Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] All right, let's get our Bible turned to the book of Leviticus. Leviticus, chapter 16.
[00:00:08] Leviticus, chapter 16.
[00:00:14] I want to do a kind of a brief kind of summary. There are 34 verses in this chapter that deal with the next feast day on the hebrew calendar. And so I'll pray first, and then we will do kind of a summary so that we can kind of get into the meaning of this, the day of atonement. All right. Hebrew. I'm sorry. Leviticus 16. Let's pray together. Our Lord, thank you for the chance to be here tonight and to be with your people and to study your word together. Lord, please bless your people through your word and give us a greater understanding of what you have done. Lord, you have done great and mighty things in the gospel. And help us to see those things even more clearly than we've known them before. And please, Lord, help me to know what to say to your people and how to say it with the right tone and attitude and words and spirit. And I pray that you give your people hearts that they would be able to receive these things in the right spirit as well. So, Lord, bless everything we do tonight. In Jesus name. Amen.
[00:01:23] The day of atonement. So we've gone through a number of hebrew and jewish feasts, and we've seen the Passover. The first one, the feast of unleavened bread. Then the Pentecost, which is the feast of weeks. And then the feast of trumpets. And now we have two left. Well, I forgot the feast of first fruits. And now we have but two left. Now, the feast of trumpets occurs on the first day of the 7th month.
[00:01:55] The day of atonement occurs on the 10th day of the 7th month. And then the final feast, which is the feast of tabernacles, occurs on also in the 7th month. So in the 7th month, which corresponds to our September October timeframe, it marks the end of the harvest season in Israel. So this is September. October is when they've done the barley, they've done the wheat, they've done the grapes, they've done all the fruit trees. So they're pretty much their agricultural life is done at that moment, and they're about to go into winter.
[00:02:38] And so these last three feasts all occur at the 7th month, which is at that period of time. Now, what happens in this is.
[00:02:50] Let's start in verse number one. The Bible says, and the Lord spake unto Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered before the Lord and died. Now, the occasion of this is when Aaron's two sons, who were themselves priests. So they were priests. They were ordained of God to go into.
[00:03:12] Go into the tabernacle and to do the service of God. You know, burn incense and things like that. But what happened is these two men took incense that God had not prescribed. Incense. That wasn't the method that God had prescribed. And so God killed them. That's the bottom line. God killed them.
[00:03:36] And so upon that, in that context, the Lord brings up this day of atonement, and this is an important reason, verse number two. And the Lord said unto Moses, speak unto Aaron, thy brother, that he notice, come not at all times into the holy place within the veil before the mercy seat, which is upon the ark, that he die not, for I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat. So here's what the Lord you have in the tabernacle at this point. There's just a tabernacle, okay? There's a. Well, actually, the tabernacle hasn't even been built yet as of yet. But the tabernacle is basically a fenced in area. Okay?
[00:04:22] All right? So it's a fenced in area, and within that fenced in area is a tent.
[00:04:28] And it's a pretty big tent, but it's a tent. And inside that tent, there are two basic rooms. There's a veil. That is the door that goes into the first room, and then there's another veil that goes into the second room. And you all are probably familiar with this, but you have. The tabernacle of the congregation is the fenced tent area. And then inside of that, in the tent, in the main tent, you have the holy place. And the holy place is only allowed to be accessed by priests. All right? The children of Israel are allowed inside the tabernacle of the congregation, all right? The children of Israel were, but no one that was not a Hebrew. Okay? And then. And then. So you have the holy place. And then beyond that second veil, or curtain, we would call it in our common language, beyond that second veil is the holiest of all. That is the place. It says here, that's where the. The ark is, which is basically a chest, and it has a lid, and the lid is called the mercy seat. And in that lid are figures of the cherubim that are the angelic creatures that worship God. All right? And upon that ark is where God. He says, here, I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy. Let me explain something to you about the tabernacle. The tabernacle exists for that one thing, God himself.
