Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Um, all right. Good morning. 11:00 A.m..
[00:00:07] All right, so that might be one of the last times for a long while that we say that, because next week we're going to three different services. So just going to kind of savor our 11:00 A.m., and it moves to 1115 next week. Open up your Bibles with me to the Book of Leviticus, this chapter 16.
[00:00:27] And you actually might notice there are about 75 women from Village Church on our women's retreat right now. And so you might see an obscene amount of children running crazy throughout the building. And it's funny because I used to think that dads, if their wives weren't here, would be like, we're going to keep them home. But they don't actually in droves. They show up. And some more disheveled than others, but it's amazing. So if you see a whole bunch of kids unusually running around this morning, that's why. But we also let them, and we love that they're free here. All right, so I want to kind of set up Leviticus 16 because this is actually in the Book of Leviticus, the most important chapter. So everything in Leviticus builds up to this chapter, and everything after this really does look back. It's sort of the central piece of the entire book. And I want you to think about relationships in your life, but especially I want you to think about really close relationships. So we'll start with husbands, wives, moms, dads, children, siblings.
[00:01:22] Move out there to your best friends, the people who are like your people. You would die for them. I want you to get some faces and names in your head. Now, here's what we know about close relationships. If you as a human being and a sinner are in close proximity in relationship with another human being who is a sinner for long enough, what happens? Tension, frustration, hurt. This is the inevitability of relationships. Now, if you have never had an ounce of hurt or tension or frustration, someone's not being honest somewhere or you just haven't been friends long enough, as tensions grow, you guys notice that the things that you used to find endearing and you really enjoyed about them irritate you to no end sometimes. Anybody else experienced that.
[00:02:15] And then as the tension begins to grow, it gets harder and harder to just overlook things or to give the benefit of the doubt. Okay. Want you to imagine with me. Want you to imagine a day where there is a full reset button on all of your relationships so that nothing that was felt or done prior to this moment would have any impact on your future relationship. Let's even go a little bit crazier. Want you to imagine there's a button you could press, and if you press it, all of the wrong you have done to them and they have done to you goes away completely from your memory. And the only things that you remember are the good times and you are starting completely new, as if none of it happened. Wouldn't that be insane? Now, there's two kinds of people right now. The first kind, they're saying this, oh, please give me that button to be able to have a restart. I look back, I regret the way I did things. I just wish I could start all over and not have to carry all this baggage. I wish I could actually do it, knowing what I know now. And some of you are like, yes, give me the button. Some of you are like, oh, no, I will not let them off the hook.
[00:03:48] They don't get off that easy. I will not press that button. I will not take that risk, and I will not walk into that future.
[00:03:57] I find it interesting.
[00:03:59] I'm just going to be vulnerable. A little personal reflection.
[00:04:02] I personally expect God to do for me the things that I am hesitant to do for other people. For example, God overlook my sin. This is what I expect of him. God, forgive me. You are obligated. God, don't treat me in the future out of my past failures and struggles. God, give me a second chance, a third chance, a fourth chance, a 15th chance, a millionth chance. It does not matter what I do. God, you owe me unlimited chances.
[00:04:40] And yet the very thing I demand of God, I have a very hard time giving to other people. Anyone else in the room? Am I the only one here that we demand things of God? Yes. Thank you. And I honor you and I love you. That was good.
[00:04:54] Leviticus 16. God establishes this day.
[00:04:59] He establishes a day of a national reset in their relationship with him, so that on this day, all of the things, the sins, the struggles are going to be wiped clean, and all of your past indiscretions will have no bearing on God's future relationship with you. Now, how many of you want that day? Right? That is an amazing day. And so God's going to institute what's called the Day of Atonement. And on the Day of Atonement, this is going to be an annual day in perpetuity for the Old Covenant Israelites that you will celebrate this day and there will be sacrifices made and God will cleanse or cover or forgive all of the things that have led up to this point so that whatever you do from here on out, that stuff has no bearing on our actual relationship together.
