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:
There’s truly no greater holiday for the believer than the Lord’s Day following Good Friday. But why is the resurrection such a big deal to us who are in Christ? Well, the resurrection is our hope. Who cares if your sins are forgiven if you’re just going to rot in the ground away from the presence of God. We need this hope. But when I say, “hope,” I’m not using hope as the world does. Ours is an objective hope.
We’re going to be in Mark’s gospel, chapter 16, looking at Hope Resurrected. How the resurrection:
1) offers the objective hope of a new day
2) speaks hope into our current fallen condition
3) assures us of the hope of a great exchange
4) vindicates from death and shame
and 5) calls for a response that proves such is truly our hope.
Mark 16:1-8
I. OFFERS OBJECTIVE HOPE FOR A NEW DAY (v.1-2)
First, the resurrection offers the objective hope of a new day. Verses 1 and 2.
After the horrific events of Friday, and a day of rest to dwell on those events, the sun comes up, and a new day begins, a new week dawns.
We love the hope of tomorrow. It’s embedded in our culture. We write books and movies about it. We sing songs about how Tomorrow’s Gonna Be a Brighter Day. We take out loans on what we can’t afford today because tomorrow, surely something’s got to give. Or at least I hope so. But on what objective grounds?
We know such is mostly an empty hope. That’s why, as much as we hope for a better tomorrow, we also dread that same tomorrow, living in fear of what tomorrow might actually hold. The bills that will become due. The relationship on the brink of falling apart. The health that can only last but so long. So we cover tomorrow over with fig leaves trying to hide tomorrow from view with our endless distractions.
But the empty tomb doesn’t offer the same futile wishful kind of hope that the world seeks solace in. This hope is grounded in an historic event, an objective reality that there will indeed be a resurrection of the dead.
Now, I find it a bit ironic that these women had come to anoint the Anointed One. But notice, these are the same women who had supported and ministered to Jesus along the way. And they are now the first to the tomb, purchasing aromatic spices out of their own purses, that they might continue that ministry.
As soon as the Sabbath’s over, very early in the morning of the first day of the week, they’re on their way to minister to their Lord’s dead body.
But this first day of the week is significant. It points to a New Creation. Why does that matter? Because there’s something terribly wrong with the Old. The resurrection offers objective hope of a New Creation.
Don’t tell me the world doesn’t long for a New Creation, that people are somehow satisfied with the present order of things. Read the news? Drive through your neighborhood? You don’t need to go far to see the need for a New Creation. You need only to enter the doors of your home, and if we’re honest, look through the window of our own soul.
The resurrection promises something better, something uncorrupted, that won’t decay, that’s no longer broken.
But these women weren’t going with a sense of hope. If anyone was aware of the current brokenness and need for New Creation, it was them. They had watched—from a distance—their Lord’s suffering as he poured out his life on the cross.
But little did they know that life that was poured out like a drink offering, watered the thirsty ground. New life was about to sprout. They weren’t yet hopeful in their approach to the tomb. Instead, they ask, Who will roll away the stone? Which leads to our second point.
II. SPEAKS HOPE INTO OUR CURRENT FALLEN CONDITION (v. 3-4)
The resurrection speaks hope into our current fallen condition. Verses 3-4. And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large.
Mark’s is the only gospel that raises the question, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the door of the tomb.” While there is more loaded in this question than we can cover this morning, at the very least Mark is actually raising another question to the reader: “Where are the men?”
So, Jenny was preparing some Baalbaki yesterday, which requires a jar of sauerkraut. Which she wasn’t able to open. So, someone decided he wanted to show off his budding man strength. It was quite a humorous fiasco to watch. Rarely boring at the Lauder’s. To make a long story short, after striking the glass jar with a metal knife, we decided someone else would open the jar where such escapades weren’t needed.
The point being, while God has designed men and women both in His image, He has designed us differently—to compliment one another. Why were the women asking who will roll away the stone? Because it’s heavy. The text even makes it a point to note such.
Now Mark’s point is not at all about physical strength, as if this is some slight to the women. Rather the opposite. All the valiant men had fled. And that’s exactly what Mark is intending to draw our attention to.
