Schoolmaster to Christ
LEVITICUS CHAPTERS 21-22
Schoolmaster to Christ
LEVITICUS CHAPTERS 21-22
Scripture Reading: Leviticus 21-22 (KJV)
With great minuteness of detail, these chapters unfold God's requirements regarding those who were privileged to draw near as priests to "offer the bread of their God." In this, as in the preceding section, we have conduct as the result, not the procuring cause of the relationship. This we need to keep in mind. The sons of Aaron were priests unto God by virtue of birth; and all stood in this relationship, one as well as another. It was not a matter of attainment, a question of progress, or something one had and another did not. All the sons of Aaron were priests. They were born into a priestly place. Their capacity to understand and enjoy the position and its privileges was something different altogether. One might be a babe; another might reach the point of mature and vigorous manhood. Though the former would be unable to eat of the priestly food, being a babe for whom "milk" and not "strong meat" was adapted, still, he was as truly a member of the priestly house as the man who could tread the courts of the Lord's house, and feed on "the wave breast" and "heave shoulder" of the sacrifice.
In the case of the sons of Aaron this distinction is easily understood, and serves to illustrate the truth regarding members of the true priestly house over which our Great High Priest presides, and to which all true believers belong (Heb. 3:6). Every child of God is a priest; enrolled as a member of Christ's priestly house. He may be ignorant; but his position as a priest is not founded on knowledge, but on life. His experience may be shallow; but his place as a priest does not depend on experience, but on life. His capacity may be limited; but his relationship as a priest does not rest on an enlarged capacity, but on life. When he was "born again", he was born into the position and relationship of a priest. He did not work himself into that position. In other words, it was not by any efforts of his own that he became a priest. He became a priest by birth. The spiritual priesthood, with all its spiritual functions, is the necessary appendage to spiritual birth. The capacity to enjoy the privileges, as well as discharging the functions of a position, is confined within the position itself. They must ever be kept distinct. Relationship is one thing; capacity is quite another.
Furthermore, concerning the family of Aaron, nothing could break the relationship between him and his sons. There were many things that could interfere with the full enjoyment of the privileges attached to the relationship. A son of Aaron might "defile himself by the dead." He might defile himself by forming an unholy alliance. He might have some bodily "blemish." He might be "blind or lame." He might be "a dwarf." Any of these things would have materially interfered with his enjoyment of the privileges, and discharge of the functions pertaining to his relationship, as we read, "No man that hath a blemish of the seed of Aaron the priest shall come nigh to offer the offerings of the Lord made by fire: he hath a blemish: he shall not come nigh to offer the bread of his God. He shall eat the bread of his God, both of the most holy and the holy; only he shall not go in unto the veil, nor come nigh unto the altar, because he hath a blemish; that he profane not my sanctuaries: for I the Lord do sanctify them" (Lev. 21:21-23).
But none of these things could touch the fact of a relationship founded on the established principles of human nature. Though a dwarf be a son of Aaron, he would still be Aaron's son. True, as a dwarf he was not a recipient of many precious privileges and lofty dignities pertaining to the priesthood; but he was still a son of Aaron. In other words, he could not enjoy the same measure or character of communion, nor could he discharge the same elevated functions of priestly service; but he was still a member of the priestly house, and, as such, permitted to "eat the bread of his God." The relationship was genuine, though the development was defective.
The spiritual application of all this is as simple as it is practical. To be a child of God is one thing; to be in the enjoyment of priestly communion and priestly worship is quite another. Many things interfere with the later. Circumstances and associations act on us by defiling influence. All Christians do not enjoy the same elevation of walk, the same intimacy of fellowship, the same nearness to Christ. Many of us mourn over our spiritual defects. There is lameness of walk, defective vision, stunted growth; or we show ourselves to be defiled by contact with evil, and weakened and hindered by unhallowed associations. In other words, even though sons of Aaron were priests by birth, nevertheless, they could be deprived of many privileges as a result of ceremonial defilement and physical defects. In this same way, though priests unto God by spiritual birth, we can be deprived of many of the high and holy privileges of our position by moral defilement and spiritual defects; and many of our dignities are lost through defective spiritual development. We lack singleness of eye, spiritual vigor, and whole-hearted devotedness. We are saved through God's grace, on the ground of Christ's perfect sacrifice – on the basis of faith in the faith of Jesus Christ. "We are all the children of God, by faith in Christ Jesus;" but salvation is one thing; communion is another. Sonship is one thing; obedience is another.
These things need to be carefully distinguished. The chapters before us illustrate the distinction with great force and clearness. If one of the sons of Aaron happened to be "broken-footed, or broken-handed," was he deprived of sonship? Was he deprived of his priestly position? No; it was distinctly declared, "He shall eat the bread of his God, both of the most holy and of the holy." Then what did he lose by his physical blemish? He was forbidden to tread on some of the higher walks of priestly service and worship. "Only he shall not go in unto the veil, nor come nigh unto the altar." These were serious privations; and though one might object, suggesting that a man could not help having such physical defects. However, that did not alter the matter. Jehovah could not have a blemished priest at His altar, or a blemished sacrifice offered. Both the priest and the sacrifice should be perfect. "No man that hath a blemish of the seed of Aaron the priest shall come nigh to offer the offerings of the Lord made by fire" (Lev. 21:22). "But whatsoever hath a blemish, that shall ye not offer; for it shall not be acceptable for you" (Lev. 22:20).
