“Priests” (Leviticus)
Leviticus 8:1-3, 6-10
OPENING AND INTRODUCTION
Last week, we started a journey in Leviticus by looking at offerings and how they were presented to God. Blood is a big part of sacrifices which cleaned Israel from their sins, their guilt, and even offered thanksgiving.
Tonight, we’re going to continue that journey,
by taking a look at priests, and the role that they played.
A moment ago, we heard a lesson about the gathering of the tribes of Israel, to witness the public institution and ordination, of a dedicated priest class. We’ll dive into that topic and take a look at:
• The Old Testament Priesthood
• Jesus as our High Priest
• The Priesthood of Believers
OLD TESTAMENT PRIESTHOOD
In the beginning, there weren’t dedicated priests. Instead, the head of each family built altars and offered sacrifices to God in their own ways.
As early as Genesis 4, we can see sacrifices made to offer thanksgiving to God. Cain offered his fruit of the ground. Abel offered the firstborn of his flock. Later, Noah, Abram, and Isaac all built altars to honor God.
Then there’s an early mention of a priest named Melchizedek. An invading army took Abram’s nephew Lot, and Uncle Abram led a counter attack to rescue his famiy. He was victorious and not only defeated the armies, but brought back his nephew and other people, as well as the goods that had been taken previously.
After Abram’s victory, several leaders come out to greet him including the priest Melchizedek. The spoils of war are described as quite great, suggesting that there was plenty of food left behind by the enemy. Yet, Melchizedek brings out an offering of bread and wine in thanksgiving to God, and blesses Abram saying:
“Blessed be Abram by God Most High,
Possessor of heaven and earth;
and blessed be God Most High,
who has delivered your enemies into your hand!” (Genesis 14:19-20, ESV)
Abram responded to the blessing, by giving the priest a tenth of the spoils of war. He showed a high amount of respect for Melchizedek, as a priest of God.
There’s no mention when Melchizedek was born, or when he died. He lived before Levi, so he couldn’t be a priest in the order of Aaron and his sons. But he was more than a priest. He was a king as well. Not just any king, but a ruler of a city known as Salem… or peace. To put it another way, He was a royal Priest of God Most High, and the King of Peace.
Step forward about 400-hundred-years, and the tabernacle is created as a center of worship, and publicly recognizes a formal, system of holiness, or purity, of worship.
Aaron was anointed as High Priest, and his four sons as priests. The ceremony was focused on purifying them, preparing them to take over their duties, and dressing them for their new role in service to the people and to God.
As part of the ordination ceremony, Moses presented blood on their right ear lobes, right thumbs and right great toes. It seems to be a ceremonial dedication for them to listen, work, and walk for God.
The clothing that they wore were constant reminders that they were separated as God’s REPRESENTATIVES, which demonstrated the majesty and splendor of God, and bore witness to their authority, to represent the people before God.
They offered the many sacrifices, and repeated these daily. Making the unclean, clean, and the impure, pure. But the effects didn’t last. These sacrifices were to be constantly recurring with no end. The author of Hebrews wrote about it this way:
Since the law has only a shadow of the good things to come, and not the reality itself of those things,
it can never perfect the worshipers by the same sacrifices they continually offer year after year. Otherwise, wouldn’t they have stopped being offered, since the worshipers, purified once and for all, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? (Hebrews 10:1-2, CSB)
Sin is a messy thing. The sacrifices of blood, and the burning of flesh, continually reminded Israel just how messy that sin was. It also reminded the nation of Israel that there was a price to be paid for disobedience to God’s law… and that price required spilled blood.
The offerings were only a temporary measure.
A different sacrifice would be needed to stop the continual cycle, and pay the ultimate price, once and for all time.
That price was paid by Jesus Christ.
JESUS THE HIGH PRIEST
Jesus was our High Priest. But he wasn’t a priest from the Levitical order. In fact, it was predicted that He would be a different kind of priest. David wrote in the Psalms:
The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” (Psalm 110:4, ESV)
Each Levitical priest needed to trace their blood line back to Levi. But, Melchizedek didn’t have that same restriction. Jesus was from the line of Judah, not Levi, and was in the form of the earlier priest of Melchizedek. Where Melchizedek was both a priest and king, Jesus was too.
Our Lord administered the sacrifice of His own perfect, sinless body as a priest. Yet, He still had the power to command demons to flee, the lame to walk and the dead to rise. Jesus was both priest to sacrifice his own sinless, perfect body, and had authority over everything in the world. Hebrews says:
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”;
as he says also in another place,
“You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.” (Hebrews 5:5-6, ESV)
God the Father appointed Jesus as priest. Where the earlier priests served as the mediators between men and God for a time, Jesus serves in that role for ALL time. He was both God and Man, and made the perfect bridge between our world and the heavenly realm. Even today He intercedes for us. John wrote:
My little children, I am writing you these things so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ the righteous one. He himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for those of the whole world. (1 John 2:1-2, CSB)
When we stumble, and let’s be honest, we all will at some point, Jesus is our defender, our representative, our advocate, who constantly covers our sin, with His blood and sacrifice.
