Thursday Night Bible Study

Leviticus 16 (Click title for audio access)

"The Day Of Atonement"  •  10.13.11  •  Thursday Night Bible Study, Calvary Christian Fellowship

Intro.

- This chapter in Leviticus is one of the peak points of Biblical revelation. It instructs the priests who were living at that time in a ceremony that is directly related to you and I.

- We have seen various sacrifices that men were to bring to the Tabernacle, most notably the sin and the trespass offering which men would bring for reasons known to them.

- However, if you are a sinner like me, you know that you only know of most of your sins. Sometimes days go by and only then do you realize that you had forgotten about "that sin."

- It was perhaps something that you did not intend, or maybe something that you have come to realize that you should have done. Either way, you and I understand that sin is in our very D.N.A!

- The weight of our sin, the understanding of how deep it goes burdens us and would have especially burdened them, who had God dwelling amongst them.

- That is what this chapter addresses. God put a day together where He would provide atonement for all that they could not account for.

- All of it, God has left for us, to show forth a wonderful representation and shadow of our High Priest, Jesus Christ.

Text

•  Leviticus 16:1,2  :  "Now the Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered profane fire before the Lord, and died; and the Lord said to Moses: 'Tell Aaron your brother not to come at just any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat which is on the ark, lest he die; for I will appear in the cloud above the mercy seat."  : Chapters 11 through 15 have been a bit of a parenthesis, explaining the essential difference between clean and unclean.

- Chronologically, the instruction given occurs after Nadab and Abihu's death. Contextually, the warning that God is giving Aaron through Moses gives light to what happened with his sons.

- It's likely that Nadab and Abihu presumed that their positions as Priests allowed them to offer profane fire, even trying to do so by entering into the Holy Of Holies!  When they did, they died.

- Aaron was to come to offer sacrifices in the Holy of Holies, but not just at any time. Sacrifices were his business, but the timing to enter into the Holy Of Holies was God's.

- The High Priest could not occupy the same space as the Lord. God was going to be above His throne, above the Mercy Seat.

- Aaron, being a sinful human being, would walk in and would die in the presence of a Holy God. His body would not be able to stand it.

- Being a Priest in this economy was a hazardous job. It was not to be performed in just any way and certainly not at any time or without the proper sacrifice.

•  Leviticus 16:3-10  :  "Thus Aaron shall come into the Holy Place: with the blood of a young bull as a sin offering, and of a ram as a burnt offering. He shall put the holy linen tunic and the linen trousers on his body; he shall be girded with a linen sash, and with the linen turban he shall be attired. These are holy garments. Therefore he shall wash his body in water, and put them on. And he shall take from the congregation of the children of Israel two kids of the goats as a sin offering, and one ram as a burnt offering. Aaron shall offer the bull as a sin offering, which is for himself, and make atonement for himself and for his house. He shall take the two goats and present them before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. Then Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats: one lot for the Lord and the other lot for the scapegoat. And Aaron shall bring the goat on which the Lord’s lot fell, and offer it as a sin offering. But the goat on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord, to make atonement upon it, and to let it go as the scapegoat into the wilderness."  :  Aaron being the High Priest, was to offer the atonement sacrifice for himself and his family.

- We have said it before and it is worth saying again: Priests are not sinlessly perfect. You and I, part of the priesthood of the saints, are sinners saved by grace, righteous by another's sacrifice!

- Aaron was to give a sin offering and a ram as a burnt offering. He was never to consider that he himself did not need to sacrifice. This communicates in our mind the separation that existed.

- Even God's representative, the man that would act as the High Priest, even he could not come freely into the presence of God! What a blessing that we have that privilege!

- Notice what he was to wear. He was to wear the linen tunic and trousers, the belt and turban. What about all of the ornate High Priestly attire? What about all of the fancy gem stones?

- He was to go in with these humble clothes and offer this sacrifice. These were the holy garments for that day when his offering would make atonement for he and his house.

- The picture the humility that Christ wore in His incarnation. He came in human frailty. Lived a pauper's life. Lived a transient's existence. Died on a criminal's cross. Totally human. Totally divine!

- The word "atonement" refers to covering, to satisfying, propitiating God's wrath against sin.

- Here is the weakness of the Priestly line of the Old Testament. Those imperfect men, capable of and culpable for their sin, needed the blood of bulls and goats. They needed that covering.

