The Book of Leviticus

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Leviticus 24:1-23 Lamps, Bread, and Blasphemy

I invite you to turn with me to Leviticus 24. Leviticus 24. It’s a longer passage, so I’m not going to ask you to stand. You know what a posture of reverence looks like, whether you stand or sit. In fact, we’ll be looking quite a bit at reverence as we work our way through this chapter.

READ: LEVITICUS 24:1-23

Ten Laws

If you were tasked to put a committee together, with the goal of coming up with ten laws which would serve as the summary for governing a people—ten rules by which every citizen and foreigner had to abide by, what would make your top ten? Don’t murder. Don’t steal. They’d likely make the list. 

But how many committees do you think would place blasphemyon this list. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. Well, this command didn’t just make the list; the consequence for breaking this command was nothing short of the death penalty, which we’ll get to later in the chapter.

We’re far removed from the days of Israel’s inception as a nation. You likely aren’t to be stoned to death for blasphemy here in the States. We’re too sophisticated for such an archaic law. I mean, we’re the nation of Free Speech… at least so long as that speech doesn’t offend the wrong group or party.

Now, I’m not about to argue that we should put such a law on the books. And I don’t believe the Bible makes a case for us to do so either. In fact, the case made in Scripture is that blasphemy deserves a far greater consequence than can be executed by the State.

We’re continuing to look at Israel’s calendar in Leviticus 23-25. Now, you’re likely thinking, what could blasphemy possibly have to do with Israel’s calendar? And if you’re not asking that question, you probably should, because part of our task as Bible readers, if we truly want to know the author’s intent, is to answer the question, Why is this text placed precisely where it is?

Israel's Holy Calendar

Now, I mentioned last week that chapters 23-25 all went together as a single unit in what I referred to as Israel’s calendar—the Holy Calendar—holy, because it is instituted by a holy God. 

But when we finish reading through the annual festivals in chapter 23, and we turn the page to chapter 24, we’re looking at Lamps, Bread, and Blasphemy. So, at first glance, chapter 24 doesn’t seem to be a part of the calendar at all. In fact, much like certain other portions of Leviticus, it seems that perhaps Moses is just throwing stuff together without any rhyme or reason for doing so.

Chapter 24 appears to be completely detached from the Sabbath day and the Seven Festivals we looked at last week. And next week, in chapter 25, we’re looking at the Sabbath Year and the Year of Jubilee, those festivals that come around less than annually. So, what do Lamps, Bread, and Blasphemy have to do with that?

GOD-BREATHED

But here’s the thing. And I draw this out to offer us help in reading our Bibles well. Because, for most commentators, how chapter 24 fits with what comes before and after is quite elusive. And I’ll be honest, it is elusive if we simply approach the Bible as merely a human composition. And the Bible is written by men! But it’s more!

When we approach our Bibles as God-breathed, that every word, phrase, paragraph, and chapter, has been put in place exactly as it is and where it is under the superintendence of God the Holy Spirit, then we have ample reason to believe that Leviticus 24 is placed smack dab in the middle of Israel’s calendar for a divine purpose.

HOW CHAPTER 24 FITS

First, there’s a calendrical aspect to this chapter, at least regarding the Lamps and the Bread. When were the lamps to be tended to? Verse 3. Daily—every evening and morning. What about the bread? When was that to be replaced with fresh loaves? Verse 8. Weekly—every Sabbath. So, that’s our first clue that this chapter does indeed fit with Israel’s calendar. 

Second—and this is the reason why I believe chapter 24 is placed in the middle of chapters 23 and 25 as a sort of climax or hinge tying the three chapters together—is because what’s the point of the holidays and festivals we looked at last week?

They weren’t given to Israel as a bunch of busy work—sort of like some substitute teacher at school assigns because she just needs to keep the kids busy over the next 45 minutes, so they don’t get into any mischief. 

Perhaps some of you are thinking that appears to be my task up here week after week. Just ramble off for 45 minutes to keep us busy for a bit before turning everyone over to their next thing—whether that be mischief or lunch or a mix of both—you’ll have to decide! I’m looking at our youth, and I know what the answer is for some of them. They’re ready to rush out of here to the gym the instant we finish with the benediction!

Israel’s festivals—this holy calendar wasn’t given to somehow keep Israel—the people of God—preoccupied until God finally sent His Son and did away with the whole thing. Now, I use the example of a substitute teacher because the Law was very much like a substitute teacher until Christ came. But it wasn’t to preoccupy the people, but to prepare them and keep them forChrist.

The purpose of this calendar has everything to do with communing with God, and not just any God, but the Holy God, the great I AM, YHWH. And chapter 24 is a portrait of this communing with the Holy God.

COMMUNING WITH GOD

Now this word “commune” is a bit antiquated. We don’t use it much in our daily lives. But we do use forms of it. When we partook of the Lord’s Supper last week, we call that… communion. The Lord’s Supper is part of our regular communing or fellowshipping with our Lord Jesus. 

There’s an intimacy and a closeness involved as we handle and consider the elements that represent Jesus’ body and blood. But our communion goes deeper than that. For us believers, his Spirit resides within us. 

Commune is also where we get the term communicate. But to commune is much more intimate than the way we tend to think of communicate. It involves closeness. Much of our communication today, however, takes place online. And I’m just going to say that social media is not a form of communing with anyone! There’s no such thing as being close to someone through hashtags and hyperlinks.

I mentioned communion and the Lord’s Supper. Well, the church also has a term from removing someone from close fellowship, and that’s called: excommunicate. It’s a form of church discipline that removes an individual from the partaking of communion.

Why does any of this matter? Well, believe it or not, we have sort of an example of excommunication in this very chapter. And it’s instructive. But we’ll have to work our way there. Suffice it for now for me to say that what’s laid out here in chapter 24 is a portrait of communionwith the Lord and His people and a portrait of discommunion with the Lord and His people.

THE LAMPSTAND

So, back to verse 1 and the lampstand. (Read 1-4). 

As mentioned, this is a daily task. Aaron is to arrange the lamps evening and morning so that the light from the lampstand wouldn’t go out. It’s helpful to know, and for those who went with us to see the model of the tabernacle here in Lebanon, you might remember, that the lampstand or menorah was the only physical light source within the tabernacle. So, Aaron, and by extension, his sons, were charged with tending the lamps. 

But the people also had a role to play. They were to bring pure oil from beaten or crushed olives olive trees. So, the people provided the oil for the lamps, while Aaron and his sons tended the lamps.

Now, you might be a bit more sanctified than me when I first read this, but there’s a part of me that asks, if God is truly God, then why does He need the people to provide the light? The people were required to make the lampstand. Now they’re bringing the oil, and Aaron and his sons have to continually care for and attend to this source of light? 

Couldn’t the Lord who provided manna in the wilderness, who parted the sea, provide them, not only with the light, but sustain that light day and night and keep it burning? 

Well, what do you think God did on Days 1 and 4 of creation! 

That Israel had to provide the oil for the lamps, and the priest regularly attend to the lamps, not only allowed them to participate in the grand enactment of God’s light—His presence shining upon His people—the twelve tribes of Israel, this participation served as a regular reminder of this very presence of God—a reminder that Yahweh is indeed in the midst of His people to commune and fellowship with them. 

God doesn’t need the light of the lampstand. He speaks, LIGHT!And there is. In fact, God is Light. This setting up of the lampstand served to remind the people of His Light, His face shining upon the people. The regular tending of the lampstand was to remind the people of the God who sustains the sun, moon, and stars. 

In fact, the same word used for lamp here in Leviticus 24 is the same word used to describe the sun and moon in Genesis 1. They are lamps for His creation, to mark appointed times. But also, this order of evening and morning is the way Genesis 1 marked off the days of creation. 

The people and the priests are participating in a great re-enactment of God’s works! The priest was to tend to this lamp after the pattern God set forth in creation so that there would be light continually within God’s abode with His people. This work is no less than a reflection of God and His works. But there’s more!

THE BREAD

Which takes us to the Bread of the presence, verses 5-9. (Read 5-9).

How many loaves were placed on the table? Twelve. How many tribes of Israel? Twelve. (Now, we really got some Bible scholars here!) It doesn’t take a lot of consideration for us to see that, in at least some sense, the twelve loaves relate to God’s people. 

Also, like the oil for the lamps, the bread was to be supplied by who? Verse 8. The people, as a covenant forever. Now again, the Lord didn’t need the people to provide Him bread to eat. If I were hungry, would I tell you? The earth and its fullness are mine, declares the Lord in Psalm 50. Remember, it is God who is providing manna for His people, not the other way around!

So, this weekly offering of the presentation of the loaves was an opportunity for Israel to participate in the cultic act of worship. But God designed this act of worship, not simply to give Israel just any means through which to worship, but it was specifically designed to communicate something of Him and His people.

First, the loaves were to be placed in two piles of six with pure frankincense on each pile. Why frankincense? That the bread might be a pleasing aroma before the Lord. 

Which takes us to the location of the bread, which was to be placed on the table of pure gold, verse 6, before the Lord. And again, in verse 8, every Sabbath, Aaron the priest shall arrange it regularly before the Lord. 

Now, this “before the Lord” recalls the layout of the tabernacle furnishings, which were quite sparse. In the tabernacle, there were only 4 pieces of furniture. The ark, which was placed in the innermost room behind the veil by itself, represented God’s throne on earth. 

On the other side of the veil was the altar of incense, the table for the bread, and the golden lampstand. The lampstand and the table were to be placed directly opposite each other, with the lampstand shining on this table and the bread. 

The portrait—this reenactment—the people are blessed to participate in is none less than the Lord’s fellowship with His people. It’s a picture of the light of God’s presence, the light of His face, shining on His people. 

The renewal of the bread Sabbath by Sabbath is a reminder of the importance of the weekly rhythm of Israel’s life, in which the people were to be rested and refreshed as they broke from their regular duties and enjoyed a special time of communion with their God. 

It’s a picture of the blessing which Aaron was to bless the people with: the Lord bless you and keep you and make His face shine on you. 

That’s why, as believers, we have these weekly rhythms, these patterns of worship on the Lord’s Day—to remind us of our communion with God—that His face, His favor has shown on us and continues to shine on us, not through any lamps we set up and tend to, but through the Light of the World—Jesus himself.

It’s what the annual festivals all pointed to, climaxing in this picture of God’s people basking in the Light of God’s presence.

BUT this beautiful portrait of communion quickly turns to one of discommunion. Verse 10. (Read 10-12.) 

BLASPHEMY AS DISCOMMUNION

Now, blasphemy is the exact opposite of communion and fellowship. In it’s most usual sense, it is a verbal display of contempt against God, though it doesn’t necessarily have to entail words. Blasphemy is a verbal revealing of the heart. It’s amazing how many people use God’s name and Christ’s name as a curse. But realize, as our Lord made clear, out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. 

Blasphemy is nothing more than one revealing their displeasure, or rather, their hostility toward God. Cursing is an act of contempt. And when one uses God’s name as a curse, there is a recognition that they truly understand God’s sovereignty over all things… but get this… they hate it!

This man is a son of Shelomith, whose name means peace. Shelomith is the daughter of Dibri, whose name means to speak. The irony here is that the one thing this man didn’t do was speak peace. Instead, he was hostile to God’s people, and he was hostile to God. He blasphemed the Name, referring to “Yahweh.” 

Now, notice, in verse 12, the people don’t automatically pronounce judgment themselves, but put the man in custody until the will of the Lord is made clear to them.  What’s the Lord’s will in this matter? Verse 13. (Read 13-16.)

The entire congregation is to stone him. And this goes, not just for Israelites, but for both the native and the sojourner. Anyone who blasphemes the name of the Lord shall be put to death.

Now, let me ask you. Does that rub you the wrong way? Are you troubled by the fact that the sentence for this man who did nothing more than use God’s name as a curse word was that he was to be stoned to death? 

Well, here’s the thing, the only reason why something like this troubles you and me is because we either don’t grasp God’s holiness, or we have a lapse of awareness of His holiness.

CONFESSION AND COMMUNION

You know why we take time to confess week after week? And I know, for some of you, it makes you uncomfortable. But I challenge you to ask yourself why? It has everything to do with a failure to see our life in the light of God’s holiness.

