Shadows of Greatness - Leviticus 16:1-22

Introduction

(Picture of Delicate Arch on Slide) Last week, Andrew and I went out to Salt Lake City to minister our Lifepoint Church family as they go through a major transition. We flew in and out of Denver (flights to Denver were only $49!), and so driving back, we decided wake up early to carve out some time to stop by Arches National Park in southern Utah. There’s over 2000 naturally made arches in the park, but there’s one named Delicate Arch that is the most famous. Many of you have no doubt seen a picture of it before, and it’s even featured on the Utah license plates. We hiked three miles up hill to see this thing, and I was excited to see it, but I kind of felt like I knew what it looked like. And, when I was sucking wind because of the altitude and steepness, I was I having doubts as to how worth it this actually was. But, then, we finally turned a corner, and there it was. And, it wasn’t anything like what the pictures seem to depict. It towers over the majestic canyons like a stone gateway into heaven. I had always imagined it being about 10-15 feet tall. But, that’s just an optical illusion due to such an expansive backdrop. It’s actually more than 50 feet high and makes men like tiny beneath it. Being there and seeing it, you realize that it’s one of those rare places that invokes a sense of transcendence, a sense of being in the presence of One who is supremely great, One who is immeasurably big.

We say too often, “The pictures don’t do it justice”, but this is one of those rare occasions where there’s nothing else that you can say. That is, the picture showed you something great, but it didn’t reveal the fullness of its greatness. Its glory was still concealed until we could actually see it. That’s how Hebrews understands the Old Testament’s relationship to Jesus. Hebrews 10:1 says, “…the law has but a shadow of the good things to come.” And, this is what we’re getting at when we talk about the seeing the Big Story. What we see in the Old Testament are pictures that call us forward to see true greatness. They are shadows pointing us toward God’s plan to redeem the world through his Son, Jesus.

God’s Word

And, it’s shadows of Jesus, shadows of the gospel that we’re seeing with as much HD clarity as the OT offers in Leviticus 16. Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible, and Leviticus is the centerpiece of those books. It’s also the one that kills a lot of our reading plans, right? But, Leviticus is made up of 36 speeches, and this morning, as we look at the Day of Atonement, we’re looking at the 18th speech. Meaning that we’re looking at the very center, the very heartbeat of all of the writings of Moses, and it’s here that I want us to see three shadows of Jesus(headline) at the center of the Law of Moses. I want you to see that Leviticus is a book that’s intended to leave us craving the gospel.

Impure “priests” are shadows of a greater “Priest”.

v. 6 “Aaron shall offer the bull as a sin offering for himself and shall make atonement for himself and for his house.” First, you’ll see that Impure “priests” are shadows of a greater “Priest”. God established Aaron (brother of Moses) and his sons to be the priests of Israel. They were to represent all of the people before God, and they were to represent God before all of the people. So, you might expect that these would be the very best of men. If no man is perfect, you might expect that they would be as close as one can get. But, Leviticus won’t let us think that for a second. Nadab and Abihu were the sons of Aaron. It was their heritage to become priests of Israel. But, one day, they decided they would innovate their worship with God and they offered him an unauthorized fire, and fire came out from God and burned them to death. You see, they were sinners, and sinners don’t worship God any way they please. They worship God by his choice in his way. Sinners don’t decide how they come in the presence of holiness. And, you’ll notice that chapter 16 starts with a reminder of what happened with Aaron’s sons. It doesn’t matter who you are. You are unworthy of God’s presence. You cannot stand before the one who knows all of your thoughts and all of your secrets and all of your sins. Even if you’re a priest, you’ll never survive the holiness of God based upon being a good guy or worshipping in your own way or because of how you were raised.

It reveals a bigger overall problem. How can the priests mediate before the presence of God on behalf of his people if they can’t survive his presence? The priests were supposed to be the holy men of Israel, but they weren’t holy. Even within one generation they’ve disobeyed God and died as a result. So, the message was loud and clear that there’s nothing morally pure or special about the priesthood aside from God’s gracious choice. It was a position of honor and of fear and trembling. The Day of Atonement was the singular day in the life of Israel where a single man (a sinner!), the high priest, would go into the Holy of Holies, where the fullness of God’s presence manifested, and since no sinner could survive it, the possibility of death was always at hand. In fact, people would gather around the Tabernacle complex and wait to see each year whether or not the High Priest would return to them or die. So provisions had to be made for the sake of the high priest. His sins had to covered. His well-being had to be protected from God’s greatness.

