Set Apart Leviticus 9:15-24; 10:1-3 Lesson for November 11-12, 2017 Theresa Morgan Our scripture this week is Leviticus 9:15-24 and 10:1-3. As a teacher, I pray that we will leave class with a better appreciation of what it means to be set apart and how this principle applies to you and me. Let start with a simple explanation of what Set Apart means in a spiritual context. Being set apart means that God has designated a person or person(s) for a special purpose. In our scripture in Leviticus, God uses the priesthood as His roadmap to guide us from the old covenant to the new. We will look at Aaron as the priest under the old covenant, then Jesus as our High Priest under the new covenant and then ourselves as the royal priesthood in salvation and sanctification. AARON AND HIS SONS - THE PRIESTHOOD Hebrews 5:1-4 tell us about the selection process. For every high priest taken from among men is appointed on behalf of men in things pertaining to God, in order to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins; he can deal gently with the ignorant and misguided, since he himself also is beset with weakness; 3 and because of it, he is obligated to offer sacrifices for sins, as for the people, so also for himself. 4 And no one takes the honor to himself, but receives it when he is called by God, even as Aaron was. Although Leviticus 8 is not part of our study today, I wanted to mention it because it gives us insight about God s commandment to Moses to consecrate Aaron and his sons. This was God s calling on Aaron and His Sons. Leviticus 8:36 tells us that Aaron and his sons did all the things which the Lord had commanded them through Moses. Under the old covenant, it was necessary for Aaron, and his sons offer sacrifices to God for themselves and then for the people. After Moses consecrated Aaron and his sons, Aaron waited seven days and then administered the following offerings for the people as God commanded in Leviticus 9:15-24. Below is an overview of the offerings that he conducted: Sin Offering 1 A sin offering was a sacrifice, made according to the Mosaic Law, which provided atonement for sin. The Hebrew phrase for sin offering literally means fault offering. The sin offering was 1 https://www.gotquestions.org/sin-offering.html
made for sins committed in ignorance, or unintentional sins. Full details of the sin offering and the requirements associated with it are enumerated in Leviticus 4 and Numbers 15. Sin offerings were also part of the ceremonies on the Day of Atonement, as the high priest made two sin offerings: a bull for himself and a young male goat for the congregation (Leviticus 16:11, 15). Unlike some other offerings, the sin offering was not eaten. The live animal was brought to the altar, and the sinner was required to lay his hand on the head of the animal (Leviticus 4:29). Then the animal was killed, at which point the priest would take some of the blood and put it on the horns of the altar (verse 30). In some cases, some of the blood was also sprinkled inside the tabernacle (verses 6 and 17). Then all the rest of the blood was poured at the base of the altar (verse 34). The fat of the sin offering was removed and burned on the altar. But all the rest of the carcass was taken outside the camp to a place ceremonially clean, where the ashes are thrown, and there the carcass was burned in a wood fire on the ash heap (verse 12). In this way the priest will make atonement for them for the sin they have committed, and they will be forgiven Burnt offering 2 The Hebrew word for burnt offering actually means to ascend, literally to go up in smoke. The smoke from the sacrifice ascended to God, a soothing aroma to the LORD (Leviticus 1:9). Technically, any offering burned over an altar was a burnt offering, but in more specific terms, a burnt offering was the complete destruction of the animal (except for the hide) in an effort to renew the relationship between Holy God and sinful man. With the development of the law, God gave the Israelites specific instructions as to the types of burnt offerings and what they symbolized. A person could give a burnt offering at any time. It was a sacrifice of general atonement an acknowledgment of the sin nature and a request for a renewed relationship with God. Grain Offering 3 The grain offering is described as a holiest part of the food offerings presented to the Lord (Leviticus 2:10b). Grain offerings would often be presented after a burnt offering, which was an animal sacrifice God required for the atonement of sin. Blood had to be shed for the remission of sins to take place, so a grain offering would not serve the same purpose as a burnt offering. Instead, the purpose of a grain offering was to worship God and acknowledge His provision. The burnt offering, which had strict regulations and could have nothing added to it, aptly represents the fact that we take no part in our atonement for sin. The grain offering, however, could be 2 https://www.gotquestions.org/burnt-offering.html 3 https://www.gotquestions.org/grain-offering.html
