The Qualifications of a Priest

Okay, grab a Bible something to write with we're going to get started we will be in Leviticus We'll kind of skim through what we did in chapter 6 jump into 7 and then we'll take a look at the concept of ordination

In 8 today, that's if we don't get derailed in the questions 6

Just keep a finger on 6 will skim through some of that because we've already done it just to kind of get our bearings.

Oh That's how the Boy Scouts do it, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah This little light of mine

I Could always pull the pastor stunt I'll just start praying and everyone goes.

Oh, we gotta pay attention. Let's pray Heavenly Father Almighty and everlasting

God we come before you in humble all You are the one true God. There is none like you come

We pray and bless our hearts and our minds as we study your word Send your Holy Spirit into our lives that we may grow in love and grace

Then we may go forth into all the world proclaiming your gospel so that others may learn of your saving grace

Amen Okay before we dive into our study in Leviticus any questions come up as a result of the

Sermon a little bit of a note here. I did receive a minor correction Garrison Keillor said that the the experience of ice fishing involved if you want to figure out what that's like it's like sitting on the end of your bed and looking at the carpet or the you know, but I Apparently have created my own version of that and it's best if we not remind everybody what

I said Yeah, and no one will come to my house for a

A fish fry, that's all I'm just saying where that that those days are now in my past so Okay, any any questions if not, then we're gonna dive into Leviticus if you remember last time

We were in Leviticus. We we've been working our way through it We were in chapter 6 and we know we kept noting that the seems to be that Leviticus is not one of these linear books.

It seems to be circular where We talk about a particular set of sacrifices and the emphasis changes with the next iteration same

Sacrifices and then things will change so we got pleasing aroma We've got you know a food offering then you had the emphasis of they shall be forgiven and so we're wrapping up kind of this iteration of looking at these atoning sacrifices in the book of Leviticus and If you remember in our pre work in it we looked at the book of Hebrews to note how all of this is type and shadow pointing to our true high priest who is

Christ and his wants for all sacrifice for our sins and now as we're moving forward

We're gonna kind of wrap up to kind of like the first round of this and we're gonna see some of these sacrifices be put into play especially as it relates to ordination

Now before I go anywhere, does anyone know what? ordination is

What's really all about? It's a powerful six dollar

Theological term, you know, it's in the Bible if you were to boil it down to its simplest components

You have an office within an institution Okay, let me give you an example

Here in the United States of America. We have the president of the United States president

The United States is an office that is established by our Constitution And how is one placed into that office?

well, they're elected first, but When they're when they're elected, they're not so you remember when

Trump was elected. He was president -elect Trump When did he become president

Trump? When he's inaugurated so in his inauguration

He was placed into the office of the president of the United States So in the

Old Testament the Levitical priesthood was an established institution created by God for the purpose of conducting the work in the tabernacle and all of these sacrifices and prayers and offerings and all of the things that went along with that the smells and bells of the

Old Testament worship of God if you would and Priests couldn't just show up and start working

They couldn't just show up and say, you know, I had the day off, you know We got the crops out of the field

Maybe you know you would you guys mind if I just kind of helped out here and you know With the offerings and stuff like that and I'll go grab an ephod and you know, we'll get started

Is that how that works? No in order for somebody to be doing priestly work.

They have to be Ordained they have to be placed into that office.

And so there were sacrifices there were actual Rituals that go along with this and you're gonna note something here is that Moses is the one who's received the command of God and Moses is in what office in the

Old Testament. What's his what's his office? Prophet that's correct

Moses is a prophet and you're gonna see something interesting and that is is that Prophets those who are called by God and the

Word of the Lord comes to them Prophets then become the normative fellows who place people into their offices so Moses is going to be tasked with the job of taking the

Levites and presiding in their ordination service He's the one who's going to be doing all the work and then placing them into their office

Once they're placed into their office, they're up and running and they're ready to roll and they get to work now

Kings This is another interesting office. So God because the children of Israel said we want a king said fine.

Give them what they want So the king, you know, the office of King was set up in the nation of Israel who placed

Kings in their office Prophets.

