The Sanctuary Pt. 26

2002 Jan -- XXXV -- 1(02) -- "Let Them Make Me A Sanctuary"
The Day of Atonement --
The day of Atonement is listed among the "feasts of the Lord" in Leviticus 23.
Today, in Judaism, this Feast is the most important day of their yearly religious rites; yet in the Old Testament, there is no record of any celebration of this feast.
In the Gospels there is no mention of Christ ever attending this feast as He did the Passover. This we can understand; Jesus needed no cleansing since He did no sin. There is an allusion to the day in Acts 27:9. "The day" in Hebrews 10:25 could refer to the Day of Atonement.
The preface to the listing of the "feasts" in Leviticus 23 notes the Sabbath commandment as a "holy convocation" even as the "feasts" were to be so proclaimed (verses 2-3).
There is a reason. Concerning the Sabbath, the commandment specifies - "ye shall do no work therein: it is a sabbath of rest in all your dwellings" (ver. 3).
All the other feasts - the Passover, Pentecost, the Memorial of the Trumpets and the Tabernacles, the command was simply - "Ye shall do no servile work therein" (verses 8, 21, 25, 35).
However, the command concerning the Day of Atonement carried the same injunction as the Sabbath - "Ye shall do no manner of work" (ver. 31).
The significance of the Sabbath rest would likewise be the significance of the rest for the Day of Atonement.
In Hebrews (4:10) speaking of the Sabbath in connection with the "rest" of God promised in Christ Jesus (Matt. 11:28-30),
Heb. {4:10} For he that is entered intohis rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God[did] from his.
Matt. {11:28} Come unto me, all [ye] that labour and are heavyladen, and I will give you rest. {11:29} Take my yoke uponyou, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: andye shall find rest unto your souls. {11:30} For my yoke [is]easy, and my burden is light.
...it reads that one who enters into that rest "hath ceased from his own works." Likewise, the one who receives the final atonement must cease from his own works, and rely solely on the High Priest. If not, he will be destroyed "from among his people" (Lev. 23:30).
Lev. {23:30} And whatsoever soul [it be] that doethany work in that same day, the same soul will I destroyfrom among his people.
There is another interesting aspect to the Day of Atonement not indicated in the KJV.
The text reads: On the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonements (plural in the Hebrew): it shall be a holy convocation unto you; ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord. And ye shall do no work in that same day: for it is the day of atonements (plural in the Hebrew), to make atonement for you before the Lord your God. (Lev. 23:27-28).
Why the plural? There are two possibilities.
In the outline of the services to be performed on the tenth day of the seventh month, there is enumerated a series of atonements to be accomplished by the High Priest (Lev. 16:32-33), thus it was literally a "days of atonements."
The other possibility is that it is the use of the pluralis majestaticus v. excellentiae (majestic plural) as is ascribed to the word, Elohim, the plural form for God in the Hebrew. If it is this later possibility, the use elevates this day above all the other ceremonial feast days.
The services to be performed by the High Priest alone on that day are outlined in Leviticus 16. There are some details of a typical nature that need to be carefully considered not only for "learning" but also for some "unlearning." [It needs to be kept in mind that the term, "holy" coupled with the supplied word, "place" in this chapter refers to what we often call the "Most Holy Place," or the inner apartment of the sanctuary. The phrase, "tabernacle of the congregation" (v.17) is used to designate the first apartment, which we often refer to as, "The Holy Place."]
The instruction given to Moses for Aaron begins with a specific warning.
He was not to come into the Most Holy Place except on one day of each year the Day of Atonement (v.2).
He was told what to bring: "a young bullock as a sin offering, and ram for a burnt offering" (v.3).
The first thing which must be decided is the question - Is this offering to be considered typical, or was it just a part of the ceremonial procedure?
In other words, did Aaron function on the Day of Atonement in his High Priestly capacity as a type of the ministry of the great High Priest of the "true tabernacle which the Lord pitched"?
If Aaron so functioned, then there is significance in the fact that he provided the "young bullock" which he offered. Since the great High Priest must Himself "have somewhat also to offer" (Heb. 8:3), He presents Himself as the Mediator of His own blood.
In the typical services of this day, the blood of the young bullock is carried into the Most Holy Place prior to the blood of "the Lord's goat" (16:14).
Further, when the last act of atonement was made on the Day, the blood of the bullock, and the blood of the Lord's goat were mingled to accomplish the final cleansing (v.18).
This is saying something.
The accomplishment of the last act of the atonement is by the power of both Him that sits between the cherubim, and He who ministers as the Divine Intercessor.
This typical message dare not be overlooked. It will appear again as we continue our study.
Two other factors need to be observed in regard to Aaron's offering.
In both his corporate capacity, should he lead the congregation into sin, and now in his functioning on the day of Atonement, a "young" bullock was involved (Lev. 4:3; 16:3). In the reality of the offering provided for both forgiveness and for cleansing, it was made by One who "was cut off out of the land of the living" (Isa. 53:8). He gave Himself in the prime of His earthly experience.
