The Eighth Day of a New Creation Text: Leviticus 9:1-7
Introduction: The Grammar of True Worship
We live in an age that treats worship like a consumer product. We shop for churches based on the quality of the coffee, the skill of the band, or the therapeutic value of the sermon. The central question is almost always, "What did I get out of it?" This is the native language of the autonomous, self-centered modern man. And when this man stumbles into a book like Leviticus, he finds it utterly incomprehensible. It feels like a foreign country with bizarre customs and a dead language. All the blood, the detailed regulations, the careful procedures, it all seems so arbitrary, so tedious, so irrelevant.
But this is because we have forgotten the grammar of reality. We think worship is something we invent to meet our felt needs. The Bible teaches that worship is something God institutes so that we might approach Him and live. Leviticus is not a dusty rulebook for an ancient cult. It is the gracious provision of a holy God, showing sinful people how to come into His presence without being consumed. It is a detailed map for crossing the infinite chasm between the Creator and the creature, a chasm widened by our sin.
The context of this chapter is absolutely crucial. The last time Aaron was involved in a major worship service, it was the blasphemous debacle of the golden calf in Exodus 32. That was man-made worship. It was spontaneous, passionate, and it arose from the "felt needs" of the people. And it was idolatry of the highest order, a rank apostasy that nearly got the entire nation wiped out. Now, after the tabernacle has been built according to God's precise blueprint, after the priests have been consecrated for seven days, we come to this moment. This is not just the first day of business for the Aaronic priesthood. This is the official, divine remedy for the golden calf. This is God replacing man's corrupt worship with His own perfect pattern. This is the restoration of fellowship on God's terms. And the central promise is staggering: "today Yahweh will appear to you."
This is not about having a good experience. This is about meeting the living God. And if we are to understand how that is possible, either for them or for us, we must pay close attention to the grammar He provides.
The Text
Now it happened on the eighth day that Moses called Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel; and he said to Aaron, "Take for yourself a calf, a bull, for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering, both without blemish, and bring them near before Yahweh. Then to the sons of Israel you shall speak, saying, 'Take a male goat for a sin offering, and a calf and a lamb, both one year old, without blemish, for a burnt offering, and an ox and a ram for peace offerings, to sacrifice before Yahweh, and a grain offering mixed with oil; for today Yahweh will appear to you.' " So they took what Moses had commanded to the front of the tent of meeting, and the whole congregation came near and stood before Yahweh. And Moses said, "This is the thing which Yahweh has commanded you to do, that the glory of Yahweh may appear to you." Moses then said to Aaron, "Come near to the altar and offer your sin offering and your burnt offering, that you may make atonement for yourself and for the people; then offer the offering for the people, that you may make atonement for them, just as Yahweh has commanded."
(Leviticus 9:1-7 LSB)
A New Beginning (v. 1)
The scene is set with a crucial time marker.
"Now it happened on the eighth day that Moses called Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel;" (Leviticus 9:1)
This is not a throwaway detail. The priests had just completed seven days of consecration, a full week. In Scripture, seven is the number of completion, of perfection, of a finished cycle. The seventh day is the Sabbath, the day of rest and completion. So what is the eighth day? The eighth day is the first day of a new week. It is the day of a new beginning. It is the day of resurrection. It was on the eighth day, the first day of the week, that our Lord Jesus rose from the dead, inaugurating the new creation. This entire service, this first official act of the Aaronic priesthood, is saturated with the theme of new creation. It is a picture of God starting over with His people after the fall of the golden calf.
Notice who is summoned. Moses, the covenant mediator, calls Aaron and his sons, the new priests, and the elders, who represent all of Israel. This is a corporate, covenantal assembly. Worship is never a private, individualistic affair in the Bible. It is the formal gathering of the people of God before their King. The whole nation is implicated in what is about to happen.
The Priest's Atonement First (v. 2)
Before anything else can happen, the priest himself must be dealt with.
"and he said to Aaron, 'Take for yourself a calf, a bull, for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering, both without blemish, and bring them near before Yahweh.'" (Leviticus 9:2 LSB)
Moses instructs Aaron to take a calf for a sin offering. A calf. Why a calf? This is a direct, humbling, and gracious reminder of Aaron's catastrophic failure with the golden calf. The very instrument of his sin now becomes the instrument of his atonement. God does not pretend it did not happen. He confronts it head on and provides the substitutionary sacrifice to cover it. Aaron cannot begin his ministry as the high priest of Israel until he has first dealt with his own high-handed sin as an idolater. This is the first principle of worship: the one leading the people to God must first be right with God himself.
