The Day of Atonement
Notes
Transcript
ME: Intro - Good Guys
ME: Intro - Good Guys
As you may know about me,
I am a fan of the Avenger movies.
When Spider Man is first introduced in the Avenger movies,
He is asked why he is fighting crime in NYC dressed in a spider onesie.
After pausing for a moment to make the mood more serious,
He responds by saying;
“When you can do the things that I can, but you don’t, and then bad things happen, they happen because of you.”
This is a good guy talking about taking action against a bad guy.
What would it mean if spider-man saw one person attempting to murder someone and refused to stop the murder?
But his answer reveals that would not happen,
Because he is a good guy.
Spider-man, like the other Avengers, are fictional characters.
In the real world, when someone does something bad, like murder for example,
We would expect a punishment.
But who bears the responsibility to punish?
Under the reign of one Roman emperor, it was said;
“It is indeed bad to live under a prince with whom nothing is permitted, but much worse to live under one by whom everything is allowed.”
The question of authority is a contextual and complex one to answer on a strictly human level.
But as Christians, we would argue that ultimate authority rests in God.
King David shows how God told him this in 2 Sam. 23:3-4;
The God of Israel has spoken; the Rock of Israel has said to me: When one rules justly over men, ruling in the fear of God, he dawns on them like the morning light, like the sun shining forth on a cloudless morning, like rain that makes grass to sprout from the earth.
God is good.
And going back to Spider-man’s train of thought,
As a good God, a good ruler, He enforces and punishes what is bad.
This is ultimately God’s responsibility.
He is the only One suited to do this fully and perfectly.
Now, we would be foolish to ignore that He shares this responsibility in limited ways with family authorities, spiritual authorities, and governing authorities.
So, what if you are a child and you do something bad?
Most likely, your parents would punish you.
What if you are an employee and you do something bad?
Most likely, your employer would punish you.
You get the idea.
But the problem as people,
Is we struggle to always know right from wrong.
In fact, atheists argue that right and wrong are only social constructs.
A convenient belief system for when we want to sin and get away with it.
But the Bible presents a distinguishable right and wrong.
The language in the Bible is holy and unholy.
God is holy,
But we are unholy.
And this is a problem.
This problem is the catalyst of the events in our passage this morning.
Continuing to look at the second passage in our It Is Well series,
We come to Leviticus 16, the Day of Atonement.
And our overview of this chapter looks like this:
The Problem of Sin (vs. 1-5)
The Solution Requires Sacrifice (vs. 6-28)
God Gives the Solution (vs. 29-34)
We’ve got a sin problem, God solves it through Christ.
God is all-powerful, all-knowing, and perfectly righteous.
This means God is perfect in His punishment.
Yet, in His grace, God provides a solution to atone for our sin.
This solution is first presented as a sacred ritual called the Day of Atonement.
This ritual gets at the heart of the OT sacrificial system.
Leviticus 16 outlines the proper approach to worship God on the Day of Atonement.
The ritual was led by the high priest to cleanse the sanctuary and to make atonement for the sins of the people.
Specifically in Lev. 16, Aaron was the first high priest,
So, he is addressed as the high priest in this chapter.
Aaron was a descendant of Levi, he was Moses’ brother.
Early in Exodus he became a spokesperson for Moses.
Fulfilling a bit of a prophetic role by speaking the words of Yahweh and performing signs before the elders of Israel and Pharaoh.
And this role as mediator between Moses and the people foreshadowed his later role,
When Aaron and his sons were consecrated to the priest’s office.
As high priest, Aaron held the prominent place in the office of priest.
This position made him a leader among the Hebrews during their exodus from Egypt while they were roaming in the wilderness.
As the high priest, Aaron often demonstrated holy qualities.
But he was still a flawed sinful man.
He was responsible for creating the idolatrous golden calf,
And he repeatedly rejected the authority of Moses.
He, along with Moses, were held responsible for the rebellion of Israel at Meribah.
The lack of trust displayed by their leadership resulted in their punishment of not being able to enter the promised land.
Shortly after that, near the end of Numbers 20, Aaron died at Mount Hor.
So, he was not a perfect leader but he did share leadership duties with Moses.
Yahweh often gave instructions to both Moses and Aaron,
Moses and Aaron often acted together,
Pharaoh regarded both Moses and Aaron as agents of Yahweh,
And the nation of Israel would direct their grumbles toward both Moses and Aaron.
