One High Priest we Need (Leviticus 7-10)

⁷ Then Moses said to Aaron, “Draw near to the altar and offer your sin offering and your burnt offering and make atonement for yourself and for the people, and bring the offering of the people and make atonement for them, as the Lord has commanded.” Leviticus 9:7

One of, if not the most important assignment given by God in the Old Testament was the assignment of being a priest. It was the priests who stood daily in service before God on behalf of the people of Israel. Their assignment was critical. Here we see, in chapter 8, how God set them apart. The Bible teaches:

• Moses placed blood on the tip of Aaron’s ear signifying that the priest must hear God.
• Moses placed blood on the tip of Aaron’s thumb signify that the priest must take hold of what God says, by faith.
• Moses placed blood on the tip of Aaron’s big toe signify that the priest must stand for God.

These three things signified that every part of the priest’s life must be dedicated to God. But there is more. As the priest’s would come to serve, they were to offer sacrifices for their own sins and they were to honor God in front of the people by offering sacrifices exactly as God directed.

We see in chapter 10 that two of Aaron’s sons failed to do this and God immediately consumed them with fire from Heaven. Friend’s, God takes seriously His holiness and the sacred calling of being a priest.

Question: Would you have wanted this honor in the Old Testament?

Here is what God writes in Hebrews 5:1-0

5 For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. ² He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness. ³ Because of this he is obligated to offer sacrifice for his own sins just as he does for those of the people. ⁴ And no one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was.

⁵ So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him,

“You are my Son,
    today I have begotten you”;

⁶ as he says also in another place,

“You are a priest forever,
    after the order of Melchizedek.”

⁷ In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. ⁸ Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. ⁹ And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, 

I am so glad that I was not asked to become a High Priest because I would fall short. But praise be to God that Jesus did not fall short nor did He need a High Priest because He had no sin.

Today, we who have come to Christ, serve as His ambassadors and priests who have our ears open to His directions, our hands holding tight to His Word, and our feet standing firm in the path He has called us to walk. 

Realizing ones own guilt (Leviticus 5-7)

⁴ if he has sinned and has realized his guilt and will restore what he took by robbery or what he got by oppression or the deposit that was committed to him or the lost thing that he found ⁵ or anything about which he has sworn falsely, he shall restore it in full and shall add a fifth to it, and give it to him to whom it belongs on the day he realizes his guilt. Leviticus 6:4-5

Friend’s, it is no ordinary act when a person realizes they are a sinner and it is no ordinary act when a person calls on Jesus to forgive them and to cleanse them of their sin. Theologian John Calvin understood this when he wrote the following;

“It is monstrous blindness to exalt men, clothed in human flesh, to such a pitch of perfection, as that their conscience should not convict them of any fault or blame.” (ESV Church History Study Bible, Pg. 149)

Here in Leviticus six God taught His people to evidence faith and repentance by the willful restoring to others that which they had sinned against them. The person who realized their sin was to give one-fifth more than they had taken. After making restitution to people they were to bring a sacrifice for their own sin to God and then the priest would atone for their sin.

These were not ordinary acts. God generated the miracle of conviction, repentance, and atonement.

In Luke 19 we find an example of this taking place. Pause here and read Luke 19:1-10.

Brothers and sisters, did you meet Zacchaeus? This man was sinning openly and without conviction.

Brothers and sisters, did you meet Jesus? He was sinless and He was openly calling sinners to repentance. 

The two men met. Conviction came to Zacchaeus heart and mind. The presence of Jesus awakened truth in his heart and mind. The words of Jesus awakened a different path for this man to walk in. I can see Zacchaeus transformation in that very moment. Notice the change:

• He evidenced a repentant heart by obeying Leviticus 6:4-5.
• He evidenced a redeemed heart by offering to give up to half his resources to care for the poor.

I love what Jesus said, “today salvation has come to this house.” 

Friends, I leave you with this: God does not convict us of sin in order to make us feel bad. He does it so we can be free from sin to live differently. 

A Willing Sacrifice (Leviticus 1-4)

⁴ He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him.  Leviticus 1:4

The insightful commentary of author and pastor David Clarkson speaks volumes to our daily readings from the book of Leviticus. Pastor Clarkson writes:

“Sin was laid upon the other sacrifices when they were not capable of consenting to it. But Christ gave His consent to have our sins laid on Him (Hebrews 10:7). He Himself bore our sins; He took upon Him the burden of our guilt freely.” (ESV Church History Study Bible, Pg. 144)

Brothers and sisters, how we can we do anything but shout praises to the King of Heaven.

Think with me about the days of the Old Testament before Jesus came. God the Father instituted blood sacrifice as a way of atonement until the Lamb of God Himself would come to take away our sin (John 1:29). Each day and each year the people of Israel would come to the Tabernacle to offer sacrifices for their own sins. 

