God blessed the nation of Israel, not because of anything they had done but because they belonged to Him. The Bible says that anyone that has the faith of Abraham (the father of the nation of Israel) is also given the right to be called His children. So when we accept the sacrifice that Jesus made on our behalf, we are adopted into the family of God. As His children, we house His Holy Spirit. God says that He freed the Israelites from the slavery of the Egyptians so that He could live with them. He frees us from the slavery of our sin also so that He can come live with us. He put His name on the Israelites, and as His children, we too bear His name and we should desire to bring honor to that name. We want to walk worthy of the price that Jesus paid for us.

The Israelites learn about redemption when God takes the Levites in place of their firstborn sons. He is pointing them to the future redemption that will be offered through Jesus for all mankind. Through the Israelites, we learn what redemption looks like which gives us a fuller appreciation of the price that Jesus paid for our lives.
The Israelites also take their first census, & since they are about to begin their journey to the Promised Land, they get their camping and travel arrangements. The Levites are also given their specific duties regarding the Tabernacle. We too have been redeemed for His service. Because of His redemption, we have a desire to live for Him.

Nationality, assimilation, on the job training, retirement, full or part time ministry, and dedicating ourselves to God. A year after the Exodus, the Israelites celebrated the second Passover to remind themselves of how the Lord spared their firstborn sons. God told them to dedicate their firstborn to Him from that moment on. But after the building of the Tabernacle, God took the Levites as His in place of their firstborn. So the Levites were set aside to the Lord for service to in the Tabernacle in a cleansing ceremony. God then gave the guidelines for their service and further instructions for the Passover. Along with the mandatory dedication of the Priests and Levites, God also gave rules for common people if they wanted to set themselves apart for Him. These people were called Nazarites. We too can set ourselves apart for the Lord.

God gave Israel the sacrifices and the priests as a picture of Him and Jesus. The sacrifices had to look perfect because they represented our Perfect Savior. The priests also had to look perfect, honorable, & pure because they represented God to the people. That is why there were strict rules for the sacrifices and the priests. The high priests met with God and continuously served Him, so they had even stricter guidelines than the other priests. The pure couldn't associate or be joined with the impure, the holy with unholy, the honorable with the dishonorable, the perfect with the imperfect. When we accept Jesus as our pure and perfect sacrifice, we become God's representatives to the world so we also have to look pure, perfect, and honorable. As sinful humans we cannot do that by ourselves. But when the Holy Spirit dwells in us, then He produces God's character in us as we spend time with Him and feed ourselves with His Word.

A king has the right to dictate who, when, & how to enter his presence. Before Jesus, only the high priest could approach God once a year & only then with a sacrifice. But our High Priest entered the Presence of God, offering Himself as the perfect sacrifice for all our sins. This torn down the wall of separation allowing us all to follow Jesus into God's Presence. Now we can approach God in prayer & see glimpses of Him on this earth. All of us who approach God with the blood of Jesus as the offering for our sins, can also follow Him into the Throne Room of Heaven for eternity.

God is a Holy God & He expects to be treated as such. Two of the priests disregarded God's instructions, did things their own way, & were killed because of it. Serving God is an important job & should be taken seriously. We are servants today in God's kingdom & like the priests, it is our job to know God's Word and His Character and teach others. Our minds need to be clear and we need to be diligent as workers in God's Kingdom.

Because of the sacrifice of Jesus, we have been reconciled to God. Our sin separated us from God & deserves death. But Jesus suffered that death for us in order to bring peace between us & God. Now we can fellowship with God on earth & even more fully in eternity. The Israelites offered peace & grain offerings along with daily & restitution offerings. The grain offerings could not have yeast or honey because it represented how sin makes things bigger than they should be. Instead all grain offerings were seasoned with salt representing the purification from sin, the healing of the relationship with God, & the preservation of the covenant. Restitution for sin in relationships was made by not only paying a consequence & restoring what was taken but by going above & beyond to make things right in that relationship.

God asked the people to make sacrifices to Him. Sometimes they were offerings out of their abundance other times they were sacrifices for sin. Everything they gave had to be from their best. God wants our best too. He is worthy of the most valuable things in our lives. He is also entitled to all that He has freely given to us so He expected more out of those that had more. He also expected a greater sacrifice for sin from those that were had greater religious responsibility. The sins of a leader required greater sacrifice because their sin cost the nation more. Leaders are held to higher standards. When the people brought a sin offering, they had to kill the animal themselves, taking full responsibility for the price of their sin. The fire on the altar burned continuously to show that God was always ready to accept the people's sacrifices. We too must confess & take full responsibility when we sin. God is always ready to accept the offering made for us, our perfect Sacrifice, Jesus.

Moses anointed Aaron as high priest, the one that would offer sacrifices for the atonement of Israel's sins. God anointed Jesus as the Messiah that offered Himself as the Sacrifice for us, once for all. The Levitical priesthood pointed to Jesus. Because He lives forever, His intercession for His people never ends. Since His Sacrifice was perfect, there was no need for animal sacrifices anymore. On the cross Jesus said "it is finished" because as the Anointed Son of God, He finished what the High Priests started. He accomplished completely what they could only accomplish temporarily. Jesus is the Anointed High Priest, Messiah, & Ultimate Sacrifice.

The building of God's House is complete & He fills it with His Glory! Then with His Glory Cloud He leads His people. This is His visible Presence with His people. At night, there is fire in the cloud, reassuring the Israelites of His Presence. What a comfort to know that God is always with His people. In Jesus, His Presence dwelt with the people. Christians are Christ followers. But how do we follow Jesus when we can't see Him? After Jesus's death, God again sent His Spirit to dwell with His people, not in a house but within each of us. We house His Spirit & He leads us & shows us the Lord's will.