Leviticus 16:15-19, “Then he shall kill
the goat of the sin offering 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 and in front of the mercy seat. (16)
Thus he shall make atonement for the Holy Place, because of the
uncleannesses 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 uncleannesses. (17) No one may be in the tent of meeting from the
time he enters to make atonement in the Holy Place until he comes out and has
made atonement for himself and for his house and for all the assembly of
Israel. (18) 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. (19) And he shall sprinkle some of the blood on it
with his finger seven times, and cleanse it and consecrate it from the uncleannesses
of the people of Israel.”
Yesterday we considered how Aaron had to prepare himself for the Day
of Atonement and the offering that he had to make for his own sin, before he
could make the offering for the sin of the people. Once Aaron had done this, he
could then proceed to slaughter the bull and the goat and offer them up to God
on behalf of the people, for their sins.
As a part of this process, we are given a clear picture of Christ and
are taught about two very important aspects of Christ’s work. A bull and a goat
cannot actually atone for the sin of the people, how can they, as they are mere
animals. An animal cannot take the place of a man, nor can an animal take upon
itself the responsibility and consequences of man’s sin. When the people see
the bull and the goat being offered up, they needed to understand that is
should be them, they are ones that deserved death, not the animals. As Paul
teaches us in Romans, the consequences of our sin is death, our death. These
animals, however, take the place of the people of Israel, the animals function
as substitutes, and the sins of the people with its consequences is put on the
animal, and the animal endures it and dies for it.
The ultimate purpose behind these sacrifices was not for them to bring
actual atonement for sin, as if they could then it would not have been necessary
for Christ to come. Rather they serve to teach the people of Israel of a coming
day when the Messiah, the Saviour would come. He would function as their great
substitute, He would deal effectively with their sin and atone for it
completely. This teaches us the great doctrine of penal substitutionary
atonement. Simply stated this doctrine means that Christ takes our penalty, the
penalty (penal) and punishment of our sin, He takes our place, offers up His
life in place of ours (substitutionary), so as to make the payment (atonement)
due to God for our sin, so as to satisfy the demands of God’s justice against
our sin. Through this work Christ deals with our sin and establishes both peace
between God and man and salvation for man.
Furthermore this also teaches us the necessity of the incarnation. In
order for the Messiah, the promised Saviour to be able to save them and us from
sin, He had to come as a man. An animal cannot take the place of a man, an
angel cannot take the place of a man, only a man can take the place of a man.
Thus we are point to the profound and wonderful doctrine of the Incarnation,
God the Son, becoming fully man, yet remaining fully God, so that He could take
the place of man, pay for our sin and bring us salvation. How great and
gracious is our God!
Our wonderful gracious Saviour may You
receive our highest praise, adoration and thanksgiving today, for You have come
to this earth born of a virgin, born as a man, to be our substitute, to make
atonement for us. Thank You for the salvation that You have accomplished for
us, may we understand it yet more and rejoice all the more in it. We glorify
and honour You. Amen
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