An Underserved Sacrifical Lamb Leviticus 16:11-19/30-34

Greeting:

Leviticus 16:11-22: The Imperfect and the Perfect Sacrifice

Main Point: Jesus Christ has provided the only sufficient sacrifice, so trust him and turn from the sin that put him on the cross.

Read Leviticus 16:11-22

1. A Sacrifice for the Sins of the Priest and the Holy Place (11-19)

EXEGETICAL LIFTING (11-14) Before Aaron is able to enter God’s presence, cleanse the tabernacle, and especially before he can act as a mediator between God and Israel, he must first be cleansed. God explains Aaron has to present the bull as an offering for himself. After verses 1-10 where the sacrificial goat is chosen, Aaron takes a bull and sacrifices it on the altar of burnt offering outside of the tabernacle. This altar is the furthest altar from the holy of holies where the Ark of the Covenant resides. Aaron begins this sacrificial process from the edge of the courtyard and he is going to step by step work his way in until he enters the holy of holies. After this sacrificial bull for himself, he is commanded in verse 12 to take a bucket of coals of fire and incense into the holy of holies. He puts the incense over the fire so that it is going to create a type of smoke or vapor. If you look down in your bibles  to the end of verse 13, God says Aaron is to make this smoke so that Aaron does not die. If you have followed along you should have the following image in your mind right now: after sacrificing a bull for his own sins, Aaron has entered into the Holy of Holies where the Ark of the Covenant is and has created a smoke that separates Aaron from the Ark of the Covenant. Then while Aaron is in there he takes blood from the bull and sprinkles it on the east side of the mercy seat, and then sprinkles it on top of the mercy seat seven times.  The mercy seat is the lid or top of the Ark of the Covenant.

Does this seem odd to you yet? Are you thinking, now that is why I have not read Leviticus in years. It is just so random. Bulls, altars, and smoke? This sounds more like some pagan ritual. Well friend, if that is what you are thinking this morning I hope after we put all these seemingly random pieces together you will want to start reading this book for your next devotional. Now, let’s try to understand what is going on.

We have to begin by asking why does Aaron begin by sacrificing the bull for himself? In fact, Moses, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, notes three times just in verse 11 Aaron is making a sin offering for himself. Moses does not want us to brush over the sacrifice of this bull. In verse 11, the sacrifice for Aaron is a sin offering, meaning Aaron though holy compared to other Israelites, is a sinner. But, let’s think about what is Aaron trying to ultimately accomplish through the Day of Atonement? He is ultimately attempting to  cleanse Israel of their sins. Really what you have then is a sinner trying to cleanse the sins of other sinners. It is illogical and does not make sense. Imagine a similar scenario as receiving driving lessons from someone without a license, or swim lessons from someone who cannot swim. So since Aaron is an imperfect priest, he himself has sinned, and thus his sins need to be atoned for, he must sacrifice this bull before he makes a sacrifice for the people. Once Aaron is temporarily cleansed from the punishment for his sins, he enters God’s presence and must take the smoke or he will die. Likely, Moses is alluding to the fact that man cannot see God without dying. Normally, man can not be in God’s presence without dying, but God has created these certain stipulations that allow one man to be in God’s presence once a year. But even then, Aaron cannot see God lest he dies. Then when Aaron is in the holy of holies he takes blood from the bull and sprinkles it on top of the Ark to cleanse the holy of holies since he, a sinner, has entered.

Now we must look at what role the  Ark of the Covenant plays.  There are three items inside the Ark of the Covenant and all three of them demonstrate Israel’s unfaithfulness. The ten commandments are commands in which they cannot keep, the manna portrays Israel’s desirous heart and unbelief in the Lord, then Aaron’s rod was used to lead the Israelites out of wilderness which they entered in because of their sin. These are the items inside of the Ark, but what is on top? What is the Mercy Seat? It is two cherubim, which are winged type creatures. Cherubim are often present as a consequence of Israel’s sin, it was a Cherubim God placed to watch over the Garden of Eden after Israel sinned. Now, it is two Cherubim who day and night watch over three items that portray Israel’s sin. Now though, this one day, the Cherubim look down and see blood on the Ark, showing that Israel’s unfaithfulness has been paid for by a substitutionary death.

