Thursday Night Bible Study

Exodus 29 (Click title for audio access)

"Get Me Started"  •  5.19.11  •  Calvary Christian Fellowship, Thursday Night Bible Study

Intro.

- God had told Moses that He was to choose Aaron's family. In chapter 28, we read of their clothing. In chapter 29, we read of their consecration or ordination into ministry.

 Text

•  Exodus 29:1-4  :  "And this is what you shall do to them to hallow them for ministering to Me as priests: Take one young bull and two rams without blemish, and unleavened bread, unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil (you shall make them of wheat flour). You shall put them in one basket and bring them in the basket, with the bull and the two rams. And Aaron and his sons you shall bring to the door of the tabernacle of meeting, and you shall wash them with water."  : This chapter contains the ceremony for priest ordination. It will be performed in Leviticus, but it is given to Moses here. 

- The priests required sacrifice to minister, just as much as the people required sacrifice to worship. They needed to be "hallowed" or consecrated.

- An unblemished bull and two rams. This refers to whole, undefected animals. There could be no birth anomalys or injuries. These would be the most valuable, serviceable animals.

- God expects the best to be brought to Him. Frankly, what we bring to the Lord reveals the value that we place in Him. God sets the bar high immediately.

- Then, the priests were to come with unleavened wheat bread, cakes and wafers. Consecration requires blood and bread! The blood is for sacrifice and the bread is for fellowship.

- Ultimately, Jesus Christ died to remove sin from us but for the purpose of our fellowship with the Lord. He does not desire a relationship that ends with the cross. The cross is where it begins!

- We've discussed the signifcance of leaven and studied in past chapters.

- Leaven is an agent that works silently under the surface, permeating completely whatever it touches. 99% of the time, leaven is a type of evil or the flesh.

- In this case, one can see that the context demands that holiness is the key. Leaven here is anything from the flesh.

- His priests will come with a perfect sacrifice and a pledge to personal holiness.

- This was a one time initiatory bathing. Everytime after this, they would have to cleanse their hands and feet.

•  Exodus 29:5-9  :  "Then you shall take the garments, put the tunic on Aaron, and the robe of the ephod, the ephod, and the breastplate, and gird him with the intricately woven band of the ephod. You shall put the turban on his head, and put the holy crown on the turban. And you shall take the anointing oil, pour it on his head, and anoint him. Then you shall bring his sons and put tunics on them. And you shall gird them with sashes, Aaron and his sons, and put the hats on them. The priesthood shall be theirs for a perpetual statute. So you shall consecrate Aaron and his sons."  :  After all was offered to the Lord, now Aaron would don the clothing.

- He would come with clothing that God designed to be prophetic in nature, speaking primarily of Christ, as well and His believers.

- Once it was upon him, the annointing oil would be poured on him. The oil, speaking of the Spirit, reminds us that the duty of the High Priest would not commence with out His presence.

- Do you see the pattern here? Here in the Old Testament, there is a pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon the High Priest, picturing the Lord's anointing with the Holy Spirit at His baptism.

- As we have been studying through Acts, that promise is now for us as well.

• Exodus 29:10,11  :  "You shall also have the bull brought before the tabernacle of meeting, and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands on the head of the bull. Then you shall kill the bull before the Lord, by the door of the tabernacle of meeting."  :  You will notice that an important part of the sacrifice was identification with the animal being sacrificed.

- Aaron and his sons had to put their hands upon the head of the bull. There had to be physical contact with the animal, illustrating a symbolic transfer of guilt.

- The priests needed to understand this: They were sinners ministering to sinners! Their sin, despite their high calling, was not erased by their vocation!

˚  "The Hebrew word means more than lightly placing the hand, it gives the idea of pressing hard upon the bullock's head. They came each one and leaned upon the victim, loading him with their burden, signifying their acceptance of its substitution, their joy that the Lord would accept that victim in their stead. When they put their hands on the bullock, they made a confession of sin."   Charles Spurgeon

- Once this took place, the bull was slaughtered in the Lord's presence.

- This was a standard operation in sacrifice. There had to be identification with what the animals represented. They touched the animals by faith, believing that their sins were transferred.

- They had to believe that the animal had taken their sins in the eyes of God. This is illustrative of what we do: We put our faith in a one time sacrifice, made by Jesus Christ, touching Him!