There are specific responsibilities that God has tasked to men. And the failure of such responsibility shows up as early as chapter 3 of the Bible. When Eve was deceived by the snake, where was Adam? Certainly not protecting his wife. Certainly not laying down his life for her, like Christ did for His bride.
[Now, if you take these accounts as a slight against women, then you’ve allowed the culture to define your anthropology rather than God’s Word, or even His design.]
Women aren’t called to lay down their lives for their husbands. Men are to be the warriors who lay down their lives for them. Women are given a different complimentary role that is every bit as godly and Christ glorifying. Nevertheless, those roles are different.
These women are ministering to their Lord’s dead body—or at least that’s their intent. But all the male disciples have abandoned ship.
The resurrection reminds us of our fallen condition, highlighting once again the failure of the disciples, and calling us as readers to look introspectively at just how we are faring as disciples. These three women have replaced Jesus’ inner circle of three—Peter, James, and John.
Three men were invited into the garden to watch with Jesus as he prayed—but instead they slept. Now, three women are entering a different garden to watch over their Lord’s dead body. These women, who don’t even have the strength in themselves to roll away the huge stone, have mustered the courage the men lacked.
The fact that there’s a resurrection, means a death took place—a death owing to our sin. But so long as we justify and excuse our failures, the resurrection holds no promise for us other than a wishful prolonged existence in our fallen condition. Do you really want that? An eternity living in the filthy rags of our sin? Well that takes us to our next point…
III. ASSURES US OF THE HOPE OF THE GREAT EXCHANGE (v. 5)
The resurrection assures us of the hope of the great exchange. Verse 5. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed.
When we dropped Cheyenne off for college back in the Fall, we found ourselves running around picking up last minute items for her dorm before going to the New Student Commencement ceremony. Between the traveling and the exhaustion of the busy day, I found myself holding a sleeping 3-year-old as we scanned the aisles of Walmart for what she needed.
Suddenly, my shirt begins to feel warm and then unexpectedly wet. We had already checked out of the motel room. So, we made a quick trip to the van to grab a fresh shirt for myself, and a change for the baby. No shower—just a quick swap—a soiled garment for a clean one. And that’s how we have to present ourselves at the commencement ceremony.
Well, the change of raiment we need, is not due to a wet toddler. And the clothing swap we need to stand before God, requires something much more than one can accomplish by digging something out of a suitcase.
Let me ask, why does Mark refer to this angel as a young man? Surely Mark knew. Don’t tell me, he’s the only gospel writer who thought this was just some young man who happened to wander into the tomb and took up a seat where Jesus had previously lay.
We know it’s not because Mark prefers not to refer to these angelic messengers as angels, because the other five times they show up in his gospel, he calls them such.
So why here does he refer to this particular angel as a young man? Well, that takes us back to chapter 14:51-52 and the account of the young man who ran away naked.
Now, before I lose any of you, I’m not at all suggesting that the young man who fled and the angel sitting here in the tomb are the same. But Mark is a literary craftsman, inspired by the Holy Spirit, and he is seeking to make literary connections to express in pictures that which mere propositions cannot.
Mark has chosen a few select words to use only a couple of times in order to connect events in the reader’s mind. There are only two places in Marks’ entire gospel in which this particular word for young man is used. And that’s the young man in chapter 14 who flees, and the angel here in chapter 16.
But there’s more, which our English translations fail to capture. Mark uses another term to state that they are dressed a particular way, and he uses that term only in referring to these two young men. One has a linen cloth cast around him, the other a white robe.
Using this literary device, Mark expects us to connect the two young men.
Turn to chapter 14:51-52 and see if you can follow me on this. And a young man followed [Jesus], with nothing cast about him but a linen cloth. And they seized him, but he left the linen cloth and ran away naked.
I mentioned Friday, that initially the disciples had left everything to follow Jesus. Now, they were leaving everything behind, including the shirts off their backs to flee. No longer following but fleeing to their shame. Such is the point of the young man running away naked.
Our disloyalty to the Lord, leaves us naked and shamed. That’s what took place in the first Garden. That’s what took place in the garden of Gethsemane.
