OPEN: A black Methodist preacher, was sent to a formerly all white church in Cincinnati, Ohio. His daughter, Leontine Kelly remembered it was the most magnificent church she had ever seen.
• It was a Gothic structure with beautiful polished wood.
• It had a beautiful crystal chandelier.
• Presidents had worshipped there and a President had even been married in the sanctuary.
• And the parsonage was so large that every one of the children could have their own room.
She said that under the parsonage was a huge cellar. She didn’t go down there except once or twice with her father because it was just a dingy, dark place with a couple of dim light bulbs hanging from long wires, and there were cobwebs and shadows.
Once, her brothers were in the cellar and called her to come down. They had found a hole beside the furnace leading to a tunnel and they wanted her to go in with them and explore it. Instead, she went up the stair to her father asking him to go down and “get those guys.”
Her father went downstairs, and she noticed that he was quite excited. Instead of scolding the boys, he said, “Let’s go over to the church and check.” They went over to the church building and found that beside the furnace there were some old boards. As they removed them, they discovered another hole with other tunnels. They explored those tunnels and that night around the dinner table at the parsonage in Cincinnati, 5 blocks from the Ohio River she heard her father tell the story of the Underground Railroad.
It was a network for helping slaves to escape to freedom. The slaves were hunted and would have been brutally punished if caught. It was against the law to help them. The Underground Railroad helped slaves get to their freedom in Canada.
She heard her father say, “Children, I want you to remember this day as long as you live, for today we have found a station in the Underground Railroad.”
Her father went on to say, “The greatness of this church is not in its gothic architecture, its beautiful furniture, its crystal Chandelier, or even its social status. The greatness of this church is below us. We are on hallowed ground…”
They were on hallowed ground because the tunnels beneath them represented the gift of freedom.
APPLY: Over the past few weeks we have been examining the Hallowed Ground of the Tabernacle of God. And we’ve repeatedly quoted Heb 8:5 where we’ll told that the Old Testament priests served “…at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: ‘See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.’”
We began the sermon series at the outer court and we examined the fence and area around the Tabernacle. Then we worked our way to the altar of sacrifice (sacrifices for sin), then on to the brazen laver - where the priests washed their hands and feet before making the sacrifices and again before they entered into the Tabernacle.
Then we went through the door into the first room, called the Holy Place. There we looked upon the table of shewbread, the golden lampstand, and the altar of incense that stood before the veil that divided that room from the Holy of Holies.
And now, at last, we’ve come to the inner sanctum.
The Holy of Holies.
The room where the Ark of the Covenant was kept.
This was the most hallowed ground of the people of Israel - the place where God dwelt. And this was a room where only the High Priest could enter… and he only once a year on the Day of Atonement.
Once a year, the High Priest would make a special sacrifice for the sins of the people. He began by selecting two male goats, a male ram and a young bull for sacrifice.
Ordinarily he would wear his distinctive High Priestly garments. But today he put those aside, bathed himself and then put a special white linen garment, with a white linen sash and linen turban.
After putting on these garments, he made a sacrifice of the young bull as a sin offering for himself and his family. Then he would take the blood of that bull, and a censer full of burning coals from the altar of sacrifice, and two handfuls of finely ground fragrant incense and entered tabernacle. There he put the incense on the fire of the altar of incense, so that the smoke of the incense would conceal the Ark… so that he will not die. Leviticus 16:12-13
From there he went through the veil and entered into the Holy of Holies sprinkling the blood of the bull on the front of the atonement cover of the ark… then he sprinkled some of the blood with his finger 7 times before the atonement cover. Leviticus 6:14
Then he returned outside.
He took two male goats and cast lots for them.
The first goat was “for the LORD”.
The 2nd was to become the “Scapegoat”.
He took the 1st goat and sacrificed it on the altar for the sins of the people. Then he took blood from that sacrifice and entered into the Holy of Holies and again sprinkled the blood on the Atonement cover of the ark and sprinkled more of its blood 7 times before the cover.
Again, he returned outside and took the blood of the bull and the goat, applied it to the horns of the altar of sacrifice and sprinkled blood from both sacrifices 7 times before the altar.
Then he called for the Scapegoat.
