The Day of Atonement

Good morning. So excited to be able to celebrate the Lord's Supper here together with our family. It's a blessing to be able to make much of Christ and that's what we plan on doing today. When we celebrate the Lord's Supper, we have the whole service about Christ and afterwards we'll have a fellowship meal, which is what they did in the first century as well. And so it's a good time to be able to fellowship together around our Savior, the great love of our lives. Last Lord's Supper, a couple months ago we looked at Leviticus chapter 23, the Feast of Israel. We're going to be Leviticus again today, but we'll be looking at chapter 16. If you recall, one of the feasts of Israel was the Feast of Atonement. It took place six months after Passover. And unlike Passover being a very joyous celebration, the Atonement was much more serious because this is kind of the hinge of the Old Testament. When you think about the five books of Moses, the Pentateuch, what book's in the middle? Leviticus, right? And Leviticus 16 is the theological hinge of Leviticus. The first 15 chapters speaks of our duty for public worship of Yahweh. And then the last chapters from 17 on focus on our private worship of Yahweh. And it's no mistake that 16 straddles both because it talks about how it is that a sinner can approach God. It's the theme of chapter 16. And it's the theme that every individual in this world's most important question we could ever ask is how can we be right with God? How can we approach God who is holy? Let's begin by looking at verse one. "Now the Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron when they offered profane fire before the Lord and died." Aaron was a high priest of Israel. And as you know, his children were following in his footsteps. They were priests and they offered fire. They offered worship that God had not commanded, not the type or even the time. They were worshiping out of place. And when the way that God had not commanded, perhaps they were trying to be innovative. Perhaps they were being vain, whatever it is, God killed them. And we actually find that in Leviticus chapter 10. If you have notes actually have it written on here, verses one through three. "Then they dabbed in Abihah, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and put incense in it and offered profane fire, strange fire, before the Lord, which he had not commanded them. So fire went out from the Lord and devoured them. They died before the Lord. And Moses said to Aaron, this is what the spoke saying, "Those who come near to me, I must be regarded as holy. And before all the people, I must be glorified." So Aaron held his peace. It's a strong sentiment of Aaron when your children have passed away, right? But he knew that God was right. He knew that God was holy and he must be worshiped according to his ways and not ours. A sinful man wants to come to God on his own terms, does he not? Even as Christians, we're often tempted to come to God on our own terms, right? Say, "God, you can have me, but not my finances," right? "God, you can have me, but not my pornography." I don't want to give that up. You can say, "God, you can have me, but not my lying." My lying is too useful. I can get out of situations without these little white lies, right? You can say, "God, you can have me, but I'm not ready to give up my bitterness." I mean, that person really wronged me. I'm going to hold on to it, right? We often think that we can dictate to God the terms in which we may approach him, but God is holy. He's separate. He's unlike us. He demands absolute perfection because that's the sum of his character, right? We cannot approach God in our own terms. That's what Aaron's children had done and God killed them, took them because they were supposed to be priests. They were supposed to be revelations of God to the people, mediators of God to the people, showing his holy character, and they profaned it for the Lord.

Man's approach to God, when he does it in his own terms, his own ways, it always results in death.

What does scripture say? There's a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof are the ways of what? Death. What does Romans say? The wages of sin is death. The Old Testament say, "The soul that sins shall surely die." Exactly right. The application is this. Are you trying to approach God on your own terms? Think about that today as we partake of the Lord's supper. This is a means that the Lord has revealed himself in the elements. There's no power in the bread, no power in the juice. They're symbols, but they're symbols of the gospel. That Christ's body was broken for us. That his blood was spilled for us in our place as a substitute. That is the only way that we can come to God. We cannot manufacture our own ways. We can't try to earn our way into heaven. We can't buy our way into heaven. We can't manipulate our way into heaven. It's simply receiving the Savior. So I'm asking you today, how are you to come before the Lord? It is only through Christ. Look at verse two. "And the Lord said to Moses, "Tell Aaron your brother not to come at just any time into the holy place." So Aaron's sons have already been killed. And so now God is warning Aaron through Moses saying, "Don't just approach the temple anytime you want to come." Okay.

