The Day of Atonement - God's Provision for Sin

Introduction

What do serialized dramas (such as ER) start with? “Previously on...”

Moses has led the children of Israel out of Egypt - the Exodus

Events at Sinai (about one year)

God gives Moses the law (Exodus 19-20)

Israel agrees to the terms of the covenant (Exodus 24)

Moses goes back up the mountain for 40 days (Exodus 24)

Golden Calf Incident (Exodus 32)

Moses calls, “Who is on the LORD’s side?” and the Levites respond

They are commanded to execute judgment on the idolaters (and they do!)

Because of their zeal for God, the Levites are set apart for His service

In Genesis 34, Simeon and Levi massacred the Shechemites in revenge for their sister Dinah.

Jacob rebukes them for their uncontrolled anger (Genesis 49:5-7) and prophesies that they will be scattered in Israel.

Tabernacle instructions and construction (Exodus 35-40, Leviticus)

Events at Kadesh-Barnea, on the southern border of Canaan

The 12 spies are sent out; 10 return a fearful report

Israel wants a new leader to return to Egypt (!)

God condemns Israel to 40 years of wilderness wanderings

40 years of wilderness wanderings

Sustained by manna

Deuteronomy 29:5 “5 I led you forty years in the wilderness; your clothes and the sandals on your feet did not wear out;”

Israel finally enters the promised land

How should we look at the Pentateuch (5 books of the law)

Genesis (Beginnings) - creation, the fall, the flood, tower of babel; God’s covenant with Abraham/Isaac/Jacob; Joseph in Egypt

Exodus (Redemption & covenant)

Details Israel’s slavery in Egypt, God’s deliverance through Moses, and the plagues.

The Exodus and parting of the Red Sea (ch. 14) mark Israel’s freedom.

God gives the Ten Commandments and Mosaic Law at Mount Sinai.

Instructions for the Tabernacle, where God's presence will dwell.

Leviticus (Holiness & worship)

Focuses on laws for sacrifices, purity, and holiness.

Establishes the priesthood (Levites) and the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur, Lev. 16).

Key theme: "Be holy, for I am holy" (Lev. 19:2).

Numbers (Wilderness journey & rebellion)

Why “Numbers” ? There are two census counts!

Records Israel’s 40 years of wandering due to disobedience.

Census of the tribes, rebellions (e.g., Korah, ch. 16), and Moses striking the rock (ch. 20).

Ends with Israel on the edge of the Promised Land.

Key stories

Balaam and His Talking Donkey (Numbers 22-24).

Moses Strikes the Rock Instead of Speaking to It (Numbers 20).

Bronze Serpent → A Foreshadowing of Christ (Numbers 21).

Deuteronomy (Covenant renewal & Final words of Moses)

"Deutero" (Second) + "Nomos" (Law) = Second Law

Moses reviews Israel’s history, laws, and the covenant before they enter Canaan.

Emphasizes obedience brings blessing, disobedience brings curses (ch. 28).

Moses dies, and Joshua is appointed to lead Israel.

Focusing on Leviticus

The Branch Exposition of the Bible: A Preacher’s Commentary of the Old Testament Introduction

Leviticus is full of Jesus. For anyone who enjoys seeing how the gospel fulfils the law, Leviticus is sheer delight! It is all about Christ and his priestly work. We actually feed on Jesus more directly in Leviticus than in many books of the OT. Those who find Leviticus dull have missed something! Few books are more exciting if read with the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit. Of course I know Leviticus must be read in its historical setting, but there can be no doubt at all that its thirteenth-century-BC legislation was pointing to something that God would do in Jesus. Now that Jesus has come, the shadows that told us something of the shape of God’s Messiah are full of interest.

The Branch Exposition of the Bible: A Preacher’s Commentary of the Old Testament Introduction

1. The sacrifices (

How do we apply Leviticus? How do we respond to criticism that we turn to Leviticus for condemnation of homosexuality

Leviticus 18:22 (ESV) – “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.”

Leviticus 20:13 (ESV) – “If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.”

but not for dietary restrictions against eating pork, shrimp, lobster, crab (Leviticus 11)

Sacrifices - Each one tells us something about the nature of sin, restitution, forgiveness, dedication, or fellowship

Priests

God calls His leaders to holiness → They must be set apart and purified.

Obedience brings God’s blessing → Worshiping rightly leads to His presence.

Disobedience is deadly serious → We approach God on His terms, not ours.

Spiritual leaders are held to a higher standard → They must exercise discernment and self-control.

