If you’d open up your copies of God’s Word, first to Hebrews, and then we’ll head to Numbers. Hebrews chapter nine, I believe that’s on page 1,281 of your Pew Bibles. And then Numbers chapter eight, which I believe is on page 148 of your Pew Bibles. Let’s give attention to the very Word of God, Hebrews chapter 9, beginning at verse 1.
Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness. For a tent was prepared, the first section, in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of presents. It is called the holy place. Behind the second curtain was a second section called the Most Holy Place. Having the golden altar of incense and the Ark of the Covenant covered on all sides with gold in which was a golden urn holding the manna and Aaron’s staff that budded in the tablets of the covenant. Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat.
Of these things we cannot speak, now speak in detail. These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section performing their ritual duties, but into the second only the high priest goes, and he but once a year and not without taking blood. He offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people. By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing, which is symbolic for the present age. According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshipper, but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of Reformation.
But when Christ appeared as high priest of the good things that have come, then, through the greater and more perfect tent not made with hands, that is, not of this creation, He entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves, but by the means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience? from dead works to serve the living God.
And now if you turn to Numbers, Numbers chapter 8. Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, speak to Aaron and say to him, when you set up the lamps, seven lamps shall give light in front of the lampstand. And Aaron did so. He set up its lamps in front of the lampstand, and as the Lord commanded Moses, this was the workmanship of the lampstand, hammered work of gold. From its base to its flowers, it was hammered work, according to the pattern that the Lord had shown Moses. So he made the lampstand.
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, take the Levites from among the people of Israel and cleanse them. Thus you shall do to cleanse them, sprinkle the water of purification upon them, and let them go with a razor over all their body, and wash their clothes, and cleanse themselves.
Then let them take a bowl from the herd and its grain offering, a fine flour mixed with oil. And you shall take another bowl from the herd for a sin offering. And you shall bring the Levites before the tent of meeting and assemble the whole congregation of the people of Israel. When you bring the Levites before the Lord, the people of Israel shall lay their hands on the Levites, and Aaron shall offer the Levites before the Lord as a wave offering from the people of Israel, that they may do the service of the Lord. Then the Levites shall lay their hands on the heads of the bulls, and you shall offer the one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering to the Lord to make atonement for the Levites. And you shall set the Levites before Aaron and his sons, and shall offer them as a wave offering to the Lord. Thus you shall separate the Levites from among the people of Israel, and the Levites shall be mine. And after that the Levites shall go in to serve at the tent of meeting, when you have cleansed them and offered them as a way of offering.
For they are wholly given to me from among the people of Israel. Instead of all who open the womb of the firstborn of all the people of Israel, I have taken them for myself. For all the firstborn among the people of Israel are mine, both of man and beast. On the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I consecrated them for myself. And I have taken the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the people of Israel.
And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and to his sons from among the people of Israel to do the service for the people of Israel at the tent of meeting and to make atonement for the people of Israel, that there may be no plague among the people of Israel when the people of Israel come near the sanctuary.”
Thus did Moses and Aaron. and all the congregation of the people of Israel to the Levites. According to all that the Lord commanded Moses concerning the Levites, the people of Israel did to them. And the Levites purified themselves from sin and washed their clothes, and Aaron offered them as a wave offering before the Lord, and Aaron made atonement for them to cleanse them. And after that, the Levites went in to do their service in the tent of meeting before Aaron and his sons, and as the Lord had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so they did to them. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, this applies to the Levites.
From 25 years old and upward, they shall come to do duty in the service of the tent of meeting. And from the age of 50 years, they shall withdraw from the duty of service and serve no more. They minister to their brothers in the tent of meeting by keeping guard, but they shall do no service. Thus she shall do to the Levites in assigning their duties.
Let’s follow in the reading of God’s word. Thanks be to God. Amen. Would you pray with me? Father, we come once again to a passage that may be difficult for us to immediately grasp. And so once again, Lord God, we come and plead with you, help us, guide our hearts, certainly give us understanding. But Lord, we pray for more. We pray that you’d convict us, certainly the truth of your word, Oh, Father, dig deeply within us. Show us, show us our need to be purified that we might serve you. We ask this in Jesus’s name. Amen. Have you been cleansed?
