Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com In Christ, Mark
"This is what you are to do to consecrate them, so they may serve me as priests: Take a young bull and two rams without defect. And from fine wheat flour, without yeast, make bread, and cakes mixed with oil, and wafers spread with oil. Put them in a basket and present them in it—along with the bull and the two rams. Then bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting and wash them with water. Take the garments and dress Aaron with the tunic, the robe of the ephod, the ephod itself and the breastpiece. Fasten the ephod on him by its skillfully woven waistband. Put the turban on his head and attach the sacred diadem to the turban. Take the anointing oil and anoint him by pouring it on his head. Bring his sons and dress them in tunics and put headbands on them. Then tie sashes on Aaron and his sons. The priesthood is theirs by a lasting ordinance. In this way you shall ordain Aaron and his sons. "Bring the bull to the front of the Tent of Meeting, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on its head. Slaughter it in the Lord's presence at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. Take some of the bull's blood and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger, and pour out the rest of it at the base of the altar. Then take all the fat around the inner parts, the covering of the liver, and both kidneys with the fat on them, and burn them on the altar. But burn the bull's flesh and its hide and its offal outside the camp. It is a sin offering. "Take one of the rams, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on its head. Slaughter it and take the blood and sprinkle it against the altar on all sides. Cut the ram into pieces and wash the inner parts and the legs, putting them with the head and the other pieces. Then burn the entire ram on the altar. It is a burnt offering to the Lord, a pleasing aroma, an offering made to the Lord by fire.
"Take the other ram, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on its head. Slaughter it, take some of its blood and put it on the lobes of the right ears of Aaron and his sons, on the thumbs of their right hands, and on the big toes of their right feet. Then sprinkle blood against the altar on all sides. And take some of the blood on the altar and some of the anointing oil and sprinkle it on Aaron and his garments and on his sons and their garments. Then he and his sons and their garments will be consecrated. "Take from this ram the fat, the fat tail, the fat around the inner parts, the covering of the liver, both kidneys with the fat on them, and the right thigh. (This is the ram for the ordination.) From the basket of bread made without yeast, which is before the Lord, take a loaf, and a cake made with oil, and a wafer. Put all these in the hands of Aaron and his sons and wave them before the Lord as a wave offering. Then take them from their hands and burn them on the altar along with the burnt offering for a pleasing aroma to the Lord, an offering made to the Lord by fire. After you take the breast of the ram for Aaron's ordination, wave it before the Lord as a wave offering, and it will be your share. "Consecrate those parts of the ordination ram that belong to Aaron and his sons: the breast that was waved and the thigh that was presented. This is always to be the regular share from the Israelites for Aaron and his sons. It is the contribution the Israelites are to make to the Lord from their fellowship offerings. "Aaron's sacred garments will belong to his descendants so that they can be anointed and ordained in them. The son who succeeds him as priest and comes to the Tent of Meeting to minister in the Holy Place is to wear them seven days. Take the ram for the ordination and cook the meat in a sacred place. At the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, Aaron and his sons are to eat the meat of the ram and the bread that is in the basket. They are to eat these offerings by which atonement was made for their ordination and consecration. But no one else may eat them, because they are sacred. And if any of the meat of the ordination ram or any bread is left over till morning, burn it up. It must not be eaten, because it is sacred. "Do for Aaron and his sons everything I have commanded you, taking seven days to ordain them. Sacrifice a bull each day as a sin offering to make atonement. Purify the altar by making atonement for it, and anoint it to consecrate it. For seven days make atonement for the altar and consecrate it. Then the altar will be most holy, and whatever touches it will be holy. "This is what you are to offer on the altar regularly each day: two lambs a year old. Offer one in the morning and the other at twilight. With the first lamb offer a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a quarter of a hin of oil from pressed olives, and a quarter of a hin of wine as a drink offering. Sacrifice the other lamb at twilight with the same grain offering and its drink offering as in the morning—a pleasing aroma, an offering made to the Lord by fire. "For the generations to come this burnt offering is to be made regularly at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting before the Lord. There I will meet you and speak to you; there also I will meet with the Israelites, and the place will be consecrated by my glory. "So I will consecrate the Tent of Meeting and the altar and will consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve me as priests. Then I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God. They will know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of Egypt so that I might dwell among them. I am the Lord their God." Exodus 29:1-46
You’ll remember that God had began His talk with Moses on Mount Sinai with specific directions to build a holy and portable place of worship for the traveling people of Israel. Very specific instructions were given as to how things were to be constructed and what materials were to be used.
