Priesthood Numbers 18 Part 1

Numbers 18:1 "And the Lord said unto Aaron. Thou and thy sons and thy father's house with thee shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary, and thou and thy sons with thee shall bear the iniquity of your priesthood."

One writer uses the word 'responsibility' as a meaning of iniquity in this case. I think it means that if things go well or things do not go well, Aaron and his house take the credit or blame.

As you read the chapter, you will see that Aaron and his family are responsible for the holy place while the rest of the Levites are responsible for areas outside the holies. v7 explains.

The separation of the people from the most holy place is obvious in this division of tasks. It is for their protection. The people have rebelled and murmured and are sinful. It is not appropriate that sin be brought into the presence of a holy God. So the priest will present the sacrifices and offerings before the Lord.

This ended when Christ became our high priest and he made us priest so that we might 'come boldly before the throne of grace'. We can do this only because Christ blood was shed for our sins and we can therefore stand blameless before God.

It is important to try to understand the priesthood established in the Old Testament books. One by one the commandments were given and the people instructed. Yet from Adam they have a sin nature within them which continually prompts them to do wrong and rebel. They could not just wonder around in the tabernacle and into the most holy place where God met the priest. No one can come before a holy God with sin accountable to them.

This is the conflict that Christ eliminated for the believer. The Lord desired to dwell with his people but because of sin there had to be a veil between Him and them. When Christ died for sin, the veil was rent and we may approach God because of the death of his Son. The new priesthood was established at Calvary.

V22 "Neither must the children of Israel henceforth come nigh the tabernacle of the congregation, lest they bear sin, and die."

Mark 15:37-38 "And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost. And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom."

Hebrews 8:1 Now of the things which we have spoken, this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens: v2 A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man."

Psalm 121 "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help."

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