Leviticus 23:26-32 (NASB)
26 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 27 "On exactly the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement; it shall be a holy convocation for you, and you shall humble your souls and present an offering by fire to the LORD. 28 "You shall not do any work on this same day, for it is a day of atonement, to make atonement on your behalf before the LORD your God. 29 "If there is any person who will not humble himself on this same day, he shall be cut off from his people. 30 "As for any person who does any work on this same day, that person I will destroy from among his people. 31 "You shall do no work at all. It is to be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwelling places. 32 "It is to be a sabbath of complete rest to you, and you shall humble your souls; on the ninth of the month at evening, from evening until evening you shall keep your sabbath."
I The Priest makes himself ready to enter the presence.
A The Day of Atonement is when the High Priest would offer the blood of a lamb before the Ark of Covenant to forgive the nations sin for the year.
1 For the last ten days the people where in a state of repentance, getting right before God, in hopes that their names would be put in the book of life for the next year . . . that decision would be made on the Day of Atonement.
a Around the seventh day the High Priest would start preparing himself to enter the Holy of Holies (an annual event.)
aa A week before Yom Kippur he would leave his home and go to live at the Temple for a week.
bb Pray, study, rehearse what he had to recite on the highest of all holy days.
b I found it interesting that on the eve of Yom Kippur the High Priest stayed awake all night in preparation for the big day.
aa Younger priests would read aloud to him to keep him awake, focused, alert . . .encouraged the High Priest to weep as he sought the heart of YHWH.
bb (It’s a picture of Jesus and His disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane.)
2 He had to be well-prepared, frightened to enter the Holy of Holies.
a On the big day he’d offer a blood sacrifice for himself (bull) on the brazen alter, confessed his own sin, wear a snow white robe and enter the veil and a rope would be tide to his ankle . . . just in case God struck him dead they could retrieve the body of the High Priest.
b The priest took entering the presence took his personal sin seriously . . . and only barely gained forgiveness from the wrath of God.
B Tonight, we need God’s forgiveness, grace, pardon as we prepare to go beyond the veil.
Sing: “Lord, I Need You”
C Alter for personal confession . . . go to a mic to confess sin for the church. PREPARE FOR HIS PRESENCE
II The Priest enters the Holy of Holies with humility before the Mercy Seat.
A The Mercy Seat was the covering over the ark of the covenant.
1 It was two cherubim that faced one another . . . protecting the presence of the Holy God.
a Can you image the fear, trepidation, trembling with which the priest took that first step into the Holy of Holies.
b Leviticus 16:12-13 (NASB) 12 "He shall take a firepan full of coals of fire from upon the altar before the LORD and two handfuls of finely ground sweet incense, and bring it inside the veil. 13 "He shall put the incense on the fire before the LORD, that the cloud of incense may cover the mercy seat that is on the ark of the testimony, otherwise he will die.
aa He would light a censure of hot coals and pour finely ground incense on the embers.
bb Created a great cloud of thick, aromatic smoke, not as a symbol of prayer, but as a camoflauge.
cc Psalm 33:18 (NASB) 18 Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him, On those who hope for His lovingkindness,
2 The smoke was intended to protect the imperfect priest from the devastating effect of God’s glory.
a The incense was not lit for prayer, it was lit for protection!
b All this may seem a little foreign to us, but we must get the picture.
B Our God is holy, sovereign, righteous, perfect . . . everything we’re not!
1 I pray we have a little of that fear, trembling, solemness in the presence of the Living God of Israel.
2 Let’s think on how Awesome, Unchangeable, Unstoppable, Indescribable our God is tonight.
SING “YOU ARE GOD ALONE” & “ABOVE ALL”
LORD’S PRAYER then total silence for 60 seconds
III The Priest offers the blood of the Chatat Lamb to God for atonement.
A Two goats had been chosen to enter into the Holy Place, brought into the inner room of the Temple, one was called the “Chatat” the other “Azazel”: Belongs to God & Belongs to Satan.
1 One was the sacrifice, one was the scapegoat.
a The term “Azazel” is probably in reference to a passage in the Book of Enoch, where we find the name of he chief of the fallen angels . . .Azazel.
b Chatat means belongs to God and it’s blood would be spilt to cover the sins of Israel for the next year. . . atonement.
2 The priest would draw out two stones from a bag and hold one over each of the goats heads . . .the stone that read “chatat” would be “for the Lord”, the other would default be for Azazel.
a The chatat was sacrificed and the blood was sprinkled on the mercy seat in hopes that God would give them another year of credit to float the nations sin debt.
b Then, Leviticus 16:20-22 (NASB) 20 "When he finishes atoning for the holy place and the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall offer the live goat. 21 "Then Aaron shall lay both of his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the sons of Israel and all their transgressions in regard to all their sins; and he shall lay them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who stands in readiness. 22 "The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to a solitary land; and he shall release the goat in the wilderness.
B Tonight, we know that the Chatat lamb has a name: Jesus.
1 We know that our Heavenly Father has removed our sins from us, atonement has been made, debt is paid in full by the blood of a perfect lamb.
a Romans 3:23-26 (NASB) 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; 25 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; 26 for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
b Jewish tradition tells us something special about our Lord’s Sacrifice.
aa On Yom Kippur, it was their tradition to hang a scarlet thread over the doorway into the Temple, after the scapegoat had been pushed over a cliff, IF God accepted the sacrifice and the scapegoat, the red rope would turn white.
bb One of the Rabbi’s that survived the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD (Rabban Johanan ben Zaccai) who would have been ministering in Jerusalem during the time of Christ’s death and when the Temple was destroyed.
cc He recorded that for 40 years before the destruction of the Temple, the scarlet thread NEVER turned white again.
2 What God was telling His people that the blood of goats, bulls will no longer be accepted . . . no longer good enough . . .atonement now was only attainable through the blood of the ultimate chatat . . . Jesus.
a Tonight, we celebrate the fact that we have been washed in the blood, made as white as snow, our debt is paid.
b Thank God for the Blood!
Sing: NOTHING BUT THE BLOOD
LORD’S SUPPER
Sing: “He Knows My Name”
Notice to Sermon Central Users:
My name is Mike Fogerson, and I pastor a Southern Baptist Church in Chester, Illinois. I have been a long-time user of Sermon Central and truly appreciate its content and contributors. Some of the best sermons I’ve ever preached have been reworked material from this website. As you use the material from my sermon bank, understand that it is work that has been done from not just myself, but from hundreds of other pastors as well. If you see part of your message, or a bunch of your message with my name on it and this upsets you, please email me and I will quickly respond and cite you as the main source. My intent is not to claim someone’s work as my own. I am disclaiming up front that I use the resources from Sermon Central and appreciate the tool. I simply want all those who use my work to know that some of these messages were inspired by the Holy Spirit working through other pastors. Because I do use the messages of other pastors I waive all claims of originality or origin of creativity for the messages posted under my messages. I pray God blesses your preaching ministry for the glory of His Kingdom.
Respectfully,
Mike Fogerson
