WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.839 So, we're gonna look at Leviticus for a little bit and then we'll pray together. 00:00:07.839 --> 00:00:15.640 So very simple and what we always do and tonight we've got Leviticus 16 before us which is 00:00:15.640 --> 00:00:21.000 the climax of the book and so there's so much here but we'll be brief, see if there's 00:00:21.000 --> 00:00:24.240 any reflections or questions or anything like that as well. 00:00:24.240 --> 00:00:26.600 So let me pray and then we can get started. 00:00:26.600 --> 00:00:31.760 Lord, we thank You so much for bringing us together in the middle of the week as it's 00:00:31.760 --> 00:00:37.439 now getting dark earlier and earlier we remember Lord that You were the God who made the light 00:00:37.439 --> 00:00:40.200 and the darkness in Genesis 1.3. 00:00:40.200 --> 00:00:45.520 You were the God who governs everything and so we come tonight needing the assistance, 00:00:45.520 --> 00:00:49.920 the presence, the illumination of the gift that the Holy Spirit gives to us when we read 00:00:49.920 --> 00:00:55.200 Scripture and so we ask for that with this very important chapter Lord. 00:00:55.200 --> 00:01:00.840 We ask that Leviticus 16 would be used to change our lives even and so we ask that big 00:01:00.840 --> 00:01:03.960 prayer, that bold prayer in Jesus' name, amen. 00:01:03.960 --> 00:01:08.000 Alright, so let's look at Leviticus 16 together. 00:01:08.000 --> 00:01:14.200 Here's a handout for you as well, all around. 00:01:14.200 --> 00:01:23.079 So I think sometimes when you read the book of Leviticus, one of the things that happens 00:01:23.079 --> 00:01:30.400 is you feel like you are walking through a forest and then you've got it maybe a little 00:01:30.400 --> 00:01:36.560 bit at the beginning but as different types of sacrifices get introduced and different 00:01:36.560 --> 00:01:43.640 types of priestly clothing get introduced and different rites, R-I-T-E, get introduced. 00:01:43.640 --> 00:01:50.120 All of a sudden the forest has become a thicket and you can no longer distinguish plants 00:01:50.120 --> 00:01:54.320 from plants, they're all kind of growing in together and you feel trapped and you don't 00:01:54.320 --> 00:01:59.040 really know what sacrifice are we looking at and what does this mean that you feel like 00:01:59.040 --> 00:02:04.400 that and so try to be as simple as possible tonight to give the clearest picture because 00:02:04.400 --> 00:02:07.680 Leviticus 16 opens up the whole book. 00:02:07.680 --> 00:02:10.599 So we'll try to do that just for a few minutes. 00:02:10.599 --> 00:02:13.240 Here's the most important things to remember. 00:02:13.240 --> 00:02:17.719 One, Leviticus is the heart of the Pentateuch. 00:02:17.719 --> 00:02:20.759 So the third of five books, the very center. 00:02:20.759 --> 00:02:24.360 Chapter 16 is the heart of Leviticus. 00:02:24.360 --> 00:02:29.400 And so Leviticus chapter 16 is the centerpiece of the books of Moses. 00:02:29.400 --> 00:02:33.879 It's the very core of the five books that Moses wrote. 00:02:33.879 --> 00:02:37.000 And so that means that it's also the climax. 00:02:37.000 --> 00:02:41.919 So this is the climactic moment of the books of Moses. 00:02:41.919 --> 00:02:42.919 What is it asking? 00:02:42.919 --> 00:02:48.959 Leviticus is simply asking you or giving you an answer, I should say, to the question, 00:02:48.959 --> 00:02:58.560 how can we who are people of dust and sinners and corrupt in a corrupt land world because 00:02:58.560 --> 00:03:05.679 of our sin enter into God's presence, both because he is holy and also because he is 00:03:05.679 --> 00:03:06.679 invisible. 00:03:06.679 --> 00:03:07.679 He's non-corporeal. 00:03:07.679 --> 00:03:08.679 He doesn't have a body. 00:03:08.679 --> 00:03:12.879 So how can we who have bodies, who are physical, who are people of dust and sinners, into 00:03:12.879 --> 00:03:14.120 enter into God's presence? 00:03:14.120 --> 00:03:16.439 That's the question that Leviticus is asking. 00:03:16.439 --> 00:03:21.960 There's a temptation when you read it to then say what it offers us in the Old Testament 00:03:21.960 --> 00:03:24.199 is religion. 00:03:24.199 --> 00:03:26.400 The New Testament offers you gospel. 00:03:26.400 --> 00:03:28.439 Leviticus offers you religion. 00:03:28.439 --> 00:03:33.599 Salvation by works, getting into God's presence by your behaviors. 00:03:33.599 --> 00:03:40.840 And while there are religious practices all over Leviticus, RIT writes, Leviticus is fundamentally 00:03:40.840 --> 00:03:44.920 the Levitical system is a system of grace from top to bottom. 00:03:44.920 --> 00:03:53.180 It is God's gracious gift, temporary by shadow, sign and symbol for people to be able to come 00:03:53.180 --> 00:03:55.360 into his presence. 00:03:55.360 --> 00:03:57.520 It's grace from top to bottom. 