Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Well, good morning. Village Church east. It's good to see you this morning. My name is Craig Jarvis. I'm the lead pastor here at Village Church East and it's my privilege to be able to bring God's word. Open it up for us. This morning we're continuing our study in Leviticus and we're going to get to one of the most important days that God gives to the Jewish people. Today we're going to be talking about Yom Kippur. Anybody know what Yom Kippur means?
[00:00:23] Day of atonement. Yes. That's right, I forgot to so we are going to spend some time there, but before we do, once in a while, I like to take a moment and just spend some significant time in prayer. And so I was wondering if you would join me this morning. There's some things that are going on in our church that I think we would probably just it would be a real blessing, I think, to many in our church to spend a little bit of time in prayer. If you want to keep up with a lot of these things. We have regular prayer updates that we do on Facebook and you can be a part of our regular information that we send out every week that gives updates on some things that are going on in our church or our community groups is another great way to figure out and find out how you can serve and bless the lives of people around you with prayer and serve them in different ways. But there's a few things that are going on in our church and this is a ladies retreat. We got some ladies at the ladies retreat, so we need to pray for the men that are left behind with the children and some things like that we need to pray for as well. So I was wondering if you would mind just spending a little bit of time in prayer with me this morning. So would you bow your heads? Father, we are grateful for another day that we can lift up our voices. We can praise you. These songs are great for us to focus our minds and our hearts on what's really important to put you back at the center. Think about Yom Kippur the day of Atonement. This day that makes it kind of washes things off and gives a new start. And for a lot of us, we get so crowded in our minds and our hearts with everything that's going on through the run of a week. Plus we've got challenges and outside trials that just bear down on us. Some in our church are worried about their jobs. Some of them literally, they don't know what is happening as far as their jobs go. And so, Lord, I pray for that. Specifically, I think about Mark and the family. I just pray that you bless them and gwyneth as they kind of navigate this time that this strike goes on. May you bring this thing to a quick conclusion, and in the meantime, provide for the needs of those families. Father, pray that you'll find and implement some sort of a reasonable solution where fairness can be offered and the strike can come to a close. I think of the people in Israel, man all of the atrocities that have happened over this past week with Hamas coming through and just massacring all of these innocent people that started their day like normal and ended a whole lot differently. And some of them are held hostage right now, and we're in the brink of some all out war going on. Father, I pray for the peace of Jerusalem, as you told us to pray for, and I just pray that you preserve life. And somehow, Father, in the midst of all of this horrific tragedy and this demonic activity that's taking place where humans are doing things to other humans, that it's just not even thinkable. Father, I pray that you would withhold, that your hand would hold back evil and that Your grace would be seen even in the middle of these atrocities. Be with these families that have lost so much. Ukraine, same thing. The wars that are happening around the world and the lack of leadership that's allowing all of this to happen. Father, I just pray that you would help us as a people to realize that politicians are just not the solution, bottom line. But you are. So may revival take place around the world. May your church rise up. May Your grace be seen even in the middle of all of these really difficult and tragic and just evil situations.
[00:04:04] I pray for those in our church that are being attacked as far as their health goes. I think of the Gutierrez family and Renee, thank you for the answer to prayer over this past week and for surgery. I just pray that now healing would take place and that Your grace would flow over that family and you continue to provide for them. Thank you that our church can walk alongside of them through this. They're not alone, and we can help them in any way that we can. But, Father, there are certain things that we just can't. And so may your spirit enter into that situation and just provide for their every need. Draw that family closer to you through this time of testing. I think Carrie's mom being put into hospice this past week. And, Father, you know the situation there as well, just with even losing her dad, it's just so much on this family right now. Father, I pray that you give them your peace that passes understanding as they go through all of this and provide for her mom and just the care that she needs. May she have it for Jade, who got baptized last week. Oh, Father, what a great testimony she gave and shared with our church, where she walked out of that water and said she can breathe. And it is so good to see you changing lives, especially in these young people's lives. Father, I pray that you continue to do that, help that ball roll. And if there's some that need to be baptized, don't let them have any peace until they make this right with you and take that natural step of obedience and share their faith and take this bold step where they grow in their faith by being obedient to what you've called them to do and being baptized.
[00:05:39] We're really grateful that you continue to use us. And for all of the prayer requests that I have not prayed for today, you know each and every one, I pray that you would enter into our lives and help us to remember that we can do nothing without you. So help us to be absolutely dependent on prayer because we know that without you, we have no power. And so, Father, may you, through this prayer this morning on behalf of our church, know that we are completely and utterly dependent on you. And we believe that the faith that we have in you can move mountains. So do that in our lives in every individual way that I have not mentioned this morning. Each heart here that just needs your work, may you provide.
[00:06:20] May you prove yourself great in our lives, and may we learn a brand new level of dependence on you. We give the day to you. We give ourselves to you for a fresh new beginning on this day. Father, may you be pleased with us as we now listen and receive what you have for us in your word. I pray in Jesus name, amen.