In our particular verses, we are told of an imperfect priest. Aaron, and the rest of his lineage as they continue to serve as priests are always going to have to make a bull sacrifice to enter God’s presence because of their sin. Aaron is unable to be a perfect mediator between God and man because of his sin. Imagine yourself as an Israelite on this Day of Atonement. You are one of the thousands of Israelites watching Aaron make the bull sacrifice, you see him take the fire and incense in and you just wait outside of the courtyard of the Tabernacle until Aaron comes out. Likely, you would not even enter the courtyard of the Tabernacle. Your sin is paid for though, that is, until you sin again. Next year Aaron will have to go back and you have to hope that he and his lineage will remain faithful since they too are sinners. Did you notice that Aaron made a sacrifice for him and his house? This means those priests who are to come after him. Maybe this would give you confidence in this sacrificial system, saying “we can trust in the Old Covenant because Aaron’s line will keep producing priests.” We will look more at this thought a little later on.

Then in our text looking to verse 15-19: after Aaron has made the sacrifice for himself and his line, he cleanses the holy of holies, the tabernacle, and the altar. He takes the goat as he did with the bull and sacrifices it on the altar outside of the tabernacle. He sprinkles the blood of the goat  on the mercy seat where the eyes of the cherubim remain looking down. By doing this he cleanses the Holy of Holies, the tabernacle, and the sins of Israel. The Holy of Holies itself needed to be clean because of the sins of Israel and because one of these sinners, Aaron, entered into it. It is the same with the tabernacle, because it was in the midsts of sinners it must be cleansed. Then he went out to the altar outside of the tabernacle and sprinkled blood on it to cleanse it from the sins of Israel. Three places have to be cleansed simply because of Israel’s presence in them. The mercy seat, the tabernacle, and the altar in the courtyard. Specifically, the altar in the courtyard must be cleaned because Israel used this altar at other times throughout the year to make sacrifices. So through these sacrifices, the altar must be cleansed from Israel’s sin. Also though, simply because of Israel’s presence, they defiled the altar. Then, according to verse 19 these places are consecrated from Israel, meaning they are separated from, made holy, from Israel and consequently their sin.

2. A Sacrifice for the Sins of Israel (20-22)

(Read 20-22)

Now we come to the pinnacle of the entire Pentateuch. All of the first five books of the bible hinge on the next three verses we are going to read. Why is this you may ask? It is because the sin of the people is being transferred off of them and onto another.

Read Leviticus 16: 20-22.

If you have been paying close attention you will have notice three animals: one bull for the sins of Aaron and two goats for the sins of Israel. One goat was mentioned in verse 15 as the sacrificial goat which would serve as a purification offering to cleanse the Holy Place of Israel’s sin because of their presence. The sacrifical goat took on the punishment intended for Israel. Then now, we come to the live goat. Aaron brings the live goat into the presence of God, and places both of his hands on the goat then confesses the sins of Israel. Likely Aaron places two hands on the goat instead of one to symbolize the goat is taking on the sins of all the people, not just one individual. In this, all the sins of Israel are transferred onto this goat. The goat acts as a substitute for Israel in taking on their sins. Since the consequence of sin is death, and this goat is taking on all of Israel’s sin, we see in verse 21 that the goat is sent away into the wilderness. There it will likely perish, but it will never be able to return into the camp. Verse 22: the goat will carry on itself ALL THEIR SINS to a remote place and the man shall release it in the wilderness”. Verse 30 then gives us a description of Israel after these sacrifices: Leviticus 16:30 “For on this day shall atonement be made for you to cleanse you. You shall be clean before the Lord from all your sins.”  Praise the Lord! Through these certain stipulations that the Lord has forgiven Israel, they are cleansed from their sins. And friends, Leviticus 16:30 would likely be the end of the entire bible, if Romans 3:23 was not true. It reads:“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”.