00:03:57.520 --> 00:04:01.599 And so the goal of Leviticus, and I'll move on to Leviticus 16 after this, the goal of 00:04:01.599 --> 00:04:05.360 Leviticus in one way, you can go to the Psalms and read the goal. 00:04:05.360 --> 00:04:06.920 It's all over the Psalms. 00:04:06.919 --> 00:04:12.159 And one of the best places I think is Psalm 36 verses eight and nine. 00:04:12.159 --> 00:04:18.159 And it says, the people of God are abundantly satisfied with the fatness of your house, 00:04:18.159 --> 00:04:19.240 oh Lord. 00:04:19.240 --> 00:04:21.599 So what's the fatness of the house of God? 00:04:21.599 --> 00:04:23.360 It is the extra food. 00:04:23.360 --> 00:04:27.919 So fatness of the table means there's plenty of food for everybody. 00:04:27.919 --> 00:04:32.839 So firstly, it's called the people of God are delighted with all the food in your house, 00:04:32.839 --> 00:04:33.839 Lord. 00:04:33.839 --> 00:04:40.560 And it says right after that, you give them drink from the river of your pleasure, pleasures. 00:04:40.560 --> 00:04:41.919 That's what it says in the ESV. 00:04:41.919 --> 00:04:48.519 The word in Hebrew is the word from the river of your Eden's, which has been translated 00:04:48.519 --> 00:04:50.079 here as pleasure. 00:04:50.079 --> 00:04:55.479 So now we've moved from the fatness of the house to the garden space. 00:04:55.479 --> 00:05:00.439 And then lastly, for with you is the spring of life in your light, we see light. 00:05:00.439 --> 00:05:07.279 So here we've got this vision that if Leviticus works, you get the fatness of the Lord's home, 00:05:07.279 --> 00:05:13.399 you get it in a garden with a river, and it's the temple all at the same time. 00:05:13.399 --> 00:05:17.360 And so the big kind of way to see it is that if Leviticus works, if the sacrificial system 00:05:17.360 --> 00:05:21.759 works, you're in the home of the Lord, the garden of the Lord, and the temple of the 00:05:21.759 --> 00:05:23.920 Lord simultaneously, all at once. 00:05:23.920 --> 00:05:24.920 All right. 00:05:24.920 --> 00:05:31.240 So many things to remember that you got to have to really understand Leviticus 16. 00:05:31.240 --> 00:05:35.920 One, the tabernacle mimics the Garden of Eden. 00:05:35.920 --> 00:05:37.240 All right. 00:05:37.240 --> 00:05:43.720 So the tabernacle is set up to mimic the very Garden of Eden from Genesis chapter 1 and 00:05:43.720 --> 00:05:44.720 2. 00:05:44.720 --> 00:05:48.720 In particular, the Garden of Eden is the Holy of Holies. 00:05:48.720 --> 00:05:53.000 And the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle is mimicking very particularly the Garden of 00:05:53.000 --> 00:05:54.000 Eden. 00:05:54.000 --> 00:05:57.240 So the closer you are to the Ark of the Covenant, the closer you are to the Tree of Life in 00:05:57.240 --> 00:05:58.240 the Garden of Eden. 00:05:58.240 --> 00:06:00.439 That's the idea. 00:06:00.439 --> 00:06:04.199 Remember there are cherubim on the curtains to enter the Holy place. 00:06:04.199 --> 00:06:08.279 There are cherubim on the curtains facing each other to enter the Holy of Holies. 00:06:08.279 --> 00:06:11.839 There are cherubim on the Ark of the Covenant touching their wings together. 00:06:11.839 --> 00:06:12.839 Right. 00:06:12.839 --> 00:06:17.480 And where else do we see that same image, that same reality blocking the Garden of Eden, 00:06:17.480 --> 00:06:18.720 the guardians of the Garden of Eden. 00:06:18.720 --> 00:06:19.720 Right. 00:06:19.720 --> 00:06:21.600 So that's what you have there. 00:06:21.600 --> 00:06:26.720 And that means that from Genesis to this moment in Leviticus, you've got a series of temples 00:06:26.720 --> 00:06:29.640 that are all mimicking the Garden of Eden. 00:06:29.640 --> 00:06:34.160 The first one, Eden itself, the first temple, the second one, Noah's Ark, I think, is the 00:06:34.160 --> 00:06:37.480 second great temple in the book of Genesis. 00:06:37.480 --> 00:06:43.600 And then Mount Sinai is the climactic temple after both in Exodus 3 when Moses goes up 00:06:43.600 --> 00:06:50.040 the mountain, but also when the Israelites leave Egypt and come to the temple. 00:06:50.040 --> 00:06:51.920 And they go down, down, down, down. 00:06:51.920 --> 00:06:55.560 They descend in exile to the golden calf. 00:06:55.560 --> 00:06:57.560 And then they come back up to the Garden of Eden. 00:06:57.560 --> 00:06:59.080 That is the Tabernacle. 00:06:59.080 --> 00:07:01.960 And that's where the rest of the Bible, the Old Testament leaves you, Tabernacle and 00:07:01.960 --> 00:07:04.160 Temple ultimately. 00:07:04.160 --> 00:07:05.400 Okay. 00:07:05.400 --> 00:07:09.200 And so the question tonight is what is the goal of the day of atonement? 00:07:09.200 --> 00:07:11.000 So think about that with me for a few minutes. 00:07:11.000 --> 00:07:13.720 What is the goal of the day of atonement? 00:07:13.720 --> 00:07:19.960 What do you think the goal is of this right RIT, this ritual, the day of atonement? 00:07:19.959 --> 00:07:20.959 Let's look at it. 00:07:20.959 --> 00:07:21.959 All right. 00:07:21.959 --> 00:07:22.959 It's dramatic. 