[00:06:39] All right, I'm going to get rid of this because this is just goofy, so I meant to do that earlier.
[00:06:47] We're starting a new series in Leviticus called Set Apart.
[00:06:54] This is going to last us a couple of weeks. We're going to take a little breather next week, but we're going to stay in this slot of Leviticus where God is calling his people to be set apart. And when I say set apart, you remember the golf ball illustration that I gave a couple of weeks ago where I had a big bucket of golf balls and I took one out because that's my putting ball. I wouldn't hit it off the tee. I wouldn't abuse this little golf ball because I wanted to be scuff free. I wanted just to roll true on the greens. So it is set aside for a certain purpose, leviticus. By the time we get to chapter 16, where we're in right now, god begins this new conversation with his people where he explains to them that they are set apart. And the big question in our minds is why? Why is it so important for God to have these people and explain to them how they are set apart? What are they set apart for? Why is it important for them to be used by God and to be set apart. The word that we're looking at is actually holy, and the word holy is this Old Testament word called kadosh. I like this one because it's fun to say. You want to say it now, don't you? Here we go. Ready? One? Say it. Here we go. Kadosh. Kadosh sounds like you're throwing a rock into a pond. Kadosh. In the New Testament, in Greek, it's agios, not nearly as fun, but in the Old Testament, kadosh means holy or set apart. It literally means to take something and put it in its own place. It's to remove it from the place that it was and put it into a different place for a different purpose.
[00:08:30] The most important day for the Jewish people is Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur is called the Day of Atonement. This day was to be set apart from all other days. There were really interesting and unique things that happened on this day that we're going to talk about. You're going to walk out of here going, I love Yom Kippur. You're going to learn new things about it. Now, I need to start with the fact that they still celebrate Yom Kippur today. Yom Kippur actually was actually a couple of weeks ago. It was September the 24th to the 25th. In 2023. It's the 10th day of the 7th month. It's called a high and holy day. The first day of the 7th month is called rash hashanah. That's like their new year, and they were celebrating New Year. Ten days after that is a day of Atonement. And then 15 days after that is the festival of Booths, which many Jews still celebrate today, where they actually camp out in their backyards and live in tents and whatever. It's called sukkot. It's a great holiday. We actually talked about it before, but today what I want to park on is this day of Atonement. Something happened on this day. A couple of things happened on this day that happened on no other day. This day was so holy that if it didn't last land on a Sabbath, it was declared to be another Sabbath, so there would be two Sabbaths in a week. In other words, this was the holy day where one very unique thing happened, where the priest went behind the curtain.
[00:10:03] Now, on the Day of Atonement, in my opinion, like every other festival that the Jews did, or every other feast that they did, jesus is all over it. So we're going to play a little game today. Have you ever played Where's Waldo? Yeah, you've played that? Okay. This is a very frustrating game. Now, if you're interested, Waldo is in this picture, and I did spend 15 minutes trying to find him and failed. So you're not ever going to be able to find him on this one. But where's Waldo is the idea where you look for the striped shirt individual with a tuke on his head and the striped tuke on his head? No. What do you call him? Beth calls them toboggans what do you call the little things you put on your head in the wintertime?
[00:10:48] The tuke, the hat with the little ball on top, which I don't know what it's for, but anyway, in Canada, we call him Tukes. So he's got a striped shirt, he's got a striped tuke on, and you spend your lifetime looking for him in these pictures.
[00:11:03] Do you like Where's Waldo? Maybe you've never played it before. If you haven't, don't lose your mind. Don't start, because it's a great time waster and very frustrating. But today we're going to do a game where you are going to find Jesus in the Day of Atonement. Jesus is all over the Day of Atonement. And for those of us that look for him, it becomes very apparent where he is. So this day that is set apart for the Jews, Yom Kippur, is set apart because God has a purpose for this day unlike any other day. And there's a few unique things happening on this day that God intends for it to point toward Jesus Christ. We're going to talk about a few of those things today. And your game that you get to play is as we go through, I'm just going to talk about the Day of Atonement. And as we go through it, your job is to find Waldo or not to find Waldo. Your job is to find Jesus. All right, in all of the things that we talk about today, the first place I want to start is this is the only day when the priest went behind the holy of holies. It's in Leviticus 16 and verse two. Typically, this is a no no, as you can see in this verse. Listen to this. And the Lord said to Moses, tell Aaron your brother now, Aaron was the high priest, Moses brother. Moses said, I can't speak I'm not very good at speaking publicly. And so God said, okay, Aaron will be your speaker. Remember that. So Aaron has the job now of the high priest. Tell Aaron your brother not to come at any time into the holy place inside the veil before the mercy seat that's on the ark, so that he may not what is the next word? Church. All right. So is this a serious command or not?
[00:12:53] If you go behind the holy of holies if you go behind into the holy of holies behind the curtain, you will likely die.