The animals that were sacrificed for the temporary atonement were not willing participants. They had no clue of the why because they were simply animals paying the price for humanities rebellion against God. But it was different with Jesus. Jesus said, as recorded in John 10:17 “No one takes my life, I lay it down willingly…” 

Friend’s, I raise my hands in praise to the God who willingly sacrificed Himself for our atonement. Here is how God describes this in Hebrews 9:26-27:

 ²⁶ for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. ²⁷ And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment.

Friend’s when death comes to my life I will have no fear of judgment because Jesus paid the debt for me. I am rejoicing today because He is our willing sacrifice.

The question is, are we willing to sacrifice our lives in service to God. Truly with all my heart I want to “present my life as a living sacrifice,” (Rom. 12:1) to the one who paid it all for me.

Friend’s take time today to celebrate Him. Check out the worship song “Oh the Blood” and lift your voices to the God who saved your life. It is the blood that is our victory.

Then Moses Blessed Them (Exodus 39-40)

“Then Moses blessed the people.” Exodus 39:43

At the end of the book of Exodus we find a people who obediently built both the Tabernacle and it’s furnishing. You also see a people who provided for the garments for the High Priest. These seem to be simply tasks for skilled people as well as simple tasks for people to give their resources. But it’s more than this. Here are a people, at least in the short term, who lovingly obeyed God in their time, talent, and treasure.

The Bible reveals that God’s response was to “bless the people.” Question, what does it mean “to bless the people?” 

The first place we need to begin to answer this question is to ask, what does the word bless mean. The word “bless” means to bestow divine favor upon. God Himself bestows divine favor on those who love and obey Him.

Brothers and sisters, I was greatly moved by this today. The Lord Jesus Christ blessed me to be able to see who God is and who I was. It was the Lord Jesus who blessed me to be able to receive His mercy, grace, forgiveness, redemption, and righteousness. It was He who blessed us here and in the Heavenly places, Ephesians 1:3.

This is so amazing to me. Question, do you feel blessed today? 

I am sure that some are responding, not really. I suspect this response has come because you are facing battles today. Brothers and sisters, according to Scripture, our battles and blessings are in the same place.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Ephesians 6:12

It is God who meets us in our battles with His blessing of Himself. We see this at the end of Exodus 40 where God’s glory (His presence) fills the Tabernacle and His glory hovers over the Tabernacle and then it moved forward inviting the people to move with Him.

The Lord’s blessing always comes to those who love and obey Him. Often we pray, God bless us.” The prayer we must pray is, Lord help me to love and obey You. When we love and obey Him, the blesses come in battles and victories. 

Oh that God would empower us to love and obey Him. Then the following blessing will be yours and mine:

²⁴ The Lord bless you and keep you;
²⁵ the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
²⁶ the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Numbers 6:24-26

Trusting God with Your Time (Exodus 30-32)

¹² And the Lord said to Moses, ¹³ “You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, ‘Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you,” Exodus 31:12-13

I have heard it before and I am sure you have as well, sometimes people read a section of the Bible and they will comment, “That was for then and this is a different day.” Friend’s it is true that some passages of Scripture were for then. Here is an example, Israel was told to conqueror the Promised Land and we are not called to conqueror the Promised Land.

But when it comes to God’s Word, it has current meaning for us. For example, God’s command to have a day of rest called by God “A Sabbath Rest.”

God taught His people to be different from a society that worked seven days each week in their own self attempts to both provide and enjoy life. In God’s economy this was both an act of disobedience as well as denial of who is their creator.

From the very creation God taught us that He is our creator and our provider. He taught us to work six days using the gifts and talents He has given us. He taught us to rest our bodies because He created us for rest. He taught us to refuel and reflect one day each week on who He is.

When people work seven days each week, they believe God’s ways are not the best and they believe that their bodies are their own and not God’s. Because of our disobedience and our denial of God’s commands we pay a steep price. Here is that price:

• Our bodies break down at a faster pace than God intended.
• Our minds are not fresh and we do things halfway when they could have been so much better.
• We do not stand out before the world because we are like them.
• We sacrifice family and friends because the time for fellowship is not there.
• We miss out on the miracles of God’s provisions in six days.

God does intend for His people to trust their times in His hands!!! I have found that a day of rest makes the rest of our days so much more blessed!!! Consider what we have read today.