[00:05:59] It's not about gold. It's not about silver. It's not about curtains and different fabrics and all that stuff. The tabernacle is, for one thing, and that is for God's presence.
[00:06:11] He would manifest himself on earth to his people on top of that mercy seat. That's why the tabernacle is built. It's about God's presence. And so in that most holy place is the place where God, you could say, on earth is where God dwelt or showed himself.
[00:06:34] That's why that holy place is so important.
[00:06:37] You'll see why in just a minute. And so the Lord says that the Lord forbid Aaron from going into that holy place, the holiest place of all, at all times.
[00:06:50] So the Lord is laying down restrictions as to the times and method of entering into that holy place. Verse three. Thus shall Aaron come into the holy place. Now, here's what's going to happen. This is God's going to prescribe. This is the way you do it. So, Aaron, I'm going to summarize it just for time. Aaron is to bring. He's to bring a bullock, a ram and two goats.
[00:07:21] The two goats are sin offerings. And what he is prescribed to do is. And we'll read this part a little bit, verse six, or verse five, rather. 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. And Aaron shall offer his bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make an atonement for himself and for his house.
[00:07:51] And he shall take the two goats and present them before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And Aaron shall cast lots, which is essentially rolling dice, drawing straws, upon the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other lot for the scapegoat.
[00:08:09] And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the Lord's lot fell and offer him for a burnt offering.
[00:08:15] 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. And so what he's going to do is, Aaron, first thing he's going to do is he's going to take a handful of incense, which is just crushed up, you know, it's mortar and pestled spices. They crush them up. He'll take a handful of that and he'll get a sensor, which is to scoop out some coals from the altar, burnt offering outside.
[00:08:49] And he'll take that sensor, that essentially a shovel, and he'll take it into the, into the first room, the holy place, and he'll pour those coals on top of the altar of incense. And then he'll take his handful of incense and drop it on those coals, which causes them to burn, which fills the rooms with smoke. Okay?
[00:09:10] Then the Lord prescribed that he was to take the bullock and to kill the bullock, and to take its blood and to sprinkle it, to go behind that second veil into the holiest place of all, where God himself dwelt, and to sprinkle it seven times on that, on that mercy seat. Okay? Then he was to take the blood of the goat. Now that one was for himself.
[00:09:41] Now that he goes back out and he gets the blood of the goat, maybe he took him in at the same time, I don't know. But he brought in the blood of the goat likewise. And the goat's blood is for the sin of the people.
[00:09:54] And he sprinkles that upon the mercy seat where God is.
[00:10:01] And this is the only time that Aaron, who is the high priest, not just a priest, but the high priest, is allowed to go behind that second veil.
[00:10:12] This is the only time.
[00:10:15] And the Bible says this in verse number, verse number 17.
[00:10:23] And there shall be no man in the tabernacle of the congregation when he goeth in to make an atonement in the holy place, until he come out and have made an atonement for himself and for his household and for all the congregation of Israel. 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. 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. Now notice the word atonement. You see that several times the word atonement. Now I'll give you the short version. In the Old Testament, the word that is put here as atonement basically carries the idea of a covering. Okay? It basically means a covering.
[00:11:18] Now, the english word atonement is actually very easy to understand. The english word of atonement is actually just, it's a combination of two words that are bumped together at one, at one, atone at one. So it is the process of putting two parties that are at enmity, at odds at one. We would call that reconciliation, when two parties that are previously alienated or are enemies of one another, for some reason, when they're reconciled, they are put back at one. That's what the word atonement means. Now, how is that related to the idea of covering? In fact, if you go back to the Old Testament in Genesis, where the Bible says that, he says that Noah pitched the ark with pitch, that is, he slathered on basically like, like tar or SAP or something like that, over the ark to waterproof it. He was covering the ark. That's the same word that's used for atonement. Same word. So what does it mean? The central idea behind the word atonement means to cover sins such that the Lord and man can be set at one with one another. Again, that's what it means to cover sin, so that the Lord and man can be set at one or atone with one another, which is the meaning of reconciled. They can be reconciled. Now that tells us something very important in order for God. First of all, it tells that there is a breach between, between a man and God. There is a huge breach. And this is something that this world, even the religious world does not like to acknowledge, is there is a huge ugly stain, a huge, if I could say, a huge chasm that exists between a holy God and a sinful man. And that chasm in the middle is that man's sin.
