FOR THE LOVE OF GOD

And take some blood from the altar and some of the anointing oil and sprinkle it on Aaron and his garments and on his sons and their garments. Then he and his sons and their garments will be consecrated. – Exodus 29:21.

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. – 1 Peter 2:9-10.

In the Old Testament we see a lot of commandments that belong to God’s chosen, the children of Israel. They were all a set of natural obligations that were meant to foreshadow the spiritual to come. God had chosen Israel at that time to be His people set apart and He did that by choosing the lineage of Aaron as His priests within Israel from that time on.

Sadly, as the Old Testament shows, Israel could NOT keep the commandments and often times rejected the precepts of God to take part in those things common to other nations. However, though some believe Israel forfeited their chosen status, it is not permanent for God’s promises to His people are unfailing and the promises He made to them as a Nation, will come to past but not until the end of the Church age otherwise known as the dispensation of Grace.

That brings us to the New Testament. The Old Testament was God’s covenant with Israel and as I stated, a foreshadow of the covenant to come, not of natural laws and commandments but of spiritual laws written on the hearts of men rather than on tablets of stone.

Aaron and His sons were anointed with blood from the altar and some of the special anointing oil that God commanded Moses to have the Israelites build and make to set them apart so they can approach His holiness on behalf of the nation.

Today, because Jesus Christ came to fulfill His mission of completing the Old covenant and actually embodying it as All-Man and All-God, it is His blood from the altar of the Cross that He hung on and the anointing of the Holy Spirit upon each and everyone that has acknowledged in their hearts and have surrendered themselves to Him that is the type of spiritual anointing that Aaron and his lineage could only foreshadow.

This is why, when you hear someone tell you, that as a child of God, and heir and a son/daughter, you can be assured that it is not the blood of bulls and rams nor the manufactured anointing oil that does the work in you, but rather the Blood of the True and forever Living Lamb of God and the Holy Spirit that He sent to seal each and everyone of us who have accepted His gracious and most precious gift.

The reason you may ask, aside from salvation itself? “That you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light!” Peter wrote in previous verses, “As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him—you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 2:4-5.

Your priestly duties are to proclaim His Good News to the nations, to proclaim His praise and the reasons WHY we praise Him, because He freed us from the darkness. These are the “spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God.” That is what is and always has been precious to Him.

In 1 Samuel 15:22, the prophet wrote, “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.” The prophet Hosea later recorded, “For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.” – Hosea 6:6.

Under the old covenant, Aaron and his sons had to wear special clothing made to show they were set aside, in the new covenant under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, we are given new robes of righteousness, cleansed by His Blood and sealed by His Holy Spirit to demonstrate to the world that we, as a chosen people, in God, have been specially set forth for His glory and His glory alone!

One question in closing; are YOU washed in that soul cleansing Blood of the Lamb. Are YOUR garments setting you apart in the eyes of the world? It only takes surrender to the One Who is willing to anoint and seal us for all eternity!

*Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved.