Leviticus 9

The Old Testament priests acted as a mediator between us and God. However, Jesus changed that. Because of Jesus, we can have our own relationship with God without a mediator! Unfortunately, there are still people today who we are called to help take that step of faith instead of us being the mediator between them and God.

Will: https://www.instagram.com/thewilliamreich

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Hello and welcome to the Christians on College Campuses podcast. My name is Will from the University of Oklahoma, and today we are talking about Leviticus chapter 9. So, last chapter, the priests have been ordained, and now that the priests have been ordained, it's time for them to begin their work. The priests are comprised of Moses' brother Aaron and Aaron's sons. The priests act as a mediator between the Israelites and God because if the Israelites, full of sin, try to enter a place where God is, they will die because of their sins. But God wants to spend time with his people none the less. So after the ordination ceremony, on the eighth day, Moses called together Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel. He said to Aaron, Take a young bull for the sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering, both without defects, and present them to the Lord. Then tell the Israelites, Take a male goat for a sin offering, and take a calf and a lamb, both a year old and without defects, for a burnt offering. Also take a bull and a ram for a peace offering, and flour moistened with olive oil for a grain offering. Present all these offerings to the Lord, because the Lord will appear to you today. So the people presented all these things at the entrance of the tabernacle, just as Moses had commanded. When the whole community came forward and stood before the Lord, and Moses said, This is what the Lord has commanded you to do, so that the glory of the Lord may appear to you. Then Moses said to Aaron, Come to the altar and sacrifice your sin offering and your burnt offering to purify yourself and the people. Then present the offerings of the people to purify them, making them right with the Lord, just as he has commanded. So Aaron went to the altar and slaughtered the calf as a sin offering for himself. His sons brought him the blood, and he dipped his finger in it and put it on the horns of the altar. He poured out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar, then he burned on the altar the fat, the kidneys, and the long lobe of the liver from the sin offering, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. The meat and the hide, however, he burned outside the camp. Next Aaron slaughtered the animal for the burnt offering. His sons brought him the blood, and he splattered it against all sides of the altar. Then they handed him each piece of the burnt offering, including the head, and he burned them on the altar. Then he washed the internal organs and the legs and burned them on the altar along with the rest of the burnt offering. Next Aaron presented the offerings to the people. He slaughtered the people's goat and presented it as an offering for their sin, just as he had first done with the offering for his own sin. Then he presented the burnt offering and sacrificed it in the prescribed way. He also presented the grain offering, burning a handful of flour mixture on the altar, in addition to the regular burnt offering for the morning. Then Aaron slaughtered the bull and the ram for the people's peace offering. His sons brought him the blood, and he splattered it against all sides of the altar. Then he took the fat of the bull and the ram, the fat of the broad tail, and from around the internal organs, along with the kidneys and the long lobes of the livers. He placed these fat portions on top of the breasts of these animals and burned them on the altar. Aaron then lifted up the breasts in the right thighs as a specially offering to the Lord, just as Moses had commanded. After that Aaron raised his hands towards the people and blessed them. Then, after presenting the sin offering, the burnt offering, and the peace offering, he stepped down from the altar. Then Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle, and when they came back out, they blessed the people again, and the glory of the Lord appeared to the whole community. Fire blazh from the Lord's presence and consumed the burnt offering and the fat on the altar. When the people saw this, they shouted with joy and fell face down on the ground. So as we see in this chapter, Aaron and his sons are practically the mediators between the Israelites and God. And honestly, sometimes I feel that way, even though that's not how that works anymore. I mean, because of Jesus, he came down and did the ultimate sacrifice by dying for our sins after living a perfect life. And because he did that, we don't need a mediator. We can just be with God whenever we want, one-on-one. However, sometimes there are some people that you have to talk to God on their behalf. For whatever reason, they don't trust that they can go to God on their own. They're not a fully devoted follower of Him yet, and so you get caught in the middle. It's truly heartbreaking when people don't fully trust God, and you have to act as a mediator in between them and him. Because we're not supposed to anymore. Their sins have been forgiven, and they're supposed to go to God all by themselves. But here's what you can do in the meantime. You can love them just as Jesus loved us, just as Jesus loves you, you can show his love to them. You can pray with them so that yeah, they might force you to be the mediator, but they are also in the conversation. And you can encourage them to take a step of faith on their own and go talk to God. Hopefully, if you do these things and you believe that God will show up like he always does, then the people that are forcing you to be the mediator will then become the ones who become fully devoted followers of Christ and can help other people also in their relationships with Christ. Jesus, come here now, and I pray that sometimes we might feel stuck as the mediator between some people and their relationship with you. I pray that you give us the courage to love them and nudge them in a direction where they can have their own relationship with you, just one on one with you. That they don't need another person stuck in the middle doing the same thing that Aaron and his sons did back in Leviticus. Because of Jesus, we don't need that anymore, and neither do these people. And in Jesus' name I pray. Amen.