Thursday Night Bible Study

Leviticus 21-Leviticus 22 (Click title for audio access)

"The Holy Priesthood"  •  11.10.11  •  Thursday Night Bible Study, Calvary Christian Fellowship

Intro.

- In the first ten chapters of Leviticus, we learned about the sacrificial system. Seven chapters for the congregation, three for the Priests, containing regulations to approach God. 

- Chapters 11 through 15 detail the necessity of purity and the distinctions that were to be made regarding that which was clean and unclean ceremonially.

- Chapters 16 and 17 detailed the great day of Atonement. From there, chapter 18 through 20 dealt with the moral code of Isreal, along with the penalties for breaking it.

- This section before us continues that morality code, this time with the priests in mind, which brings to our mind the principle applicability that speaks toward what God has made us.

- He has made us a Kingdom of priests, so what is before us speaks very practically to us.

Text

•  Leviticus 21:1-5  :  "And the Lord said to Moses, 'Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: ‘None shall defile himself for the dead among his people, except for his relatives who are nearest to him: his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, and his brother; also his virgin sister who is near to him, who has had no husband, for her he may defile himself. Otherwise he shall not defile himself, being a chief man among his people, to profane himself. They shall not make any bald place on their heads, nor shall they shave the edges of their beards nor make any cuttings in their flesh. " : The Priests were not to defile themselves for the dead. This refers to touching, caring for or even being in the same room with the deceased.

- Any defilement would cause them to be out of commission for the day, so they were to abstain, except in the case of their immediate family.

- There are two principles at work in this section that are important for you and I. First, a priest's response to dath is to be different from that which is seen in the world.

- They were to mourn in a different way than those around them, both those of their own nation, as well as priests from other nations.

- Being a priest in that society meant complete separation from that which represented sin or the fall, death being it's principle champion.

- Many of the priests of the Canaanite nations would have disfigured themselves in some manner. God tells His Priests that they were to be holy, set apart, even in external mourning rituals.

- To the Priest, life was found in God and those who died in God, did not die at all. Their actions would confirm their faith in the Lord, as well as show agreement with God in allowing it.

- You and I are to have a different attitude toward death than the world. We are to mourn, but not as those who have no hope, according to 1 Thessalonians 4:13.

- We do feel sadness at the loss of the person, but our hearts are not despondent. If a person dies in Christ, we mourn that we won't see them here again, but we rejoice that they are with Jesus.

- For those who die outside of Christ, we mourn their loss and mourn the state of their choosing, but we immediately draw upon that motivation to minister to our friends.

- Priests, you and I, need to recognize that death is in the hands of God and we trust Him fully.

- Secondly, this section is illustrative for the clear teaching of Jesus when he speaks about His call being of great importance than even family relations!

- Turn over to Matthew 10. Jesus has just talked about taking up their cross and following Him.

•  Matthew 10:34-39  :  "Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’ He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it."

- God's call is to be of greater importance than our own blood relations! This doesn't mean that we thoroughly disregard family relationships.

- It does mean that we do not allow any human relationship to govern whether or not we serve the Lord or not!

•  Leviticus 12:6-9 : "They shall be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God, for they offer the offerings of the Lord made by fire, and the bread of their God; therefore they shall be holy. They shall not take a wife who is a harlot or a defiled woman, nor shall they take a woman divorced from her husband; for the priest is holy to his God. Therefore you shall consecrate him, for he offers the bread of your God. He shall be holy to you, for I the Lord, who sanctify you, am holy. The daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by playing the harlot, she profanes her father. She shall be burned with fire." : It's the Priest's job to remain holy because of the privilege that he has in bringing offerings to the Lord.

- What a privilege you and I have to bring our offerings to the Lord as well! Therefore, we shall live in a separate set apart way and never take our privilege lightly.

- The priest was to live in light of the privliege that he carries, and that privilege should govern his relationships. God told the priests, "Be careful who you marry!"

- Carrying out your spiritual responsibility is of greater importance than marrying someone who will mess with that! This statement cannot be softened.

- Whatever call you receive from the Lord requires a partner that is called to participate with you! It's not enough to marry someone who claims to be a believer. They must have similar strength!

- Any single person who listens to this must understand one thing: The person you marry should inspire you daily to walk in holiness unto the Lord.

- If that person is a drain upon you spiritually while you date, he or she will be a spiritual albatross in marriage! The priest is to take responsibility for his marriage and his family.

- The priest is to hold his family to the highest standard of Holiness. God told the priests that they were to enforce the law for harlotry in their own homes.