You see, our weekly confession—and really, it should be daily at a minimum, but I’m talking corporately as a body of believers—we confess: 

1) because we haven’t arrived at perfection just yet. And except for the promised mercy of Christ’s finished work on the cross, the past week of any one of our lives is sufficient to condemn us, not to stoning, but to an eternity in hell. So, we need to confess. 

2) Confession serves as a reminder of what Jesus saved us from—what he died for. His crucifixion wasn’t some empty unnecessary act that just might happen to add some minor benefits to an already pleasing life before God. 

The twelve loaves of bread needed frankincense added, because in themselves, the people of Israel were a far cry from pleasing in God’s sight. And if left to ourselves, the same is true of us. Christ is our pleasing aroma before God—the Bread of presence offered before His Father.

Let me just say, many sects of the church hate that. For them, Christianity is more of a self-help make me feel better about myself religion. To them, there is something in me that God was already pleased with, so He sent Jesus to finish what was merely a struggle for me. Bologna! 

God sent His Son because our lives were blasphemous before God. Outside of Christ, our every word, our every deed is one of contempt towards God. As Silas read from Romans 2, God’s name is blasphemed in the world because God’s people fail to live lives of faith, trusting in Him. 

Blasphemy is more than our words; it’s more than using God’s name in vain. It’s a 180-degree turn from a disposition of communion and fellowship to a disposition of disunion, discommunion, and enmity. That’s what took place in the Garden when Adam and Eve ate. And that’s what takes place every time you and I sin.

Confession, and repentance, is our turning back to the Lord who is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty. 

We turn back to have our sweet communion with the Lord restored. O what a gracious God. But understand this, to not turn back, is to remain at enmity with God. And God will by no means clear the guilty who remain hostile to Him. And there’s but one way to remove that hostility between you and God, and that is through the cross of Jesus Christ.

HOSTILITY WITH GOD LEADS TO HOSTILITY WITH GOD'S PEOPLE

Well, hostility toward God automatically leads to hostility among God’s people. Which is why blasphemy is followed up with the Lex Talionis—or the law of reciprocal justice. Verse 17. (Read 17-22.) 

While blasphemy focuses on one’s hostility towards God, the laws here, an eye for eye, tooth for tooth, focus on justice concerning wrongful acts against image-bearers. But something to be aware of, these laws aren’t given for the purpose of individual vengeance. They are given as guidelines for the State as to what justice requires—nothing more, nothing less.

The world seeks to separate religion from the public sphere. The problem is that such is truly impossible. The one overflows into the other. Discommunion with God leads to discommunion with your neighbor. 

Our relationships with our neighbors will be reflected in our relationship with Christ. Hate God, hate neighbor, but love God, you will love your neighbor. And you will seek to love them well by directing them to the path of communion with the One who gives them life and breath and everything else. Because a settled stance of discommunion will ultimately lead to excommunication.

EXCOMMUNICATION

Verse 23. (Read 23.)

Rather than being brought out of Egypt to enjoy God’s presence and fellowship with the people of God, this blasphemer is brought out of the camp of Israel in what is none other than a permanent form of excommunication. This man will not be rejoining God’s people in fellowship. It’s too late. His blasphemous stance against the Holy God led to his permanent removal from God, God’s people, and all the blessings that go with.

JESUS BORE OUR CHARGE OF BLASPHEMY

You know what is ironic about the whole death penalty charge for blasphemy? Blasphemy was the charge by which the Lord Jesus was sent to the cross. Jesus was condemned for blasphemy because by his claims, he made himself out to be none other than God.

But here’s the thing. Jesus was completely innocent. Why? Because he is God. There’s no contempt or insult to his Father in claiming to be who he is. Jesus was innocent of blasphemy. But you know who wasn’t? You and me.

God has provided us every opportunity to fellowship and commune with Him. And yet, we have blasphemed His holy name in both our words and our lives by making ourselves out to be our own gods. Stoning would be a light sentence. What we deserve is hell—excommunication—permanent removal from His Holy Presence and His every blessing that flows from His goodness. We deserve permanent removal from His kingdom and His people—every relationship you enjoy, severed for eternity.

Even on this side of the cross, I can’t count the times I have belittled his grace, and yet He continues to shower us with kindness nonetheless, with the kindest act of all, sending His own Son to pay for our charge of blasphemy. And Jesus paid it in full with his own life, in order that we might bask in the light of his glorious grace as he makes his beautiful scarred and bloody face to shine upon us.

If that doesn’t humble you to pour out your heart in confession, nothing will. O what God has accomplished in order for you and I to commune with Him. 

Rejoice in this God of justice, this God of wrath who will not endure His great name being blasphemed forever, causing discord and disunity upon the earth. And rejoice in this God, who in His mercy and grace, poured out that wrath upon His Son. 

That’s what this Holy Calendar has accomplished. Our communion with this Holy God. But we’re not done yet. We have one more week. Chapter 25, which I pray will be the most jubilant of all as we look at the year of Jubilee. Let us pray.

Leviticus 23:1-44  

INTRODUCTION: Next week’s Mother’s Day. Two weeks after, Memorial Day. Then Father’s Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Veteran’s Day, and that’s right, Columbus Day fits in there somewhere, added back in 1492, I think!

We order our lives around a calendar. Cheyenne’s birthday was Friday. Jenny’s and my anniversary is later this month. These are special days for us. But as a nation, as a people, those personal days don’t land on everyone’s calendar. But those other days are what we call national holidays. We pretty much celebrate, or at least acknowledge them, as a nation. Now, in Britain, they’re not likely to celebrate the 4th of July. Not because it has nothing to do with them. But it’s not a day they’re going to commemorate. They have their own holidays, and that’s not one!

Every nation has their own unique calendar. So, why do certain days make it to our national calendar, while others don’t? Well, in one sense, these days seek to unify a people. They serve as commemorative occasions for us to remember some event in history. They also provide a time of rest from regular work for many in the labor force.

Why do I bring this up? Because today, we’re beginning to look at Israel’s calendar and their particular holidays, or Holy Days, which is what the world holiday originally stood for.  As such, we can rightly refer to this calendar as a Holy Calendar. “Holy,” because these are days and times appointed directly by the Holy God. These are indeed Holy Days. Holy occasions. And it’s our task this morning to understand what makes them holy and why it matters for us.

If you’re not already there, make your way to Leviticus 23. We’ll be looking at Israel’s Holy Calendar and how it relates to their communing with God, and in turn, our communing with God. Leviticus 23. If you would, please stand as you’re able. I’m going to begin at Leviticus 23, starting at verse 1.

Leviticus 23:1-5 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, these are the appointed feasts of the Lord that you shall proclaim as holy convocations; they are my appointed feasts. Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. 

You shall do no work. It is a Sabbath to the Lord in all your dwelling places. These are the appointed feasts of the Lord, the holy convocations, which you shall proclaim at the time appointed for them. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight, is the Lord’s Passover.

OVERVIEW OF CHAPTER: SABBATH AND SEVEN FEASTS 

We’ll look at these festivals in summary, partly because that’s all that’s taking place here in chapter 23. We can find longer explanations of each of these elsewhere. But the point of chapter 23 is to bring them together as a whole.

If you notice, the chapter opens with a call to keep the Lord’s appointed feasts. That word “appointed” is where we get the word for the “tent of meeting.” The tent of meeting was God’s appointed place where He would meet with His people. Verse 2. These are the appointed feasts or simply, the appointments of the Lord. That’s what the tent of meeting was: an appointed place. These days are appointed times.

But this word, “appointed” also harkens back to Genesis 1 when God set up the lamps in the sky, which were to be for signs and seasons, or rather, appointed times. The celestial lamps, the sun and moon and stars, were to be a way of marking God’s appointed festivals. That’s the same word used here in Leviticus 23. 

So, what are the appointed times that God has set apart as holy for His people? Verse 3. First is the Sabbath. Then glancing at the headings throughout the chapter, the Sabbath is followed by the 7 festivals to the Lord. Passover, Feast of Unleavened Bread, Feast of Firstfruits, Feast of Weeks, Feast of Trumpets, Day of Atonement, and Feast of Booths. 

The first 3 festivals are related to Passover in the first month. The last three relate to the Day of Atonement in the seventh month. And the feast that is all by itself, that falls right in the middle is the Feast of Weeks or Feast of Harvest, or what we know as Pentecost. We’ll return to this. 

OVERVIEW OF THE UNIT: CHAPTERS 23-25 

Now, chapter 23 is the beginning of a larger section, chapters 23 through 25. We don’t have time to get to it all today. What we’ll cover today is really groundwork for this larger section, the whole of which serves as Israel’s calendar and how it relates to their communing with a Holy God.

Chapter 23 deals with Israel’s annualcalendar. And that’s all we have time to cover today. But this is Israel’s calendar not ours. So how does it apply to us? Well, in one sense, the annual calendar served as a reminder of God’s provision for His people. And it should remind us of that as well. 

THE SABBATH

As such, we have the Sabbath. Verse 3 in chapter 23. Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work. It is a Sabbath to the Lord in all your dwelling places. 

The Sabbath served not merely as an annual festival, but it was part of Israel’s weekly rhythm of life throughout the year. Like the appointed times, the idea of Sabbath also takes us back to Genesis. God rested on the Seventh day, taking delight in His very good creation. And mankind was to rest in that fellowship, that communion with God. But of course, Genesis 3 and the Fall turned that rest into unrest.

But with the Exodus, the Sabbath gets reinstituted as a regular reminder that the Lord provides for His people. He is our provision—not our efforts to provide for ourselves. So the Lord provided manna in the wilderness for the people to remind them that He cares for His people and supplies their needs, the greatest need of which is Himself. Work 6 days. But week after week, remember your rest in Him, communing with Him.

The seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord, not a Sabbath to Minecraft, or Mission Impossible, or my favorite hobby! Now, I’m not at all saying you can’t do any of those on the Sabbath. But the point is to commune with God Himself. It’s not given as a free day to focus on YOU! It’s not a Sabbath to Josh, but to the Lord. Because what Josh needs isn’t more “ME TIME!” But more HIM TIME!

In chapter 19, which we looked at the last two weeks, love neighbor as self, so many have taken that to mean, “Well, I first got to love me!” But let me just say, Scripture’s stance is that nobody has a problem with loving themselves. They might not do so well. But the problem isn’t that we don’t love ourselves. Its that we tend to love ourselves at the expense of our neighbor! Treating all of life as about me!

Well, the Sabbath is a regular, weekly rhythm of laying aside my “me time” and whatever plans and agendas I’ve been pursuing and instead, be reoriented to the God who is my Provider and my Provision.

Now, on this side of the cross, the Sabbath looks different, but the point is the same. 

There’s discontinuity. If you haven’t noticed, is that the day changed. The early church signified a major shift, that something was indeed new! Also, our Sabbath is not so much a day, but a person. Jesus is our Sabbath rest. 

There’s also continuity. Where our whole lives should revolve around our fellowship with the Lord, finding our daily rest in Him, in Christ, there is a special communion with our Lord that we enjoy, and I believe, are to enjoy Sunday-by-Sunday as we gather as a church on the Lord’s Day to worship. Our worship is, in part, resting in Him.

REST IN THE FESTIVALS

Now, this idea of rest continues in the annual festivals. 1) Some of the days fell on the Sabbath. But even when the day doesn’t fall on the Sabbath, we read the words you shall do no ordinary work. In the seventh month, we have the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Booths falling on the 1st, 10th, and 15threspectively. Each of them says the same thing; you shall not do any ordinary work. 

Now I might struggle with math, but the 1st, 10th, and 15th, which these feasts fall on, don’t share a common factor of 7 no matter how you want to slice them. Either one, two, or all 3 of them will fall on a day other than the Sabbath.

And regarding the Day of Atonement, in verse 30, it says that whoever does any work on that day, that person I will destroy from among his people. You shall not do any work. It was to be a Sabbath of solemn rest. Why? Because this day had the special significance of atoning for the people’s sins. To not pause from the ordinary routines of life and acknowledge this special day, any of these special days, by setting them aside as a time of worship, was to despise what God had done for His people. Such is to be indifferent to God’s mercy and reject His grace.

