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Consecrate Priests so that God May Dwell Among Us
Consecrate Priests so that God May Dwell Among Us Exodus 28:1 – 29:45 Key Verse: 29:45,46 “Then I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God. 46 They will know that I am the LORD their God, who brought them out of Egypt so that I might dwell among them. I am the LORD their God.” In the last two passages we thought about the construction of the tabernacle and some of the things that were to go in it and the courtyard surrounding it. The tabernacle was to be the place where God would dwell among His people, therefore it could not be built just anyway the Israelites wanted. It had to be built the way that God wanted it because He is a holy God. For this reason, God gave Moses very detailed instructions for the construction. More than this, God showed Moses a pattern of what He wanted. God has done the same for us. The Bible contains very detailed instructions about how God wants us to live our lives, but, as human beings it is often very hard for us to understand or conceive of what these instructions mean. God understood this, so He gave us many examples to show us the pattern He wants our life to follow. He did this using ordinary human beings just like you and me. The Bible is full of these examples. Starting from the first few chapters of Genesis we see people like Enoch who walk with God and was taken back to Him without dying. We also see Noah who was a righteous man in His generation and was used by God to save all of mankind. Then we get more specific example beginning with Abraham. God provided us with both good and bad examples to show us not only what we should do, but also what we shouldn’t do. Even in people like David, who was a man after God’s own heart, we can see very clear examples of what we should not do. In David’s case, we also see what we should do when we make a mistake (see Psalm 51). God wanted us to have a very clear idea of the pattern he expected our lives to follow, but all of the examples I have mentioned so far are all imperfect. God wanted to show us the perfect pattern for our life so He came sown and lived among us. Jesus is God’s perfect pattern our life. Like Moses who saw God’s perfect pattern for the tabernacle on Mt. Sinai, we must see God’s perfect example for our life by looking at Jesus. We must build a tabernacle for God to dwell in our hearts and the only way that we can do this is by coming to Jesus every day. When we fail to look at Jesus we fail to follow God’s exact details for the construction of His tabernacle in our hearts. Last week we found that we had to look to Jesus to build God a tabernacle in our hearts. This week we are going to think about the clothing that God instructed Moses to make for Aaron, his sons and their descendants. These were not ordinary clothing to be worn by just anyone. They were special clothes designed to give honor and dignity priest were very special people, God’s priests. The priests were to be God’s representatives or intermediaries for the people. The priests would approach God, not for their own benefit alone, but for the benefit of all the people. They were the ones God chose to come before him to make atonement for the people when they sinned. The priests’ priests’ position among the people was not an ordinary position. It was so extraordinary that it required special clothing designed by God Himself. Today we want to think not only about the clothing God designed for His priests, but the role of the priest and why these people are so important in society. We want to know not only how we can consecrate priests to God, but why we must be consecrated to God ourselves. May God bless our study of this passage and help us to understand the importance of consecrating priests for our society today so that God can dwell among us. First, the clothing for God’s priests (28:1-43) Chapter 28 describes the clothing that God wanted His priests to wear when they were serving the people before Him. As with the tabernacle, God gave Moses a tremendous amount of detail when describing these garments. It is important that we understand why God was so concerned with the clothing that His priests were to wear. Look at verse 1. “Have Aaron your brother brought to you from among the Israelites, along with his sons Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, so they may serve me as priests.” Moses and Aaron were Levites and up until this time God had not set apart any of the tribes of Israel for special work. In this passage God only calls forward Aaron and his sons to serve as priests, but later He would appoint the entire tribe of Levi to serve as the caretakers for the tabernacle, courtyard and the items that are in them. It is interesting to note that Aarons sons are called forward in two groups of two. The first group is Nadab and Abihu. These two were Aarons two oldest sons and were among the seventy-four people who went up Mount Sanai, saw God and ate in his presence in chapter 24. Later however they were put to death because they decided it was ok to worship God any way they chose to do so. They saw God and knew that He was holy, yet they thought that they could do whatever they wanted to serve Him. This was not the case for them and this is not the case for us now. We must pay careful attention to God’s instructions and serve Him in the way that He wants us to. This is why God has given us such a detailed plan in the Bible and why He sent Jesus to live among us and show us the perfect pattern for our life. Verse two tells us why God wanted his priests to have special garments. The job of being a priest was not an ordinary job. The priests were the ones who represented all the people before God. It was a job that required the person to command a certain amount of dignity and honor. The garments that God instructed Moses to make for the Aaron were designed to give him the honor and dignity he deserved while serving as priest for the people. Whenever the people saw Aaron in these clothes they would immediately know that he was serving them before the LORD as their priest. Verse 4 tells us that Moses was to make six things, for Aaron, a breast piece, an ephod a robe, a woven tunic, a turban and a sash. If you look over at verse 42 you will also see that God included even undergarments in His instructions. God’s instructions for the clothes that His priests were to wear were complete all the way down to the underwear. They were also very detailed. On the ephod, there were to be two shoulder pieces that contained one Onyx stone each. These stones were to have all twelve of Israel’s children engraved into them. The breast piece, which was to be hung from the shoulder pieces of the ephod by two gold chains, was to have twelve stones on it, each with the name of one of Israel’s sons engraved on it. In the breast piece there was also to be the Urim and Thummim, which the priest was to use when making spiritual decisions for the people. It is unclear what these two things actually were, but some have suggested that they were two lots that the priest would use for this purpose. The stones of the shoulder