somewhat personalized in its presentation. It was to be given out of a person s free will, just as our worship is our free will offering to God today Peace Offering 4 A peace offering in the Old Testament Law is described in Leviticus 7:11 21. It was a voluntary sacrifice given to God in three specific instances. First, a peace offering could be given as a freewill offering, meaning that the worshiper was giving the peace offering as a way to say thank you for God s unsought generosity. It was just a way to praise God for His goodness. The second way a peace offering could be given was alongside a fulfilled vow. A good example of this was when Hannah fulfilled her vow to God by bringing Samuel to the temple; on that occasion she also brought a peace offering to express the peace in her heart toward God concerning her sacrifice it was a way to say, I have no resentment; I am holding nothing back in the payment of my vow. The third purpose of a peace offering was to give thanksgiving for God s deliverance in an hour of dire need. None of these three reasons to sacrifice had anything to do with propitiation, with appeasing God, or with pacifying Him. After the offerings were made, Leviticus 9:24 tells us that when Moses and Aaron came out of the tent of meeting, they blessed the people and saw the glory of the Lord. Hebrews 10 reinforces the fact that the sacrifices under the old covenant would never eternally cleanse the people from their sins and restore their relationship with a holy God. Let s read Hebrews 10:1-2: For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very [a]form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near. 2 Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sins? God didn t desire these sacrifices because the blood of bulls and goats can t take away sins. God Himself offered the only acceptable sacrifice. That was His Son, Jesus Christ. JESUS, OUR HIGH PRIEST The Law was never meant to answer our need for salvation. The Law is our tutor that leads us to Jesus who is our ultimate sacrifice. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, he is an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh (Romans 8:3). Jesus saves and He sanctifies. Look at what Hebrews 10:11-12 says - Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; 12 but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God. 4 https://www.gotquestions.org/peace-offering.html
As He rests at the right hand of the Father, in like fashion, we are encouraged to rest in Him. Look at the invitation that he sends to each believer in Matthew 11:28 Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Are you resting in Him, trusting Him with all the concerns of your life? Remember He assures us that He will accomplish that which concerns us (Psalm 138:8) The Lord will accomplish what concerns me; Your lovingkindness, O Lord, is everlasting; Do not forsake the works of Your hands. In addition to the rest that He offers, He is also interceding for you and me. Romans 8:34 makes it clear: Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. While Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father, the Holy Spirit is working. Each believer has been given the Holy Spirit as our Helper, our Counselor, and our Prayer Warrior. He is the Spirit of Truth who walks with us so that we can fulfill God s purpose for our life. Our Father has positioned so that we have victory in everything that He has called us to do. He has set us apart through Jesus Christ. YOU AND ME A ROYAL PRIESTHOOD If you have believed in your heart and confessed with your mouth that He is Lord, we can be confident that we have been set apart. We are a royal priesthood. 1 Peter 2:9 describes us as a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. We can declare His praises because I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Galatians 2:20). We are in communion with our High Priest because His divine power has granted us everything about life and godliness through the true knowledge of Him (2 Peter 1:3). UNHOLY FIRE - SANCTIFICATION Leviticus 10:1-3 Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective firepans, and after putting fire in them, placed incense on it and offered strange fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them. 2 And fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord.3 Then Moses said to Aaron, It is what the Lord spoke, saying,
By those who come near Me, I will be treated as holy, And before all the people I will be honored. So Aaron, therefore, kept silent. In our state of being set apart by the blood of Jesus, we as Christians can still try and offer our Father something that is born of our flesh. Anything that is born of our flesh is considered by God to be strange fire. It can be our own agenda, our own desires, and our own relationships. Strange fire never pleases God. Roman 8:6-8 describes the state of the flesh and its relationship with God. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, 7 because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, 8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Aaron s sons lost their physical lives, it can certainly happen to us. I also believe we run the risk of losing our spiritual communion and fellowship with our Father is just as deadly. BUT we have good news! Unlike Aaron who kept silent, we have Jesus, our High Priest who intercedes for us and encourages us in Hebrews 4:15-16. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. 16 Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Praise God for His mercy and grace!