THE DAY OF ATONEMENT:
GOD’S GOT YOU COVERED
The word “atonement” is one of those biblical terms that few of us can easily define. It is an incredibly important word with respect to our salvation, so it is worth tackling. Atonement means “to cover.” When it comes to our sinful natures and the moral debts that we have racked up in our lives, God’s got you covered. Let me try to illustrate atonement.
A pastor was visiting a sheep ranch when he spotted what he thought was a two-headed lamb. He asked the ranch foreman, “Why in the world does that lamb have two heads?”
The foreman smiled and said, “You’re from the city aren’t ya? Let me tell you what we did. Two ewes each gave birth to a lamb. One of the ewes died in childbirth and one of the lamb’s died also. We took the surviving lamb and put it in the pen with the living ewe to see if she would nurse. But she smelled the lamb and walked away. She knew it wasn’t hers.”
“What did you do?” the pastor asked. “We took the coat off of the dead lamb and wrapped it around the living lamb and put it back in the pen. When the mother smelled the scent of her own lamb, she accepted the lamb and started to nurse.”
This is a faint picture of what the gospel does for us. On our own we are not acceptable to God because of sin. But through the blood of the cross of Christ, God covers us with the person of Jesus so that we can approach the throne of God.
If you’ve ever tried to read the book of Leviticus, you know how challenging it can be to understand. The tedious repetition, strange laws and sacrifices leave us zoned out. It’s a tough book. But it is in this book that we find the basis for understanding the atonement – why we need the cross.
In the opening chapters of Leviticus, Yahweh offers forgiveness to his people, Israel. He sets up a way for humans to atone, or cover for, the sins that keep them outside of God’s presence. This is what we are going to explore in Leviticus 16
How do we approach a Holy God?
Let’s consider the context of Leviticus in the first five books of the Bible. The first five books, the books of Moses, are called Torah or Pentateuch. Leviticus is right in the middle. Not only that, Leviticus 16, which describes the Day of Atonement, is in the middle of Leviticus. If you know how Hebrew writing works, that is significant, like painting a target on the point the books are making.
Further clues to the importance of Leviticus are found in Exodus and Numbers. At the end of Exodus, we read (Ex. 40:34-35). Because of the rebellion of Israel, Moses was not able to enter the tabernacle and the presence of the LORD. Then in Numbers 1:1 we read (Num. 1:1). Now we find that Moses was able to enter the tabernacle and meet with God. What’s happening here? Moses, the friend of God, the representative of Israel, was not allowed in the presence of God. And then he was allowed. The book of Leviticus answers this puzzling question of how he went from outside to inside.
Another incident takes place in Leviticus 10. Aaron, the high priest, had two sons who thought they could just waltz right into God’s presence in the holy of holies and offer an impromptu sacrifice of incense. God never asked for this strange fire to be administered before him. We read that “fire came out from before the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD,” (10:2).
The question we are faced with is this: How do we approach a holy God? There is a right way and a wrong way. That’s what Leviticus 16 is about. Aaron is told to take off his fancy priest clothes that make him look like a king and put on linen garments that make him look like a slave. Then he is to make blood sacrifices and wash himself repeatedly before going into the holy of holies – the presence of God.
In short, Leviticus 16 acts as a regimen for approaching God. God wants to have a relationship with his people, but there is a glaring problem. To remedy that problem, restoration of the relationship between God and humans is needed. Something must be done to take care of the problem.
When sin and holiness collide
We know what the problem is: it’s sin. That reality is etched deeply in Leviticus 16 where the writer uses four different terms to express the problem.
Moses instructs Aaron to make atonement for the Holy Place “because of the uncleanness of the people of Israel,”(16). The word “uncleanness” implies spiritual pollution. It means that the people have been in contact with things or have been doing activities that have moral consequences. They are contaminated with sin and like a contagion are spreading it around.
Another word used in Leviticus 16 is “transgressions.” There is an intensity in this word for sin. It is willful rebellion, a deliberate offence against God. “Iniquities” speaks of conscious wickedness. And the fourth word is a universal word for any wrongdoing: sin!
The very word “sin” in recent decades has been lost from our vocabulary. The psychiatrist, Karl Menninger, in his book Whatever Became of Sin? says that many sins have become “crimes,” so that the responsibility for dealing with them has passed from the church to the state. Other sins are called disorders or sicknesses, thus needing treatment.
The emphasis of Scripture, however, is on the godless self-centeredness of sin. Sin is the breach of what Jesus called the first and greatest commandment. Sin is failing to love God with all our being and actively refusing to acknowledge and obey him as our Creator and Lord (Stott, Cross of Christ, 90).