[00:05:51] This, again, is the most important day in the Israelite calendar. Now, there are so many rituals and symbols connected to this day, from the priests to the tabernacle, to the goats and to the ram and all this stuff. And so all of this symbolism, all of these rituals, all of them come together, and here's what they do. They are making declarative statements about two things. The first declarative statement that all of these symbols and rituals are making is about Israel's sin. And so here's what happens on the Day of Atonement. It reinforces in the cultural conscience of the nation of Israel that when I sin, the stakes are really, really high. And let me show you how they would do this. You would slip the throat of an animal whose blood would drain out and you would be reminded that the impact of my sin is death. And it's so big that if I'm going to sin, someone else is going to have to have their blood shed for me. It's either going to be that animal or me. And God in his grace says we're going to put on the animal here. But like, listen, this is going to reinforce. Sin is a huge deal. It's not just an ethereal thing. It is a virus that has a 100% kill rate on every single living thing it encounters. This is a huge deal. And so they are going to remember through the sacrificial system, especially on the Day of Atonement, that sin. The stakes of sin, the cost of sin, are not ethereal and out there they are real and they are weighty. So the rituals and symbols are also making a declarative statement about God's character. And so what's really just beautiful about this day is that God is communicating to his people.
[00:07:30] I want relationship with you, every one of you.
[00:07:36] I want fresh starts.
[00:07:39] I want to give you mercy.
[00:07:42] I want you to be able to start over. I want you and me to be able to have a great relationship together. And I will go to obscene lengths to make sure that access to a relationship with me is as accessible as humanly possible.
[00:07:58] And so what you see in this is you see that Yahweh, our God, he is a God of mercy and relationship and love and sacrifice. All of these rituals, all of the symbolism, all the processes and procedures are all designed to make declarative statements that our sin is a huge deal and it has separated us from God and it is costly. But God loves every single person and there is no human being on planet that cannot have access to a relationship with God. So what is the Day of Atonement? Literally, atonement means covering. So this is the day of covering. And I really find this to be a very helpful English word. I think it actually encapsulates so much of the oomph of this. But biblically here's kind of an understanding of covering. To cover is to absorb the full cost of sin in order to fully reinstate relationship with God. So what this blood is going to do is that the full cost of our sin, it's going to be put onto this animal and through the shedding of its blood, it's going to die in our place so that our relationship with God can be brought back together. This is huge. If you want to be in relationship with God, you need covering or atonement through blood, period. That is it. It was the same way then. It's the same way now. We don't do bulls and goats and rams. What do we do? The blood of Christ. Until you are covered by the blood of Christ, till your sin is forgiven and paid for, there is no ability for you and I to be reconciled to God. So the day of covering it is a desperately needed day of restart, refresh, redo. And I want to share with you maybe a little insight into why this is so necessary.
[00:09:43] There's a word a scholar used to describe what we have done to God, and the word is vandalize. And what's interesting is the metaphor that they use is when you think about, like, your home, you purchased your home, or at least you're paying it off. You purchased the furniture. It's yours. You decorated it. It represents you. And if some hooligan comes in and just destroys your home, how's your relationship with that person?
[00:10:12] Broken? Can we agree on that? You're like, I'm not sure that I want to actually be in relationship with you. And then if they walked into your home and started actually hurting your children or your family or your most prized possessions.
[00:10:23] And so this idea of vandal and one of the things that I really appreciated about this is that when we step back and we think about God, everything that God designs and creates, he owns. So let me just make this very practical. Every living being, it is his. Every human being is his. Every marriage God came up with, that is his. Every single child is his. Every single ounce of land on this planet is his. Everything designed and created by God is his. And you and I are vandals who come in and we make an utter obscene mess of what is not yours objectively, his. And we're like, you have to forgive me. And we're like, no. He's like, you and I have an issue. You have vandalized the most important things to me in my entire life, and you want me to just turn a blind eye? How many of you would turn a blind eye to somebody who vandalized your family or your home? No. And yet we look at God and we say, we are the greatest vandals, and we expect you to just say, it's no big deal. It's just no big deal. And what we're reminded to the day of atonement and the sacrificial system is that cosmic vandalism is a huge deal. It's a really big deal. And if it's a big deal that someone do it to your home, how much bigger of a deal is it? The holy, righteous God of the universe is upset because we have vandalized his property. Me. My mind is God's. My body is God's. And this has been vandalized. I have done it. I am responsible. You have done it, and you are responsible.
