Series: Exodus
Title: Hallowed Priests
Text: Exodus 29: 1-9
Date: March 15, 2020
Place: SGBC, NJ
Exodus 29: 1:
And this is the thing that thou shalt do unto them to hallow them, to
minister unto me in the priest’s office:
Subject:
Hallowed Priests
In Aaron—we have
a picture of Christ who is hallowed (sanctified, consecrated) to God as High
Priest of God’s spiritual Israel. In Aaron’s sons—we see a picture
of how Christ hallows his people that we
might minister unto God in the priest’s office.
Proposition: In
the true church of God Christ is our High Priest who has hallowed every true
believer so that all are priests unto God.
Exodus 29: 1:…Take one young bullock, and two rams without
blemish, 2: And unleavened bread, and cakes unleavened tempered with oil, and
wafers unleavened anointed with oil: of wheaten flour [the finest, sifted, best flour] shalt
thou make them. 3: And thou shalt put them into one basket, and bring them in
the basket, with the bullock and the two rams.
It takes many objects to picture Christ. All
these things must be combined together to typify Christ our Sanctifier and our
Sanctification.
The unleavened bread in the one basket, brought with the bullock
and two rams, is a good picture of the gospel we preach. There is but one gospel in which is brought Christ
our one Unleavened Bread in whom all his people are one unleavened bread, Christ
is our one Sin-offering, and Christ our Burnt-Offering. As we come to each of these items we
will see how they picture Christ and his people. But we will not get to all of them today.
Today
we will look at three things by which Christ hallows his people. This is how God gets all the glory for
sanctifying his people. He alone makes
his people holy. God alone makes his
people pure.
Divisions: 1) Washing 2) Clothing 3) Anointing
HALLOWED BY WASHING
Exodus 29: 4: And
Aaron and his sons thou shalt bring unto the door of the tabernacle of the
congregation, and shalt wash them with water.
Salvation is by
God’s electing grace. God says, “And
Aaron and his sons thou shalt bring…” The
same as God chose Aaron and his sons, God chose Christ and God elected in Christ
who he would. God chose who he would
call out from among sinners and make priests unto himself.
Hebrews 5: 4: And
no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was
Aaron. 5: So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but
he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee.
John 15:16: Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and
ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit,…
But though chosen
by God the Father from the foundation of the world, in time, each of God’s
elect must be brought by the Holy Spirit to Christ the Door—"And Aaron
and his sons thou shalt bring unto the door of the tabernacle of the
congregation.” Get this in your mind’s
eye. The door of the tabernacle stood
between the priests in the courtyard and God in the holiest of holies. The only way to approach God was through the
door. Christ is the Door. Christ is the Mediator between God and men. Christ said, “No man cometh to the Father but
by me” But those Christ makes
priests are born spiritually dead—how then shall we believe on Christ? “You hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses
and in sins.” In Song of Solomon the
bride glories in her Husband, saying,
Song
of Solomon 2:4 He brought me to the
banqueting house, and his banner over me was love.
John 6:44: No
man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him:...
Bringing us to
Christ, God washes us making us hallowed—"And Aaron and his sons thou
shalt bring unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and shalt wash
them with water.” God is holy! He cannot be served by unclean sinners: we
must be hallowed—made pure, made holy. Who
can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one. God alone can make us holy, sanctified
We are first washed in regeneration by the
Holy Spirit.
Titus 3: 3: For
we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers
lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one
another. 4: But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man
appeared, 5: Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to
his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy
Ghost; 6: Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; 7: That
being [having been] justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according
to the hope of eternal life
No sinner has life until washed in
regeneration by the Spirit of God and renewed.
Notice our washing is through Jesus Christ. Having been justified by his grace, we should
be made heirs. We should be washed, brought
to believe on Christ because satisfied justice says we must. Not one for whom Christ died shall perish in
unbelief. God shall wash each one in
regeneration because Christ satisfied justice for us so justice demands each
one be brought to faith in Christ.
When washed in regeneration we are washed
in Christ’s blood and made willing to wash in Christ’s blood by believing on
him.
Hebrews
9:14: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit
offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to
serve the living God?
Zechariah 13:1: In that day
there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants
of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness.
By purging our conscience
with Christ’s blood through the preaching of the gospel we are made willing to
plunge into that fountain, believing on Christ. God shows us that all our sin
and uncleanness is washed away before God the Judge and his righteous law. Then we glory in Christ alone:
Revelation 1: 5…To
him who loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and has made us
kings and priests to God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever
and ever.
Revelation
7: 13: And one
of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in
white robes? and whence came they? 14: And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest.
And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have
washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
Here the whole
body of the priests was washed by another by immersion. Afterward, they only had to wash their hands
and feet. What does that teach us? Christ Jesus washed the believer completely
clean in the sight of God the Judge, once and for all time. We are washed before the law (notice the law,
Moses, washed them here.) The Lord Jesus said, “He who is washed only needs to
wash his feet, for he is clean every whit.” Scripture says “Let us draw near with a true heart
in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil
conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.” (Heb 10:22) Christ has completely washed us in his blood
as we see typified in our text. But when
we pray we ask God to forgive us our sins? But remember, the Lord Jesus has already washed
away all our sins before God the Judge before the law. We are asking God to cleanse our hands and
our feet from daily sins from being in this flesh in this world.
