THROUGH THE BIBLE - Leviticu..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. So Leviticus chapter 16 from verse one. 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. 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 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 he may be sent away into the wilderness to Azazel. Aaron shall present the bull as a sin offering for himself and shall make atonement for himself and for his house.

He shall kill the bull as a sin offering for himself and he shall take a censer full of coal and fire from the altar before the Lord and two handful of sweet incense beaten small and he shall bring it inside the veil and put the incense on the fire before the Lord that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat and that is over the testimony so that he does not die. and he shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the top of the mercy seat on the east side. And in front of the mercy seat, he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times. Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering, and 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 in front of the mercy seat. Thus he shall make atonement for the holy place because of the uncleanliness of the people of Israel and because of their transgressions, all their sins.

And so he shall do for the tent of meeting, which dwells with them in the midst of their uncleanliness. No one may be in the tent of meeting from the time he enters to make atonement in the holy place until the time he comes out and has made atonement for himself and for the house for all the assembly of Israel. This he shall go out to the altar. Then 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. And he shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times and consecrate it from the uncleanliness of the people of Israel.

And when he has made an end of atoning for the holy place and the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall present the live goat. 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. The goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area and he shall let the goat go free into the wilderness. Then Aaron shall come into the tent of meeting and shall take off the linen garments that he put on when he went into the holy place and shall leave them there.

And he shall bathe his body in water in the holy place and put on garments and come out and offer his burnt offering and the burnt offerings of the people and make atonement for himself and for the people. And the fat of the sin offering, he shall burn on the altar. And he who lets the goat go to Azazel shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water. And afterwards he may come into the camp And the bull for the sin offering and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was bought into make atonement in the holy place shall be carried outside the camp. Their skin and their flesh and their dung shall be burnt up with fire.

And he who burns them shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water and afterwards he may come into the camp. And it shall be a statute for ever that in the seventh month on the 10th day of the month, you shall afflict yourself and shall do no work, either 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 for 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 priest and for 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 grass withers and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever. Well, we come now brothers and sisters to a chapter in the book of Leviticus, which indeed is known to be the central focus of the whole book. Indeed, this chapter is essential to understanding the rest of the scripture. It is a chapter that is called the day of atonement, or as the Hebrews call it Yom Kippur.

It is the most holy day of the year. It is most solemn and reverential day because on this day, on Yom Kippur, Yahweh deals with the sins, the impurities, and all the uncleanliness of the people that he has made covenant with this. On this day, we see the animal sacrifices. We see blood purification. On this day, we see that the defilement and the corruption caused by the sins of the people are now dealt with, at least temporarily.

You see, although this was a most glorious, glorious day on the Jewish calendar, I suspect after maybe five or 10, 20, maybe 30 years of repetition, the people The people must have looked at this day, which is a solemn, holy day. And I think they may have come to a point where they thought to themselves, there's got to be more than this. There's got to be more than this. The sheer repetitiveness year after year must have caused their hearts to wonder, can these animals really be a valid substitute for me before Yahweh? Can their life or the lifeblood of an animal really atone for my sins?

And if so, why does this day need to be repeated every single year? Beloved brothers and sisters, I believe since here hearts would have had to answer those questions without resounding no. And as more scripture had been revealed to this people over the years, it became clearer and clearer that there is more to come. The fulfillment and the substance is yet to come because no animal can be a worthy substitute for the sons and daughters of Adam. That's the honest truth.

That that realization of this for some, when they came to recognize this truth, I believe, it wouldn't have produced in them an unbelieving heart. I don't believe they became timid at this thought, but the opposite. I believe a recognition of this truth would cause one to latch on even more fervently to Yahweh. Because now it's clear, He is their only hope. Not the animals, not the priest, Yahweh.

God alone is their only hope. And so knowing that God in his goodness has prescribed this solemn day, this day of atonement, with joy I believe that the true Israelites will come by faith and they will draw near to the tabernacle. With believing hearts they approached. They approached the sacred tent whilst the high priest, the one who mediates on their behalf, who comes before Yahweh on their behalf, While he's inside making the atonement, they came and drew near. And I believe they came with a heart of faith.

