But we're celebrating freedom and that's always been a Paul saving theme in the hearts of human beings we long for freedom. We want to be free. We celebrate what happened when we dislodged from England. We said, "We don't want England to rule over us. We declared our independence in 1776 and it's all about our freedom."
Back in the 1930s and 40s, the Jews stood strong and firm in Europe. And when the threat of Nazism in the Nazi hill was at their neck and they suffered, but they wanted to be free.
So that deep seated Paul saving desire within the heart of every human being to be free, we understand that nationally and personally. We all know what it's like to be free from habits or practices that can ensnare us. As the Bible says where to lay aside everything that can ensnare us and run the race with diligence, patience that is set before us.
So, because of that, we're not surprised when we picked up God's book and we find that one of the first books in the Bible runs with that theme of freedom. That's what the Exodus is all about, freedom from slavery, freedom from Egypt. When you read the Exodus, it means the departure, an exit, an exiting redemption leaving Egypt and the bandage and being free to worship God and to be the people of God. That's the Book of Exodus and we've been studying it.
Now throughout the Old Testament, you discover that the book of Exodus becomes this historical fulcrum whether you're reading the prophets or you're reading the psalms or the Minor Prophets, they tend to always want to look back to the past over to God freeing the children of Israel out of the band of Egypt, its theme that recurs and steal every year at past over. It is celebrated. It is that one fulcrum point and it happens in the Book of Exodus that the Old Testament looks back to as the capstone, the zenate(ph), the quintessential example of God's power.
What they are saying is if God could do that, God can do anything. Now in the New Testament, when the New Testament writers want to give the example of God's power, they look back to the resurrection. Yes, the death, the burial of Christ our atonement, our Exodus from sin, but more important the resurrection. And we say if God can do that, He can do anything.
So we've been studying a very fascinating, interesting and intriguing book. We have seen how God began with an unknown couple, Amram and Jochebed. I bet a lot of you have already forgotten their names, that's how forgetful they are. An ordinary Hebrew couple and God used them to birth his son and when was taken out of the water, he was given the name "Taken out of the water". Moses, Moshe(ph), drawn out and he became the deliverer of the children of Israel.
And so we've studied that deliverance and we studied the intrigue of the plagues and the coming up to the Red Sea when that thing opened up and God's people walked across on dry land, not even saggy, not wet, not muddy, dry land. We've studied the intrigue of the cloud and the pillar of fire, one that led them by day, the others that led them by night, God's GPS system. God's Positioning System leading them through the wilderness and it's all been fascinating until now.
Now we're going through the minutia, the details and a lot of us hate details we're going through measurements and procedures and recipes and how to saw a veil and how to make an ephod and how to hang the brass plate on it, all of the details. All of the details of the Tabernacle, but once again, we must remind ourselves that it must be very important to God because of all of the subjects covered in the Bible, none is covered in more detail than the Tabernacle. I mean just compare creation which God devotes two chapters to and the Tabernacle of which God devotes 50 chapters to.
Why is it so important? Because it's where God dwells, it's where God will meet with His people. God wants to meet with His people. And so worshipping people must have a place to meet with God and that place was the tent of meeting. We know that as the Tabernacle but in some translations, it is the tent of the meeting.
What's most important in the tent is that little intersection behind the veil. That little spot, a top of that golden mercy seat covered by those representations of angels, the cherubim where God said, "There I will meet with you."
Well up to this point, a lot of the book is focused on Moses and the children of Israel, but Moses has been in the highlight. But now the light is focused on Moses' brother, Aaron whom God will choose as the mediator of the Covenant, the high priest and his family as the family of priest. Now technically, Moses is the general mediator. Aaron, let's call him the ceremonial mediator or technically the sacerdotal mediator. He's the one that's going to officiate and perform all of the rituals, all of the regulations, so that God's people can approach.
Chapters 28 and 29 which we're going to look at, scheming over, I'm going to sum up sections, look at certain verses and we'll make it through easily. It talks about these workers, the priests, and the function they fulfilled in the Tabernacle.
Verse 1 of Chapter 28, "Now take Aaron, your brother and his sons with him from among the children of Israel that he may minister to me as priest." The word priest is the Hebrew word "Kohen" whenever you meet a Jewish person with the last name Kohen, you will know that that person has a lineage that can be traced back to the priestly sector of the people of Israel, the Kohen name, the priestly group, the sons of Aaron. Aaron and Aaron's sons and they're named Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.
Now, let me give you five noticeable things about these priests that you're going to discover as we study tonight. Number one, the priests were appointed by God. God names them. God summons them and God ordains them. Now understand that nobody could just volunteer for this. You couldn't come up and say, "You know I really feel led to be in the ministry as a priest." Tough if you're not related to Aaron, you cannot serve. Sort of like the ancient kingdoms where there was a dynastic succession from father to son so it was with the priesthood. There weren't volunteers. There had to be a calling and this is a divine calling upon the family.
