Exodus 29:1 ¶ And this is
the thing that thou shalt do unto them to hallow them, to minister unto me in
the priest’s office: Take one young bullock, and two rams without blemish,
2 And unleavened bread, and cakes
unleavened tempered with oil, and wafers unleavened anointed with oil: of
wheaten flour shalt thou make them. 3
And thou shalt put them into one basket, and bring them in the basket,
with the bullock and the two rams. 4 And
Aaron and his sons thou shalt bring unto the door of the tabernacle of the
congregation, and shalt wash them with water. 5
And thou shalt take the garments, and put upon Aaron the coat, and the
robe of the ephod, and the ephod, and the breastplate, and gird him with the
curious girdle of the ephod: 6 And thou
shalt put the mitre upon his head, and put the holy crown upon the mitre.
7 Then shalt thou take the anointing
oil, and pour it upon his head, and anoint him. 8 And thou shalt bring his sons, and put coats
upon them. 9 And thou shalt gird them
with girdles, Aaron and his sons, and put the bonnets on them: and the priest’s
office shall be theirs for a perpetual statute: and thou shalt consecrate Aaron
and his sons. 10 And thou shalt cause a
bullock to be brought before the tabernacle of the congregation: and Aaron and
his sons shall put their hands upon the head of the bullock. 11 And thou shalt kill the bullock before the
LORD, by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. 12 And thou shalt take of the blood of the
bullock, and put it upon the horns of the altar with thy finger, and
pour all the blood beside the bottom of the altar. 13 And thou shalt take all the fat that covereth
the inwards, and the caul that is above the liver, and the two kidneys,
and the fat that is upon them, and burn them upon the altar.
14 But the flesh of the bullock, and his
skin, and his dung, shalt thou burn with fire without the camp: it is a
sin offering. 15 Thou shalt also take
one ram; and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands upon the head of the ram.
16 And thou shalt slay the ram, and thou
shalt take his blood, and sprinkle it round about upon the altar.
17 And thou shalt cut the ram in pieces,
and wash the inwards of him, and his legs, and put them unto his pieces,
and unto his head. 18 And thou shalt
burn the whole ram upon the altar: it is a burnt offering unto the LORD:
it is a sweet savour, an offering made by fire unto the LORD. 19 And thou shalt take the other ram; and Aaron
and his sons shall put their hands upon the head of the ram. 20 Then shalt thou kill the ram, and take of his
blood, and put it upon the tip of the right ear of Aaron, and upon the
tip of the right ear of his sons, and upon the thumb of their right hand, and
upon the great toe of their right foot, and sprinkle the blood upon the altar
round about. 21 And thou shalt take of
the blood that is upon the altar, and of the anointing oil, and sprinkle
it upon Aaron, and upon his garments, and upon his sons, and upon the
garments of his sons with him: and he shall be hallowed, and his garments, and
his sons, and his sons’ garments with him. 22
Also thou shalt take of the ram the fat and the rump, and the fat that
covereth the inwards, and the caul above the liver, and the two kidneys,
and the fat that is upon them, and the right shoulder; for it is
a ram of consecration: 23 And one loaf
of bread, and one cake of oiled bread, and one wafer out of the basket of the
unleavened bread that is before the LORD: 24 And thou shalt put all in the hands of Aaron,
and in the hands of his sons; and shalt wave them for a wave offering
before the LORD. 25 And thou shalt
receive them of their hands, and burn them upon the altar for a burnt
offering, for a sweet savour before the LORD: it is an offering made by
fire unto the LORD. 26 And thou shalt
take the breast of the ram of Aaron’s consecration, and wave it for a
wave offering before the LORD: and it shall be thy part. 27 And thou shalt sanctify the breast of the
wave offering, and the shoulder of the heave offering, which is waved, and
which is heaved up, of the ram of the consecration, even of that
which is for Aaron, and of that which is for his sons: 28 And it shall be Aaron’s and his sons’ by a
statute for ever from the children of Israel: for it is an heave
offering: and it shall be an heave offering from the children of Israel of the
sacrifice of their peace offerings, even their heave offering unto the
LORD. 29 And the holy garments of Aaron
shall be his sons’ after him, to be anointed therein, and to be consecrated in
them. 30 And that son that is
priest in his stead shall put them on seven days, when he cometh into the
tabernacle of the congregation to minister in the holy place. 31 And thou shalt take the ram of the
consecration, and seethe his flesh in the holy place. 32 And Aaron and his sons shall eat the flesh of
the ram, and the bread that is in the basket, by the door of the
tabernacle of the congregation. 33 And
they shall eat those things wherewith the atonement was made, to consecrate and
to sanctify them: but a stranger shall not eat thereof, because they are
holy. 34 And if ought of the flesh of
the consecrations, or of the bread, remain unto the morning, then thou shalt
burn the remainder with fire: it shall not be eaten, because it is holy.
