“Free Access!” – FBC Morning Light (2/15/2024)

The Day of Atonement in Leviticus 16

Well a good Thursday morning to you. Today in our Bible reading we're in Leviticus chapters 15 and 16, and I want to focus on chapter 16. Leviticus 16 gives all of the directions for the Day of Atonement, and they're pretty intense and pretty precise.

And here's the purpose of that particular day. It's laid out at the end of the chapter. It says in verse 32, the priest who is anointed and consecrated to minister as priest in his father's place, that is in the place of Aaron and then Aaron's sons and so forth, he shall make atonement and put on the linen clothes the holy garments.

Then he shall make atonement for the holy sanctuary, and he shall make atonement for the tabernacle of meeting and for the altar, and he shall make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the assembly.

This shall be an everlasting statute for you to make atonement for the children of Israel for all their sins once a year. Okay. Earlier in the chapter, in verse 2, it says the Lord said to Moses, tell Aaron your brother not to come at just any time into the holy place inside the veil before the mercy seat which is on the ark, lest he die.

For I will appear in the cloud above the mercy seat. And then it's then is laid out all the prescriptions for how, what he's to do before coming in, how he is to approach going into that holy place, the offering he's supposed to offer, the sacrifices and so on and so forth, and how to offer those sacrifices, what to do with the blood of those sacrifices, etc. etc.

All very meticulously laid out. And here's the thing. The only person who could do this was the high priest, and the only time he could do this was on the Day of Atonement. Only the priest, the high priest, only one time a year could appear inside that holy of holies, that holy place where the Ark of the Covenant resided, which was a symbol of the presence of God.

Hebrews and the Symbolism of the Holy of Holies

Now, all of this is highly symbolic and reflective, and the book of Hebrews lays out some of the clarification of what those figures, what those types all had to do with. You know, that holy of holies is reflective of the very presence of God, the very throne room of God, if you will.

And so think about this now. In the Old Testament, if you were living as a Jew, in the Old Testament wilderness as they were wandering, and then in Jerusalem when the temple was built and all this, there was in those structures this holy of holy places.

You were never allowed to go there. You were never allowed to go beyond the veil. Only one man, the high priest, one time a year could do this. What about now? If the holy place was reflective or symbolic of the throne room of God, what about now?

Christ Our Great High Priest and Free Access to God

Well, the book of Hebrews tells us we have a high priest that went into that holy of holies, and that is Jesus, and he went in there to appear in our behalf with the blood of his sacrifice, of himself.

And we therefore now have boldness to enter into the holy of holies, into the very presence of God, at any time. And we can do so with confidence and with boldness. We have no fear of going into the presence of God that we will be, that we will die if we do.

I didn't say we have no reason to fear God, that's not what I said. We have no reason to be afraid of going into his presence, any time, any day, any time of day, multiple times during the day. We can go right into his presence, because our great high priest has gone in before us, and he split that veil in two, making the way plain, making the way clear, making access for us to go in at any time.

We have boldness to do so. I hope you can appreciate that our access to God is not limited to one man, one time a year, and so forth. I hope you appreciate that we don't need a priest, a human priest, an earthly priest, to go before us and to go between us and God.

You and I, by God's grace and the work of Christ, can go personally and any time into the very presence of God. Let's give him thanks for that. And so Father, we do thank you for the work of Jesus on that cross as our great high priest, who paid the one-time sacrifice of himself, a spotless, pure sacrifice for all of our sins forever, and therefore, as an effect of that sacrifice, not a temporary thing, but a permanent thing, that it's settled that we can go into your presence, come into your presence at any time.

We thank you for that great gift, that gracious work of his. Bless these thoughts to our hearts, we pray in Jesus' name, amen. All right, well listen, I hope you have a good rest of your Thursday, and may the Lord bless you, and have a good day.