I used to build houses. And after everything was assembled according to the plan, and it was ready to be occupied, whether it was a house or maybe a building, there was one more thing that needed to be done. The place was filthy. A building or a home really couldn’t be used in that condition. It was built according to the plan, but it wasn’t ready yet to be occupied or used. It had to have a deep cleaning. All the construction debris had to be removed, and the materials, the new materials, had become dull in the dust.
And so they had to be clean deeply so that they would shine for the new owner, whoever that was, to move in. It’s a bit of what we have tonight in this passage, this deep cleaning that needed to be done before the living God could move in to the tent of meeting.
So we’ve been studying numbers. We’ve been kind of working up to the point where the Israelites can leave, leave the base of Mount Sinai and head out to the promised land, a place that they had been removed from Egypt to go to, a place where the Lord had promised that they would have forever and ever, a place where they could worship the living God in peace and security. But they’re not there yet, and they haven’t even left yet. And so, in a sense, they’re still getting ready, still getting ready to go.
The tabernacle, as we know, has been finished, almost finished. In a sense, as Michael Morales says, these chapters, this chapter one through nine, actually, bring us back to the end of Exodus. And so at the end of Exodus, we see the tabernacle completed, the tent of meeting was constructed, and the cloud, the Shekinah glory covers it, and Moses can’t even go in. And so we’re kind of going back to that point as we read of all the things that are set in place by the Lord Most High so that they could indeed head toward the Promised Land God in their presence. And so in this particular passage, we see a lot of things happening and going on. The lampstand is set in place, seemingly as the last item of the tabernacle to be set up. Aaron goes and sets up the lampstand.
And then there’s the call to cleanse the Levites, those who were taken from amongst the people of Israel, and to clean them, the water of purification, the razor over their body. and to bring the Levites before the tent of meeting and assemble them before the whole congregation.
So the congregation, the non-Levites, could lay their hands upon the Levites, and in a sense, ordaining them for this work, or at least transferring that which the people had to the Levites. And as a result of that, they’re offered up as this wave offering, an offering from the people of Israel. taken. Levites are taken in place of the firstborn of all Israel, a substitute to labor before the Lord, a gift to Aaron and the priests. And then this call, not only are they to serve once they’re purified, but they’re to be in atonement as well for the Levites.
Ultimately, this call for separation. And that’s exactly what was happening in this particular chapter, the Levites now being separated for this service so that they would indeed, as we read in verse 22, go in to do their service in the tent of meeting.
We might sum up this chapter in this way very simply tonight, that Jesus Christ purifies sinners to serve the living God. We’ll see that in three heads tonight, first serving as A substitute, secondly, serving as guard, and finally, serving as purified. Again, as we go through this passage, in order to think of this with regard to you, yourselves, I’d like you to be asking yourself, have I been cleansed? Have I been purified to serve? I’ll begin with this first head, serving as substitute.
As I said, in a sense, as others have noted, these first eight to nine chapters in Numbers brings us back to the final construction, the final putting together of the Tent of Meeting and that lampstand, seemingly being the last item that was put in place to complete that construction, to complete the setting up of the tent of meeting. Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to Aaron and say to him, When you set up the lamps, the seven lamps shall give light in front of the lampstand.
The lampstand was apparently the only light within the tent of meeting, this tent which was fully enclosed. We had a covering over the top, a covering on the sides. I’m not sure that any of the light of sun came in because it wasn’t just one layer of covering. There were multiple layers of coverings over the tent. And so you can consider that this lampstand was pretty important if the priests were going to see their way around.
It’s the only light. Consider that symbolism within that completely enclosed space of the tent of meeting. And God said, let there be light. And there was light. Michael Morales views, I believe, the Tent of Meeting as this new cosmos, this new place, this new place of perfection where the Lord dwells amongst his people. And if he’s right, then there’s a sense in which This placement of the lampstand goes back to the creation account and where God says, let there be light. And light emanates from him. Just before they set out, just before they’re about to take down the tent of meeting and reopen it up on their next stop, a light is given. So now the tent of meeting is nearly ready to be occupied.
