THE ALTAR AND THE CONSECRATION OF THE PRIESTS
[p. 41] THE ALTAR AND THE CONSECRATION OF THE PRIESTS
We have looked at the tabernacle itself and what it contained on a previous occasion. I now desire to bring before you a few thoughts in connection with the altar and the consecration of the priests. One feels a difficulty in taking up subjects so great and suggestive, and can only trust that the Lord may graciously give what will help to feed our souls.
The altar occupied a most important place. It was not part of the furniture of the house, and yet it was not outside the precincts of the house. It formed the connecting link between the house and the congregation. It was where God spoke to the people generally. “I will meet you, to speak there unto thee. And there I will meet with the children of Israel” (Exodus 29: 42, 43).
The altar seems to me to represent Christ as the One who has glorified God about sin and sins in such a way that He is now free to approach men in all the blessedness of His grace as a Saviour God. The altar was at the door of the tabernacle; it was connected with God’s dwelling-place on the one hand, and it was in view of the people on the other. In that way it corresponds with what is said of the Lord Jesus in 1 Timothy 2, “There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time” (verse 5, 6). It is by Christ that God approaches men and speaks to them in grace. If God speaks to men in grace it must be in connection with the One who has given Himself a ransom for all. The furniture of the house speaks of things which are [p. 42] known within the house, but the altar speaks of what is proclaimed, if one may so say, at the door of the house.
The testimony that sounds out from God’s house is that God will have all men to be saved, and that the man Christ Jesus gave Himself a ransom for all. Christ is made known in the proclamation of grace as One who has had to do with the sins and liabilities of men. There is but one Person in the universe who could sustain the fire of God’s holy judgment upon sin, and that Person has come under it in grace to men. His resurrection has proved that He was greater than all the death and judgment that He came into.
It is by way of the death of Christ that God comes out to men in the testimony of His grace. On the basis of ransom He can speak of repentance, and forgiveness, and peace to every sinner under heaven. God views the whole world at the present time from the standpoint of Christ and His death; hence every testimony of God to men is full of grace and blessing. Everything that God has to say to men in grace is based upon atonement; it is from the altar that God speaks in grace to men.
In chapter 29 we come to the consecration of the priests. I do not go into the anointing of Aaron separately. No doubt in this he is a figure of Christ personally. I pass on to what relates to the priestly household.
In the first place they were brought to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation and washed with water (verse 4). This seems to be a figure of purification from our defiled state as sinners — what is often spoken of as moral cleansing. It is not cleansing from guilt. With reference to guilt we are justified by His blood, but we need to be morally cleansed from our defiled state as in the flesh.
I need hardly say that there is no such thing as being cleansed actually from the presence of sin in the flesh so long as we are here in mortal bodies. But we can be cleansed morally; that is, separated in heart and spirit from the sin [p. 43] that dwells in us, and brought to judge our whole state as in the flesh. We can come into the apprehension of the death of Christ as that in which our sinful state has been condemned and removed from before God in holy judgment. So that it is possible for us to be in moral separation from flesh of sin, and to be in mind and spirit with God on an entirely new ground and in an entirely new state. We cannot bring sinful flesh to God; it has been condemned in the death of His Son.
God effects this moral cleansing by bringing what is of Himself into the souls of His people. We are perhaps in danger of thinking of moral cleansing too much in a negative way, but I am sure that evil is only judged as good is brought in. Job said, “Now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42: 5, 6). It was as God was before him that he truly judged himself.
The same thought is suggested in John 3: 5, “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God”. What is of God is brought into the soul, and this leads to the judgment of what we are according to the flesh and moral separation from it — it brings about moral cleansing. There can be no true cleansing in this way except as that which is of God is brought in. Hence in John 15: 3 the Lord says, “Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you”. The word which He had spoken unto them was the blessed revelation of Himself and of the Father, and by bringing that in He cleansed them morally from all that was evil here — bringing in the good and thus giving power to judge and separate from the evil.
Then in putting on the priestly garments (Exodus 29: 8, 9) we seem to get a figure of being set before God in a new state. This is a great spiritual reality in Christianity. God brings us to judge ourselves as in the flesh, but that is not His end. His end is that we may be brought into a new state before Him. In Romans 6 after speaking of Christ as having died to sin and living to God, the apostle goes on to say, “Likewise [p. 44] reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus our Lord”. God would have us to be conscious that we are in relation to Him apart from sin. We judge the world and the principle that rules in it — sin — and we take account of ourselves as being alive to God in Christ Jesus. The saint is thus alive to God on a new footing and in a new state. We could not live to God as identified with sin, but as being dead to sin and alive in Christ Jesus we are before God for His pleasure.