Now, I know, as Christians, we’re no longer under the law but under grace. But let me just ask, because Scripture makes clear the import of the regular fellowship of believers. And the New Testament points very strongly to that day being the first day of the week. While I want to avoid being a legalist here, and I know there are various circumstances in each individual’s life, but to regularly neglect the gathering with Christ’s church to worship and rest in Him, is likely due to failure to realize God’s provision for you in Christ, or an indifference to that provision.

THE FESTIVALS

Back to verse 5. Looking more closely at this annual calendar, verse 5, the year begins with Passover. Now, at first glance, it would appear that Moses pretty much passes over the Passover, because one verse and he’s onto the next festival. But the first 3 festivals all go together. 

Moreover, the Passover has been covered in such detail earlier. Passover is THE festival, the day of all days that Israel remembers, or rather should remember. It’s the day that Israel was redeemed out of bondage, that they were set free from oppression and servitude. It’s the day Israel became a nation—a new nation—rather than a people living under another nation. The fact that Passover begins the calendar year, makes this festival a big deal!!!

Verse 6, Passover is immediately followed by the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which also served as a reminder of Israel’s Exodus. For seven days Israel was to eat unleavened bread. Why unleavened? Because the people went up out of Egypt in haste. There wasn’t time to properly prepare bread, allowing it to rise.

While we likely don’t celebrate a week of unleavened bread, I hope you realize the haste of the New Exodus! The time to go up out of Egypt or Lebanon TN, or whatever City of Destruction you currently dwell in is NOW!

And then we have the Feast of Firstfruits. Verse 10. Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, when you come into the land that I give you and reap its harvest, you shall bring the sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest, and he shall wave the sheaf before the Lore, so that you may be accepted. On the day after the Sabbath, the priest shall wave it. And then we have the offerings that go with this festival: a male lamb a year old without blemish as a burnt offering, as well as the grain/food offering and the drink offering.

Then verse 14. And you shall eat neither bread nor grain parched or fresh until this same day, until you have brought the offering of your God; it is a statute forever. 

The people were to each bring a single sheaf, or bundle of grain. This would be the amount equivalent to feed one person for the day. It was how much manna the Israelites were to gather per person in their household. So, it might not seem that big a deal. But this is the firstfruits of the harvest. And the people weren’t to enjoy any of the harvest until they brought their offering first to the Lord.

O the faith it takes to give first to the Lord before enjoying His provision. But let’s think about this. Does the Lord need their grain? Not at all. I can ask the same question regarding our offerings. Does the Lord need our money? Nope. Of course, we won’t keep the lights on if we don’t pay the electric bill. But if that happens, we’ll just move service to outside. Because God has already provided the Light we need! Seriously, the Lord needs absolutely none of what you and I have to offer. 

And I hope, that when you give, you are not of the mindset that you’re giving to the church. That would be the same as Isael saying, we’re actually giving this to Aaron and his sons. Yes, the offerings of the people provided for the priesthood. But the point of the offering was very much like the Sabbath; the Lord Himself is the true provision. So, the people were to give to Him prior to baking any for themselves.

To wait and give after I have enough for both me and the Lord is to circumvent the system. It’s to completely miss the point. There’s no faith in giving after I’ve got mine, or taking my initial harvest and first leveraging it for more before I give to the Lord. Why do I bring this up? Because what you and I need more than anything else in this fallen world that seeks to lead us astray, seeks to lead us to depend on something other than the Almighty God is to have our faith increased.

[Faith — Elijah and the widow of Zarephath (1 Kings 17).]

Something else to keep in mind, this first sheaf, this first bundle, likely wasn’t all that impressive to look at—the people bringing the very first of their harvest to the Lord, but there likely wasn’t much to gather for the making up of this first bundle. Yet this unimpressive bundle from the firstfruits was a promise that harvest was coming!

So, verse 15, we have the Feast of Weeks, seven weeks after that initial grain offering of a single sheaf. Rather than bringing a single sheaf to be waved before the Lord, the people of Israel were to bake twice as much into loaves to be waved before the Lord. But these weren’t just any sacrificial loaves. These were to be leavened loaves made with yeast. Not flat bread! But soft fluffy bread like the Hawaiian bread you pick up at Publix.

Something else that is striking here is the difference between this Feast and the previous Feast of First Fruits. The Sheaf presented as firstfruits was to be presented with a burnt offering, which we’ve come to know as the ascension offering in which the entire offering was transformed into a cloud of smoke to ascend before Yahweh as a pleasing aroma.

But here, for the Feast of Weeks, these leavened loaves, that’s bread baked with yeast, had to be presented with a sin offering, whereas the sheaf presented as firstfruits did not.

As this is the time of harvest, verse 22, the people are reminded, as in chapter 19, not to reap their fields right up to the edge, but to leave them for the poor and sojourner. The promised harvest has arrived. God had indeed provided. Therefore, this is a time to rejoice in the Lord, not to hoard it all for myself.

Moving on. Verse 24. The last 3 feasts fall on the seventh month. The Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Booths or temporary shelters. 

Now, we’ve recently covered the Day of Atonementover the course of 3 weeks, so I’m not going to go into much detail here other than to say that where the Passover Festival was a reminder of release from bondage, the Day of Atonement was a reminder of the remittance of sin, or the forgiveness of sin. 

The Feast of Trumpets which preceded the Day of Atonement was sort of a preparatory call that Atonement was near. The word trumpet isn’t even in the text. Rather, it’s best understood as a blast, whether that be from a ram’s horn or someone’s mouth, in both cases serving as an alarm. With the Day of Atonement around the corner, we might say that this blast of the trumpet was to prepare the people to enter God’s presence, because, as previously covered, the Day of Atonement was the one day of the year where someone could go behind the veil into the Most Holy Place. 

The final festival, the Feast of Booths, reminded the people of their sojourn from Egypt to the promised land, a time when they had no permanent housing, no permanent dwelling place, no place of rest.

REMINDERS THAT POINT FORWARD

Now, while the holy calendar was meant to serve as a commemoration of what God had done, such as Passover, and His redeeming His people from bondage, these festivals also pointed forward to what we might refer to as God’s promised future grace for His people.

Again, taking the Sabbath as a reminder of God’s faithfulness week after week to provide for the needs of His people, allowed them to rest in the fact that God would continue to provide week after week in the future. Where many saw the Sabbath as a burden that kept them from pursuing their own agenda, the Sabbath was to serve as a reminder that you don’t have to! There is no agenda that is that important. You can lay your plans aside and enjoy a special time of uninterrupted communion with the Lord who will provide.

Likewise, the Day of Atonement not only reminded the people of the Lord’s provided means of forgiveness and cleansing so that they could dwell in His Holy presence, but that the Lord would continue to do so year-after-year, so long as they didn’t forsake Him by turning to foreign gods. Yahweh had provided future grace, the promise of future forgiveness for unintentional straying and unintentional sin.

The problem, however, is that our problem isn’t unintentionally going astray. It isn’t unintentional sin. We flee from God, running from this idol to that one as fast as our heart can manufacture them. We are so fixated on ourselves, that we intentionally put ourselves before others. So, while this calendar points to future grace, if the extent of the future grace promised ends with this calendar here in Leviticus 23, you and I are in trouble. 

CHRIST’S FULFILLMENT OF THE CALENDAR

But praise God, this calendar doesn’t end here; it doesn’t end in Leviticus. The whole of Leviticus pointed to a greater appointed time—a most holy time—when God would satisfy all that this calendar merely pointed to—the true Passover Lamb who takes away the sin of the World! Jesus himself! 

He is the Lamb offered as a substitute for the true sons of Israel, that we might walk out of bondage, not from Egypt, but from the enslavement of our sin.

And since our Passover Lamb has indeed been sacrificed, we are to become unleavened, as the apostle Paul says, as we truly are unleavened—pure in Christ.

And that Feast of Firstfruits with the seemingly unimpressive early harvest of that single sheaf… well, Jesus is that sheaf, the true firstfruits. There was a time he seemed so unimpressive… beaten, stripped, shamed. Could this man truly be the grain offering to God, this seemingly meager ration lifted up as a wave offering on a cross?

But Jesus himself said, that unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains alone. With His death as the firstfruits, poured forth resurrection life, as Christ, the firstfruits rose from the grave and ascended to the Father.

And with the presentation of the firstfruits to God came the promise of a greater harvest, the Feast of Weeks, Pentecost, in which, even on that first day of Pentecost 3000 souls were added to the harvest of the church!

The last three festivals have an already-not-yet aspect to them. To place them solely in the future as some do is to miss the point that the Day of Atonement took place with the cross. Our sins have been removed as far as the East is from the West! The penalty for sin has been fully covered.

Still, we await a time when we will physically enter into God’s very presence, when the trump shall resound, and the Lord descends with the clouds in the same way he ascended!

For now, you and I sojourn in booths, temporary shelters, the tents of our fallen failing bodies. But this is for but a short time, a single week in comparison to the eternity that awaits us when we will enjoy the fullness of Sabbath rest, communing with God in glorified resurrected bodies.

CONCLUSION

In Christ, we have a future hope! We are banking on God’s future grace, a grace that guarantees that this salvation doesn’t depend on me and my ability to accomplish a thing, but on God’s faithfulness. Therefore, we can rest and commune with Christ now… and in the age to come.

Israel’s calendar isn’t our calendar. And yet, it is! Our calendar is our Sunday-by-Sunday celebration of Jesus’ satisfaction of this calendar as we fellowship as Christ’s body, feasting on the Word made flesh. The Lord’s Supper is the Lord’s appointed Festival for His holy people, in which we remember… and look forward in hope of the consummation of all His precious promises.

Read Leviticus 18

I ran into a bit of a problem preparing for today. My intent was to cover Leviticus 19 this morning, but I got hung up on the chapters on both sides of 19 instead. So here we are. Leviticus chapters 18 and 20. But I assure you, these chapters are not at all detached from chapter 19. Nor are they detached from all that came before. The first 16 chapters focused on the provided means for God’s people to dwell with Him in the land of His choosing, a good land flowing with milk and honey, which is a way of saying, overflowing with abundance.

MOST QUOTED VERSE

Now, since we’re a Bible believing church, I’m confident that many of you are familiar with what is, the most quoted Old Testament verse in the entire New Testament: Leviticus 19:18, You shall love your neighbor as yourself, directly quoted 8 times.

Why do I bring this up? Because as we survey chapters 18 and 20, both of which mostly deal with the category of sexual ethics, it’s important to understand the structure of this section of Leviticus.

LOVING NEIGHBOR HINGE

While chapter 16’s Day of Atonement is the center or climax of the book as a whole, the subsections each have their own center. Chapters 17 through 22 are most often understood as the holiness code, with Leviticus 19 forming its climax, and verse 18’s “loving your neighbor” serving as the hinge of this larger section. 

One way we can easily notice the centrality of chapter 19 from the repeated sexual ethics in chapters 18 and 20. No, Moses hadn’t forgotten what he wrote two chapters earlier. He has a purpose for doing so.

CHIASTIC MOUNTAIN

1) is the literary device the biblical authors often used called “chiasm” where an author would record a set of ideas and then retrace them in reverse order.

Think about it like this: As you walk up a mountain and then turn around and come down, you see many of the same things. But you’re seeing everything from a slightly different perspective than you did on the way up. 

The peak of that mountain is the climax, where you can see the most complete view of the surroundings at one time. Loving your neighbor is that summit, that allows us the best view of the whole of this holiness code. 

LOVING NEIGHBOR SANDWICHED BETWEEN

There’s a second reason for Moses presenting these same laws on both sides of Leviticus 19? If you look closely, you’ll notice that as similar as chapters 18 and 20 are, they aren’t the same. The list of sexual ethics in chapter 18 can be understood as the thou shalt nots, and chapter 20 as the consequences. Chapter 19 is likely sandwiched between because breaking the sexual ethics of chapter 18 is a failure to love your neighbor as yourself, making chapter 20 not so much a list of consequences for particular sins as much as the consequences of not loving your neighbor as you ought.

