[Note: This sermon script was written by Chris Anstiss, and edited by Matt Olliffe. I thank Chris for providing it for publication on this website.]
We Aussies live in a casual, laid back culture. We are casual in the way we speak, especially how we address each other. Many of you know that I [Chris] have a PhD. In some countries I'd be called Dr Anstiss wherever I go. But if I asked all of you here to address me as ‘Dr’ – we'll, let's be honest, you'ld think I was a little bit stuck up! Matt's a reverend, but we don't call him 'Reverend Olliffe'. We call him Matt. We don't take the way we dress too seriously either. I once knew a guy whose idea of semi-formal was to wear a tie and jacket with boardies and thongs. That was his idea of semi-formal. And it’s a pretty Aussie way of doing ‘semi-formal’.
Now I know this is a bit of a generalisation, but I reckon Aussies are perceived by and large to be pretty casual, pretty easy going about life, and even more so when it comes to thinking about big things like our relationship God. Our casual culture pictures God as laid-back, basically indulgent and indifferent to the way we’ve lived, so that at the end of our lives when we meet him, he’ll say ‘G’day’, he’ll reach out to shake our hand, give us a pat on the back, and shout us a beer as we share a laugh.
But that is not the way sinful humans can approach God. The Book of Leviticus makes that clear. These truths we’ve read about God and about us are not comfortable, nor casual, but deadly serious, and involve bloody and violent acts. Leviticus confronts us with the seriousness of our sin, and the awfulness of sinful humans seeking to come into the presence of the Holy God. Sin breaks the relationship of humans with God. Leviticus reminds us of the blood and animal death that God requires to repair our relationship with God. Leviticus teaches us that the word ‘casual’ or ‘laid back’ does not belong to our approaches to God. Relating to God is serious business, and God alone sets the rules of engagement. God alone determines the conditions that must be met for sinful people to survive an encounter with Him and not be destroyed before him in the process.
Last week we saw that for God’s special chosen people, Israel, God established the requirement of animal sacrifice to deal with the problem of human sin and to repair the broken relationship between sinful humanity and the Holy God. Leviticus chapters 1 to 5 outlined five different types of sacrifices. The burnt offering, the sin offering and the guilt offering were given for atonement. They recognised that sin was so serious, and that sin required the death of an animal and its blood to repair the relationship. These sacrifices brought forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with God for the person who offered them. And the other two sacrifices, the tribute offering and peace offering, were given because the burnt offering, sin offering and guilt offering brought forgiveness and reconciliation, and so other types of offering were now possible. The peace offering was like a party offering. The worshipper and the priest celebrated forgiveness and reconciliation over a meal together. And the tribute offering was a gift offering given to God as a Suzeraine, as a Superior and Mighty King, provided by an inferior, a vassal, to express loyalty, fealty, and loving devotion and service.
Perhaps as you listened to the reading this week, you were struck by a sense of deja vu? Leviticus chapters 6 and 7 seem like just a repeat of last week. In some cases this is true. The same five sacrifices come up again. But there is a slightly different emphasis in chapters 6 and 7.
In Leviticus chapters 1 to 5, generally the spotlight falls on the worshippers, the Israelites. So we read things such as 'speak to the Israelites and say to them' (Leviticus 1:2 NIV) or again, 'say to the Israelites' (Leviticus 4:2 NIV).
But in Leviticus chapters 6 and 7 the focus shifts to the priests. So we read in chapters 6 and 7 such things as 'give Aaron and his sons this command' (Leviticus 6:9 NIV) or again 'say to Aaron and his sons' (Leviticus 6:25 NIV).
This distinction isn't hard and fast. There are a couple of exceptions. But generally this is a helpful way to think about the relationship between chapters 1 to 5 and 6 to 7.[1] In chapters 6 and 7, the emphasis falls on the vital role that the priests must play in repairing and maintaining the relationship between God and His people.
All in all, if we were to think about the big idea of Leviticus chapters 1 to 7, we would summarise it this way. For the Holy God to live with and relate to sinful humanity embodied by Israel, there must be firstly animal sacrifice (that’s chapters 1 to 5) and secondly the authorised and appointed priests must diligently and carefully oversee and perform the sacrifices according to God’s commands (the emphasis on the priests comes to the fore in chapters 6 and 7).
