Leviticus - Part 6: The Day of Atonement
Leviticus - Part 6: The Day of Atonement
Leviticus 16
Pastor Scott Skones
Have you ever been to a holy place? Each person is going to define “holy place” a little bit differently, but let me share a few examples.
After September 11, 2001, I had the opportunity to visit New York City and we went to Ground Zero. Everything was fenced off – there was a huge hole in the ground. And on the high chain-link fence were countless pictures, notes, and painful letters left by loved ones. That was a holy place. I don’t know if you’ve had the opportunity to visit there recently, but now that feeling of holiness continues with the memorial that has been built - the beautiful waterfall pools – the museum. It remains a holy place.
Cache Creek - Yellowstone National Park
Or there’s a place in Yellowstone National Park that I visited a couple of years ago – I hiked a few miles into the backcountry and came to Cache Creek right before it merges with the Lamar River. You turn 360 degrees and can see no evidence of human impact. It’s like stepping back in time thousands of years. No noise other than the river. No powerlines. No cell towers. Just a trout stream. That’s a holy place.
Or there’s Gettysburg Cemetery – where you are reminded of the significance of that moment in history. Fighting to save the union, and fighting for the emancipation and freedom of slaves. And you walk through the cemetery and notice the 979 graves of unknown soldiers. That’s a holy place.
And then as a pastor, I think of the times that I’ve been invited deep into someone’s grief. Entrusted with a funeral service for someone’s child, perhaps. Given the task of putting words to indescribable pain and to bring a message of comfort and hope into the most difficult days. Standing before a casket with a mother and father. Those are holy moments.
Today, as we continue in our sermon series in Leviticus, we hear the story of the one day each year that the High Priest was able to enter the Most Holy Place.
This place was holy, NOT because of its historical significance, not because of tragedy, not because of its peace and tranquility – but because of who was present there. One day each year – on the Day of Atonement, God gave instructions for the High Priest to enter and make atonement for the sins of Israel on their behalf.
In Jewish tradition, this day is known as Yom Kippur. It takes place on the 10th day of the 7th month of the Jewish year – which puts it in October this year.
But, more importantly, many have said that our text for today – Leviticus 16 – is the very center of the Pentateuch. This day of atonement is the day of Good News for sinners. And as Christians, we know that this day has even greater meaning now than it did for Israel.
So I’m going to read Leviticus 16:1-22, and then verse 34.
The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron who died when they approached the Lord. 2 The Lord said to Moses: “Tell your brother Aaron that he is not to come whenever he chooses into the Most Holy Place behind the curtain in front of the atonement cover on the ark, or else he will die. For I will appear in the cloud over the atonement cover.
3 “This is how Aaron is to enter the Most Holy Place: He must first bring a young bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. 4 He is to put on the sacred linen tunic, with linen undergarments next to his body; he is to tie the linen sash around him and put on the linen turban. These are sacred garments; so he must bathe himself with water before he puts them on. 5 From the Israelite community he is to take two male goats for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering.
6 “Aaron is to offer the bull for his own sin offering to make atonement for himself and his household. 7 Then he is to take the two goats and present them before the Lord at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 8 He is to cast lots for the two goats—one lot for the Lord and the other for the scapegoat. 9 Aaron shall bring the goat whose lot falls to the Lord and sacrifice it for a sin offering. 10 But the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord to be used for making atonement by sending it into the wilderness as a scapegoat.
11 “Aaron shall bring the bull for his own sin offering to make atonement for himself and his household, and he is to slaughter the bull for his own sin offering. 12 He is to take a censer full of burning coals from the altar before the Lord and two handfuls of finely ground fragrant incense and take them behind the curtain. 13 He is to put the incense on the fire before the Lord, and the smoke of the incense will conceal the atonement cover above the tablets of the covenant law, so that he will not die. 14 He is to take some of the bull’s blood and with his finger sprinkle it on the front of the atonement cover; then he shall sprinkle some of it with his finger seven times before the atonement cover.
15 “He shall then slaughter the goat for the sin offering for the people and take its blood behind the curtain and do with it as he did with the bull’s blood: He shall sprinkle it on the atonement cover and in front of it. 16 In this way he will make atonement for the Most Holy Place because of the uncleanness and rebellion of the Israelites, whatever their sins have been. He is to do the same for the tent of meeting, which is among them in the midst of their uncleanness. 17 No one is to be in the tent of meeting from the time Aaron goes in to make atonement in the Most Holy Place until he comes out, having made atonement for himself, his household and the whole community of Israel.
18 “Then he shall come out to the altar that is before the Lord and make atonement for it. He shall take some of the bull’s blood and some of the goat’s blood and put it on all the horns of the altar. 19 He shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times to cleanse it and to consecrate it from the uncleanness of the Israelites.
20 “When Aaron has finished making atonement for the Most Holy Place, the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall bring forward the live goat. 21 He is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites—all their sins—and put them on the goat’s head. He shall send the goat away into the wilderness in the care of someone appointed for the task. 22 The goat will carry on itself all their sins to a remote place; and the man shall release it in the wilderness.
