I. Introduction. 16:29-34
A. The time of the atonement offering.
1. The tenth day of the seventh month.
2. This is supposed to be the time Moses came down from Mt. Sinai the
second time with the renewed commandments.
B. The purpose of the atonement offering.
1. This is an annual cleansing of sin before the Lord.
2. The priesthood is to be cleansed.
3. The tabernacle and all the items used in the worship are to be
cleansed.
4. The people are to be cleansed.
5. This ought to show the people that all the other sacrifices offered
during the year do not cleanse from sin. They ought to be looking forward
to the yearly atonement offering. But as they offered the yearly atonement
offering, they ought to realize that that offering didn't
cleanse from sin either. This should point them to the complete cleansing
of the blood of Christ at Calvary.
C. There is to be no work done during the atonement days.
1. It would be work enough to realize the awfulness of sin and the
confession of that sin.
2. The atonement day is a sabbath day. Not a 7th day, but a holy day to
the Lord.
D. The administrator of the day of atonement.
1. Only the high priest.
2. He shall anoint (not appoint).
3. The one He consecrated. This is to be a perpetual thing. When
Aaron dies, his son will continue in his stead. Then Aaron's grandson will
continue in his sons stead.
II. Before any sacrifice is given.
A. V. 1 - After the death of Abihu and Nadab.
1. So everyone will know that God will continue with the Levi tribe.
2. So the Levites will know that God is still with them.
3. So the priest will be very careful about performing their services
before God. What happened to their brothers could happen to them.
B. V. 2 - The coming into the Holy Place.
1. There are three openings into the place of worship.
a. The gate - This is the opening into the court of the tabernacle.
b. The door - This is the opening into the Holy Place of the
Tabernacle.
c. The vail - This is the opening into the Most Holy Place. There
doesn't seem to be an opening in the vail for the priest to go through.
I believe he entered the Most Holy Place by going beside the vail,
between the vail and the wall of the tabernacle.
2. The High Priest couldn't come just any time, else he would die.
a. He could only come once a year, and that only with blood, and the
particular ceremonies God commanded.
b. Heb. 10:19,20 - Today we can have boldness to enter into the Holy
of Holiest through the blood of Jesus Christ.
c. Heb. 4:16 - Let us come boldly unto the throne of Grace.
3. V. 3-5 - Special preparation before coming into the Most Holy Place.
a. The sacrifices for the High Priest.
1) A young bullock for a sin offering.
2) A ram for a burnt offering.
b. The sacrifices for the tabernacle and the people.
1) Two kids of the goats, for a sin offering.
2) A ram for a burnt offering.
c. V. 4 - Put off his clothing of daily administering, and put on the
linen clothing.
1) Didn't wear the ephod with the twelve stones representing
Israel, but put that off. The atonement not only "rolled
forward" the sins of Israel, but the sins of the whole world.
2) Wore linen - The righteousness of the saints, Rev. 19:8. A sign
of humiliation because of sin.
4. All of these things must be done and set in order before
going into the remainder of the work of the atonement.
C. Verse 16-20 - Presenting the sacrifices.
1. Verse 6 - Aaron shall bring his sin offering and his burnt offering
before the Lord.
2. Verse 7 - Aaron shall bring the sin offering and the burnt offering
of the people before the Lord.
3. Verse 8 - A determination by lot is made concerning the goats (one
for a blood sin offering and one for a scapegoat).
4. There is no death of the animals at this point. The shedding of
blood starts in v. 11.
III. The procedure of the offerings.
A. Verse 11-14 - The blood sin offering of the High Priest and his
household.
1. The first thing is to make an atonement for himself. A person cannot
be a help to anybody else until first he is cleansed. This shows that even
the priesthood is defiled because of sin. Even though they work everyday
with the blood sacrifices and are closest to the things of God, they still
are sinners and must be cleansed by the blood of Christ.
2. Censer full of burning coals.
a. Burning coals do not smoke - the smoke of the coals and the smoke
of the incense do not mix.
b. The burning coals come from the altar before the Lord. This is not
strange fire as Nadab and Abihu presented before the Lord.