Rather than loving your neighbor, the refrain of chapter 18 is that sexual immorality uncovers your neighbor's nakedness; it shames your neighbor. 

LAY A FOUNDATION

My goal this morning is not to articulate the individual statutes set forth. The sexual ethic of the Bible is quite clear. The only reason we have debates on such issues is because we suppress the truth because we don’t like the truth. So, we all know what sexual immorality is. My goal is to lay of foundation of why this matters.

TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY

Now, many in our society would argue, Hey Josh, in case you haven’t noticed this is the 21st century. We’ve come a long way from the oppression of the patriarchal era. All this stuff about sexual ethics, well, isn’t that a private matter? I mean, it’s personal. It’s my body, and so long as it only involves me and other mutually consenting partners, then what’s the harm. Isn’t mutual consent a form of loving my neighbor?

STEWARD

1) That body, you call yours, only partly belongs to you. In fact, it would be more accurate to say that you are a steward of that body, not an owner of it, because our bodies, and our souls for that matter, ultimately belong to the God who made them.

CARRIES OVER TO ALL OF LIFE

2) As private and personal as you may deem your sexual activity to be, it carries over to other aspects of your life, impacting your witness to the world. [1 Corinthians 6:18, sin against the body — the church]

GOD SEES ALL / ANGELIC WITNESSES

3) There’s no aspect of your life that is absolutely private. There is a God who witnesses every detail of your life, and not just your actions, or even your words, but your every thought, dream, and imagination. And He demands that all of it be kept holy. 

But here’s also a host of angelic beings, who, while not privy to a front row seat of your thoughts, are witnesses of your outward behavior. When you and I fail to act according to God’s design, we dishonor the One who fashioned us for His glory, before the rest of creation.

DEVIATION IS NOT LOVE

4) Deviation from holiness is NOT loving your neighbor well. Forget all of this nonsense about mutual consent. You’re supposed to be an image of God’s holiness to your neighbor. Mutually consenting to sin robs your neighbor of the very witness you are to display. In fact, you’ve become a stumbling block, leading others on a path to hell. And affirming others in their disregard for holiness does the same. And people will give an account for their causing their neighbor to stumble.

REST OF THE WORLD

Okay, Josh. So, maybe this whole idea of sexual ethics isn’t as personal and private as we pretend it to be. So, what! The rest of the world’s okay with it. So, what’s the big deal.

Look again at chapter 18, verse 3. You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not walk in their statutes.

PERVERSIONS

You’re right! The rest of the world is okay with perversions of God’s good design. That’s how the rest of the world lives. But you’re supposed to be set apart from this world!

EGYPT WHERE YOU LIVED

Notice—Egypt—where you lived! And Canaan—where I’m bringing you!

Let’s start with Egypt, where you lived. God ransomed His people out of bondage in Egypt. Now, in one sense, the people were in bondage to a ruthless king who oppressed them and put them to forced labor. 

SPIRITUAL REALITIES

But the Bible rarely records events solely as a means of telling history. The Holy Spirit has a theological agenda. The recorded events are meant to convey something about God, ourselves, and our need for a Savior. Thus, it’s important to recognize that these historical portraits are intended to portray spiritual realities.

RANSOMED FOR HEAVEN

In the case here, with Egypt, Israel’s big issue wasn’t so much their physical bondage in Egypt. Rather, it’s the same as ours. We are oppressed and enslaved by our sin, much more than any pharaoh ever could. That’s where we lived before being ransomed by Christ. You and I no longer live there. We don’t live in Egypt anymore. Our residence is in heaven where Christ currently dwells. So, now, live as citizens of such.

CANAAN WHERE GOD IS BRINGING US

So, what about Canaan, where God is bringing us? God is driving the peoples who live there out because of their detestable practices. Jump down to verse 24. Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things, for by all these the nations I am driving out before you have become unclean, and the land became unclean, so that I punished its iniquity, and the land vomited out its inhabitants.

DRIVING OUT DUE TO WICKEDNESS

God is driving out the people of the land from before the Israelites that they might inherit the land. But get this! God is not driving the people out because Israel just so happened to be more righteous than the current inhabitants. He’s driving out the peoples because of their wickedness. God isn’t giving Israel the land because they somehow deserved or earned it, but solely on account of His good pleasure and grace.

WARNING

But understand! There’s a warning to Israel in this passage. Verse 28: If Israel makes themselves unclean by following the example of the peoples of the land, Israel too will be vomited out. 

JOURNEY TO SANCTIFICATION / POLLUTE THE NEW

Christian, get this! You are on a journey to the promised land. But the journey is not so much to a location as it is to a sanctification. Your sojourn here—your pilgrimage—is for the purpose of developing a holiness that befits the promised paradise to which God is bringing you, which will be this very earth made new, free from all the corruption of sin and wickedness. But if you’re not sanctified, then to put you in this new purified creation will only serve to pollute it, placing us right back in Genesis 3 and the Fall all over again.

PAID PENALTY, NOT SO CONTINUE TO SIN

In Christ, holiness is not optional. Yes, Jesus paid the full penalty of the law on our behalf. But he didn’t pay the penalty for sin so that you and I could continue to live contrary to the law. Rather, his paying our penalty frees us from the penalty of the law so that we might actually uphold the moral demands and character of the law.

WITHOUT HOLINESS

You think that’s Old Covenant talk? Turn to Hebrews 12. Hebrews 12 hammers home this very point. Hebrews 12, verse 14. Strive for peace with everyone, and (here it is) and strive for holiness without which no one will see the Lord. You fail to be sanctified—conformed to God’s holy likeness—you won’t see Him! You won’t be allowed into His presence. Those first 16 chapters of Leviticus and the Day of Atonement won’t matter, if after the fact, you continue to walk in sin.

WALKING VS WAGING WAR

Now pause. By walking in sin, I mean, going along with sin, as a way of life. The expectation is not that you and I would be sinless this side of eternity. But we aren’t to walk in sin, like you would walk a dog. We’re to walk according to the Spirit. And that Spirit wages war against sin; it doesn’t go for walks with it.

OBTAIN GRACE

Continuing in Hebrews 12:15. Listen to this expectation. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God. Fail to obtain grace? What? Am I now supposed to somehow earn grace? Doesn’t that make grace something other than grace? No! The text doesn’t say work for grace or earn grace but obtain grace. Grace has been freely extended to you. Don’t neglect it by failing to allow it not to have its desired effect in you. If you fail to be transformed by God’s grace, then you haven’t received it. You’re still of the world, not of the Spirit of Christ. You belong to the nations God is driving out of the land, which He’ll soon cast down into a fiery abyss.

MANNER THAT SENT JESUS TO CROSS

You and I can’t say we truly believe God sent His Son to pay the penalty for our sin, so that we might be forgiven every single act of rebellion and live an eternity with him in unimaginable bliss, and then go on living in the same manner that sent Jesus to the cross.

GRATITUDE OR REJECTION

That’s not a heart that’s been moved by love, that would do anything to express the overwhelming gratitude bubbling up from within like a fountain that can’t be contained. No! That’s a heart that spits in the face of the man on the middle cross, while he suffers in agony, pouring out his blood for the sinners who deserve to be up there in his place.

TRANSFORMATION / BITTERNESS

People fail to obtain the grace of God by spitting in the face of that grace. And anything less than utter transformation by such grace is evidence that you don’t truly get it. The author of Hebrews continues with bitterness. You hold on to bitterness, then Scripture’s clear. You have no genuine clue of the grace God has shown in the giving of His Son. Oh, you might intellectually be able to articulate some verses and doctrines. But this grace has never penetrated your hardened calloused heart.

Don’t fail to obtain God’s grace! You continue to walk in idolatry—covetousness—you’ve failed to recognize an inkling of God’s worth and the preciousness of His mercy.

SEXUALLY IMMORAL

In line with our text, Hebrews continues, see to it that no one is sexually immoral. You think the sexual ethics of Leviticus don’t matter for a New Testament Christian, then you’re not worshiping the God of the Bible. You’re worshiping the false gods of the nations God is vomiting out. And He’ll vomit you out too.

LOVE IS LOVE?

Our society is seeking to do everything possible to convince you and me that sexual norms are parochial and oppressive. I was at a house Friday, and the neighbors had a rainbow yard sign with a list of their personal maxims. One line read, “Love is love.” Of course, it sounds good to the undiscerning. But it suggests that I have the right to love whoever I choose, which they infer to mean marry or live with or, to be frank, participate in sexual acts with.

OBLIGATION TO LOVE

Let me just say, you and I don’t have the right to love whoever we choose. We have an obligation to love them! The issue is a  distorted view of “love.”. The world tends to demote love to something like “feelings for someone.” That’s not even close to what love defined biblically is. If you truly love someone, you desire the best for them, and you behave in a way that demonstrates such by doing good to them. That’s loving your neighbor as yourself. And the best thing for everyone is a restored relationship with their Creator. 

SELFISH LOVE / BEING LIKED

Any act that damages their relationship with God is not an act of love at all, but rather a selfish act on the individual’s part. 

The current upheaval over gender falls in this same category. Someone recently shared that “any group telling you who you can love and what gender you are doesn’t give a rip about freedom.” But again, if you affirm people in their deception, you aren’t loving them; you’re being selfish. Selfish? How does that make me selfish when I’m just trying to make people feel good about themselves?  Because you care more about being liked than loving them well. You make it about you.

SPEAK TRUTH

If you truly love someone, you speak truth to them for their good—especially for their eternal good. You don’t affirm them in a lie, especially a lie that’s marching them straight for hell.

VOMITED AND DETESTED

At the end of chapter 20, which allows us to see how these two chapters parallel each other, the Lord says, beginning at verse 22, You shall therefore keep all my statutes and all my rules and do them, that the land where I am bringing you to live may not vomit you out. Verse 23, and you shall not walk in the customs of the nation that I am driving out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I detested them.

GOD OF LOVE, GOD WHO DETESTS

Those are some pretty strong words coming from a God who is love. In fact, many have a difficult time reconciling that this same God who is love detests the wicked. This is why so many paint the God of the Old Testament as somehow a different God from the God of the New Testament. I mean, in the New Testament, God so loved the world! He doesn’t detest it!

SO LOVED THE WORLD

John 3:16 is certainly a perfect portrait of biblical love. For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. God sent His Son so that our sins might be forgiven, and we might be restored to Him for eternity. In the context of Leviticus, God sent His Son to atone for sin so that His people could dwell with Him. What greater act of Love is there? God paid the highest possible price in expressing His love, giving His very own Son. 

NOT BECAUSE PLEASED WITH HUMANITY

Now, get this! God didn’t send Jesus to die on a bloody cross because He was somewhat pleased with humanity. God sent His Son to die on the cross because He detested the works and practices of the people He created in His image and how they corrupted that image. 

RESTORED IMAGE / TO BELONG TO GOD

God sent His Son to restore that image. To receive that love necessarily entails a separation from the people of the world. To reject that love is to remain among the detested who will be cast out.

Verse 26. You shall be holy to me, for I the Lord am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine. 

SEXUAL ETHICS NOT AN END

The sexual ethic of the Bible is not an end in itself. It goes back to creation, where God fashioned us in his likeness but as male and female for complimentary union, or we might say, for marriage.

PORTRAYS RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD

This holiness code on sexual ethics is meant to portray something of our relationship, not just to one another, but our relationship with God. 

MARRIAGE / SEXUAL IMMORALITY

One of the most common ways God’s relationship with His people is described is that of a marriage—both in the Old Covenant and the New. Yahweh was like a husband to Israel. The Church is the Bride of Christ. And the most common way the Bible refers to the breach of that relationship is sexual immorality. 

IDENTITY

The media and the pundits have little regard for faithfulness. Rather, they’re more concerned with personal autonomy disguised as freedom. They put a great deal of effort into trying to convince you and me that our identity is found in determining our own preferred form of sexuality. 

BROKEN RELATIONSHIP, BROKEN WORSHIP

This is completely upside down. Our sexuality is to be found in our identity as image-bearers of God, making this a relevant discussion for everyone.

The world’s sexual ethic is broke because its relationship with God is broken. And its relationship with God is broken because its worship is broken.