The prominence of Aaron’s role as the high priest reaches its peak in Leviticus 16,
When he becomes the primary person given instructions for the Day of Atonement.
The primary purpose of the high priest was to be a mediator between Yahweh and His people.
It was the responsibility of the high priest to see that the covenant was enforced,
And to ensure people completed their duties of the temple and the law.
It was a tremendous responsibility to be high priest,
He was the representative for the nation of Israel.
Meaning, he was responsible for directing the hearts of the people toward God and faithfulness to the covenant.
This would include regularly handling sacrifices or offerings, blessing people and the unique duties required for the Day of Atonement.
High priests were evaluated by their love for and loyalty to Yahweh,
Which included the zeal they displayed when observing the covenant.
All throughout the OT, there is this forward-looking hope of a perfect priesthood that would sufficiently mediate between God and people.
Because the OT presents a cycle of high priests,
Some good, some bad,
But all proving that no human being is able to perfectly and sufficiently perform this responsibility.
Hebrews wonderfully reveals that Jesus is that incomparable high priest.
As the Son of God, He, and He alone, perfectly and sufficiently fulfills the duty of mediator between God and people.
Unlike high priests of the OT, He does not need to repeatedly offer sacrifices for His sin,
Because He is sinless.
Therefore, His sacrifice makes Him a sufficient atonement for the sin of all people.
Jesus brings the office of high priest and the Day of Atonement into full view.
In the center of the discussion of God’s punishment for sin stands the cross.
Our understanding of reconciliation, atonement, and forgiveness is formed by the cross.
The NT celebrates this with a variety of pictures;
The cross redeems those in bondage,
Reconciles aliens, satisfies God’s wrath, and upholds His justice.
The cross defeats Satan and death.
Because the cross is where our penalty for sin was given to the only One who did not deserve that penalty but willingly took it.
This morning we are looking at an OT ceremony to understand how God pardons sinners while punishing sin with a substitute.
The Day of Atonement was the day when annual payment was made for the sins of the entire nation.
It was during the seventh Hebrew month which falls during October.
This day would involve various sacrifices being offered.
It was the only time the high priest would enter the Most Holy Place.
And it is where we get the idea of scapegoat from,
Because a goat carrying the sins of the people would be sent into the wilderness.
Atonement is the English word we use for the Hebrew word that literally means “to wipe away” or “to cover.”
Atonement is specific to wiping away or covering the guilt of sin from God.
It is the act of atonement that reconciles sinners to God.
The OT teaches that this atonement is enacted by a blood sacrifice.
R.C. Sproul explains;
“This shedding of blood dramatizes the cost of forgiveness, and points forward to the sacrificial death of Christ on the Cross, where the symbolism of the Day of Atonement was fulfilled.”
Romans 3:25 and 1 John 2:2 teach this lesson;
whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.
He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
The propitiation these verses talk about is the payment for atonement.
The problem of sin leaves us in need of a propitiation to atone for our sins.
Some argue that God punishing a substitute for our sin makes Him a hypocrite.
The Bible clearly refutes this claim.
Romans 12:19 explains how God has the right and expectation to punish sin,
Therefore, we do not take revenge,
Because God will handle taking vengeance.
It does not say that vengeance will not happen,
But instead that God will be the One Who takes care of it,
Not us.
And deeply embedded throughout the Bible,
Is the concept of God providing a substitute to take the punishment for sin.
To neglect this is to water down a core part of the Bible.
Last week we considered how this idea of a substitute suffering on our behalf,
Was displayed in a graphic way in the form of the Passover lamb being slain in place of Israel’s firstborns.
The timeline of Israel continues with them in the wilderness.
While in the wilderness, God once again reinforces this same principle with another special day.
This is the Day of Atonement.
Leviticus is a book about laws and sacrifices that was given by God to Israel after they were brought out of Egypt.
These laws are a reflection of His holy nature,
And the sacrifices were given because God knew His people would not be able to perfectly keep His holy law.
The primary day of sacrifices was the Day of Atonement.
WE: The Problem of Sin (vs. 1-5)
WE: The Problem of Sin (vs. 1-5)
Let us begin looking at the Day of Atonement in Leviticus 16:1-5,
Beginning with the Problem of Sin.
