So as I was preparing this, I talked to Josh a few, well, early in the summer.
Part of where this kind of came, I really want to share what I'm going to be talking about today from Miller.
It started out as our final exam.
It was to take the, look at the Day of Atonement and compare it to different parts of Scripture.
And it started, so I was doing a pre-write.
Our teacher allowed us to do that just to prepare for the final.
And I remember writing for like three hours that afternoon, the day before.
And at the end, I was getting a little tired.
And I finished off with how the Day of Atonement, how Jesus fulfilled it.
And I was so excited.
Like I was so pumped because it was just like Jesus did it.
Jesus completed it.
And I was just like, yes, you know, I was so excited.
And so like, that's kind of what I'm going to be focusing on today.
But I'm going to be reading out of Hebrews 9 verses 28 to Hebrews 10, 1 to 4.
Mostly 10, 1 to 4.
So if you want to turn there, you can.
To help a little bit with how I'm going to compare Hebrews 10 to the Day of Atonement,
as well as the Day of Atonement to Jesus, I think it's good to summarize what the Day of Atonement was.
The Day of Atonement is found in Leviticus 16 in the Old Testament.
And it was a day when Israel, as the whole nation, could be forgiven for their sin for that past year.
There's a whole bunch of things that the high priests had to do in order to bring the sacrifice to God
and actually receive forgiveness for the nation.
But with the Day of Atonement, there's specifically three animals that I'm going to focus on.
And the high priest would have to sacrifice a bull.
So the bull is the first animal to keep in mind.
And I'll explain that later.
So the priest would sacrifice a bull.
And then there were two goats involved.
One goat was actually only sacrificed.
The other was a scapegoat is what it's called.
And so I'll explain that as well.
When we get into it a little bit more.
But the high priest had to sacrifice these animals.
And then for himself, for the people, and for the nation.
And so after he had done that, he could enter into the Holy of Holies.
Which in the tabernacle was where God dwelled basically for them.
So the high priest could enter into God's presence.
And if he did that wrong, he would die.
That's how serious it really is.
And so that's kind of a brief summary of the Day of Atonement.
And the key things to remember are those animals, the bull and the two goats.
And one more thing is that the high priest.
And I'll talk about how Jesus actually is our high priest.
And talk about that.
So also with these animals, we learned at Miller that if you read the story, when I was younger,
well, before I went to Miller, I read the Old Testament as very historical.
Which it is.
It happened in history.
But the way God has created scripture, it looks so much more than just what we see as historical.
It looks so much deeper.
And what we learned in Miller, you take a passage and it'll look behind.
And it'll look forward.
And just, it's so cool.
And so now that I'm reading the Old Testament, God's really given me a new appreciation for it.
Because he's shown me so much more that there is within it.
And that's what I'm going to share a little bit with today.
And part of that is what, just in Hebrews 10.1, it says,
The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming.
Not the realities themselves.
So the whole Old Testament is a shadow looking forward to Christ.
And as we look deeper, we'll see that.
And specifically with the Old Testament and the sacrificial system.
Every time a person sinned, they'd have to bring a sacrifice to God in order to be forgiven.
But with that, they were forgiven, but their consciences weren't cleared.
So they'd still have the guilt of what they did.
Whereas for us, we can ask for forgiveness and God will clear our consciences as well.
And that's where it's like, you know, the shadow can only do so much.
The Old Testament, the sacrificial system could only do so much.
This system was not meant to last forever.
And that's why it's a shadow of what was to come, which was Jesus.
Hebrews 10.1-4.
I'm going to read through it now.
So I'm going to start right from verse 1 again.
The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming, not the realities themselves.
For this reason, it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly, year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship.
Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered?
For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins.
But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins.
It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
Now, I like in verse 3.
But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins.
And this is where we can go back to Leviticus 16, the Day of Atonement.
The bull was sacrificed for the high priest for himself to cleanse his sin.
But the bull is also to remind the people of one of Israel's greatest sins.
And that was back in Exodus at Mount Sinai, when the people created a calf god out of gold, and they worshipped it.
And so, in Hebrews, we see, but those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins.
