Egypt to Canaan (7): Priestly service

Appreciate your interest and we hope that God will bless you as you listen to the Word of God tonight. I'm going to read in Exodus chapter 28, the subject is going to be the consecration of the priest, the priestly and Levitical service in Israel, and the lessons that we draw from it for our priestly and Levitical service. So Exodus chapter 28, and we'll read at verse 1. And take thou unto thee, this is God speaking to Moses, take thou unto thee Aaron thy brother and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office, even Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron's sons.

And thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother, for glory and for beauty. And thou shalt speak unto all that are wise hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron's garments to consecrate him, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office. And these are the garments which they shall make, a breastplate, and an ephod, and a robe, and a broidered coat, a mitre, or perhaps a turban, we would think of it, and a girdle.

And they shall make holy garments for Aaron thy brother and his sons, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office. And they shall take gold, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen. Now look please in chapter 29 and verse 1, chapter 29 and the first verse.

And this is the thing that thou shalt do unto them, to hallow them, to minister unto me in the priest's office. Take one young bullock, and two rams without blemish, and unleavened bread, and cakes unleavened, tempered with oil. That of course means that they were made with oil, they were mingled with oil in the kneading of them.

And wafers unleavened, anointed with oil, of wheat and flour shalt thou make them. And thou shalt put them into one basket, and bring them into the basket with the bullock and the two rams, and Aaron and his sons thou shalt bring unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and shalt wash them with water. Now look at verse 19 please, we could read the whole chapter, but that's something you can do yourself, and that's my only reason for not reading whole chapters in a subject like this.

Verse 19, And thou shalt take the other ram, and this is the ram for consecration, and Aaron and his sons shalt put their hands upon the head of the ram, then shalt thou kill the ram, and take of his blood, and put it upon the tip of the right ear of Aaron, and upon the tip of the right ear of his sons, and upon the thumb of the right hand, and upon the great toe of the right foot, and sprinkle the blood upon the altar round about. And thou shalt take of the blood that is upon the altar, and of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it upon Aaron, and upon his garments, and upon his sons, and upon the garments of his sons with him, and he shall be hallowed in his garments, and his sons in his sons' garments with him. Verse 20, Also thou shalt take the ram, of the ram, the fat, and the rump, and the fat that covereth the inwards, and the call above the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, and the right shoulder, for it is a ram of consecration, and one loaf of bread, and one cake of oiled bread, and one wafer out of the basket of the unleavened bread that is before the Lord.

And thou shalt put all in the hands of Aaron, and by the way when you're reading this, if you keep in mind that this is actually the truth of consecration, the filling of the hands, thou shalt put all in the hands of Aaron, and in the hands of his sons, and shalt waive them for a waive offering before the Lord. They didn't have room for anything else in their hands, only these precious things that speak of Christ. And thou shalt receive them of their hands, and burn them upon the altar for a burnt offering, for a sweet savor before the Lord.

It is an offering made by fire unto the Lord. Now the subject that we're looking at tonight of course still has to do with Mount Sinai. In the land of Egypt where Israel were held as slaves, when we were dealing with the redemption by blood, the blood that was sprinkled upon the two side posts and the upper door post of their houses to bring them out of the land of Egypt, we were mentioning of course that that Passover is a type of the Redeemer, and while we were speaking about it, we were speaking of Egypt as a picture of the world, we were speaking of Pharaoh as a picture of Satan, and Moses as a type of the Deliverer.

We've been dealing with the journey from the Red Sea to Mount Sinai, and the events that have happened at Mount Sinai, and the first three types in the wilderness that are on this chart we've already dealt with, that is the manna as the bread of life, the smitten rock of course as Christ at Calvary, the tabernacle as the divine pattern, and we were speaking of that last night, and we will be speaking of the Lord Will on the wanderings that they endured for thirty-eight years here in this waste, howling wilderness as a picture of the waywardness, the worldliness of believers, and the disciplining hand of God upon us today when there's waywardness and wandering in our lives, and of course all of this is illustrative for us, not only of Christ, but of the believer. It's impossible to move from Mount Sinai without saying something of the priesthood, for the priesthood was vital to the nation of Israel, and the priesthood is vital to the believer today. I'm sure you're aware of the fact, if you're saved in the meeting tonight, that without a high priest above, it would be impossible to be kept.

