“Consecrated with Blood”
[Leviticus 8:1-36]
April 2, 2010 Second Reformed Church
This Good Friday evening we conclude our look at the opening chapters of Leviticus by looking at the instructions for the consecration and ordination of the priests of Ancient Israel. In doing this, we will merely look at the three consecrations – the three “setting aparts” – that are mentioned in chapter eight and show their parallel to Jesus as the Fulfiller of the Sacrificial Offerings and the Sacrificial System of Ancient Israel.
When it was time to consecrate Aaron and his sons as the first priests of Israel, Moses brought them to the entrance of the tent of meeting, in the presence of the whole congregation, and Moses washed Aaron and his sons with water. Moses poured water over Aaron and his sons, baptizing them. This baptism was the baptism of the Jews which was practiced up until John the Baptist – it was a baptism which symbolically washed a person clean of his sins. And in the case of the priests, water was not merely dribbled on them or spritzed on them, but it was poured over them, because the priests symbolically carried with them the sin of the whole nation.
We will remember that Jesus was also baptized: “Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, ‘I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?’ But Jesus answered him, ‘Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.’ Then he consented. And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased’” (Matthew 3:13-17, ESV).
Now, notice that John didn’t want to baptize Jesus. John knew that Jesus was without sin; He had no sin to be washed clean of, but Jesus countered him by saying, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” What was Jesus saying?
Jesus did not deny that fact that He is sinless. What He was telling John is that in order for Jesus to act as our Representative – in fact, our Substitute – He had to go through everything a normal human being would go through, but not sin. Jesus had to honor His earthly parents. Jesus had to learn the trade of carpentry. Jesus would have the same, normal, bodily functions as any other human, because Jesus is completely human. So Jesus submitted to baptism – not because He was a sinner – but because it identified Him with humanity and those He came to save.
After Aaron and his sons got dressed in the ceremonial clothing of the priests, we see that Moses anointed them with oil – not merely with a few drops as would normally be done – but the oil was poured over them. Oil symbolized being set apart, and it also can symbolize the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, because the call to the ministry is not something that is chosen – it is given by God and empowered by God.
And in the text we just heard about the Baptism of Jesus, we saw that the Holy Spirit did descend and remain on Jesus. Here, also, we see Jesus identified as God, as God the Father declares Him to be God the Son, as God the Holy Spirit indwells Him.
We see the use of oil for setting Jesus apart as our Sacrifice and Substitute, as Matthew records:
“Now when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head as he reclined at the table. And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, ‘Why this waste? For this could have ben sold for a large sum and given to the poor.’ But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, ‘Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always will have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. In pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial. Truly I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her’” (Matthew 26:6-13, ESV).
Returning to Moses, we see that after the anointing with oil, a variety of sacrifices would be offered – sacrifices we have looked at these past few weeks, seeing Jesus as the fulfillment of each of them – culminating with the Burnt Offering, which was the oldest and primary offering for the forgiveness of sins. And Moses took blood from the ram of the Burnt Offering and threw it against the altar – and then Moses took blood from a second ram – the ram of ordination – and consecrated the priests with blood – spreading ram’s blood on their right ears, right thumbs, and right big toes – signifying a total dedication of themselves – like the Burnt Offering – in the service of God. The blood marked the priests as the ordained representatives of God’s people before God.
On that first Good Friday, Jesus was consecrated with blood, but not with the blood of a ram. We read, “But when Christ appeared as a high priest for the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the sprinkling of defiled persons with the blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of a heifer sanctifies for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God” (Hebrews 9:11-14, ESV).
Jesus was consecrated with blood – with His Own Blood. After the crowd rejected Jesus being freed for the sake of the Passover, Pilate has Jesus flogged. Thirty-nine-times, Jesus was hit with a whip embedded with sharp stones and glass. They would sink into His flesh and then be torn out again – thirty-nine times. Then the centurions taunted, hit, and punched Him. They made a crown of large thorns and pressed it into His head. The historians of the day wrote that there was not a spot on Jesus’ Body that was not torn, bruised, and bleeding. Jesus’ Own Blood was poured all over Him.
Then He was taken and thrust down upon a cross, and three large spikes were pounded through His wrists and ankles. He hung – our Sacrifice, our Substitute – as the Burnt Offering on the altar, wholly consecrated until He finished the work He came to do.
“Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for the Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and the other who had been crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. He who saw it has borne witness – his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth – that you also may believe. For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: ‘Not one of his bones will be broken.’ And again another Scripture says, ‘They will look on him whom they have pierced.’
“After these things Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body. Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight. So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there” (John 19:31-42, ESV).
Thankfully, we know that is not the end of the story. If it was, Christianity would be a lie. But Easter morn was yet to come, and Jesus was proved our Victorious Savior, Substitute, and High Priest.
It is He Who meets with us this evening, no longer hanging on a cross or dead in a tomb, but alive, ministering His Grace to us, through the reading and preaching of His Word and through the Sacrament which we will soon receive. Let us remember what Jesus did as our High Priest in offering up Himself as the Final Sacrifice, Consecrating Himself with His Own Blood.
Let us pray:
Almighty God, how can we give thanks and praise enough for Jesus? We marvel at the horror of His Suffering and at the way He fulfilled all of the symbols of the Old Testament, including the Sacrifices and the Priesthood. Let us continue to be amazed and yet stand firm in the faith. For it is in Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.
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