The Lord is giving Moses the instructions to pass along to Aaron for how he is to conduct himself on the one day a year he is permitted to enter the Most Holy Place of the tabernacle.
Before Aaron can enter the room where the glory of the Lord will appear over the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant, he must undergo a ceremonial washing and clothe himself in his priestly garments. He must also make a sacrifice for himself before he can present sacrifices for the nation of Israel. In Hebrews 5:3 we find the Apostle Paul saying of the sacrifice for the high priest on the Day of Atonement, "He has to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well as for the sins of the people." Why? Because the high priest is a human being and is "subject to weakness". (Hebrews 5:2) The high priest is an ordinary man ordained to be the religious leader of the people, which is a job with an extraordinary amount of responsibility, but as an ordinary man he is confronted with the same types of trials and temptations that beset all of us. He is not going to be able to live a perfect life and will need to first sanctify himself by a sacrifice before he can stand before God and intercede on behalf of the congregation of Israel for their sins.
"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. 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. From the Israelite community he is to take two male goats for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. Aaron is to offer the bull for his own sin offering to make atonement for himself and his household." (Leviticus 16:3-6) We studied the garments of the high priest in detail in Exodus 28. That is where you'll find their full description if you'd enjoy taking a second look at them.
The high priest offers a bull for his own sins according to the regulations of Leviticus 16:11-14: "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. 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. 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. 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." (Leviticus 16:11-14)
Why is it important for the smoke of the incense and the blood of the sacrifice to obscure the view of the mercy seat? How does this ensure that the high priest "does not die"? It's because the ark contains the ten commandments, otherwise known as the tablets of the covenant law. The high priest is not perfect and therefore is a lawbreaker. He has trespassed against at least one of the commandments on the tablets stored inside the ark and may have trespassed against several others, if not in deed then in thought. If you think about it, anytime we sin we are breaking the first commandment that says, "You shall have no gods other than Me." When we sin we are making gods of ourselves because we are obeying our own will instead of God's will. We are putting our wants ahead of His. Instead of giving the Lord the top spot in our lives, we're putting someone else or something else in His place.
The high priest is an ordinary human being who cannot live a perfectly holy life anymore than you or I can live a perfectly holy life. This is why he must bring offerings into the Most Holy Place and obscure the view of the cover that conceals the tablets of the covenant law so that when the Lord looks down He sees the smoke of the incense (believed to symbolize prayer) and He sees the blood of the sacrifice. He does not see a list of broken laws because the prayer of repentance and the blood of the sin offering are in between the Lord and the tablets of the covenant law. Because of this, the Lord does not hold the high priest accountable for his breaking of any of the laws contained on the tablets. This is why the high priest can stand in such a holy place, in the overwhelming presence of God, and not perish.
The Lord Jesus Christ was ordained by God the Father as the eternal high priest for all who will believe on Him. (See Psalm 110 and nearly the entire book of Hebrews for references to Jesus' role as high priest.) But because Jesus was sinless, He didn't have to make a sin offering for Himself before making of Himself a sin offering for all. "Such a high priest truly meets our need---one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priests, He does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for His own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when He offered Himself." (Hebrews 7:26-27) Jesus didn't need to go into the Most Holy Place of the temple and wave smoking incense above the mercy seat or sprinkle blood on the atonement cover so that God the Father could not see His trespasses. He had committed no trespasses. So all Jesus had to do was make the sacrifice that sanctifies us.
There were many high priests between Aaron and the birth of the One whom God foreordained would become our high priest forever. This is because they were ordinary human beings just like us and death eventually came for each one of them. "Now there have been many of these priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office." (Hebrews 7:23) What we needed was a perfect high priest, one who would live forever and one whose sacrifice offered on our behalf would endure forever. At last the appointed time came when God the Son, who is both priest and king, came to offer for us a sacrifice capable of sanctifying us for all time. After making the sacrifice of Himself, He rose from the dead and sits at the right hand of His father in heaven where He continually intercedes for us with God. When you or I make a prayer of repentance or submit a request for heavenly help, I believe the Lord Jesus Christ---our great high priest---turns to the Father and says, "This one belongs to Me. Hear her prayer. Her sins are covered by My blood." Or, "He believes on me. Hear his cry for help." Such an opinion is backed up by the Apostle Paul whose entire epistle to the Hebrews regards Jesus' role as high priest: "But because Jesus lives forever, He has a permanent priesthood. Therefore He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to intercede for them." (Hebrews 7:24-25)
We have a high priest who never sinned. We have a high priest who will never die. We have a high priest who is on the job for us twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, every day of the year. He made the sacrifice that will enable us to someday stand in the Most Holy Place in heaven, in the overwhelming presence of a holy God, and receive this invitation, "Well done, good and faithful servant. Come and share your Master's happiness!" (Matthew 25:23)
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