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Leviticus 6-10: Priests

About This Episode

Why do we need priests? How do they bring us into God's presence? Why did God kill Nadab and Abihu? And why is Jesus a better priest? This week, Seth and David unpack Leviticus 6-10 and the establishment of the priesthood at the tabernacle.

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The Priests, the Fire, and the Gospel: Leviticus 6–10

Show Notes

David Bowden and Seth Stewart continue their series through Leviticus, turning from the types of sacrifices introduced in chapters 1–5 to the role of the priests, the meaning of God's unquenchable fire, and the sobering story of Nadab and Abihu. This episode unpacks why Israel needed priests, what it means that God himself lit the altar fire, and how Jesus fulfills and surpasses everything Leviticus sets up.

Why Israel Needed Priests

Beginning at Leviticus 6:8, the Hebrew text marks a hard thematic break. Chapters 1–5 addressed what the worshiper should bring and do. Now the focus shifts entirely to the priests and their responsibilities in mediating sacrifices on behalf of the people. But before diving into those details, a foundational question needs to be addressed: why were priests necessary at all? Why couldn't each Israelite simply bring a sacrifice into God's presence and receive forgiveness directly?

The answer has to do with the seriousness of entering God's presence. The priests had to go through extensive purification rituals, wear specific garments, and undergo a seven-day ordination process before they were allowed to handle anyone else's sacrifice. For every ordinary Israelite to go through those same preparations would have been entirely impractical. But more importantly, God intentionally set apart a special class of people to serve as go-betweens, bridging the gap between his holy presence and the people who needed forgiveness. This wasn't simply a matter of logistics. It was theological. God wanted the priesthood to function as a living symbol pointing forward to something greater that would come in Jesus, who is our perfect high priest (Hebrews 7:27).

The need for a mediator is actually something people still recognize today. We go to counselors and therapists when we need reconciliation with ourselves or others. We understand that we can't always absolve ourselves of guilt or repair broken relationships on our own. We look for someone trained in the work of bringing people back together. In the same way, you don't email a president or a king directly. You go through a handler, an agent, a steward. People of great power are approached through intermediaries. This is exactly what the priesthood provided for Israel: authorized access to the God of ultimate power and holiness. And so the Gospel is such good news because in Jesus, we have one mediator who brings us all the way to the Father (John 14:6).

The Fire That Never Goes Out

One of the most striking details in Leviticus 6 is the command that the fire on the altar must never go out. Five times in this section, the text repeats the instruction: do not let the fire go out (Leviticus 6:9–13). The sheer repetition signals that this is of enormous importance.

Several layers of meaning converge in this perpetual fire. First, God himself is the one who ignites it. At the end of chapter 9, fire comes out from the presence of Yahweh and consumes the burnt offering on the altar. This is not a flame started by human hands. It is God's own fire, and the priests are charged with keeping it alive. To let it die would be to extinguish something God himself began. Second, the unceasing fire is a picture of uninterrupted worship, a continual fragrant aroma rising before God. Third, it represents ongoing atonement. Because God's people are constantly sinning, there is a constant need for forgiveness, and the fire that never goes out assures them that forgiveness is always available. Fourth, the fire is a symbol of God's enduring holiness. Throughout Scripture, God's presence is associated with fire: the burning bush, the lightning on Sinai, the pillar of cloud and fire in the wilderness. The perpetual altar flame is a visible reminder that God's holy presence dwells among his people. And fifth, it is a symbol of his enduring mercy. His mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22–23), and the fire that never dies is a tangible expression of that truth. An Israelite who sinned at night could wake up, look at the burning altar, and know that the means of forgiveness had not been snuffed out.

This theme carries directly into the New Testament. Jesus is our never-ending atonement, constantly at the right hand of the Father making intercession for us (Hebrews 7:25). His sacrifice is eternal, continual, and never-ending. Just as an Israelite could look to the fire and know forgiveness was available, Christians can look to the cross and know they are forgiven. But there is also a sober counterpart. The only fire described in the New Testament as never going out is the fire of hell, the unquenchable fire Jesus warns about (Mark 9:43). That fire, too, is the fire of Yahweh, a manifestation of his holy power. Every person will eventually stand before God's eternal fire, and it will mean one of two things: either the everlasting security of being reconciled to God through Jesus, or the everlasting consequence of remaining outside his mercy.

The Priests' Portion and Practical Provision

When the text describes which parts of the sacrifice the priests are allowed to eat, a practical reality comes into view. The tribe of Levi had no agricultural land or herds of their own. Their sole vocation was the maintenance of the tabernacle and the mediation of sacrifices. The sacrificial system itself was designed to sustain them. When the text says a portion is "most holy to the Lord," that phrase functions as a kind of code indicating it is the priests' food. The rest of the nation provided for the priesthood through their offerings, recognizing the central role the temple and its sacrifices played in the life of Israel.

This arrangement has direct implications for the New Testament. Paul draws on it when he writes that a laborer is worth his wages and that those who serve in the temple of the Lord should be compensated (1 Corinthians 9:13–14). The principle is straightforward: God's people should support those who devote their lives to ministry. The corruption of this system is part of what provoked Jesus to overturn the tables in the temple. Instead of trusting God's provision, the religious leaders had turned the temple into a marketplace to line their own pockets (Matthew 21:13). They took a system designed to sustain faithful service and twisted it into an engine of personal profit. In contrast, the original design of Leviticus shows a community where everyone participates in sustaining the work of reconciliation between God and his people.

There is also a notable detail about the priests' own daily grain offering (Leviticus 6:19–23). Each priest had to bring a grain offering every morning and burn it entirely on the altar. Unlike the portions they received from the people's sacrifices, they could not eat any of this. It was a perpetual offering for their own consecration because they themselves were sinners who needed daily cleansing. Hebrews 7:27 picks this up explicitly, making the point that Jesus, unlike these priests, has no sin and therefore does not need to offer sacrifices for himself. He is the one priest whose sacrifice needs no repetition and whose table we get to share in fully.

The Consecration of Aaron and God's Glory

Chapters 8 and 9 shift into narrative. After seven chapters of detailed ritual instructions, the story moves forward as Aaron and his sons are consecrated for priestly service. This is an eight-day process in which sacrifices are offered continually, culminating in a climactic final offering on the eighth day. One of the most evocative details in the consecration ceremony is the application of blood to the right ear, right thumb, and right big toe of the priests, along with the sprinkling of blood on their garments (Leviticus 8:23–24). Just as the sprinkling of blood around the tabernacle symbolized the cleansing of the whole land, the blood on the priests' bodies symbolized their purification from head to toe. When the priest was clean, his cleanliness represented the cleanliness available to the entire nation.

The connection to the Garden of Eden runs through all of this. In Leviticus 7:8, the priests are given the skin of the animal to keep, an echo of Genesis 3:21, where God clothes Adam and Eve in animal skins to cover their shame. The priests are in the shame-covering, forgiveness-dealing work of trying to get God's people back to the garden. And there is a striking irony in Aaron's elevation. Not long before in the narrative, Aaron was the one who built the golden calf, nearly causing God to destroy Israel entirely (Exodus 32). He was the chief of sinners. And yet here, he is raised to the highest religious office as high priest. That paradox only deepens the sense that what God is doing through the priesthood is pure grace.

When the sacrifices prescribed in chapters 6 and 7 are carried out perfectly in chapters 8 and 9, the result is breathtaking. The glory of Yahweh appears to all the people (Leviticus 9:23). Then fire comes out from the Lord and consumes the sacrifice on the altar. The people shout and fall on their faces, terrified and awed. This is the same response Moses had when the glory of God passed by him in the cleft of the rock (Exodus 34:8). The whole point of Leviticus is leading to this moment: God building a house among his people and then moving in.

Nadab and Abihu: Unauthorized Fire and the Cost of Pride

Immediately after this glorious arrival, the narrative takes a devastating turn. Aaron's newly consecrated sons, Nadab and Abihu, each take a censer, put fire in it, lay incense on it, and offer "unauthorized fire" before Yahweh, which he had not commanded them (Leviticus 10:1). The same fire that had just consumed the sacrifice now comes out and consumes them. They die on the spot.

Moses explains the meaning of their death with a statement from God: "Among those who are near me, I will be sanctified, and before all the people, I will be glorified" (Leviticus 10:3). To be sanctified means to be known as holy, recognized as utterly set apart in power and goodness and light. Nadab and Abihu attempted to approach God on their own terms, disregarding the commands he had given. This is the same story that has repeated itself since the Garden of Eden. Eve wanted to become wise on her own terms. Cain offered a sacrifice on his own terms. The builders at Babel wanted to reach heaven on their own terms. Israel worshiped the golden calf on their own terms. Each time, the result was catastrophe.

This passage can feel deeply uncomfortable, especially in a culture that wants to define for itself what good spirituality looks like. The instinct to say, "I couldn't worship a God like that" is itself the very impulse Leviticus confronts. God is not like us, and he will not be reshaped in our image. His fire is pure goodness, pure light, and pure life. And if we want to experience that goodness and light, we need to trust the commands of the one who is goodness and light rather than assuming we know a better way to get there. The story of the entire Bible is that human attempts to approach God on our own terms always fail. Humility, not self-determination, is the path to life.

The Gospel Answer: Humility, Faith, and a Better Priest

The good news that emerges from all of this is stunning. Philippians 2:8–11 describes how Jesus, who had every right to question the Father's plan, instead humbled himself to the point of death on a cross. And because of that humility, God exalted him and gave him the name above every name. Everyone will bow, either in the death of judgment or in the bowing that leads to resurrection. If you humble yourself like Jesus, you will be raised like Jesus.

The Gospel of Leviticus and the Gospel of the New Testament are the same message spoken in different registers. In Leviticus, God says, "I have provided you a system. Trust in it. Don't bring unauthorized fire. Don't try to add something to what I've done. Just have faith that it works." In the New Testament, God says, "I have provided a perfect sacrifice in Jesus. Trust in him. Don't try to earn your way in. The acceptable offering has already been made." Jesus is the priest who never needed to offer a sacrifice for himself (Hebrews 7:27). He is the one whose sacrifice never needs repeating. He descended into the fire of judgment so we would never have to. And because of him, we can approach God not with fear and trembling over whether we've followed every ritual correctly, but with confidence and boldness and thanksgiving, knowing we have a perfect high priest who has done everything right on our behalf.

Transcript

Intro: [gentle music] Welcome to the Spoken Gospel podcast. This is our attempt to speak the gospel out of every corner of scripture. We believe every part of the Bible, Old Testament and New, is about Jesus, and this podcast is our experiment to publicly test that belief. Let's jump in. [upbeat music]

David: All right, well, welcome to our third episode on Leviticus.

Seth: Yes, third.

David: We've done an introduction, and-

Seth: And then one more epis-

David: And then, and then we did, um... What happened? [laughs]

Seth: My, my mic was too far away.

David: You leaned in and- [laughs]

Seth: So I was like, I was leaning towards it, and then it felt really strange.

David: [laughs]

Seth: So now I'm back.

David: You're back.

Seth: Centered.

David: I'm glad. So we did an introduction-

Seth: In the presence of the Lord

David: ... and, [laughs] and the world. And then we did, um, Leviticus 1 to 5, where we looked at the cast of characters.

Seth: Yes.

David: Which-

Seth: All the different types of sacrifices-

David: Right

Seth: ... you should expect in the book.

David: Yes.

Seth: Except for one that shows up today, the wave offering.