The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they drew near before the Lord and died, and the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron your brother not to come at any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat that is on the ark, so that he may not die. For I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat. But in this way Aaron shall come into the Holy Place: with a bull from the herd for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. He shall put on the holy linen coat and shall have the linen undergarment on his body, and he shall tie the linen sash around his waist, and wear the linen turban; these are the holy garments. He shall bathe his body in water and then put them on. And he shall take from the congregation of the people of Israel two male goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering.
God is holy, He is completely good and right and glorious and sinless and perfect.
And we humans, are not.
We really cannot wrap our mind around how unlike us God really is.
And our passage begins with the words, “The Lord spoke”
This is the truth we build around, here at FBC.
The Lord has spoken to us through the Bible.
This is where our faith begins.
We do not come up with our doctrine from religious scientists conducting religious experiments.
God is not theoretical, He is real, and He has spoken to us.
If we want to understand the Bible and understand life,
We must begin with God and His holy character which He has revealed to us.
Where? You guessed it, in His Word.
This is why the Bible is so important,
Because we will never naturally come to a right understanding of how we are to relate to such a holy God.
Our relationship with Him does not just happen.
And this means we cannot assume that our emotions, our thoughts, our feelings, or even our morals are inherently correct.
We need God’s Word to tell us how we are to relate to God.
That is why God instructed Moses about the Day of Atonement in Leviticus 16.
(vs. 1-2) Back in Lev. 10, the two sons of Aaron polluted the sanctuary by offering unauthorized fire,
And when they did, the fire consumed them resulting in their death.
Ch. 16 begins by recounting this tragic act of Aaron’s sons,
Showing the Day of Atonement is a partial response to their sinful actions.
It is a necessity for people to be able to draw near to God.
But the sons of Aaron casually drew near in the presence of the holy Lord,
While they were unholy.
Therefore the holy fire of the Lord consumed them.
You see, it is our sin which makes us unholy.
Because we are unholy we cannot enter the holy presence of God.
This is the problem of sin.
Making the way people draw near to God very important.
While in the wilderness, the presence of God was centralized in the ark of the covenant.
Inside the ark, are two stone tablets.
The tablets that had the law inscribed on them by the finger of God Himself!
On top of the ark is the precious mercy seat.
This mercy seat is precious because it is where God meets with people.
The word translated to mercy seat literally means “atonement covering,”
Or “place of atonement.”
The mercy seat was a slab of pure gold that served as a lid for the ark and a base for two golden cherubim.
God’s presence would appear above this lid.
As Psalm 99:1 sings;
The Lord reigns; let the peoples tremble! He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake!
All of this was kept inside a two-room tent.
The smaller room was the Most Holy Place,
And that is where the ark of the covenant was.
Outside, in the larger room, regular sacrifices were made.
It would seem that up to this point there were no regulations about entering the Most Holy Place.
As a result, problems began to arise.
This is the problem of sin.
Sin is doing something contrary to the Lord’s command,
It is doing what we want rather than what God has called us to do.
If you are not a Christian, the idea of sin may be surprising to you.
Because it means that people are not inherently good.
In fact, just the opposite,
At our core, we people are sinful,
There is something broken in all of us.
But that is not all there is.
The Bible teaches that we are made in God’s image.
This means we are precious creatures to God.
But there is something not right,
Something that is a problem.
And that problem is sin.
This reality helps us to have rightly limited expectations.
What I mean is we limit our expectations of others,
We limit our expectations of our government,
We limit our expectations of society at large.
This is not meant to be a doom and gloom type of limitation.
But it is a right understanding that God tells us in His Word that we are made in His image,
Yet we are sinful and as a result the world is cursed.
The good news is He has redeemed us in Christ,
But this world is not our home and God is not finished His work,
Even in the redeemed,
So, the fact remains for all people, we are sinful.
But back to the Day of Atonement,
The death of Aaron’s sons highlighted the problem of sinful people trying to relate to a holy God.
Something must be done.
That something is an atonement.
The Bible teaches that a strong connection exists between sin and death.
In the opening chapters of the Bible,
It teaches that the result of sin is death.
Therefore, if the sin problem is to be solved,
And people are to be spared from death,
We would need God to provide the means of reconciliation for people.
The death of Aaron’s sons seemed to provide God the platform to teach about His holiness and the problem of unholiness.
After God teaches on this for six chapters straight,
The question of what to do about this sin problem remains.
That is where the Day of Atonement comes in.
The Day of Atonement tells us that God will not leave us in our sin.
He could have,
He could have left us infinitely separated from Him,
Deserving of punishment for our sins.