The people of God would not be preserved, not for an hour. The Lord Jesus on the cross did a finished work, and I'm trusting my soul for eternity to that finished work. My all for eternity rests upon the value of the shed blood, the dying agony of the Savior upon the cross, but the Lord Jesus carries on an unfinished work at God's right hand, and I'm depending upon him to see me safely through the wilderness, not only to the land of Canaan, which speaks of resurrection life with Christ, but into heaven itself.

Now there are four things about the priesthood, and I'm really surprised to see as many as there are here tonight. I certainly appreciate your presence in the meeting. You know, I sometimes tell people when we have a night like this that it's no excuse for the preacher to let down.

I never feel, because the meeting's a little smaller, that you can stand with your hands resting on the desk and just kind of take it easy. In fact, I believe that those who come out on a night like this deserve the very best the preacher can give. I'm not saying I'll be able to give my best, but I'm certainly going to try, and I hope the subject will be of the type that will not only warm your heart, but will instruct you as well, for it's full of Christ.

And I don't know any subject that's dearer to the heart of the Christian than those subjects that speak of the person of Christ. Now, there are four truths connected with the priesthood that we need to keep clearly in our minds, and it will help me to follow a particular outline and keep me from wandering too far from the subject, which of course is always a danger. First of all, I'm going to try to speak of about the calling of the priest, and of course that's very important to us.

The next subject is in order in our chapter. It's the clothing of the priest, and we read about it tonight in Exodus chapter 28. Of course, Exodus 29 is a very important passage.

It deals with the consecration of the priest, and then there is the ceremonials. In other words, the service of the priest, and we're going to try to deal with the service of the priest, and when we come to that subject of dealing with the service of the priest, we're going to try to deal with the Levitical service as well. Every priest was a Levite, but every Levite was not a priest.

I think you know that well, and in the calling of the priest, of course, we'll see that very clearly. In Exodus chapter 19, we read one night in the meetings, if you remember, that God said that all Israel would be made a kingdom of priests unto him. That was one of the reasons he brought them out into this wilderness.

He was going to make them a kingdom of priests. That is, every Israelite would have been a true priest unto God. Every Israelite would have had the right to approach unto God himself on the ground of priesthood, but of course Israel failed.

If you remember that that promise in Exodus 19 was based on two conditions. The first condition was, if you obey my voice. The second condition was, if you keep my covenant.

Israel did not obey God's voice. They did not keep his covenant. They miserably failed, and God provided for a priesthood from among them.

And you remember when Moses came down from the mount in Exodus 32, we read a portion of Exodus 32 on Sunday night in the gospel meeting. When Moses came down from the mount, he had the two tables of the testament, the two tables of the covenant in his hand. Of course that was the writing of God.

It was the finger of God that wrote it, those ten commandments. They're called the Decalogue, which just means ten words, and that's what they were, ten words from God. It was the moral law given to Israel, and you know what Moses and Joshua found when they came down from the mount.

We read there in Exodus 32 that Joshua said to Moses, I hear a sound in the camp. And in a few moments, he seemed to, he seemed to be able to clear, to hear more clearly. And he said, it's not the voice of those who shout in battle, but it's the voice of those who sing.

And as they drew near to the camp, they saw that terrible sight. Israel dancing around the golden calf, serving it as an idol, as a fertility God, for it was really the bull symbol that they had become so accustomed to back here at Ramses in the land of Egypt. And they were dancing around the golden calf and imitating the ungodliness of the Egyptians and serving the golden calf as an idol God.

Moses was so rough, he cast down those two tables at the foot of Mount Sinai and broke them to pieces. God allowed that to happen. There's such a thing as God's permissive will.

And that was the permissive will of God. For the broken tables tell me that Israel were transgressors. They were breakers of God's law in the very day it was given to them.

And you remember that day Moses stood in the camp and he said, who is on the Lord's side? And the sons of Levi stepped forward. Those members of that tribe of Levi, of which Moses was a part himself, and Aaron as well, and those sons of Levi with their swords girded upon them, went through the camp of Israel. And that day 3,000 were slaughtered in the camp.

It was a dark day in Israel's history. Moses went back up to the mount with God. And that day God said to Moses, I'll slay them all and I'll make of thee a great nation.

I'll make you a nation apart from this people altogether. And that was one occasion on which Moses is truly like his Lord. How like the Lord Jesus he was.

You remember Satan tried to tell the Lord Jesus he could have the crown without the suffering, the glory without the cross. And that day Moses was made a great offer. It was a genuine offer.

I'm not suggesting it was like Satan's offer to the Lord Jesus. But I'm saying in Moses' reaction to it, he was like the Lord Jesus. He begged for Israel.

