Day of Atonement (2)

Benefits of “In”

My initial job training in the Army started in California at the Presidio of Monterey. It is a beautiful area. Right on the Pacific Ocean, it was cool the entire 6 months that we were there. It was a language school and our class was small but it was there that I got to know my classmates pretty well – Jeff, Ross, Preston, and Vance. Our next school was in West Texas at Goodfellow Air Force Base and Jeff and Ross were also a part of the class with me.

Just over a year after basic training and our job training, Jeff, Ross, Preston and I were assigned to the same unit in San Antonio (well, not Preston since he was AF). Jeff, Ross, and I had spent a year together and became close friends.

At the new unit we all went to meet the commander. Jeff was from West Virginia and Ross was from the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. When we walked into the commander’s office we saluted and were introduced and then the commander noticed Ross’s Baylor University ring. Instantly, the two of them were “In”. You could feel it. I guess along with the Baylor ring are shared experiences, background, maybe world views. All Jeff and I knew was that Ross was “in” and we were “out”.

I’m not saying it was a bad thing. I’m just saying being “in” is unique. It comes with perks and there is no better ‘belonging’ than ‘belonging’ to God. To knowing that you are “in”. There is “out” and there is “in” and there is a big difference. Matthew 25 says there are sheep and there are goats. The sheep are in. The goats are out. Simple…but true…which introduces our feast, The Day of Atonement.

Don’t Miss Yom Kippur!

The Day of Atonement in modern Israeli culture is called Yom Kippur. It is the holiest day of the year, or the Sabbath of Sabbaths. On this day the Jews will not work, fast for 25 hours, and then celebrate with feasts both before and after the fast.

We have been using the 23rd chapter of Leviticus as a guide for our feasts. The Day of Atonement is found there in verses 26-32 but I want to use the 16th chapter of Leviticus this morning because there is a wealth of information to help us. Let’s begin with the command for the Day of Atonement to be an annual celebration.

Leviticus 16:29–34 NIV

“This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: On the tenth day of the seventh month you must deny yourselves and not do any work—whether native-born or a foreigner residing among you— because on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you. Then, before the Lord, you will be clean from all your sins. It is a day of sabbath rest, and you must deny yourselves; it is a lasting ordinance. The priest who is anointed and ordained to succeed his father as high priest is to make atonement. He is to put on the sacred linen garments and make atonement for the Most Holy Place, for the tent of meeting and the altar, and for the priests and all the members of the community. “This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: Atonement is to be made once a year for all the sins of the Israelites.” And it was done, as the Lord commanded Moses.

The Day of Atonement was, in simple terms, about being “in” or being “out” – when speaking of relationship with God. Personal and corporate impurity (sin) was a perpetual problem that needed a permanent solution. The solution was provided by establishing an annual ceremony.[1]

The Day of Atonement

There is SO MUCH to learn from this feast and what is brought out in Leviticus 16. There is the preparation of the high priest, the types of sacrifices that are made, the two goats (especially the scapegoat), and there is the sacrificial cleansing. There would be no way to cover it all so I will just point out some things that are really speaking to my heart.

Entry is Determined by the Host

Before we get any further, we need to understand that there was a problem. To “Get In” there is a price. Leviticus 16 provides the key to entrance, but it begins with a problem:

Leviticus 16:1–2 NIV

The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron who died when they approached the Lord. The Lord said to Moses: “Tell your brother Aaron that he is not to come whenever he chooses into the Most Holy Place behind the curtain in front of the atonement cover on the ark, or else he will die. For I will appear in the cloud over the atonement cover.

Aaron’s sons were killed not for being in the wrong place but for coming in an unacceptable manner. They had not followed God’s directions on how to enter His presence. Immediately after the death of Aaron’s sons, Moses reminded Aaron:

Leviticus 10:3 NIV

Moses then said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord spoke of when he said: “ ‘Among those who approach me I will be proved holy; in the sight of all the people I will be honored.’ ” Aaron remained silent.

God determines who will enter and the qualifications to enter. On only a couple of very rare occasions have I said to someone that they are not permitted to come or stay at my home. I don’t need to go into details but as the owner of the home, I have the right and authority to establish the qualifications and expectations of my home. If someone doesn’t cooperate with those qualifications and expectations or is just an outright threat, they aren’t permitted to be in my home. Shouldn’t God have the same right to determine who will enter His presence?

This is the purpose of the trumpet blast at the Feast of Trumpets and the 10 days, called the 10 Days of Awe, leading up to the Day of Atonement. Prepare yourselves! This video from a Jewish synagogue explains it a little bit more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oqBzg8wCUg

The video points out the practices of modern Jews, but did you notice the emphasis on making their hearts right before God? I thought of this earlier this week of Recalibration. I choose to do a simple 24 hour fast. Knowing that the Jewish people discomforted themselves to remind them of the impact of their sin. Sin separates us from God and must be put away.