There are two main reasons why this sacrificial system cannot ultimately forgive Israel of their sins: the priest himself is a sinner and the Israelites continue to sin. The Israelites were forgiven from their sins, but like you and me, they continued to sin. And since they had an imperfect priest, a sinner priest, like a swimming instructor who cannot swim, their sins are not eternally forgiven. Friends, all that we have studied and examined thus far is imperfect. It does not truly and eternally forgive the sins of Israel. These sacrifices still leave the Israelites in their sin. What is the point then? Why even have these sacrifices if they do not eternally pay for the sins of Israel? They are only a temporary sacrifice.

Have to be careful how we talk about the relationship between the sacrificial system and forgiveness. “These sacrifices still leave the Israelites in their sin,” makes it sound like they are not forgiven, but they are. They are forgiven because they walk in faith and obey God’s commandments which include the offering of these sacrifices for their sins. The key is that these sacrifices in themselves are incomplete since the blood of bulls and goats cannot actually take away sins. It is only the sacrifice of Christ that saves from sin. However, his sacrifice is applied to OT saints who offered their sacrifices in faith, believing that God would forgive them of their sin.

So even though ultimately the sacrifices are insufficient on their own, they are made effective by means of the perfect sacrifice of Christ to which those sacrifices pointed.

Shockingly, the answer of a question raised in Leviticus can be answered in a book I read in 10th grade English class. Harper’s Lee’s American Classic To Kill a Mockingbird. This story matters to us this morning because the book begins with the end. The first words given in the novel tell  how plot is going to resolve: The first words from the book read: “When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow”. Then the rest of the story tells of how Jem injured his arm. Harper Lee is praised for her literary genius here, but I am tempted to say she is borrowing from another author we are familiar with: Moses. You see, the bible too begins with the end.

After Adam and Eve sin against God, inviting God’s deserved wrath into the world, God says this to Satan: Genesis 3:15 “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” Furthermore, 5 verses later Genesis 3:20 “The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.” In Genesis the Israelites are told that they are going to receive one who is going to defeat Satan and thus defeat sin. Then in verse 20 they learn that also through Eve’s line is going to come one who will give eternal life. So in To Kill a Mockingbird the author intends you to read her novel with this lens of inquiring how Jem is going to break his arm. You know this is the ending, but you have to trust the author and read the whole novel with this perspective. The Israelites must live in a way demonstrating that they know the ending by trusting God and following his commands. They know eventually God will send one who will defeat sin and give eternal life.

In attempting to answer the question of why even have these sacrifices if they do not eternally pay for the sins of Israel, we have first learned that the Israelites are to live with a lens of looking forward to the one who will defeat death. We must learn one more thing, and then put these two together to get our answer.

How were people saved in the Old Testament? Maybe your instinctive answer is well all Israelites were the people of God so they were all saved. Maybe you are thinking, surely it is through this Day of Atonement, I mean all their sins were forgiven right? Well yes, their sins were forgiven, until they sinned again. Romans 3:23 remember: we continue to sin. So an annual forgiveness of sins is inadequate because we surely will sin throughout that next year until the next Day of Atonement. So if it is not by being an Israelite or by these sacrifices, how were they saved? They are saved by believing that the beginning is the end. People in the Old Covenant were saved by believing in Genesis 3:15: that God will send one to defeat sin. If we were having a conversation with the author of Hebrews asking him this question, he would say Hebrews 11:17 “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son.” And about all those who died in the Old Testament times but were saved the author would say: Hebrews 11:13 “These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.” Those in the Old Testament were saved by having faith in the promises to come.