And at the Day of Atonement, we see that God specifically said,
I want you to sacrifice a bull to remind you of what your ancestors did, what your people did.
And it's to remind the people not to forget what God has done.
And to show them that sin is serious.
And when you look back at that story, there was punishment for the sin that they did.
They completely turned against God and said,
This God, this golden calf that can't do anything, saved us out of Egypt.
This God split the Red Sea.
This God did this for us.
And God is like, what are you guys doing?
And so, it's a reminder of sin.
So, that guilt would be upon them.
It'd be generational.
It'd be, remember this?
And it's like, oh, yeah.
That was bad.
You know?
And so, that's the first animal.
That's the bull.
Then to finish it off, verse 4 states that it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
The other sacrifices are to look towards the one who can take away sins, which is Jesus.
And make that sacrifice once and for all.
And that's where we can talk about now, Hebrews 9, 28.
It says,
So, Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many.
And he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.
In the Old Testament, they had to make sacrifices.
And it says in verse 1,
And for this reason, it can never, by the same sacrifices repeatedly, endlessly, year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship.
Only Jesus was able to do that.
And we'll talk about that coming up.
Now, to talk about the two goats.
One is to be sacrificed, and one is to be a scapegoat.
And what the scapegoat does is it...
Actually, we'll talk about the one that's being sacrificed.
At Miller, we also talked about that God's chosen is...
God's chosen often suffers.
And you see that through Scripture.
And this goat was to be chosen...
The goats would be brought, and they'd cast lots as to which one would be a sacrifice and which one would be a scapegoat.
And so, the one that is chosen to be a sacrifice is God's chosen.
It's the one that suffers.
So, that's kind of a key we learned at college.
But the cool part is, is...
This sacrifice had to be done each year, but Jesus was sufficient.
Jesus died.
He was chosen and suffered.
But he came back to life.
And so, he only had to do it once.
It was complete.
And in John 19.30, Jesus declared this while he was on the cross.
It is finished.
He completed what he came to do.
And so...
Now, to talk about the other goat.
The scapegoat was interesting because...
This goat was the goat that the high priest would lay his hands on its head.
And take the sins of the people of the nation and cast them on that goat.
So, that goat was to receive the sin.
And then they were to take that goat out into the wilderness for the destruction of its flesh.
And so, this goat actually has quite a bit to do with Jesus as well.
When we look at when Jesus was going to the cross, the high priest beat him.
They hit him with their hands.
Essentially laying their hands on his head.
And they declared that he was blaspheming God.
Which would be the worst sin.
Claiming that he is God.
Now, Jesus was.
But they didn't believe it.
And so, in a way, they're casting sin on him.
And Jesus did receive our sin.
Jesus took on our sin for us.
Another thing that Jesus had happened was the crown of thorns was laid on his head.
And when we look at thorns, if we go back to Genesis, is a result of sin.
And so, sin was laid on his head.
That's seen in Genesis 3.18.
Then the scapegoat was then led into the wilderness for the destruction of its flesh.
Jesus, when he was carrying his cross, Simon had to come in and help him carry it.
And he was led out of the city.
Basically, if you're out of the city in that time, it was basically the wilderness.
So, Jesus was brought out to the wilderness.
To the place of death.
His flesh was destroyed.
He was lashed and beaten by the Romans.
He was bruised for us.
Also, he was taken out and tempted in the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights.
He was tempted.
He went through so much.
And when we look at the goat, the scapegoat, we can see Jesus.
Because that is a shadow of what Jesus was coming to do.
And Jesus' flesh was destroyed.
Jesus received our sin.
We should have been the ones up there.
But Jesus came and did that for us.
Now, to talk about the last thing.
I mean, there's so much more in the Day of Atonement that we could look forward or back.
But this is super important.
Jesus also is our high priest.
The high priest was able to enter into the presence of God.
And bring the sins.
And he was their mediator.
He was the people's mediator.
Because if anyone else went in there, they would be killed.
They'd be dead.
Jesus, when he died on the cross, the curtain in the temple was torn.
And that curtain separated the people from God's presence.
Now, only the high priest could enter once a year.
Just once.
But when Jesus died, that curtain was torn.
The separation of God and man was then restored.
That we can actually come to God through Jesus.