3. Verse 12 - Hands full of sweet incense beaten small.
a. incense represents the prayers of the saints.
b. hands full represents an abundance of prayers.
c. sweet represents the sweetness of our prayers before God. These
are not prayers of us complaining about our situation.
d. beaten small represents the constant attention to praying, not
just praying every now and then.
4. He goes into the Most Holy Place with these three things:
a. blood.
b. burning coals.
c. sweet incense.
5. When he gets inside the Most Holy Place, the first thing he does is
put the incense on the burning coals. A smoke is produced that hides him
from the sight of God and God from his sight.
a. If God would look upon him, He would immediately kill him.
b. If the High Priest would look upon God, he would immediately die.
c. Our prayers are a protection to us.
6. Next, he sprinkles the blood of the sin offering on the mercy seat
seven times, and on the ground before the mercy seat seven times. The word
"eastward" means on the east side. The mercy seat was placed on
the back wall of the tabernacle. He didn't get on the west side of the
mercy seat and sprinkle toward the east.
B. Verse 15-19 - The sin offering of the place of worship and the people.
1. The High Priest now comes out of the Most Holy Place and kills the
sin offering of the people before the door of the tabernacle.
2. We can understand why the people must have a sin offering, but why
must the place of worship be cleansed?
a. It is in the center of a sinful people. (All of Israel dwell
around the tabernacle.)
b. This is a type of heavenly tabernacle. The earthly type is always
sinful, though the heavenly is without sin.
c. The daily procedure of giving sacrifice and forgiveness of sin is
naturally polluted because of sin. At the very best we can do, we still
have sin. Even our worship is filled with sin.
3. V. 18,19 - The blood of the bullock and the kid of the goats is
mingled and sprinkled on the altar (brazen altar) and the horns of the
altar. This is a "pulling together" of all the sins "left
over". This shows the imperfection of worship and the sin offering of
that day.
C. Verse 20-24 - The "Scapegoat".
1. When the two offerings for sin have been offered and the people
cleansed and the place of worship cleansed, then the scapegoat shall be
brought.
2. V. 21 - lay hands on the head of the goat and confess the sins of
the people. (This doesn't mean that all the sins of the people are
mentioned. It means that the sinfulness of the people is
confessed.)
3. This is a type of removing the sins of the people and removing them
to a place where they will not ever return. (When Christ forgives our
sins, He removes them as far as the east is from the west. The Bible
doesn't say as far as the north is from the south. We can reach the north
pole and the south pole, but there isn't an east or west pole. Therefore,
when Christ removes our sins, He puts them in a place where they will
never be reached.)
4. A fit man removes the sin laden goat.
a. Christ is that fit man. Rev. 5:1-8.
b. Christ is pictured in a dual role.
1) That of the sin bearer.
2) That of the one who removes sin from our presence.
5. V. 22 - The scapegoat is taken to an uninhabited place. Our sins are
not transferred to another people, but are put in a place where they are
remembered no more!
6. V. 23 - The putting off of the linen clothes (humility caused by
sinfulness). Now, and only now, can there be a continuation of worship.
D. Verse 24-28 - The burnt offering of the High Priest and the people.
1. The burnt offering is a picture of Christ dying for our sinfulness.
2. There can be no accepted picture of Christ dying until our sins have
been forgiven.
E. Other people connected with the scapegoat.
1. The fit man who loses the scapegoat.
a. The fit man represents Christ who loses our sins.
b. V. 26 - After the fit man washes his clothes and flesh, he comes
back into the camp. This is a picture of Christ who returned to the
church after he was raised from the dead, having loosed us from the
pangs of our sins.
2. Verse 27 - The one who carries the sin offering and the burnt
offering out of the camp.
a. This is another picture of Christ who suffered outside the camp.
b. After his clothes and flesh are washed, he returns to camp. The
picture of Christ who returned after His resurrection.
F. V. 27 - The total destruction of the sin offering, the burnt offering.
Christ was completely destroyed because of our sin, yet He still lives!