We have seen a clear picture of the steps by which Aaron and his sons were sanctified to serve God as priests. First they were washed, then they were clothed, and after that they were satisfied by having their emptiness filled. They were washed with water, they were clothed with the priestly garments, and they were satisfied with holy food. These three categories of things—the water, the garments, and the food, the offerings—are all types of Christ. After Aaron and his sons had been washed, clothed, and satisfied, they were ready to serve God. In other words, they were ready to minister food to Him. We may say that the priests were waiters bringing food to God and serving it to Him. They did not serve God anything other than the proper food for Him.
Actually the sanctification described in Exodus 29 includes four steps. The first three steps, being washed, being clothed, and being satisfied, took care of the need of the priests. The fourth step, ministering Christ to God as food for God’s satisfaction, was related to God’s need. To be a priest is to serve God, to minister Christ to Him for His satisfaction. Therefore, being a priest involves three steps related to the priests themselves and another step related to God’s satisfaction. This means that even after Aaron and his sons had been washed, clothed, and satisfied, they were not yet qualified to serve as priests. They still needed the offerings with which to serve God, offerings to be ministered to God as food. Only when this step had been accomplished was their sanctification completed.
As God’s people, we all have been redeemed. However, being redeemed is not sufficient to qualify us to serve God as priests. At most, redemption gives us the right and the position to be sanctified to serve God as priests. Therefore, after redemption, we need sanctification. This sanctification comprises four steps: being washed, being clothed, being satisfied, and serving God with food. In this message we shall consider the fourth and last step.
In chapter twenty-nine of Exodus the most difficult matter to grasp is that of the priests serving God with food for His satisfaction. In contrast, it is rather easy to understand the priests being washed, clothed, and satisfied. As we have pointed out, the left breast and the left shoulder of the second ram were given to the priests as their portion for their enjoyment. Along with these parts of the second ram, the priests were also given bread from the basket which also contained bread for God’s food. Therefore, the priests could enjoy both meat and bread. This can be compared to the Lord Jesus using five loaves and two fishes to feed the multitude. In both cases the people were fed with meat and bread. The priests’ diet, therefore, was quite simple.
When we come to ministering food to God, it is much more complicated. Because God is not simple, serving food to Him is likewise not simple. For example, it is rather easy for a mother to prepare a meal for her child. However, the preparation would be much more complicated if the governor of the state were coming to her home for dinner. She certainly could not feed him in the same way that she would feed a small child. In the same principle, feeding God is much more complicated than feeding the priests.
We need to be impressed with the courses, the “dishes” served to God as His food. The first course was a bull for a sin offering. This was followed by two lambs a year old, fresh, young, vigorous, and full of strength. Then there was a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mingled with oil. The quantity of oil was a fourth of a hin, that is, approximately a quart. The flour and oil were mingled to become the meal offering. Furthermore, there was “a fourth of a hin of wine for a drink offering” (v. 40). The quantity of wine was the same as that of the oil, a fourth of a hin. Here we have three items of the animal life—a bull and two lambs—and three items of the plant life—fine flour, oil, and wine. These six items may be divided into two groups: the first group consisting of the bull and the two lambs, and the second group, of the flour, the oil, and the wine. All these items were the “groceries” used in “cooking” a meal for God. In order to feed Him, we need a bull, two lambs, and flour, oil, and wine.
Years ago, I had difficulty remembering all these items, all these groceries. I could not understand why Moses composed this section of the Word in such a puzzling way. You may need to read this chapter a number of times before all this becomes clear to you. According to this chapter, God’s food included a bull, two lambs, flour, oil, and wine. The amount of fine flour was a tenth of an ephah. An ephah equals ten omers. Therefore, a tenth of an ephah was one omer. According to Exodus 16, the amount of daily manna for each person was an omer. Therefore, in quantity God’s food was one bull, two lambs, a tenth of an ephah of fine flour, and the fourth of a hin each of oil and wine.
The bull was for a sin offering, and the two lambs offered with the flour, the oil, and the wine were for a burnt offering. In typology, the burnt offering is God’s food. This offering is for God’s satisfaction. However, in order for God to eat the burnt offering we present to Him, we must first offer the sin offering. The sin offering is not God’s food, even though the inward parts and the fat were burned for His satisfaction. Therefore, we cannot say definitely that this offering was counted in the sight of God as food, but we do know that parts of the sin offering were for God’s satisfaction.
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