Our Great High Priest (Exodus 28-29)

Now this is what you shall do to them to consecrate them, that they may serve me as priests. Exodus 29:1

The words of Charles Spurgeon speak powerfully to our Scripture for the day. Spurgeon wrote, “O for grace to view our great High Priest by the eye of faith.” (ESV Church History Study Bible, Pg. 124)

Friend’s, why would Spurgeon pray that we would view our great High Priest? I think the answer can be found in our reading for today. Before us in Exodus 28-29 is both the clothing and anointing of the earthly high priest. Notice with me his clothing:

• He wore an ephod that had engraved on it the twelve tribes of Israel which represented that he was carrying the nation on his shoulders.
• He wore a breast plate that also had engraved on it the twelve tribes of Israel which represented that he carried the nation in his heart.
• He wore a seamless robe that represented purity in the sight of God on their behalf.
• He wore a turban with the words engraved, “holy to the Lord,” which signified that he bore their guilt upon himself.
• He wore a coat of fine material representing the sanctifying of God’s covering.

After he was clothed, then by the shedding of blood he was sent apart for service to God.

Brothers and sisters, when the people saw the high priest the took hope in knowing that Jesus was coming. Jesus was coming and He did come. Here is what God writes about this in Hebrews 8:1-2:

8 Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, ² a minister in the holy places, in the true ten that the Lord set up, not man.

This Jesus came and bore our sins upon His own shoulders, Heb. 7:26-27. This Jesus came and took us in His heart, John 3:16. This Jesus offered Himself as the payment for our sin. His garments were stained so that our stained garments could be made white as snow, Isaiah 1:18. 

I praise the Lord for being our Great High Priest. But there is more. I praise Him for calling all His followers to be a “royal priesthood,” according to I Peter 2:9. You and I serve the Great High Priest in this world. God has called us to love people, labor before God for people, and to lead people to know and follow our Great High Priest. 

He is our Great High Priest!!!!

The Place where we Meet with God (Exodus 25-27)

²¹ And you shall put the mercy seat on the top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the testimony that I shall give you. ²² There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel. Exodus 25:21-22

Brothers and sisters, it happens each time I read God’s directions to His people concerning the building of the Tabernacle. Each time I read, I attempt to see in my minds eye the wonder, the beauty, and the wealth of the earthly Tabernacle. Each time I see things I did not see before and I recall with fresh amazement the wonder of things I have seen before.

This very day, two things stood out in my minds eye.

1. The earthly tabernacle was to be built according to the pattern of the Heavenly Tabernacle.

As I considered this, I realized that the earthly Tabernacle paled in comparison to The Heavenly Tabernacle. This morning I listened as pastor Chris Hodges said, “I am afraid that christians are far to much in love with this world that cannot satisfy and we are failing to long for Heaven.”

Brothers and sisters, what I read this morning causes me to long for Heaven.

  2. The mercy seat placed on top of the Ark of the Covenant reminded me that it was Jesus who went to the cross so that I could meet Him at the Heavenly mercy seat.

Author Willian Guild helps us understand this as he writes the following,

“It is Christ in who mercy is truly seated, and it is He who made propitiation for our sin (Rom. 7:25)” (ESV Church History Study Bible, Pg. 119)

Oh what a wonderful picture we see in Exodus 25 of what Jesus did for us. Friends, I can almost see the earthly High Priest entering the Holy of Holies with fear and reverence. I see him there offering a blood sacrifice that would only temporarily cover Israel’s sin. But then my mind’s eye looks to the Heavenly Tabernacle where Jesus entered. Hebrews 9:11-28 reveals this scene to us. 

Please pause your reading and turn to Hebrews 9 and let us worship Him.

Here are 4 things that will fuel your worship:

• Jesus is our eternal redemption, (Heb. 9:12).
• Jesus purifies our lives so we can serve Him (Heb. 9:14).
• Jesus purchases our eternal inheritance (Heb. 9:24-26).
• Jesus propitiation is sufficient for all who come to Him in repentance (Heb. 9:28).

Brothers and sisters, let us rejoice for what Jesus did for us and let us lean into our purchased right to meet Jesus each hour at the mercy seat! Give God praise this day. 

No Room For the Enemy (Exodus 22-24)

³² You shall make no covenant with them and their gods. ³³ They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me; for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.” Exodus 23:32-33

As God placed before His people the laws that would govern their lives, the people repeatedly responded, “As the Lord has spoken we will do.” They said this when God gave them the 10 Commandments. They said this in response as God gave them guidelines for every part of their daily lives. 

Here is a very important point, the law of God set the standard, but the law of God did not have power within itself to aid the people to keep the law. In other words they could say, we will do these things, but they would need help in doing them. Friends it is the same today.

Let’s consider one of those laws given by God in chapter 23. God said, make no room for the enemy in your life and in your nation. How was this possible?

God’s answer was this; I will send my angel before you (20:21). The people were to follow this angel by doing the following:

²² “But if you carefully obey his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.

Question: Who was this angel? We believe it was Jesus. This same angel met Joshua as he prepared to do battle with Israel’s enemies (5:13-14). Friend’s only Jesus can do the following:

• Jesus alone drives out our enemies.
• Jesus alone establishes us in this world.
• Jesus alone day by day defeat’s the enemies attacks.

