February 19- Blood and Oil

February 19, 2011

Leviticus 7:28-9:6; Mark 3:31-4:25;
Psalm 37:12-29; Proverbs 10:5


Leviticus 7:28-9:6

In ancient Israel the role of the priest was of the utmost importance.  Because the priest was from man going to God to represent the people, his role pictured Christ as our High Priest.  Jesus was a man going to God for the people.  Today we will finish studying the peace offering regulations and then see the ordination and consecration of the High Priest and all of the priests of the Tabernacle. 

Peace Offering:

There are a few other images in the sacrifices and offerings that I want to highlight. In these offerings the priests were the ones who were allowed to eat the cooked meat and griddled bread.  This was because they were not given a portion of the land when God told Moses how to divide up the inheritance in the Promised Land.  The priests had to rely on the giving of the people for their provisions.  God designated which portions of the animals were to be grilled and eaten by the priests. 

The animal’s breast and shoulder were to be eaten.  Ever interested in picturing Christ, God had the priests eat of the part of the animal which represented Jesus’ heart (the breast) and His strength (the shoulder).  Christ’s love carried the weight of our sin to the cross.  In the peace offering we see that what Christ did by carrying our sins on his shoulders and loving us from his heart enough to die for us makes us at peace with God. We must accept Christ's sacrifice and then we are at peace with God. 

The priests were sustained by that work. Notice that fat was never to be eaten by the priest or the regular citizens of Israel.  The fat represented the choicest part of the animal.  Those were burned continually and presented to God.  In addition, they were never to eat the blood of the animal.  The blood represented the very life source of the creature and the precious and holy substance that Christ would shed to meet the required death for sin.

Christ is our peace offering before a Holy God.

Consecration Ceremony

In the eighth chapter of Leviticus the congregation is called to witness the consecration of the priests.  Aaron and his sons were ceremonially cleansed then Aaron and his sons were ritually adorned with the priestly garments. Moses anointed Aaron as the High Priest with oil and the same is done for the sons of Aaron. After that, the offerings were presented to the Lord.

The people of Israel were to witness the fact that their priests had to offer sin offerings, burnt offerings, and trespass offerings as part of their consecration.  The picture of Christ’s person and work is continually before the people. The priests were to put the blood of the shed animal on their right ear, right thumb and right big toe.  This pictures that in order to serve God, one must be covered by Christ’s blood in order to hear His voice, serve God’s people, and walk with God.

Aaron and his sons were anointed with both blood and oil.  The blood was for the forgiveness of sins and the oil was for the anointing of the Spirit of God upon them.

The ceremony ends with Aaron and his sons eating the sacrificed meat and bread.  This is a beautiful picture of how we must feed upon the finished work of Christ to be sustained as we serve God with our lives. Notice that the act of  communion represents that all believers are priests in God's kingdom on earth. I Peter 2:9-10 says,

"But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are a kingdom of priests, God's holy nation, his very own possession. This is so you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. 'Once you were not a people; now you are the people of God. Once you received none of God's mercy; now you have received his mercy.'"

If you have trusted Christ, you are part of his kingdom of priests designed to represent to a needy world the sacrifice of Christ that covers sin, cleanses, and causes us to be at peace with God.

Do you consider Christ the bread and meat that gets you through each day?  Are you spiritually starving or are you full of his spirit and love? 

Mark 3:31-4:25

We saw yesterday that Jesus’ family thought he had gone insane.  Today they come to where he is teaching and send word that they would like to speak with him.  Jesus takes the opportunity to teach the crowd that God’s family consists of those who do the will of God.  He means that his family are those who believe that he is the Messiah.

Jesus gets in a boat to separate from the large crowds and tells the parable of the farmer who sowed seeds.  We have already covered that the farmer is God, the seed is the good news about Christ, and the soil is our hearts.  A hard heart allows Satan to snatch the good news away. The rocky soil is a heart where problems and persecution cause a person to fall away from faith because their roots are not very deep.  A thorny heart is where wealth and the cares of this life choke out the good news in a person’s life.  The good heart is where the message of Christ sinks down into good soil and produces fruit in that person’s life.

Jesus says that we don’t put lampstands under a basket.  Jesus is declaring that he is a lampstand for truth.  He will not hide his message, but let it shine in a dark world.  He also takes this illustration of light as a teaching moment to let people know that their dark secrets will be revealed by his Light one day.

Do you think Christ is insane or that he is the Messiah? Which type of soil is your heart?

Psalm 37:12-29

This psalm backs up what Jesus just said about the light exposing all things.  This is a psalm about the wicked being judged and the godly prospering.

Proverbs 10:5

Laziness is again shunned, while hard work is encouraged.

What did you notice today?

Blessings,

Jubilee Gal

Kathy Fullerton