Yeah, Samuel the Prophet placed Saul and David into the office of King and those weren't they were anointed until you note then that kings are anointed

Placed in their office. You were gonna see priests. They're anointed placed in their office Prophet priests so prophets are called by God directly

So the office of priest and King is set up there Then here's the last question who placed

Jesus into his office as Messiah John the

Baptist and what was he? He was a prophet he was the last of the prophets that's the

Old Testament prophets So, you know kind of the this how this works so we as we move forward Yeah, so yes, usually the answer is

Jesus, but today it's prophet. So I just I'd mix it up a little bit So, all right with that, let's let's take a quick look just to review

Leviticus 6. I'll start in verse 24 We'll do a little skimming work here and then get into 7

Lord spoke to Moses saying speak to Aaron his sons saying this is the law of the sin offering in the place where the burnt

Offering is killed Shall the sin offering be killed before the Lord Yahweh? It is most holy the priest who offers it for sin shall eat it

So we again would noted the fact that the Old Testament sacrifices were intended to be consumed

This is the same with the Passover. This is the same So Passover lamb you eat your Passover lamb, and that's a sacrifice here.

You have a sin offering It's to be consumed the offering of the New Testament is

Jesus Christ and We consume him when we have the

Lord's Supper Yeah, so what I gene what you have that look on your face

So I come back I come around to the altar, you know You went here at the altar and I say take eat This is the true body of Christ given for you for the forgiveness of your sins, right?

And you sit there and you say thank you. Yeah, amen, or there you start chewing, you know Yeah Right and so the idea here is is that in the types and shadows in the

Old Testament sin offerings are consumed Our sin offering is consumed as well in the Lord's Supper All right

So in a holy place then you it shall be eaten in the court of the tent of meeting Whatever touches its flesh shall be holy and when any of its blood is splashed on the garment

You shall wash that on which it was splashed in a holy place. So note whatever touches the flesh of a sacrifice is holy remember in our

Old Testament text today and we talked about Isaiah that hot burning coal that the

Seraphim came with tongs, you know coming right at the face of Isaiah touches his lips with it and He's holy

Your sins are atoned for you're forgiven. That's kind of the same idea. So type and shadow then when the

Flesh and blood of Christ touches your lips in the Lord's Supper He's your sacrifice.

What does that make you as a result? holy holy and Consider the words in our

Old Testament text today This has touched your lips Your sins are atoned for if that's what happened with a coal from the altar

Imagine how much more so with the actual offering itself the actual sacrifice of the altar, which is

Christ See all of this points then to that. Yes All right.

So the fire is what consumes the offering Right. It creates the pleasing aroma to the

Lord But note then that while the sacrifice is being consumed

I mean, it doesn't take much imagination if you've done any barbecuing, you know what happens, right?

All right. The the offering is sizzling. The grease is coming off it You know it's it's dripping onto the coals and so the idea then this is the reason why that coal is holy is because Parts of the sacrifice have fallen in it in the part in the consumption of the sacrifice itself on the altar

Yes, exactly Yeah, and over and again and I think this kind of fits with the kind of structure that we saw in Isaiah 6

I made the point today that in Isaiah 6 Isaiah never describes the Lord never

We don't we don't get any kind of visual depiction except for the train of his robe filled the temple. There was seraphim

They were calling back and forth to each other. He was high and lifted up What's he look like Isaiah?

I can't tell you. All right, and so I kind of think that you know in painting terms

What do they call that? That's negative space, right? So if we were painting a picture He's painting a picture in negative space

And so that you know Get the shape of the Lord from what's around him, but you can't really make it out in the same way

Then that same negative space motif comes then with the coal because the coal itself is not the offering on the altar

But it has been in the presence of and touched That offering or parts of that offering have touched it making it holy

And so it's still kind of working with that negative space motif of Isaiah 6. Does that make sense?

So because you would expect you would have taken part of the sacrifice and touched his lips with it

But he instead he takes a coal which has touched the offering itself, but the offering is not mentioned

It's in the negative space Which it might that might be part of what's going on here because Christ the

Lord Jesus is the offering That makes us holy So it's something because you see

I'm saying that's kind of it's it's a fascinating text in that sense. So, uh -huh

Oh, yeah, yeah Uh -huh

Right, but see what makes it powerful is the Word of the Lord Yeah, yeah, it's and you'll notice that you know that that Word of God is really sloppy

It's like spread everywhere. You're gonna you're gonna run in cotton to contact with it all over the place, right?

And it's kind of the idea but yeah, you're right. Yeah, it doesn't take much And what is what does Jesus say faith of a mustard seed faith of a mustard seed you can move a mountain

I don't even think my face that big yet May not be ever right.