•  Exodus 29:12-14  :  "You shall take some of the blood of the bull and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger, and pour all the blood beside the base of the altar. And you shall take all the fat that covers the entrails, the fatty lobe attached to the liver, and the two kidneys and the fat that is on them, and burn them on the altar. But the flesh of the bull, with its skin and its offal, you shall burn with fire outside the camp. It is a sin offering."  : The blood of the bull would meet and inagurate the altar and the ministry of the priests. All of the innards would be burnt on the altar.

- Each of these items were associated with fat. These fatty portions were to be consumed upon the altar.

- The outward flesh of the bull, the skin and the dung, would be burnt outside of the boundaries of the Israeli camp. This was a sin offering specifically for the priests.

- Later on, the sin offering would cover the sins that were committed in ignorance. Here, the priests had to be sacrificed for. Later, the sin offering would be fulfilled by Jesus.

- Jesus died outside the city walls of Jerusalem, fulfilling this picture, according to Hebrews 13.

- The bull took on their guilt and received the sentence of their guilt, while they lived to minister, God temporarily satisfied. What was to happen with the rams? God addresses this next.

•  Exodus 29:15-18  :  "You shall also take one ram, and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands on the head of the ram; and you shall kill the ram, and you shall take its blood and sprinkle it all around on the altar. Then you shall cut the ram in pieces, wash its entrails and its legs, and put them with its pieces and with its head. And you shall burn the whole ram on the altar. It is a burnt offering to the Lord; it is a sweet aroma, an offering made by fire to the Lord."  : Again, there is a transfer, as the priests touch the head of the ram. This time however, all of the blod was to be taken and sprinkle on the altar.

- In the case of the ram, each of the inner pieces were to be cleansed and all was to be burnt on the altar.

- It was to be whole and completely burned before the Lord, which produced a soothing or tranquilising odor before the Lord. It's as if the Lord received this odor and it brought Him pleasure.

- The burnt offering depicts total devotion to the Lord. It is saying, in essence, I am fully yours.

•  Exodus 29:19-21  :  "You shall also take the other ram, and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands on the head of the ram. Then you shall kill the ram, and take some of its blood and put it on the tip of the right ear of Aaron and on the tip of the right ear of his sons, on the thumb of their right hand and on the big toe of their right foot, and sprinkle the blood all around on the altar. And you shall take some of the blood that is on the altar, and some of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it on Aaron and on his garments, on his sons and on the garments of his sons with him; and he and his garments shall be hallowed, and his sons and his sons’ garments with him."  : The second ram supplied blood that would be put on the bodies of the priests. Moses was to dip his finger in that blood and place some on the right ears, thumbs and toes.

- It was to be sprinkled upon their garments, mixed with annointing oil. I wonder what they thought at this moment? I wonder if they thought, "Is there a way that another family can do this!?"

- The right side of the body was considered the place of strength. The idea here is that the priest would hear, work and walk better when he was covered in the blood.

- I want what I hear to be considered through the blood of Christ. I want what I put my hands to, to be effective for His glory. I want where I walk to be pleasing paths to His name!

- There is very little that is more true than that! You can look to reform a man with behavioral principles or you can call upon him to receive the blood of Christ. The latter is much more affective!

- What happened to them in history provides us with an excellent picture of what our ministry is to be founded upon. It's to be founded on the blood of Jesus in our redemption.

- Only clean vessels can come before the Lord to minister to Him. We are born into the family by the blood of Jesus. His garments of righteousness are upon us.

- But now, we must also have His Spirit. We must be annointed with His Spirit to walk before Him and minister effectively.

•  Exodus 29:22-25  :  "Also you shall take the fat of the ram, the fat tail, the fat that covers the entrails, the fatty lobe attached to the liver, the two kidneys and the fat on them, the right thigh (for it is a ram of consecration), one loaf of bread, one cake made with oil, and one wafer from the basket of the unleavened bread that is before the Lord; and you shall put all these in the hands of Aaron and in the hands of his sons, and you shall wave them as a wave offering before the Lord. You shall receive them back from their hands and burn them on the altar as a burnt offering, as a sweet aroma before the Lord. It is an offering made by fire to the Lord."  : This final rams innards were put into the basket with the unleavened bread. This was an act of presentation to the Lord speaking toward the concept of offering all to the Lord.

- These were waved before the Lord and then burnt, bringing up a sweet or tranquilising aroma to the Lord. He was satisfied.