But He doesn’t.
He does not leave us with our sin problem.
And this truth becomes the source of all our hope.
The Most Holy Place, with the ark of the covenant, filled with God’s law written by His own hand,
Is where God’s righteousness is shown most clearly.
But not only His righteousness, His mercy is shown most clearly here as well.
This is represented by the atoning blood sprinkled on the mercy seat of the ark.
As R.C. Sproul notes;
“That blood-drenched cover was the meeting point of the holy God with His unholy people. It symbolized the heavenly sanctuary where Christ has entered with His own blood, blood that is efficacious for all the sins of His people, past, present, and future.”
The author of Hebrews also teaches this in Hebrews 9:12, 15;
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.
Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.
This leaves a question we must all ask,
Are you aware that an atonement needs to be made for you?
It is tempting not to think about this,
And instead just live day to day without ever grappling with this truth.
Or you tell yourself, “I’m not that bad,”
But the problem is none of live exactly as we should.
We are all guilty of sin.
And no amount of moral improvement or good deeds is the solution.
Our only hope is for God to provide a solution for our sin problem.
And the solution is substitution.
(vs. 3-5) God gives the Day of Atonement as a threefold solution to our sin problem.
Motivated by His great love,
God graciously provides a solution for our sin problem.
The high priest served in the tent of meeting but because he was still imperfect,
He was prohibited from coming into the Most Holy Place whenever he wanted.
If he did, the holiness of God would kill him.
So, he comes into the Most Holy Place,
Only by means of a bull as a sin offering,
And a ram as a burnt offering.
These offerings would be for himself and his family.
But even before entering the Most Holy Place,
The high priest had to be ceremonially washed and dressed.
Wearing holy garments made of linen.
Linen clothes were the most humble clothes of the time,
Which was the opposite of the usual ornate attire worn by the high priest.
The white linen symbolizes that the high priest has nothing to bring to God,
He is approaching God with no symbol of status, no prestige of office, no sense of authority.
Most importantly, this humble clothing draws our minds to another mediator,
Another humble high priest.
The One Who was described as making Himself nothing in Phil. 2,
The One Who took the form of the servant,
The One Who humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death on the cross.
And after suffering this death on the cross,
He was buried in none other, than linen clothes.
This was the first purpose of the Day of Atonement,
To remind the priest that he needed to be cleansed.
From there the Day of Atonement followed a series of steps:
The high priest would sacrifice a bull as a sin offering for himself.
He entered the Most Holy Place and sprinkled the ark with blood.
He cast lots to select a scapegoat while a second goat was a sin offering.
He sprinkled blood in the tabernacle of meeting.
He sprinkled the main altar in the courtyard with blood.
With his hands on the head of the goat, he confesses the sins of the people.
He sent the scapegoat into the wilderness.
He changed back into his regular garments and washed.
Then he ended with burnt offerings for himself and the people.
The second purpose was to remind the people every year that they had a sin problem and they needed God to solve it.
So, the Day of the Atonement reminded people to search their soul for any sins that were creating a barrier between them and God.
The priest would represent the people as a mediator by confessing the sins of the people.
The third purpose called individuals to repent.
The Day of Atonement genuinely forgave and restored the people,
Both for the sins they knew about and even the sins they did not.
So, the threefold purpose of the Day of Atonement was to solve the problem of sin for the priest, the people, and the person.
This redemption is what God wants for people.
That is why He provides the solution.
The Day of Atonement was not meant to be a formality,
It is to help the people genuinely experience salvation for their souls.
Today, we now see that the Day of Atonement points toward the truth of the gospel in Jesus Christ.
And instead of having a once a year ritualistic reminder,
We get to experience Christ as our Savior again and again every day!
The OT High Priest is a foreshadow of the Greater High Priest to come.
Jesus is the Mediator of the eternal covenant between us and God.
He is a sinless Mediator,
Therefore, His sacrifice was only for the people, not for Himself.
Hebrews 7:26-27 explains;
For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself.
GOD: The Solution Requires Sacrifice (vs. 6-28)
GOD: The Solution Requires Sacrifice (vs. 6-28)
We have already begun discussing how our sin problem requires a substitute.
Leviticus 16:6-28 details how the Solution Requires Sacrifice;
“Aaron shall offer the bull as a sin offering for himself and shall make atonement for himself and for his house. Then he shall take the two goats and set them before the Lord at the entrance of the tent of meeting. And Aaron shall cast lots over the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other lot for Azazel. And Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for the Lord and use it as a sin offering, but the goat on which the lot fell for Azazel shall be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement over it, that it may be sent away into the wilderness to Azazel.
