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Leviticus 9:6; 22-23, “This is the thing that YHWH commanded you to do, that the glory of YHWH may appear to you…[Aaron] came down from offering the sin offering and the burnt offering and the peace offerings. And Moses and Aaron went into the tenor of meeting, and when the came out they blessed the people, and the glory of YHWH appeared to all the people. And fire came out from before YHWH and consumed the burnt offering…when the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces.”
Short Thoughts:
And the definitive appearing of the glory of YHWH would come when the True and FInal Sacrifice was offered up on Calvary’s altar.
Long Thoughts:
What was the “thing that YHWH commanded” in order that His glory might appear to His people? The bloody sacrifice and burning of spotless animals in place of the sins of the priest and the people and as an offering of peace from the people to God. In short, slaughter. Slaughter is what was necessary if the glory of YHWH was to appear to Israel, in such a way that Israel would survive.
Even this early in the Lord’s dealings with His people—and it has already been seen before—we see that the manifestation of the excellence and beauty of the One True God to a sinful people can only come with death, with bloodshed, with sacrifice. Why? Because holiness is a consuming fire, it will (as we see in the next chapter with Nadab and Abihu), it will consume what opposes it….and yet holiness is the glory, the beauty, the excellence—indeed, the Love—of God….Holiness is what we were created to see and to be….to treasure and be conformed to….and yet it has become death to us because of sin. If holiness is going to manifest for our joy….something has to die for our sin.
And this is—we know—where the cross comes in. The cross is the True Altar and the incarnate God laid on the altar is the True Sacrifice. Because HE bears our sin and because HE is slain, we can receive and be folded into the glory, the holiness, the love of God without sharing Nadab and Abihu’s fate….
Yet there is more to say about this….because the True and Final Sacrifice of Christ on the cross is not merely the means by which we can survive the glory of God…..His death is not simply a process that prepares us to receive the gift of God’s glory…..His death IS THE APPEARING of God’s glory! His slaughter on the cross—His sovereignly chosen slaughter—is, is, IS the manifestation of the glory of God that we are created to receive and enjoy. His sacrifice for our sins enables us to receive the glory of God as manifest on Calvary as treasure rather than condemnation.
In verse 24 of Leviticus 9, the appearing of YHWH’s glory is simultaneous with—synonymous with—the descent of His holy fire to consume the offering. The consuming of the offering, the devouring of the sacrifice—that is His holiness on display…….or, we might say, a shadow of it. The full light of that holiness shines on Calvary when the Holy One is Himself consumed in the Holy Fires of Love, Love at war with all that He has become by bearing our sins in His own body on the tree….and as we see that blaze—that blaze of Love devouring sin, that blaze of Love pouring out its life, that blaze of Love offering itself up at the command of the Father, the blaze of Love, laying itself down for the undeserving Bride—when we see the fires of Calvary, the radiance of the glory of our God….what can we do but follow the lead of the Israelites and, shouting out, fall down on our faces?
