The Grammar of Consecration Text: Exodus 29:1-9
Introduction: The Problem of Getting Close to God
We live in an age that has a peculiar and dangerous relationship with holiness. On the one hand, our culture is militantly secular and treats the very idea of a holy God as a quaint relic, a piece of bronze age mythology. On the other hand, when moderns do interact with God, they want Him to be a manageable deity, a cosmic therapist, a divine affirmation machine. They want a God who is approachable, but they mean approachable on their own terms. They want intimacy without awe, fellowship without fear, and a relationship without reverence. In short, they want a God they can get close to without getting incinerated.
The central problem that the entire Bible is seeking to answer is this: How can sinful man, who is unclean, draw near to a holy God, who is a consuming fire, and not be destroyed? This is not a trivial question. It is the question. And our text in Exodus today is not a dusty manual for an obsolete ritual. It is a divinely orchestrated drama, a living parable that teaches us the grammar of consecration. It shows us, in meticulous detail, what is required to bridge the infinite gulf between the creature and the Creator.
This chapter is not here to teach us how to become priests in the Levitical sense. That priesthood has been fulfilled and rendered obsolete by the arrival of the great High Priest, Jesus Christ. Rather, this chapter is a glorious picture, a detailed shadow, of the substance that we now possess in the gospel. It shows us what was necessary for Christ to become our priest, and what is necessary for us to become what Peter calls a "royal priesthood." If we try to approach God on our own terms, with our own ideas of what is acceptable, we are fools playing with dynamite. God, and God alone, sets the terms of approach. This chapter is God's detailed blueprint for how He makes men holy, that is, how He sets them apart for His own possession and use.
The Text
"Now this is what you shall do to them to set them apart as holy to minister as priests to Me: take one bull from the herd and two rams without blemish, and unleavened bread and unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers spread with oil; you shall make them of fine wheat flour. And you shall put them in one basket and bring them near in the basket along with the bull and the two rams. Then you shall bring Aaron and his sons near to the doorway of the tent of meeting and wash them with water. And you shall take the garments, and put on Aaron the tunic and the robe of the ephod and the ephod and the breastpiece, and gird him with the skillfully woven band of the ephod; and you shall set the turban on his head and put the holy crown on the turban. Then you shall take the anointing oil and pour it on his head and anoint him. And you shall bring his sons near and put tunics on them. You shall gird them with sashes, Aaron and his sons, and bind caps on them, and they shall have the priesthood by a perpetual statute. So you shall ordain Aaron and his sons."
(Exodus 29:1-9 LSB)
The Divine Summons (v. 1-3)
The entire process begins not with man's aspiration, but with God's command.
"Now this is what you shall do to them to set them apart as holy to minister as priests to Me: take one bull from the herd and two rams without blemish, and unleavened bread and unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers spread with oil; you shall make them of fine wheat flour. And you shall put them in one basket and bring them near in the basket along with the bull and the two rams." (Exodus 29:1-3 LSB)
Notice the first words: "this is what you shall do." God dictates the terms. Aaron and his sons do not invent this ceremony. They do not get to offer their own bright ideas. All man-made religion is an attempt to climb up to Heaven by some other way, and it is an abomination to God. The only acceptable worship is the worship God Himself prescribes. The purpose is stated plainly: "to set them apart as holy." The Hebrew word is qadash, which means to consecrate, to dedicate, to mark as belonging to God. Holiness is not first and foremost a moral quality we achieve; it is a status God confers. It is being taken out of the realm of the common and placed into the realm of the sacred, for God's exclusive use.
And what is required for this setting apart? Blood and bread. First, the sacrifices: a bull and two rams "without blemish." From the very beginning, the principle is established that only perfection is an acceptable offering to God. A lame or blind animal would be an insult. This standard of perfection immediately highlights the inadequacy of the system itself. These are mere animals. They are a placeholder, a stand-in, a promissory note for the truly perfect, unblemished Lamb of God who would one day come to take away the sin of the world.
Alongside the blood sacrifice, there is the grain offering. It must be "unleavened bread." Throughout Scripture, leaven is a symbol of sin, corruption, and pride, that which puffs up. To approach God, one must be stripped of the leaven of self-righteousness. It must be made of "fine wheat flour," the very best, signifying that we do not offer God our leftovers. All these elements, the bread, cakes, and wafers, are brought together "in one basket." This signifies the unity of the offering. This is one comprehensive act of consecration before God.
Stripped and Washed (v. 4)
Before they can be clothed, they must be cleansed.
"Then you shall bring Aaron and his sons near to the doorway of the tent of meeting and wash them with water." (Exodus 29:4 LSB)
This is a public act, performed at the entrance of the Tabernacle for all to see. Their consecration is not a private, mystical experience; it is a public setting apart. They are brought to the door, and there they are washed. This is not a mere sprinkling of the hands and feet. This is a complete washing, a picture of total cleansing. It is a type of baptism. It signifies the removal of the filth of their old life, preparing them to enter a new one.