[00:11:54] Like, I have this notion, and we all do, of this is my body. It is God's body on loan to me. He designed it, he created it, he owns it, and I have vandalized it. And it is no wonder that the Lord is like, sin is a huge deal because you've taken what is so personal to me and harmed it. And so God is instituting all of these rituals to say, sin's a big deal, but I'm a God of mercy and relationship and love, and that is what I want. We can deal with this, but it's probably going to require some personal ownership. So Leviticus 16, this is going to be the very first of all the days of Atonement. This is going to be the very first one, and it's going to be the scariest one, because so far, God's presence has been petrifying. It's been on a mountain over there with thunder and smoke, and they're absolutely scared of it. And now somehow the presence of God is going to move from a mountain, and it's going to be centralized right in the middle of their camp. And they're like, we don't want to die by the hands of this petrifying presence. How are we ever going to coexist with the presence of God literally in our midst? And this is actually in the book of Leviticus, not the first time we have encountered the day of Atonement. If you go back, do you remember the story of Nadab and Abihu, the two sons of the high priest Aaron? They got a little hasty on the first day of Atonement, and the presence of God incinerated them alive in front of everybody on the very first day of Atonement because they didn't follow the rules. And so if I'm Aaron or if I'm any high priest in the future, I want to know the rules because I don't want to be incinerated like Nadeb and Abihu. With this context in mind, look at Leviticus, chapter 16, verse one. The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron when they drew near before the Lord and died.
[00:13:47] And so how do I do this God? Verse two. 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 right, if we're going to understand these verses and everything else that happens really honestly in the rest of the Old Testament, let alone Leviticus 16, we kind of have to do a tour of kind of the camp of Israel for a moment. Okay, I want to pull back first. I want you to see this picture. This is obviously not a real time picture. It is a drawing. But what I want you to notice is that the organization of the Israelite nation is structured in a very meticulous way, designed by God, and you have all of the twelve tribes that surround it. But right in the middle is what's called the Tabernacle. The Tabernacle is like a big tent where the presence of God was going to be centralized. Now, before we look at anything else, I want you to look at what is around the camp, outside of the camp. Do you guys know what this area would be called? Be called the wilderness. And the wilderness is the place where unclean things go. And I want you to hold that in the margin of your mind because we're going to come back to that. So second, at the center of the camp is what's called the Tabernacle. And the Tabernacle, you can see there is the outside part and every aspect of the Tabernacle, every new we'll say part of it is entered in through a veil or a curtain. And so on the outside is where you would bring all of your sacrifices, et cetera. And then the priests would go into the courtyard. This is the middle part, and one of the central pieces of furniture, if you will, in the courtyard is an altar where the animals would be burned. The sacrifices to Yahweh, that's where they would be burned. And so we see here, like this is a pretty important place and this is where a lot of the rituals are going to be happening. Third, when you enter the Tabernacle, there are two rooms. The first place you enter is on the left. This is called the Holy Place, and there's a handful of furniture, but this is where some of the usual activity of the priests would happen. They would go in here on a regular basis. There was incense, there was whole different things, there was bread, et cetera. And so this is where a whole bunch of normal sacrificial priestly duties would take place. But on the right side you don't ever go into that room because on the right side that is called the Holy of Holies, or the Most Holy Place. This is the room that only the high priest can go into one time per year with much trepidation, particularly in light of Nadab and Abihu and what happened to them. And there are rules and regulations. Like every new curtain you go through, there are protocols and cleansing rituals that you have to participate in lest you be unclean, the Lord break out on you and incinerate you, like Nadab and Abihu. Fourth. Inside the Holy of Holies is the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark of the Covenant was initially designed to carry the Ten Commandments, the summary statement of Old Testament Law. On top of the Ark is a lid, and the lid is called the Mercy seat. And the Mercy seat, literally, it's the covering seat, if you will, literally, because it's covering the Ark of the covenant, but also because it is the place where God's presence is going to dwell. And so what's interesting is that when the presence of God falls and comes into the tabernacle, it is going to be centralized between the wings of these two cherubim. And if you're the High priest and you are going to go into this holy of holies, you're not going to see this as clearly as you might think because the room is going to be filled with incense and smoke and the glory of God. And so it's one of those rooms that you walk into and you're like, I don't know what's exactly right in front of me. It's supposed to be ominous and the presence of God is weighty on that person. This is a very big deal. And so with all this in mind, I want you to understand this. That what verse two says. Let's go back to there. Verse two says, tell Aaron, your brother not to come at any time into the holy place inside the veil. This is the veil that goes from the holy place to the most holy place 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. Okay, so why cherubs? Why all this meticulous detail? Why an ark of a covenant? Why all of this stuff? And this is kind of a little aside, but I think it'll help us understand this text.
