WEBVTT 00:00:06.711 --> 00:00:07.833 Leviticus 16. 00:00:07.833 --> 00:00:12.028 If you're using the pew Bible, you'll find that on page 99. 00:00:12.028 --> 00:00:26.062 As we often mention, if you're visiting tonight and you don't have a copy of God's word for yourself, then please take the one there in the pew, take it home and read it. 00:00:26.062 --> 00:00:27.949 We'd love to have that be our gift for you. 00:00:27.949 --> 00:00:38.594 This evening I'm going to be reading the first 19 verses of Leviticus, chapter 16. 00:00:38.594 --> 00:00:43.726 This is what God's word says. 00:00:43.726 --> 00:00:50.298 This is what God's word says. 00:00:50.298 --> 00:00:58.500 The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of two of Aaron's sons when they approached the presence of the Lord and died. 00:00:58.500 --> 00:01:10.572 The Lord said to Moses tell your brother Aaron that he may not come whenever he wants into the holy place behind the curtain in front of the mercy seat on the ark, or else he will die because I appear in the cloud above the mercy seat. 00:01:10.572 --> 00:01:16.953 Aaron is to enter the most holy place in this way, with a young bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. 00:01:16.953 --> 00:01:22.746 He is to wear a holy linen tunic and linen undergarments are to be on his body. 00:01:22.746 --> 00:01:27.346 He has to tie a linen sash around him and wrap his head with linen turban. 00:01:27.346 --> 00:01:29.585 These are holy garments. 00:01:29.585 --> 00:01:32.165 He must bathe his body with water. 00:01:32.165 --> 00:01:40.087 Before he wears them, he has to take from the Israelite community two male goats for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering. 00:01:40.087 --> 00:01:45.868 Aaron will present the bull for his sin offering and make atonement for himself and his household. 00:01:45.868 --> 00:01:51.161 Next he will take the two goats and place them before the Lord at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 00:01:51.161 --> 00:02:04.572 After Aaron casts lots for the two goats one lot for the Lord and the other for an uninhabitable place he is to present the goat chosen by lot for the Lord and sacrifice it as a sin offering. 00:02:04.572 --> 00:02:16.192 But the goat chosen by lot for an uninhabitable place is to be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement with it by sending it into the wilderness for an uninhabitable place. 00:02:17.621 --> 00:02:26.370 When Aaron presents the bull for his sin offering and makes atonement for himself and his household, he will slaughter the bull for his sin offering moment for himself and his household. 00:02:26.370 --> 00:02:27.978 He will slaughter the bull for his sin offering. 00:02:27.978 --> 00:02:34.310 Then he is to take a fire pan full of blazing coals from the altar before the Lord and two handfuls of finely ground, fragrant incense and bring them inside the curtain. 00:02:34.310 --> 00:02:43.325 He is to put the incense on the fire before the Lord so that the cloud of incense covers the mercy seat that is over the testimony, or else he will die. 00:02:43.325 --> 00:02:49.948 He is to take some of the bull's blood and sprinkle it with his finger against the east side of the mercy seat. 00:02:49.948 --> 00:02:54.907 Then he will sprinkle some of the blood with his finger before the mercy seat seven times. 00:02:56.129 --> 00:03:03.750 When he slaughters the male goat for the people's sin offering and brings its blood inside the curtain, he will do the same with its blood as he did with the bull's blood. 00:03:03.750 --> 00:03:16.069 He is to sprinkle it against the mercy seat and in front of it he will make atonement for the most holy place in this way, for all the sins because of the Israelites' impurities and rebellious acts. 00:03:16.069 --> 00:03:21.972 He will do the same for the tent of meeting that remains among them because it is surrounded by their impurities. 