¹ “Moreover, you shall make an altar as a place for burning incense; you shall make it of acacia wood. ² “Its length shall be a cubit, and its width a cubit, it shall be square, and its height shall be two cubits; its horns shall be of one piece with it. ³ “You shall overlay it with pure gold, its top and its sides all around, and its horns; and you shall make a gold molding all around for it. ⁴ “You shall make two gold rings for it under its molding; you shall make them on its two side walls–on opposite sides–and they shall be holders for poles with which to carry it. ⁵ “You shall make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. ⁶ “You shall put this altar in front of the veil that is near the ark of the testimony, in front of the mercy seat that is over the ark of the testimony, where I will meet with you. ⁷ “Aaron shall burn fragrant incense on it; he shall burn it every morning when he trims the lamps. ⁸ “When Aaron trims the lamps at twilight, he shall burn incense. There shall be perpetual incense before the LORD throughout your generations. ⁹ “You shall not offer any strange incense on this altar, or burnt offering or meal offering; and you shall not pour out a drink offering on it. ¹⁰ “Aaron shall make atonement on its horns once a year; he shall make atonement on it with the blood of the sin offering of atonement once a year throughout your generations. It is most holy to the LORD.”

Strange incense was a big deal to God. Later on, the priest Eli would have two sons that disregarded this instruction, and they offered impure/unholy incense on the altar. What did God do? He struck them dead. God wants us to be pure before Him. We may not always be perfect, but we must make sure our hearts and lives are pure before we come to Him.

³⁸ “Now this is what you shall offer on the altar: two one year old lambs each day, continuously. ³⁹ “The one lamb you shall offer in the morning and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight; ⁴⁰ and there shall be one-tenthof an ephah of fine flour mixed with one-fourth of a hin of beaten oil, and one-fourth of a hin of wine for a drink offering with one lamb. ⁴¹ “The other lamb you shall offer at twilight, and shall offer with it the same grain offering and the same drink offering as in the morning, for a soothing aroma, an offering by fire to the LORD. ⁴² “It shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the doorway of the tent of meeting before the LORD, where I will meet with you, to speak to you there. ⁴³ “I will meet there with the sons of Israel, and it shall be consecrated by My glory. ⁴⁴ “I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar; I will also consecrate Aaron and his sons to minister as priests to Me. ⁴⁵ “I will dwell among the sons of Israel and will be their God. ⁴⁶ “They shall know that I am the LORD their God who brought them out of the land of Egypt, that I might dwell among them; I am the LORD their God.

Even before Christ’s death tore the veil in two, God wanted to be with His people. From the very beginning, man was created for fellowship with God. Even if God had to have the priests as a proxy, He wanted to dwell among His people, and communicate with them. We no longer need the priests as a proxy, so don’t take that for granted. Talk to God, all the time, as often as possible.

³¹ “You shall take the ram of ordination and boil its flesh in a holy place. ³² “Aaron and his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram and the bread that is in the basket, at the doorway of the tent of meeting. ³³ “Thus they shall eat those things by which atonement was made at their ordination and consecration; but a layman shall not eat them, because they are holy. ³⁴ “If any of the flesh of ordination or any of the bread remains until morning, then you shall burn the remainder with fire; it shall not be eaten, because it is holy.

³⁵ “Thus you shall do to Aaron and to his sons, according to all that I have commanded you; you shall ordain them through seven days. ³⁶ “Each day you shall offer a bull as a sin offering for atonement, and you shall purify the altar when you make atonement for it, and you shall anoint it to consecrate it. ³⁷ “For seven days you shall make atonement for the altar and consecrate it; then the altar shall be most holy, and whatever touches the altar shall be holy.

There were some things that God did just to protect the Israelites from disease and sickness. Anything they didn’t eat of the ram or bread they were to burn. It’s easy to think that God doesn’t care about every little thing we do, but the laws He gave the Israelites seem to show otherwise. He is very much concerned with every aspect of our lives, and wants us to do everything with Him in mind.

