CONSECRATED AND SANCTIFIED

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

"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

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

In yesterday’s message, you’ll remember how God provided Moses with specific directions on how to build a holy, portable place of worship where the Israelites were to honor Him as they traveled to the land He had promised. These detailed instructions involved precise measurements and dimensions for the different tabernacle spaces and accessories as well as the type and even color of materials that were to be used.

From that passage, which spanned across the better part of four chapters, we also learned that “Aaron and his sons” would serve as priests and would wear priestly garments whenever they entered the tabernacle’s “Tent of Meeting” or approached “the altar to minister in the Holy Place”. The making of these priestly garments was detailed in Exodus, chapter 28.

As we turn the page today to chapter 29, we find God laying out the process to ordain, consecrate, and sanctify Aaron and his sons into the priesthood and we notice right away that there was a lot involved to bring these men into a proper place of spiritual leadership in the tabernacle. For we see that the ones who were chosen to represent God as the priests over His chosen people had to be purified and made holy for the divine duties they were to perform.

As we read through the chapter, we see several specific acts that took place, each with their own purpose to prepare Aaron and his sons for the priestly positions they would soon assume.

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." Here, we find the Lord placing a heavy emphasis on cleanliness and purity with the washing prescribed for that purpose, preparing the body before donning the special priestly attire.

Second, Aaron was anointed.

God gave Moses the following command:

"Take the anointing oil and anoint him (Aaron) by pouring it on his head."

This anointing served to set apart Aaron to carry out his holy position as God instructed.

Third, sin sacrifices were offered.

Specifically, our scripture tells us "a young bull and two rams without defect", bread made "from fine wheat flour, without yeast", and "cakes mixed with oil, and wafers spread with oil" were all required. In regard to the animals, the scriptures tell us that Aaron and his sons were to lay their hands on their heads, symbolically passing their sins onto the animals before they were sacrificed with the blood placed on the altar to consecrate it.

We reads where the bull was sacrificed first before being burned on the altar with the exception of the "flesh and its hide and its offal" which were set ablaze outside the camp because they were thought to be filled with sin.

After the bull, one of the rams was offered up and its blood was also spread on the altar before it was burned completely as an offering. Scripture adds that this act of obedience to His directive would serve as a “pleasing aroma" to Him.

The final animal, the second ram, was sacrificed and used to consecrate Aaron and his sons as "some of its blood” was put on their garments as well as “the lobes of” their “right ears”, the “thumbs of their right hands”, and “the big toes of their right feet".

These parts of their body were singled out for a reason. For the priests would use their ears to hear the direction of God, their hands to do His work, and their feet to go where He commanded them to go to carry out His service.

We read where the remainder of the blood from the second ram was spread on the altar before the animal was offered up to God with the exception of its breast and thigh meat which to be boiled and eaten by Aaron and his sons as a communion meal. We should note that no one else was permitted to eat this sacred meal except for God’s chosen priests and any leftovers were to be burned.

Of interest, this process wasn’t just one day and then done in nature. Rather, we read where the ordination process was to last for seven days as God commanded the Israelites to "sacrifice a bull each day as a sin offering to make atonement." They were also supposed to "purify the altar by making atonement for it and anoint it to consecrate it.” After the seven day period, the altar was considered to be “most holy" so that "whatever touches it will be holy."

Additionally, the people were to "offer” up “two lambs a year old” on “the altar regularly each day”, one in the morning and the other at twilight. With the first lamb, they were to “offer a tenth of an ephah of fine flour” that was to be “mixed with a quarter of a hin of oil from pressed olives”. The people were also to provide “a quarter of a hin of wine as a drink offering”. The twilight sacrifice was to be performed “with the same grain offering” and “drink offering” as “in the morning" with the obedient adherence to these directions becoming “a pleasing aroma" to Him" as the offerings were “made to” Him “by fire."

And so the ordination, consecration, and sanctification process was set but note that God makes it clear that this wasn’t to stop with Aaron and his sons. For He states:

"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."

Okay, that’s a lot to take in and gives us a lot of information regarding how God expected His priests to be set apart for their duties but what can we take away from this passage to help us in our life as Christ followers today?

The first thing is that God’s expectation for His spiritual leaders to be consecrated and set apart for His service hasn’t changed. Indeed in churches today, we will see formal installation services for pastors, deacons, and elders as they get set to assume high positions of ministry in the sight of the One who has called them. Just as in Old Testament times, the Lord expects His leaders to be committed to living their lives in obedience to Him and as sin-free as possible.

The second thing we need to see is that there is no longer any need to sacrifice animals for God on altars to. This is because He offered up His only Son Jesus as the final atoning sacrifice that would ever be needed to find pardon and forgiveness of sin. This is why John referred to Jesus as “the Lamb of God” who had come to take away “the sin of the world (John 1:29).

And Jesus did just that. He became the Lamb that would allow death to pass over anyone who would place their faith and trust in Him, a commitment that carries with it a believer’s own willingness to sacrifice. Consider these words from our Savior:

"If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me." Matthew 16:24

To be a Christian is to be Christ-like and to be like Christ, we have to be willing to fully surrender to the will of our Father God, setting aside our own desires to fully fulfill His. We do this by being completely obedient to His Word and submissive to the leading of the Holy Spirit.

For brothers and sisters, when we do this, we will find ourselves consecrated and sanctified in all we do in service to our Lord, the Lord who didn’t wish for us to perish but rather gave up His Son to save us, the Lord who calls us to be holy as He is holy, the Lord that one day we will see face to face, and dwell with forever.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.