- If it's good enough for all of Israel, it's good enough for the home of the Priest! Let us rule our houses rightly if we have any spiritual responsibility before God. God moves to the High Priest.

•  Leviticus 21:10-15  :  "He who is the high priest among his brethren, on whose head the anointing oil was poured and who is consecrated to wear the garments, shall not uncover his head nor tear his clothes; nor shall he go near any dead body, nor defile himself for his father or his mother; nor shall he go out of the sanctuary, nor profane the sanctuary of his God; for the consecration of the anointing oil of his God is upon him: I am the Lord. And he shall take a wife in her virginity. A widow or a divorced woman or a defiled woman or a harlot—these he shall not marry; but he shall take a virgin of his own people as wife. Nor shall he profane his posterity among his people, for I the Lord sanctify him.’" : The High Priest was to be so consumed in the life of God, that he was not to involve himself with death rituals.

- He represented the ministry of life while he was thus dressed and when he was dressed he was not to be defiled, nor was he to leave the sanctuary. He was always to be on duty!

- The picture of course speaks to the Lord, our High Priest, who ever lives to intercede on our behalf and never takes a moment off! He tirelessly serves His people.

- Notice that God tells Aaron that he was to take a wife! The High Priest, along with the rest of the priests were not expected to be celibate. He was however to be very picky as well.

- He was to take a wife that was a virgin. She could not have been previously married, nor could she have been involved in harlotry.

- He was to take a virgin from his own people. What a powerful testimony to the Lord Jesus, our High Priest, who was never defiled by death and who took a virgin bride in the church!

- We were not virgins on our own. We were not pure on our own. Our High Priest's blood declares us pure and holy, justified, as if we had never sinned!

- Do you realize that this is how God sees you in Christ? You might be preoccupied with your past or your present struggles with sin. Because of Jesus, He sees you as a chaste virgin.

- This is what Paul tells the Corinthian believers in 2 Corinthians 11:2. He is presenting the church to the Lord, as a chaste virgin. That's what justification brings in our life.

•  Leviticus 21:16-24  :  "And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 'Speak to Aaron, saying: ‘No man of your descendants in succeeding generations, who has any defect, may approach to offer the bread of his God. For any man who has a defect shall not approach: a man blind or lame, who has a marred face or any limb too long, a man who has a broken foot or broken hand, or is a hunchback or a dwarf, or a man who has a defect in his eye, or eczema or scab, or is a eunuch. No man of the descendants of Aaron the priest, who has a defect, shall come near to offer the offerings made by fire to the Lord. He has a defect; he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God. He may eat the bread of his God, both the most holy and the holy; only he shall not go near the veil or approach the altar, because he has a defect, lest he profane My sanctuaries; for I the Lord sanctify them.' And Moses told it to Aaron and his sons, and to all the children of Israel."  :  You and I might wonder at the prejudice of God. Why can't someone with a defect serve as HIs High Priest? First, because He says so! Second and more importantly, because of the type!

- The High Priest prefigures the Lord Jesus Christ, who would be the lamb of God, without spot or blemish. God was not unfair in this, as the man born into Aaron's family still had privilege.

- He was just not allowed to be the High Priest, to go near the veil and the altar.

- Only Jesus was able to go behind the veil and approach the altar on the day of His death!

•  Leviticus 22:1-9  :  "Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 'Speak to Aaron and his sons, that they separate themselves from the holy things of the children of Israel, and that they do not profane My holy name by what they dedicate to Me: I am the Lord. Say to them: ‘Whoever of all your descendants throughout your generations, who goes near the holy things which the children of Israel dedicate to the Lord, while he has uncleanness upon him, that person shall be cut off from My presence: I am the Lord. Whatever man of the descendants of Aaron, who is a leper or has a discharge, shall not eat the holy offerings until he is clean. And whoever touches anything made unclean by a corpse, or a man who has had an emission of semen, or whoever touches any creeping thing by which he would be made unclean, or any person by whom he would become unclean, whatever his uncleanness may be—the person who has touched any such thing shall be unclean until evening, and shall not eat the holy offerings unless he washes his body with water. And when the sun goes down he shall be clean; and afterward he may eat the holy offerings, because it is his food. Whatever dies naturally or is torn by beasts he shall not eat, to defile himself with it: I am the Lord. They shall therefore keep My ordinance, lest they bear sin for it and die thereby, if they profane it: I the Lord sanctify them."  :  The priests were to keep themselves from that which had been dedicated to the Lord. They were holy things, set apart for God.