David: Yeah, which-

Seth: We, nobody-

David: Oh, boy

Seth: ... nobody knows.

David: Nobody knows. [laughs] Uh, anyway, and so, um, today, now we're gonna turn our attention to chapter 6. One thing to note about this, um, in chapter 6 is the, um, Hebrew, uh, ordering of the text, numbering of the text, their chapters and verses-

Seth: Yeah, yeah

David: ... are different from the English.

Seth: Yes.

David: So, um, we thought this would be a good place to break 'cause in the Hebrew, when he starts talking about the priest, uh, it's actually 6:1, uh, in the Hebrew-

Seth: Oh, okay

David: ... text is actually our 6:8. And so-

Seth: Right

David: ... actually, chapter 6 is this hard-line s- shift because we get a change.

Seth: So in verse, chapters 1 to 5-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... or, uh, 1 to 6:7, it's the cast of characters.

David: Right.

Seth: The different types of offerings you should expect.

David: Yes.

Seth: And then 6:7 onward, it's the function of the priests, what they're supposed to do-

David: Yep

Seth: ... and how they are supposed to, like, uh, mediate these sacrifices.

David: That's right.

Seth: That's like, there's just a hard thematic break.

David: There's just, yeah. And, like, the Hebrew text picks that up.

Seth: Got it.

David: So it's kinda harder to see when it's buried in s- seven verses down and-

Seth: We do have a handy little title that just says-

David: Yes

Seth: ... "The Priests and The Offerings"-

David: Right

Seth: ... that's 6:8, which is, thanks, ESV.

David: Yeah. Thanks, ESV. Appreciate that. Um, so anyway.

Seth: If you're looking for sponsors, by the way, Crossway.

David: That's right. Yeah, Crossway, you wanna hop in-

Seth: [laughs]

David: ... and just, uh, make that happen? That'd be great. Uh, so anyway, uh, and, and what we're gonna notice here is, um, since we have a different, like, group of people being talked to, we're, we should expect different things to be talked about. So-

Seth: So before we do that, though-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... why do you need a priest?

David: Oh, okay, yeah.

Seth: Because why can't I just bring my sacrifice to God's presence-

David: Right

Seth: ... and receive forgiveness for myself?

David: Yes. Okay.

Seth: That's how I-

David: It's a good question.

Seth: Right? [laughs] It's like, why do we need priests?

David: Yeah. Um, well, okay, I guess my first answer would be, after reflecting on this text, [laughs] it would be, um, that there's so much that the priests themselves had to go through in order to be s- like, purified and holy and set apart.

Seth: There was a higher standard for them.

David: There was a higher standard for them, and so they, they, they had to be cleaned up and allowed... Like, they had to wear a uniform and go through all these rituals, and then they were allowed to bring other people's sacrifices to God. And so, um, yeah.

Seth: And there was seven days of, like, ordination for them.

David: Right.

Seth: So it took seven days for them to be, like, ready to accept the sacrifices of the people.

David: Yep. So I think that's part of it, is that, like-

Seth: So what, so the first answer is-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... that because it's a serious deal to go into the presence of true power and true light.

David: And we're gonna see that in a really big way in chapter 10, yeah.

Seth: And for, if anyb- for anybody to come to the temple, they would have to go through all the things God is requiring of the priests.

David: Right.

Seth: And at the end of the day, that's impractical.

David: Yes.

Seth: [laughs] And two, the Lord wants to make sure that there's a special class of people-

David: Yes

Seth: ... where the standard is higher-

David: Right

Seth: ... who acts as a go-between between God's presence and forgiveness and-

David: Yes. And that's, and that's really important, is that this isn't a matter of practicality. Like, it wasn't that God couldn't have, uh, you know, built a gigantic laver and a gin- and a ginormous altar and just, you know, made everybody a priest. I mean, and back in Exodus, they were called a kingdom of priests.

Seth: Right.

David: Everyone was supposed to be a priest, but there is this actual functional office of priest, and God says, uh, c- sets them apart, right?

Seth: Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

David: And, and so we'll see, i- in Numbers, we'll see that God actually has bought the Levites, um, out of all the nation of Israel as his firstborn. Uh, and we'll see that he actually, like, calls them out separate. And so there's actually something theological happening here, too, that God not only wants to set apart, um, these people for a specific role, but this, these, the, he wants to set apart these people for a specific symbol that we will have immediate-

Seth: Mm

David: ... we will eventually become as Christians with-

Seth: Right.

David: Yeah. So-

Seth: We are priests.

David: Right.

Seth: Like, we are, the priesthood of all believers.

David: Right.

Seth: Yeah. And then-

David: I guess...

Seth: Yeah. Never mind.

David: [laughs]

Seth: I was gonna try to make a premature Jesus turn.

David: Oh.

Seth: And I decided not to.

David: Okay. A, a, a PMJT.

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: Yeah.

Seth: A premature Jesus turn. [laughs]

David: [laughs] Uh, anyway, uh, so I think that's part of it. Um, the other, I guess, part of it would be something cultural, where, um, people were used to priests.

Seth: Right.

David: People understood the idea of priests, that, um, you don't just come up to God. You have to... Aren't there, there's rules that [laughs] have to take place, right?

Seth: Right. And we talked about, I think it was in the Leviticus introduction video-

David: Mm

Seth: ... where we, we still recognize our need for priests. We just call them counselors or therapists.

David: Oh, right.

Seth: It's like, in order for us to feel at one with ourselves or to reconcile between our, us and our spouse-

David: Right

Seth: ... you go to a professional who is learned in the art of reconciliation.

David: Yep.

Seth: And you go to them, you pay them something.

David: Yep.

Seth: You give them an offering, and then they offer advice.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: They come to you. They care for you.

David: Yep.

Seth: They guide you into reconciliation.

David: Right. So, yeah.

Seth: Like, we're used to the idea that we don't in ourselves-

David: Right

Seth: ... have the ability to absolve ourselves of guilt, forgive ourselves, what- however we wanna phrase it.

David: Oh, right.

Seth: You know what I mean?

David: Yes, I understand.

Seth: Like, we don't have-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... or we don't even, like, fix our horizontal relationships.

David: [laughs]

Seth: We r- we're recognizing-

Seth: Universally that we need somebody outside of us-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... to bridge that gap.

David: And you can also think about it in, like, the social sphere, where, um, if there's someone of great power or prestige, celebrity, you don't email them directly to get a meeting with them.

Seth: You go to their agent.

David: You go to their agent, their secretary. You know, like-

Seth: Right, right, right

David: ... you, you, their handler, you know. And, like, you have to go through someone to get to a person of power. Even today, we do that, you know?

Seth: Yeah.

David: You're not gonna email the president or Celine Dion, you know? You're gonna-

Seth: I've never wanted to email Celine [laughs]

David: ... email either of them. [laughs]

Seth: Yo, Celine.

David: How, how it be?

Seth: You wanna grab coffee this weekend?

David: Wanna grab coffee this... You wouldn't do that. You would, you would reach out to her-

Seth: I'd-

David: ... so- her, her agent or her-

Seth: And get rejected by her.

David: You would.

Seth: [laughs]

David: And then, and then she'd be like, "No." [laughs]

Seth: [laughs] No.

David: But it's true, though. People of power, you don't approach directly. You have to go through someone, right? That's just, I mean, a king.

Seth: Right.

David: You know, you don't go and just say, "Hey, king, what's up?" You go through his, his, like, stewards and his court of-

Seth: Right

David: ... I don't, I don't know, I don't know how courts work and kings' halls.

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: So I'm, I'm out of my-

Seth: I was just thinking-

David: ... I'm out of my depth here

Seth: ... I was thinking about the Book of Esther and how-

David: Mm

Seth: ... um, for Esther to go before the king, you had to have an appointment, essentially.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: And then if you came in and announced, the king had a scepter.

David: You were dead.

Seth: You got, and he, like, tapped it, and if he tapped it on the ground, you were dead or, you know, I don't re-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... I forget the-

David: It was like a-

Seth: We'll talk about Esther later.

David: Yeah. [laughs] We can-

Seth: We'll study that later.

David: [laughs]

Seth: I'll sound more educated, like, a month-

David: But anyway

Seth: ... several months from now

David: ... so, so you think about this, it's like these people of power, um, you have to go through liaisons to get to, especially in the realm of the gods, or here, the one true God. He is of utmost extreme power. There is no one but him, um, you know, that, you know, now, you know, the Ten Commandments has told us that.

Seth: Right.

David: So how do we approach him? We have to go through priests, which is why, let's go ahead and make a Jesus turn so people know where we're going here, is-

Seth: Yeah, Jesus turn

David: ... like, it's such good news, the gospel's such good news, because we have one way to God. "I am the way, the truth, the life," Jesus said, and so we only get to the Father through him. He is our new priest, and he's a, a good one. He doesn't have to offer sacrifices for himself. He does it continually. We're talking about all this-

Seth: Right

David: ... today, i- is why is Jesus a better priest than these priests?

Seth: Than, than this system right here.

David: Why is, why is the system of the gospel better than the system of Leviticus?

Seth: Why does Jesus offer better absolution?

David: Yeah.

Seth: Why does Jesus offer better, a better sense of forgiveness-

David: Right

Seth: ... a better cleansing than these priests can offer? Why does Jesus offer us a better sense of reunification and reconciliation with those people around us than the priests ever did?

David: Right. So we're gonna look at all of that, hopefully-

Seth: Okay

David: ... uh, as we, uh, unpack Leviticus 6 to 10. [gentle music] Okay, so let me just lay out a really short overview of what these four chapters address.

Seth: Yes.

David: So we have basically walking through, in different order, the same sacrifices that we have just seen in the cast of characters one to five.

Seth: Okay.

David: But instead of seeing, like, what types of animal you should bring and what you as the worshiper should do when you arrive at the temple-

Seth: What parts you're cutting off. Yeah

David: ... yeah, exactly. That's their job. That's the worshiper's job. Here, we get to see the priests' job. What, what do they do?

Seth: Okay.

David: So it-

Seth: What happens when you get the-

David: Yeah, what happens when they, when, when the stuff comes to you to put on the altar, and so you, you know, what to do with the fat and what to do with the entrails and what you get to eat and what you don't get to eat.

Seth: Got it.

David: And what gets taken outside the camp, what gets taken into the tabernacle. All that's laid out here.

Seth: That's chapter six and seven, basically.

David: That's right. And then we, we move to a narrative, where, like, we, it, it almost feels jarring. We've been reading seven chapters of detailed rituals-

Seth: Right

David: ... and now it's, it's a narrative.

Seth: Which is what, the way a table of contents would feel.

David: That's right.

Seth: "Here's a table of contents."

David: Yep.

Seth: "It's very long and detailed."

David: [laughs]

Seth: "Now here's the story."

David: Right. Yes.

Seth: Yeah.

David: But we, again, we shouldn't forget that Leviticus is part of a narrative. Um, and so we see the narrative is, um, they, the whole congregation of Israel, meaning the elders and the, the, the representative leaders of Israel, along with Aaron and all his sons, come to the tent of meeting, the tabernacle, and you, you see Aaron consecrates his sons, then Aaron is consecrated, and then Aaron's sons, uh, have, like, a failing, and they get burned up and die. [laughs]

Seth: And that's the last chapter.

David: That's the last chapter in 10. Um, and so you kind of get sons, Aaron's sons kind of thing, and-

Seth: Got it

David: ... in a little, uh, chiasm, mini chiasm.

Seth: Ooh.

