There are some traditions and customs out there in the world that on the surface quite strange. For instance, if I were to ask you about your favorite customs and practices about being a Christian, what would you say? Some might point to our celebration of Easter. Others to Christmas. And some might point to the Lord’s Supper. Have you ever thought about how strange this might look to someone who knows nothing about communion? Back at the start of Christianity, Christians were under a lot of scrutiny and persecution for various reasons. One of them was the practice of communion. Outsiders would look at this celebration and be grossed out, thinking that Christians were practicing some sort of cannibalism. For us, though, we realize that isn’t the case. Rather, communion is this wonderful sacrament which Christ gifted us in which we get to remember and proclaim his death, receive the forgiveness of sins, and be joined with him and fellow Christians.
What our lesson details today is the celebration of the Great Day of Atonement. For the Old Testament believers, this was one of the greatest celebrations of their entire year. But, for people of our time and our culture, our thought might be, “Wait, what?” Perhaps you may have never even heard of this day before. And you may be wondering what in the world is with all the sprinkling of blood and horns of the altar and goats? What’s with the incense and these strange sounding rooms like the Tent of Meeting or the Most Holy Place? In the end, though, there is so much great symbolism to be found here. And, there is so much of God’s love displayed too. And, a lot of these ideas we talk about more frequently than perhaps we even realize; it’s just a matter of putting it all together.
The first thing we run into is Aaron’s sacrifice for himself and his family. It says, “Aaron shall bring the bull for his own sin offering to make atonement for himself and his household, and he is to slaughter the bull for his own sin offering. 12 He is to take a censer full of burning coals from the altar before the Lord and two handfuls of finely ground fragrant incense and take them behind the curtain. 13 He is to put the incense on the fire before the Lord, and the smoke of the incense will conceal the atonement cover above the Testimony, so that he will not die. 14 He is to take some of the bull’s blood and with his finger sprinkle it on the front of the atonement cover; then he shall sprinkle some of it with his finger seven times before the atonement cover.
The first thing Aaron was to do was to sacrifice a bull for himself and his family, as a sin offering, to make atonement. Why a bull? I don’t know why God chose that specific animal. In the end, the kind of animal is not what’s important. What is important is that God demanded death here. Romans 6 would later tell us that the wages of sin is death. The punishment for sin is death. Wherever there is sin, there will be death. However, what God wanted was not the guilty party to pay for that sin. Aaron didn’t have to sacrifice himself. Rather, a substitute was offered up in Aaron’s place. This is hugely important. God may be a just God, making sure to always punish sin with death. However, God is also a God of mercy. And he did not want these people, although they were guilty, to have to pay for their sins. He wished for there to be a substitute. Here for Aaron and his family, it was a bull.
Only then, once blood had been shed, was Aaron able to enter before God. God had told the people that he dwelled in their presence in a place called the tabernacle, here referred to as the tent of meeting. There was a curtain located in this tent which separated God from the people. As sinners, they had no right to come before God whenever they wanted. The only time they could was on this day, on the day of atonement. But, only one person, the high priest, here being Aaron could do so, acting as a go-between for the people, and only after blood had been shed. Taking some of the blood, he would sprinkle it upon the ark of the covenant, to symbolize how God’s requirement for sin was met with death.
Also, when he went before God, God demanded that Aaron go forth with incense. Why incense? For one, it served a practical purpose. Incense, having a pleasant aroma, would help with the stench of the blood and the animals. But, also think of the Psalm, “May my prayer rise before you as incense.” Here Aaron was approaching God with prayers and sacrifice on behalf of the people, rising up before God.
Aaron, and every high priest after him, also sacrificed and worked on behalf of the people. “He shall then slaughter the goat for the sin offering for the people and take its blood behind the curtain and do with it as he did with the bull’s blood: He shall sprinkle it on the atonement cover and in front of it. 16 In this way he will make atonement for the Most Holy Place because of the uncleanness and rebellion of the Israelites, whatever their sins have been. He is to do the same for the Tent of Meeting, which is among them in the midst of their uncleanness. 17 No one is to be in the Tent of Meeting from the time Aaron goes in to make atonement in the Most Holy Place until he comes out, having made atonement for himself, his household and the whole community of Israel. 18 “Then he shall come out to the altar that is before the Lord and make atonement for it. He shall take some of the bull’s blood and some of the goat’s blood and put it on all the horns of the altar. 19 He shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times to cleanse it and to consecrate it from the uncleanness of the Israelites. 20 “When Aaron has finished making atonement for the Most Holy Place, the Tent of Meeting and the altar, he shall bring forward the live goat. 21 He is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites—all their sins—and put them on the goat’s head. He shall send the goat away into the desert in the care of a man appointed for the task. 22 The goat will carry on itself all their sins to a solitary place; and the man shall release it in the desert.
Once again, blood and death were required. This time not with a bull, but with a goat. And likewise, this time the type of animal did not matter. What mattered is that once again an innocent substitute was offered in place of guilty sinners. After he had done this, Aaron would then take another goat. He would lay his hands upon this goat, making it the recipient of all the guilt for the people’s sins. And once again, we see that God wished for there to be a substitute for the sake of the people. By performing these sacrifices and placing the guilt on the living goat, atonement was made for the people then too. God’s people had now once again been made at one with God, or they had been atoned. Their relationship had been restored.
One thing may be bothering you still, though. If their sins had been paid for, why did the priests have to keep coming back, year after year, sacrificing more and more bulls and goats? If they had been atoned, made at one with God, why was the curtain still there that separated God from the people? This is the crux of the issue.
The thing is, no goat and no bull has the power to save you from sin. Also, because it was mankind who had sinned, God still required the death of man. As we know, that should be us. We are the guilty ones; we are the ones who broke off the relationship with God, not him with us.
So, why even bother then with all this death of the animals? For one, it is a reminder of how much God hates sin. But, these deaths also served another purpose. Every goat and every bull that was killed pointed forward to another sacrifice. One sacrifice, one death, one shedding of blood that would end them all. That happened when Jesus gave himself up on the cross. There, God’s full requirement for sin was paid. Man had died. But, this death was not done for a single, innocent man in Christ; this death was carried out for every single person. For, when Jesus died, he did so as the very Son of God. Romans 3 tells us that because of Jesus’ death, all mankind has been declared not guilty of our sin by the Father.
How though, can we be sure that Jesus’ death atoned us for good? That he won’t have to come back and be sacrificed again? Or that we ourselves may have to be sacrificed? There are a number of ways in which the bible proves that this was sufficient. One of them sticks right along with what we had asked before. Every time the goat and bull were sacrificed, the curtain remained in place which separated man from God. When Jesus died, however, that mighty curtain split in two, from top to bottom, showing to us all that we now had gained the right to approach God. We do not approach him based on the merit of an animal, or any of our effort, but based on Jesus’ work alone. It is his blood that restored our relationship with God.
The Great Day of Atonement is one that we don’t often talk about. It can be difficult to understand because of cultural and historical differences. However, as we now see, this is quite a beautiful day. It pointed the Israelites to the sacrifice to come, and it serves for you as a reminder of what has already happened in Christ. Amen.