DISTORTED IDENTITY BY DISTORTED WORSHIP

And our identity is either found or distorted by what you and I worship, meaning our sexual ethic and practice has everything to do with worship. We were created to worship. But in our sin, we exchanged our worship of God for the worship of the creature. We tend to worship created things such as pleasure, entertainment, food, comfort, and yes, sex. And this idolatry has warped our identity as image-bearers.

CREATED SEX

Now, none of these created things are evil in themselves. Sex is not evil. God created sexuality. But God designed it that we might praise Him, not the act. God also designed it to communicate something about His holiness and His love for His people. 

PURCHASE / SAVING HIMSELF FOR A BRIDE

Jesus came into the world to purchase a bride, to purchase her through the most costly means, his life. For thirty years, Jesus abstained from what is a good, natural, and godly desire, what some would call one of the greatest physical pleasures. But Jesus denied himself many of life’s physical pleasures, because what gave the Son the most pleasure was pleasing His Father. Jesus kept his body holy and pure, saving himself for his Bride, the Church—us in this room, that we might enjoy the most intimate union possible with the One who knows us inside and out. 

CONCLUSION

Instead of casting the sinful nations out of the land because of their wickedness, Jesus allowed the sinful nations of both Jews and gentiles to cast him outside the camp. The Jews vomited out their king because they detested him. But while Jesus’ death on the cross declared God’s detestation of their adulterous practices, it also revealed God’s immense love far beyond any other act ever could.

Jesus allowed his nakedness to be uncovered on the cross, in order to cover ours. This is the Bridegroom of the church. This is the One you and I are to keep ourselves pure for. The Wedding Day isn’t that far off. Find your identity in Him.

INTRODUCTION: Leviticus 16:2-4

For many, access to God seems pretty irrelevant. So, I can easily understand their question: So, why are you guys studying the book of Leviticus? But I assure you, there are occasions, more than they’d like to admit, when the question of standing before God’s presence does come to mind, and it does so with force. And likely such occasions aren’t all that hopeful, because they have little, if any, assurance that such will be a good thing.

For the believer, we have already dealt with that question of whether we will stand before a holy God. And such a thought has caused us to flee to Christ to cover us, because we know, on our own, to stand before God is a terrifying prospect.

But here’s the thing. Life continues to distracts us. The serpent continues to deceive us. And our own flesh is weak and prone to wander. So we need to, not only be reminded of the assurance we have in Christ. We also need constant, fresh portraits of that assurance—of what Jesus has accomplished and how. If such wasn’t the case, we wouldn’t have such a large book of various portraits of our Lord.

Josh, last time I checked, there were only 4 gospels, and 3 of them are quite similar. Well, that may be true. But even the most similar aspects of each gospel are seeking to portray complimentary perspectives of the same Christ. And all 4 of them are drawing those portraits from the Old Testament and showing how Jesus is the finished painting, as it were.

And surprise! Leviticus, 16 is one of those primary texts the gospel writers grab hold of when they seek to present what Christ has accomplished and the glory of his accomplishment!

So, as the very least, I hope this short series helps bolster your assurance in what Christ has done on your behalf, that it would show you! And I hope you see all the more clearly, how this book we open Sunday by Sunday, is a literary masterpiece authored by One who is no less than Divine, that you might be in greater awe of Him.

So, why are we still looking at Leviticus 16? First, we haven’t come close to covering all that’s in this chapter, and we won’t. I can’t express enough the import of this book, and especially this chapter, which has been deemed by many to be the central text of the entire Pentateuch.

As a brief refresher of what we’ve covered so far: In our overview of chapters 1-9, we looked at the challenge of entering God’s presence, and specifically at the whole burnt offering, which is better translated and understood as the ascension offering.

In chapter 16, we quickly found that the tabernacle and the priesthood had become defiled, and thus the need for the annual cleansing that took place on the Day of Atonement. We also looked at the idea of atonement as covering: covering over sin and covering over wrath.

Last time we were here, we looked at atonement as both expiation—the removal of sin, and propitiation—the assuaging of wrath, God’s wrath. And we saw how such was illustrated in the two goats.

Today, we’re returning to chapter 16 to look at the approach of the priest, with a focus of his clothing, and the cloud of incense he was to carry into the Most Holy Place. We’ll wrap up by looking at how Jesus satisfies both of these.

READ: Leviticus 16:2-4

MEDIATORY ROLE

When we consider the priesthood, one way we can think about the priest’s role is its mediatory function, or how he serves as an intermediary. Take Moses for example. At the end of God declaring the Ten Commandments from atop of Mount Sinai, what did the people say? They told Moses, You speak to us, and we’ll listen. But don’t let God speak to us lest we die. Moses served as a mediator between God and the people. Now, it’s important to recognize that a mediatory role goes both ways. God to the people, and the people to God.

The priest mediates God’s presence to the people. Although Adam isn’t outright referred to as a priest, there are sufficient clues to affirm that he was. One of Adam’s roles was to mediate God’s presence to the rest of creation. That’s one of the reasons Adam was formed in God’s likeness. 

ORNATE GARMENTS

One way in which the high priest did this, was in his ornate garments described in Exodus 28, which were fashioned for glory and splendor. Some of the items for the priest’s apparel were ornamented with gold and precious gems. These were the priest’s outerwear: the breast piece, the ephod, the robe, and the golden crown with the inscription, Holy to the Lord, which would be attached by a blue cord to the priest’s linen turban. In his usual dress for daily service, these are the items the onlooker would see. The priest would look very much like a king in all his glory.

When the people brought their gifts and sacrifices, they brought them to the priest who would offer them to God on their behalf. This was the priest representing God to the people.

But the priest was also to represent the people to God.

AMBASSADOR APPAREL

Now, if you and I were to gather a diverse group of individuals and brainstorm regarding what the proper apparel to approach the God of the universe should be, what kind of responses would we get? Forget the Sunday school answer for a moment, and let’s say, you’re asking people off the street.

Now, some would immediately start to think about what we wear in church. And we can look at that. But I’m saying, we are sending someone—tomorrow—to meet God on our behalf, to represent us. How might we dress such an individual?

Well, for starters, we’d likely tailor this person up in a fine Italian suit, so as to exude power, wealth, sophistication. If he’s representing me, I want him to impress! We know that’s the case, because when countries send out their diplomats, they don’t send them out in casual wear. (Or at least we didn’t until recently. But I’m not going there this morning.) 

DRESSED AS A SLAVE

If someone’s representing us, we want them to represent us well. So, we’d likely take that high priest array of ornate garments and notch it up a bit for the one day a year we actually send the guy into God’s presence inside the Most Holy Place. But that’s the exact opposite of what God had prescribed. This priest who most days was dressed like a king, on the day he was to enter God’s presence, wore clothing more typical of a slave.

Look at verse 4. I’m going to read it from the CSB because the ESV and NASB add the definite article four times where there isn’t one. He is to wear a holy linen tunic, and linen undergarments are to be on his body. He is to tie a linen sash around him and wrap his head with a linen turban. These are holy garments; he must bathe his body with water before he wears them.

GLORY SET ASIDE

The high priest, in order to enter behind the curtain into the Most Holy Place, had to lay aside his garments of glory and splendor, and pretty much enter in his undergarments, with a simple tunic, sash, and turban. [You know that story of the priest who went into the Holy of Holies with bells and a rope? Stories like that come about from people who become disconnected with the text of Scripture. That robe with the bells on the hem doesn’t even get to go behind the curtain. The ephod with the onyx stones stays outside too, as does the breast piece with the twelve gems and the holy crown of gold. None of the ornate apparel gets to enter God’s presence!

IMPRESS GOD?

Josh, why does this matter? Well, let me ask it this way. What could you and I possibly present ourselves in that would even come close to impressing Him? There is nothing in any of us that can impress the One who made us.

All year long, the priest would be decked out in his more kingly attire. But when he approached the Lord of all the earth, he did so in humility, clothed in God’s prescribed fashion, and with the blood of another, a substitute, in this case, the blood of a bull.

The only thing in himself which the priest could bring before the Lord was his obedience, an obedience wrought by faith. And that’s all you and I can bring before the Lord. Your finest clothing will get you nowhere before a holy God. He sees right through it all. The same with your achievements, your skills, your bank account. Don’t come in here thinking you made a little contribution to a fake gold-plated bowl which we call an offering plate, and thing that you somehow impress God. You can drop $50,000 in it or $5. To the One who owns it all, it makes no difference. What matters is whether you come with a humble and contrite heart, led by faith that trusts this holy God will accept you, not on the basis of yourself, but on the basis of another. 

To seek to enter God’s presence on his own terms, the high priest would go out like Nadab and Abihu—carried to his grave. God provided a humble dress for this priest, as a necessary covering to hide his nakedness, in order that he might enter God’s presence. You and I enter clothed in the humility of Christ, or we won’t enter. Or rather, it will be an entry we’ll regret. 

CLOUDS

But even with such humble garments and the blood of a substitute, the priest’s entry into God’s presence was still limited. He entered behind the curtain, all right, but a cloud was stationed between the priest and the Lord; a veil of sorts remained.

Back up to verse 2. The Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron your bother not to come at any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat that is on the ark, so that he may not die. For I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat.

This cloud over the mercy seat was a sort of theophany, a manifestation of God’s presence, much like the Shekinah glory in miniature. But the cloud wasn’t God. Aaron couldn’t truly see God and live.

So, verse 12 and 13. The priest was to take a censor full of coals of fire from the altar and two handfuls of sweet incense beaten small and bring it inside the veil. And he was to put the incense on the fire before the Lord, so that the cloud of incense would cover the mercy seat that is over the testimony, so that he does not die. 

MERCY SEAT

Let’s unpack this a bit. First, the mercy seat is the atonement cover that sat on top of the ark of the covenant which held the tablets of stone, the Ten Commandments. That’s the testimony referred to here. On the mercy seat, we have the two cherubim. Remember that. It’s important. This mercy seat is the place where God meets with His people. However, the high priest was the only one to ever venture that far, and only once a year. 

INCENSE

Throughout the year, when incense was placed on the altar of incense, it would be a handful at most. Here a double portion is placed on the altar, so that the cloud would shield the mercy seat from view. Now, I don’t have time to trace out all the implications here, how incense is related to prayer, and the fact that this incense is beaten small; it’s finely crushed. Suffice it to say, that where the prayers of the priest were lacking to provide a necessary shield between him and God, here the sweet-smelling incense provided a sort of substitute. 

Josh, how do you know the priest’s prayers were lacking?Because Romans 8 says you and I don’t know what to pray for as we ought. Do you think the priest was any different. Let me ask, do you feel your prayers are adequate before this holy God? Jesus isn’t up in heaven interceding on our behalf as a sort of redundancy. The Spirit isn’t interceding on our behalf because you and I got this thing down. The priest, even with the weight of the responsibility to pray for the people, fell short. Just like you and I do when we intercede for our family, our friends, our church. 

Like the prescribed clothing, this prescribed method of approach was so that the priest wouldn’t die, wouldn’t be consumed by gazing on the Lord without something to shield him from God’s glory. 

NO ONE MAY ENTER

Jumping down to verse 17. No one may enter the tent of meeting from the time the priest enters to make atonement in the Holy Place until he comes out and has made atonement for himself, his household, and all the assembly. And afterwards—after making atonement, slaughtering the bull and the goat for the sin offering, and then sending the second goat into permanent exile…

Then, verse 23, Aaron shall come into the tent of meeting and shall take off the linen garments and leave them there. After which, verse 24, he shall wash and put on his own garments and come out and offer the ascension offering for him and the people. 

ASCENSION OFFERING

We covered this before, but it’s important we understand that the whole burnt offering is literally an ascension offering. It’s root is the word for ascend. It’s the thing that goes up. This will matter as we tie all that we’ve covered thus far with the work of our Lord Jesus. 

So, here’s our dilemma. You and I can’t enter God’s presence in ourselves, with any gift we have to present. Our sin has made us unclean. And we have no satisfying gift to bring. 

If you don’t recognize that as a problem, you either have a way too low view of God or a way too high view of yourself. And to be content with the separation that keeps us from God’s presence is to be robbed from our greatest joy, satisfaction, and happiness.