00:07:22.959 --> 00:07:25.759 Leviticus 16, this RIT is drama. 00:07:25.759 --> 00:07:27.000 It is a story. 00:07:27.000 --> 00:07:32.719 It is a narrative enacted by one man, a high priest. 00:07:32.719 --> 00:07:37.199 And people are distant, but watching, wondering what's going to happen and all. 00:07:37.199 --> 00:07:41.479 And there is, it's like watching a great film or something. 00:07:41.479 --> 00:07:44.599 And it leads all the way up to the moment that the high priest is going to open the curtain 00:07:44.599 --> 00:07:45.799 to the Holy of Holies. 00:07:45.799 --> 00:07:49.560 And the big question is, is he going to die? 00:07:49.560 --> 00:07:50.560 That's the question. 00:07:50.560 --> 00:07:51.920 That's the drama that's taking place. 00:07:51.920 --> 00:07:52.920 All right. 00:07:52.920 --> 00:07:54.839 So let's think about it for a minute. 00:07:54.839 --> 00:07:57.120 The first big movement is the high priest. 00:07:57.120 --> 00:08:03.000 So the goal is the high priest has got to get inside the Holy of Holies where God's presence 00:08:03.000 --> 00:08:05.040 resides. 00:08:05.040 --> 00:08:07.800 But he can't. 00:08:07.800 --> 00:08:09.360 And we read about that in verse two. 00:08:09.360 --> 00:08:14.720 So if you look down with me in verse two, the Lord said to Moses, tell Aaron your brother 00:08:14.720 --> 00:08:17.840 not to come into the holy place inside the veil. 00:08:17.840 --> 00:08:19.480 So that's the Holy of Holies. 00:08:19.480 --> 00:08:23.480 Over the mercy seat, that's the Ark of the Covenant that is on the Ark so that he may 00:08:23.480 --> 00:08:25.840 not die because I'm going to be there. 00:08:25.840 --> 00:08:28.439 I'm going to appear in the cloud over the mercy seat. 00:08:28.439 --> 00:08:33.240 And then right after that, so preamble to this whole process, how in the world is the 00:08:33.240 --> 00:08:35.840 Holy of the High Priest going to get in? 00:08:35.840 --> 00:08:38.320 He deserves to die if he enters. 00:08:38.320 --> 00:08:42.039 And so in verse three, but this is how he's going to do it. 00:08:42.039 --> 00:08:44.560 He's going to take a bull and a ram. 00:08:44.560 --> 00:08:46.080 He's going to sacrifice them. 00:08:46.080 --> 00:08:51.639 He's going to put on verse four a linen coat and undergarments and tie the linen sash around 00:08:51.639 --> 00:08:52.639 his waist. 00:08:52.639 --> 00:08:57.080 And then just down from there, he's going to bathe as well in a body of water. 00:08:57.080 --> 00:08:58.080 All right. 00:08:58.080 --> 00:09:02.759 So the preamble before you ever start the day of atonement right is the High Priest has 00:09:02.759 --> 00:09:04.480 to bathe first. 00:09:04.480 --> 00:09:09.400 And then he has to put on holy clothing that is separate from his normal priestly clothing 00:09:09.400 --> 00:09:10.820 just to prepare. 00:09:10.820 --> 00:09:13.480 And then he has to, down in verse 11, is when it actually happens. 00:09:13.480 --> 00:09:19.340 He has to present a bull as a sin offering just for himself in verse 11 and for the other 00:09:19.340 --> 00:09:22.480 priests to make atonement to cover his sins. 00:09:22.480 --> 00:09:23.480 Why? 00:09:23.480 --> 00:09:26.039 What we're being told here is priests are sinners. 00:09:26.039 --> 00:09:28.200 The High Priest is a sinner. 00:09:28.200 --> 00:09:32.600 He does not deserve to walk into the tabernacle any more than anybody else does. 00:09:32.600 --> 00:09:37.560 And so these priests, they're mediators, but they're not great mediators. 00:09:37.560 --> 00:09:38.560 That's what we're being told. 00:09:38.560 --> 00:09:39.560 They're actually sinners. 00:09:39.560 --> 00:09:40.560 They're corrupted. 00:09:40.560 --> 00:09:41.639 They're polluted. 00:09:41.639 --> 00:09:45.559 And so if this is ever going to happen, they have to have their sins atoned for at the 00:09:45.559 --> 00:09:47.840 very beginning of this thing. 00:09:47.840 --> 00:09:54.159 Now remember, if you're an Israelite in the ancient world, you go up to the temple, but 00:09:54.159 --> 00:09:56.879 the priest does everything. 00:09:56.879 --> 00:09:59.759 The priest puts his hand on the animal. 00:09:59.759 --> 00:10:01.240 The priest represents you. 00:10:01.240 --> 00:10:05.480 The priest then takes your sacrifice into the temple, into the tabernacle. 00:10:05.480 --> 00:10:08.100 The priest is your mediator before God. 00:10:08.100 --> 00:10:09.879 You don't do any of it. 00:10:09.879 --> 00:10:15.360 And what we're being told here is that the priests are sinful like we are. 00:10:15.360 --> 00:10:21.120 And over the year, over one whole year, it's like all that pollution that they took from 00:10:21.120 --> 00:10:29.279 you to bear in their body before the Lord and to place it on an animal with their hands, 00:10:29.279 --> 00:10:30.879 they didn't get it all off. 00:10:30.879 --> 00:10:32.000 That's the idea. 00:10:32.000 --> 00:10:34.039 It's like it's sticky. 00:10:34.039 --> 00:10:38.220 And once a year, the very first thing that has to happen is the entire priesthood has 00:10:38.220 --> 00:10:40.720 to be reset. 