Leviticus 16:1-14, “The LORD spoke to
Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they drew near before the
LORD and died, (2) 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.
(3) 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. (4) 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.
(5) 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. (6) "Aaron shall offer the bull as a sin
offering for himself and shall make atonement for himself and for his
house. (7) Then he shall take the two goats and set them
before the LORD at the entrance of the tent of meeting. (8)
And Aaron shall cast lots over the two goats, one lot for the LORD and
the other lot for Azazel. (9) And Aaron shall present the goat on which the
lot fell for the LORD and use it as a sin offering, (10)
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. (11) "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. (12)
And he shall take a censer full of coals of fire from the altar before
the LORD, and two handfuls of sweet incense beaten small, and he shall bring it
inside the veil (13) and put the incense on the fire before the
LORD, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is over the
testimony, so that he does not die. (14) And he shall take some of the blood of the
bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the front 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.”
The Day of
Atonement was a very significant day to the people of Israel, it was the day on
which they all came together at the tabernacle or temple to seek God’s
forgiveness for their sin. It was only on this day that the high priest was
permitted to enter into the Holy Place, in order to sprinkle blood on the mercy
seat. The significance of this day not only lies in its uniqueness, but in what
it points us to and how it prepares us for Christ.
It is worth
spending some time in this chapter, so we shall look at it over the next three
days.
Today we
consider verses 1-14. These verses details for us the first part to the Day of
Atonement, they tell us how Aaron was to prepare himself and what sacrifices he
was to make. The details that are given to Moses are meticulous, and Aaron, or
any other high priest after him, should not deviate from these instructions.
Any failure will result in the death of the high priest at the hands of God’s
wrath. Aaron was to wash himself clean and the dress himself in his high priestly
garments, he is to prepare himself physical, mentally and spiritually, he needs
to understand what it is that he is about to do. As the high priest, the
representative of the people, he is about to enter into the most sacred and
holiest place on earth. He is about to enter into the very part of the
tabernacle where God’s presence resided, he will get as close as one can get to
the mercy seat of heaven itself. There was not greater or higher privilege a
priest could have than this. Furthermore he was going into the Holy Place,
before the mercy seat, to plead for, to make atonement for the sins of the
people, so that God’s blessing and favour might remain upon them all.
Unfortunately,
Aaron had a fatal flaw, a problem that prohibited him from being able to enter
into the Holy Place. Aaron and every high priest that came after him, was
sinful. Aaron could not seek to enter into the Holy Place without first seeking
God’s forgiveness for his own sin. Only once he had offered up the stipulated
sacrifices for himself and his family, could he then function as the people’s
representative. We could think of it like a person who is guilty of a crime,
but who wants to serve the sentence of other convicted criminals. He could not
serve anybody else’s sentence until he had served his own. Aaron cannot make
atonement for the people’s sin, until he has made atonement for his own sin.
We can
already see how this is pointing us to and preparing us for Christ. The reality
is this means of atoning for sin was insufficient to effectively deal with sin,
as there was a sinful priest, seeking to make atonement for sinful people, a
guilty person seeking to atone for a guilty nation. Even though Aaron would be
cleansed from his sin through those sacrifices, this did not stop Aaron for
committing any further sins in the future. Aaron would have to go through this
process every time, for his sin remained, imbedded within his very nature and
not even the blood of bulls or goats, not even going into the Holy Place, into
the very presence of God, could effectively and permanently deal with Aaron’s
sin. Aaron needed a Saviour, and the people needed a priest greater than Aaron.
A priest that was pure, perfect and holy, who had no sin of his own to have to atone
for, a priest that could rightly and confidently approach the mercy seat of God
and make lasting, effective and sufficient atonement for mankind. There has
only been one like this and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is a better and
greater high priest, he is the pure, perfect and holy priest, he is the priest
that can confidently approach the mercy seat of God and atone for us. These
truths the letter to the Hebrews makes clear to us.
In these
first fourteen verses we see many reasons for which we should give thanks to
God. We are thankful for the ways and means that He designed and instituted to
prepare us for Christ and to show us our great need of Christ, our
all-sufficient and holy high priest. We are thankful that God had this
intention from the beginning, He has not left us in a system that cannot truly
save us or offer us any eternal hope. We are thankful that Christ willing came,
to be our great high priest, and even more thankful that He atoned for us, at
great cost to Himself. We are thankful that God the Father, has received and
accepted the atoning work of Christ on our behalf and has therefore forgiven
and cleansed us from all our sin.
Lord Jesus Christ, our great and eternal High Priest,
we worship You today for the great priestly, atoning work You accomplished on our
behalf. Help us to understand more what it means for us to have been rescued
from sin, and from a means that could never truly save us. We pray that You would also help us not to
forget this great work and that every day we would prepare ourselves to serve
and worship You in all that we do. Amen.
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