They believe that God will indeed provide an atonement for their sins. exactly how that would come. They didn't know the details of how that would come, the substance of this atonement in the future. They didn't know, but they trusted in Yahweh. They trusted in his word.

They trusted in his provision. And so they obeyed him in faith. And this is why this chapter so clearly, more than any other chapter in the book of Leviticus, or indeed the Old Testament, points so much to the final and full redemption that is found in the person and the work of Jesus Christ. For he is the fulfillment and the anti-type of all types and shadows on display before us in this chapter. And beloved, there are so many, so many, but in order to appreciate Yom Kippur, the day of atonement, we must first be reminded of the context.

You see, the peoples of Israel are now at Sinai or in the Sinai wilderness, having traveled some distance after the Lord had rescued them from their bondage in Egypt. And in keeping his promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, God makes covenant with these people in order to make them his own. They will be his people called by his name and he will be their God. And the glory and the highest privilege for a covenant people is to have Yahweh, the only God of the universe, not only make himself known to them as their God, but also that he would dwell among them. Now, instantly, instantly, one would realize that now there's a really big problem, a big problem with that reality.

There's a massive dilemma here, because how is it that a holy, holy, holy God, how can he dwell with awful, sinful, wretched people without them being annihilated by his presence? How can The brilliant light and the sinless purity of the Lord God exist among the darkness and the corruption of those who are tainted, tainted with the continual stench of sin. You remember God gave them the law, his righteous standards, but not a day had passed before they'd broken it. But humanity is defiled and corrupt. Everything a natural man or woman does is defiled.

This is the dilemma. In Adam, one cannot but sin. Sin has infiltrated every part of man, his mind, his emotion, his will, every single part. And the just recompense for sin is death. And if God would present himself or be present among them, among a sinful people.

If he was going to present himself among a sinful people in his unmitigated glory, then there would be no option other than for them to be destroyed in his presence. But God made a way. He made a way where there seemed to be no way. because he is a God who keeps his promises. And so in the book of Exodus, we read and we've examined it as a congregation instruction that God had given to Moses for the construction of the tabernacle, a moving temple in the wilderness that will be holy and undefiled.

And he gave instruction of the institution and of the priesthood, a people set aside from the tribe of Levi to serve him in this tabernacle, a people who would be made holy for this cause. The God of the universe will now dwell in the midst of his people. And in the last chapter of Exodus, after the tabernacle was erected, that's exactly what happened because we're told the glory of God filled the tabernacle. But if God would dwell in the midst of his people, they must remain ritually clean. They must remain pure.

They must be undefiled. That is, they must be fit to dwell with God or be removed from his presence. Now we've said on several occasions, especially as we've examined the last few chapters in the book of Leviticus, the physical things always point to the more significant spiritual realities. The cleanliness of the body was to teach Israel of their essential need to be clean in their hearts and in their souls. That's the lesson they must learn.

That's the lesson that's found in all these rites and the rituals for ceremonial cleanliness. And this is a big problem. Because beloved in the last few weeks, we as congregation has worked our way through some of these purity laws and these people can't remain pure. People can't remain holy. They can't remain clean.

You've heard me say on occasion, if anyone has a heartbeat or lungs that fill up with air, it's just a matter of time before they become ritually unclean and unfit to dwell with God. Now that ritual uncleanliness, we're not saying ritual uncleanliness is sin, but remember it is symbolic of sin. Therefore, the lesson these Israelites were to learn was this, that simply being human, Simply being a son or daughter of Adam would render one unfit and unworthy to be in the presence of God because they are internally sinful. On the inside, they are unholy and they are unclean. By virtue of the fact we are sinners, beloved, sinful human beings, we are disqualified in that of being in the privilege of being in the immediate presence of God.

So what response should this have espoused for these people? Well, I'll tell you, it should have been one of complete surrender, one of surrendering all self-righteous tendencies or prideful thoughts that suggest that one can in and of his own self stand before God. But rather, in humility, what ought to have been the condition of the heart was that one would recognize their miserable state and to look to Yahweh by faith, for His undeserving mercy and grace, to look to Him to provide the atonement, to look to Him to cleanse one of their sin and uncleanliness. And so we have the day of atonement or Yom Kippur. That is where these people witnessed God providing that atonement.

