LEVITICUS: The Priests' Ministry Begins to The Lord God and the Tabernacle; "Then Aaron lifted his hand toward the people, blessed them, and came down from offering. And Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of meeting, and came out and blessed the people."

It came to pass on the eighth day that Moses called Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel. And he said to Aaron, “Take for yourself a young bull as a sin offering and a ram as a burnt offering, without blemish, and offer them before the Lord. And to the children of Israel you shall speak, saying, ‘Take a kid of the goats as a sin offering, and a calf and a lamb, both of the first year, without blemish, as a burnt offering, also a bull and a ram as peace offerings, to sacrifice before the Lord, and a grain offering mixed with oil; for today the Lord will appear to you.’” (Leviticus 9:1-4) 

We've studied in detail in previous lessons what the burnt offering, peace offerings and grain offerings symbolized and meant. We've also studied in previous lessons how the Lord God commanded Moses to instruct the priests, Aaron and his sons on how to administer all the offerings' sacrifices. Now, they would begin doing all that the Lord God had commanded them to do and in the way the Lord God commanded it to be done, “Thus you shall do to Aaron and his sons, according to all that I have commanded you. Seven days you shall consecrate them. And you shall offer a bull every day as a sin offering for atonement. You shall cleanse the altar when you make atonement for it, and you shall anoint it to sanctify it. Seven days you shall make atonement for the altar and sanctify it. And the altar shall be most holy. Whatever touches the altar must be holy." ( Exodus 29:35-37)

So they brought what Moses commanded before the tabernacle of meeting. And all the congregation drew near and stood before the Lord. Then Moses said, “This is the thing which the Lord commanded you to do, and the glory of the Lord will appear to you.” And Moses said to Aaron, “Go to the altar, offer your sin offering and your burnt offering, and make atonement for yourself and for the people. Offer the offering of the people, and make atonement for them, as the Lord commanded.” (Leviticus 9:5-7) 

Let's not forget that the priests were just men, just like the other people of the children of Israel.  The Lord God chose Aaron to be Moses' assistant and voice while they were in Egypt. (Exodus 4) Aaron's sons were chosen because they were his sons. (Exodus 24) But when Moses went to the top of Mount Sinai to speak with the Lord God, Aaron was the one who made the false god, the golden calf for the children of Israel. (Exodus 32) Not only did the people sin and have to offer sacrifices to the Lord God, but Aaron and his sons were sinners also, therefore they had to offer sacrifices as well.

But thanks be to God, by so much more Jesus has become a surety of a better covenant. ... For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens; who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people’s, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself. For the law appoints as high priests men who have weakness, but the word of the oath, which came after the law, appoints the Son who has been perfected forever. (Hebrews 7:22, 26-28)

Aaron therefore went to the altar and killed the calf of the sin offering, which was for himself. Then the sons of Aaron brought the blood to him. And he dipped his finger in the blood, put it on the horns of the altar, and poured the blood at the base of the altar. But the fat, the kidneys, and the fatty lobe from the liver of the sin offering he burned on the altar, as the Lord had commanded Moses. The flesh and the hide he burned with fire outside the camp. (Leviticus 9:8-11) 

And he killed the burnt offering; and Aaron’s sons presented to him the blood, which he sprinkled all around on the altar. Then they presented the burnt offering to him, with its pieces and head, and he burned them on the altar. And he washed the entrails and the legs, and burned them with the burnt offering on the altar. (Leviticus 9:12-14) 

Then he brought the people’s offering, and took the goat, which was the sin offering for the people, and killed it and offered it for sin, like the first one. And he brought the burnt offering and offered it according to the prescribed manner. Then he brought the grain offering, took a handful of it, and burned it on the altar, besides the burnt sacrifice of the morning. (Leviticus 9:15-17) 

He also killed the bull and the ram as sacrifices of peace offerings, which were for the people. And Aaron’s sons presented to him the blood, which he sprinkled all around on the altar, and the fat from the bull and the ram—the fatty tail, what covers the entrails and the kidneys, and the fatty lobe attached to the liver; and they put the fat on the breasts. Then he burned the fat on the altar; but the breasts and the right thigh Aaron waved as a wave offering before the Lord, as Moses had commanded. (Leviticus 9:18-21) 

Aaron and his sons had done all that the Lord God had commanded, but this was just the first day. This system of offering sacrifices would have to be done daily. Yet again, we must thank God for Christ Jesus. For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another— He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation. (Hebrews 9:24-28)

When the Lord God had first given Moses and the children of Israel the ten commandments, He shortly thereafter gave them the law of the altar, and He promised, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘You have seen that I have talked with you from heaven. You shall not make anything to be with Me—gods of silver or gods of gold you shall not make for yourselves. An altar of earth you shall make for Me, and you shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I record My name I will come to you, and I will bless you." (Exodus 20:22-24) 

The Lord God had also commanded that a portion of the sacrifices not be eaten because they belonged to Him. "'The fat that covers the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrails, the two kidneys and the fat that is on them by the flanks, and the fatty lobe attached to the liver above the kidneys, he shall remove; and the priest shall burn them on the altar as food, an offering made by fire for a sweet aroma; all the fat is the Lord’s. ‘This shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings: you shall eat neither fat nor blood.’” (Leviticus 3:14-17)

Well, God always remains true to His Word! He did come to them, and the fat of the sacrifices offered did belong to Him. Then Aaron lifted his hand toward the people, blessed them, and came down from offering the sin offering, the burnt offering, and peace offerings. And Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of meeting, and came out and blessed the people. Then the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people, and fire came out from before the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the fat on the altar. When all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces. (Leviticus 9:22-24) AMEN!