So we need a high priest who can go into God’s presence, not symbolically by moving a fabric curtain to stand before some ornate box that holds a couple stone tablets with chiseled writing, as significant as those words might be. We need a high priest who can enter the true tent not made by hands. We need a high priest who doesn’t require a cloud created by two handfuls of finely crushed incense because he falls short on his prayers. We need a high priest who comes on the clouds of heaven to the very throne of the Ancient of Days. That’s the kind of priest we need as our intermediary. One who paves the way for us to follow after, that we might be assured entrance into God’s very presence. 

And that’s exactly the kind of High Priest we have in Jesus Christ.

CHRIST OUR HIGH PRIEST

The letter to the Hebrews draws this out so beautifully for us, especially chapters 6-10. Jesus enters the true tent, the inner place behind the curtain as a forerunner on our behalf. Forerunner means we get to follow after!

DANIEL 7

We don’t have time to address sufficiently how our text relates to Daniel 7, but recognize that Daniel 7 draws off this Day of Atonement for the language of the Son of Man approaching the Ancient of Days. I understand that the Son of Man is the title for the coming Davidic King, but this King is also a priestly figure. When Jesus stands before the council and declares, from now on, you will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, it’s because Jesus is about to enter this Day of Atonement as the true high priest who will enter into the true temple to present his sacrifice—Jesus being both the priest and the sacrifice.

JOHN’S GOSPEL

What I want to do now is show how John presents Jesus as the priest who completes the final Day of Atonement. John displays Jesus as the glorious one, opening his gospel with the incarnation of the Word, who is God, and stating, we beheld his glory. But as glorious as our Lord Jesus is, it wasn’t his outward appearance that was so glorious. Rather, the flesh he took on served as a curtain that veiled his glory. 

In taking on fallen human flesh, Jesus had laid aside the glorious garments that only the 3—Peter, James, and John—were privileged to witness. And just to make sure we understand that Jesus set aside his garments of glory to make atonement for his people, John records, as does the other 3 gospels, that Jesus was wrapped in linen for his burial. 

LAID ASIDE GLORY

Now, if you wonder what Jesus was doing between his death and resurrection, I think, at the very least, he was satisfying the portrait of this Day of Atonement in Leviticus 16. Remember, Jesus is stripped of the royal robes the soldiers had dressed him in to mock him, relating Jesus to the high priest who laid aside his more kingly garments and stripped down to the clothes of a mere servant.

Much like when Jesus stripped himself down to his undergarments to wash the disciples’ feet. Here in his burial, Jesus dressed in plain linen. 

WHERE I’M GOING

Recall earlier in John’s gospel, Jesus had told the disciples, where I’m going, you can’t follow now, but you will after. Just as no one could enter the tent while the priest made atonement, neither could Jesus’ disciples until he finished his work of atonement, laid aside his clothes, and came out.

FOLDED UP CLOTHES

So, when Peter and John heard from Mary Magdalene that the stone had been rolled away, they raced to the tomb. And what do they find? John 20 verse 5. Stooping to look in, John saw the linen cloths lying there. And verse 6. When Peter enters, he sees the linen face cloth folded up by itself, apart from the other clothes. At the very least, this suggests that this high priest had finished his work of atoning for sin, and has now, as we read in Leviticus 16:23-24, took off the linen garments and set them aside. From the cross, Jesus declares, It is finished. And here the laid aside garments demonstrate such to truly be the case. 

ANGELS AND MERCY SEAT

But there’s more. When the men leave, and Mary herself stoops to look in, John 20 verse 12, what does she see? Two angels, one at the head and one at the feet of where Jesus had lain. Why angels? Well, again, let’s think of the Day of Atonement. The priest was to go before the mercy seat. What’s on the atonement cover of the mercy seat? Two angels, or cherubim to be precise. John is showing us, in his narrative, that Jesus isn’t just the high priest. Jesus himself is the mercy seat that covered over the testimony of the Law that demanded the penalty of death.

ASCENSION

But there’s more. On the Day of Atonement, once the sacrifices for sin have been completed, and the high priest took off the linen garments and put back on his own clothes, what was he to do next? Leviticus 16:24, He was to come out and offer up the ascension offering. In John 20 verse 17, do you recall what Jesus tells Mary, when she finally recognizes the Lord and mistakes him for a gardener (though that shows Jesus to be a new Adam in a new garden). Jesus says, Don’t cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. That will take place in the first chapter of Acts. But John didn’t write Acts, so he records it here for us to see the entire portrait here. 

FORERUNNER

Jesus continues, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God. My Father and your Father. My God and your God. To quote Hebrews 6:19-20, In Christ, you and I have a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf. Jesus is our great High Priest, who perfected the Day of Atonement. And as such, Hebrews 7:25 says, He is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. 

TWO HANDFULS OF FINELY CRUSHED INCENSE

Unlike the priestly line of Aaron, Jesus’ prayers are in no way deficient. He doesn’t require an incense cloud to shield him from the face of God. Jesus enters directly into the presence of the Ancient of Days upon the very clouds of heaven. That reference is to show the incomparable difference between Aaron’s priestly approach and that of Jesus’. 

Instead of two handfuls of finely crushed incense, Jesus opened those two hands on the cross as he himself was crushed and poured out on the fire of god’s wrath on our behalf, as a pleasing aroma to his Father. This is our royal great High Priest who always lives to intercede for those who are his.

Hebrews 10:19-23.

Let’s close with Hebrews 10:19-23. Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.

Is your heart sprinkled clean? Do you have that full assurance of faith? Let’s demonstrate such by holding fast the confession of our hope without wavering. We know God is faithful. He’s proven such through His Son. Let’s lean into that faithfulness of God and Christ as we prepare to partake of the Lord’s Supper.

INTRODUCTION: Leviticus 16:7-10

Well, it’s Palm Sunday, and we’re in Leviticus 16. I debated whether to do a message geared specifically towards Jesus’ triumphal entry and passion week, and if you want that message, it’s on our YouTube channel, titled: The Arrival of the King. But I hope you realize that the Day of Atonement is not all that detached from Palm Sunday and what takes place on Good Friday.

In fact, if you look with me in Matthew’s gospel—jump to chapter 21 to where Bill just read—you’ll notice that the triumphal entry is immediately followed by the account of Jesus cleansing the temple, which is, as we discussed last week, the context of Leviticus 16 and the Day of Atonement.

RECAP

Recall that due to Nadab and Abihu’s unauthorized entry and sacrifice, the tabernacle and priesthood had both become defiled. Leviticus 16 was put in place as a sort of temporary resolution for this defilement. But as we saw last week, this entire sacrificial system was somewhat deficient to deal with that defilement. The system was deficient, but only to a point. It was deficient to truly atone for sin and the pollution caused by sin. But what this system was not deficient to do was to portray the high cost and the means by which God himself would ultimately—once and for all—atone for sin.

PALM SUNDAY 

Jumping back to Palm Sunday, while Jesus is riding into Jerusalem, the crowds are shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” Now, one of the things the crowd is doing is quoting Psalm 118, which we read in our call to worship. The very next verse is about binding the festal sacrifice to the altar. Why? Because it’s through the festival sacrifices that God has provided atonement for sin. And Jesus comes as the sacrifice to which all other sacrifices pointed, including those offered on the Day of Atonement.

ATONEMENT

Even article 21 of the Belgic Confession, which Sherif read, goes by the name: The Atonement. So, I hope you’re starting to grasp just how central this event is.

Last week we looked at the priest’s need to first atone for his own sin before he could do so for the people. We also looked at atonement at a very basic level under the idea of covering— 1) atonement covers over the trespasses of one party, and 2) atonement covers the justified wrath of the other party due to those very trespasses. So, this atonement deals with covering both our sin and God’s wrath.

Today, we’re looking more directly at how Leviticus 16 deals with atonement for the congregation. We’ll look at by way of two goats and their opposite trajectories. We’ll also deal with the propitiation and expiation and how these goats address both. 

READ: Leviticus 16:7-10

Then [Aaron] shall take the two goats [these were the goats two goats taken from the people for a sin offering] and set them before the Lord at the entrance of the tent of meeting. And Aaron shall cast lots over the two goats, one lot of the Lord and the other lot for Azazel. And Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for the Lord and use it as a sin offering, but the goat on which the lot fell for Azazel shall be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement over it, that it may be sent away into the wilderness to Azazel. 

A SMALL THING TO COME BEFORE A HOLY GOD

I wonder what Charlie, some guy who likely lives down the street, might think concerning the book of Leviticus, this entire sacrificial system, and specifically this annual Day of Atonement. 

Most likely Charlie isn’t thinking about it and hasn’t thought much about it. He slept in today. It’s Sunday, and he just happens to work a job where he has weekends off. Later he’ll perhaps mow the grass and watch some March Madness college basketball. But I doubt that Charlie’s thinking about Leviticus. And perhaps many who just happen to be in churches this morning aren’t thinking about it either.

Our culture tends to see it as a small thing to come into God’s presence. Being a God of love, God just naturally accepts everyone. He’s automatically pleased with you. 

We know such is how most people think because if you go to any given funeral, odds are that regardless of how the deceased spent their life, regardless of whether they had any relationship with God at all, much less a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus, the conversation in most circles will be something like: 

Well, aunt Sally’s in a better place. Ole Bob, I bet he’s up there playing the round of his life. Miss Betty’s finally free of that pain and suffering. It’s assumed by most, at least verbally, that if there’s a heaven, everyone’s going. And when they get there, they’ll be doing whatever their favorite activity here on earth was.

So, when Charlie and the rest of the world, and even many in church this morning come across such an elaborate sacrificial system, not to mention the hundreds of laws recorded right here in Leviticus, they scoff. “What God would ever command or devise such jumping through hoops. And if there is such a God who requires such jumping through hoops in order to appease him, then He doesn’t deserve my attention, much less my affection.” 

Such an attitude is because they think it a light thing to come before a holy God, that is, if they give any thought to God at all.

EXPIATION AND PROPITIATION

But let me just put this out there in case any of you wrestle this. If it’s such a small thing to come before this holy God, then why did Jesus have to die on a gruesome bloody cross? That’s where our two goats come in, as well as our two terms: expiation and propitiation.

Expiation has to do with removal. We can’t come into God’s holy presence with our sin. God is too pure. We’d be disintegrated. Our sin must be cleansed. It must be completely removed. 

Propitiation, on the other hand, has to do with assuaging God’s righteous wrath towards the sinner. Now, if we merely think of sin as making a mistake, then this by no means makes sense. How could God be so incensed by your and my mess ups? Talk about someone who has a serious issue with temper and patience! 

But sin isn’t a mistake. Sin is blatant rebellion. It’s treason. Sin is a willful act to overthrow God’s order and thus His kingdom. And because He is loving and righteous, He better be angry about it, because my rebellion harms others. And so does yours. The father who doesn’t get angry about the deliberate mistreatment of one of their kids, is a sorry excuse for a father. Don’t tell me that such a father is loving. But our heavenly Father refuses to turn a blind eye to such behavior because He indeed loves His children.

CASTING LOTS

So, back to our goats. Notice in Leviticus 16:7, that both the goats begin at the entrance to the tent of meeting. That’s significant, and we’ll return to it. Then, in verse 8, Aaron casts lots over them to determine which goat is for the Lord and which goat is to be sent into the wilderness. 

First, what’s the purpose of casting lots? Casting lots, for those who might not know, is a sort of rolling of dice to determine who gets to go first. In our case here, with the two goats, most are probably thinking, if the one who gets to go first is the one who gets slaughtered, then I’ll pass. Let the other one go first. 

SOVEREIGN CHOICE

We often think of casting lots as leaving something up to random chance. The Bible, in Ecclesiastes specifically, does say that time and chance happens to all. But the writer is not suggesting that time and chance is random and outside of God’s sovereignty. In fact, the same author makes it clear that God has set a time for every matter under heaven. So whatever time and chance mean, they don’t stand outside of God’s sovereign purpose. Even in Proverbs we read that the lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord. 

Thus, the entire purpose for casting lots, of which the priest would have pulled out their specially consecrated pair of dice—the Urim and the Thummim—was to determine God’s will in the matter. So, casting lots for these goats was to get God’s answer as to which goat was to be for the Lord and which would be sent away. There was nothing in the goats themselves to distinguish one from the other, only God’s sovereign purpose.

