The Beginning of the End

1 Saul lived for one year and then became king, and when he had reigned for two years over Israel, 2 Saul chose three thousand men of Israel. Two thousand were with Saul in Michmash and the hill country of Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin. The rest of the people he sent home, every man to his tent. 3 Jonathan defeated the garrison of the Philistines that was at Geba, and the Philistines heard of it. And Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, “Let the Hebrews hear.” 4 And all Israel heard it said that Saul had defeated the garrison of the Philistines, and also that Israel had become a stench to the Philistines. And the people were called out to join Saul at Gilgal.

5 And the Philistines mustered to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots and six thousand horsemen and troops like the sand on the seashore in multitude. They came up and encamped in Michmash, to the east of Beth-aven. 6 When the men of Israel saw that they were in trouble (for the people were hard pressed), the people hid themselves in caves and in holes and in rocks and in tombs and in cisterns, 7 and some Hebrews crossed the fords of the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul was still at Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling. 

8 He waited seven days, the time appointed by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people were scattering from him. 9 So Saul said, “Bring the burnt offering here to me, and the peace offerings.” And he offered the burnt offering. 10 As soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came. And Saul went out to meet him and greet him. 11 Samuel said, “What have you done?” And Saul said, “When I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines had mustered at Michmash, 12 I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the favor of the Lord.’ So I forced myself, and offered the burnt offering.” 13 And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the Lord your God, with which he commanded you. For then the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. 14 But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.” 15 And Samuel arose and went up from Gilgal. The rest of the people went up after Saul to meet the army; they went up from Gilgal to Gibeah of Benjamin. – 1 Samuel 13:1-15 ESV

The opening verse of this chapter is a bit problematic it makes it difficult to reconcile the timing of the rest of the events that follow. The NET Bible translates this verse as follows: “Saul was [thirty] years old when he began to reign; he ruled over Israel for [forty] years” (1 Samuel 13:1 NET). The reason for this discrepancy is that in the extant copies of the Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible, this verse was missing some vital information. In his Study Notes of 1 Samuel, Thomas L. Constable illustrates the gap in the text this way: “Saul was______ years old when he began to reign, and he reigned_____ two years over Israel.”

There are no other verses in the Hebrew Bible that provide the age at which Saul began his reign, but the Book of Acts tells how long he remained the king of Israel.

Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. – Acts 13:21 ESV

The translators of the English Standard Version chose to amend verse one to read: Saul lived for one year and then became king, and when he had reigned for two years over Israel…. But this rendering of the text poses serious problems with the rest of the story. It leads the reader to believe that two years transpired before the events recorded in the chapter took place. But this translation of the text would not comport with the rest of the book of 1 Samuel. Chapter 10 records Samuel’s anointing of Saul and details the next-step directive given to Israel’s future king.

“…go down before me to Gilgal. And behold, I am coming down to you to offer burnt offerings and to sacrifice peace offerings. Seven days you shall wait, until I come to you and show you what you shall do.” – 1 Samuel 10:8 ESV

This is where the story in chapter 13 picks up. That is why the opening verse should be translated as follows: “Saul was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned for forty-two years” (1 Samuel 13:1 NLT). This rendering uses the 40-year length of Saul’s reign, as described in Acts 13:21, to help fill in the numbers missing in the Masoretic Text. This turns verse 1 into a summary statement of Saul’s reign, which will be detailed in the following chapters. There is still much debate as to the exact age at which Saul began his reign, but the general consensus is that verse 1 was originally intended as a preface designed to set up the story of Saul’s reign and eventual replacement by David.

After having received his anointing and instructions from Samuel, Saul assembled an army to deal with the constant threat posed by the Philistines. The relatively small size of Saul’s force might indicate that his initial plan was to eradicate the Philistines from around Gibeah, his hometown and capital. Saul concentrated most of his forces around Micmash and the hill country of Bethel. About this time, Saul’s son Jonathan “attacked and defeated the garrison of Philistines at Geba” (1 Samuel 13:3 NLT). This verse poses another problem because for Jonathan to lead troops into battle, he would have needed to be at least 20 years old, the mandatory age for enlistment in the Israelite army. If Saul was 30 years old when he began his reign, he could not have had a 20-year-old son. This has led many scholars to place Saul’s age at the beginning of his reign at 40. This would allow him enough time to have a son old enough for military service.

Together, Saul and his son begin to make an immediate impact on the Philistine problem. News of Jonathan’s victory spread throughout Israel and Philistia, causing great joy among the Israelites and anger among the Philistines. The mighty Philistines were not used to losing to the lowly Israelites, so Jonathan’s unexpected victory stirred them to respond in force.

The Philistines mustered a mighty army of 3,000 chariots, 6,000 charioteers, and as many warriors as the grains of sand on the seashore! – 1 Samuel 13:5 NLT

Faced with the prospect of going toe-to-toe with such a massive military force, Saul issued a call to arms to the entire Israelite army, commanding them to gather for battle at Gilgal. But the size of the Philistine army left some Israelite soldiers less than optimistic about their odds for success, and they chose to go AWOL instead.

The men of Israel saw what a tight spot they were in; and because they were hard pressed by the enemy, they tried to hide in caves, thickets, rocks, holes, and cisterns. Some of them crossed the Jordan River and escaped into the land of Gad and Gilead. – 1 Samuel 13:6-7 NLT

Saul was about to face the first great test as the king of Israel. Jonathan had struck the hornet’s nest and things were about to get ugly. At Gilgal, Saul found himself surrounded by a greatly reduced force that was having second thoughts about their prospects of victory over the Philistines. These men, who had helplessly watched as their comrades deserted them, could see the size of the Philistine army and do the math. They knew their chances of victory were slim to none. And Saul was beginning to panic as he awaited the arrival of Samuel.

Saul waited there seven days for Samuel, as Samuel had instructed him earlier, but Samuel still didn’t come. – 1 Samuel 13:8 NLT

Samuel had promised to show up and tell Saul what he was to do. But the prophet was nowhere to be found. This led Saul to take matters into his own hands, a decision that would come back to haunt him.

Saul realized that his troops were rapidly slipping away. So he demanded, “Bring me the burnt offering and the peace offerings!” And Saul sacrificed the burnt offering himself. – 1 Samuel 13:8-9 NLT

This was in direct violation of Samuel’s orders. The prophet had clearly told Saul, “I am coming down to you to offer burnt offerings and to sacrifice peace offerings” (1 Samuel 10:8 ESV). While Saul had replaced Samuel as Israel’s appointed leader, the elderly prophet was still God’s spokesman and functioned much like a priest. It was his responsibility to offer sacrifices to God and to speak on behalf of God. But Saul grew impatient and made a fateful decision that violated the will of God and virtually ended his reign before it had begun.

Just as Saul was wrapping up his ill-timed and unsanctioned sacrifice, Samuel showed up, and he was properly incensed by what he discovered. He demanded an explanation and, like a kid with his hand caught in the cookie jar, Saul began to dissemble and deflect blame.

“I saw my men scattering from me, and you didn’t arrive when you said you would, and the Philistines are at Micmash ready for battle. So I said, ‘The Philistines are ready to march against us at Gilgal, and I haven’t even asked for the Lord’s help!’ So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering myself before you came.” – 1 Samuel 13:11-12 NLT

In essence, Saul blamed Samuel, declaring that the prophet’s late arrival had forced him to take matters into his own hands. How could Samuel expect Saul to go into battle without a word from the Lord? But Samuel wasn’t buying what Saul was selling. He immediately hammered the hapless Saul for his foolish actions and pronounced a devastating punishment that must have left the new king dumbfounded and confused.

“You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you. Had you kept it, the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now your kingdom must end, for the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart. The Lord has already appointed him to be the leader of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command.” – 1 Samuel 13:13-14 NLT

After dropping that bombshell, Samuel departed, leaving Saul alone and with no word from the Lord. He had offered the sacrifices but received no instructions. Rather than do things God’s way, Saul had chosen to operate open-loop and skip the divine protocols. In doing so, he forfeited his relationship with Samuel and lost the backing of God Almighty. His reign was not officially over but, in God’s eyes, it was as good as done. Saul’s abandonment by Samuel was symbolic of his loss of God’s favor. He was still king but would spend the remaining years of his reign operating without the favor and power of God. In a sense, he had become exactly what the people of Israel had wanted: A king who was just like those of every other nation. From this point forward, Saul would be just an ordinary man attempting to lead an ungodly people without the benefit of God’s power or presence.

And when Saul returned to Gibeah, he learned that his abandonment was far worse than he imagined. Not only had he lost Samuel’s presence and access to God’s power, but he had lost the majority of his troops.

When Saul counted the men who were still with him, he found only 600 were left! – 1 Samuel 13:15 NLT

In more ways than one, Saul was alone. His disobedience had proven costly and he would spend the rest of his life paying the price.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Wanted: A Divine Deliverer

22 Now Eli was very old, and he kept hearing all that his sons were doing to all Israel, and how they lay with the women who were serving at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 23 And he said to them, “Why do you do such things? For I hear of your evil dealings from all these people. 24 No, my sons; it is no good report that I hear the people of the Lord spreading abroad. 25 If someone sins against a man, God will mediate for him, but if someone sins against the Lord, who can intercede for him?” But they would not listen to the voice of their father, for it was the will of the Lord to put them to death.

26 Now the boy Samuel continued to grow both in stature and in favor with the Lord and also with man. – 1 Samuel 2:22-26 ESV

It’s interesting to note that this short section is bookended by two verses that provide a stark contrast to the scene going on in and around the Tabernacle. We’ve already been given an unflattering glimpse into the spiritual state of the priestly caste of Israel. Now Samuel records the dysfunctional relationship between Eli and his two wicked sons. These three men represent the spiritual elite of Israel. They were to be the keepers of the flame of faith, instructing the people in the ways of God and helping them maintain a right relationship with Him through the faithful administration of the sacrificial system.

But Hophni and Phinehas were “worthless men” who “did not know the Lord” (1 Samuel 2:12 ESV). Their personal relationships with God were not what He had intended them to be. Rather than faithfully executing their duties as the teachers of God’s statutes and the mediators of His grace-based sacrificial system, these men had become icons for vice rather than virtue.  Yet, despite their flawed faith and penchant for wickedness, “Samuel grew in the presence of the Lord” (Samuel 2:21 ESV). Even while growing up in a less-than-ideal environment with Hophni and Phinehas as his spiritual mentors and advisors, Samuel managed to maintain his faith in God. Verse 26 states that “the boy Samuel continued to grow both in stature and in favor with the Lord and also with man” (1 Samuel 2:26 ESV).

That rather matter-of-fact statement conveys a powerful message about God’s sovereignty and power. That Samuel could experience even a modicum of spiritual growth in an atmosphere of such wickedness is nothing short of a miracle. God was personally overseeing this young boy’s spiritual journey and protecting him from the evil influence of his two older mentors.

It should not be overlooked that Samuel was spending all his waking moments with these two men. Ever since his mother handed him over to Eli in fulfillment of her vow, Samuel had been immersed in a household of moral corruption and parental dysfunction. That is not to say that Eli himself was guilty of the same wickedness as his two sons or complicit in their immoral activities. The text seems to indicate that he was either clueless about their X-rated exploits or had decided to turn a blind eye to all that was going on in his household.

Eli was an old man who had lived a long life and was ready to turn over the priestly responsibilities to his two sons. Yet, he kept hearing rumors about their activities that should have provided him with ample evidence that his sons were unqualified for their roles.

…he would hear about everything that his sons used to do to all the people of Israel and how they used to go to bed with the women who were stationed at the entrance to the tent of meeting. – 1 Samuel 2:22 NLT

It seems obvious from the text that this news disturbed Eli because he confronted his sons about it. As the high priest, he knew they were in direct violation of God’s commands.

“They [the priests] must be set apart as holy to their God and must never bring shame on the name of God. They must be holy, for they are the ones who present the special gifts to the Lord, gifts of food for their God.” – Leviticus 21:6 NLT

“The high priest may marry only a virgin. He may not marry a widow, a woman who is divorced, or a woman who has defiled herself by prostitution. She must be a virgin from his own clan, so that he will not dishonor his descendants among his clan, for I am the Lord who makes him holy.” – Leviticus 21:13-15 NLT

“Tell Aaron and his sons to be very careful with the sacred gifts that the Israelites set apart for me, so they do not bring shame on my holy name. I am the Lord. 3 Give them the following instructions.” – Leviticus 22:2 NLT

Hophni and Phinehas had broken every one of these commands, and Eli knew their actions were worthy of death. God had clearly stipulated the punishment for priestly disobedience.

“The priests must follow my instructions carefully. Otherwise they will be punished for their sin and will die for violating my instructions. I am the Lord who makes them holy.” – Leviticus 22:9 NLT

But rather than mete out God’s justice, Eli took a more passive approach, he tried to reason with his sons. Desperate to see his sons change the error of their ways, Eli pleaded, “Why do you do these things, these evil things that I hear about from all these people?  No, my sons! For the report that I hear circulating among the Lord’s people is not good” (1 Samuel 2:23-24 NLT).

Talk about a gross understatement. Eli doesn’t seem to doubt the rumors about his sons’s activities, but he diminishes the weight of their actions by describing them as “not good.” But he knew better. He even warned his sons that, if even half of what the rumors said was true, God would be forced to act.

“…if a man sins against the Lord, who can intercede for him?” – 1 Samuel 2:25 NLT

To be fair, Eli did warn his sons but he refused to take action. As the high priest, he was obligated to step in and preserve the sanctity of God’s house. His two sons had committed sins against God that were worthy of death but he refused to do the right thing. As a father, he kept hoping they would change their ways. But the text states that they were unwilling to repent.

“But they would not listen to the voice of their father, for it was the will of the Lord to put them to death.” – 1 Samuel 2:25 ESV

That last line is somewhat disconcerting because it paints a rather disturbing picture of God. It conveys the idea that God prevented their repentance because He had preordained their deaths. It is reminiscent of an interaction between Moses and Pharaoh. The Book of Exodus states the following: “But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and just as the LORD had predicted to Moses, Pharaoh refused to listen” (Exodus 9:12 NLT).

God had just brought a plague of debilitating boils on the people of Egypt in an attempt to persuade Pharaoh to release the people of Israel from their enslavement. But Pharaoh refused to comply with God’s command because God had hardened his heart. This is one of several occasions when God is said to have stepped in and prevented Pharaoh from changing his mind. But the fact is that Pharaoh already had a hardened heart and he had demonstrated his obstinance repeatedly. Any chance of Pharaoh changing his mind was completely dependent upon the grace and mercy of God. The only hope Pharaoh had of repenting was if God had softened his already-hardened heart. So, when it states that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, it is best to understand it as a statement of inaction. He refused to intervene and empower Pharaoh to do the right thing. Why? Because God had a plan that included ten plagues and the ultimate release of His enslaved people. 

God had a plan for Hophni and Phinehas as well. Their hearts were wicked and the only chance they had of changing the error of their ways was if God intervened and transformed them from the inside out. But their fate was sealed. They had repeatedly violated God’s commands, desecrated His Tabernacle, and defamed His name. Now they would suffer the consequences.

The sinful actions of Hophni and Phinehas were nothing new. Likely, these men were well into their 50s by the time this story unfolds. So, they were not impulsive young men who lacked understanding or maturity. They were seasoned veterans who had developed a lifelong habit of violating God’s commands, and He had seen enough. It was time to clean house and start again.

That’s why this passage ends with the statement: “Now the boy Samuel continued to grow both in stature and in favor with the Lord and also with man” (1 Samuel 2:26 ESV). God already had a plan in place that included judgment on the house of Eli and the elevation of Samuel to the dual roles of priest and prophet of Israel. All that has happened in the story thus far has been the result of God’s sovereign plan. Despite the unfaithfulness of Hophni and Phinehas and the inaction of Eli, God was faithfully implementing His plan to restore order to the chaos. He was acting, not reacting. He was implementing His plan, not impulsively but strategically.

As the following verses will make clear, God had plans for Eli and his sons. But He also had plans for Samuel and the people of Israel. Long before the need arose, God determined a solution to Israel’s leadership crisis. He miraculously ordained the birth of a baby who would grow to be Israel’s deliverer. Just as He had done with Moses, God would raise up and preserve a man who would serve as His messenger and mediator. In a time when the people of God were desperate for deliverance, God provided a divinely ordained deliverer to do the job.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Light in the Darkness

12 Now the sons of Eli were worthless men. They did not know the Lord. 13 The custom of the priests with the people was that when any man offered sacrifice, the priest's servant would come, while the meat was boiling, with a three-pronged fork in his hand, 14 and he would thrust it into the pan or kettle or cauldron or pot. All that the fork brought up the priest would take for himself. This is what they did at Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there. 15 Moreover, before the fat was burned, the priest's servant would come and say to the man who was sacrificing, “Give meat for the priest to roast, for he will not accept boiled meat from you but only raw.” 16 And if the man said to him, “Let them burn the fat first, and then take as much as you wish,” he would say, “No, you must give it now, and if not, I will take it by force.” 17 Thus the sin of the young men was very great in the sight of the Lord, for the men treated the offering of the Lord with contempt.

