Title: The Slain Goat
Text: Leviticus 16: 5-19
Date: July 25, 2010
Place: SGBC, New Jersey
Leviticus 16: 5: And he shall take of the congregation of the children of Israel two kids of the goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering.
These represent the one offering of Christ Jesus the Lord.
I. THE OFFERING WAS CHOSEN AND ORDAINED BY GOD (V7-10.)
Levitucus 16: 7: And he shall take the two goats, and present them before the LORD at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. 8: And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat. 9: And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the LORD’S lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering. 10: But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness.
Casting Lots
The casting of lots was to show the LORD was the one who chose the offering he would accept.
Proverbs 16:33: The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the LORD.
So it is that Christ was chosen of God and all that transpired was ordained by God.
Acts 2:23: Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:
Acts 4:26: The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ. 27: For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, 28: For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.
It comforts me when I see how absolutely God reigned in providence so that I was fully redeemed by Christ. And so I am assured that he will do right for me in the rest of providence.
II. THE GOAT WHICH WAS SLAIN.
Substitution
The goat which was slain died as the substitute--in the place of the guilty--children of Israel.
Leviticus 16:15: Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people,…
The people sinned. They deserved to die.
Romans 6:23: For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Instead of the people dying, the slain goat died as a sin offering in the place of the people--substitution.
Galatians 3:13: Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: 14: That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Note: Christ died for a particular people--the Israel of God--God's elect. There is no "sense in which" this offering was offered for Cain, or for Amalek, or for all the heathen people outside of the camp of Israel. Neither is there any "sense in which" Christ died for all men without exception.
The Blood Within the Veil
The blood was brought within the veil into the holiest of holies. The holiest of holies represents the presence of God in heaven itself. The blood of this slain goat was sprinkled upon the mercy seat seven times--seven is the number of perfection (v14.) Christ satisfied divine justice through his one offering--God can not, and will not, punish those for whom Christ died. Christ actually "hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us"; Christ has "obtained eternal redemption" for each sinner for whom he died.
Hebrews 9:12: Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. 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.
The Blood Within the Tabernacle
Christ's blood made effectual atonement in God's presence--and also his blood purges our conscious from dead works to serve the living God through the Holy Spirit.
Leviticus 16: 16: And he shall make an atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions in all their sins: and so shall he do for the tabernacle of the congregation, that remaineth among them in the midst of their uncleanness.
The holy place represents heaven itself-God's presence. The tabernacle of the congregation represents the tabernacle in which God's saints serve God. These bodies.
1 Corinthians 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
2 Corinthians 6: 16:…ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
God shows how much our hearts need to be purified, when even the tabernacle, only by standing in the midst of such an impure and sinful people, needed this expiation
Hebrews 9: 12: Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. 13: For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: 14: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
The Blood Upon the Altar
Leviticus 16: 18: And he shall go out unto the altar that is before the LORD, and make an atonement for it; and shall take of the blood of the bullock, and of the blood of the goat, and put it upon the horns of the altar round about. 19: And he shall sprinkle of the blood upon it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it, and hallow it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel.
The altar was the place where the priests offered various offerings in worship. Every sinner for whom Christ made atonement, who has been recreated after the image of God in the inner man, having the blood of Christ sprinkled on our conscious to purge us from dead works to serve the living God, every such believer is a priest unto God. This blood upon the altar teaches us that Christ's blood cleanses even the worship and prayers and thanksgiving of his people. Christ is our Altar whose blood makes even the believer's worship holy from our uncleanness. Christ Jesus is both our Righteousness and our Sanctification. Both Christ who sanctifieth and those he sanctifies are all of one. (The meaning of Romans 12: 1).