Verse for the Day, 9 January 2015.

Leviticus 16:20-22, “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.  (21)  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.  (22)  The goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area, and he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness.”

Thus far we have seen how the Day of Atonement teaches us about the sufficiency of Christ’s work as our high priest, the doctrine of penal substitutionary atonement and how it points us to the Incarnation of Christ. These truths are greatly encouraging and comforting to us, they are also of critical importance to the truth of the Gospel.

There is one more aspect that we need to reflect upon before we leave this chapter. Once Aaron had offered up the sacrifices for himself, his household and then for the whole nation, he is given instructions as to what he should do with the second goat. These instructions may seem rather obscure, confessing the sins over the goat and then driving the goat out of the camp and into the wilderness, but they teach us two wonderful truths.

The first truth that we are taught is that Christ is the one who removes our sin, who takes our sin away from us, and not just a short distance from us but far away, to the point that it will not return. This goat functions as a symbol of this, for the sins of the people are laid and confessed upon the goat. This goat was then to be taken out in the wilderness, driven far out of the camp. That goat would never return to the camp, but would remain and even die out in the wilderness. In the same manner Jesus takes our sin from us, it is all laid upon him and he endures all of God’s wrath against it. He takes our sin away from us once and for, so far that it shall never return to us. We are completely, perfectly and entirely forgiven. We think of the words of David in Psalm 103 when he tells us that our sin has been taken from us as far as the east is from the west. We also think of the words of the prophet Micah in Micah 7:19 we are told that our sin has been cast into the very depths of the sin. Jesus is not just our sin-bearer, he also removes, takes away our sin from us.

Secondly, the goat serves to point us to the fact that Christ bore the curse of God, our sin and he did so outside of the camp, Jesus suffered outside of God’s city. Paul tells us in Galatians 3 that Christ delivered us from the curse, by becoming a curse. This truth that Jesus was cursed for our sake and suffered this curse outside of the city of God, so as to take away our sin and save us goes even further. Think for a moment, who is it that should suffer outside the city of God? The answer is us, we are the ones that do not deserve to be in God’s city and holy presence. We should be those who endure the curse, wrath and judgement of God, to us the city of God should be closed. Yet consider this, Christ, God the Son, who has every right to dwell in the city of God, He leaves the city of God in order to be cursed, to suffer for us, so that He might then open to us the city of God. Christ leaves the city of God, so that we might enter into the city of God. Christ leaves the city of God to suffer what we deserve, so that in the city of God we can receive what He deserves. Christ leaves the city so that he might unlock the gates of heaven and then lead us in as saved, children of God.

The Day of Atonement is rich in what it symbolises and how it clearly points us to the person and work of Christ, and the salvation that He would accomplish for us. We should be filled with thankfulness that we are not still waiting for all these signs and symbols to be fulfilled. For us the great Day of Atonement has come, Christ has come as a man, as our high priest, He has become our substitute, taken upon Himself our curse, He has suffered outside the city of God. He has made complete and full atonement for our sin, carrying them far from us to the point that they cannot return and now He leads us into the heavenly city of God, to live with Him for all eternity. Let us thank God for this chapter that reminds us of the depths, riches and wonder of our salvation.

Our most merciful God we agree whole-heartedly with the words of the Micah the prophet, “Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression…” Thank you for the great pardon, the full salvation, that You have given to us through the Lord Jesus Christ. May You make it all the more precious to us today, and may we grow in thankfulness to You. How we long and look forward to that day when Christ shall lead us into Your and our eternal home. Amen.

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.