But first, these Levites, in order for them to do their service, because one of the first services is going to be to take down the tent of meeting so they can now travel to the promised land, they had to be cleansed, take the Levites from among the people of Israel and cleanse them, sprinkle them with the water of purification. In a sense, in one sense, that seems to be the thrust of this package or this passage. to get the Levites ready to serve. Purify them so they can serve. Purify them so they can do all that I’ve given them to do.
The Levites have been set aside. They’ve been consecrated by the Lord. They’ve been identified. They’ve been listed. They’ve been numbered. They’ve been given a particular task for a particular work regarding the tabernacle of the Tent of Meeting. Very specific.
The three different clans, Kohathites, Merarites, the Gershonites, each given a different task with regard to moving the Tent of Meeting. And then they had a particular place where they were to camp. It had to be around the Tent of Meeting so that the wrath of God would not come upon the Israelites. They were a form of a barrier of protection. And he’d given them a particular place in the army of the Lord, hadn’t they, in order to march. They were right in the middle.
He tasked them with guarding the tent, protecting the people of Israel, the Israelites. And now they’re called to be purified in order that they can perform that service. And we’re going to get back to that purification in a minute. But what were these Levites called to do? What was so important? Verse 9 tells us a little bit. You shall bring the Levites before the tent of meeting, and assemble the whole congregation, the people of Israel. When you bring the Levites before the Lord, the people of Israel shall lay their hands on the Levites.
Now we see the laying of hands meaning and symbolizing various things in scripture. Many times we see the laying of hands on an animal that’s about to be sacrificed. And that would seem to indicate that What you’re doing, what you’re symbolizing is that transference of sin from yourself to the animal, so now the animal can be sacrificed and suffer in your place, so to speak, spill that animal’s blood in your place, so that you can be cleansed from your sin. But that doesn’t appear to be what’s happening here, as the Israelites come and lay their hands on the Levites. It appears what’s happening is this transference of an obligation.
And you have to go back now, once again, to Exodus and the 10th plague, where the firstborn, all the firstborn of Egypt were slain as the 10th plague, with the exception of the Hebrews. The firstborn of the Hebrews was not slain because they had placed blood over the lintels and doorposts of their dwelling places so that the firstborn of the Hebrews within that dwelling place was protected by that blood that was offered in their place. But that wasn’t the end of the story, because the firstborn of the Hebrews then belonged to the Lord. That was what was happening.
Verse 16, for they are wholly given to me from among the people of Israel, instead of all who open the womb, the firstborn of all the people of Israel, I’ve taken them, meaning the Levites, for myself. For all the firstborn among the people of Israel are mine, both of man and beast. On the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I consecrated them for myself. I set them aside for myself. All the firstborn, all the Hebrew firstborn were gods.
That was the payment, so to speak, for setting the people free. There had to be a payment for releasing them from the bondage that they were in. There had to be a payment. And that was it. But here’s the problem. The firstborn weren’t qualified to serve. Think of that. As we think of the firstborn, we’re probably thinking of infant children. That’s not the case. Some of those firstborn were adult males, weren’t they?
But regardless of age, none of the firstborn of the Israelites, unless they were Levites, were qualified to serve in the Tent of Meeting. They couldn’t serve. Only certain Israelites were qualified to serve in the Tent of Meeting before the Lord. And they were qualified to serve because God had chosen them out of the entire assembly to do that work. No one else. No one from the tribe of Reuben, no one from the tribe of Judah, no one from the tribe of Dan. They weren’t qualified because they hadn’t been chosen, and thus they weren’t able to serve. And so, what to do now? The firstborn couldn’t serve. Well, here’s the solution.
The Levites will be taken in their place. Only the Levites were qualified. Only the Levites satisfied all the requirements to serve in and around the tent of meeting, not because they were special people, but because God had chosen them. They were uniquely and exclusively qualified because of God’s eternal decree of choice. And so the Levites become that right, that exclusive substitute for the firstborn. No one else could do the work. No one else could become their right substitute.
And you can’t either. You can’t do the work, the work of the covenant, can you? You see, just like the 11 other tribes, none of whom were qualified to serve before the living God in the tent of meeting, no one born of Adam was or will be qualified to serve the living God in the covenant of works, none. You do have a responsibility to keep the law, just like the Israelites. But none of you are able to do that perfectly, fully and perfectly, because you’ve inherited a sin nature from Adam, corrupt nature, wholly inclined to sin, not to obedience. But even more than that, after Adam, none of you were chosen to perform this task, this work of pure and perfect obedience to the living God in order to earn life.