Again we see, the high priest would first offer the bull as a sin offering to make atonement for him and his family,
Then he would cast lots,
Which is essentially a coin flip.
After casting lots between the two goats,
It was determined that one goat would be sacrificed to the Lord,
The other goat would become the scapegoat.
The scapegoat ritual is the practice of atoning for sins by transferring them onto a substitute.
The goat would be released into the desert as a ceremonial representation of releasing sin from the people out into the wilderness.
This is an artist rendition of this ceremony done by William Holman Hunt.
Vs. 10 says the goat is said to be for Azazel,
Which is a difficult word to translate.
Some interpreters argue that it means “an uninhabitable place” because that is where the goat goes.
Others believes it translates into “carrying away evil” which is simplified into the word scapegoat.
Meaning Azazel is how we understand that this goat is the scapegoat.
A third view that is less widely held,
Is that Azazel is the name of a demon that lived in the desert,
And the goat was an offering to this desert demon.
This one is less commonly held because offerings to demons suggests a form of idolatry.
Overall, vs. 10 gives the summary that the scapegoat would be presented to the Lord alive,
To make atonement by sending it away in the wilderness.
(vs. 11-13) Vs. 11 again gives details of the high priest atoning for himself and his household by sacrificing the bull offering.
Next, the high priest would take a censer full of coals from the fire,
And two handfuls of incense.
He carries it into the Most Holy Place behind the curtain,
And he sets it on the fire before the Lord,
So, that the Most Holy Place and the mercy seat would be covered by the smoke from the incense.
Vs. 13 says this smokescreen is necessary so that the high priest does not die.
Because if Aaron were to see God’s presence, it would kill him!
God told this to Moses in Exodus 33:20 when He said;
But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.”
So, God is protecting the high priest by having the smoke cover the mercy seat.
Here is a picture of what a high priest would look like bringing the censer into the Most Holy Place.
Incense is always used as a symbol of communion with God,
In the NT, specifically communion in the form of prayer.
When entering the Most Holy Place, the high priest was seeking acceptance by God through humble prayer.
But vs. 14 includes a presentation of blood indicating a new life for the priest.
Central to God’s solution to our sin problem is sacrifice.
We have repeatedly seen Aaron’s need to atone for his own sins.
Just like we have repeatedly seen the high priest’s need to atone for the sins of the people.
All people sin against God,
And forgiveness is found through atonement,
Through the death of a substitute,
Through the sacrifice of an offering.
And God was teaching this to His people all the way back during the time in the wilderness,
To prepare all people to understand the beautiful truth of Hebrews 9:28;
so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.
The high priest is told to sprinkle the blood of the bull on the front of the mercy seat with his fingers.
He is to do this seven times.
The high priest cannot enter into the Most Holy Place without the blood of the sacrifice,
The blood of the sacrifice symbolized new life.
It was a reminder of the atonement required for the imperfect nature of the people.
By sprinkling it on the mercy seat,
The priest is symbolizing the atonement for his sins against God,
And his need for a new life to be able to be in the presence of God.
This represented forgiveness, the gift of a new life,
And God was the only one who was able to provide it.
It graphically shows the problem our sin causes.
And it shows the grace of God providing a solution to cleanse our sin.
Praise God for providing Christ to be our solution!
As Hebrews 9:12 says;
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.
During the Lord’s Table Jesus talks about the new covenant in His blood.
He is connecting the sacrifices of the high priest to the work He was preparing to do on the cross.
In his commentary, Louis Goldberg says it well;
“Jesus alone faultlessly bridges the infinite gap between God and man, and because of His death, He can give us His life.”
This is why FBC is centered on this wonderful message of Jesus offering Himself!
We may disagree on some things,
For example, we just finished Revelation and we found some details regarding the second coming of Christ that we may not all agree on.
So, even though we disagree on some particulars,
We can have no disagreements about Jesus offering Himself as the substitutionary solution to our sin problem.
This is our faith, this is our joy, this is our hope.
Notice how vs. 16 ends by saying that the tent of meeting dwells with the people in the midst of their uncleanness.
It literally means that the tent of meeting camps among the people.
It is meant to communicate it as a temporary dwelling.
