back to indexWed Bible Study - Lesson 16
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The Day of Atonement was a constant reminder that God is holy and that sinners and God 00:00:14.040 |
It also reminded Israelites that sin was constantly in their midst and needed constant and repeated 00:00:20.400 |
So, Day of Atonement was sort of like spring cleaning. 00:00:25.080 |
All the other days, they kind of cleaned here, cleaned the living room, cleaned the bathrooms, 00:00:29.560 |
but it's almost kind of like the way we had at church about a month ago. 00:00:33.520 |
We had everybody come together and we're just cleaning house, like from top to bottom. 00:00:37.280 |
So Day of Atonement was kind of like spring cleaning at the tabernacle. 00:00:42.880 |
But they didn't just clean the tabernacle, they cleaned all the priests, in particular 00:00:51.640 |
So all the sacrifices was a constant reminder to the nation of Israel that they needed to 00:00:59.400 |
be atoned for in order to be in the presence of God. 00:01:02.360 |
But in particular, on the Day of Atonement, it was a reminder to them that even with the 00:01:06.720 |
sacrifices there was this sin and uncleanness that was being piled up. 00:01:11.680 |
And what does it mean for the nation of Israel for sin to pile up? 00:01:19.560 |
How would they have understood an uncleansed and unatoned for sin in the presence of a 00:01:30.240 |
So this wasn't just they needed a clean house because they wanted the tabernacle to look 00:01:35.360 |
It meant that at the Day of Atonement, it was a wrath of God that's being stored up 00:01:39.400 |
against the nation of Israel had to be cleansed and wiped clean so that every year they can 00:01:46.180 |
So imagine what this did, what this was supposed to do for the nation of Israel. 00:01:52.080 |
If you were constantly reminded that your sins needed to be atoned for and once a year 00:01:58.200 |
there needed to be this massive cleaning, cleaning out of the nation of Israel, cleaning 00:02:13.800 |
If you were an Israelite living at this time, what do you think that would have taught you? 00:02:23.880 |
I just want you to, I just want you to like let it digest. 00:02:33.200 |
What would these sacrifices have caused you to think psychologically? 00:02:51.720 |
Which led to need for a savior, which ultimately led to that. 00:02:54.640 |
So an Israelite did not have to be told, they didn't have to have Bible study to tell them, 00:02:59.840 |
hey, all I've sinned, I fall short of the glory of God. 00:03:02.240 |
Let's look up the book of Romans and study how sinful we are. 00:03:09.560 |
They had to constantly be cleansed, ritually cleansed. 00:03:13.720 |
They had to take baths, they had to clean the garment that they were wearing, and even 00:03:17.800 |
the tabernacle where the sacrifices were being made had to be cleansed once a year to completely 00:03:24.920 |
Because if they didn't do that, the presence of God would destroy them. 00:03:29.240 |
So think about when Christ comes, that all of this is embedded in them for the purpose 00:03:35.040 |
of showing them physically, you are a sinner. 00:03:40.280 |
There is no Israelites who could have missed that. 00:03:43.960 |
That you are a sinner who is constantly sinning and in constant need of saving. 00:03:50.200 |
So take that to the New Testament where you have the Pharisee and the tax collector who 00:03:54.720 |
is coming before God praying, and the tax collector is praying, thank God I'm not like 00:04:01.760 |
So it kind of gives you context in how blind the Pharisees and Sadducees were. 00:04:06.040 |
It wasn't just like, well, I can understand why they could have missed that, but in the 00:04:10.280 |
context of everything that God did with the nation of Israel, how could they have possibly 00:04:14.480 |
missed that they were in need of a Savior, considering everything he was doing. 00:04:24.280 |
Leviticus 16 begins by reminding us how Aaron's sons died. 00:04:29.080 |
So if you remember at the very beginning, it starts off by saying, reminding us, the 00:04:34.480 |
Lord spoke to Moses after the death of two sons of Aaron when they drew near before the 00:04:44.000 |
Five chapters have already gone by with all these different instructions. 00:04:47.280 |
Chapter 16, the Day of Atonement, begins by reminding them, remember when Aaron's sons 00:05:05.860 |
They just considered what they were doing as common. 00:05:09.240 |
They were very nonchalant in the way that they approached God. 00:05:12.240 |
So chapter 16 begins by warning for what purpose? 00:05:19.780 |
Because the consequence of not paying attention and being nonchalant and irreverent toward 00:05:30.800 |