[00:13:37] There is a huge breach that does not allow that man and God to have fellowship, to have a relationship.
[00:13:49] This is why it must be covered. That relationship cannot exist. So long as sin is in the middle, that relationship cannot exist. In that case, the presence of sin upon a sinner is what alienates him from God.
[00:14:06] And so what the Lord has, what must happen and what the Lord himself must do, because there is no possible way we can remove our own sin. Is the Lord in the Old Testament provided a way to temporarily, and you'll see why I say that in a minute, cover the sin so that he could have a relationship with Israel.
[00:14:28] Now this truth is seen in the New Testament as well. Hold your place here, actually.
[00:14:35] Yeah, hold your place here. Let's go to Romans chapter five, verse ten.
[00:14:40] This truth is clearly spelled out in the New Testament, so we kind of understand what the word atonement means in the New Testament. Here's what it says. Romans 510. And then we'll look at Colossians one. It says this, for if when we were enemies, you notice that this is God and man enemies. So listen, mankind is not just a people that make mistakes.
[00:15:08] God says our sin has made us has put us in a place where we are enemies of God. That's what sin does to people. And this is the fact that people do not like to acknowledge. They like to think that they have good thoughts toward God and so they're okay with God. And God is screaming at them from the New Testament saying, you're not all right. If when we were enemies we were reconciled, notice that word reconciled or atoned at one to God by the death of his son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received thee. The there it is at onement. Atonement, which is that reconciliation whereby God has removed that thing that has alienated man from God. All right, look at Colossians r1. Quick.
[00:16:05] Colossians, chapter one, verse 20.
[00:16:16] The Bible says this two and having made peace through the blood of his cross, notice the word peace that's related to being reconciled by him, to reconcile all things unto himself. By him I say, whether they be things in heaven or things in earth, and you that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind. Now why were they enemies? Look at the verse. Why were we enemies of God? Why were we alienated from God by. What's that? Wicked works. That's sin, right? So this verse plainly says that sin is it was the chasm that divided a man in God by wicked works. Yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblamable and unprovable in his sight. So the idea of being reconciled to God first presupposes that mankind was alienated, separated enemies of God. And God did something to remove the problem between the two. And that problem was man's wicked works. God made a way to deal with that. Now in the Old Testament it was just covered temporarily. That's why that word is used. Now in the New Testament we're going to see it was not just covered, but either way, God dealt with that problem between man and God so that every individual man and woman could be reconciled. Now this reconciliation I'm talking about is this atonement is far greater than it might, just that it might seem on its surface. So let's go back to Leviticus, chapter 16, verse 20.
[00:17:56] It says this. And when he hath made an end of reconciling the holy place and the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar, and he shall bring the live goat.
[00:18:06] So they already, he already killed the goat and put the blood, the first one. And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel and all their transgressions and all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away. Notice that. Send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness. And the goat shall bear upon him all their inhabitants unto a land not inhabited. And he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.
[00:18:39] See that?
[00:18:43] So basically, what they did in this case, the Lord restricted.
[00:18:51] This is not an offering. We've already looked at the offerings. This is not an offering you could do at any time you wanted to, willy nilly, whenever you felt like it. No, no, no. They were not. Not even Aaron.
[00:19:02] So what are the restrictions?
[00:19:04] The day that they were allowed to go into the most holy place, the number of times they were allowed to go into the holy place was restricted to one. And the person who was allowed to go into the holiest place was restricted. So think about the restriction. What did that restriction show? That restriction show that no one could just go in there because they loved God and wanted to go in there. That was not allowed. It showed that the way into God's very presence was restricted. Off limits, no trespassing.