So, what happened to the linen cloth the young man left behind? I’m glad you asked. Mark’s not finished with his select use of terms. The word used for the young man’s shed linen cloth, shows up in only one other place. I bet some of you have already guessed it. It’s to cover another man who is stripped naked—One who bears the shame of his disciples disloyalty, our Lord himself.
Jesus, once robed in glory, will wear this young man’s linen cloth of shame to another man’s grave. Again, I’m not suggesting it’s the same physical cloth. But Mark intends for the reader to connect them in a literary sense.
But wait! The angel in the tomb isn’t wearing a linen cloth. He’s clothed in a white robe. You guys are perceptive! That’s exactly right.
Mark does it yet again, with his use of literary clues. The only other use of this word for white is found at Jesus’ transfiguration, when the inner circle of disciples—Peter, James, and John—witness Jesus on the mountain where his clothes became a brighter white than any launderer on earth could bleach them.
Let me try to tie this together for us. Jesus exchanged his glorious garments of righteousness, to bear the garments of shame and nakedness. But with the resurrection, he provides us with new fresh garments of glory, clothing us in his righteousness.
And notice where this young man is seated. He’s seated on the right-hand side. We know from the other gospels that there was more than one angel, but Mark wants us to recall James and John who previously requested such exalted positions—seated at the right-hand being a position of prestige and power, which is where Jesus takes his seat beside his Father.
But if you recall, when Jesus was crucified, the two men at Jesus’ right and left, weren’t James and John. But here this young man now sits at the right-hand side of where the resurrected Jesus once lay.
With this briefest account of the resurrection, Mark highlights the hope of exchange—the exchange of our filthy rags of shame for garments of glory, and our place of shame from fleeing in nakedness for an exalted position seated at the right-hand side of glory.
This young man clad in white has the honor of being the first to announce the vindication of the King, which is our next point.
IV. VINDICATES FROM DEATH AND SHAME (v. 6-7)
The resurrection vindicates from death and shame. Verse 6. And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him.
Reading the final hours of Jesus’ life is a painful experience. O it’s beautiful, but it’s painful to see our Lord looking as if He was nothing more than a failed Messiah—abandoned, rejected, scorned, shamed—all the while remaining silent before the mockers. The resurrection proclaims that we haven’t followed this Messiah in vain, that this King is the mighty One who holds the keys of death in his very hands.
The one who fashioned the tree to which he was nailed, who breathed life into the men who drove the spikes, even putting breath into the mouths of the very ones who mocked and chanted, “Crucify him!” remained on the cross, stripped naked in humiliation for all to see. Jesus was the only One fully obedient and faithful unto death. He could have come down, but he didn’t. He even allowed himself to be buried in another man’s tomb.
The resurrection is Jesus’ vindication. Jesus was judged by human courts, and His resurrection proclaimed that those human courts were wrong. And the courts of men are still wrong concerns Jesus. Jesus stood His trial before the courts of men. Now men and women of the world, prepare to stand before His court. The resurrection reminds us that justice will indeed be done.
But not only does the resurrection vindicate Jesus, who was unjustly condemned. The resurrection vindicates us who are. The verdict is that you and I apart from Christ are justly under a sentence of condemnation. But the resurrection promises something other than what we deserve. Look at verse 7. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.
Those who deserted Jesus and fled are still being referred to as disciple. Talk about GRACE! And Peter is even mentioned by name!
That the disciples failed to follow in faithfulness shouldn’t surprise us. If, in our fallen nature, we were morally capable to do so, Jesus wouldn’t have needed to die on the cross in the first place. And second, what need do you and I have for the Spirit if we are so capable without?
It’s a diminished form of Christianity, if it can even be called such, that believes we simply needed an example of what faithfulness looks like, but that such ability to morally follow Jesus already resides within everyone despite the Fall.
Discounting the doctrines of grace robs the cross of its grace. A false gospel that suggests that you and I can muster what’s needed in ourselves isn’t good news at all. Rather, it leaves one in a never-ending cycle of despair trying to accomplish that which is impossible with man.
I don’t know about you, but I find myself wrestling with Paul’s words in Romans 7. O how I need the Spirit to work in me that which my flesh cannot. The empty tomb resurrects hope!