Imagine you are employed by a job agency. Moses is the principal of the job agency, and has just hired you to write an ad for the job of tabernacle priest. What would the job description read like? What skills would the successful applicant need? From a scan of Leviticus 6 and 7, I reckon there'd be at least five key criteria for the job description of ‘Levitical Priest’.
Firstly, the successful applicant must be connected to the right family. The priests must come from the family of Aaron, Moses brother. The priests addressed in Leviticus 6-7 are Aaron and his sons.[2] So we read, ‘The LORD said to Moses: “Give Aaron and his sons this command”’(Leviticus 6:8, compare 24-25). This might look like nepotism and sexism to our equal opportunity culture, but it is actually an integral part of the sacrificial system, that you must come through the authorised and appointed hereditary priesthood. For it is God who establishes the rules of engagement.
Secondly, the successful applicant will be required to handle 'holy things', so they themselves must be holy. However, the good news is that God himself will provide the holiness. While all job applicants will be sinful to a lesser or great extent, God will provide ‘on the job’ holiness.
The priests were required to handle 'holy things'. For example, Leviticus 6:17 tells us that the sin, guilt and grain offerings were considered 'most holy'.[3] The priests were required to do all the work involved in slaughtering, sacrificing, collecting and pouring blood, tending the altar and fire, skinning and butchering the sacrificial victims, arranging the sacrifices, burning the meat, and eating the meat (that was part of the job too). To do all this service, and touch all the holy things, the priests themselves would have to holy. Look with me at Leviticus 6:18, 'Whatever touches it will become holy' (NIV). But the NIV footnote renders two things differently. The footnote reads, ‘whoever’ instead of ‘whatever’, and ‘must be’ rather than ‘will become’. The verse then means 'whoever touches them must be holy.' I [Chris Anstiss] think this is the better translation. The bible often speaks of uncleanliness being contagious. If someone touches someone who is unclean, the person touching the unclean person shares in the uncleanness. Yet, the Levitical laws don’t work the other way. They don’t say that holiness is contagious. If someone unholy touches something holy, the unholy person doesn't become holy. That person typically dies. So whereas uncleanliness is contagious and communicable by touch, holiness is not. You can't catch holiness like you catch the flu. Holiness, however, is not caught. Holiness can only be communicated by costly and bloody sacrifice.
So if the priests are to be handling holy things, they themselves must be holy. And the good news for the priests is that God makes them holy for the job. Exodus 29 outlines the elaborate consecration ceremony that God provides to make his priests holy. We will look at this at length next week when we look at Leviticus chapters 8 to 10.
So far we've seen that the priest must be from the right family, the family of Aaron. The priest must also be holy so they can handle holy things.
Thirdly, the successful applicant for the position of priest must have a strong stomach. The priests are required to do some unpleasant things. The priest must slaughter, skin, gut and butcher the once living and breathing farm animals, or tear open birds and rip off their heads. For example, look with me at the initially innocuous Leviticus chapter 6 verse 25:[4]
"Say to Aaron and his sons: 'These are the regulations for the sin offering: The sin offering is to be slaughtered before the LORD in the place the burnt offering is slaughtered.'" (Leviticus 6:25 NIV)
The priest has to slaughter a perfectly healthy and usually large farm animal. Aside from killing the animal, the priests had to handle all the blood. For example, Leviticus chapter 6 verse 30 directed the priests what to do with the blood from the sin offering.
