Christ Our Great High Priest [Leviticus 16]

¹Now the LORD spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they had approached the presence of the LORD and died.  ²The LORD said to Moses: "Tell your brother Aaron that he shall not enter at any time into the holy place inside the veil, before the mercy seat which is on the ark, or he will die; for I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat. ³"Aaron shall enter the holy place with this: with a bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. ⁴"He shall put on the holy linen tunic, and the linen undergarments shall be next to his body, and he shall be girded with the linen sash and attired with the linen turban (these are holy garments) Then he shall bathe his body in water and put them on. ⁵"He shall take from the congregation of the sons of Israel two male goats for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering.

 ⁶"Then Aaron shall offer the bull for the sin offering which is for himself, that he may make atonement for himself and for his household.

This chapter has some very specific instructions for the high priest and how to enter the "holy place inside the veil, before the mercy seat" one time each year to "make atonement for himself and for his household and for all the assembly of Israel." v. 17 As I was reading this I got the sense of how extremely important these instructions were in order to be in the presence of the holy God, who is so other than us.  Again I am struck that God laid it all out so carefully because He desired to have this communion with His people. 

I didn't write a devotional blog for the last two chapters partly because of time restraint but mostly because of my attitude.  I was getting tired of reading all the details that God took the time to lay out.  I found myself not caring because it didn't apply to me.  I was loosing the big picture that God painted in the Old Testament.  I thought the details weren't important because I don't have to worry about what to do if my leather couch gets a spot on it in terms of my relationship with God. 

Thankfully, today I repented of my me-centered attitude and asked God to change my mind and show me His big picture again.  He ministered to my heart from Hebrews and how many times the author reminded us that Jesus is our High Priest.  I was reminded that I can begin to appreciate the "once and for all"  that Christ did that took care of each of these details.  Because of Christ He now calls ME to come with confidence to His throne of grace.  To come in my need.  To receive His mercy and His grace. (Heb 4:16)  Can I begin to understand the fullness of this privilege?  Not without reading Leviticus.  

Thank You, LORD, for Your commitment to be in relationship with Your people.  Thank You for including me as one of Your people because Christ became my High Priest.  Thank You that the law was always pointing to Christ.  It has and always will be our tutor to bring us to salvation in Christ.