Yom Kippur, fulfilment in Christ

Text: Leviticus 16; Heb 9:1-15

Theme: Atoned through Christ

Doctrine: atonement

Image: scape goat

Need: forgiveness

Message: repent and believe

A couple of months ago I watched the movie, “Fun with Dick and Jane.” Dick and Jane are your average suburban couple who have things going well for them. One day Dick goes into the office and is called up to the top floor. This could only mean one thing, that he is getting the promotion he has been waiting for. When he gets to the cavernous offices on the top floor, the boss makes him the head of the public relations office for the company. His first order of business is to be interviewed on a business talk show that afternoon. When Dick gets on set, his is bombarded with questions he never thought would be asked. “Why is your boss secreting money into banks in the Cayman Islands? How do you answer the allegations of false accounting coming from the IRS? How will the company stand up to the coming investigation?” All of these questions leave Dick speechless. In the background is a chart of the price of stock in Dick's company, and the longer he sits their speechless, the faster the stock drops, until finally it is worth almost nothing. Dick gets blamed for the collapse of the company. He becomes the scapegoat who takes the blame for the fault of his superiors in his company. Tonight we are going to learn about a scapegoat that each of us has. Someone who carries the blame that is rightly coming to us.

Please open your Bibles with now to Leviticus 16. I will be commenting on the text as we read through it, so I would encourage you to keep it open before you.

“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 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, because I appear in the cloud over the atonement cover." (Lev 16:1-2)

See, the two sons of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, decided to offer to God incense in a way that God had not told them to. In doing this they showed contempt for God and his instructions, and as a result they were killed by God. It was important for the Israelites to know that their God was not to be triffled with. He did not accept just any kind of worship. The people of Israel were to approach the Most Holy God in a very specific manner.

“This is how Aaron is to enter the sanctuary area: with a young bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. He is to put on the sacred linen tunic, with linen undergarments next to his body; he is to tie the linen sash around him and put on the linen turban. These are sacred garments; so he must bathe himself with water before he puts them on.” (Lev 16:3-4)

Once a year Aaron, or the high priest after him, was to enter into the Most Holy Place in the temple. The temple was built in three concentric circles, forming courts. In the outer court, the court which encircled the entire complex, all could come to worship Yahweh. This is the place where all the nations were to gather to pay homage to the Great King. This was the court where Jesus cast out the money changers. As you pass through this court you come to the entrance of the court of the women and children of Israel. In this court there were bronze receptacles which collected the offering of the people. As you approach the gate to the Court of the Men of Israel, you have to climb the 15 steps of assent. Upon entering this gate you came face to face with the massive altar gilded in gold. As you turn right you can see the priests slaughtering the animals for the sacrifice. When the priests had slaughtered the animals, and presented the sacrifice, they used the bronze laver at the other end of the court to cleanse themselves again. It was here that the people of Israel were to offer the majority of their sacrifices. Right in the middle of the whole complex was the temple proper. In the first room, the holy place, the lampstand was set up and the lights were kept burning. This room also housed the table of the presence with the consecrated bread. At the far end of this room was a curtain elaborately decorated with magnificent cherubim in blue, purple and scarlet thread. It was in this Most Holy Place that the golden altar of incense was erected.  It was here that ark of the Lord was placed. The ark of acacia wood, covered in gold, containing the gold jar of manna from the dessert, Aaron's staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant. Above the ark, and overshadowing the atonement cover, were the cherubim of the Glory. It was this room that the glory of the Lord filled when the temple was constructed. It was this room in which Isaiah had his vision of God’s glory. It was here that God dwelt among the Israelites, and it was here that God dwelt among the nations. It was into this room that Aaron entered on the day of atonement. Let us continue reading at verse 5.

/“From the Israelite community he is to take two male goats for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. “Aaron is to offer the bull for his own sin offering to make atonement for himself and his household. Then he is to take the two goats and present them before the Lord at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. He is to cast lots for the two goats—one lot for the Lord and the other for the scapegoat. Aaron shall bring the goat whose lot falls to the Lord and sacrifice it for a sin offering. But the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord to be used for making atonement by sending it into the desert as a scapegoat.

