Leviticus 8:12-1712And he poured of the anointing oil upon Aaron's head, and anointed him, to sanctify him. 13And Moses brought Aaron's sons, and put coats upon them, and girded them with girdles, and put bonnets upon them; as the Lord commanded Moses. 14And he brought the bullock for the sin offering: and Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the bullock for the sin offering. 15And he slew it; and Moses took the blood, and put it upon the horns of the altar round about with his finger, and purified the altar, and poured the blood at the bottom of the altar, and sanctified it, to make reconciliation upon it. 16And he took all the fat that was upon the inwards, and the caul above the liver, and the two kidneys, and their fat, and Moses burned it upon the altar. 17But the bullock, and his hide, his flesh, and his dung, he burnt with fire without the camp; as the Lord commanded Moses. (Leviticus 8:12‑17)
Since we have such a Great High Priest who ever lives to make intercession for us, why should we try to bear our burdens alone? Rather let us tell the Lord all about our difficulties and trials and ask Him to help us. We can come to Him at any hour of the day or night. We can come to Him at home in our room, or at school, or at work — in every time of need — and our hearts can just send up a swift prayer to the throne of grace, knowing that we have a Great High Priest who knows all about us and who has trodden the path Himself, sin apart. Nothing is too small or too great for us to whisper into His loving ear, and His loving heart is always ready to supply the needed grace. How many a sin we would be kept from, if we always remembered to do this!
Our Advocate
But if we are not watchful and forget to ask for the needed help from above, then sin comes in, for we cannot walk in our own strength. What are we to do then? How good to know that the same One who is our Great High Priest to keep us from sinning, is our Advocate when we have sinned. We can come and confess the sin to Him, telling Him the whole story, and judging not only the sin itself but the carelessness, the pride, or the stubbornness that caused it. Yes, we must own the whole thing to the Lord in order to be restored. Happy fellowship between our souls and God is broken by even the smallest sin, but it is restored the moment we confess it. We do not have to leave it to the end of the day, but we can lift up our hearts at once and be restored right where we are. To leave it until the end of the day often only leads to further sin.
Aaron’s Sons
After Aaron had been anointed and sanctified, then his sons were brought to Moses and clothed in coats, girdles and bonnets. As we have remarked before, Aaron’s sons typify believers, and so, having been washed all over by the Word and pronounced “Clean every whit” (John 13:1010Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all. (John 13:10)), we now have a robe of righteousness which we are to display in a practical way, like these linen coats of Aaron’s sons. Then, too, our natural desires and our thoughts are to be brought into accordance with this practical righteousness, like their girdles and bonnets. These things are most necessary for us if we are to enjoy our position as priests.
Accepted in Him
A bullock was taken for a sin offering, and Aaron and his sons placed their hands upon its head. Then it was killed. We know that the Lord Jesus made our guilt His own in those three hours of darkness on Calvary, dying in our guilty place in order that we might be brought into a place of favor and acceptance. We are now “in Christ’’ before God through His finished work. Aaron’s sons are therefore brought in here, for now we are associated with Christ and accepted in Him. We are reminded in this sin offering of the awfulness of sin and that nothing but the precious blood of Christ, of whom the bullock was a type, could put it away. Then, too, its body was burned outside the camp, while the fat was burned upon the altar of burnt offering. Oh how awful is the judgment of sin, for even the body of this animal was burned in an outside place. So our blessed Saviour suffered outside the gate as our sin-bearer. Nevertheless the fat was burned on the altar, and so we know that the Father found His infinite delight in Jesus, and never more so than when He was bearing our sins in those dark hours on Calvary.
For Further Meditation
1. What does the linen coat of Aaron’s sons represent?
2. Why doesn’t the Lord condemn believers when they sin? Does He simply ignore what they have done? In what ways does He act as an Advocate?
3. More on this essential subject of Christ’s work as priest and advocate can be found in Backsliding and Restoration: In Relation to the Priesthood and Advocacy of Christ by B. Anstey.