[00:13:01] So God is taking this very seriously, and he says, listen, if you love your brother, pass this message along, would you? Please don't go into the holy of holies, for I will appear in a cloud over the mercy seat. But the very next verse, verse three, says this but in this way, Aaron shall come into the most holy place.
[00:13:27] There is a time for him to come behind the curtain, but it's a very serious process.
[00:13:34] First of all, let me draw out the map of the tabernacle, because we typically don't have this in our mind. So if you were to be in this time period in Leviticus 16, you would see that this is the place where you come to worship. This is the tabernacle. You have the courtyard on the outside. Most of the offerings were done there on that middle sacred, that middle altar. That's where you would do your normal sacrifice on behalf of your family or on behalf of your own sin that would take place there. But you would, as a normal kind of everyday, common individual, never get to go in the tent. Only the priests could go into the tent. Once you get into the tent, you see some really interesting things. You have the table of showbread, you have this big candelabra. You remember? You've seen that candelabra before, right? That is the menorah. That is a very holy light. Menorah. Jesus used that as an illustration when he said, I am the light of the world, using a direct connection to what they see all the time in this candlestick inside the tent, you would find the altar of incense.
[00:14:42] All of those things would be in there, but you only get to go in there if you were a priest, not the common person. However, there's one more room in front of you where the curtain was always closed. And behind the curtain was only one piece of furniture. And the only piece of furniture behind that curtain was the Ark of the Covenant. Now, the Ark of the Covenant was really a throne. I don't know if you know that or not. The Ark of the Covenant was probably similar to this picture. Right here in the middle of the outstretched wings was a seat that they called the mercy seat. Every parade from all the communities around Israel would parade their gods on their throne. Dagon would be sitting on a throne. There was a pole that celebrate Ashtra. Baal would be celebrated as a figure seating on a throne. The Jews were like, really weird because they would parade around this object with a seat, but no god on it. And the reason there was no god on it is because what you remember the Ten Commandments, don't make any image of me. That was a command. So even though that seat was meant to be a throne, there was no image on the seat. And the only time that ark could be seen was on the day of Atonement, when the holiest of priests, the high priest, went in there behind the curtain. No little priest could go behind there, only the high priest.
[00:16:18] When he got back there, he had to do some specific things. If he came in wrong, he would not survive. So he came in carrying two things. He carried incense and he also carried blood. He could not come into the holiest of place without those two things. The blood was going to be poured over the mercy seat, the throne room. And the fog from the sensor that he was holding that sent up the incense would blur his vision so his face would be hidden from the holiness of God.
[00:16:58] This was a day of atonement.
[00:17:01] The day that everything got a new beginning.
[00:17:05] Everything would be cleansed by blood on this day. Everything, every overlooked sin, every sin that you did by mistake over an annual period, over a twelve month period would be fixed on this day. Even the parts of the tabernacle that were designated as holy were doused in blood on this day. Even the things that were called holy were cleansed on this day.
[00:17:36] There's a few unique things happening on this day. We're going to talk about a few of them. Here's the first one, and I've only picked out three, but I think these are the top three that I would say. The first one is that the priest goes behind the veil. The high priest. There was a unique danger to this. Aaron had just lost his sons, Naidab and Abihu. You remember them. They had done their job as priests incorrectly, and God killed them. So now God says to Aaron, I need you to come behind the veil once a year and be careful when you do or you're going to end up like your sons Nadab and Abahu.
[00:18:15] The emphasis is even greater on doing the proper things when you enter into the holiest of places.
[00:18:23] Let's pick up in verse twelve. And he shall take a censer full of coals and fire from the altar before the Lord and two handfuls of sweet incense beaten small. And he shall bring it inside the veil and put the incense on the fire before the Lord. And the cloud of the incense will cover the mercy seat that is over the testimony so that he does not what church? Okay, are you getting a really important picture here? If you don't do things right, you will die. Who would like to sign up for this job?
[00:19:01] The high priest didn't have a choice on this day. Yom Kippur. He would go behind this curtain and he had to be careful when he approached the Lord and the holiness of God because it would consume him if he approached it incorrectly.
[00:19:20] Raiders of the Lost Ark. I know they had it. You remember they had the Ark of the Covenant and they approached it incorrectly and they were all consumed. That's an old movie, but that's the mind that I have. Anyway, the purpose of the holy day was atonement. Everything had to be covered in blood. In fact, the word Yom kippur means yom is day and Kippur means atonement. The root word of Kippur literally means to cover over.
[00:19:49] Kafar means to cover over and Kippur means to remove by paying a price, the offended would act as if the offense was covered over and not seen any longer. Atonement had to be made. The price had to be paid so that that sin could be removed.