So I got the faith of a well a Microscopic thing, you know,

I've Whoville I got the faith of Whoville. Yeah, right all right continuing then so whatever touches its flesh shall be holy and It is because God says it is and any blood that it splashed on the garment

You shall wash and the earthenware vessel in which it is boiled shall be broken If it is boiled in a bronze vessel that shall be scoured and rinsed in water

Every male among the priests may eat of it It is most holy But no sin offering shall be eaten from which any blood is brought into the tent of meeting to make atonement for the holy place

It shall be burned up with fire next chapter Leviticus 7 then So this is the law of the guilt offering it is most

Holy in the place where they kill the burnt offering They shall kill the gills offering and its blood shall be thrown against the sides of the altar and all its fat shall be offered the fat tail the fat that covers the end trails the two

Kidneys with the fat that is on them at the loins and the long lobe of the liver feel like I'm getting an anatomy

Lesson reminds me of the Moby Dick. Have you ever read that you learn all about whale anatomy?

hated that book anyway The priest shall burn them on the altar as a food offering to the

Lord It's a guilt offering every male among the priests may eat of it. It shall be eaten in a holy place

It is most holy the guilt offering is just like the sin offering There's one law for them the priest who makes atonement with it shall have it the priest who offers any man's burnt offering shall have for himself the skin of the burnt offering that he has offered and Every grain offering baked in the oven and that is and and all that is prepared on a pan or a griddle

Shall belong to the priest who offers it every grain offering mixed with oil or dry shall be shared equally among the sons of Aaron So, you know then, you know sons of Aaron They get free groceries

Every time they work. Yeah, no priests and their whole families

They're taking they're taking stuff home from work To their whole families Yeah, that's in the later parts

You'll see that there's a portion then that's saved out also for the family who for the people who bring the offering itself so when this is all done the way the picture kind of works is is that The people offering making the offering are eating it their whole families.

It becomes kind of a family meal The priests they get portions of it. They're eating it.

It's a food offering It just you know, we're not talking about animals that are wasted in that sense.

Yeah Yeah right now

I don't know if that's Michael when you were in Rome were they doing community in both kinds or just one?

Right. Yeah Okay in tincture.

Yeah Okay. Yeah, so yeah,

I was I thought that that Not that long ago that Rome opened it up so that you can have communion in both kinds

It was Rome's practice for a long time that if you were a layperson you get the bread

But you don't get bread and wine Yeah Okay So yeah, and and I know that that Rome now does

Allow for both so and I'm not sure what brought on that change, you know,

I'm not much of a room Yeah Good question.

I'm trying to think in Rome the last time I've been to a Roman service was my grandmother's funeral which was epic, but I'm trying to remember

Yeah, I think everybody drank from one chalice. Yeah, so Yeah, yeah people so people some people are nervous about the idea so Every Lutheran Church, I've been a part of it until here it's always been you have the option of individual cups or the chalice you you pick which one you want and and Then you know, so this is the first church.

I've been in where you only have the individual cups so But every other every other church

I've been a part of in when I first came into the Lutheran Church It was the individual cups for me. No way that chalice was freaky

And then I got to the point where when I kind of understood, you know that everything you do in church kind of confesses something

And so the and so the this is kind of an important thing is is that why does your pastor wear?

Vestments because he's a sinner you got to cover him up Why does he wear a stole? Well that hearkens to the fact that he's he's yoked up into his office

That means he's a beast of burden You know, I love how you throw all these songs things on the pastor in order to devalue him as you should

And so everything you do confesses something. And so the idea then is is that biblically

Christ it's it's very clear in the text that Christ took the cup and it was the cup of blessing

It was the cup of Baruch Barak It's yes a cup of blessing and that all the disciples drank from the same cup

Paul picks up on that same imagery then in 1st Corinthians and notes the fact that the one cup symbolizes then the unity that we have with each other within the body of Christ and And so I kind of warmed up to the idea and so from time to time

I would take the chalice But still it kind of creeped me out, especially in cold and flu season, you know, cuz I you know my luck

You know, it's like I'm gonna be at the altar, you know on my knees and the guy next to me is gonna be going Yeah, give me that cup, you know

Yeah yeah, and so later though I You know the other piece of this that I found fascinating for me

Was that I noticed that those who take the common cup the pastor has to assist and if you have a pastor who knows what?

He's doing he's able to actually give you the blood of Christ Without your assistance that that takes some practice by the way

And and so the idea then is is that that you know it that actually I like the thing

I like about that is it kind of symbolizes the idea that we're receiving rather than doing it then that becomes a visible representation of me receiving these things from Christ by grace and Not by works and so this that's how and once I kind of embraced that idea behind it

I went chalice the whole way until I got here, but you know, but that so my preference, you know

Personally is that but I would never put that on anybody because it took me years to warm up to it. So right

Right. Yeah, and I would also note that most chalices are silver, you know

Which does a very good job of like, you know on its own killing bacteria and stuff like that I've never gotten sick as a result of the chalice.

