Jesus in the Old Testament is a series of posts that will offer my readers a chance to consider pictures or shadows of Jesus in the Old Testament. As mentioned in the introduction to this series, some may be obvious, some may be not so obvious, and some may simply be a facet of the Lord those reading may not have considered previously.

I hope as we venture through this series, we will see the Lord in many wonderful pictures throughout the Old Testament.

Seeing Jesus as the High Priest pictured in Aaron has some fantastic similarities. Yes, Jesus is not of the Aaronic priesthood, but for that we must be thankful, for His priesthood is a never ending priesthood based on an unending life.

Yet He was chosen from amongst men to offer sacrifice to God for men. A priest that was not of “another creation”, but one who could relate to the condition of the people he represented before God.

Aaron, as High Priest chosen from amongst men, offered sacrifices for the congregation, of which he was a part. True – he offered a sacrifice that belonged to someone else. And his sacrifice had limited effectiveness. But the sacrifice was presented unto God, and Aaron (or his descendants) represented a nation who needed mercy and forgiveness for an immediate sinful action. Whether it was for a specific sin or the collective blot of disobedience the nation incurred for the entire year, Aaron (or his descendants) offered up a sacrifice to represent the nation in front of God.

It is the act of offering up a sacrifice that draws our attention to the Lord this morning. Both Aaron and Jesus, offered up sacrifices unto God for a people they represented.

Yet how much greater is the Lord in His offering for the people, not only in the effectiveness of the offering, but also in the duration of the satisfaction the offering provided to the God of all creation. His offering was not from someone else’s flock, or that belonged to a neighbor, but was of His own life, a spotless life that He offered unto God.

Consider the offering of Jesus, and be thankful.

He was chosen to be the sacrifice, and in that choice, He brought to reality the picture of Aaron slaying a sacrifice for the people He sought to represent before a holy God.

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