The Son who left His Father’s side in the Incarnation, and who is now at the right hand of His Father, has sprinkled clean our consciences and poured out His Spirit upon our lives, to set us apart as His holy priesthood. Christ cleanses you. Now baptism saves you, beloved.

All of Leviticus applies to the believer today, just not in exactly the way it did to the Israelite in the Old Testament. The priesthood is fundamental to the life of the believer in both OT and NT. Jesus is our High Priest, and we are a kingdom of priests, a holy priesthood, called out of darkness to proclaim the excellencies of Christ.

In Leviticus 8 we witness the ordination of Aaron, the first Levitical high priest, and of his sons by Moses the mediator serving in God’s earthly house/Tabernacle (Hebrews 3). One commentator opens his commentary on Leviticus 8 thus: This ordination is “nothing short of breathtaking in its scope and in its gospel meaning” (Milton, Approaching God, 61). If you read Leviticus 8, could you come to that conclusion? May it be so! In this chapter, we come to the very first ordination and installation service, the moment that all future Levitical priests of Israel would turn to as their own origin story as priests in God’s world. We have ordination and installation services from time to time in our local churches, and the idea behind these services is the same as here: to set apart men for a particular office/service in the church. In this brief series, I want us to consider some of Jesus Christ’s priestly gifts to his people.

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