David: Um, and so, uh-

Seth: We love a good chiasm

David: ... we love a good chiasm. So basically, that's the layout. V- uh, since we've already laid, uh, like since we've already talked about what each of the sacrifices mean, um, it would be, it, it, I think it would be a better way for us to work through this kind of pulling out the unique details of the priests' job in, um-

Seth: Yeah, yeah, yeah

David: ... all these sacrifices. So the first thing I think is really interesting about, um, this section is we hear about the first continuous offering, right?

Seth: That never stops burning.

David: That never stops. So there is always supposed to be a burnt offering on the altar at the tent of meeting, and it, and its fire is never to go out.

Seth: Yeah, I read that too. It's in verse, uh, 13.

David: Yeah.

Seth: "Fire shall be kept-"

David: Yep

Seth: ... "burning on the altar continually. It shall not go out."

David: Right, and that's repeated five times. Five times we're told, "Don't let the fire go out. Don't let the fire go out. Don't let the fire go out. Don't let the fire go out. Don't let the fire go out." That's five times. I counted on my fingers. So that's five.

Seth: Do you have five fingers? [laughs]

David: I have five fingers. All five of them were used in that counting. And so we know this is extremely important, and so we have to stop and think, why would God never want the fire at the altar to go out? If it, I mean, it's this important.

Seth: Right.

David: Right? Why would he never want it to go out? So-

Seth: I thought of two reasons.

David: Okay. I, I, there, there f-

Seth: Do you have four?

David: There are three popular ones.

Seth: You have three. Ah, man.

David: There's, there's three popular ones.

Seth: You have more than me.

David: Well, let's hear, let's hear your two.

Seth: No.

David: You know, your measly two. [laughs]

Seth: [laughs] I don't have one. I don't even want anymore now.

David: I don't even want to, David.

Seth: [laughs]

David: Just go, give your three, and I'll see what I think.

Seth: [laughs] Okay. So the first, um, is here in a little bit, uh, at the very end of chapter nine, we're going to see that God himself comes and sets the altar on fire. So the fire of the Lord comes out, and that's what ignites first.

David: That's the fire starter.

Seth: That's the fire starter. So it's-

David: But it's not someone bringing fire from a camp and putting it onto the wood.

Seth: It's like you're keeping alive God's fire.

David: That's right.

Seth: Okay.

David: So why keep it alive? 'Cause that's the fire of Yahweh.

Seth: God started it, we're gonna keep it going forever.

David: Don't you dare-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... let that go out. That's God's fire. So there's, there's a lot to talk about there. Second is it, it's this picture of uninterrupted worship, that we're constantly worshiping God and offering up things that are, um, oh, what's the, a fragrant aroma to the Lord.

Seth: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

David: Right? And then three is continual consecration or atonement. That-

Seth: Mm

David: ... we are always sinners. We are constantly sinning.

Seth: Right.

David: We need, we need nonstop atonement, nonstop forgiveness needs to be taking place. So all three of those, I think, I don't think we need to pit them against each other.

Seth: No.

David: I think they're all valid in their own way.

Seth: I think the way that I thought about it was like it was a symbol of God's constant and forever burning holiness. We talk about his, like-

David: Mm.

Seth: .. it's like he's this consuming fire.

David: Right.

Seth: There's lightning and fire on top of Mount Sinai. There's a pillar of cloud and smoke-

David: That's really good

Seth: ... throughout the Book of Exodus. Like, God's presence is always seen. His holiness is pr- is, is this fire that consumes-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... things.

David: Yeah.

Seth: So it's a symbol of his holiness, and then at the same time, it's also a symbol of his enduring mercy.

David: Right.

Seth: There's always for, available for you a place to receive forgiveness.

David: Yes.

Seth: His fires of mercy never run out. His mercies are new every morning.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: The fire never dies.

David: Yeah. I think both of those are really, really strong. I think the, the first one, the holiness-

Seth: Were they better than your three?

David: I, I think they're, I think-

Seth: Yes. [laughs]

David: ... they're just as good. Now we have five, we have five good ones, and they weren't my three. They're, they're-

Seth: Scholars.

David: I think the first one was Calvin. The second one was Keel. I can't remember who the third one was.

Seth: Wow.

David: But, um-

Seth: Quote, unquote, "scholars."

David: Quote, unquote, whoever these people-

Seth: Scholars

David: ... think they are. Uh, scho- [laughs] oh, my goodness. But I like the-

Seth: Reformers

David: ... reformers. No, I like the, I like the holiness one. I hadn't thought about that, where it, the fire is a symbol of God's presence and his, um, kind of marking places out. And so, like at Sinai, when God's fire fell, people did not wanna come near the tabernacle.

Seth: Right.

David: And God even said, "Don't come near or you'll die." This is a similar warning to the people who are not supposed to come near, um, into the holy place, to say like, "Hey, guys, this is a holy space. Be careful."

Seth: Yeah.

David: It's a marker. So I've never thought of it like that.

Seth: Yeah.

David: I think that's really, really cool.

Seth: I think that's just the pastoral side of what you just said, like there's a-

David: Yeah.

Seth: Yeah, it's like these are, this is a, a legitimate, real offering that can always be offered. God's presence, God started it.

David: Yep.

Seth: And what are all those symbols of? His enduring holiness and his enduring mercy.

David: It's so good.

Seth: The steadfast love of the L- Lord endures forever.

David: Right. And so I think we see a lot of these, um, in the New Testament being picked up. You see Jesus is our never-ending atonement before God. His, uh, like, he's constantly at the right hand of the Father, making inter-

Seth: Interceding for us

David: ... intercession for us.

Seth: Praying for us.

David: Praying for us. Um, it's, he's, hi- it's always there. It never goes out. The fire of Christ never stops burning. Like, it's so good. His sacrifice is eternal, continual, never-ending. And I, I was just thinking as you were talking about, like, uh, like, uh, uh, c- mercies are new every morning. Imagine, like, you do something horrible at, at night in the camp.

Seth: Yeah.

David: And you wake up, and you're like, "Oh, no," like, "I'm part of Israel."

Seth: You see the fire-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... and you're like, "God's gonna burn me up."

David: Yeah, but then you also-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... you remember what that is, and it's like there's a, there's a sin offering on that today.

Seth: Mm.

David: And you look at it, and you're like, "I know my sins are atoned for." And, like, you can go and make your own sin atonement too.

Seth: Right.

David: You know? But I just think that's really cool, that idea of, like, you can look to the fire and know you're forgiven.

Seth: Yeah.

David: And in Christ, we can look to the cross and know that we're forgiven.

Seth: And that's really kind of the common experience of all Christians is, like, when you do something wrong and you look at the cross, you sense, "Oh, my God, that should be me."

David: Right.

Seth: I, I should burn.

David: Yeah.

Seth: I should hang-

David: Right

Seth: ... for what I've done, and in that same moment you say, "I should hang, but he hung for me."

David: Right. Yep.

Seth: Yeah.

David: It's so good, so I love that. The other thing I wanna talk about i- is, um, you have this, it's the fi... It's God's fire burning the sacrifice.

Seth: Mm-hmm. Okay.

David: It's not man's fire, so I think it's a very interesting thing.

Seth: When does God's fire burn out, though?

David: [laughs]

Seth: [laughs] Because that's the, from whatever you said, that's the first thing I thought. Like, God, like, lights the wood.

David: Yeah.

Seth: That wood turns to coal.

David: Oh.

Seth: And then you add more, more wood to it.

David: Right.

Seth: But now that's just wood that you've gathered that's...

David: But it's still the, it's still God's fire.

Seth: Right, yeah.

David: It's new wood.

Seth: I know, symbolically, but I was like-

David: You know, it's still the same fire

Seth: ... it's like I make sourdough starter. I'm gonna go back to a baking analogy.

David: Okay.

Seth: And so you have your sourdough starter.

David: Yeah.

Seth: And then you have to continually feed it, right?

David: Uh-huh, yeah.

Seth: And so you're supposed to take half of it out, add 50/50 water-

David: Right

Seth: ... flour mixture, so eventually your mother starter continually gets less and less and less and less and less. But is it, when does it stop being a real starter? Your original starter and a new starter. Does this make sense? [laughs]

David: Well, it doesn't because-

Seth: [laughs]

David: ... especially with fire, if you think about it, if I start, if I, if I commit arson at my, at my house-

Seth: Okay

David: ... and just burn my house down, and it travels through the neighborhood, and say 100 houses later, I'm still gonna be blamed for starting the first fire. Just because the wood of 100 neighbors' houses-

Seth: [laughs]

David: ... caught it and continued it, doesn't mean I didn't start the fire. [laughs] In the, in the immortal words of- [laughs]

Seth: We didn't start the fire.

David: You know? Anyway.

Seth: [laughs]

David: So man, I slept four hours last night. This is, this is-

Seth: Mm

David: ... this is the feeling that I have right-

Seth: I woke up at s- 6:15.

David: Uh-huh.

Seth: 13.

David: Yep.

Seth: Had my new baby on my chest.

David: Yes.

Seth: And I was trying to read Leviticus.

David: [laughs] Yeah.

Seth: And I think I fell asleep, like, 10 times. [laughs]

David: That's, that's awesome, but the, the fire of the Lord was still burning through all that.

Seth: He was.

David: Yeah.

Seth: It was.

David: It was. Anyway, so you talk about this continuous fire of the Lord, and then the, in the New Testament, I just wanna, I wanna test something. Actually, before we do that, I wanna ask a question. Why is it significant that God's fire burns up the sacrifice and not a fire that man starts?

Seth: Well, because the whole purpose of the temple and sacrificial system is to be at one with the life and light and fire of God's-

David: Mm

Seth: ... presence, right? Like, so the goal here is to be in God's burning presence.

David: Yeah.

Seth: And so the, we've had the sun analogy since the very beginning.

David: Right.

Seth: Like, you can't be in the presence of the burning sun-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... without protection, being made like the sun. So the fact that it's God's fire offering the sacrifice is proof that atonement is actually going to work.

David: Mm.

Seth: God's fire is coming down, and his light and his life and his power, his fire, is coming onto you.

David: It's so good, and I'm like, I'm thinking about if you juxtapose that with-

Seth: Juxtapose.

David: Juxtapose [laughs] that with, uh, if you compare that-

Seth: [laughs]

David: ... or contrast that-With, um, other-

Seth: I like the word. There's a J and an X in a word.

David: Yeah, it's so good.

Seth: It's just a great-

David: It just sounds good

Seth: ... it's a great day. [laughs]

David: But if you do that with, um, other cultures of that time, they lit their own fires. They, you know, like-

Seth: Right, right, right, right, right

David: ... they offered their own sacrifices.

Seth: No other gods are burning things up.

David: No, no other gods are burning things up for themselves.

Seth: Then you think about Elijah on Mount Carmel.

David: I was... Exactly.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Yes, exactly. It's like God is the God who brings the fire for his own sacrifice, and so what... And I was trying to figure out why that's important, and I think you nailed it with it's, I know it's accepted.

Seth: Yeah.

David: 'Cause it's God who offered it. And then you think about the cross, and it's so beautiful because it's why do I know the substitution of Jesus and the atonement that he offered on the cross is going to work?

Seth: Right.

David: Because he is God. He was consumed-

Seth: Mm. Right

David: ... by his own fire.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Like, you know-

Seth: He is the fire

David: ... he is the fire, and-

Seth: And he is-

David: ... he is the sacrifice. Oh, it's so good.

Seth: Mm.