This is at any time 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. As you know, the temple had various stages. Outside you had the brazen altar and you had the golden labrum where the sacrifices were made and ritual purification was done by the priest. And then you had the holy place, which was just before the holy of holies. And there you had the golden lampstand, the table of showbread and the altar of incense. And then you had the shroud or the veil that led you into the holy of holies. And there you had the ark of the covenant. And on top of the ark of the covenant was what was called mercy seat. And on the mercy seat between the two representative cherubim, the Shekinah glory God rested in there. That Shekinah glory is the same glory cloud or glory light that was shown to the angels, or by the angels to the shepherds who were keeping flock over, watch over their flocks by night. We find that in Luke chapter two. The same Shekinah glory was the same glory that filled the temple and Solomon's dedication of it. It's the same Shekinah glory that rested on top of Sinai when the Moses and the children of Israel came out in the Exodus, out of bondage, out of slavery and into the wilderness. It was a magnificent light and a magnificent brightness, a representation, a physical representation, a theophany of God on earth. So what Moses is warning Aaron is don't come anytime you want to. Don't come in any way that you want to.

Hebrews tells us this, chapter nine, two verses five. "For tabernacle was prepared the first part in which was the lampstand, the table and a showbread, which is called the sanctuary. And behind the second veil, the part of the tabernacle, which is called the holiest of all. And it had the golden lever and a censure in the Ark of the Covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, which were the golden pot and that had the manna, Aaron's rod that butted, and tablets of the covenant. And above it were the cherubim of glory, overshadowing the mercy seat of these things we cannot now speak in detail." It's going to give it a summary of what was inside of the temple.

The holy tabernacle was a foreshadow of Christ. Everything regarding the temple was to picture Christ. A year or so ago, I had the privilege of preaching on Zechariahs when he was performing his duties in Luke one. We went through how everything in there imaged Christ. Christ is a light and that's what the candelabra there focuses on the showbread. All that's imagery of Christ. For time's sake, I just want to focus on the Ark itself because this was inside of the most holy place where Aaron would be going to minister. And there on top of it was the mercy seat and the glory of God rested on top of that. In Hebrews, it tells us that there were three things, three items inside of the Ark. Inside of the Ark was the tablets of testimony. What were those? The Ten Commandments. When God made a covenant with Moses and the children of Israel, Mount Sinai, Moses was writing those things down and he read them to the children. Then God gave them tablets of stone. We often think because of what we've learned through, say, reformed confessions that those two tablets represented two different tables of the law. One was the first four dealt with our relation to God and the last six dealt with our relation with man. But we don't really know that. In fact, it's very much likely that those two tablets represented two copies of the same covenant. Because when a king made a covenant with the people whom he had conquered, there would be two copies that were made. One was the king's copy and one was the people's copy. It was the state that stood as a witness to them. That if the king did not do his duty in protecting the people and leading them and providing for them, what was written in those, the curses that were written therein would come upon him. And the same with the tablets of the people. And those, that covenant, if you will, was what was actually inside of the Ark of the testimony. These Ten Commandments. And they stood as a witness against the people of Israel for their rebellion. If you remember, Moses read to them what God had said. And they said, "We agree," you'll find this in Exodus 24, "We agree to obey everything written therein and blood was sprinkled upon them. The covenant was ratified. Then Moses went back up on top of the mountain where he would receive them written in stone by the very finger of God." And while he's up there, what are the children of Israel doing? They're breaking every single one of them. And Moses comes down and he's furious. And God wants to do away and kill the children of Israel. And this became symbolic of their disobedience. You'll find this in Exodus 32. The Ark became known as the Ark of the testimony. Because this testimony was against them for their disobedience. What does the law show you? The law shows you that you're a sinner. Who among us could keep the 613 commands of God? None of us could keep them. And that was inside of the Ark. It was showing that we are unholy. We cannot approach a holy God. What also was inside of the Ark, but a pot with manna in it. Right? God had faithfully provided for the children of Israel as they were in the wilderness wandering. Right? But what did the people of Israel do? Complained. We had pots of meat in Egypt. We had leeks. And all we got is this manna. We won't meet. Right? So God gave them meat. Right? They sent the plague among them. Right? And you'll find in Numbers 11 that this manna was, and the curse that came upon them, this plague that came upon them, was a reminder not only of God's faithfulness, but it was also a reminder of their rebellion. Right? That was kept inside of the Ark, the Ark of testimony that they needed a savior. That they time and time again rebelled against Yahweh. And then the third thing that we actually find inside of the temple was Aaron's rod. Aaron's rod had been used for many miracles. You'll see that throughout the book of Exodus. But in Numbers 17, you find that the children of Israel are rebelling again. And they're rebelling against Aaron. Why should Aaron be our priest? And so what he did, God said, hey, take 12 staffs, one from each tribe, and put them here in my tabernacle. These staffs were pieces of dead wood. Right? But what happened to Aaron's staff? It butted flowers and fruit. Right? It came alive and in it, it was a symbol that God was with Aaron. Right? God was the chosen mediator there for the children of Israel. And you'll read in Numbers that the people were so terrified that they asked for that to be put away from them. Because it was a reminder of their rebellion and a reminder of their deadness that they did not have life in and of themselves. That life only comes from God and through his appointments. Right? And not from them. So all those things were stored inside of the Ark of the Covenant. It was there as a witness, an Ark of witness against Israel, that they were rebels, that they needed salvation. But who is Christ?