- The writer of Hebrews lets us know that this is what made Jesus better in His priesthood. He never had to deal with personal sin.

- After he was covered, he brought in these two goats for the people. One would die and the other would live. He will explain more about the scapegoat when we come to verse 20.

•  Leviticus 16:11-14  :  "And Aaron shall bring the bull of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make atonement for himself and for his house, and shall kill the bull as the sin offering which is for himself. Then he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from the altar before the Lord, with his hands full of sweet incense beaten fine, and bring it inside the veil. And he shall put the incense on the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of incense may cover the mercy seat that is on the Testimony, lest he die. He shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the mercy seat on the east side; and before the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times."  : Imagine the fearfulness of this moment, going into the very presence of God Himself! He was to bring in the blood, fire from the altar and burn incense in the Most Holy Place.

- The incense, we have seen, is the ministry of the prayers of intercession. The High Priest would bring that sweet smelling fragrance in with him and that cloud would fill the air.

- The blood would then be sprinkled on the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant. As God sat upon His throne, perceptible in the cloud, He would look down and see blood covering the throne.

- The word 'mercy seat' is in Hebrew equivalent to the New Testament word "propitiation."

- The blood that was placed upon the propitiatory seat, satisfied God's righteous anger against sin. This was done seven times, the number of completion, signifying a completed sacrifice.

•  Leviticus 16:15,16  :  "Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering, which is for the people, bring its blood inside the veil, do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat and before the mercy seat. So he shall make atonement for the Holy Place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions, for all their sins; and so he shall do for the tabernacle of meeting which remains among them in the midst of their uncleanness."  :  The Priest made atonement for the entirety of Israel by the goat. It's blood would consecrate the Holy Place.

- Just the fact that sinners entered the tabernacle made it a place that needed atonement! Their sin contaminated it in the eyes of God!

- Consider how we look at something versus how God looks at it. We see things as mostly clean. He sees things as absolutely filthy just because filthy people have been there!

- Before this place could be of service to the people for atonement, it first had to be atoned for!

•  Leviticus 16:17-19  :  " There shall be no man in the tabernacle of meeting when he goes in to make atonement in the Holy Place, until he comes out, that he may make atonement for himself, for his household, and for all the assembly of Israel. And he shall go out to the altar that is before the Lord, and make atonement for it, and shall take some of the blood of the bull and some of the blood of the goat, and put it on the horns of the altar all around. Then he shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times, cleanse it, and consecrate it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel."  :  What's important here is that the High Priest, on this grand day of Atonement, was the only priest on duty.

- He was to go in by himself, for himself, for his family and for all of Israel. Nothing that we have yet seen is done with any aid for Aaron. He would be doing this alone.

- In the same way, Jesus alone went into the Holy Place to perform the service of our Atonement. Nobody else was with Him.

- There was nobody who fulfilled the law, who received in their own body the penalty for sins.

- Jesus alone, our High Priest, served us on Golgotha, making our Atonement a possibility!

•  Leviticus 16:20-22 :  "And when he has made an end of atoning for the Holy Place, the tabernacle of meeting, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat. Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, confess over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, concerning all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and shall send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a suitable man. The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to an uninhabited land; and he shall release the goat in the wilderness."  The blood of the first goat had been shed, atonement was made, signifying the forgiveness of the sins of Israel. Now for the scapegoat, who would live.

- Aaron was to lay his hands on the head of the goat, speaking vividly of transference.

- Symbolically, Aaron was going to transfer the guilt from the sins of all of Israel. He did this by confession, speaking in agreement with God regarding the sins that they had committed.

- Every iniquity, transgression and sin. Every perversity or depravity of mind. Every rebellion of the heart or the action. Every imperfection. All of it was admitted. All of the blame was assumed!

- Once he did this, by laying on of hands, the sins that were accounted to the nation were now symbolically transferred to the living goat, who would then be escorted out of the camp.

- Sacrifice was made on one goat, so that the other goat could represent the concept of forgiveness. "There go my sins, out of sight, out of the camp and away from us forever!"

- The goat bore the weight of those sins out into a place where the people would never go.

- That is what forgiveness is. It's not that God has taken your sins from you for no reason. He has taken them from you because a suitable substitute has been slain.

- Justice has been served. God Himself has paid for your sins and mine. He has not let it slide!

