04.07. THE DAY OF ATONEMENT
THE DAY OF ATONEMENT Leviticus 16:1-34.
Leviticus 16:1-2. Although Jehovah appeared in glory upon the mercy-seat or propitiatory, His throne of grace, yet He was not to be approached without reverence, and it was to be in a way of His own prescribing; He would be sanctified in them that came nigh unto Him, and before all people He would be glorified, as He had reminded the children of Israel in the case of Nadab and Abihu (Leviticus 10:1-3).
Leviticus 16:3 . The YOUNG BULLOCK for a sin-offering was a type of; Christ the perfect SERVANT in every detail of His life, who became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, as the sin-atoning sacrifice. The RAM for a burnt or ascending offering reminds us of Jesus Christ the faithful and true witness, on whose testimony God set His seal by raising Him again from the dead.
Leviticus 16:4. The HOLY LINEN GARMENTS typical of the pure and sinless humanity of the Lord Jesus, who was in all respects holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. The LINEN GIRDLE as faithful in all things as Son of Man; and attired with the LINEN MITRE as subject throughout His life to the will of His heavenly Father.
Aaron BATHING his flesh in water before he put on the linen clothing rendered him a fit representative of the eternal Son of God, who was essentially pure and holy before He assumed humanity.
Leviticus 16:5. The TWO KIDS of the GOATS for a sin-offering, and ONE RAM for a burnt or ascending offering, were to be taken of the congregation of the children of Israel, and were presented on behalf of that people as testifying Israel’s participation in the atonement.
Leviticus 16:6. But Jesus not only died for that nation, but that He might gather together in one the children of God which are scattered abroad (John 11:51-52). Jesus was the propitiation for the whole world, for “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son” as the sinner’s Substitute provided in the infinite mercy of God, on whom God laid the iniquity of us all. It was in this sense He made atonement for Himself, though in His OWN PERSON perfectly SINLESS and pure, without a blemish and without a spot (Hebrews 7:26-27).
“Christ also loved the CHURCH, and gave Himself for it” (Ephesians 5:25), “as a Son over His own house; whose house are we” (Hebrews 3:6), including all who, as members of His body, are in living union with Him who is the Head of the body the Church, through the one Spirit uniting all in one.
Hence, in Leviticus 23:27-28, this day is twice spoken of in the Hebrew as the day of ATONEMENTS in the plural, because there is a threefold provision made for the world, for the Church, and for the children of Israel.
Leviticus 16:7-10. In the TWO GOATS for a sin-offering we have a twofold representation of the Lord Jesus; first as putting away sin, and especially the sin OF Israel, by the sacrifice of Himself. Secondly, as removing sin FROM Israel in the latter day, in fulfillment of the word of the prophet Jeremiah (chap. 1. 20), “The INIQUITY OF ISRAEL shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the SINS OF JUDAH, and they shall not be found: for I will pardon them whom I reserve.” “And so ALL ISRAEL shall be saved: as it is written, there shall come out of Zion the DELIVERER, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: for this is My covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins” (Romans 11:26-27).
Leviticus 16:11. Aaron was to kill the bullock for the sin-offering which was for HIMSELF, and for his HOUSE, as a type of the Lord Jesus who, through the eternal Spirit, offered HIMSELF without spot to God, as He said,” I lay down My life, . . . No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again” (John 10:17-18).
Leviticus 16:12-13. It is to be noticed that in Hebrews 9:4, where the vessels of the sanctuary are particularized, no mention is made of the golden altar which stood opposite the ark in the holy place, but without the vail, though the golden censer in the Holiest is spoken of. It was this CENSER Aaron was to fill with the fire which was taken from off the altar of burnt offering. The FIRE of the altar is a type of the HOLINESS and JUSTICE of God, whereas the sin of Nadab and Abihu was that they took strange or ordinary fire typical of fleshly excitement, instead of fire from the altar, and hence they died before Jehovah. The SWEET INCENSE beaten small is described in Exodus 30:34-38, composed of STACTE or freely- flowing myrrh, emblem of grace; the root of the word signifying LION, the emblem of STEADFASTNESS; GALBANUM or FAT, the type of the inward PURITY of Christ; and the FRANKINCENSE, the root of which means WHITE, the type of PURITY, together the emblem of the excellency of the Son of Man in His character and life on earth, which subjected to the holiness of God was found of sweet savour, the beloved Son in whom the Father delighted, for Jesus when He ascended to His Father and our Father appeared before Him in all the preciousness of His human life, before He pleaded the blood of the atonement. As the CLOUD OF FIRE INCENSE covered the MERCY-SEAT or propitiatory, which was upon the ark of the testimony, so the preciousness of Christ in every minute particular, tested by the holiness of God, met all the requirements of divine glory. So that the Lord Jesus entered on His heavenly priesthood in all the power of an endless life.
Leviticus 16:14. Aaron sprinkled of the BLOOD of the BULLOCK with his finger upon the face of the MERCY-SEAT EASTWARD, thus putting the blood of atonement upon the propitiatory in a line with the eye of Him who dwelt between the cherubim and the worshipper in his approach, for the forefront of the Tabernacle was toward the east; the crimson blood thus covering the scarlet sins of him who approached, according to Isaiah 1:18, “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” The scarlet geranium looked at through the crimson glass of a conservatory door in strong sunlight, appearing white, gives a forcible illustration of this. One drop of the precious blood of Jesus beneath the eye of a gracious and holy God is sufficient to cover all sin; but the worshipper in drawing nigh to God, conscious of the enormity of his sin, needs the blood to be presented SEVEN TIMES in order to give him boldness of access.
