365 Reflections

Numbers 20:24–28 (ESV) “Let Aaron be gathered to his people, for he shall not enter the land that I have given to the people of Israel, because you rebelled against my command at the waters of Meribah. 25 Take Aaron and Eleazar his son and bring them up to Mount Hor. 26 And strip Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son. And Aaron shall be gathered to his people and shall die there.” 27 Moses did as the LORD commanded. And they went up Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation. 28 And Moses stripped Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son. And Aaron died there on the top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain. This moment in Israel's history is poignant. The original high priest of the nation will die. He will be gathered to his people and seen no more. Before then, however, he will be led up a mountain, stripped of his regal garments and left alone to die. The garments that signified his distinguished calling in Isr...

The restrictions on the priesthood for Israel in Leviticus 21 are pointing to two realities. First, the priesthood of believers - a people who are presented to Gods service through Christ's atonement for pure and life giving ministry to God's purposes. The chapter continues these them turning now to a strange set of stipulations appears: Leviticus 21:16–21 (ESV) And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 17 “Speak to Aaron, saying, None of your offspring throughout their generations who has a blemish may approach to offer the bread of his God. 18 For no one who has a blemish shall draw near, a man blind or lame, or one who has a mutilated face or a limb too long, 19 or a man who has an injured foot or an injured hand, 20 or a hunchback or a dwarf or a man with a defect in his sight or an itching disease or scabs or crushed testicles. 21 No man of the offspring of Aaron the priest who has a blemish shall come near to offer the LORD’s food offerings; since he has a blemish, he shal...

Only a cleansed and pure High Priest can purify the tabernacle and it's furnishings. Leviticus 16 is describing the day of Atonement, one of the most sacred days of the year for Israel. On this day the High Priest, temple and its altars are purified for the new year of operation in the worship practices of the nation. The Temple was bound to get dirty. All year long it would receive sinners and their blood sacrifices. Israelites would come to God for forgiveness and offer an appropriate sacrifice for sins. That meant one thing, the temple, even though a place for sinners to meet with God would become ritually unclean more and more over time during the year. Every sacrifice offered was offered by someone who needed cleansing. They may have left cleansed but they walked in dirty. All this called for a day of Atonement. All the sins that came into that temple had to be expunged in a symbolic ritual with blood sacrifices and other practices by ONE man - the High Priest of Israel....

Leviticus 16 is the climatic moment - the day of Atonement. This would be the day Israel's national sins would be remitted, cleansed, and taken away through a long and arduous process performed MOSTLY by one man - the High Priest of Israel. The first facet of the procedure we should note is the high priests change of clothes. Leviticus 16:3–4 (ESV)   But in this way Aaron shall come into the Holy Place: with a bull from the herd for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. 4 He shall put on the holy linen coat and shall have the linen undergarment on his body, and he shall tie the linen sash around his waist, and wear the linen turban; these are the holy garments. He shall bathe his body in water and then put them on. The High Priest had two outfits. One of glory as he bore the names of Israel on his heart and the holiness of God in front of the nation. These garments made the Priest look glorious and powerful, a representation of God to man. The second set of garmen...

Leviticus 6:8–9 (ESV)   The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 9 “Command Aaron and his sons, saying, This is the law of the burnt offering. The burnt offering shall be on the hearth on the altar all night until the morning, and the fire of the altar shall be kept burning on it....  Leviticus 6:13 (ESV)  Fire shall be kept burning on the altar continually; it shall not go out. The fire on the burnt offering was to never go out. That is a lot of responsibility for the priests. I have a stove in my house that requires constant attention in winter. Yet even on my best days, it eventually goes out. God mentions several times that this fire was to never die. What does this point to in our relationship with Christ? First, we must remember that it was the priests responsibility to keep the fire going. This was not the job of an average Israelite. God says, "Command Aaron and his sons!" However, as we will observe in Israel, eventually the priests would fail in this resp...