•  Exodus 29:26-28  :  "Then you shall take the breast of the ram of Aaron’s consecration and wave it as a wave offering before the Lord; and it shall be your portion. And from the ram of the consecration you shall consecrate the breast of the wave offering which is waved, and the thigh of the heave offering which is raised, of that which is for Aaron and of that which is for 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."  : What was brought into the tabernacle and later, the temple, was apportioned to Aaron and his sons.

- They were supported by the offerings that came into the place of worship. God made this so by statute forever. They were not given land or other opportunity to work. This was their work.

- As a result, here and elsewhere, God says that He is their portion. God would care for them through the offerings.

•  Exodus 29:29-34  :  "And the holy garments of Aaron shall be his sons’ after him, to be anointed in them and to be consecrated in them. That son who becomes priest in his place shall put them on for seven days, when he enters the tabernacle of meeting to minister in the holy place. And you shall take the ram of the consecration and boil its flesh in the holy place. Then Aaron and his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram, and the bread that is in the basket, by the door of the tabernacle of meeting. They shall eat those things with which the atonement was made, to consecrate and to sanctify them; but an outsider shall not eat them, because they are holy. And if any of the flesh of the consecration offerings, or of the bread, remains until the morning, then you shall burn the remainder with fire. It shall not be eaten, because it is holy."  :  Aaron's garments would be the garments. There would not be any new garments made in the case of succession.

- God includes the food that would be given to the priests as their portion. They would eat of those things which the atonement was made of.

- This is the first time that we see this word, but it's a vital concept. The word "kophar" literally means to cover. The blood of bulls, goats and lambs would cover over the sin that was present.

- But this was done daily. Over and over again. There was not a day that went by that a priest did not kill something because of the sin offering.

- This is why Jesus had to come. His sacrifice was once for all time and all who would believe upon Him.

•  Exodus 29:35-37  :  "Thus you shall do to Aaron and his sons, according to all that I have commanded you. Seven days you shall consecrate them. And you shall offer a bull every day as a sin offering for atonement. You shall cleanse the altar when you make atonement for it, and you shall anoint it to sanctify it. Seven days you shall make atonement for the altar and sanctify it. And the altar shall be most holy. Whatever touches the altar must be holy."  :  This ordination ceremony was to last for a week, with the initial sacrifice that we have covered, as well as a daily bull sacrifice.

- The altar itself needed a sacrifice to make it a holy piece.

•  Exodus 29:38-42  :  "Now this is what you shall offer on the altar: two lambs of the first year, day by day continually. One lamb you shall offer in the morning, and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight. With the one lamb shall be one-tenth of an ephah of flour mixed with one-fourth of a hin of pressed oil, and one-fourth of a hin of wine as a drink offering. And the other lamb you shall offer at twilight; and you shall offer with it the grain offering and the drink offering, as in the morning, for a sweet aroma, an offering made by fire to the Lord. This shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the door of the tabernacle of meeting before the Lord, where I will meet you to speak with you."  :  These are the basis for what is called the "daily sacrifice." God ordered that the priest offer a sacrifice in the morning and one at the end of the day.

- One would be given with a drink offering, the other with a burnt offering.

- This was to be done forever as a condition of meeting with God. He wants to speak to His people. That has always been the case. Before Jesus came, this was what was needed.

- This is the demand made by God's holiness. It required sacrifice after sacrifice.

- Thank God that He sent Jesus to fulfill this all!

•  Exodus 29:43-46  :  "And there I will meet with the children of Israel, and the tabernacle shall be sanctified by My glory. So I will consecrate the tabernacle of meeting and the altar. I will also consecrate both Aaron and his sons to minister to Me as priests. I will dwell among the children of Israel and will be their God. And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them up out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them. I am the Lord their God." : There, once these sacrifices are in place and a part of the culture, God will meet with His people.

- Everything about the tabernacle will be considered holy by the Lord, including it's ministers.

- God brought them out to dwell with them and this how it will take place.

Conclusion

- As we come to the end of this chapter, feel the distance. Understand the endless lines of people that needed an animal to kill.

- Understand that this is what had to take place for the people of God to have intimacy with God, and at that, only those that were born into the priestly family.

- Thank God for Jesus, who calls you by His Word to be washed. He calls you by His blood to enter into His Family. He calls you by His Spirit to live intimately before Him in relationship.

- Thank Him that Jesus makes this possible!