A second thing that you will notice is they had to wear special clothes, priestly garments. And this would set them apart from doing any other activity. These were garments that one would wear only in the duties of the priesthood. You wouldn't wear them to play frisbee in or soccer in, or eat lunch to have a falafel for dinner. These were very special clothes.
Number three, the priests will serve as representatives and who will they represent? They will represent the people of Israel. They're going to represent man before God. Later on, another office in Israel will be inaugurated, that's the office of the prophet and the prophet will also represent, but whom will he represent? He'll represent God to the people. The priest represents the people before God. The prophet will represent God before the people. Say thus says the Lord and give messages from God to the people. But the priest will act as a representative going before the Lord representing the people of Israel. Therefore, on his shoulders, will be two stones. Over His heart will be 12 stones and scribed on those stones will be the tribal names of the people of Israel as he will bear them before the Lord in the tent of the meeting. That you will see as well.
The fourth thing to notice about the priesthood is a priest had to take his calling very, very seriously. You couldn't just go running into the presence of God unprepared and if you were to abuse the calling of the priest, it would mean death to the priest. It was a great calling, it was a great ministry. But you dare not go into God's presence lightly. The priest wouldn't be allowed to text or get on Facebook. He had to take it very seriously administering to the Lord and before the Lord on behalf of the people.
Now you'll notice that in Verse 1, two of the men that are mentioned, Nadab and Abihu, it's very important that you remember them because when we get to the Book of Leviticus, they die. They enter in and offer what's called profane fire before the Lord. Some self-imposed style of worship, they probably thought, "Well you know, I sort of think that God should be approached this way and I think we had to do something a little bit different and mix it up." Until God will say, "Alright" and they will die offering profane fire before the Lord.
This is the reason by the way when Isaiah the Prophet gets a vision of God. The first thing he says is "Woe is me. I am undone for I have seen the Lord." He saw the Lord in the vision so he expects to die because he's not a priest. He's a prophet. That would be taken very seriously.
Fifth and finally, the priesthood was one of the ways the people of Israel could discover the will of God. They have a couple of implements, a couple of stones, one is called the Urim, the other is called the Thummim, Urim and Thummim, say that fast 10 times, it would be tough to do. And we'll read about that. They were for discerning or judging what the will of God would be.
Verse 2, "And you shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty." You might translate that for splendor and for distinction. Let's just set them apart from everybody else. The priest wore holy clothes. I don't believe that there are holy garments as such today though some people and I'm not going to write a hubby horse or chive those who want to wear robes or collars or habits, I don't need another habit.
I don't believe that there should be any special brand of clothing that marks the minister from the people. And that is because the Old Testament priest, "Yeah I understand that, God established that." The New Testament is different. There is no priesthood. There is no priest except one. There is one God, said Paul, and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. We are clothed in his righteousness. And the Bible says we are all priests. We're a kingdom of priests. We're a nation of priests, meaning, you don't need a special individual to represent you before God like they did in the old covenant. You can go before God yourself based upon the high priesthood of Jesus and you yourself can approach like a priest, come boldly before God's thrown.
I grew up in a Roman Catholic family. I was the last of four boys. My parents prayed that one of their sons would be a priest. The first two, Jim and Rick, went to seminary. They came so close to being ordained. One wanted to get married so he did, the other just dropped out, grew his hair long, rode a motorcycle, so he didn't become a priest, neither did my older brother, middle brother, they thought was a lost cause, so I was their last hope. They just thought, "Oh, it would just bless our hearts if you Skip would become a priest."
Imagine the shock after I read the New Testament and I announced to my mom, "Mom, guess what? I am a priest" and I showed her the scripture where a kingdom of priest, a nation of priest. Speaking of that we have a message, a text that has been written in, it says, "Skip, are you a pastor or a priest, what is the difference?"
Well I'm a pastor and a priest. You are a doctor, a lawyer, a clerical worker, a firefighter, a police officer, and a priest.
All of us, all of us have the authority to go into God's presence as a nation of priest. Now I'm a pastor and that word means shepherd, one who feeds, one who feeds the flock was the idea, a shepherd, a pastor, a feeder of God's sheep.
So what is the difference? Well it's a sacramental difference. It's a sacerdotal; that's the word I use a little bit ago. Let me explain what that is. The idea for some is that you must have a system like the Old Testament to approach God. So that you just can't run into God's presence and say, "Hi God, here I am." You have to go through a series of worthy people, be it Mary or saints or a priest. You just can't yourself go before God.
