Israel’s priests were ordained with the blood of a sacrifice applied to their ear, their thumb, and their toe, for they were to hear God’s word, handle His holy things, and walk in His ways. But none was perfect, all were flawed.
In many and various ways God spoke to His people of old by the prophets, but rarely did they have ears to hear.
They had hands to shed innocent blood,
mouths to curse those who wronged them,
feet to run like mad straightway into the gaping mouth of hell.
But ears to hear they did not have.
Though banished from Eden and cursed with death, still they did not hear. Though drowned in the flood of Noah or plagued by the drought of Elijah, still they did not hear. Though enslaved in Egypt, though exiled to Babylon, though warned and admonished and implored to repent, still no man had ears to hear God.
No man until God became man.
The Word who would not be heard became the Word made flesh that He might hear His own Word for you. He said to His Father, “Sacrifice and offering Thou dost not desire; but Thou hast given me an open ear” (Ps. 40:6). “Lord, here am I to do your will.”
Israel’s priests were ordained with the blood of a sacrifice applied to their ear, their thumb, and their toe, for they were to hear God’s word, handle His holy things, and walk in His ways. But none was perfect, all were flawed. The blood of a beast could not bring perfection because a perfect sacrifice had to be made by a perfect priest who truly had ears to hear the Word divine.
So there stands the Word divine, the Word made priest. He stands to minister in the holy place, not with blood upon His ear, thumb, and toe, but upon every inch of His body. From the thorns in His scalp, from the nails in His hands, from the spikes in His feet, from the spear in His side, out flows the blood of sacrifice, a crimson vestment for the royal priest.
He hangs with arms outspread to speak the benediction Aaron’s tongue could never utter: “It is finished.”
Banished from life, cursed with suffering, drowned in the flood of wrath, made thirsty by the drought of our sins, enslaved by death and exiled to the tomb, He became what we have been that we might be what He is.
We do need a priest between us and God. And in Jesus we have all the priest we need.
It is finished. Death is dead. Tombs cannot imprison Him, graves cannot bind Him. He lives. He lives forevermore. He lives to sing His victory song into the pit of hell; He lives to open ears to hear His Word and mouths to eat His body; He lives a priest forever, forever to hear His Church sing, “My soul doth magnify the Lord: and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior.”
**This meditation is included in my book, Christ Alone, which can be purchased at amazon.com