I've always gotten sick from shaking people's hands and then doing this Yeah Yes Yeah Yeah, let me put it this way gene at my grandmother's funeral the the priest who was presiding over her funeral mass

He did something I've never seen before and that is and they were they had white wine in that in that church it was st.

Hedwig's Roman Catholic Parish in New Hyde Park, Long Island in New York and It when it came to the the mass after he consecrated the elements he poured himself a whole chalice of wine

He swirled that thing He sniffed it to see what kind of bouquet it had and I am not joking.

He went And then when he was done he poured himself another class

I Am NOT making that up. It was horrifying. So and I have all members of my family

We still talk about it to this day, but that's a different story It's a different story

Okay Coming back then Leviticus 7 11 So this is the law of the sacrifice of the peace offerings that one may offer to Yahweh If he offers it for Thanksgiving, then he shall offer with the

Thanksgiving sacrifice unleavened loaves mixed with oil Unleavened wafers smeared with oil and loaves of fine flour well mixed with oil

So you note then that these particular types of offerings when it comes to grain offerings the unleavened and leaven in Scripture not 100 % consistently, but oftentimes

Leaven is a symbol of sin So the idea then is is that as you are going to the

Passover season in the Old Testament all the leavens got to come Out of your house, which means if you've been working on that sourdough sponge for a while, that's got to go

Bummer those things are hard to get going. Okay, uh Huh the 12th.

I wish I had a whiteboard right now. I Follow the 11s have to go.

What about the 12th? Did I hear you right you said you were a sinful guy.

Yeah. Yeah Yeah, yeah, okay

Oh That's funny All right 11 wafers smeared with oil and loaves of fine flour well mixed with oil the sacrifice of his peace offerings for Thanksgiving He shall bring his offering with loaves of leavened bread and from it

He shall offer one loaf from each offering as a gift to the Yahweh It shall belong to the priest

Who throws the blood of the peace offering and the flesh the sacrifice of his peace?

Offering for the Thanksgiving for Thanksgiving shall be eaten on the day of his offering He shall not leave any of it until morning.

Hope you're hungry come to work hungry, right? And if you're a priest at least the guy who gets to actually throw the blood against the altar

But if the sacrifice of his offering is a vow offering or a free will offering It shall be eaten on the day that he offers his sacrifice and on the next day

What remains of it shall be eaten now a little bit of a note here free will offering? Is not an offering that is for the purpose of atoning for sins

So the idea then is is that you're making it an extra sacrifice Not necessary, but out of your own free will you're you're you're adding on top of so you got your sin offerings

It's got to be taking care of that's but then the next part of it This is just purely because this is an act of worship on your part and God allows that God permits that Okay, so it shall be eaten on the day that he offers his sacrifice and on the next day

What remains of it shall be eaten? But what remains of the flesh of the sacrifice on the third day shall be burned with fire

So there's a time period you got to eat it within a certain amount of time, which also makes sense There were no refrigerators back then

So meat didn't keep for very long if you didn't salt it and turn it into beef jerky So if any of the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offering is eaten on the third day he who offers it shall not be

Accepted neither shall he it be credited to him. It is tainted and he who eats of it shall bear his iniquity

So now you got a sin that you know that you've committed flesh that touches any unclean thing

Shall not be eaten It shall be burned up with fire all who are clean may eat flesh

But the person who eats of the flesh of the sacrifice of Yahweh's peace offerings While an uncleanness is on him that person shall be cut off from his people.

So you're gonna note then You not only do you have to be ordained then as a priest? There are certain particular

Offerings for your own sin that have to be conducted and there has to be certain washings washing ceremonies for the purpose of removing

Uncleanness that that then are required as part of your so you don't get to gotta show up and you know

Your bibs all got blood on it, you know, you see that like the butcher, you know L &M meets like like halfway through the day that guy comes out and says, yeah,

I've been cutting up Buffalo Would you like some samples you going? Yeah, right, but you know, yes, it sounds like keep your distance there, dude

Yeah, cuz you know, he's got the blood splattered on him and so you're not talking about right? Is it just me?