But any sin offering whose blood is brought into the Tent of Meeting to make atonement in the Holy Place must not be eaten; it must be burned. (Leviticus 6:30 NIV)
So the blood of the sin offering was carried into the Tent of Meeting to make atonement. And if we flick back to Leviticus 4, we are given even more detail of what the priest does with the blood. Leviticus chapter 4 verses 5 to 7 says:
Then the anointed priest shall take some of the bull's blood and carry it into the Tent of Meeting. 6He is to dip his finger into the blood and sprinkle some of it seven times before the LORD, in front of the curtain of the sanctuary. 7The priest shall then put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of fragrant incense that is before the LORD in the Tent of Meeting. The rest of the bull's blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. (Leviticus 4:5-7 NIV)
It's pretty hands on, isn't it? The priest was to use his fingers to sprinkle the blood in the Tent of Meeting.[5] It is very messy, handling blood without gloves, and not for the faint-hearted. But this work was crucial for making atonement for the people.[6]
Fourthly, vegetarians need not apply. The priest was required to eat certain sacrifices offered on behalf of the worshipper.[7] So Leviticus chapter 6 verse 26:
The priest who offers it (the sin offering) shall eat it (Leviticus 6:26 NIV)
A vegetarian would be able to eat the grain tribute offering which consisted of fine flour and oil (Leviticus 6:15) without yeast (Leviticus 6:16-17). But the required service the priest was to offer for the sin, guilt and fellowship offerings was to eat the sacrifices: beef, lamb, goat, all spit roasted. However, no animal fat was to be eaten by anyone. Leviticus chapter 7 verse 25:
Anyone who eats the fat of an animal from which an offering by fire may be made to the LORD must be cut off from his people. (NIV)
The fat was to be removed and burned as an offering to God (Leviticus 7:3-5).[8]
The sin, guilt and tribute offerings had to be eaten in the courtyard of the tent of meeting. This was because these offerings were 'most holy' and had to be eaten in a 'holy place'. For example, Leviticus chapter 6 verse 26:
The priest who offers it (sin offering) shall eat it; it is to be eaten in a holy place, in the courtyard of the Tent of Meeting. (NIV)
Fifthly, the final criteria was that the successful applicant to the position of tabernacle priest must possess attention to detail. We've already seen above the strict requirements surrounding how to sprinkle the blood. And there are many more specific responsibilities that come with the job.
For example, the fire on the altar of burnt offerings must never go out but be kept burning continually (Leviticus 6:9, 12, 13). Now the Old Testament doesn't really explain the symbolism of the continual fire under the altar. But here is what I [Chris] think. Remember that the burnt offering was an atoning sacrifice for general sinfulness. So perhaps this was a continual reminder for the people of their sinfulness and ongoing need for forgiveness. In this case, the continual fire acts a bit like our General Confession at church. We always need forgiveness with God.
Furthermore the priests had specific instructions on how to dispose of the ash from the burnt offering and what to wear while doing it. Look at Leviticus chapter 6 verses 10 and 11:
10The priest shall then put on his linen clothes, with linen undergarments next to his body, and shall remove the ashes of the burnt offering that the fire has consumed on the altar and place them beside the altar. 11Then he is to take off these clothes and put on others, and carry the ashes outside the camp to a place that is ceremonially clean. (NIV)
So the priest would change his clothes once to remove the ash from the altar and to put it to the side of the altar. Then the priest would change his clothes again to carry the ashes outside the camp and dump them in a specifically dedicated place.
There were also specific instructions on what to do with the kitchen utensils used to cook the sacrifices. Leviticus chapter 6 verse 28:
The clay pot the meat is cooked in must be broken; but if it is cooked in a bronze pot, the pot is to be scoured and rinsed with water. (NIV)
If the pot was clay, smash it, a bit like at a Greek Wedding. This showed that the event of receiving forgiveness and worshipping God by sacrifice was a special event, like a Greek Wedding. If the pot was bronze, you could keep it if you thoroughly scoured it.
So these were the five major selection criteria that capture the tabernacle priest's job. All in all, the main point is this: the role of priest is demanding and complex, but crucial for the life and health of the community. The complexity and bloodiness of the priest’s job reminds us just how costly and serious it is for God to forgive the sin. It is far from casual, but violent, bloody and deadly serious. And God and God alone determines the conditions under which sinful people shall be allowed into his presence.
What we have seen in Leviticus chapters 6 and 7 the importance of the priesthood in maintaining and regulating the people’s approach to God and relationship with God.
The priesthood and its sacrifices were the way the Holy God provided to maintain the relationship between Himself and His sinful people Israel. The idea of priesthood and sacrifice are bound up together. The priests were responsible to conduct and oversee the sacrifices God required on behalf of the people. And the priesthood and sacrificial system allowed God’s Old Testament people to find forgiveness of their sins and to express their worship and thankfulness to God.