[00:18:33] Every aspect of the structure of the tabernacle, the holy place and the most holy place is a copy of God's throne room in heaven.
[00:18:46] God did not just randomly come up with a design and then give it to Moses. God designed the entire earthly tabernacle, tent structure and everything in it to be a replica of his throne room in heaven. Let me read to you Hebrews eight five.
[00:19:02] They meaning all this stuff, they serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God saying, see that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown to you on the mountain. And so God's throne on Earth was going to be centralized on this mercy seat inside of this tabernacle in the holy of holies. And this was a replica as in heaven, so also on Earth. Now the High priest has an impossibly difficult job. He has to be meticulous. This is so important because if this high priest does not go into this holy of holies and handle everything from the blood to you name it perfectly, it has huge implications for the congregation of Israel. And here's the congregation, or here's the implication you don't get your reset, that now God is going to treat you in the future out of your past sin and failure because the High priest didn't do his job. The High priest has a very important job and your future relationship with God depends on the faithfulness of the high priest to do his job. Look at verse three. We'll see what God requires of him. Verse three says, but in this way Aaron the high priest shall come into the holy place. Extensive cleansing rituals, sacrifice, walks in thick smoke. Verse four prescribes what the high priest is allowed to wear in God's presence. And as we've seen, God cares about every detail of this and their lives, especially their clothing. Verse four he shall put on the holy linen coat and shall have the linen undergarment on his body and he shall tie the linen sash around his waist and wear the linen turban. These are the holy garments. He shall bathe his body in water and then put them on. And this is actually pretty significant because do you guys remember what the high priest wears? It's like really colorful. He's got this thing over him with all these different stones and colors are beautiful. Representing the twelve tribes of Israel on the day of Atonement. He doesn't wear this. He is wearing simple servant clothes.
[00:21:23] He is going in a sinner representing a whole bunch of sinners. He is going in humble, he is going in very, very low. And so this is different. This is not a normal garb for a normal high priest to do his normal priestly duties. Verse five to ten prescribes the exact sacrifices that God requires. And this is important. He shall take from the congregation of the people of Israel two male goats for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering. So the ram was going to be an offering for the high priest, his sin and the sin of his household, intentional or otherwise. Because what happens if this dude walks into the holy holies unclean and unforgiven bad news, naidab and Abihu incinerated. He doesn't want it.
[00:22:15] But the two goats, this is where I think it gets super interesting. And I want to ask you to do me a favor.
[00:22:22] If you are aware biblically, theologically or otherwise of the Scapegoat, I want you to listen as if you've never heard it before because there are some surprises in this text that most people don't pay attention to.
[00:22:41] Verse seven says, then he shall take the two goats and set them before the Lord at the entrance of the tent of Meeting. And verse eight says aaron, he shall cast lots over the two goats. So lots is basically ancient dice. God's going to determine the future of each goat. And I'm going to forewarn you the future of each goat is not pretty. One goat is going to be offered for the Lord. He will be killed on the spot, burned alive. His blood will be taken in by the high priest in his humble garments into the holy of holies and he will deal with the blood in that environment.
[00:23:18] But the second goat, this is where it gets interesting. And I want you to look at what verse eight says.
[00:23:26] One lot, one goat for who?
[00:23:31] The Lord and the other for Azazel.
[00:23:39] Anybody?
[00:23:41] The reason most people don't know what to do with this is because we don't know what it means. Like, this is a weird word. It comes out of nowhere. It's like Azazel.
[00:23:49] So God gets one goat and Azazel gets another goat.
[00:23:56] And here's what's interesting. Azazel in the structure of the sentence. It's not a thing or a place.
[00:24:04] Azazel is an entity contrasted with Yahweh.
[00:24:10] Two entities, two goats.
[00:24:13] Yahweh gets the goat sacrificed, azazel gets the other goat. Anybody confused yet? Look at verse nine.
[00:24:21] And Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for the Lord and use it as a sin offering. Good. Got that? But the goat on which the lot fell for here's the name again. Azazel shall be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement over it that it may be sent away in the wilderness to Azazel.
