be engaged in some ministry event or ministry act, or maybe you serve in the fellowship of God's people and you come and you perform your ministry. But when you stop greeting people and you stop teaching your Sunday school class and you stop working at the beacon giving people the information they need and you stop ushering, because I think that's what ushers do, and you put down all the welcome bags and you're done and you head home, your service to the Lord does not stop there.

We continue to serve the Lord whatever he puts across our path; we're willing to serve. And the second reason I think it was important that the blood is applied as they're going out from their ministry is quite frankly, we can be very vulnerable after some specific ministry takes place. And we're vulnerable in two areas: being puffed up or being bummed out. Puffed up or bummed out. We can be puffed up because pride starts to get the better of us after we've been accomplished at some ministry. And pride is insidious, and it does not honor our Lord.

But it's also easy to be bummed out and become despondent. It's like you have this great thing happen, and then you walk out and you go home. I like this illustration. You know, I come here in the ministry that I do, and after service someone comes up and they ask for prayer and you lay hands on them and some miraculous thing happens. They're healed or they call you on their way home and say, "I just got the call that job you prayed for I got the job." And you walk in the door at home and you're like, "These hands... these hands are special. These hands are used by God." And your wife says, "Take those hands and empty the trash."

Right? I mean, that's all of our experience. And there can be that tendency to become despondent because the enemy attacks you. You're tired, you're worn down, and the enemy just sees an opportunity to put a dagger in your back. And he will do it, gang. He never has a good day and he's not going to go easy on you. Well, verse 25, then he took the fat and the fat tail, all the fat that was on the entrails, the fatty lobe attached to the liver, the two kidneys and their fat, and the right thigh. And from the basket of unleavened bread that was before the Lord, he took one unleavened cake, a cake of bread anointed with oil, and one wafer, and put them on the fat and on the right thigh.

And he put all these in Aaron's hands and his sons' hands and waved them as a wave offering before the Lord. That back and forth motion. And then Moses took them from their hands and burned them on the altar on the burnt offering. They were consecration offerings for a sweet aroma. That was an offering made by fire to the Lord. And Moses took the breast and waved it as a wave offering before the Lord. It was Moses' part of the ram of consecration, as the Lord had commanded Moses. So waving the offering back and forth as an act of presentation to the Lord.

Lord, this is yours, and then placing it on the altar where it was all burned. Again, not appropriate for the priest to take a portion of this offering, which they would when the people bring it. But when they're bringing it, they don't get to have a portion of it. It's not appropriate that they personally benefit from an offering they bring to the Lord. Okay for them to personally benefit from the offerings others bring to the Lord, but not from their own. And then verse 30, Moses took some of the anointing oil and some of the blood that was on the altar and sprinkled it on Aaron, on his garments, on his sons, and on the garments of his sons with him.

And he consecrated Aaron, his garments, his sons, and the garments of his sons with him. Now think about that. This is a mixture now of blood and oil. You think that wouldn't stain? No, that's the point. It's going to forever stain the garments so that these garments could never be used for anything else but the service of the Lord. They were set apart, consecrated for God's service. And verse 31, Moses said to Aaron and his sons, "Boil the flesh at the door of the Tabernacle of meeting and eat it there with the bread that is in the basket of consecration offerings, as I commanded, saying Aaron and his sons shall eat it. What remains of the flesh and of the bread you shall burn with fire."

So from all of these offerings, there were portions that were set aside for Aaron and his sons. They couldn't keep them as leftovers, that's clear there, but they could eat them. They just had to eat them at the door of the Tabernacle. They couldn't have any leftover. Why? Remember, all of this is painting pictures for the people because God wants our relationship with him to be fresh and never stale. They're going to be here, you'll see in just a moment, they're going to be here for seven days.

And it seems that they offer this same set of offerings that we just read through. They will do this every one of those seven days while they're staying there. And the portion that they're eating is to be fresh every day. And so, verse 33, "You shall not go outside the door of the Tabernacle of meeting for seven days, until the days of your consecration are ended, for seven days he shall consecrate you." It's Exodus chapter 29, verses 35 and 36, that indicate that this entire process was to take place on each of the seven days that they were going through this ceremony of ordination or installation as priests.