Okay All right So if anyone touches an unclean thing whether human uncleanness or an unclean beast or any unclean detestable creature

Unfortunately lobster falls into this category So you can't you can't serve as a priest and have a lobster steak dinner the night before And and eat some flesh from the sacrifice of the

Lord's peace offering that person shall be cut off from his people So the Lord spoke to Moses saying speak to the people of Israel saying you shall eat no fat of ox or sheep or goat the fat of an animal that dies of itself and the fat of one that is torn by Beast may be put to any other use but on no account shall you eat it you can turn it into soap

You can turn it into all kinds of different things. You just can't consume it every person.

Oh, yeah The the Israelites were not allowed to eat bacon Yeah, so it's you know

This is the reason why God had mercy on you and you were born in the New Testament era so that you can have bacon

You would not have made it. I couldn't have made it in the Old Testament era. This is no way

You know Bacon is like its own thing on the food pyramid. Yeah Right exactly

Okay All right No account show you eat the fat every person who eats of the fat of an animal of which a food offering may be made to The Lord shall be cut off from his people moreover.

You shall eat no blood whether a foul or of animal in any of your places whether whoever eats any blood that person shall be cut off from the people and Yeah You're gonna get executed no eating blood.

That's bad. You're gonna get cut off there are there's ways of coming back by the way that you know, but You're gonna be cut off here

This is a major sin that has to be addressed and so you'll note that in the Old Covenant And I've made the point before that and this is where we've seen an instance of it

You do not eat the blood. Why the life is in the blood and This is a recurring theme in Scripture and there was one particular instance where Saul King Saul did not obey the

Lord and And he did he came up with this just off -the -cuff stupid

Thing that he made everybody make a vow. Have you ever worked for a boss that just made no sense?

Okay, you guys in the Navy we don't have to talk okay But you know where your boss says

I have this idea let's all promise that we're gonna do this thing and And then you get halfway through whatever the time period of the thing you're going why did

I make this promise, right? So there was a battle where Saul made he basically bound his men to an oath that anybody who eats anything prior to The victory of that battle that that person was to be killed

Right just a rash vow and of course who ate during the battle

But Jonathan the son of the son of Saul and of and of course the people had to step in but What as a result of that particular thing by the end of the battle all the guys all the soldiers were like Shaking they were so hungry that when they killed the animals for food

They didn't take the proper time to drain the animals of their blood And so they were eating meat with blood still in it and you know

Even causing a greater sin and all it was a mess the best way I can put it We do that at my house, no,

I'm kidding Beatings will continue until morale improves. Yes. Yes. It's a pirate theme, right?

Yeah. Yeah, okay Now the Lord then spoke to Moses saying speak to the people of Israel saying whoever offers the sacrifice of his peace offerings to Yahweh Shall bring his offering to the

Lord from the sacrifice of his peace offering His own hands shall bring the

Lord's Lord's food offering. He shall bring the fat with the breast That the breast may be waved as a wave offering to Yahweh The priest shall burn the fat on the altar but the breast shall be for Aaron and his sons and the right thigh you shall give to the priest as a contribution from the sacrifice of your peace offerings and whoever among the sons of Aaron offers the blood of the peace offerings and the

Fat shall have the right thigh for a portion for the breast that is waved in the thigh that is contributed

I have taken from the people of Israel out of the sacrifices of their peace offerings and I have given them to Aaron the

Priest and to his sons as a perpetual due from the people of Israel This is the portion of Aaron and of his sons from the

Lord's food offerings from the day They were presented to serve as priests of the Lord and the

Lord Commanded this to be given them to the people of Israel from the day that he anointed them It is a perpetual due throughout their generations

So this is the law the burnt offering of the grain offering of the sin offering of the guilt offering of the ordination offering and of the peace offering which

Yahweh commanded Moses on Mount Sinai on the day that he commanded the people of Israel to bring their offerings to the

Lord Yahweh in the wilderness of Sinai So, you know that here we are in Leviticus now

We're going into chapter 8 and the people of Israel are still camped at the foot of Mount Sinai Now a little bit of a note it's gonna be a long time before they leave

They were out of slavery for two years two months and 20 days

Before they left Mount Sinai All right, so that was like almost the first stop not quite but after their crossing of the

Red Sea That was very close. That was very close after that they get to the base of Mount Sinai They were there for two years.

So, you know keep that in mind. That's where they're still at so the Lord then spoke to Moses saying take

Aaron and his sons with him and the garments and the anointing oil and the bull of the sin offering and the two rams and the basket of unleavened bread and Assemble all the congregation at the entrance of the tent of meeting and Moses did as Yahweh Commanded him and the congregation was assembled at the entrance of the tent of meeting and Moses said to the congregation

This is the thing that Yahweh has commanded to be done So Moses brought Aaron and his sons and washed them with water

Hmm. Okay, you see a little baptismal imagery here And so thus now is beginning the ordination of these priests now a little bit of a note in the

New Covenant We don't have any living Apostles Prophets of the

Old Testament are gone. They've they're still continuing to teach us through the written Word of God. So in the church today

What's the office that exists within the congregation pastor, right?

