The Day of Atonement — Chuck Smith

The High Priest’s Atonement in the Holy Place

And then He shall kill the goat of the sin offering, which is for the people, and He brings its blood inside of the veil, to do with that blood as He did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat.

And so shall He make atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel and because of their transgressions for all of their sins. So and so shall he do for the tabernacle of meeting which remains among them in the midst of their uncleanness.

And there shall be no man in the tabernacle of meeting when he goes in to make the atonement in the holy place. He's to do this alone on all of the other days of the year. The other priests are the ones that did the sacrifices.

They were the ones who butchered the animals cut them up and laid the pieces upon the altar. But on this day of atonement Aaron was to act alone for the people. He had to do the whole thing himself. No one else could come into the place of the tent of meeting while Aaron was involved in this particular ministry.

And he shall go out to the altar that is before the Lord and make atonement for it. And he shall take some of the blood of the bull and the blood of the goat and put it on the horns of the altar and all around.

And he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his fingers seven times to cleanse it. And when he has made an end of atoning for the holy place the tabernacle of meeting and the altar he shall bring then 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 children of Israel and all their transgressions concerning all their sins putting them on the head of the goat and shall send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a suitable man.

The Scapegoat and the Twofold Work of Christ

So the first goat is killed and the blood is sprinkled seven times before the mercy seat and seven times on the altar outside. But then the live goat is brought and he puts his hands on the head of this live goat and confesses all of the sins of the nation laying them on this goat.

And then the goat is led by a suitable man one of the priests out into the wilderness. And when he gets out into the wilderness the goat is released. It's called the scapegoat and it is released into the wilderness that it might flee over the mountains.

This is a symbol of the twofold work of Jesus Christ. As far as our sins are concerned Christ died for us that he might forgive us our sins. But he has also separated our sins from us never to be remembered against us again.

Complete Forgiveness Before God

Now that is to me a tremendous thing that God doesn't bring up my past. God doesn't remember my sins against me again. Jesus has put away my sins. He has separated me from my past. And so the scapegoat escaping into the wilderness being lost in the wilderness gone is a symbol of how my sins are gone.

Oh how thankful I am that Jesus has put away my sins. We oftentimes talk about forgiveness but when we do we really don't understand forgiveness from a scriptural standpoint. Because when we talk about forgiveness we don't talk about a complete or total forgiveness which we have from God.

You may do some stupid thing and I would say why would you do that. And you say oh I'm sorry forgive me. Okay I forgive you. And tomorrow you come by and you do the same stupid thing I said what's the matter with you.

Didn't you learn yesterday that you shouldn't do that. Oh I'm so sorry forgive me. Well okay you come along the next day and you do the same thing again and I say all right. What's the matter with you.

You're really weird. You know you do the same thing over again. When you know you ought not to enjoy. Oh forgive me. Wait a minute. Come on. I forgave you yesterday and the day before and I've had it.

Well I really didn't forgive you yesterday and the day before in a true sense of forgiveness. Because if I had truly forgiven I wouldn't be bringing it up. So watch out when you say okay I forgive you.

Because you're never to bring that up again. Or you didn't truly forgive. Now we are told to forgive even as our Father in heaven forgives us. Wait a minute. If I truly forgive I'll not bring it up again.

I won't bring up your past. Your sins that he has put away he has put away completely your sins that he is forgiven. He's forgiven completely. I mean he has erased the book clean never to be remembered against us again.

The Scapegoat’s Message of Gone Sins

How glorious is that forgiveness of God. When this goat was released in the wilderness all the way out several priests would leave with a goat and then each mountain peak a priest would wait and they go out out out until the priest would be out in the wilderness by himself with a goat.

He had turned the thing loose untie it turn it loose and chase it off. And when it went over the he would turn and wave to the priest on the hill behind him. It's gone. Who would in turn wave to the priest on the next hill.

Who would wave to the priest on the next hill. Who would wave to the priest on the top of the Mount of Olives. Who would signal to the high priest standing at the door of the tent of meeting it's gone.

And he then would go out and announce to the people your sins are gone. They're gone. And the people naturally would rejoice in that our sins are gone. You know the goat has disappeared and the sins are gone.