²⁶ “Then you shall take the breast of Aaron’s ram of ordination, and wave it as a wave offering before the LORD; and it shall be your portion. ²⁷ “You shall consecrate the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the heave offering which was waved and which was offered from the ram of ordination, from the one which was for Aaron and from the one which was for his sons. ²⁸ “It shall be for Aaron and his sons as their portion forever from the sons of Israel, for it is a heave offering; and it shall be a heave offering from the sons of Israel from the sacrifices of their peace offerings, even their heave offering to the LORD.

²⁹ “The holy garments of Aaron shall be for his sons after him, that in them they may be anointed and ordained. ³⁰ “For seven days the one of his sons who is priest in his stead shall put them on when he enters the tent of meeting to minister in the holy place.

Even the portions they were going to keep they presented to God. It seems it was probably their way of acknowledging that all they had belonged to Him anyway. Let us not forget that God is the source of everything we have. Show your gratitude not just in the offering you give, but acknowledge Him even in the things you keep for yourself.

¹⁹ “Then you shall take the other ram, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram. ²⁰“You shall slaughter the ram, and take some of its blood and put it on the lobe of Aaron’s right ear and on the lobes of his sons’ right ears and on the thumbs of their right hands and on the big toes of their right feet, and sprinkle the rest of the blood around on the altar. ²¹ “Then you shall take some of the blood that is on the altar and some of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it on Aaron and on his garments and on his sons and on his sons’ garments with him; so he and his garments shall be consecrated, as well as his sons and his sons’ garments with him.

²² “You shall also take the fat from the ram and the fat tail, and the fat that covers the entrails and the lobe of the liver, and the two kidneys and the fat that is on them and the right thigh (for it is a ram of ordination), ²³ and one cake of bread and one cake of bread mixed with oil and one wafer from the basket of unleavened bread which is set before the LORD; ²⁴ and you shall put all these in the hands of Aaron and in the hands of his sons, and shall wave them as a wave offering before the LORD. ²⁵ “You shall take them from their hands, and offer them up in smoke on the altar on the burnt offering for a soothing aroma before the LORD; it is an offering by fire to the LORD.

It is no secret that blood will stain clothing, yet God asked Moses to sprinkle the blood from one of the rams on their garments. This was a perpetual reminder of their consecration to God. They would never be able to quit being a priest, and they would always need the blood of bulls and rams to purify them from their sin.

¹⁰ “Then you shall bring the bull before the tent of meeting, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the bull. ¹¹ “You shall slaughter the bull before the LORD at the doorway of the tent of meeting. ¹² “You shall take some of the blood of the bull and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger; and you shall pour out all the blood at the base of the altar. ¹³ “You shall take all the fat that covers the entrails and the lobe of the liver, and the two kidneys and the fat that is on them, and offer them up in smoke on the altar. ¹⁴ “But the flesh of the bull and its hide and its refuse, you shall burn with fire outside the camp; it is a sin offering.

¹⁵ “You shall also take the one ram, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram; ¹⁶ and you shall slaughter the ram and shall take its blood and sprinkle it around on the altar. ¹⁷ “Then you shall cut the ram into its pieces, and wash its entrails and its legs, and put them with its pieces and its head. ¹⁸ “You shall offer up in smoke the whole ram on the altar; it is a burnt offering to the LORD: it is a soothing aroma, an offering by fire to the LORD.

Many times we think all the sacrifices in the Bible were to cover sin. And many were for that purpose. However, God didn’t just want them to come to Him when they had sinned. He wanted them to show their gratitude for what He had done. The burnt offering was just such a sacrifice. It wasn’t for sin, it was just to say thanks. God doesn’t want to hear from us only when things are going bad. Yes, he graciously looks past our sin because of the sacrifice of Christ, but that sacrifice was only to restore fellowship. So that we could have a relationship directly with God. Don’t forget to talk to Him in the good times, and to thank Him for His goodness.