He prayed for them. He besought God to spare them. And then he went even further.

And as far as I know, there were only two mortal men in the Bible who did what Moses did. He prayed that he himself might be destroyed, even eternally, if only Israel could be spared. And I've often pondered over those words of the Apostle Paul, when he said I would that myself were accursed from Christ, from my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh.

I've heard men try to get around those words in some way. Kind of take the bluntness off them, or the sharpness off them, or take away that meaning from them. As if Paul was saying, I'd even go to hell, if only my brethren according to the flesh were saved.

I tell you, you can't take away from it. Paul meant every word he said. So did Moses that day.

But that day when Levi stepped forward to be on the Lord's side, in Exodus chapter 33, and now we're covering some of the ground we didn't cover when we were going through this. In Exodus 33, Moses pitched the tent of meeting. There was no tabernacle pitched yet, but there was a tent of meeting.

And he pitched it outside the camp. And those who sought the Lord went out the camp, outside that is, to the tent of meeting. I tell you, a defiled camp cannot have the Lord's presence.

That's a lesson we solemnly learned from Israel's history. That's true of an assembly too. It's true of a local church.

Gathered unto the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, God will not let his presence be known in a defiled camp. And they went outside the camp to the tent of meeting, to meet with the Lord. That's why we gather as we do.

That's what we profess when we gather like this. We profess to be outside the camp of Christendom. We profess to be gathered unto a rejected Lord.

The truth of Hebrews chapter 13, let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. That day the children of Levi were chosen as those who would be specially used of God in serving their brethren. Now in Numbers chapter 8, God reminds Israel, this is a way on now in Numbers 8, but in Numbers 8 God reminds them that the firstborn was his.

And the reason that he gives in Numbers 8 for the firstborn being his is that he spared the firstborn in the land of Egypt by the blood of the Lamb. Now that's a lovely truth, isn't it? I'm, I belong to, I belong to God. Well you say, of course you do, you're his creature, he made you.

Oh I know friend, I know that's true enough. He gave me breath and he holds my breath in his hand. But I belong to him by purchase, for I've been the purchase of the blood of his son.

Oh what a price. You're not your own, Paul says to the Corinthians. You're bought with a price.

Now that's what God says in Numbers 8 about the firstborn. God says those firstborn are mine. I bought them with the price, the price of the blood of the Lamb.

But the Lord said that he would, he would take Israel, not at least he would take Levi as a gift in the place of the firstborn. Numbers 8 describes God's thinking regarding the tribe of Levi and Levi was chosen of course in the place of the firstborn. Now every child of God, every true Christian is a soldier to fight.

Just as in Israel there were warriors who fought the battles of the Lord. So every true believer is a warrior to fight the fight of faith. Not to fight fellow believers, of course, but rather to fight in the conflict.

And there is a great conflict going on. The world, the flesh, and the devil are all opposed to God and to God's Son and to God's purposes. A tremendous conflict is being waged.

You know, I, I feel, I feel perhaps today that we're seeing the evidence of it a little more. But Ephesians chapter 6 teaches us that in the unseen spirit world a mighty battle is going on. The hosts of darkness are mustering, just as they did at Calvary.

The Lord Jesus said, the Prince of this earth cometh. He saw the great hosts of darkness gathering. The armies of darkness were mustering.

And I believe the armies of darkness are mustering again. The great conflict is being raged in the world around us. And every believer is a warrior in the conflict.

But every believer is a Levite to serve. Every true believer is a Levite. We don't have a priestly class or a Levitical class today.

Every true believer is a servant of God, a purchased servant, a blood-bought servant. And more than that, every believer is a priest to serve, to worship. So you see, in the Israelites you have warriors.

In the Levites you have servants. In the priests you have worshippers. And all three things are true of every child of God.

I'm certain that this is something that's a little difficult for us to grasp. What is the meaning of a priest? You know, it's very easy to pass over. Some who read the Word of God a good deal and have opportunity perhaps to read it more than others.

And those of us who give our full time to the work of the Lord, it isn't easy to find time to study the Word of God. It isn't easy for anyone. But those who give their full time to the work of God should certainly be workmen who need not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth.

And sometimes we have more opportunity to spend time over Scripture. That, of course, is God's purpose that there should be those who will be able to teach others also. And sometimes I find that believers have difficulty with this.

What is the definition of a priest? Just how do you define a priest anyway? Well, I don't have to give you my definition of a priest. For the simple reason that in Numbers 16 and 5, God tells us what a priest is. In fact, he gives us three characteristics of a priest.

