These words have sacred meaning for the people whom God has called, to be set apart, made holy by God, for service to His People.  God wanted His People to know, without doubt, whom He had chosen to be His mediators who will deal with their sins, including the sins of the mediators!  

“For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.” –Paul, Romans 3:23

We wonder how much trouble could God’s People get into on their journey through the wilderness to the land God has promised them; but as we read further, trouble and temptation follows all people all the days of our lives.  The Enemy of God is constantly trying to undo all that God has created to be perfectly holy and perfectly pleasing—God’s glorious standard for living in God’s Presence.  Sin must be dealt with and God has chosen Aaron and his sons and the succeeding generation of sons to be the priests who will be the mediators for the atonement for sin—until Jesus, our High Priest forever, comes to rid people of all sin once and for all.

Leviticus 8

The Ordination of Aaron and His Sons

The Lord said to Moses, ² “Bring Aaron and his sons, their garments, the anointing oil, the bull for the sin offering, the two rams and the basket containing bread made without yeast, ³ and gather the entire assembly at the entrance to the tent of meeting.” ⁴ Moses did as the Lord commanded him, and the assembly gathered at the entrance to the tent of meeting.

⁵ Moses said to the assembly, “This is what the Lord has commanded to be done.” ⁶ Then Moses brought Aaron and his sons forward and washed them with water. ⁷ He put the tunic on Aaron, tied the sash around him, clothed him with the robe and put the ephod on him. He also fastened the ephod with a decorative waistband, which he tied around him. ⁸ He placed the breastpiece on him and put the Urim and Thummim in the breastpiece. ⁹ Then he placed the turban on Aaron’s head and set the gold plate, the sacred emblem, on the front of it, as the Lord commanded Moses.

¹⁰ Then Moses took the anointing oil and anointed the tabernacle and everything in it, and so consecrated them. ¹¹ He sprinkled some of the oil on the altar seven times, anointing the altar and all its utensils and the basin with its stand, to consecrate them. ¹² He poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron’s head and anointed him to consecrate him. ¹³ Then he brought Aaron’s sons forward, put tunics on them, tied sashes around them and fastened caps on them, as the Lord commanded Moses.

¹⁴ He then presented the bull for the sin offering, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on its head. ¹⁵ Moses slaughtered the bull and took some of the blood, and with his finger he put it on all the horns of the altar to purify the altar. He poured out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. So he consecrated it to make atonement for it. ¹⁶ Moses also took all the fat around the internal organs, the long lobe of the liver, and both kidneys and their fat, and burned it on the altar. ¹⁷ But the bull with its hide and its flesh and its intestines he burned up outside the camp, as the Lord commanded Moses.

¹⁸ He then presented the ram for the burnt offering, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on its head. ¹⁹ Then Moses slaughtered the ram and splashed the blood against the sides of the altar. ²⁰ He cut the ram into pieces and burned the head, the pieces and the fat. ²¹ He washed the internal organs and the legs with water and burned the whole ram on the altar. It was a burnt offering, a pleasing aroma, a food offering presented to the Lord, as the Lord commanded Moses.

²² He then presented the other ram, the ram for the ordination, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on its head. ²³ Moses slaughtered the ram and took some of its blood and put it on the lobe of Aaron’s right ear, on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot. ²⁴ Moses also brought Aaron’s sons forward and put some of the blood on the lobes of their right ears, on the thumbs of their right hands and on the big toes of their right feet. Then he splashed blood against the sides of the altar. ²⁵ After that, he took the fat, the fat tail, all the fat around the internal organs, the long lobe of the liver, both kidneys and their fat and the right thigh. ²⁶ And from the basket of bread made without yeast, which was before the Lord, he took one thick loaf, one thick loaf with olive oil mixed in, and one thin loaf, and he put these on the fat portions and on the right thigh. ²⁷ He put all these in the hands of Aaron and his sons, and they waved them before the Lord as a wave offering. ²⁸ Then Moses took them from their hands and burned them on the altar on top of the burnt offering as an ordination offering, a pleasing aroma, a food offering presented to the Lord. ²⁹ Moses also took the breast, which was his share of the ordination ram, and waved it before the Lord as a wave offering, as the Lord commanded Moses.

³⁰ Then Moses took some of the anointing oil and some of the blood from the altar and sprinkled them on Aaron and his garments and on his sons and their garments. So he consecrated Aaron and his garments and his sons and their garments.

³¹ Moses then said to Aaron and his sons, “Cook the meat at the entrance to the tent of meeting and eat it there with the bread from the basket of ordination offerings, as I was commanded: ‘Aaron and his sons are to eat it.’ ³² Then burn up the rest of the meat and the bread. ³³ Do not leave the entrance to the tent of meeting for seven days, until the days of your ordination are completed, for your ordination will last seven days. ³⁴ What has been done today was commanded by the Lord to make atonement for you. ³⁵ You must stay at the entrance to the tent of meeting day and night for seven days and do what the Lord requires, so you will not die; for that is what I have been commanded.”

³⁶ So Aaron and his sons did everything the Lord commanded through Moses.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

God is firm and commanding to his appointed, anointed, consecrated, and ordained priests when He tells them through Moses exactly what is required of them.  God also tells them what they do is a matter of life or death!

When we respond to God by believing in faith, repenting of sins in Jesus Name, and then choose to follow Jesus, His Son; God gives us entrance into God’s royal priesthood as the redeemed people of God.  God has appointed, anointed, consecrated, and ordained us as the redeemed with this requirement; a commandment given to all who believe and follow our High Priest, Jesus:

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”—Jesus, Matthew 28:19-20

We no longer go through human priests for atonement.  Our faith in Jesus who was the ultimate sacrifice for all our sins removes all sins.  Jesus was, is and always will be the only Way to God.  Jesus is the One and Only High Priest who is our Advocate and is also a part of God.  God, the Father, Jesus, His Son, and Holy Spirit—with us always!

Trained by Jesus, Peter, “the rock upon who Jesus built his church” of believers, writes; 

“But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.” 1 Peter 2:9-10

Our Assignment as Proclaimers—

Paul, who was saved by grace, turning from cruel persecutors of believers to a radical believer in Jesus was appointed, anointed, consecrated, and ordained to also go and tell, teaching, making disciples in people groups called church, with the encouragement and wisdom of God in him to help the churches established in Jesus Name. 

Paul explains our new work as the royal priesthood of God;

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:17-21

We are committed to share the message of reconciliation between God and mankind!  We speak for Jesus, in His Name, “as though God” were speaking through us of all Jesus did to make the Way clear to Him by removing the sins that block us from God. Wow!

Paul, by the power and words of God’s Holy Spirit reminds us that ALL have sinned.  We are not perfect; only perfectly forgiven.  No one is “good.”  Only God is good—Jesus words.  So, Paul explains further how we must think with what we must do to be more like Jesus with grateful hearts for what Jesus has done for us;

^“But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.

For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he makes sinners right in his sight when they believe in Jesus.

Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law.

After all, is God the God of the Jews only? Isn’t he also the God of the Gentiles? Of course he is. There is only one God, and he makes people right with himself only by faith, whether they are Jews or Gentiles. ³¹ Well then, if we emphasize faith, does this mean that we can forget about the law? Of course not! In fact, only when we have faith do we truly fulfill the law.” Romans 3:21-31, NLT

Bottomline:  All have sinned.  Jesus took our punishment for sin.  It is still a matter of life or death. 

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

Lord,

I choose life! I am committed to continue to point the Way to Truth who gives Life!  I’m yours, Lord.  And I’m listening.

In Jesus Name, Amen