It’s officially December and Christmas is only a few weeks away. Yet December twenty-fifth would pass like any other day unless I choose to observe its significance and celebrate it. Since it falls on a Sunday, I will attend a worship service at my local church and share a meal with family, but between now and then, I have the opportunity to prepare my heart and my home for this sacred season. As a believer in Christ, I take Jesus with me wherever I go. My heart is His home and I have the special privilege of representing my Lord and Savior in the world.
Aaron was Moses’s brother and spokesman. He was appointed priest by God and put in charge of representing Israel before God. Aaron stood before Pharoah in Egypt with Moses, speaking the very words of God. He led the processional across the sea bed on dry ground. He also fashioned a golden calf while Moses waited on Sinai to receive God’s instructions for His people.
Aaron was a man charged with a high and holy responsibility. Sometimes he got it right. In Old Testament times, the consequences for failure were dire. Aaron lost two of his four sons when they burned the wrong kind of fire before the Lord. (Numbers 3:4) He was attacked along with Moses when Korah led a rebellion, yet he still stood among the people to stop the plague that followed. (Numbers 16) God settled the priesthood for Israel decisively when Aaron’s staff budded, blossomed and bore fruit, (Numbers 17:8) but the salvation of the world rests on a great high priest with origins older than time. The Israelites could die for coming too close to the sanctuary where God’s manifest presence dwelled, but Jesus died and rose again to give humanity direct access to God.
“But you and your sons, the priests, must personally handle all the priestly rituals associated with the altar and with everything behind the inner curtain.
I am giving you the priesthood as your special privilege of service.
Any unauthorized person who comes too near the sanctuary will be put to death.”
Numbers 18:7 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/num.18.7.NLT
Jesus did what no other would do or could do for me and for you. He took my sin upon Himself, nailing it to a cross.
“By this time it was about noon, and darkness fell across the whole land until three o’clock.
The light from the sun (Son) was gone.
And suddenly, the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn down the middle.
Then Jesus shouted, “Father, I entrust my spirit into your hands!”
And with those words he breathed his last.”
Luke 23:44-46 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/luk.23.44-46.NLT
“You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away.
Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins.
He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross.”
Colossians 2:13-14 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/col.2.13-14.NLT
The baby in the manger, the boy in the temple, and the man on the cross are one and the same. Jesus, our great high priest, took on flesh and became the perfect sacrifice, once for all time.
“The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves.
The sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship.
If they could have provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices would have stopped, for the worshipers would have been purified once for all time, and their feelings of guilt would have disappeared.
But instead, those sacrifices actually reminded them of their sins year after year.
For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
That is why, when Christ came into the world, he said to God, “You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings. But you have given me a body to offer.
For God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time.
Under the old covenant, the priest stands and ministers before the altar day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins.
But our High Priest offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time.
Then he sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand.
For by that one offering he forever made perfect those who are being made holy.”
Hebrews 10:1-5, 10-12, 14 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/heb.10.1-14.NLT
“And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ.
And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him.
For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them.
And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation.
So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us.
We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!”
For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.”
2 Corinthians 5:18-21 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/2co.5.18-21.NLT
“Once you had no identity as a people; now you are God’s people.
Once you received no mercy; now you have received God’s mercy.”
1 Peter 2:10 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/1pe.2.10.NLT
“You are coming to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God’s temple.
He was rejected by people, but he was chosen by God for great honor.
And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple.
What’s more, you are his holy priests.
Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God.”
1 Peter 2:4-5 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/1pe.2.4-5.NLT
“And (just as) the Lord said to Aaron, “You priests will receive no allotment of land or share of property among the people of Israel.
I am your share and your allotment.”
Numbers 18:20 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/num.18.20.NLT
Just as God said to Abraham, He says to us, “I am your very great reward.” (Genesis 15:1)
“All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead.
Now we live with great expectation, and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay.”
1 Peter 1:3-4 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/1pe.1.3-4.NLT
“You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession.
As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.”
1 Peter 2:9 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/1pe.2.9.NLT
We represent Christ at Christmas and throughout the year. We are priests of God, ambassadors of Christ. Like the light of the star that guided the first seekers to Bethlehem, so we reflect His light to the world. God commanded Aaron and his sons to bless Israel with a special blessing, promising when they invoked His name, He would bless them. As we open our homes and hearts this Christmas season, may God also bless those who seek Him here.
“‘May the Lord bless you and protect you.
May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you.
May the Lord show you his favor and give you his peace.’”
Numbers 6:24-26 NLT
A Fitting Reply 