Leviticus 9 - The Priests Begin Their Ministry | Bible Podcast, David Alley, Peace Christian Church

In this video listen to Leviticus 9 read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer.

In Leviticus 9 God indicates his blessing of the newly instituted sacrificial system, by giving a sign. After Aaron, the newly installed High Priest offers the first sacrifices, fire from the presence of the Lord comes out and consumes it. This means that fire probably came out of the Holy of Holies. It was an indication that God was pleased and things were being done right. Fire didn’t normally come out after this.

But it is also a sign of incredible change. Think back just a few hundred years to the Israelites as wandering nomads with sheep. They are now a nation, belonging to God, with a priesthood, and there has been a lot of change. But this was NOT the beginning of sacrifice. Rather that was already there at the very foundation of the world. First when Adam sinned, Christ killed a lamb to cloth them. Later Abel and Cain offered sacrifices. Right from the beginning people knew that sacrifice was needed. And of course scripture says that Christ himself was slain from the foundation of the world.

But society corrupted sacrifice, so that people began to offer their children to demons. We have now come to a point where God has redeemed sacrifice, and setup an example of Himself in the world. It's a picture of Christ.

And even though sacrifice is fulfilled in Christ, there is still a call for us who follow Him to offer spiritual sacrifices. Peter says (1 Peter 2:4-5)

“As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”