Leviticus 8:6-7 And Moses brought Aaron and his sons, and washed them with water. And he put upon him the coat, and girded him with the girdle, and clothed him with the robe, and put the ephod upon him, and he girded him with the curious girdle, and bound it unto him therewith.
Moses responded in obedience to God’s command to sanctify the priests in a particular, detailed way. The priest was ritually washed and clothed according to God’s instructions to be made Holy in order to come into God’s presence. The priest had to be holy to approach a holy God to represent the people. If not, The Holiness would consume the sinner.
The washing and clothing ritual does not inherently hold any value, but the holiness arises from the Word of God and the keeping of it. We don’t question why we must do it this way, we just do it because He says so. Obedience makes us holy.
The ritual preparation of the priest was, like everything in Leviticus, designed to impress upon us the holiness of God, and that no one could approach it without first being cleansed. The absolute purity of holiness demands rejection and punishment for anything unholy or sinful.
The thrice-holy God is also a God of limitless love. In Christ He creatively opened up The Way in which sinners may and must go. Jesus is the High Priest who goes between sinful man and holy God. By His holy life and obedient death He presents us washed and clothed before God the Father. This amazing gospel brings us to God.
Since the NT every believer is a priest, who enters God’s holy presence, according to God’s Word and Command. We wash in the water and the Word of Holy Baptism by remembering our baptism. We are clothed with righteousness by partaking of the body and blood of Christ in Holy Communion as we “do this in remembrance of Me.” We respond to Holiness and Love by doing what He says: Believe in Jesus.