Is not Christ like the Ten Commandments and that he is the word of God made flesh?

He perfectly fulfilled the law. He never transgressed the law. He obeyed the law for us in our place, in our stead. Right? He's God's perfect Son, whom Israel was supposed to be, Christ satisfied. He perfectly obeyed the law. What about the manna? It's not Jesus, the bread of life. Jesus told the Pharisees and the leaders, he says, "Israel, you are thinking that manna is going to save you." He says, "But I'm the true bread of life. Your fathers ate manna in the wilderness and they died. But I give you the bread that's eternal life. If you eat of me, you'll never hunger. If you drink of me, you'll never thirst. Only Christ can satisfy." Right?

And just as the rod of Aaron symbolized the life of God, that only God can give, who is Christ?

But the one who has very life in and of himself, who's given to him just as the father. They share the same underived life, right? The eternal life. That's what we call the estate of God. He has life in himself and he gives it to whomever he wishes. That's why Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." Right? So Christ is the antidote to what was inside the Ark of Testimony. The Ark of Testimony was there to witness against Israel, right? The Christ is that fulfillment. Only he can give us life. Only he can satisfy. And for only he is the one who perfectly obeyed the father. John 1.14 says, "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld as glory the glory as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." In Christ we see the very glory of God. On top of the Ark was that Shekinah cloud, that light, that cloud, that awesome theophany of God's presence there inside of the Holy of Holies. Well, who is Christ? But the very glory of God. What does Hebrews 1 tell us? He's express image of God, right? It's the image of the invisible God. Christ shows us all the characteristics, all the attributes of God the Father. If you want to see God, you look to Christ, right? The application is this, give thanks that Christ is the obedient, faithful, and true Son of God. Israel was supposed to be that, but they weren't. We are supposed to do that. Every human being was made in the image of God. We're supposed to image Him, right? But we can't because of our fallen nature. We can't because has done to us, it's corrupted us, and it separates us from God. The only hope of having that image restored is in Jesus Christ. So look to Jesus Christ. That's the only way that Shekinah ever be accepted by Him. Well, look at the preparation that is needed by Aaron the high priest. And we see this in verses 3 through 5. Aaron was now to approach the Lord in the most holy place, but preparation was needed. Thus Aaron shall come into the holy place with the blood of a young bull as a sin offering and a ram as a burnt offering. Even though Aaron was a priest, the high priest, the appointed mediator between God and Israel, he still needed a sacrifice for his own sins, a bull, and also a burnt sacrifice. And that burnt sacrifice was to symbolize his consecration to the Lord, right? Verse 4, "He shall put the holy linen tunic and the linen trousers on his body. He shall be girded with a linen sash and with a linen turban. He shall be attired. These are the holy garments. Therefore, he shall wash his body in water and put them on. And he shall take from the congregation of the children of Israel two kids of the goats as a sin offering and one ram as a burnt offering." Let me explain this here. This was preparation before the sacrifice. He had to prepare things before he actually went into the tabernacle, because on the day of atonement, Aaron would be doing this alone. Normally the tabernacle would have several priests assisting and helping out, but on the day of atonement, it was for one man, it was for the high priest. And first of all, we'll find that he puts on special garments.

