Series: Types of Christ
Title: The Day of Atonement--The High Priest
Text: Leviticus 16:1-34
Date: June 27, 2010
Place: SGBC, New Jersey
The most important and instructive of all the typical ceremonies of the Old Testament was The Day Of Atonement. The day of atonement foreshadowed, in type, the sin-atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ for God's true Israel.
Leviticus 16: 1: And the LORD spake unto Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered before the LORD, and died; 2: And the LORD said unto Moses, Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times into the holy place within the vail before the mercy seat, which is upon the ark; that he die not: for I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat.
INTRO: SINNERS FIND ACCEPTANCE AND FORGIVENESS WITH GOD ONLY IN THE WAY WHICH GOD COMMANDS WE COME TO HIM.
The chapter begins "And the LORD spake unto Moses"…In order for sinners to believe God and obey God and approach God in his Way, the LORD must speak into the heart he has made new. Aaron's sons--Nadab and Abihu--attempted to come to God in their way, with strange fire, and they died in an instant. God teaches his children what he taught Moses. The only way to a holy God is in Christ Jesus our High Priest who has made atonement for his people.
The Holy of Holies was the smaller room in the tabernacle where God appeared in his glory. It was where the ark of the covenant over which was the mercy seat or covering, under which was the law of God. Neither, Aaron the high priest, nor any other man might approach God except at the time God designated--once a year--and in the way God appointed. Before Adam sinned he lived in communion with God; but after he broke God's commandment, he was separated from God. Now, God declares that no man can come to God except in One Way--through the High Priest, once a year, not without blood. Christ is the High Priest. He offered one sacrifice for sin forever. He offered his own blood. This day of atonement looked forward to that one offering by which Christ Jesus accomplished eternal redemption for God's elect.
Application: What does that mean for you and me? It means the holy and just God we will one day face can not allow fallen, sinful men and women like us to approach him unless a suitable atonement is made for our sin.
· God's wrath must be propitiated.
· Justice must be satisfied.
· Sin must be punished.
Faith is trusting that Christ has done all and is the High Priest who has made you accepted by God, at one with God--atonement.
Proposition: CHRIST JESUS IS THE GREAT HIGH PRIEST TYPIFIED BY AARON. Today we will only look at the high priest.
Leviticus 16: 3: Thus shall Aaron come into the holy place: with a young bullock for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering.
I. THE HIGH PRIEST WAS CHOSEN BY THE LORD.
V3: Thus shall Aaron come
A. Election is a word you need to learn.
1. It is God choosing whom he will. As in all other doctrine--the sin and ruin of man being the exception--Christ Jesus receives the preeminent glory in election.
Isaiah 42:1: Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. 2: He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. 3: A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth. 4: He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law.
2. Aaron was chosen of God to represent a particular people--the children of Israel, just as Christ Jesus was chosen of God to represent God's elect-his spiritual Israel.
Hebrews 5: 1: For every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins: 2: Who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity. 3: And by reason hereof he ought, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins. 4: And no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron. 5: So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee.
3. Those whom God calls are made priests unto God. But if Christ glorified not himself to be made a High Priest are you and I going to glorify ourselves and say we did something to make ourselves priests unto God?
John 8: 54: Jesus answered, If I honour myself, my honour is nothing: it is my Father that honoureth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God:
I Peter 2: 9: But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:
Application: Why is important to know that God chose Christ our High Priest and that Christ accomplished atonement for a chosen generation? It is important because all glory belongs to God. Salvation is by God's grace, by God's choosing. He will be gracious to whom he will be gracious and whom he will he hardeneth.
It is true, "Christ died for all who shall believe." But I do not tell you that only, and hold back the glory which belongs to God. Instead, I declare to you that salvation is by God choosing, by Christ making atonement and by the Spirit quickening and calling each one whom he redeemed.
Proud sinners need to know in no uncertain terms that the prerogative in salvation is not yours but holy God's. As long as the sinner imagines that it is his coming, his will, his faith, his decision that is making the difference then the sinner has not given God the glory, has not confessed that Satisfaction has been made by Christ alone apart from anything done by us.
We have to be brought to behold our nothingness before God. We have to be brought to ask God to receive us and be turned from the false notion that we accept God or that by our believing we make Christ's work effectual.
We are about to see the humility of Christ. I could urge you to walk humbly before the Lord. But if I do so holding back the truth, I do not promote humility but vain pride!
II. THE HIGH PRIEST WAS ROBED IN GARMENTS OF HUMILITY.
Leviticus 16:4: He shall put on the holy linen coat, and he shall have the linen breeches upon his flesh, and shall be girded with a linen girdle, and with the linen mitre shall he be attired: these are holy garments;
A. Aaron had very glorious garments but on this day he laid those aside and put on these humble garments.
2 Corinthians 8: 9: For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.
Philippians 2:5: Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. 9: Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: 10: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11: And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
III. THE HIGH PRIEST HAD TO BE PERSONALLY CLEAN.
Leviticus 16: 4:…therefore shall he wash his flesh in water, and so put them on….6: And Aaron shall offer his bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and for his house.
A. This typified the holiness of Christ Jesus who knew no sin, who lived righteously under the law of God as the Representative of his people.
Hebrews 7: 26: For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; 27: Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people’s: for this he did once, when he offered up himself. 28: For the law maketh men high priests which have infirmity; but the word of the oath, which was since the law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated for evermore.
IV. THE HIGH PRIEST COULD NOT ENTER THE PRESENCE OF GOD WITHOUT BLOOD--vv5-10 (our subject next time)
1. Christ Jesus is both our scapegoat upon whom the sins of his people were laid, who carried them away
2. And Christ is our sin offering
3. Christ could not make his people one with God--atonement--without shedding his own blood
4. The very heart of substitution is life for a life--the just for the unjust--without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins. (Heb 9: 8-12.)
V. THE HIGH PRIEST CAME INTO THE HOLIEST OF HOLIES WITH INCENSE Vv12-13.
1. The acceptance of Christ by God as Mediator and Intercessor for his people is pictured here. Christ Jesus is the ever burning fire--he everliveth to make intercession--and the sweet-smell of acceptance with God for his people.
Romans 8:34: Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.
Rev 8:3 And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.
VI. IN ALL HIS WORK ON THE DAY OF ATONEMENT THE HIGH PRIEST ACTED ALONE. (v. 17).
1. God entrusted the whole nation to one representative man.
2. So it is that God entrusted the whole work of atonement for his entire people into the hands of Christ Jesus his Son.
Hebrews 1: 3: Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high
3. Again I tell you, faith is trusting Christ to have already done all that is necessary to make you accepted of God.
Hebrews 8: 1: Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; 2: A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.
Hebrews 9: 22: And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. 23: It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24: For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: 25: Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; 26: For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27: And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: 28: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.
Hebrews 10: 14: For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. 15: Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: [When God writes his law on the heart this is what God teaches us] 17: And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. 18: Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.
What will be the response of those in whom God speaks?
Hebrews 10: 19: Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20: By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; 21: And having an high priest over the house of God; 22: Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. [the washing of regeneration purges our conscious from dead works to serve the living God]
When the people saw what God did for them in the High Priest, they was a threefold response.
A. They repented – “Ye shall afflict your souls” (v. 29).
B. They rested – “Ye shall do no work at all” (v. 29). Christ is our Sabbath Rest. For they were cleansed (v30)
C. They rejoiced--for they were cleansed v30.
AMEN!