00:10:40.720 --> 00:10:46.160 It has to be cleansed or otherwise the mediatorial role of the priest is not going to work symbolically. 00:10:46.160 --> 00:10:53.840 Now from just that moment, this preamble, the question arises, what if there could be 00:10:53.840 --> 00:11:03.160 a better high priest, a mediator who could be a sin-bearer but not himself be polluted 00:11:03.160 --> 00:11:06.000 by sin? 00:11:06.000 --> 00:11:08.919 You wouldn't need a right like this. 00:11:08.919 --> 00:11:10.279 What if there could be one? 00:11:10.279 --> 00:11:13.080 That's the first question that comes up here. 00:11:13.080 --> 00:11:15.480 Second movement, now the priest is ready to enter. 00:11:15.480 --> 00:11:21.639 And so verse 12 is when the drama of the entry into the holy place starts. 00:11:21.639 --> 00:11:29.639 He takes a censor, a bowl full of hot coals from the altar, and he drops sweet incense 00:11:29.639 --> 00:11:36.480 upon the coals and he lays it before the curtain of the most holy, the holy of holies. 00:11:36.480 --> 00:11:38.000 Why? 00:11:38.000 --> 00:11:42.480 Because the smoke is going to fill the whole place. 00:11:42.480 --> 00:11:46.319 And that means when he pulls the curtain back to the holy of holies, he can't see anything. 00:11:46.319 --> 00:11:47.319 And that's the goal. 00:11:47.319 --> 00:11:49.319 He never can see. 00:11:49.319 --> 00:11:52.199 So the high priest, every year in the day of Atonement Rental, never sees the Ark of 00:11:52.199 --> 00:11:53.799 the Covenant. 00:11:53.799 --> 00:11:58.840 It's supposed to be completely blocked by smoke, by incense. 00:11:58.840 --> 00:12:01.080 As he die, so that's what he does. 00:12:01.080 --> 00:12:05.960 He goes in and he pulls back the curtain with the smoke covering so that he can, just like 00:12:05.960 --> 00:12:09.920 Moses on Exodus 3, not allowed to see the face of the Lord. 00:12:09.920 --> 00:12:13.360 Exodus 33, not allowed to see the face of the Lord. 00:12:13.360 --> 00:12:15.560 Priest is not allowed to be in God's presence fully. 00:12:15.560 --> 00:12:18.320 And so it has to be blocked. 00:12:18.320 --> 00:12:20.320 So the height of the drama is in this moment. 00:12:20.320 --> 00:12:21.320 He's going to do this. 00:12:21.320 --> 00:12:22.440 He's going to pull back the curtain. 00:12:22.440 --> 00:12:23.560 Will he live? 00:12:23.560 --> 00:12:24.560 That's the question. 00:12:24.559 --> 00:12:29.599 Now, the context is Nadab and Abihu, Aaron's sons, they did it. 00:12:29.599 --> 00:12:33.919 They did this in chapter 10 and they died. 00:12:33.919 --> 00:12:37.479 Their dead bodies were laying in the holy of holies. 00:12:37.479 --> 00:12:38.759 They died. 00:12:38.759 --> 00:12:41.319 And now the question is, can Aaron live? 00:12:41.319 --> 00:12:43.759 And he does in this instance. 00:12:43.759 --> 00:12:46.959 But that's the dramatic height that arises. 00:12:46.959 --> 00:12:52.079 They gave strange fire, we're told, in Leviticus 10, not authorized, not in the process of 00:12:52.079 --> 00:12:53.079 the day of Atonement. 00:12:53.080 --> 00:12:55.400 They were not purified to enter. 00:12:55.400 --> 00:12:57.400 And so they were dead. 00:12:57.400 --> 00:13:02.160 Now that brings up then the goal of this whole section. 00:13:02.160 --> 00:13:04.160 What is the goal of the day of Atonement? 00:13:04.160 --> 00:13:08.440 It's not maybe exactly what you think at first. 00:13:08.440 --> 00:13:14.840 And it takes a pretty careful investigation to really understand the right that's happening 00:13:14.840 --> 00:13:17.360 to see what the goal is. 00:13:17.360 --> 00:13:18.360 Here's the goal. 00:13:18.360 --> 00:13:19.360 Here's the job. 00:13:19.360 --> 00:13:20.360 We can see it in verse 14. 00:13:20.360 --> 00:13:22.360 Here's the job. 00:13:22.360 --> 00:13:26.560 He, the priest, the high priest shall take some of the blood of the bull that was used 00:13:26.560 --> 00:13:29.360 for his Atonement, the priest Atonement. 00:13:29.360 --> 00:13:35.080 And he throws it with his finger on the mercy seat, the Ark of the Covenant. 00:13:35.080 --> 00:13:38.360 And he does it on the east side. 00:13:38.360 --> 00:13:42.480 And he sprinkles it seven times. 00:13:42.480 --> 00:13:49.700 And there the mercy seat is literally depicted in the holy of holies as a throne. 00:13:49.700 --> 00:13:55.560 So you've got two cherubs there in gold and their wings touch like this. 00:13:55.560 --> 00:14:00.720 And the mercy seat is the lid that covers the Ark of the Covenant that's depicted also 00:14:00.720 --> 00:14:03.400 as God's footstool. 00:14:03.400 --> 00:14:08.600 So he literally sits above the cherubs in the depiction and he puts his feet on top 00:14:08.600 --> 00:14:09.840 of the mercy seat. 00:14:09.840 --> 00:14:12.320 That's the image we get all throughout the Old Testament. 00:14:12.320 --> 00:14:18.320 And so you're throwing blood upon the mercy seat, the place where God puts his feet metaphorically 00:14:18.320 --> 00:14:19.800 by his holy presence. 