Sunday 09 • 30 • 18

Comes from Leviticus chapter eight and chapter nine, starting with verse one of chapter eight. Lord spoke to Moses saying, take Aaron and his sons with him. And the garments and the anointing oil and the bull of the sin offering and the two rams and the baskets of unleavened bread. And assemble all the congregation at the entrance of the tent of meeting. And Moses did as the Lord commanded him and the congregation was assembled at the entrance of the tent of meeting. And Moses said to the congregation, this is the thing that the Lord has commanded to be done. And Moses brought Aaron and his sons and washed them with water and he put the coat on him and tied the sash around his waist and clothed him with the robe and put the Ephad on him and tied the skillfully woven band of the Ephad around him, binding it to him with the band. He placed the breastplate on him, and in the breastplate, he put the ermine and the thumminim, and he set the turban on his head, and on the turban in front, he set the golden plate, the holy crown as the Lord commanded Moses. Then Moses took the anointing oil and anointed the tabernacle and all that was in it and consecrated them. And he sprinkled some of it on the altar seven times, and he anointed the altar and all its utensils and the basin and its stand to consecrate them. And he poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron's head and anointed him to consecrate him. And Moses brought Aaron's sons and clothed them with clothes, with coats, and tied sashes around their waist, and bound caps on them, as the Lord commanded Moses. Verse 22. Then he presented the other ram, the ram of ordination. And Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the ram and he killed it. And Moses took some of the blood and put it on the lobe of Aaron's right ear and on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot. Then he presented Aaron's sons and Moses put some of the blood on the lobes of their right ears and on the thumbs of their right hands and on the big toes of their right feet. And Moses threw the blood against the sides of the altar. Then he took the fat and the fat tail and all the fat that was on the entrails and the long lobe of the liver and the two kidneys with their fat on the right thigh and out of the basket of unleavened bread that was before the lord. He took one unleavened loaf and one loaf of bread with oil and one wafer and placed them on the pieces of fat and on the right thigh. And he put all of these in the hands of Aaron, in the hands of his son, and waved them as a wave offering before the lord. Then Moses took them from their hands and burned them in the altar with the burnt offering. This was the ordination offering with a pleasing aroma, a food offering to the lord and Moses took the breast and waved it for a wave offering before the lord. It was Moses's portion before the ram of ordination. As the lord commanded Moses. Chapter nine verse one. On the eighth day, Moses called Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel and he said to Aaron, take for yourself a bull calf for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering both without blemish and offer them before the lord and say to the people of Israel, take a male goat for a sin offering and a calf and a lamb both a year old without blemish for a burnt offering an ox and a ram for a peace offerings to sacrifice before the Lord and a grain offering mixed with oil. For today the Lord will appear to you. And they brought what Moses commanded in front of the tent of meeting and all the congregation drew near and stood before the Lord. The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

Would you join me and pray together? Father, I pray that the words of my mouth, the meditations of all of our hearts would be pleasing and acceptable in your sight, where you are our rock and our fortress and our redeemer. Amen.

So we're going through a series in the book of Leviticus on purpose. We're doing so because Leviticus has long been the punching bag for a lot of critics of Christianity and it's also been a head scratcher for a lot of Christians. As we look through this, we're now coming up to this place, this chapter where we begin to look today at the priesthood.

The Structure of Leviticus

Now, here's where we've been. Over the last few weeks, we've looked at first, the sacred place that God called them to build, the tabernacle. Then, the sacred acts—these five sacrifices and all the definition about those. Today, we're looking at sacred people and then later on in the book, we will look at sacred time—about the festivals, the Sabbath, the holy days.

As we do so, I've gotta say this is sort of a two-part sermon. This one and chapter 10, which we're going to look at next week, go together. You would not understand chapter 10, which is one of probably the top 10 most challenging chapters in the Bible in the Old Testament.

