18 And he brought the ram for the burnt offering: and Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the ram.

19 And he killed it; and Moses sprinkled the blood upon the altar round about.

20 And he cut the ram into pieces; and Moses burnt the head, and the pieces, and the fat.

21 And he washed the inwards and the legs in water; and Moses burnt the whole ram upon the altar: it was a burnt sacrifice for a sweet savour, and an offering made by fire unto the Lord; as the Lord commanded Moses.

In our last post we had the sin offering as part of the consecration process of Aaron and his sons and priests, and today it is immediately followed by the burnt offering. Thus, the spiritual sequence for the priests was to first give up their sinful ways, and then to give their lives to God. Tomorrow will move on to the consecration offering, which completes the journey, and represents oneness and unity with God. That is the entire gospel journey in three simple steps.

And notice, that even though these rituals have been fulfilled in Christ, the underlying path still remains the same. Repentance for sin, surrender of self, and unity with God are still the path of discipleship even today. Not one jot or tittle has passed, only the manner in which we interface with that underlying pattern.

The ancient Israelites were not a people so different as we might think. We have more in common with them than not. And, most importantly, at the fundamental level we are identical. Just like them, we still are afflicted by sin. We still struggle to surrender our will to God. We still suffer from separation from the Almighty. We still need sacrifice, surrender, and grace to overcome those challenges. We are still God’s children, and He is still our Father. The path for us to follow has always been there, unchanged. The unique details of modern life are but surface periphery, meaningless vapor in the wind, while He remains a constant through it all.