Normally, the high priest had on priestly robes, and you'll find this listed in

Exodus 28 verse 2. These robes were ornamental by design. They, for example, he had an ephod on, he also had the breastplate with the 12 stones, jewel stones that symbolize each one of the 12 tribes of Israel, all this ornate pageantry and colors. And it wasn't because Aaron was a peacock and he wanted to say, "Look at me, I look spiffy." No, it was all symbolic pointing to Christ, our high priest and his love for the 12 tribes of Israel. But on the day of atonement, he was not to wear his normal robes. His robes, you would have known, you would have seen him as like, "Okay, the high priest." But he was not to wear his normal high priestly garments, his ornate things. He was to put on very simple linen cloth, white linen cloth. This was the uniform

of the servant priest. There were many priests among the children of Israel. In fact, by the time the first century rolled around, there was about 20,000 Levites who were attending the temple services. Don't know how many there were back in Moses' day, but there were quite a few. And they all had different functions and different roles. And only the high priest would be marked by his ornate robes. But here the high priest would be to take off those robes, to put on the robes of a servant priest here. Also, we see that he has to do cleansing for purification. He's supposed to wash himself and get himself ready. You think, "Well, the priest should be a pretty clean guy, right?" Well, there's always dirt, right? And he was to be ceremony purified before his service.

And then he also had to do these sacrifices before he came into the holy place. These sacrifices were,

the sacrifice to the bull, as we'll read here in a minute, he had to prepare because he would actually have to sprinkle the blood of that bull inside of the holy of holies. So he had to get all that ready in preparation for his service. Look at Hebrews 10, 8 through 9.

Christ did not need such preparation. It says, "Previously saying, sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin you do not desire, nor had pleasure in them, which are offered according to the law." Then he said, "Behold, I have come to do your will, O God." He takes away the first that he may establish the second. Here he's quoting from the Old Testament, quoting a Messianic Psalm about Christ. Christ delighted to do his father's will. He was always ready. He came in this world to do his father's will. He was born to die, right? Christ needed no preparation because he was the perfect Son of God, the Word of God made flesh.

The application to you is this, in just a few minutes we're going to be taking of the Lord's Supper. Have you prepared your heart to celebrate Christ? If you have unconfessed sin, do that now. Confessible for the Lord. If you confess your sins, he is faithful and just to forgive you of your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. To cast your sin as far as the east is from the west. When we partake of the Lord's Supper, it's to worship our Savior. So prepare your heart to worship the Savior here in just a few minutes. We see that atonement is needed for air in the priest. It's a fourth point. Not just preparation, but actual atonement is needed for air in the high priest. And we see this in verses 11 through 14. This is, "And Aaron shall bring the bull of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make atonement for himself and for his house, and shall bring it as a sin offering, which is for himself. Then he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from the altar before the Lord, with his hands full of sweet incense, beaten fine, and bring it inside the veil. And he shall put the incense on the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of incense may cover the mercy seat that is on the testimony lest he die. He shall take some of the blood and sprinkle it with his finger on the mercy seat. On the east side, before the mercy seat, he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times." We see in verse 11 that atonement, in other words, atonement means being made right with God. Some people say atonement, right? It's being reconciled to God. And God had said, "Sacrifice," and given certain sin sacrifices to the children of Israel, these sacrifices in and of themselves did not save Israel. Hebrews tells us that the blood of bulls and goats could never take away our sins. But these sacrifices pointed to a greater sacrifice, which is Christ, who does indeed take away our sins. In Aaron, even though he was a man of God, even though he's appointed to be man, God's high priest, the mediator between God and man, he had to make atonement for himself before he could make atonement for the house of Israel. So he was commanded to take a bull into slayer, right? And he also took a goat and he offered it up as a burnt offering, where he was entirely consumed. Not only for himself, but for his whole household.

Christ is our great high priest. He does not need to make a sacrifice for himself. He's the spotless Lamb of God, right? But even Aaron, the priest, had to make that sacrifice for himself and for his household. Look what also he had to do. He had to take embers from the fire, a lot of incense, and he had to take it into the most holy place, the Holy of Holies. Could you imagine what's going in through his mind? He's opening the veil, and inside the most holy place, there's going to be the Ark of the Covenant. In the Chicana glory of God, the presence of God is being visibly manifested there. It's glorious, bright light, smoke. It's hard for us to even conceive of what it must have looked like. And as soon as he goes in, he has to ban these embers and burn incense to create a cloud between him and the Ark. The reason why, if he were to look upon the glory of God, he would die. That's what it tells us in verse 12 and 13.