[00:20:08] Blood, therefore, was essential. You had to cover over the sin with something and that something was blood. If the high priest came into the tent and did not have the blood, he would die without the shedding of blood. The Bible says there is no removal of sins. Blood is essential to cover Kafar Yom Kippur, to cover our sins. In fact, blood is used nine times in chapter 16 alone and it's used 13 times in chapter 17 where it talks more about the day of atonement. The bottom line is you cannot have reconciliation with God. God is giving a picture in Leviticus 16 of this high and holy day. This Yom Kippur, he's giving a picture to his people that they will do every single year that without blood, forgiveness is not possible.
[00:21:03] Now, they'd never heard of Jesus at this point. They had never heard of Mary and Joseph and they'd never had a Christmas in their lives.
[00:21:13] All they knew is what God told them at this point. And at this point, all they knew was without blood covering your sins, there is no forgiveness. And it has to be done correctly. Verse 16 thus he shall make atonement. This is what gets me about this. He shall make atonement for what church?
[00:21:38] He shall make atonement for the holy place.
[00:21:43] Well, the holy place is already holy. Why does he need to make atonement for the holy place? Because of the uncleanliness of the people of Israel and because of their transgressions and all their sins.
[00:21:58] Sin is meant to be seen as a pollutant that eventually, over time, gets bigger and bigger and wipes off and infects everything that it touches.
[00:22:13] And so he shall do look at this he shall do for the tent of the meeting which dwells in them and in the midst of their uncleanliness. In other words, church. Everything, even where God dwelt was infected with sin.
[00:22:28] Not only would Yom Kippur offer a covering of sin for the people but it would also cover the sins of all the items that have been tainted by the sins of the people.
[00:22:41] Everything had been tainted by sin over time.
[00:22:45] That for which atonement is made with God came in wherever God came in contact was in some way touched and affected by the sins of the people and even of the priests. And for God to dwell in the midst of the people there had to be a annual cleansing of all this sin.
[00:23:06] Everything was given a fresh start today. That's what I love about Yom Kippur. Like it's not just the people, but everything. Everything was washed. Everything was washed clean. There was no sin in the camp on this day that was not taken care of.
[00:23:24] The primary purpose of this day is a sacrifice not only on behalf of the entire people, but also the environment in which they lived.
[00:23:34] But interestingly enough, this atonement also had to be on the High Priest himself and on the priests. Look at this. He shall put on the holy linen coat and shall have the linen undergarment on his body. This is talking about the High Priest. He shall tie the linen sash around his waist. He will wear the linen turban. These are the holy garments. He shall bathe his body in water and then he shall put them on. In other words, when the High Priest went into the Holy of Holies, he had to wear his garment. He had to wear his big hat and his uniform. He had to be set apart to give sacrifice on behalf of his people. That is not unique.
[00:24:20] He always wore these garments. These were like what set him apart from all the peon priests that were around.
[00:24:27] But there's one thing on this day that happened, that happened no other day.
[00:24:32] He also had to sacrifice for his own sins. And when he sacrificed for his own sins, guess what? He had to get rid of all of the garments.
[00:24:42] Look at this. In verse eleven, aaron shall present the bull as a sin offering for who church? For himself. He shall make atonement for himself and for his house. He shall kill the bull as a sin offering for himself. This is the second thing. The first thing that I notice that is really unique is that the High Priest goes behind into the Holy of Holies on behalf of the people. But once that's done, he comes out, he takes off his garments that set him apart and he puts on other garments. Garments that make him look like any other common person. And then he sacrifices on his own behalf.
[00:25:22] He lays them aside. Beautiful colored materials, embroidery, gold and jewelry made him almost look like a king. But on this day, he took all of that off and he had to sacrifice as if he were just blending in with everybody else.
[00:25:37] In fact, he looked lower than even the ordinary priests that he typically oversaw.
[00:25:44] Verse 23 then Aaron shall come into the tent of the meeting and shall take off the linen garments that he put on when he went into the holy place and he shall leave them there. He acted on behalf of the people already. He did his job. He went into the holy of holies. But now it's time for him to take care of his own sin, his own flaw, his own failures. And he must act on his own behalf. And on this day, even though everybody knew Aaron, it'd be hard to pick him out of a crowd. He looked like everybody else without those garments on. He looked like everybody. He's like, where's Waldo? He'd be even harder to find.
[00:26:25] There's one more unique thing that happened on this day. How many of you have ever heard of a thing called escape goat?
[00:26:33] Heard that term before? This is where that term comes from. Do you know where that term comes from? No. Leviticus 16. Because on this day God introduces the idea of a scapegoat. Verse 20 and when he had made an end of atoning for the holy place and the tent of the meeting and the altar he shall present the live goat. After all atonement is made, after all of the covering is done there's one more activity to do and it involves two goats. The final ceremony involved two goats. Verse seven. He shall take the two goats and set them before the Lord at the entrance of the tent of the meeting. And Aaron shall cast lots over the two goats. One lot for the Lord and the other lot for what's that word there? Can you pronounce it?
[00:27:24] Azazel.
[00:27:26] That is a weird word.