00:03:21.972 --> 00:03:28.902 No one may be in the tent of meeting from the time he enters to make atonement in the most holy place until he leaves. 00:03:28.902 --> 00:03:38.531 After he has made atonement for himself, his household and the whole assembly of Israel, then he will go out to the altar that is before the Lord and make atonement for it. 00:03:38.531 --> 00:03:44.133 He has to take some of the bull's blood and some of the goat's blood and put it on the horns on all the sides of the altar. 00:03:56.461 --> 00:03:58.943 Let's look to the Lord, father. 00:03:58.943 --> 00:04:09.034 We thank you that we have, in Jesus Christ, a great high priest, and you have spoken to us through your son. 00:04:09.034 --> 00:04:18.345 We thank you that you appointed him to be heir over all things. 00:04:18.345 --> 00:04:22.894 Through him Also, you made the world, and the world and everything in it finds the kinds of impurities we read about in this passage. 00:04:22.894 --> 00:04:27.762 The kinds of impurities we read about in this passage. 00:04:27.762 --> 00:04:30.728 Lord, give our hearts a sense of desire to understand and conviction to see our need. 00:04:30.728 --> 00:04:33.593 Tonight we pray in Jesus' name, amen. 00:04:36.240 --> 00:04:43.553 Good Friday is about an event that took place in the Roman world some 2,000 years ago. 00:04:43.553 --> 00:04:49.641 In the Roman world some 2,000 years ago. 00:04:49.641 --> 00:04:50.704 The passage I just read here in Leviticus. 00:04:50.704 --> 00:04:55.954 This is about a ritual that began in the life of Israel some 3,500 years ago. 00:04:55.954 --> 00:05:01.290 What do either of those two events have to do with us? 00:05:01.290 --> 00:05:01.711 Today? 00:05:01.711 --> 00:05:06.327 We don't do the rituals I just read about here. 00:05:06.327 --> 00:05:14.009 There's no sacred tent of meeting, there's no bloody sacrifices, there's no purification rituals. 00:05:14.009 --> 00:05:16.701 In this same way, there's no mercy seat. 00:05:16.701 --> 00:05:22.307 God wants us to learn from Israel's history. 00:05:22.307 --> 00:05:40.286 When we understand Israel's day of atonement, we'll be better able to understand Jesus and the sacrifice that he offered on the cross, and we'll be better equipped to recognize our own need for atonement. 00:05:40.286 --> 00:05:42.831 Because, friends, that's what we all need. 00:05:42.831 --> 00:05:44.874 We need atonement. 00:05:44.874 --> 00:05:48.463 Atonement because, friends, that's what we all need. 00:05:48.463 --> 00:05:48.963 We need atonement. 00:05:49.043 --> 00:05:51.810 We're going to look at Israel's day of atonement with three key words tonight. 00:05:51.810 --> 00:05:57.245 We're going to look at the place, the process and then the prophecy. 00:05:57.245 --> 00:06:02.394 So those three ideas where did the day of atonement take place? 00:06:02.394 --> 00:06:03.023 What was the place? 00:06:03.023 --> 00:06:05.273 And then the process what did God prescribe to happen on this day of atonement take place? 00:06:05.273 --> 00:06:05.915 What was the place? 00:06:05.915 --> 00:06:08.884 And in the process, what did God prescribe to happen on this day of atonement? 00:06:08.884 --> 00:06:14.374 And then, how does it look forward to what Christ accomplished? 00:06:14.374 --> 00:06:17.101 First, the place. 00:06:18.225 --> 00:06:24.613 Many writers mention that this day of atonement here in Leviticus 16, is at the heart of Israel's life as a nation. 00:06:24.613 --> 00:06:29.709 It's even at the heart of the first five books of the Bible, right there in the very center. 00:06:29.709 --> 00:06:32.500 And where did it take place? 00:06:32.500 --> 00:06:46.824 Well, we read again in verse 16, he will make atonement for the most holy place in this way, for all their sins, because of the Israelites, impurities and rebellious acts, for all their sins, because of the Israelites, impurities and rebellious acts. 00:06:46.824 --> 00:06:49.170 He will do the same for the tent of meeting that remains among them. 00:06:49.170 --> 00:06:57.269 Verse 16 mentions two places it mentions the tent of meeting and it mentions the holy place. 