Water, Oil and Blood
Establishment of the Levitical Priesthood
In Leviticus 8, the priesthood is formally established for the ancient Israelites:
* And Moses said to the congregation, “This is the thing that the Lord has commanded to be done.” And Moses brought Aaron and his sons and washed them with water. And he put the coat on him and tied the sash around his waist and clothed him with the robe
* Then Moses took the anointing oil and anointed the tabernacle and all that was in it, and consecrated them.
* Then he presented the other ram, the ram of ordination, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the ram. And he killed it, and Moses took some of its blood and put it on the lobe of Aaron's right ear and on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot.
Washed with water, robed, anointed with oil and sprinkled with the blood of sacrifice. In this way Aaron and his sons became priest to the LORD, through the instructions and leadership of Moses, their mediator between themselves and the LORD.
Shadows and Types
The things that happen in Leviticus 8 were shadows and types of heavenly to come. The book of Hebrews gives us the true nature of the symbols and types of the Mosaic Covenant preisthood. The Law and its sacrificial economy was to serve until the true sacrifice and high priest would come.
Hebrews 9: 23
Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
Today We Have The Ultimate High Priest
Since the first coming, ministry, death and ascension of Jesus, His work in the heavenly tabernacle as a mediator for the sins of His people has not ceased. Those who submit to the authority of this high priest, the mediator between God and Man, the God-Man Christ Jesus the Lord, have access to God through Him!
Our Messiah was the sacrifice for sin upon the cross at Calvary, through whose blood our sins have been forgiven. We are unified with Jesus' death, burial and resurrection through the washing of baptism. We are robed in the righteousness of Jesus, who was sinless and whose righteousness is placed upon us. We are anointed with the oil of the Holy Spirit, consecrated and sealed forever as holy to the LORD.
Hebrews 9: 11
But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) 12 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. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, 14 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.
15 Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.
The Soon Returning Everlasting High Priest
Soon Jesus will return again in glory, not to die, but to fulfill all of prophecy, all types and shadows at the crescendo of redemptive history, His Second Coming!
Listen to the beautiful words of that purpose:
Hebrews 9: 24
For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. 25 Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, 26 for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, 28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.
Come quickly, Lord Jesus!
amen