Here we are today, far removed in time and place from the situation of Leviticus. But while many things have undoubtedly changed in the way we as sinful people can approach the Holy God, some things remain the same.
For instance, the problem of sin breaking the relationship between God and humans is still the same. Today, just like back in Leviticus, if we seek to have a relationship with the God of the Bible, then the problem of our sin needs to be dealt with. We who are Christians, who worship the Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, worship the same God who revealed himself as Yahweh the God of Israel in the Old Testament. This same Holy God still sets the conditions that must be met to allow sinful people to have access to him and fellowship with him. The two pre-conditions we observe in Leviticus 1 to 7 – priesthood and sacrifice – are still required for sinful people to have a relationship with the Holy God today.
But what has changed is the way the priesthood and sacrifice. It is simply a reality to say that for the Christian, the whole apparatus of the Aaronic priesthood and the sacrificial system that we have looked at this morning has been swept away. At one level, this is obvious, because we don't bring our animals and butcher's knives to church with us. But it is worth thinking about the reason why the old system has passed away. We Christians don't worship like Old Testament Israel did because of Jesus Christ, who He is and what He did.
The New Testament teaches that the divine requirements of sacrifice and priesthood are met perfectly in and by the one person, the Man Jesus Christ. The New Testament testifies that both Jesus' sacrifice of himself and Jesus priesthood are better and more effective than those recounted in Leviticus, that the Leviticus sacrifices and priesthood prefigure and pointed to that of Jesus Christ, and consequently there is no longer need for any more sacrifice or any other priesthood, that that of Jesus Christ.
The priests in Leviticus were required to continually offer the blood of animals in the man-made tabernacle. This was to atone for the sins of the people of Israel, including themselves. But look at how the writer of the Hebrews describes Jesus' work as high priest: Hebrews chapter 9 verses 11 and 12:
11When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation. 12He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. (NIV)
Here we are told that Jesus' work as high priest is far better. Firstly, Jesus Christ entered the greater heavenly tabernacle, not the man made tabernacle, which was only a model of the heavenly one. Secondly, Jesus Christ entered that heavenly tabernacle, and thus the presence of God, by his very own precious blood, not the blood of an animal. That is, it is the sin bearing death of Jesus Christ on the cross that plays the role of a sacrifice to remove God’s anger from the people for whom the sacrifice was offered. Thus, God’s anger at our sin must still be appeased and averted, but this function is performed by Jesus offering of himself as a sacrifice once and for all. Thirdly, the result of Jesus Christ’s work is that it brings eternal redemption to his people. And fourthly and finally, Christ’s sacrifice of himself once and for all work is complete and effective needs no addition, augmentation, continuation or re-celebration. It is a hapax, a ‘once and for all’ sacrifice, that meets our continual and daily need for forgiveness. So in Hebrews chapter 10 verses 11 to 12, the author goes on to say:
11Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12But when this priest [Jesus Christ] had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. (NIV)
But even though Christ’s atoning work was in one sense completed by his blood-shedding and death on the Christ, Jesus Christ continues to minister to us as our Priest today. The Author to the Hebrews again tells us that the Risen Jesus Christ, who once died but is now seated at the right hand of God, remains our great high priest who can sympathise with our struggles with temptation. Look at Hebrews chapter 2 verses 17 and 18 which teaches us that Jesus Christ, the incarnate second person of the Trinity ...
[…] had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. 18Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. (NIV)
And then in Hebrews chapter 4 verses 15 and 16 we are reminded:
15For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are-- yet was without sin. 16Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (NIV)
The bottom line is this: Jesus is now the key to being in a relationship with God. The perfect sacrifice Jesus Christ offered on the cross as our Great High Priest payed the price needed for God to forgive our sins. And as our Risen High Priest, Jesus Christ continues to helps us and intercede for us, to pray for us and to represent us before the Holy God.