This wasn't just somebody walking around with a ruler and hitting you on the head and saying, 00:05:38.840 |
These aren't just any people who came to the temple. 00:05:40.880 |
The first two priests, Aaron's, the high priest's two children, they died because they didn't 00:05:48.880 |
So in other words, if you begin chapter 16, he's saying, "Pay attention to this because 00:05:55.280 |
And if you don't follow these instructions, there's going to be dire consequences." 00:05:59.080 |
So this is not a day where people were kind of jumping around and celebrating and high-fiving 00:06:08.920 |
Remember at the end of the chapter, what are the Israelites called to do? 00:06:21.040 |
At the end of the chapter, the day of atonement is called the day of... 00:06:33.560 |
So again, we'll get to that later on, but the day of atonement is called the day of 00:06:40.120 |
And so again, even though the end result of it will lead to celebration, the day of atonement 00:06:46.840 |
was meant to be a somber time, to remind them that sins needed to be atoned for. 00:06:53.680 |
A sinful man cannot nonchalantly enter into the presence of God. 00:06:58.160 |
So what we do Sundays, when we actually come into the presence of God, human beings, by 00:07:03.920 |
our natural selves, without being covered by the blood of Christ, we would be walking 00:07:14.320 |
That's exactly what he's trying to teach them in chapter 16. 00:07:17.080 |
Without the blood of Christ, coming to God, seeking God out by our natural state, is walking 00:07:24.080 |
It's just that mankind just does not know that. 00:07:26.720 |
Every human being, when he dies, he's going to meet his creator. 00:07:30.120 |
If he is not covered by the blood of Christ, chapter 16 reminds us, he's walking into a 00:07:38.320 |
Because sinful man, unprotected in the presence of a holy God, leads to utter destruction. 00:07:50.160 |
Moses tells Aaron not to come to the holy place inside the veil or they would die. 00:08:00.440 |
Because God will appear to them in a cloud, it says in verse 2. 00:08:03.760 |
So yes, God's presence was with the nation of Israel, but on the Day of Atonement, his 00:08:16.680 |
And that's what this Day of Atonement was for. 00:08:22.680 |
So I'm just going to give you some pictures of what the tabernacle or tent of meeting 00:08:29.040 |
And I showed you this at the beginning of the study. 00:08:31.040 |
But again, you're not going to be able to see it. 00:08:43.680 |
And inside of it, I think I have the next picture, is divided into two parts. 00:08:49.660 |
So you have the outer side, and then it's divided by the curtain in the middle. 00:08:54.400 |
And then on the other side, you have the Ark of the Covenant, where the mercy seat and 00:09:01.800 |
So when in the middle of chapter 16, it tells them to sprinkle with blood, all of this stuff 00:09:07.160 |
is taking place inside the Holy of Holies, where only Aaron was able to go in once a 00:09:13.120 |
So everything behind that curtain was never seen outside of Aaron once a year. 00:09:33.100 |
And symbolically, that's where the Messiah was supposed to come and take his seat. 00:09:40.200 |
And that's what the Jews understood the mercy seat to be. 00:09:43.580 |
So it was a place for preparation for the king to come, the Messiah to come, and take 00:09:52.460 |
The normal high priest garment would have looked like that to the right. 00:09:56.420 |
It was very colorful, had a breastplate, the umim and thumim was all part of that. 00:10:03.120 |
But the garment that is mentioned in this text for Aaron is very plain. 00:10:10.900 |
And we'll get to that in a minute, but the reason behind it was that this was not a day 00:10:17.420 |
This was a day of mourning, a day of affliction. 00:10:20.520 |
So he was calling the nation of Israel to repentance. 00:10:24.860 |
And that's why the high priest, as he represents God to man and man to God, that he himself 00:10:34.780 |
So you would think that on the day of atonement, if there was any day that he would be really 00:10:42.660 |
That he was like, "I am the high priest representing God." 00:10:46.660 |
Instead, on the day of atonement, when God appears, he's like any other man. 00:10:51.660 |
And he is humbled and he's dressed in garbs of repentance. 00:11:01.780 |
These are the instructions that God gave Aaron. 00:11:04.220 |
They had to first bring a bull for sin offering and ram for burnt offering. 00:11:07.780 |
The sin offering was given for the purpose of general cleansing, right? 00:11:12.640 |
If you became unclean because you touched something holy, the sin offering was given 00:11:18.180 |
