Exodus 29

The tabernacle was a wonderful place of God's presence. The furnishings and garments that God told Moses to make were full of meaning. They were objects of beauty that testified to the Lord's glory. God designed them, Moses could speak of them, and gifted men would make them.

Far more glorious is a man. God knits a baby together in his mother's womb. Even that little child can also be a tabernacle for the the Holy Spirit. One person is more wonderful than the most glorious temples that people can build.

Our destiny is to be priests to God and to one another. Filled with the Holy Spirit, we will offer up ourselves to God and serve one another with joyful hearts and perfected bodies. We are priests now, but we are imperfect. Jesus the Messiah came as the perfect Priest. In Him we are perfect priests.

God prepared His people for this priestly role in part through His instructions concerning the sons of Aaron. In the Old Testament system of worship they had a special role as priests before God. They were to be set apart from their fellow Israelites for this holy office through ceremonies of consecration that God gave to Moses. But Christ was set apart for His office as our representative from eternity past, and through the key events of His earthly and heavenly consecration. When the fullness of time came, He was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of His mother Mary. At just the right moment, when He identified with those who would repent and believe, He was baptized with water by John, and the Holy Spirit came upon Him in the form of a dove. When His time came to die for our sins, He offered up Himself as an acceptable sacrifice. But it was especially in His resurrection and ascension that He took His place as our eternal heavenly representative. Now He always lives to intercede for us. He is our High Priest.

The sons of Aaron were not consecrated that way. They were set apart in ceremonies involving the signs of preparation; the blood of animals, the water for ceremonial washing, the holy garments for their apparel, the anointing oil poured upon their heads by Moses. Jesus was set apart by God Himself for His eternal resurrection priesthood.

Aaron and his sons were also to be priests forever. But these men would die. We needed a priest who would not be prevented by death from continuing in His holy office.

By the Law of Moses, the priests were involved in a symbolic ministry of atonement. Dealing with sin always required the shedding of blood. The Old Testament priests were set apart apart for that preparatory ministry by the blood of bulls and rams. But Jesus dealt with sin by His own blood.

In the days of Aaron, the blood of animals sanctified the altar and the priests. That blood did not have the power to work inner sanctification. But we have been cleansed through and through by the blood of Christ.

As part of the ordination ritual, the fat of the sacrifice would be burned on the altar before the Lord. How much more satisfying to God is the righteousness of Christ that supplied for us all the holiness that the Lord required. Even now that righteousness is powerfully at work in us so that we can serve the Lord as we walk in the Spirit of Jesus.

He is the whole-burnt offering that ascends to the Father with our names on His hands. He is the sin offering that has done away with all our filth outside the camp. We live now as priests in Him, sanctified by His blood. We have been cleansed by the washing of water with the Word. We have been touched in our hearts by the holy oil of His Spirit.

Now we eat the bread and drink the cup that assure us of the peace we have with God through Him. These simple tokens of the body and blood of our Savior are better than all the holy bread of the centuries of ritual among the descendants of Aaron. Christ is our present reality. We gather together as a priesthood of believers to worship Him, and we move out as the priesthood of His faithful ones to serve Him all over the earth. In Him, we are a living offering to the Father. We serve and praise God with hands that help and heal. And we that know that we are one in Him who died for us and who rose from the grave. We are in Him even now in heaven.

For centuries, the descendants of Aaron had certain privileges. There was special food only them. They wore garments that only they could wear. They had been ordained to do tasks that only they could perform. Now the people of God have graduated beyond the days of preparation.

In Christ, we have not only been declared holy, we have been and will be fully healed by the touch of His hand. He is the altar that makes us holy. He is our continuous righteousness and forgiveness. There is no need for Him to repeat the cross ever again.

Because of this power, we offer up our bodies day by day as living sacrifices. We do not have to feel that something is missing just because there is no longer a daily sacrifice offered up by the sons of Aaron in Jerusalem. The power of the death of Christ is forever. Now we have a Messiah who has won for us a perpetual priesthood of the holiest love and service to God and one another.

In Jesus and His worldwide church the tabernacle of God has become a person. This Jesus is not only the Messiah for Jew and Gentile; He is the Lord our God. He brought us out of the bondage of sin. We will dwell with Him forever.