Only one, only one was chosen in your place. Only one who was and is like the Levites, uniquely qualified to serve. Yes, there was one who was chosen after Adam failed. There was one who was identified and set apart and consecrated and ordained for that work, that labor, the Lord Jesus Christ. He’s not only the perfect substitute, but he’s the only exclusive substitute because he was chosen by God, his father.
And in this way, the Levites point us to Christ, don’t they? What do you think was going on in the mind of the Israelites as they came before the tent of meeting and laid their hands on the Levites? as they transferred their obligations to serve with their entire being before the living God to the Levites. As they recognized and praised God, we have a substitute. And as that wave offering went up, what was going on in their hearts and minds? We don’t know, but I think I can ask the same question of you tonight. What’s going on in your heart, in your mind, if you’re trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ, and in a sense you have laid your hands on Christ himself, and you’ve recognized him as the one who’s chosen to be your substitute, to go before you and do all that work of the covenant on your behalf? What goes on in your heart?
That brings us to our second point, serving as an atonement. The Levites were given as a gift to Aaron and as a gift really to the people of Israel to do the service at the Tent of Meeting. But there’s one other thing that they were called to do, to make atonement for the people of Israel, that there may be no plague among the people of Israel when the people of Israel come near the sanctuary. Not only service, but service and atonement. And that’s a big word, we don’t use it very often.
We tend to think we know what it means, but it’s basically that washing away of the obligation that you have before God to pay the penalty for your sin. It’s atonement. Webster’s defines it this way in theology, the expiation or the removal of sin made by the obedience and personal sufferings of Christ. And so think of that. The tent, the tabernacle in the midst of this large camp. All these sinners around a holy God.
How close do you have to come? before you are consumed by His holiness. I’m not quite sure. You get the impression that, well, you know, maybe one of these Israelites, you’re out late at night, and they lose their way, and they just kind of stumble and get close to the tent of meeting, and Levites are there to stop. But I don’t really think that’s the case. You know, those who are on the Outer Ring, really, really, really far away from the Tent of Meeting, I think they were in just as much danger of being consumed by the wrath of God as those who were just on the other side of the Levites’ camp.
God is so holy. How can His holiness be contained to a certain area? And so I think they were all at risk. And so it’s difficult to understand a bit of what this means, the Levites to be an atonement, but it seems to be that by their mere presence, as a result of their purification, that in some mystical way they’re actually absorbing the wrath of God so that it doesn’t penetrate the outer rings of the camp. It’s very interesting. It’s very critical that they would be in atonement. It causes us to think of Jesus, doesn’t it? It should.
How did Jesus protect his disciples? Well, first, he kept them away from the trial, and certainly from the nails of the cross, didn’t he? As that crowd comes up with swords and clubs to capture Jesus as a robber, what happens? Every single one of the disciples flee.
And now Jesus didn’t say, wait, wait. No. That was part of the plan, wasn’t it? Y’all need to go because I’ve got work for you to do after I come back. He protects them. They flee. They’re not yet understanding what’s happening. They’re not yet understanding who Jesus is. And that was purposeful, and so they could flee. And think of Peter. Peter gets close, doesn’t he, to the trial? So close. And yet, as he’s identified as a Galilean, as he’s identified as one who was with Jesus, even as one who was there who cut off the ear of the servant, He denies it three times. He was being protected, in a sense, by Jesus.
He formed that protective barrier, didn’t he? He was the one who took the beating, the scourging, the crown of thorns, the mocking, the nails. He took all of this in their place. Indeed, he took all of this in your place. You see that he was serving as an atonement. The Levites were serving as an atonement, but always pointing to Jesus Christ. You ever look at your hands and think there are no nail holes here? But Jesus bears those scars because he’s your atonement. Yes, he served as your atonement, and he’s serving as your atonement even now. It does bring us to our third point, and the point that I really wanted us to focus on tonight, and that was serving as purified. And in a sense, we go back to the beginning of this passage with regard to the Levites, that passage that we, in a sense, skipped over.