Bull offering was for the purpose of atonement, the burnt offering. 00:11:25.180 |
Aaron is to put on priestly garment and tie the linen sash around his waist to prepare 00:11:30.620 |
You saw the garment that he was wearing, the white, and he says to tie his sash around. 00:11:35.140 |
And anytime you see that language in the New Testament or the Old Testament, it basically 00:11:39.180 |
meant that the priest was ready to work, right? 00:11:43.500 |
So the preparation, even the garment that God told him to wear was a sign of repentance 00:11:51.280 |
And even the way that God told him to kind of get ready to tie it around his waist was 00:12:02.420 |
Aaron is to take two male goats for sin offerings from the congregation and ram for the burnt 00:12:09.380 |
So the two goats on the day of atonement are the primary figures. 00:12:15.260 |
But there were other offerings that were given. 00:12:17.020 |
The reason for the other offerings was for the preparation of the offering of the two 00:12:22.940 |
Let me say that again, just so that you kind of get a grasp of what's happening this day. 00:12:27.420 |
So, when you think of the day of atonement, you probably heard about the two goats. 00:12:34.780 |
There were other sacrifices being made that day. 00:12:37.020 |
And the reason for that was that before the two goats were sacrificed and one being released, 00:12:46.740 |
So Aaron needed to be, his sins needed to be atoned for. 00:12:50.340 |
And then the blood of the goat and the bull needed to cleanse the tabernacle itself. 00:12:56.740 |
So even before they get to this sacrifice, there needed to be cleansing. 00:13:02.580 |
Cleansing of the man handling all of this and cleansing of the place where this was 00:13:12.700 |
Every time they gave sacrifices, there was seriousness. 00:13:16.180 |
But here, everything that they handled needed to be absolutely crystal clean. 00:13:22.420 |
And even the sacrifices of these two goats needed to be done in a place where thorough 00:13:31.940 |
The bull is to be offered for the sin offering for Aaron himself. 00:13:36.060 |
So even before he gives the offering for the nation, he himself needed to be atoned for 00:13:40.620 |
his own sins in order for him to even handle the offering. 00:13:45.100 |
He used to take the censer full of coals of fire from the altar, two handfuls of sweets 00:13:48.900 |
and incense, this is straight out of the text, beaten small and bring it inside the veil 00:13:55.540 |
So he's supposed to take the ashes from the altar outside and bring that in and begin 00:14:06.420 |
All this is done to cover the mercy seat as a testimony to Aaron. 00:14:10.940 |
And all of this was so that when Aaron entered in, that he would not die. 00:14:16.340 |
And over and over again, as I mentioned, he says, this is being done so that Aaron would 00:14:22.860 |
This is being done so that people would not die because God is about to come. 00:14:31.860 |
He is to take the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the front of the mercy seat 00:14:48.700 |
What God tells him to do, this captures the thought behind the Hebrew word for atonement, 00:14:57.140 |
So the word for atonement in Hebrew is kippur and the word literally means to cover. 00:15:02.860 |
So if you notice, if you read chapter 16, it says that the tabernacle needed to be atoned 00:15:10.020 |
So typically when we think of atonement, we think about sin, like a human sin and God 00:15:16.540 |
But the word literally just means to cover, right? 00:15:21.140 |
Which is interesting because in the Old Testament, the idea of atonement was simply to cover. 00:15:26.440 |
So something was filthy, so blood came and covered it to protect it from God's glory, 00:15:33.580 |
The New Testament idea of atonement goes deeper than that. 00:15:38.660 |
The New Testament idea of atonement is that our sin is not merely covered but removed 00:15:50.300 |
Doesn't that give us insight of the Old Covenant and the New Covenant? 00:15:53.940 |
In the Old Covenant, the blood of the goats and animals, all they did was cover temporarily 00:16:00.140 |
and they didn't have any power to actually atone for sins. 00:16:03.180 |
The New Testament idea of atonement was actually removal. 00:16:09.180 |
So in the very word for the word atonement, because when you read chapter 16, I'm hoping 00:16:14.300 |
that you ask that question, how or why is a tabernacle need to be atoned for because 00:16:22.780 |
But the idea of atonement in the Old Testament is simply to cover, right? 00:16:28.140 |
To be cleansed, God is coming, so everything needed to be covered by the blood. 00:16:33.540 |
We come to the New Testament, the blood of animals, all they could do is cover but not 00:16:46.180 |
