Christ in the Day of Atonement
Leviticus 16:34
Introduction.
Let us return to our Leviticus Lessons today by looking at Leviticus 16.
It may seem like we’re overlooking Leviticus 15, but its contents may be sensitive for some, so listen to it on our website later if you like.
By way of summary, there are types of ordinary and extraordinary discharges that would make one unclean.
The ordinary ones are very common and their cleansing rituals very basic.
The extraordinary ones are illnesses that can last awhile, and their cleansing rituals are slightly more ornate, though nothing as rigorous as the cleansing of leprosy.
Recall, ritual cleanness could be the result of sin, but did not have to be.
They simply represent a state of being for the individual involved.
And all the talk of cleanliness in Lev. 11-15 brings us to the Day of Atonement.
This day was to make atonement “because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions, for all their sins” (Lev. 16:16).
There are two passages in Leviticus that focus on this particular day.
In Lev. 23 there is a breakdown of the various feast days they were to observe.
But the most attention is given to the Day of Atonement here in Lev. 16.
This suggests that this day was the most holy day in the Jewish calendar.
Since it is the cleansing of all the sins of the people, that makes sense.
There are provisions throughout the year to be cleansed of sins (Lev. 4), but this day took care of all of them, the forgotten sins and that which they were unaware of.
Preview.
The Presence of the Lord.
The Priests’ Sacrifice.
The People’s Sacrifice.
The Preparation Needed.
Body.
The Presence of the Lord (16:1-2).
Entering the presence of the Lord was serious business.
It was not taken seriously by Nadab and Abihu as we are reminded here.
They had offered common fire which the Lord had not commanded them (10:1-2).
As a result, they were burned alive.
This reminds us of the grave responsibilities of the priests.
Aaron was told not to enter the Most Holy Place but once a year.
We see when later (16:29; 23:27) – the 10th day of the 7th month (Ethanim/Tishri).
And this was meant to be done every year.
What is our attitude when we enter into the presence of God?
Whenever we come to worship, are we not in His presence?
Because of Christ, we are not limited to coming to Him only once a year.
Since we have access to God through the blood of His Son, we effectively have access to Him whenever we want.
Do we come to that with a cavalier attitude or with the awe and respect that our Lord is due?
This is why many people will dress up when they come to worship—it’s partly why I do so.
I’m not saying you absolutely must dress up (tie and jacket), but there are certain extremes we want to avoid.
After all, our attitude is often reflected by what we wear and how we appear.
As we prepare externally, that helps us to prepare internally.
We’ll talk more about preparation later.
The Priests’ Sacrifice (16:3-14).
The bull as a sin (purification) offering (16:3, 6, 11, 14).
The bull was to be prepared as a sin offering for the high priest and his house, his family.
Of course, his family consisted of the priests.
The priests themselves were men who sinned and had their own uncleannesses that had to be purified before the main offering could be made.
In order to approach the Lord, you had to be holy, had to have your sins covered in a blood sacrifice.
Upon entering the Most Holy Place, the high priest was to sprinkle the blood of the bull on the mercy seat—because he needed mercy for his own sins.
The mercy seat was the lid of the ark of the covenant, where the golden cherubim wings touched.
The sins of the high priest and his family were now covered in the blood.
Our high priest is Christ.
He is the Son of God, without sin, without blemish.
He was tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin (Heb. 4:15).
That’s not to say He was never ritually unclean, but His uncleanness never stemmed from transgression against the Law.
Therefore He can sympathize with our weaknesses since He was tempted so.
Whatever the case, the fact that the high priest had to make a sacrifice for his own sins shows a weakness of the Law of Moses.
Jesus did not have to make any sacrifice for His own sins, so our High Priest is far superior than Aaron and his sons (Heb. 7:26-28).
The priestly attire and his washings (16:4, 23-24a, 26).
Throughout the ceremonial activities on the Day of Atonement, there were a couple washings and changes of clothes.
There was a practical element to the washings, where the high priest had to wash before putting on his clothes so as not to get them dirty.
But there is a ceremonial aspect, too – he had to wash because the clothes were holy and he was not to defile the clothes with his own possible uncleanness.
It was to make doubly sure he was clean.