Great cause for celebration. Then he was to take off his linen outfit that he had been wearing and he is to wash himself again take another bath. And then he's to put on the high priestly garments those beautiful priestly garments that were described in Exodus.

The one who released the scapegoat in the wilderness is to come back and bathe his body in water wash his clothes. The bull that was taken for the sin offering and the goat were to be taken out of the camp and burn completely.

And the person who did that was also to wash their clothes and bathe in water before they came back into camp. Now this is the statute forever is to take place in the seventh month of the religious calendar of the Jews.

Yom Kippur and the Futility of Good Works

Their religious calendar began in April and so on the tenth day of the seventh month was Yom Kippur and it usually fell in October this day of atonement. Now the Jews still celebrate Yom Kippur today however rather than approaching God with the sacrifice of the animals through the high priest Yom Kippur is now a day of reflection and it is the day of reckoning.

The day when you reflect upon the past year and your good deeds and your bad deeds. And it is the day in which you are hoping that in this past year your good deeds have exceeded your bad deeds. And that is why the week before Yom Kippur you'll find many Jews scurrying around to do benevolent and wonderful things.

They're trying to get the calendar caught up before the day arrives so that when they reflect on Yom Kippur they can be comfortable and satisfiable. I've done more good than I did evil. And they are seeking now to approach God through their works of goodness and with that anticipation or hope that they over balance my evil works that I have done in the 17th chapter God deals with the subject of offering sacrifices not in the open field but just at the door of the tabernacle.

Sacrifices at the Door of the Tabernacle

Now up until this time up until the establishing of the priesthood in Israel every family had their own priest and the families would offer their own sacrifices. Going back into the book of Genesis Noah offered a sacrifice before the Lord.

Cain and Abel had offered their sacrifices before the Lord. And when they offered their sacrifices they would offer them in open fields. When Abraham offered his sacrifice they were in open fields. They did not have the sanctuary.

They did not have the place of meeting and thus sacrifices were offered almost anyplace. Now that they had the tabernacle the sanctuary there were to be no more sacrifices offered in open fields. This was a practice of the heathen nations around them.

As they would sacrifice to their pagan deities they would sacrifice anywhere in the open fields or wherever. And God said it's not to be sold. When you offer a sacrifice you are to bring that sacrifice now and to the tent of meeting.

And if you do not bring it to the tent of meeting to offer it there then it isn't to be accepted by God. And as they offer their sacrifices the priest then takes the blood of the sacrifice and offers it to the Lord.

Verse 7 they shall no more offer their sacrifices to demons after whom they have played the harlot. So there were sacrifices to the pagan deities and God said that's to be over. This is a statute forever.

The Sanctity of Blood

And then in verse 10 and whatever man of the house of Israel or of strangers who sojourn among you who eats any blood I will set my face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off from among his people.

Whenever they killed an animal they were to bleed that animal thoroughly and that is why an animal wasn't to be strangled. If you strangle the animal then the blood remains in the flesh. And even to the present day when they eat meat they can only eat meat that has been killed under the supervision of a priest or a rabbi who makes certain that the animal is bled properly and bled thoroughly because they have the prohibition of eating blood the sanctity of the blood.

For God said the life of the flesh is in the blood and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls. It is the blood that makes atonement for your soul. So they were to have a high respect for the blood because first of all the blood was the life of the flesh it is the stream of life the Red River of life it's been called whereby our bodies are sustained.

And the shedding of the blood is equivalent to the dying. It is a symbol of dying the blood being shed. But God required it because the penalty of the law against sin was death. And so that animal that you brought for a sacrifice was your substitute.

It was taking your place. It was dying in your stead. It was receiving your just dues for your sins. And it was necessary that the blood be shed in order for there to be an atonement for sins for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.

Christ’s Once-for-All Sacrifice

Now God in his word never abrogated this law. God never changed or altered this law. God did provide a sacrifice through Jesus Christ a permanent sacrifice through Jesus Christ. In the book of Hebrews as there is the comparison made between the Levitical sacrifices and especially on the Day of Atonement and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ it is pointing out that the sacrifice of Jesus Christ is superior and better to the sacrifice made by the Levitical priest because it points out that he had to go in yearly with the sacrifice and daily sacrifices were to be made.

