Holy to the Lord

Numbers 20:26
“and strip Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazar his son: and Aaron shall be gathered unto his people, and shall die there.”

The ever complaining Hebrew people, whom God had rescued and provided for time and time again, were witnessing the death of their High Priest, Aaron. The Bible tells us that because Aaron and Moses had not done what God had told them to do with regard to bringing water from the rock that they would not enter the promised land. It was time for Aaron to die and for God to anoint a new High Priest over Israel. That priest was to be Eleazar, the son of Aaron.

There is something interesting about the names and character of these Biblical men. The name Aaron means “exalted and enlightened” and the name Eleazar means “the one God has helped”. Moses, as we know, was the man who brought the Law down from the mountain to the people of Israel. Moses, Aaron, and Eleazar, men of God, climbed up the mountain knowing that at the top Aaron was going to die. When they reached the top, Moses stripped all of the priestly garments and the robes of righteousness off of Aaron and placed them onto Eleazar. As soon as the he did, Aaron died.

On the day Jesus was crucified, He climbed up a mountain knowing that He was going to die at the top. Our High Priest became sin for our benefit and suffered death. (He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Corinthians 5:21) On that day, the perfect Law that God had written and the sacrifice of atonement that was needed were fulfilled in the God-man Jesus Christ. As the sins of the world were placed upon Him, the Law removed His High Priest robes. God took all of the righteousness that was in Jesus, His Son, and placed it upon us. He saw that we were desperately in need of help and He rescued us that day. Through the death of His Son, God was able to forgive us all. He was able to clothe us with priestly robes and sanctify us through the blood of the Lamb as “Holy to the Lord”. (Next make a medallion of pure gold, and engrave it like a seal with these words: Holy to the Lord. Exodus 28:36)