In Leviticus 16, the offering of Aaron is defined as "for himself, and for his house" (v.6). Is this to be considered as "for himself" as a sinner, or is it typical of the fact that the great Antitype gave Himself for us, as just noted above? No hands of confession were laid on this bullock by Aaron, even though designated as a "sin offering." It was a sin offering "for his house." Was this for his own family? It does say in a summary of the "atonements", that one was an "atonement for the priests" (v. 33).
It needs to be kept in mind that the take off point in the book of Hebrews for the discussion of the high priestly ministry of Jesus Christ was His being "a son over his own house."
Hebrews 1 presents Christ as God, worthy of worship, and as a Son through whom God has spoken.
Hebrews 2, presents Him as a man of "the seed of Abraham, ... made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest."
Then Chapter 3 asks us as "partakers of the heavenly calling" to "consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession."
The first thing Paul presents is a comparison between two "houses" - the house of Moses, and the house of Christ.
It also needs to be remembered that Aaron was to be only a spokesman to Moses (Ex. 4:16). It was Moses who erected and anointed the tabernacle of the congregation, as well as dedicating Aaron to the priesthood (Exodus 40). Aaron served as Moses' "alter ego" with whom God had made the "typical" covenant (Ex. 34:27).
Returning to the services performed on the Day of Atonement, we note that besides the "young bullock," there were to be two goats provided by the congregation, both of which were to be for "a sin offering" (v. 5). Lots were to be cast over these goats, and one was to be the Lord's goat and the other for Azazel (v. 8; margin). Both goats in the type would bear the consequences of sin, one vicariously, the other as the recipient of the due judgment on sin.
On the Day of Atonement, the High Priest went three times into the Most Holy Place:1) With a golden censer "full of live coals of fire from off the altar before the Lord, and his hands full of sweet incense" (v.12).2) With the blood of the bullock which was spinkled once upon the mercy seat, and seven times before it. (v.14).3) With the blood of the Lord's goat which was ministered the same as the blood of the bullock. (v.15).
Inasmuch as the live coals were taken from the Altar of Burnt Offering, and each of the two sacrifices were made at the same altar, the High Priest on the Day of Atonement moved three times from the Altar in the Court into the Most Holy Place, and then returned to the same Altar to complete the Atonement.
In type, the High Priest did not go into the Most Holy Place and remain there the entire day.
Here is one facet of the typical services on the Day of Atonement where there is needed, not only "learning" but also much "unlearning," so that the presentation of the Antitypical Day of Atonement will coincide with the type.
The ministration of the blood in the Most Holy Place is twofold:
1) "Because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel" and 2) "Because of their transgressions in all their sins" (v.16).
Here is the record of all sins, yet no blood was ever brought into the Most Holy Place, whether for corporate or individual sins via the sin offerings prescribed. At this point, in type, the record was cleansed; but "the uncleanness" was not cleansed until the final ministration at the Altar in theCourt, when the blood of the bullock and the blood of the Lord's goat were mingled for that objective (vs. 18-19).
The passing from the Most Holy to the Alter of Incense in the Holy Place is only briefly noted (v. 16b). The instruction as what was to be done is given inExodus 30:10.
Atonement was "to be made upon the horns of it once in a year with the blood of the sin offering of atonements."
On it only was placed the record of confessed corporate guilt. Is the brevity of the instruction concerning the ministration in the Holy Place indicative of how hard it is for religious leaders to acknowledge their transgression in leading God's people into apostasy, or for corporate groups to confess their guilt as a body, and thus so little repentance, if any, is recorded.
The final cleansing at the Altar in the Court needs careful study.
While the ministry in the Most Holy cleared the record of sin, the atonement at the Altar reached to "the uncleanness of the children of Israel" (v.19).
Unless the source of sin is cleansed, the acts of sin will not cease.
The combined blood was placed on the horns of the Altar where the record of acknowledgment and confession had been placed (Lev. 4:30).
It covered over the blood which had been placed there during the year. The antitype is summarized concisely by John when he wrote, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (I John 1:9).
Here is the whole yearly typical service regarding sin in one sentence, and the one single act, we do in that full redemption, confess ourselves to be what we are, and from which we cannot deliver ourselves.
Let us review so as to see the overall picture.
Let us retrace the steps placing ourselves in the typical yearly services.
We sin, and becoming conscious of our guilt, we bring the specified offering.
On it we place our hands in full weight, confessing our sin.
We then slay the victim.
The officiating priest takes of the blood, and by it, places the record of confession on the horns of the Altar.
In his priestly ministration, the priest makes the atonement for us, and we are forgiven.
The Day of Atonements comes.
The record of sin is to be confronted, and carried away. We are to be cleansed.
What can we do?
Afflict our souls, and cease to trust in any of our works.