David: Like, anyway, so that's beautiful.

Seth: That is beautiful.

David: Um, now let me do a n- not fun turn.

Seth: To the left.

David: To the left, to the left, everything you own.

Seth: Why is this episode like this? [laughs]

David: I don't know. It's just, it's just, everyone, you're gonna... If this is your first time to listen to this episode-

Seth: Welcome

David: ... welcome. It's not normally this silly.

Seth: It is.

David: But I like it.

Seth: It is.

David: It's fun today. Um, but one quick thing I just wanna talk about, uh, as we're talking about how to see the New Testament in, in the gospel in this, is, um, the only fire that is talked about in the New Testament that never goes out-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... is the fire of hell.

Seth: Oh.

David: Multiple times, Jesus talks about it as-

Seth: Right

David: ... the fire that never goes out and the unquenchable fire, and, um, it's the fire of the Lord. Like, it's his act of-

Seth: Right. Right, right, right, right, right

David: ... it's his act of punishment, and so I'm just like, is there a connection there? Like, is Jesus, like, trying to draw on that picture of the altar outside the tabernacle whenever he talks about-

Seth: Mm

David: ... the eternal fire that never goes out, the unquenchable fire? Um, and it's just, it, it... I don't know if there's anything to say about that.

Seth: Right, but just to notice it and-

David: Yeah. But it's, it's kind of a heavy thing, where it's like...

Seth: Right, but I mean, it's a heavy thing, but at the same time, it's the same thing.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: Like, like if the fire of, the fire that never dies in hel- in hell is the same fire that never dies in the middle of God's sanctuary.

David: Mm.

Seth: It's a symbol of his presence and his power and his holiness.

David: Right.

Seth: And so at one point or another, you will come across God's power, his holiness, his light, and his fire, and it's gonna be one of two things for you, either eternal security, eternal forgiveness, eternal, um, like, bought, purchased presence with him forever, or it will mean forever being on the outside.

David: Right.

Seth: Forever being burned alive, and I... When I say that, I don't mean literally-

David: Literally

Seth: ... burned, burned alive.

David: Right.

Seth: But burned by the power that you have not been made like yet.

David: Right.

Seth: Right? Like-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... like...

David: Yeah, and it, it makes me think of, um, I mean, there... Now, now I really think there's something to this because when you think about the, the pleasing aroma to the Lord coming off the burnt offering from this-

Seth: Right, right, right, right

David: ... eternal fire, what is it in, uh, in Revelation 14:11, we're told that there's this eternal f- fire-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... that, that's burning, and, um, the smoke rises, um, to heaven, and it says, uh, in Revelation 14:11, "And the smoke of their torment will rise forever and ever. There will be no rest day and night for those who worship the beast made in his image or anyone who receives the mark of his name." And there's this smoke rising to heaven, and it's like that pleasing aroma to the Lord, but it's-

Seth: Mm.

David: And, like, that's a, it's a really hard text. [laughs] It's not a fun text. Um, but, uh, anyway, I just wanted to point it out and, and just be like, it seems like the New Testament picks up on this theme of an eternal fire.

Seth: Right.

David: And it's like, since j- but... and, like, but there's good news here 'cause, like, Jesus went there for us. He descended-

Seth: Right

David: ... into hell, that whole idea.

Seth: And the-

David: Like, he put himself on the altar so we don't have to. He experienced the eternal fire so we don't have to.

Seth: Right. The eternal fire never goes out.

David: Right.

Seth: That's, I mean, there's an eternal fire here-

David: Right

Seth: ... in this text in a temple, but the whole world, the entire universe, both spiritual and physical, is God's.

David: Yes.

Seth: And there's an eternal fire that always burns, and every single person in the entire world will be next to that unending fire, and it'll let... You'll have two very different profound experiences of it-

David: Mm

Seth: ... depending on how you respond.

David: Right.

Seth: It's not like his, his power and his fire is separated-

David: Right

Seth: ... and there's one place where it's all bad-

David: Right

Seth: ... and there's one place where it's all good. No, his fire and his power is everywhere-

David: Yes

Seth: ... all the time, always, and your response to the one that has put himself on the altar for you-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... depends on how you experience that. [gentle music]

David: Okay, so let's talk about some things that are, um, unique to the priests' operations and the sacrifice. Um, first, I guess, we, we talked about last week that only the peace offering was allowed to be eaten by the worshipers. Every, nothing else was allowed to be eaten.

Seth: Right. That's when they came and had the big picnic outside.

David: Yep.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Mm-hmm. But, uh, a lot of the sacrifices, um, are eaten by the priests.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Yeah. And, uh, and in fact, we're told that that's their portion. Um, it's, whenever you see in Leviticus that something is most holy to the Lord, that's a little code that's meaning that's the priests' food. [laughs] That's-

Seth: Oh, okay, okay, okay.

David: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Seth: Yeah, yeah.

David: And so, um, don't be weirded out by that phrase. It's just like, that's the priests' food. It's most holy to the Lord, and so they get to eat it. And so, um, I think it'd be interesting to talk about why are the priests eating the food. [laughs]

Seth: Well, they are... So everybody in, so there's 12 tribes.

David: Yep.

Seth: The other 11 tribes are involved in the running of a society, agriculture, farming-

David: Yep

Seth: ... livestock, husbandry, city building, planning, and the priests have one job, and it's to maintain the temple and to provide sacrifices.

David: Right.

Seth: And there's really no money to be made in this.

David: Nope.

Seth: Like, this, this is, this is [laughs] for, it's a free service.

David: Yep.

Seth: And they need to be somehow compensated.

David: Yep.

Seth: They need to f- survive.

David: They need to be able to eat, them and their families.

Seth: Right.

David: Yeah.

Seth: And so the, the way that works-

David: I thought you said eat them and their families. [laughs]

Seth: Them and their f-

David: Eat them and-

Seth: And their-

David: They're... You can't say commas in, in speech. [laughs]

Seth: Eat, comma, them and their families. [laughs]

David: There you go. Anyway, yeah.

Seth: And-

David: Continue

Seth: The rest of the nation was supposed to provide for that service because they recognized the central role-

David: Right

Seth: ... of the temple and the sacrifice that they, that they provide. So there's no other way for them really to eat.

David: Yep.

Seth: Um, which is interesting. I think this is why that Jesus turns over the tables in the temple.

David: Mm.

Seth: He's like, and he says, "You've made this a house of, uh-

David: Robbers

Seth: ... robbers instead of a house of prayer." Like the sacrificial system was supposed to provide for the priests.

David: Mm.

Seth: And what do the priests do? They set up a marketplace to line their pro- pockets.

David: Yeah.

Seth: They, they like, they're literally s-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... not trusting the Lord-

David: Right

Seth: ... and his provision and the people and the s- the system that God set up.

David: Yeah.

Seth: It's part of the reason, I think.

David: It's part of the reason.

Seth: It's part of the reason.

David: There, there's also like some provision in Deuteronomy that allows you to come to the temple and buy animals if you can't tr-

Seth: If you can't br- bring it from

David: ... if you can't bring it from your own flock-

Seth: I think-

David: ... 'cause you live too far away.

Seth: Yes. But I think part of what's happening-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... in Jesus, like the, the, the pre- the Pharisees throughout them were, they're known for being duplicitous, for lining their own pockets. They're taking money from Judas. You know, like-

David: They're not, they're not supporting their own parents.

Seth: Right.

David: Yeah.

Seth: So th- th- they're, they're, they're s- they're not the best guys. And so I think part of what we're s- seeing there is kind of the opposite of what they should be doing. They should be trusting the Lord. They should be praying and providing and listening and waiting-

David: Right

Seth: ... for the Lord to provide.

David: Of course, Pharisees weren't priests.

Seth: That's true.

David: So careful.

Seth: But anyway.

David: [laughs]

Seth: We can just kill all this. We can just kill-

David: No, it's good. I, it's good to... I, I, I think it's fine. Um.

Seth: [laughs] It's fine.

David: It's fine. It's fine.

Seth: It's fine.

David: It's fine. One more time and I'll believe you. It's fine. Um, so okay, that's, that's cool. Is there anything like theological or symbolic happening here in I'm a, I'm a worshiper, right? And I, I'm bringing my sin offering, and, um, I chop it up and do all the things and burn the long lobe of the liver and the kidneys and the intestines on the altar, and then I give the rest to the priest, and then he eats it and takes the blood and splashes it on the side of the altar.

Seth: Right. Yeah.

David: And I'm like, "There goes my, there goes my, my good old sheep."

Seth: Right.

David: Ja- Ja- Jason.

Seth: [laughs]

David: Jason the sheep.

Seth: Jason the sheep.

David: [laughs] And, uh-

Seth: Good old Hebrew name, Jason. [laughs]

David: Good old Hebrew name. [laughs] And, uh, and, and I, and I'm like, I know that the pr- that priest, 'cause it says whoever splashes the blood-

Seth: Right

David: ... gets to eat that animal.

Seth: Okay.

David: You do the work, you get the reward kind of thing. And I know that, you know, Mordecai here, who splashed the blood-

Seth: Is that the sheep name or the-

David: No, no, that's the priest

Seth: ... [laughs]

David: Is gonna go eat Jason the sheep. [laughs] And is there something there that it's like, is that, is that showing me that God's accepted my sacrifice when I see the priest eat the food that I've brought, or is it just an economic thing, that I'm providing for them since they don't have their own plots of land and herds? Or do you think something symbolic and theological is happening?

Seth: I mean, yes.

David: [laughs] Do you just feel bad for saying no because it's the Bible and surely there has to be some theological significance? [laughs]

Seth: Well, I mean, the Bible's a practical book in a lot of way-

David: Yeah, yeah.

Seth: It's like-

David: Totally. It's a real book.

Seth: Right.

David: And it's like real people have to eat.

Seth: Eat.

David: [laughs] So here's a way to do that.

Seth: Right.

David: Um, anyway, maybe not.

Seth: Maybe not, but I mean, I think it's a way for the people of Israel to be... It's a way for them to, for, like, the, the, um, the responsibility for the maintenance of the priesthood to go out to all people. It's like it's a nation of priests.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: At the very least, that means a nation that provides for the priests, you know?

David: Right.

Seth: There's a more, there's, there's a deeper meaning than just, like, we make sure that-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... the priests survive. But-

David: It's a big deal in the Torah, though, to make sure you're providing for the priests. There's, you know, we're gonna run in, in Numbers and Deuteronomy into even more laws to help protect the l- the l- like land-

Seth: Right

David: ... and sheep and herds that are consecrated for the priests.

Seth: Right. I don't think we need to read too much into it because-

David: Okay. Yeah

Seth: ... what, what Paul does, what does Paul say?

David: Mm.

Seth: A laborer is worth his wages.

David: Oh, right. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Seth: Therefore-

David: Right

Seth: ... pay your pastors.

David: Yep.

Seth: So I feel like-

David: That's good

Seth: ... I feel like the New Testament does this work for us here.

David: That's really good.

Seth: And it's like people who serve in the temple of the Lord-

David: Yep

Seth: ... should be compensated.

David: Yeah.

Seth: So bring an offering and help support your pastors.

David: Right.

Seth: [laughs] So I feel like that's the-

David: That's good

Seth: ... New Testament term.

David: Really practical. Yeah.

Seth: No, I think it's great.