[00:19:43] It also shows that the person that had the right and was fit to go into God's presence was also. Was also restricted. Not anyone could just go. It had to be a specific person, not just any priest, not just any Hebrew, but the high priest. And that's only restricted, again, if he brought an offering for himself first to cover his own sin, for he himself was a sinner.
[00:20:16] All of these restrictions.
[00:20:19] All of these restrictions, once in a year, only one person. But then, remember, even though they were only allowed to go once in a year, they had to do it every year. And so what that did is that reminded them of the fact that their sins remained.
[00:20:37] Their sins remained every year. They had to do it over and over and over. Their sins were never taken away.
[00:20:44] Their sins remained every year as a reminder.
[00:20:47] And in fact, this day was a day of mourning. And just so you know, as a cultural note, in this day, Yom Kippur, which is the day of atonement, is the most. Think about it now. The most holy day in the Jewish, in Judaism, not Passover. Yom Kippur is the most holy day. Not Hanukkah, but Yom Kippur, but it's a day of mourning.
[00:21:14] Now, what's interesting about this is, of course, there is no temple, there is no sacrifice, right?
[00:21:22] There is no sacrifice to be done. What the Jews do now, those that practice Judaism, in the current jewish thinking, they have sorrow for sin, confession and fasting. You know, this is the only time in the Old Testament where a fast in the law was commanded. But so they, they have sorrow for sin, confession, fasting and repentance. But here's the way the Jews view that now, and all that's true, the Lord says they were to mourn on this day. They were not to work, they were to mourn. They were to fast because of the remembrance of their sin coming before God, which is why all this is necessary. They were to fast. But here's the problem. Nowadays, the Jews view the sorrow and the confession and the repentance as the atonement. So they think that by doing, by confession and by fasting, they are thereby atoning or covering their sins so that they can be made reconciled to God. What are they missing?
[00:22:27] They're missing the atonement, which is the blood of the goat. That is the atonement. The atonement is not the fasting. The atonement is not the confession. The atonement is the blood, the life that had to be, that had to be poured out to cover their sins. For a year they have totally missed it.
[00:22:53] And they have substituted the biblical principle for a work's salvation, thinking that because they feel sorry for their sin and they confess that all of a sudden they're right with God. They are so wrong. And you know what? This is exactly what Paul thought.
[00:23:11] Because now they have no sacrifices. There is no sacrifice. They've taken the core of the day of atonement and thrown it out and rave replaced that which is the blood sacrifice. And we know what that represents. They've replaced it with works.
[00:23:28] I mean, is that not every religion on earth in some way or another.
[00:23:33] And by doing this, they are negating the true atonement in which one dies for them to provide atonement. So do you see the difference? One is you work for it and the other is it is provided by the death of another. Totally different in one. In fact, I read this quote.
[00:23:58] So they think that those things that they do actually atones for them in one view, because there's various views of this, but in one view they think that, quote, the fast is a form of sacrifice which can atone for sin like the temple sacrifices once did.
[00:24:18] That is like, that's blasphemous.
[00:24:24] So now we have a good understanding of the day of atonement. Now let's look at Hebrews chapter number nine.
[00:24:35] The day of atonement is a feast of the Jews that is referred to over and over and over again in its typological significance. What do I mean by that? The day of atonement, like all the other feasts, symbolized a greater truth. We're just, as you remember from Brother Ben, just the shadow of the real thing. And the day of atonement is one that the Lord goes to great lengths to help us to understand.
[00:25:05] Now, you remember, it was only the high priest that could go into the most holy place. Not a priest, not just a regular priest, but the one person, the high priest was allowed to go in there. Look at Hebrews 911.