Exodus 30 continues to describe the High Priest of Israel's apparel. Exodus 39:4–5 (ESV) They made for the ephod attaching shoulder pieces, joined to it at its two edges. 5 And the skillfully woven band on it was of one piece with it and made like it, of gold, blue and purple and scarlet yarns, and fine twined linen, as the Lord had commanded Moses. This sacred garment was the one piece vest that the high priest wore over his front and back mid-sections. On the front was a breast piece will 12 stones: Exodus 39:8–14 (ESV) He made the breastpiece, in skilled work, in the style of the ephod, of gold, blue and purple and scarlet yarns, and fine twined linen. 9 It was square. They made the breastpiece doubled, a span its length and a span its breadth when doubled. 10 And they set in it four rows of stones. A row of sardius, topaz, and carbuncle was the first row; 11 and the second row, an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond; 12 and the third row, a jacinth, an agate, a...

The reality of our sin is that it offends a holy and righteous God who would be totally just to wipe us off the face of the Earth.  Modern Christianity is losing it's understanding of the cost of our sin. When we do so, we lose sight of the cost of our salvation as well. The reason most Christians have no joy is because they do not realize what they have going for them in Christ.  The golden calf moment of Exodus 32 goes from terrible to peaceful because of the actions of one man. God tells Moses He's had it with Israel, they have sinned quickly and decisively - turning completely away from the God who saved them. He announces His just judgment in verses 7-10: Exodus 32:7 (ESV) And the LORD said to Moses, "Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.  8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, ...

Exodus 28:31–35 (ESV)  “You shall make the robe of the ephod all of blue. 32 It shall have an opening for the head in the middle of it, with a woven binding around the opening, like the opening in a garment, so that it may not tear. 33 On its hem you shall make pomegranates of blue and purple and scarlet yarns, around its hem, with bells of gold between them, 34 a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, around the hem of the robe. 35  And it shall be on Aaron when he ministers, and its sound shall be heard when he goes into the Holy Place before the Lord , and when he comes out, so that he does not die. Exodus 28:42–43 (ESV)  You shall make for them linen undergarments to cover their naked flesh. They shall reach from the hips to the thighs; 43 and they shall be on Aaron and on his sons when they go into the tent of meeting or when they come near the altar to minister in the Holy Place, lest they bear guilt and die. This shall be a statute ...

Exodus 6:23–25 (ESV) Aaron took as his wife Elisheba, the daughter of Amminadab and the sister of Nahshon, and she bore him Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. 24 The sons of Korah: Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph; these are the clans of the Korahites. 25 Eleazar, Aaron’s son, took as his wife one of the daughters of Putiel, and she bore him Phinehas. These are the heads of the fathers’ houses of the Levites by their clans.' A strange thing appears in Exodus 6. Right in the middle of the action and just when the story gets really interesting a genealogical record shows up. Why now?  Most Bible readers may be tempted to skip portions of scripture like this. But these passages are there by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to point us to Jesus and inform us how to live.  One of the notable qualities of this genealogy is how incomplete it is. It is far from table of nations from Genesis 11. It is not as relevant as those genealogies of Christ that point back to Adam and...

I love this little moment in Joseph's life with his father. He has brought him to this foreign land. Jacob probably apprehensive about what to expect does not realize that his own occupation could get him in a bit of trouble with Egyptians. So Joseph does what Christ does for us. He intercedes on his family's behalf. Genesis 46:31–34 (ESV) Joseph said to his brothers and to his father’s household, “I will go up and tell Pharaoh and will say to him, ‘My brothers and my father’s household, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me. 32 And the men are shepherds, for they have been keepers of livestock, and they have brought their flocks and their herds and all that they have.’ 33 When Pharaoh calls you and says, ‘What is your occupation?’ 34 you shall say, ‘Your servants have been keepers of livestock from our youth even until now, both we and our fathers,’ in order that you may dwell in the land of Goshen, for every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians.” ...

Hebrews 9:28 (ESV) so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. Salvation happens in three acts. We were saved when Christ called us and we responded to His grace in repentance and confession. We are being saved, i.e. sanctified and made holy by Christ's blood. We will be saved at His soon return. Are we EAGERLY waiting for Him? I think of the many things we wait for.  We can't wait to grow up.  We can't wait to go to college.  We can't wait to get out of college.  We can't wait to get our first job... second job... retire.  Whatever it is we can't wait for.  It seems as soon as we find it, we wait for something else. Are we waiting for Him to return?  The author of Hebrews talks in chapter 9 about the day of atonement.  When the high priest would once a year enter into the Holy of Holies and return from b...