“Now this is what you shall do to them to consecrate them, that they may serve me as priests. Take one bull of the herd and two rams without blemish, and unleavened bread, unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers smeared with oil… Thus you shall do to Aaron and to his sons, according to all that I have commanded you. Through seven days shall you ordain them, and every day you shall offer a bull as a sin offering for atonement. Also you shall purify the altar, when you make atonement for it, and shall anoint it to consecrate it. Seven days you shall make atonement for the altar and consecrate it, and the altar shall be most holy. Whatever touches the altar shall become holy.” (v1-2,35-37)
The bulk of the chapter (v1-37) describes the process through which Aaron and his sons are to be consecrated to God as priests, and the process of consecrating the altar in the tabernacle’s courtyard. Through this process (which involves a great deal of sacrificial blood) both the priests and the altar will become holy in God’s eyes, and will be deemed fit for His service. If you’re not squeamish, feel free to read the details for yourself (the process is graphic).
“Now this is what you shall offer on the altar: two lambs a year old day by day regularly. It shall be a regular burnt offering throughout your generations at the entrance of the tent of meeting before the Lord, where I will meet with you, to speak to you there. There I will meet with the people of Israel, and it shall be sanctified by my glory. I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar. Aaron also and his sons I will consecrate to serve me as priests. I will dwell among the people of Israel and will be their God. 46 And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt that I might dwell among them. I am the Lord their God.” (v38,42-46)
This final passage, which more-or-less summarizes the consecration rituals and daily offering, has one major takeaway I’ll highlight: despite all of the processes and rituals God gives the people to perform, He says that “sanctification comes through His glory”. It’s important we catch that – only God’s glory sanctifies. No matter what we do, God’s glory sanctifies. Yes, I repeated that on purpose because even I have sometimes been caught up in rituals and practices (kind of like the Pharisees) thinking that if I simply follow God’s commandments I will be made righteous in God’s eyes – which is untrue. God sanctifies us, we cannot sanctify ourselves.
God does require an action in order for Him to sanctify us – it’s called obedience. No matter the process or path He lays before us, all we have to do is obey, and leave the sanctification/consecration to Him. Since we are tainted by sin, we are incapable of making something holy – only someone holy (God) can make something holy. The Pharisees seemed to miss this point, and sometimes I do too. This is why we have verses like “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Eph 2:8-9) “nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified.” (Gal 2:16)
Father God, we praise you for Your work of grace in our lives. Thank you for making us acceptable in Your eyes through the blood sacrifice of Jesus. We recognize that we could not make ourselves holy, though we still wish to obey You as a symbol of the consecration and sanctification that only You could provide. All glory, honor and praise be to You, O Lord God Almighty, who justifies us through our faith and cleanses us of all unrighteousness through Christ Jesus. Amen.
~Conqueror in Training