It was on the occasion, by the way, of the rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. And on that occasion, God defines a priest in this way. A priest is one who is holy.

That is, they're one whom God has set apart for himself, so they have a divine calling. A priest is one who is separated. That is, they are one whom God has given a particular work to do.

And then a priest is one who is chosen, and a priest is one who has a right to appear before God. You remember when, when God spoke to Israel? It's in Exodus chapter 20. God spoke directly to his people, and they couldn't stand it.

In Exodus 20, they said, let us not hear any more of the voice of the Lord. And they wanted Moses to speak to the Lord and then tell them what he said. You know, they actually chose a mediator that day.

Moses, the mediator. And Moses became a mediator for them. And that day, Israel made their choice.

And from that day onward, God gave them a mediator. You see, the idea of a priest is this, one who can plead my case, one who can speak to God on my behalf. And that's exactly the service of the priest in Israel, one who could draw near to God and could speak to God on behalf of the people.

Now, the clothing of the priest is given to us in Leviticus chapter 28, and it's of the greatest of interest to us because, of course, it typifies Christ. The holy garments for glory and for beauty that we read of in that verse 2 of Exodus 28, it says that they, thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron, my brother, for glory and for beauty. Those garments gave glory and beauty and dignity to Aaron that he never had before.

You can see that, can't you? Aaron was just a man. But when he put on those beautiful garments that are described for us in Exodus 28, they were garments for glory and for beauty, and they gave glory and beauty to Aaron that he did not have before. Now, that's in contrast to our great high priest.

For those who are young believers, let me tell you that Aaron is never called a great high priest. There is no great high priest in the Old Testament. There are high priests, and there are many of them, because Hebrews 7 says they were not allowed to continue.

They were not suffered to continue by reason of death. But there never was a great high priest in the Old Testament. There's only one great high priest, and he's in heaven.

He ministers in the heavenly sanctuary. Now, while the garments for glory and for beauty gave dignity and glory and beauty to Aaron, our great high priest brought the glory and the beauty and the dignity of his own blessed person to the office that he bears. And we sang that lovely hymn at the beginning of the meeting tonight, great are the offices he bears, and bright his character appears, exalted on the throne.

You see, the Lord Jesus is a priest after the pattern of Aaron, but not after the order of Aaron. You see, if he had been a priest on earth, he would have had no right to minister. The writer to the Hebrews tells us that he came from the tribe of Judah, of which the law says nothing concerning priesthood.

But our Lord Jesus is a priest after the order of Melchizedek. Now, those that were priests after the pattern of Aaron died, but our great high priest is deathless. He's eternal in his priesthood.

In fact, the word that's used in Hebrews is one of the loveliest words in the Bible, in my thinking. Hebrews chapter 7 says, he lives by the power of an indissoluble life. How could I ever, how could I ever fail? Oh, I sin.

I fail in my life. But I mean, how could I ever fail in my great high priest above? How could I ever be insufficiently represented before God? How could there ever be any failure in that blessed service when he lives by the power of an indissoluble life? Now, there are five things mentioned in Exodus 28 in verse 5, the gold, the blue, the purple, the scarlet, and the fine linen. And we were reminded of them last night when we were speaking about the tabernacle.

The gold, of course, is the deity of the Lord Jesus. The blue is his heavenly character. The purple is his royal character.

The scarlet is his suffering character, the crushed worm of Calvary. And the white is his absolute purity. Those five colors are spoken of, or five ingredients in the garments of the high priest of Israel.

And those garments were made up principally of these particular things. They were made up of an ephod. I'm only mentioning what is really important to us tonight that speaks of Christ.

Aaron wore an ephod, and it is described for us from verse 6 to verse 14 of Exodus 28. It was an apron, and it was worn under the breastplate. Of course, it was worn over the robe of blue, which we're going to look at in a moment.

But this ephod had shoulder straps, and on the shoulder straps were two onyx stones, one on each shoulder. And on those onyx stones, which were set in gold, were engraved the twelve names of the children of Israel, six names on one shoulder and six names on the other shoulder. And when Aaron, the high priest, went into the holy place, he bore in upon his shoulders the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel.

And then, of course, the shoulder is the place of strength, and it tells me of the one who bears me in before the presence of God in all the strength, in all the value, in all the worth of his great work at Calvary. He's able to save to the uttermost, the writer to the Hebrew says, and that's the truth of the names on the shoulders. Of course, he wore a breastplate, and the breastplate had twelve stones in it in a magnificent setting.