00:14:19.800 --> 00:14:20.920 But then what happens from there? 00:14:20.920 --> 00:14:24.120 And this is where you start to really see the point of the day of Atonement. 00:14:24.120 --> 00:14:25.440 Verse 15. 00:14:25.440 --> 00:14:30.560 And then in verse 15, he kills the goat of the sin offering, the first goat that was 00:14:30.560 --> 00:14:34.160 chosen that's for the sins of the people. 00:14:34.160 --> 00:14:39.640 And then he brings it back into the holy place, the second layer of the tabernacle. 00:14:39.640 --> 00:14:43.960 And he starts sprinkling it over the mercy seat in front of the mercy seat. 00:14:43.960 --> 00:14:49.480 And then he goes outside of the holy of holies and he starts sprinkling it all over all the 00:14:49.480 --> 00:14:50.480 furniture. 00:14:50.480 --> 00:14:51.480 Right? 00:14:51.480 --> 00:14:56.320 So he starts sprinkling the blood of Atonement inside the holy of holies and then he starts 00:14:56.320 --> 00:14:58.480 moving out. 00:14:58.480 --> 00:15:01.759 And so it's an inside out movement. 00:15:01.759 --> 00:15:07.160 And he starts covering all the furniture, sprinkled in blood, the curtain, everything 00:15:07.160 --> 00:15:08.960 gets covered. 00:15:08.960 --> 00:15:13.720 And he moves his way from inside back out to the front of the tabernacle, the tent of 00:15:13.720 --> 00:15:15.560 meeting and exits. 00:15:15.560 --> 00:15:16.560 All right? 00:15:16.560 --> 00:15:18.800 So his entrance is just a preamble. 00:15:18.800 --> 00:15:19.879 It's only the condition. 00:15:19.879 --> 00:15:20.879 He's got a bath. 00:15:20.879 --> 00:15:21.879 He's got to get ready. 00:15:21.879 --> 00:15:24.840 He goes all the way in to cover what? 00:15:24.840 --> 00:15:29.120 Not the people, but the furniture, the place. 00:15:29.120 --> 00:15:33.120 And so the idea here, the purpose of the day of Atonement is that he has gone into the 00:15:33.120 --> 00:15:43.799 temple to push sin back out the gate by a right of purification, symbol. 00:15:43.799 --> 00:15:51.679 So remember that the temple, the tabernacle, is the mimic of the Garden of Eden. 00:15:51.679 --> 00:15:53.639 And which direction does it face? 00:15:53.639 --> 00:15:56.000 Anybody remember from the past few times we've gathered? 00:15:56.000 --> 00:16:00.600 What direction does the tabernacle face when they set it up? 00:16:00.600 --> 00:16:02.320 East. 00:16:02.320 --> 00:16:05.160 And we're told that the Garden of Eden had an east gate. 00:16:05.160 --> 00:16:10.560 The east gate was the gate that Adam and Eve exited out of when they were exiled away 00:16:10.560 --> 00:16:12.640 from God's presence. 00:16:12.640 --> 00:16:18.720 What the high priest does, like a second Adam, is he goes into the most holy place where 00:16:18.720 --> 00:16:26.640 the tree of life is mimicked, God's holy throne, his presence, and he pushes the sin out the 00:16:26.640 --> 00:16:28.920 east gate. 00:16:28.920 --> 00:16:29.920 That's the ritual. 00:16:29.920 --> 00:16:31.280 That's the right. 00:16:31.279 --> 00:16:36.959 By a covering, an atonement, a sacrifice that stands in the place of the pollution that's 00:16:36.959 --> 00:16:39.439 been brought into the temple. 00:16:39.439 --> 00:16:41.720 Who brought the pollution into the temple? 00:16:41.720 --> 00:16:44.240 The priest did, because they're sinners. 00:16:44.240 --> 00:16:47.000 So there's a whole year of accumulation. 00:16:47.000 --> 00:16:52.799 Nadab and Abihu in particular brought their dead bodies into the holy of holies and polluted 00:16:52.799 --> 00:16:55.399 the space, brought death. 00:16:55.399 --> 00:16:56.399 What did Satan do? 00:16:56.399 --> 00:16:57.399 What did Adam and Eve do? 00:16:57.399 --> 00:17:00.120 They brought death into the holy of holies in the Garden of Eden. 00:17:00.120 --> 00:17:06.960 And so this ritual is once a year pushing sin out the east gate, particularly pushing 00:17:06.960 --> 00:17:08.519 the corruption, the pollution. 00:17:08.519 --> 00:17:15.000 Now when you get out of the east gate lastly, there is also a second goat, and this goat 00:17:15.000 --> 00:17:16.079 is still alive. 00:17:16.079 --> 00:17:20.200 And so then the final act is the right of expulsion. 00:17:20.200 --> 00:17:26.359 And here we have this live goat where the high priest now takes it, puts his two hands 00:17:26.359 --> 00:17:32.079 on it, representing all the unconfessed, unforgiving sins of the people. 00:17:32.079 --> 00:17:38.399 And then he hands that goat to a man, a chosen man, and that man, we're told in verse 8, 00:17:38.399 --> 00:17:44.399 takes the goat to Azazel, A-Z-A-Z-E-L, Azazel. 00:17:44.399 --> 00:17:45.879 It's untranslated in the ESV. 00:17:45.879 --> 00:17:46.879 Most Bibles don't translate it. 00:17:46.879 --> 00:17:48.679 What in the world is Azazel? 00:17:48.679 --> 00:17:52.319 Okay, well on one hand we don't know. 00:17:52.319 --> 00:17:55.159 That's why it's not translated. 