35 And thus shalt thou do unto Aaron,
and to his sons, according to all things which I have commanded thee:
seven days shalt thou consecrate them. 36
And thou shalt offer every day a bullock for a sin offering for
atonement: and thou shalt cleanse the altar, when thou hast made an atonement
for it, and thou shalt anoint it, to sanctify it. 37 Seven days thou shalt make an atonement for
the altar, and sanctify it; and it shall be an altar most holy: whatsoever
toucheth the altar shall be holy.
Aaron and his sons are consecrated for the priest’s office. The
Lord Jesus Christ is our high priest.
Hebrews 9:8 ¶ The Holy
Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made
manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing: 9 Which was
a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and
sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining
to the conscience; 10 Which stood only in meats and drinks,
and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation. 11 But Christ being come an high priest of good
things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands,
that is to say, not of this building; 12
Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he
entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. 13 For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and
the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the
flesh: 14 How much more shall the blood
of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God,
purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
All
believers are priests.
1Peter 2:5 Ye also, as
lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up
spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
One way of looking at the difference between Aaron and his sons’
consecration and ours is that they were to perform this ritual to be prepared
for God’s use. God Himself prepares us for His purpose. One focus of the Hebrew
religion was man doing something to please God while in Christ it is God who
justifies and man can do nothing without God’s effort. Man is not set apart by
what He does but only what God does. As Jesus said;
John 15:5 I am the vine, ye
are the branches: He that
abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without
me ye can do nothing.
First,
in the act of salvation…
John 1:12 But as many as
received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his
name: 13 Which were born, not of blood,
nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
Then, in the operation that prevents our souls from being punished
for the sins we commit in our bodies…
Colossians 2:11 In whom
also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting
off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: 12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye
are risen with him through the
faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.
In
keeping us saved in spite of ourselves…
Romans 8:31 ¶ What shall we
then say to these things? If God be
for us, who can be against us?
32 He that spared not his own Son, but
delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all
things? 33 Who shall lay any thing to the
charge of God’s elect? It is
God that justifieth. 34 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather,
that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh
intercession for us. 35 Who shall
separate us from the love of Christ? shall
tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or
sword? 36 As it is written, For thy sake
we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37 Nay, in all these things we are more than
conquerors through him that loved us. 38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor
life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor
things to come, 39 Nor height, nor
depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of
God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
We tend to give ourselves too much credit for our sanctification
and take too much on ourselves for our failures. Christ knows what a dreadful,
arrogant lot we are.
Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked:
who can know it?
Luke 11:13 If ye
then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your
children: how much more shall your
heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?
You don’t think He’d leave salvation up to you, do you? Aaron and
his sons were made holy by their obedience in the things God commanded. We are
made holy by Christ.
1Corinthians 1:30 But of
him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption…
Unleavened bread, cakes, and wafers are called for. Smith’s Bible
Dictionary says, “Various substances were known to have fermenting
qualities; but the ordinary leaven consisted of a lump of old dough in a high
state of fermentation, which was mixed into the mass of dough prepared for
baking.”[1] It
signifies corruption and unleavened bread was required to signify not being
corrupted.
