“Seven days you shall consecrate them. And you shall offer a bull every day as a sin offering for atonement” (Ex. 29:35b–36a).
One of the first works of the priesthood involved the offering of sacrifices. Before the priests could make atonement for the people, they had to offer burnt sacrifices before the Lord for the atonement of their own sins. This is a stark contrast with Jesus Christ because, unlike the priests of old, our Savior did not have to make atonement for His own sin, and hence He does not have to offer a sacrifice every day or even every year. His sacrifice is sufficient because He is the perfect Lamb of God, and He died once and for all so that the demands of the Law would be satisfied.
The priests of the Old Testament, however, had to offer sacrifices for themselves. They put their hands on the heads of their sacrifices, confessing that they deserved to die for their own sin, and killed the animals as reminders of the penalties of breaking the covenant (Gen. 15), trusting God to forgive them. It must be remembered, though, that these sacrifices were only types of the ultimate and perfect sacrifice that would come in the future. These sacrifices were not sufficient in themselves to remove the priests’ guilt, but were efficient through faith insofar as they pointed to Christ.
A peace-offering, also called the ram of consecration, was also made. Part of the ram’s blood was sprinkled about the altar and part was put on the priests’ garments. This symbolized that their whole selves had to be sanctified to the service of God. It also symbolized that Christ’s blood was sufficient to cover every aspect of their person. They looked forward to the final time that God would bring peace between Himself and man through the shedding of blood.
This consecration of the priests, which took seven days, was a shadow of things to come. Our Lord Jesus is consecrated forevermore, anointed with the Spirit above all else, clothed with holy garments, with glory and beauty, sanctified by His own blood, and made perfect through His own sufferings (Heb. 2:10). Christ Jesus is our altar. For our sakes He sanctified Himself, that we would be sanctified and approved by God. And as Moses put the blood on Aaron with his finger, so Christ puts the Holy Spirit on us. And by Him the merit of Christ is applied to us, and by Him we are set apart for the work of the Gospel.
Read Hebrews 9:6–10:18. Why is Christ’s priesthood greater and more perfect than the priesthood of old? Compare the external aspects of the old dispensation with the spiritual ones of the new. Why were animal sacrifices insufficient? How did Christ’s death fulfill God’s will? Memorize Hebrews 10:12–14.
