Our High Priest is consecrated forevermore, serving in a heavenly tabernacle as a perfect substitute and savior for sinners. The sermon details the Old Testament consecration of Aaron and his sons, contrasting it with Christ's heavenly ministry, highlighting his divine clothing and his role as the Lamb of God who bore our sins. The sermon emphasizes Christ's complete work as the sin offering, burnt offering, and ram of consecration, consecrated by his own blood, and his ongoing intercessory work at the throne of God. Ultimately, Christ's consecration signifies his perfect, active, and eternal high priestly service for believers, pledging himself to us as a servant to his master.
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doing at our great high priest I'd like to go again to the book of Hebrews and this time to chapter seven and verse twenty eight as we're considering him the apostle and high priest of our profession Hebrews chapter seven verse twenty eight for the law make his men high priest which have infirmity but the word of oath which was sent the law maketh a son who is consecrated forevermore. Back to the book of Leviticus, Leviticus chapter eight. Well, yesterday we had the opportunity looking at the calling of the high priest and his son and looking at how that they were washed and anointed and clothed.
We saw an earthly calling in the sense of Aaron and his son. Aaron served in an earthly tabernacle. Aaron was clothed with earthly clothing. But that clothing was for beauty and for glory. And when we look at the Lord Jesus Christ, he served in a heavenly tabernacle. He was called, as Aaron was called, out of the people. He came here and he took a body. one that could substitute for the sinner, one that could feel the sinner's infirmity. And then in that substitution be the sinner's savior, and then in the feeling of those infirmities could certainly act as our high priest for us.
To do as the high priest of old, to bear gently with the ignorant and the weak. Those were the ones that he was to bear with. And certainly when we look at the Lord Jesus in the heavenly place, on that heavenly tabernacle as he ministers in. We saw him yesterday as he bears those that are his own in the place of love, a place of faith, a place of righteousness, a place of strength, the place of faith and love and righteousness in the breastplate. and then the place of strength on his shoulders.
And certainly he was clothed with all the glory of heaven, the blue and the purple and the scarlet and the gold thread that was woven into that robe of the Ephah. And so certainly when we view the Lord Jesus, he was the Son of God come down from heaven in the blue. He was the royalty of God in the scarlet. He was king of kings and lord of lords. And then in the mingling of those two colors, we see him as the son of man in the purple. And certainly if you take the blue and the scarlet and you mingle them together, that's what you have in the purple.
And as he walked here in that sense, that's what he came to do. He came to walk here and to be the sacrifice and the substitute for sinners. And then in that work, that he could feel their infirmities, be tried in all points like as they are, sin apart. And then in that place he could one day stand as the high priest for them, as he stands today for every one of us. Now he is a consecrated high priest, and that's what we have in the next portion of this chapter. And I'd like to begin reading with verse fourteen. And he brought the bullock for a sin offering, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the bullock for the sin offering.
He slew it, and Moses took the blood and put it upon the horns of the altar, round about with his finger, and purified the altar, and poured the blood at the bottom of the altar, and sanctified it to make reconciliation upon it. And he took all the fat that was upon the inwards and the call above the liver, and the two kidneys and their fat, and Moses burned it upon the altar. But the bullock with his hide and his flesh and his dung, he burned with fire without the camp, as the Lord commanded Moses. And he brought the ram for the burnt offering, and Aaron his sons laid their hands upon the head of the ram.
And he killed it, and Moses sprinkled the blood upon the altar round about. And he cut the ram in pieces, and Moses burnt the head. And the pieces in the fat. And he washed the inwards and the legs in water. And Moses burnt the whole ram upon the altar, as it was a burnt sacrifice, a sweet savor, and an offering made by fire unto the Lord, as the Lord commanded Moses. And he brought the other ram, the ram of consecration. And Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the ram. And he slew it, and Moses took the blood of it, and put it on the tip of Aaron's right ear.
And upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot. And he brought Aaron's sons, and Moses put on the blood on the tip of their right ear, and on the thumbs of their right hand. and upon their great toes of their right feet. And Moses sprinkled the blood upon the altar round about. And he took the fat and the rump and all the fat that was upon the inwards and the call above the liver and the two kidneys and their fat and their right shoulders. And out of the basket of unleavened bread that was before the Lord, he took one unleavened cake and a cake of oiled bread and one way first.
and put them on the fat and upon the right shoulder. And he put up all upon Aaron's hands and upon his son's hands and waved them for a wave offering before the Lord. And Moses took them from off their hands and burnt them on the altar for a burnt offering. They were consecrations for a sweet offering, for a sweet favor. It is an offering made by fire unto the Lord. And Moses took the breast and waved it for a wave offering before the Lord. For the ram of consecration it was Moses' part as the Lord commanded Moses. And Moses took of the anointing oil and of the blood which was sprinkled upon the altar and sprinkled it upon Aaron, upon his garments and upon his sons and upon his sons' garments with them, and sanctified Aaron and his garments and his sons' garments.
