Pastor Muri's message from Sunday (part 3)

And he would press his hands firmly on the head of that goat. And he would confess all the sins of the nation of Israel. That must have taken a little time. But he would press his hands and by so doing he would say, “This lamb represents the people. I, as the mediator and the representative of this people, am standing in representation of the entire nation. I’m confessing the sins of the entire nation on this goat.” And then someone, probably a Levite, who was ready and at hand, would lead that goat out into the wilderness and would let it go somewhere far away, where it wouldn’t find its way back. And that would symbolize to the people the carrying away of their sins. And when all of that was done, there would be the offerings of dedication and what not that would wrap up the ceremony for the day.

But as the nation watched, as the people of Israel watched, there were several things that just became impressed on their minds. And maybe they’ve been impressed on your minds as I’ve just recounted in brief some of the details of this event. What are some of the things that come to mind to you as you review this significant, most significant of all religious festivals in the calendar year of Israel?

One of those would be that God must be approached on His own terms. God told them exactly how, where, when, who, with what, in what order and how it was all to be accomplished. In fact He even chose, He made the distinction between the two sacrifices. He said, “I’ll take this one and I’ll not take this one. And this is how it’s going to work.” God has to be approached in His own terms.

But, number two, probably the thought has struck you, as it would have struck the Old Testament Israelites as they watched this whole event: “Wow! There is an access to God, but it is extremely limited.” The people were kept outside of the Temple area itself. The people were restricted by the fence. Only one man was allowed to enter into the presence of God. And do you know what? He couldn’t stay there. He didn’t just say, “Well, you know what? This is great. I like it in here. This is where I belong.” And just camp out there. He did his work. He sprinkled with his finger the blood before the altar seven times. And then he with bated breath, realizing that every second he was in there was the potential for him to be struck down because God was not pleased with the sacrifice that he brought, he hightailed it out of there. God was approachable, but the access and the way to God was extremely limited. One day per year. One man of the entire nation. For just a moment of time.

Another things that might have been impressed on you as it would have been impressed on them that day is that the atonees -- the people whose sin was being atoned that day -- they did nothing. They stood out there. If they did anything, it was to hold their breath and wonder, “Is God going to accept this sin offering on behalf of us?” They did nothing. The high priest, who was the mediator for the entire nation, did it all. God appointed one person. In fact, even the priests were not allowed in this tabernacle that day. They were not in the inner court. They were not there. They were outside with all the rest of the people. And the high priest acted solo. One man doing the work of atonement, designated by God for that purpose. The atonees did nothing. It was all done through a mediator.

Fourthly, you might have noticed that the central feature, the thing that was capturing everyone’s attention, the distinguishing element of this celebration, of this ritual, that you couldn’t miss was the blood of atonement. There was an animal. In the case of the nation of Israel, it was a goat. And it was led up by the brazen altar by the priest. And then he would take the knife and he would slit the throat. And the blood would spurt out of that living animal into a basin until that animal would collapse on the ground. And finally it would stop twitching and moving and it would be a dead goat. And the blood would be captured in a basin. [end of track 5, 4:59] And that blood then was taken into the presence of God. You didn’t go into the presence of God without blood. And there’s a principle that was established by God way back at the first sin. The principle is this: without the shedding of blood there is no remission. There is no taking away sin without blood. And God made provision. In Leviticus 17 and verse 11, He made this very distilling theological statement when He commanded the children of Israel that they were never to eat the blood of animals. Meat you can eat, but blood you must not. Why? Because ...

The life of the flesh is in the blood, and [He says] I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls,

Because the life is in the blood. So the blood represented life. And the principle was a principle of substitution. Life for life. And so the blood was extremely important in this situation.

But, number 5, the whole thing was a picture. The whole thing was a shadow, the writer of Hebrews calls it. The whole thing was an image. A model car may have all the features, it may have all the visual features of the real thing. But if you said to me, “Craig, I dream of taking a vacation out West. I dream of driving out West and just camping out in the Rocky Mountains next to a crystal clear glacial lake and fishing trout. I dream of just walking on the summit of this mountain range and just taking in the vistas from this sublime view.”

And I say to you, I take the model car off my shelf and I say, “Go for it!”

I would mock you. I can’t say, “Well, here’s a brand new car. Here’s keys for my Lexus. Take it.” But if I gave you a model car and said, “Go for it; fulfill your dreams,” I would mock you.

God was not mocking Old Testament Israel, but God was giving Old Testament Israel a picture of what it was going to take to have their sins fully removed. But they weren’t by means of the blood. The ritual of the Day of Atonement represented the taking away of Israel’s sin. The blood of the sin offering provided a covering. God in His grace provided a means by which the sins of the people were removed from the gaze of a holy, righteous God.

But the blood of those bulls and goats had no efficacy, had no efficiency to take away the sins of those people. It had no efficacy to do anything as far as removal or restoration or forgiveness of any of those kinds of things. All of that came as a result of the pure mercy of God, given in advance of the one sacrifice that was going to be one day effective.

Do you think that Israel walked away, pressed against that fence around the court of the Tabernacle that day, watching the events of the Day of Atonement, and when it was all over, do you think they turned and walked back to their tents saying, “Yes! The blood worked. Yes! That goat did it for us.” Well, there were probably some that thought that. But the writer of Hebrews makes it very clear to us that the blood of bulls and goats can never take away sin. They never did. They cannot. And they never will.

But the blood of Jesus Christ is effective to take away all of those sins.

One more thing that you need to note as we think through the events of the Day of Atonement. [end of track 6, 4:58] And that is that never at any time in all of the year upon year upon year upon year, generation coming, generation going, one generation coming, another generation succeeding, in all of the years in which sacrifices were done on the Day of Atonement, no priest ever said, when the Day’s events were completed, no high priest ever said, “It is finished.” Nobody in Israel ever walked away from the Day of Atonement ritual and said, “Yes, it’s done! I’m forgiven forever. My conscience is fully purged. I will never again have to answer for these sins.” They just didn’t because they just weren’t because it didn’t happen because the blood of bulls and goats could not possibly do it. [track 7, 0:54]