The Day of Atonement and the tent of meeting were not meant to be permanent arrangements for God and people to meet and be forgiven.
John 1:14 reveals the deeper levels of dwelling God goes for people,
It says;
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
After Jesus lived, died, rose, and ascended back to heaven,
He did not leave us without His presence.
When He commissioned His disciples,
He said He is with us always.
And in Acts 2, we see the fulfillment of this promise.
His Holy Spirit is poured out on His Church.
His Spirit dwells within all who believe in Christ.
We are now the temples of the living God.
Paul teaches this in 1 Cor. 3:16; 6:19;
Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,
However, as great and wonderful His dwelling in us is!
This is still not the permanent arrangement.
Rev. 21:3-4, which we looked at a few weeks ago now,
Presents the marvelous final dwelling of the new heavens and new earth.
Where God dwells with people while sin and all the effects are removed.
Rev. 21:3-4 says;
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
The fact that we have God’s presence living in us,
Guarantees that we are forgiven,
So, by His grace, His dwelling place will be with us and there will be no sin for all eternity.
But we need a mediator to bridge the gap between us and God.
In Leviticus, the high priest represented this mediator role.
We see this emphasized by the need for him to enter the Most Holy Place on the Day of Atonement alone.
And the entire time he is in there, no one else can enter the tent of meeting at all.
This highlights the fact that the high priest acts as a representative for all the people.
You can imagine the sense of anticipation among the people while he is in there.
In fact, you do not have to imagine the sense of anticipation,
Because we await for our Great High Priest to emerge from the heavenly sanctuary.
Once the high priest completed his duties in the Most Holy Place,
He had to make atonement on the altar of burnt offering where regular offerings were given,
And he had to cleanse and consecrate it.
Because imperfect priests ministered there, it was defiled too.
So, the cleansing process once again required the sprinkling of blood.
Which again communicates to the people their need for new life that was sacrificed for them by an offering.
After all the atoning procedures,
The high priest turned his attention to the live goat that would bear the confessed sins of the people.
He would place his hands on the head of the goat,
And while holding the goats head,
He would confess the iniquities, the rebellious transgressions, all the sins of the people.
This act symbolically made the goat become the sins of the people.
The symbolic sin-bearing goat was sent into the wilderness to represent the sins of the people being carried away into the wilderness.
It is a precious object lesson that God gives here.
After the atoning offerings given by the high priest on behalf of the people,
They can have full assurance that their sins are taken from them,
Never to be found guilty for them again.
They are forgiven.
The scapegoat from the day of the atonement served as a precursor to Jesus Christ.
The Puritan, Thomas Goodwin, brilliantly taught on this;
“Lay hold on Jesus Christ with both hands…confess all your sins, particularly over Him, as the High Priest did over the head of the live goat, who by His resurrection and ascension into heaven has escaped from death and wrath for sins and in confessing them, transfer them from off yourselves, and implore Him to take them upon Himself.”
God wants people today to know that if you believe in Jesus Christ, you are saved.
Your sins are forgiven.
Like the scapegoat carrying your sins away into the wilderness,
If you trust in Jesus, He has taken your sins as far as the east is from the west.
You do not need to face your sins again.
There is not a sin you can confess in which God has not offered forgiveness for in Christ.
The more you grow in confessing your sin,
The less you will despair,
And the greater rejoicing over God’s love in Christ you will find.
This is what the scapegoat prepares us for,
To remind us of, and to point us toward the sacrifice of Christ.
Vs. 23-28 show that after the sins are sent into the wilderness,
The high priest reverses his steps,
He goes out of the Most Holy Place,
Back into the tent of meeting,
He takes off all the holy linen garments and leaves them there,
He ceremonially washes himself then puts his ornate priestly clothes back on,
Then comes out of the tent of meeting to make the final burnt offerings to atone for himself and the people.
Included in this offering is the fat of the sin offering.
He is coming back out to the people after having made full atonement,
Presenting himself and the people as consecrated to God for the new year!
It is interesting that God has a single individual act on behalf of all people.
Why would He do such a thing?
To teach us what His plan is.
He is pointing ahead to Christ as the ultimate atoning sacrifice for all people.
If you do not consider yourself a Christian,
Can you picture someone doing something so marvelous for you?
This is how the Bible summarizes what Christ has done for you:
Hebrews 9:15;
Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.