So the idea then is this is that Kongsvinger Lutheran Church 138 years old right 138 years old over that period of time has

Had multiple men filling the pastoral office that exists within this congregation so where there is a congregation that exists there is an office and There are men that have to be qualified for that office and then you'll note then that in the pastoral epistles

It talks about how Timothy himself was placed into the office of pastor by the laying on of hands all right, so the way the ordination then works in the

New Covenant is is that a Congregation where congregation exists a congregation can call a pastor to fill that office when that office is vacant So they look at the qualifications for a pastor

They say we want that guy see if he'll come you extend the call to him and he says sure

I'll be your pastor. He comes first order of business. He's not your pastor until what?

He's installed in the door. He's ordained. All right, and so when I was called

First order of business was the laying on of hands and that is and you'll note then that this is a public thing

The pastoral office in a congregation is is in public and so you can honestly say

Roseboro just didn't show up and start being the pastor. He was rightly called He was properly installed into the office with the laying on of hands

Everybody in the community was present to see it. And so you there's no doubt in your mind Yeah, he's called and has been ordained into the proper office.

All right, so I have a right call a retable katus You know I'm number 23.

So I'm I should get a hat 23, right? It's on the 23rd, yes a 23rd pastor here and You know when?

I'm done probably die in the pulpit But when I'm done Then what will happen is is that there'll be a vacancy within the office that exists in this congregation and the present congregants will gather together and say we need to call a man to fill the vacant office and That fellow will receive a call if he accepts the call

He comes first order of business is he's publicly placed into the office with the laying on of hands pretty simple

Right. So in the new in the New Testament era with the death of the Apostles There are no

Apostles Prophets are of the Old Testament The office the the the office of note then is the pastoral office now a little bit of note church history

There was a there was a distinction very early on in the church as in you could do this a little easier in Greek than you can in in Latin, but the difference between Presbyter and Bishop Episcopal and So the way it worked in the ancient world and you can see this especially in like places like Constantinople and there's

You know wonderful histories that capture this idea the way it would work in the ancient world.

Is that You would have churches in a particular region

So like if you had multiple churches in the city of Ephesus and they did So there were multiple congregations in the city of Ephesus There would be one fellow who would be chosen by all the congregations to be the bishop and So the bishop had his own

Special congregation that he would serve at and then the bishop would choose the presbyters the bishop would choose who the pastors were of the local congregations and so there was some kind of parity in the sense where the congregations would group together they would elect a bishop and the bishop would choose the presbyters and So, you know, that's kind of how that worked in the ancient world.

And so this is one of the reasons why you would see You know, you'd see things kind of structured in a way that we've kind of lost that concept a little bit but in reality technically

Bishop and presbyter Episcopal and presbyter Roy are technically synonymous terms the difference is is that a

Bishop would be somebody who had the authority to then place other men into offices that you know in local congregations and that's how that worked out and then this is one of the reasons why then in Cities that were fairly large in the ancient world where there were multiple

Christian congregations where there multiple churches Certain bishops had a lot more power than others

So and those bishops oftentimes will be called Papa's or Pope's so the

Bishop of Ephesus Bishop of Constantinople Bishop of Alexandria Bishop of Rome These guys were constantly fighting with each other man there's a lot of internecine stuff, but then

Islam came and wiped out a whole bunch of the The competing bishops when they were taken over by Sharia law and As a result of it the balance of power shifted dramatically in favor of the

Bishop of Rome So that's one of the reasons why he's kind of like the last man standing You sit there and go why is it that everything has to come back to Peter, right?

You know Rome even recognizes that there were other Apostles that had the same authority that he did

But you know, it's just it's just crazy how this all works out So in the ancient world then the off the the two main offices were

Bishop and Presbyter and Technically all bishops were presbyters, but not all presbyters were bishops.

Does that make sense? Yeah, okay. It's a little history lesson.

Yeah Yeah. Yeah, that's a bad thing.