Cleanness

Sin and impurity separate people from God.

God provides ways to be cleansed and restored

Holiness

Holiness is comprehensive—it applies to sexuality, justice, leadership, worship, and economics.

God’s standard does not change, but Jesus fulfills the law’s requirements.

Holiness leads to blessings; sin leads to judgment.

Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of the feasts, sacrifices, and the Year of Jubilee.

Types of laws

Civil

Leviticus 5:1 “1 “When someone sins in any of these ways: If he has seen, heard, or known about something he has witnessed, and did not respond to a public call to testify, he will bear his iniquity.”

Leviticus 20:9 “9 “If anyone curses his father or mother, he must be put to death. He has cursed his father or mother; his death is his own fault.”

Ceremonial

Leviticus 11 - Clean animals could be eaten; unclean could not

Leviticus 12 - A woman who had given birth was ceremonially unclean for 40 days (if a boy) or 80 days (if a girl)

Moral

Leviticus 19:2 “2 “Speak to the entire Israelite community and tell them: Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.”

Leviticus 19:3 “3 “Each of you is to respect his mother and father. You are to keep my Sabbaths; I am the Lord your God.”

Leviticus 19:18 “18 Do not take revenge or bear a grudge against members of your community, but love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord.”

Civil laws - principals apply, but we don’t live in Israel

Ceremonial laws

Hebrews 8:13 “13 By saying a new covenant, he has declared that the first is obsolete. And what is obsolete and growing old is about to pass away.”

Colossians 2:16–17 “16 Therefore, don’t let anyone judge you in regard to food and drink or in the matter of a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day. 17 These are a shadow of what was to come; the substance is Christ.”

Mark 7:18–19 “18 He said to them, “Are you also as lacking in understanding? Don’t you realize that nothing going into a person from the outside can defile him? 19 For it doesn’t go into his heart but into the stomach and is eliminated” (thus he declared all foods clean).”

Moral laws - tell us how God feels about certain sins

Malachi 3:6 “6 “Because I, the Lord, have not changed, you descendants of Jacob have not been destroyed.”

Hebrews 13:8 “8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”

1. The Sin Offering Goat – Atonement Through Blood

Leviticus 16:1–19 CSB

1 The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of two of Aaron’s sons when they approached the presence of the Lord and died. 2 The Lord said to Moses, “Tell your brother Aaron that he may not come whenever he wants into the holy place behind the curtain in front of the mercy seat on the ark or else he will die, because I appear in the cloud above the mercy seat. 3 “Aaron is to enter the most holy place in this way: with a young bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. 4 He is to wear a holy linen tunic, and linen undergarments are to be on his body. He is to tie a linen sash around him and wrap his head with a linen turban. These are holy garments; he must bathe his body with water before he wears them. 5 He is to take from the Israelite community two male goats for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering. 6 “Aaron will present the bull for his sin offering and make atonement for himself and his household. 7 Next he will take the two goats and place them before the Lord at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 8 After Aaron casts lots for the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other for an uninhabitable place, 9 he is to present the goat chosen by lot for the Lord and sacrifice it as a sin offering. 10 But the goat chosen by lot for an uninhabitable place is to be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement with it by sending it into the wilderness for an uninhabitable place. 11 “When Aaron presents the bull for his sin offering and makes atonement for himself and his household, he will slaughter the bull for his sin offering. 12 Then he is to take a firepan full of blazing coals from the altar before the Lord and two handfuls of finely ground fragrant incense, and bring them inside the curtain. 13 He is to put the incense on the fire before the Lord, so that the cloud of incense covers the mercy seat that is over the testimony, or else he will die. 14 He is to take some of the bull’s blood and sprinkle it with his finger against the east side of the mercy seat; then he will sprinkle some of the blood with his finger before the mercy seat seven times. 15 “When he slaughters the male goat for the people’s sin offering and brings its blood inside the curtain, he will do the same with its blood as he did with the bull’s blood: He is to sprinkle it against the mercy seat and in front of it. 16 He will make atonement for the most holy place in this way for all their sins because of the Israelites’ impurities and rebellious acts. He will do the same for the tent of meeting that remains among them, because it is surrounded by their impurities. 17 No one may be in the tent of meeting from the time he enters to make atonement in the most holy place until he leaves after he has made atonement for himself, his household, and the whole assembly of Israel. 18 Then he will go out to the altar that is before the Lord and make atonement for it. He is to take some of the bull’s blood and some of the goat’s blood and put it on the horns on all sides of the altar. 19 He is to sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times to cleanse and set it apart from the Israelites’ impurities.

v.2 - “not whenever he wants”

Though the priests were the mediators, their access to God was still limited

v.6 - the high priest first sacrifices a bull for his own sin (for atonement)

v.6 - first reference to atonement

Atonement is the process by which sin is covered, forgiven, or removed so that a person can be reconciled to God. It involves sacrifice, substitution, and cleansing to restore the relationship between sinful people and a holy God.