- God has justly dealt with your sins by the righteous, vicarious, atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. That is the basis for your forgiveness, as Jesus bore in Himself the sins of us all!

- That sin is separated from us, as we confess our sins to Him! Our sins went out into the wilderness, never to return!

•  Leviticus 16:23-28  :  "Then Aaron shall come into the tabernacle of meeting, shall take off the linen garments which he put on when he went into the Holy Place, and shall leave them there. And he shall wash his body with water in a holy place, put on his garments, come out and offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people, and make atonement for himself and for the people. The fat of the sin offering he shall burn on the altar. And he who released the goat as the scapegoat shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp. The bull for the sin offering and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the Holy Place, shall be carried outside the camp. And they shall burn in the fire their skins, their flesh, and their offal. Then he who burns them shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp."  : The process was very involved, causing the priest to have to wash and change. Why?

- Because of all the sin that he had just been in contact with! He had touched that which represented his sins, his family's sins and the nation's sins.

- After this enormous day of sacrificing, he was to go into the Holy Place and leave his clothing there, while he washed himself, putting on the garments that we would expect him to wear.

- This is a most clear picture of the resurrection. The grave clothes that Jesus wore into the tomb were linen and those clothes were the only things left in that tomb when it was opened!

- Jesus went in in earthly raiment and came out in heavenly glorification, having defeated sin, death and hell forever!

- For the priests, all other remnants from the sacrifce were to be burned and carried out of the camp by the man who had released the scapegoat. After he bathed, he was allowed back in as well.

•  Leviticus 16:29,30  :  "This shall be a statute forever for you: In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all, whether a native of your own country or a stranger who dwells among you. For on that day the priest shall make atonement for you, to cleanse you, that you may be clean from all your sins before the Lord."  :  The Day of Atonement, with all of it's requirements, was to be a law for the Jewish nation. It was to take place on a specific day.

- This last Day of Atonement recently happened on October 7th. Without a Priesthood, a temple and sacrifices, today's Yom Kippur is much different than what we are reading about.

- Today, Jewish people recall to mind their latest sins and reflect upon them, seeking to undo their wrongs with fresh rights!

- This may be an oversimplification, but that is about the totality of it without Christ

- They were to afflict or humble themselves. This was to be a day of real reflection spiritually.

- This atonement was to be felt. This was not meant to be an intellectual exercise. God wanted them to experience the weight of this action.

- They were to make sure that this day was separate from the others. There was to be no work done, just like a Sabbath. All of this was done so that the people would be cleansed from their sins.

- In this great act, there was a message sent: God has made a way for you to be clean!

- We need to rightly look upon what Atonement meants to us today. Often we take communion without considering the great cost. That must be corrected. It's a solemn time to consider the cost.

•  Leviticus 16:31-34  :  "It is a sabbath of solemn rest for you, and you shall afflict your souls. It is a statute forever. And the priest, who is anointed and consecrated to minister as priest in his father’s place, shall make atonement, and put on the linen clothes, the holy garments; then he shall make atonement for the Holy Sanctuary, and he shall make atonement for the tabernacle of meeting and for the altar, and he shall make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the assembly. This shall be an everlasting statute for you, to make atonement for the children of Israel, for all their sins, once a year.' And he did as the Lord commanded Moses."  :  Every year this day would commemorate and rehearse an action that pointed forward to the day when Christ would stand as the sacrificed goat of atonement.

- Whoever followed in Aaron's footsteps after he died would be able to perform the sacrifices of the Day of Atonement, once a year for all their sins.

Conclusion

- As we close, let's put this together. The High Priest was to enter the Holy Place on a specific day to sacrifice for the people's sins. Jesus, our High Priest went in on a specific day for that purpose.

- The High Priest was to do this all alone. Jesus stood alone in the darkness on the day of His death and proclaimed that all that regarded redemption was finished.

- When Jesus was buried, the scriptures tell us that He was buried in linen, which He left in the grave, emerging from the tomb victoriously glorified!

- That is our High Priest. What is our response? Like the Israelis were instructed to do, we would do well to often consider the weight of this great love!

- We would do well to consider the depth of our sin, the greatness of our separation and the eternal judgment that we deserve because of our sin.

- Then, we would do well to gratefully, joyfully contemplate the power of Christ's sacrifice, drawing us close to God and assuring us of a reward that we share because of His righteousness!