FIRST GOAT: SIN OFFERING

The first goat, to which the lot fell to, would be presented as a sin offering for the people. If we jump down to verse 15 and following, the blood of that goat was brough inside the veil to the Most Holy Place and that blood would be sprinkled on and before the face of the Mercy Seat. The blood would also be sprinkled on the tent of meeting itself, and it would be sprinkled on the four horns of the altar.

So, what does this first goat have to do with expiation and propitiation? Well, for one, the blood is used for cleansing. In chapter 17:11, we’re also told that it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s soul. So, there’s something, at least symbolic, about the blood of an innocent substitute being used to cleanse the guilty sinner. That’s expiation, the removal of sin. 

But also, because the wages of sin is death, justice has been done, and God’s wrath has been satisfied. That’s propitiation. God’s righteous disposition is no longer against but for the sinner because the penalty has been paid.

SECOND GOAT: EXILE

So, what about the second goat? Well, he got to go free right? Well, perhaps. But more likely there’s something else going on here. To get a better picture of what that is, let’s look at verses 21 and 22. 

And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins. And he shall put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness. The goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area, and he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness. 

The ESV likely doesn’t capture the end of verse 22 very well by stating he shall let the goat go free. While the word used here can mean that, it’s likely better translated, and he shall send the goat into the wilderness. The second goat isn’t set free so much as it is sent away.

We can better understand this, by considering the major themes of the Bible’s storyline, which we’ve been seeking to do on Wednesday evenings. 

BIBLICAL STORYLINE

Look back at verse 7. Where do these goats start out? At the entrance of the tabernacle. Now, if we were to back up to Genesis 3, after they sinned, what happened to Adam and Eve? They were driven out east of the Garden Sanctuary. Do you remember which way the tabernacle faced? East. The entrance was on the east side. So, to enter the tabernacle would be towards the west. 

In Genesis 4, we find that Cain and Abel were likely bringing offerings to the Garden entrance. But they could go no further because of the cherubim. After Cain rose up and killed Abel, however, he ended up further from the Garden, further east into the barren wilderness.

OPPOSITE TRAJECTORIES

Well, that’s what’s going on with these two goats. They’re on opposite trajectories. They both begin at the entrance outside the tabernacle. But the first goat enters by its blood into the very presence of God. While the second goat, loaded down with the sins of the people is driven further into exile, further east into an uninhabited or literally, a cut off land—a land completely cut off from God’s presence and all the blessings that come with such. Do you know what such a place is? Hell. Hell is absolute exile from God. Those living apart from God now, have no clue just how horrifying complete exile will be.

2ND GOAT PROPITIATION

So, how does this goat affect propitiation and expiation? Similar to the first goat, this second goat bears the penalty sin deserves but in a fuller sense. Understand that physical death is not the full penalty for sin. 

God told Adam that on the day he ate from the forbidden tree he would surely die—or literally, he would die-die. How was that penalty enacted? Exile. Adam was removed from God’s immediate presence. But in God’s mercy and grace, Adam didn’t receive the fullness of the penalty he deserved. Yes, physical death is part of it. But physical death is nothing compared to what Revelation refers to as the second death. So, God’s wrath is portrayed as being satisfied in this goat’s complete exile.

2ND GOAT EXPIATION

But the second goat didn’t just receive the punishment of exile, it symbolically removed the people’s sin by carrying their sins away. That’s expiation. When this goat went into exile, it carried away the people’s sin as far as the east is from the west. That’s Psalm 103.

Psalm 103 points back to what the Day of Atonement anticipated, as well as points forward to this event finally realized in the person of Christ. As far as the east is from the west, so far does the Lord remove our transgressions from us. 

JESUS’ PROPITIATION AND EXPIATION

That’s what Jesus accomplishes on the cross—satisfying the wrath of God towards sin and completely removing our sin from before God’s face. It’s symbolized in the stretching out of his hands on the cross but actualized in His Father turning His back on the Son. My God, My God, why have you forsaken me. Jesus endures the fullness of the exile you and I deserve, and in doing so, he carries our sins away completely.

So, if you’re in Christ, when God looks on you, He doesn’t see sin. He sees Christ. Your sin has been removed. 

BUT!!! There are two things that must be said regarding this. 

ARE YOU IN CHRIST

First, are you truly in Christ. Is it evident in your life? Are you bearing the fruit of the Spirit? Because this removal of sin and satisfaction of God’s wrath towards sin is only for those who are truly in Christ, who come in recognition that they not only need to be cleansed, but that God’s wrath needs to be removed. If you are among the camp that thinks such is light thing to come before a holy God, it’s very likely you’re not in Christ. The Bible is quite clear of God’s stance towards sin. And get this, God doesn’t throw the sin into hell; He casts the sinner into hell. Jesus opened wide his arms inviting you to receive his payment in your place, so that you need not be utterly exiled for all eternity.

NEED FOR SANCTIFICATION

Second, while God doesn’t look on you in your sin, it is understood that you and I still sin and need to be conformed to the image of Christ. We are to progressively move toward the image which God sees in us in Christ. As Paul says in Colossians, You have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Now, put to death what is earthly in you. In other words, you and I need to start genuinely looking like we truly are in Christ. Sanctification is not optional.

RESPONSE

The Day of Atonement was marked not only by the sacrifices God himself provided, but there was to be a response from the people. Verse 30, it was to be a day of solemn rest and denying oneself, likely in the form of fasting. 

The first half of this response was to be a solemn remembrance of the sin that required the Lord to go to such lengths. So, whatever this looks like for us, at the very least it suggests that we should have regular occasions where we enter a time of confession and mourn over our sin and the sins of others. 

The other half of the response is that of dying to self. Whether that means a regular practice of fasting, I don’t know. But what I do know, is that the only way your life is hidden with Christ in God, is if you have died to self, meaning you’re no longer living for you; you’re living for Christ.

FEAST OF TABERNACLES / PALM SUNDAY / CELEBRATION

But the Day of Atonement was not a stand-alone event; celebration always followed. If we jump to chapter 23, we find that the Day of Atonement took place on the 10th day of the seventh month. Then, beginning on day 15 of the same month, there was the feast of tabernacles. Verse 40 reads as follows: And you shall take on the first day, the fruit of splendid trees, branches of palm trees and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days. 

While Palm Sunday took place immediately before Passover, Jesus’ triumphal entry cried out that the true Day of Atonement was here. Not only had the Messianic King arrived, but so too Our Great High Priest. He had come to make the once for all sacrifice for sin. But he wasn’t bringing bulls and goats. He was coming as the Lamb, offering up his own body.

As High Priest, he would carry his own blood through the veil of the true tent in order to secure eternal redemption for us. And as the man in readiness, he carries our sins away as far as the east is from the west. For that, you and I celebrate!

THE DOOR

I mentioned at the beginning, how some look at this elaborate sacrificial system and see it as nothing but a bunch of unnecessary hopes to have to jump through in order to appease God. 

Well, there’s no elaborate set of hoops you and I must jump through. Only a door. And there’s no jumping involved. Because this door lies in the lowest place of all—the valley of humiliation. This door is nothing other than the entrance to a grave—the very tomb in which our dear Savior was laid.

TWO GOATS RESPONSE

There were two goats for which lots were cast. The one entered God’s holy presence, but to do so, it had to die. The other was sent into permanent exile loaded down under the tremendous weight of sin, never to come into God’s presence again. That exile is nothing short of hell.

Let me ask: which goat are you?
To enter God’s presence, you must die with Christ and die to sin.
Sadly, most will choose exile rather than dying to self. 

Lots were cast. There was nothing that made one goat more acceptable than the other. Just as there is nothing in you that makes you more or less acceptable to God than someone else. Your sins aren’t greater; they aren’t less.

Lots were cast. There was nothing to differentiate one goat from the next… except this: one goat died; one goat wandered.
Your response will show which one you are.

INTRODUCTION: 

Leviticus 16:1-6

Last week we looked at the context of Leviticus asking this question: Who is able to approach, much less fellowship, with a consuming fire. I believe that very much sums up the entire issue at stake, which the book of Leviticus seeks to resolve. 

A HOLY GOD:

That question was presented in our call to worship passage—Isaiah 33:14. Who among us can dwell with consuming fire? Many balk at a text like this, or avoid it, or seek to explain it away by offering some cutesy understanding of this consuming quality of God to be nothing more than His burning love for His people. While there may be a modicum of truth in such a thought, the intent of such a sentiment is to circumvent any notion of the fear of the Lord. But the reason people lack a proper understanding of the fear of the Lord is because it is grounded in nothing less than God’s holiness. 

People of the flesh don’t like the idea of a holy God. We tend to prefer a cuddly God who’s more like a gentle grandpa. Well, the God of the Bible is gentle and loving… but He’s also ferocious like a lion. Our God is indeed a consuming fire. And to approach Him is to have every impurity burned away like dross. Which means, if our whole being is corrupt and impure, then to come before such a holy God means that the entirety of who we are in our fallen flesh will be utterly consumed with nothing remaining.

LEVITICUS AS A RESPONSE:

Leviticus, as I mentioned last week, is a response… a resolution to this dilemma. From the various sacrifices, to the cleanliness laws, and even the holiness laws which show up in the second half of this book, the whole of Leviticus seeks to deal with this question of how you and I, in our fallen condition, can ever dwell and have fellowship with this holy God.

It has been argued by some—and I believe rightfully so—that Leviticus is the central book of the Pentateuch, that is, the Five Books of Moses. One day, perhaps in class, we’ll look at that more closely.

Not only is Leviticus the central climatic book of the Five Books of Moses, Leviticus 16, The Day of the Atonement, is the central chapter of Leviticus, which means whatever is taking place here in this chapter is not merely significant; this chapter—this Day of Atonement—seeks to resolve, or demonstrate just how—at least at this point in history—just how the Lord has resolved our greatest dilemma that keeps us form Him. But even more so, this chapter points to how God resolves such for all eternity in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Today, we’re going to focus on two things:
First, we need to look at the problem that arose since our reading in chapter 9 last week: The defiling of the tent and the defiling of the priesthood.
Second, we’ll begin to look at the (temporary) solution: the cleansing of the tent and the cleansing of the priesthood. And we’ll look at this under the term or idea of atonement.

THE PROBLEM:

The very first words in our passage remind us that we have a problem. Chapter 16 beginning at verse 1. The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they drew near before the Lord and died, and the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron your brother not to come at any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat that is on the ark, so that he may not die. For I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat.

ALL SCRIPTURE:

Most people tend to think of the book of Leviticus as nothing more than a list of obsolete rules that have no consequence or significance for believers today. But not only is that not true—such an attitude arises from a very low view of Scripture—the same Scripture of which Paul wrote, “all of it is breathed out by God and profitable to make the man of God complete for every good work.” So, whatever our thoughts are on books like Leviticus and Numbers, and Song of Songs, and Nahum, we need to square that with Paul’s words in 2 Timothy.

NARRATIVE BACKGROUND:

While Leviticus is saturated with regulations, the narrative, that is the over-arching story, frames this list of rules, not the reverse. The laws laid out in Leviticus, and such would be true of all of Scripture, find themselves within a narrative framework. They are given to a people based on where they fell within that narrative. An easy example is the Ten Commandments. 

When are they given? Not before God ransomed His people out of bondage, but after. Now, if you are to truly be my people, the Lord says, and I your God, then this is what that looks like. To ignore God’s commandments is to disregard His Lordship and reject what it means to be His people. 

SHEKINAH CONTEXT:

Leviticus may have a bunch of regulations, but those regulations are part of a narrative context. Last week we began with an issue brought up in the first verse of chapter 1. The tabernacle had been set up, but due to the Shekinah glory of the Lord, no one, not even Moses, was able to enter. The tabernacle served as a dwelling place for God, but it had not yet become a tent of meeting in which the people of God, or more precisely, the people’s intermediary, could enter God’s presence. 

