Now that the priests have been ordained and consecrated they are ready to begin their work at the house of the Lord.
You'll recall these men had to remain at the entrance to the tabernacle for seven days after their ordination ceremony. The seven days are now completed and we pick up with the eighth day as we begin Chapter Nine. "On the eighth day Moses summoned Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel. He said to Aaron, 'Take a bull calf for your sin offering and a ram for your burnt offering, both without defect, and present them before the Lord. Then say to the Israelites: 'Take a male goat for a sin offering, a calf and a lamb---both a year old and without defect---for a burnt offering, and an ox and a ram for a fellowship offering to sacrifice before the Lord, together with a grain offering mixed with olive oil. For today the Lord will appear to you.'" (Leviticus 9:1-4) We know that offerings were just made for Aaron and his sons when they were ordained, but like you and I these men sinned every day. They've sinned during the seven days since their ceremony. Before they could present offerings to atone for the people's sins they had to present offerings to atone for their own sins. The offerings made on the day they were ordained didn't consecrate them and make them perfect forever.
The sacrificial system was a bloody business. It was a sad business. It was an ugly business. And as we discussed earlier in our study of the Old Testament, this is probably because sin itself is bloody and sad and ugly. In our animal-loving culture we find the subject of animal sacrifice difficult to think about but we must keep in mind that the people were not allowed to cause distress and pain to these animals. They were raising these animals mainly for consumption in the first place, but whether the animals were slaughtered for food or for sacrifice it had to be done swiftly and humanely with a specially designed knife that caused instant death when swept across the jugular vein. As we go through the Old Testament we are going to see many many sacrifices made, and if nothing else it ought to make us thankful that we no longer have to depend on the blood of bulls and goats and lambs to temporarily consecrate us in the sight of God. We have a sacrifice---the Lamb of God---who consecrates forever those who place their faith in Him!
"They took the things Moses commanded to the front of the tent of meeting, and the entire assembly came near and stood before the Lord. Then Moses said, 'This is what the Lord has commanded you to do, so that the glory of the Lord may appear to you.'" (Leviticus 9:5-6) We can't experience the presence of the Lord in the way He wants us to experience it and in the way we were designed to experience it unless we make our hearts right with Him first and unless we remain in daily fellowship with Him. The priests and the people are to consecrate themselves when they first begin using the tabernacle but they must also bring their offerings over and over and over again, each time they realize they've drifted from the Lord and made mistakes. You and I need to examine our hearts on a regular basis too. We need to draw near to the Lord daily in prayer and in the study of His word so that anything that needs to be corrected can be revealed to us. In our day we don't have to bring a sacrifice to a tabernacle when we realized we've sinned. What we bring to the Lord is our sorrow for our sin and our request for repentance, as King David did when he said, "My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart You, God, will not despise." (Psalm 51:17) David lived under the Old Testament law and under the sacrificial system but he knew that sacrifice begins in the heart. If he didn't repent in his heart, nothing he brought to the Lord would suffice to atone for his sin. But now that we are living under grace and not under the law, the Lord Jesus Christ has made the only sacrifice we need for our sins. All we need to bring to Him is repentance of the heart.
"So Aaron came to the altar and slaughtered the calf as a sin offering for himself. His sons brought the blood to him, and he dipped his finger into the blood and put it on the horns of the altar; the rest of the blood he poured out at the base of the altar. On the altar he burned the fat, the kidneys and the long lobe of the liver from the sin offering, as the Lord commanded Moses; the flesh and the hide he burned up outside the camp." (Leviticus 9:8-11) The horns of the altar symbolize mercy. In those days a person accused of a capital crime could flee to an altar and grab the horns and obtain temporary asylum from his accusers until his case could be heard and judged. This was an ancient custom of many cultures, and though the altars of ancient cultures were pagan (with the exception of the altar of Israel) grabbing onto the horns of an altar was seen as a plea for mercy. When Aaron wipes blood on each of the horns of the altar he is acknowledging his need for mercy, asking for mercy, and asking it of the One who is willing and able to offer mercy.
"Then he slaughtered the burnt offering. His sons handed him the blood, and he splashed it against the sides of the altar. They handed him the burnt offering piece by piece, including the head, and he burned them on the altar. He washed the internal organs and the legs and burned them on top of the burnt offering on the altar." (Leviticus 9:12-14) The Bible doesn't explain to us why this washing of these particular parts was necessary but I suspect it was because the internal organs (excluding the kidneys and liver and the fat inside the abdomen) contained waste products. The stomach and intestines had to be washed out before being offered to the Lord. I think the legs had to be washed because they were covered in barnyard waste. I grew up in rural Southwest Virginia surrounded by farms and there's currently a small farm across from my house in Northeast Tennessee. I've seen the material that gets on the legs of farm animals. So organs such as the stomach and intestines had to be washed before being offered on the altar and the feet and legs had to be washed before being offered on the altar. It would not have been respectful to offer to the Lord any parts with waste products in them or on them.
Now that Aaron has made an offering for his own sins and a burnt offering that signifies his submission to the Lord, he is ready to make offerings on behalf of the people. He had to deal with his own issues first because a person who is not right with the Lord is not able to effectively minister to others. For example, think of the instructions we're given after we board a plane. We're told that in the case of an emergency we must put on our own oxygen mask before helping someone else to put on their oxygen mask. We're no use to anybody if we pass out from lack of oxygen. In this same way, we're unable to spiritually assist others if we're about to faint from a lack of connection to the Lord who is our source of spiritual oxygen, so to speak. The Apostle Paul warned the church members of Colossae to be careful not to be caught up in false religious practices or non-Christian beliefs because at that point they will have "lost connection with the head" (Christ) and will become unproductive members of the Christian church. (Colossians 2:19) They must have their own close, personal connection with the Lord before they can lead anyone else to Him. They must be connected to their source of spiritual oxygen before they can encourage someone else who is about to faint in the faith.
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