18 Samuel was ministering before the Lord, a boy clothed with a linen ephod. 19 And his mother used to make for him a little robe and take it to him each year when she went up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice. 20 Then Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, and say, “May the Lord give you children by this woman for the petition she asked of the Lord.” So then they would return to their home.

21 Indeed the Lord visited Hannah, and she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters. And the boy Samuel grew in the presence of the Lord. – 1 Samuel 2:12-21 ESV

The Old Testament is brutally raw in how it depicts the sinfulness of man. It doesn’t attempt to sugarcoat the facts but presents an uncensored and painfully unflattering portrait of mankind’s moral failings. Even the Jews, having been chosen by God and given His law, couldn't manage to live in faithfulness and obedience to His commands. Their incessant failure to remain faithful to God is chronicled throughout the pages of the Old Testament.

Chapter 1 introduced Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, who served as priests of Yahweh at the Tabernacle in Shiloh (1 Samuel 1:3). These young men were responsible for administering the sacrificial rites associated with the Mosaic Law, and the Book of Leviticus spells out the requirements God placed on their role.

“You must distinguish between what is sacred and what is common, between what is ceremonially unclean and what is clean. And you must teach the Israelites all the decrees that the Lord has given them through Moses.” – Leviticus 10:10-11 NLT

The priests of God were expected to live exemplary lives, modeling righteous behavior and teaching God’s exacting standards to His chosen people. Yet Hophni and Phinehas are described as “scoundrels who had no respect for the Lord or for their duties as priests” (1 Samuel 2:12-13 NLT). This isn’t exactly a glowing job review and its placement immediately after Hannah’s inspiring prayer of gratitude and reverence for God is intentional. 

While Hannah offered praise to God for His power, grace, sovereignty, and mercy, Hophni and Phinehas were busy desecrating His Tabernacle and disobeying His commands. In her song of praise, Hannah unknowingly describes the behavior and fate of these two men.

“He will protect his faithful ones,
    but the wicked will disappear in darkness.
No one will succeed by strength alone.
    Those who fight against the Lord will be shattered.
He thunders against them from heaven;
    the Lord judges throughout the earth.” – 1 Samuel 2:9-10 NLT

Hophni and Phinehas were wicked; they were using their position as priests of God for personal gain and to satisfy their own perverse desires. Samuel’s recollection of these men is far from flattering.

…the sin of these young men was very serious in the Lord’s sight, for they treated the Lord’s offerings with contempt. – 1 Samuel 2:17 ESV

But what had they done to deserve such a damning assessment? The text makes their crime painfully clear. They treated God’s sacrificial system with contempt, using it as a means for personal gain rather than purification from sin. They had come up with a plan that allowed them to profit from their role as priests.

Eli’s sons would send over a servant with a three-pronged fork. While the meat of the sacrificed animal was still boiling, the servant would stick the fork into the pot and demand that whatever it brought up be given to Eli’s sons. – 1 Samuel 2:13-14 NLT

This was in direct violation of God’s commands concerning the sacrifices. According to the Book of Leviticus, God had prescribed which portion of the sacrifice was to be given to the priest.

“…the priest will burn the fat on the altar, but the breast will belong to Aaron and his descendants. Give the right thigh of your peace offering to the priest as a gift. The right thigh must always be given to the priest who offers the blood and the fat of the peace offering. For I have reserved the breast of the special offering and the right thigh of the sacred offering for the priests. It is the permanent right of Aaron and his descendants to share in the peace offerings brought by the people of Israel.” – Leviticus 7:31-34 NLT

But Hophni and Phinehas weren’t satisfied with God’s provision; they wanted more. These two represent everything that is wrong with Israel. As priests of God, they should have lived lives that were set apart to God. Instead, they lived immoral lives marked by greed, corruption, sexual promiscuity, and a total disregard for the laws of God. The text describes them as worthless men who did not know God (1 Samuel 2:12). They were literally "good for nothing." And while they obviously knew who God was, they did not recognize or acknowledge His authority over them. They lived as if they were gods, dictating their own rules and selfishly satisfying their own desires. These men were gluttonous and covetous, unwilling to limit their greed to the consumption of food. They were also guilty of gross immorality, using their status as priests to satisfy their perverse sexual desires, a fact their father knew well.

He knew, for instance, that his sons were seducing the young women who assisted at the entrance of the Tabernacle. – 1 Samuel 2:22 NLT

They had no fear of God, as evidenced by their blatant abuse of the sacrificial system. They used their positions as God's priests for personal gain and pleasure, and their father proved incapable of controlling them.

The story of Hophne and Phinehas reveals how bad things had gotten during the days before Israel had a king; even the priesthood had become corrupt. They were immoral and unfaithful, showing more concern for their own personal pleasure than they did for God and His law. This vivid portrayal of man's sinfulness provides a stark backdrop onto which the coming of the Son of God will be displayed in the New Testament. God will clearly show that man's sin was so great and his need for a source of salvation outside of himself was so necessary, that when Jesus appears on the scene, men should have flocked to His presence, begging Him for salvation from their sins.

It’s important to note that this rather dark and depressing depiction of the sins of Hophni and Phinehas is followed by a faint glimmer of hope. The contemptuous and impetuous sons of Eli are contrasted with the young adolescent Samuel, who has grown to be a young boy in the middle of all this immorality and disobedience.

But Samuel, though he was only a boy, served the Lord. He wore a linen garment like that of a priest. – 1 Samuel 2:18 NLT

The boy served the Lord while the men desecrated His character and defiled His Tabernacle. This young innocent child provides a stark contrast that sets the stage for God’s intervention into the sordid story of Hophni and Phinehas. God’s priests had gone rogue, disobeying His will and defaming the character of His name by their behavior. But God was getting ready to step in and rectify the situation. He had a plan in place and Samuel would be an integral part of it.

It would be easy to demonize Hophne and Phinehas. In our own self-righteousness, we could condemn them for their blatantly sinful behavior and wonder how they could have gone so bad so fast. But as the old saying goes, “But for the grace of God go I.” All of us are capable of the same degree of sins as these two young men. Their story is there to remind us of our own capacity to sin against God.

One of the saddest statements of all of Scripture is the one used to describe them: “They did not know the Lord” (1 Samuel 2:12 ESV). They were sons of the high priest of Israel and served as priests themselves. Yet, they did not know the Lord. This doesn’t mean they had no idea who God was, but that they didn't understand just how serious He was about His commands. They treated God's law flippantly and with disdain. The NET Bible translates verse 12 this way: “They did not recognize the Lord’s authority.” They viewed God's laws as optional, obeying their own sinful desires and passions instead.

That is a risk we all face. When we disobey God we act as if we don't even know Him. As Paul said, “The Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God” (Romans 3:2 ESV), but they failed to obey those oracles. They regularly refused to do what they knew to be the non-negotiable laws of God. And in doing so, they lived no differently than the Gentiles who didn't know God at all. In fact, their guilt was even greater.

But God has raised up a Samuel. He has ordained an unlikely and unexpected alternative to Hophni and Phinehas. This young boy, the byproduct of a miraculous birth, had been dedicated to God’s service and would prove to be a divine ray of hope in the sin-darkened world of his day.

Hannah had dedicated her son to God and, little did she know that God had big plans for him. But her sacrifice was met with grace and mercy, as God provided her with five additional children. Her obedience to God was rewarded with blessings. But the greatest blessing she would ever receive would be the knowledge that her son would become an instrument in the hands of God Almighty. Even from a distance, she would have the joy of watching Samuel grow in God’s grace and become a beacon of light in a world cloaked in darkness 

…the boy Samuel grew in the presence of the Lord. – 1 Samuel 2:21 ESV

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The Only One Who Was Once-For-All

1 “On the first day of the seventh month you shall have a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work. It is a day for you to blow the trumpets, 2 and you shall offer a burnt offering, for a pleasing aroma to the Lord: one bull from the herd, one ram, seven male lambs a year old without blemish; 3 also their grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil, three tenths of an ephah for the bull, two tenths for the ram, 4 and one tenth for each of the seven lambs; 5 with one male goat for a sin offering, to make atonement for you; 6 besides the burnt offering of the new moon, and its grain offering, and the regular burnt offering and its grain offering, and their drink offering, according to the rule for them, for a pleasing aroma, a food offering to the Lord.

7 “On the tenth day of this seventh month you shall have a holy convocation and afflict yourselves. You shall do no work, 8 but you shall offer a burnt offering to the Lord, a pleasing aroma: one bull from the herd, one ram, seven male lambs a year old: see that they are without blemish. 9 And their grain offering shall be of fine flour mixed with oil, three tenths of an ephah for the bull, two tenths for the one ram, 10 a tenth for each of the seven lambs: 11 also one male goat for a sin offering, besides the sin offering of atonement, and the regular burnt offering and its grain offering, and their drink offerings. – Numbers 29:1-11 ESV

Beginning in Numbers 28 and continuing through chapter 29, Moses provides a synopsis of the various public sacrifices the people of Israel were required to make. There was a daily sacrifice of two lambs, as well as a sacrifice of two additional lambs each Sabbath day. On the first day of each month, they were to sacrifice two bulls, one ram, seven lambs, and one goat. Then, during each day of the seven-day-long Feast of Unleavened Bread, they were to sacrifice two bulls, one ram, seven lambs, and one goat. During Pentecost or the Feast of Weeks, they were to offer the same number of sacrifices. On the first day of the seventh month, they were to offer one bull, one ram, seven lambs, and one goat. On the Day of Atonement, the same sacrifices were required. Then for eight straight days during the Feast of Booths, they were to offer their largest number of sacrifices:

Day 1– 13 bulls, 2 rams, 14 lambs, 1 goat
Day 2 – 12 bulls, 2 rams, 14 lambs, 1 goat
Day 3 – 11 bulls, 2 rams, 14 lambs, 1 goat
Day 4 – 10 bulls, 2 rams, 14 lambs, 1 goat
Day 5 – 9 bulls, 2 rams, 14 lambs, 1 goat
Day 6 – 8 bulls, 2 rams, 14 lambs, 1 goat
Day 7 – 7 bulls, 2 rams, 14 lambs, 1 goat
Day 8 – 1 bull, 1 ram, 7 lambs, 1 goat

Every one of the sacrifices was to be made “to the Lord.” They were to be a pleasing aroma to Him and were to be offered as an atonement for their sins so they could maintain a right relationship with Him in the days to come. There were so many sacrifices because of the sheer volume of sins committed among a nation of so many people. There was never an end to the need for the making of sacrifices and the atoning for sins; it was to be a perpetual requirement for the people – UNTIL God instituted a better plan.

There was a day coming when God would send His Son as the ultimate sacrifice for the sins of mankind. He would provide a permanent solution to man's sin problem.

In John 6, we read the words of Jesus stating, “It was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world” (John 6:32-33 ESV).

Under the system that God established for the nation of Israel, the sacrificial animals had to be provided for by the people. They had to offer unblemished animals to God on their own behalf. But in the scenario that Jesus paints, He describes Himself as a sacrifice given by God for the people. Jesus used some very strange language that confused His disciples. He spoke of Himself as the bread of life and said, “This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh” (John 6:50-51 ESV).

His choice of words shocked His hearers.

“How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” – John 6:52 ESV

But rather than clarify His message, Jesus responded with more of the same.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” – John 6:53-54 ESV

Of course, Jesus was not speaking of the literal consumption of His flesh and blood. He was referring to trust and belief in the coming sacrifice of His life on the cross for the sins of mankind. When we take in food, we trust that it will sustain us and supply us with life, In the same way, Jesus was saying that men will be required to “take in” His death on the cross, believing that it alone can provide them with forgiveness of their sins and eternal life.

But Jesus points out that this particular sacrifice was provided for us by God; He did what only He could do. In the book of Hebrews we read, “For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Hebrews 10:1-4 ESV).

Until God sent His Son as a sacrifice for the sins of mankind, the people of God were caught in a cycle of sin and sacrifice. Their best efforts to remain in a right relationship with God were temporary and incomplete. They had to bring their best animals and sacrifice them to God to stave off their own execution for their sins. But in the New Testament, we read of God sacrificing His best to atone for the sins of mankind.

Paul tells us, “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8 ESV). God provided the singular and all-sufficient sacrifice of His Son – for us. In essence, the sacrifice of Jesus should be a “pleasing aroma” to us. This sacrifice was made for our benefit and for our consumption. And not only do we receive forgiveness for sin, but we also gain life – eternal life.

Jesus told His audience, “For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:40 ESV). He was offering a permanent solution to the problem of sin, through His shed blood and crucified body. And yet, the people of His day were more concerned with literal bread and their own sad, temporary lives. They had come to Jesus seeking more food because He had miraculously fed them the evening before. He had filled their stomachs with bread and fish, and they craved more of the same.

When Jesus spoke of bread from heaven that gives life to the world, they responded, “Sire, give us this bread always” (John 6:34 ESV). But they wanted real bread, not the metaphorical or spiritual kind. They were stuck on a temporal, earthly plane, and failed to see that God was providing an offering for them that would do for them what they could never accomplish for themselves.

It amazes me to think that God made a sacrifice on my behalf; He sent His Son to die for me. In the Old Testament sacrificial system, the people had to provide their own sacrifice, and it could only forestall or delay the inevitable reality of death. It could prolong life on this planet, but not provide life for eternity. Their sacrifices were temporal and eventually, ineffective at sustaining life. But God's offering of His Son's body and blood provides everlasting life. Jesus said, “Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever” (John 6:58 ESV).

All I have to do is receive God's offering and believe that it is sufficient to pay for my sins and provide life more abundantly, both now and for eternity. Just as I eat bread and rely on it to sustain me, I must consume the sacrifice of God's Son and allow Him to provide me with life everlasting.

God has made a sacrifice on my behalf by sending His Son to die in my place. No more lambs, goats, bulls, or rams. Jesus offered Himself to God as a pleasing aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, and God offered His Son for me as a permanent solution to my ongoing sin problem. I live because He died. The sacrifice of Jesus by God was done for me, but not because of me. I didn't deserve it. I had not earned that kind of gift. It was while I was in the depths of my own sin and hopelessness that God sent His Son as an offering on my behalf. The Son of God became the Bread of Life so that I might have eternal life.

We have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. – Hebrews 10:10 ESV

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Atonement Comes with a Cost

16 “On the fourteenth day of the first month is the Lord's Passover, 17 and on the fifteenth day of this month is a feast. Seven days shall unleavened bread be eaten. 18 On the first day there shall be a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work, 19 but offer a food offering, a burnt offering to the Lord: two bulls from the herd, one ram, and seven male lambs a year old; see that they are without blemish; 20 also their grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil; three tenths of an ephah shall you offer for a bull, and two tenths for a ram; 21 a tenth shall you offer for each of the seven lambs; 22 also one male goat for a sin offering, to make atonement for you. 23 You shall offer these besides the burnt offering of the morning, which is for a regular burnt offering. 24 In the same way you shall offer daily, for seven days, the food of a food offering, with a pleasing aroma to the Lord. It shall be offered besides the regular burnt offering and its drink offering. 25 And on the seventh day you shall have a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work.

26 “On the day of the firstfruits, when you offer a grain offering of new grain to the Lord at your Feast of Weeks, you shall have a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work, 27 but offer a burnt offering, with a pleasing aroma to the Lord: two bulls from the herd, one ram, seven male lambs a year old; 28 also their grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil, three tenths of an ephah for each bull, two tenths for one ram, 29 a tenth for each of the seven lambs; 30 with one male goat, to make atonement for you. 31 Besides the regular burnt offering and its grain offering, you shall offer them and their drink offering. See that they are without blemish. – Numbers 28:16-31 ESV

The next major event God reminded the Israelites to keep was the annual feast of unleavened bread. It took place in the first month of the year, the month of Nisan (March/April), in conjunction with the celebration of Passover. This week-long feast was the first of seven Jewish feasts or festivals each year, and as part of the celebration, the Israelites were prohibited from eating bread baked with yeast. This was to commemorate their hasty departure from Egypt during the Exodus.

“For seven days the bread you eat must be made without yeast. On the first day of the festival, remove every trace of yeast from your homes. Anyone who eats bread made with yeast during the seven days of the festival will be cut off from the community of Israel. On the first day of the festival and again on the seventh day, all the people must observe an official day for holy assembly. No work of any kind may be done on these days except in the preparation of food.” – Exodus 12:15-16 NLT

God declared that this feast would be celebrated for perpetuity, throughout all generations.