But we must understand the limitations of this washing. It is external. Water can only wash the skin; it cannot cleanse a guilty conscience or a corrupt heart. This ritual washing was a powerful sign, but it was only a sign. It pointed to the need for a deeper, internal cleansing, the "washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit" (Titus 3:5) that would be accomplished by Christ. This washing was a one-time act at the beginning of their priestly service, just as our baptism is the one-time sign of our entrance into the covenant community. It marks a definitive break with the past and a new beginning.
Clothed and Anointed (v. 5-7)
Once cleansed, Aaron is clothed in a new identity.
"And you shall take the garments, and put on Aaron the tunic and the robe of the ephod and the ephod and the breastpiece, and gird him with the skillfully woven band of the ephod; and you shall set the turban on his head and put the holy crown on the turban. Then you shall take the anointing oil and pour it on his head and anoint him." (Exodus 29:5-7 LSB)
This is a picture of imputed righteousness. Aaron is stripped of his own clothes, his own identity as a common man, and he is robed in garments of glory and beauty, garments designed by God Himself. He does not earn these clothes; they are put on him. He is being invested with an office, a status, that is not his own. The tunic, the robe, the ephod, the breastpiece with the twelve stones representing the tribes of Israel, all of it speaks to his new role as the mediator, the one who represents the people before God.
On his head is placed the turban, and on the turban, the holy crown, a golden plate inscribed with the words "Holy to the Lord." This signifies that the priest's mind, his thoughts, and his entire being are to be consecrated to God's service. And finally, the pinnacle of the robing ceremony: "you shall take the anointing oil and pour it on his head and anoint him." This is not a dab of oil. It is a pouring, a drenching, so much so that Psalm 133 describes it as running down his beard and onto the collar of his robes. The oil is a symbol of the Holy Spirit. This anointing is his empowerment for service. He is being set apart and equipped by the Spirit of God for his holy task. The very word "Messiah" means "Anointed One." Aaron, in this moment, is a living, breathing portrait of the Christ who was to come.
Ordained for Service (v. 8-9)
The sons are also consecrated, though their role is distinct.
"And you shall bring his sons near and put tunics on them. You shall gird them with sashes, Aaron and his sons, and bind caps on them, and they shall have the priesthood by a perpetual statute. So you shall ordain Aaron and his sons." (Exodus 29:8-9 LSB)
Aaron's sons are also brought, washed, and clothed. Their garments are simpler, befitting their role as assistants to the high priest. They too are set apart for ministry. And God establishes this priesthood as a "perpetual statute." For the entire Old Covenant era, this is how God's priests would be made. This statute was perpetual until the reality to which it pointed arrived. The shadow remains until the substance casts it.
The final sentence is key: "So you shall ordain Aaron and his sons." The literal Hebrew is striking: "you shall fill the hand of Aaron and his sons." This is a Hebrew idiom for consecration to an office. You are not just giving them a title; you are equipping them for the work. You are filling their hands with the tools of their trade, with the sacrifices they are to offer. God does not call men to a task without also equipping them for it. He fills their hands.
The Gospel in the Garments
This entire, elaborate ceremony is glorious, but it is glorious because of what it points to. In itself, it was a magnificent failure. Aaron was a sinner, the very man who would later fashion the golden calf. The sacrifices had to be repeated endlessly. The washing was only skin deep. This whole system was a placeholder, a divinely designed object lesson to teach Israel their need for a better priest, a better sacrifice, a better cleansing.
Jesus Christ is the true High Priest. He needed no bull as a sin offering, for He was without sin. He was the unblemished Lamb. He needed no external washing, for He was pure. He was not clothed in linen garments made by men, but was robed in His own inherent glory. He was not anointed with a flask of oil, but with the Holy Spirit Himself, descending upon Him like a dove, without measure.
And because of His perfect work, we who are in Him have become the true priesthood. As Peter says, we are "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession" (1 Peter 2:9). This ancient ceremony is a portrait of our own salvation.
God took the initiative with us, choosing us in Christ before the foundation of the world. We were brought to the door, spiritually filthy, and He washed us, not with water, but with the blood of His own Son. As Revelation 1:5 says, He has "freed us from our sins by his blood." Then He stripped us of our own pathetic garments, what Isaiah calls "filthy rags," and He clothed us in the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ. "For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ" (Galatians 3:27). We have been anointed with the Holy Spirit, who is the seal and guarantee of our inheritance. And God has "filled our hands." He has ordained us for service. He has filled our hands not with the blood of bulls and goats, but with the "sacrifice of praise," the fruit of lips that acknowledge His name (Hebrews 13:15). He has filled our hands with the ministry of reconciliation, the glorious task of proclaiming the excellencies of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.
Do not try to approach God in your own clothes. Do not try to wash yourself clean. Do not try to anoint yourself. It is all a fool's errand. Come to Christ. Let Him wash you. Let Him clothe you. Let Him anoint you. For He alone is the one who sets men apart as holy, to minister as priests to our God.