Well what that is, is the system that harkens back to the old covenant, not the new covenant? The new covenant does a way with a need to have a priesthood; that's the whole point. Jesus is the great high priest. His blood offered once, not multiple times, once is enough? So you and I can come boldly. That's the difference.
Verse 3, so, "You shall speak to all who are gifted artisans." Watch this. Gifted artisans whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron's garments to consecrate him that he may minister to me as priest. I want you to notice that God's calling on some people lives was to be an artist.
Their ministry was their art, and I hope that encourages you who are artistic. And you're thinking, "Gosh, I really love to create. I love to paint or sculpt or act", you're thinking but that's not spiritual. Well the legacy of the Christian Church is that it is spiritual. In the early days, you look at the renaissance. Now most of the great artworks were based upon biblical themes and within churches, art was allowed to flourish, and so I think it ought to flourish today. It was a principle to use in the Old Testament.
And these are the garments which they shall make. You'll notice six articles of clothing. A brass played an Ephod, a robe, sculpt fully woven turned like a turban, and a sash. So they shall make holy garments for Aaron, your brother, and his sons that he may minister to me as priest. Now have you notice that's the third time we read that phrase. I just want you to just post it and swallow that phrase for a moment.
Minister to me God as priest yes, they are to represent the people before God. Yes, they are to serve God's people, but first and foremost, they're the minister to God. They're to please and serve God. This is a divine calling if a pastor, if a servant of the Lord forgets that he is called by God and first and foremost he does it because he loves the Lord. He will get burned out and he'll complain and "There are so much to do and people won't leave me alone, and I've got to go to the hospital and visit and pray.: Oh man, it's time for you to get out, move over, let somebody else fill that gap and be called. Minister to me is priest. It's the Lord's calling. It's the Lord's ministry and they will take the gold, blue, purple, and scarlet red and fine linen. They ring the bell.
Those are the same materials that were used in the veil that separated the holy place and the holy of holies, the same material which is used in the curtain where by the priest would enter the holy place.
So the clothing of the priest and the materials in the Tabernacle were the same, showing the connection between these articles of holy clothing and the Tabernacle that they were to serve in. Now the ephod that is mentioned, the ephod is sort of like a holy vest, sleeveless two parts, a front and a back, connected at the shoulder by a shoulder strap, a top which set two stones. Notice again the colors, blue, perhaps speaking of heaven, speaking of the origin of this worship system. The next color purple, is probably referring to royalty like a royal robe of the king speaking of the authority that comes from God. The next scarlet, that's red, speaking of redemption.
So that this whole worship system even in its color outlay was that God from heaven based on his authority was letting people approach him only by the sacrifice or the spilling of blood. It's even woven into the fabric of the priest. Now, the designs are given on how to weave them. Go down to verse 9, you shall take two onyx stones and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel. Six of their names on one stone, six names on another stone in order of their birth with the work of an engraver in stone like the engravings of the signet, like on a ring. You shall engrave the two stones with the names of the sons of Israel. You shall set them in settings of gold and you shall put the two stones on the shoulders of the ephod as memorial stones for the sons of Israel.
And so Aaron shall bear their names before the Lord on his two shoulders as a memorial. You shall make also settings of gold. You shall make two chains of pure gold like braided cords and fasten the braided chains to the settings. Two stones, six names written in each stone on the shoulders and then also you'll see a brass plate as I mentioned 12 stones, so the priest would represent the tribal names thus the entire company of God's people in the Tabernacle before the Lord. Here, the names are borne on the shoulders. Now the shoulder is the place of strength. I learned that sort of the hard way. I grew up and did a little bit of manual labor growing up. But when I moved to Israel and worked on a Kibbutz and they said, "Your job is to transport bananas." I go, "Great, where's the truck?" They said, "Oh no, by hand." I said, "Well, great. How much can a bunch of bananas weigh?"
Well, they weigh about a 110 pounds, the entire stock of bananas when it's grown on a plant and so they told me how to do it and say, "You walk up to it and you hug it." You know have you hugged your bananas today? So, I'd hug it real tight and then I'd walk forward a little bit until the huge bunch, a hundred pound was balanced on one shoulder, my right shoulder. Then my supervisor, this short, stout Israeli took his machete and chopped off the stock of bananas and lands squarely on my shoulders and that was the place of strength. I balanced it just right and take it over to the truck, dump it in the truck, go back, do it again, go back, do it again, go back, do it again. Three hours of that, take a break, have a little bit of a lunch, and go back at it. That was my job. It's a place of strength. He'll bear them on his shoulders.