“Celebrate this Festival of Unleavened Bread, for it will remind you that I brought your forces out of the land of Egypt on this very day. This festival will be a permanent law for you; celebrate this day from generation to generation.” – Exodus 12:17 NLT

Now, four decades later, the descendants of those original Israelites who had lived through the first Passover and escaped the judgment of the death angel, were standing on the banks of the Jordan River waiting to enter Canaan. And God wanted them to remember His miraculous deliverance of their forefathers.

Along with the unleavened bread, the Israelites were to present a special offering on the seventh and final day of the festival.

“As a special gift you must present a burnt offering to the Lord—two young bulls, one ram, and seven one-year-old male lambs, all with no defects.” – Numbers 28:19 NLT

First, these unblemished animals were sacrificed, their blood poured out, and then their bodies burned so that they might be a pleasing aroma to God. They served as a symbol or foreshadowing of the sacrifice that Jesus would make on the cross for the sins of mankind. Paul would later write to the believers in Ephesus and encourage them to follow the example of Christ.

Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God. – Ephesians 5:1-2 NLT

The author of Hebrews uses the imagery of the sacrificed animals to point out the superior nature of Christ’s once-for-all sacrifice on the cross for the sins of man.

The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves. The sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship. If they could have provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices would have stopped, for the worshipers would have been purified once for all time, and their feelings of guilt would have disappeared.

But instead, those sacrifices actually reminded them of their sins year after year. For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. That is why, when Christ came into the world, he said to God,

“You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings.
But you have given me a body to offer.
You were not pleased with burnt offerings
or other offerings for sin.
Then I said, ‘Look, I have come to do your will, O God—
as is written about me in the Scriptures.’” – Hebrews 10:1-7 NLT

But while the sacrifices associated with the feast of unleavened bread could not fully alleviate mankind’s sin debt, God still wanted the Israelites to follow His commands to the letter. As the author of Hebrews points out, the sacrifices were meant to remind the Israelites of their sin and their constant need for cleansing.

But there was one offering that was to stand out among them all.

“You must also offer a male goat as a sin offering to purify yourselves and make yourselves right with the Lord.” – Numbers 28:22 NLT

The sacrifice of this animal was intended to provide justification; its death would not only cleanse the Israelites from sin but reestablish their relationship with God. Its death would restore fellowship between sinful humanity and a holy God, and that restored relationship would be essential for the ongoing well-being of the people of God. Without it, they would stand condemned and alienated from a holy and righteous God who is obligated to punish sin.

It was essential that the Israelites follow all the prescribed procedures associated with the seven days of the festival. Nothing could be left out or altered in any way. To do so would jeopardize their relationship with God and that would have devastating results.

The Festival of Harvest, also known as the Feast of Firstfruits, was next on the Jewish calendar. This feast occurred at the beginning of the harvest and was intended to celebrate God’s gracious provision for all their needs. They were commanded to bring the first fruits of their harvest to the Tabernacle and present them as an offering to God, declaring their intention to return to God a portion of what He had given them.

“I have brought you the first portion of the harvest you have given me from the ground.” – Deuteronomy 26: 10 NLT

Then they were to place the produce before the Lord and bow to the ground in worship before Him. This offering was to be followed by a community-wide celebration.

“Afterward you may go and celebrate because of all the good things the Lord your God has given to you and your household.” – Deuteronomy 26:11 NLT

The Feast of Harvests, like the Feast of Unleavened Bread, was also accompanied by the sacrifice of unblemished animals. These flawless creatures would have been of great value as breeding stock, yet the Israelites were to offer them up willingly and gladly as expressions of gratitude to God and as payment for their sins. That’s why God commanded, “Be sure that all the animals you sacrifice have no defects” (Numbers 28:31 NLT). God would not accept damaged goods or allow the Israelites to offer sacrifices that did not cost them something. Their desire for a restored relationship with Him was to be worth the cost and any sacrifice they might have to make. After all, the unblemished yet undeserving animals became substitutes for the sins of the people. They died so the people could live, and, eventually, Jesus would become the final sacrifice for all sin.

Under the old covenant, the priest stands and ministers before the altar day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins. But our High Priest offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then he sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand. There he waits until his enemies are humbled and made a footstool under his feet. For by that one offering he forever made perfect those who are being made holy. – Hebrews 10:11-14 NLT 

Earlier in his letter, the author of Hebrews declared the reality of the Jewish sacrificial system: “For without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness” (Hebrews 9:22 NLT). And Jesus came to shed His blood for the sins of men so that they might receive forgiveness and have their severed relationship with God restored for all eternity.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Our Gracious God

1 Now the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 2 “This is the statute of the law that the Lord has commanded: Tell the people of Israel to bring you a red heifer without defect, in which there is no blemish, and on which a yoke has never come. 3 And you shall give it to Eleazar the priest, and it shall be taken outside the camp and slaughtered before him. 4 And Eleazar the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger, and sprinkle some of its blood toward the front of the tent of meeting seven times. 5 And the heifer shall be burned in his sight. Its skin, its flesh, and its blood, with its dung, shall be burned. 6 And the priest shall take cedarwood and hyssop and scarlet yarn, and throw them into the fire burning the heifer. 7 Then the priest shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp. But the priest shall be unclean until evening. 8 The one who burns the heifer shall wash his clothes in water and bathe his body in water and shall be unclean until evening. 9 And a man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and deposit them outside the camp in a clean place. And they shall be kept for the water for impurity for the congregation of the people of Israel; it is a sin offering. 10 And the one who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening. And this shall be a perpetual statute for the people of Israel, and for the stranger who sojourns among them. – Numbers 19:1-10 ESV

One of the things to keep in mind when reading these verses is the recent judgment that God had enacted upon the people of God. As a result of Korah’s rebellion, nearly 15,000 Israelites died from a plague that God had sent among the people. This large-scale pandemic had left the survivors with a massive clean-up task. The bodies of the fallen had to be gathered and properly buried, which rendered unclean all those who participated in the operation. Having come into contact with the bodies of the dead, these individuals would have been considered defiled and in need of purification, and God had already provided clear instructions regarding the treatment of the unclean.

“Command the people of Israel that they put out of the camp everyone who is leprous or has a discharge and everyone who is unclean through contact with the dead. You shall put out both male and female, putting them outside the camp, that they may not defile their camp, in the midst of which I dwell.” And the people of Israel did so, and put them outside the camp; as the Lord said to Moses, so the people of Israel did. – Numbers 5:2-4 ESV

Due to the sheer number of volunteers necessary to dispose of nearly 15,000 corpses, the Israelites would have needed a tent city to house all those who had become defiled and ceremonially unclean. So, God instituted a new command that would bring a quick resolution to the problem.

“Tell the people of Israel to bring you a red heifer, a perfect animal that has no defects and has never been yoked to a plow. Give it to Eleazar the priest, and it will be taken outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence. Eleazar will take some of its blood on his finger and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the Tabernacle.” – Numbers 19:2-4 NLT

This was to be a corporate endeavor, with the entire congregation participating, whether they were personally unclean or not. They were to choose a red heifer that was free from defects and had never been used to pull a plow. This means it would have been a highly valuable animal in the prime of health; they were not free to bring a maimed or diseased heifer. There was no option to offer an older, less valuable animal or one that was worn out by a lifetime of hard work. This sacrifice was going to cost them something.

The whole point of this ceremony was to protect the holiness of the Tabernacle. The deaths of the rebels would have ended up defiling the entire congregation, and their defilement posed a very real and present danger to the holiness of the Tabernacle itself. But the death of the heifer was not meant for atonement. In other words, its death was not intended to provide cleansing from sin but to purify from defilement.

Notice the detailed instructions God provided for Aaron. First, the animal was to be slaughtered and some of its blood was to be used for purification.

Eleazar will take some of its blood on his finger and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the Tabernacle. – Numbers 19:4 NLT

Eleazar was one of the four sons of Aaron and served as a priest alongside his father and brothers. His job was to supervise the entire process, ensuring that the remains of the heifer were taken outside the camp and burned. As the body was cremated, Eleazar was to add a stick of cedar, a hyssop branch, and some scarlet yarn.

“Cedar wood was not as subject to decay as most other woods and so represented the continuance of life. It was also aromatic when burnt and was probably either the common brown-berried cedar or the Phoenician juniper. Hyssop stood for purification from corruption, and the priests used it to apply blood, as in the Passover ritual. Scarlet wool symbolized the strong vital energy connected with blood (cf. Lev. 14:6). All of these elements combined to signify all that strengthened life. The person in charge added these elements to the heifer ashes as the heifer was burning.” – Thomas L. Constable, Notes on Numbers

The leftover ashes were to be collected and kept in a specific location outside the camp. All those involved in the sacrifice of the heifer were required to go through a special purification process before they could return to the camp. The ashes were to be maintained for the future purification of any who became defiled through contact with the dead; the ashes were to be mixed with water and used as a purifying agent. The death of the innocent and unblemished heifer was required for the cleansing properties of the water to be effective. The ashes mixed with water would provide purification from defilement and restore the guilty to a state of holiness. They could once again enter the camp and enjoy access to the Tabernacle and all the rites associated with it.

While all the imagery in this passage is difficult for us to understand, and the burning of the red heifer seems rather strange to our modern sensibilities, the entire process provides a beautiful illustration of God’s patience, grace, and mercy. Even after all that the Israelites had done to offend Him, God provided a means for the guilty to receive forgiveness and the unclean to be purified from the devastating effects of sin and death. Korah’s rebellion had been a direct attack on God’s sovereignty, and the perpetrators had suffered the ultimate consequence for their efforts: Death. Their actions had not only left the people of Israel with a massive clean-up effort but also the problem of how to deal with a community-wide defilement. Sin always has consequences; it impacts and infects far more than the guilty party. Rectifying the negative ramifications of Korah’s actions was going to take time and would require the efforts of the entire community. But the very one whom Korah and his cohorts had chosen to disobey was the one who graciously provided a path to purification and restoration for the people of Israel. God intervened, yet again.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

A Sufficient Source of Sustenance

20 And the Lord said to Aaron, “You shall have no inheritance in their land, neither shall you have any portion among them. I am your portion and your inheritance among the people of Israel.

21 “To the Levites I have given every tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service that they do, their service in the tent of meeting, 22 so that the people of Israel do not come near the tent of meeting, lest they bear sin and die. 23 But the Levites shall do the service of the tent of meeting, and they shall bear their iniquity. It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations, and among the people of Israel they shall have no inheritance. 24 For the tithe of the people of Israel, which they present as a contribution to the Lord, I have given to the Levites for an inheritance. Therefore I have said of them that they shall have no inheritance among the people of Israel.”

25 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 26 “Moreover, you shall speak and say to the Levites, ‘When you take from the people of Israel the tithe that I have given you from them for your inheritance, then you shall present a contribution from it to the Lord, a tithe of the tithe. 27 And your contribution shall be counted to you as though it were the grain of the threshing floor, and as the fullness of the winepress. 28 So you shall also present a contribution to the Lord from all your tithes, which you receive from the people of Israel. And from it you shall give the Lord's contribution to Aaron the priest. 29 Out of all the gifts to you, you shall present every contribution due to the Lord; from each its best part is to be dedicated.’ 30 Therefore you shall say to them, ‘When you have offered from it the best of it, then the rest shall be counted to the Levites as produce of the threshing floor, and as produce of the winepress. 31 And you may eat it in any place, you and your households, for it is your reward in return for your service in the tent of meeting. 32 And you shall bear no sin by reason of it, when you have contributed the best of it. But you shall not profane the holy things of the people of Israel, lest you die.’” – Numbers 18:20-32 ESV

The tribe of Levi had been set apart by God and assigned responsibility for caring for the Tabernacle and overseeing the elaborate sacrificial system He had ordained for the nation of Israel. Of the 12 tribes of Israel, they were the only ones that would not be given an allotment of land in Canaan. Rather than inheriting a designated area within the land of promise, they would be given 48 cities located within the territorial boundaries of the other tribes.

“Six of the towns you give the Levites will be cities of refuge, where a person who has accidentally killed someone can flee for safety. In addition, give them forty-two other towns. In all, forty-eight towns with the surrounding pastureland will be given to the Levites. These towns will come from the property of the people of Israel. The larger tribes will give more towns to the Levites, while the smaller tribes will give fewer. Each tribe will give property in proportion to the size of its land.” – Numbers 35:6-8 NLT

This meant that members of the tribe of Levi would be distributed among the other tribes of Israel. In a sense, as God’s “holy ”ones, they were to permeate the rest of God’s people and provide a positive spiritual influence on the nation as a whole. In return for their faithful service as priests and caretakers of the Tabernacle, the Levites would enjoy the provision of God.

“You shall have no inheritance in their land, neither shall you have any portion among them. I am your portion and your inheritance among the people of Israel.

“To the Levites I have given every tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service that they do, their service in the tent of meeting…” – Numbers 18:20-21 ESV

God promised to meet all their needs. However, their compensation would not come in the form of agricultural commodities or livestock. They would grow no crops of their own. They would own no flocks or herds. Yet, God would provide for them through means of the sacrificial system. God would graciously share with the Levitical priests the gifts given to Him by the people.

“These are the parts the priests may claim as their share from the cattle, sheep, and goats that the people bring as offerings: the shoulder, the cheeks, and the stomach. You must also give to the priests the first share of the grain, the new wine, the olive oil, and the wool at shearing time. For the Lord your God chose the tribe of Levi out of all your tribes to minister in the Lord’s name forever.” – Deuteronomy 18:3-5 NLT

“God was the unique inheritance to the Levites. He was the focus of their service, the source of their sustenance, and the significance of their calling. Their inheritance included cities, daily food, and a constant vocation, but it did not include the same type of land inheritance given to the other tribes of Israel.” – www.gotquestions.org

In their position as God’s mediators, the Levites played a vital role in protecting the spiritual and physical well-being of the people. They served as guardians of the Tabernacle with the responsibility of preventing any unauthorized individual from attempting to enter the holy place or come in contact with the consecrated items contained within it.

“From now on, no Israelites except priests or Levites may approach the Tabernacle. If they come too near, they will be judged guilty and will die. Only the Levites may serve at the Tabernacle, and they will be held responsible for any offenses against it.” – Numbers 18:22-23 NLT

Failure to do their job would have dire consequences for all involved. So, God stressed to Aaron the serious nature of their role. Holiness was a high priority for God and the Levites were to help the nation of Israel maintain its set-apart status by requiring obedience to His commands

In return, God would provide for all their needs. Yet, the Levites were still expected to contribute a tithe based on His gracious gifts to them. In other words, they were to offer a tithe on the tithe. When the people gave their tithes to God, the Levites would receive a portion as a gracious gift from God. But God expected them to a tithe in return, as a token of their gratitude toward and complete reliance upon Him.

“You must present one-tenth of the tithe received from the Israelites as a sacred offering to the Lord. This is the Lord’s sacred portion, and you must present it to Aaron the priest. Be sure to give to the Lord the best portions of the gifts given to you.” – Numbers 18:28-29 NLT

They were instructed to treat the tithes of the people as if they were the produce they had grown, the flocks they had raised, and the fruits they had cultivated.

“When you present the best part as your offering, it will be considered as though it came from your own threshing floor or winepress.” – Numbers 18:30 NLT

This was intended to create a sense of total dependence upon God. He was to be their sole source of provision and by giving a tenth of what they received back to Him, they would be demonstrating their complete reliance upon His grace and mercy. But God warned them to take this command seriously and obey it religiously. There was no room for debate or differences of opinion.

“You Levites and your families may eat this food anywhere you wish, for it is your compensation for serving in the Tabernacle. You will not be considered guilty for accepting the Lord’s tithes if you give the best portion to the priests. But be careful not to treat the holy gifts of the people of Israel as though they were common. If you do, you will die.” – Numbers 18:31-32 NLT

Disobedience would result in God’s disapproval and, ultimately, the death of the guilty party. If they treated the tithes of the people with disrespect, they would pay with their lives. Those gifts and offerings had been dedicated to God and were to be revered as His possessions. He was graciously sharing with them what was rightfully His. And what He really wanted them to understand was that He was to be their portion. The Hebrew word is חֵלֶק (ḥēleq), and it can be translated as “portion,” “part,” or “territory.”

