Leviticus (Chapter 16)

This video is about Leviticus 16

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Welcome And Podcast Mission

Phil Porter 0:00

You're listening to Teach Me the Bible podcast. Our mission is to help the people of God understand the Word of God. Join us each Monday and Thursday for new episode releases. Listen to our full library of content at teachmethebible.com or by downloading the Teach Me the Bible app from any app store. You're listening to Teach Me the Bible Podcast. Hey everybody, welcome to Teach Me the Bible Podcast. Or should say welcome back. And we've been in the book of Leviticus for quite a while now, and we're going to continue that today. Today we're going to talk about the law of atonement. And if you're wondering what atonement means, you're going to find out today. And you're going to also find out how when the Lord was speaking to Moses, and as we see, I don't want to uh you know, I guess I don't want to give too much away, but if you read the first um the first verse, you kind of get what's about to happen here. And uh you know what happened in the past, too, with Aaron's sons. And so um there's some serious things and some serious uh uh instruction that the Lord is gonna give Moses and Moses is gonna give Aaron. And then now it's not just for him, but for the whole nation.

Dr. David Klingler 1:22

So

The Warning Behind Leviticus 16

Dr. David Klingler 1:23

you wanna Yeah, so we'll jump we'll jump right in. This begins in 16 1. Now the Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron when they had approached the presence of the Lord and died. That uh that's a warning right there. Um and and there's gonna be more warnings to uh to come. And the Lord said to Moses, Tell your brother Aaron that he shall not enter at any time into the holy place inside the veil, before the mercy seat, which is on the ark, or he will die. For I will appear in a cloud over the mercy seat. Uh so this this you know starts out right away. Um he's not to enter into the holy house, or though they they translate this uh into the holy place. Uh it's actually uh by it, a holy house, um, you know, inside the veil before the mercy seat. Aaron shall enter the holy place with this. Uh this is in verse three, with a bull for a sin offering, that's going to be for himself, and a ram for a burnt offering. He shall put on the holy uh linen tunic, and the linen undergarments shall be next to his body, and he shall be girded with the linen sash and attired with the linen turban. These are the holy garments. He shall bathe his body in water and put them on. He's

Washing And Wearing Holy Linen

Dr. David Klingler 2:49

gonna bathe before and after. Uh, remember, you know, kind of the the theme that that's happening here is how is Israel to be a set apart nation, um, representing a set apart God who's separate from the other nations. Um, and last time we talked about this, you know, kind of garden imagery that really runs throughout all of the tabernacle and temper uh temple. And this is the plot. This is this is the problem that's been presented in Genesis 1, 2, and 3. And how is Israel and how are the nations to get back into the presence of the Lord uh when there is to be no sin in the garden, no sin in the presence of the Lord, nothing unclean or unholy. We talked about that last time. Yep. And so here, um uh in what has happened throughout this story is that Israel's demonstrated himself repeatedly to not be sinless, for sure. Uh, and so now they have priests who are to operate in between the Lord and the nation, and there's one priest, the you know, the high priest or one who's to enter in, and he is to make this uh annual sacrifice for himself and then for the nations for the nation. We'll see how this uh this plays out. But uh, he shall take uh from uh the congregation of the sons of Israel two male goats for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering, and Aaron shall offer the bull for himself as a sin offering, uh, and uh he shall make atonement for himself and for his household. This is a covering, the the kefar. This is uh the Yom uh Yom Yom Kippur. It's uh that's the first day of the year. This this day, which is an annual day, begins Israel's calendar. It's one of their most holy, maybe their most holy day. It is the day of atonement, the day of covering, where their sins are covered. And um, and as we said, it's it usually shows up, uh it usually occurs in on our calendar, like late September, early October. Um and so this was an annual occurrence, only to enter in once a year. Uh, and when the priest entered in, the high priest entered in, in this case Aaron, he was to make offering for himself and then for the nation.