Then the two goats are to be taken to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting and this is 00:16:49.820 |
where the central part of the Day of Atonement takes place with these two goats. 00:16:57.380 |
Lots are cast to pick one goat for the Lord and the other lot for Azazel or literally 00:17:03.020 |
So some of your translation, I think ESV just has it Azazel, right? 00:17:28.580 |
Because I'm not sure if I have the updated version of ESV. 00:17:34.700 |
So the reason why some of you have scapegoat and the ESV has Azazel is because there is 00:17:46.140 |
So the NASB, NIV has translated it what that name means. 00:17:52.980 |
ESV kept it Azazel because there is a discussion that it might be a name of a demon, which 00:18:02.420 |
I remember the first time I went through this, we talked about this in detail, but I think 00:18:07.220 |
maybe two of you were here during that time, so you might not remember, okay? 00:18:14.420 |
But the word Azazel, or literally a scapegoat, was the other one. 00:18:19.340 |
The one that the Lot fell for the Lord's use is to be offered as a sin offering. 00:18:25.860 |
So among the two, they drew lots and the one was to be sacrificed and killed. 00:18:35.780 |
And with the blood of the goat, he is to bring it into the Holy of Holies and sprinkle it 00:18:41.980 |
So the sacrificed animal that was given to the Lord was brought in and the mercy seat 00:18:53.200 |
And then after exiting the Holy of Holies, Aaron is to take some of the blood of the 00:18:57.340 |
bull and some of the goat and put it on the horns of the altar all around. 00:19:04.740 |
So first he covers the mercy seat and then he comes and he sprinkles it on the altar, 00:19:12.740 |
So again, all of the blood and all of the sprinkling was meant to make it holy, to cleanse, 00:19:20.020 |
So it was like an annual spring cleaning that's taking place with the blood. 00:19:26.060 |
Aaron is then commanded to sprinkle some of it with his fingers seven times to clean and 00:19:30.220 |
consecrate it from the uncleanness of the people of Israel. 00:19:47.420 |
It wasn't, you know, I mean think about how many sacrifices were being given. 00:19:51.220 |
The mercy seat was never touched because nobody ever goes in there, right? 00:20:03.960 |
And from God's perspective, the filth of man's sin was constantly piling up. 00:20:11.820 |
And even in their sacrifices, it wasn't enough. 00:20:15.660 |
So once a year, the sins that were piled up, he would come and he said, "In order for me 00:20:21.900 |
So again, the reason why the tabernacle needed to be cleansed was the presence of man. 00:20:34.060 |
And I think if you've read Holiness of God, R.C. 00:20:37.700 |
Sproul does a great job explaining, right, that everything else in the universe abides 00:20:43.780 |
by God, but the only hands that rebel, only creation that rebels against God is mankind, 00:20:51.100 |
Everything else in the universe does exactly what God tells us to do. 00:20:58.700 |
It was man's dirty presence that needed to be cleansed from the tabernacle. 00:21:02.220 |
And so that's what the Day of Atonement was teaching them. 00:21:08.780 |
The other goat for Azazel is to be used to make atonement for Israel and be sent away 00:21:18.180 |
Literally the word means "escape goat" or "scapegoat." 00:21:26.740 |
Aaron is told to lay both his hands on the head of the goat to represent the sins of 00:21:31.940 |
Israel and confess over it the iniquities of the people of Israel. 00:21:35.460 |
So the act was that he would lay both of his hands and by doing so it represented that 00:21:41.660 |
all of the sins of Israel was being laid upon this scapegoat or Azazel. 00:21:51.460 |
So the goat, the scapegoat or Azazel that bears the sins of Israel then will be sent 00:22:07.500 |
The meaning of the word Azazel is not certain. 00:22:17.340 |
Some believe there were elaborate Jewish traditions saying that he was a demonic being that the 00:22:26.380 |
Azazel may simply be referring to this goat's function of symbolically removing sin from 00:22:31.900 |
So basically some Jewish tradition pointed to the fact that Azazel was a demonic figure 00:22:38.860 |
that one was given to the Lord and the other was given to the demons. 00:22:43.420 |
And again, depending on which commentary you read, you'll get different stories. 00:22:47.780 |
So the fact that ESV left the word Azazel may mean that the interpreters kind of leaned 00:22:59.780 |
Even though it may have been the first time for you to have heard it, in fact it is more 00:23:08.000 |
The most popular view is that the word Azazel simply just means it's a description of 00:23:17.920 |
