Tag Archives: Covenant

Day 41: The Priesthood

Leviticus 8-10; Matthew 26:26-56

As first instructed back in Exodus 29, Leviticus 8 records the ordination of Aaron and his sons as priests. It is a glorious time – a monumental event in the history of the Israelite people! The priesthood has been established! God has provided a way for a sinful people to draw near to a holy God!

Leviticus 9 records Aaron’s first priestly duties. It sets forth a model of worship that remains relevant to the believer today…

  • He begins by offering a sin offering first for himself and then for the people. Having atoned for the sins of the congregation..
  • He offers a burnt offering as a sign of total devotion and thanksgiving to the Lord.
  • Finally, Aaron offers a peace offering as a symbol that God and the people have been reconciled through the blood of the offerings.

God was pleased with Aaron, and the offerings were accepted! Aaron and the priesthood would now act as the mediator between God and the people.

Leviticus 10 is a severe reminder that worship is not just a list of duties to be performed, but must come from an undivided heart. All four of Aaron’s sons failed to keep a portion of the priestly duties. Aaron’s oldest sons were killed for offering “unauthorized fire.” The implication was that they were cavalier in their duties. God does not tolerate flippant pride. Aaron’s younger two sons did not eat the sin offering as commanded. But they were spared because their motivation was out of fear for the holiness of God. God has always been more concerned with the heart than with outward actions.

In fact, Jeremiah prophesied that there would be a new covenant and it would be written on the heart.

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel… I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Jesus is the mediator of this new covenant – the covenant of grace. He institutes “the Lord’s supper” as he eats his last meal with the disciples recorded in Matthew 26. Jesus says that this is the “blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:28). We celebrate this new covenant each time we take communion. It is a meal that points forward to a day when we will eat and drink with Jesus face to face…

“I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom” (Matthew 26:29).

Until that day, we are called to worship our God with all of our heart…

  • Because of Jesus’ perfect sin offering, we can draw near to God.
  • We make our burnt offering as we devote our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to the Lord (Rom 12:1),
  • And we make our peace offering as we confess the gospel of reconciliation to the world.

According to Peter, we are now the priesthood! And we are to offer “spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Pet 2:5).

Day 36: The Tabernacle

Exodus 37-38; Matthew 23:1-39

The Law was born on the glory of the mountain, written on stone tablets by the finger of God and encased in the ark. The ark was made of pure gold and it alone was found behind the veil – in the Most Holy Place, the Holy of Holies. It was behind the veil where the presence of the Lord came down and His glory shone above the mercy seat of the Ark.

Just on the other side of the veil, in the Holy Place, stood the Altar of Incense – which would continually burn the holy Incense, pleasing to the Lord. Inside the Holy Place were also the  Table for the Bread of the Presence and the Golden Lampstand – both pointing forward to Jesus, the Bread of Life and the Light of the World.

The Holy Place and the Most Holy Place comprised the tabernacle which was made of the finest linen with blue, purple and scarlet yarns. The Tabernacle was surrounded by the court. The Bronze Basin, used for ceremonial washings, stood between the Bronze Altar and the entrance to the Tabernacle. After offering a sacrifice on the altar, the priest would then wash in the basin before entering the Holy Tabernacle.

Each act – every priestly duty – was ordained by God to daily remind the people of their sin and His holiness.

Time marched forward and God’s word was diluted. The priests and religious leaders of Jesus’ day distorted God’s holy law to exalt themselves and to line their pockets with the people’s guilt offerings. Jesus was disgusted. The holy tabernacle was defiled by pride.

“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in  (Matthew 23:13).

Jesus, who perfectly fulfills every requirement of the law… Jesus who would become the final Passover Lamb… Jesus, the God of the Covenant laments over His people.

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you desolate (Matthew 23:37-38).

The word “house” was an expression for “temple.” The temple, the dwelling place of God, is desolate. And Jesus weeps.

Day 35: Who is this God we worship?

Exodus 34-36

“The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty…” (Exodus 34:6-7).

Who is this God we worship? He is merciful. He is gracious. He is slow to anger. He is abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. He forgives iniquity, transgression and sin. But he will not let the guilty go free.

Who is this God we worship? That Moses’ face shone with glory after speaking with Him on the mountain?

Who is this God we worship? That he sovereignly placed skilled craftsmen among the Israelites so that His tabernacle could be built perfectly.

Who is this God we worship? He is the God who condescended to us. He made us His people by the sacrificial work of His Son. We are His people, and He. Is. Our. God.

Day 34: The fierce love of God

Exodus 31-33; Matthew 22:23-46

Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient” (Exodus 24:7).

It doesn’t take the people long to break their covenant promise to the Lord. The people throw aside Moses and implore Aaron to make them an idol.

And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” (Exodus 32:4)

They actually attributed God’s amazing work to rescue his beloved people from Egypt – to a gold statue. It turns my stomach.

But I think the focus in these chapters should be on Moses, and his intercession for the people. Moses is the mediator. He’s the mediator of the covenant and he’s the mouthpiece of God. Moses intercedes twice on behalf of the people in these chapters… First, he pleads for their lives and secondly, he reminds God of His covenant promise to be their God in order to convince Him to go with them to the promised land.

Moses doesn’t change God’s mind. God is molding Moses to have the same thoughts, the same ways, to be more like Himself. Think of the transformation from when Moses first encountered God in the burning bush – to now – when he is boldly pleading for the people. Moses was afraid to stand before Pharaoh, and now he’s able to reason with God. The change is remarkable. This is the work of God in Moses’ life. It is a work of grace.

You see… God made a promise.

I will dwell among the people of Israel and will be their God. And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt that I might dwell among them. I am the Lord their God (Exodus 29:45-46).

He will not break this promise. His promise does not depend on the faithfulness of  His people. It depends on the faithfulness of One. That One will not break covenant. That One will not sin. And that One will become the once and for all sacrifice and rise to sit at the right hand of the Father where he makes intercession for all the saints. Yes, Jesus, intercedes for you just as Moses interceded for the people. How much more will the Father listen to the perfect mediator?

If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:31-35; 38-39).

God’s anger burned against the Israelite people because He loved them. His anger matches the fierceness of His love. He is jealous for you!

Day 30: The ultimate Mediator

Exodus 22-24; Matthew 20:17-34

Exodus 22-23 continues with laws that will form the Book of the Covenant. Exodus 24 gives us a picture of Moses, the Mediator.

Moses mediates symbolically as he sprinkles the blood on both the altar and the people. The sacrificial blood is necessary for the sinful people to approach a Holy God. Moses stands between the altar of God and the people as the mediator of the Covenant.

But we also see Moses physically mediating for the people as he goes before the Lord’s presence on the mountain to receive the rest of the covenant regulations…

Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel. Moses entered the cloud and went up on the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights (Exodus 24:17-18).

Before Moses ascended the mountain to stand alone before God, there is an amazing scene. It’s breathtaking…

Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up, and they saw the God of Israel. There was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness. And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld God, and ate and drank (Exodus 24:9-11).

Can you imagine? Beholding God? And eating and drinking?

In today’s New Testament passage we see a different type of encounter with God… I wonder if the mother of John and James knew exactly who she was standing before when she made her bold request!

She said to him, “Say that these two sons of mine are to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.” Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?” (Matthew 20:21-22)

The cup Jesus was referring to was His death. Jesus goes on to say…

But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:26-28).

It is in this verse that Jesus gives (in my opinion) the most clear message of the gospel. He came to give his life as a ransom for many. He becomes both the sacrifice and the mediator between God and man. Now that’s breathtaking. That’s the gospel!