Those twelve stones would be worth a king's ransom, and on each several stone was engraved a name of one of the tribes of Israel. So when the priest went in before the Lord, he bore the names of Israel upon the two onyx stones upon his shoulders and upon the twelve stones of the breastplate. Into the very presence of God he bears the names of Israel on his shoulders, the place of strength, and on his breasts, the place of affection.

And there's one who bears us on his heart in the very presence of God. I'm glad of the great high priest above. When I was a young believer, I didn't understand the worth of my great high priest.

I didn't understand how much I needed him, and it's only as I've learned a little more, and very little, I have to confess, that I've been able to appreciate a little more the work of the great high priest above. There's a people here on earth encompassed with infirmity, but we're perfectly represented at the throne. There's one who bears us in, in all the fitness and the wealth of his own glorious person.

He bears us in before God on his shoulders and on his breasts. The robe of the ephod was all of blue. It tells me of the heavenly character of my priest.

He was not a priest officially on earth, although he had priestly character. This is something that I've heard brethren discoursing about, maybe arguing about too, if I was going to be honest upon it, about whether the Lord Jesus was a priest on earth. And of course, the difficulty is that sometimes, you know, the question isn't right.

And if the question isn't right, don't expect the answer to be right. Because really, the whole question of when did his priestly character begin is a wrong question. His priestly character never began.

He always had priestly character. The Lord Jesus, in the attributes of his own essential person, receives nothing. It's only officially that he receives official glories.

And so he always had priestly character. And the priestly office added nothing to his person. You must get hold of that.

But he was not an official priest on earth, even though at the cross it was a priestly act when he gave himself. He offered himself. He was the offerer and he was the offering.

And in Hebrews chapter one, he made purgation. That's a priestly word. So at the cross, he functioned as a priest because of his priestly character.

But he didn't function officially until he was raised from the dead. His Melchizedek priesthood depends upon the fact that he's beyond the reach of death, that he's deathless, that he's eternal, that he can never die. And so he became an official priest upon his resurrection from the dead.

And he wears that robe of blue because he ministers in the heavenly sanctuary. And this sanctuary on earth was only a little pattern of the sanctuary above. It wasn't that the sanctuary above was patterned after the one in the wilderness.

Not at all. It was the other way around. Now, at the bottom of that garment of blue, there were bells and there were pomegranates.

The bells speak of testimony. The pomegranates speak of fruitfulness. And the great high priest above, he bears a perfect testimony.

My testimony here is so failing and weak, so poor, so full of sin. But I have a high priest above and he bears a perfect testimony on my behalf in the very presence of God. And of course, he's the fruitful one, even though in me, oftentimes, there may be very little fruitfulness.

The gold headplate had engraved upon it, holiness unto the Lord. And the glory that marked Aaron in those garments marked his sons as well. You know, I learned from that, that I have the dignity of a royal priest.

We were in a Bible reading two years ago, I guess. I kind of lost a year, and I keep saying last year when I mean the year before. We were in a Bible reading and the subject was priesthood.

And the man who was opening the Bible reading was very, very careful to explain that this old business about we go in as holy priests to worship and we go out as royal priests to serve may have some truth to it, but it is not the whole truth. Like some of those little definitions that we kind of memorized, they may be helpful for you at some stage in your Christian development, but don't let them cripple you all the way through your Christian life, because they may not just tell the whole truth. There may be more.

And of course, he went on to point out that we never lose our royal character. Never. We always bear our royal character as well as our holy character.

And when we go out to the world, we go out as holy priests as well as royal priests. And when we go into worship, we go in as holy and royal priests. And after he was all finished, one of the brethren said to him, I suppose you mean that we go in as holy priests to worship and we go out as royal priests to serve.

And I suppose if it had been me, I would have just passed it by. But this man didn't. He said, no, that's exactly what I don't mean.

We always have our royal dignity as priests. You know, that's a solemn thing. First Peter chapter two tells us that we are a kingdom of priests, that we are a holy priesthood and that we are a royal priesthood.

And I never lose it. And we read of the consecration of Aaron to that priesthood in Exodus chapter 29 tonight. Now, first of all, he was washed with water at the very door of the tabernacle.

Aaron and his sons were brought. And the first thing that happened there in Exodus 29 was that they were washed with water. What does the washing mean? Well, I'm going to be very, very simple.

It means regeneration. It means cleansing from the defilement of sin. It means Titus three and five, the washing of regeneration.

