Grace Provision

Leviticus 21:21-22
21 No man of the descendants of Aaron the priest, who has a defect, shall come near to offer the offerings made by fire to the LORD. He has a defect; he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God. 22 He may eat the bread of his God, both the most holy and the holy;

It must have been hard for Aaron’s sons and grandsons to hear these words and commandments given by God through Moses. Imagine sitting and hearing that any man who is a descendant of Aaron who has any defect in his body will not be allowed to make offerings as a priest for the people. This must have been devastating news given that Aaron’s family was chosen by God to be the priests of God.

God was very clear however, that no man with any deformity, or defect as the Bible states, would be allowed to offer anything to the Lord. This was pretty serious news. If you were blind, had a deformed limb, or a scar on your face, you could not make offerings to the Lord. If you had a broken bone, a hunchback, or a skin condition such as eczema, you could not bring offerings to the Lord. This shows me that, no matter what your offering is, no matter how perfect it is, if you’re defective the offering is no good.

But even the very law that God gives is intertwined with His infinite grace. Because God knew that there would be men born in Aaron’s family with physical defects and blemishes, He left a grace provision in His work-filled Law to cover the broken. He (God) made it very clear that a broken priest couldn’t bring an offering, but that he would certainly be allowed to eat the offering. Any offering that a broken priest brought to the Lord would be rendered unworthy. He went above and beyond in His provision to specifically state that the broken man would be allowed to eat the Bread of his God, both the Most Holy and the holy of offerings.

This provision was made on our behalf! The Bible clearly tells us that those of us who are in Christ have been made sons of Christ. (1 John 3:1-3 1 See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3 All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.) Furthermore, because we are sons of Christ we are also priests according to His Priesthood. (1 Peter 2:9 9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.)

God, through the giving of Law to Aaron and his descendants, was alluding to our future priesthood and sonship through Christ. Not only that, but He was accounting for our brokenness, our sinfulness, and our unworthiness to bring an offering to Him. There is nothing, no matter how perfect, that we can bring to God as an offering He deserves, because our brokenness in sin makes us to be ineligible to offer. Whatever we bring is unworthy because of our defect. (Isaiah 64:6) We do, however, still have the benefit of eating the Most Holy of the offerings, that is the Bread of Life, Jesus Christ. Because we are sons of the High Priest, and our priesthood is obtained through Him, God has made this provision for us.

At the cross Jesus, our High Priest, placed the ultimate and Most Holy of offerings before the throne of God. He was perfect in every aspect of His life, His body, and His spirit, and so was the only one worthy to even bring an offering to God. He gave Himself as the Bread of Life, the Living Water, the Atoning Blood, and the Fulfillment of the Law. Jesus became, to God, the greatest offering; in doing so He used God’s grace provision to open the blessings of Heaven for us all!