00:17:55.160 --> 00:17:59.800 It says that he takes any bit of pollution and sin left. 00:17:59.800 --> 00:18:05.279 He puts it on this live goat and a man takes it into the wilderness to Azazel. 00:18:05.279 --> 00:18:11.720 Most scholars think it's a reference either to a particular demon, like a word for Satan, 00:18:11.720 --> 00:18:18.600 or a comprehensive word that means demonic presence in the wilderness. 00:18:18.600 --> 00:18:22.320 And so the wilderness, all throughout the Old Testament, is the place where chaos and 00:18:22.319 --> 00:18:25.799 sin and death belong metaphorically. 00:18:25.799 --> 00:18:32.839 The garden city, the city of God, the garden of God is where life reigns. 00:18:32.839 --> 00:18:34.319 And so what's happening here? 00:18:34.319 --> 00:18:40.599 Every bit of sin that got pushed out of the east gate symbolically, and then every bit 00:18:40.599 --> 00:18:45.399 of sin drawn from the city of God, the camp of God's people that's remaining, is now 00:18:45.399 --> 00:18:51.639 placed on this goat to go wander in the midst of demons and chaos. 00:18:51.640 --> 00:18:57.800 And we're told the goat is left alive so that the goat will just wander around. 00:18:57.800 --> 00:18:59.960 There's a couple things going on there. 00:18:59.960 --> 00:19:02.080 One, sin is getting pushed out. 00:19:02.080 --> 00:19:08.480 Two, the goat is meant to wander to speak of a prophecy of waiting. 00:19:08.480 --> 00:19:10.480 We are waiting. 00:19:10.480 --> 00:19:12.960 We're waiting for a better system. 00:19:12.960 --> 00:19:16.880 And so the goat remains alive, carrying the sin just into a different place away from 00:19:16.880 --> 00:19:18.120 the city of God. 00:19:18.120 --> 00:19:21.440 Okay, so that's the day of atonement, right? 00:19:21.440 --> 00:19:26.279 There's some closing ceremony pieces, but we'll for the sake of time move on. 00:19:26.279 --> 00:19:27.279 What does it mean? 00:19:27.279 --> 00:19:28.279 Let's wrap up. 00:19:28.279 --> 00:19:31.920 Here's what it means. 00:19:31.920 --> 00:19:40.759 The cross of Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the day of atonement. 00:19:40.759 --> 00:19:45.880 The day of atonement is the heart of the heart of the Torah. 00:19:45.880 --> 00:19:50.279 And in some sense is the heartbeat of the meaning of the Old Testament. 00:19:50.279 --> 00:19:53.440 And the cross of Jesus Christ fulfills it. 00:19:53.440 --> 00:19:58.559 In other words, the day of atonement is the most important sign, symbol of everything 00:19:58.559 --> 00:20:00.799 that Jesus came to do at the cross. 00:20:00.799 --> 00:20:02.480 All right, so let's think about it. 00:20:02.480 --> 00:20:06.559 I'm just going to give you six quick ways that Jesus fulfills it. 00:20:06.559 --> 00:20:08.119 And I've left blanks on the page. 00:20:08.119 --> 00:20:12.599 These aren't the best worded by me, so maybe you can think about them and clean them up 00:20:12.599 --> 00:20:18.160 a bit and say them a little more clearly and tightly than I can. 00:20:18.160 --> 00:20:23.840 First, think about the movement of Jesus and his passion week. 00:20:23.840 --> 00:20:26.480 Where does he begin his passion week? 00:20:26.480 --> 00:20:32.480 He begins by entering the city and going straight to the temple. 00:20:32.480 --> 00:20:37.640 And then the rest of his passion week is a movement away from the temple. 00:20:37.640 --> 00:20:39.440 Right? 00:20:39.440 --> 00:20:45.279 It's an inside out movement, just like the high priest on the day of atonement. 00:20:45.279 --> 00:20:48.279 And where is the out, the movement out? 00:20:48.279 --> 00:20:52.319 The final thing that happens in the Jesus passion week is he is crucified. 00:20:52.319 --> 00:20:56.480 He is murdered outside the city of God. 00:20:56.480 --> 00:21:02.599 So we're told explicitly in the New Testament in Hebrews, he was taken outside the camp. 00:21:02.599 --> 00:21:09.680 So there we're being told Jesus Christ has become the live goat that was pushed outside 00:21:09.680 --> 00:21:12.879 the camp, crucified in the wilderness, murdered in the wilderness. 00:21:12.880 --> 00:21:19.520 He has fulfilled this act of what the New Testament calls propitiation. 00:21:19.520 --> 00:21:24.560 So first John 2,2, he is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but for 00:21:24.560 --> 00:21:26.060 the sake of the whole world. 00:21:26.060 --> 00:21:32.800 This word propitiation in the New Testament is the word listed here in Leviticus 16 in 00:21:32.800 --> 00:21:36.160 the Greek translation of the Bible. 00:21:36.160 --> 00:21:40.040 In the Greek translation of the Bible, this word propitiation is the word, the day of 00:21:40.039 --> 00:21:43.159 propitiated, the goat propitiates the people of God. 00:21:43.159 --> 00:21:46.680 It takes the sin away. 00:21:46.680 --> 00:21:50.440 And then first John 2,2 says he is the propitiation. 00:21:50.440 --> 00:21:53.639 Jesus Christ was murdered outside the camp, outside the city. 00:21:53.639 --> 00:21:58.399 He has become the true goat, the true lamb that takes away the sins of the world. 