My mind when I read this, I went to Luke chapter 15, don't turn there. It's the parable of the lost sheep, a hundred sheep a man has, one gets lost. He goes out to find the one leaving the 99 and he bears the sheep on what? His shoulders. That's a picture of the care of God taking us and putting us on His shoulder, bearing us, carrying us on His strength. My problem is and I bet your problem is you often want to squirm off of His shoulders. Okay good enough I can make it on my own now. I don't need your help. It's always tragic a great place of rest. Let Him carry you, the strength and the care of God.
Beginning in verse 15, we have the brass plate, the most elaborate and costly of the garments. I have a question that I want to bring up on the screen. It's a great question. It's a well-thought out question. Did the priest clothe themselves like common people when they appeared off duty in public? Yes they did. Now these were garments that we're reading about that were only to be used while on duty in the Tabernacle performing the ministry of the priest.
Otherwise, they dressed down like the common people and you read that they lived in villages. They were allowed to farm but they lived off of the animals and the produce(ph) that was brought by the people of Israel, the tribes. And they would then work in the Tabernacle in courses or in turn. Groups would have a 2-week turn in the Tabernacle and the temple and then another group and then another group and another group. That is when the priest got to be very numerous. And the rest of the time they lived like everybody else. They were spiritual advisors in the town scattered throughout Israel. But you couldn't tell a priest to part from another person at a distance because they wore the commoner's clothes.
Verse 15, you shall make the brass plate of judgment. Now why is it called the brass plate of judgment? You say wait a minute Skip we were supposed to ask the questions, not you. Well, I like to ask the question the prod you're thinking a little bit. It's called the brass plate of judgment because beside 12 stones on the front, there will be two special stones placed inside the pouch that are used to discover the judgment or the decision of God in difficult matters. They're called the Urim and Thummim.
Those were the stones of judgment, so it's referred to here as the brass plate of judgment. Artistically woven according to the workmanship of the ephod you shall make it of gold, blue, purple, scarlet thread fine woven linen you shall make it. It shall be doubled into a square. A span shall be its length and a span shall be its width. A span is typically from the thumb to the little finger. So the Hawaiians were well represented back in the Old Testament time by the span. If you've been to Hawaii, it's their "hang loose" sign. That's a span.
When you double a span roughly, you have the cubit. So the brass plate was really a cubit in length but then folded in half to make a pouch so that it was a span by a span, you understand. And then the stones were placed in the fold. Sorry about that poetry. It was unintentional. You shall put settings of stone in a four rows of stone. The first row shall be a sardius, that's a red stone, a topaz, yellow green, an emerald corsets green. It shall be the first row. The second row shall be a turquoise. We know what that is around here. A sapphire, that's a blue stone and a diamond, you know what that is. The third row a jacinth that is a blue. Some say slightly yellow stone, an agate which is a brightly variable color stone, an amethyst which is purple in hue and the fourth row a beryl which is sea green, an onyx.
Now, another term for onyx is banded chalcedony and it can come in any variety of colors from brilliant white to almost any color in the spectrum. So it's hard to know exactly what color this was. And a jasper which is clear like crystal. And they shall be set in gold settings and the stone shall have the names of the sons of Israel 12 according to their names like the engravings of a signet. Each one with its own name they shall be according to the 12 tribes.
One thing you discover very quickly living on earth is that our God is a God of great beauty and the stones that he has placed on the earth, just natural stones. They're not apparent. You have to dig them out, sort of like truce in the Bible. You dig deep and you find them, but they would dig deep and they would place the stones onto the brass plate. Let me throw some knowledge here. I can't prove this. It's a thought I've had for a while. It could be that Peter the apostle had in his mind visually the brass plate when he wrote his book I Peter. Twice in that book he uses a word. In English it's translated manifold, manifold.
In chapter one of I Peter, he says that he shouldn't think it weird if you go through manifold trials. They happen to everybody, he says. They come in different sizes and shapes. They're manifold of trials. You turn over a few chapters around chapter 4 I'm guessing. He speaks about the manifold grace of God. That God has given to each one of us a gift and we should engage in the body of Christ, the use of that gift to reveal the manifold grace of God. The word manifold literally means many colored or variegated, many colored. And I can just picture Peter writing that perhaps as a Jew who is familiar with temple worship. He would have thought of the manifold, the many colored stones on the brass plate. There's a principle there, manifold, many colors of trials, manifold grace, many colors of God's grace. God in his grace has a matching color for every color of trial you have. My trial is green. God has a green grace to match it that will be ministered by God's people when they engaged their gifts in the body.