Unless you understand what's happening here, it's really important that you understand these sacred people and why God sets them apart. So when we look at the priesthood today, two things. One is I want to say the priesthood is way more than dudes with beards in robes and it's way different from Catholic priests. If you grew up in the Catholic church and are familiar with the Catholic priesthood, this is very different. This is the creation of the Levitical order of the priest. This book Leviticus comes from the word for the tribe of Levi. These people were set apart for this.

Let me give you a brief flyover of what you just heard and then we're going to go back and unpack it. So first, verses one through four, God tells Moses to pick these people, distinguish these people, this group from the tribe of Levi, Aaron and his sons to be the priests and everything that happens from this point forward is very public. It's on display. Everybody watches what happens now and I want you to notice there's a little line: "Moses did as God had commanded."

Now, this makes for boring reading, I'll be honest. Chapter eight because you get this refrain. God commands Moses. Moses hears what God commands. Moses does as God commands. Over and over, that's repeated. So that's verses one through four.

Then verses six through nine, Moses washes them with water. Always in the Bible, water is a sign of cleansing. He washes them with water and then puts them in these special robes, these special clothes. We actually have an artist rendering right here. Pretty fuzzy, but just a sketch here of what the Levitical robes, the high priest robes would have looked like and the other priest robes. And again, we think of priestly robes. This is what's associated with the temple. Even today, we have special clothing. You see someone wearing a white dress standing up in front of a church with a pastor and a guy, we say, "Oh, we know what's going on. That's a special outfit for a special function." You see a person wearing a uniform that says U.S. Military on it, you know that person has a special calling, special function. You see someone wearing their team colors with a number on the front, you know that's special calling, special function.

So Moses here puts on a tunic and ephod just like you have at home, a robe, a hat, and puts all of this on the priest. And then verses 10 through 13, Moses anoints the priest with oil. This is symbolic of setting the priests apart for their sacred work. And if you've ever read Psalm 133, this is a beautiful image of Aaron and the oil flowing down the beard of Aaron. Kind of weird for us, but a sign for them of like, "This is the good life. This is God blessing his people."

And then what follows, verses 22 to 30, is the sacrifice. A ram is killed and blood is put on the earlobe and the thumb and the big toe, which is pretty obvious why that is. And then after that part we didn't read, the priests are set apart, stay in the tabernacle seven days. Stay here for seven days. So weird to us? Yeah. Self explanatory? No way. Strange for modern ears? Yes. Random? No. This is high level performance art. Every part of this is super significant, and we're going to look at it together.

The Sevenfold Pattern

And I want to ask this question: What is God up to? What is God doing here? Because this is really significant. I want you to notice this. Here's a clue: If you look at this, there is a sevenfold pattern in chapter eight of Leviticus, and every one of these ends with the phrase, "as the Lord commanded him."

Okay, so let me just walk you through this. Verse four, Moses sets apart Aaron and the priest as the Lord commanded him. Verse nine, Moses washes and clothes the priest as the Lord commanded him. Verse 13, Moses anoints the priest with oil as the Lord commanded him. Verse 17, Moses sacrifices the cattle as the Lord commanded him. Verse 21, Moses sacrifices the ram as the Lord commanded him. Verse 29, Moses sprinkles blood on the priest as the Lord commanded him. Verse 36, Moses sets apart the priest for seven days as the Lord commanded him.

So there are seven actions, seven parts to the ordination of the priest in this chapter and this is just one of several groupings of seven throughout this. The priest after they're ordained have to stay at the tabernacle for how many days? Seven, right? We saw before this, the first seven chapters of Leviticus outlined in detail five sacrifices, and there are seven speeches that define how you're supposed to do these sacrifices. In the book of Exodus, before this, there are seven units, sort of seven chapters in how they build the tabernacle, how they assemble it and put it together. See, is this accidental? No way. Now, this isn't obvious for a lot of modern readers.

Moses doesn't label it as "step number four." But a good Jewish reader would understand immediately. They'd recognize this as classic Jewish literature—grouping things in patterns of seven. And here's the question: where have you seen that number seven earlier in the Bible?

Creation. The days of creation. God creates the world in six days. On the seventh day, he rests from his work of creating the universe. This is why we say that seven is the number of completion. God finished his work. God completed his work of creation. So is it at all accidental that this appears in this passage? No.