Despite all your failures to follow Jesus in the past, the resurrection offers hope of vindication, where you and I will see our Lord. BUT… only if we continue to follow, and should we get off track, we repent and start following again. Which brings us to our last point.
V. CALLS FOR A RESPONSE THAT PROVES SUCH IS OUR HOPE (v. 8)
The resurrection calls for a response that proves such is truly our hope. Last verse, verse 8. And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.
Mark, what is the deal with this ending? And I do think that this is the original ending of Mark’s gospel. We know the other gospel accounts have the women spreading this news to the disciples. So why does Mark end with their initial silence about such amazing news?
Throughout Jesus’ ministry, he couldn’t keep the people silent. Now, the only disciples brave enough to come to the tomb—these women—are too terrified to speak!?
Perhaps the best explanation, as always, is that Mark isn’t simply recounting the events that took place. He is sharing select events in such a way as to call the reader to respond.
The resurrection calls for our response. Will you flee or follow; herald this good news or hold back in fear.
Well, someone might say, I’ll follow Jesus, doing good to others, you know, like Jesus did. That’s following. I’m not sure, Josh, where you get this idea that heralding or proclaiming the gospel to others has something to do with following Jesus.
But proclamation is indeed a major aspect of what it means to follow Jesus. Otherwise, we’re no different than those who fled in fear and shame, denying that we even know him.
You don’t think proclamation is following? What do you think Jesus did throughout his ministry? He went around proclaiming, “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the gospel.” Every other aspect of Jesus’ ministry was directly connected to that proclamation.
Proclamation is not optional if you are to follow Jesus. And with Mark’s gospel, we have the fullness of this good news: That Christ died for our sins, that he was buried, and on the third day he rose.
CONCLUSION
Back to our young man. There are many theories as to who this young man is who fled naked. I’m not going to indulge in any of them, but rather offer this suggestion. The young man is left nameless purposefully, so that the reader might place himself in his shows.
We have all fled from God to our shame. The question is whether you and I remain in that shame, bearing our filthy rags of sin, or whether we accept Jesus’ blood bought robe of righteousness; whether we continue hiding from God in our nakedness, or receive the grace that exalts us to Jesus’ side.
Hear Jesus’ words to a couple churches in Revelation. The one who conquers, I take that to mean, he who remains faithful, following Christ to the end… The one who conquers will be clothed in white garments… the one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, just as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.
This is the hope resurrected by an empty tomb vacated by the One who conquered even death.
The resurrection offers objective hope for a new day when we’re completely free from our fallen condition, clothed perfectly in the glorious image of Christ, vindicated from all our shame… and even death, all to the glory of Christ. But you must respond to this hope, taking up the cross and the charge to follow the precious Lord Jesus wherever he may lead—following him in his death that we might follow him in his resurrection.
In Christ, hope has been resurrected!
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.
INTRODUCTION:
Why Leviticus? Well for one, there is no Easter Sunday apart from Leviticus and the whole sacrificial system. It’s difficult to understand Jesus’ passion without understanding at least the central themes of Leviticus.
Second, Leviticus, in a very real sense, has everything to do with the goal of creation. What was the goal of creation? To put it simply, the goal of creation was for image-bearers to dwell and fellowship with their Creator.
FALL:
Of course, it didn’t take long for humanity’s dwelling in the presence of God to be quickly suspended and the intimate fellowship broken. Three chapters into this story, the man and woman are expelled from the beautiful garden sanctuary where the Lord walked with them in the cool of the day. From there the story only gets worse. The very next chapter, Genesis 4 finds Cain and his family even further exiled from God’s presence. Before long, humanity has become so corrupt, the Lord God has to cleanse the earth with a flood. From that time on, we don’t read about people walking with the Lord until when? The end of Leviticus (26:12). Instead, as the people grow more and more distant from the presence of God, knowledge of God becomes more and more scarce.
Here’s the thing: if we are to truly dwell and fellowship with God—if God with us is to truly become a reality, something must be done to close this ever-widening gap. So, God called a man, Abram, and over time, grew that one man into a nation, Israel. God even raised up a leader for this people, Moses. And through the leadership of Moses, God instructs the people of Israel to provide for and build a house—or more specifically, a tent, in which God might dwell in the midst of His people.