[00:24:45] All right, so I'm going to get right to the point. There are a handful of ideas of what this could mean. So the Hebrew structure of the words could imply maybe it's not for sure. It's very like, I don't know. Could imply like a goat that goes away. But it's not that clear. Actually, what's interesting, though, is you start understanding a little bit of the Hebrews, the Jews understanding of this. That what the Jews understood Azazel to be would be a goat demon who lived in the wilderness, who was responsible for the chaos of what happened outside of the camp. Let's just process for a minute.
[00:25:27] If you were unclean or cast out of the people of God, where did you go?
[00:25:33] You went into the wilderness where unclean things are. If you had a house full of mildew and mold and they had to break it down, where did law, Old Testament law, require them to take all of this unclean contagious material out into the wilderness area? The unclean areas. It was interesting as you even get to the Book of Enoch, which is not in the Bible, it's referenced in the New Testament, but part of Jewish literature. Enoch actually identifies Azazel as one of the chief demons. And this was not a new idea. This was actually a historic understanding of what Azazel was amongst Jewish literature. In fact, the Book of Enoch even leaves it open to the possibility that Azazel might actually be the devil himself, another name for him. Think about this for a moment. Jesus is going to begin his public ministry and he goes out into the wilderness. And who is in the wilderness?
[00:26:25] Satan. Why? Because it is the place where unclean things go.
[00:26:34] And so in the Hebrew literature, azazel is most likely a demonic figure. Now, here's something you have to understand about the Jews and their understanding of the spiritual realm. The Old Testament was written over many, many centuries. And what happens in the Old Testament is that God progressively reveals more and more about the spiritual realm over centuries. And so you read at the very beginning, there is this satan figure who stands opposed to God in the garden for sure. And so they have this idea of a demonic force. And as the Scriptures progressively reveal more and more and more, you start to learn the name, the nature, the character, the origin story, et cetera. And here what we find is at minimally in their brain when they thought about the wilderness out there. That is the unclean, unsafe place. If you want to be under the protection of God, you are within the camp of Israel. Go down to verse 20 and let's watch what happens when he has made an end of atoning for the holy place and the tent of meeting and the altar. He shall present the live goat, 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 and all their sins. So Hebrew has different words for different kinds of sin. So basically, anything wrong that you could have done intentionally or unintentionally the nation of Israel. The priest, we don't know if he had something to read. We don't know if people submitted different sins that they had committed, but somehow this was a thorough confession of sin. And he would put his hands on this goat and he would confess the sins of the people.
[00:28:15] And it was iniquity transgression sin. And it goes on and says, 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. And the goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area, and he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness. Some scholars, they call this the elimination ritual. And I want to read you a quote from one scholar I just found very helpful on this entire experience.
[00:28:47] He says, no part of this goat is offered to Yahweh. This is not a sacrifice because the Scriptures forbid sacrificing anything to demons. It is an elimination ritual. The biblical prescription does not call for the death of this goat. It is simply sent away as a ritual garbage truck carrying controlled toxic waste. To Azazel, this is sort of like you taking something toxic and throwing it or radioactive and throwing it into your neighbor's well. But here's the difference. They threw it into your well first and you're saying, nope, this has no place amongst my people, and you throw it right back into their well.
[00:29:32] This is meant to be an offense to whatever spiritual entity azazel is reigning and ruling over the wilderness, the place of unclean things. What's interesting about this also, and I'm not going to. Overplay all my cards here. I want to, but I won't. In chapter 17, there is a reference made, there is a command to the nation of Israel that they cannot have anything to do with. It literally says goat demons. That's the next chapter. And so there's this category that these chapters are working with, with goat demons out there. And what God's doing is he is taking all of the toxic waste of the sin of his people and saying, you brought this into my camp. This doesn't win. This is going right back. And you can have it all back. You can have the toxic waste of sin. And you know what? What you meant for destruction and evil. I'm going to bring redemption and restoration. You can have your toxic waste, you can have your uncleanness, you can have your death. Take it. And he's stuck with it. What a great move by God. Not only does he forgive their sins, but he casts out the scapegoat which is bearing on itself the guilt of all of their sin and dumps this toxic waste back on the demonic realm. Both goats are going to die in this ritual.