Two Goats And Casting Lots

Dr. David Klingler 5:15

He'll shall take two goats, present them before the Lord at the tent the doorway of the tent of meeting, and Aaron shall cast uh lots for the two goats, one for the Lord, and the other is the scapegoat. And the Lord shall offer, uh Aaron shall offer the goat on which the lot uh has uh for the Lord has fallen, and he shall make it a sin offering. So so one of these offerings, um the the the lot falls on the one the one goat, this this is the one that's to be offered, uh, and it's to be made really clean uh and offered. The other uh carries the sin of the nation out into the wilderness. Right. And it's you know, it's did the sins are carried away. That's that's kind of the image. That's the scapegoat. That's the scapegoat. Yep, that's the imagery that we're looking at here. But the goat on which the lot uh for the scapegoat uh fell shall be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement upon it and to send it out into the wilderness as a scapegoat. Then Aaron shall offer the bull of the sin offering, which is for himself, to make offering atonement for himself and for his household, uh, and he shall slaughter the bull of the sin offering which he's made for himself. Now, all of this, the manner in which this is all to be done, has already been spelled out earlier in the book of Leviticus. And he shall take the fire pan full of uh coals of fire from the uh upon the altar before the Lord, uh, and two handfuls of finely ground sweet uh incense, and bring him inside the veil. This fire pan is what got Aaron's sons killed earlier, and so this is important instruction. Uh, then he shall put the incense on the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of incen may cover the mercy seat uh that is on the ark of the testimony, otherwise he will die. There it is again. Yeah, again. That this you know, this is not um a suggestion, right? This is not, hey, do it kind of with a with good intent. No, no, this is do it exactly with good intent.

Phil Porter 7:20

Which previously there has we've seen what happens. Yeah, that that even just veering off a little bit.

Dr. David Klingler 7:27

Yeah, and and we'll see this repeatedly in several instances throughout the Old Testament. Uh moreover, uh he shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the mercy seat on the east side. Also in front of the mercy seat, he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times, and he shall slaughter the goat of the sin offering, which is for the people, and he shall bring the blood inside of the veil, uh, and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, sprinkle it on the mercy seat, and in front of the mercy seat. And he shall make atonement for the holy place, because of the impurities of the sons of Israel, because of their transgressions in regard to all of their sins, and he shall do it for uh for the tent of meeting, which abides with them in the midst of their impurities. So, you know, they they've got a they've got sacrifices for everything that's going on uh so that the Lord can dwell in their midst. I mean, this is pretty extensive. Um when he goes in to make atonement for the holy place, he shall be in the tent of meeting until he comes out. He should no one else is allowed in there. He's the only one that's allowed in the tent of meeting until he comes out, and he shall make atonement for himself and for his household and for all of the assembly of Israel. And he shall go out to the altar which is before the Lord and make atonement for it. Uh this, you know, he goes in, he presents it, then he goes out and does all the sacrifice, does all the uh on the altar which is outside. So he brings it in, he presents it to the Lord, and then goes out and does the sacrifice and takes some of the blood of the bull and some of the blood of the goat, and put it in the horns of the altar on all sides. With his finger, he shall sprinkle some of the blood upon it seven times and cleanse it uh from the impurities of the sons of Israel, and and set it apart. Kadosh it is the word here, to holify it, you know, if we want to make up a word here, to make it holy, to consecrate it.

Phil Porter 9:28

That's cool.