He laid both of his hands “…on the head of the live goat and confessed over it all the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites— all their sins— and put them on the goat’s head.” And then sent “… the goat away into the desert in the care of a man appointed for the task.” Leviticus 16:21
Le 16:22 tells us that “The goat will carry on itself all their sins to a solitary place; and the man shall release it in the desert.”
Lastly, the High Priest removed his linen garments, bathed himself again, put his regular High Priestly garment back on and offered up the ram as burnt offering to make atonement for himself and the people.
During this entire ceremony the only person allowed in the tabernacle was the High Priest.
No one else could offer any sacrifices that day.
No one else could atone for the sins of the people.
ONLY this one man – this High Priest – could bring God’s forgiveness to the people.
There were other sacrifices made throughout the year. Hundreds of them.
Thousands of them.
But if the High Priest failed to make atonement for the people on this special day, all those other sacrifices would have meant nothing.
EVERYTHING depended upon this Day of Atonement.
Everything depended upon the High Priest entering into the Holy of Holies and covering the mercy seat with blood of the sacrifice for their sins.
NOW that’s what took place on the Day of Atonement…
… and this is what it means to us.
As we noted in Hebrews 8 – the tabernacle was only a copy of what’s in heaven. God used the tabernacle as an earthly example of heavenly truths. God wanted to use the Tabernacle to proclaim what would be done at the cross. Even The Day of Atonement was meant to teach us a powerful truth about Jesus
Hebrews tells us that Jesus is our High Priest.
Hebrews 6:20 say that Jesus “… has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.”
• The Law of Moses tells us that when the High Priest began his ministry, on the Day of Atonement, he washed himself.
The Gospel of Luke tells us that Jesus began His ministry right after a certain event.
Do you know what event preceded Jesus beginning His ministry?
(Baptism by John at the Jordan).
Jesus wasn’t baptized for the forgiveness of sins like the others who came to John. He told John that he was being baptized so that it might “fulfill all righteousness”. He was baptized – washed with water – to begin his ministry as our High Priest.
• According to the Law of Moses sacrifices were CHOSEN to make atonement for the people’s sins.
The New Testament tells us Jesus was the sacrifice that God chose to make atonement for sins. John 3:16 says “For God so loved the world that He…” (gave His only begotten Son). God chose His son to be our sacrifice.
Or as Romans 3:25 says “God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement…”
Jesus was sent to become our atoning sacrifice for sins.
• The Law decreed that the sacrifice was to be made on an altar made of wood encased in bronze. This was the only wooden altar in the history of mankind. In fact it was the only wooden altar in all of Scripture… until Jesus came. The New Testament declares that Jesus died on a on an altar made of wood… a wooden cross.
• And the Law decreed that the blood of this sacrifice be bro’t thru the earthly tabernacle and placed before God…on the Ark of the Covenant.
Hebrews 9:11-12 says that “When Christ came as high priest… he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made…. He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.”
• And just as no other priest could make these sacrifices for the people of Israel so also Jesus was the ONLY one who could make the ultimate sacrifice for us. That’s why Peter declared: “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." Ac 4:12
Now some of you may have wondered about the fact that the communion was placed on the Ark (we had a full scale Styrofoam model placed at the very front of the stage and had placed the trays with the communion bread and juice in front of each of the Cherubim).
Some may have thought we simply put the trays here because we didn’t want the communion table to block the view of the Ark. But that’s not true. We placed the trays here deliberately.
You see, this is the Ark of the “Covenant”.
It was the Ark of God’s covenant (or contract) with His people.
The OLD Covenant.
This covenant was only valid if the blood of an innocent sacrifice was placed on the mercy seat of this Ark. The covenant was based upon the blood that was shed and placed upon this Ark.
On the night that Jesus was betrayed, He met with His disciples in the upper room. (At this point I reached behind one of the Cherubim and pulled out a goblet filled with grape juice).
He took the cup, held it up and said “this is My blood of the NEW covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” Matthew 26:28 NKJV
Every Sunday when you take of communion, you are being reminded that your relationship with God is entirely founded on the fact that it is His blood – the Blood of the New Covenant – that covers your sins.
Now, all of the ceremony of the Day of Atonement was centered around this Ark of the Covenant.
And it was a beautiful piece of furniture.
It was box - about this size – covered inside and out with gold.
On the top of the Ark was the “mercy seat”, or “atonement cover”. This was where the High Priest would sprinkle the blood of the sacrifice.