Why do we want to approach God? To find forgiveness for our sins, to be in relationship with God again. But the problem of forgiveness is confounded by the collision of God’s holiness (his divine perfection) and human rebellion. It’s a conflict of who God is and who we are. The obstacle to forgiveness is not just our sin alone, nor our guilt alone, but also the reality of God’s outstanding wrath towards guilty sinners. God is love – no question about it! But we need to remember that God is holy. It is a holy love he has for humankind. It is a love that yearns over sinners while at the same time refusing to condone their sins (Stott, 88). How can God show love without violating his holiness? And how can he be holy without being loving?
Taking Care of Sin the Old Way
The Day of Atonement was held once a year in Israel to address the sins of the people. While other feasts were joyful occasions (Passover), this Day was a solemn occasion. People anticipated this day as the day God atoned for their sins.
One way that God demonstrated that he was removing people’s sins was through the use of two goats. The high priest took two male goats for a sin offering. Note in v. 5 that it says two male goats for a sin offering. Two goats; one offering. I made the mistake in the past of thinking that one goat was killed while the other got to live free in the desert. Both goats represent the people’s sins.
The priest would cast lots to see which goat was sacrificed as a sin offering and which one was presented alive before the Lord and sent into the desert. The blood of the first goat was sprinkled on the ark of the covenant. The live goat was presented before the Lord (see 20-22).
Laying hands on the head of the goat, the priest symbolically bestowed on the goat all the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites. Then the goat was driven into the wilderness to Azazel (8-10). Azazel may have been a demon or the devil himself. Some say that in this way sin was being sent back where it belongs. Even if not, the symbolism of sending the goat away reflected David’s thought, “as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us,” (Ps. 103:12). In reality, they found that the goat would sometimes come back to the tabernacle. The people would freak out (sin was returning) and would wave blankets to scare the goat away. A man was assigned to take the goat away. He would tie a rock to its neck and make sure it fell over a precipice to its death, thus ensuring that sin did not return to the people.
The Day of Atonement, however, needed to be repeated year after year. Imagine the day after; all your sins are forgiven, but you know you have committed many sins already. You have to wait a whole year for atonement. Worse, the Day of Atonement achingly reminds you more of your guilt and shame than your forgiveness.
The True “GOAT”
A common expression in athleticism and in reference to celebrities is the term G.O.A.T. Have you heard of it? It means “Greatest Of All Time.” Many believe it started with Mohammed Ali, but it has been applied to the likes of Gretzky and others who have excelled beyond the norm.
The author of the letter to the Hebrews had no inhibitions about seeing Jesus as the GOAT. The writer never said it specifically, but he infers strongly that Jesus filled both roles of the goat that was sacrificed and the scapegoat, the goat sent into the wilderness that carried the people’s sins away.
As a sacrifice, the writer of Hebrews says of Jesus, “Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people,” (2:17). The more spiritually minded Israelites like Isaiah and others knew that the blood of a goat could not satisfy as a substitute for human beings. The people needed a perfect substitute, a human of perfect innocence. When Christ appeared, that substitute was never more presentable. The writer comments, “he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by the means of his own blood, thus securing eternal redemption,” (9:12). Jesus is the perfect priest and the perfect sacrifice.
As the scapegoat, the writer said that Jesus bore the sins of many and dealt with sin perfectly so that when he appears again, it will not be to deal with sin, but to save those who believe and wait for him (9:28).
Jesus is the true GOAT. The writer of Hebrews unapologetically tells the reader that Jesus is greater than the angels of God; Jesus is greater than Moses; Jesus is greater than Aaron. There is no greater and there is no one who has done greater things than Jesus. Scoring goals and touchdowns are no comparison to making it possible for humankind to approach the Living and Holy God and finding forgiveness. In Jesus, we have a once-for-all, no need to repeat, sacrifice for the sins of all humankind.
Imagine a whiteboard the size of the church wall. On it are all your sins written in black, small print. All your secrets laid bare. Someone reads the sins and exclaims, “Look what you’ve done.”
Ever heard those words? You spilled something, you messed up, you blew it. And an adult says, “Look what you’ve done.” The same you felt. I’m a screw up. Apply that feeling to your sins and think of the guilt that would well up inside of you. Look what you’ve done. I think that’s what the scapegoat was supposed to alleviate, but as you watch the goat trail off over the hill, you know that your sin still nags you in your heart and mind. It doesn’t go away.
We are going to listen to a song by Tasha Layton that speaks to this reality. In it she talks about believing the shame and the guilt, believing the lies that you are worthless, that God could not love you, that you are irredeemable. The song turns suddenly when she recounts how God started digging up those lies and casting them out. Then in triumphant joy, she sings, “Look what you’ve done,” in praise of God’s work on her behalf.
(Play song)
The whiteboard is wiped clean. Your sins are perfectly carried away by the GOAT, Jesus Christ, and they can no longer be held against you. God’s got you covered.
AMEN
Benediction: Hebrews 10:19-22
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