You’ll notice that first he had to wear different clothes. Think about this. When the high priest represented God to the people, he wore jewels and bright colors and flowing robes. However, when he represented the people before God, he wore plain linen garments, clothes that were like those of the slaves. Then, the first time he entered the Holy of Holies he took with him a bowl of burning incense, and he’s to lay it upon the mercy seat. The smoke forms a cloud in the small area, and it functions as a protective cover from God’s blazing holiness. Then, he leaves and goes to the bull that he has brought with him. And, he slaughters the bull, and upon the Ark of the Covenant, he sprinkles the blood of the bull upon the atonement plate, or the mercy seat, seven times, and it’s acknowledgement that he needs atonement for his own sin. It’s to show what should happen to him in God’s presence. It’s to acknowledge his unworthiness to serve God as a priest. So, do you have the picture of the great high priest? Do you have the picture of the holiest man in all of Israel? He’s dressed as a slave, hiding behind a cloud of smoke, and covered in blood. And, this is all so that he can survive the one time he enters God’s people every year.

You see, the priest was a shadow! The priest was a picture that couldn’t do justice to the reality. Listen to what it says in Hebrews 9:11-14:

Hebrews 9:11–14 ESV

But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

Aaron and his sons leave us craving someone that can go before God on our behalf? Do you see that? And so, Christ comes, not merely dressed as a servant, but living as a servant. One who would wash the feet of his betrayer and then march the cross of a criminal up a hill. Not that He was guilty. No sacrifice needed to be offered on his behalf, for He was without blemish, without sin, without flaw. Yet, thought here was no need for a sacrifice on his behalf, he marched on the altar of the cross anyway, but he didn’t slaughter a bull. He led himself to the slaughter and willingly poured out his own blood. And now, all of us who bear his name, all of us who offer to him our lives, He sprinkles us with his blood, his unblemished, pure, and gracious blood, and we’re washed clean forever! So, forever we have a Mediator with whom the Father dwells fully. Forever we have his blood washing us clean. Forever we have One through whom we can pray and access the Holies of Holies, not on earth, but in heaven. Forever! These impure priests were but a shadow of the great High Priest to come!

Insufficient “sacrifices” are shadows of a glorious “Savior” .

v. 16 “Thus he shall make atonement for the Holy Place, because of the uncleannesses of the people of Israel and because of their transgressions, all their sins.” Next, you’ll see that Insufficient “sacrifices” are shadows of a glorious “Savior”. So, if the first problem is how a sinful priest can enter God’s holy presence, then the next problem the Day of Atonement was to address was how a sinful people could retain God’s presence despite their unfaithfulness to him. I want you to how God resolves that through shadows here and in full later with three big words that I think you’ll learn to love: 1) Imputation 2) Propitiation 3) Expiation.

v. 16 “Thus he shall make atonement for the Holy Place” First, let’s look at imputation. By the word impute, I mean that it’s something that’s given to something or someone else because of the actions of another. It says in verse 16 that part of what Aaron is accomplishing by offering the sin offering on behalf of the people is that he’s atoning or purifying “the Holy Place,” the places in the Tabernacle where people have been entering and offering sacrifices. Now, let me ask you, what did the Tabernacle do wrong? Who did the Tabernacle lust after or envy or gossip about? Well, the answer is no one! So, why does it need to be purified? “Because of the uncleannesses of the people of Israel.” The Tabernacle had been charged with the uncleanness of Israel. It’s imputation. The unfaithfulness and sinfulness of Israel was being counted against the Tabernacle. The picture goes deeper. If you were to read chapters 11-15 of Leviticus, you’d find example after example of weird things that God counts as being unclean. Most of these things are not even sins — leprosy, having certain defects or bodily discharges, but they were intended to communicate through ritual what was spiritual. We are constantly in need of God’s provision for us. And so, everyone and everything that these folks touched would also become unclean, and everyone involved would have to go through the purification rites. You couldn’t touch a leper, or you were unclean as though you were a leper. You couldn’t touch a corpse, lest you become unclean. That is, you were being imputed with their uncleanness. In fact, it’s a picture of what happened with Adam. We inherited Adam’s sin nature. His sinfulness has been imputed to us.