It is the most holy day of the year where the Lord Yahweh deals with the sins of the people and the corruption and the defilement that their sins have on the holy things of God. This will be done through the mediation of the high priest Aaron. As we read, we'll see in this chapter that describes for us how this mediation will take place. The text begins with a reminder of the fatal death of the sons of Aaron. Nadab and Abihu we remember the story so I won't get into into detail there but but it's suffice to say these young priests came before the Lord in a way that God had not prescribed and we know the outcome they paid for that error with their lives God is concerned for his holiness God is concerned how he is to be worshipped how he is to be served in fact the words of our Lord spoken to Moses so that he would go to his brother Aaron and the father of these boys who was not allowed to mourn their death.

He says, among those who are near me, I will be sanctified. In other words, I will be holy. And before all people, I will be glorified. A solemn reminder to Aaron to do exactly as the Lord prescribes because he, he's about to enter into the immediate manifest presence of God. And beloved, that is a terrifying, terrifying thought.

His sons perished in the holy place. That is the outer room of the tabernacle, the room, the bigger room in the tabernacle. But Aaron will enter into the most holy place, but not at his will, not at his own will. Only one day a year must he enter beyond the veil. And only in the exact, in the exact manner the Lord prescribes, or as verse two tells us, he will die.

He would meet the same fate as his sons met earlier. Now there is so much detail in this chapter, beloved, but time will not allow us to explore. So we'll have to leave quite a bit on the table here, but I will give you a small summary and by God's grace, show you how it all points to Christ. Now we're told in verse 29 that this day is the 10th day of the Jewish seventh month. It's a day to be a Sabbath day.

Now realizing it doesn't always, because it's the 10th day of the seventh month, it doesn't always fall on the Sabbath day, but it's to be a Sabbath day. In other words, it's to be a day of rest. Work was forbidden on this day. And this is the only day, by the way, in the Old Testament that the people of God were commanded, commanded to fast, commanded to fast. It begins with Aaron bathing himself in water, because as we already read, the ritual cleanliness is a priority to the Lord.

Aaron is then to wear his special clothes. And these clothes are only to be worn on this day, on one day a year, on the day of atonement, he's to wear a linen coat, a linen undergarment, we're told, linen sash around his waist, and a linen turban. Hope you recognize the difference. I hope you recognize, brothers and sisters, the difference in Aaron's clothing on this day compared to every other day when he serves the Lord in the tabernacle. Remember back in Exodus when we examine the priestly clothing or the high priestly clothing.

It was skillfully designed, beautiful, vibrant colors, detailed embroidery, hammered gold, and an assortment of precious stones. Aaron in his clothing resembled royalty, and so he should. He was set apart by God to be a mediator between God and man. He was unhonored among his peers as such. But on this day, on the day of atonement, when he entered into the very presence of God, he is to do so humbly.

The white linen speaks of the necessity of purity. and the simplicity of his clothing paints him as a servant or a slave of Yahweh. He comes before God simply clothed, why? Because no one enters into the presence of God parading their own glory. In fact, he approaches Yahweh as a sinner in need of forgiveness and in need of purification.

For the first sacrifice offered is a bull for himself and his family's sin. You see Aaron, the high priest, the one who's recognized as the most holy or the most set apart amongst all the people of Israel, is himself in need of atonement. He's to take burning coals and some special incense from the altar and bring them into or within the veil to create a cloud or a fog to cover the mercy seat, probably to prevent Aaron from clearly seeing the presence or the manifest presence of God. but you know, one cannot see God and live. At this point, no other priest, no other priest is allowed in the whole temple space, most holy place or holy place, no other priest is allowed.

And now, unlike the other days, where the bull's blood is smeared on the horns of the altar, on this special day, Aaron enters the Holy of Holies, the inner sanctum and sprinkles the blood on the mercy seat seven times, He sprinkles with his finger to make a purification offering for himself and his family. Whereas previously, as we read earlier in chapter four, when the high priest sins, he's to smear the horns of the altar with blood. This is a special, special day. Now, likewise, the goat that had the lot fall upon it would now, in the same manner, be offered as a purification offering for the people of Israel. Aaron takes the blood of the goat into the Holy of Holies and sprinkles the blood on the mercy seat, just as he had done with the blood of the bull.