God will match the trial you have with his grace by us. That's Peter's principle if you linked up for one in chapter 4. They're just a thought. I just thought to throw that out. The idea is many colors like the stones in the brass plate. Something else I want to tie in because I like to do this. The stones that are in the brass plate, you read again in Revelation 21 forming the foundation of the New Jerusalem, the city that you will live in one day, the literal city that will come out of heaven toward the earth. You will walk upon the foundations of the covenant that God made and kept with his people and with faithful of his people. That's the idea, God is faithful and we're walking on the stones that bear witness to God keeping his people.
Now, the next several verses talk about attaching the brass plate to the ephod with rings and braided chains. Verse 28, they shall bind the brass plate by means of its rings to the ring of the ephod using a blue cord so that it is above the intricately woven band of the ephod, so that the brass plate does not come loose from the ephod. So Aaron shall bear the names of the sons of Israel on the brass plate of judgment over his heart when he goes into the holy place as a memorial before the Lord continually. And you shall put in the brass plate, remember its cloth. It's a cubit long. It's folded in two, so it forms a pouch. In that fold of the pouch that's in the brass plate of judgment. The Urim and the Thummim and they shall be over Aaron's heart when he goes in before the Lord. So Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel over his heart before the Lord continually.
Unfortunately, of all of the activities and all of the descriptions of the clothing and activities of the priest we know less about the Urim and Thummim than anything else. The words mean literally light and perfection, light and perfection. The idea perhaps is that they form the perfect light. That is the perfect way to discern or judge God's will in very difficult situations. How do you know how they work? All of the readings that I have done, ancient Jewish sources, modern sources, online, et cetera, some believe that there was a black stone and a white stone, Urim and Thummim, one black, one white. Black meant disapprove. White meant approve. Now if that's the case, then that helps us when we read Revelation 2 and Jesus rise to the church of Pergamos and says, "To him who overcomes, I will give up the hidden manna and I will give him to a white stone." In other words, I approved of you. You are accepted. You have overcome. Others believe this is just in the literature, in the writing that the stones glowed like little lights, lights and perfection so that miraculously they glowed.
Again, there's nothing really known about these things other than these guesses. Others believe that you had on each side inscribed. On both stones, you had a yes on one side, a no on the other and then the stone, the other one yes or no so that if the answer from the Lord was to be a yes, you have one out of four possibility of getting it right. The odds were sort of stock against you. We don't really know how they work, but we do know that they were used. Joshua uses them. We're going to read later on that God says to Moses, "Moses, Joshua is going to take over your ministry. And you're going to have the priest meet with Joshua and Joshua will discern whether he's to go war or not by the Urim and the Thummim." Again, however that worked I don't know but that's how it was used. We also know later on the first king of Israel named Saul. Fell from walk with God, a close walk with God. And he desperately wanted to hear the Lord. God wasn't speaking with him. And the Bible says, "God did not talk to him either by Urim or by prophets." God didn't give them a green light, a white stone, a yes answer. It didn't work when he tried to inquire of the Lord that way and the prophet said nothing to say for him.
God closed up communication completely is the idea. These are means of communication. If you have a Mormon background, you know that the Urim and Thummim at least Joseph Smith said were the mystical glasses that when he put on he could read the hieroglyphics that were given to him and the angel Moroni I gave him the hieroglyphic tablets. And he put on the mystical glasses, the Urim and Thummim. I most certainly know that's not it. I'm really glad we don't know what they are. The reason I am glad is because some crook would say I found them alright, replicated them and have or try to have a corner on knowing God's perfect will for your life in every situation. I'm glad that we now have the new covenant where we can come boldly and rely upon the Holy Spirit living within us, better than an Urim or Thummim, the Holy Spirit. Would you rather have guidance or the guide? Would you rather have a map of where to go or would you have the makers say, "I'll take you there myself." If I was navigating New York City, I'd rather have the GPS over a map. Better yet I'd love to have a local. Say, don't worry about it. Just get in my car, I'll take you there. We had the resident Holy Spirit living in us under the new covenant.
Verse 31, you shall make the robe, it's a long white robe of the ephod and all are blue. The ephod was to be blue. The robe was underneath the ephod, the basic garment. The ephod was over it. There shall be an opening for his head in the middle of it. It shall have a woven binding all around its opening like the opening of a coat of male so that it does not tear. And upon its hem, you shall make pomegranates of blue, purple, scarlet all around its hem and bells of gold between them all around, a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden and a pomegranate so they would get the idea of how to do it. It repeats themselves, upon the hem of the robe all around. The golden bell perhaps, perhaps I guess is speaking of joy. The pomegranate is speaking of perhaps fruitfulness, joy and fruitfulness. May you have joy and may you be fruitful and it shall come upon Aaron when he ministers. And its sound will be heard when he goes into the holy place before the Lord and when he comes out, then he may not die.