[00:30:49] I don't know which one I'd rather be. I actually think I'd rather just die quick than being handed over to Azazel.
[00:30:55] But I want you to note of this. Where was Jesus killed?
[00:30:59] Outside the camp. It's interesting that with both of the goats, jesus is the fulfillment of the first goat.
[00:31:07] He was slain. His blood, the sacrifice, covered our sins, but also all of our guilt and shame was put onto him, and he was taken outside of the camp and killed. It's interesting that Jesus perfectly fulfills both of these. He does what two goats couldn't even actually accomplish, nor a high priest. Jesus does in one incredible act through his death on the cross outside the camp.
[00:31:32] Okay, so the high priest is not the only person with a responsibility on the Day of Atonement. The congregation has a responsibility. It's very important. Look at verse 29.
[00:31:43] He says, this shall be a statute to you forever, that in the 7th month, on the 10th day of the month, you shall afflict yourselves and shall do no work, either the native or the stranger who sojourns among you. For on this day shall atonement be made for you to cleanse you. You shall be clean before the Lord from all your sins. It is a Sabbath of solemn rest to you, and you shall afflict yourself. It is a statute forever. And if you're sitting there and you're like, I don't like being told what to do. I don't think I'm going to do the Day of Atonement this year. A couple of chapters later, Leviticus 23 29, here's what it says. For whoever is not afflicted on that day, that very day shall be cut off from his people. You get cast out of the camp being handed over to Satan, cut off from his people. Whoever does any work on that very day, that person I will destroy from among his people. Is this a really big deal to God? Yes. Why? Because God wants restoration, not just with the nation, but with every single individual in the nation of Israel. This is deeply personal. And now the question is, what does it mean to afflict yourself? And it means three things. Number one, what you do in the day of Atonement, if you were a Jew, is you would fast. You would fast all day long. This would be a way to afflict yourself with hunger.
[00:33:12] Number two, what you would do is you would spend the day in prayer. But not just any kind of prayer, a very specific kind of prayer. What you would do is you would confess your sins, but not just generically.
[00:33:27] Your job would be to dig deep into your own heart and to give vocabulary to what God already knows is there, but for you to dig in and confess and to own the sin that is in you, that has created distance between you and God. Because if you don't deal with it, it's going to just keep happening. And the next day of atonement, you're going to have to deal with it again. And so this isn't an opportunity one day a year for every Israelite to introspect and look deep and to confess the full extent to what you know has caused another animal to have the price of your sin put on its body.
[00:34:08] The third thing it means is that you are going to cease from all activities that bring you joy, everything.
[00:34:15] You don't make new connections, you don't have these joyous opportunities, you don't go party, whatever. You are fasting, you are praying, you are hungry, you are digging down into the depths of your soul to confess your sin. And this is a mandated requirement for every single person in the nation of Israel. Because the people of God, we are an introspective people, the people of God already know that we are sinners. Why are we surprised when we find sin in ourselves? Like the Gospel already tells me this. And so we deal with it, we face it, we look at it, we dig it out. This is what it means. And until the day you die, do you know what you're going to find every time every one of us in this room looks deep down into our heart? More sin. And when you think you've gotten it all, guess what? The Lord's going to reveal to you different parts of your heart that you hadn't even looked at yet. Isn't it so gracious of God that he does not expose the totality of all the darkness, wickedness, sin and rebellion of our hearts all at once?
[00:35:13] He does it progressively over a lifetime so that he doesn't overwhelm us and he deals with us one piece of our heart at a time. And so we dig and we dig, and God was instituting this rhythm and this practice because the people of God are a people of introspection and confession. We're also a people who freely receive restarts with the right. So what, number one, the cross did for you what the day of Atonement could never accomplish for the nation of Israel. The blood of bulls and goats did not have the potency to do anything except postpone God's anger at sin.
[00:35:55] There was no total forgiveness. And to show its weakness, we had to keep offering over and over and over again.
[00:36:03] But the potency of the blood of Christ is beyond anything we can imagine. The shed blood of Christ has the power to save and forgive every human that has ever lived, no matter what they have done. It is that potent and powerful.
[00:36:18] And so here's what we find. This day of atonement, it's a huge day for them, but it pointed to something way bigger and way more beautiful. And I want to read to you from Hebrews, chapter seven, verse 26.