This is to make atonement for the sins, we're told transgressions and uncleanliness of the people of Israel. Now, we need to see those three designations, sins and transgressions and uncleanliness cover the whole of Israel's unholiness. Whether it's committed against God, against other people, against places, things, whether it's ignorant or whether it's willful, all sins are covered here. But you have to ask at this point, why? Why would this be necessary in the most holy place?

How can the holy of holies be contaminated by people's sin when no one ever enters into that place in the first place? And then it should hit us hard. Beloved, this is the corrupting and the defiling nature of sin. The mere presence of sinful human beings, hear this, defiles. Everything that is holy is defiled by the hands of the natural man who can do nothing but sin, even defiling the things he has never touched.

The mere fact that the tabernacle is in the midst of these people means it will be defiled by the presence of man. This speaks of the filthy, corruptive nature of sin. Yes, absolutely. But it also speaks to the sheer holiness and purity of God, beloved, a holiness that you and I can never fully fathom in these earthly minds, but we must try. Beloved, God is holy.

He's holy, holy, holy. And in front of his absolute purity, the stench and disgust of our sin, no matter how far away it is, is repulsive in his all seeing pure eyes. And if the tabernacle is not purified from man's accumulated sin, then God cannot dwell in their midst. The rest of the tabernacle and the bronze altar used for the burnt offering are also purified with blood. And once Aaron completes the purification of the Tabernacle here, he brings the live goat and unlike the sin or the guilt offering where one hand is laid upon the head of the animal, we probably realize here we have an emphatic act on behalf of Aaron that God had told him, now you need to lay two of your hands, two of your hands on the head of this goat and you need to confess the iniquity, the transgressions, and once again the sins of all the people of Israel.

This is a symbolic act, beloved, of a transferring, a transferring of guilt from the people to the goat. You see in the two goats that we have here in the chapter, in the 16th chapter of Leviticus, we see both propitiation and we also see expiation. Propitiation is seen in the goat that was sacrificed. It was killed as a substitute for sinners. In fact, a kill as a substitute for the people of Israel, those who drew near by faith.

He was killed to bear the wrath of God upon sin, because we know the wages of sin is death, beloved. The soul that sins shall die. And this substitute is a picture of God's righteous wrath being satisfied. That's propitiation. And the goat for Azazel, as we just read in verse eight in particular, and no one really knows what that means.

Lots of ideas with the commentators, The truth of the matter, we just don't know. We just don't know what it means. But it's commonly referred to as the scapegoat because of the function of the goat. And we, I think that's pretty spot on. And in the laying of Aaron's hands on this scapegoat, it symbolically shows a transferring of all the sins of the people onto this goat, as I said earlier.

It is then sent out into the wilderness, a picture of expiation because it's a picture of removal. It's a picture of taking away of the guilt and sin from the people of Israel and taking it far, far away to a far place, never to return to the camp. The Psalmist is likely referring to this when he says, as far as the East is from the West, so far does he remove my transgressions from me. And closer to home in the book of Hebrews chapter eight, we hear these words, he will remember our sins no more. Again, the three designations used in verse 21 speak of all aspects of breaking God's law are covered in this act.

The goat is sent away by an Israelite, one of readiness we're told. and he exits the camp and he takes the goat away as though the goat is being cut off from the people of God, never, ever to return. In fact, Jewish writing suggests that this goat is led to a cliff, then push off the cliff so that he would die, so they wouldn't have the dilemma of that goat returning. And the one who led the goat out, when he comes back, he washes both his body and his clothing for he's infected with uncleanliness by handling the scapegoat. And Aaron, once he finishes his duty, he removes his clothing, leaves it in the holy place, washes himself with water, and wears his glorious priestly garb, now that his duty in the holy place is over.

There's more to the passage than this. There's a lot more that we can say, a lot more that I've left out. But time escapes us, beloved. And in our final moments, I want us just to simply think about a couple of things. Look back.

Looking back, we can see concerning details about this whole ritual, which was purposed to make Israel look forward, I believe. Firstly, the most holy man among them, their representative before Yahweh must first deal with his own sin before he can do any mediating work for others. That inn of its own self should have just made the alarm bells go off. That's a really big problem. Because he too is unclean.

