The Scapegoats

Intro

The book of Leviticus is interesting because of what occurs in the beginning. It begins with the people of Israel at the foot of Mount Sinai. The glory of the Lord has just filled the temple after it was built and consecrated according to the instruction God gave to Moses. These instructions were very particular, and throughout Exodus, God tells Moses to make the tabernacle and the furnishing according to the pattern he shows him. Exodus 25:9 “Exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle, and of all its furniture, so you shall make it.”

This is due to the fact that this temple is only a reflection of the temple in heaven.

We learn this in the book of Hebrews 8:5 that they were a copy and a shadow of the real one in Heaven.

One interesting thing about the book of Leviticus is the beginning.

Leviticus 1:1 “The Lord called Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting, saying,”

Before the completion of the tabernacle, Moses spoke directly to God at mount Sinai. But now, we see God speaking from the tabernacle. But that’s the important detail. God is speaking from the tabernacle. Let’s contrast this with the next book of the Bible.

Numbers 1:1 “The Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tent of meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying,”

Did you catch those two differences? In Leviticus, God speaks from the tabernacle. In Numbers, God speaks to Moses in the Tabernacle. That is an important detail, because Moses could not enter the tabernacle yet. God was about to give him the rituals and sacrifices that had to take place so that he could be made holy in order to enter. Leviticus gives the instruction that the priests will have to follow in order to enter the tabernacle and get into the presence of God. God’s presence is holy, and often times we take if for granted and treat it as something common. But when we enter His presence, we should enter it in reverence. We no longer have to follow all these sacrifices and rituals because Jesus became the ultimate sacrifice for us.

Hebrews 10:19-22 “And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.”

See, some people don’t even comprehend what Jesus actually did.

If you want to understand the book of Leviticus, you should read the book of Hebrews. These two books go together. Hebrews shows how Jesus is accomplishing the instructions set in Leviticus. If we truly understand the holiness of God’s presence, we get more out of it. We could have a higher reverence and fall in love more with Jesus. It would sanctify us more if we truly understood. But we choose to stay in the shallow end, when there’s opportunity to go into the deep end with God and know Him more intimately.

Now that I’m done with the intro we can open up to text we will be reading from today. I had to stage so we can dive in to what God has for us today.

Day of Atonement

The Day of Atonement is the most important day in the religious calendar of Israel. In our calendar, it would take place between mid-September to mid-October. It was the one day the high priest could enter the Holy of Holies, or the most Holy Place to atone for the sins of the people. Atonement means there is a covering of sin, and it’s purpose was to accomplish reconciliation between man and God.

Leviticus 16:20–34 ““And when he has made an end of atoning for the Holy Place and the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall present the live goat. And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins. And he shall put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness. The goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area, and he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness. “Then Aaron shall come into the tent of meeting and shall take off the linen garments that he put on when he went into the Holy Place and shall leave them there. And he shall bathe his body in water in a holy place and put on his garments and come out and offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people and make atonement for himself and for the people. And the fat of the sin offering he shall burn on the altar. And he who lets the goat go to Azazel shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp. And the bull for the sin offering and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the Holy Place, shall be carried outside the camp. Their skin and their flesh and their dung shall be burned up with fire. And he who burns them shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp. “And it shall be a statute to you forever that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict yourselves and shall do no work, either the native or the stranger who sojourns among you. For on this day shall atonement be made for you to cleanse you. You shall be clean before the Lord from all your sins. It is a Sabbath of solemn rest to you, and you shall afflict yourselves; it is a statute forever. And the priest who is anointed and consecrated as priest in his father’s place shall make atonement, wearing the holy linen garments. He shall make atonement for the holy sanctuary, and he shall make atonement for the tent of meeting and for the altar, and he shall make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the assembly. And this shall be a statute forever for you, that atonement may be made for the people of Israel once in the year because of all their sins.” And Aaron did as the Lord commanded Moses.”

Let’s break this day further.

Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible Atonement, Day Of

First, the high priest removed his official garments, made for beauty and glory, and clothed himself in white linen as a symbol of repentance as he went about the duties of the day. Next, he offered a bull calf as a sin offering for the priests and himself. That done, he entered the Holy of Holies with a censer of live coals from the altar of incense, filling the area with incense. He sprinkled the bullock’s blood on the mercy seat and on the floor before the ark of the covenant. Then he cast lots over two live goats brought by the people. He killed one of the goats as a sin offering for the nation, taking the blood inside the veil and sprinkling it as before, thus atoning even for the Holy Place.

Now, Aaron had to even sprinkle blood on the holy place, and the altar of burnt offering. This showed that even the tabernacle was stained by the sins of the people.

This had to be done once every year.

The second goat is interesting. It is to be sent away to Azazel after being presented to the Lord. Who is Azazel? Azazel in second temple literature is thought to be a demon associated with the wilderness. Some of the texts from second temple literature say he is the leader of the angels who sinned in Genesis 6:1-4. Now, this doesn’t mean that they were offering a sacrifice to Azazel. they were casting sin away from the holy land that God promised them, and sending it to where it belong. Sin belonged with Azazel, in an unholy land where he made his domain. Sin is to be cast away from the people of God.

After sending the goat away, Aaron and the person who took the goat away both had to wash themselves and change clothes.

Today is our Day of Atonement. We no longer have to make these sacrifices, because Jesus made the biggest sacrifice.