Leviticus excludes a casual familiarity from our relationship with God. Our access to God and our standing of grace before him comes to us only by the precious blood of Jesus Christ and his sacrificial death as our Great High Priest. Such access and forgiveness comes only as a result of violent and bloody acts. It is therefore a serious business. But this is the only way that we sinful people can approach the Holy God.
Sometimes human think they can decide how they will approach God. When Homer Simpson famously met God in a dream on his living room couch, he said to God, ‘So I figure, I should just try to live right and worship you in my own way’. It might be funny, and it is probably how most of our society thinks, but our casual culture is mistaken to think that God will somehow be okay with that. Leviticus shows this is gravely mistaken. And the New Testament confirms that the seriousness remains, but the means of access is now revealed in Jesus Christ, who is both Priest and Sacrifice. So let me finish up by giving you three things to take away this morning:
First, Jesus is the great high priest offering himself as the perfect sacrifice to deal with our sins. So we need to get serious about Jesus. Jesus is the only way to come to God. If you want assurance that your sins are forgiven, that God is no longer angry with you, and that you are reconciled with your maker and judge, put all you hope in Jesus' work for you as your perfect sacrifice and as your sinless great high priest. Put all your eggs in the Jesus basket.
Second, as your high priest, Jesus is sympathetic to your struggles and weaknesses. So don’t hide them from him, but confess them freely to Him. Come to God, through Jesus our priest Jesus, and find the mercy and grace he so freely offers. The next time you are faced with temptation, remember to stop and pray to Jesus our great high priest.
Third, God takes our relationship with him seriously. So we should too. As Hebrews chapter 12 verses 28 to 29 says:
Let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29 for our "God is a consuming fire". (NIV)
Today, we worship the same holy God who is revealed to us in Leviticus. We worship Him with reverence and awe. Yes, we can approach God boldly because of Jesus, but boldness does not mean casual indifference. We worship God on His terms, not ours. Hebrews chapter 13 verses 15 and 16 say:
15 Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise – the fruit of lips that confess his name. 16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. (NIV)
Our worship is through Jesus, so we do not bring animals and slaughter as our sacrifice, nor the fine flour and olive oil poured out on top. God has already dealt with our sin and his anger through Christ. God has propitiated Himself by Christ. So our sacrifice now is like the Tribute Offering, the gift offered to a mighty King by his vassals. And it consists of two activities: praising God, and doing good. Verse 15 tells us our praises offered through Jesus Christ are acceptable to God. When we sing songs in Church, that is a sacrifice of praise. When we share the gospel of Christ with others or testify to God's goodness, that is a sacrifice of praise, acceptable to God. And verse 16 tells us that our good works, our sharing our material resources with others, also consist of a sacrifice acceptable to God.
Indeed, now in Christ Jesus, our entire lives are called to be a living sacrifice to God. Romans chapter 12 verse 1:
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship. (NIV)
Let's be serious about our relationship with God . Let’s use our whole bodies to bring Hin the praise and glory He deserves.
Let’s pray.
[1] Especially Leviticus 7:23 which is clearly an instruction to the Israelites, not the priests. Yet, it is natural to have this instruction to Israel here, given that this sacrifice, the peace offering, was the only sacrifice that the Israelites were allowed to eat with the priests.
[2] The background to Aaron and his sons being appointed as priests is found in Exodus 28.
[3] Furniture in the tabernacle was also holy.
[4] The guilt offering also involves slaughter (Leviticus 7:2).
[5] Blood was also sprinkled from the peace offering (Leviticus 3:13; 7:14), the burnt offering (Leviticus 1:5, 11, 15) and the guilt offering (Leviticus 7:2).
[6] As a quick aside, have you ever wondered why blood is so important for making atonement for sins? We find the answer in Leviticus 17:11, that the life of a creature is in its blood. This teaches us that atonement involves the substitution of a life for a life. The wages of sin are death. So if sins are to be forgiven, a death is required. In this case, the death of the animal represented the death of the sinner.
[7] I [Chris] am unsure whether or not the priest had the eat the meat. Leviticus 6:26 suggests it was a requirement, but Leviticus 6:29 on my reading suggests more of an option.
[8] Here the guilt offering and also applies to the sin offering (Leviticus 4:8-10) and the fellowship offering (Leviticus 3:3-5).