According to the Talmud, there were 72 ornaments all around the hem of the priest. The bells would indicate he's gone in passed the veil. He has the blood. He's sprinkling the blood on the mercy seat and they would hear it, the priest in the outer court because it is just cloth material. They could hear the bells as they would dance around on the hem of the garment. The people of Israel would know the priest is offering for them that atoning sacrifice. Now, according to Jewish traditions, its one of the questions we asked, it's not in the scripture. It's only Jewish tradition that says a rope was affixed to the ankle of the High Priest and that was in case the bell stopped. If the bell stopped, it meant he probably didn't go in with the right heart, with the right preparation. He offered profane fire or whatever. He didn't do it right. He is dead. You got to pull him out, Nadab and Abihu who were two of such.
Verse 36, you shall make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it the engraving of a signet holiness to the Lord. That was the sign upon the forehead. You shall put it on a blue cord then it maybe on the turban. They shall be in the front of the turban, so it shall be on Aaron's forehead. That Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things which the children of Israel hollow in all their holy gifts. It shall always be on his forehead that they maybe accepted before the Lord. That's a difficult verse to unravel. I had trouble with this one. I looked it up in a lot of sources. The best commentators seem to agree that this is a statement basically saying the buck stops with the High Priest. If he or his buddy priest haven't done something right, if they haven't followed the instructions, if they haven't approach God with the right sacrifice, if they don't have the right heart, the blame falls upon the High Priest. He bears the name dedicated "Kadosh" holy to the Lord.
So as he's bearing that, if everything hasn't been done according to the Lord, he'll take the blame for it. That's the idea. So once again, people were standing in line saying, "I want to be a priest. That seemed like a cool job." Not really. It was given to the family. They were chosen by God. It wasn't done by a volunteer.
Now I believe in ministry today, though somebody will say, "I feel cold and I feel led to be involved in ministry." It must be based upon a clear and holy calling of God, an evidential calling of God. If some of you are entering in the ministry or starting in the ministry or wanting to get into the ministry, I want to read to you a little paragraph written by Charles Haddon Spurgeon. "No man may intrude into the sheepfold as an under Sheppard, he must have an eye to the chief Sheppard and wait his back in command. Before ever a man stands forth as God's ambassador, he must wait for the call from above. If he does not so but rushes into the sacred office, the Lord will say of him and others like him according from Jeremiah 23, "I sent them not neither commanded them, therefore they shall not profit this people at all." says the Lord.
When you see a person who says here she was called to ministry and there's no evidence of the fruit in that person's life. It could mean God saying, "I didn't call you. You intruded into that." If that's the case, then it has to be kept up and kept to float by man's ingenuity rather than God's anointing. That's not ever a good sign. Verse 42 and 43, your summary statements, tunic, sashes, hats, linen, trousers or given in verses 39 down. Look at Verse 42, "You shall make for them linen trousers to cover their nakedness." These are like undergarments.
It shall reach from waist to thigh. It shall be an errand and on his sons when they come into the Tabernacle of meeting, when they come near the altar to minister in the Holy Place that they do not incur iniquity and die. It shall be statute forever to Him and His descendants after Him. I love the fact that these garments were specifically to be made of linen not of wool. Wool was in the Tabernacle not on the priest. And for a very good reason, wool would make you sweat. Linen would keep you from sweating. It was light material.
I know lots of God's servants that do a lot of sweating. They sweat and they fret and they strategized(ph) and they just -- a lot of flesh can go in the ministry. A lot of sweating, I know preachers who sweat when they preach. I'm not down for saying that, I just think God is more interested in inspiration than he is in perspiration. Nothing wrong with good hard labor in the word and work, but just make sure that you're inspired by God, inspiration not perspiration.
On Chapter 29, we have a few minutes at least to get through part of it and who knows if we can scam, we might get through all of it. We have an ordination ceremony. And because Leviticus 8 will say that they actually did what he's telling them here to do will save a lot of our comments for that. Here's where you'll notice. The priest had to do four things to get ordain and one of them was not go to seminary back then.
Number one, they had to wash themselves totally, total immersion like a baptism. They had to be anointed by oil and olive oil smeared upon them or poured upon them. Sacrifices of animals were given, seven days of it and then they were anointed or sprinkled with blood upon their garments. And we're going to have some of the sacrifices for the priest mentioned here. Again, I'm going to skim over it.
But let me just tell you something because we read it and we don't really appreciate it. There is nothing beautiful in these animals being sacrifice. If we were to demonstrate like we bring out the Tabernacle and the little implements of the manor, if we were to bring out and say, "Let me show you where to worship service was like in the Old Testament, bring a knife and slit the throat of an animal, let it bleed all over the stage, you'd be repulse."