His normal attire was very ornate showing his authority and position to the people.
But before the presence of God, his attire was simple, just linen tunic, trousers, sash, and turban.
While he may have authority over the people, he has none over God.
This showed his humility before God, a necessary attribute of the penitent—seen with Ahab (1 Kgs 21:27-29), Manasseh (2 Chr 33:12-13), and the Ninevites (Jonah 3:5-10).
We must also be humble before God, acting with humble obedience to Him.
Christ Himself showed great humility—though He were God and did not need to show humility, He did anyway, having come to earth as a man (Phil. 2:8).
The sweet incense (16:12-13).
When going into the Most Holy Place, the high priest had to burn sweet incense.
Incense is symbolic of our prayers before God.
The elders in the great throne room scene in Revelation had golden bowls full of incense “which are the prayers of the saints” (Rev. 5:8).
So when we pray, these prayers are lifted up to heaven as a sweet-smelling aroma just as the sweet smell of incense is to our olfactory sense.
When we come to God in humility asking for repentance, our prayers are required just as the incense was required at this time.
At the same time, did not Christ pray long and hard in the Garden of Gethsemane before His ultimate sacrifice? We see some of it recorded in John 17, called the High Priestly Prayer.
His prayer no doubt went up as a sweet-smelling aroma to the Father.
Of course His prayer was not of repentance, but for His glorification, His disciples and their sanctification, and for all believers and their unity.
The People’s Sacrifice (16:15-28).
The goat as a sin offering (16:5, 7-9, 15-19, 25).
Two goat kids were chosen, one for the sin offering, another as a scapegoat.
The people provided these to the high priest, and the priest cast lots to decide which would be sacrificed and which would be let loose.
The high priest was to sacrifice one of these goats, and put its blood also on the mercy seat.
This purified the people, both from ritual uncleanness but also any transgressions.
Transgressions are what we would consider sins, but can also be translated as rebellions.
Then the high priest was to come out and place the blood of the bull and the goat onto the horns of the altar (one on each corner of the square altar).
He was to make atonement for these holy elements of the tabernacle because the place also had to be holy before God.
Christ is not only our high priest, but our sacrifice, too.
We talked about that at length in the sacrifices presented in the first several chapters of Leviticus.
But we note here that Christ is indeed an end to all our sins.
Recall the blood of bulls and goats could not really forgive sins (Heb. 10:4).
There was this reminder year after year of their sins, but Christ came to forgive them fully.
He is the propitiation for our sins, the atoning sacrifice for our sins (Rom. 3:23-26).
The sacrifices made here on DoA would have been of no effect had Christ not come to die for all mankind.
These sacrifices looked forward to the day when the ultimate sacrifice would be made and all sins of the faithful would be fully and completely removed.
At the same time, these sacrifices were made outside the tabernacle, just as Christ was crucified outside the city (Heb. 13:11-12).
Heaven is our true sanctuary, and it is already cleansed for our atonement.
The scapegoat (16:10, 20-22).
We saw echoes of this in the cleansing of the leper in Lev. 14.
One bird was sacrificed, while another was set free.
Here, one goat is sacrificed while another is let loose.
The high priest was to lay both his hands on this goat and confess all the sins of the people.
I imagine that the high priest would be there all day if he were to confess each of the sins of all the people individually—and what about those he wasn’t aware of?
The Mishnah records what the high priest was to say at this time. Though not inspired, it does give us some insight that he likely did not list them all individually (how could he?). In English it’s only about 80 words.
Then this goat was to be sent away “into the wilderness by the hand of a suitable man” (16:21).
“The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to an uninhabited land; and he shall release the goat in the wilderness” (16:22) – the goat could not return as this symbolized the complete removal of sin from the people.
Christ our scapegoat.
The two goats themselves echo a resurrection narrative.
One goat is sacrificed, while another goes free.
Christ Himself was sacrificed, but He also goes free.
He took all our sins upon Him and carried them away to judgment.
1 Pet. 2:24 – who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.
2 Cor. 5:21 – For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Gal. 3:13 – Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.”)
We no longer have a need for a day of atonement, for He took all our sins on Him once and for all as both the sacrifice and the scapegoat (Heb. 9:26-28).