00:06:58.050 --> 00:06:59.894 Let's try to get the picture in our minds. 00:06:59.894 --> 00:07:04.437 Israel's come out of Egypt, they've entered into a covenant with God at Mount Sinai. 00:07:04.437 --> 00:07:16.081 God's given them many instructions, including instructions given here, and as they traveled through the wilderness they would have to stop and set up camp and of course there'd be individual tents for families. 00:07:16.081 --> 00:07:34.463 But the Levites, the group of priests, were in charge of setting up this sacred area right in the middle of their encampment, and the tent of meeting was a large canvas structure there in that sacred area. 00:07:34.463 --> 00:07:39.050 Okay, who would meet in the tent of meeting? 00:07:39.050 --> 00:07:41.293 No one. 00:07:41.293 --> 00:07:43.156 Are you confused? 00:07:43.156 --> 00:07:45.586 No one would meet in the tent of meeting. 00:07:45.786 --> 00:07:46.646 Look at verse 17. 00:07:46.646 --> 00:08:01.274 No one may be in the tent of meeting from the time he enters to make atonement in the most holy place until he leaves after he's made atonement for himself, his household and the whole assembly of Israel. 00:08:01.274 --> 00:08:06.194 The he here is Aaron, who is the high priest at the time. 00:08:06.194 --> 00:08:11.310 He's going to be future high priest, but no one else can go in, only Aaron. 00:08:11.310 --> 00:08:20.331 This is not like a parent-teacher conference where all the families come in and he tells them how little Benny is doing in his classes. 00:08:20.331 --> 00:08:22.774 It's not that at all, it's just Aaron. 00:08:22.774 --> 00:08:25.117 The high priest goes in alone. 00:08:26.939 --> 00:08:31.089 The other place mentioned here is the most holy place. 00:08:31.089 --> 00:08:52.298 So if you have this large tent of meeting in the sacred area, the tent of meeting, made of canvas curtains, is also divided up by other large curtains, and the room that's center, most within the tent of meeting, is called the most holy place. 00:08:52.298 --> 00:08:59.453 How could a place be called the most holy place? 00:08:59.453 --> 00:09:08.216 Only if the most holy God is there, the God who is holy, holy, holy. 00:09:08.216 --> 00:09:28.879 Verse number two the Lord said to Moses tell your brother Aaron that he may not come whenever he wants into the holy place behind the curtain in front of the mercy seat on the ark, or else he will die because I appear in the cloud above the mercy seat. 00:09:28.879 --> 00:09:37.437 The holy place in the ark of the covenant, with the mercy seat, was God's throne room. 00:09:37.437 --> 00:09:40.451 That was his symbolic dwelling place. 00:09:40.451 --> 00:09:43.557 So there was a meeting. 00:09:43.557 --> 00:09:47.735 The high priest was meeting with God. 00:09:47.735 --> 00:09:52.711 This isn't just ritual for ritual's sake. 00:09:52.711 --> 00:09:56.678 This is about meeting with God. 00:09:58.806 --> 00:10:01.631 Now, before we press on and look at the process. 00:10:01.631 --> 00:10:11.097 As we think about the place, this is not the first point in history when God has had a sacred meeting place with his people. 00:10:11.097 --> 00:10:33.855 In the very beginning, in the Garden of Eden, god wanted to commune with his people, and we don't see all the details here in Leviticus 16, but as you look at other parts of scripture, there are some very fascinating parallels between the garden of Eden and this tabernacle complex. 00:10:33.855 --> 00:10:40.676 Adam and Eve were commanded to work and keep the garden. 00:10:40.676 --> 00:10:43.943 Adam and Eve were commanded to work and keep the garden. 00:10:43.943 --> 00:10:55.205 Those two exact Hebrew words are used of the priests who are told to work and keep this sacred tabernacle area. 00:10:55.205 --> 00:11:05.370 Those canvas curtains, the walls that were in the tent of meeting. 00:11:05.370 --> 00:11:06.293 They were embroidered with cherubim. 