We learned in Thursday's lesson that Aaron was to sacrifice a bull as a sin offering for himself before he could make a sin offering for the people. We learned in Friday's lesson that Aaron was to bring two goats to the tent of meeting and cast lots for them. The one whose lot fell for the Lord is that goat that is offered to the Lord as a sin offering on behalf of the people. The other goat was known as the "scapegoat" and he would be sent out into the wilderness, symbolically taking the people's sin away. Today we will take a look at how the offerings for Aaron and the people are carried out.
"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." (Leviticus 16:11-12) This is the curtain that separates the outer part of the sanctuary from the inner room where the Ark of the Covenant is housed. Only the high priest can step behind this 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 16:13-14) The other day we discussed the importance of the cloud of smoke obscuring the view of the atonement cover that lay above the tablets of the covenant law---the law Aaron and every person on the face of the earth has broken, at least in part. The blood of the sacrifice is also applied to the atonement cover so that the blood is between Aaron and the laws which he has transgressed. If Aaron were not a transgressor, he would not need to make a sacrifice on his own behalf, but because he is a frail and mortal human being just like everyone else, he must bring an offering for his own sins as well as an offering for the people's sins. Now, when the Lord looks down upon Aaron as he makes the offering for his own sins, the Lord sees not the laws Aaron has broken but the blood. Blood is what the Lord sees when He looks down on those of us who have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior. He doesn't see our sins. He sees the blood of Christ, blessed be His precious name! If we stopped right here in today's study we'd have plenty to be thankful for, but as we move on through today's text we are going to see how Aaron's duties as high priest pointed toward the eternally-lasting duties that the Lord Jesus Christ, our great high priest, performed on our behalf.
Now that Aaron has presented a sacrifice for his own sins, he presents for the people's sins the goat whose lot fell for the Lord. "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. 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." (Leviticus 16:15-16)
Aaron doesn't know every sin that every Israelite has committed but the ritual he performs is accepted by God on behalf of the people no matter what their transgressions are. I'm sure Aaron can make a pretty accurate guess about the types of sins the people have committed. Human beings have been committing the same old sins ever since the dawn of time. As the Apostle Paul pointed out, the same types of temptations beset us all as we walk through this fallen world: "No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind." (1 Corinthians 10:13a) Or, as the wise King Solomon remarked, "There is nothing new under the sun." (Ecclesiastes 1:9b) Sin may be dressed up in more sophisticated clothing in modern times than it was in Moses' and Aaron's time, but at heart it's the same old thing. There's nothing new about the stuff the devil throws at us in an attempt to get us off course. Satan hasn't had to change his methods because human nature hasn't changed; we are still tempted by the same things as the people of the Old Testament.
We see in verses 15 and 16 that part of the ritual Aaron performs serves to cleanse the tabernacle complex itself. Frail and faulty human beings have entered its courtyard. Imperfect people have submitted offerings and prayers to the Lord within its walls. The sprinkling of the blood all around the tabernacle complex purges the area from the pollution of man's sins.
While Aaron performs the duties of the high priest on the Day of Atonement, the congregation of Israel must remain outside. "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." (Leviticus 16:17) You'll recall from our study of Exodus that part of Aaron's priestly wardrobe was comprised of a golden breastpiece in which was embedded twelve stones. The twelve stones represented the twelve tribes of Israel and by wearing this breastpiece while performing his duties before the Lord, Aaron was symbolically carrying the entire nation of Israel into the tabernacle with him. This breastpiece and the twelve stones rested over his heart, signifying the love he was to have in his heart for the people and also signifying the love the Lord has in His heart for the people. Even though Aaron is the only person inside the tabernacle while he performs the rituals for the Day of Atonement, he is representing every soul that makes up the congregation of Israel. The Lord receives the offering Aaron makes for the people as if every person of Israel has made the offering.
Just as the high priest of Israel had to make the sacrifice for atonement alone, so also our great high priest---the Lord Jesus Christ---had to make the sacrifice for our atonement alone. Just as no one could do for the entire congregation for Israel what the high priest did, no one could do for the entire human race what Christ did. When Jesus took His own blood into the Most Holy Place in heaven and sprinkled it on the mercy seat there, (See Hebrews 9:1-15 for a beautiful explanation of how this was accomplished.), He symbolically took every human soul into the presence of God with Him, just as Aaron symbolically took every soul of Israel into the presence of God with him.
The Israelites didn't enter the Most Holy Place on the Day of Atonement to make sin offerings for themselves. They couldn't. The Lord ordained only one man to perform the ministry that had to be performed on this one day a year. On the people's behalf, the Lord accepted what this one man did. The people remained outside in a spirit of repentance and faith, trusting that the Lord was accepting on their behalf what their high priest was doing inside the tabernacle. There was nothing the people could bring to add to what the high priest brought for them. Their sole duty was to repent and believe that the Lord could and would cleanse them of their sins.
In this same way there is nothing you and I can do to add to what Christ our high priest has done for us. We are accepted by God when we come to Him in repentance for our sins and in faith believing that the blood of Christ is all that will ever be needed to cleanse us from our unrighteousness. Only one Man was ordained to perform a ministry for us one time in history and to make a sacrifice capable of sanctifying us forever. This one Man did all the work for us and as a result our faith is all we are asked to bring and it's all we can bring, just as the lyrics of the old hymn Rock Of Ages proclaim: "In my hand no price I bring. Only to Thy cross I cling."
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