"He shall take a censer full of burning coals from the fire of the altar before the Lord with his sweet incense, beaten fine, and bring it inside the veil. And he shall put the incense on the fire before the Lord that the cloud of incense may cover the mercy seat." Do you get that? The incense that he's burning is making so much smoke, it's covering, it's shielding him from seeing the very glory of God. Remember when Moses says, "God, I want to see your face." God says, "Well, I'll let you see the backside of my glory and put some in the cleft of a rock, and he must cover him with his hand to protect Moses, to hold him in life, because the majesty of God is incomparable."

That's what Aaron had to do here, to burn this incense lest he die. Let me tell you something, there is no vision that's powerful or that's beautiful. It's the glory of God. It is by grace that God allowed Aaron to live when he was inside the holy of holies. Not only did he do that, but he had to go inside, even though he couldn't see very well, he had to sprinkle the blood of this bull on the mercy seat. That mercy seat literally is propitiation, is the word that we translated as. It means a covering. It means a place to appease the wrath of God, because the wrath of God was burning hard and bright against Aaron, because Aaron was a sinner, just like you and me. Sin separates us from God, so we need a substitutionary place to shield us from the wrath of God. That sacrifice acted as that. It was symbolic of the blood of Christ, shielding us from the very wrath of God. Not only that, he sprinkled it, it appears in the text before the ark as well, not just on the mercy seat, but before it. Because wherever man goes,

muddies it up, even in the most holy place, he muddies it up.

Hebrews 7, 26 through 28 talks about Christ, our great high priest. For such a high priest was fitting for us, who was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. It's a very definition of holiness, separation. And he has become higher than Evans, who does not need daily as those high priests to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins and then for the peoples, for he did his once and for all when he offered up himself. For the law appoints as high priest men who have weakness, but the word of oath which came after the law appoints the son who has been perfected forever. Praise God, we have a high priest in Christ Jesus who has gone through the veil into the holy of holies, didn't have to make a sacrifice for himself, but he made a sacrifice for us, shed his own blood for us, that we may enter into the holy of holies, that we may have access to God through our Lord Jesus Christ. The application is this, Jesus Christ alone is the holy one of God. He alone is the Messiah, the Savior, right? Only he is holy and there's no way that we can ever have access to the presence of God, but through Christ Jesus. A toman is needed not only for Aaron and his family, but it's also needed for the tabernacle. That's point five here. A toman is needed for the tabernacle. We'll see this in verses 15-3.19.

"Then he shall kill the goat to the sin offering, which is for the people, and bring its blood inside the veil, do with the blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat and before the mercy seat. So he shall make a toman for the holy place, because of the uncleanliness of the children of Israel, because of their transgressions for all their sins. And so he shall do for the tabernacle of meeting, which remains among them in the midst of their uncleanliness. There shall be no man in the tabernacle of meeting when he goes to make a toment in the holy place until he comes out, that he may make a toment for himself or his household and for all the assembly of Israel. And he shall go out to the altar that is before the Lord, and make a toment for it, and shall take some of the blood of the bulls and some of the blood of the goat, and put it on the horns of the altar and all around. Then he shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his fingers seven times, cleanse it, and consecrate it from the uncleanliness of the children of Israel. We see in verse 15 that in the holy place itself, where Aaron had trod, it needed to be sanctified. It needed to have atonement made for. Blood had to be sprinkled there. That's where mango pollution follows. We see in verse 16 that the tabernacle of meeting outside of the holy, always in the what we call the holy place or the great room there in the temple, that had to be sanctified. A toment had to be made there. Outside of the tabernacle itself, even the altar had to be, blood had sprinkled on it. A toment had to be made for that. Why? Because it dwelt in the middle of Israel, and Israel was polluted, right? In vanity has fallen, and when we fall, it corrupts everything about us. It corrupts our mind. We can't even think straight because of sin sometimes, right? It corrupts our emotions. We don't think or feel properly as we ought to. It corrupts our will. We don't will the way that we should, right? Because we have a bent towards sin, a bent towards self, a bent towards the devil and hell. But when we are regenerated in Christ, he begins to renew that, right? We are made a new creation. We're given a new disposition, right? And continuously we're being sanctified and made in the image of Christ. But this tabernacle and all that's surrounding the physical building itself was seen as being defiled, and atonement had to be made for it. That's what sin does. It pollutes everything.