Look at what we see here. Chapter nine begins with this: "On the eighth day."

Listen to this. Eighth day. What is the eighth day? The eighth day is the next week. The beginning of a new creation that's starting to work. Aaron and the priesthood have been set apart. Now they begin the work. Here's the subtext of what's going on: if seven is the number of completion, eight is the first day of the new creation coming in to do what it was created to do.

A New Creation

What we see here is nothing less than a new creation going on. That's what Leviticus eight is all about. There's a new creation. It's all about creating a new kind of world. There was a world as it had been functioning, and now God is starting something new with the establishment of these priests. All the pictures, enactments, signs, symbols, and details—all of them are about God creating a new thing, a new people, a new ordering of this world.

Now think with me why that's so important. These words are given to a group of ex-slaves. People who had been in bondage in Egypt for four hundred years. There had been a particular ordering of the world in Egypt that said: slavery is okay. It's okay for some people to own other people. And the Egyptian gods seem to be right in favor of that ordering of the world.

And yet suddenly, this God, this Yahweh, shows up on the scene and says, "No, that is not how it's going to be." He sets the people free, and now what he's doing is he's beginning a new work of creation. This is why this is linked so specifically to Genesis chapter one, because it's asking this question: Can we start over? Can we begin again? Do things have to be ordered the way they have been? Or is there a possibility of something being new? Is there an opportunity here for things to be ordered in a new way?

By the way, this isn't the only place in the Bible where this happens. If you pick up John's gospel, which is by far the most Levitical of the four gospels, you will hear John talk about Jesus performing miracles, but John calls them signs. They're meant to be like big billboards that say, "Look at Jesus. Look at who he is."

If you walk through those—and John is a very sophisticated writer, subtle and clever—he doesn't ever stop and say, "By the way, this is the third sign." But a Jewish reader would read along and say, "There's seven of these. Seven signs of Jesus as you walk through the gospel of John that say: completion. A new thing that God is doing here." And then there's the eighth one. The resurrection of Jesus from the dead.

See, what does that tell us? God is creating a new way, a new world. A new thing is happening here. And that echoes us back to Leviticus. Leviticus one through seven are all about a new ordering of the world. And to have a new ordering of the world, that has to start with some particular people. To have a new world, you have to start with some who will show the rest of the people how to do the things.

A Kingdom of Priests

So the setting apart of the priesthood—these are people who are to begin the process, to live out, to embody: this is the new world. This is the new way things are going to be. It's not going to be like what came before. We're going to show, we're going to embody, we're going to show forth what this new order is going to be like.

But here's the funny thing about this. The whole point wasn't the priests. The whole point was the people as priests.

Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all the peoples, for the earth is mine, and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests. — Exodus 19:5-6

God's intention the whole time was not just to have a few dudes with beards and robes, but to have a whole nation who is set apart as his people as a kingdom of priests.

All the rituals, every detail we see here, is high-level performance art. They are showing forth what the new world is going to look like.

Now, let's think about this. This is how this works in your world. If you've ever tried to learn a dance routine, you cannot read instructions online about how to do a dance move and then do it. You have to have somebody show you how to do that. Or think about this: maybe you play guitar and you're trying to learn a lick. You can't just read the notes and be like, "Oh, of course, that's what it sounds like." It helps to have someone who shows you how to do it.

I love swimming. It's one of my favorite forms of exercise. Twice a week, I'm in the pool. In the summer, I was determined to learn how to do a flip turn. I've been trying to do this for a long time, and so I watched a bunch of YouTube videos. Didn't help me at all. I'm like, "What are they doing?" Finally, I'm in the pool and I ask someone who works there. I'm like, "Can you help me figure out what I'm doing wrong?" I need someone to show me how to do the things.

This is what's happening. God has set apart and consecrated these priests because they are the first. If you're going to have a nation of priests, you have to start with somebody. These priests are set apart to show everybody how to do the things—to show them what this new life is going to be like as God's creating.