The answer was the sacrificial system presented in the first 9 chapters—chapter 9 ending with Aaron and Moses finally entering the tabernacle, Aaron, the priest, lifting his hands to bless the people, and the glory of the Lord appearing to all the people, consuming the sacrifices. And the people fell on their faces in worship. 

NADAB AND ABIHU:

Well, we only need to read the very next verse, the first verse in Leviticus 10 and see that as glorious as chapter 9 ended with Aaron entering the Lord’s presence, to do so was not to be taken lightly. Leviticus 10 begins like this: Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them. And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. 

APPLICATION:

Did I cover yet, that our God is a consuming fire? Yeah. Our God is a consuming fire. If you take away nothing else from this short series, I hope you get that, because apart from grasping a genuine sense of God’s holiness, you will never turn, at least not in a saving way, to His provision for you to shield you from His fierce holiness.

And get this; even on this side of the cross, our God is still a consuming fire. Jesus’ sacrifice hasn’t changed God’s nature. God is immutable; He doesn’t change. You seek to approach God apart from penitent faith in His prescribed sacrifice of His precious Son, you will most certainly be consumed—consumed for an eternity. 

UNCLEANNESS:

The cleanliness laws in chapters 11-15, find their context in the sobering event that took place in chapter 10. But what’s more, Leviticus 16 is a part of those cleanliness laws. In fact, I think it’s safe to say that Leviticus 16 is the capstone of the cleanliness laws, because what has become unclean and defiled is nothing less than the abode in which God dwells among his people. The tabernacle itself has become unclean due to Nadab and Abihu’s irreverent presumptuous act.

To help you see that the cleanliness acts have everything to do with the Lord’s dwelling in His people’s midst, especially in regard to that of the tabernacle, all we need to do is turn back a page to chapter 15 verse 31. 

SEPARATE:

Thus—referring to the cleanliness laws of the previous 5 chapters—Thus you shall keep the people of Israel separatefrom their uncleanness, lest they die in their uncleanness by defiling my tabernacle that is in their midst. 

That word, “separate,” is where we get the term Nazarite—one separated unto the Lord. While there was a special Nazarite vow, the entire people of God, in some real sense, were intended, and I would argue, still are, intended to be Nazarites—utterly consecrated to the Lord. 

NEED FOR CLEANSING:

So, the people need to avoid becoming unclean. But should they become unclean, which they inevitably will, they need to be cleansed, and the tabernacle needs to be cleansed. We can even say, the priest and priesthood needs to be cleansed, and even the furniture within the tabernacle needs to be cleansed. 

Thus the installation of this annual day of cleansing. Once a year, Aaron must first offer a sacrifice to make atonement for himself and for his house—his house being the entire priesthood. 

We’ll come back to this word atonement shortly, but for now, understand that atonement deals with resolving the issue of uncleanliness and sin. Even if we said nothing else about atonement, we can make that much out by its context.

CLEANSING THE TABERNACLE

Looking down at verse 16, we can see that atonement must be made for the Holy Place because of the uncleanness of the people of Israel and because of their transgression, and all their sins. [The priest] shall do so or the tent of meeting which dwells with them in the midst of their uncleanness. 

In verse 18, Aaron must even makes atonement for the altar that is before the Lord. In fact, in verse 20, we see that only after making atonement for himself and his household, and atonement for the Holy Place and the tent of meeting and the altar, then he shall make atonement for the people.

MORE COMPLICATED

Actually, it’s a bit more complicated than that. Because Aaron is sinful, he must first be atoned for before he can atone for the tabernacle and its furnishings. But even Aaron’s atonement is somewhat lacking due to the deficiency of this earthly tabernacle. So after atoning for the sanctuary, Aaron must again be atoned for. But the sanctuary is still not fully cleansed and requires the atoning sacrifice from the people. And then even after all this, there’s still yet the burnt offerings that are needed to atone for both Aaron and the congregation. This whole process can seem a bit dizzying, and I think that’s part of the point.

I hope you see the deficiency in this and the dilemma of why we need a greater High-Priest, a greater sacrifice, and a greater Temple in which to offer it. And Jesus is the answer to all of these, because he comes as all three of these.

TERRIBLE HOLY OF HOLIES:

Back to verse 2. Aaron is not to come at just any time into the Holy Place inside the veil. You’ll often hear this “inside the veil” referred to as the Holy of Holies or the Most Holy Place. This is where the ark of the covenant rested, and where the Lord would appear in the cloud over the mercy seat. It is quite possible that this Most Holy place is the nearest a human was able to approach the Lord’s Shekinah glory since Genesis 3 when Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden Sanctuary. 

If you think that such is an exaggeration, consider this: what was woven into the veil that guarded the entrance to the Most Holy Place? Cherubim—just as cherubim guarded the entrance into the Garden Sanctuary of Eden that prevented Adam and Eve from re-entering God’s holy presence after they sinned. And even the mercy seat or the atonement cover, had cherubim guarding the ark of the covenant. 

CHERUBIM AS GRACE

Now, understanding this helps us see that the cherubim are in a very real sense and act of mercy. The cherubim weren’t so much to be feared, as terrifying as they might have been. They were to guard sinful people from God’s holiness so that they wouldn’t be consumed. And hence, we rightfully refer to that atonement cover as a mercy seat. 

The cherubim were fearsome for the purpose of guarding sinful man entering God’s presence unatoned. Because to approach God’s shekinah glory in our sinful flesh is terribly dangerous, and will likely cause you to end up like Nadab and Abihu.

At the same time, being banned from the Lord of life leaves one in a perpetual state of something less than God intended for His people. So, if Aaron, the people’s intermediary, the priest, is to go before the Lord on behalf of the people, even his sin must be dealt with first. 

So, verse 3, the way prescribed for Aaron to come into the Holy Place is with a bull for a sin offering. (The ram for the burnt offering is addressed later, actually after Aaron comes out of the Holy Place.

ATONEMENT / COVERING:

Jumping down to verse 6, Aaron shall offer the bull as a sin offering for himself and shall make atonement for himself and for his house. The shed blood of this bull, this innocent unblemished substitute is required to atonement for Aaron the priest and the priesthood.

So what exactly is atonement, which seems to be the universal translation found in all our English Bibles. It may be helpful to mention that this idea of atonement is found in our word mercy seat. Atonement and mercy seat are derived from the same word. So our understanding of one will better help us to understand the other.

KAPHAR

The word translated atone or atonement is the verb “to cover”—pronounced kaphar in the Hebrew. Yom Kippur is the Day of Atonement, or we might say, “The Day of Covering.” Now we need to be careful in confining the use of a word to its etymology. But sometimes etymology is more helpful than others. And in this case, I think it’s highly significant. Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement has everything to do with that of covering; it’s a covering over of our sin before a holy God so that we are not consumed.

Hebrew has another word for “cover” that shows up more frequently, and this other word has nothing to do with sin. But our word for atonement, Kaphar, specifically has to do with covering over sin. Atonement is a covering of sin and all the uncleanliness that goes with it in such a way as to remove such sin from God’s face. Atonement also serves to appease or cover the wrath that such transgression rightfully deserves. 

Now, of course, God has better vision than you and me. Nothing is hidden from his sight; everything is exposed and laid bare. So, how are we to make sense of this. How can something be covered from God’s face? And what possible covering could suffice to shield sinful people from God’s righteous wrath, while also allowing them into His holy presence?

Well, out of the 104 times this word “kaphar” is used, only 3 times does it not necessarily deal directly with our sin before God. And each of those 3 instances shine quite a bit of light on our understanding of this word as it relates to our sin before a holy God.

PROVERBS 16:14

In reverse order, the last of these uses of kaphar, which doesn’t necessarily have to do with our sin before a holy God, shows up in Proverbs 16:14. A king’s wrath is a messenger of death, and a wise man will appease it. This covering of the king’s wrath involves some sort of appeasement. Such is what a wise man does in order not to be in disfavor with the king.

JACOB APPEASES ESAU

Perhaps the easiest and most helpful of these occurrences is in Genesis 32 when Jacob is returning home, and he fears his brother Esau. If you recall why Jacob went away in the first place, it was because Jacob had cheated Esau out of his birthright and blessing. Esau made plans to kill Jacob, so Rebecca, their mother, sent Jacob away for his own safety. So, now that Jacob is having to face Esau, 

Jacob comes up with a plan that he hopes will appease the wrath of his brother. He sends a multitude of livestock ahead of him as a gift for Esau: two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, thirty milking camels and their calves, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys.

COVER HIS FACE:

Genesis 32:20, which also has our word “kaphar,” expresses Jacob’s intent for this gift. Perhaps I may appease him with the present that goes ahead of me, and afterward I shall see his face. Perhaps he will accept me. Again, the word, appease, is our word, kaphar, “to cover.” I want you to hear how the second half of this verse reads literally. This is my best attempt of a strictly literal translation:

I will cover (there’s our word)— I will cover his face with the offering that walks before my face, and following after, thus I will see his face. Perhaps he will lift my face. Jacob’s hope was that his offering, his gift, would cover over the wrong he had done to Esau, and that it would cover over the anger Esau had towards Jacob, because of Jacob’s wrong against him. And both of these aspects are needed to bring about reconciliation. 

AT-ONE-MENT:

Our English word atonement captures it beautifully: at-one-ment. It means to be at one with one another. So, while the day of atonement might literally mean the day of covering, the word atonement seeks to express the result of that covering. 

And do you recall Jacob’s words when Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him? That seeing his older brother’s face was like seeing the face of God. Because Esau had received Jacob favorably.

Jacob’s face had been lifted up by Esau. Before, Jacob’s face was cast down in fear and shame for his transgression against Esau. But now Jacob could look at Esau face to face… and live.

NOAH:

The last use of kaphar I’d like to look at, which is actually the earliest use, is when God spared Noah and his family from the flood of His wrath. Noah was instructed to make an ark—a box, not a boat—and to cover it with pitch both inside and out. 

Again, this word for cover, isn’t the normal Hebrew word for cover, but our word for atonement. In fact, even the word translated “pitch” is from this same verb most often translated as atonement. Noah is told to cover the ark with covering. 

The normal word for cover, which shows up in the very next chapter, will be used when the waters of wrath cover even the mountains. But the covering on the ark itself was an atonement type covering that shielded Noah and his family from God’s righteous wrath poured out in the flood. And it shielded Noah’s sin and uncleanness from God. 

Why? So that humanity might continue on the earth until the final perfect atonement came, where sinful humanity could be perfectly reconciled and at-one with God. 

High Priestly Prayer

Isn’t that what our great high-priest, Jesus prays for in his High-Priestly prayer in John 17? That we would be one with him… and through him… with the Father? In Christ, we are not just one with each other, but at-one with the God-head through Christ our intermediary.

JESUS, OUR ATONEMENT

That’s the atonement that Jesus provides for us. He makes us at-one with God by covering, with his blood and righteousness, our sin and God’s wrath.

So long as you are not at-one with God, you’re at enmity with Him. There’s no middle ground. You’re either reconciled or not.

No amount of bull’s blood or blood from any other beast could ever truly grant us at-one-ment with God. No number of livestock could ever suffice as a gift, like Jacob offered Esau, to cause our faces to be lifted, where we can gaze on the face of God in all His holiness and live. So Jesus presented himself as the true unblemished Lamb, and it is his blood that covers us and washes us clean.

And understand, it was the priest’s role as intermediary to make atonement for the people. The priest is the only one deemed Messiah in the entire Pentateuch. Leviticus is the first place where we come across the word Messiah, and it refers specifically to the high priest.

So while Jesus comes as the Messianic King, in the wisdom of God, he also comes as the wise high priest who appeases the wrath of the King of Proverbs 16:14.

Like the ark, which needed to be covered in and out with a covering of protection, the tabernacle needed a special covering to shield it from God’s holy presence. And that covering was nothing less than blood.

But no earthly sanctuary made by the hands of sinful men could ever serve as the meeting place in which God’s people could truly be at-one with Him. Try as we may, we could never cleanse it thoroughly enough.

But what this earthly sanctuary pointed to was the more perfect heavenly tabernacle which Jesus as our High-Priest entered to offer up his perfect sacrifice, himself.

From the cross, Jesus, our older brother, bowed his face in death… that he might lift ours… to his… to behold the very face of God.