In writing to the Colossians Paul develops this further, and speaks of the saints being risen with Christ. If we look at Christ on the cross it is a scene of death; we see there the condemnation and end of all that we are as in the flesh. He has died as having come in grace under all our liabilities, and as having been made sacrificially what we were actually. If we see this how can we want to strut about and hold our heads up as men in this world?
It is well to consider the death of Christ in this way, but we must not stop there. God has operated in that scene of death and has raised up Christ from the dead, so that now a resurrection scene is opened up to us. There is but One Man in that resurrection scene, and by faith of the working of God who raised Him from among the dead we are risen with Him. We get the consciousness that we live along with Christ before God. It is clear that this puts us in an entirely new state and on a new footing, according to which we have priestly fitness to approach God. We appear before Him as in association with Christ, and thus invested with suitability to His holy presence. We are made meet to take a priestly place. The thought of this seems to be suggested by the holy garments.
Then certain offerings had to be presented — a bullock for a sin offering, a ram for a burnt offering, and another ram which was properly the ram of consecration — and in each case Aaron and his sons bad to put their hands on the head of the [p. 45] victim. This speaks of our appropriation of, and our identification with, Christ in the various characters which are set forth typically in these different offerings: Aaron and his sons were washed and arrayed in the priestly garments by Moses, but neither the washing nor the clothing was presented to them as an object. Neither the one nor the other was the ground of their confidence nor the object of their contemplation. It is not by these things that sin is removed from before God, or that sweet savour comes before Him in connection with the maintenance of His glory. The death of Christ was needed for this; or rather I would say, CHRIST in the place of sin and death for the glory of God, and in absolute devotedness and love. This is what was presented, in figure, for the contemplation and apprehension of the priests.
The blood was put on the lintel in Egypt for shelter, but the sinner putting himself under shelter of the blood and the priest putting his hand on the head of the sin offering are two very different things. One is more like the view of the death of Christ which is presented to us in Romans, and the other that which is spoken of in Hebrews. In Romans we are cleared in view of the righteous judgment of God, but in Hebrews we are cleared according to the holiness of the sanctuary. One has to do with relief and the other with approach. Christ has made purification of sins according to the holiness of the sanctuary, so that with purged consciences and hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience we might be free to draw near to God. The priest putting his hand on the head of the sin offering is a figure of the saint appropriating — and identifying himself with — Christ as the One who has glorified God about sin and sins according to the holiness of His sanctuary. The death of Christ has cleared us from righteous judgment, but it is also the ground on which we can approach God in all the glory in which He is known in His sanctuary. Our sin brings no stain to that holy [p. 46] presence; we come there as witnesses to the blessed efficacy of a sacrifice wherein God has been glorified.
Then the ram was slain and burnt upon the altar as a burnt offering. The priestly company was identified with that which was a figure of Christ in all the fragrance and sweet savour of His offering of Himself. Not only has sin been removed, but all the perfection and devotedness of Christ has been placed on the altar fire that the sweet savour of it might come out and ascend with infinite acceptance to God and the Father. “Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour” (Ephesians 5: 2). To apprehend this and to identify ourselves with it is an important part of our preparation for the exercise of priesthood.
Then the second ram was properly the ram of consecration. Aaron and his sons had to lay their hands on the head of this ram also, and then its blood was put on their right ear, on the thumb of their right hand, and on the great toe of their right foot. In this we see the precious blood in another of its many and various aspects. Saints must not think that the blood is only for shelter; its meaning and preciousness continue to open out in new and varied forms all through the soul’s history. The believer who walks with God has a continually growing sense of the preciousness of the blood of Christ; his thoughts of the blood are continually expanding; year by year it speaks with fresh power to his heart; it becomes more wonderful and blessed in the vision of his soul. The person who thinks less of that precious blood year by year is certainly travelling on a dangerous road.
It seems to me that the blood of the ram of consecration speaks of the blood of Christ as the witness of His absolute personal devotedness to God. And the putting it on the ear, the thumb, and the toe of the priests seems to suggest that the mind and heart of the saint — to which the ear is the avenue — and his service and walk are all to come under the [p. 47] influence of the devotedness of Christ. We hear a great deal in these days about higher life and consecration, but it is to be feared that in the majority of cases those who take up that line of things are rather occupied with their own consecration and devotedness. But what God desires — and what every believer should covet — is that we should come under the influence of the devotedness of Christ. That is the true and divine power of consecration. The Apostle Paul had come under the influence of the devotedness of Christ when he said, “The love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead; and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them and rose again”. The apostle had come under the influence of the love of Christ — that love held him in its power. The devoted and self-sacrificing love in which Christ had come into death for the glory of God held all the avenues of his soul, was the spring of his service, and the influence that regulated his walk in this world. The blood of the ram of consecration was upon his ear, his thumb, and his foot. This is the man who prays for us in Ephesians 3 that we may “know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge”. God would have us come under the influence of the love in which Christ came into death so that in result the universe might be filled with the knowledge of God — with His glory and with His love. If we come under the influence of the devotedness of Christ we shall be truly devoted, and at the same time we shall think less and less of our devotedness.