Our part is to day by day to do the following:

1. We are to each day surrender our lives new and fresh to Him.
2. We are to each day to refuse to give room to the enemy in our lives, II Cor. 6:14.
3. We are day by day take inventory of what happens in our lives, II Cor. 7;1.
4. We are to follow His lead each day. Romans 8:37 “We are more than conquerors through Him who strengths us.”

God’s Word to them and to us is this, make no room for the enemy in your life!!!!

A Miracle in the Desert

“On the third new moon after the people of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that day they came into the wilderness of Sinai.” Exodus 19:1

Imagine with me how it must have been for all the Jewish people when the Lord carried them to Mount Sinai. Three months earlier they were slaves in Egypt and now they were free in the Wilderness of Sinai. Take a moment and attempt to be in their shoes.

Consider the life of maybe a 30 year old man. He began his life as a slave and for 30 years it was all he knew, but now he was free. Maybe he was married and maybe he had three kids. The question was, what would he do with his freedom.

At the three month mark of their freedom, God brought them to Mount Sinai to meet with Him. Here they were to learn how to live a miracle life of freedom in the desert. Here is what God taught them at Sinai:

1. He taught them of who He was and what He had done in their lives.

⁴ ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 19:4

The Great I Am that I Am had reached down from Heaven and defeated their captors and had carried them as an eagle carries her young to freedom and beyond. 

  2. He taught them of how they were to live their lives in freedom.

⁵ Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; ⁶ and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.” 19:5

God directed the people to obey the voice that had saved them. This voice clearly spoke to them 10 commandments that were to govern their lives. Their response was to keep the covenant in obedience to Him.

  3. He taught them that they could not keep their freedom on their own.

The commandments of God were before them and they readily said the following;

⁸ All the people answered together and said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” And Moses reported the words of the people to the Lord. 19:8

The people would need more than self effort they would need a Savior and they would need to walk by faith in trusting in the Savior to come.

Dear brothers and sisters, how wonderful that 30 year old man must have felt that day in the desert. But there is more, if you have surrendered your life to Christ, He has brought you to the spiritual Mount Sinai where He meet with you and saved you. Each day you are called to come to your spiritual Mount Sinai and meet with Him for you directions for each day.

Finally you are blessed to live your life in the new man of the Spirit lifting up His name in the desert of a world void of the Water of Life. But in Him we give forth the knowledge of Him to the salvation of people.

Truly our lives are miracles in the desert!!!

A Terrible Failure in Our Day (Exodus 10-12)

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may show these signs of mine among them, ² and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and of your grandson how I have dealt harshly with the Egyptians and what signs I have done among them, that you may know that I am the Lord.” Exodus 10:1-2

Having just returned from Egypt, I have a fresh reminder of what we are studying in the book of Exodus. Please do not think me boastful or arrogant in what I wrote in the last sentence. I know that only God could place me in a position to see anything clearly. Please let me explain more what I mean.

For the last seven days I have been with both Christian leaders and Christian lay people. Each group were focused on the same two things. Both groups wanted to first hear, from me, what God was teaching me. Secondly they wanted to share what God was teaching them. In other words my last seven days have been spent in sharing and being shared with about God Himself.

Here is an honest confession, the last seven days without the distractions of the world system and the drudgery of a busy schedule have been the greatest of blessings.

I believe Moses found himself totally focused on the task at hand in his day. There was no time for distractions and there was no time for non essential schedules. There were three essential things before Moses and I believe before you and me:

1. The future of Israel was at stake.
2. The battle with the enemy was raging.
3. The name of the Lord was on the line.

Moses saw God’s hand at work for His people. They would be delivered and the enemy would be defeated. But there was more here. This was not only a battle for the present generation but it was a battle for the future generation.

God spoke to Moses and said, this is for those that will come after you. Moses was to be focused so that he would have impactful information for his children and his grandchildren. But there was more.

God spoke to Moses and said, establish times of gathering (called feasts) where the nation would share the stories of all Gd had done and all God was doing. These were to be times of remembrance. Friend’s, here is the greatest tragedy of our day. We have no time to share with others what God has done and what God is doing.

Please think through this with me. When was the last time you sat with your family rehearsing the goodness and greatness of God? When was the last time your church shared with each other testimonies of God? When was the last time you openly shared a testimony?

I know each of us want to do so. The problem is, we are far too busy with duties, schedules, and drudgery of life.

Here is what I came home with:

1. I will take greater time to know Him.
2. I will establish patterns where our family can share in testimony.
3. I will share His story with people I meet.

Friend’s let us rehearse the goodness of God. Read Psalm 136 for a great help in doing this very thing.