Again it is a priest that ministers; however, on this day, it is the High Priest, and he alone.
He ministers with the blood from victims on which no hands of confession are laid.
For the final phase, part of the blood of cleansing, he himself has provided; the other part is blood from a goat that has become by lot the Lord's.
We come in the words of the hymn, "nothing in our hands to bring" but simply to the Cross to cling.
"And when (the High Priest hath made an end of reconciling the (most) holy place, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat" (Lev. 16:21).
This live goat, by lot belonged to Azazel, as much as the sacrificed goat belonged to the Lord. (ver. 8, margin).
While the two goats were taken for "a sin offering" (v.5), only the Lord's goat was so sacrificed.
With the live goat, "an atonement" was to be made with him, but not a blood atonement (v. 10).
After "an end" of reconciliation was made with the mingled blood, then the goat for Azazel was brought into the typical ceremony.
The High Priest was to place both of his hands on the head of the live goat, and "confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgression in all their sins" (v.21).
It should be observed that the High Priest bore the sins of Israel, but not their uncleanness (Heb. 7:26).
The sins were transferred to the goat for Azazel, but only the sins of Israel, not the rest of the world.
No blood atonement was made by this scapegoat, only a judgment because of those sins.
The great antitypical High Priest who in "His own self (bore) our sins in His own body on the tree" (I Peter 2:24), has every right to take what He paid for, and assign the accounting to the source of that which cost Him so much.
To "Learn" and to "Unlearn" --
1) We observed in our study, that both the sanctuary built under the direction of Moses according to the "pattern" given by God in communion with him on Mt. Sinai, and the "true tabernacle which the Lord pitched," were of temporary duration.
2) The "true tabernacle" which the Lord pitched" and in which He ministered was "pitched" in heaven, and was not heaven itself.
3) The sin offerings were not to record sin, or to transfer it to the sanctuary, but were confessional of sins already committed, and the record of that confession.
4) There was an atonement in connection with the daily sin offerings which resulted in forgiveness.
5) The high priest on the Day of Atonements functioned in all his duties as a type of the high priestly ministry of Jesus Christ. This included his offering of the bullock for himself and his house.
6) On the Day of Atonements, the High Priest went three times in and out of the Most Holy Place. He did not remain in the Most Holy all day, in fact the last act of the Atonement was completed in the Court at the Altar of Burnt Offering.
A Connecting Link --
On the Day of Atonements, special holy garments were designated for the High Priest to wear. He was to be clothed in linen from his head mitre to his ankles. (Lev. 16:4). Careful observation of this fact, links other Scriptures into the study of the Day of Atonements and God's design in its realization.
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Were going to pause here for now.
We want to know what the anti-type is prefiguring don't we? We want to know where we are in the world today with God's plan for us to obtain eternal life. We look to the signs as we're told to- to watch. We pray like we are told to do. We watch and pray and we seek to understand the signs that are given to us. Here in the Sanctuary study we are shown so much and yet this study is so often overlooked by many. Seriously, ask a number of people on the street what they know about the Sanctuary service in connection with Christ's return and you'll most likely receive that empty stare for a moment and then hear the words, 'Uhm, nothing.' The ask them what they know about the connection of the return of Christ and the seven last plagues and their eyes will light up and they'll happily tell you- oh that happens right before He comes. Mention the word Armageddon and you'll get the same thing- that's the war between good and evil before Christ returns.
No, I'm not saying *everyone* knows all that by far but we've had movies and more movies on the fantastic horror of those seven last plagues. We've had movies where they come and are stopped short by a human, we have where they come and supernaturally humans work their own brand of movie magic and they stop them. We have them were they come and then there is a post-apocalyptic life people lead and Christ didn't return for one reason or another. There as a lot of movies out there that fill peoples heads with falsehoods and most people will even say- that's just a movie- admitting that isn't the true way. However people don't often bother about the true way of things. Then when they do there are hundreds if not thousands of different interpretations of the end of days.
My sisters and I started up a website called 'Who's To Say We're Right?' (http://sites.google.com/site/whostosaywereright2/Home)
There are so many ideas out there it's easier to say 'who's to say we're right' rather than claim we're the right ones with the right message. We'd much rather have people reading, learning and then making that decision on their own based on their own study of the Bible. God is right, and we are seeking His truths.
This study of the Sanctuary is based on the fact God gave the Sanctuary and it's Services to His people for a reason. When we correlate the study of the typified services to what our High Priest- Jesus Christ is doing for us it is truly an eye opener for those wanting to know what's going on in connection with Jesus' return.
Some might scoff at all this and that's their prerogative. Some might say that this whole *theory* is based on face saving for the Adventists way back when. I say, study the word of God for yourself and let the Holy Spirit guide you to understanding then say what you will.
I want to know what the Lord is doing.
Others want to know.
We are going to continue this study still and it is my prayer that God enlighten us all, by the mercy and grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Amen.