January 22, 2022 - Leviticus 6-8

Pretty graphic, bloody stuff going on here in Leviticus with the offerings. Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the animal (8:14), killed it (8:15), and gathered its blood and poured it out around the base of the altar (8:15). Aaron took the guts and burned them on the altar (8:16), and then took the rest and burned it outside the camp (8:17). Pretty much a gory mess. But, then, the crucifixion of Jesus, to which all this points, was pretty gruesome. I think that's a big part of all this, that is, that God wanted the people to understand clearly the cost their sin would demand.

Moses commanded the people: “At the entrance of the tent of meeting you shall remain day and night for seven days, performing what the Lord has charged, so that you do not die, for so I have been commanded” (8:35). The other thought I have this morning (the first being the gory mess thought) is that all this, fulfilled in Christ, is God's gracious provision for his people’s sins. He has done for us what we could not do for ourselves. He has saved us from sin and given us a glorious hope! What manner of praise and thanksgiving is due our God!

O thou who camest from above

the fire celestial to impart,

kindle a flame of sacred love

on the mean altar of my heart!

There let it for thy glory burn

with inextinguishable blaze,

and trembling to its source return

in humble prayer and fervent praise. -- Charles Wesley (1762)