00:21:58.399 --> 00:21:59.920 It's an inside out motif. 00:21:59.920 --> 00:22:02.599 All right, second. 00:22:02.599 --> 00:22:07.240 Remember that as soon as Jesus is crucified outside the city, like the goat was sent outside 00:22:07.240 --> 00:22:09.279 the city. 00:22:09.279 --> 00:22:14.319 He was buried in a garden, John 20 tells us. 00:22:14.319 --> 00:22:20.879 And the garden in that moment becomes the symbol of Eden. 00:22:20.879 --> 00:22:25.240 So Jesus Christ's dead body was put in where? 00:22:25.240 --> 00:22:29.799 The Holy of Holies, Eden, the garden, right when he died, right when he died in Joseph 00:22:29.799 --> 00:22:31.119 of Arimathea's tomb. 00:22:31.119 --> 00:22:32.359 John 20 puts it so nicely. 00:22:32.359 --> 00:22:37.599 It says it just so happened that there was a garden next to where he was crucified. 00:22:37.599 --> 00:22:41.159 And John's trying to signal, of course, it didn't just so happen. 00:22:41.159 --> 00:22:42.159 He was put in a garden. 00:22:42.159 --> 00:22:45.159 He was put in the Garden of Eden symbolically. 00:22:45.159 --> 00:22:49.000 Now the last time a dead body went into the Garden of Eden symbolically, it corrupted 00:22:49.000 --> 00:22:50.000 it. 00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:52.159 And they dab in a bayhoo. 00:22:52.159 --> 00:22:59.079 But Jesus' dead body goes into this garden and sits for three days, truly dead. 00:22:59.079 --> 00:23:00.079 What's the difference? 00:23:00.079 --> 00:23:01.679 And here's the difference. 00:23:01.680 --> 00:23:10.279 Meanwhile, you have a better high priest who goes into the heavenly temple and presents 00:23:10.279 --> 00:23:17.680 his blood before the mercy seat, before God the Father in the heavenly realm. 00:23:17.680 --> 00:23:24.080 And God accepts that sacrifice as atoning, as true, as final, as covering not only the 00:23:24.080 --> 00:23:28.039 sins of the people in Jerusalem, but the sins of the world. 00:23:28.039 --> 00:23:31.920 And so that means that Jesus deserves to be raised from the dead. 00:23:31.920 --> 00:23:33.480 He deserves it. 00:23:33.480 --> 00:23:36.039 He's just, see what was the problem with the high priest? 00:23:36.039 --> 00:23:37.039 They were sinners. 00:23:37.039 --> 00:23:43.039 And so when they went into the temple as our mediators, it didn't really work. 00:23:43.039 --> 00:23:48.000 But if you have a high priest who's not a sinner, who goes and is murdered for your sake, atoning 00:23:48.000 --> 00:23:54.240 God himself, then that blood, that death is truly justifying. 00:23:54.240 --> 00:23:55.960 It is actual justice. 00:23:55.960 --> 00:23:59.480 He really can stand in your place because he was innocent. 00:23:59.480 --> 00:24:04.240 And so when he dies, he enters as the high priest into the heavenly realm and he presents 00:24:04.240 --> 00:24:06.400 his blood. 00:24:06.400 --> 00:24:09.880 And by that act, the day of atonement is finished. 00:24:09.880 --> 00:24:10.880 Once and for all, he's done it. 00:24:10.880 --> 00:24:11.880 It's accepted. 00:24:11.880 --> 00:24:15.360 Never again do you have to do Leviticus 16 anymore. 00:24:15.360 --> 00:24:18.960 Now that means because he's a better high priest, when he's raised from the dead in 00:24:18.960 --> 00:24:22.600 the garden, that garden, he doesn't corrupt the garden by his dead body. 00:24:22.600 --> 00:24:24.240 No, he brings resurrection to the garden. 00:24:24.240 --> 00:24:25.759 He opens the way to the garden. 00:24:25.759 --> 00:24:32.799 And so the very next thing that happens, point three, when Jesus dies, think about the Garden 00:24:32.799 --> 00:24:33.799 of Eden. 00:24:33.799 --> 00:24:36.680 Think about where it is symbolically as well in the tabernacle in the temple in the Old 00:24:36.680 --> 00:24:37.680 Testament. 00:24:37.680 --> 00:24:38.680 Where is it? 00:24:38.680 --> 00:24:39.680 It's the Holy of Holies. 00:24:39.680 --> 00:24:43.200 When Jesus dies, what happens to the Holy of Holies? 00:24:43.200 --> 00:24:45.879 The curtain tears in two. 00:24:45.879 --> 00:24:49.599 And so now there is no cherub blocking the way to the Garden of Eden. 00:24:49.599 --> 00:24:52.400 There's no cherub in the way to get into the presence of God. 00:24:52.400 --> 00:24:56.040 And it's not so much that now you can go into God's presence. 00:24:56.040 --> 00:24:57.120 That's true. 00:24:57.120 --> 00:25:05.040 But actually the idea there is that God is exiting the Holy of Holies. 00:25:05.040 --> 00:25:08.980 The tabernacle itself was meant to convey the idea of the whole cosmos in a way the 00:25:08.980 --> 00:25:10.400 mountain of God was. 00:25:10.400 --> 00:25:15.759 Now the Holy of Holies is open and God's presence has exited to go into the whole cosmos to 00:25:15.759 --> 00:25:17.800 fill up everything. 00:25:17.800 --> 00:25:18.800 That's the picture. 00:25:18.800 --> 00:25:20.920 The Garden of Eden was never meant to stay in one place. 