While they would receive no land as their inheritance, God would serve as their territory. The benefits they would normally expect to receive from land ownership would be provided by God Himself, and He would prove to be a more than sufficient source of sustenance. Yet, His goodness would be directly tied to their obedience.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

God Cares For His Own

8 Then the Lord spoke to Aaron, “Behold, I have given you charge of the contributions made to me, all the consecrated things of the people of Israel. I have given them to you as a portion and to your sons as a perpetual due. 9 This shall be yours of the most holy things, reserved from the fire: every offering of theirs, every grain offering of theirs and every sin offering of theirs and every guilt offering of theirs, which they render to me, shall be most holy to you and to your sons. 10 In a most holy place shall you eat it. Every male may eat it; it is holy to you. 11 This also is yours: the contribution of their gift, all the wave offerings of the people of Israel. I have given them to you, and to your sons and daughters with you, as a perpetual due. Everyone who is clean in your house may eat it. 12 All the best of the oil and all the best of the wine and of the grain, the firstfruits of what they give to the Lord, I give to you. 13 The first ripe fruits of all that is in their land, which they bring to the Lord, shall be yours. Everyone who is clean in your house may eat it. 14 Every devoted thing in Israel shall be yours. 15 Everything that opens the womb of all flesh, whether man or beast, which they offer to the Lord, shall be yours. Nevertheless, the firstborn of man you shall redeem, and the firstborn of unclean animals you shall redeem. 16 And their redemption price (at a month old you shall redeem them) you shall fix at five shekels in silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty gerahs. 17 But the firstborn of a cow, or the firstborn of a sheep, or the firstborn of a goat, you shall not redeem; they are holy. You shall sprinkle their blood on the altar and shall burn their fat as a food offering, with a pleasing aroma to the Lord. 18 But their flesh shall be yours, as the breast that is waved and as the right thigh are yours. 19 All the holy contributions that the people of Israel present to the Lord I give to you, and to your sons and daughters with you, as a perpetual due. It is a covenant of salt forever before the Lord for you and for your offspring with you.” – Numbers 18:8-19 ESV

After having dealt decisively with the rebellious leaders of Israel, God reiterates the priestly duties of Aaron and his sons. Despite the demands of Korah and his dissatisfied co-conspirators, God had not budged one inch. He had not compromised His sovereign will that the priesthood belonged to Aaron and his offspring, and this chapter opened with God reiterating His instructions to Aaron.

Then the Lord said to Aaron: “You, your sons, and your relatives from the tribe of Levi will be held responsible for any offenses related to the sanctuary. But you and your sons alone will be held responsible for violations connected with the priesthood.” – Numbers 18:1 NLT

With the privilege of service in God’s house came the burden of responsibility. God was going to hold Aaron and his sons accountable for any sins the people might commit in conjunction with the Tabernacle or the sacrificial system. Maintaining the holiness of the Tabernacle and every object it contained was up to these men. As His servants and the peoples’ mediators, they were required to follow God’s strict and stringent rules concerning their own moral purity.

God wanted Aaron to consider the priesthood as a gift that should be carefully maintained and painstakingly protected. Purity was essential, and adherence to God’s commands concerning the Tabernacle was to be non-negotiable.

“I am giving you the priesthood as your special privilege of service.” – Numbers 18:7 NLT

This incredible gift of the priesthood came with unparalleled blessings. The amazing thing about serving God is how He graciously blesses His servants. Aaron and his sons would enjoy the fruit of their labors in the form of a “portion of all the most holy offerings—including the grain offerings, sin offerings, and guilt offerings” (Numbers 18:9 NLT). All their dietary needs would be met as they feasted on the gifts given by the people as sacrifices to God.

As part of the requirements for offerings and sacrifices, the people could only bring the best of the best. They had to bring the firstfruits – “the best of the olive oil, new wine, and grain” (Numbers 18:12 NLT). No damaged goods or expired fruit were allowed.

“All the sacred offerings and special offerings presented to me when the Israelites lift them up before the altar also belong to you. I have given them to you and to your sons and daughters as your permanent share. Any member of your family who is ceremonially clean may eat of these offerings.” – Numbers 18:11 NLT

Any gifts given by the people to God would automatically become the property of the priests. Once an offering was made and accepted, a portion of the sacrifice would be reserved for the priests. This included the meal, sin, and trespass offerings. In this way, the priests and their families would always have ample food to eat. As part of God’s plan, the tribe of the Levites would inherit no property within the land of Canaan. While they would be allotted small portions of land within the territories of all the other tribes, their grazing and cultivating land would be limited in size. As a result, the amount of crops they could grow and the number of flocks and herds they could maintain would be restricted. This made them completely dependent upon the gracious provision of God, who would willingly share a portion of the gifts given to Him by the people.

“All the first crops of their land that the people present to the Lord belong to you. Any member of your family who is ceremonially clean may eat this food.” – Numbers 18:13 NLT

They would enjoy the luxury of good food thanks to the goodness of their generous God, and He reminded Aaron of the significance of this arrangement.

“Everything in Israel that is specially set apart for the Lord also belongs to you.” – Numbers 18:14 NLT

God even made provision for the dedication of the firstborn, both human and animal. Technically, every firstborn male child belonged to God. And when that child’s parents dedicated him to God, they could offer a special redemption price to buy his freedom.

“When the firstborn of all living things were offered to God, they became, in part, the property of the priests, God’s representatives. When people or animals were redeemed, the priests received the payment (the redemption price). When a firstborn animal was sacrificed, the priest received a portion. The contributions from all these offerings helped compensate the priests for not being allowed to own land (15-20).” –  Bridgeway Bible Commentary

That redemption price became yet another means by which God provided for the priests of Israel. He would provide a multitude of ways to meet their needs but certain animals were off-limits and intended for God’s use only. They could not be redeemed or paid for.

“However, you may not redeem the firstborn of cattle, sheep, or goats. They are holy and have been set apart for the Lord. Sprinkle their blood on the altar, and burn their fat as a special gift, a pleasing aroma to the Lord.” – Numbers 18:17 NLT

Yet God still allowed His priests to enjoy a portion of the meat from these sacrificial animals.

“The meat of these animals will be yours, just like the breast and right thigh that are presented by lifting them up as a special offering before the altar. Yes, I am giving you all these holy offerings that the people of Israel bring to the Lord. They are for you and your sons and daughters, to be eaten as your permanent share.” – Numbers 18:18-19 NLT

God refers to this arrangement as a covenant of salt. This helps to convey its longevity and perseverance. Salt was a preservative used to prolong the viability of meats, and by declaring His arrangement with the priest in these terms, God was stating His intentions to meet their needs for generations to come. He was faithful and could be relied upon to feed and care for His priests. They had nothing to worry about.

“It is a covenant of salt forever before the Lord for you and for your offspring with you.” – Numbers 18:19 NLT

God cares for His own. He had set the Levites apart and restricted their access to land but they would not suffer any deficiency or lack. God had promised Aaron, “You shall have no inheritance in their land, neither shall you have any portion among them. I am your portion and your inheritance among the people of Israel” (Numbers 18:20 ESV). In a sense, the land was of far less value than the presence and provision of God. As the servants of God, the Levites would find their rest in Him. He would be their provider and sustainer, allowing them to enjoy the bounty of the gifts given to Him by the people. In return for their faithful service, they would experience His constant grace and goodness in the form of meat, grain, wine, and oil.

…the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant, and to stand before the Lord as his ministers, and to pronounce blessings in his name. These are their duties to this day. That is why the Levites have no share of property or possession of land among the other Israelite tribes. The Lord himself is their special possession, as the Lord your God told them.) – Deuteronomy 10:8-9 NLT

As these men faithfully fulfilled the duties assigned to them by God, would discover the joy of the invitation recorded by David in Psalm 34.

Taste and see that the Lord is good.
    Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!
Fear the Lord, you his godly people,
    for those who fear him will have all they need. – Psalm 34:8-9 NLT

Their inheritance was God, who would prove to be of far greater value than any land they could ever own.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Never Forget

1 And the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying, 2 “Let the people of Israel keep the Passover at its appointed time. 3 On the fourteenth day of this month, at twilight, you shall keep it at its appointed time; according to all its statutes and all its rules you shall keep it.” 4 So Moses told the people of Israel that they should keep the Passover. 5 And they kept the Passover in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at twilight, in the wilderness of Sinai; according to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so the people of Israel did. 6 And there were certain men who were unclean through touching a dead body, so that they could not keep the Passover on that day, and they came before Moses and Aaron on that day. 7 And those men said to him, “We are unclean through touching a dead body. Why are we kept from bringing the Lord’s offering at its appointed time among the people of Israel?” 8 And Moses said to them, “Wait, that I may hear what the Lord will command concerning you.”

9 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 10 “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, If any one of you or of your descendants is unclean through touching a dead body, or is on a long journey, he shall still keep the Passover to the Lord. 11 In the second month on the fourteenth day at twilight they shall keep it. They shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. 12 They shall leave none of it until the morning, nor break any of its bones; according to all the statute for the Passover they shall keep it. 13 But if anyone who is clean and is not on a journey fails to keep the Passover, that person shall be cut off from his people because he did not bring the Lord’s offering at its appointed time; that man shall bear his sin. 14 And if a stranger sojourns among you and would keep the Passover to the Lord, according to the statute of the Passover and according to its rule, so shall he do. You shall have one statute, both for the sojourner and for the native.” – Numbers 9:1-14 ESV

The first 14 verses of chapter 9 record God’s call for Israel to celebrate the second annual Passover. A year had passed since He had instituted the original Passover meal that had resulted in the deliverance of the people of Israel from the divine judgment meted out by the Death Angel. Any home where the blood of an unblemished lamb had been spread on the doorpost and lintel had been spared the death of the firstborn (Exodus 12). The sacrifice of the innocent lambs provided protection from the wrath of God. Their lives were offered up in place of the firstborn sons of the Israelites.

God graciously reminded His people to keep this annual festival, knowing that they would naturally tend to forget. Much had transpired since they left Egypt a year earlier and the celebration of that long-forgotten night would have been the last thing on their minds. Yet, God had commanded them to commemorate the Passover every year on the same day from generation to generation.

“This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast.” – Exodus 12:14 ESV

The second-annual Passover was to occur in the first month of the second year after the Exodus. This means it took place a month earlier than the census recorded in chapter 1, which God had instituted “on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt” (Numbers 1:1 ESV). This tells us that the events recorded in Numbers are not necessarily in chronological order.

As per God’s command, the Passover was to be kept “at its appointed time; according to all its statutes and all its rules” (Numbers 9:3 ESV). Nothing was left to chance. They couldn’t skip it or make any changes to it. Everything had to be done in keeping with the requirements spelled out by God on the evening of the first Passover.

“Every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers' houses, a lamb for a household. …Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight.” – Exodus 12:3, 5-6 ESV

As part of the celebration, the people of Israel were required to reenact all the requirements that  God had handed down regarding the Passover, including the sacrifice of the lamb.

“…take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it.” – Exodus 12:7 ESV

While they were living in Egypt, the Israelites had been shepherds (Exodus 9:1-7), so they had ready access to the lambs necessary for obeying God’s commands. Even when they departed Egypt, they did so with “great flocks and herds of livestock” (Exodus 12:38 NLT).  So, they had plenty of resources to obey God’s command and commemorate this annual festival.

Once again, they were not free to twist the rules or skimp on the requirements. The lambs must be without blemish. They couldn’t cut corners by offering a flawed or disfigured animal. That would have made the sacrifice unacceptable to God. Every detail concerning the celebration of the original Passover had been critical and non-negotiable. If they wanted to experience God’s deliverance, the people would have to do everything according to His exacting standards. As the years passed and each successive generation asked, “What does this ceremony mean?,” their parents were to answer, “It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, for he passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt. And though he struck the Egyptians, he spared our families” (Exodus 12:25-27 NLT).

God had graciously spared the Israelites, but they had been required to do everything according to plan. Their obedience was non-optional and non-negotiable and, a year later, that fact remained unchanged.

The Passover was all about God’s mercy and grace. When the Death Angel passed through the land of Canaan, all the firstborns of the flocks and herds were to die, as well as the firstborns of all the households in Egypt. That would have included the Israelites – unless they obeyed God’s command and purified their homes with the blood of the unblemished lamb.

The Passover meal had been ordained for the Israelites alone. God had made it perfectly clear that “no uncircumcised male may ever eat the Passover meal” (Exodus 12:48 NLT). Any foreigner wishing to celebrate that Passover and escape the wrath of God was required to undergo the right of circumcision. 

“If there are foreigners living among you who want to celebrate the Lord’s Passover, let all their males be circumcised. Only then may they celebrate the Passover with you like any native-born Israelite.” – Exodus 12:48 NLT

And a year later, another provision was made for those who were ceremonially unclean.

…some of the men had been ceremonially defiled by touching a dead body, so they could not celebrate the Passover that day. – Numbers 9:6 NLT

Having come into contact with a corpse, they had become defiled and ceremonially impure. As a result, they were unable to celebrate the Passover meal or take part in the rest of the events associated with the festival. So, they made an appeal to Moses.

“We have become ceremonially unclean by touching a dead body. But why should we be prevented from presenting the Lord’s offering at the proper time with the rest of the Israelites?” – Numbers 9:7 NLT

Unsure as to what to do about this unexpected conundrum, Moses sought direction from God, and He responded.

“They must offer the Passover sacrifice one month later, at twilight on the fourteenth day of the second month.” – Numbers 9:11 NLT

This act of leniency would not have been possible a year earlier. Passover took place the very night on which the Death Angel passed through the land. A month’s delay would have resulted in death. But God had already delivered His people and they had escaped His judgment. Now, a year later, He could extend them grace by allowing them to delay their eating of the meal for 30 days; just enough time for them to undergo ceremonial purification and restoration. Once the month-long delay was complete, they were to keep every aspect of God’s command down to the last detail.

“They must follow all the normal regulations concerning the Passover.” – Numbers 9:12 NLT

God was gracious and came up with a provision for their defilement. But anyone who simply neglected to keep the Passover could not expect to enjoy the mercy of God.

“But those who neglect to celebrate the Passover at the regular time, even though they are ceremonially clean and not away on a trip, will be cut off from the community of Israel. If they fail to present the Lord’s offering at the proper time, they will suffer the consequences of their guilt.” – Numbers 9:13 NLT

These individuals were to be treated as ceremonially unclean and cut off from the faith community. Their failure to obey God’s commands concerning the Passover would result in their banishment. There would be no Death Angel passing through the midst of the camp, but they would suffer relational death – a painful removal from their family and friends and, worse yet, from the presence of God.

And God held everyone within the Israelite community to the same exacting standards, whether they were Jews or Gentile converts to Judaism.

“…if foreigners living among you want to celebrate the Passover to the Lord, they must follow these same decrees and regulations. The same laws apply both to native-born Israelites and to the foreigners living among you.” – Numbers 9:14 NLT

Some biblical scholars believe the reference to being “cut off” from the faith community is really a reference to physical death. One of the verses they use to support this interpretation is found in the book of Leviticus.

“All who do not deny themselves that day will be cut off from God’s people. And I will destroy anyone among you who does any work on that day.” – Leviticus 23:29-30 NLT

God commanded that the annual Day of Atonement be treated as a Sabbath day of rest. The people of Israel were prohibited from doing any work from sundown of one day to sundown of the next. If they did, they were to be cut off or destroyed. And those who failed to keep the Passover were also to be “cut off” so that they might “suffer the consequences of their guilt” (Numbers 9:13 NLT).

Whether the separation was merely physical, in terms of removal from the fellowship, or of a more permanent nature, due to death, it is clear that God considered obedience to His commands to be mandatory. His people were to keep His word or face the consequences. God had established the Passover as a memorial, an annual event designed to remind each successive generation of His gracious deliverance. He had protected His chosen people from certain death by providing them with a sacrificial substitute, an unblemished lamb whose life and blood served as a means of atonement. And the annual commemoration of this event was meant to remind them of God’s deliverance. When their children asked for an explanation for this bizarre ritual, the parents were to respond: “It is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses.” (Exodus 12:27 ESV).

For us, the Passover serves as a reminder of the greater sacrifice that God offered on our behalf. He sent His Son to serve as the ultimate Passover Lamb whose blood would deliver from death and provide eternal life. The apostle Paul would remind the believers in Corinth, “Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed for us” (1 Corinthians 5:7 NLT). John the Baptist would describe Jesus as “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29 NLT). According to the apostle Peter, this spotless Lamb of God served as God’s gracious ransom for mankind’s sin debt.

For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. – 1 Peter 1:18-19 NLT

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Giving for God’s Glory

12 He who offered his offering the first day was Nahshon the son of Amminadab, of the tribe of Judah. 13 And his offering was one silver plate whose weight was 130 shekels, one silver basin of 70 shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering; 14 one golden dish of 10 shekels, full of incense; 15 one bull from the herd, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; 16 one male goat for a sin offering; 17 and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Nahshon the son of Amminadab.

18 On the second day Nethanel the son of Zuar, the chief of Issachar, made an offering. 19 He offered for his offering one silver plate whose weight was 130 shekels, one silver basin of 70 shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering; 20 one golden dish of 10 shekels, full of incense; 21 one bull from the herd, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; 22 one male goat for a sin offering; 23 and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Nethanel the son of Zuar.