Blood On The Mercy Seat

Dr. David Klingler 9:29

When he finishes atoning for the holy place and for the ten of meeting and for the altar, he shall offer the live goat. And Aaron shall lay both hands, uh uh both of his hands on the head of the live goat, and will confess uh over it all the iniquities of the sons of Israel and all the transgressions in regard to all their sins, and he shall lay them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of the man who stands in readiness. They there's a bit of um not crystal clear what this you know this wording means, but but basically it's uh there's someone there who's waiting. He's going to offer the sacrifice, while this other one is going to take this uh the scapegoat into the wilderness uh and turn it loose. And the goat shall bear on itself uh all the iniquities uh to their to a solitary land, to a infertile land, even, um, and he shall release the goat into the wilderness. Then Arosh Aaron shall come into the tent of meeting and take off the linen garments which he has put on uh when he went into the holy place, and he shall leave them there, and he shall bathe his body with water in the holy place, uh, and put uh his clothes, and he shall come forth and offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people, and make atonement for himself and for all the people. Then he shall offer up in smoke the fat of the sin offering on the altar, and the one who has released the goat, uh, as the scapegoat shall wash his clothes and bathe his body with water, then afterwards he shall come into the camp. But the bull of the sin offering, and the goat of the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the holy place, shall be taken outside the camp, and uh shall burn their hides, their flesh, and their refuse in the fire. Then the one who burns them shall wash his clothes and bathe his body with water, and afterwards he shall come into the camp. And so all of this is cleanliness, holiness, all of this is happening to make the people except the priests, the ones who are doing this, acceptable inside the camp, uh, because basically they are they're they're playing with the sins of the nation. They're they're they're assigning the sins of the nation to this animal, their sins and the sins of the nation to this animal, to make Israel and the priesthood acceptable to the Lord so that the so that Israel can be a kingdom of priests and and do their function as they mediate uh God's blessing to the nations. Uh

A Permanent Statute For Cleansing

Dr. David Klingler 12:11

verse twenty nine, this shall be a permanent statute in the seventh month, the tenth day of the month, you shall humble your souls, you shall not do any work, uh whether it's the native or the alien who lives among you, for it is the day that atonement shall be made for you to cleanse you. Then you will be clean from all of your sins before the Lord. It is to be a Sabbath of solemn rest for you, that you may humble your souls, it is a permanent statute. So the priest who is anointed and ordained to serve as priest in his father's place shall make atonement. He shall thus put on the linen garments, the holy garments shall make atonement for the holy sanctuary, uh, and he shall make atonement for the tent of meeting and for the altar. All of this has to be cleansed. And he shall make atonement for the priests and for the people of the sanctuary. Uh, you shall have this as a permanent statute to make atonement for the sons of Israel for all of the sins once a year. And just as the Lord had commanded Moses, so he did. Now,

Hebrews On A Better High Priest

Dr. David Klingler 13:19

what's interesting about this, I guess, is that the writer of Hebrews, and and this is uh uh we we we talk about this when we were in the the the book of Hebrews, um, but the the these Jewish believers they had believed in Christ, they're being persecuted apparently, and they were trying to return back to the sacrificial system. And so the writer of Hebrews is explaining how Christ is better than any, that all of the Old Testament anticipated Christ, that that um uh that Christ was better than the angels, the messengers who delivered uh the messages, he was greater than Moses, he was greater uh than the priests. And the point that he makes is that the priest's work was never done, they never sat down, uh, their sins were always before them, the sins of the nation were always before them, and so their work was never done. And so, whenever uh the priest, and he's referring to this day of atonement uh in the book of Hebrews, this priest had to offer not only sacrifices for the people, make atonement for the people, but he had to make atonement for himself as well. Um but Christ being this perfect sacrifice, um his sacrifice was acceptable for um for the people, and he didn't have to make a sacrifice for himself because he was clean, and so his the sins of the people, the sins of the nation were taken away. There's this picture looked forward to Christ's work on the cross. Uh, and um and so this is the writer of Hebrews making this explicit all the way through. Uh he says in he in Hebrews chapter eight, now the main point of what I've been saying is this that we have such a high priest who has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of majesty in the heavens and minister in the sanctuary, in the true Napa tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man. For every priest was appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices, so it is necessary that this high priest also have something to offer. Now, if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are those who offer gifts according to the law, who serve as a copy and a shadow of the heavenly things, just as Moses warned by God when he was about to erect the tabernacle and see uh see that you make all things according to that which was shown to you on the mountain. And so we have a better uh sacrifice, a better covenant, um, with better promises, is the point that uh that this author is uh uh the author of Hebrews is making. Uh, and so the the imagery here is pretty well replete throughout the New Testament.

