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God’s Holy and Royal Priests (Endnotes)

1. Before the Flood of Noah, people ate only plants (Gen. 1:29, 30), and did not start to eat meat until after the Flood (Gen. 9:3). So when God clothed Adam and Eve with animal skins, it was not from skinning animals that were then eaten, but was from animal sacrifice. God had told Adam and Eve that “the day” (KJV) they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they would die. However, instead of them dying, God allowed there to be a substitutionary sacrifice for their sin, and sacrificed animals that day. Thus, right from the start of mankind’s sin God started the pattern that even though the wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23), God would accept a substitutionary sacrifice in place of the sinner. Substitutionary sacrifice for sin was ultimately carried out by Jesus Christ, the “lamb of God” who died for the sins of the world. Close

2. It is obvious from reading the record of Cain and Abel that there were proper ways to sacrifice to God. What is not as clear, which Bullinger points out in his marginal note on Genesis 4:3 in The Companion Bible, is that the phrase most versions translate as “in the process of time” (KJV) or “in the course of time” (NIV, ESV, NASB), indicates that there was an acceptable time for sacrifice. The NET Bible (2004, 2005) more correctly translates the phrase: “at the designated time.” [Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version™, © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked (NASB) are taken from the New American Standard Bible®, © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NET) are from the NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2006 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. www.bible.org All rights reserved.] Close

3. Although it is not explicitly stated that the family patriarch led the family in the worship of God, the heads of families, such as Abraham, are consistently said to build altars and worship, while there is no record of a woman or child doing so. The implication is not that the man worshipped on his own while his wife (or wives) and children did not worship, but rather that the head of the family led the worship of the family. Close

4. Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon (Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody, MA reprinted 2006), p. 258. Close

5. Everett Fox, The Schocken Bible: Volume 1: The Five Books of Moses (Schoken Books, New York, 1995). Close

6. Levi was the third son of Jacob (Gen. 29:34), and his descendants are referred to as “Levites.” Moses and Aaron were Levites, and God made Aaron and his descendants the priests of Israel. Thus, every priest was also a Levite, but not every Levite was a priest. Close

7. The NLT’s translation of “all of you together” is very good. The uses of “you” in the verse are plural, and refer to the believers as a collective body, not as individuals. Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved. Close

8. For example, the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem was started in 327 A.D. while Constantine was emperor. Close

9. It is important for Christians to understand that evangelists do not do all the evangelizing in the Church, leaving us to hope and pray they do a good job. As with every other equipping ministry, they equip the believers for works of service—in their case, reaching the unsaved. Once equipped, the Christians then do the works of service. Do you feel equipped to evangelize? God gave us all the ministry of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18-20), and it is our job to reach the lost. Close