On either side of the mercy seat were two cherubim. These were angelic beings made of solid gold whose wings were spread over the mercy seat. They faced each other… but their faces looked down on the mercy seat where the blood of the sacrifices covered the sins of man.
It was a beautiful piece of furniture.
A work of art.
And if it existed on earth today it would be considered priceless. Collectors would pay millions of dollars to be able to see it, touch it, own it.
The problem was no one couldn’t get close to it to look at it… or they’d die. It was hidden away in room that no one but the High Priest could enter. Even he had to conceal its beauty by the smoke of the incense he burned Day Atonement, or as he was warned… or he would die.
You couldn’t touch it or you’d die.
The only way it could be carried was by staves placed in its rings. And as it was carried along, it was covered with several layers of skins and sheets.
1st Samuel tells of several men who had the audacity to look inside it… and all 70 of them died.
So, why have this beautiful ark if nobody was supposed to…
• look at it
• or touch it
• or even get close to it?
Well, the beauty of the Ark represented the true beauty of God.
And God’s beauty is based upon His holiness and His righteousness.
He’s Holy. He’s righteous. He’s pure…
And you’re not (neither am I)
“All of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) None of us would deserve to touch, look at, or even get close to the ark.
The Ark was THE declaration of God’s Holiness and Purity.
It was a powerful reminder of His unapproachable righteousness and of the fact that our sins separate us from Him.
Most people associate the Ark of the Covenant with judgment and wrath. And rightly so. It is an intimidating almost scary reminder of God’s power and our helplessness.
But that wasn’t the entire message God wanted to communicate to us.
Because right there on the Ark - there on this beautiful yet unapproachable throne of God - right there was the mercy seat.
The MERCY seat.
The place where the blood of an innocent sacrifice could cover a man’s sin.
(pause) You know, there are people in this world who don’t think they need such a thing. There are folks who believe that they can COVER their sins by their own good deeds. They feel they can do enough good to outweigh the bad that they’ve done.
All of the worlds’ other religions teach that.
They all teach that if you do enough good, you can reach heaven or nirvana, or whatever state of bliss they pursue.
One man rightly observed:
“Anyone can devise a plan by which good people may go to Heaven.
Only God can devise a plan whereby sinners, who are His enemies, can go to Heaven - Lewis Sperry Chafer
ILLUS: Decades ago, there was a gathering of many of the representatives of the world’s religions at Chicago. Practically every known religion was represented, and each group was allowed to have a representative speak on their behalf to explain what they believed and why their group was a valuable world religion.
During one session, Dr. Joseph Cook of Boston suddenly rose and said:
"Gentlemen, I beg to introduce to you a woman with great sorrow. Bloodstains are on her hands, and nothing will remove them. The blood is that of murder, and nothing will take away the stain. She has been driven to desperation in her distress. Is there anything in your religion that will remove her sin and give her peace?"
A hush fell upon the gathering as the speaker turned from one to another for an answer. Not one individual from those many world religions of the company replied.
And that was to be expected because they all taught that only good works could gain that kind of peace. And how could anyone ever do enough good in their lives to outweigh the evil of murder?
Raising his eyes to heaven, Dr. Cook then cried out,
"I will ask another the question.
John, can you tell this woman how to get rid of her awful sin?"
The great preacher waited as if listening for a reply. Suddenly he cried,
"Listen, John speaks "The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son cleans us from all sin (I John 1:7)."
CLOSE: You see, most folks can fool themselves into believing that they are pretty nice people. They can deceive themselves into thinking their good deeds would be enough to impress God.
But in the Tabernacle God was declaring to His people:
You can’t be good enough to be good enough to come into my presence. What you need is to have your past covered so that they no longer exist in my eyes. What you need is the blood of an innocent sacrifice to cover your sins.
When Jesus died on the cross (on what we call Good Friday) He shed His blood for you. And on that next Sunday morning, He rose up from the grave and He entered into that heavenly Tabernacle to place His blood on the Mercy Seat so that you and I could come into God’s presence.
Jesus died for you.
God cared so much for you that He gave His only begotten Son to cover YOUR sins.
And He did this because He loves you and wants you to be His child.
That’s why we offer an invitation at the end of every service for you to place yourself under the atoning blood of Jesus.