Priestly garments were part of what the people of Israel were to make and in Chapter 29, God lays out the process to ordain and consecrate the high priest, Aaron, and his ministering priests, his sons. We notice right away that there was a lot involved in bringing a person into worship leadership. For one who was chosen to represent God as a spiritual leader of His chosen people had to be purified and sanctified for the holy duties he was to take on. As we read through the chapter, we see several specific acts that took place, each with their purpose in preparing the priests before they started to lead.
First, they were washed. God told Moses that they were to "bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting and wash them with water." God placed a heavy emphasis on one being clean and the washing was meant to take away any uncleanliness before Aaron and his sons were dressed with their special clothes.
Second, Aaron was anointed. God told Moses to "Take the anointing oil and anoint him (Aaron) by pouring it on his head." The anointing served to designate Aaron to his holy position and set him apart as high priest.
Third, sin sacrifices were offered. Specifically, our scripture tells us "a young bull and two rams without defect" were required as well as bread made "from fine wheat flour, without yeast" and "cakes mixed with oil, and wafers spread with oil." Aaron and his sons would lay their hands on the heads of the animals, symbolically passing their sins onto the animals. The animals would then be sacrificed with the blood placed on the altar to consecrate it.
The bull was sacrificed first and the bull was burned on the altar with the exception of the "flesh and its hide and its offal" which were burned outside the camp because they were thought to be filled with sin.
One of the rams came next and after Aaron and his sons laid their hands on it, it was sacrificed with its blood spread on the altar before it was burned completely as an offering. Scripture adds that the obedient act of following His guidance through burnt sacrifice resulted in "a pleasing aroma" to Him.
The final animal, the second ram, also had hands laid on it before it was sacrificed. This time, the blood was used to consecrate Aaron and his sons with "some of its blood…put…on the lobes of the right ears…on the thumbs of their right hands, and on the big toes of their right feet" as well as their garments. The parts of their body singled out were for a reason. They would use their ears to listen to the direction of God, their hands to do His work and their feet to go where He commanded them to go to do His service. The remainder of the blood was spread on the altar and the ram was offered to God with the exception of the breast and thigh which we read was boiled and eaten by Aaron and his sons as a communion meal. Note that no one but them were to partake as the sacred meal was set aside for God’s chose leaders. Any leftovers were to be burned.
The ordination process was to last for seven days and God commanded the people to "sacrifice a bull each day as a sin offering to make atonement." They were to "purify the altar by making atonement for it, and anoint it to consecrate it. And after seven days, the altar was to "be most holy" so that "whatever touches it will be holy." Additionally, the people were to "offer on the altar regularly each day: two lambs a year old. Offer one in the morning and the other at twilight. With the first lamb offer a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a quarter of a hin of oil from pressed olives, and a quarter of a hin of wine as a drink offering. Sacrifice the other lamb at twilight with the same grain offering and its drink offering as in the morning." Again, the obedient adherence to the expectations of God would be "a pleasing aroma" to Him…"an offering made to the Lord by fire."
And the ordination ritual was not to stop with Aaron and his sons. For God directed, "For the generations to come this burnt offering is to be made regularly at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting before the Lord. There I will meet you and speak to you; there also I will meet with the Israelites, and the place will be consecrated by my glory."
So what is out takeaway from this passage? Well, God expects anyone who leads in His name to be consecrated, set apart and dedicated to holy, righteous service. He expects His leaders to be committed to living their lives clean and as sin-free as possible. And He expects us to sacrifice and offer ourselves to Him. No longer are bulls, ram or lambs killed as an atonement for sins. This is because God gave His one and only Son Jesus as the final sacrifice, placing the sins of the world upon Him on the cross. The Holy Lamb of God truly did as John said He would do. He took away the sins of the world. Now the only sacrifice that God expects is ours. Indeed, Jesus said, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." (Matthew 16:24) How well are you doing when it comes to denying yourself and placing the father and His Son first in your life?
This Lenten season, let us all examine ourselves and see what we need to deny in order to ensure that we are placing the Lord first in everything. Paul said it well when he wrote, "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
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