Luke
12:1b…Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
Exodus 12:8 And they shall
eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it…15 Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread;
even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for
whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that
soul shall be cut off from Israel.
And in a prophetic verse that may very well be talking about the
hidden worship of the pagan goddess; Ishtar, Isis, Diana, Venus, Mary etc.
polluting the three main branches of Christianity, although there are other
possible meanings…
Matthew 13:33 Another
parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a
woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.
Animal sacrifices were important in the Hebrew religion but as
they foreshadowed Christ’s sacrifice they are not required now.
Hebrews 10:1 ¶ For the law
having a shadow of good things to come, and
not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they
offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. 2 For then would they not have ceased to be
offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more
conscience of sins. 3 But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance
again made of sins every year.
4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should
take away sins. 5 Wherefore when he
cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but
a body hast thou prepared me: 6 In burnt
offerings and sacrifices for
sin thou hast had no pleasure.
They were not used as mere biological machines whose death meant
absolutely nothing and were of no consequence. Let us remember God’s view of
them rather than our sin-corrupted historical-cultural bias. Many times animal
sacrifices are called a sweet savour to
God.
Numbers 29:36 But ye shall
offer a burnt offering, a sacrifice made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the
LORD: one bullock, one ram, seven lambs of the first year without blemish:
The
heavenly prototypes for all animals play a prominent role in the spiritual
world.
Ezekiel 1:10 As for the
likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a
lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side;
they four also had the face of an eagle… 10:14
And every one had four faces: the first face was the face of a cherub, and the second face was the face of a man, and the third
the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle. 15 And the cherubims were lifted up. This is the living creature that I saw by
the river of Chebar.
Animals
exist in the heavenly realm, the world of the spirit.
2Kings 6:17 And Elisha
prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the
LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of
fire round about Elisha.
At
least some types of them have souls and spirits, as tripartite beings like man.
Numbers 31:28 And levy a
tribute unto the LORD of the men of war which went out to battle: one soul of
five hundred, both of the
persons, and of the beeves, and of the asses, and of the sheep…
Job 12:10 In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and
the breath of all mankind.
Ecclesiastes 3:21 Who
knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that
goeth downward to the earth?
They can have potential abilities of speech that are restrained,
obviously for a reason, perhaps because of the judgment on the earth because of
man. They also have memory of past things.
Numbers 22:28 And the LORD
opened the mouth of the ass, and she said unto Balaam, What have I done unto
thee, that thou hast smitten me these three times? 29 And Balaam said unto the ass, Because thou
hast mocked me: I would there were a sword in mine hand, for now would I kill
thee. 30 And the ass said unto Balaam, Am not I thine ass, upon which thou
hast ridden ever since I was
thine unto this day? was I ever wont to do so unto thee? And he said, Nay.
And
abuse of them is condemned…
Proverbs 12:10 A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast:
but the tender mercies of the wicked are
cruel.
An atonement is
necessary to repair a broken or damaged relationship. It is done in the form of
sacrifices under the law.
Isaiah 59:2 But your
iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not
hear.
But, now, Christ is our atonement for sin, an atonement made by
the grieved party rather than the guilty one.
Romans 5:11 And not only so, but we also joy in God through
our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.
As Christians we must understand that it is not only God that
saves us and not we ourselves, but that God makes our prayers and worship
acceptable, that He sanctifies us, and that He pays the ransom to Himself for
our souls, makes the atonement, and not only that but the propitiation to
satisfy His wrath at sin. Until we wrap our minds around these facts we will
always be trying to do things for God to make us acceptable that He has already
done. We will simply waste the time He has given us and deceive others who need
to learn His truth from us.
Also, consider the wave offering heaved up lifted up before the
Lord as Christ, in a manner, was lifted up for our sins.
[1]
Smith’s Bible Dictionary, 1901. https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionaries/smiths-bible-dictionary/leaven.html
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