The Impossible is Mandatory

	Today's Reading: Numbers 3 Holiness is Goodness and requires Punishment of Sin-
	Numbers 3:4 (ESV)4 But Nadab and Abihu died before the Lord when they offered unauthorized fire before the Lord in the wilderness of Sinai, and they had no children. So Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests in the lifetime of Aaron their father. Personalize it method (Rick Warren's 40 Days in the Word): Lord please speak to me in your Word today and give me understanding.  I ask this in Jesus name, amen. Let the lesson of Aaron's sons be that my holiness is real. Let the lesson be that I am entirely separate from sin and nothing unclean can live in my presence Jeff. Know that anything unclean is consumed by fire in my presence such that it shall not be any longer but shall be condemned to death. So it is only by careful observance of the system I have prescribed that one can appear before me clean, and live. Know also that this careful observance was merely an expression of faith and trust in my Word. There was no power or actual effect to the offerings Jeff. The tabernacle of cloth and gold and wood was always just a symbol and the sacrificial system and was always powerless to take away sins… Hebrews 9:23–24 (ESV)23 Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.  Hebrews 10:4 (ESV)4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. So take the lesson offered by Aaron's sons and the whole tabernacle- I am a perfect God who judges and condemns the unjust, the unclean, the sinful, those who would not trust in their creator. I am a loving and gracious God who created a way to fulfill this justice without the wrath being poured upon you. All the sin of all time, from Adam to Abraham to David, to the disciples to you and to your children's children resulted in a wrath that I poured out upon my Son on the cross. All were saved from eternal separation from me by my Son's blood. To all this justification by His blood comes by my grace through faith. Of old the faith was in me as God of their fathers, now it is specifically faith in my Son without which you do not have faith in me.
	A Better Priest-
	Numbers 3:11–13 (ESV)11 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 12 “Behold, I have taken the Levites from among the people of Israel instead of every firstborn who opens the womb among the people of Israel. The Levites shall be mine, 13 for all the firstborn are mine. On the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I consecrated for my own all the firstborn in Israel, both of man and of beast. They shall be mine: I am the Lord.” All firstborn of Israel were consecrated to my service but since only the Levites did not worship the calf at Sinai. The firstborn of the other tribes defiled themselves in idolatry and were no longer worthy. I replaced the firstborn with the Levites for this service and the Levites were first called to spill the blood of the idol worshipers (recall that they killed 3,000 of their fellow Israelites). This was necessary, as I had not yet given them the tabernacle and the sacrificial system of atonement. Israel would learn that the Levites could soon offer sacrifices in substitution for the direct payment of death for sin against their holy God, but first they would see how direct payment would look and thus the fear of the Lord is the beginning of all knowledge. This replacement of the Levites for the firstborn is permitted under my law as the priests have authority to exchange a clean animal for an unclean firstborn that was offered by the people…unclean animals were to be offered but could not be sacrificed for atonement. The Levites essentially redeem the firstborn of the generations of Israel by their own service. However, see Jeff that the Aaronic priesthood (as high priests) was yet imperfect. The true high priest, the only eternal high priest, was to be from the tribe of Judah- not Levi!... Hebrews 7:14–16 (ESV)14 For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, and in connection with that tribe Moses said nothing about priests. 15 This becomes even more evident when another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek, 16 who has become a priest, not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily descent, but by the power of an indestructible life. See that true intercession for all of the elect, over the course of all time, cannot be accomplished by a priest that is not eternal. Jesus was the only priest who cannot be brought to an end (indestructible life). He evidenced this on the third day as I raised Him from the dead Jeff. You have a high priest that does not achieve the priesthood by lineage of bodily descent, but by his righteousness and His perfection that is wholly impossible for man to achieve since Adam. The truth is that the Aaronic priesthood was useless... Hebrews 7:18–19 (ESV)18 For on the one hand, a former commandment is set aside because of its weakness and uselessness 19 (for the law made nothing perfect); but on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God. See how even the inadequacy of the Levites was even clear from the beginning since their numbers were short by 273 people to account for replacing the firstborn of all Israel… Numbers 3:46 (ESV)46 And as the redemption price for the 273 of the firstborn of the people of Israel, over and above the number of the male Levites,  Hebrews 7:22–25 (ESV)22 This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant. 23 The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, 24 but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. 25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. See that the former priests, Israel's firstborn, were killed by the Levites for their sin and then the Levites themselves were unable to continue in the office by their own mortality and the fact that they aged and died.  But Jesus is permanent and only the sacrifice of His own blood covers sin. Hebrews 7:27–28 (ESV)27 He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself. 28 For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever. From the ESV Study Bible- The law in its weakness (vv. 18–19) appoints sinful mortal men in their weakness to be a continuous succession of high priests (vv. 23–24). God, however, made an oath (Ps. 110:4), promising an eternal high priest (Heb. 7:20–22). This oath through David came after the Mosaic law and sets aside the previous Mosaic priesthood by appointing the messianic Son of God (1:1–14; 5:5–10) as eternal high priest. made perfect. See 5:9 and note on 5:9–10. Jesus, High Priest of a Better Covenant. Jesus is shown to be the eternal high priest, ministering from heaven in the true tabernacle and enacting the better promises of the new covenant. Crossway Bibles. (2008). The ESV Study Bible (2372). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles. Application and Prayer: Today I will remember that I do not have an earthly high priest that can fail as Aaron's first sons did, but I have a perfect high priest that cannot fail Today I will remember that Jesus has achieved what I cannot and I need only trust in Him as I am incapable of earning my salvation Today I will rejoice that the Father sees Jesus' righteousness when He looks upon me and He therefore calls me friend! Thank you Lord for making a way. Thank you Lord for being the way. Thank you Lord for showing me this way. Thank you Lord for giving me the faith to trust in this way. Thank you Lord for sealing me for the day of redemption by your Holy Spirit that I may never be taken from this path you have set me on! In Jesus name I pray, amen. Soli Deo Gloria! View blog from a computer or iPad for more content. Follow @dailysurrender