Here's the question: How do you create a kingdom of priests? And the answer is, I'm afraid, details, details, details. This passage is awash in details. Blood on the earlobe, all the fatty liver portion—there's so much in here, but all of it, every bit of it matters. Every bit of it matters.

Let me use this example. Americans love reality TV shows. These are super popular. There are a billion of them. You may say, "Well, I'm not the kind of person who watches those shows." Fair enough. But I go to the dentist office and I'm waiting and I just can't look away. I don't watch them either, but I can't look away. I got to see what happens to that house or them losing weight or that car—I've got to see what happens.

So imagine this reality show. A team of experts shows up at the house of this person who is sort of stuck. It's one of those all-encompassing extreme life makeover shows. They show up and the person is wearing sweatpants, they got a bad hairdo, they're eating fast food, sitting in that worn-out chair, watching the same stuff, and they're stuck in life.

What do the experts do? They start with a haircut. They're like, "We need to get you a new haircut." They get them a haircut and it looks really good. Then they're like, "Those sweatpants? I'm sorry. You're better than that. You can look good." They take them shopping and buy them all new clothes. Then they're like, "That chair." And they're like, "I love the chair." No. You gotta get rid of that chair. That chair is part of the old way. You need a new chair.

Then they say, "Let me take you in the kitchen. Don't eat that stuff anymore. Let me show you how to make cheap but really healthy food that's good for you, that you can enjoy, that you can feel good about."

See what they do? They go through it all—details. It's all about the details. It's the elevation of the everyday. It's what happens in the minutiae. That's what matters. And that's what we see in this passage.

The Significance of Priestly Details

Let's walk back through this again. Let me show you how these details speak to us—performance art that tells us what God is doing.

The clothing of the priests is incredibly detailed. It sounds random to us. They liked purple and blue. Right? Charlotte Hornets colors. But what is this? The coat, the robe, the sash—all of them are important.

Let's start with the colors and patterns. The colors and patterns exactly matched the colors and patterns of the tabernacle tapestries, all the hangings in there. It said, "This person belongs to this place." They match it. They got their team colors on.

And this is because one of my seminary professors, Vern Porthra says this: the priest was a version of the tabernacle, was part of the tabernacle structure, was meant to be very much not just identified with it, but was like part of the building. And so he says things like this: the high priest turban was inscribed with the phrase "holy to the Lord" across the front because this person walked into the holy place that was holy to the Lord. The person's breastplate—the high priest breastplate has not just random stuff on there. The names of the 12 tribes. Why? Because the high priest is to take those concerns, the worries, the prayers of the people into the holy place. He represents those people in that place. He wears a breastplate inscribed with these names. And then he goes in one more time. Aaron's dressed in this outfit with this square on the front that fits on his chest and has a pouch with two stones: the Urim and the Thummim. Can't remember that? You can call them the Umma and the Thurman. To be honest, we don't know how those worked. Scholars don't know exactly how they used those to determine God's will, but that was some way for the priest to be able to use those stones to understand God's will. And again, what do they represent? This is a person who's listening to God on behalf of the people. This is a person who is saying, "God, what do you want for this people? Let me lead in the way that you lead."

Whether the priest is anointed with oil—again, random detail or extreme life makeover? Makeover. Do you know what the idea of anointing with oil is? Setting apart someone for a particular act. What is the word in Hebrew? Does anybody know for anointed one? Messiah or in Greek, Christos. It's where we get Jesus's name, Jesus Christ. It's not his last name, right? It's Jesus, the anointed one, the one who is set apart by the Father, the Messiah. It's his title. It's his title.

And then the blood sacrifice for ordination—verses 22 through 30. I mean, so gross, right? Blood on your earlobe. How many of you have had blood on your earlobe this week on purpose? Right? Nobody, right? We don't do this. Why the blood on the earlobe and on the thumb and the big toe? What is that about? Again, all of this matters. Why are these consecrated?

Think with me. The hands of the priest make the sacrifice, mediate the atonement of the people. The big toe—the priest stands with one foot and goes into the holy place and also comes out into the common place. Walks in both places. The earlobe—the priest listens to God on behalf of the people and listens to the people on behalf of God. All of this matters. All of this is important.