QUESTIONS:
But God is a consuming fire and humanity is corrupt, which raises three questions. 1) How can a holy God dwell in the midst of fallen creatures? 2) How can sinful humanity (even remotely) approach this awesome God? 3) Is there any possibility of genuine fellowship between God and man? And that is precisely what the book of Leviticus seeks to address. While each of these three questions are important and addressed, today, we’ll focus most of our time with number 2: Who can approach this awesome God, and how?
DILEMMA OF VERSE 1:
Look at Leviticus 1:1, The Lord called Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting.
Already, this very first verse recalls a concern raised at the end of Exodus. If you turn back a page, to the last verses in Exodus 40, Moses and the people had just finished setting up this tabernacle. The end of verse 33 says, So Moses finished the work. Echoing all the way back to Genesis when God finished the work of creation where He would dwell with humanity, and mankind would enjoy Sabbath rest with their Creator. But this work of setting up the tabernacle, which is a sort of miniature cosmos, is on this side of the fall.
So, Verse 34, Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle, And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Did you catch that? And Moses was not able to enter this tent of meeting! Whatever this is, it’s not a picture of Sabbath rest, at least, not yet.
God’s dwelling among his people, His tabernacle, is set up. But the tabernacle isn’t yet functioning as a tent of meeting.
Moses, of all people, isn’t able to enter. This same Moses who ascended the mountain into the cloud. The same Moses who beheld the Lord’s glory in the cleft of the rock. And if Moses isn’t able to enter due to this fiery glory of the Lord, then who can?
SHEKINAH:
God’s Shekinah glory has filled His dwelling place erected in the midst of the camp of Israel. And such is absolutely glorious! But realize, such is a glory seen from afar. Such is not yet a glory that can be approached.
There’s a lot of discussion regarding the Shekinah glory of God. But I wonder how many understand what it is. The word shekinahcomes from the same root as tabernacle, which simply means dwelling. The tabernacle is a dwelling place. The shekinah is the dwelling presence of God, or we might refer to it as the manifest presence of God.
Many refer to the pillar of cloud and fire as the shekinah, and that’s true, but only to the extent that such refers to God’s dwelling or tabernacling presence. When the gospel of John records concerning Jesus, and the Word became flesh and dwelt or tabernacled among us, Jesus comes as the fullness of the shekinah, the tabernacling presence of God among His people.
But to see God’s glory only from afar isn’t the goal of creation. Nor is it what God is seeking to do in setting up residency in a tent among his people. Nor is such what God has planned for us in Christ! The expectation isn’t to simply have God dwell in His people’s midst, but for fellowship. (1 John 1:1-4). Immanuel isn’t “God among us” but “God with us.”
ILLUSTRATION:
Years ago, before Jenny and I were believers, a guy rented the house across the street. I’m not even sure of his name, but maybe it was James. James was somewhat elusive. He parked in the garage. When he left, we’d see the garage door rise, the car pull out. When he came home, we’d see the garage door rise, the car pull in. The garage door immediately closing before he ever stepped out of his car. We never spoke. We never saw his face. He never came over to our house, nor we to his. Yet we lived across the street from each other, as neighbors, for a year.
IS THAT IT?
Is that what God intended when He said he would dwell in the midst of His people? Is that really the fulfillment of the goal of creation? There were signs that God had moved in. The cloud would rise; the cloud would descend. But there’s no relationship unless one can truly approach into the other’s presence.
SECURITY
What if James was a police officer, had his cruiser parked in the drive, but nothing else changed as far as our relationship. Would that be any better? Sure, my family at least has some added sense of protection and security. But is God’s protection and security really all He meant for Israel to gain by His dwelling among them?
MATERIAL BENEFIT
What if James was wealthy and footed the bill for some nice communal amenities. How many would like a neighbor like James? Look at all the benefits, added security, added luxury, and what’s more, James doesn’t take up any of your time—no demands, no expectations. He simply leaves you alone to live your life.
APPLICATION
That, sadly, is the extent of relationship many want with God. But such is a far cry from paradise regained. Let me ask? What good is the extra protection and security from God, and what good are the benefits of a wealth of material goods, if you are denied the one thing for which you were created—an intimate relationship with Him!