But Jesus having sacrificed himself once and for all is now sat down at the right hand of the father waiting until his enemies become his footstool waiting until all things have been brought in subjection unto himself.

And so the sufficiency of Christ's sacrifice in that it was one sacrifice and for all. But we still approach God today through sacrifice. It's the sacrifice of Jesus through the shed blood of Jesus who gave his life for us.

We have our approach to God. But you have no approach to God apart from sacrifice. And that is the dilemma that a Jew must face today who seeks to come to God on Yom Kippur weighing his good works against his evil.

There is no atonement. There is nothing in the scripture that speaks of atonement through good works. The scripture only speaks of atonement through the sacrifice through the shedding of blood. And without the shedding of blood there is no remission for sins.

Now these Old Testament sacrifices were all of them looking forward to that sacrifice that Jesus would make as the Lamb of God slain for our sins. But if you do not have Jesus Christ and have received his sacrifice for your sins then you are still in your sin.

There is no atonement for the blood makes atonement for the soul. Therefore I said to the children of Israel no one among you shall eat blood. Why. Because the blood is sacred it is the atonement for the soul.

It's the life of the flesh. No one among you shall eat blood. Nor shall any stranger who sojourns with you eat blood. And whatever man of the children of Israel or strangers who sojourn among you who hunts and catches any animal or bird that it may be eaten.

When you're hunting the animal and you've shot it then you bleed it out there and then you cover the blood with dirt. You can't bring that animal into the priest. You've already shot it but you you bleed it thoroughly and cover the blood with dirt.

And if any man eats something that died naturally you see it wasn't. It didn't have a chance to bleed or was torn by beast. Whether he's a native of your own country or a stranger he shall both wash his clothes and bathe in water and be unclean until evening.

Leviticus 18 and the Prohibition of Incest

And then he shall be clean. But if he doesn't wash then he shall bear his guilt. Now in chapter 18 he deals first of all with incestual relationships and suffice it to say that God has thoroughly forbidden incestual relationships.

The Lord spoke to Moses saying speak to the children of Israel say to them I am the Lord your God according to the doings of the land of Egypt where you dwelt you're not to do according to the doings of the land of Canaan where I am bringing you you shall not do.

Nor shall you walk in their ordinances. You shall observe my judgments and keep my ordinances and walk in them. I am the Lord your God. You shall keep my statutes and my judgments. And if a man does he will live by them.

So the law and life through the law dependent upon your keeping the law he that doeth them shall live by them. Now in Egypt it was all right to marry your sister. Intermarriages within the family you could actually marry your mother.

And so it also was in Canaan. But they are something that God completely forbid. And so he goes ahead. In case you say well ours is a special case she's you know my uncle's wife. Well no he covers that.

I mean he just goes through and covers each relationship so that a person well he didn't cover this one. So that one's all right. You know I mean he pretty thorough he covers them all. Any kind of a relationship that you might think of sister-in-law brother-in-law or whatever he covers and says it's not to be done.

We'll return with more of our study through the book of Leviticus in our next lesson as pastor Chuck Smith continues with more insights into the laws of sexual sin. And we do hope you'll make plans to join us.

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Prayer for God’s Word and Presence

May God now take the word and hide it in our hearts and may it come back in our time of need to guide and to direct us in our walk and in our relationship with God that place of first love the first bloom of love in that relationship with God.

And may you experience again the presence and the power of God working in.

Your life in Jesus name as I think about the many choices of which church to.

Attend. I've asked myself how do I know my church is teaching the Bible as the uncompromising Word of God. Is it possible to really know church pastors are teaching the Bible as inerrant. With this in mind pastor Paul Smith has written a book entitled new evangelicalism the new world order.

Hi.

This is pastor Chuck and our Lord Jesus Christ warned the believers that Satan would mount a massive strategy of deception in the last days and that many would be fooled. This book will help the reader to understand the subtle and not so subtle spiritual battles in the tactics of Satan.

My brother Paul has clearly examined the documents and exposes the alarming degenerative process happening in the churches today. Every believer who seriously considers the importance of the inerrant Word of God will benefit from this book more.

Information about pastor Paul Smith's book and to read a sample please visit us online at the word for today dot org or call us at 800 -272-WORD.

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