Jesus is our high priest.
Hebrews 9.12 says, I think it's the best.
He did not enter by means of blood and goats and calves.
But he entered the most holy place once for all by his own blood.
Thus obtaining eternal redemption.
And Hebrews 4.14, therefore, since we have a great high priest.
Jesus is sufficient.
And Jesus paid the price for our freedom.
Psalm 103.12 says this.
When I think of the Old Testament, it's just like, it only goes so far.
That's where Hebrews, I think, puts it so good.
The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming.
Because a shadow can only go so far.
If I'm thinking of, you know, if I cast a shadow, it's only so much.
But once you move from that shadow, you can see the whole picture.
You can see the whole object.
Which is essentially what the Old Testament is.
Is a shadow of what Jesus came to do.
And it's so cool.
Because, you know, the Day of Atonement, I just picked through a certain amount of things that looks to Jesus.
But that's just one piece of Scripture.
That's just one piece of the Old Testament.
And there's so much more.
It goes way back to Genesis.
All the way through.
And I think it's, I think it's so cool.
Just that, you know, Jesus, it gets me every time.
Jesus paid the price for us.
Like, we're so undeserving.
Like, we don't deserve it.
You know, but he paid the price.
And he still lives today.
Like, and something that God really just put on my heart this morning.
Yesterday, I was up in the city.
And I was going to a bike store.
And it was downtown or somewhere over there.
I remember driving.
And I saw the guy giving tickets for parking.
And I was like, oh, that sucks.
And so I'm like driving around.
Totally just escaped my mind.
Drive around, park.
I see a sign.
It's like green parking, nine to whatever.
I was like, oh, okay.
Go walk in.
I come out.
And there's a ticket on my window.
And I was like, oh, come on.
And I remember looking up at that sign again.
And just below it said pay parking.
And I was like, oh.
And, you know, yesterday is just kind of unfortunate.
I was like, well, that sucks.
But thinking about it this morning, I was like, you know, God has a reason for it.
God has a purpose in it.
And he revealed it to me.
And he said, you know, some people, the signs are there.
The signs in life that I exist.
That God is real.
That Jesus has done these things.
Are all around us.
But we choose to ignore it.
Or we just blatantly miss it.
And we pay the penalty for it.
And some people will stand before God one day.
And they will be paying a penalty for their sin that hasn't been covered by the blood of Christ.
And they're going to be, well, God, I didn't know.
And he'll be like, look at these signs.
And just like yesterday, I got in.
I was like, oh, I didn't know.
But then I get thinking about it.
It's like, okay, I saw the ticket, man.
And I chose to ignore it.
And I saw the sign.
And I just didn't look a little deeper.
And, you know, it was a moment of, oh, frustration.
But for those people that stand before God, it'll be more than just an unfortunate situation.
It'll mean eternity in hell.
And that's the reality of it.
Sin is, there's a punishment.
There's a penalty for it.
But Jesus came that if we would believe in him, if we would receive the gift that he gave us for that, for what he did there, we can have eternal life with him.
You know, it's, I just, it just hits me.
It's just like, man, you know, for us that are Christians, we need to be sharing this truth.
And, oh, there's lost people out there that don't know the truth.
And some will ignore it.
Some will be, yeah, whatever.
You religious freak.
But some will receive it.
And they'll find life.
And truth.
And they'll find the goodness that's within.
The goodness that Jesus actually has for us.
And when we look, another thing just to add, and then I'll be done here.
And I love this about God.
This year I was looking at scripture.
And it's simple enough for a child to believe.
But yet it's so complex that scholars are baffled.
And I'm just like, man, I love that about you, God.
Because you make it simple, but yet so complex.
In the same book.
Like, in the same thing.
And it's like, wow, you know.
Like, I couldn't do that.
You know.
And trying to, you know, make this make sense is hard enough.
But God can do it.
And God is good.
God is powerful.
God can definitely.
He's so much higher than us.
And so that's what I want to end with.
And I'll end with, again, Psalm 103, 12.
As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
How far is the east from the west?
It doesn't end.
That's how far he's removed it.
It's just awesome.
So that's what I want to share with you today.
Okay.
So,
okay.
So,