24 On the third day Eliab the son of Helon, the chief of the people of Zebulun: 25 his offering was one silver plate whose weight was 130 shekels, one silver basin of 70 shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering; 26 one golden dish of 10 shekels, full of incense; 27 one bull from the herd, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; 28 one male goat for a sin offering; 29 and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Eliab the son of Helon.

30 On the fourth day Elizur the son of Shedeur, the chief of the people of Reuben: 31 his offering was one silver plate whose weight was 130 shekels, one silver basin of 70 shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering; 32 one golden dish of 10 shekels, full of incense; 33 one bull from the herd, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; 34 one male goat for a sin offering; 35 and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Elizur the son of Shedeur.

36 On the fifth day Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai, the chief of the people of Simeon: 37 his offering was one silver plate whose weight was 130 shekels, one silver basin of 70 shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering; 38 one golden dish of 10 shekels, full of incense; 39 one bull from the herd, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; 40 one male goat for a sin offering; 41 and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai.

42 On the sixth day Eliasaph the son of Deuel, the chief of the people of Gad: 43 his offering was one silver plate whose weight was 130 shekels, one silver basin of 70 shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering; 44 one golden dish of 10 shekels, full of incense; 45 one bull from the herd, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; 46 one male goat for a sin offering; 47 and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Eliasaph the son of Deuel.

48 On the seventh day Elishama the son of Ammihud, the chief of the people of Ephraim: 49 his offering was one silver plate whose weight was 130 shekels, one silver basin of 70 shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering; 50 one golden dish of 10 shekels, full of incense; 51 one bull from the herd, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; 52 one male goat for a sin offering; 53 and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Elishama the son of Ammihud.

54 On the eighth day Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur, the chief of the people of Manasseh: 55 his offering was one silver plate whose weight was 130 shekels, one silver basin of 70 shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering; 56 one golden dish of 10 shekels, full of incense; 57 one bull from the herd, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; 58 one male goat for a sin offering; 59 and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur.

60 On the ninth day Abidan the son of Gideoni, the chief of the people of Benjamin: 61 his offering was one silver plate whose weight was 130 shekels, one silver basin of 70 shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering; 62 one golden dish of 10 shekels, full of incense; 63 one bull from the herd, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; 64 one male goat for a sin offering; 65 and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Abidan the son of Gideoni.

66 On the tenth day Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai, the chief of the people of Dan: 67 his offering was one silver plate whose weight was 130 shekels, one silver basin of 70 shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering; 68 one golden dish of 10 shekels, full of incense; 69 one bull from the herd, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; 70 one male goat for a sin offering; 71 and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai.

72 On the eleventh day Pagiel the son of Ochran, the chief of the people of Asher: 73 his offering was one silver plate whose weight was 130 shekels, one silver basin of 70 shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering; 74 one golden dish of 10 shekels, full of incense; 75 one bull from the herd, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; 76 one male goat for a sin offering; 77 and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Pagiel the son of Ochran.

78 On the twelfth day Ahira the son of Enan, the chief of the people of Naphtali: 79 his offering was one silver plate whose weight was 130 shekels, one silver basin of 70 shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering; 80 one golden dish of 10 shekels, full of incense; 81 one bull from the herd, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; 82 one male goat for a sin offering; 83 and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Ahira the son of Enan.

84 This was the dedication offering for the altar on the day when it was anointed, from the chiefs of Israel: twelve silver plates, twelve silver basins, twelve golden dishes, 85 each silver plate weighing 130 shekels and each basin 70, all the silver of the vessels 2,400 shekels according to the shekel of the sanctuary, 86 the twelve golden dishes, full of incense, weighing 10 shekels apiece according to the shekel of the sanctuary, all the gold of the dishes being 120 shekels; 87 all the cattle for the burnt offering twelve bulls, twelve rams, twelve male lambs a year old, with their grain offering; and twelve male goats for a sin offering; 88 and all the cattle for the sacrifice of peace offerings twenty-four bulls, the rams sixty, the male goats sixty, the male lambs a year old sixty. This was the dedication offering for the altar after it was anointed.

89 And when Moses went into the tent of meeting to speak with the Lord, he heard the voice speaking to him from above the mercy seat that was on the ark of the testimony, from between the two cherubim; and it spoke to him. – Numbers 7:12-89 ESV

This chapter looks back at a month earlier in the lives of the Israelites when they had just finished the construction of the Tabernacle. At that point, the various tribal leaders brought to Moses what appears to have been an unsolicited, spontaneous gift of six wagons and 12 oxen. The twelve tribes gave these gifts to assist the Levites with the transport of the Tabernacle and all its contents from the wilderness to the Promised Land.

The six wagons and 12 oxen would prove highly beneficial when transporting the large quantities of material associated with the Tabernacle.  The gifts were distributed by Moses to the Levites, but none were given to the Kohathites because they were commanded by God to carry the sacred objects on their shoulders.

In addition to the oxen and carts, each of the tribes presented a variety of offerings that included silver dishes, rams, goats, lambs, and grain. Each tribe offered their gifts in sequential order over a 12-day period of time. The extent of the offerings seems to suggest that they were a collective gift given by the people of each tribe. In a sense, the entire community was joining together to offer their gifts to help in the dedication of God’s new dwelling place. Each tribe gave the same gifts, signifying that no one tribe was greater than any other. But the most significant gift was the very practical one of the oxen and carts that would prove essential in the transport of the Tabernacle from one location to another.

While care of the Tabernacle was to be the sole responsibility of the Levites, the other tribes showed their desire to honor God and His house through their contributions. Their gifts showed forethought and a commitment to solidarity; they were all in this together. As a community, they were all dependent upon the care of the Tabernacle because it served as a guarantee of God’s abiding presence.

In much the same way, we can help support those who have been called by God to serve as ministers or missionaries, by giving them the practical support that will make their task more tolerable. In the book of Ephesians, Paul reminds us that God, “is the one who gave these gifts to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:11-12 NLT).

There are those whom God has called to serve the body of Christ in specific roles that come with heavy responsibilities. It is up to the rest of the faith community to support them and stand beside them as they carry out their duties. Paul wrote to Timothy and gave him the following instructions regarding those men who were appointed as elders of the local church.

Elders who do their work well should be paid well, especially those who work hard at both preaching and teaching. For the Scripture says, “Do not keep an ox from eating as it treads out the grain.’ And in another place, ‘Those who work deserve their pay!” – 1 Timothy 5:17-18 NLT

The unique nature of the gifts given by the 12 tribes provides a powerful lesson in the collective nature of the ministry. It reminds us that God’s people need to see to it that God’s work is always fully funded and supported – for the good of the ministry and the glory of God. The Israelites’ gift of the oxen and wagon was practical and highly utilitarian, but it was an offering to God as much as any other sacrifice associated with the Tabernacle. Sometimes our practical gifts get overlooked and overshadowed by the more impressive “spiritual” gifts of teaching and preaching. But just imagine how difficult it would have been for the Levites to transport all the contents of the Tabernacle had the tribes not been sensitive to God’s leading and given those six carts and 12 oxen.

The family of God is designed to work together in a unified effort to accomplish His divine will. The priests, Levites, Nazirites, and the individual members of each tribe were each to do their part in ensuring that God’s work was accomplished. God’s people should give and serve for the collective good and for God’s glory, and our giving should be practical, powerful, and life-transformational.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Servants and Substitutes

1 These are the generations of Aaron and Moses at the time when the Lord spoke with Moses on Mount Sinai. 2 These are the names of the sons of Aaron: Nadab the firstborn, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. 3 These are the names of the sons of Aaron, the anointed priests, whom he ordained to serve as priests. 4 But Nadab and Abihu died before the Lord when they offered unauthorized fire before the Lord in the wilderness of Sinai, and they had no children. So Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests in the lifetime of Aaron their father.

5 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 6 “Bring the tribe of Levi near, and set them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister to him. 7 They shall keep guard over him and over the whole congregation before the tent of meeting, as they minister at the tabernacle. 8 They shall guard all the furnishings of the tent of meeting, and keep guard over the people of Israel as they minister at the tabernacle. 9 And you shall give the Levites to Aaron and his sons; they are wholly given to him from among the people of Israel. 10 And you shall appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall guard their priesthood. But if any outsider comes near, he shall be put to death.”

11 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 12 “Behold, I have taken the Levites from among the people of Israel instead of every firstborn who opens the womb among the people of Israel. The Levites shall be mine, 13 for all the firstborn are mine. On the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I consecrated for my own all the firstborn in Israel, both of man and of beast. They shall be mine: I am the Lord.” – Numbers 3:1-13 ESV

Having provided Moses with the logistical arrangements of the various tribes around the Tabernacle, God now deals with the one tribe that He seems to have overlooked. The tribe of Levi was not mentioned in chapter two but they would play a significant role in the life of the Israelites and would be distributed equally among the other tribes within the encampment. This one tribe had been chosen by God to serve as caretakers of the Tabernacle but also as instructors of the law, teaching the people to obey the commands of God. They had received this special designation because of the role they played during the golden calf incident at Mount Sinai.

Not long after they arrived at the mountain, Moses left them in the valley while he ascended the mountain to confer with God. He left his brother Aaron in charge, but when Moses failed to return, the people began to pressure Aaron to take over the leadership responsibilities. The first thing they demanded their new leader to do was to make a new version of the God of Mount Sinai. They were unhappy with the thunder-and-lightning-fear-inducing God who occupied the summit of Mount Sinai.

To the Israelites at the foot of the mountain, the glory of the Lord appeared at the summit like a consuming fire. – Exodus 24:17 NLT

The powerful manifestation of God’s presence on Mount Sinai left the people petrified and fearful to draw near. So, when Moses failed to return after 40 days, they demanded that Aaron make them gods that were more like the gods they had worshiped in Egypt.

“Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” – Exodus 32:1 ESV

Aaron gave in to their demands by gathering their gold jewelry and fashioning it into the image of a calf. Then he announced, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord” (Exodus 32:5 ESV). The Hebrew word for “Lord” is Yahweh. Aaron was proclaiming that this calf he had made with his own hands was actually the God who had rescued them from Egypt. He had made a new and improved version of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But Aaron’s actions did not go unnoticed by God.

“Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’” – Exodus 32:7-8 ESV

When Moses descended the mountain with the Ten Commandments in his hands, he witnessed with his own eyes the extent of the people’s wickedness.

Moses saw that Aaron had let the people get completely out of control, much to the amusement of their enemies. So he stood at the entrance to the camp and shouted, “All of you who are on the Lord’s side, come here and join me.” And all the Levites gathered around him. – Exodus 32:25-26 NLT

Moses knew he had to deal with the rebellion in the camp so he called for volunteers to assist him in meting out judgment. His own tribe, the Levites, were the only ones who stepped up to the challenge. Surrounded by his fellow tribesmen, Moses gave them their grim marching orders.

“Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Put your sword on your side each of you, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and each of you kill his brother and his companion and his neighbor.’” – Exodus 32:27 ESV

When the Levites had finished their work, more than 3,000 Israelites lay lifeless on the valley floor. Then Moses made the following announcement to his fellow Levites.

“Today you have been ordained for the service of the Lord, each one at the cost of his son and of his brother, so that he might bestow a blessing upon you this day.” – Exodus 32:29 ESV

It’s interesting to note that God had already planned to have the Levites serve as priests. He had given Moses the following instructions during his 40-day absence.

“Then bring near to you Aaron your brother, and his sons with him, from among the people of Israel, to serve me as priests—Aaron and Aaron's sons, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.” – Exodus 28:1 ESV

Little did the Levites know that their actions during the Golden Calf incident simply confirmed the role to which God had already assigned them. As God’s chosen priesthood, the Levites would also serve as the designated substitutes for the firstborn.

Before the Israelites left Egypt, God ordained the final plague that would ensure their release. He warned the Israelites that on one fateful night, all the firstborn of both animals and men would die unless His instructions were closely followed. He ordered each Israelite to sacrifice a lamb and sprinkle its blood on the doorpost and lintel of their home. This act of faith would ensure that the firstborn living within the walls of that home would be spared. And, as a result of God’s gracious acts of salvation, He claimed all the firstborn males of the Israelites as His own.

"Dedicate to me all the firstborn sons of Israel and every firstborn male animal. They are mine.” – Exodus 13:2 NLT

God had spared the firstborn of the Israelites and, in return, the people were to set apart those individuals to His service. They belonged to God. But things were about to change. God had another plan. He appointed the tribe of Levi to serve as ministers and as priests within the Tabernacle. They were the smallest of the tribes and seemed to hold special favor with God because of their role in the aftermath of the Golden Calf debacle.

The Levites became God’s servants and they served as the peoples' substitute. God still claimed the firstborn as His own. They belonged to Him because He had spared their lives the night the death angel had passed over their homes in the land of Egypt. When Moses numbered all the firstborn males of the tribes of Israel they totaled 22,273. These were probably the number of firstborn males who had been born since they had left Egypt. The total number of Levite males from one month and older were 22,000. God was going to allow the Levites to become substitutes for the firstborn of all the Israelites.

"The Levites will be reserved for me as substitutes for the firstborn sons of Israel; I am the LORD. And the Levites’ livestock are mine as substitutes for the firstborn livestock of the whole nation of Israel.” – Number 3:41 NLT

God could have required all the firstborn males of Israel to maintain and move His Tabernacle. He could have demanded that they serve as His ministers and priests, but instead, He set aside the tribe of Levi for this important duty. And in doing so, He allowed the Levites to serve as surrogates and stand-ins for all the firstborn of Israel.

The Levites were not to be included in the census of fighting men but were to care for the Tabernacle. They were responsible for taking it down when they broke camp and for erecting it when they set up camp again. In doing so, they would be protecting the sons of Israel from death. No one but member of the tribe of Levi was allowed to come near the Tabernacle or touch any of its furnishings (Numbers 1:47-54).

The Levites had been given a heavy responsibility. They were to care for all the things related to the Tabernacle, maintaining them and moving them whenever the Israelites broke camp and relocated. It was a huge task and, because the Tabernacle was God's holy dwelling place, it was to be taken seriously. God seemed to know that if this responsibility had been left up to the people, they would have dropped the ball. The Tabernacle would have fallen into disrepair as they became distracted with their own cares and concerns. So He appointed this task to the Levites. They served as substitutes. They satisfied God's requirement that the firstborn were to belong to Him. They served in the place of those who were rightfully obligated to serve God. The firstborn had been graciously replaced by someone else.

This is a picture of Christ's substitutionary death for each of us. He became our sin substitute. He paid the debt we owed. He took our place. He served in our stead. He satisfied the demands of a holy God and did what none of us were able to do. He made the ultimate sacrifice, which is exactly what the Levites did. They became a sacrifice for the people of Israel. They served and satisfied the demands of God by maintaining and caring for His Tabernacle. They kept the people of Israel from experiencing death by keeping the Tabernacle holy and set apart for God. Their role was vital to the spiritual life of the people of God. They gave so that others might live. Just as Jesus has done for us.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Preserving and Protecting the Gospel

7 You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? 8 This persuasion is not from him who calls you. 9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump. 10 I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view, and the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is. 11 But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed. 12 I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves! – Galatians 5:7-12 ESV

Paul took this issue very seriously. As far as he was concerned, it had little to do with the rite of circumcision itself, but it had everything to do with the integrity of the gospel. God had sent His Son as the one and only means for mankind’s salvation. His sacrificial death on the cross was God’s sole solution to man’s sin problem. God had never intended for the law to save men; it was meant to reveal the extent of God’s righteous expectations and expose mankind’s sinfulness.

The law revealed in a concrete, non-negotiable form the holiness and righteousness that God demanded of His chosen people, the Israelites. It left no grey areas or anything up to man’s imagination. But the Israelites, like all humanity, were sinful and totally incapable of keeping the law, and this proved to be no surprise to God. It had all been part of His divine plan for humanity’s salvation. He had intended all along for His Son to take on human form and live as a man so that He might keep the law and become the sinless substitute and unblemished sacrifice for the sins of mankind.

Through His incarnation, Jesus, the sinless Son of God, was able to do what no man had ever done before; live in perfect obedience to God’s law. This allowed Him to become the sinless sacrifice, the unblemished Lamb who willingly gave up His life as the atoning offering for all those who stood condemned before a holy and just God. Jesus died on behalf of sinful men and women, and His death provided the only means by which they might be restored to a right relationship with God.

Paul wrote to the believers in Rome and reminded them that sin was a universal problem that held all humanity captive and under the condemnation of death.

…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. – Romans 3:23-25 ESV

Jesus paid the debt that humanity owed. He satisfied the just demands of His Heavenly Father by paying in full the penalty that demanded the death of the entire human race. His death made justification with God possible. For the first time in human history, sinful men and women could be restored to a right relationship with God – for all time. As the author of Hebrews makes clear, “God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time” (Hebrews 10:10 NLT).

Under the old covenant of law, the sacrifices for sins were never-ending because they were incapable of irradicating the root problem. 

