Leviticus 8:28
And Moses took them from off their hands, and burnt them on the altar upon the burnt offering: they were consecrations for a sweet savour: it is an offering made by fire unto the LORD. And Moses took them from off their hands, and burnt them on the altar upon the burnt offering: they were consecrations for a sweet savour: it is an offering made by fire unto the LORD.
Moses took the consecration portions from the hands of Aaron and his sons and burned them on the altar upon the burnt offering. They were a consecration offering made by fire to the Lord for a pleasing and fragrant aroma. This took place in the seven-day setting apart of Aaron and his sons for sacred service, and their own consecration came before they began ministering for others. It belonged to the ministration of the earthly sanctuary performed by the Levitical priesthood, which served as a pattern of Christ's ministry in the heavenly sanctuary. Those sacrifices could themselves take away no sin, but in type they pointed forward to Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, in whose sacrifice, life and work their fuller meaning is found.
Rite and Historical Setting
Moses took the portions from the priests' hands and burned them on the altar upon the burnt offering. The portions so placed on the altar and burned upon the burnt offering became a pleasing offering made by fire to the Lord. They were consecrations, a consecration offering for a sweet savour, a pleasing and fragrant aroma, an offering made by fire unto the Lord.
The verse belongs to the record of the consecration of the priests, the setting apart of Aaron and his sons and of Israel's priests for sacred service. The rite set the priests apart for His service, and their consecration came before they began serving others. It describes part of the seven-day consecration of Aaron and his sons, in which Moses took the portions they had held and burned them on the altar over the burnt offering as the offering that marked their consecration.
It belongs to the historical account of the consecration of the priests, one of the few historical sections in Leviticus, recording a sanctuary rite involving an offering made by fire to the Lord. Leviticus 8 shows the ministration in the earthly sanctuary was performed by the Levitical order of priesthood. That order was set apart to minister before the ark containing the law in the Most Holy Place of the typical sanctuary while that sanctuary should continue.
Type of Christ's Ministry
Every detail of the consecration offering carried meaning, and that meaning is fully disclosed in the sacrifice, life, and work of Jesus Christ. The sacrifices surrounding this consecration point forward in type to Him as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. They point in type to His work.
The ministry of the priests belonged to the service of the earthly sanctuary, which served as a pattern of Christ's ministry in the heavenly sanctuary. Its yearly cycle of rites typified a ministry accomplished once for all. This ministration began when Moses brought the holy law down to sinful, rebellious Israel, a ministration that could only expose guilt, condemnation, and death and contained in itself no promise of pardon. The priesthood then appointed offered no sacrifice able to take away sin, but could only direct penitent sinners forward to the great Sacrifice to be offered for the sins of men.