So, do you see how this draws out this craving for a time in which there would be no uncleanness, a craving for a time in which I don’t pollute others and can’t be polluted by them? Now, let’s get excited. Think of how Jesus reverses this. In Matthew 8, a leper comes to Jesus without any hope and as an outcast in his society. He has to literally live outside the city gates. He hasn’t been touched by another person in no telling how long because he’ll make them unclean. What does Jesus do? It says, “And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately the leprosy was cleansed.” Not healed. Cleansed! Do you see it yet? Jesus isn’t polluted; the leper is purified! Matthew 9, a little girl has died, and her grieving father wants Jesus to come and heal her. But, Jews don’t touch corpses or even get close to them. They don’t want to be unclean. What does Jesus do? “He went in and took her by the hand, and the girl arose.” She doesn’t mark Jesus with her death. Jesus raises her to life! In the same chapter, a woman with a discharge of blood reaches out and touches Jesus in desperation. Everyone else would have to go through purification rites. Anyone else would be unclean. But, power goes out from Jesus having been touched by the one unclean and guess what — the flow of blood stops, and Jesus says, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well!” Jesus isn’t made unclean by sinners; sinners are made clean by Jesus. We may have been given sin by Adam, but we offered perfect righteousness by Jesus. And, there is more grace in Jesus than there is sin in you! So, that’s imputation: “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

v. 15 “Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the people and bring its blood inside the veil and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, sprinkling it over the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat.” So, that’s imputation. Next, check this word out — propitiation. Propitiation means to satisfy God’s wrath. So, you have two goats for the people of whom the High priest casts lots. For one of the goats, the lot falls on the LORD, and that goat is to be slaughtered. The blood is poured out over the mercy seat, and it’s to satisfy the wrath that all of the people are owed from God for the sins. It shouldn’t be a goat. It should be them. But, through the goat, God is teaching them that if they will come to him on his terms, in his way, He will provide them the way that his wrath might be satisfied by a substitute. They don’t have to suffer. Another will suffer in their place. But, there’s a problem:

English Standard Version Chapter 10

3 But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year.

4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

So, again, there’s a craving for a Substitute that can actually take away your sins. There’s a craving for a sacrifice that will ultimately and finally satisfy God’s wrath so that it will never again be aroused against us. And, to this, Hebrews 10:10-14 says: “And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.” These sacrifices weren’t sufficient. They were shadows. They were shadows that left us craving. Constantly, our conscience tells us how bad we are. Constantly, we’re reminded of how far short we fall. Constantly, we’re reminded of the distance that is to be between us and God. What hope do we have? Jesus has satisfied his wrath! And, He has said that if you will come to him, if you will leave your former life behind, if you will repent of your sins and profess your need for him, He will stand in your place before God! He will satisfy the wrath your guilt is owed.

“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.” So, He’s provided propitiation for your sins. One more big word, and we’re finished— expiation. Expiation means to have to your guilt removed from you. I know it’s hard to keep up with as we read it, but there is 1 bull, two goats, and two rams, all of which will be slaughtered with the exception of one goat. And, that goat is the highlight every year on the Day of Atonement. The priest would take both hands and lay them upon the goat, and it was the picture of the fullness of every sin on behalf of all of the people being laid upon the head of the goat. And, then, the goat was removed from the camp. It’s told that they would take the goat 12 miles outside of camp, turn him loose, and watch him until he was out of sight. The picture is a powerful one — God isn’t merely overlooking their sins. He’s removing them. They aren’t to be counted agains them any more. Their sins have been removed. But, at the end of the day, it’s just a goat. It’s a shadow. Another glorious picture that still falls short. But, Isaiah 53 promised a messiah would come, and it said: “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” And, the shadow of Leviticus 16 along with the promise of Isaiah 53 would find its answer in Jesus about whom it is said: “He himself bore our sins in his body.”

I wonder if you’ve come here this morning feeling dirty. I wonder if you’ve stayed up at night feeling guilty. Maybe you’ve been pregnant and aborted the pregnancy, and you can’t stop thinking about it. Maybe you’ve had an affair, and it was the worst moment of your life, and it’s haunting you. Maybe you’ve betrayed the very people that you love most. Maybe you have a secret pornography addiction, and you just feel worthless all the time because of it. Here’s the offer. It’s not hearsay. It’s not some late addition. Here’s the offer from more than 3000 years ago until today. The offer that has set generations of people free. If you will come to Jesus, if you will come to the Substitute that God has provided for you, if you will abandon yourself and your life and your misery and your good works for the sake of Jesus, He will remove your guilt. Psalm 103:11–12 (ESV) “11For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; 12as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.” This morning, put down all of your defenses and all your reasons and all your excuses, and come. Come to this glorious Savior.