00:11:06.293 --> 00:11:08.922 And above God's throne, above the mercy seat of the ark, there were two carved cherubim. 00:11:08.922 --> 00:11:22.400 If you remember, back in the Garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve are expelled after they rebel against God, two cherubim are placed to guard the entrance to that sacred garden. 00:11:22.400 --> 00:11:29.937 So Israel's day of atonement wasn't just about atonement for Israel. 00:11:29.937 --> 00:11:37.058 It's a reminder of the separation from God that all humans experience ever since the Garden of Eden. 00:11:37.058 --> 00:11:41.251 Israel needed atonement and we need atonement. 00:11:43.616 --> 00:11:44.719 Second, the process. 00:11:44.719 --> 00:11:49.158 God gives a number of instructions about what was to happen on this date. 00:11:49.158 --> 00:11:51.807 Its process is entirely regulated by God. 00:11:51.807 --> 00:11:54.974 Even the high priest, even Aaron himself. 00:11:54.974 --> 00:11:59.948 He's not allowed to just rush into the holy place and offer a sacrifice however he wants. 00:11:59.948 --> 00:12:02.451 There's a warning right away in verse number one. 00:12:02.451 --> 00:12:10.328 The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of two of Aaron's sons, and then it tells us how they died. 00:12:10.328 --> 00:12:20.991 They tried to offer incense to the Lord, they tried to approach the Lord in their own way and the Lord judged them because he hadn't given them those commands. 00:12:20.991 --> 00:12:29.182 You can see as well in verse number two if that warning about the sons who died wasn't enough. 00:12:29.182 --> 00:12:37.825 Verse number two says the Lord said to Moses tell your brother Aaron that he may not come in whenever he wants to the most holy place behind the curtain in front of the mercy seat on the ark. 00:12:37.825 --> 00:12:44.426 Or else he will die because I appear in the cloud above the mercy seat on the ark, or else he will die Because I appear in the cloud above the mercy seat. 00:12:44.426 --> 00:12:51.339 Anyone who's going to seek atonement must seek atonement in God's way. 00:12:51.339 --> 00:13:04.145 As we read through this passage, the process might have sounded a little bit elaborate passage. 00:13:04.145 --> 00:13:06.273 The process might have sounded a little bit elaborate, but there's some repeated ideas and themes here. 00:13:06.293 --> 00:13:08.419 Purification, you might have noticed, is very important. 00:13:08.419 --> 00:13:15.038 So in verse number four, the high priest has to put on holy garments, garments devoted to the priestly task. 00:13:15.038 --> 00:13:25.019 He has to bathe his body in water before he goes in and then, when he makes the offering, the words blood and atonement come up repeatedly. 00:13:25.019 --> 00:13:32.475 In verse 14, a bull and a goat are slaughtered and he sprinkles animal's blood on the side of the mercy seat. 00:13:32.475 --> 00:13:34.700 Now, why is that done? 00:13:34.700 --> 00:13:40.018 When we think about purifying things, the washing with water, we very much understand. 00:13:40.018 --> 00:13:45.669 But how does smearing blood on something purify it? 00:13:45.669 --> 00:13:51.506 You would think that would make it more difficult to clean up, more dirty, more polluted. 00:13:51.506 --> 00:13:53.030 Well, we have an answer in verse number 11. 00:13:54.072 --> 00:14:04.846 When Aaron presents the bull for his sin offering and makes atonement for himself and his household, he will slaughter the bull for his sin offering. 00:14:04.846 --> 00:14:13.759 The blood purifies, because the blood is what provides atonement or covering over for sin. 00:14:13.759 --> 00:14:16.250 You can see it again in verses 15 and 16. 00:14:16.250 --> 00:14:21.855 He slaughters the male goat for the people's sin offering and brings the blood inside the curtain. 00:14:21.855 --> 00:14:27.033 He will do the same with its blood as he did with the bull's blood, he's to sprinkle it against the mercy seat in front of it. 00:14:27.033 --> 00:14:35.458 He will make atonement for the most holy place in this way, for all their sins, because of the Israelites, impurities and rebellious acts. 00:14:35.458 --> 00:14:38.432 So sin is covered over with this blood. 