Before the Levites could begin to actually serve at the Tent of Meeting, they had to be cleansed. Before the Tent of Meeting could be taken down and moved out, they had to be cleansed. Before they could begin their service, before they could jump into and serve the living God, they had to be cleansed. They had to be purified. They had to be purified with water. Let a razor go over all their body. Wash their clothes. Cleanse them.
Indeed, we know that only those with clean hands may ascend the holy hill. Only he who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks the truth in his heart and does not slander with his tongue, does no evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his friend and who eyes a vile person as despised, but who honors those who fear the Lord, who swears to his own hurt and does not change, that’s a description of the one who can ascend the holy hill. And at this point in time in the history of redemption, that tent of meeting, that tabernacle was the Holy Hill. And before the Levites could ascend, they had to be cleansed.
It was impossible for them to serve in the filth of their sin. And while the task had been given, while the appointment had been made, and while the They’ve been called to go serve the living God in this way. They were wholly unqualified to serve in their sin. And so they had to be cleansed, they had to be purified. They might serve a holy God and act as a buffer between the people and the dwelling place of the Lord Most High.
And so we see that call, don’t we? The call by the Lord to Moses to cleanse or purify the Levites such that the Levites themselves wouldn’t be consumed as they entered into the tent of meeting to begin to pack it up. So how is it done? Well, water. Thus you shall do to them to cleanse them, sprinkle the water of purification upon them, let them go with a razor over all their body and wash their clothes and cleanse themselves. Step one, water for purification. Step two, these animals being offered up, a burnt offering, a sin offering, the blood of bulls offered in the place of these men, such that in the eyes of God, they were not only ready for service, they were purified, they were cleansed, Now, notice what I said in the eyes of God, meaning that the blood of bulls and goats didn’t actually atone for their sins. It couldn’t.
We understand that. We get that. Bulls were not human. Bulls are not moral creatures. Bulls are not sinners who could possibly stand in the shoes of people like you and me or the Levites. And so that’s why I said in the eyes of God, they were cleansed. They were purified. because they weren’t actually atoned for by the blood of bulls. No, they needed the blood of the Messiah. They needed the blood of one who was just like them, but without sin. They ultimately needed the blood of Christ to wash over them so they would be truly pure and purified for ultimate service and glory. But in the eyes of God, these were provisionally purified so that they could serve, awaiting the true and final atonement of Jesus Christ.
You see, it’s the same with you and me tonight, isn’t it? If you want to serve, if you want to serve today, the only way to serve is to be purified in the eyes of God. You see, we have no altar today. We have no cultic sacrifices, no bulls being offered up as burnt offerings or sin offerings any longer, because Jesus Christ has come. The bulls were pointing to Jesus Christ, constantly pointing to Jesus Christ on the cross at Calvary. He died. He atoned for sin on the cross at Calvary. You might be saying tonight, you might be thinking to yourself, but I didn’t atone for my sin. No, you didn’t. And the truth is you can’t.
But in the eyes of God, if you’re trusting in Jesus Christ tonight, holy and completely trusting in him alone, he has, in fact, atoned for your sin. By and through his blood, he has purified you. If you’re trusting in him tonight. such that you can ascend the holy hill of the Lord and serve him. It’s the blood of Jesus that purifies you in the eyes of God.
You see, God looks out upon his children. Even tonight, as he looks out upon his children, what’s he seeing? He’s not seeing your sin. It’s covered. Your sin has been covered, completely covered by the blood of Christ. He’s seeing his wrath has been washed away because Jesus Christ has taken it. And that blood of Christ has washed you whiter than snow. And so that’s what the Lord God is seeing as he looks out upon you.
He’s seeing the blood of Christ, he’s seeing the righteous robes of Christ that have wrapped around you. He’s not seeing your transgression, he knows your transgression. but he’s not looking upon it. He’s looking upon his son, he’s viewing you tonight, not in your wretched filth, he’s not viewing you in your dirty laundry of sin, your unwashed, unbleached, filthy garments, those garments that the Levites had to take off and wash. No, as he looks down upon you, his children tonight, he’s seeing you in the beautiful robes of his son, the blameless innocence of Jesus. He’s seeing Christ’s righteousness wrapped around him.