David: Okay, cool. All right. So let's look at some other, uh, unique things. Um, the, the priests, uh, have to, when, after they're consecrated, they, uh, the, each priest also brings a daily grain offering, and, uh, they have to do that every day, and, um, they're not allowed to eat that. That's like the one thing they can't eat, um-

Seth: Right

David: ... that's brought. Their own grain offering, they can't participate in. They have to burn it all up on the altar every day, and it's this, this sacrifice that is referenced by Hebrews 7:27 when it says the priests come daily offering their sac-

Seth: Oh, okay. Yeah.

David: This is the one they're, they're referencing.

Seth: Yeah.

David: And so it's this picture. Imagine every priest who works in the tabernacle every morning coming in-

Seth: Right

David: ... with the, their, their baked good-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... and burning it all up, and no one gets to eat it. No one gets to enjoy it. It's just that's what they have to do every day to consecrate themselves because they have sinned, and they are unclean, and every day they have to be re-cleaned up, and it's this continual thing that every single priest has to keep doing over and over and over again, and no one's eating the food. And then when y- Hebrews 7, it's making the point that when Jesus comes, he has no sin, so he doesn't have to offer sacrifices for himself.

Seth: Right.

David: And so he's just one priest, never has to offer a sacrifice for, for himself, and all the sacrifices we bring to him, we get to eat and enjoy with him.

Seth: Oh, yeah.

David: And so it's like this, it's like wasted sacrifice and perpetual sacrifice and all this stuff that's ended in Christ.

Seth: That's so cool.

David: Anyway.

Seth: Yeah, that's cool.

David: Just a little minor thing.

Seth: Yeah.

David: But I think it's neat.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Um, then there's this stuff that ta- uh, often we'll run into this language about being cut off or not being accepted.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Right?

Seth: Over and over again here, uh, it'll essentially say that if you come in unclean, the priest comes in unclean, um-

David: He'll be cut off

Seth: ... he'll be cut off from the people.

David: Right.

Seth: It says the person shall be cut off from his people.

David: Right.

Seth: And that's-

David: Which is a, is actually a euphemism-

Seth: So-

David: ... or a idiom, if you will

Seth: ... for circumcision?

David: No. [laughs]

Seth: [laughs]

David: You will be... They're already circumcised. [laughs] Um, i- it's, it's a, it's, it's an, it's a much sadder idiom. It, it means you'll-... die.

Seth: Right.

David: To be cut off from the people of God is to be killed.

Seth: The only reason I say circumcision, because Paul picks up, uh, this on, in Galatians-

David: Yes

Seth: ... where he plays with this idea of people being circumcised and thinking that justifies them, but Christ is cut off for all people.

David: He was killed.

Seth: And he was killed.

David: Right.

Seth: So he picks up-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... Paul picks up in Galatians the language used here-

David: Right

Seth: ... in Leviticus.

David: Yes.

Seth: Yeah.

David: And so, uh, anyway, so it's just something to flag because we're gonna see that God is warning the priests and telling them, "Hey, these aren't just arbitrary rules. You need to take this extremely seriously, because if you don't, you're gonna die. And, like, you just need to realize that this is a life or death thing that we're dealing with here. These aren't just, uh, church rules, like n- no running down the aisle, you know, by the pews or-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... you know, like, no, no food or drink in the sanctuary." [laughs]

Seth: [laughs]

David: Like, it's not that kind of thing. This is a life or death-

Seth: You shall be cut off from the people if you drink coffee and bagels in the sanctuary.

David: [laughs] That's right. So none of that. Um, this is a very serious thing, and we're gonna run into that again in chapter 10. And so, um-

Seth: So as you're reading the book of Leviticus this week-

David: Yep

Seth: ... and you're trying to get through these chapters, and you're like, "What is happening right now?" What you should be remembering is that the people of God want to live in God's presence. God's presence is with them. The priests have a special job of trying to enter into God's presence, and what you're reading right now is their responsibility in, I don't wanna call it a transaction, but in that relationship.

David: Right, a relationship.

Seth: That's what you're, that's what you're reading.

David: Right.

Seth: And essentially, you're trying to get back to the Garden of Eden.

David: That's right.

Seth: That, we're still trying to get back to the garden-

David: Yes

Seth: ... and this temple is trying to get us there.

David: Yep.

Seth: And you see that in little things, like in verse, 7 verse 8, where the priests are given the skin of the animal to keep.

David: Oh, right, yes.

Seth: It's a symbol b- uh, back in the garden where-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... God gives Adam and Eve the skins of the animal to cover their shame. Like, the priests are in the, the shame-covering, forgiveness-dealing business.

David: Yeah.

Seth: And again, business, relationship.

David: [laughs]

Seth: But, but like, they're, this is what we're after.

David: Right.

Seth: We're trying to get back to the Garden of Eden. That's why it's so important. That's why the fire's always burning.

David: Yep.

Seth: His mercy is always there, always present. The garden needs to come back.

David: Yeah, it's really good, and we need to remember that constantly as we're looking at these rules. As you're reading Leviticus, uh, you just need to constantly remember that this is in a narrative story that's all about how can we live in God's presence. How do we get back to Genesis 1? Like, that's what the Bible's about. And so Leviticus is so crucial because, like, when we get to the end of chapter 9, God's gonna show up. Like, we're almost there.

Seth: Yeah.

David: So, like, you should be pregnant with in, in, anticipation.

Seth: Pregnant with anticipation.

David: And so anyway-

Seth: You trying to tell us something, David?

David: Uh, no, not yet.

Seth: Oh.

David: Not yet.

Seth: Okay, okay, okay.

David: Not yet. My n- but Ezra is nine months old today.

Seth: Oh.

David: So.

Seth: It's like the reverse conception date. [laughs]

David: It's true. I've never thought of it like that. [laughs]

Seth: That's really funny. Um, anyway, I don't know what that noise was, if you heard that. I hope, uh, I hope that's... What is this? I don't know. My do not disturb was on, but it made a noise.

David: Hmm.

Seth: Anyway, uh, so-

David: So we're moving away from the-

Seth: Well, yeah.

David: Oh no, we're not?

Seth: I w- I, I wanna, I wanna-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... point out one more thing.

David: One more thing.

Seth: So we've talked about the priests need to take this very seriously-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... or they'll be cut off. The people, too, get a little nod in here, and we get a little excursus, a little, like paren- parenthetical statement-

David: Yep

Seth: ... about, like, um, not eating fat and not eating blood. Um, and, and what it talks about is bringing an acceptable sacrifice to God over and over and over again. It's gonna be so that your sacrifice might be accepted, so that your sacrifice might be accepted.

David: Right.

Seth: This is a really important thing because you want your sacrifice to be accepted. Um-

David: You don't wanna be like Cain.

Seth: You don't wanna be like Cain. You, you don't wanna have an unacceptable sacrifice. Um-

David: Remember Cain-

Seth: Yep

David: ... presumably was trying to get back in the garden.

Seth: That's right.

David: Like, he was at the foot of the garden-

Seth: That's right

David: ... like offering his sacrifice and-

Seth: Okay, yeah. No, it's really good.

David: Yeah.

Seth: And, uh, and so i- it talks about, like, make sure you do everything as God has prescribed so that your sacrifice might be accepted. And I was thinking about this, where it's like acceptable sacrifices and, like, following the rules of Leviticus that seems so rigid and arcane and, and I was like, "Oh, wait, no it's not." Think about, um, like there are social taboos and faux pas.

David: Mm.

Seth: And you know that there are certain things you just should not do in a restaurant-

David: Right

Seth: ... or a coffee shop-

David: Right

Seth: ... or a funeral. [laughs]

David: Right.

Seth: You just don't do certain things, or you, you will not be accepted by that [laughs] that group.

David: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I was watching my, one of my favorite shows, it's a guilty pleasure, is Impractical Jokers.

Seth: Oh, my gosh.

David: And they go around and pull pranks on people.

Seth: Yes, yes, yes.

David: And, um, w- uh, one ti- it's a new episode.

Seth: The whole show is basically just them breaking taboos. [laughs]

David: Them breaking tab- But man, there was this one, and sometimes they do things that are so wrong in social context.

Seth: Yeah.

David: And it's not immoral.

Seth: Right.

David: It's nothing immoral, a- a- but it makes your stomach, like, queasy. And so there's this new one, and, uh, one of the guys is being punished. If you lose on the episode, you get punished, and you have to do it. And, uh, this guy Murr had to go into-

Seth: Murr

David: ... a coffee shop in New York City, where they live, and, um, close everyone's laptops.

Seth: [laughs]

David: And, like, you, you, you see, the hidden cameras are showing you there are, like, 30 open laptops. I mean-

Seth: Right

David: ... everyone's laps, and he just has to go over. And, like, people get so offended. Like, just, I mean-

Seth: Right, right

David: ... they are, their minds are blown. It's like they saw a Martian. Like-

Seth: [laughs]

David: ... and all he did was close a, close a laptop. There's nothing immoral or wrong about that.

Seth: Right.

David: But it's a social faux pas, and he-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... he was not accepted by that coffee shop. [laughs] And so anyway, I just think it's interesting to talk about. [laughs]

Seth: That is the closest analogy we could think of-

David: [laughs]

Seth: ... to these verses right here.

David: But, but, uh, but, but Hebrews picks this up. Again, and Hebrews picks a lot of Leviticus up. Hebrews 12:28-29 talks about, um, like, let's bring an acceptable sacrifice to the Lord, because our God is a consuming fire. It picks up both of these things-

Seth: Right

David: ... in two verses. And, um, the, our acceptable sacrifice to the Lord is, is Jesus, so that all of the actions we do in our lives, um, of the g- the good deeds we do, our love of each other, when we worship God in song, whatever it is, it is made acceptable on the basis of, of Jesus, um, and his perfect offering. It purifies us and allows us to be priests who enter into the tabernacle and make acceptable sacrifices to God.

Seth: Right.

David: Um, and w- but why should be, we be worried about making an acceptable sacrifice? Hebrews says because our God is a consuming fire, and he's about to reference what's about to happen-

Seth: Right, right, right

David: ... when God shows up and the priests do not offer an acceptable sacrifice.

Seth: So after that, we move into, uh, the consecration of Aaron-

David: Right

Seth: ... and his sons.

David: We're-

Seth: So consecration is-

David: Now we're out of the table of contents.

Seth: We're out of the table of con-

David: We're into the history section.

Seth: Yeah, we're into the story.

David: Yeah.

Seth: And so what's happening now is that Aaron and his sons are being consecrated, and so that just means being set apart, anointed for ministry in the temple.

David: Right.

Seth: They're being... They're getting ready for that day. And so essentially, there's this eight-day process of where they're continually offering sacrifices throughout that eight days, seven days.

David: Yep.

Seth: And then on the eighth day, there's this big final sacrifice.

David: Yes.

Seth: And then they're allowed to offer sacrifice on behalf of the people.

David: Right.

Seth: And if you remember last week, we talked about how whenever a sacrifice was to be offered in the temple, they would sprinkle the blood-

David: Oh, right. Yep

Seth: ... around the temple, and it was this symbol that not just an individual person is polluted by the act that they do, but the whole community can be polluted.

David: Right.

Seth: And we talked about, like-

David: Even the altar, I thought it was so interesting, even the altar said it needs atonement.

Seth: Yes.

David: Which-

Seth: Right

David: ... kind of broke my categories a little bit. [laughs] I was like-

Seth: Yes

David: ... "What?" Yeah.

Seth: And so, and we, and we talked about how, like, we, like t- like toxins in our food or, like-

David: Right

Seth: ... industrial farming, like, poisons the land.