“Aaron shall bring the bull for his own sin offering to make atonement for himself and his household, and he is to slaughter the bull for his own sin offering. He is to take a censer full of burning coals from the altar before the Lord and two handfuls of finely ground fragrant incense and take them behind the curtain. He is to put the incense on the fire before the Lord, and the smoke of the incense will conceal the atonement cover above the Testimony, so that he will not die. He is to take some of the bull’s blood and with his finger sprinkle it on the front of the atonement cover; then he shall sprinkle some of it with his finger seven times before the atonement cover.”/ (Lev 16:5-14)

So Aaron has to kill the bull to cover over his own sin, and that of his household. Before he can use the blood of that sacrifice to sprinkle the ark, he has to burn incense. This is to avoid what had happened to Nadab and Abihu, because, as we read earlier, God appears in the cloud over the atonement cover. Then, once his own sins have been atoned for, the high priest becomes worthy to act as an intercessory for the people. He has to be purified himself, before he can purify others. The difference for us, is that our high priest is God incarnate. Jesus Christ does not have to make atonement for his own sins before he could intercede for us, because he was without sin. He did not enter with the blood of a bull, but through his own merit.

Once Aaron had made atonement for himself, he then proceeded to make atonement for God's people.

/“He shall then slaughter the goat for the sin offering for the people and take its blood behind the curtain and do with it as he did with the bull’s blood: He shall sprinkle it on the atonement cover and in front of it. In this way he will make atonement for the Most Holy Place because of the uncleanness and rebellion of the Israelites, whatever their sins have been. He is to do the same for the Tent of Meeting, which is among them in the midst of their uncleanness. No one is to be in the Tent of Meeting from the time Aaron goes in to make atonement in the Most Holy Place until he comes out, having made atonement for himself, his household and the whole community of Israel.

“Then he shall come out to the altar that is before the Lord and make atonement for it. He shall take some of the bull’s blood and some of the goat’s blood and put it on all the horns of the altar. He shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times to cleanse it and to consecrate it from the uncleanness of the Israelites.”/ (Lev 16:15-19)

In all of this, the High Priest is purifying the instruments of worship. He is using the blood of the goat to purify the temple from the uncleanness of the people. The people of Israel were not perfect, and so something had to be done to allow the perfect God to dwell in their midst. The blood of that goat was what allowed for God to dwell with the Israelites.

“When Aaron has finished making atonement for the Most Holy Place, the Tent of Meeting and the altar, he shall bring forward the live goat. He is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites—all their sins—and put them on the goat’s head. He shall send the goat away into the desert in the care of a man appointed for the task. The goat will carry on itself all their sins to a solitary place; and the man shall release it in the desert.” (Lev 16:20-22)

When Jesus went up the road to Golgotha, he carried the sin of the whole world on his back.  He brought them all to that solitary place of the skull. His disciples had abandoned him, his people had rejected him, his subjects had mutinied against him. He was alone. So alone he cried from the cross, “My God, my God, why have you foresaken me?” When he carried that cross out of the city of Jerusalem, he carried the people's sin. He was the scapegoat, the one who bore the sin instead of the people.

Jesus was also the sacrificial goat. It was his blood that made atonement for the creation, for the instruments of worship in the new covenant. No longer were these instruments limited to the Most Holy Place, or the Tent of Meeting, or the altar, but the whole world. No longer did God confine himself behind the curtain of the Most Holy Place, but when Jesus gave up his Spirit, God tore the curtain separating the holy place from the most holy place in two and spread himself out over the whole world.

Turn with me to Hebrews 9. We will begin reading at v. 11.

“When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation. He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.” (Heb 9:11-15)

Jesus is the mediator of a new covenant, of a new testament. A new arrangement between God and his people. Christian's do celebrate the festival of Yom Kippur, only we do it on Good Friday and Easter. The new covenant is sealed in the blood of Christ, for not even the first covenant was put into effect without blood. Let us continue reading at v. 18

“When Moses had proclaimed every commandment of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people. He said, “This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep.” In the same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and everything used in its ceremonies. In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence. Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.” (Heb 9:18-28)

God has graciously provided for our salvation through the blood of his ownly begotten son. When we partake of the Lord's Supper, we participate and remember this once for all offering which has been given in our place. Jesus is our scapegoat. He has taken upon himself the punishment that was coming to us. As a result, we now can approach God in all aspects of our lives and worship him in all that we do.

Skip down to Heb 10:19. “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Heb 10:19-25)

Let us draw near to God and to one another. Let us encourage one another as we wait for that amazing day when Christ will return and usher in our atonement. That amazing day when Christ will return and make all things new. That glorious day when we will be vindicated, and our atonement will be sealed for all eternity.

Amen