Under the old covenant, the priest stands and ministers before the altar day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins. – Hebrews 10:11 NLT

Sin was inevitable and unavoidable. The sacrifices were ongoing and perpetual because each new sin required a new sacrifice.

The sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship. If they could have provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices would have stopped, for the worshipers would have been purified once for all time, and their feelings of guilt would have disappeared. – Hebrews 10:1-2 NLT

The author of Hebrews fully supports Paul’s claims concerning the all-sufficient death of Jesus. He points out that the sacrificial system that accompanied the Mosaic Law was incapable of solving man’s ongoing sin problem.

…those sacrifices actually reminded them of their sins year after year. For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. That is why, when Christ came into the world… – Hebrews 10:3-5 NLT

Paul clarifies the difference between Jesus’ atoning sacrifice and those of the countless animals that were offered under the old covenant. He boldly states that when Jesus offered up His life as the payment for the sins of mankind, “by that one offering he forever made perfect those who are being made holy” (Hebrews 10:14 NLT).

That message was sacrosanct to Paul and he considered anything or anyone that interfered with the simplicity of its content to be an enemy and a threat to the cause of Christ. He didn’t suffer false teachers lightly and he refused to tolerate those who preached a different version of God’s gospel. That is why he started this letter to the Galatians with very strong words concerning those who attempted to amend the gospel message.

You are following a different way that pretends to be the Good News but is not the Good News at all. You are being fooled by those who deliberately twist the truth concerning Christ.

Let God’s curse fall on anyone, including us or even an angel from heaven, who preaches a different kind of Good News than the one we preached to you. I say again what we have said before: If anyone preaches any other Good News than the one you welcomed, let that person be cursed. – Galatians 1:6-9 NLT

In today’s passage, Paul commends his readers for running the race well but then accuses them of allowing others to knock them off course. They had accepted Christ by faith and had been living the Christian life in faith, but then had allowed themselves to be steered off course. The Greek word Paul used was ἀνακόπτω (anakoptō) and it refers to something having its progress hindered, held back, or checked in some way.

The Judaizers, who were demanding that the Gentile converts in Galatia be circumcised, were actually hindering them from obeying the truth as found in the gospel. They were adding unnecessary requirements, and Paul made it clear that these new rules were not from God.

This persuasion is not from him who calls you. – Galatians 5:8 ESV

The real danger this kind of teaching posed was that it would soon permeate every aspect of their faith, causing them to walk away from the grace offered by God and back into the legalism of the law. This is what Paul seems to be saying when he writes, “A little leaven leavens the whole lump.” This kind of false teaching would become like cancer spreading through the church in Galatia and robbing them of the freedom they had found in Christ.

But Paul expressed his confidence that the Galatian believers would reject this false teaching and remain faithful to the life of faith. He assured them that, regardless of what others might have said, he was not a proponent of circumcision. Yes, he had encouraged Timothy to be circumcised, but that was a different case altogether. Timothy, a young disciple of Paul’s, had a Jewish mother who had become a believer, but his father was Greek. In the book of Acts we read, “Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek” (Acts 16:3 ESV).

This decision had nothing to do with Timothy’s salvation; Paul was trying to safeguard Timothy’s ministry among the Jews. Paul knew that they would never listen to an uncircumcised Gentile, so he encouraged Timothy to undergo circumcision to make him acceptable to the Jews and provide him a platform to share the gospel with them. Paul had an interesting ministry philosophy that he sums up in his first letter to the believers in Corinth.

Even though I am a free man with no master, I have become a slave to all people to bring many to Christ. When I was with the Jews, I lived like a Jew to bring the Jews to Christ. When I was with those who follow the Jewish law, I too lived under that law. Even though I am not subject to the law, I did this so I could bring to Christ those who are under the law. When I am with the Gentiles who do not follow the Jewish law, I too live apart from that law so I can bring them to Christ. – 1 Corinthians 9:19-21 NLT

It was this mindset that influenced Paul’s decision to have Timothy circumcised. But it seems that the false teachers in Galatia were using this situation with Timothy to portray Paul as a proponent of circumcision. But Paul denies that charge and asks why he is still being persecuted by the Judaizers if they are all on the same page.

…if I were still preaching that you must be circumcised—as some say I do—why am I still being persecuted? – Galatians 5:8 NLT

No, Paul was adamantly opposed to these men and he made his position clear. For him, the very nature of the cross was an offense to the legalists. Jesus’ death had removed any vestige of self-righteousness or the possibility of justification by works. The cross symbolized Jesus’ once-for-all-time payment for the sins of mankind. Nothing more was necessary. But for the legalists who comprised the party of the circumcision, the cross was not enough.

Paul had some particularly harsh words for these deceivers, comparing them to the pagan priests who practiced ritual castration as part of their worship, and he wished that they would do the same to themselves.

I just wish that those troublemakers who want to mutilate you by circumcision would mutilate themselves. – Galatians 5:12 NLT

Paul was not necessarily wishing physical harm on these individuals but was really expressing his desire that they be cut off from the local fellowship of believers. He saw them as a real danger to the spiritual well-being of the church. In his letter to the church in Philippi, Paul had similarly harsh words regarding these men.

Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh. – Philippians 3:2-3 ESV

In our desire to be tolerant, we sometimes run the risk of allowing dangerously false doctrines to infiltrate the church. But when it came to the doctrine of salvation, Paul was anything but tolerant. He refused to accept alternative views or opposing opinions. He would not put up with those who offered a different gospel. For Paul, there was only one means of salvation and it was by faith alone in Christ alone, and if anyone preached a different version of that truth, Paul called them out.

Tolerance is not love. Allowing false gospels to confuse and confound the lost is unacceptable and undefendable. Paul’s primary concern was for the well-being of the body of Christ. He knew there would always be false religions promoting novel ways to gain favor with their particular deities, but he refused to let these messages gain a foothold in the local church. Paul knew that there was only one gospel message and that salvation was available only through faith in Christ. He firmly believed the claims of Jesus and was willing to do everything in his power to preserve them.

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” – John 14:6 ESV

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Walk the Talk

1 Let brotherly love continue. 2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. 3 Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body. 4 Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. 5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” 6 So we can confidently say,

“The Lord is my helper;
    I will not fear;
what can man do to me?” – Hebrews 13:1-6 ESV

The author ended chapter 12 with an exhortation to “be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken” and to “offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:28-29 ESV). The same God who shook the landscape surrounding Mount Sinai and rattled the knees of the Israelites with His divine presence is our God and He has prepared a kingdom for us. So what should be our response? Proper worship, reverence, and awe. And to make it even more practical, in the closing chapter of his letter, the author illustrates what those things look like in everyday life.

Sometimes we’re tempted to make our worship of God an external show for others to see. We confuse worship of God with the intensity of our singing, the verbosity of our prayers, the selflessness of our service, or the generosity of our giving. But sometimes our love for God is best measured by our love for others. Worship of God that does not include love for others is hypocritical and insincere.

So, the author moves from grand descriptions of God as a consuming fire to a plea for brotherly love. “Let brotherly love continue” (Hebrews 13:1 ESV). Love for one another is an indispensable and non-negotiable requirement for anyone who claims to be a lover and worshiper of God.

At one point in His earthly ministry, Jesus was confronted by the Pharisees, who posed to Him what they believed to be a trick question. One of them, a lawyer, asked Him, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” (Matthew 22:36 ESV). His intent was to entrap Jesus. The question he posed was one that the Scribes and Pharisees debated regularly. They had numbered the laws of God and had come up with the staggering sum of 613, which they categorized into two groups, with 248 deemed positive and 365 designated as negative. Then they divided them all into two categories, the “heavy” or more important ones, and the “light” or the less important ones.

In the question they posed to Jesus, they were asking Him to give His opinion as to which of all the laws was the “heaviest.” And Jesus didn’t hesitate in giving His answer.

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” – Matthew 22:37-38 ESV

Love God AND love others. According to Jesus, those two commands encapsulate the entirety of the rest of the law.

So, it is no wonder that the author of Hebrews told his readers, “Let brotherly love continue.” But he took it a step further. “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers” (Hebrews 13:2 ESV). This recalls the parable of the good Samaritan that Jesus told in response to another inquiry from a Pharisee. 

This man approached Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” (Luke 10:25 ESV). In His inimitable way, Jesus responded with a question of His own, asking the man to tell Him what the law said. The Pharisee quickly replied, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”

What Jesus said next must have surprised the learned Pharisee. It was not what he was expecting.

“You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.” – Luke 10:28 ESV

Unsatisfied with Jesus’ answer, the man asked for clarification. “And who is my neighbor?” (Luke 22:29 ESV). That’s when Jesus told the story of the good Samaritan. In it, He described what it truly means to show hospitality and kindness to someone who is a stranger and in need. It involves sacrifice. It requires giving up your rights and a commitment of your resources. The author of Hebrews echoes the sentiment of Jesus’ parable when writes, “Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body” (Hebrews 13:3 ESV).

Our love for God is best expressed by our love for others. The apostle John encourages us to compare the love Christ expressed for us with the way in which we love others.

By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. – 1 John 3:16-18 ESV

Love should permeate all of our relationships, including that between a husband and wife. A couple that truly loves one another, as Christ loved them, will find no place for adultery or immorality in their marriage. They will always want what is best for one another.

Self-obsession or self-love is the greatest detriment to loving others. When we love ourselves too much, we are incapable of loving others. We end up pouring into our relationships in a selfish attempt to get something in return. We give to get, and those relationships quickly become self-serving rather than selfless.

It’s interesting that, in this context, the author warns against the love of money. “Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have” (Hebrews 13:5 ESV). The love of money is self-directed. We love money for what it can do for us. And yet, to properly love others, our money may need to be involved. We may be required to let go of our resources in order to best express our love. It was James who said, “If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?” (James 2:15-16 ESV).

Talk is cheap. Words cannot fill someone’s stomach or make them warm.

The walk of faith is to be future-focused, recognizing that the ultimate promise of God is our glorification and final redemption. We are to live with the end in mind. But our faith walk is also to be God-dependent. We are to spend our days on this earth with a constant recognition that He is our provider and sustainer. That is why the author reminds us to be content because God has promised, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5 ESV).

But not only are we to be future-focused and God-dependent, we are to be other-oriented. We are to live our lives with an outward orientation that puts the needs of others ahead of our own. When we love others, we are loving God. When we lovingly sacrifice for others, it is an act of worship to God. When we give up what we have for the sake of others, we are letting God know that we are dependent upon Him. All that we have comes from Him and is to be used for His glory and the good of others. Our constant attitude is to be, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?” (Hebrews 13:6 ESV).

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

It All Begins With Faith

28 By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them. – Hebrews 11:28 ESV

The author of Hebrews skips over a large section of the biography of Moses, leaping straight from his hasty departure from Egypt after killing another Egyptian to the days just prior to his second departure when he led the entire nation of Israel into the wilderness. The account in Hebrews leaves out large, seemingly significant sections of Moses’ life, including his call at the burning bush, his somewhat reluctant return to Egypt, his encounters with Pharaoh, and the first nine plagues. Yet, all of these events in Moses’ life required faith. From the moment God called Moses in Midian and told him he would be the deliverer of God’s people, Moses had to have faith in the word of God.

When God had appeared to him at the burning bush in Midian, He told Moses:

“I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.” – Exodus 3:7-9 ESV

This would have been good news to Moses. But then he heard the rest of God’s plan.

“Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” – Exodus 3:10 ESV

Moses was reluctant, even resistant to God’s plan. But God told him, “I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain” (Exodus 3:12 ESV). God had given Moses a promise; an assurance that he was the one to do the job. God would be with him and God would bring him and the people of Israel back to the very same spot – Mount Horeb, also known as Mount Sinai. God went on to tell Moses the rest of His plan.

“But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand.  So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all the wonders that I will do in it; after that he will let you go. And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and when you go, you shall not go empty, but each woman shall ask of her neighbor, and any woman who lives in her house, for silver and gold jewelry, and for clothing. You shall put them on your sons and on your daughters. So you shall plunder the Egyptians.” – Exodus 23:19-22 ESV

So Moses eventually obeyed God, and everything went just as God had said.; all the way up to the point to which the author of Hebrews refers in verse 28 of chapter 11. There was going to be one last plague that God would bring to the land of Egypt. And while the first nine had been troubling and even devastating at times, the final plague would be deadly. God warned Pharaoh through His servant Moses.

“Thus says the Lord: ‘About midnight I will go out in the midst of Egypt, and every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the slave girl who is behind the handmill, and all the firstborn of the cattle.’” – Exodus 11:4-5 ESV

While God had protected the people of Israel from most of the other plagues, this one was going to be nationwide and non-discriminatory. All the first-born males throughout the land would die, both man and animal, including the firstborn of the Israelites – unless they followed God’s directions.

On the tenth day of the month, every household was to select a lamb – a one-year-old, unblemished male lamb. They were to “keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight” (Exodus 12:6 ESV). What the Israelites were to do next was not left up to their imaginations or up for debate.

“Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts. And you shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord's Passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.” – Exodus 12:7-13 ESV

The people of Israel were instructed to take the blood of their lambs and sprinkle it on the doorposts and lentils of their homes. This final step was essential for their salvation. God had told them, “For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you” (Exodus 12:23 ESV).

The blood of the innocent lamb would protect them. But this entire process would require both faith and obedience. Of all the plagues, this one hit the closest to home – literally. If the people of Israel failed to follow God’s commands, they would suffer the same fate as the Egyptians. Their protection and preservation required faith and action. And Moses led the way.

He placed his faith in God and did as he was told to do. The whole scenario must have sounded bizarre to Moses. There was no precedent for killing a lamb and sprinkling its blood as a form of protection from death. The sacrificial system had not yet been given. In addition, this would have been a costly command to keep because as shepherds the people of Israel put a high value on their livestock, especially those that were one year old and without blemish. A male lamb would have been prime breeding stock and invaluable to the future value of the flock.

God’s plan would have sounded far-fetched and fairly sketchy to most of the Israelites. They most likely had doubts as to whether it would work. You can imagine their fear and dismay as the “destroyer” passed over the city that night and they heard the cries coming from the homes of all those who had lost a firstborn. They would have wondered if the blood would work. But as the dawn came and they discovered their firstborn alive and well, they were greatly relieved. But what saved them from the pain of death and loss was not the quantity or quality of their faith, but the presence of the blood. The death angel looked for the sign of the blood. It was the blood of the unblemished lamb that saved them, not their faith. It was God who protected them, not their faith. Their faith was simply an instrument through which they expressed their trust in God. Moses and the people had to put their faith in God’s plan of salvation. And when they did, it worked. 

So, the author of Hebrews states that it was Moses’ faith in the word of God that ultimately convinced the people of God to sprinkle the blood on their doorposts and lentils. He believed what God had said, and his faith was influential and infectious. By faith, he obeyed the command of God. By faith, he instructed the people of God. His faith in God was instrumental in saving tens of thousands of firstborn Israelites. By faith, he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood. His faith showed up in action. He took God at His word and took steps to obey God’s word. And his faith in God resulted in the salvation of God’s people. His obedience led the Israelites to do the unimaginable and sprinkle the blood of a lamb on the doorposts of their home. And because they did, they were spared the penalty and pain of death. The death angel “passed over” their homes and their firstborn were allowed to live. And it all began with Moses’ faith in God.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Full Assurance of Faith

19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. – Hebrews 10:19-25 ESV

There should be a proper response when considering all that Jesus accomplished on behalf of sinful humanity. For ten chapters, the author of Hebrews has labored diligently to point out all the ways in which Jesus’ incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension have provided not only a better way for sinful men to be made right with God, but He has made possible the only way.

Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. – Hebrews 5:8-10 ESV

…he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, this securing an eternal redemption. – Hebrews 9:12 ESV

And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. – Hebrews 9:28 ESV

The all-sufficient nature of His sacrifice should produce in the believer the confidence to come into the very presence of God, with “our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water” (Hebrews 10:22 ESV).

At the moment of Jesus’ death, a  number of supernatural events took place that signified the momentous nature of the occasion. In the dark recesses of the Temple the veil between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies was torn in half.

Then Jesus shouted out again, and he released his spirit. At that moment the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. – Matthew 27:50-51 NLT

This elaborate tapestry served as the doorway into God’s presence and was accessible only by the high priest on one day out of the year, on the Day of Atonement. On no other occasion was it permissible for anyone to enter the Holy of Holies. To do so would result in divine judgment and certain death. For the high priest to pass through the veil into God’s presence, he had to obey all of God’s commands concerning personal purification and he had to perform every rite and ritual just as God had prescribed.

But when Jesus died, the veil was ripped in half from top to bottom, signifying that the barrier to God’s presence had been removed. That divine act symbolized what Jesus’ death had accomplished. The veil of separation between man and God had been removed – for all time. Up until that moment, only one man could gain access to God’s presence. But that all changed when Jesus died. The veil was torn, and the barrier to God was removed. It was a visible demonstration of the bold claim that Jesus had made.