It means John three and five, except the man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. And that priest washed there at the door of the tabernacle tells me what the Lord told his own in John 13, you're clean. But you remember he said, but not all.

And we didn't mean that they weren't entirely clean. He tells us what he meant. He was speaking about Judas.

Judas was not a true disciple. He did not truly belong to the Lord and he had not truly been cleansed. But to Peter, the Lord Jesus said, he that is washed, he does not save to wash his feet.

If you're saved here in the meeting tonight, you're absolutely cleansed from every stain of sin. You're absolutely pure in the eyes of God. And the washing of air in there at the door of the tabernacle is just a picture of the fact that the believer has absolute purity in God's sight.

Now, mind you, the blood comes in. I wonder, is there someone not saved in the meeting tonight? See, these Israelites had already been sheltered under the blood, but this red path through the wilderness marks the path of blood all the way to the land of Canaan. And of course, it was going to be necessary again in the consecration of the priests to be reminded of the fact that they were only sinners and they needed a cleansing by blood.

And my friend tonight, if you've never known the cleansing by blood, if you've never got to Christ and trusted him as the one who died for your sins on Calvary, then you've never been born again. You're not fit for God's presence. You've never been to the door yet.

You have never known what Aaron was passing through there in Exodus chapter 29. Moses was officiating. I don't know, I saw a brother or two kind of raise their eyebrows the other night, and maybe it was my good imagination, but I mentioned that Moses was a priest and that he was a prophet and that he was a king.

And I didn't explain myself and no one voiced any objection to it afterwards. When was Moses a priest? He was a priest right here. The consecration of Aaron and his sons was carried out by Moses.

Moses was the one who slew the sin offering, which was a bullock. He slew the burnt offering, which was a ram, and the ram of consecration and functioned in priestly character before the Lord. At the very door of the tabernacle, Moses functioned as a priest.

So Moses was a priest. Well, we know he was a prophet because he said, a prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you like unto me. Him shall you hear.

We know he was a prophet, but you say, when was he a king? Well, at the close of the book of Deuteronomy, you read about Moses that he was king in Jashurin and the Psalms repeat that statement that Moses was king. So in Moses, as on only one other man in the Bible, those three offices met, prophet, priest, and king. The other man was Melchizedek.

But since the Aaronic priesthood was established, there has never been a man in whom all three offices have united and there never will be other than our Lord Jesus Christ, who will be the true prophet and the true priest and the true king forever. And so, first of all, there was the atonement of the priest. One young bullock was taken and it was killed for a sin offering.

Before it was killed, Aaron put his hands on it and his sons as well. They linked themselves with it. Identification with the sin offering.

And that's what happens when you get saved. You're identified with the sin offering. By faith I lay my hand on that dear head of thine, the hymn writer said.

He knew the truth of what it was to be identified with a sin offering. And of course, the blood of that sin offering was put on the four horns of the altar and the rest of the blood was poured out around the altar, telling judgment was satisfied. The claims of justice were met by the shed blood.

Well, that truth runs all the way through the Bible. No wonder the Bible has been called the trail of blood. No wonder Dr. Graham Scroggie called it the unfolding drama of redemption, for blood is in it from beginning to end.

And the fact was burned, the fat of the sin offering was burned upon the brazen altar, which tells us of the acceptance of the sacrifice. Then the ram for a burnt offering was killed. And we've already dealt with a burnt offering on Sunday morning, so we won't say anything more about it.

We did read tonight in Exodus 29 of the ram of consecration, and this is of the greatest interest to us. It was a form of peace offering, and of course, it speaks of communion. Do you know how devotion is produced in the heart of a believer? Through communion.

What we're coming to now is true devotion to God. What we're speaking about is a heart and hands and ear and feet, all consecrated to his glory. And what produces it? Communion with Christ.

Communion with God about Christ. So you see, the ram of consecration was killed. The blood of that ram was taken, and it was put upon the tip of the right ear of Aaron and upon the tip of the right ear of his sons.

Upon the thumb of the right hand and upon the great toe of the right foot, the blood was placed. And of course, you know what that means. In Leviticus 14, the same thing was done to the leper.

And after the blood was put upon the tip of his ear and his thumb and upon the great toe of his right foot, then oil was put on the very place where the blood was placed. Now, it's only those who know the cleansing by blood who can ever know anything about the filling with the Spirit or enablement by the Spirit to do anything for God. And so here, Aaron and his sons had the blood put upon their ear.

Their ear was to be open to hear the voice of God. Their hands were to be busy to do the work of God. And their feet were to walk in the paths that were pleasing to God and were every one of us a holy priesthood.

