The COHANIM

The priests or the cohanim wore a white linen tunic which was a sash of blue, purple, and scarlet. The cohanim were the priests of Israel, the sons of Aaron. It was the cohanim who ministered in the Temple and who were given charge by God over the offerings and sacrifices by which the people of Israel were reconciled to God.

Jesus came at a time when the Temple was still standing, when the priesthood of Israel was still in effect.  The sons of Aaron had charge over the sacrifices and confirmed that each sacrifice was spotless and without blemish. Shouldn’t there have been some connection, some recognition given by the priests, of Jesus being the final and ultimate sacrifice?

There was, born to the cohanim, to the house of Aaron, a child who was not only a priest, but one descended from Aaron on both his father’s and mother’s line, a pure-blooded priest. The child was given the name Yochanan.  You know him as John the Baptist.  So, it was John who presented the Lamb, Jesus the Messiah, the final sacrifice, to Israel. It was the cohanim who identified the sacrifice and certified that it was acceptable to be sacrificed. So, it was Yochanan, John, who first identified Jesus as the acceptable sacrifice. He was the first to identify Him as the sacrificial Lamb. It was John who said, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”