[00:36:31] It was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest talking about Jesus. Holy, innocent, unsained, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens. Consider the contrast to the Israelite priest. He has no need like those high priests to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people. Since he Jesus, he did this once for all when he offered up himself.
[00:37:00] One of the things that I love about the day of Atonement is that your personal day of atonement, it happens once in your life and it is the day that you personally trust in Christ.
[00:37:12] What I love about what Jesus accomplished for us is that we don't need multiple days of atonement every single year. It is when you trust in Christ, when you tell God, I am sorry. I believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus. I believe that Jesus, you died for not just sins generally, but for my sins. That is your day of atonement. And that day of atonement does not need to be repeated. Because once you are cleansed and you are forgiven through the blood of Christ, it is once and for all and forever. And it can't be undone like this whole notion that you can lose your salvation. Then I got to go get back and get reatoned for no, this is permanent and it is wonderful and it is beautiful and it is an offering that God gives to every human being alive. Because what we saw is that our sin is weighty and has consequences. But our God, his character is one of mercy, it is one of relationship, it is one of making a relationship with him and forgiveness us vandals as accessible as humanly possible for anyone alive.
[00:38:12] Number two, we are not just the recipients of mercy, but we are leaders in giving it.
[00:38:25] Luke 636 jesus says, be merciful, just as your father is merciful. The Apostle Paul actually, I think he gives us a glimpse into what this looks like. Really? Specifically, the Apostle Paul says in Ephesians 432, be kind to one another, tender hearted forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
[00:38:54] It's interesting that we come back to God and we demand mercy. We expect it. We are spoiled. We get mercy every moment of every day. We're just so used to it. We're like, yeah, I'll send some more, and I'm just getting more mercy. His mercy is new every morning. It is unlimited. It is amazing.
[00:39:12] And shouldn't the people who are given such mercy give it away as well?
[00:39:21] How could those of us who have received covering atonement fresh starts perpetual do overs not be known as people of mercy? I'm going to leave that. I'm going to just kind of allow the Holy Spirit to take in your heart and your mind whatever you need to do with that. But I was just struck that God's mercy, that he does not give this nation what they deserve, but actually gives them restarts and redo's and do overs over and over and over again. I am just struck at how kind and good God is.
[00:39:59] And let it be said of the people of God that we are a merciful and gracious people.
[00:40:06] So what happened the first day of Atonement? The Book of Exodus ends by telling us what happens. Let me read this for you.
[00:40:14] Exodus 40 34. Then the cloud covered the tent of Meeting and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.
[00:40:24] And Moses was not able to enter the tent of Meeting because the cloud settled on it. Remember, Moses could go talk to God face to face. That season is over. And the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Throughout all their journeys, whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the people of Israel would set out. But if the cloud was not taken up, they did not set out until the day that it was taken up. Why? Where you go, God? We go. When you stop, we stop. We are in your shadow.
[00:40:55] For the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was in it by night in the sight of all the house of Israel. Throughout all of their journeys, aaron and the subsequent high priests, after they did the David Tomat rituals, what they would do is they would come out into the courtyard and there was sort of a hill on the courtyard. And God actually gave Aaron and the high priest after him a prayer, a blessing to pray over the nation of Israel. You will know it, but here it is from Numbers, chapter six.
[00:41:27] The Lord bless you and keep you.
[00:41:32] The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Every person who got their fresh start, this was the prayer of blessing over them. Let's pray together. Father. We love you.
[00:41:55] So thankful for the atonement of the blood of Jesus.
[00:42:01] God, we don't have to offer these bulls and goats and I'm over and over. I'm so thankful.
[00:42:06] I'm so thankful. Jesus, you are the final sacrifice. I'm also thankful that you took on Your body the guilt and shame of our sin and you were taken out into the wilderness, Lord, that we don't have to experience the punishment of sin or the guilt. We have full reconciliation with you. Thank you. We love you, God. If there is any person in this room who is yet to see the beauty and the kindness of who you are and to tell you they are sorry for vandalizing your creation and to receive forgiveness through faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus God, I just pray you would show them with absolute clarity who you really are. Lord, we love you. As we kind of turn our hearts to communion, I pray, God, you would well up in us just unbelievable gratitude for the mercy that you bestow on us every day. We love you. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen. Amen.