The Old Testament: Atonement Through Sacrifice

Hebrew Word: Kippur (כִּפֻּר) – means "covering" or "ransom."

Leviticus 16 – The Day of Atonement involved the sacrifice of a goat and the scapegoat, symbolizing both the payment for sin and its removal.

Leviticus 17:11 – "It is the blood that makes atonement for one's life."

🔹 In the Old Testament, atonement was temporary and had to be repeated yearly.

v.8 - lots are cast to determine which goat plays which role

What term does your Bible use here?

the scapegoat

Azazel

the wilderness of Azazel

an uninhabitable place

v.15 - The high priest sacrificed the first goat for the people’s sins.

He entered the Holy of Holies and sprinkled its blood on the mercy seat (v. 15).

v.16-17 - This cleansed the Most Holy Place from Israel’s defilement

2. The Scapegoat – Removal of Sin

Leviticus 16:20–26 CSB

20 “When he has finished making atonement for the most holy place, the tent of meeting, and the altar, he is to present the live male goat. 21 Aaron will lay both his hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the Israelites’ iniquities and rebellious acts—all their sins. He is to put them on the goat’s head and send it away into the wilderness by the man appointed for the task. 22 The goat will carry all their iniquities into a desolate land, and the man will release it there. 23 “Then Aaron is to enter the tent of meeting, take off the linen garments he wore when he entered the most holy place, and leave them there. 24 He will bathe his body with water in a holy place and put on his clothes. Then he must go out and sacrifice his burnt offering and the people’s burnt offering; he will make atonement for himself and for the people. 25 He is to burn the fat of the sin offering on the altar. 26 The man who released the goat for an uninhabitable place is to wash his clothes and bathe his body with water; afterward he may reenter the camp.

The scapegoat or Azazel?

Christian Standard Bible

Perhaps a term that means “for the goat that departs,” or “for removal,” or “for a rough, difficult place,” or “for a goat demon”; Hb obscure, also in vv. 10,26

I Dare You Not to Bore Me with the Bible Introduction

It’s been my experience, as a Bible reader, seminarian and graduate student, and even as a biblical studies professor, that most people don’t know what to do with the odd, perplexing, and perhaps frightening passages in Scripture. We tend to simply skip them. Yet by doing so, we abandon our responsibility to grasp and teach the entirety of Scripture—this book we believe to be the inspired Word of God.

I Dare You Not to Bore Me with the Bible There’s a Devil in the Details

The Hebrew term azazel (עזאזל) occurs four times in

3. The Lasting Ordinance and Its Fulfillment in Christ

Leviticus 16:29–34 CSB

29 “This is to be a permanent statute for you: In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month you are to practice self-denial and do no work, both the native and the alien who resides among you. 30 Atonement will be made for you on this day to cleanse you, and you will be clean from all your sins before the Lord. 31 It is a Sabbath of complete rest for you, and you must practice self-denial; it is a permanent statute. 32 The priest who is anointed and ordained to serve as high priest in place of his father will make atonement. He will put on the linen garments, the holy garments, 33 and make atonement for the most holy place. He will make atonement for the tent of meeting and the altar and will make atonement for the priests and all the people of the assembly. 34 This is to be a permanent statute for you, to make atonement for the Israelites once a year because of all their sins.” And all this was done as the Lord commanded Moses.

Israel was to observe this day annually with fasting and rest.

Jesus fulfilled both goats—He died for sin (sin offering) and took sin away (scapegoat).

Through Christ’s atonement, we have full and final forgiveness (Hebrews 10:14).

Hebrews 10:14 “14 For by one offering he has perfected forever those who are sanctified.”

Applications

1. Recognizing the Seriousness of Sin

2. Understanding Atonement Through Jesus

Hebrews 9:12 “12 he entered the most holy place once for all time, not by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.”

3. Drawing Near to God with Confidence

Hebrews 10:19–22 “19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have boldness to enter the sanctuary through the blood of Jesus—20 he has inaugurated for us a new and living way through the curtain (that is, through his flesh)—21 and since we have a great high priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water.”

Other campuses celebrated communion last week - very fitting