Let's say that, brothers and sisters. Don't toy with sin.

It corrupts, and it corrupts absolutely. The Bible says, "Can a man take fire into his bosom

and his clothes not be burned?" Just littles, all it takes. One bad apple, what does it do? Rots the whole barrel, right? You let a little bit of leaven in, and it will corrupt. We must be killing sin, right? We must not give quarter to it. We must not give place to it because it corrupts everything that it touches. The application here is trust in Christ, who alone can redeem, renew, and restore. Only Christ can make the crooked straight. Only Christ can take what the moth has eaten and restore it. Only Christ can take what is defiled, what is as scarlet, and make it white as snow. Trust in Christ. He alone makes all things new.

Atonement is needed not only for Aaron and not only for the Tabernacle, but it's needed for the people of Israel. We find this here in number six here, verses 20 through 22.

When he has made an end of atoning for the holy place after Aaron had spilled blood all over the Tabernacle and its precincts, the Tabernacle meeting and the altar, he shall bring the live goat. And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat and confess over to all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions concerning all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat. They shall send it away in the wilderness by the hand of a goat. The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities and to an uninhabitable land, and he shall release the goat in the wilderness. If you look back at verse five, you'll see that both the goat that was sacrificed and its blood was spilled all over the Tabernacle and the scapegoat are considered one offering. Look at verse five. And he shall take from the congregation of the children of Israel two kids of the goats as a sin offering and one round as a burnt offering. These two goats were taken from the children of Israel because it had to represent them, right? Just as Christ was born of the lineage of David, right? He was born in the lineage of Abraham. He was born of the tribe of Judah. He was born under the law, born of a woman, born under the law, that he might redeem those who were under the law. This sacrifice had to be taken from them. And it's considered one sacrifice, even though it's two different goats. One goat is killed and its blood is sprinkled for atonement. The second goat was called the scapegoat, right? And Aaron was to lay his hands on the head of that scapegoat and to confess the sins of Israel. He's figuratively transferring those sins onto that goat, right? What we see here are the two great truths of Christ and the moment. The blood of the shed goat, the goat that was sacrificed since blood was poured all over the temple precincts for the sins of the children of Israel, that is what we call propitiation. That's covering where the wrath of God is appeased because Christ the Holy One died in our place as our substitute, right? When the sin is put on the scapegoat and the scapegoat is sent away out from the camp of Israel and away from the presence of God, so that's what we call expiation, which means the taking away of sin. Jesus was the Lamb of God who took and so takes away the sin of the world, right? When God forgives us of our sin, he sends it out from his sight, right? What does Scripture say? He casts our sin as far as the east is from the west.

Other places in Scripture says he puts them behind his back. Other Scriptures say that he puts it down to the bottom of the sea and he remembers them no more. That's expiation. Both are being symbolized here with these two goats. The one that slain is our substitute and that its blood was shed for us and the one that's sent away is carrying our sins away from us forever and never more to return. A brother and sister in Christ, if you've put your trust in Jesus, your sins are not remembered anymore by God. Yes, when you sin, you need to confess sin in contrition. Jesus showed us that in the Lord's Prayer, right? Forgive us of our sins. We forgive our debtors, but you never have to worry that God is going to not accept you because he sees you through the lens of his son. Your sin has been taken away by the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. The application is this. What did John say when he saw the Messiah at the baptism? He says, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." That is what we're doing here, the Lord's Supper. We're beholding the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Again, that bread symbolizes his body that was broken for you as a substitute, the perfect Son of God who was of Israel, right? Who came and laid down his life willingly for us. And his blood was spilled so that you could be white in snow, right? We have both propitiation and expiation, both the covering of our sins and the taking them away, right? The vine wrath is appeased through the Son of God. After Aaron completed his service, he was once again to wear

his priestly vestments of glory and beauty. In other words, during this sacrificial,

you could call it drama that he was enacting before the children of Israel by himself, the high priest who was wearing these priestly servant type garments. After his service was over, after he had made the sacrifices, he was to put back on his royal priesthood type garments, his high priestly headpiece, his breastplate, everything that signified him as a high priest of Israel. We find that in verses 23 through 28. Let's look at 23 and 24.