There's nothing beautiful in that, its Old Testament sacrifice. It was repulsive. It was intended to be that way. The point being is it symbolic of the destructive nature of sin. It's because sin has entered the world. It must be atoned for only by blood, either yours or a sacrificial animal. That's the intention. It was a repulsive act but the principle by the shedding, without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin."
Verse one, "This is what you will do to hollow them for ministering to me as priest. Take one young bull and two rams without blemish." So the animals were prepared then the priest were prepared. Look at verse four, "Aaron and his sons, you shall bring to the door of the Tabernacle of meeting and you shall wash them with water." And now the priest gets dressed in the next few verses. They go to the Tabernacle and they offer sacrifices for themselves.
Verse 10, "You shall also have the bull brought before the Tabernacle of meeting. And Aaron and his sons shall put their hand on the head of the bull." And don't forget this little procedure. They just didn't sacrifice. They first put their hand on the animal's head. That would become standard practice. Right now, these are sacrifices for the priest. Later on they will be sacrifices for the Camp of Israel, the people.
The hand, the idea was transferring my guilt, my sin onto this animal by the laying out of hands. I'm transferring my sin onto this animal and this animal will die in my place. And Verse 11, the sin offering is mentioned for the priest that you shall kill the bull before the Lord by the door of the Tabernacle of meeting, you shall take some of the blood of the bull and put it on the horns of the altar in those, angular protrusion on the corners. With your finger, you will pour the blood beside the base of the altar.
Verse 14, "But the flesh of the bull with its skin and its offal, the rest of its carcass, you shall burn with fire outside the camp." It is a sin offering. The sin offering was to be totally consumed outside the camp. The writer of Hebrews draws from this and speaks of Christ in Hebrews Chapter 13. I'll read it to you. "Under the system of Jewish Laws, the high priests brought the blood of animals into the holy place as a sacrifice for sin. But the bodies of the animals were burned outside the camp and so Jesus suffered and died outside the City Gates." That's where the God got the Calvary, outside of the City Gates in order to make his people holy by shedding his own blood. He's drawing a type and drawing pointing from one to another, old covenant and new covenant.
Verse 15 the burn offering, "A ram to sacrifice in the burn offering and then another to ordain." Look at verse 17, "Then you shall cut the ram in pieces, wash its entrails and its legs and put them with its pieces, with its head." You see how gross this would be if we actually try to show you this. You shall burn the whole ram on the altar. It is a burnt offering to the Lord. It is the sweet aroma an offering made by fire to the Lord. You shall take the other ram and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands on the head of the ram. Now I have this question that came up and I'm looking at four minutes left, I'm going to throw the question up. You're going to look at it and I'm going to try to answer it as we finish this chapter and as I close.
Skip, could you point out how Christ fulfilled the function of the Old Testament priesthood? Yes, look at Verse 20, "Then you shall kill the ram and take some of its blood and put it on the tip of the right ear of Aaron, on the tip of the right ear of his sons, on the thumb of their right hand, on the big toe of their right foot and sprinkle the blood all around the altar." This symbolizes a total consecration of one's life to God. This is the Old Testament equivalent of Romans Chapter 12 where it says "I beseech you, therefore, by the mercies of God that you present your bodies as a living sacrifice, Holy and acceptable." So right here, right hand, right thumb and right foot. This man must hear the word of God. He must do the work of God and he must walk in the ways of God before God's people. That's the idea of this consecration.
The following verses, the blood is mixed with the oil, sprinkled upon the garments and the parts of the animal are cut. In Verse 26, you shall take breasts of the ram of Aaron's consecration and wave it as a wave offering before the Lord probably like this, vertically, one portion. I'm sorry, horizontally, vertically is this way, and it shall be your portion. So he's going to go like this, wave it in the directions horizontally and then take it home and eat it.
And from the ram of the congregation, you shall concentrate the breasts of the wave offering which is wave in the thigh of the heave offering. What is heaved offering? This is where you move it not horizontally but vertically like this, up and down. This is another portion that they'll heave up and down, up and down and then they'll take that home and eat it too for Aaron and his sons.
It shall be from the children of Israel for Aaron and his sons by a statute forever for it is a heave offering. It shall be a heave offering from the children of Israel, from the sacrifices of their peace offerings that is their heave offering to the Lord. These are parts that go to the priest, the wave breasts of the animal. I believe speaks of God's heart, his love and caring for the priesthood. And then the heave shoulder, again, the shoulder is the place of strength. God's strength will empower them for a ministry, so God's love, God's affection and God's strength.