- Much of the rest of this section is a reminder that they were to remain clean, even as the nation had been admonished to remain clean.

•  Leviticus 22:10-16  :  "No outsider shall eat the holy offering; one who dwells with the priest, or a hired servant, shall not eat the holy thing. But if the priest buys a person with his money, he may eat it; and one who is born in his house may eat his food. If the priest’s daughter is married to an outsider, she may not eat of the holy offerings. But if the priest’s daughter is a widow or divorced, and has no child, and has returned to her father’s house as in her youth, she may eat her father’s food; but no outsider shall eat it. And if a man eats the holy offering unintentionally, then he shall restore a holy offering to the priest, and add one-fifth to it. They shall not profane the holy offerings of the children of Israel, which they offer to the Lord, or allow them to bear the guilt of trespass when they eat their holy offerings; for I the Lord sanctify them.’"  :  The provision of the Lord was set aside to feed the family of the priest. Those who were outsiders were not allowed to it.

- Those who were outsiders that were bought, were treated as though they were insiders and were allowed to eat from the table. What a beautiful picture of what Jesus has done for us!

- We will one day eat at the Lord's table, not simply as His creation, but as His sons and daughters, adopted and given the full rights of that position.

- God sets it aside as a principle here in Leviticus for the Priest's house. For those who took of the food unintentionally, they would have to pay a price for their trespass.

•  Leviticus 22:17-25 :  "And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 'Speak to Aaron and his sons, and to all the children of Israel, and say to them: Whatever man of the house of Israel, or of the strangers in Israel, who offers his sacrifice for any of his vows or for any of his freewill offerings, which they offer to the Lord as a burnt offering—you shall offer of your own free will a male without blemish from the cattle, from the sheep, or from the goats. Whatever has a defect, you shall not offer, for it shall not be acceptable on your behalf. And whoever offers a sacrifice of a peace offering to the Lord, to fulfill his vow, or a freewill offering from the cattle or the sheep, it must be perfect to be accepted; there shall be no defect in it. Those that are blind or broken or maimed, or have an ulcer or eczema or scabs, you shall not offer to the Lord, nor make an offering by fire of them on the altar to the Lord. Either a bull or a lamb that has any limb too long or too short you may offer as a freewill offering, but for a vow it shall not be accepted. You shall not offer to the Lord what is bruised or crushed, or torn or cut; nor shall you make any offering of them in your land. Nor from a foreigner’s hand shall you offer any of these as the bread of your God, because their corruption is in them, and defects are in them. They shall not be accepted on your behalf.’"  :  Whatever was given to the Lord was to represent value.

- As worshippers, what they gave to God represented their hearts toward Him. If they gave their proverbial leftovers, what would that speak about their thoughts about God?

- They were to bring perfect, complete, valuable sacrifices from a thoroughly freewill offering.

- God is specific not because He wants perfect animals. What does this have to do with the High Priest? The High Priest prefigures Christ in His ministry, but He was also the perfect sacrifice!

- He wants those perfect animals to rightly represent the Lord Jesus who would be perfect and unmaimed. Jesus was sacrificed in the strength of His life, willingly laying down His life for us.

•  Leviticus 22:26-33  :  "And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 'When a bull or a sheep or a goat is born, it shall be seven days with its mother; and from the eighth day and thereafter it shall be accepted as an offering made by fire to the Lord. Whether it is a cow or ewe, do not kill both her and her young on the same day. And when you offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the Lord, offer it of your own free will. On the same day it shall be eaten; you shall leave none of it until morning: I am the Lord. Therefore you shall keep My commandments, and perform them: I am the Lord. You shall not profane My holy name, but I will be hallowed among the children of Israel. I am the Lord who sanctifies you, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am the Lord.'"  :  The Lord tells them that there is to be kindness in the offering. There was to be a week long period before separation.

- They were not to kill the mother and the child on the same day. I believe that this was to be a sign to the people for their respect for life.

- The Canaanite gods would have cruelly destroyed the life of that animal family. God says, even in the offering of animals, let there be separation and mercy.

- Their sacrifice was to be useful, to appease the Lord, to feed His priests and to give a free will opportunity to show love and fidelity to the Lord.

- This was their chance to show thanksgiving to God of their own free will. Jesus would do this before the Lord for all time.

Conclusion

- Tonight, as we consider the offering of our perfect High Priest, we receive communion with great thanksgiving and privilege because our High Priest has made us a virgin bride before God.

- It is His worthiness that brings us into contact with God and it is His reward that we share together in for eternity.