[00:25:20] It says this, but Christ being come and high priest of good things to come by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands. That is to say, not of this building. Notice that Christ, and this is not the only place. Christ is the high priest. The one high priest. He is the only one that is qualified to go behind that curtain.
[00:25:46] The only one. Now this is going to open up to something really interesting in just a minute. But he is the only one qualified to go behind that curtain. You see? The symbolism. Just as the high priest was on the day of atonement, he was the only one that was qualified.
[00:26:01] Now, just as a side note, as a sidelight, there were other priests that worked in the temple, right?
[00:26:09] Besides the high priest. Do you know what those priests represent?
[00:26:12] They don't represent Jesus. Jesus is the high priest. They represent you and me, who are now made priests of God and offer, the Bible says, spiritual sacrifices.
[00:26:25] You see that we are in the representation. Those priests represent we believers.
[00:26:35] The second thing I want you to see is in verse eleven. Notice what it says as well. It says, christ being come and high priests of good things to come by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands. That is to say, not of this building. Notice on the day of atonement, they went into the tabernacle, into the holy place, and then the most holy place. But that building was not the final product. That was just representative of a greater and more perfect tabernacle. Not like this one, made with hands, but one in the heavens.
[00:27:12] Not where God dwelt on earth temporarily with his people, but where God's very throne is before him in heaven. The real place where God dwells.
[00:27:24] Where his presence is in heaven.
[00:27:28] So the tabernacle and the temple is just a picture of the true temple, where the Almighty dwells. At this very moment.
[00:27:36] Next thing I want you to see. Look at Hebrews chapter five.
[00:27:40] We're going to be in Hebrews just for the rest of the time. Hebrews five. And verse number three, verse number one says this for every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men. Notice we're not talking about a priest, but a high priest in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins.
[00:28:03] Verse two says, 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. This is the high priest in Israel, and by reason hereof he ought, as for the people, so also for himself to offer for sin. So God is saying, the high priest in this, in the Old Testament was a sinner. And so when he went in on the day of atonement, he had to have an offering. He himself was a sinner, so he had to bring an offering for himself. First, Christ, which is the anti type, the fulfillment, not so.
[00:28:40] The Lord Jesus had no sacrifice for himself. Look at chapter seven, verse number 27.
[00:28:47] Chapter seven, verse 27, says this, speaking of Jesus as the high priest. Verse 26. For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, made higher than the heavens, who needeth not daily as those high priests to offer up sacrifice first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people, then for the peoples. For this he did once when he offered up himself. You see that Jesus had no need to take an offering for himself. When he went to the very real temple before the almighty in heaven, he did not take a sacrifice for himself. He only took a sacrifice for us.
[00:29:38] And that sacrifice was his own blood.
[00:29:43] That's why the resurrection is so important.
[00:29:47] How can one take their own blood except they rise from the dead?
[00:29:54] In the case of Aaron, the offering had to be made for himself. But it was not so with Christ. No offering was necessary for him. Indeed, he was offering.
[00:30:06] He was, if you can put it like this, he was the goat that was slain, the blood of which was offered. Look at chapter nine.
[00:30:16] Chapter nine.
[00:30:19] This will reaffirm what I just said, how the Jesus, the goat that died, whose blood was offered, represents the Lord Jesus. Verse twelve says this, neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood. He entered in once. Notice that once, one time a year. Remember that. Into the holy place. This is not the holy place made with hands here. This is a reference to the real thing in heaven, having obtained eternal redemption for us. Look at verse 24.
[00:30:56] For Christ is not entered into. The holy place is made with hands. What's that talking about? The holy place is made with hands. What's that?
[00:31:08] What's that?
[00:31:10] The tabernacle down here. Exactly.
[00:31:14] Which are the figures of the true, but into heaven itselF.
[00:31:19] Now to appear in the presence of God for us, you see that Jesus, after he rose, appeared in the real temple with his own blood.
[00:31:31] For he is not only the high priest, but also the sacrifice. That's amazing.
