Exodus 29:15-2015Thou shalt also take one ram; and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands upon the head of the ram. 16And thou shalt slay the ram, and thou shalt take his blood, and sprinkle it round about upon the altar. 17And thou shalt cut the ram in pieces, and wash the inwards of him, and his legs, and put them unto his pieces, and unto his head. 18And thou shalt burn the whole ram upon the altar: it is a burnt offering unto the Lord: it is a sweet savor, an offering made by fire unto the Lord. 19And thou shalt take the other ram; and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands upon the head of the ram. 20Then shalt thou kill the ram, and take of his blood, and put it upon the tip of the right ear of Aaron, and upon the tip of the right ear of his sons, and upon the thumb of their right hand, and upon the great toe of their right foot, and sprinkle the blood upon the altar round about. (Exodus 29:15‑20)
There were two rams offered at Aaron and his sons’ consecration. The first one was a burnt offering. Perhaps some of our young readers might wonder what we mean by a burnt offering. There were several different kinds of offerings and each one had a typical meaning of its own. The burnt offering tells us of how Christ’s work on the cross was most pleasing to God His Father. Even if no one were saved at all, God was glorified about the sin question in the very world where His name had been so dishonored.
Aaron and his sons must put their hands on the head of the ram, but not this time to transfer their guilt to it, but rather to make their own, or take to themselves, the value of the sacrifice. In this Ave sec that the believer is brought into a place of favor and acceptance “in Christ.” We stand before God in all the value of His work which has, as it were, been transferred to us.
Then, after the rain had been killed and its blood sprinkled upon the altar, it was cut in pieces and all its inward parts were washed in water. This reminds us again of how the Lord Jesus ever walked according to the Word (the water) and then “offered Himself without spot to God.” Hebrews 9:1414How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (Hebrews 9:14). Then the whole ram, every part of it, was offered on the brazen altar, just as every part of the Lord Jesus’ work was a sweet savor to the heart of God.
The next ram was the ram of consecration. It is most interesting. for it brings before us the devoted obedience of Christ even unto death. It was like the ram which Abraham found caught in the thicket by its horns—the strength of the animal was caught. And so the Lord Jesus was so devoted in His love to His Father and to us, His redeemed people, that nothing could turn Him back—He was obedient unto death.
Aaron and his sons were to put their hands on the head of this ram too. Just as with the first ram they were identified with the value of the sacrifice, so with this ram of consecration they were to be devoted in their service to Jehovah. For us this would speak of the devotedness that should characterize our lives as we realize that we belong to Christ. His love should ever constrain us.
When this animal was killed its blood was taken and put on the right ear of Aaron and his sons as well as on the thumb of their right hand and on the great toe of their right foot. Aaron, as we have noticed before, is a type of Christ, and so he had been anointed with oil first. We see in this that the Lord Jesus’ life, which was ever by the power of the Spirit of God (the oil), was one of perfect obedience. His ear was ever open to hear His Father’s voice, his hands were ever ready to do the Father’s will, and His feet were always found in the path the Father had marked out for Him, even though that path meant that He must “resist to blood.”
With Aaron’s sons it was different. The blood must be applied before the oil, and so we learn in this that we must first be under the shelter of the precious blood of Christ before our ears or hands or feet can be used acceptably in service to God. But now we have been cleansed in This blood. may we be ready to “present our bodies a living sacrifice” in return for such wondrous love.
ML 03/12/1950