“I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.” – John 10:9 ESV)

Those who place their faith in Jesus as their sin substitute can enjoy access to God. As His sheep, they can enter into His presence without fear of death or rejection. Their sins are forgiven and they bear the righteousness of Christ, making them worthy of standing before a holy God.

But this newly available access to God, made possible by the sacrifice of Jesus, should create in us not only a confident assurance but a desire to live in obedience to His will. The author reminds his readers to “consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together” (Hebrews 10:24-25 ESV). They were to continue to pursue righteousness, not in the hopes of gaining God’s approval, but in gratefulness for the fact that they were already approved in His eyes. Their hearts had already been sprinkled clean. Their bodies had been washed with pure water, which allowed them to stand before God as holy and wholly righteous.

The apostle Paul understood the remarkable nature of his new standing before God, made possible by his faith in Jesus. He confidently asserted that his acceptance by God had nothing to do with himself and everything to do with the work of Christ.

…I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith. – Philippians 3:8-9 ESV

His past accomplishments, Hebrew heritage, attempts at keeping the Law, and even his circumcision did nothing to earn him favor with God. It was his faith in the saving work of Jesus. Paul knew that he stood before God as righteous, based solely on what Jesus accomplished on the cross.

But this did not mean that Paul was without sin. He knew he still retained his old sin nature. He was fully aware that he still had the capacity for and propensity to sin. But his sins could no longer keep him apart from God. He had been extended forgiveness. he had been fully acquitted. Paul believed wholeheartedly what the apostle John wrote.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. – 1 John 1:9 ESV

Paul had access to the Holy of Holies, at all times, where he could receive mercy, grace, and forgiveness. He was free from condemnation and no longer had to fear death as the penalty for his sins.

The author of Hebrews wanted his Jewish audience to embrace the good news that Paul proclaimed and personally believed. That is why he told them to “hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:23 ESV).

This is the same thought he expressed back in chapter six.

So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary. – Hebrews 6:18-19 NLT

Earlier in that same chapter, he wrote, “Our great desire is that you will keep on loving others as long as life lasts, in order to make certain that what you hope for will come true. Then you will not become spiritually dull and indifferent. Instead, you will follow the example of those who are going to inherit God’s promises because of their faith and endurance” (Hebrews 6:11-12 NLT).

We must keep our focus on the promise to come. Our hope is to be based on the completed work of Christ. He is coming again. That is why the author tells us, “so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him” (Hebrews 9:28 ESV).

Jesus came, but our hope is based on the fact that He is coming again. And we are to hold fast to that reality. It should provide us with the motivation we need to remain faithful until the end. It should give us the encouragement we need to live obediently and not complacently. The apostle John reminds us, “And now, dear children, remain in fellowship with Christ so that when he returns, you will be full of courage and not shrink back from him in shame. Since we know that Christ is righteous, we also know that all who do what is right are God’s children” (1 John 2:28-29 NLT).

It is our hope in Christ that gives us the help we need to live godly lives as we wait for His return. It is our faith in His return that provides us with the determination to remain faithful till the end. We must hold fast. We must finish strong. We must fight the good fight and finish the race set before us – “for he who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:23 ESV).

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Nothing But the Blood of Jesus

1 For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. 2 Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? 3 But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. 4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

5 Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said,

“Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired,
    but a body have you prepared for me;
6 in burnt offerings and sin offerings
    you have taken no pleasure.
7 Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God,
    as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’”

8 When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), 9 then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second. 10 And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. – Hebrews 10:1-10 ESV

The Law, the Tabernacle, the priesthood, and the sacrificial system associated with Judaism were all just a shadow, a feint outline of something far greater to come. They were a facade and not the real thing. This God-ordained system was intended to be a temporary representation and a daily reminder of man’s need for something better and more lasting. The sacrifices were ongoing and necessarily repetitive because they could never bring full forgiveness of sin. They could not remove the guilt associated with sin. No amount of animal sacrifices would make someone permanently and completely right with God.

In his commentary on Romans, W. H. Griffith Thomas writes, “Someone has well said: ‘The blood of animals cannot cleanse from sin because it is non-moral. The blood of sinning man cannot cleanse because it is immoral. The blood of Christ alone can cleanse because it is moral’” (W. H. Griffith Thomas, Hebrews: A Devotional Commentary).

The blood of animals was insufficient. The blood of men was contaminated by sin. That means that one man could not offer his life as a sin substitute for another. His own sinfulness prevented him from doing so. So, something better was needed.

Quoting from Psalm 40, the author of Hebrews uses the words of King David to express the attitude of Jesus when it came to His role as the sinless Lamb of God.

In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted,
    but you have given me an open ear.
Burnt offering and sin offering
    you have not required.
Then I said, “Behold, I have come;
    in the scroll of the book it is written of me:
I delight to do your will, O my God;
    your law is within my heart.” – Psalm 40:6-8 ESV

Jesus came to do the will of His Father in heaven. The apostle Paul emphasized Jesus’ self-sacrificing obedience in his letter to the believers in Philippi.

…though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. – Philippians 2:6-8 ESV

Jesus died, not as some kind of a martyr, but as “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29 ESV). Jesus was the sinless, unblemished Lamb, whose sacrifice fully satisfied God’s judgment against the rebellion of the human race He had created. And unlike the animal sacrifices that had to be offered year after year, the sacrifice of Jesus was one and done. It was a once and for all time kind of sacrifice that never needed to be repeated.

With Jesus’ sacrifice, no other deaths would be required to satisfy the just demands of God. But to enjoy the benefits of Jesus’ sacrifice, each individual must place their faith in Him as their sin substitute. They must acknowledge their own sin and their need for an all-sufficient Savior. As Peter put it, the unrighteous must recognize their need for a source of righteousness outside of themselves.

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit. – 1 Peter 3:18 ESV

For sinners to take advantage of the righteousness that Jesus offers, they must first confess that their sin prevents them from having a right standing with God. It is their sinful state that separates them from a holy and righteous God and they must accept the sacrifice of Jesus as payment for their sin penalty. There is nothing anyone can do to satisfy or appease God through self-effort or attempts at self-righteousness. Paul would have us remember that man’s sin problem has only one solution.

For God in all his fullness
    was pleased to live in Christ,
and through him God reconciled
    everything to himself.
He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth
    by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.

This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault. – Colossians 1:19-22 NLT

The sad reality is that there are still those who believe their right standing with God is dependent upon their own human effort. They spend their days trying to earn favor with God by attempting to keep some set of rules or engaging in some ritualistic behavior that they believe will assuage the anger of the Almighty. They struggle with the idea that someone else could pay for their sins. They wrestle with the concept of Jesus being the Son of God and sacrificing His life on their behalf. In their misguided attempt to please God with their own lives, they mistakenly view Jesus as nothing more than a role model, a good man who somehow managed to live a relatively sin-free life. And they wrongly assume that they can do what Jesus did. But that is not the message of the gospel.

The apostle Paul makes this clear when he writes, “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8 ESV). He doesn’t say that God shows his love for us when we figure out how to live without sin. No, God loved us in the midst of our sinfulness, and He proved it by sending His Son to die for us. The whole sacrificial system makes no sense if this is not the case. The Law, the sacrifices, the priesthood – none of it makes sense if Jesus was not the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Each of these elements associated with the old covenant was designed to point to Jesus. They provided a faint glimpse of the better covenant to come.

…if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second. – Hebrews 8:7 ESV

Jesus came to do His Father’s will of His Father, and that included His death on the cross. But as the author of Hebrews writes, “and by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews 10:10 ESV). Under the old covenant, it was God’s that men offer up sacrifices, the blood of bulls and goats, in order to atone for their sins. But ultimately, those sacrifices were not enough to satisfy the righteous, holy, and just demands of God. He had given His Law in order to show His chosen people that they were incapable of living righteous lives and obeying His commands. Trapped in a constant state of willful rebellion against God’s covenant commandments, the people of Israel were incapable of changing their sinful behavior. In His mercy and grace, God provided the sacrificial system to provide temporary relief from the guilt and condemnation of sin. Without it, the Israelites could have never enjoyed the experience of a restored fellowship with God. Their sins had to be atoned for so that they could stand in the presence of a holy and righteous God.

But that system was simply a shadow, a glimpse of something far greater to come. Jesus was not simply a man who somehow managed to live a sinless life. He was the Son of God who came in human flesh and lived without sin because He was divine. Because He was born of the Spirit of God, He entered this world without a sin nature. This is what enabled Jesus to live as a human being, suffering all the same temptations we do, yet without ever violating the will of His Heavenly Father.

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. – Hebrews 4:15 ESV

He alone was qualified to serve as the sacrifice for which God was looking. He alone could serve as the payment for the sins of mankind that would satisfy and propitiate God. Nothing else would do. No other sacrifice would work. No amount of human effort, rule-keeping, good works, or so-called deeds of righteousness could appease the wrath of God. Only the sinless sacrifice of the Son of God would do. This is why boldly proclaimed, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6 ESV).

Notice that He did not say, “No one comes to the Father unless they live like me.” He didn’t say, “No one comes to the Father unless they model their lives after me.” No, He said we must access the Father through Him by placing our faith in His work on the cross, not our works on this earth. 

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

He Died So That We Might Live

16 For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. 17 For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive. 18 Therefore not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood. 19 For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, 20 saying, “This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you.” 21 And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship. 22 Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

23 Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. 25 Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, 26 for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, 28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. – Hebrews 9:16-28 ESV

Throughout this section of his letter, the author has been attempting to establish the superiority of Christ’s sacrifice. His death ushered in a new and better covenant. The shedding of His blood was necessary for that new covenant to replace the old one, and the blood that was shed resulted in death. This point is key to understanding the effectual nature of Christ’s sacrifice. The Son of God had to die so that the sins of mankind could be atoned for, and the author uses a clever play on words to make an important point. The Greek word for “covenant” is diathēkē, but it can also be translated as “testament” or “will.” In verse 16, the author states that “where there is a testament (diathēkē), the death of the testator (diatithēmi) must of necessity come in” (Douah-Rheims Bible).

For a will to go into effect, the one who made the will must die. In the same way, for the new covenant to replace the old one, Jesus’ death was “a necessity” (anagkē). Without His death, the promise of atonement, forgiveness of sins, and eternal life would have remained unfulfilled. Had Jesus not sacrificed His life, the old covenant would have remained in effect, leaving mankind with an awareness of sin but with no way to remove the guilt and condemnation that came with it.

The Jewish recipients of this letter were very familiar with blood sacrifices. Before coming to faith in Christ, they had taken part in the sacrificial system of Israel, in which the shedding of blood was an everyday reality. Under the old covenant, blood and death were unavoidable necessities if any Jew wanted to have his sins forgiven and his relationship with God restored.

When Moses dedicated the Tabernacle in the wilderness, he sacrificed unblemished animals and sprinkled their blood on the book of the law, the people, as well as the Tabernacle and its contents. Before the new house of God could be opened and the presence of God could fill the Holy of Holies, everything and everyone associated with it had to be purified. For, as the author reminds his readers, “under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins” (Hebrews 9:22 ESV).

In the same way, the new covenant went into effect when Jesus sacrificed His life and allowed His blood to be poured out as a spiritual offering to God on behalf of sinful humanity. At the final Passover meal He shared with His disciples, Jesus held up a cup of wine and stated, “…this is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice to forgive the sins of many” (Matthew 26:28 NLT).

Just hours later, Jesus would shed His blood on the cross, sacrificing His sinless life on behalf of sinful mankind. And that sacrifice would prove to be better and more effective than any other sacrifice that had ever been given. When Moses inaugurated the Tabernacle, he said, “This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you” (Hebrews 9:20 ESV). And when Jesus had prepared to use His body as the new means of sacrifice and the key to atonement, He said, “…this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:28 NLT).

Both covenants were sealed in blood. But there is a huge difference between the two. The old covenant involved the blood of bulls and goats. The new covenant was based on the blood of the sinless Son of God. He “appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself” (Hebrews 9:26 ESV). Jesus didn’t require an animal sacrifice because He was without sin. He needed no atonement. Instead, His death was vicarious in nature, as He served as a substitute for sinful humanity. He became the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:20).

And His sacrifice was not offered in some Tabernacle made with human hands.

For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. –  Hebrews 9:24 ESV

Under the old covenant, the high priest was allowed to enter the Holy of Holies once a year on the Day of Atonement. After offering sacrifices for his own sins, the high priest could pass through the veil and enter the Most Holy Place where he would sprinkle the blood of a sacrificed bull on the ark of the covenant. He would also sacrifice a goat and sprinkle its blood on the ark of the covenant and the mercy seat “because of the defiling sin and rebellion of the Israelites” (Leviticus 16:16 NLT). Then he would take a second goat and “lay both of his hands on the goat’s head and confess over it all the wickedness, rebellion, and sins of the people of Israel” (Leviticus 16:21 NLT). This symbolic action would “transfer the people’s sins to the head of the goat” (Leviticus 16:21 NLT). That living goat would become the “scapegoat,” bearing the sins of the people and being led into the wilderness where it would inevitably die.

But with His death, Jesus entered into the presence of God. He did something no other sacrifice had been able to do. He died and was brought back to life by the power of God’s Spirit, which signified that His sacrifice had been acceptable by God. Jesus did not cease to exist after death. While His earthly body died and remained in the grave for three days, the Holy Spirit raised that body back to life.

When Jesus appeared to His disciples after His resurrection, they fully recognized Him because He was, in a sense, His old self. His body even carried the holes left by the nails in His hands and feet. The disciples could clearly see the wound from the spear that had pierced His side. Jesus had died but was now alive. And as the author makes clear, Jesus was not going to have to die again. His sacrifice was fully sufficient.

…he did not enter heaven to offer himself again and again, like the high priest here on earth who enters the Most Holy Place year after year with the blood of an animal. If that had been necessary, Christ would have had to die again and again, ever since the world began. – Hebrews 9:25-26 NLT

Paul reminds us of the incredible power that raised Jesus back to life because we have it available to us in the form of the indwelling Holy Spirit. The Spirit’s power not only brought the body of Jesus back to life but it raised Him back to heaven where He sits at the right hand of God the Father.

I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms. Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else—not only in this world but also in the world to come. – Ephesians 1:19-21 NLT

And just as Jesus came the first time in order to die for the sins of mankind, He is coming a second time to complete what He began. We all face the inevitable and inescapable reality of death. But the author of Hebrews gives us the good news regarding the death of those who have accepted Christ as their Savior.

And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment, so also Christ was offered once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people. He will come again, not to deal with our sins, but to bring salvation to all who are eagerly waiting for him. – Hebrews 9:27-28 NLT

Jesus is coming again. And to all those who have placed their faith in His substitutionary sacrifice, He will provide victory over death. They will receive new resurrected and redeemed bodies, free from pain, suffering, and sin. Those living under the old covenant depended on the blood of animals to cleanse them from their sins and any atonement they received was temporary in nature. They lived to sin again. They enjoyed forgiveness for the moment, but would eventually be required to offer another sacrifice. And they had the constant presence of their guilt before them and the fear of death facing them. But because of Jesus’ death, those of us who call Him Savior no longer live with the condemnation of sin or the fear of death. We are forgiven. We have the firm assurance of our promised inheritance. Our future is secure. Because we have placed our hope in a better sacrifice.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The Time of Reformation

1 Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness. 2 For a tent was prepared, the first section, in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of the Presence. It is called the Holy Place. 3 Behind the second curtain was a second section called the Most Holy Place, 4 having the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron’s staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant. 5 Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail.

6 These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties, 7 but into the second only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people. 8 By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing 9 (which is symbolic for the present age). According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, 10 but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation. – Hebrews 9:1-10 ESV

In verse ten of this section of Hebrews, the author makes an interesting statement. He refers to “the time of reformation.” The Greek word he used was diorthōsis and it means “a making straight, restoring to its natural and normal condition something which in some way protrudes or has got out of line, as broken or misshapen limbs” (Greek Lexicon :: G1357 (KJV) Blue Letter Bible).

It could also mean to straighten thoroughly, rectify or restore. Some Bible translations refer to it as the “new order” or the time “when things will be put right.” But it is clear that the author is referring to the new covenant. The old way has been replaced by something new and improved. The author gives a brief description of the old way by listing some of the more important characteristics of the Tabernacle and the worship that took place there. He mentions the Holy Place which contained the golden lampstand and the table of shewbread which held the bread of the presence. He brings up the curtain that separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place, in which there was the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant. He includes a reference to the priests and the high priest, who were responsible for making sacrifices on behalf of themselves and the people. But he can’t help but remind his readers that “according to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper” (Hebrews 9:9 ESV).