And Moses said unto Aaron and to his son, Boil the flesh at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and there eat it with bread, as in the basket of consecration, as I commanded, saying, Aaron and his son shall eat it. And that which remaineth of the flesh and of the bread shall ye burn with fire. And ye shall not go out of the door of the tabernacle of congregation in seven days. until the days of your consecration be at end. For seven days shall he be consecrated to you. We have before us a beautiful scene, the scene that took part in the Old Testament days under an economy that God had called out from men, a priesthood after Aaron's order.
And when Aaron and his sons were placed into this priesthood, They went through this consecration of the priesthood, both Aaron and his sons. Aaron's name meant very high. And so Aaron, in being called and being anointed, you'll notice as we read yesterday, he was anointed before all the rest of them were. And certainly when it comes to the anointing of our great high priest, he was anointed above his fellow. And God... gave him the full measure of the Spirit. So when we view the Lord Jesus here, we're viewing two pictures. We're viewing, first of all, that which was earthly, and an earthly priesthood.
And then in the Lord Jesus Christ, we're viewing that which is heavenly. And he ministers in the heavenly tabernacle. A higher and a more perfect tabernacle than the earthly one. The earthly one was built according to the pattern that God gave to Moses in the mountain. And when God gave that pattern to Moses, he said, I do not want you to build it any other way. He gave him a specific blueprint of everything that was to be constructed. You know, I think so many times when a man goes forth to build a building, of how many changes there are in the building before it's ever completed.
I remember the seven years that I spent at Lake Geneva in Wisconsin at a camp, as the director of that camp. Full time, year around, we ran it in the wintertime as well. And I remember how many buildings we went forth to build. And no matter how good a job we did at trying to lay out the blueprints and get the plans all set, before they were finished, there were changes in them. We found somehow that this didn't work out or that didn't work out and a change had to come. But you know, when it came to this tabernacle, it was built after a pattern of things in the heavens. It was a figure and a shadow of things to come.
And there was no change in this. It was built according to a pattern that God had given to Moses in the mount. He followed it to the letter. And so when we view it, and we view the high priest and the priesthood here. We view the high priest in his dress and in his calling and in his consecration. We're viewing a picture that's a holy, heavenly picture. We're viewing a picture that an artist painted for us in words. When I read the Old Testament so many times, I see it in this light. Sometimes we go to an art gal. And as you walk through, you go to a picture and you stand and you view that picture.
You try to get just what the artist is saying. And you don't get what the artist is saying if you're a person who doesn't have a great appreciation in art. My wife's got a bit greater appreciation in art than I have, and when we go through an art gallery, she wants to spend more time at a picture than I do. She gets more out of it. But when I pick up this precious book and look into the Old Testament, there we're brought to word pictures. We're brought to what God has set down before us. And as we set and view it and meditate on the word picture, He begins to reveal to us His plan, His purposes.
And so when we take this picture and review God's view of His Son, we get a blessed view. It's a view that brings us to one who is consecrated forever, one who is totally given to His work, one who will never fail in that work one way. And when He took up that work to do it, He will complete it. When He took up the work of salvation, He did complete it. When He takes it up in every one of you, He says, He that has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
That's a confidence we can have. And Paul said, being confident of this very thing. that he that has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. And he that's taken up the work of the high priest, he's going to perform it. Because he is a high priest after an order that abides continually without failure forever. And this is what we see here in this picture. His purposes of consecration. We have some offerings that are brought to us first. There's the sin offering, there's the burnt offering, and then there's the ram of consecration.
If you look at the offerings in general, and we get first of all the sin offering, and we view that, then we view the trespass offering, we view the meal offering, And then the burnt offering, we're getting something that says, this is the sinner's approach to God. And that's an approach that comes through the Lord Jesus, Christ alone. For certainly he bore our sin, didn't he? He bore it in his own body on the tree. John could say, behold, the Lamb of God that beareth away the sin of the world.
When Christ came, it was to settle the sin question. It was to settle that which stood between God and man. And so he could do that. And when we come to Christ and that blessed gospel comes into our own heart, then we see Christ as the sin of. And we get that blessed gospel that Paul gave to us in First Corinthians chapter fifteen. For there He teaches us that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried and He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. That's the Gospel.