In the Person of our blessed Lord Jesus Christ, we have both the perfect priest and the perfect sacrifice. Having "offered himself without spot to God," He passed into the heavens as our great High Priest – where He eternally lives to make intercession for us. The Epistle to the Hebrews dwells elaborately on these two points. It throws into vivid contrast the sacrifice and priesthood of the Mosaic system and the Sacrifice and Priesthood of Christ. In Him we have divine perfectness, whether as the Victim or as the Priest. We have all that God requires, and all that man needs. His precious blood put away all our sins; and His all-prevailing intercession eternally maintains us in all the perfectness of the place into which His blood has introduced us. "We are complete in him" (Col. 2); and yet, we are feeble and faltering; full of failure and infirmity; prone to err and stumble; so much so that we could not stand were it not that "He ever lives to make intercession for us." Since we have considered these things in earlier chapters, we will not enter further on them here. Those who have spiritually sound apprehensions of the foundational truths of Christianity, who have a measure of experience in the Christian life, will understand how it is that, though "complete in him who is the head of all principality and power," they nevertheless need, while living amid the infirmities, conflicts, and buffetings of earth, the powerful advocacy of their High Priest. The believer is "washed, sanctified, and justified" (1 Cor. 6) – "accepted in the beloved" (Eph. 1:6). Death and judgment are behind him, because he is united to Christ who has passed through them both on his behalf and in his stead. All these things are divinely true of the weakest, most unlettered, and inexperienced member of the family of God. However, because we carry with us a nature that is so incorrigibly bad and irremediably ruined that no discipline can correct it and no medicine can cure it; because in us is the tenant of sin and death; because we are surrounded on all sides by hostile influences; and because we perpetually cope with the combined forces of the world, the flesh, and the devil; we could never keep our ground, much less make progress, were we not upheld by the all-prevailing intercession of our great High Priest, who bears the names of His people on His breast and on His shoulder.
Some have found great difficulty in reconciling the idea of the believer's perfect standing in Christ with the need of priesthood. "If," it is argued, "he is perfect, what need has he of a priest?" The two things are as distinctly taught in the Word as they are compatible one with another. It is important to clearly and accurately apprehend the perfect harmony between these two points. The true believer is perfect in Christ; but, in himself, he is a poor feeble creature, always liable to fall. Thus, the unspeakable blessing of having One who can manage his affairs at the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens; One who upholds him continually by the right hand of His righteousness; One who will never let him go; One who is able to save to the uttermost; One who is "the same yesterday, today, and for ever"; One who will bear him triumphantly through all difficulties and dangers; and, finally, "present him faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy." Blessed forever be the grace that has made such ample provision for all our need in the blood of a Spotless Victim and the intercession of a divine High Priest – Jesus Christ.
Blessed God, please help us walk so that we may "keep ourselves unspotted from the world"; so that we may stand apart from all unhallowed associations; so that we may enjoy the highest privileges and discharge the most elevated functions of our position as members of the priestly house of which Christ is the Head. We have "boldness to enter into the holiest, through the blood of Jesus" – "we have a great High Priest over the house of God" (Heb. 10). Nothing can rob us of these privileges. But, our communion may be marred; our worship may be hindered; and our holy functions may remain undischarged. Those ceremonial matters, against which the sons of Aaron were warned in the chapters before us, have their antitypes in the Christian economy. As they were warned against unholy contact; so are we. As they were warned against unholy alliance; so are we. They were warned against all manner of ceremonial uncleanness, as we are warned against "all filthiness of the flesh and spirit" (1 Cor. 7). As they were deprived of many priestly privileges by bodily blemish and imperfect natural growth; so are we by moral blemish and imperfect spiritual growth.
Who among us would venture to call in question the practical importance of such principles? Is it not obvious that the more highly we estimate the blessings attached to that priestly house into which we have been made members by virtue of our spiritual birth, the more carefully we will guard against everything that might tend to rob our enjoyment? This is what renders the close study of these chapters so pre-eminently practical. May we come to feel its power and enjoy our priestly place. Only then will we be able to faithfully discharge our priestly functions. We will be able "to present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God" (Rom. 12:1) – able to "offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name" (Heb. 13:15). As members of the "spiritual house" and the "holy priesthood," we will be able to "offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ" (1 Pet. 2:5). In some small degree, we will be able to anticipate that blissful time when, from a redeemed creation, the hallelujahs of intelligent and fervent praise will ascend to the throne of God and the Lamb throughout the everlasting ages.
