Verse for the Day, 8 January 2015.

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

Verse for the Day, 7 January 2015.

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.

Verse for the Day, 5 January 2015.

Leviticus 15:31, "Thus you shall keep the people of Israel separate from their uncleanness, lest they die in their uncleanness by defiling my tabernacle that is in their midst."

Leviticus 12-15 details the laws and requirement for various diseases and bodily discharges. The bulk of these chapters deal with leprosy, a disease that was highly contagious and therefore needed to be dealt with swiftly. The other diseases, sores, rashes and discharges needed to be dealt with appropriately so as to prevent the spread of disease through the camp of Israel. With so many people living in close quarters to each other, and with little by way of water and sanitation, the potential for diseases to spread rapidly was great. Therefore laws show us the general grace of God, a grace that is not just extended to one nation, but to all nations. God seeks to preserve and uphold life, as He is not only the giver of life, but He also loves life. This grace is not just a general grace, nor is it one that we should presume upon, it is a special grace.

How is this grace special? To answer this question we must first ask where it is that all these diseases and the such came from? If the world was created as complete, perfect and was good in God’s sight, how then did these diseases enter into this perfect world? The answer of course is sin, these diseases, this form of suffering and death are the result of sin, of our sin. Adam and Eve were clearly warned by God that this would be the consequence, yet they chose to ignore that warning. God proved to be true to His word and just in His dealings with their sin and now with our sin. Thus God is in no way obliged or duty bound to keep or protect us from such things, is the due consequence of our sinfulness. However, because God is a God who is good and gracious, because God loves life, He seeks to work in our lives and in our world so as to help us to control these diseases and thereby preserve the lives of many.

This once more confirms the fact that God created us to live and not to die, God created us to know the fullness and joy of life, life free from disease, suffering and death. God works actively and constantly in our lives and in the world so as to preserve, uphold and protect it. Much of this work of God is hidden from our sight and knowledge, and is done through God’s goodness and grace. We seldom take time to think of the many ways that God works so as to stem, curb and control disease and suffering, or of the ways that God has instilled within each of us that helps us to know how to control these things. In yet another act of grace God has also given us wisdom, knowledge and intelligence, to be able to learn how to medically treat these diseases and help people recover from them.

But greatest of all God has acted through Jesus Christ, God the Son, so as to bring us complete spiritual healing, healing from the cause and consequence of all these diseases and suffering. This complete spiritual healing and salvation from sin, is not just spiritual, one day it shall be physical. Yes, all of us will die, there is no way around that reality, however, for those who take hold of this salvation, they are raised up to new life, a life free from sin, life in all its fullness with God.

It is incredible to think about all the grace that God has lavished upon us, especially when we consider how little we deserve such grace. A general grace given to all mankind, a special grace that preserves and upholds our lives and a saving grace that leads us into eternal life. Let us give thanks to God for His daily general and special grace and let us pray that He would make known His saving grace to many more today.

Most gracious God, we thank and praise You today for Your general, special and saving grace. Thank You that You lavish it upon us so abundantly, so consistently and so undeservedly. May we be mindful of these many graces and may we become increasingly thankful to your for such grace. We pray that today You would make Your saving grace known to many, especially to those who find themselves in great suffering today, to those on their death beds, who will enter into eternity before this day ends. Save them we pray, so that they might receive new eternal life. We pray this for the glory of Your great and gracious name. Amen.