[00:31:39] And then they would take the scapegoat, which is the goat that was not killed, and the high priest would lay his hands, both of his hands, on the scapegoat, and he would confess all the sins of the children of IsRael. I don't know how long it took him, but it must have taken. The goat might have been full grown by the time they got done.
[00:31:58] He confessed all the sins of IsRael upon the head of the goat. And then the goat bearing those sins removed them literally. So the idea is the sins were on the goat, transferred from IsRAel to the goat. And the goat goes off into the wood. And now we know goats don't take away sin. I'm gonna show you that in just a minute. Goats can't take away sin. It was a picture.
[00:32:22] But that goat goes off into the wilderness. That man lets him go into the wilderness where nobody dwells. You know what goes with him?
[00:32:30] The sins of Israel have taken away, never to be seen again.
[00:32:36] Look at chapter nine, chapter ten, rather, verse number four.
[00:32:41] Chapter ten, verse four says this. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sin. So that goat took no sin away. It was just a symbol. Verse eleven.
[00:32:58] And every priest standeth daily ministering and offerings, oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sin.
[00:33:08] Notice the take away.
[00:33:12] But Jesus, when he went into that temple before God as the sacrifice and as the high priest, at the same time, because he rose from the dead, he took sin away.
[00:33:30] The lamb of God, which what taketh away, it wasn't just covered up.
[00:33:38] It was removed forever, once and for all.
[00:33:44] Once and for all. Look at chapter nine.
[00:33:48] As I said before, the high priest entered only once per year.
[00:33:53] And chapter nine, verse twelve tells us neither by the blood of goats and of calves, but by his own blood, he entered in once.
[00:34:03] Once.
[00:34:05] So this idea of a continual sacrifice, which is what is taught by roman catholic, roman catholic doctrine, is false. This sacrifice was once and done forever. It's not something that's repeated or symbolized or anything like that. It is over. It is over. It is finished.
[00:34:30] But we see, though the high priest. It is true the high priest was only allowed to enter once per year.
[00:34:38] But by contrast, the high priest must repeat this process every year.
[00:34:46] Now, as I said before, the fact that he has to repeat it every year means the sin is not taken away, actually taken away. It's still there.
[00:34:56] Look at chapter ten, verse one.
[00:35:00] Chapter ten, verse number one. The Bible says this for the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never, with those sacrifices which they offered year by year, continually make the comers thereunto perfect.
[00:35:16] You see that the sin is not taken away.
[00:35:19] Verse three. But in those sacrifices, there is a remembrance again made of sins every year.
[00:35:26] Verse eleven.
[00:35:29] We read verse eleven already. Verse twelve. But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God.
[00:35:39] See that? Verse 14. For by one offering, he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. So this. Listen, listen, please. This is not just God just kind of taking sin and covering it up so he can talk to us. No, no, no. This is God utterly and totally removing our sin from us. Now, here's the thing. You and I live in an experience where we understand that we still sin against God. But I want you to understand your position.
[00:36:05] When you have trusted in Christ, you are as if you have no sin. It has been fully removed, gone forever.
[00:36:18] And people were. If I sin, is God gonna send me to hell? You have totally misunderstood the doctrine. It is gone. That goat is not coming back.
[00:36:27] Not temporarily covered, but removed forever.
[00:36:31] Removed forever. This is the kind of. Listen. Our understanding of these truths, which is hopefully, you see it plainly from the text, are what give us that kind of rich, deep assurance. I'm gonna mess up as a believer, and God will correct me, but it will never affect my sins coming back to haunt me. They are totally forever removed, taken away like that goat. It's gone.
[00:37:09] Look at chapter ten, verse 14.
[00:37:12] Oh, I read verse 14. Look at verse 18.
[00:37:15] Notice what it says now, where remission of these of sins is. There is no more offering for sin. So if at any point the high priest and that goat could take away sin, so they were gone forever, like I'm describing, then there would be no need to have another sacrifice. But the fact that they did it every year showed that it wasn't doing that.
