Grace According to Moses – Grace through Aaron

Exodus 32:1-6 (NIV)

     When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, "Come, make us gods ^{[a] who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don't know what has happened to him."}

 ^{2 Aaron answered them, "Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me." 3 So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. 4 He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, "These are your gods, [b] O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt."}

 ^{5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, "Tomorrow there will be a festival to the LORD." 6 So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. [c] Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.}

^{Deuteronomy 9:5-6 (NIV)}

     ^{It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity that you are going in to take possession of their land… Understand, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the LORD your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people.}

^{1. God will not give up on us, whatever we have been through or done that is evil or regretful}

^{Exodus 28:1-3 (NIV)}

     ^{"Have Aaron your brother brought to you from among the Israelites…Make sacred garments for your brother Aaron, to give him dignity and honor. 3 Tell all the skilled men to whom I have given wisdom in such matters that they are to make garments for Aaron, for his consecration, so he may serve me as priest.}

^{2. It is not about what we have done, however evil and wrong that matters, but how we now choose to respond to God’s grace that matters}

^{God converts Aaron’s natural priestly skills from building evil golden calves to becoming a priest for the Great I Am}

^{Hebrews 7:11, 24-27}

     ^{If perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood (for on the basis of it the law was given to the people), why was there still need for another priest to come… not in the order of Aaron?...but…Jesus…has a permanent priesthood. 25Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.  26Such a high priest meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. 27Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.}

^{3. Jesus is the ultimate priest that Aaron pointed to – One who not only meets our needs but sends us out as His priests to represent Him to the world}

^{1 Pet. 2:4-5, 9 (NIV)}

     ^{As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him— 5you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ…But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.}

^{A priest is someone who has full, complete and unrestricted access to God}

^{God has endowed us with this new privilege as priests with full access to God that is made possible only through Jesus Christ}

^{John 2:19, 21 (NIV)}

     ^{Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days."…But the temple he had spoken of was his body.}

^{As the priesthood and spiritual temple, we glorify God in everything that we have, do and are as our spiritual sacrifices – everywhere we go}

^{V 9: But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.}

^{1 Pet. 2:9-10 (Msg)}

     ^{But you are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God's instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you—from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted.}

^{A priest is also a mediator, a bridge, spokesperson and reconciler between God and the people in our lives who still do not know God}

^{Numbers 6:24-26 (NIV)}

     ^{"The LORD bless you and keep you; 25 the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you;  26 the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace." '}