¹ “Now this is what you shall do to them to consecrate them to minister as priests to Me: take one young bull and two rams without blemish, ² and unleavened bread and unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers spread with oil; you shall make them of fine wheat flour. ³ “You shall put them in one basket, and present them in the basket along with the bull and the two rams. ⁴ “Then you shall bring Aaron and his sons to the doorway of the tent of meeting and wash them with water. ⁵ “You shall take the garments, and put on Aaron the tunic and the robe of the ephod and the ephod and the breastpiece, and gird him with the skillfully woven band of the ephod; ⁶ and you shall set the turban on his head and put the holy crown on the turban. ⁷ “Then you shall take the anointing oil and pour it on his head and anoint him. ⁸ “You shall bring his sons and put tunics on them. ⁹ “You shall gird them with sashes, Aaron and his sons, and bind caps on them, and they shall have the priesthood by a perpetual statute. So you shall ordain Aaron and his sons.

Even though God had ordained that Aaron and his sons should have the priesthood in perpetuity, it was up to Aaron to pass down the traditions and customs of the priesthood. So it is with us as believers. God wants to bless our children forever, but He can only do so if we remember to pass on the baton, and “train up the child in the way that he should go.”

⁴⁰ “For Aaron’s sons you shall make tunics; you shall also make sashes for them, and you shall make caps for them, for glory and for beauty. ⁴¹ “You shall put them on Aaron your brother and on his sons with him; and you shall anoint them and ordain them and consecrate them, that they may serve Me as priests. ⁴² “You shall make for them linen breeches to cover their bare flesh; they shall reach from the loins even to the thighs. ⁴³ “They shall be on Aaron and on his sons when they enter the tent of meeting, or when they approach the altar to minister in the holy place, so that they do not incur guilt and die. It shall be a statute forever to him and to his descendants after him.

The priesthood was a very special honor. As it says here, it meant you were anointed, ordained, and consecrated. You were set apart for God’s service. It ought to be a sobering thought then, that Paul says we are a “royal priesthood.” Who? All believers. We no longer have priests (unless you’re Roman-Catholic). We no longer need someone else to take our sins and sacrifice before God. We have direct communion with God. Wow. Wow Wow. That’s incredible. Don’t take it lightly.

³⁶ “You shall also make a plate of pure gold and shall engrave on it, like the engravings of a seal, `Holy to the LORD.’ ³⁷ “You shall fasten it on a blue cord, and it shall be on the turban; it shall be at the front of the turban. ³⁸“It shall be on Aaron’s forehead, and Aaron shall take away the iniquity of the holy things which the sons of Israel consecrate, with regard to all their holy gifts; and it shall always be on his forehead, that they may be accepted before the LORD.

³⁹ “You shall weave the tunic of checkered work of fine linen, and shall make a turban of fine linen, and you shall make a sash, the work of a weaver.

Aaron had a continual reminder that he was to be “holy to the Lord.” But God calls each of us to no less. What reminds you to keep yourself holy? What reminds you that you are sanctified/set apart? Nothing? Find something.

³¹ “You shall make the robe of the ephod all of blue. ³² “There shall be an opening at its top in the middle of it; around its opening there shall be a binding of woven work, like the opening of a coat of mail, so that it will not be torn. ³³ “You shall make on its hem pomegranates of blue and purple and scarlet material, all around on its hem, and bells of gold between them all around: ³⁴ a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, all around on the hem of the robe. ³⁵ “It shall be on Aaron when he ministers; and its tinkling shall be heard when he enters and leaves the holy place before the LORD, so that he will not die.

It’s interesting that it says here, “so that he will not die.” I’ve always heard it said that the bells were a signal to those outside. If the tinkling sound stopped, they would know that the priest had sin in their life, and could pull him out. Perhaps both are true, and the bells were set in place to be a reminder to the priest before he ever entered God’s presence. A reminder that he must be pure and holy to enter in to the holy of holies. And a reminder of the consequences. Thus, as soon as the priest put the garment with the bells on, he would be reminded to check his heart and life for any impurities, and have the chance to make atonement. So that he would not die. What reminds you to check your heart? We have communion once a month when we do that very thing, but one ought to have something done daily (or more) as a reminder. Keep your heart, mind, and body pure before God, as a pleasing and holy sacrifice to God.