And when we learn of that, we can say, Praise God for sins forgiven. But then there's the trespass offering. And it isn't too long as we go along knowing our sin taken away. Then we see ourselves sinning and we say, What? Am I forgiven to go on sin in sin and sinning? And where will I be? And then we see Christ as the trespass offering. We see him as the one who could take care of those sins that come upon us. That place where we fall along the way into sin.
It's not our purpose to continue in sin that grace may abound. Paul could say, God forbid. But as we see our lives, and we see how vile and wretched we are, and we wonder who can deliver us from this, we see it in the sense of the trespass offering, and we see the one who died, who could care for our trespasses as well. And then we are rejoicing in that, and we see the Lord Jesus Christ then as our peace offering. And we see him as the meal offering. In these two, we see the perfections of the Lord Jesus Christ in the meal offering.
And then we see Christ our peace, the one who affected peace through the blood of his cross. And then we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And Paul could say that in the book of Romans, therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And so we learn of Christ as our peace. And then we lock along the way and we have the peace of God. It was peace with God when we had the forgiveness of our sins and justified in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Oh, but we need the peace of God as we walk through this scene and trouble comes our way and trials. And he said, be anxious for nothing. He said, don't worry, pray. Don't worry, pray. And when we come to that place and we pray with thanksgiving, making our requests known unto God. Then he says, The peace of God shall mount up and guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. And then as we meditate upon the profile of Christ, the things of good report, then we have the God of peace. You see, in the peace offering, this is what he is to the believer, causes him to be justified.
Give them that peace day by day, and then gives him his presence as the God of peace. He's our peace offering. But in the burnt offering, have the Lord Jesus as that blessed one, in the place of worship, that we can present him to God. It is that sweet savor that is ascending to God, and we present him there. Now when we come to this place here of consecration, you can see for the priest himself, there was first of all that need of a recognition of the sin offering.
And when it comes to our high priest in this picture, remember he's in the heavenly place. He's in the tabernacle in the heavens. And so when he presents himself, it's as the sin offering for men. He was the one who knew no sin. But yet he came here, while he had no sin in him, he had sin on him. And so he took my sin, and he bore it there in his own body on the tree. And he became my sin offering for him. And as Christ ministers in the heavenly, that's what he is. He's the sin offering.
And it presents himself, certainly in the sin offering. It was an offering that was to be without blemish. And I can view that Father in the days of old, as he went to get that sin offering, and as he took it from the flock, he had to find one without blemish. I can see him running his hand over that one of the flock. seeing that there was no imperfection in it in any way. But you know when it comes to God's sin offering and the giving of the Lord Jesus Christ, I read in the book of First Peter that Christ was as the Lamb without blemish and without spot.
There was no sin that was outward that could be seen by men, and there was no sin inward in the spot that could be seen by God. He was the perfect lamb. When He walked before men, we had a chance to view Him in all His moral perfection. And when He was there, kneeled to that cross and opened before all and before God, there was no sin in Him. My Bible tells me that He was made sin for us. the one who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
The perfect one without blemish. It was chosen out of the flock, and he was chosen out of the people. He came to be born of a woman, and so he was one that was called and taken out of the people. When it comes to the laying on of hands, The sinner in that day, as was Aaron and his son, put their hands on that sin offering, and they pressed down hard upon it, and they associated their sin with the offering. When it comes to the offering of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that perfect sin offering that he was for me, my how glad I am that he came and he associated himself with us, that he came to be of this human race, that He might take a body like we have, and that He might go through this scene and show Himself perfect in it, and then go to the cross, offer Himself, associated with us, but then taking our sin and our iniquity on Him at the cross and presenting Himself unto God.
Oh, for the skin was torn. and the body was burned and the blood was shed. It was in the shedding of the blood that an atonement was made for the soul. The blood touched the horns of the altar. That was the place of strength. And you know, when it comes to that sacrifice and the power of that blood, Those horns went in all directions, and it says it was sufficient for all. It was in the place of power. And then it was poured out there on the ground, too.
And there, the horn perhaps it spoke there in the sense of the power of God, and being sufficient for God, and then on the ground sufficient for me. He became that sin offering for me. And then the burnt offering was offered. And here it was a bullock. You know in the offerings, the burnt offering suggests there were three things that could be brought. There was first of all the bullock. And then there was the lamb or a kid of the flock. And then there was the turtle duck.