[00:27:29] One lot for the Lord and the other lot for Azazel. This is probably the most unique procedure done on this day. The choosing of the goat for the Lord and the choosing of the goat for Azazel. He puts in two stones in a bag and he mixes them up and he pulls out 1 st. And that stone goes to show which goat goes to the Lord and which goat goes to Azazel. The High Priest would choose one goat to be sacrificed as a purification offering to the Lord and one goat to be given to a Zazzle. Now, you're probably sitting here thinking to yourself what in the world is a Zazzle? Right. Good question.
[00:28:13] Before we get there, though, I have to tell you something that I typically have thought. Like, I'm thinking to myself, the scapegoat is the lucky one because I don't believe that anymore. You'll find out why when we figure out what a Zazzle is. But one goat is going to be sacrificed. That's not a good end for that goat. The other goat is going to be given to a Zazzle.
[00:28:36] The other goat is going to be set free into the wilderness.
[00:28:41] And I used to think, the one that was set free in the wilderness, well, that lucked out. He's still alive. He's still going to live another day. He's handed over to Azazel. Azazel is found in verse eight, verse ten and verse 26. The meaning is uncertain. Here's a few of the ideas. And you could choose which one of these you want to. I'll tell you which one I think that it is. Azazel could be the guy that actually leads the goat out. Give it to Azazel. It could be like the term. Like the High Priest was Aaron. But his role was High Priest. So maybe the guy is Azazel and just give it to Azazzle and he can walk the goat out into the wilderness. Or Azazel could be a cliff, a precipice. Take the goat to and. Give it to Azazel could mean take the goat out to a precipice in the wilderness and knock it off.
[00:29:33] Drop it over the edge of the precipice, that could be as well give it to Azazel. Or it could be a demon.
[00:29:44] There is extra biblical writing book of Enoch that we don't have in our Bibles that actually attributes this name to a specific demon.
[00:29:55] I lean toward this one and here's why.
[00:30:00] Azazel and the Lord are pitted against each other. One goat would be sacrificed to God as a sacrifice of purification. The other goat would be given to a zazzle. It's almost like there's two entities at work against each other. This would also go along with the New Testament where Jesus'sacrifice mocked the rulers and the powers of this world.
[00:30:24] This could be idea like it's God against this demon. And the Old Testament sometimes describes the wilderness as a place where demons live. When Jesus went into the wilderness, who did he come face to face with?
[00:30:40] The devil? A demon.
[00:30:44] If it's a demon, which I think it may be because it's in Enoch, it seems to be a direct pitting against the Lord and this demon, it's almost like this goat would be a carrier of the sins of the past year. And this goat would be given back to the one who created sinful environments for these people to be sitting in.
[00:31:11] This goat is simply being sent back to its author.
[00:31:15] Perhaps Azazel was this demon in the wilderness and this goat would be sent back to the one who birthed them. In other words, think of it this way.
[00:31:27] One goat would be offered to the Lord as a purification offering where the sins are burnt away and the other goat would be loaded on with the sins, the annual sins of the people and then sent back to the demon in the wilderness. Almost like a dump truck where you put all your refuse in something and then you take it out to the dump and dump it off.
[00:31:51] Let me read a little bit more about this. Verse 21 aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel. In other words, this goat that's going to be set free, set free would be given in a very interesting and formally set apart way, the sins of all the people that they've missed, that they've unconfessed sin, sins that they've forgotten about, all would be put on this goat and all their transgressions and all their sins. Verse 21 and he shall put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who stands in readiness. And the goat shall get this bear, all the iniquities on itself into a remote area, and he shall let the goat go free into the wilderness. This is the idea that this goat wouldn't be necessarily set free, but this goat would carry the sins of all of the people of God on its back outside of the camp, to the garbage dump in the Meshna, which is a Hebrew writing of the Old Testament. This activity is actually explained where this guy who guided the goat out had to be careful that the illustration didn't die off.
[00:33:21] It would be really bad if this goat, who now formally bore the sins of the people outside the camp, would come around one day and wander back into the camp. Like that'd be a bad illustration. So the mishnah says that whoever carried this goat led this goat into the wilderness, would look for a precipice, a cliff, and just knock the goat over so the goat doesn't come back into the camp.
[00:33:46] Either way, this was a very poignant picture that the sin of the camp was leaving and would not come back, because the Day of Atonement is about new beginnings.
[00:34:02] The offenses have been covered over. Sin has been sent into the wilderness. Every part of sin that has tainted this camp is taken care of because there's power in the blood.
[00:34:15] So now I have to ask you that's an explanation of the Day of Atonement. Did you see Jesus in any of that?
[00:34:24] Did you find Waldo in any of that?
[00:34:28] The Day of Atonement is the central theme of the gospel for us. We're not Jewish, so we miss it for us. We don't even know what the Day of Atonement is for us. We're going, Yom Kippur. When is that? Do they have that still?