He too is a sinner. He too is unworthy in and of himself to stand before a holy God. Think about the contents of chapter four when we discuss the sin offering, in particular, the sin offering for a priest. Do you remember what we said when the priest sins? The Bible tells us that his sin brings guilt upon the people.

A sinning mediator can bring guilt upon God's people. It's the sinner, just like they. And the other thing is that what I mentioned at the beginning, the fact that this day is commanded by God to be placed in their calendar as a perpetual thing, perpetual day for, it says a perpetual day for them to observe moving forward. repeated year after year after year. The fact that they have it in their calendar in this way is evidence.

Whatever purification and atonement is taking place on that holy day cannot, cannot be of eternal efficacy. Cannot. The blood on the mercy seat, beloved, think about it. When Aaron walks into the Holy of Holies once a year with the blood of the bull and the blood of the goat, and he sprinkles that blood on the mercy seat, It's never washed away. It's there, it's dry, but it's there.

But next year he needs more blood, more blood and more blood. Every year you need to sprinkle, he needs to sprinkle more blood. And then once his tenure is over, he dies and one of his own son comes up as a pie priest and he needs to do it over and over and over again. Stains just increase and increase, more blood. and more blood is necessary.

Surely these people were thinking there must be something more permanent to come. Surely they figured out that the blood of these animals are not in and of themselves worthy substitutes of human life and therefore don't permanently deal with their sins. And if these animals don't make an actual atonement for sin, then Yahweh, who they know really well, sits on his throne of justice, maybe patient for now, but one day he will demand justice. He has to. That's his nature.

He's just. And if that's all they knew at this point, then the true believer The true Israelite could do nothing more than humbly place his or her trust, his or her hope in God to one day provide the substance for which these rituals all pointed to. And beloved, he has in Christ Jesus. Unlike Aaron, Jesus is the sinless high priest. Hebrews chapter seven, verse 26 through 28 tells us, 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 the high priest to offer sacrifices daily for his own sins. And then for the sins of other sins, he did this once for all when he offered himself. Jesus as the high priest, the great high priest is fit and worthy. of the entrance into the very presence of God, into the very presence of the most holy place, not only the earthly tent before the manifest presence of Yahweh as the high priest or the earthly high priest from the Levitical clan, but in the heavenly throne room before the full unmitigated glory and presence of God, Jesus himself is able to enter because he is of the same glory. He's perfect.

He's sinless. He's undefiled. And because sinless, beloved, here's the beautiful news. He will never bring guilt upon his people due to his own sin. He's never sinned.

There is no unrighteousness found in him. Beloved, this is the high priest we need. This is the great high priest they need. This is the eternal great high priest forevermore. But not only sinners need for a sinless high priest, but also a worthy and eternal offering.

Why? For it's impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins, Hebrews 10.4. and therefore we're told Christ offered himself himself as the sinless lamb of God presenting not only not not not the blood of a bull or a goat no he didn't present the blood of an animal he he came and he presented his own shed blood his own purifying sin cleansing guilt atoning blood as a worthy substitute upon that cross For only he who has no beginning, he's from everlasting, from everlasting, is able to drink the cup of the infinite wrath of God on behalf of sinners. Beloved, he is our propitiation.

And by bearing our sins, the sins of his people who would trust in him, in his body, we're told in Peter, he thereby removes them. That's the sin far away, as far as the East is from the West. to be remembered no more. He is our expiation. And as the author of Hebrews writes in Hebrews chapter 10, verse 18, where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.

Beloved brothers and sisters, when our Lord cried out upon that cross, it is finished. The veil of the Holy of Holies was split from top to bottom. Access to God had been opened and never again will the service of an earthly Levitical high priest ever be needed to mediate between God and man. Never again. For the great eternal High Priest in the order of Melchizedek, Jesus Christ, the very substance of the types and the shadows has come and completed the work of salvation in his once and for all sacrifice.

being both the sacrificer and the sacrifice, the great high priest and the sinless lamb of God for all who trust in him. Beloved, 2000 years ago on Calvary's hill, beheld the final and the ultimate day of atonement for all who believe. To him be all glory, honor, and praise. Let's pray.