Yeah, you don't Technically there has to be some kind of accountability with the congregation that they're serving so we live in a world where Entrepreneurism is really well celebrated and kind of, you know

Established as a fact you got to be careful with that. There's this best way I put it So, you know oftentimes the pastor who's doing that as a rogue pastor who doesn't want accountability, which is why he's doing his own thing

So I think about you know, kind of the upstart purpose driven You know churches with vision casting leaders

They're not part, you know, oftentimes they're not even part of any denomination at all some fellow who Who is behaving narcissistically oftentimes has decided, you know,

I'm just gonna go set up shop and and do my own thing I feel like I have a vision from God to do this. So I'm gonna do this thing.

That's just no, that's not bad movie mallow mallow, so and Yeah, remember we got rid of the 11th

So, yeah, that's not the best route And you sit there and go but what about you

Lutherans because Martin Luther was excommunicated Yeah, I said there yeah, that's true but you know, so at You kind of have to take these things on Martin Luther did not set out to start a denomination that was not his intent and with with other

Pastors and priests and people in Rome who were hearing the Word of God in the gospel and believing that they would defect and take

Their whole congregations with them and they kind of joined together. So, you know, and so the very first Lutheran Confederation was kind of a

Ragtag group so best way I can put it You could pray for fish

That's funny, okay Okay, okay.

All right. There we go. Okay back to the text

All right, so Moses brought Aaron and his sons washed them with water He put the coat on him tied the sash around his waist

Clothed them with the robe put the ephod on him and tied the skillfully woven band of the ephod around him

Binding it to him with the band. So, you know, he washed him. He put them in their uniform All right, and Moses himself was the guy who clothed them in their uniforms in their ephods

He placed the breastplate on him in the breastplate. He put the Urim in the Thumen He set the turban on his head and on the turban in front he set the golden plate and the

Holy Crown as Yahweh commanded Moses then Moses took the anointing oil and anointed the tabernacle and all that was in it and Consecrated them now remember what it said about this anointing oil anything that touches it is holy then he sprinkled some of it on the altar seven times anointing the altar and its utensils and the basin and its stand to Consecrate them and he poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron's head and anointed him to consecrate him

So what do we now know about Aaron now that this oil this anointing oil has touched him.

He's holy, right? So Moses brought Aaron's sons clothed them with coats tied sashes around their waists bound caps on them as Yahweh commanded

Moses then he brought the bull of the sin offering and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the bull of the sin offering and He killed it so this is the point of you take your sin and the sin gets placed on the sacrificial animal the sacrificial animal then becomes

The substitute for the for the sinner So he killed it Moses took the blood with his finger put it on the horns of the altar around it

Purified the altar poured out the blood at the base of the altar consecrated it to make atonement for it

He took all the fat that was on the entrails and the long lobe of the liver and the two kidneys with their fat

And Moses burned them on the altar, but the bull in its skin and its flesh and its dung He burned up with the fire outside of the camp as Yahweh commanded

Moses now a little bit of a note here is is that One of the features of the

Doc not it the city dump in Jerusalem in the ancient world. It was constantly burning

There was a constant fire going on inside of that. Why? Because of the requirement to burn parts of the sacrifice outside of the tabernacle facility or the temple facility itself

There were certain parts That God required they be burned and so the city dump in Jerusalem It was always on fire it was always there was always a fire burning and smoke coming up from it and And that becomes a picture then of hell funny enough

That's Christ picks up on that imagery of that dump that's always on fire and that Becomes a part of the imagery used to depict hell kind of interesting so All right when he presented.

Yeah exactly So he presented the ram of the burnt offering Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the heads of the ram

He killed it Moses threw the blood against the sides of the altar He cut the ram in pieces Moses burned the head and the pieces and the fat

He washed the entrails and the legs with water Moses burned the whole ram on the altar It was a burnt offering with a pleasing aroma a food offering to Yahweh as Yahweh commanded

Moses Then he presented the other ram the ram of ordination and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the ram

He killed it Moses took some of the blood of its blood 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 and then he presented

Aaron's sons and Moses a little bit of a note here ear thumb toe

Huh? Yeah the right side, you know, it is It's a little pushing the typology a little bit, but you know,

I think about Christ, you know, he's on the cross You know, he's pierced. Yeah, he's got a crown of thorns on his head and the bloods running down and you know

His hands are pierced, you know, and so you got the blood there and you got the blood on the feet I just I just can't help but think about Christ's crucifixion in one way as somehow being tied to this.