It was His great work of redemption, by allowing Himself to be nailed to the cross, and allowing the spilling of His own blood, for us. With His death, no more sacrifices are needed.
The savior’s work was not just the presentation of His body as the sacrifice, but as the High Priest presenting the sacrifice.
PRIESTHOOD OF BELIEVERS
But we too are a form of priest, a priesthood of believers. Peter wrote:
You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. (1 Peter 2:9, CSB)
We are a holy priesthood in service to God. So, In the time that we have remaining, I’d like to look at three ways that we can serve God better as part of this priesthood.
First, we can reflect the light of Jesus
We’re not like the world. We’re set apart because we understand the joy of the grace of God that was freely given to us. Jesus said:
I am the light of the world. Anyone who follows me will never walk in the darkness but will have the light of life. (John 8:12, CSB)
We’ve been called to announce the Good News to those in the world of darkness, to those who haven’t heard the message of grace and forgiveness. Those who still struggle in the shadows of life.
Sharing His message of love; God sent His one and only Son into the world, to pay the price of our sin. Punishment for our disobedience has already been paid, and the end result of Christ’s sacrifice, is that we will have the opportunity to spent eternity in heaven. That’s a message of hope, love, and unlimited joy.
As the priesthood of believers, we can share God’s message of love, and bring others, to understand what Jesus has done for them too.
Second, we can talk to, and listen to God
Previously, the High priest talked with God directly, representing the people. When Jesus died on the cross, the temple veil was torn in two, and we were no longer separated from God. With that separation now gone, we have the privilege to talk directly to God. Through prayer,
we can boldly ask for the concerns of our heart,
or thank Him for the wonderful blessings we’ve received. John wrote:
This is the confidence we have before him: If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
(1 John 5:14, CSB)
Nothing is too great, too hard, or too costly… nothing is beyond what God can do for us. Our Heavenly Father is concerned with our well-being, concerned about our cares, and our life and our challenges. He loves us and sent His one and only Son, proving just how important we are to Him.
But, prayer is more than just talking with God and asking for help. It shapes us at our core. When we incorporate prayer into our life, we change how we think. When we pray before a meal, pray before we leave the house, pray before we go to bed, pray before we do things, or even when after we complete things, pray in thanksgiving, pray in adoration, or just plain pray as an act worship, we connect with God, and we add Him to our life more fully in everything that we do.
Prayer is a way to sacrifice our time and focus on His will, by making it a priority in what we do.
Third, we can make spiritual sacrifices
The Old Testament priests were chosen by God, not self-appointed. They were chosen for a purpose, and that purpose was to serve God by offering sacrifices to purify the nation of Israel, and aim the nation’s hearts towards Him. The priests, and the work that they did, hinted at what Jesus was going to do for us all.
God’s gift of faith that He gave us, is a holy calling and not rooted in what we do, but in the work that God does through us. God knew well before we were born that He would send His one and only Son into the world to die for us. Before the foundation of the world, before we were conceived, we were chosen, by grace, to be His people.
The gift of grace and forgiveness, blesses us with a joy that nothing else can provide. We can do so many things, as an act of thanksgiving, which Peter described as “offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God”. Paul also wrote:
I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship. Do not be conformed to this age,
but be transformed by the renewing of your mind,
so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God. (Romans 12:1-2, CSB)
No matter what we’re good at, what we have, or how much time we see in our calendars, we all have a lot to offer to those around us. God has called us to serve through our talents, through our time, through our treasure and through how we live our lives. All of these are spiritual sacrifices that we can dedicate to the Lord.
With a mission trip nearly upon us, some of you have the opportunity to build up others. Spiritual sacrifices can be as simple as proclaiming the praise of Jesus who brought us out of the darkness of the sinful world, sharing the Good News of a savior that not only loves everyone, but offers His forgiveness, or just plain finding a way to love our neighbors in whatever way we can through service, conversation, or maybe just a caring and listening ear.
Mission trips are like that. We dedicate our time and talents to benefit others. We run into people we’ve never met, and we’re able to share a bit of ourselves as a reflection of God’s love for us. It really can be a labor of love, and maybe it can be a spiritual sacrifice too.
CLOSING REMARKS
So what can we learn from Aaron and his sons? We are the priesthood of believers, and we can still make spiritual sacrifices to honor God, and offer service in thanksgiving, for what God has already done for us.
Reflect the light of Jesus by sharing our joy with those who haven’t heard the Good News.
Pray continually to connect with God and welcome Him into ever aspect of our life.
And, in everything that we do, dedicate our selves to honor God with our time, with our talents, with our treasures, and especially, with ourselves, as an act of thanksgiving for what He first did for us.