This immediately establishes the profound inadequacy of the Levitical priesthood, and in so doing, points us to the glories of Christ's priesthood. The author of Hebrews makes this very point: the earthly high priest had to offer sacrifices "first for his own sins and then for those of the people" (Hebrews 7:27). Our Lord Jesus, however, was "holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners," and had no need to offer a sacrifice for Himself. Aaron comes to the altar as a forgiven sinner. Christ comes to the altar as the spotless Lamb.
The People's Approach (v. 3-4)
Once the priest's sin is addressed, he can turn to instruct the people.
"Then to the sons of Israel you shall speak, saying, 'Take a male goat for a sin offering, and a calf and a lamb... for a burnt offering, and an ox and a ram for peace offerings... and a grain offering... for today Yahweh will appear to you.'" (Leviticus 9:3-4 LSB)
A whole battery of offerings is required. This is not a buffet where they can pick what they like. This comprehensive list demonstrates that a right relationship with God is all-encompassing. The sin offering deals with the guilt that separates them from God. The burnt offering signifies their total consecration and surrender to God. The peace offerings were for communion, a celebratory meal eaten in God's presence, signifying that fellowship was restored. The grain offering was an acknowledgment of God's daily provision and their dependence upon Him for everything.
And all of this meticulous, bloody, and careful preparation has one ultimate purpose, stated plainly: "for today Yahweh will appear to you." This is the goal of worship. Not a warm feeling, not an emotional uplift, not self-improvement. The goal is a real encounter with the living God in His manifest glory. Forgiveness of sins is the necessary prerequisite, the cleansing of the ground, but the goal is fellowship with God Himself. He is the prize. All the ritual is a means to that glorious end.
Obedience and Glory (v. 5-7)
The response of the people is simple and profound: they obey.
"So they took what Moses had commanded... and the whole congregation came near and stood before Yahweh." (Leviticus 9:5 LSB)
They did what they were told. True worship is, at its heart, an act of submission to the Word of God. It is not about our creativity, our ingenuity, or our preferences. It is about conforming ourselves to the pattern God has revealed. The modern church is infatuated with innovation in worship, constantly seeking new techniques to manufacture a sense of God's presence. But here we see the biblical pattern: God's presence is not manufactured by us; it is promised to us on the condition of our simple obedience to His commands.
Moses drives this point home in the next verse: "This is the thing which Yahweh has commanded you to do, that the glory of Yahweh may appear to you" (v. 6). The connection is causal. Do this, so that this will happen. Obedience is the track upon which the train of God's glory runs. When we abandon the commands of God for the worship fads of the age, we are ripping up the tracks and then wondering why the train never arrives.
Finally, Moses gives the command to begin the work.
"Moses then said to Aaron, 'Come near to the altar and offer your sin offering and your burnt offering, that you may make atonement for yourself and for the people... just as Yahweh has commanded.'" (Leviticus 9:7 LSB)
Aaron, who once built an altar for a golden calf, must now approach the true altar of God. He must "come near." This is the essence of the priestly office. And the purpose of his coming near is to "make atonement." The Hebrew word is kaphar, which means to cover. Sin creates a breach, a deadly offense before a holy God. Atonement is the God-provided means of covering that sin through the shedding of innocent blood, so that God can look upon His people without consuming them in His wrath. Aaron does this first for himself, then for the people. He is the mediator, the bridge. He stands in the gap.
The Face of Jesus Christ
This entire chapter is a magnificent portrait, painted in the types and shadows of the Old Covenant, of the work of our great High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ. Every detail here finds its ultimate fulfillment in Him.
The eighth day of new creation has fully dawned in His resurrection. He is the beginning of the new creation of God. Aaron had to offer a calf to atone for his own sin before he could represent the people. But Christ, our High Priest, was without blemish and without sin. He did not need to make atonement for Himself. He is both the Priest and the perfect sacrifice.
The goal of this elaborate ceremony was that the glory of Yahweh might appear. And at the end of this chapter, it does, as fire comes out from before the Lord and consumes the offering. But we who live on this side of the cross have seen an even greater glory. For "God, who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:6). The ultimate appearance of God is not in a pillar of fire, but in the person of His Son.
Therefore, our approach to God is no longer through a flawed human priest and the blood of bulls and goats. We come near through Jesus. He has made the final, once-for-all atonement for us. Our worship is not a matter of following the Levitical code, but of clinging by faith to the one to whom that entire code pointed. But the principle remains the same. We must come on God's terms, not our own. We must come through the blood of the sacrifice He has provided. We must come in humble obedience to His Word. And when we do, we have the same promise: that He will appear to us, not in consuming fire, but in the grace and truth of His beloved Son.