If a man had a good deal, he was required to bring the bullock. That was his best. If he wasn't that rich or that well to do, but he had a flock, he could bring a kid of the flock. And then if he was the poorest of the poor, he could offer that turtle dove to which everyone could have one. And when it came to God's presentation and God's sacrifice, he gave of his very best. He gave a bullock. And that's what we see here in the sense of the offering that was offered there. It was a bullock. But you know, when it comes to the priesthood of the believer, as associated with this priesthood, and with that as the pattern, the burnt offering speaks of that which is worship and that which is offered as a sweet savor to God.
And Christ, according to... Ephesians chapter five, verse one and two, offered himself to God as that burnt offering and that sweet-smelling favor for us. For us. And when it comes to our entering into worship and offering something to God, you know what? There's something that everyone can bring. There's something for those that are spiritually matured as fathers in the faith. And I'd like to inject that here, something practical that we can lay hold of. When we come to the public service for worship, where we come to the remembrance of the Lord Jesus Christ, and there we have a chance for the men to audibly bring to God that which is due, to present in worship His Son to Him, for we can present nothing better.
We have every opportunity to bring for the Father in the faith, the bullock his best. It's good when we've grown along in our lifetime and we've become fathers in the faith and we can present to him something that's our best in worship. And perhaps as young men in the faith, we haven't gone as far as the Father. And then we can take to present to him one out of the flock. But we present what we have as a young man. And then there's that babe in Christ, the little child. He has that turtle dove. Oh, the feathers are picked apart and they're laid by the side of the altar.
But that whole carcass is given to God. It's something that the very poorest of the poor could bring. And I say to you, brothers in the Lord Jesus and sisters as well, On the Lord's day morning when you meet here around a table that's set and spread, symbolizing the Lord Jesus Christ in his death for us, and as we do it, a remembrance in his resurrection till he comes. Do you come as a father? Because you've known him that's from the beginning. Do you come as a young man because you've overcome the wicked one?
And you've found your place in strength. Do you come as a little child? There's something everyone can bring. The sisters so often say, well, what can I bring? And sometimes there's the comment of the periods of silence in our worship service. And I'd like to say to your sisters, even though you cannot bring, This offering in an audible sense, you can bring it in a life lived out, and you can bring it in that sweet favor offering as you come into this present and silently pour it forth to God. When Mary sat at the feet of Jesus and she broke that alabaster box of ointment, there weren't any words spoken, but the savor of that ointment filled the house.
And I so often think what a blessing it would be if the sisters would come with a full vessel and pour it out to God. And then the savor of that that might touch the hearts of some of us who sometimes find ourselves a little bit on the cold side. Wouldn't it be blessed if we each came in the pattern of the one who's in the heaven. Christ offered himself as that burnt offering, that sweet smelling savor unto God for us, to come and present him as a priest unto God.
Our high priest who there is interceding for us at the throne. Oh, then there was the offering that was the ram of consecration. And I think that Ram speaks of strength and of activity. And here when the Lord Jesus Christ takes up his work, that's what it is. It's an active work there before the throne, as he intercedes for us. Oh, we can praise God that he's there this morning. He's taken up that work of intercession. Oh, he takes up the work of advocacy for the sons. He does that too. And he's there doing that.
But he's there doing the high priestly work interceding for us. How far to the uttermost. Oh, now the blood was to be taken of that ram. And that blood was to touch the right ear and the right thumb. and the right toe of the high priest, first of all, and then of the priest. There are four times over where we read in Scripture of the ear being touched with blood, and that is the ear of the Lord Jesus Christ. We get it first of all in the fortieth Psalm.
And in the fortieth Psalm, he's speaking of mine ear, hath thou opened. In the book of Hebrews in chapter ten in verse five, where that same scripture is taken, Paul puts it there in the sense of a body hath thou prepared me. Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. And so there I believe we have the ear in the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ. It was an ear attuned as he came in the flesh to do the will of the Father. It was the ear of the servant attuned to his master's will. Then certainly when we come to this portion here, we've got the ear of the consecrated one.
And when we view the Lord Jesus Christ in his death for us, here is where he was the sin offering, and here is where he was the burnt offering as he offered himself to God, and here is where he is the ram of consecration as well. For as I see in the Lord Jesus Christ, he was a high priest who was consecrated with his own blood. The same as I say Isaiah nine six is a verse with terrific meaning, the depths I cannot fathom out. Here as well is a thought that touches my heart in the same way. For he was not his own sacrifice, he was the priest who laid down that sacrifice.
