Washed in the Blood

DEVOTION

EXODUS

WASHED IN THE BLOOD

Ex 29:10-21

10 "Bring the bull to the front of the Tent of Meeting, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on its head. 11 Slaughter it in the LORD's presence at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. 12 Take some of the bull's blood and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger, and pour out the rest of it at the base of the altar. 13 Then take all the fat around the inner parts, the covering of the liver, and both kidneys with the fat on them, and burn them on the altar. 14 But burn the bull's flesh and its hide and its offal outside the camp. It is a sin offering. 15 "Take one of the rams, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on its head. 16 Slaughter it and take the blood and sprinkle it against the altar on all sides. 17 Cut the ram into pieces and wash the inner parts and the legs, putting them with the head and the other pieces. 18 Then burn the entire ram on the altar. It is a burnt offering to the LORD, a pleasing aroma, an offering made to the LORD by fire. 19 "Take the other ram, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on its head. 20 Slaughter it, take some of its blood and put it on the lobes of the right ears of Aaron and his sons, on the thumbs of their right hands, and on the big toes of their right feet. Then sprinkle blood against the altar on all sides. 21 And take some of the blood on the altar and some of the anointing oil and sprinkle it on Aaron and his garments and on his sons and their garments. Then he and his sons and their garments will be consecrated.

NIV

That is a whole lot of blood and guts in both the slaughter of the bull and one of the rams here for the consecration of Aaron and his sons. Moses is even to wash them, so to speak, in the blood of the ram, which is a male sheep or goat. Of course the bull was used for the sin offering, but the ram was for the burnt offering, a pleasing aroma, an offering to the LORD by fire. The remains of the bull, the sin offering were not to be an offering to the LORD by fire. They were to be taken outside the camp and burnt because they were the sin being taken away from Aaron and his sons. This is the reason they had to have their hands on the head of the bull as Moses slaughtered it. Their sin was transferred to the bull and taken out of the camp. We can see our lives played out in the scene only in a less physical way.

Ps 103:8-12

8 The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. 9 He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; 10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. 11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; 12 as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

NIV

This forgiveness of our sin, this takimg the sin offering out of the camp, from our presence, was accomplished by God himself. He has removed our sin from our camp, the place we dwell, our heart.

Heb 9:23-28

23 It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God's presence. 25 Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. 26 Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, 28 so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

NIV

Jesus, the Lamb of God, was sacrificed once and for all for our sin. His blood was shed for the remission of our sins. We were washed in the blood of the Lamb, as Aaron and his sons were washed in the blood of the ram. God was showing them their need for this sacrifice of blood for both the forgiveness of their sin, and their being set apart for him, their consecration.

Heb 10:1-10

10:1 The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming — not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. 2 If it could, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. 3 But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, 4 because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

5 Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: "Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; 6 with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. 7 Then I said, 'Here I am — it is written about me in the scroll — I have come to do your will, O God.'"   8 First he said, "Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them" (although the law required them to be made). 9 Then he said, "Here I am, I have come to do your will." He sets aside the first to establish the second. 10 And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

NIV

We would almost have to include all of the letter to the Hebrews here to get the entirety of the truth, but this is enough for us to understand that Jesus set away that old way of sacrifice and became the new sacrifice, the last and only one we would ever need for both the forgiveness of our sin and to be set apart for him, a holy people, made holy not by our doing, but by his. Moses had to perform the act of sprinkling the blood on Aaron and his garments. Although Jesus shed his blood for all of mankind, it is whosoever believes must sprinkle that blood of Jesus on their own heart, their own garment. That is the only way we can be washed in the blood. It is through our acceptance of the sacrifice Jesus made for us. It is by faith in Christ that we are saved, least any of us boast about any works at all, other than being washed in the blood of the Lamb.