"Then Aaron shall come into the tabernacle of meeting, shall take off the linen garments, which he had put on when he went into the holy place, and shall leave them there. And he shall wash his body with water in the holy place and put on his garments, come out and offer his burnt offerings and the burnt offerings of the people and make atonement for himself and the people." He is to come out wearing his high priestly garments. His work had been done, right?

Who does that sound like? Jesus humbled himself. It was Philippians 2. Philippians 2 tells us that he humbled himself, that he emptied himself of his glory. And then after his death, he was exalted to the right hand of God in glory, right? This is a picture here of the work of Christ.

Luke 24, 26, the resurrected Christ says this, "Alt not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory." The resurrection of Christ was the very beginning of his glorification, right? He rose up from the dead, the body was quickened. Sin could not hold him in the grave because he was an innocent man. He was a very son of God, made flesh. He arose in his ascension and he was seated at the very right hand of God. We talked about that as we've been going through Hebrews on Sunday mornings, right? Psalm 110, sit at my right hand, right? He's telling

the Davidic king, symbolizing Christ that everything is his. Psalm 2 says, "Ask the nations, I'll give you them as an inheritance," right? We've read before in Revelation chapter 1, a vision of the exalted Christ, right? Hair white as snow, eyes of fire, sword coming out of his mouth, right? He's not this humble servant who is marred beyond visage anymore as he was in his earthly ministry. There's nothing remarkable about Christ's appearance in his earthly ministry. He humbled himself, became like us in every point. But in his glory, he's radically different, right? And in his glory, he is returning. And what a glorious day that is going to be when Christ comes for his people, right? And this is a picture of that. Aaron putting back on his regal garments, "It is made for glory and beauty," is what Exodus says. And there is nothing more glorious, nothing more beautiful than our Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ, and how soon we wait for his return. The application is this. The Savior, a man, is seated right now in glory at the right hand of God, and he's making intercession for you. So come boldly before us, throne of grace. He is for you, the power of the universe, because he's sitting on the throne of the universe, he's all power, all authority, and he's been exalted there, says in Ephesians, for the church, Ephesians chapter 1, right? He's for you, and he's reigning for you. And you have been lifted up into the heavenly places, even is what the book of Ephesians tells us, and you've been richly blessed in all the spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus. The day of atonement was to be observed with humble contrition, with solemn rest, and in perpetuity. In other words, the people who were observing this day of atonement, they were to do it in contrition. In other words, they were to rend their hearts and not their garments in humility. We find this in Leviticus 16, look in Leviticus 29, "This shall be a statute forever for you in the seventh month on the tenth day of the month. You shall afflict your souls," which means to humble yourself, show contrition, to repent,

"and do work, and do no work at all." You're to humble yourself, you're to do no work, or to rest, whether a native in your own country or a stranger who dwells in you. This news was for everybody, right? "For on the day the priest shall make atonement for you to cleanse you, that you may be clean from all of your sins before the Lord. It is a Sabbath of solemn rest for you, and you shall afflict your souls. It is a statute forever." We receive the atonement of Christ in repentance, do we not? Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand, is what Christ said. What is repentance? It is turning from sin, from self, the world, the devil, the flesh, leaving all that behind, turning from that. What is faith? It's turning to Christ. Faith and repentance are the same coin, just different sides, right? In repentance, we leave our worldly competence, we leave our worldly loves, we leave everything that's near and dear to us, and in faith we embrace Christ, right? And that's what they did. They observed it in contrition, right? They afflicted their souls, and they received it and rest. No, that's what faith is. It's simply resting in Christ. It's too open-hand saying, "I receive Christ's finished work. He has done all the work for me, and I'm just going to rest in His finished work that His atonement has been made for me." Right? It knows to be observed in perpetuity forever. Now, we don't observe this feast anymore, the Feast of the Day of the Atonement, because Christ is our sacrifice once and for all, right? However, do observe the Lord's Supper, and we're to do that until He comes, because it testifies that heavenly banquet that Christ is preparing for us. And what a glorious time, in our consummation, when we feast with Him new in the kingdom of heaven. 1 Peter 3, 18 says this, "For Christ suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God." That's the very nature of atonement.

"Being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit." The application is simply this. Have you repented of your sins? Have you trusted in Christ? He freely offers Himself. Come to Christ today. Trust in Him. You'll have life eternal. Let us pray.

Lord Jesus, we just praise You for Your sacrifice for us.

How marvelous, how wonderful is our Savior's love for me. It's in His name we pray. Amen.