So now let’s put our two pieces together: the Israelites are to live life with a lens of a savior who is coming and Israelites are saved by faith in this coming savior. What is the point of the Day of Atonement then if it cannot save one from their sins: it is to pointIsrael towards a better sacrifice. This is not to say that The Day of Atonement was unable to temporarily cleanse Israel of their sins, it did, but the ultimate purpose was to point the Israelites towards the ultimate sacrifice for their sins. You see Harper Lee’s genius in her novel is that you get to reading it and get so deeply invested into the novel that you actually forget that the whole story is pointing towards how Jem broke his arm. The same happens with the Israelites, they are sinners like us who forget that they already know the end of the story. So God graciously reminds them through means like The Day of Atonement which shows their inadequacy to pay for their own sin, thus they are pointed back towards living with a lens of knowing God will send a better sacrifice.

3. The Day of Atonement with a New Covenant Perspective

God created the world in his goodness and perfection because God is good and perfect. He created us out of his good will and love for himself. Everything was good. However, man sinned and corrupted the earth. We are even told that the very ground we walk on is affected by our sin, our sin is so poisonous that it actually has affected nature and the beauty of the earth. Our sin has defiled God’s good creation. Does this remind you of anything from the Day of Atonement? The altar outside of the tabernacle had to be cleansed, why? Because the Israelites defiled it with their sin.

(Application) I wonder if this is how we view sin this morning. We are called to view sin as deadly, as corrupting, as defiling. Sin is not something to play with or to indulge in during times of weakness. Sin not only defiles the ground we walk on, but it defiles us, individually. We are told in the New Testament that it is better to loose comforts if it means saving ourself from getting lost in sin. Which do we care about more? Comfort which encourages or allows sin, or our soul? Perhaps one of the most well known Christian Novels is John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, as I read through it this past year one scene in particular really encaptured  the dangers of sin. I think it relates to the Day of Atonement because it shows the defilement sin causes in a person. The main character is making his journey and comes to a man in a cage and asks him why he is locked in a cage. His response is the following: “I was once an attractive and thriving professing Christian… but I am now a man of despair and am held captive by it just as this iron cage portrays. I cannot get out! OH, how depressed I am now because I cannot get out . . . I neglected to watch and to be sober. I loosened the restrains that kept my lusts in check. I sinned against the light of the world and the goodness of God . . . I HAVE HARDENED MY HEART THAT I CANNOT REPENT . . . For the lusts, pleasures, and profits of the world. It was the lure of the enjoyment of these things that I promised myself increasing pleasure”. That image is what happens when we do not take sin as what it truly is: death and corruption. The man in the cage could have left, he could have walked out, but he had been so lost in his sin that he could not escape.

Let me speak to Christians and their individual relationship with the Lord this morning: Friends, the Christian life is a marathon, not a sprint. It is about endurance: you fight the good fight, you keep the faith, you finish the race. Those who persevere to the end are the one’s who are saved. What separates a believer from an unbeliever: the true believer keeps believing—they keep faith in Christ and continue to daily repent from their sins. So be aware of what entertaining sin can do: it can lock you in a cage where you are no longer believing. This is not to say at all that we can loose our salvation, God keeps a tight grip on those who he has saved. But if your life proves to look like the one who is in the cage, you were never saved. So cut off sin! Do not save a little sin for yourself after a long day of work. What does this look practically in your life Christian? Do you need to have an accountability partner with your anger issues? Do you need to speak to someone about your pride? Do you need to leave your phone in the kitchen because it is better to lose one member than your whole body go into hell? Maybe you don’t need to take that beach vacation this year because you have been struggling with lust and seeing the opposite gender in less clothes is not going to help you with this struggle. Whatever it is for your Christian, know that sin has the ability to lock you in a cage where you have the ability leave, but your heart will be so hardened that you cannot. The altar, the Holy of Holies, and the Tabernacle were defiled because of this same sin. We too can be defiled by it.