Mark Dever’s reflection on this is so wonderful;
“How much Christ must care about us to do what he has done! I pray that we will follow his example as far as we are able, not in providing atonement but in using ourselves up for the good of others. In mediating the good things God has given us to those around us, we perform our duty as a kingdom of priests.”
Notice how Dever refers to us as a kingdom of priests.
Presently, there is no longer a high priest because Christ is the High Priest.
And the kingdom of priests is not a reference to some sort of special, super-elite Christians,
No, the NT teaches that all Christians are priests,
All believers bear witness to Christ.
Like the priests of the OT, we are to be praying on behalf of others,
Sharing the gospel with others, caring for the needs of others,
Living as an example for others, and teaching God’s Word to others.
This is what we are to be about here at FBC,
Bearing witness to the truth about Christ,
The only true mediator between God and man.
And the One Who makes God’s forgiveness available.
Celebrate the forgiveness you receive in Christ.
You can similarly picture the joy and excitement at the celebration of forgiveness on the Day of Atonement.
Knowing the mediator, the high priest, and God did it all on your behalf.
What a picture of grace in light of the massive problem our sin causes.
The instructions begin to wind down with some housekeeping guidelines.
The person appointed to bring the scapegoat in the wilderness and release it also had to ceremonially wash himself and his clothes.
Then every last bit of the offering; including their skin, their flesh, and their waste,
Have to be taken out of the camp to be burned.
The person who does that job also has to ceremonially wash himself and his clothes.
And that concluded the ritual portion of the Day of Atonement.
YOU: God Gives the Solution (vs. 29-34)
YOU: God Gives the Solution (vs. 29-34)
Leviticus 16:29-34 concludes this passage with instructions to perform the solution He gives annually.
In other words, we see in these verses that God Gives the Solution.
“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.
The Day of Atonement was impressed upon the people as one of the most important days of the year,
It was described multiple times as a permanent statute.
This shows that atonement is a matter of eternal importance.
Because people have a sin problem.
The Day of Atonement served as an annual reminder of this sin problem,
And God’s grace to give a solution.
Which again, ultimately pointed to what Jesus did.
Lev. 23:28-30 threatens death for those who do not observe this day.
Today, the Day of Atonement is referred to as Yom Kippur,
And much of these practices are observed.
It is a day of confession of sin and seeking forgiveness,
Readings from Leviticus are often included in the tradition,
And it is perhaps the second most important holy day in Judaism.
We can see why it is so important,
Look at God’s declaration in vs. 30,
The people shall be clean before Him from all their sins.
Friends, do you have any other solution for your sin problem?
Is there any other way you will be able to enter the presence of a holy God?
No amount of prayer or good deeds will substitute the ritual outlined in Leviticus 16.
What this means then, is there is no atonement for sin.
So, how does God solve the sin problem?
He literally gave us the solution,
He gave us His Son, Jesus Christ.
This elaborate annual work repeatedly pointed to Christ.
Now that Christ’s work is done,
Instead of an imperfect human high priest sacrificing an animal as an offering and sending a scapegoat into the wilderness.
Jesus, the Messiah, the Redeemer,
Is the final, once-and-for-all sacrifice for all sins.
And it never needs to be repeated again.
What a joy that the work of atonement is done!
Christ’s sacrifice is a complete sacrifice.
We do not have to wonder whether we will be saved,
It we trust in Christ,
Problem solved!
WE: Conclusion - Problem Solved
WE: Conclusion - Problem Solved
In closing, look at the very last sentence of this chapter,
“It was done, as the Lord commanded Moses.”
The people believed and obeyed.
This is not a question of academics or knowledge,
It is a personal question.
It asks if all your sins are forgiven.
How do we know the answer to this question?
Hebrews 10:19-23 shows us;
Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 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 with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.
Friends, if we repent of our sins and have faith in this promise,
We can have confidence that our sins are forgiven.
How are you doing at this?
Are you holding fast to this confession of hope?
At work? At home? At school? Are you holding to this confession of hope without wavering?
Because Christ has solved our sin problem, we have an ongoing opportunity to bear witness to others that God is completely trustworthy.
So, hold fast!
Leviticus 16 shows that God is so concerned about dwelling with people that He went through extremely difficult means to solve this problem.
But the Day of Atonement ultimately foreshadowed something more.
And that something more was Jesus Christ,
The true High Priest.
He is the only One able to be in the presence of God.
He shed His own blood for all people.
We’ve got a sin problem, God solves it through Christ.
This is good news,
This is the Gospel.
Pray.