[00:34:42] But in Matthew 2023, Jesus said these words even as a Son of man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.
[00:34:54] Every time Jesus uses these words, we read them as Americans, Canadians, and we say to ourselves, oh, those are powerful words. But when you read them as a Jewish person that understood Yom Kippur, you were forced to see Jesus say, I am all over the Day of Atonement. Can you see Him laying aside his glory so that he could be a sacrifice for us? Just like the priest laid aside his glorious garments to look like an everyday person? Can you see Him becoming a servant to blend in with us?
[00:35:30] Can you hear Him declare that his blood would be a ransom for many the Atonement, the final and perfect and eternal blood that could cover the sins of the entire world? Can you see Him bearing the sin on his own back outside of the camp?
[00:35:51] If you missed any of that, if you're thinking to yourself, I haven't made any of these connections at all, you need to read the Book of Hebrews. Hebrews is our cheat sheet to find Jesus in the Old Testament.
[00:36:01] And when you look into Hebrews, especially Hebrews chapter nine, you will see Jesus everywhere, especially on the Day of atonement. So my so whats are all from the book of Hebrews. And here's the first one.
[00:36:17] Jesus is the qualifying high priest for you.
[00:36:21] You need a high priest. It's not a mistake that they did this in the Old Testament, because everything in the Old Testament is meant to speak to us today. And the fact of the matter is, we need a high priest. Hebrews tells us who that is. I bet you can't guess who it is.
[00:36:38] Hebrews nine, verse 25.
[00:36:41] Nor was it to offer Himself repeatedly as the high priest enters the holy places every year talking about Jesus. Jesus didn't die every single year. Jesus didn't have to shed blood every single year as the high priest enters every year with blood not his own, verse 26, for then he would have to suffer repeatedly jesus since the foundation of the world. But as it is, Jesus has appeared once for all at the end of ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
[00:37:14] Jesus was the perfect, holy, all time applicable blood that covers the sins that you've forgotten about.
[00:37:26] One of the things that I did when I took communion as I was growing, I would also always think to myself, I got to make sure my heart's right. I got to got to clean my heart. There's nothing wrong with that.
[00:37:37] What I missed was this point.
[00:37:41] The point of the matter is, no matter how many prayers I do, I will always miss my sin.
[00:37:50] I'll always have some sin way down that I don't even know about yet.
[00:37:55] There's always some failure in me that I'm not even and truth be told, if I'm going to be honest with God and if I want absolute forgiveness, I have to remember every single sin. That is impossible.
[00:38:09] Religions are built on the fact that you have to go in and light a candle or say a prayer or do a mantra or something to cover every missed sin along the way. Can I just tell you something that Jesus has already done that this is the point in Hebrews, chapter nine, it tells us that he went behind the curtain not with a vial of blood from a goat, he went behind the or from a bull, he went behind the curtain with his own blood. He poured out his own blood over our sins. And anyone who believes doesn't just have the sin that you remember covered, but it has the sins you don't remember covered. It has the sins that you've forgotten about covered. It has the sins that you will do in the future covered. You cannot appear before God and live. His holiness will consume you.
[00:39:11] For those of us that believe in Jesus Christ, this is the doctrine of propitiation. His sin or his blood covers all our sins.
[00:39:26] If you do the most terrific sin, if you know Christ as your Savior and you do a sin today and you die today. You don't appear before God and God goes, you sin right before you died. Tough, tough cookies for you. Doesn't work that way. Jesus died 2000 years ago for sins that you had not even committed yet.
[00:39:46] And his blood covers those and everything you'll do in the if you belong to God, you are holy.
[00:39:54] It's crazy, isn't it?
[00:39:56] He took your sin on Himself so that you could take his righteousness for eternity.
[00:40:03] And when you appear before God and you say oh man, I really blew it. I did this, this and this. God will go, I have no idea what you're talking about.
[00:40:14] I used to think there's a big screen in heaven and when we got up there, everybody would see what a loser Craig was. That is such bad theology.
[00:40:26] All you have to look is the day of atonement and realize his blood covers every sin you've forgotten about.
[00:40:33] He cast your sin as far as the east is from the west. Do you know if you go north long enough, will you eventually start going south?
[00:40:45] Yes. And if you go south long enough, do you eventually start going north?
[00:40:49] Yes. But if you go west long enough, when do you eventually start going east?
[00:40:56] It doesn't work that way, does it? You just keep going west. When Jesus casts our sin as far as the east is from the west, it means they can't be found anymore.
[00:41:07] And it doesn't matter how deep your sin is or how much of a loser you think you are. Jesus'blood covers it all. Past, present, future.
[00:41:17] David Tomeman is a great reminder. Sin affects everything. We cannot come before God just because we want to. We need Jesus Christ and his blood to cover our sin so that we are forever wearing his righteousness. We take the sin off, we put on his righteousness. And that is why we can go into the holy of holies anytime we want to.