Leviticus 16:15. Aaron entered the Holiest in the sweet savour of the incense, and sprinkled the blood of the bullock for himself and for his house; so Christ entered once for all into the Holiest, having obtained eternal redemption both for Himself as Sin-bearer, and for the Church, and He is now appearing in the presence of God for us who now believe in His name. Hence, in His prayer in John 17:1-26 : He distinctly says, “I pray not for the world, but for them which Thou hast given Me . . . and those who shall believe in Me through their word” ‘(John 17:9-20). In this prayer He makes no mention of Israel whatever, but Jesus died for the nation of Israel also, and the time will come when He will plead the same precious blood for the people of Israel. This is symbolized by the blood of the GOAT which was for the people, which was sprinkled on and before the mercy-seat in the same manner as was the blood of the bullock. This looks forward to ISRAEL in the latter day, and then all Israel will be saved, in fulfillment of God’s covenant with them. There is no mention again of the incense because the sweet savour in which he first entered still remained. The atoning work is one, but there are two aspects of that atonement, for the Church now, and for Israel in due time.
Leviticus 16:16-17. The blood of the New Covenant not only made atonement for the sin of the people of Israel, but also for their TRANSGRESSIONS in connection with the service and WORSHIP OF GOD, in the tabernacle, in the wilderness, and the temple in the land; so that when the MOUNTAIN of JEHOVAH’S HOUSE shall be established in the top of the mountains, and all nations shall flow unto it (Isaiah 2:2-3), the temple rebuilt, and the altar and sacrifices reinstituted according to Ezekiel’s prophecy, the glory of Jehovah will fill the temple, which will be the house of prayer for all nations, and the sacrifices as a memorial of the once offered sacrifice of Christ will be accepted on behalf of Israel, and on behalf of all who come up to worship with them (see Isaiah 56:6-7). And as there was no ONE in the TENT of the congregation whilst Aaron went in until he had completed the work, so in the work of atonement the Lord Jesus stands perfectly alone, and to Him be all the glory.
Leviticus 16:18-19 . It is a fact little apprehended but amply attested in the Word of God, that when Israel are restored again to their land in the LATTER DAY, their holy CITY and the TEMPLE rebuilt, then the ALTAR of Jehovah and its memorial sacrifices, with certain important alterations, will be reinstituted according to Ezekiel 43:13-27, and after its dedication with the BLOOD of the GOAT and of the BULLOCK, strikingly coinciding with the portion in Leviticus under consideration; then God says,
“Upon the eighth day and forward, the priests shall make your ascending offerings upon the altar, and your peace offerings; and I will accept you, saith Adonahy Jehovah.”
Leviticus 16:20-22. The word translated SCAPEGOAT is ill the Hebrew composed of two words, the one signifying “goat,” the other “departure,” that is the goat that is sent away. On the HEAD of this goat Aaron was to LAY BOTH his HANDS “and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins,” and “send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness,” or land of separation. The best interpretation of this type, so far superior to man’s perversion of it, will, I believe, be found in Jeremiah 50:20, “In those days, and in that time, saith Jehovah, The iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will pardon them whom I reserve.” And as the Psalmist says (Psalms 103:12), “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us.” And according to the New Covenant Jehovah says, “I will forgive their from us.” And according to the New Covenant Jehovah says, “I will forgive their sin”.
Leviticus 16:23-25. In the expression “holy place,” where the word “place” is printed in italics, it signifies the SANCTUARY; but when the word “place” is printed in Roman characters the COURT of the Tabernacle is intended. Aaron went into the SANCTUARY and there left the HOLY LINEN GARMENTS which he had put on at the commencement. And after he had bathed his flesh in water he put on other garments, in which he appeared, and then prepared his ASCENDING OFFERING, and the ascending offering for the people. And the FAT of the SIN OFFERING he burnt as incense upon the altar. In this we have a foreshadowing of the Lord Jesus on the day of His resurrection, when He appeared in another form to two of His disciples on the way to Emmaus (Mark 16:12), and afterwards in the upper room where the disciples were assembled. It was the same body, but in another condition to that in which He had formerly appeared. Previously it was a natural or soullish body, but now it was a spiritual body (see 1 Corinthians 15:42-46); for Him to eat of the portion of the broiled fish and honeycomb previously would have been a natural act, but now it was supernatural, an action performed by spiritual power. The BATHING of the flesh in water was typical of His death, burial, and resurrection; but the ASCENDING OFFERING represents Him as going back to the Father, entering the holiest of all, and there making atonement both for Himself and for Israel, in all the SWEET SAVOUR of His internal PERFECTNESS whilst suffering for sin, as signified by the FAT of the SIN OFFERING burnt as incense.
Leviticus 16:26-28. He that SENT AWAY the SCAPEGOAT, and he that BURNT the bodies of the SIN OFFERING were to WASH THEIR CLOTHES and BATHE their FLESH; not till then could they come into the camp, showing that contact with that which bears sin rendered them ceremonially defiled, and this defilement needed to be put away. “For the bodies of THOSE beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp. Wherefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered without the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach”(Hebrews 13:11-13).
Leviticus 16:29-31. The apprehension of the full atonement, which is in Christ Jesus, leads to the deepest humiliation, repentance, and sorrow for sin, together with the entire renunciation of all human effort for salvation. This looks forward prophetically to that day when God “will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication: and they shall look upon Me whom they pierced, and they shall mourn for Him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for Him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness” (Zechariah 12:10; Zechariah 13:1).
Leviticus 16:32-34. The return of every fresh year brought to Israel a fresh remembrance of their sins, for it was not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins (Hebrews 10:3-4). The high priesthood could not be continuous by reason of death, but the High Priest of our profession when He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God, having obtained eternal redemption for all who believe in Him, whether Jew or Gentile; and because He continueth ever hath an unchangeable priesthood, a high priest forever after the order of Melchisedec. “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 9:28).