The next thing is that the blood and the anointing oil were sprinkled upon Aaron and his sons (verse 21). The blood coming in in connection with the oil in this way is very instructive. It sets the precious blood before us from another point of view — as the ground on which the Spirit is given. So that in this chapter (Exodus 29) we see the blood in three very distinct aspects. First, as put upon the altar (verse 12, 16)
[p. 48] to meet the glory of God — that is, to make atonement. Second, as put upon the ear, thumb, and foot of the priests — the witness, in figure, of the personal devotedness of Christ. And third, in connection with the oil as the ground on which the Spirit can be given.
The gift of the Spirit is a very great reality, though but little recognised by many believers, and but little understood in its divine greatness by many who have in a certain way recognised it! How could such a thing be except on the ground of redemption? The gift of the Spirit is a most wonderful and blessed witness of the effect of redemption. It is on the ground of redemption that the Christian’s body is now the temple of the Holy Ghost and a member of Christ. What infinite possibilities are thus within the reach of saints! Christendom is spiritually withered and dry because of its practical infidelity as to the presence and power of the Holy Ghost. Very few Christians really recognise in a practical way the presence of the Spirit of God. They have certain things in their creeds about the Holy Ghost, but practically they do not recognise His presence. It would be a great thing for us all if we got a deeper sense of the reality of the gift of the Spirit. Who could set bounds to the spiritual blessings and capabilities of people indwelt by the Spirit of God?
Then the fat, and certain inward parts, and the, right shoulder of the ram of consecration, “and one loaf of bread, and one cake of oiled bread, and one wafer out of the basket of the unleavened bread that is before the Lord” were put in the hands of Aaron and his sons and waved for a wave offering before the Lord (verse 22 - 24). The word consecration really means filling the hands. The priests were presented before Jehovah with their hands full of things which spoke of the perfections, devotedness, and love of Christ. All that had gone before led up to this. If we have been morally cleansed from the world and from ourselves according to the [p. 49] flesh, and have been consciously invested with priestly fitness as alive to God in Christ Jesus and risen with Christ — if we have known what it is to contemplate Christ as the sin offering and the burnt offering and to identify ourselves with Him in those characters — if we have come under the influence of His devotedness, and have received the Holy Spirit — and all this sets forth what is true of the Christian as such — it all leads up to our being brought to the presence of God with our hearts full of the preciousness of Christ. It is well for the sinner to say, “Nothing in my hand I bring”, but the saint comes with his hands full — God has filled his hands with the excellence and preciousness of Christ.
Then that which had been waved upon the hands of Aaron and his sons was burnt upon the altar, “over the burnt offering” as it properly reads. The sweet fragrance of what Christ is in His own blessed Person and sacrifice and the sweet fragrance of what He is in the hearts of His saints go up together in the same divine acceptance.
Finally, Aaron and his sons had to eat the flesh of the ram, and the bread that was in the basket, by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation (verse 31 - 35). They had to “eat those things wherewith the atonement was made, to consecrate and to sanctify them”. In Egypt they ate of the lamb roast with fire; this corresponds with the saint feeding upon Christ that he may be spiritually nourished and strengthened to come out of Egypt. But the feeding upon the ram of consecration answers to saints being nourished upon the love of Christ in order to be strengthened for approach. That is, in the one case they ate in view of going out, and in the other in view of going in. I do not think people will move out of Egypt unless they feed upon Christ as the lamb roast with fire, and, on the other hand, I do not think saints will have spiritual energy to approach God unless they feed upon Christ as the ram of consecration.
May we know more what it is to feed upon Christ in that [p. 50] wondrous devoted love in which He has taken up everything for the glory of God, so that in a day that is quickly drawing near the whole universe will be filled with divine glory and with the knowledge of God! God would have us to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge that we might be filled unto all the fulness of God.
As soon as the consecrated company is secured we get the altar cleansed from sin and hallowed (verse 36, 37). Then the ordinance of the continual burnt offering (verse 38 - 42). And finally God says, “I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God. And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, that brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them: I am the Lord their God” (verse 45, 46).