Verse 34: "As he has done this day, so the Lord has commanded to do, to make atonement for you. Therefore, you shall stay at the door of the Tabernacle of meeting day and night for seven days and keep the charge of the Lord, so that you may not die; for so I have been commanded." So Aaron and his sons did all the things that the Lord had commanded by the hand of Moses. And I think that's important that that's mentioned there. They did it all correctly up to this point because when we get to chapter ten, we're going to see an instance where it is not done correctly down the road and it was costly.

But in coming generations, new descendants of Aaron are going to qualify for the priesthood, and they're going to all go through this same exact process. This ceremony will be performed for each of them. And the fact that it says so clearly they were obedient to God's plan points out something very important. God is the one who gives the plan for how he is to be worshiped. God sets out the plan for how we approach him. That's what all of this is about. This is preparing Aaron and his sons to be able to approach the presence of God on behalf of the people and themselves.

There's a process. "Well, I don't like the one about offering that one ram. I just want to offer one ram instead of two." You don't get to choose. God outlines the process for us. And the same is true today. There is one name given under heaven by which man can be saved, the name Jesus Christ. That's what the Bible declares. We don't get to sit back and decide, "Well, I think I'll choose my own path to God." That's what religion is all about. Relinking with God from a human perspective, trying to reach out from the finite and touch the infinite. You can't do it.

That's why I kind of repel a little bit when someone talks about our religion. And I understand what they're saying, and so I don't always bring it up, but every once in a while I will. What we have is not a religion; it's a relationship. We could not reach from where we are to touch God. So what God did was he reached down to us. But he says this is how you have to come. There is that one name, Jesus Christ, at which every knee will bow: the name Jesus Christ.

That's why Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man comes to the Father but by me." We don't get to choose the plan. Aaron didn't get to choose the plan, his sons didn't get to choose the plan, Moses didn't get to choose the plan. God says here's the plan, and they were obedient. And here's my last thought. As we've talked about this, it's taken us an hour just to go through it. How much time do you think it took them to do it? This ceremony takes time. And it would take time every day for seven days. A lot of time.

Which gave the priests a lot of time for meditation and reflection on offering and sacrifice and atonement. Seven days watching all of this happen, watching the blood of these animals poured out. And you don't have to have some weird love for animals to just be struck by all of this, that an innocent substitute stands in for me and their lifeblood is poured out. And every day they're watching this happen as Moses is performing these offerings, and they're reflecting and they're meditating on what God has provided for them to be forgiven.

And gang, in our priestly service, what we offer to other people, there is no other priority than our own private personal seeking of God. If we're not seeking the Lord and we are not being renewed and refreshed in our time with the Lord, then we are serving under our own strength. Our ministry to other people has to be an overflow of what God is doing in us. It has to be. It has to be us getting into the presence of the Lord and spending time there and letting God speak to us so that we have something to say, so that we have something to impart to others.

Our ministry is not just doing something. Our ministry is about what God wants to do in us so that he can then work through us. Amen? And if we're not spending time in the presence of the Lord, and I'm not about to dictate what that looks like for you or when it needs to be for you, because the Bible's all over the place about different times in a day a person would seek the Lord. And I don't know that all of us always have a very specific time every day that we can set aside. It has to be when we can plan it into our schedule. And I do recommend planning it into the schedule rather than hoping it happens.

But spending that time with the Lord to say, "Okay, Lord, this time is yours. I'm going to set my phone aside or I'm going to silence it. I'm not going to look at it. I'm going to spend this time with you because I know you've opened a door for me and I'm getting ready to go and meet with this person or I'm going down to do a visit at the hospital or I'm just going to have lunch with a friend. And I want you to speak to me so that when I sit down with them, what you're teaching me is overflowing and is a blessing to them."

So Father, we thank you for the priesthood that you've given to us. We thank you that we have been made a kingdom of priests to you, that we are kings and priests to you, our God, our Father. And so Lord, I pray that we would operate in this priesthood the way that you desire for us to, that we would accurately represent you to the people that we rub shoulders with, in whose lives we have the opportunity to touch eternity, and then Lord, that we would represent people to you just by the simple act of right now, Father, for this congregation of people, this group gathered in this room today, those that have joined us online, Lord, pour out your spirit and your blessing as I simply take the moment to represent them to you right now.

Lord, may that be our heart as we pray for our families, as we pray for our loved ones, as we pray for our co-workers, as we pray for fellow students, Lord, whatever the case may be, may we adequately represent them before you as well. We ask all of this tonight in the precious name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And all God's people said, "Amen." Right on.