But there are legitimate scholars in legitimate theological schools that believe that it was 00:23:26.020 |
So one was given to the Lord and the sin of the nation of Israel was given to the rightful 00:23:34.020 |
Which kind of correlates to the New Testament when Paul says that the God of this age is 00:23:46.380 |
And so when the scripture talks about how he delivers us, he transfers us from what? 00:23:51.020 |
The dominion of darkness into his son's kingdom. 00:23:59.900 |
If that is true or not, it really doesn't change anything, right? 00:24:04.440 |
Whether Azazel simply is talking about the scapegoat or whether it's talking about a 00:24:09.300 |
demonic figure who has dominion over all that sin, all that is sinful, either way the meaning 00:24:15.040 |
behind the scapegoat or Azazel is that this sin, the sins of Israel is taken away and 00:24:21.240 |
cast out because of the sacrifice of the other goat, right? 00:24:26.120 |
That's where we get the term, at least in English, the scapegoat comes from. 00:24:32.000 |
So imagine every single year, right, the nation of Israel was gathered together at the tabernacle 00:24:43.980 |
So after they do thorough cleansing, Aaron takes a bath and he puts on the garment that 00:24:51.520 |
typically he's probably seen with this really gaudy garment, but on that day of atonement 00:24:57.400 |
he wears a very humbled garment and then he goes in, he makes sacrifice, he takes a bath, 00:25:03.800 |
he goes in and cleanses the inner sanctuary, comes back out and he cleanses the outside 00:25:08.440 |
and then he takes these two goats and it's this whole drama of drawing the lot, you know, 00:25:14.160 |
and then one goat is sacrificed and then its blood comes and takes it out and then the 00:25:18.080 |
other one he lays his hand and then a man is chosen to take this goat and travel far 00:25:25.880 |
In fact, it's not in the scripture but Jewish tradition says that a man took the goat about 00:25:33.560 |
ten miles away from the camp and then the goat was released to wander off until it could 00:25:41.280 |
This signified that the sin of Israel was gone and the day of atonement was considered 00:25:47.920 |
Whatever the meaning of Azazel is, the picture is pretty clear. 00:25:53.960 |
Because of the sacrifice of one, the sins of Israel will be taken away. 00:25:59.200 |
I mean, how could that not be pointing to Christ? 00:26:04.200 |
And this was embedded into their culture year after year, this drama. 00:26:07.720 |
It wasn't just taught, it wasn't just said, this was something that they saw every single 00:26:17.440 |
There's no Israelite, no Israelite should have been confused about their sin. 00:26:28.600 |
Aaron, supposedly the holiest man of Israel, as a high priest, at least on paper, he said 00:26:37.240 |
If his sins aren't atoned for, when God comes, he's going to die. 00:26:41.960 |
If he enters into the inner sanctuary, he's going to die. 00:26:47.680 |
If he doesn't follow instructions, he's going to die. 00:26:51.720 |
If they were that vulnerable to the holiness of God, what about the rest of Israel? 00:26:58.560 |
So imagine this drama being played out year after year, which is embedded in them, all 00:27:05.240 |
for the purpose of preparation for the coming of Christ. 00:27:08.440 |
So the fact that they missed him, despite all of this, it kind of gives us a different 00:27:14.280 |
picture of just the blindness, just how blind they were. 00:27:21.840 |
Aaron, after it is all done, re-enters into the camp, right? 00:27:32.720 |
He had to take a bath again and go through the cleansing. 00:27:36.360 |
And the one who actually handed the goat, Azazel, who took him out, in order for him 00:27:40.460 |
to return, he also had to go through ritual cleansing. 00:27:43.840 |
And then all the meat and everything else that was sacrificed had to be taken outside 00:27:48.580 |
the camp and basically burned outside the camp. 00:27:53.960 |
I didn't mention it here, but the guy who took it out also had to go through ritual 00:28:01.080 |
So every aspect of the Day of Atonement was, God is coming. 00:28:06.880 |
If there's any kind of uncleanness of any kind, you're going to die. 00:28:15.200 |
That was the message given on the Day of Atonement. 00:28:18.240 |
So that's why it was called the Day of Affliction. 00:28:27.040 |
So the last part of it, chapter 29 to 34, again, it says that this day was given as 00:28:36.560 |
And then it says in verse 30, "It is a day to be cleansed for all their sins." 00:28:43.060 |
And then he calls it, in verse 31, "It is a Sabbath of solemn rest." 00:28:49.140 |