David: Right.

Seth: Like, we have this, we have this-

David: We know that it's not just sinful actions and, like, a, a, a m- like a court-

Seth: Right

David: ... and punishment that's taking place here. There's also actual pollution.

Seth: Right.

David: Yeah.

Seth: And so the symbolic sprinkling of the blood around the temple was supposed to symbol, was symbolizing the cleansing of the entire land.

David: Right.

Seth: And so what we have here, we have this really weird scene where after they're offering their sacrifices, the blood is taken and it's, like, dabbed on their ear.

David: Their right ear.

Seth: Their right toe.

David: Their right thumb.

Seth: And their right thumb.

David: And their right to- uh, right toe, and their, all their clothes.

Seth: Yes.

David: Yeah.

Seth: And so I think that's a symbol of them being purified-

David: Yes

Seth: ... in the same way that the nation is being purified. They are symbolically being cleaned on behalf of the people-

David: Head to toe

Seth: ... so that all people of the nation can be-

David: Right

Seth: ... cleaned. And so we, remember, we have this category for the entire nation being defiled-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... by the actions of one person. So when the priest is clean, the entire nation is cleaned as well.

David: Right.

Seth: So when we have this, so in this consecration ceremony, they're being set apart from the entire nation so that they might make sacrifices for the entire nation.

David: Right.

Seth: That their cleanliness can be the cleanliness of all people.

David: Mm.

Seth: That's what's happening right now.

David: Yeah. That's awesome. And so, yeah, w- why is consecration important? It's because it gives us a person who can be our advocate. It sets-

Seth: Yes

David: ... it sets, uh, sets us apart a savior, basically. [laughs] And, like, that's what we see in Jesus, is that not through some kind of, of ritual, you know, uh, but he lived a perfect life. You know, it wasn't a seven-day sacrifice. It was 33 years-

Seth: Right

David: ... of perfect living and then a perfect offering that didn't need to be repeated for seven days, and multiple bulls and sheep and on-

Seth: Right

David: ... and on and on. It was one sacrifice once for all, and now he is our perfect advocate, and since he has been purified, we can be purified.

Seth: Right.

David: Yeah.

Seth: And all the sacrifice we were told that they needed to perform in chapters six and seven, they do perfectly in chapters eight and nine.

David: Right.

Seth: And kind of list them one by one.

David: Yep.

Seth: They did this one, they did this one, they did this one, they did this one.

David: It should kind of remind us of, uh, Exodus-

Seth: Right

David: ... when you see, like, Moses gets all these rules on the mountain, and then the people f- perfectly execute them at the end, and then God shows up.

Seth: Right.

David: And again, we're gonna see, here's all the rules for how to operate the tabernacle. They do all the correct operations of the tabernacle-

Seth: And chapter-

David: And then God shows up. [laughs]

Seth: Chapter 9 verse 6, "This is the thing that the Lord commanded you to do, that the glory of the Lord-

David: Yes

Seth: ... may appear to you."

David: That's the whole point. What's the point of Leviticus? It's so that God can be with us.

Seth: Yes.

David: Like, we can't forget that, or, or Levi- like I, I get really frustrated, and I used to say this too.

Seth: Right, right.

David: But now that I know how beautiful Leviticus is, people are like, "Ugh, Leviticus. I just..." And I, you might be thinking that. I'm not picking at you. But, like, I'm just like, it's so cool to, to see that God is creating a space in which he can come and live. Like, God's-

Seth: Right

David: ... building a house, and then he moves in at the end of chapter nine, so it's just really cool.

Seth: I thought you would like this in verse 22. Uh, this, so this is God's presence coming down.

David: Yep.

Seth: "And Aaron lifts up his hands towards the people and blessed them, and he came down from offering the sin offering and the burnt offerings and the peace offerings." So he came down. From where? From the temple.

David: Oh, yeah.

Seth: So, and it's, it- they're on a plain-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... in the middle of the desert.

David: Right.

Seth: So they're not on a mountain.

David: No.

Seth: But throughout Le- throughout the Biblical story, the pla- the temple, God's presence is on his holy mountain.

David: Right.

Seth: It's in the Garden of Eden. It was on Mount Sinai, so the holy places of God are always higher places.

David: That's right.

Seth: Like, and so you always come down [laughs] from-

David: That's right

Seth: ... the higher places.

David: It's like whenever, even if you were, um, north of Jerusalem-

Seth: You would say you go-

David: You would say you go up to Jerusalem.

Seth: To Jerusalem.

David: Even though you're going down-

Seth: Right

David: ... south, you go up because you always ascend to the mountain.

Seth: And it goes back to what you said in the first week, that the whole book, the whole Pentateuch is shaped like a mountain.

David: That's right.

Seth: The most important chapter is, uh-

David: Chapter 16 of Leviticus

Seth: ... of Leviticus, which is right in the middle-

David: Of the whole, of the whole Torah

Seth: ... of the whole Torah.

David: Yep.

Seth: And so we're just seeing little pictures here, like you come down from the presence of God, even if it's on a flat plain.

David: Yep.

Seth: I thought you would like that.

David: I do love that, I really do. What's interesting about, um, Aaron's consecration here that I don't want us to miss is that, um, [laughs] the, just in the last book, not long ago in the narrative at all, um, the person responsible for God almost not coming down among the people for, like, wanting, like, almost wanting to blot everybody out and start over again like he did in the flood, was because Aaron built a, a golden idol, a golden calf for the people at their request. And so he, you know, he, he led them incorrectly. The, he's like the chief of sinners.

Seth: Right.

David: This dude. And then in this moment, he is elevated to the highest religious office that Israel has-

Seth: Yes

David: ... as the high priest.

Seth: But you should also still be thinking about Aaron's failures in the Book of Exodus as well, because the story that happened in Exodus is about to repeat itself-

David: Right

Seth: ... here with the golden calf.

David: Yes.

Seth: So it says here-

David: But it won't be, it won't be Aaron, it'll be his sons.

Seth: His sons.

David: Right.

Seth: It says, "The fire came out from before the Lord and consumed the burnt offerings. The eternal fire of the Lord is lit, and when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces." This is the same response when Mount Sinai-

David: Oh, right

Seth: ... was covered.

David: Yes.

Seth: When the Go- God speaks his commands, fire comes out, the people freak out.

David: Yeah.

Seth: And what happens immediately after that? They offerThey, they serve a false god.

David: Right.

Seth: They create an idol, they worship the wrong god, and we're about- and Aaron was responsible for it. We're about to see the same thing happen here again-

David: Right

Seth: ... with Aaron's sons. As we said a couple different times, that the way that the structure of the Pentateuch works is that there'll be the laws of God given, a particular sin, and the new laws to help prevent that sin from occurring before.

David: Yes.

Seth: That already happened in the book of Exodus.

David: Yeah.

Seth: They sin, all these new laws about how we should properly worship God. Now, Aaron's sons are about to make a different mistake, and new laws are about to be added-

David: Yep

Seth: ... to correct that mistake that they did.

David: Right.

Seth: So-

David: Yep

Seth: ... here we go.

David: The cycle continues. [laughs]

Seth: Cycle continues.

David: Yeah. [instrumental music] Okay, I don't want us to miss how epic the end of chapter nine is.

Seth: Yeah.

David: It's so momentous that God shows up, that the Lord of... The glor- it says, "The glory of the Lord appeared to all the people." Like-

Seth: We've been waiting for this.

David: We've been waiting for this.

Seth: Hundreds-

David: And, like, we're waiting for this today. Like-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... we're waiting for [laughs] the glory of God to come back. Like, we wanna see this moment, but, like, the world is polluted, and so, like, you know, we're, we're, we're part of this cleanup project as Christians.

Seth: Yeah.

David: And so, like, this is a big deal. We can feel this today as Christians of, like, waiting for the glory of the Lord to show up. Um, and so the glory of the Lord shows up, whatever that means, [laughs] and whatever that looked like. And then-

Seth: Did we define, like, the glory of the Lord?

David: I think we did maybe back in when we were doing Exodus 33 and 34, maybe when the glory of God passed by.

Seth: Yeah, I think we said then it's just, it's the sum total of God's perfections.

David: Yes.

Seth: It's his infinite goodness, his infinite wisdom, his infinite beauty just condensed into a space.

David: Right.

Seth: So the glory of God is everything good about God multiplied by everything perfect about God.

David: Yeah. [laughs]

Seth: And-

David: And it's made visible in some way.

Seth: Yes. So it's-

David: Which is insane. [laughs]

Seth: So that's why everyone's freaking out-

David: Yes

Seth: ... and falling on their faces. It's-

David: And so-

Seth: ... incomprehensible

David: ... God's glory shows up, everyone sees it, and then out from the tabernacle, a fireball [laughs] comes or something. Like, Hadoken. That's a Street Fighter thing, right?

Seth: [laughs]

David: But it's like a fireball comes out, and fire comes out from the Lord and consumes the, the sacrifice and lights the fire that's never to go out. Like, now it's here. Um, I mean, that is by far probably the most insane thing that's happened on the planet Earth. [laughs] Like, could you imagine seeing that?

Seth: Right, right, right.

David: Like, it'd be the mo- the most insane spectacle of all. And this is before pyrotechnics, you know? [laughs]

Seth: Mm.

David: Like-

Seth: They haven't seen-

David: ... no one's seen flying fire before

Seth: ... they haven't seen fireworks before.

David: No. [laughs]

Seth: [laughs]

David: It's like, dang, what just happened?

Seth: They might have actually. The ancient Chinese had fireworks.

David: Yeah, but who knows?

Seth: Maybe, maybe the Egyptians had fireworks.

David: Maybe they did, but this is something-

Seth: This is different

David: ... categorically different.

Seth: This is different than a firework. [laughs]

David: It, it really is. And so the people shout and fall on their faces. They're terrified. Which is the same response Moses had whenever, um, he saw the glory of the Lord in the cleft of the rock. He fell on his face.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Anyway, kinda cool. Uh, and so-

Seth: Which always makes me skeptical-

David: Oh

Seth: ... of people going to heaven when they die.

David: Wait, what?

Seth: Wait, sorry. [laughs] That, that sounded strange. Makes me skeptical of all those stories I read-

David: Oh

Seth: ... about people going to heaven or-

David: Right

Seth: ... seeing an angel. I'm like, the, kind of the universal response of people-

David: Is

Seth: ... when they see th-

David: [laughs] The laugh on your face.

Seth: If you were, like, having a picnic or something.

David: Yeah.

Seth: I don't know. Anyway.

David: Yeah. You're like, "I went and, uh, yeah, I saw my meemaw driving a race car," and I was like, "Oh, I guess she's here."

Seth: Uh, I mean-

David: [laughs]

Seth: ... obviously Paul went up to the third heaven. We have people, but they were-

David: Yep

Seth: ... they couldn't even-

David: They weren't permitted to talk about it. [laughs]

Seth: To talk, so anyway, anyway, brought a lot... Different conversation for a different day.

David: Very different conversation. But yes, when you see God's glory, the normal response is not to write a New York Times bestselling book.

Seth: [laughs]

David: It's to fall on your face. [laughs]

Seth: To be speechless.

David: Yeah.

Seth: Or to be told you can't speak about it.