[00:41:42] The path is clear. When Jesus died on the cross, that curtain was ripped from the top to the bottom, not from the bottom to the top. Humans didn't do it. It was ripped from the top to the bottom because God wanted to say time you want now. This blood can be applied to your life. Your sins can be covered and you can come before me anytime. I spent time praying in the service this morning, and if I had not had my sin covered by the blood of Jesus Christ, they only go to the ceiling. My prayers only get that high. But because I am forgiven and a follower of Jesus Christ, I go straight into the throne room of God.
[00:42:19] Jesus is the only high priest that could allow this to happen.
[00:42:24] Aaron was only human and sin creeped into his life. Jesus needed no smoke to obscure his face. Aaron had to repeat sacrifices yearly. Christ was sacrificed once for all time. Aaron's rituals secured him entry into the earthly sanctuary. Christ's death gives Him entrance into the heavenly sanctuary. And through Him, we get to go there too. Aaron's repetitive sacrifices only pronounced the pollution of sin. You had to pray that the day of Atonement would finally come so you could get a fresh start.
[00:42:57] Christ's sacrifice secures permanent forgiveness. Listen to this. In Hebrews Ten, every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly, repeatedly, repeatedly, repeatedly the same sacrifices which can never take away sins.
[00:43:13] But when Christ had offered for all time one single sacrifice for sins, he sat down on the right hand of God. What do you do when you finish a big job and you are pooped? What is the first thing you do? You sit down, get a lemonade, whatever it is, you just take a breather. Christ finished the job, by the way. He didn't get on the cross and say, It is finished, because finally the beatings had stopped. He got on the cross and he said, It is finished because this job was done.
[00:43:49] His blood covers our sins. It is finished. All authority has been given to me. That's the first thing he said after he rose from the dead. Why? Because he did it. He beat sin. He conquered death. And if you want your sins to be covered, I'd go to the person who has the keys to death in the grave. Wouldn't you?
[00:44:10] One person could do this. One sacrifice, one qualified person. And Jesus went behind the veil once for all time, once for all things and once for all people who would believe.
[00:44:23] Second thing. Priestly garments. You remember this?
[00:44:27] The high priest takes off his priestly garments. Jesus did the same thing. Did you see it when we were talking through jesus lays aside his glory so that he could perform this atoning work for you. Gods don't die.
[00:44:42] Gods don't die.
[00:44:44] Name a god that died. I can only think of one.
[00:44:49] There's only one God that died. And in order to die, that God had to take on human form, human flesh. That means he had to come from the throne room of heaven and he had to become just like one of us. Hebrews 911. Again, Hebrews helps us find Jesus and all of these things. When Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, and then through the greater and more perfect tent. Do you know what that tent is?
[00:45:15] His body not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. He entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves, but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. Jesus lays aside his priestly garments.
[00:45:38] There were a couple of times when he put them back on the Mount of Transfiguration. You remember that? Jesus puts his garments back on. And how did Peter respond?
[00:45:50] Yeah, he thought he was going to die because he's in the presence of God with his garments, his holiness, his glory, it appears. And then he says, for goodness sakes, let's just stay here for all eternity and we'll build three churches right here. That's what Peter's response was.
[00:46:06] Jesus intentionally became like one of us. He laid aside his glory so that he could shed human blood, so that his creation could kill their God.
[00:46:20] If you saw Jesus, you would not you see the chosen.
[00:46:25] Jesus on the chosen is a handsome individual, isn't he? Like he would stand out in a crowd. Even if he walked in here today without the white garments on, you'd be going, that is a handsome guy, right? If you read about Jesus and how he looked in the book of Isaiah, it said he had no form or figure that we would even pull Him out of a crowd. You saw the twelve disciples. You probably wouldn't know which one Jesus was.
[00:46:52] Jesus laid aside so that he could look like the common man.
[00:46:58] He comes to us fully God and fully human. The only people that fell away from Jesus because of his amazing glory that typically nobody could see wasn't human beings. It was only the demons, because they knew who he was.
[00:47:17] Just like the high priest. On this special day, Jesus blended in one. John 13, john 13 four says, he laid aside his garments to wash the feet of his disciples. Philippians two says, he took on the form of a servant. The Word became flesh, and we didn't even see Him. You'd walk right by Him in a grocery store and you wouldn't even know the difference.
[00:47:44] The third thing I think that sets this day apart in my mind, where Yom Kippur points to Jesus is that Jesus is your best scapegoat ever.
[00:47:55] You want a scapegoat? You should choose Jesus.
[00:48:00] This is what Isaiah meant when he said these words that probably sound familiar to you. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.
[00:48:13] All of the sins of this world and the failures of this world and the pollution of sin was put onto the shoulders of Jesus Christ when he hung on that cross and he took our sins on Himself and paid the price. He is our garbage truck.
[00:48:33] Terrible thing to say, don't you think? But all the sin of your life was scooped up and poured on Him.