BUILDING GOD’S HOUSE
Back in Exodus 25:8, the Lord says to Moses, “Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst. Exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle, and of all its furniture, so you shall make it.”
Even if I had the distinct privilege of building James’ house and furnishing it, so that he’d have a place next to mine—and I’m sure many would find a bit of comfort in knowing God’s next door, BUT… if that’s all your relationship with the Lord is, a little comfort in knowing He’s near, but you never have any sort of fellowship with Him, then your relationship with God is a sorry portrait of what He desires for you. And what’s worse, it seriously belittles what He has done to provide you access to Him.
ALREADY, NOT YET
O, in this age we don’t have the fullness of this fellowship just yet. But we are to experience a degree of that intimate fellowship here and now. I want to be careful in suggesting that our experience of God is in anyway subjective (but that’s another message). What I want to get across, is that God has provided a way for you and I to have fellowship with Him now. And what’s taking place here in Leviticus is how access of that fellowship is made available.
APPROACH:
So, how does Leviticus resolve this dilemma? The sacrificial system, and more specifically, that of offerings.
Jump back to Leviticus 1 verse 2, When any one of you brings an offering to the Lord, you shall bring your offering of livestock from the herd or from the flock.
The word offering carries the idea of “approach.” Literally, it is a thing brought near. The idea of an offering is to present something to someone else. Such underscores a desire and need to approach God. The way the people were able to approach this consuming fire of a God, was to bring a gift other than themselves. But not just any gift, but a specific kind of offering which is to be offered in a prescribed manner.
As a brief overview, chapters 1-7 specify the different offerings and details how such are to be presented. We have burnt offerings, grain offerings, peace offerings, sin offerings, and guilt offerings. In chapters 8 and 9, Aaron and his sons are consecrated and make their offering before the Lord, and at the end of chapter 9 in verse 22 we see the order of sacrifice, which has important theological significance.
We’ll return to chapter 1 in a minute, but notice in chapter 9, verse 22, Then Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people and blessed them, and he came down from offering the sin offering and the burnt offering and the peace offerings.
SIN OFFERING
The order of these offerings accomplishes the following: The first offering, namely the sin offering atones for sin. The sin offering is what allows God’s people to dwell in His presence without Him consuming them. The sin offering is required before one can even begin to approach the Lord in His holiness.
PEACE OFFERING
The last offering, the peace offering or grain offering is that of enjoying a fellowship meal in God’s presence, partaking of a meal with God. There are fewer ways in which to express fellowship than enjoying a meal together. (If you recall, that was part of the issue Paul raised against Peter when Peter suddenly refrained from eating with Gentile believers, because such was to withdraw fellowship. The gospel is meant to unite in fellowship, not divide. The gospel unites us first with God, so that we can fellowship with Him, and in turn, unites us with God’s people, His family, and as such, we should fellowship with one another. That’s what we did this past Wednesday. We ate a meal together and enjoyed each other’s company and conversation.)
BURNT OFFERING
What I want to focus on, is this middle offering, the burnt offering, which is the first offering addressed in Leviticus, and I believe the reason for such is because it addresses the impending dilemma: How can sinful humanity even remotely approach this God who is a consuming fire? That’s the question Exodus left us with. And it is the question Leviticus first seeks to answer.
Work your way back to chapter 1, verse 3. If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer a male without blemish. He shall bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting, that he may be accepted before the Lord.
Notice first that the tabernacle, when the prescribed offering is presented, becomes a tent of meeting. It’s no longer simply the dwelling place of God, but where God meets with the worshipper.
UNBLEMISHED
But what does it take to draw near? An unblemished substitute. This word, unblemished, means “perfect” and “complete.” When used of people, it’s usually translated as blameless. The reason you and I need a substitute to approach God, is because we aren’t blameless. We have proven such time and again.
But it’s not enough to say that the animal must be innocent. We know that animals aren’t sinful. But that doesn’t mean just any beast will suffice for a substitute. The animal must be “whole.” Chapter 22 records what constitutes an acceptable offering and what does not. To summarize, what is intended is that the animal must be full of vitality and health without defect.