00:14:38.432 --> 00:14:41.432 Sin is so serious it demands death. 00:14:41.432 --> 00:14:43.451 The wages of sin is death. 00:14:43.451 --> 00:14:50.767 Death and the blood is something God accepts as temporary payment. 00:14:50.767 --> 00:14:51.729 The animal dies. 00:14:51.729 --> 00:14:56.245 There's a temporary covering over Now. 00:14:56.265 --> 00:15:05.662 This was an event in Israel's life, but I say again, it was indicating a greater need, a need that the whole world needed. 00:15:05.662 --> 00:15:19.587 I said earlier that this whole area was constructed like a miniature Garden of Eden and even in the process you see some of these clues of God's greater purposes. 00:15:19.587 --> 00:15:25.424 So in verses 14 and verse 19, they sprinkle the blood seven times. 00:15:25.424 --> 00:15:29.682 The very first time in scripture we read something happening seven times. 00:15:29.682 --> 00:15:33.539 God made the world in seven days and it was all very good. 00:15:33.539 --> 00:15:41.301 But now it's all polluted and defiled because of Adam and Eve's sin, your sin and my sin. 00:15:41.301 --> 00:15:54.375 And then I know this is a small detail, but verse number 14 says when the high priest enters, he first has to purify the east side of the mercy seat. 00:15:54.375 --> 00:15:56.980 Why would that matter? 00:15:56.980 --> 00:16:04.840 Well, have in your mind in the most holy place here's the Ark of the Covenant and the mercy seat and the carved cherubim. 00:16:04.840 --> 00:16:09.246 And he has to purify the east side when he comes in. 00:16:09.246 --> 00:16:16.198 The entrance for the whole sacred complex is also on the east side. 00:16:16.198 --> 00:16:24.801 So he comes in, he has to cleanse himself, bathe himself proper clothes, offer sacrifices and he's progressing in. 00:16:24.801 --> 00:16:31.101 Then when he comes in the most holy place, the very first approach to the seat of God, he's got to sprinkle blood to purify that. 00:16:31.101 --> 00:16:39.158 So he's traveling from west back to or I'm sorry, I'm getting confused, I'm not turning around here. 00:16:39.158 --> 00:16:42.707 He's traveling from the east, going back in west. 00:16:42.707 --> 00:16:48.438 Earlier I said when Adam and Eve get expelled from the Garden of Eden. 00:16:48.438 --> 00:16:54.764 Earlier I said when Adam and Eve get expelled from the Garden of Eden, they get expelled east of Eden and two cherubim are placed there. 00:16:54.764 --> 00:17:05.375 It's as if the high priest is retracing the steps of Adam and Eve out from exile back into the holy presence where God is. 00:17:07.819 --> 00:17:11.726 This atonement for Israel was instruction for all humanity. 00:17:11.726 --> 00:17:14.490 And that leads to the final key word for tonight. 00:17:14.490 --> 00:17:24.692 We looked at the place, process prophecy. 00:17:24.692 --> 00:17:29.007 The verses I read don't sound like a prophecy and the way that we think of a prophecy. 00:17:29.007 --> 00:17:30.075 And the word of the Lord came to Moses. 00:17:30.075 --> 00:17:32.603 70 years are decreed, and then Israel will. 00:17:32.603 --> 00:17:34.288 It's not like that at all. 00:17:34.288 --> 00:17:37.336 It's just describing a ritual. 00:17:37.336 --> 00:17:39.060 It's a law, right? 00:17:39.060 --> 00:17:43.950 Well, yes, it is a law, but it's also a picture prophecy. 00:17:43.950 --> 00:17:51.647 God directs Israel's high priest each year to act out a dramatic picture. 00:17:51.647 --> 00:18:01.275 This holy place was the theater of atonement Not theater in the sense of entertainment, but a dramatic rendering of what was needed. 00:18:01.275 --> 00:18:04.965 And it was repeated year after year after year. 00:18:08.095 --> 00:18:11.542 Israel's day of atonement wasn't a complete return to Eden. 00:18:11.542 --> 00:18:19.385 Only the high priest gets to go in, not all of the Israelites, and they have to do it every single year. 00:18:19.385 --> 00:18:21.128 When is this going to end? 00:18:21.128 --> 00:18:24.119 When are the animals going to stop getting slaughtered? 