And that should be true of every believer. The blood was then sprinkled upon the altar and upon Aaron and upon his sons and upon their garments, which of course tells us that all had to be fitted by blood. There are all kinds of people who are trying to serve God, but they have never, never been cleansed by the blood.

And God will not take their service. It's only filthy rags in his sight. It's only that which is done out of devotion to Christ.

It's what the hymn writer meant when he said, I would not work my soul to save, for that my Lord has done. But I would work like any slave in love to God's dear Son. And then the fact of that ram of consecration was taken with the, uh, the meal offering and it was laid in the hands of Aaron and in the hands of his sons and it filled their hands.

And they waved that, that wave offering before the Lord. There that day in the, before the door of the tabernacle, hands must be filled if there's to be consecration. Many a person says, I would like to do something for God.

But what they mean is they have a little spare time and nothing else to do. And so they're, they're willing to use that for the Lord. But you see, consecration is the hands filled for God.

Everything else can go by the board. What else matters really? Well, you see, I've got to earn my living. After all, you have to work and this is a hard world to live in.

Yes, you can, you can serve God every day of your life and even do your work to pay expenses and still have your hands filled for God at all times. The ram of consecration tells us that what was in their hands was taken out of their hands and it was placed upon the brazen altar and it was all burned and went up as sweet incense to God. What was it really that filled their hands? That's what I'm interested in.

What was it that filled their hands? It was what spoke of the excellencies of Christ. Their hands were filled with Christ. You can't have your hands filled with Christ if your heart's not filled with Christ.

And of course, this is all what was natural to them is spiritual to us. And then they waved that wave breast and that heave shoulder before the Lord. And then they partook of it.

They ate of it. They feasted upon Christ. No wonder there was fitness to serve the Lord.

And these priests, of course, in their service, their service was made up of the handling of holy things and there had to be fitness for the handling of holy things. The ram of consecration was their fitness. One of the particular works that was in the hands of the priests was the burning of incense before the Lord.

You remember likely at the beginning of the gospel of Luke, the father of John the Baptist found that it was his turn, according to the order of the priests, to burn incense in the holy place. Now that incense is described for us in Exodus chapter 30 and some solemn warnings are given about it. There was to be no imitation of that incense of any kind.

In fact, the soul that imitated it was to be cut off from the people of God. And what would that mean? Well, it means that what is fragrant to God is not that which is naturally attractive. What is fragrant to God is not mere entertainment, not some beautiful music to thrill the natural ear.

What is sweet to God is the devotion of the heart. Nadab and Abihu in Leviticus chapter 10, those two sons of Aaron took their golden censers and they took Strahley's fire, which did not come from the burnt altar, from the place of the sacrifice. And they offered it before the Lord and they died before the Lord.

Anything that I do for God is done out of devotion to Christ or it isn't done for God at all. That's what I learned from Nadab and Abihu and their strange fire. I know there's many things we do.

Perhaps some of them we do out of form. Perhaps we do them because we think we should rather than done out of devotion to Christ. It's only that which is done out of devotion to Christ that arises a sweet incense to God.

You know, while I'm here, I'm going to stop here. I'm not going to go any further with this tonight. But there are many lessons to learn like this from the word of God.

We have missed a good bit of them, a good few of them in the material we've already covered. For instance, in Leviticus chapter one, when a turtle dove for a young pigeon was brought for a burnt offering, the priest did two things. He took away the crop and he took away the feathers.

I'm often amazed at the details of the word of God and I'm sure that many read these details and never see anything in them. But what does the crop speak of? Natural digestion. That which is appealing to the natural intellect.

It'll never do for God. It isn't natural intellect. When we come, for instance, to bring it down to simple language that has to do with us personally.

When we come on the morning to give God thanks for his son, don't think that the man who can give you some great intellectual discourse in his thanksgiving is necessarily offering sweet incense to God. It may be nothing of the sort. It may be nothing more than the crop which was taken away and not even offered at all.

Or it could be the feathers. And what do the feathers speak of? That which is naturally attractive. There are some people who can put words together, why they never miss a single syllable.

I've missed about a dozen tonight while I've been on this platform so I can speak about that tonight. I've known men who could get up and they could pray and it was as clear as an icicle and it was twice as cold. They had everything in order.

But you see, it was only the feathers. It was only what was naturally attractive. And I've heard young believers rise and in a faltering, stammering way just thank God for Jesus.