And then skipping down to verse 34:
“This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: Atonement is to be made once a year for all the sins of the Israelites.”
And it was done, as the Lord commanded Moses.
Lord, your word is true and it is good. As we consider what your word is saying, may you fix our eyes on Jesus, and give us faith to believe your promises. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
As we begin reflecting on this beautiful and consequential text, let's first summarize the meaning and message of this passage.
We might express the meaning of Leviticus 16 this way: A relationship with God is only possible through the atoning blood of Jesus and the removal of sin.
So let’s look now at how Leviticus 16 makes this argument and, really, proclaims the Gospel of Jesus Christ in such a beautiful way.
Our text today begins by making clear that:
1 - Human beings are, by nature, cut off from the presence of God.
v. 2 - The Lord said to Moses: “Tell your brother Aaron that he is not to come whenever he chooses into the Most Holy Place behind the curtain in front of the atonement cover on the ark, or else he will die. For I will appear in the cloud over the atonement cover.
God gives a warning to Aaron that he cannot just come and go as he pleases in the Most Holy Place. There are rules by which he must enter, because of his sin. And what we see is that, by nature, we are separated from a holy God.
The Most Holy Place was exactly what the name indicates. It was the place where God would appear. And so there must be a separation between God and sinners. This is at the center of the drama that ensues in Genesis 3 and continues until Jesus says “It is finished.” How can sinners commune with a holy God?
The effects of sin on relationships should be self-evident for us. We can all think of situations – of people that we know who have become estranged and cut off from family and friends because of sin. Marriages that fail. Parents who abandon their children and children who abandon their parents. Siblings who haven’t talked for years. And those are always situations between two sinners. Neither party can claim perfect innocence in what led to the relational breakdown. In every human relationship, both parties are corrupted by sin to some degree.
But think about the relationship between us and God. God is perfectly holy. God does everything right. He never overreacts. He never responds in sin. He never says things he doesn’t mean. Greed and jealousy never get in the way. He is perfectly innocent when it comes to the broken relationship between him and his creation.
And so if sin has the power to alienate us from fellow sinners, how much more does it have the power to separate us from a holy God?
This is a foundational spiritual law. By nature, our relationship with God is fundamentally broken.
But, the good news is that God is intent on fixing that. And that brings us to this realization from our text:
2 - God enters into the midst of sinners.
V. 16 - “In this way he will make atonement for the Most Holy Place because of the uncleanness and rebellion of the Israelites, whatever their sins have been. He is to do the same for the tent of meeting, which is among them in the midst of their uncleanness.”
Notice the emphasis on “uncleanness and rebellion” – and the fact that God chooses to come to his people IN THE MIDST of that uncleanness.
This is pure grace. God enters into the rebellion and uncleanness of sinful humanity and he reveals himself, he makes himself known, he dwells among them.
It’s easy to become so familiar with the redemptive story that we overlook how profound of an idea this is. That God didn’t send a messenger telling them that once they get their lives together – once they stop sinning and clean up their mess – he’ll show up. No, God enters into their mess. And he establishes a system by which they can be made right with him. By which their sins can be forgiven. And, as we’ve learned during our time in Leviticus, that can only happen by way of a substitute. We are unable to save ourselves. Our hope and our help come from the outside. And so we see this:
3 - A substitute dies in the place of the sinner.
We see this all over our text, but I’ll read from verse 11:
“Aaron shall bring the bull for his own sin offering to make atonement for himself and his household, and he is to slaughter the bull for his own sin offering.”
It might be helpful to deal with the word “atonement” briefly. It’s a word that most of us have heard, but we might quite be able to put our finger on exactly what it means.
The English word is really several words mashed together. It means “at-one-ment” – in other words, to bring two separate things together.
God and mankind are divided, at odds, and separated by sin. And so “atonement” is the act of them being brought together, united.
Scripture teaches that atonement happens by way of a substitute. A perfect substitute dying in the place of sinners.
We see examples of this all over, especially in classic stories and movies. But we also find atonement all over the pages of scripture:
In the Garden of Eden when God makes coverings out of animal skins to cover over the shame of Adam and Eve.
We see this with Abraham and Isaac at Mount Moriah when God provided a ram in the place of Isaac.
We see this in Egypt at the first Passover when the blood of the sacrifice placed on the door frame of the house causes the angel of death to Passover.
And we see this in Isaiah when we read of a suffering servant who would be despised and rejected by mankind, and who would take our pain and bear our suffering. He would be punished by God, pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities. And that he would be punished for the peace of mankind, and so that we may be healed by his wounds.
Every year on the day of atonement, the priest would sacrifice one of the two goats. Listen to verse 15: “He shall then slaughter the goat for the sin offering for the people…”
And that animal’s death - and the blood it would shed – would make atonement for the people.