1 John 1: 7: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have
fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us
from all sin. 8: If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the
truth is not in us. 9: If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to
forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
HALLOWED BY CLOTHING
Exodus 29: 5: And
thou shalt take the garments, and put upon Aaron the coat, and the robe of the
ephod, and the ephod, and the breastplate, and gird him with the curious girdle
of the ephod: 6: And thou shalt put the mitre upon his head, and put the holy
crown upon the mitre. 8: And thou shalt bring his sons, and put coats upon
them. 9: And thou shalt gird them with girdles, Aaron and his sons, and put the
bonnets on them: and the priest’s office shall be theirs for a perpetual statute:
Christ makes us holy by clothing us in his
beautiful garments.
First, we see Christ our High Priest robed
in his righteousness and holiness with the crown of holiness upon his head—"And
thou shalt take the garments, and put upon Aaron the coat, and the robe of the
ephod, and the ephod, and the breastplate, and gird him with the curious girdle
of the ephod: 6: And thou shalt put the mitre upon his head, and put the holy
crown upon the mitre.” Since we covered each item of clothing in great
detail last time, this time let me say, the coat, the robe of the ephod, the
ephod and the breastplate typify Christ as the perfect God Man Mediator, the
righteousness and holiness of his people.
The girdle of the ephod typifies Christ as the strength and faithfulness
of his people. The mitre and holy crown which
read “Holiness to the Lord” declares Christ is our holy King and High Priest
who alone is our Advocate with our Father in the holiest of holies. As we see Moses (law and prophet of God) put
these garments upon the high priest, we see the law and the prophets bear
witness that Christ is the righteousness of God.
Romans 3: 21: But
now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being WITNESSED BY
THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS; 22: Even THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD BY FAITH OF JESUS
CHRIST unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:
Then we see every
believer clothed as we see Aaron’s sons clothed—"And thou shalt bring
his sons, and put coats upon them. And thou shalt gird them with girdles, Aaron
and his sons, and put the bonnets on them: and the priest’s office shall be
theirs for a perpetual statute.” Remember,
each priest was clothed with the same
garments—outer and inner garments. So believers
are complete in Christ! Christ is our righteousness
and our holiness. We are all equally
clothed in Christ.
Also, they had nothing to do with making these garments nor
with putting them on—boasting is excluded: our righteousness and holiness is Christ
himself, made by Christ himself, put on us by Christ himself.
Again, Moses (law) clothed
the priests—Christ provided righteousness for his people by fulfilling the law
for each of God’s chosen people. “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness TO
EVERY ONE THAT BELIEVETH” (Ro 10:4).
The coat represents the righteousness of Christ freely imputed to
us through faith. “Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness.” (Ps 132:9)
“Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness
My beauty are, my glorious dress:
Girdles were belts—Christ is our Girdle which holds up our robe of
righteousness from without and our girdle of faithfulness and strength within. The bonnet, or turban, was for glory
and beauty to distinguish the priest from others. With Christ’s garments on we are glorious and
beautiful in his own eyes—"Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in
thee…Thou hast ravished my heart” (Song of Solomon 4:7, 9). That which distinguishes
those truly sanctified from all others who profess to be is that we declare all
our glory and beauty comes from Christ alone
We see a picture of glorying
only in Christ by what these priests did NOT wear—none had on shoes. God told Moses, “put off thy shoes from off
thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground” (Ex 3:5). This is holy ground to those truly sanctified. Reverence and fear come only to those truly sanctified. By the Spirit of God, we cannot trample under-foot
the blood of the covenant by calling it common for all sinners. “Wherefore I give you to understand, that no
man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can
say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost” (1 Cor 12: 3). Notice again, “the priests office shall be
theirs for a perpetual statute.”—we shall be Christ’s priests for all
eternity!
HALLOWED BY ANOINTING
Exodus 29: 7: Then
shalt thou take the anointing oil, and pour it upon his head, and anoint
him…9…thou shalt consecrate Aaron
and his sons
With all the high
priests’ garments on this anointing oil was poured upon his head and anointed
him. In another place we will see the priests
at this time were anointed with oil. But
first they watched as the fragrant oil poured upon Aaron on their behalf—"the
precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s
beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments” (Ps 133:2 “Messiah” means
anointed—by faith we see Christ our Head was anointed with oil of the Holy
Spirit without measure. To Christ it is
said,
Psalm 45: 7: Thou
lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath
anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. 8: All thy garments smell
of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they
have made thee glad.
As the Psalmist said in Psalm 133:2 this
anointing is our precious unity with one another in Christ and it is from Christ.
The priests watched as the oil flowed
down upon all Aaron’s members: we are members of Christ’s body and the Holy
Spirit comes down upon us through Christ from Christ. Believers
are the branches: the sap comes to us through the vine.
1 John 2:20: But ye have an
unction FROM the Holy One, and ye know all things.
1 John 2:27: But the anointing
which ye have received OF HIM abideth in you, and ye need not that any man
teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth,
and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
So every true priest is
hallowed, sanctified by God our Father, through Christ our High Priest, through
the Spirit: in election we were hallowed/sanctified, set apart and separated
unto God for his holy purpose (Jude 1); in redemption we were declared holy
by the blood of Christ (Heb 10:10); in regeneration, pictured here, we
are made holy by the Holy Spirit creating in us a holy nature (2 Thess 2:13).
Thus “thou shalt
consecrate Aaron and his sons”—consecrate means “fill up the hands.” After this hallowing, and by this hallowing, their
hands were filled with the sacrifices of God in his service in his tabernacle. By making us hallowed priests, God has filled
our hands with one sacrifice, Christ Jesus, who we worship and serve as his spiritual
house forever.
1 Peter 2:5: Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual
house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God
by Jesus Christ.
Amen!