Admission is Worth the Price!

In Leviticus 16 the focus is on the Holy of Holies, a place in the Tabernacle where the presence of God rests in a particularly powerful way. Also, just like today the hope was for a peaceful afterlife, or what we know as Heaven. Let’s take a moment to appreciate Heaven. Heaven represents a place of peace and rest. It is filled with sights that are beyond comprehension. The pavement of Heaven is gold. The leaves of the trees offer healing. It is a reunion with loved ones, but most of all it is being in the presence of Jesus.

On Friday I had the opportunity to hear US Army Ranger Cpt. Jeff Struecker tell us of his experience as the convoy leader into the heart of Mogadishu in 1993, later called Blackhawk Down. As the leader of the convoy Jeff experienced a gunfight that only a handful of men have ever experienced. With his friend and right side gunner killed he returned to base only to find out that he had to go back in. He remembered thinking, “I’m gonna die. I will not see my wife nor my child again.” As a Christian, Jeff gained control over his fears by realizing that one of two things was going to happen that night. He was either going to see his Heavenly Father or he was going to be able to see his wife and child again. He headed back into the fight to rescue the pilots.

Obviously, he survived. But once he returned and dismounted the convoy, one by one his fellow rangers, some of the fiercest warriors the world has ever seen came to him and asked him how he remained so calm in the battle. He answered by telling them about his faith in Jesus Christ and his assurance of Heaven.

There are many reasons to look forward to Heaven – there is no question that Heaven is worth the price of admission.

Are YOU Ready for the Day of Atonement?

I think that the Day of Atonement is not fully appreciated unless you understand some important facts:

1. God has the right to set the entrance price to Heaven

2. You must take sin seriously. Your personal sin is a very real problem that must be dealt with.

3. Jesus Christ took your sins

At this point it would be easy to jump straight into the marvelous atoning work of Jesus Christ, but I think that we miss out on some important ‘breaking up of the heart’ that should take place.

1 John 1:9–10 NIV

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.

The apostle Paul warned the Christian church about not talking sin seriously:

Hebrews 10:26–31 NIV

If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, takes a hard look at being acceptable to God.

Celebrate the Day of Atonement!

“Pastor, the message today is about the Day of Atonement but you’ve hardly mentioned atonement.” True. Leviticus 16 details the sacrifice of the bull for the house of Aaron, the sacrifice of a goat for a sin offering for the people, and the release of a live goat into the wilderness. This is what John the Baptist referred to when he said,

John 1:29 NIV

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

This is why the Day of Atonement is considered the holiest day of the year. I told this story once before but it is worth hearing again as we conclude:

[it is the story of a missionary to] nomadic Arabs who passed, and camped near the town where she lived. On one of her visits she came to a tent where a woman stood, engulfed in deep sorrow and anxiety. Entering, she saw lying on a mat on the floor an Arab boy, sick, emaciated and evidently dying of tuberculosis. She asked the mother, `May I tell him a story?' Receiving a nodded assent, she knelt beside the boy and began to tell the story of the Lord Jesus and his sufferings and death for sinners. She described how he was beaten, crowned with thorns, led out of the city of Jerusalem, nailed to a cross and left to die, …[she] explained simply how He there bore our sins and now lived in Heaven to forgive the sins of those who came to Him. The boy lay with closed eyes, but toward the end of her narration he opened them and appeared to take some interest in the story.

She left, to return the next day, when she told the same story, emphasizing the fact that the blood of Jesus Christ was shed on the cross for the forgiveness of the boy's sins if he would only come to Jesus. This time the sick boy showed a greater interest, and his face seemed to lighten up toward the end of her narration. Next day, thinking it might be well to introduce something new into her message, she began to tell of the birth of Christ and was describing the place where He was born when the sick lad raised his hand and said, 'Not that! Not that! Tell me about the cross and the blood and the forgiveness of my sins.' And again, the same moving and marvelous story was told.

When the lady missionary returned, she found the woman still sad and weeping bitterly: but there was no boy on the mat inside her tent. She asked the mother how he had died. The mother, when she saw he was dying, had called the Mohammedan priest who came with his copy of the Koran and began to read aloud to the dying boy. Then she described how he had feebly raised his thin hand and said, 'Not that! Tell me about the cross: about the blood and the forgiveness of sins.'

Notice how this boy wanted so badly to hear about the cross, the blood, and forgiveness of sins? That’s the problem and the solution all summed up! That’s God’s remedy – the atonement of Jesus Christ.

[1]David W. Baker, “Leviticus,”in Cornerstone Biblical Commentary: Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, ed. Philip W. Comfort, vol. 2 (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1996), 120.