See, this is what this communicates: the priest is a human being like you. Sinful, just like you. A fallen person just like you. And yet is clothed in the majesty of heaven. Is clothed as one who is to be a mediator, who's to walk in both places. Everything about this says to the people: a new kind of human flourishing. This is what you're designed for. This is what God is doing.

God is creating a new kind of person and a new kind of people. Think about, again, the reality TV shows. When a company of people show up and they go in and they teach the person how to cook and they help them find a new chair and they get them into new clothes. What is that? That is a priestly function. They're stepping into the details of a person's life and saying, "No, these matter. These matter." Elevating in the details. By their very being, the priests hold out all kinds of possibilities.

Now, I know that this is all interesting for fellow Bible nerds. Some of you are like, "Yes, I am with you in the Bible nerd category." But I've seen some eyes glaze over. It's okay, right? It's okay. So what does this matter? I mean, this is all history, right? Or is it? It isn't. It's not just history. It's what we've been talking about all along: typology. Remember how we discussed this a few weeks ago? Our Russian nesting dolls. Remember how we talked about the Russian nesting dolls? This is what biblical typology is. Typology says that these things are more than just pictures and more than symbols, but communicate truth about who God is and what God is doing in the universe.

So let me walk back through this and tell you this. You know, a kingdom of priests—by the way, this is where this goes back to. It goes back to the first guy, Adam, who's in the garden and was given this mandate. The words very specifically: to work and keep the garden. Same words that are used in the book of Numbers, by the way, to describe this Levitical priesthood. "This is what you are to do. Work and keep the temple. Work and keep the tabernacle." Those people are fulfilling the mandate that Adam was given in the garden.

And here's the thing, if it doesn't stop there, if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, if you are in Christ, then this is what first Peter says of us: you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a people for his own possession that you might proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. See, this is what it's saying. You, me, we're priests. This is why we read things like second Corinthians one twenty two, which says:

God has anointed us—New Testament people of God—in Jesus anointed us and given us the spirit. — 2 Corinthians 1:22

This is why first John two twenty says:

You have an anointing from the holy one. — 1 John 2:20

Revelation one five through six says:

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. — Revelation 1:5-6

So we call this in theology the priesthood of all believers. Isn't that awesome? You're a part of this. This is what we call the general office of every believer. It's so important. That's why Hebrews 13 calls us to this function. It says:

Through him, let us therefore continually offer up sacrifice of praise to God—that is the fruit of the lips that acknowledge his name. — Hebrews 13:15

So you and me, we are priests in the house of God. This is about us. Let me give you two implications of this. First, about the role. Second, about the qualifications for that role.

The Priestly Role

The priesthood then and the priesthood of all believers now is about living with tension between what is the reality of what is and what can and will be. Let me explain what that means. There's a living with a certain amount of tension between the reality of life as it is and people as they are and what will be and what can be.

Now every parent and coach and teacher knows about this. I mean, some of you are parents—you know how your kid is, but you have dreams and hopes for what could be. A good coach looks at the team and it's like, "Bad news bears now, but with enough instruction and training, man, what we could be." A good teacher looks at students and it's like, "Yeah, it's September. It's kind of rough. But by May, I know what can be."

See, the priest carries in his heart the painful reality, the painful tension between the world as it is and people as they are and what can be, what is possible. That means the priestly role requires patience. It requires suffering. It requires wisdom. Living with pain and ache and longing, familiar with frustrated desire. So you celebrate the little moments. You're like, "Man, something's happening. It's not huge, but something is happening."

Let's bring this down to the church. You look at your community group. You look at your friends. You look at your boss. You look at your coworkers. You look at your kids. You look at your mom and you say, "God, what does it mean for me to live as part of the priesthood of all believers in this space with that person?" And man, if you don't feel the tension, you're not awake because life is hard with sinners. Life is hard with fellow sinners. And living in that place of tension with one foot in what is and one foot in what could be, that's a place that's hard. That's the role.