Our sin brought death into God’s good creation. If we are to present an acceptable offering, it must be one that is full of life, not death. That’s partly why you and I are unable to present ourselves as substitutes. We can’t approach God in and of ourselves. To do so is to present that which is dead.
ASCENSION
Now, this idea of burnt offering needs explanation, because, although the idea is that of putting the offering on the fire so as to be burned, such can lead to a misunderstanding of the intent of this offering. The word here for burnt offering is the participle of the word to ascend or go up. In other words, the burnt offering is literally that which goes up. It goes up in smoke. It rises to the Lord as it is being burned.
Why is this significant? Because it captures the intent of the offering. The burnt offering is unique in that the entire animal is consumed on the altar’s fire in order for the whole of it to ascend to the Lord as a pleasing aroma. This is the one offering of total consecration.
This burnt offering, or rather, ascension offering is fully set-apart to ascend in smoke up to the Lord. It should not be confused with the sin offering, which is a substitute paying the penalty for sin. Rather, the beast, as a substitute is transformed, in some sense, from flesh to spirit, as it were, ascending as smoke up to heaven, the true dwelling place of God.
LAYING HANDS
The burnt offering is still a substitute. That’s what’s taking place in verse 4 with the individual’s laying hands on the head of the offering. But again, the wording here is not simply to place a hand on the sacrifice, but to lean upon or lean into the sacrifice. It carries the idea of identifying with the offering, that this offering is for me. The Lord’s acceptance of this substitute is the Lord’s acceptance of me, as the worshipper.
Verse 5, Then he shall kill the bull before the Lord, and Aaron’s sons the priests shall bring the blood and throw the blood against the sides of the altar that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting. Verse 5 is really the last active participation from the one bringing the burnt offering before turning the remaining duties over to the priests.
But this is perhaps the most vital. The worshipper is required to kill the bull before the Lord. He can’t simply bring the offering and turn it over for others to do on his behalf. He must get his hands dirty with this sacrifice, identifying with the blood on his own hands.
COSTLY APPROACH
This portrays the high cost required to approach the Lord, to enter God’s presence. The offering must be perfect, and the worshipper must identify with this costly substitute.
I hope you notice the standard required for approaching the Lord. Such is not done casually, and not without cost. As a warning, there are two ways in which one might seek to present an unfit sacrifice to the Lord.
DISCOVERED DEFECT
Let’s say you have an otherwise healthy-looking animal, but upon inspection, the priest finds some defect. One of two things took place:
Either 1) you knew about the defect and were hoping such would go unnoticed, or 2) you failed in your due diligence to ensure the quality of the offering. While the first is certainly a high-handed sin, the sin of neglect is by no means trivial. Both fail to reckon with God’s holiness, as if approaching God is a small matter, and as such, belittles God’s worth. Neither should presume that the Lord will accept them, or that they might somehow approach God with such a heart. Such is the opposite of David, who declared, “I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing.”
ILLUSTRATION
My family has enjoyed the series, All Creatures Great and Small, based on a rural veterinarian practice in 1940’s Yorkshire. In one of the early episodes, a financially struggling family found out their bull was no longer fit for breeding. Otherwise, the bull appeared perfectly healthy. The family sought to sell the bull before the truth of the bull’s health was discovered. Such is the high-handed kind of sin that seeks to get one over on the omniscient God. We even have an example of such in the New Testament with Ananias and Saphira, both who were struck down for their dishonesty in offering their best.
UZZAH
As for the sin of neglect, which also belittles God’s holiness, we need only to think of Uzzah and the ark of the covenant. King David was having the ark brought to Jerusalem, but those who brought the ark neglected the Lord’s prescribed way in which they were to carry the ark. Rather than carrying it by poles, they put it on a cart pulled by oxen. When the oxen stumbled, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark to keep it from falling. And the Lord struck Uzzah down for his irreverent carelessness.
I confess, when I first read this, I became a bit incensed, frustrated over how a loving God could strike down Uzzah for doing what seemed like an honorable act—keeping this holy piece of furniture from falling on the filthy ground. O how slow we tend to be at times to trust the Lord in all His ways, even when we don’t understand. I can hear Jesus’ words, O you of little faith.