What does it mean that the altar was defiled? Well defilement is the opposite of holiness, to be defiled is to be engrossed in sin, unclean, tainted. Why was the altar defiled? Because of the sacrifices made on it. Why did there have to be sacrifices made on it? Because of the sin of the Israelites: namely greed, lust, pride, anger, etc. These are the sinful desires that defiled the altar and they can defile our hearts as well.

Now speaking to the local church as a whole: I am not a member of this local church but I am a member of a local church. As we learn from Leviticus sin defiles, but it does not only have consequences for individuals, but for congregations. When the bible says congregation of Israelites in the Old Testament, and in the New Testament it says “Church”, they are speaking of the same thing: the gathered people of God. As you have joined with one another in church membership here at New Bethel what you are essentially saying is you are going to encourage one another to persevere to heaven: you are going to encourage righteousness and discourage unrighteousness in one another’s life.So as Israel defiled their camp and their assembly with their sin, so do we today. Their individual sin had a corporate consequence in that the altar of the people of Israel was defiled. And because of individual sinners, the entire people of Israel had to have this day of atonement.  Let me tell a story from my own life which reflects this same truth that how individuals treat sin affects how their church members treat sin : (tell story with Brock, make sure to end with “this sin of not being content with Christ, being greedy and desirous, is defiling. So as Brock has committed to help me persevere in my faith, he is keeping me away from the consequences of what sin does: defile us.)

Now speaking to all people here: Christians and unbelievers. If you are an unbeliever here this morning, thank you for coming. We are so glad you have decided to visit today.

In looking at this passage from a New Testament perspective, we must first examine why the Israelites must have this day of Atonement. After studying it together, they must have this Day of Atonement because of their sin. We have talked about the earthly consequences of sin, but what is the eternal consequence of sin? It is death. The two lambs in the passage took on God’s wrath. What happened to them when they took on God’s wrath? They died. The deserved wrath of God which is consequence of our sin is death. For the Israelites 5000 years ago and for us today. If we take on God’s wrath on our own we will spend eternity with Satan, the one who’s head is crushed, our head too will be crushed, and we will be separated from God. How did the Israelites ultimately avoid this deserved wrath? We said faith, and this is how we avoid it as well. The Israelites had faith in the one to come, we have faith in the one who has already come. Friends, the Israelites put their faith in Genesis 3:15 “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” But we today, put our faith in John 3:16 ““For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”As John writes his gospel, it is a new Genesis, he begins with simlar language as Moses began in Genesis. Then, in around the same place if you put them side by side: John tells us who we are to put faith in. Friends, I have waited so long in this sermon to reveal who this savior is because I wanted you to be able to see Jesus as the true fulfillment of the law. I hope you can see how desperate the Israelites were for their savior to come, and how desperate we would be if he had still not come.

So I ask you this morning: are you left to take on God’s wrath yourself or have you trusted in the perfect sacrifice for your sins. By turning away from your sin and simultaneously trusting in God for salvation, you know God then has saved you. Repenting from your sins and believing in the gospel for salvation are not two different things but one: it is trusting Christ as your only righteousness before a holy God.

If you think back to the two cherubim who are overlooking the mercy seat, and 364 days a year they look down and see Israel’s unfaithfulness. Except for the one day a year when they look down and see the substitutionary death of a goat. Friends God looks down 365 days a year and sees our unfaithfulness. But if you accept Christ, God looks down and sees a substitutionary death for your sin. Even though like with the Ark, unfaithfulness remains underneath like it does with us, God sees righteousness and innocence because of Christ’s death.

Conclusion:

I hope this morning you have been able to see how all of God’s word is profitable. God’s plan is ultimately revealed in the New Testament, but using this New Testament lens you can see God’s plan of salvation in the Old Testament. God chose to send his son because of our sin: our sin that defiles, corrupts, it has given us eternal death. But now through Christ, as he is the perfect sacrifice for our sins, we can have eternal life. So trust in Christ for salvation and flee the sin that put him on the cross.

Pray