And it has thrilled my heart and it's gone up as sweet incense to the nostrils of God. In Leviticus chapter 2, there was to be no honey in the meal offerings or in any of the offerings which were holy unto the Lord. The honey speaks of natural sweetness.

There's not to be any natural sweetness. And if there are some here tonight who can, I don't know if there is anyone like this in the meeting or anyone in this area even. So I'm not throwing a stone at anyone.

But if there's anyone here who has made that mistake and it could be made in simplicity, don't use language about the Lord Jesus that God's word doesn't use about him. Give God thanks in the language of his word. It doesn't have to be deep.

It doesn't have to be something that perhaps the oldest Christian can hardly fathom. It can be most simple and childlike, but just use the language of scripture. And don't use endearing terms for the Lord Jesus that the language of the word of God doesn't support because it's over familiarity with the person of our glorious Lord.

There was to be no honey in the meal offering. Levitical service was different than priestly service. Numbers chapter 4 tells us about Levitical service.

There were three members of the family of Levi. There was Kohath and Gershon and Merari. Kohath had a responsibility in connection with the furniture of the tabernacle.

Those holy vessels were carried by Kohath when the camp was moving. And of course Kohath speaks to us of the teacher who can take the deep things of God and expound their truths. Gershon was responsible for the cords and the curtains and the coverings and the hangings that gave strength and support and sheltered the tabernacle.

So Gershon is a picture to us of the shepherd. What we say about Merari? Merari was responsible for the sockets of silver that were laid down on the desert floor and the boards were placed in those sockets of silver. He was responsible for laying the sockets of brass that the pillars of the court were put upon.

What is Merari? Merari is the evangelist. In Numbers chapter 4 the tabernacle is being taken down. In Numbers 4 you have Kohath first, Gershon second, and Merari third.

When the tabernacle was being put up it was just the opposite. You have the evangelist coming first and preaching the gospel and seeing people saved. The silver sockets, which speak of redemption, that was the work of the evangelist.

That was the work of the Merarites. Isn't the word of God perfect? Then came the work of the shepherds. They were responsible for the cords and the pins that held the court with its covering and the boards and so forth held them up.

Then of course came Kohath with the holy vessels, which spoke so significantly of Christ. All those Levites were consecrated, just as Aaron's sons were consecrated to priestly service. They were to begin their service at about 30 years of age.

In fact, you read that about six times in one chapter in Numbers, that it was about 30 years of age they were to begin their service. It took some maturity to be in Levitical service, but I don't want to take it too literally. I'll tell you why.

They finished their service when they were 50, and that would mean I'm getting pretty close to the end of mine. So I wouldn't want to take the numbers just too literally. I was commended to the Lord's work when I wasn't yet 20 years of age.

Some of the brethren who have been having fun with me since have said to me, Of course, we won't count it until you're 30. The first 11 years, I suppose, were the apprenticeship. I don't know.

But I don't take the 30 years too literally. I take it spiritually. There had to be learning.

There had to be maturity before there could be Levitical service. And of course, there had to be strength. That's the thought that they served from 30 to 50, the best years of their life.

Do you know what I see in it? Have I given the best to God? Has he had the best? Or has he just had the trailings? That's a mining word. The trailings, that's just what's left over when the ore is taken out. Has God just had what's left? Or has he had the best? I tell you, the Lord Jesus is worthy of the whole affection of our hearts.

He's worthy of all we have to give. And God grant that we might be like these Levites and seek to serve him. You know, I was saying to one of the brethren here the other day that I believe, and I'm finished with this now, I believe that in the order as it's given in the book of numbers, priestly service came first.

Levitical service came second. Levitical service would correspond to testimony for God in the gospel, standing on the platform and preaching the gospel, teaching a Sunday school class, for instance. That would be Levitical service.

Priestly service comes first. And I believe this with all my heart. You can take it for what it's worth.

I believe you'll find that the scriptures bear this out, that there must be priestly service before there can be Levitical service. In other words, I look askance at the person who's quite ready to preach the gospel, but who never rises on the Lord's day morning to give God thanks for his son. Priestly service must come first.

So God help us that we might learn from these solemn lessons in the word of God. Let us pray. Our Father, we thank thee for thy word.

Pray that thou would bless it and that thou would use it for thine own glory. We know that there are many things in it that we miss and much that we know we don't practice and we're ashamed of it. But our God, we ask of thee that thy word might speak to us and that we might be able to put into practice what we know.

Bless, we pray, each one who has come tonight and part us now with thy blessing in his name. Amen.