God’s inviting everyone to be priests, like Adam and Eve were priests in Eden. But, it turns out the people are afraid of God, and they don’t want to come close to God’s presence and so, Moses goes alone up to the top of Mount Sinai. Moses famously gets the Ten Commandments, the first two being, worship Yahweh alone and don’t make idol statues. Moses sees some really amazing things up there, he sees God’s heavenly temple and then, a blueprint of it called, “the pattern.” The plans, for the construction of the tabernacle, it’s designed as a symbolic model of Eden, a place where heaven and earth are one. Then Moses sees something else, the pattern of a glorious human figure, the High Priest who will work in the tabernacle. Only this priest can go in and out of the sacred space on behalf of others. He’s dressed in white, he wears a crown and is glowing with jewels, he’s an image of the Royal Priest that we’re waiting for. But the man who’s called to be Israel’s first high priest is the brother of Moses, a man named Aaron.
While Moses is up there seeing all of this, down at the foot of the mountain, Aaron is misleading the people by making an idol statue of God. So, the soon to be high priest is breaking the first of the Ten Commandments. God gets angry and he tells Moses that he’s done with these people, he’ll just start over with Moses, but Moses stands before God and he intercedes for the Israelites, he even offers his own life as a sacrifice for their sins. While God doesn’t take Moses’s life, he does forgive the people like Moses asked. When Moses comes down from the mountain, he’s shining just like the High Priest that he saw in his vision. It’s like, Moses is the real priest that his brother was supposed to be, but failed. The tabernacle is built and then, Aaron’s family is installed to the priesthood. But really, even after this bad start.
Actually, things get even worse. God gives Aaron and his sons really precise instructions on how to act as the priests and then, on their first day on the job, Aaron’s two sons violate God’s commands and because, they’re in a place of great privilege and responsibility, God deals severely. They die inside the tabernacle, things are not looking good for the priesthood of Aaron. Both Aaron and his sons have failed in their priestly role and this begins to make us think, maybe God’s people need a different kind of priesthood. Maybe one that’s more like Moses, who surrendered his very life over to God. While Moses is great, he also fails to be fully obedient to God and so, both he and Aaron die outside the land, promised to Abraham. So, Moses was only an image of the kind of priest that God’s people will need. We’re still waiting for this ultimate Royal Priest, who will intercede like Moses and offer his life for the failures of others.
The Israelites eventually make it into the promised land, but the priesthood gets off to a horrible start. So, when Israel eventually becomes a nation, their priesthood has become really corrupt and so, the people start asking for a king and eventually, God raises up David, he’s full of trust in Israel’s God. In fact, with God’s help, David defeats Israel’s most powerful enemy, all without proper weapons and without an army. Now, not long after becoming king, David goes up into the high hills at the center of Israel’s tribes and he establishes a capitol city, Jerusalem, otherwise known as Zion or the city of David and it’s like a new Eden. This is the same hilltop Abraham visited, it’s where he met Melchizedek and it’s where God provided a substitute sacrifice for Abraham’s failures. So, David brings the tabernacle up into the city, so he can make this the place of God’s royal presence. During the inauguration, David’s dancing with excitement, not only that, he deliberately dresses like Israel’s High Priest and once the tabernacle arrives, he offers a sacrifice and makes this huge feast for all of the people and he blesses them. King David is acting like a new kind of priest and God approves.
In fact, God promises that from David’s line will come a King, who will reign forever and build the ultimate new Eden, a temple for God’s presence. David talks about this descendant to come in a poem we call Psalm 110, David recalls God’s promise that one of his descendants will rule at God’s right hand. David goes on to say that this future king will be a priest like Melchizedek. Melchizedek, he’s a priest king that even Abraham honored. Melchizedek’s priesthood is older than Israel’s priesthood, but why can’t David be that royal priest? David was pretty amazing sometimes, but he also failed. David slept with the wife of one of his soldiers and then, in order to hide the whole affair, he had that soldier killed.