[00:37:37] Now, the final thing I want you to see is this. We already saw the restriction of who could enter into the most holy place. And when they could enter the most holy place because that's when they were approaching the place of God's presence. And the fact that God put so many restrictions on that, as I said prior, the fact that God put restrictions on that shows that that was not an open door.
[00:38:02] That was not, no one, nobody, not even the high priest himself, had access to God, to God's very presence.
[00:38:11] And this is why we say, and it's a biblical truth, that a person who is a sinner, who is in their sin, cannot go to heaven.
[00:38:23] They cannot go to that temple where God dwells, like we read here, that real temple, they can't go. They die. They cannot go there. You know why?
[00:38:33] The same reason the high priest can't just will. And one of the hebrew people can't just walk into the most holy place.
[00:38:39] Now that was on earth and dealt with just physical death.
[00:38:43] But God said, this is off limits. Why? Sin.
[00:38:49] Sin. This is why people that die without Christ, one of the reasons that they go to hell, there is no place for them in heaven. They are barred.
[00:38:59] They cannot go.
[00:39:03] That's why chapter nine, verse eight says this, the Holy Ghost, this signifying that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing, there it is, you see that there's no way to God. This is what this is saying. There's no way into God's presence.
[00:39:29] But after that, Christ's true atonement was made.
[00:39:35] Look at chapter ten.
[00:39:38] This is chapter ten is the crescendo. It is the climactic point.
[00:39:44] It is the climactic point of this whole argument and discussion about the day of atonement in chapter nine and chapter ten of Hebrews, it all culminates at this one point, because we know now that even though those Old Testament, the Old Testament day of atonement did not take away sin, it was repeated every year, highly restricted, and it was just a temporary covering, which is what the word actually means.
[00:40:08] Now we know now that Christ has provided the atonement once and for all, not in the temple made with hands, but before God himself, not with the blood of an animal, but with his own blood. As the high priest, fulfilling all of the requirements, he took his own blood.
[00:40:30] Listen, in our place for our sins.
[00:40:37] And so now we get to 19 and it says this, having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh.
[00:40:59] Notice that where the Lord says, we now have a way to go. Where to go into that very room where the high priest was only allowed to go once a year. We have open access now, the place where Jesus went. And this is not the temple on earth. This is a reference to the very presence of God in his temple in heaven. Here's what this is saying. Think about it. Because of what Christ has done, because he took sin away completely once and for all, we get to go where the high priest goes any time we choose.
[00:41:39] And this is not, listen, I know we think about when we say that, we often think about prayer, right? We can go to God and you know, and that. But this is not just prayer.
[00:41:49] This is personally, when this life is over, we're going to go to that holiest place of all. And you know why? Because we have access to. The sin has been totally removed.
[00:42:07] I know you mess up. I know you mess up. But if you had any sin at all in your account before God, you couldn't go up there, just like the high priest.
[00:42:15] The fact that you can go shows that all your sin is gone.
[00:42:21] So now we not only have access as a believer, we have access to go where the very high priest went himself.
[00:42:28] That is what you call privileged access to go up straight up to where God himself is. Without fear, without condemnation, without shame.
[00:42:43] I have a right to be here.
[00:42:48] That's amazing.
[00:42:50] No restriction like it was in the old testament. Our sins, because of what Christ did upon the cross, bearing our sins in our place, our sins have been permanently put away. We have been fully reconciled to God.
[00:43:07] There is no enmity. I know you think, man, I mess up so many times.
[00:43:12] Nevertheless, there is no enmity between you and God. And it has nothing to do with how well you perform or how obedient you are. It has to do with the gospel.
[00:43:23] And now that you are in Jesus, your sins have been taken away.
[00:43:29] We can go therefore directly into God's presence, just as our lord did after he rose from the dead.
[00:43:39] That's pretty amazing truth. All represented in the day of atonement. Let's pray.