The sad reality was that the old covenant could never provide the worshiper with intimate access to God or the assurance that their sin debt was paid in full and their relationship with God was completely restored.

The very fact that the average Jew could not enter the Most Holy Place, but had to rely on the high priest to minister on their behalf, paints a picture of the inadequacy of the old way. It could not make the worshiper fully justified before a holy and righteous God or provide a personal experience of His presence. By these things “the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing” (Hebrews 9:8 ESV). As long as the Tabernacle or the Temple were still in use, the people would never fully experience the joy of access to and intimacy with God. These man-made structures could only emulate or model something greater to come. Even the priests who ministered in the Tabernacle and the Temple “serve in a system of worship that is only a copy, a shadow of the real one in heaven” (Hebrews 8:5 NLT).

Yet, Jesus “ministers in the heavenly Tabernacle, the true place of worship that was built by the Lord and not by human hands” (Hebrews 8:2 NLT). This “heavenly Tabernacle” was what the earthly version was intended to model. It was designed by God and based on the true Tabernacle located in the heavenly realm. But it was made by human hands and required constant purification from the sinful influence of God’s chosen people. In this earthly Tabernacle, access to the Most Holy Place, where the presence of God dwelled over the mercy seat, was highly restricted. Once a year, on the Day of Atonement, the high priest was allowed to pass through the curtain separating the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place. But only after he “offered blood for his own sins and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance” (Hebrews 9:7 NLT).

Even the high priest was restricted from entering God’s presence. There were conditions that had to be met and regulations that had to be obeyed. 

By these regulations the Holy Spirit revealed that the entrance to the Most Holy Place was not freely open as long as the Tabernacle and the system it represented were still in use. – Hebrews 9:8 NLT

It seems that the author is using the separation between the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place as a metaphor for the difference between the earthly Tabernacle and the one that exists in heaven. As long as the Tabernacle or Temple were still in use, the people of Israel would never enjoy access to the true Holy of Holies in heaven, where God Himself dwells alongside His resurrected Son, the Messiah. And as long as the Jewish Christians to whom this book was written continued to harbor thoughts of returning to their former adherence to the law and the sacrificial system, they would be erecting a barrier between themselves and God. The Tabernacle and the Temple were meant to be temporary.

The Tabernacle that the Israelites utilized during their years traveling through the wilderness was eventually replaced by the Temple that Solomon constructed in Jerusalem. But even that glorious structure was eventually destroyed when the Babylonians entered and plundered the city of Jerusalem. More than 70 years later, it was rebuilt by the remnant of Israelites who returned to Judah. But this new Temple was a far cry from the grand architectural wonder that Solomon had built. And it would be centuries later that King Herod instituted his plans to remodel and expand the Temple. It was to this structure that Jesus referred to when speaking with His disciples in the latter days of His earthly life.

John’s gospel records an encounter Jesus had with the Jewish leadership outside Herod’s Temple just after He had chased out the money changers. With the Temple as a backdrop, Jesus boldly declared, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19 ESV). 

Angered and more than a bit confused by Jesus’ statement, the Jews responded, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” (John 2:20 ESV). But John provides insight into the meaning of Jesus’ statement.

But he was speaking about the temple of his body. – John 2:21 ESV

In this brief exchange, we are provided with a glimpse of the “time of reformation” to which the author of Hebrews refers. Jesus was the temple of God through which men would enter into His presence and receive full acquittal for their sentence of death and complete forgiveness for their sins. In other words, they would be made right with God through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. Not only is He the high priest and the sinless sacrifice, but He serves as the Temple of God. He alone can provide access to the Father. This is why, when He breathed His last breath on the cross, something truly significant took place.

At that moment the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, rocks split apart. – Matthew 27:51 NLT

With the death of Jesus, the barrier to God’s presence was removed. His blood provided atonement for the sins of mankind – once and for all. This is why Paul reminds us, “Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come boldly and confidently into God's presence” (Ephesians 3:12 NLT). That is why the author of Hebrews was able to write, “So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most” (Hebrews 4:16 NLT). The veil was torn. The barrier was removed. Access to God was restored. But it was all due to the sacrificial death of Jesus – the sinless Lamb of God, the High Priest of Heaven, and the true earthly Temple in which God’s presence was made available to all men.

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. – Romans 5:1-12 ESV

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The Sinless, All-Sufficient Sacrifice

23 The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, 24 but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. 25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

26 For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. 27 He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself. 28 For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever. – Hebrews 7:23-28 ESV

The sacrificial system of the Jews (and the priests who administered it) was designed to be temporary, not only in its duration but also in its efficaciousness. As the author clarifies in chapter ten, “The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves. The sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship” (Hebrews 10:1 NLT).

And the author explains why those repeated sacrifices were ultimately ineffective. 

For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. – Hebrews 10:4 NLT

He goes on to say that God never really wanted and was never pleased or satisfied by the sacrifices that consisted of the blood of bulls and goats – even though they were required by the law of Moses (Hebrews 10:12). They were intended to be a foreshadowing of something far greater to come. The blood offerings were meant to demonstrate the costliness of sin. This is why the author says, “under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins” (Hebrews 9:22 ESV).

Even the priests who ministered under the old covenant, the covenant of law, were impermanent, hampered by the reality of their own mortality. And as long as they lived, they had to continually offer sacrifices for their own sins before they could come into God’s presence on behalf of the people. Their own susceptibility to sin and vulnerability to death made them less-than-perfect representatives for the people. They couldn’t stop sinning and they couldn’t keep from dying. And eventually, with the destruction of Jerusalem and the captivity of the people in Babylon, the temple would become non-existent and the priesthood, non-essential.

This brings us back to chapter seven, where the author continues to present Jesus as the better high priest. While there were many priests under the old covenant, the new covenant requires only one. Jesus is enough. He is sufficient. And the sacrifice He made was a one-time sacrifice, never needing to be repeated. His offering, which required the shedding of His own blood, completely appeased or propitiated the requirements of a holy God.

He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself. – Hebrews 7:27 ESV

His sacrifice was completely efficacious or effective. It accomplished exactly what was intended, paying the penalty for the sins of mankind and securing a verdict of “not guilty” from the lips of the Judge of the universe.

All the sacrifices under the old covenant were little more than bandaids on a much larger problem. They could not provide the sinner with complete and permanent absolution from sin. That’s they had to be offered repeatedly, year after year. God had given the law to the people of Israel in order to expose their sinfulness and to demonstrate His holiness. As the apostle Paul wrote, “the law itself is holy, and its commands are holy and right and good” (Romans 7:12 NLT). Paul would provide his young protégé, Timothy, with the following explanation of the law and its purpose.

We know that the law is good when used correctly. For the law was not intended for people who do what is right. It is for people who are lawless and rebellious, who are ungodly and sinful, who consider nothing sacred and defile what is holy, who kill their father or mother or commit other murders. The law is for people who are sexually immoral, or who practice homosexuality, or are slave traders, liars, promise breakers, or who do anything else that contradicts the wholesome teaching that comes from the glorious Good News entrusted to me by our blessed God. – 1 Timothy 1:8-11 NLT

Jesus came to change all that. With His death, burial, and resurrection, He inaugurated a new covenant that would be available to all – not just the nation of Israel.

In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” – 1 Corinthians 11:25 ESV

And this new covenant, made possible by the shedding of His blood, provided all of humanity with a remedy to the lingering problem of sin and the dark shadow of condemnation and death that came with it.

When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned. Yes, people sinned even before the law was given. But it was not counted as sin because there was not yet any law to break. Still, everyone died—from the time of Adam to the time of Moses—even those who did not disobey an explicit commandment of God, as Adam did. Now Adam is a symbol, a representation of Christ, who was yet to come. But there is a great difference between Adam’s sin and God’s gracious gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of forgiveness to many through this other man, Jesus Christ. – Romans 5:12-15 NLT

With His sacrificial death, Jesus paid the penalty for sin – once and for all. And because He was sinless, He made the perfect sacrifice. His sinlessness meant that He needed to offer no sacrifice on His own behalf. And rather than offering the life of a bull or goat to pay for the sins of mankind, Jesus sacrificed His own life. He became both the priest and the offering. He gave His life so that we might live and never die.

Peter tells us, “Christ suffered for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but he died for sinners to bring you safely home to God. He suffered physical death, but he was raised to life in the Spirit” (1 Peter 3:18 NLT).

The bulls, goats, and lambs that were sacrificed on behalf of the people of Israel died permanent deaths. But Jesus died, only to be raised again to life by the power of the Spirit of God. Paul reminds us, “Yet now he [God] has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault” (Colossians 1:22 NLT).

Jesus is the better high priest. He has accomplished what no other priest before Him could have ever hoped to do. He has reconciled sinful men to a righteous, holy God. He made possible the unbroken fellowship between a sinless God and sinful people. There would be no more need for anyone to try and earn their way into God’s good graces. No more striving to keep the law in an attempt to keep God satisfied.

Therefore he is able, once and forever, to save those who come to God through him. – Hebrews 7:25 NLT).

But there’s the rub. We have to come to God through Him. It has to be based on His efforts, not our own. Salvation is the result of the work of Christ, not our human effort. As Jesus told Thomas, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me” (John 14:6 NLT).

Jesus is our high priest. He has offered Himself as the perfect, sinless sacrifice. He has paid the debt we owed. And as John so clearly reminds us, “We also know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know the true God. We are in union with the one who is true, his Son Jesus the Messiah, who is the true God and eternal life” (1 John 5:20 ISV).

We need no other priest. God requires no other sacrifice. There is no debt still owed. Jesus has taken care of our sin problem, once and for all.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Our Forever High Priest

1 For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, 2 and to him Abraham apportioned a tenth part of everything. He is first, by translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace. 3 He is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever.

4 See how great this man was to whom Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth of the spoils! 5 And those descendants of Levi who receive the priestly office have a commandment in the law to take tithes from the people, that is, from their brothers, though these also are descended from Abraham. 6 But this man who does not have his descent from them received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. 7 It is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior. 8 In the one case tithes are received by mortal men, but in the other case, by one of whom it is testified that he lives. 9 One might even say that Levi himself, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, 10 for he was still in the loins of his ancestor when Melchizedek met him. – Hebrews 7:1-10 ESV

The Mosaic Law, the temple, and the sacrificial system were all central to the practice of Judaism, and the Levitical priesthood played an indispensable role in it all. They were the teachers of the Law, the caretakers of the Temple, and the mediators between God and man when it came to the sacrificial rites. So, the Jews placed a high priority on these men and viewed them as the God-ordained keepers of their faith system.

That is why the author begins this lengthy section of his letter with another comparison between Jesus and Melchizedek, the “king of Salem, priest of the Most High God” (Hebrews 7:1 ESV). His first mention of this somewhat obscure and enigmatic man came back in chapter five, where he designated Jesus to be “a high priest after the order of Melchizedek” (Hebrews 5:9-10 ESV). But this is not the first time the author has portrayed Jesus as a high priest. All the way back in chapter two, he described Jesus as “a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God” (Hebrews 2:17 ESV).

In chapter four, he continued to promote the high priestly role of Jesus.

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. – Hebrews 4:14-15 ESV

The author wanted his readers to understand that Jesus was and is a high priest. The Jewish Christians to whom he wrote held the priesthood in high esteem; especially the role of high priest. And some of these converts to Christianity were considering a return to their former way of life as strict adherents to the Law which would place them back under the authority of the priesthood. So, the author goes out of his way to portray Jesus as superior to any human high priest, including a descendant of Aaron, the first high priest, or even Melchizedek.

He points out that Jesus was not a descendant of Aaron, the brother of Moses whom God ordained as the original high priest. Jesus’ priesthood was not of an earthly order. His was a divine priesthood, commissioned by God. He was the Savior of the world, the Messiah sent from God to act as King and usher in a new Kingdom. But He was also a priest who offered up a better sacrifice for the sins of men. His priesthood was not based on an earthly, human genealogy, but a heavenly one. That is why the author compares Jesus with Melchizedek.

There is no record of his father or mother or any of his ancestors—no beginning or end to his life. He remains a priest forever, resembling the Son of God. – Hebrews 7:3 NLT

The Scriptures provide no genealogy for this king-priest. He just appears out of nowhere in the biblical text and then disappears from the scene. It is almost as if he had “no beginning or end to his life.” But this lack of a genealogical record was intended to foreshadow the coming of Jesus, the true King of Salem (Jerusalem) and the High Priest of God.

On one of the many occasions when Jesus found Himself confronted by the Pharisees, He asked them, “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?” (Matthew 22:42 NLT). They replied, “He is the son of David” (Matthew 22:42 NLT). Then quoting from Psalm 110, Jesus replies, “Then why does David, speaking under the inspiration of the Spirit, call the Messiah ‘my Lord’? For David said, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, Sit in the place of honor at my right hand until I humble your enemies beneath your feet.’ Since David called the Messiah ‘my Lord,’ how can the Messiah be his son?” (Matthew 22:43-45 NLT). His point was that He was the Son of God. Yes, He was an earthly descendant of David, but His kingship was of a different sort than that of David. He was to be the King of kings and the Lord of lords. And in that very same Psalm of David, it reads:

The LORD said to my Lord,
    “Sit in the place of honor at my right hand
until I humble your enemies,
    making them a footstool under your feet.”

The LORD will extend your powerful kingdom from Jerusalem;
you will rule over your enemies.
When you go to war,
your people will serve you willingly.
You are arrayed in holy garments,
and your strength will be renewed each day like the morning dew.

The LORD has taken an oath and will not break his vow:
    “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.” – Psalm 110:1-4 NLT

This Psalm, written by David under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, was actually a prophecy concerning the coming Messiah. It was a divine foreshadowing of the coming of Jesus, outlining His God-ordained role as both king and priest.

The author used this reference from a Psalm of David and weaved it into his lengthy narrative concerning the story of Abraham and Melchizedek, all in order to prove the superiority of Jesus as both king and priest. In the story, found in the book of Genesis, Melchizedek blessed Abraham and Abraham offered a tenth of all his spoils in return. Melchizedek was a king and a priest, and as such, he was Abraham’s superior. The real point seems to be that the descendants of Abraham would eventually offer tithes to God through the Levites, their own brothers. That’s why the author writes, “those descendants of Levi who receive the priestly office have a commandment in the law to take tithes from the people, that is, from their brothers, though these also are descended from Abraham” (Hebrews 7:5 ESV).

When Abraham offered his tithe to Melchizedek, the tribe of Levi did not yet exist. So in a sense, the author says, Levi and his sons offered a tithe to Melchizedek through their forefather, Abraham. The whole issue here is one of superiority. Jesus, as a high priest of the order of Melchizedek, is superior to any earthly high priest. Abraham was blessed by Melchizedek; the inferior was blessed by the superior. And we are blessed by Jesus. We are blessed by the King of peace and righteousness. And it is interesting to note that Melchizedek blessed Abraham for no apparent reason. If you read the story in Genesis 14, it says that the kings of Shinar, Ellasar, Elam, and Goiim made war with the kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Bela.

Melchizedek, the king of Salem, is not even mentioned. He had no dog in this hunt. When the battle took place “the enemy took all the possessions of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their provisions, and went their way. They also took Lot, the son of Abram’s brother, who was dwelling in Sodom, and his possessions and went their way” (Genesis 14:11-12 ESV). Abraham stepped in and defeated the kings of Shinar, Ellasar, Elam, and Goiim, rescuing Lot and taking a great deal of plunder. And that’s when Melchizedek shows up on the scene. His country of Salem had not been attacked and yet he seeks out Abraham and blesses him. Abraham had not done anything to deserve Melchizedek’s blessing. He had not rescued any of his citizens. He had not returned any of Melchizedek’s spoil. The king of righteousness and peace blessed Abraham.

Those of us who are in Christ have been blessed by the King. And that blessing had nothing to do with any merit on our part. We have done nothing to earn His blessing. When Melchizedek blessed Abraham, he said, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High,  Creator of heaven and earth. And blessed be God Most High, who has defeated your enemies for you” (Genesis 14:19-20 NLT). And the blessing we have received is similar. We have been given victory over sin and death by God through the sacrificial death of His Son. We have been blessed by God through the Son of God.

Even though Jesus was God’s Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered. In this way, God qualified him as a perfect High Priest, and he became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey him. And God designated him to be a High Priest in the order of Melchizedek. – Hebrews 5:8-10 NLT

We have been given perfect righteousness through Christ. And we now enjoy peace with God, having been made right in His eyes because of the substitutionary death of His Son.

The Jewish Christians who were the original recipients of this letter needed to decide whether they were going to return to their former religious system and rely on an earthly priesthood or whether they were going to place their hope in the high priesthood of Jesus. A human high priest could only offer temporary atonement for sin. But Jesus, with His death on the cross, provided a once-for-all-time payment for the sins of man. He was the superior high priest and offered a better sacrifice.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.