So So then he presented Aaron's sons and Moses put some of the blood on the lobes of the right ears the thumbs of the right hands on the big toes of the right feet so then

Moses threw the blood against the sides of the altar and then he took the fat and the fat tail and all the fat that was on the entrails and the long lobe of the liver and the two kidneys and their fat and the right thigh and Out of the basket of unleavened bread that was before the

Lord He took one unleavened loaf one loaf of bread with oil one wafer and placed them on the pieces of the fat and on the right

Thigh and I'm thinking sandwich here, but that's just me because it's almost lunch.

Yeah You bread and meat together. Come on. Yeah Tough crowd tough crowd

All right So he put up put all these in the hands of Aaron and the hands of his sons wave them as a wave offering before The Lord and then

Moses took them from their hands burn them on the altar with a burnt with the burnt offering

This was an ordination offering with a pleasing aroma of food offering to the Lord Moses took the breast waved it for a wave offering before the

Lord It was Moses's portion of the ram of ordination as the Lord commanded Moses I'm kind of glad that New Covenant ordination services are not this elaborate

So yes, yeah

Facing, you know facing the presence of the Lord. Yeah, they're waving it for real. Okay Let's try this.

There we go Alright All right verse 30

Moses took some of the anointing oil and of the blood that was on the altar Sprinkled it on Aaron and his garments and also on his sons and his son's garment

So he consecrated Aaron and his garments and his sons and his son's garments with them Moses said to Aaron and sons boil the flesh at the entrance of the tent of meeting

There eat it and the bread that is in the basket of the ordination Offerings as I commanded saying

Aaron and his sons shall eat it. I told you it was a sandwich Okay Tough crowd tough crowd.

All right. So what remains of the flesh and the bread you shall burn up with fire You shall not go outside the entrance of the tent of meeting for seven days until the days of your ordination are completed for it will take seven days to ordain you as Has been done today

Yahweh has commanded to be done to make atonement for you at the entrance of the tent of meeting

You shall remain day and night for seven days performing what Yahweh has charged so that you do not die for so I have

Commanded and Aaron and his sons did all the things that Yahweh commanded by Moses seven day ordination seven day ordination

Why seven days? What day do they begin work then on the eighth day eighth day is new creation

Seven days is the complete week and oftentimes is representative of the current era that we live in Eighth day is the first day of the new creation

Jesus Christ rises from the grave on the eighth day or the first day of the next week so seven full days of ordination in a sense numerically pointing to The creation we're currently living in they begin work then with the sacrifices for the forgiveness of sins on the eighth

Day or the first day of the following week And now this is all kind of pointing to the fact that forgiveness of sins eternal life new creation.

That's the symbols of it All right, we're gonna Yep, we're gonna stop there.

I'm gonna stop there. Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

Yes Yeah Yeah The right way to think about is all of this is is you know,

I like the word you use orientation Okay, like when you start a new job or you've got a new piece to your job

That's that's added in you've got to learn a whole new skill set, right? so you were telling us about all of the the the

Regulations regarding transportation that exists in all the big books, right? All right. So if you're if you are now required at your job to Pay attention to whether or not you're breaking any laws regarding Transportation you're gonna need to be trained in it

All right, you're gonna have to know what to look for, you know certain, you know And so any good orientation is going to teach you, you know

Basic categories to think in and then kind of work out some kind of a decision making grid that you can figure out

Okay, when this is happening I need to look here to see if this is happening right in the same way Leviticus is giving us an orientation to the new covenant through the old

These sacrifices are teaching us how to think in terms that God wants us to think it's

Training us to think of offerings as food It's trying to teach us that certain things that are attached to the

Word of God that you know These are mysteriously able to make somebody holy, you know

So it's beginning to introduce us to sacramental theology as to be understood so that when

Christ shows up You have this type of thinking in your mind and then you see that Christ is the fulfillment of all of it

And all of this is pointing to Jesus Then you can you're able to make those connections and not buck against how

God thinks in what he's revealed Exactly Christ fulfilled all of this

All right. Any other questions? Yes Yes Yes In fact that the book of Hebrews itself is written to Jews who were brought who believed in Christ who were missing the smells and bells and the

Rites and rituals of the Old Covenant because the New Covenant is so simplified. You don't have any of that All right,

Christ is a fulfillment of it in the New Covenant There's there's the Lord's Supper and preaching of the word and you don't have to travel places and you don't have to do all of these things and they were kind of missing that and so the whoever wrote the epistle to of the

Hebrews Wrote it to though to them to get them to Understand that all of that was the type and shadow and the fulfillments in Christ You can't return to that now now that Christ has fulfilled all of it.

That was that's the whole thrust of the book of Hebrews so Yeah, but you'll note then

Christianity very portable Very portable Judaism. Yeah, not so much