But on the Verse 36, you won't offer a bull everyday as a sin offering a tomb and you shall cleanse the altar when you make atonement for it. You shall atone it to sanctify it. Seven days you will atonement for the altar and sanctify it and the altar shall be most holy. Whatever touches the altar must be holy. Here's the deal. This is ordination service for the priest was a seven day affair of these sacrifices everyday for seven days. That's the point of it.
Now, this is what you shall offer on the altar. Two lambs of the first year, day by day continually. This is different. After the Tabernacle is built, now listen carefully how this is going to work, once all of the stuff is done, they build the Tabernacle, they consecrate the priest. Then, every single day throughout the history of the Jewish nation, they are to do this, two lambs every single day, day by day continually.
Verse 39, one lamb you shall offer in the morning, the other lamb you shall offer in evening or at twilight. So two young lambs' everyday. For adoration, I love you God, I worship you God and for expiation to remove their sin. So do you get the picture? Where there's the Tabernacle or later on the temple, lamb in the morning, a lamb at night. The day opens, we sacrifice. The day closes, we sacrifice. It's all about God. It's all about shedding blood. It's all about keeping the doors open so that I can approach God day and night.
Thank God for Christ. These sacrifices are done. The difference, the question was asked, could you show how Jesus fulfilled the priesthood? Actually, it's a question we have dwelled upon the last several weeks and we have tried to answer in the weeks. One of the ways is that Jesus is himself the priest and the sacrifice. He's offering the sacrifice and he is the Lamb of God, slain from the foundation of the world who takes away the sin of the world.
Now, I was taught growing up in my Roman Catholic upbringing that the mass had to offered every single day of the week. It's the doctrine known as the continual sacrifice of the mass. Like the Old Testament, day and night, somewhere around the world there has to be the offering of the blood, offering of the sacrifice. That's basic Catholic doctrine. That flies directly in the face of New Testament teaching. It's a throwback to the sacerdotal ceremonial Old Testament system of expiation by the priesthood. It's not a New Testament.
Listen to what the writer of Hebrews, Chapter 9:26 says, "Once at the end of the ages, he is appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, once for all times." It's a finished work nothing can be added to it. Oh, but what if I sin? I John Chapter 1, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all and righteousness." Go directly.
Verse 40, flower and the oil are offered with the lamb, the perpetual offering. Verse 43, there I will meet with the children of Israel and the Tabernacle shall be sanctified by my glory. I will consecrate the Tabernacle of meeting in the altar. I will consecrate both Aaron and his sons to minister to me as priest. I will dwell among the children of Israel and be their God. Now this little summary statement or these summary statements are showing us that God is fulfilling the promise that he made before they left Egypt.
Before they left Egypt, God said, "I'm going to deliver you. You're going to be a free people. And when I deliver you, I will dwell among you, I will be your God. You will be my people." This statement goes all the way back to the promise that God made. So now we have a people organize around God with a central place of worship based upon his word, based upon his laws and I will dwell among the children of Israel and be their God and they will know that I am the Lord their God who brought them out of the land of Egypt that I may dwell among them. I am the Lord their God, two principles to go home with.
Freedom is the result of a direct intervention of God. Freedom is the result of a direct intervention of God. They wouldn't be free unless God intervened. I wouldn't be free unless God intervened. You wouldn't be free unless God intervened. Principle number two, freedom in the Lord must be balance by submission to the Lord. God freed his people but revealed themselves through his word and gave his laws. Freedom in the Lord must be balance by submission to the Lord, his principles.
See later on the children of Israel will still have these laws and still keep the sacrifices and still go through all the motions but that's it, it will be all motion, no emotion. No emotion just motion. And so God will say in Isaiah Chapter 1 when they bring sacrifices to what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices says the Lord, my soul hates your offerings. We would say, "What do you mean you hate these offerings? These were your idea to being with," because their heart wasn't in it, just go into the motion.
If you ever find yourself going through the motion, I hope you have a brother or sister who knows you that you were accountable to, they say brother or sister, you're just putting in your time man, you're just going through the motions. Listen, its easy to do and I'm going to say especially to you in the ministry and I'll speak directly to you on staff of this church, you can go through motions because you're around it all day long, but do you still have the thirst and hunger to open up the bible study, a midweek bible study and go through the word and apply it to yourself or I just like to sit in and listen or do. Your hearts have to be in it when you approach God. Freedom in the Lord, submission to the Lord but we minister to him, to his people but to him. It's a calling.
Father in Heaven, we thank you for the word Jesus did in our behalf as our great high priest. Thank you for a hungry flock that loves to be feed with truth even from the book of Exodus. As you give freedom Lord, I pray that many more of this week, this weekend and Sunday night would come to faith in Christ, be set free from the shackles of their past life and the shackles of a sinful lifestyle and enjoy deliberation as a child, a son or daughter of the living God. In Jesus name, Amen.