Phil Porter 16:08

Yeah.

Dr. David Klingler 16:09

Another

Barabbas And Scapegoat Imagery

Dr. David Klingler 16:10

um one that just kind of fascinates me, and this is the uh you see this repeated uh in the Gospels, it's Jesus' trial. Um and now this is so so Christ is crucified on the Passover. Um so the Passover is in the spring, the uh day of atonement is uh in the fall, but this is all pulling together in one work on the cross. And so you have the Passover lamb, um that uh you know that the judgment of God has passed over Israel, but also this uh atoning work of Christ, this uh this substitutionary work of Christ, which takes away the sins, doesn't cover them, but takes them away. That's the point that the writer of Hebrews is making. Um but here in uh in in all of the gospels, you have this interesting little story about how uh Pilate uh had a custom. He says, But you have a custom that I release someone for you at the Passover. Do you wish then that I release for you the king of the Jews? And they cried out, No, not this man, uh, but Barabbas. Uh Bar Abbas. Um now Barabbas was a robber. He was uh he was a thief. Uh this is uh in Matthew 27, Mark 15, and Luke 23. So this this little story shows up in all the gospels. Um and uh many have us, and I think this is right, to associate this choice with the uh the the lamb that pays for the sins makes Israel uh clean, uh the the the annual cleansing, but this is more than annual, uh and the one that that carries all the sins of the nation out into the wilderness. Um uh and so uh the question that Pilate asked is Do you want me to release for you Yahweh saves, Jesus, uh the king of the Jews? Uh and they cried, No, not this man, but Bar Abbas. Now Bar Abbas is um that's actually Aramaic. Bar in uh in Aramaic, it means son. And Aba means father. Av is father in in Hebrew, Ava is the father, uh in Aramaic. Uh in Hebrew it would be Haav, Bain Haav, right? Bain is son of Haav the Father, son of the father, or Habain Haav, the son of the father. But here it's Bar, son of Abad the Father. So the irony here is pretty pretty rich. Do you want us to deliver you, the king of the Jews? Uh, this Jesus who is here to save you, or uh son of the father, and they say, no, release son of the father, who was a robber. Uh, he was a uh thief, he was a robber, uh, and he's released. And so this scapegoat imagery uh is uh playing out here in the gospels as well.

Phil Porter 19:19

Wow.

Dr. David Klingler 19:20

And uh and so fascinating story. Um, but this whole Old Testament is looking for this one who's going to come, who's the shepherd, but not only is he the shepherd, but he's the sacrifice, he's the one who doesn't cover the sins uh but takes away the sins. And this this is the imagery that started all the way back in Genesis chapter 3 uh with the covering of the sin. This is uh uh uh Abel raising sheep in Genesis chapter 4. It is the alot of uh that's uh that's uh you know, the alot, the burnt offering uh that is being offered uh by Abram when he's offering his son Isaac. Uh and so this is this picture has been building all the way throughout the Old Testament. It is commemorated every year in the Yom Kippur, uh, and it looks forward to the birth of Christ. I also find it interesting that the you know, just um that the calendar switches, right? At the birth of Christ. Um and um, you know, so so we have a um, you know, a calendar that's set on the birth of Christ, uh, but Israel's calendar still continues. Um they don't uh you know their their calendar still is year after year, uh their sin is never taken away. And uh since the destruction of the temple, they haven't been able to do these temple sacrifices, this uh annual sacrifice or or any of the sacrifices. Uh and so uh in 70 AD when the the temple is destroyed um again, the first temple destroyed by the Babylonians and uh uh as they come uh and uh and you know really just wipe out uh the the uh the temple. They come in three waves, 605, 597, 586, 586, they destroy the temple. It's rebuilt. Um and uh in uh the as Israel returns, they rebuild the temple, uh, but now it is destroyed again. And since 70 AD, the temple sacrifices, the temple, um, you know, all of the Levitical priesthood and function has not been operating. Uh and of course Jesus were told of this in uh in uh several passages in the Gospels as well. Uh and so uh so Leviticus chapter 16, the Day of Atonement, uh is a pretty important one of the most important passages for Israel in their uh annual commemoration. sets their beginning of their year, but it also looked forward to the sacrifice of Christ. And that's what we celebrate with Christ's death, burial, resurrection, Passover. But the Passover Lamb was also the atoning one who paid for the sins of Israel. And so all of this comes together in the New Testament and we find great significance in this. So we thought we'd take uh chapter 16 by itself uh as an imp very important chapter and uh just look at it uh in isolation. Do you think