00:25:20.920 --> 00:25:25.680 It was meant to burst forth into the whole world from Genesis chapter 2 forward. 00:25:25.680 --> 00:25:29.240 And that's exactly what happens right when Jesus dies. 00:25:29.240 --> 00:25:32.039 Number four then, well that was really number four. 00:25:32.039 --> 00:25:39.039 The day of atonement, we're told, 1 John 2,2, is not just for the sins of the city of God 00:25:39.039 --> 00:25:43.039 like in the Old Testament or Jerusalem. 00:25:43.039 --> 00:25:44.120 It's for the sins of the whole world. 00:25:44.120 --> 00:25:48.480 In other words, the day of atonement ritual in the Old Testament was always looking for 00:25:48.480 --> 00:25:53.319 a cosmic forward to a cosmic day of atonement. 00:25:53.319 --> 00:25:56.880 So the cross of Jesus Christ is the cosmic day of atonement. 00:25:56.880 --> 00:26:00.480 Once and for all, able to cleanse the entire world. 00:26:00.480 --> 00:26:02.559 Fifth, now where is the temple? 00:26:02.559 --> 00:26:05.480 The temple has now moved. 00:26:05.480 --> 00:26:07.640 So where is the temple now? 00:26:07.640 --> 00:26:09.279 The tabernacle, it's fulfillment. 00:26:09.279 --> 00:26:11.279 Where is it? 00:26:11.279 --> 00:26:14.120 Yeah, the people, right? 00:26:14.120 --> 00:26:15.400 I saw somebody say it. 00:26:15.400 --> 00:26:16.400 The people. 00:26:16.400 --> 00:26:21.160 The temple now moves from an isolated location in the middle of the city of Jerusalem out 00:26:21.160 --> 00:26:26.759 to the people because God's present has left the temple and come to us. 00:26:26.759 --> 00:26:29.240 And so now we've become the temples. 00:26:29.240 --> 00:26:30.800 We no longer have a priesthood. 00:26:30.800 --> 00:26:31.800 Why? 00:26:31.800 --> 00:26:35.240 Because we have the great high priest who actually was able to do the day of atonement 00:26:35.240 --> 00:26:36.240 and it worked. 00:26:36.240 --> 00:26:38.120 And so you don't need a priesthood anymore. 00:26:38.120 --> 00:26:39.920 That's what a priest was for. 00:26:39.920 --> 00:26:41.640 We're all his priests. 00:26:41.640 --> 00:26:44.560 That's what the New Testament says, all his temple. 00:26:44.559 --> 00:26:51.599 And then finally, lastly, point six, later in the book of Leviticus, we learn, and we'll 00:26:51.599 --> 00:26:58.159 see this towards right before Christmas, that feasting follows the day of atonement. 00:26:58.159 --> 00:27:01.440 So after the day of atonement, there's a feast. 00:27:01.440 --> 00:27:06.559 Now the last thing I'll say is this in verse 31 on the day of atonement ritual, there's 00:27:06.559 --> 00:27:12.839 a summary statement and it says this, the day of atonement is the Sabbath of solemn rest 00:27:12.839 --> 00:27:15.399 to you. 00:27:15.399 --> 00:27:21.599 It actually, very literally in Hebrew, it says, it is a Sabbath of Sabbaths to you. 00:27:21.599 --> 00:27:24.439 So it just says the word Sabbath twice and the second one's plural. 00:27:24.439 --> 00:27:29.279 It is Shabbat of Shabbat to you, Sabbath of Sabbaths. 00:27:29.279 --> 00:27:32.439 Meaning this is the pinnacle holy day. 00:27:32.439 --> 00:27:34.399 This is the Sabbath above all Sabbath. 00:27:34.399 --> 00:27:35.399 And on it, what do you do? 00:27:35.399 --> 00:27:38.039 It says, it's a day where you shall afflict yourselves. 00:27:38.039 --> 00:27:40.119 What does that mean? 00:27:40.119 --> 00:27:46.599 Be fasting, repentance, bowing while this right takes place, these sorts of things. 00:27:46.599 --> 00:27:53.399 So there's this depth of sadness, fasting, loss at the beginning and then right at the 00:27:53.399 --> 00:27:58.159 end, a festival starts after the day of atonement. 00:27:58.159 --> 00:28:04.599 And in the New Testament, that's why for us, the festival that has begun after the cosmic 00:28:04.599 --> 00:28:08.879 day of atonement is the Lord's Supper. 00:28:08.880 --> 00:28:11.320 The feasting has begun, we feast. 00:28:11.320 --> 00:28:15.680 And that's why the Lord's Supper, while looking back to the cross of Christ, remembering the 00:28:15.680 --> 00:28:21.680 cross of Christ the day of atonement, is not a funeral feast. 00:28:21.680 --> 00:28:28.160 The Lord's Supper, while appropriately solemn, appropriately reverent, absolutely, because 00:28:28.160 --> 00:28:32.680 we're remembering the cross, we're remembering our sin, we are afflicting ourselves in it 00:28:32.680 --> 00:28:33.920 for a moment. 00:28:33.920 --> 00:28:36.960 At the same time, there ought to be a moment in the Lord's Supper where we lift up our 00:28:36.960 --> 00:28:40.559 heads and say, the festival has come. 00:28:40.559 --> 00:28:42.440 The day of atonement is already finished. 00:28:42.440 --> 00:28:44.960 It's time for the feast. 00:28:44.960 --> 00:28:47.279 That's why the wine has been poured. 00:28:47.279 --> 00:28:48.440 Come and keep the feast. 00:28:48.440 --> 00:28:49.440 Right? 00:28:49.440 --> 00:29:08.120 And you can see the meaning of the heart right here in the Lord's Supper as well.