My dear sisters in Christ, I greet you all in the precious name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. He is our loving Father, righteous Judge, consuming Fire and the Pathway to peace. He who has known Abraham before he was born, knows each and every one of us. He has called His select even before they are conceived in the mother’s womb. You and I are called to be His priests and worshippers even before we were born. Yes, my dear sister, He has called you by name for His ministry in these last days.
Recently I was reading and meditating on Leviticus, Chapter nine. The Lord has already instructed Moses regarding revering God and the role played by different stakeholders. Aaron , elder brother of Moses, was identified by God to go to Egypt with Moses as his (Moses) mouth piece to speak. So whatever Moses commanded, Aaron spoke and did. One single time he failed to consult Moses before time , was the act of collecting ornaments from the Israelites for making a golden calf and arranging a feast , when Moses was up above the mountain taking the ten commandments from God. This was a great disaster and Moses begged the Lord for forgiveness (Exodus 32:11).
Coming back to Leviticus chapter nine , we see that Moses is commanding Aaron to start his ministry as a priest earnestly. We read that Moses called Aaron, his sons and elders of Israel. As we go through this chapter, it appears as graphic description of how animal sacrifice was made as sin offering, burnt offering and peace offering (Leviticus 9:22). Finally, Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of meeting , and came out and blessed the people, the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people Fire came out from before the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the fat on the altar. This may be the first time that the “fire of God” appears before all and consumes the offerings….Later on we read about this in the days of Samson and Elijah. The “fire of God” is God’s glory , so magnificent and grandeur that no man can stand before it . It was a fire of blessing. The people shouted and fell on their faces (Leviticus 9:24). We read in other instances that the people requested Moses to intercede on their behalf as they trembled hearing the trumpets and fire on the mountain. Moses was also cautioned by God to alert the people to keep off the boundary of the mountain lest they die. I was wondering in my heart , as the people witnessed a rare event of God’s glory being revealed in front of them, their fear was only of temporary nature. Once they moved away from the scene, the fear of the Lord was gone and they defiled themselves in every way.
The next chapter (ten) starts with how the two sons of Aaron defiled the altar and were consumed by the fire of God. In fact Lord honoured Aaron and his two sons by their names for the priesthood. Exodus 24:1 is the evidence for this. The names of Aaron and his two sons only mentioned and the 70 elders remain anonymous to us. But God who anoints his ministers also expect them to adhere to his instructions and remain holy.