Which is interesting because I would think that if there was any day that they would 00:28:53.580 |
have not rested, it would have been this particular day. 00:28:59.420 |
He mentions over and over again that if there's any sin in you, you will die. 00:29:08.300 |
And yet, this day of Sabbath is called a solemn day of rest. 00:29:15.820 |
In the Scriptures, the Sabbath always looked back. 00:29:21.740 |
So the Jews understood the Sabbath was what was lost at the creation. 00:29:26.920 |
When Adam and Eve, when God entered His rest on the seventh day, when Adam and Eve sinned, 00:29:32.820 |
So every Sabbath was a reminder to them that that's what they lost. 00:29:39.620 |
The rest that they can only find in God was lost. 00:29:43.820 |
But it also points to the future, that the Messiah was going to come and He was going 00:29:50.540 |
So again, when Jesus says, "All who are weary, I will give you this rest. 00:29:59.620 |
A Jew would have understood that very differently. 00:30:03.420 |
It would have had a lot more meaning than just, "I get to go home and relax." 00:30:10.940 |
Sabbath was what was lost in creation when they sinned. 00:30:14.740 |
And then it was Sabbath that was to be restored. 00:30:16.820 |
So this day of atonement is called the Sabbath of solemn rest, was to point back and to point 00:30:27.260 |
And every year when they did this was for that purpose. 00:30:32.860 |
You see how this day was so significant and now every detail of it was for the purpose 00:30:42.340 |
It becomes so much more richer when you understand Leviticus, and especially chapter 16, where 00:30:50.220 |
Christ was sacrificed in order that you and I could be set free. 00:31:03.500 |
Chapter 9, 11 to 28, because the author of Hebrews reminds us that Christ fulfilled this 00:31:10.900 |
"But when Christ appeared as high priest of the good things that have come, then through 00:31:14.940 |
the greater and more perfect tent, not made with hands that is not of the creation, he 00:31:19.260 |
entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of blood of goats and calves, 00:31:25.380 |
So clearly this is talking about the day of atonement. 00:31:29.140 |
All the other priests who came before him had to do this repeatedly and he had to be 00:31:34.180 |
But he goes into the real tent by his own blood, securing eternal redemption. 00:31:44.100 |
It had to be done every single year because it wasn't enough. 00:31:48.420 |
It was just a foreshadowing of what was to come. 00:31:50.420 |
When Christ came, the redemption was real and it was permanent. 00:31:53.860 |
"For if the sprinkling of defiled persons with the blood of goats and bulls and with 00:31:57.620 |
the ashes of high first sanctifies for the purification of the flesh." 00:32:02.420 |
So again, this is all pointing to chapter 16. 00:32:04.860 |
"How much more would the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself 00:32:08.740 |
without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" 00:32:14.740 |
If all of this ritual was for the purpose of cleansing and all of it was simply a shadow, 00:32:21.140 |
how much more when Christ comes and he does this with his own blood? 00:32:24.740 |
"Therefore, not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood. 00:32:28.460 |
For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, 00:32:32.280 |
he took the blood of calves and goats with water and scarlet wool and hyssop and sprinkled 00:32:36.880 |
both the book itself and all the people, saying, 'This is the blood of the covenant that God 00:32:42.460 |
But in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used 00:32:47.180 |
Indeed, under the law, almost everything is purified with blood, and without shedding 00:32:52.940 |
And this is again, this is embedded in the culture of Israel, and in particular the Day 00:32:58.540 |
"Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these 00:33:02.540 |
rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 00:33:07.480 |
For Christ has entered not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true 00:33:12.000 |
things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. 00:33:17.660 |
Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly as the high priest enters the holy places every 00:33:23.980 |
For then we would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. 00:33:28.180 |
But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of ages to put away sin by the 00:33:34.500 |
And just as it is appointed for man to die once, after that comes judgment. 00:33:39.060 |
For Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, 00:33:43.660 |
not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him." 00:33:50.260 |