Qualifications for the Priesthood

Now, let's think about the qualifications. Here's an interesting fact from Leviticus chapter eight: there are no qualifications given for Aaron and his sons. I mean, it's almost like there's nothing that commends Aaron. No merit, no character qualifications. Almost like, "Hey, here's my brother Aaron and here's his brother Daryl and his other brother Daryl." Thank you to the four of you who laughed at that. That's from an old show from the '70s.

So look, you don't get, "Hey, these are especially nice people. These are especially moral people. These are especially upright people." No. You got Aaron who's got a beard, and he fits in the robe, and Moses. I mean, almost really that's about the level of qualification. If you've read the book of Exodus, you know Aaron—not only is he not a savory, upstanding figure, he's the one who led the people in the sacrifice of the golden calf.

So you see, this is so different from other places in the Bible. This is so different from Deborah who's chosen as a judge because of her character qualifications. So different from Daniel who's chosen for this position of unique leadership in the nation because he's so courageous. Here you have Aaron and his brother Daryl and his other brother Daryl. No qualifications. I mean, this is not the sharpest tool in the shed, but at least he's related to the right guy. And man, is that not our church? Right?

How many of y'all filled out an application form to be Jesus' disciple that was filled with all your good works and character requirements? Right, we'd be an empty room. Yet, by adoption through Jesus, we're related to the right guy. So church is filled with Aaron and his brother Daryl and his other brother Daryl—and that's the priesthood.

I think about this all the time. We have regular people who lead community groups in our church. You're like, why is that person leading a community group? They're kind of Aaron and his brother Daryl. Why do we have people who are normal people leading our liturgy? What right do you have to say to me your sins are forgiven? Because Jesus says it's true. Because Jesus says, "Priests"—you know, this is amazing to me. What right do you have to speak into my life and say, "Jeff, grace and peace are yours through Jesus Christ"? Because Jesus has cleansed you and dressed you and called you his priest. That's the only reason. That's the only reason why that's true.

I want you to think back on your life. Think back in your journey. Have there been people who have functioned as priests in your life? Who have stood in the tension in your life in a moment where the reality between what is and what could be seems like an enormous gap? And they've stood in and said truth and invited you to grace and encouraged you. Are there priests like that in your life? Yes. Thank you. Man, I got a list—got a list of people like that in my life.

So look, if you're a believer in Jesus, you are a priest in the body of Christ. You're part of the priesthood of all believers. You can't say I'm a nobody anymore. You're a nobody who's been given a robe. You're called into service. This is what I can attest to personally: I need it when people around me remind me of the gospel and remind me what's true. Yeah, I'm a pastor. Of course I talk about this stuff all the time, but man, I need people like that in my life. And so do you.

This is one of the reasons why I love how we do communion on Sundays. And I know it's odd to many of you who grew up in churches where only the elders do this. Our communion every Sunday is under the oversight of our elders, but we hand the elements then to members of our church, and we exercise every Sunday the priesthood of all believers—the general office of every believer. So you come forward and some normal person, can you believe it, says, "The body of Christ for you, the blood of Christ for you." And we do that because we're celebrating and exercising what's true every day: this is how God has made you. This is how God has called you.

The Blood of the Sacrifice

Last thing—an encouragement. This is all under the blood. This is all under the blood. On the thumb, the big toe, the earlobe—the blood of the sacrifice is on the priest to remind him it's only by grace. It's only by sacrifice that you're here. And yet that also reminds him: everywhere I go, everything I do matters. In all the details.

And so you, brothers and sisters, who are under the blood of Jesus—if you are by faith a member of his body—then everywhere you go, everywhere you walk, everything you touch, what you listen to, all of it matters. All of it matters. All of life is elevated. This is never just dudes in robes with beards. This is the priesthood of all believers.

So my question for you is: Who? Who this week? Who in whose life is God calling you to step into the tension as his person in that place to represent him, to be an agent of grace, to call other people to see Jesus and to follow him and know him? Who has God called you to?

Man, priests of the living God, what an amazing privilege. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.