pieces on the ephod and the breast piece were a constant reminder to the priest that he was not just ministering before the LORD on his own behalf, he was there as the representative of all the people. This made me realize that the life of a priest is not just for the priest himself, it is for all the people. Likewise, since Jesus has called us to be for him a kingdom of priests and a holy nation our lives should no longer be lived for our own benefit. We must live our lives for the benefit of others as God’s priests in this generation. The robe was to be made entirely of blue cloth which was the color representing divinity. It was to have pomegranates made of blue, purple and scarlet yarn sewn around the hem with gold bells between them. These gold bells would ring as Aaron walked, so that when he walked into the tabernacle God would know and not put him to death. The turban was to have a special plaque made of gold which was to hang down on Moses forehead with the words HOLY TO THE LORD engraved on it. The turban, tunic and sash were to be made of fine linen and be the work of an embroiderer. In verse 40 God repeats why he wants these clothes made; that is, so that Aaron and his sons would have dignity and honor as they served Him and the people as priests. We might be tempted to think that all this talk about what a priest is to wear is pointless today. After all, Jesus didn’t tell his disciples to wear special clothes when he sent them out to preach while he was with them. Nor did him give them instruction about what to wear when he gave them their world mission commission. However, Jesus has said that His disciples, and that would include you and me, were to be for him a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. This means that we are God’s priest in the world today. Why, then, do we need to study this passage about what Aaron, his sons and their descendants were to wear. It is because as God’s priests we can’t just go out into the world any old way we choose. It is true that God has not given us an outward dress code, but he has given us an inward one. As God’s priests we must wear clean hearts before Him. Our life is what we wear as we serve God. Does our life consist of rags or are we dressed in the good deeds of Jesus? This is very important. Paul tells us that we should live such Godly lives among the gentiles that they want to know why it is that we live the way we do. In other words the way we dress our lives should be a sign and a symbol to those around us that we are Christians, or God’s priests in the world today. Second, consecrate the priests (29:1-46) Once the clothes were made, Moses was to dress Aaron and his sons in them and bring them to courtyard in front of the tabernacle (which God names the tent of meeting in verse 4). There they were to be consecrated and ordained as God’s priests. The consecration ceremony was to last seven days and there were several things that needed to be done. First they needed to gather some materials and make some things. Look at verses 1b-3 “Take a young bull and two rams without defect. 2 And from the finest wheat flour make round loaves without yeast, thick loaves without yeast and with olive oil mixed in, and thin loaves without yeast and brushed with olive oil. 3 Put them in a basket and present them along with the bull and the two rams.” Next Aaron and his sons were to take off their clothes, be washed with water. Then Arron was to be dressed in the new priestly garments and his head was to be anointed with oil. After Aarons sons were also dressed in their special tunics and caps a seven day ceremony was t take place. In this ceremony Aaron and his sons were to have the blood of the sacrifices put on the lobes of their right ears, the thumbs of their right hands, and the big toe of their right foot. The blood of the sacrifices was also to be splashed against the alter, mixed with oil and sprinkled on Aaron and his sons. In this way, Aaron, his sons and the alter were all to be consecrated. As I said this ceremony was to last seven days and each day a bull was to be sacrificed on the alter to make atonement for it and the people. It was through this ceremony of consecrating the priest that God introduce the sacrificial system for the atonement of sins. The priests needed to be consecrated because they were to serve the people as their representatives before God. They were to offer God the peoples sin offerings, so they needed to be cleansed of their sins first. Their Job was the most important job. Look at verses 44-46. “So I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar and will consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve me as priests. 45 Then I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God. 46 They will know that I am the LORD their God, who brought them out of Egypt so that I might dwell among them. I am the LORD their God.” Without the consecration of the priest God could not dwell among His people. This ceremonial cleansing of the priests is not just a small detail in the Bible. It points directly to Jesus, our high priest. The ceremony had many details, but it all focused around the sacrifices of atonement that needed to be made every day. It was only by the shedding of blood, the taking of a life, that Aaron and his sons could be consecrated or cleansed in order to serve before God. Likewise, we need to be cleansed or consecrated before we can serve God. Now, however, we can’t do this using the blood animals – the alter and God’s temple are gone. There is no place left for the priests of Moses time to serve. Jesus abolished this system by offering himself for our atonement. When He died the curtain of the temple was ripped in two from top to bottom. A few years after that the temple was completely destroyed by the Romans and since that time it has not been rebuilt. This means that the old priesthood has been rendered obsolete. This does not mean that God no longer has priests serving the people. Now God’s priests are Christians. Just as the priests of Moses needed to be washed and washed and consecrated so do we. We need to be washed in the blood of Jesus and cleansed by his blood. We need to dress ourselves in Jesus every day as we go out into the world to serve as His priests in this generation. Clothing ourselves in Jesus is not easy. The ceremony is not easy. It requires daily repentance and a struggle before God. It is not a seven day ceremony. It will continue every day of your life until God calls you home. Today we thought about the special clothes God commanded Moses to make for his priests. These clothes were designed to give God’s priests dignity and honor as they served Him as the peoples representatives. They were mediators for the people – they offered up the sacrifices for the atonement of the peoples sins, so they needed atonement themselves. We also need atonement or consecration before we can serve as God’s priests in this generation. May God help each of us to be consecrated with the precious blood of Jesus so that we can serve him as his priests in this generation and he can come and live among us. |
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