All of this is pointing back to chapter 16, that Jesus Christ was fulfilling this. 00:33:56.780 |
So all of this drama was to point to the fact that Jesus, the real high priest, the real 00:34:02.020 |
sacrifice was going to atone in the real tabernacle of heaven. 00:34:08.300 |
And so our sins have been redeemed as a result of what he has done. 00:34:12.560 |
So the first time he came, he came to deal with sin. 00:34:15.100 |
He says the second time he comes, he comes to redeem. 00:34:19.620 |
And so all those who believe this, who genuinely believe that this happened to me, that Jesus 00:34:26.940 |
covered my blood, and that's why it says, what does it say? 00:34:32.300 |
Only those who believe that this happened for him would be eagerly waiting for that 00:34:38.900 |
And that's why the Holy Spirit is called what? 00:34:44.900 |
You put a deposit because the owner, the person who put a deposit is going to later on come 00:34:52.620 |
Only those who believe this, now you can confess it, you can come to church and you can go 00:34:58.500 |
through all the motions, but only the ones who really believe that this is his will be 00:35:08.740 |
Because our salvation is not complete until he comes. 00:35:12.980 |
We only have the deposit of what he has done. 00:35:16.140 |
So everything that we are doing now is just a taste. 00:35:19.540 |
The reality of redemption is going to come when he comes. 00:35:23.000 |
So a man or a woman who makes this their home can confess that they believe this, but by 00:35:33.780 |
And that's why it says repeatedly over and over again, those who eagerly wait for him. 00:35:43.640 |
This is what was embedded in the nation of Israel year after year after year after year, 00:35:50.340 |
I don't know about you, but it just makes the gospel that much richer. 00:35:57.460 |
That God has been preparing not only Israel, but us, that all of this so that we can have 00:36:07.420 |
This drama would give us a picture of what he has done. 00:36:12.060 |
So when Paul says, "In view of this mercy, to give your life as a living sacrifice," 00:36:16.940 |
like all of this comes into play for a Jew, right? 00:36:22.720 |
Why do you think some people have a hard time accepting God's forgiveness for their sins? 00:36:26.600 |
How does a difficult time accepting God's forgiveness affect our worship and life in 00:36:34.340 |
What is the worst sin you have been forgiven for? 00:36:37.460 |
So I'm not asking you to actually confess, right? 00:36:40.740 |
I'm just asking you, if you can think of it, what it is. 00:36:44.300 |
You don't have to share with the group, but how did that affect the way you gave worship 00:36:49.060 |
So in your mind, do you remember a time when you were really weighed down by the guilt 00:36:54.180 |
of your sin, and when God forgave you, when you repented and you felt forgiveness for 00:37:07.100 |
So I'm asking you to share that, even if you don't want to share the details of that sin, 00:37:11.420 |
but if you can remember what you felt like when you were delivered and forgiven. 00:37:18.560 |
So the whole drama of the tabernacle on the cleansing, it wasn't just an individual sin. 00:37:25.580 |
The sin, it wasn't just the sin of the individual, the sin of Israel had to be taken out, right? 00:37:31.460 |
So sin, at least the way God describes it for us, is not simply personal, it is collective. 00:37:41.400 |
Sins of other people affect the community, right? 00:37:43.680 |
And that's exactly what it says in 1 Corinthians 3, 16, right? 00:37:53.320 |
What prescriptions are given for cleansing of impurity when it comes to corporate body? 00:38:02.400 |
Alright, let me pray for us and then I'll have you guys get into your smoke. 00:38:14.160 |
For there's so much more to our salvation than we even know now. 00:38:20.780 |
And the more we open your word, we understand the depth of what you have done and what you 00:38:30.160 |
And we know even now, Lord God, we're only scratching the surface. 00:38:37.760 |
Lord, this foolish world that we live in, the more we experience it, the more we are 00:38:47.400 |
But yet, Lord God, we dig into your word, your living word. 00:38:53.040 |
There's so much, Lord God, of your grace and your love and your mercy and just how deep 00:38:59.940 |
Help us to be a church, Lord God, that really loves you. 00:39:03.640 |
That we will not be satisfied with superficial, elementary understanding of our faith. 00:39:09.980 |
But help us to dig, not simply for knowledge's sake, but so that we can understand you, your 00:39:19.840 |
That all that we do may simply be a reasonable response. 00:39:24.260 |
Bless the time that we have in our small group, Lord.