[00:48:43] Jesus took your sins outside the camp. Where was Jesus crucified? Inside the city of Jerusalem or outside the city of Jerusalem?
[00:48:51] Outside. He went to a hill called golgotha. Do you know what Golgotha was used for?
[00:48:57] Garbage.
[00:48:59] Jesus was crucified in a garbage dump to make this picture so complete.
[00:49:10] But unlike the goat, Jesus will come back into the camp.
[00:49:15] This is the best part, and this is where I'm going to leave you. Unlike the goat, Jesus was not taken out and dropped off to die in the wilderness.
[00:49:26] Unlike the goat, jesus does come back into the camp. Listen to this, hebrews 927. Justice is it appointed for man once to die, and after that comes the judgment. So Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, get that? He's the scapegoat. He bore the sins of many. He will appear what church?
[00:49:47] A second time. This is why we need to keep saying this. This is why the last song we sang, I don't remember what it was, but it says it in that song. It's like this is why we need to keep saying Christ is coming back. And we believe it like it's going to happen today. Because that is the complete story of the gospel. It doesn't end with his death on the cross. It ends with Him coming back. He will appear a second time to bear the sins, not to bear the sins of many. He already did that. But he will appear a second time not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly what church waiting for Him. I don't know about you, but I turn on the news and I find myself eagerly waiting for Jesus.
[00:50:31] Somebody put an end to this madness.
[00:50:36] We eagerly wait for Jesus because he's not the scapegoat that carried our sin outside the camp was crucified, buried. And you can visit his tomb today.
[00:50:46] You can't find Jesus'tomb today because he's not there.
[00:50:53] He's not there because he resurrected from the dead. He beat sin. He beat death. He bore our sins outside the camp, but sin won't keep Him away.
[00:51:04] Jesus will return and he will bring redemption with Him. And sin will be gone once for all.
[00:51:14] Anyone can enter into claim Jesus'atonement on their behalf.
[00:51:20] The blood of Jesus is available. If you want this to cover your sins, if you want a fresh start, if you want a new beginning that is available, that is the Gospel and you can have it. One Timothy Two Five says there's one God, one mediator between God and man. The man Christ Jesus. There is not. Two, there is not. Three, there is not in this pluralistic society, a million different religions that give you all the same way into heaven. That is not the God of the Bible. Yom Kippur. Says one. There's only one qualified person.
[00:51:50] The New Testament reiterates it and we preach it loud and clear here. If you want to be right with the one God, you need the one mediator, and that's Jesus Christ.
[00:52:02] There's one God, one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. Sin affected everything. It had to be cared for. Jesus is the only person that ever fulfilled that role. That's why he is the only person qualified. This is why Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life. Finish it up. No one comes to the father, except through me that is intolerant in our society. But it is so true.
[00:52:40] One person was the key on this day. The testimony given at the proper time. One person permitted to enter before the Lord. One person whose blood would cover the sins of all humankind. Jesus Christ is the only person acceptable to enter the holiest of places for us. He's the only one that laid aside his glory to fulfill the role he had to play to atone for our sins. He was led outside the camp to offer sacrifice for sin once and for all. Once we find Waldo, our lives will change.
[00:53:15] Perhaps our best response is found in the next chapter of Hebrews. Hebrews Ten.
[00:53:20] Therefore, brothers, look at this verse. This is so good based on everything we've learned today. Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy of holies by the way of the blood of Jesus Christ, by the new and living way that he had opened through us, through the curtain that is, through his flesh. And since we have a great high priest over the house of God let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Can you not see Yom Kippur in all of this?
[00:53:59] Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering because he who promised all of it is faithful.
[00:54:09] Do you love Yom Kippur?
[00:54:11] Powerful. Let's pray.
[00:54:16] Father God, we learn of this Old Testament festival that doesn't mean a lot to us because we don't celebrate it. And yet, when we look at it through the eyes of Jesus Christ on this side of his death and resurrection it's amazing how many things point to who he would be for us.
[00:54:39] Our great high Priest, the one who laid aside his glory to blend in so that he could shed his blood killed by his own creation rise from the dead triumphant bearing our sins outside of the camp so that one day he would come back and give us a life with no sin. A life with a new start that has no end.
[00:55:11] I'm grateful for all of the pictures we see in Yom Kippur. These and many others that we have skipped over. But all I can say is thank you for your Son, Jesus Christ.
[00:55:23] Where would we be without him?
[00:55:26] There's nothing in us to brag about.
[00:55:29] But we brag about who we are because of Him. He did it all for us.
[00:55:34] He became flesh.
[00:55:36] He went behind the curtain.
[00:55:39] His blood covers our sins.
[00:55:42] He bore our iniquities. He carried our sorrows. And by his wounds we are healed.
[00:55:51] Thank you for Jesus. And thank you for what that means for us and the hope that we now have because of this truth.
[00:55:59] We give you thanks in Jesus name. Amen.