David: Yeah, exactly.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Right. So I [laughs]... And, uh, never mind, I'm not gonna speculate. [laughs] I'm gonna stop there. But, um, yeah, so th- the glory of God has come, and then, um, Aaron's sons, who've just been consecrated, Nadab and Abihu, um, they come, and it says that they each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them, and then they die. The fire comes out again. The fireball, the Hadoken, [laughs] comes out again from God and consumes entirely, not the sacrifice this time, but Nadab and Abihu. So why did this happen? What is this-

Seth: Well-

David: What's unauthorized fire? I don't, like, this is always so confusing.

Seth: Well, Moses gives us the ultimate reason for why all this happened.

David: Okay.

Seth: In verse three he says, uh, "This is what the Lord has said: Among those who are near me, I will be sanctified."

David: Right.

Seth: "And before all the people, I will be glorified."

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: And so I've try- I, I'm not quite sure what it means for the Lord to be sanctified. I think it means, like, I will be known as-

David: Known as holy

Seth: ... known as holy.

David: Right.

Seth: Known as set apart. Known as unique in power-

David: Yes

Seth: ... and goodness and light.

David: Yep.

Seth: And I will be made great by that. Like-

David: Yep

Seth: ... you will see me for my true glory.

David: Yep.

Seth: My true perfections multiplied by my goodness.

David: Yep. When my inner circle sees me as completely set apart and unapproachable almost, then everyone around them, all people, will know how glorious I am.

Seth: Yes. So that's why he said, that's the reason Moses gives for Nadab and Abihu's death.

David: Because God has... They tried to approach God in an unsanctimonious way.

Seth: They, in... Yeah, they wanted to approach God on their own terms.

David: Okay, yeah.

Seth: Right? Like, they wanted to say, "We don't need to really follow the commandments as the Lord has given them."

David: Yep.

Seth: We can follow them on his own terms. Which, again, is the story since the Garden of Eden.

David: Right.

Seth: K- like, Eve wanted to approach God-

David: Yep

Seth: ... and become wise like God on her own terms.

David: Yep.

Seth: Cain wanted to offer a sacrifice [laughs] before-

David: Yep

Seth: ... God on his own terms.

David: Right. The Tower of Babel, they, they wanted to, they wanted to build a tower up to heaven on their own terms.

Seth: Abraham wanted to s- provide the, uh, on his own terms.

David: Secure the promise.

Seth: So, like, this is the same story-

David: Yes

Seth: ... we've seen over and over and over again. And, I mean, Israel wanted to worship God on their own terms, uh, with the golden calf.

David: With the golden calf, yep.

Seth: So it's the same story-

David: It's the same story

Seth: ... over and over and over again. And God, and we finally have a description for why the Lord refuses for us to come, allows us to come on our own terms.

David: Right.

Seth: It's like, I want, need to be known as the light, life, power-

David: Right

Seth: ... and fire.

David: I'm not like you.

Seth: I'm not like you.

David: Yeah.

Seth: Yeah.

David: I'm sanctified. I will be sanctified among people, and only then will I be glorified.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Because onl- you're only gonna worship and set apart as famous and hold in the highest esteem someone who's utterly unlike yourself. Uh, otherwise, you're only glorifying yourself.

Seth: Right.

David: Yep.

Seth: And the only way that that happens is if you give up your ideas about what it means to approach me correctly.

David: Right.

Seth: And gi- give up your ideas of what it means to be pure or holy, to pray correctly, to live the right type of life.

David: Right.

Seth: And this, and believe me when I say what I say is true.

David: This is a hard, this is a hard word for people, I think, approaching Leviticus.

Seth: Yes.

David: You know? And even the Bible in general, where it's like I come to the Book of Leviticus, and it just feels like this isn't how God should act, and this isn't how the sacrificial system should work. Maybe there even shouldn't be a sacrificial system. You know? Like, why is there fire coming out, and why are animals being killed? And man, like, as I read the Torah, I just feel like this isn't the kinda God I would want, and I don't think God's like that. I hear that all the time. "I couldn't worship a God like that. I can't... If God's like that, I don't want anything to do with Him." And it's like you're trying to make God in your own terms. You're trying to make God look like you, and he-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... the Bible comes to us as this holy fire that sets Himself apart, and He's saying, "I will be sanctified. I'm gonna show you that I'm unique." As you read Leviticus, you're gonna see that God is not like you expect Him to be.

Seth: Right.

David: And you need to l- we need to lean into that.

Seth: It's, you don't wanna be a part of an organization that allows anybody to come in. If you really care about the trees or the garbage patch in the middle of the ocean, you don't want people coming in who are lobbyists for big oil.

David: Right.

Seth: You have certain expectations of the people that come into your organization to protect the purity of the planet.

David: Right.

Seth: And you don't want people coming in on their own terms. You set the charter for your institution.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: You set the, the, the way for which you can have communion and fellowship within your organization or within your party, political party, or within your, uh, nonprofit, and you say, "This is what it means to be a part of us."

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: "This is what it means to be in fellowship with us. This is what it means to be on mission with us, and we are excluding people based on that."

David: Right.

Seth: And I, I think we, people understand that, but we don't understand that when it comes to God because we think somehow God doesn't operate like that. Don't... And we separate God's fire in a way that's not... We've talked about it multiple times, like, God's fire is goodness. It's pure goodness.

David: Oh, right. Yeah.

Seth: It's pure light. It is pure life. And if we want to have pure light and pure life, we need to trust when pure light and pure life gives us commands to get more light and life.

David: Right.

Seth: And all it wi- uh, the story of the Bible is that we assume that we know how to get light and life for ourselves.

David: Right.

Seth: And that we, if we try in our death to do something, it'll work out.

David: Yes.

Seth: It'll be fine.

David: Right.

Seth: And the story [laughs] of the entire Bible tells over and over again that's not the way it works.

David: Right.

Seth: You need to sublimate your desires. You need to push down what you think is best and submit to the God who is light and life itself in order to receive it.

David: Right, because He knows what's best.

Seth: He knows what's best.

David: You're lying to yourself.

Seth: He is what is best.

David: He is what is best, right.

Seth: He is what is best.

David: This isn't some kind of deprivation.

Seth: Right.

David: It is actual, um, gluttony. It's [laughs] like you get to, you get to get the best thing in the world.

Seth: If you think what is best for the planet is for the garbage patch to be gone-

David: Right

Seth: ... and you don't want big oil lobbyists in there, great. God is far more concerned with the purity of the planet than you are.

David: Right.

Seth: He's far more concerned for its ecological purity and your own moral purity and your spiritual purity and your sense of forgiveness and that f- a, a sense of feeling whole and at peace.

David: Right.

Seth: And He's saying, "I want that for you, and if you do it wrong, you won't experience that."

David: Right.

Seth: You'll just continue to pollute yourself and others.

David: Which i- okay, so there's a lot happening here.

Seth: Yes, there is.

David: There's a lot happening here, and, and I feel like there's two things I wanna do. First, I wanna say, like, I just wanna sum up what we're saying here 'cause we're both getting kind of impassioned. [laughs]

Seth: Yes.

David: Uh, 'cause I think it's hitting on a cultural nerve.

Seth: Yeah.

David: A big-time cultural nerve, where w- our culture wants to, um, ident- like, wants to define morality and religion for itself. We wanna-

Seth: Well, every culture-

David: Every-

Seth: ... through all time.

David: Yeah, yeah. I'm, yeah.

Seth: Every Israelite-

David: Right, but I'm, I'm saying like-

Seth: Every person, yeah

David: ... let's make it personal.

Seth: Right, right, right.

David: Like-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... we can't, I can't, I can't resonate with, um, Indian culture.

Seth: Right.

David: I don't, I don't want the things they want. I want the things that my culture has taught me to want. [laughs]

Seth: Right. Yes, yes, yes.

David: Now, is there an underlying sin problem? Yes, but, like, it manifests itself in multiple ways.

Seth: Right. Everybody wants to define-

David: But how they define it is different

Seth: ... is different.

David: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Seth: Right.

David: And so we wanna define morality certain ways. We wanna define what w- what good religion should look like, and-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... probably means not using the word religion. You know?

Seth: Yeah, yeah.

David: Like, it's spirituality, and it's connectedness or relationship.

Seth: Whatever.

David: Anyway, and it's like here in this story, we see kind of this ultimatum where God's like, "You will worship me the way I've told you to worship me or else." And that feels wrong for our world.

Seth: Right.

David: But it's like, I, I mean, those two things don't go together.

Seth: Right.

David: I, I think that's the thing I'm running into, is it's like I think people are gonna read this, this text and hear this conversation, and they're gonna go, "That's not the God I want." And that's the whole point, is like, that, that is what you should feel.

Seth: Yeah.

David: And then you should abandon that feeling. [laughs]

Seth: Yeah.

David: Is you just go, "You're right. God's not like you. He will be sanctified, so worship Him," like, in, and in the way He says. It, it's an act of submission to say, "I will follow these rules."

Seth: Yeah.

David: Like, "I will do as you have said."

Seth: It's-

David: "I will say you are Lord."

Seth: It's why we, whenever we talk about the gospel in the New Testament, we talk about it as ultimately a humbling.

David: Yeah.

Seth: As, as a losing your life-

David: Right

Seth: ... so that you might find life.

David: Right.

Seth: Like, over and over again, that's what it means to be a Christian, is saying, "I don't know what's best for me."

David: Right. [laughs]

Seth: Is to be skeptical of your own ability to determine what's best for you-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... and to trust that somebody else has something better for you, and that-

David: Right

Seth: ... person is God, and that is given to you in Jesus.

David: Yes, and, like, what relief when Jesus says that his burden is light. You know? W- like, why, like... It's in this, in this big mess that the good news comes, when we're like, "Man, we don't, we wanna define good and evil for ourself, and, uh, if I try hard enough, I can, I can make it to God, and I can get into the tabernacle. I'll light my censer and take it to the altar, and..." But ultimately, it's always unauthorized, so we kinda feel like we're in this cycle of I'm gonna try really hard, bring my best to God, but it's ultimately not worthy, and-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... I'm gonna burn up. And it's like the good news of the gospel is that the acceptable sacrifice has already been brought.Like, and it's in Jesus, and it's perfect. And all God is asking us to do is to name that sacrifice as perfect, to say that that is the truth. Uh, oh, I- I mean, isn't that what he's asking them to do here in Leviticus, right? This is the gospel. He's saying, "I have provided you a system. Trust in it."

Seth: Yeah.

David: "Just have faith that it's enough."

Seth: Yes.

David: "This is good. Just have faith in it and you'll be saved." Right? That's the gospel.

Seth: Right.

David: Is, "I've made a sacrifice. Just have faith that it's enough. Don't bring unauthorized fire. Don't try to add something to what's going on here. The good news of the gospel is the perfect sacrifice has been made. Don't add to it. There's nothing more to be done. Just have faith that it works." [gentle music]

Seth: And this trust, this faith-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... that God has defined the terms properly-

David: Right

Seth: ... and we need to submit and, uh, humble ourselves to, to Him, is something that's picked up throughout the entire Bible-

David: Mm

Seth: ... entire Old Testament. Uh, I'm actually preaching through the Book of Daniel right now.

David: Oh, right.

Seth: And there's actually a really great example, just like Nadab and Abihu, in Belshazzar, Nebuchadnezzar's, uh, descendant on the throne.

David: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Seth: He, uh, is throwing this big party, and what he does is he takes all the utensils out of the, that were used in the temple.

David: Mm.

Seth: Uh, all the bowls, all the incense.

David: Right.

Seth: And he throws this party. He's drinking. He's getting drunk with all his officials. Like, he's worshiping-

David: Yep

Seth: ... falsely.