In a way, Jesus confessed the sins of the people on that cross: “Father forgive them, for they do not know what they do” (Luke 23:34).
Then He arose and ascended into heaven offering Himself in the heavenly sanctuary.
We as Christians must also confess sins in order to be cleansed (1 John 1:9; James 5:16).
Jesus takes care of His part, but we still have our part in His finished work.
The ram as a burnt offering (16:3, 24b).
After the scapegoat was released, the burnt offering for the people was made.
This was also done after another ceremonial washing to rid himself of the uncleanness and sin placed upon the scapegoat.
Recall, the burnt offering is an offering of atonement, indicative of a full surrender to God and bringing one closer to Him.
This can only be achieved after sin and uncleanness has been taken care of.
Christ is our burnt offering as He brings us full atonement and into full fellowship with our God.
The Preparation Needed (16:29-34; 23:26-32).
This was not just a priestly affair, but the people had to participate, too.
This was to be done at a set time of year, from the evening of the 9th day to the evening of the 10th day of Ethanim/Tishri.
The people were to “afflict their souls.”
This is often used in the context of fasting; after all, fasting is a sign of humility and contrition, sadness over one’s sins—a godly sorrow (2 Cor. 7:9-10).
They were also to do no work.
These days of rest gave them the opportunity to reflect on their lives, their sins, and their devotion to God.
The Lord promises that if one does not afflict his soul and he does work, he shall be cut off (23:29-30).
The implication is that the Lord will cut him off, since it is impossible to tell whether one had truly afflicted his soul or not.
Whatever the case, this was an act all people were to do in preparation for the Day of Atonement, not just the priest (Lev. 16 focuses on priestly actions).
These are acts of contrition, and as David said, God does not desire sacrifices alone.
Such sacrifices must be made with a “broken spirit … and a contrite heart” (Psa. 51:16-19).
The sacrifices on the Day of Atonement, or at any time really, mean nothing unless you are also sincere, recognizing your own godly sorrow.
I encourage you to find some way to help you prepare mentally for worship.
Especially in these times of uncertainty, all of our normal routines are thrown out the window.
So it’s time to develop new routines to help you prepare for worship.
My wife will listen to worship songs while getting ready on Sunday morning.
I will go over my class and sermon notes in my head.
All the while, remembering why we gather, to worship God and to honor our Lord in the Communion service.
Recall that worshiping the Creator of heaven and earth, the Savior of mankind, is no light matter so we shouldn’t treat it as such.
Fasting also may help us slow down and focus on God.
In our normally busy lives, it is often difficult to sit and focus on Him.
We have so much in our lives that demand our attention, that distract us and entertain us.
We have TV, movies, social media, sports, hobbies, school, work, friends.
So much is there to distract us, so we must take some time to simply sit and reflect on God and His Word.
That’s why there are many who are bored with church, and many churches that try to jazz up their worship to pack the pews often in ways the Lord has not authorized.
That’s the beauty of the Lord’s Supper, where we take a moment to sit and contemplate what He has done for us—silence is golden.
Conclusion.
There is so much to consider here in Leviticus 16.
But the ultimate message is that Jesus has taken all our sins away.
He is our high priest, our sacrifice, and our scapegoat.
He is the perfect High Priest who never dies, and never needs to be replaced.
He is the ultimate sacrifice who could pay the price and did pay the price for all our sins.
He is the final scapegoat, on whose head all our sins were taken away.
We cannot forget our part either, in experiencing the godly sorrow that produces repentance leading to salvation and properly preparing our minds for the most solemn act of worship.
We do not have to wait once a year to have all our sins forgiven.
The sacrifice was made once for all.
And that blood continues to cleanse us from all our sins as we continue to walk in the light.
Let us also never forget to confess our sins to Him so that they will continue to be cleansed.
We may not know all our sins, but He does, and He will continue to cleanse so long as we continue to walk in the light.
Would you like to have your sins completely and totally forgiven?
A well-known atheist once said before she died, “What I envy most about you Christians is your forgiveness; I have nobody to forgive me.”
We have ultimate forgiveness in Christ, and you can have that, too.
If you need to make things right with Him, now is your chance!