00:18:24.119 --> 00:18:28.606 When is people's sin going to be atoned for once and for all? 00:18:28.606 --> 00:18:38.654 That's what makes Good Friday so good. 00:18:40.194 --> 00:18:44.353 Jesus Christ came as the fulfillment of that picture prophecy. 00:18:44.353 --> 00:18:51.148 He didn't have to offer a sacrifice for himself, he didn't have to purify or cleanse himself, because he was holy, harmless and undefiled. 00:18:51.148 --> 00:18:55.384 He came as the great and final high priest. 00:18:55.384 --> 00:19:00.826 He came as the perfect and pure lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. 00:19:00.826 --> 00:19:07.544 He came as the very tent of meeting with God, he said he came to tabernacle among his people. 00:19:07.544 --> 00:19:14.258 God, he said he came to tabernacle among his people. 00:19:14.258 --> 00:19:17.967 He didn't die for that nation alone, but to gather into one people all of the children of God scattered abroad. 00:19:19.355 --> 00:19:25.008 The reason we don't have to sacrifice lambs or goats is because Christ has done it all. 00:19:25.008 --> 00:19:29.285 He's taken the judgment that was deserved. 00:19:29.285 --> 00:19:33.938 He's taken the death that stood in place ever since the very beginning. 00:19:33.938 --> 00:19:40.576 God, the Father, poured out his wrath on his son once and for all, that we might have life. 00:19:40.576 --> 00:19:45.968 And that brings us all the way back to the question we started with. 00:19:52.835 --> 00:19:54.218 The question we started with have we learned from Israel's history? 00:19:54.218 --> 00:19:54.818 Have we learned what we need? 00:19:54.818 --> 00:19:59.388 Just as Adam and Eve needed, just as all humans need, we need atonement. 00:19:59.388 --> 00:20:04.268 And have you accepted Christ's sacrifice of atonement? 00:20:04.268 --> 00:20:06.796 There's no other way to be united to God. 00:20:06.796 --> 00:20:13.345 If we try to come in our own way, with our own ideas, with our own good works, god won't accept those. 00:20:13.345 --> 00:20:15.660 But there's grace. 00:20:15.660 --> 00:20:18.742 We don't have to provide our own works. 00:20:18.742 --> 00:20:26.342 God has offered up Christ that we receive and believe and trust and turn, and that's all there is left. 00:20:29.615 --> 00:20:34.164 So, friends, if you have not received that atoning work of Christ. 00:20:34.164 --> 00:20:40.685 Come and receive him tonight, find that the threat of judgment gives way to everlasting mercy. 00:20:40.685 --> 00:20:43.403 This is what our Lord has done for us. 00:20:43.403 --> 00:20:47.266 This is what we remember and celebrate with these communion elements. 00:20:47.266 --> 00:20:48.616 Remember and celebrate with these communion elements. 00:20:48.616 --> 00:20:52.324 Not my works, nothing in my hands I bring. 00:20:52.324 --> 00:20:54.868 Simply to the cross I cling. 00:21:01.114 --> 00:21:08.395 Let's pray, oh Lord. 00:21:08.395 --> 00:21:10.138 These are solemn truths and yet, at the same time, such joyful truths. 00:21:10.138 --> 00:21:29.067 Joyful truths for those of us who know by experience, by the testimony of your word, that our sins are forgiven on account of Christ, that our sins are forgiven for his namesake, that, even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we don't have to fear evil. 00:21:29.067 --> 00:21:34.679 You have given us all things in Christ, the son. 00:21:34.679 --> 00:21:45.904 So, lord, give us obligations of praise and thanks, give us the heart to be able to match and measure the grace and mercy that we've received. 00:21:45.904 --> 00:21:52.618 That we'd never make light of our sins, but that we would indeed make much of our sins, but that we would indeed make much of your son. 00:21:52.618 --> 00:21:57.615 This day and every day, we ask these things in Jesus' name, amen.