So you can serve. Even now, even tonight, you can ascend the Holy Hill. Are you? All that has been done to you and for you. Are you serving the risen Lord Jesus Christ as you’ve been purified? And you may be thinking there is another aspect of this purity. Yes, you do need to be washed by Christ. And this physical washing that we read of here in chapter eight of Numbers is so telling as to what we need. But there’s another aspect of washing, isn’t there? You read it tonight in Hebrews. And that’s your conscience.
This speaks very physically But what about your conscience? You see, you really can’t serve the living God if your conscience is burdened. If the guilt of sin is bearing upon your heart tonight, you really can’t serve a holy God. You can’t serve with your whole heart, mind, and soul if you’re carrying the weight of guilt on your conscience. It’s too heavy. Brothers and sisters, it weighs you down too much. It takes up too much space of your being to carry around guilt.
And it’s exactly what Jesus said to do, to come to him for that purpose. Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. What was he talking about? He’s talking about your guilt. who’s speaking to those who had been pierced by the fact that they had sinned against a holy God and they were carrying around this weight of guilt. And they needed to be relieved. Is that you tonight? Are you carrying about the guilt of your sin tonight? If you are, I know that you are heavy laden. Listen to Christ. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I’m gentle and lowly in heart, and you’ll find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, my burden is light.
He was calling weary sinners, laden with guilt, to be free of that overwhelming burden for having transgressed the law of God. Brothers and sisters, you must be free from the weight of your failing to love God with your whole heart, soul, and mind, and strength, and your failure to love your neighbors as yourself. Not that you don’t strive for these things. Not that you don’t seek to obey the Lord and ask, help me love you more. More today than yesterday. Help me to love Christ. Help me to love my neighbors. Oh, Father, help me. But in order to serve, in order to truly serve your heavenly Father with all that’s in you, you must be freed and purified from this guilty conscience.
And so that’s part of what’s pictured here for us in this chapter. As the Levites were cleansed with the blood of these bulls, they were being informed and told and believing and trusting that God had removed their sins from them so that they could have an unburdened conscience to serve and serve well. Now, that was all physical labor that they had to do, but they had to be ready for it, prepared for it, body and soul, and they were. For if the blood of Goats and bulls and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer sanctify for the purification of the flesh. How much more would the blood of Christ through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God purify our consciences from dead works?
How is your conscience tonight? Is it burdened? Brothers and sisters, you need to be relieved of this burden. And the only way is through Christ. Have you felt the burden? Have you felt the pain of guilt? And let me suggest that you actually need to feel that in order to feel the relief from it.
It’s like the prisoner who’s been spending time behind bars who’s tasted of the loss of freedom, knows what it is to be confined, to be held prisoner. But upon their release, they now truly understand what freedom is, because they’ve been confined, because they’ve been imprisoned. But if you haven’t been imprisoned, then you really don’t understand the beauty and freedom of being released, do you? If you haven’t been burdened by your guilt, then you really don’t know what it is to taste the goodness of being relieved of it, as Jesus washes your conscience clean. So there’s the question, have you experienced, truly experienced that freedom? of being relieved of that burden of guilt after you felt the weight of it.
Brothers and sisters, if you’re here tonight and you’re saying, well, I’m not quite sure, oh, tonight is the night to cry out to Christ and ask him. Ask him to show you the wretchedness of your sins and plead with him. to wash your sins away, along with the guilt for each and every one of your transgressions.
As Jesus Christ purifies sinners to serve the living God, new construction needs to be cleaned. And that seems to be exactly what was going on here in Numbers chapter 8. Not that the tabernacle had to be cleaned, but those who were about to enter it and work in it had to be fully and completely purified that they would be able then to serve the living God with a clean and clear conscience.
Praise be to the Lord. Amen. Father and our God, we praise you for this passage. Thank you for helping us work our way through it. We ask, Lord God, that you would continue to work purification in our hearts. Relieve us, Lord God, of the guilt of sin as we meditate upon Christ and upon his work on the cross at Calvary. Help us, Lord. Help us to serve you with unburdened hearts, taking the yoke of Christ, which is easy, and restful. We ask all these things in his precious name, amen.