And he was the priest who applied that blood. For as we look at the day of atonement, the priest in that day was to take the sacrifice. He was to offer it there on the altar. He was to go in to the place of the golden altar. And he was to take the fire off the golden altar. And then he was to go in through the veil. And he was to take the fire, put the incense in the fire, and there the smoke of it covered the mercy fee that he die not. And I see in that our great high priest as he was on Calvary's cross. And he went in, first of all, with the incense.
And he said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. What blessed words he went in for us. But then the high priest as well had to go in with blood. And next of all, he took the blood of the sacrifice. And he went in and he put it there on the mercy seat. Seven times it was sprinkled, a full number, sufficient for God and sufficient for me. And as he sprinkled it on that mercy seat, underneath that mercy seat was the broken law. Underneath that mercy seat was God's written law that the Israelite had broken and that the Israelite never could keep.
But it was under the blood, the mercy of God. You know, if I go back and take that incomprehensible picture, and I see Christ as my high priest, taking himself as my sin offering and laying it down there on the burnt altar that typified him and his humanity and his endurance to take the fires of the judgment of God. And then as that high priest, he goes there to the place of the golden altar that spoke of him as Christ in the list. and he takes the fire off of that altar and he goes through the veil that again spoke of his body, that is to say his flesh, that way of entrance that we had through him, the rent veil.
And when he enters in, he enters to the place of the mercy seat, the place of propitiation that again spoke of him as the propitiator and the place where propitiation was made. And I see it all in my Lord Jesus Christ, and I stand amazed. I stand amazed at the fullness and the completeness of that work, and I say to you, beloved, in that picture, where do you see anything or any work that the Israelite did?
Not a bit, was that? Not a bit. And so when we see the fullness of the picture, we see the completeness of the work of salvation and the ministry of our great high priest. It was totally of God. Totally of God. And I can say chosen in him before the foundations of the world. He was the consecrated priest that touched his ear when he was nailed to that cross and that blood trickled down from that thorn that was, that crown of thorns that was platted and designed and driven unto his head.
I see the hairs plucked from his cheek and that blood touched that ear. It was in the ear totally consecrated to God. Hands consecrated and feet consecrated to God. And pledge to us. For I think that's what we see. As we look at Isaiah chapter fifty. And I think it's verse six there. Where again we have the ears. of this one who said, I was not rebellious, nor turned away back.
But mine ear hast thou opened. He said, thou awakenest my ear morning by morning. He stood as the learner. Oh, he was learning in the realm of experience. You see, that's where he entered in. When he came here, he came into the realm of experience. And that was where he was made perfect through suffering. Not that he was imperfect. He reached a goal. That's the meaning of the word perfect there. It's to reach a goal, to come to maturity. And so my high priest and the captain of my salvation was made perfect through suffering.
He reached a goal. He entered the realm of experience as the Son and as the servant, a realm as the servant he had never been in before. But now in experience he comes, and there he goes to that cross and he dies. He suffers in the realm of experience. And his ear was in tune to his father. His ear was in tune to his master. The last time we get the mention of the ear is in the book of Exodus chapter twenty-one and verse six. And here in Exodus twenty-one, it's the marking of the perfect servants here.
There the servant when he had served his master for six years and the seventh year he was to go out free. And so now the man, if he didn't want to go out free, if he said, I love my master, I love my wife and I love my children. If the wife had been given by the master, then the wife belonged to the master and the children. And if he refused to go out free, and he said, I loved him, and he said, I'll pledge myself to them. He was taken to the doorpost. There was an all run through his ear. And his ear bore the mark of a servant who said, I've pledged myself to my master, to my wife, and my children.
Isn't it beautiful to know this morning that he's pledged himself to us, he loved us, and he gave himself for us? He stands this morning as a consecrated high priest, one whose ear has been touched, whose hands his doing and his feet his going have all been consecrated for us. He was found as the one who was meek and lowly, a gentle one, to deal as the high priest did to bear gently with the ignorance. In the ignorance the weak and the wayward, that's how we can see ourselves.
He deals gently with us. He said, learn of me. That's why we need to consider the apostle and high priest of our profession. That's why we need to consider him. To consider him. He's a blessed one to consider. He's in the heaven interceding for us, shall we pray. Blessed God, it's only when we realize this that we can say in our own heart that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are thee called according to his purpose.
Oh, blessed God, we thank thee for the fullness of the work of the Lord Jesus that was completed there at the cross, and then for that work that he takes up. and that he abides in continually for us, that of our great high priest. We pray this morning that our hearts have received some handfuls unpurposed, Lord, that none would go away empty, but each would go away carrying those seeds that you've desired to be planted within our heart. Use your word, our Father, to bless your name and to glorify it for Jesus' sake. Amen.