HOLINESS
My failure was that of discounting God’s holiness as well as my sinfulness. You see, the ground wasn’t stained with sin, Uzzah’s hands were. Mud couldn’t defile the ark; only sinful man could. The true filth wasn’t the ground, but Uzzah’s hands, and my hands, and your hands.
The account of Uzzah shows just how difficult it is for God to dwell with fallen people without consuming them. God even warned Moses after the golden calf incident of such a danger when He threatened not to go with the people of Israel any longer lest He consume them on the way.
PLEASING AROMA
Alright, verse 9, the priest shall burn all of it on the altar, as a burnt offering, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord. This word “burn” is the verb form for the word incense. The priest shall burn this offering as smoke or incense to the Lord. When offered according to the Lord’s prescription, such is a pleasing aroma to the Lord, and the worshipper accepted.
CHAPTER 9
Back to chapter 9, final verses. Having offered up the offerings in accordance with the Lord’s prescribed manner, verse 23, Moses and Aaron went into the tent of meeting, and when they came out they blessed the people, and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people. And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the pieces of fat on the altar, and when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces.
AARON RESTORED
The tabernacle, God’s dwelling among His people, had truly become a tent of meeting. Moses and Aaron both entered. Notice the significance of Aaron entering the tent of meeting in the presence of the Lord. You see, Aaron had recently failed big-time, fashioning the golden calf in which the people prostituted themselves. But in His mercy, the Lord prescribed a way—a way in which sinners might enter His presence. Even after such a horrendous sin, Aaron’s service as priest of God Most High is restored.
As such, Aaron lifts his hands and blesses the people, and the people witness the glory of the Lord which consumed—or we might even say—accepted the offerings. And when the people saw it, they fell on the faces and worshipped.
CONCLUSION
How does all of this apply to us in Christ? First, notice that Jesus takes this three-fold approach to the Father. And it’s through our union with Christ, our leaning into Christ, that we approach God.
Jesus is our sin offering, our unblemished Lamb slaughtered on our behalf, so that we aren’t consumed. He took that penalty for us.
When properly understood, Jesus is also the whole burnt offering, or better referred to as the ascension offering. Jesus’ entire life was consecrated to His Father, every aspect a pleasing aroma. As such, he ascends to the Father, also on our behalf. It is through Christ that you and I approach the Father.
And Jesus is our peace/fellowship offering—the true bread offered up. While we await enjoying the marriage meal face-to-face, we do enjoy a regular fellowship meal in that of the Lord’s Supper. But even more so, as Jesus ascends to the Father, He sends His Spirit to descend upon His church, granting us the fellowship of God through the Holy Spirit.
Hear how Luke’s gospel ends similar to that of Leviticus 9:
And lifting up his hands he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple blessing God.
The disciples’ continual presence in the temple blessing God is not solely referring to their location, as much as what Jesus’ threefold sacrifice provided. The disciples could now approach this Holy God filled with joy and praise, serving once again in the restored priesthood which Adam had lost.
Realize that the church is the temple in which you and I currently approach God. Not church as in this building, but the body of believers. That’s not to diminish private prayer and devotion, but to understand God’s gift of the church to His people. And it is here where we offer up our corporate prayers and petitions as a royal priesthood.
Which is why our worship, how we worship, and even our order of worship matters. Such is not to be taken casually.
FULLY CONSECRATED
We’ll look more closely at Christ as our sin offering next week.
For now, while Jesus is our unblemished ascension offering, He is perfecting you and me to be unblemished living sacrifices fully consecrated to the Lord. That, Paul says in Romans 12, is our true spiritual worship. Everything about our lives should be sweet smelling incense to God. Yes, our prayers, but more than our prayers. In 2 Corinthians 2, Paul calls the very lives of believers, “the aroma of Christ.” But how are we to be the aroma of Christ unless we are utterly consecrated—set-apart for Him.
Which takes us back to the goal of creation. God has provided a way for us to not only dwell in his holy presence, but for intimate fellowship.
Our way back to God required the most costly gift of all, a perfect sacrifice, of which there was only one, His beloved Son, whom God did not spare, so that we might enjoy that which is most precious—fellowship with Him.