That’s horrible, and David’s failures actually continued, leading up to this key moment where Israel’s enemies were threatening to attack and sadly, David doesn’t trust God to deliver him like he did in his early days. David counts all of his soldiers, he’s trusting his own power, instead of trusting God. God’s not happy, he brings severe consequences on Israel and David responds by surrendering to God and by offering his life as a substitute sacrifice on behalf of the people. That’s like Moses, who offered himself for the sins of the people and it’s like Isaac, who was offered up for Abraham’s sins, but then God provided a substitute. So, there is a pattern here, and it’s this pattern that leads us to the story of Jesus, he claimed to be the promised Royal Priest that the story is pointing to, the one who will bring the blessings of Eden and restore humans to their lost calling, to fulfill God’s promises to Abraham and David.
While Moses is up there seeing all of this, down at the foot of the mountain, Aaron is misleading the people by making an idol statue of God. So, the soon to be high priest is breaking the first of the Ten Commandments. God gets angry and he tells Moses that he’s done with these people, he’ll just start over with Moses, but Moses stands before God and he intercedes for the Israelites, he even offers his own life as a sacrifice for their sins. While God doesn’t take Moses’s life, he does forgive the people like Moses asked. When Moses comes down from the mountain, he’s shining just like the High Priest that he saw in his vision. It’s like, Moses is the real priest that his brother was supposed to be, but failed. The tabernacle is built and then, Aaron’s family is installed to the priesthood. But really, even after this bad start.
Actually, things get even worse. God gives Aaron and his sons really precise instructions on how to act as the priests and then, on their first day on the job, Aaron’s two sons violate God’s commands and because, they’re in a place of great privilege and responsibility, God deals severely. They die inside the tabernacle, things are not looking good for the priesthood of Aaron. Both Aaron and his sons have failed in their priestly role and this begins to make us think, maybe God’s people need a different kind of priesthood. Maybe one that’s more like Moses, who surrendered his very life over to God. While Moses is great, he also fails to be fully obedient to God and so, both he and Aaron die outside the land, promised to Abraham. So, Moses was only an image of the kind of priest that God’s people will need. We’re still waiting for this ultimate Royal Priest, who will intercede like Moses and offer his life for the failures of others.
The Israelites eventually make it into the promised land, but the priesthood gets off to a horrible start. So, when Israel eventually becomes a nation, their priesthood has become really corrupt and so, the people start asking for a king and eventually, God raises up David, he’s full of trust in Israel’s God. In fact, with God’s help, David defeats Israel’s most powerful enemy, all without proper weapons and without an army. Now, not long after becoming king, David goes up into the high hills at the center of Israel’s tribes and he establishes a capitol city, Jerusalem, otherwise known as Zion or the city of David and it’s like a new Eden. This is the same hilltop Abraham visited, it’s where he met Melchizedek and it’s where God provided a substitute sacrifice for Abraham’s failures. So, David brings the tabernacle up into the city, so he can make this the place of God’s royal presence. During the inauguration, David’s dancing with excitement, not only that, he deliberately dresses like Israel’s High Priest and once the tabernacle arrives, he offers a sacrifice and makes this huge feast for all of the people and he blesses them. King David is acting like a new kind of priest and God approves.
In fact, God promises that from David’s line will come a King, who will reign forever and build the ultimate new Eden, a temple for God’s presence. David talks about this descendant to come in a poem we call Psalm 110, David recalls God’s promise that one of his descendants will rule at God’s right hand. David goes on to say that this future king will be a priest like Melchizedek. Melchizedek, he’s a priest king that even Abraham honored. Melchizedek’s priesthood is older than Israel’s priesthood, but why can’t David be that royal priest? David was pretty amazing sometimes, but he also failed. David slept with the wife of one of his soldiers and then, in order to hide the whole affair, he had that soldier killed.
That’s horrible, and David’s failures actually continued, leading up to this key moment where Israel’s enemies were threatening to attack and sadly, David doesn’t trust God to deliver him like he did in his early days. David counts all of his soldiers, he’s trusting his own power, instead of trusting God. God’s not happy, he brings severe consequences on Israel and David responds by surrendering to God and by offering his life as a substitute sacrifice on behalf of the people. That’s like Moses, who offered himself for the sins of the people and it’s like Isaac, who was offered up for Abraham’s sins, but then God provided a substitute. So, there is a pattern here, and it’s this pattern that leads us to the story of Jesus, he claimed to be the promised Royal Priest that the story is pointing to, the one who will bring the blessings of Eden and restore humans to their lost calling, to fulfill God’s promises to Abraham and David.