Why Going Backward Rejects Christ

Dr. David Klingler 22:38

uh obviously as today um would it be helpful do you think for our readers to maybe go read Hebrews 8 90 just to kind of see some similarities you know like a lot of times we've done that in these episodes where we've just said hey that there's a lot of references here is there there's something I think you can maybe encourage our listeners in deeper study really uh in in the book of Hebrews he's going to start really uh at the end of chapter two and certainly by the starting of chapter three uh therefore holy brethren partakers of a heavenly calling consider Jesus the apostle and high priest of our confession he was faithful to him who appointed him as Moses was of his whole house and uh and so he's beginning this priestly discussion in chapter three uh and he's going to go all the way to chapter eight and say the point of what I've been saying is this we have a great high priest uh and so the argument that the writer of Hebrews is making uh in this book is uh is amazing after chapter uh chapter eight he moves into chapter nine not only do we have a a high priest that is greater than Aaron that's greater than any of the uh the the Melchizedek who was who was the picture uh of one greater than Abraham he was a priest and a king um and he was a prefigurement of Christ he was the one that uh you know in the Old Testament you had the the priesthood and uh was in the Levitical tribe uh Iranic priesthood and you had the the Judah in the the kingly priesthood but Melchizedek was a picture of them together and Christ was the same uh and not only is he a better high priest uh but he is also brings a better covenant and so he's going to tie this to the covenant uh that was promised the new covenant of Jeremiah 31 Behold the days are coming when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah uh and so he's tying he's better than the angels he's better than Moses he's better than the priesthood he's better than Melchizedek who was greater than Abraham uh he's you know Abraham paid a tithe to him and Christ is better than than than Melchizedek he brings a greater um uh greater covenant the one that was promised which was to uh replace the the old covenant of Moses and so what are you going back to? If you're going back to the very thing that the Old Testament leads you to if you reject Christ and go back to the Old Testament and the Old Testament does nothing but lead you back to Christ then what are you rejecting? There remains no sacrifice for you. You've rejected the sacrifice of Christ which is the fulfillment of the Old Testament and then you're going to the Old Testament which is lead you back to the sacrifice that you've rejected there's no sacrifice left to you and you bring him to open shame. No there's there's no going back there's only going forward uh you're in need of endurance and so in chapters uh nine uh he's explaining this greater covenant um that Christ is this once for all sacrifice not by blood of bulls and goats but that's that's exactly right yeah uh and so therefore you're in need of endurance so enter in to with the cloud of witnesses the all of those saints who were looking for this by faith walked faithfully never saw what they what was promised they never saw the fulfillment of all of these things they never saw the fulfillment of the Passover the fulfillment of the the Day of Atonement they never uh realized these but they were waiting for it um and now it has come Christ has come and so therefore uh he gets into chapter 12 he says and this is a common verse that we all know um therefore since we all uh are have a so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us he's talking about not the people around them but the all of those ones that preceded them let us lay aside every encumbrance and the sin that so easily entangles and let us run with endurance the race set before us fixing our eyes on Jesus the initiator and completer they we translate it the author and perfecter that's a common um verse for us but he's used this language already in the book of Hebrews he is the initiator the the arch the beginner and he is the ender of the faith uh who for the joy set before him endured the cross despising the shame and sat down at the right hand of God in the point of sitting down he's going to use this throughout uh book of Hebrews Psalm 110 uh that this this Iranic priest this priesthood of the Old Testament there was no sitting down their work was never done but this Christ uh this promised one he made the once for all sacrifice for sin that no one else could make um he didn't need it for himself uh and he sat down at the right hand of God and he's waiting to return and so you need to endure you're in need of endurance and if you don't and here's the threat um then the discipline of the Lord is coming upon you right just as it was for the old testament uh so there will be discipline for you and that discipline's gonna look like death he'll kill you dead too just like he did Aaron's son just like he did uh anyone else who treats with contempt the sacrifice uh and so you don't want to go down that trail uh for the father disciplines those he loves God disciplines those he loves you're in need of endurance for God deals with you as sons for what son is there that the father doesn't discipline if you're without discipline of which you've all become partakers then you are illegitimate children and not sons this is in chapter 12. And so so therefore chapter 13 buckle up endure listen to your leaders and finish the race set before you and going well there we go. And so all of this ties together you know there's no separating Leviticus as is insignificant or unimportant. No it sets the frame uh for what is anticipated in Israel um the sacrifice that's coming and he's not only the sacrifice but he is the sacrificer he is the one who offers and the one who is uh he's the priest and he is the lamb yes uh and so it's uh it's great imagery and correct throughout the whole old testament yeah I mean I if you're like me and you've been listening along these podcasts you have just been so your eyes have been open to so much and again people think Leviticus what do I have to learn from it and there is an immense amount to learn from Leviticus and now that I'm in he you know you're just talking about Hebrews when you talk now I'm you know everything's going back to Leviticus and it's reminding me like oh my gosh this is the the Christ was it wasn't just that he sacrificed it was that there was a lot Israel had to do to even get to this point.