Many people have tried to write substitutionary atonement out of the story. It’s very popular in churches now to never talk about Jesus dying in our place. About Jesus absorbing the wrath of God against sin. Because stories like God calling Abraham to sacrifice his son are impossible for us to comprehend. And so many churches have decided to write off the entire idea of Substitutionary Atonement as merely a metaphor. Just imagery.
But to do so means that you gut the scriptures and empty the cross of its power.
Some might ask something like “Why couldn't God just forgive? Why did there have to be a substitute? Why was atonement needed.” Why couldn’t God just forgive?
Think about it this way:
Imagine that you come to me in desperate need of money and I loan you $5000. And as time goes on it becomes clear that you could never repay the money and so I “forgive” the debt.
Think about the mechanics of what just happened in that act of forgiveness. The $5000 debt didn’t magically go away. The money didn’t reappear in my bank account. Everything isn’t back to exactly as it was before I loaned you the money.
No, “forgiving” the debt simply means that I chose to pay it for you. Forgiveness means that the one in the right bore the cost for the wrong that was done. In the place of the debtor.
When the debt is real, forgiveness always means that the one in the right bears the cost on behalf of the one in the wrong. And that’s exactly what substitutionary atonement is. The goat bears the cost of sin. The substitute received the punishment that the sinner deserved.
But there’s another substitute, a second goat, that we see in Leviticus 16. And what we see is:
4 - A substitute removes the sin of the people.
V. 20 - “When Aaron has finished making atonement for the Most Holy Place, the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall bring forward the live goat. 21 He is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites—all their sins—and put them on the goat’s head. He shall send the goat away into the wilderness…”
The priest places his hands on the head of the goat and confesses the sins and rebellion of the entire nation to this goat. And then sends it away – carrying the sin of the people out into the wilderness.
Let’s come back around to that summary that we gave earlier of the message and meaning of this chapter. A relationship with God is only possible through the atoning blood of Jesus and the removal of sin.
Leviticus 16 contains a couple of different sacrifices. One goat had to shed its blood and another was sent off carrying Israel’s sins on its back. And Jesus is both. Jesus is both the sacrifice that died in your place; and in my place. And, Jesus is the one who removed our sins from us.
This was expressed so beautifully by David in Psalm 103. Listen to this:
he does not treat us as our sins deserve
or repay us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his love for those who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
Jesus is the fulfillment of Leviticus 16, shedding his blood for your sin. Removing your sin completely. And Jesus is the fulfillment of Psalm 103 – removing your sin as far as the east is from the west.
Here’s what this means: Whatever your sin. Whatever your struggle. Whatever your fear. Whatever your secret. Whatever your past. Whatever your doubt. Whatever it is. Jesus already shed his blood for it. Jesus already took care of it. Simply believe.
Whatever your sin, your failure, your shame. Jesus already took care of it. He died for it. He shed his blood for that.
The very worst of you. Jesus shed his blood for that. For all of it. Jesus carried it off into the wilderness so that you could be in a relationship with God.
As we close today I want to draw your attention to two things. In this series, I’ve been talking each week about the fact that Leviticus is full of “arrows” that point forward to Jesus. Arrows that turn our attention from the Old Testament law to the Crucified and Risen Lord Jesus Christ.
And there are two more arrows for us to make note of as our time draws to a close.
The first is found in verse 4. As Aaron prepares for this sacred service by which he will make atonement for the sins of the people, one of the requirements is that he wash himself. V. 4 - “So he must bathe himself with water.”
And then the second arrow that I want to point out is in verse 14 – where Aaron is instructed to take some of the blood of the sacrifice and sprinkle it.
The reason that I bring up these two details – washing with water and sprinkling with blood – is that they are mentioned in the New Testament – in the book of Hebrews chapter 10.
Listen to Hebrews 10, starting in verse 22:
“...let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.”
Do you see what the author of Hebrews did there? He reached back into Leviticus and took the instructions for Aaron to bathe himself and the instructions to sprinkle the blood on the atonement cover – and showed us exactly what those elements of our text mean: By faith, our hearts are sprinkled with blood, and we are washed clean.
Those arrows point us directly to what Christ has done for us and to the gifts that Christ has given to us.
The means of forgiveness in Leviticus 16 are still the means of forgiveness and mercy today - The washing of water through holy baptism and the blood of Jesus given through the Lord’s supper. Those were the means through which God accomplished his redemptive work in Leviticus – and they are still the means through which he works today.
And did you notice what the author of Hebrews said? What is the result of Jesus' work? We draw near to God with the Full Assurance that Faith Brings.
You can have a relationship with God today – NOT because of anything you could ever do. But because of what Jesus did.
You can have your sins forgiven today. Not because of anything you could ever do, but because of what Jesus did.
Jesus paid for your sin with his blood and removed it as far as the east is from the west so that you could draw near to God with the full assurance that faith brings. And so confess your sin, and believe this good news.
This sermon is offered as a resource by Living Word Lutheran Brethren Fellowship in Dickinson, North Dakota. It has been lightly edited for the website, but the original tone remains unchanged, and no grammatical revisions or style adjustments have been made.