EXODUS 29
35 “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, 36 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. 37 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.38 “Now this is what you shall offer on the altar: two lambs a year old day by day regularly. 39 One lamb you shall offer in the morning, and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight. 40 And with the first lamb a tenth measure of fine flour mingled with a fourth of a hin of beaten oil, and a fourth of a hin of wine for a drink offering. 41 The other lamb you shall offer at twilight, and shall offer with it a grain offering and its drink offering, as in the morning, for a pleasing aroma, a food offering to the Lord. 42 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. 43 There I will meet with the people of Israel, and it shall be sanctified by my glory. 44 I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar. Aaron also and his sons I will consecrate to serve me as priests. 45 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. – Exodus 29:35-46
EXODUS 29 SIN OFFERING FOR ATONEMENT
Atonement is a process by which people remove hindrances to their reconciliation with the Lord. The word “atone” means “to cover.” When we sin, we cannot be in the presence of God. Leviticus 19:2 says “speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.” The detailed process by which Aaron had to go through before he can represent the people before a holy God is atonement. By consecrating Aaron and his sons and the tent of meeting and the altar, it is a way that God cleanses them so that he can meet with them. It was important for the people to know their place and who God is. Aaron represented them and so Aaron needed to be purified so that he is the intermediary between God and the Israelites. The offering of the lamb foreshadows the atonement that Jesus did for us so that our sins could be forgiven and we are going to have a clean slate if we believe in Christ.
REFLECTION
- How is the lamb of God the perfect atonement for our sins?