Phil Porter 30:05

And then I think of things like well he came into his own and his own didn't receive him and I'm going what how did you not see it?

Dr. David Klingler 30:13

Isaiah

Isaiah 53 And Final Encouragement

Dr. David Klingler 30:14

53 a very common passage uh for us uh you know it's the uh uh he himself uh he bore our griefs on himself our sorrows he carried uh we ourselves were esteemed stricken spitten of God and afflicted this is all talking about Old Testament Israel uh he was pierced through for our transgressions he was crushed for our iniquities all of us like sheep have gone astray all of us have turned each to his own way uh but he was led to slaughter like a like a sheep silent before his shearers he didn't open his mouth uh by oppression and judgment he was taken away uh and for his generation who considered that he was cut off from the land of the living this is the uh for the transpagression of my people to whom the stroke was due his grave was assigned to I mean all of Isaiah 53 is just this you know sacrificial system atoning sacrifice uh day of atonement day of passover crucifixion of Christ it's all leading to the same place and so there's no place in the Old Testament that you can turn and not end up at the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ which is the author of Hebrews point right that this was all heading somewhere uh and that has been realized in the past tense for the author and uh audience of of Hebrews as it has been for us and we look toward the future tense when Christ returns and establishes the kingdom and restores what was lost in the garden and so again this is all just the same story and we're in it and so great great picture yeah let's endure well amen so thank you David for today what a powerful understanding of scripture and and uh for all of you who are listening if you uh thought this was it there's more to come and Leviticus continues and um man what an incredible journey we're on uh to not necessarily say these are the things that apply to us but for us to understand the Bible.

Closing Resources And Partnership

Phil Porter 32:23

Wow all right well we'll see you next time for more resources visit teachmethebible.com or download our app from any app store you can partner with Teach Me the Bible in helping the people of God understand the word of God by subscribing and sharing with others. Thank you for listening to Teach Me the Bible podcast