David: Yep.

Seth: And Dan- and there's this handwriting on the wall.

David: Oh, yes. Right.

Seth: And it says, "Mene, mene, tekel, and parsin," or Perez, depending on whatever translation you're, you're reading. And what it says is essentially, "Your days are numbered."

David: Mm.

Seth: Uh, "You have been found wanting, and your kingdom is divided, and you're going to fall."

David: Mm.

Seth: And he dies, just like Nadab and Abihu.

David: Oh, right. Yeah.

Seth: And this, the, the, the, the quick version of the story is he fails to humble himself before the Lord, and just like Na- and he fa- he worships inappropriately, and he dies because of it. And in his pride, he's killed. And so I think one of the things we, we, we back off against is we assume that behind these rules and behind this death, there's this, this, this angry, vindictive God who wants everybody to bow to Him, right?

David: Mm. Yeah.

Seth: That, that's, that's part of the, the emotional-

David: The pushback, yeah

Seth: ... but who is the opposite of Belshazzar and Nadab and Abihu's prideful worship, or pridefully demanding to be worshiped on their own terms? It's Jesus.

David: Mm.

Seth: In Philippians 8, he says, "In being bound in human for- form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."

David: Yeah.

Seth: Of anybody to question whether or not God would be right, "Why this way, Lord?" Jesus should've just, like, "Why do I have to die to do this?"

David: Yeah.

Seth: And he says, "He humbled himself to the point of death, even death on a cross."

David: Mm.

Seth: "Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bespo- despo- d- bespi-"

David: Bestowed. [laughs]

Seth: "... bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth, and un- and under the earth."

David: Yeah.

Seth: "And every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

David: Mm.

Seth: Nadab and Abihu bowed, right? They bowed in death.

David: Mm.

Seth: And anybody who doesn't... God is glorious. The eternal fire burns always. He is holy, regardless of how you respond to him.

David: Right.

Seth: And everyone will bow, either in death or a bowing that leads to resurrection.

David: Right.

Seth: Just like Jesus.

David: Everyone will bow.

Seth: If you humble yourself like Jesus, you will be resurrected like Jesus.

David: Mm.

Seth: There's no place for people to come to Christianity and say, "Your God is an unloving God who deals duplicitously."

David: Yeah.

Seth: "Simultaneously angry and loving. That doesn't make sense." No. True love, true desire to be in presence, in somebody's presence, is always protective.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: It's al- and true goodness wants nothing to do with badness.

David: Sure.

Seth: True purity does not want to be polluted, and God wants to protect that. And he's saying, "If you humble yourself like Jesus did, you'll be resurrected like him, too."

David: Right. And, and we also just see, we have to constantly chasten all of this with the gospel because we're like, "Man, how could God do that in, in killing Nadab and Abihu for bringing unauthorized fire?"

Seth: Right.

David: And it's like, okay, let's ask the same question. How could God do that? How could he hang and die on a cross if he's God himself, if he's the perfect one who i- is, is, you know, like, laid out the groundwork for what-

Seth: Right

David: ... is authorized fire? [laughs] How could he be the one to come and actually die for us and humble himself? Like, how could, how could the king kneel? You know?

Seth: Yeah, yeah.

David: Like, like, what, what, what other king leaves his glory?

Seth: Yeah.

David: What other king leaves his throne? I love that chorus. Uh, anyway, there's a, there's so much to unpack there. But what we're saying is, uh, in the story of Nadab and Abihu, and in all of Leviticus, we see the, these rules that have been set, and God is saying, "Bow the knee, be humble, and just have faith that this system will work."

Seth: Right.

David: And the gospel has, um, a, a similar and better message. He's like, "I have died. I've told you it's effective. You, you can be saved. Just have faith that Jesus has done what is necessary to save you and purify you and, uh, make atonement for you and bring you to me." And, like, and what's, what's our response? Just have faith.

Seth: Right.

David: And, um, and I know, like, it can feel culturally distant, and it can feel cognitively dissonant, and, like, it, you don't understand how maybe the, uh, economy of it all works out. But it's like, you don't need to. Like-

Seth: Right.

David: It helps to-

Seth: Do you trust?

David: Do you trust, though? Just have faith.

Seth: Do you trust that somebody better than you-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... has better rules than you? [laughs]

David: Right. Yeah, exactly.

Seth: Like, that's really, that's-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... that's it.

David: So, um, man, that's good. Well, the, the, the end here, uh, of, of chapter 10, um, you know, Aaron is obviously s- sad [laughs] and grieving. His two eldest sons have died, um, and it, and for falling into the same sin he did back in Exodus.

Seth: Right.

David: So he's kind of seeing, you know, his own sin fall back on his head-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... in a bit. A- and so-

Seth: And his cousins are appointed as replacements for his sons-

David: Right

Seth: ... essentially.

David: Yep. Uh, Eleazar and Ithamar, is that right?

Seth: Um, sure.

David: Or are those his other sons? It says that those are his surviving sons.Yeah. Anyway.

Seth: Anyway.

David: And so, uh, yeah, they're appointed and, um-

Seth: They go through the consecration ceremony.

David: Yep. Mm-hmm.

Seth: They offer a sacrifice, and Moses, nervous, wants to check up on them.

David: Yep.

Seth: He's like, "Did, did we, did we follow-"

David: "Did we... 'Cause I saw what happened last time we didn't follow the rules. Did we follow the rules this time?"

Seth: [laughs] Verse 16, "Now Moses diligently inquired" [laughs]

David: Inquired.

Seth: [laughs] He's like-

David: About the goat of the sin offering, "Did you do it right?" And behold, it was all burnt up.

Seth: So they-

David: That's not what's supposed to happen to a sin offering.

Seth: Right.

David: A sin offering-

Seth: You probably missed that in all the details.

David: Right.

Seth: But like, that's not what's supposed to happen.

David: Yeah, a, a sin offering is supposed to be just the long lobe of the liver, the kidneys, and the intestines are burnt up, along with the fat, and it's the, and the, and then the, the priest gets to eat the meat. But, uh, instead, they treated the sin offering as if it was a burnt offering and burnt the whole thing up as a whole offering. And so Moses is like, "Oh, no."

Seth: Right.

David: "That's not what's supposed to happen."

Seth: "Is somebody gonna get burned again?"

David: "Is somebody gonna get burned again? We're gonna run out of priests real fast." [laughs]

Seth: And Aaron, uh, said to Moses, Aaron defends his cousins-

David: Yep

Seth: ... and says this. He says, um, "Behold, today they, uh, have offered their sin offering and their burnt offering before the Lord, and yet such things as these have happened to me." And I think he's referring to the death of his sons.

David: Yes, of course.

Seth: The death in the family. "If I had eaten the sin offering today, would the Lord have approved? And when the Moses heard it, he approved."

David: Yep.

Seth: So what we see, so apparently grief is somehow disqualifying Aaron-

David: Aaron

Seth: ... from-

David: From eating-

Seth: ... from eating-

David: ... the s- the sin offering

Seth: ... from eating the sin offering.

David: So he, he, he allowed it to just be burnt up instead.

Seth: Right. And so it, what you should know then, Aaron is the high priest.

David: Yep.

Seth: He's the priest of priests.

David: Yep.

Seth: And part of his role is to determine whether things are clean or unclean.

David: That's right. Just before this, in verse 10, it says, "You are to distinguish between the holy and the common, and between the clean and the unclean. And you are to teach the people of Israel all the statutes that the Lord has spoken to them by Moses."

Seth: And when we get to the purity laws, I think it's next week.

David: Which is next, yep.

Seth: There's all these tests that you're supposed to do to determine if it's really leprosy, if it's really, like, a, an infection, if it's really something else. Like, the priest's job is to determine whether things are clean or unclean, or a certain action is permissible or impermissible. And Aaron here is exercising his role as priest and saying, "This is an acceptable action. It is wrong to offer and eat the sacrifice when you're grieving."

David: Right.

Seth: And Deuteronomy actually picks it up. Deuteronomy, I think, 24, uh, 26:14-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... says people who are mourning shouldn't partake and eat from the sacrifice.

David: Right. And so, a- and, and so you, you wonder, like, did, did this become law after, you know, like-

Seth: Or, or was the-

David: Yeah, anyway. Yeah. It's like the Euthyphro dilemma. But [laughs] anyway. Uh, but yeah, so we'll pick up on-

Seth: And so that's, the reason that's important-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... is because we're about to enter into the purity laws.

David: That's right. Yeah, exactly.

Seth: So Aaron is showing himself as a proper priest-

David: Yep

Seth: ... who's properly consecrated to do the proper work of determining clean and unthinn- clean things, and that's what comes next in our narrative.

David: Right, 'cause he's made a judgment, and Moses has said, "Yeah, that's right. That's right."

Seth: That's right.

David: And he, Moses is the lawful arbitrator between God and man, and he's approving. So yeah, next week we'll, we'll go into, uh, looking at clean and unclean animals. So if you've ever wondered why there were kosher laws, and why the Jews still to this day don't eat certain animals, and what the point of that was. Was it health code violations, or was it something else? We'll find out next week. [laughs] Anyway, that's my, that's my bad teaser voice.

Seth: Stay, stay tuned.

David: Do you like it? Yeah. So yeah, thank you guys for-

Seth: In a world.

David: In a world.

Seth: [laughs]

David: Uh, so thank you, yeah, thank you guys so much for listening. Um, uh, be sure to, uh, hop on and, uh, rate us, and, uh, share with your friends. And, uh, read Leviticus.

Seth: Yeah.

David: And see Jesus in it. I mean, uh, I just, I'm thinking of all these rules and all these laws, and holy fire, and I'm so thankful that Jesus died on the cross and rose again so that he could be my acceptable sacrifice forever before God, so that I don't have to do this. I can just approach God with confidence and boldness and worship and thanksgiving. I don't have to worry about all this stuff, 'cause I have a perfect high priest who's done everything right for me. So like, man, read Leviticus.

Seth: Good book.

David: And be thankful for it. So all right, thank you, guys, and we'll see you next week. [outro music]

Outro: Thank you for listening to the Spoken Gospel podcast. Spoken Gospel is a nonprofit dedicated to creating free gospel-centered media that speaks the gospel out of every corner of scripture. So to join us in our mission and view our resources, we invite you to visit spokengospel.com. [outro music]

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The Priests, the Fire, and the Gospel: Leviticus 6–10

Show Notes

Why Israel Needed Priests

The Fire That Never Goes Out

The Priests' Portion and Practical Provision

The Consecration of Aaron and God's Glory

Nadab and Abihu: Unauthorized Fire and the Cost of Pride

The Gospel Answer: Humility, Faith, and a Better Priest

Related Resources

Introduction to Leviticus

View our devotional on Leviticus 1-3

Ready to study a different book?

Listen to the Leviticus Introduction podcast

Listen to the Should We Obey The Law Today? podcast

Listen to the Leviticus 1-5: Offerings podcast

Listen to the Leviticus 6-10: Priests podcast

Listen to the Leviticus 11-15: Unclean Foods, Diseases, and Emissions podcast

Listen to the Leviticus 16: Day of Atonement podcast

Listen to the Leviticus 17-20: Blood, Sex, and Loving Your Neighbor podcast

Listen to the Leviticus 21-22: A Different Standard For Priests podcast

Listen to the Leviticus 23 and 25: Sabbath, Festivals, and Jubilee podcast

Listen to the Leviticus 24 and 26-27: The Death Penalty, Curses, and Vows podcast