Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Prayer Meeting Lesson Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/pm/pm20001101.htm

LEVITICUS: GOD'S CALL FOR A SEPARATED WITNESS
Part II: The Path Of Walking In Fellowship With God (Leviticus 11-27)
E. God's Revelation Of HIMSELF In Christ's Atonement
(Leviticus 16:1-34; Matthew 27:50-51; Hebrews 10:19-25)
  1. Introduction
    1. God is an infinitely loving God: 1 John 4:8 tells us God is love.
    2. God is also righteous, One Who must judge sin as "a consuming fire," Hebrews 12:29.
    3. Just how these attributes meet so we sinners can relate to a loving but righteous God is described in God's revelation of Christ's atonement. We view this event as taught in Scripture with application to living:
  2. God's Revelation Of HIMSELF In Christ's Atonement, Lev. 16:1-34; Matt. 27:50-51; Heb. 10:19-25.
    1. Leviticus 16:1-34 views the death of Christ with an focus on God's wrath against sin (righteousness):
      1. God's instructions for the Day of Atonement are set against the sin and deaths of Aaron's sons who approached God errantly, Lev.16:1-3. Thus, the Day of Atonement pictures God's wrath against sin.
      2. The Day began with the command that the High Priest only enter the Holiest of Holies, 16:2-3, 17. This prefigured the mediatorship of Christ alone on behalf of our sins before the Father, 1 Tim. 2:5.
      3. That High Priest had to enter God's presence with a sacrifice and in proper attire, 16:3,4. This pictures Christ's personal righteousness that qualified Him to be our substitute on the cross, Hebrews 9:24-28.
      4. Then, the High Priest would cast lots between the two goats to see which would be sacrificed, and which one would be the scapegoat to bear away the sinful reproach of the people, Lev. 16:8.
      5. He was to offer a bullock for himself and his family for their sins before he could offer for the sins of the whole nation, Lev. 16:6, 12-14. Since Aaron was a sinner and Christ was not, this ritual is not applied in the New Testament. Christ was without sin as our capable Sin-bearer. 2 Cor. 5:21.
      6. Next, Aaron offered the goat chosen for sacrifice, Lev. 16:15-19. The height of this event was the sprinkling of the goat's blood on the Mercy Seat above the ark to act as a shield against God's wrath upon the sins of the people as represented in the evidences of Israel's sin via the articles under the Mercy Seat and in the ark (a pot of manna [Ex. 16:33], Aaron's rod [Num. 17:10] and the tables of the law [Dt. 10:3-5]). Hence, Christ's death intercepts God's wrath so that the people escape punishment for their sins! The event pictures Christ's absorption of God's wrath against us!
      7. Then, the scapegoat figuratively revealed the removal of the sins of the nation through the laying on of Aaron's hands and his confessing of them, Lev. 16:20-21b. This goat was sent away with a responsible party and released in the wilderness to die of exposure, Leviticus 16:21c-22.
      8. After this various rituals occurred where Aaron and others helping him outside the tabernacle were to be cleansed, Lev. 16:23-28. These all heightened the thought of man's need for holiness.
      9. This Day of Atonement was to be a solemn one of self-affliction due to grief over sin, 16:29-34.
    2. Yet, Matthew 27:50-51 reveals Christ's death absorbed God's wrath against us so He could relate to us in love: when Jesus died, God tore the temple curtain separating Himself from us (love), 2 Cor. 5:19.
    3. Thus, we who have been saved by faith in Christ are to live lovingly righteous lives (Hebrews 10:19-25):
      1. We are to live confident God is satisfied with Christ's death so we may receive His LOVE, 10:19-22.
      2. We are to hold to this persuasion opposite doctrinal errors to the contrary (RIGHTEOUSLY), Heb. 10:23. The context of Hebrews is a call for believers not to slip back into the Old Testament sacrificial system out of fear (in part) that Christ's death was not once-for-all able to appease God's wrath.
      3. We are to provoke (KJV) or spur (NIV) ("stimulate", T.D.N.T., v. V, p. 857) one another to love and good works (righteousness): this involves not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together [love], and exorting each other to godly lives [righteousness] in view of Christ's return, Hebrews 10:24-25.
Lesson: (1) THOUGH God's WRATH against US for our SIN is infinitely GREAT [righteousness], (2) Christ has so fully ABSORBED that wrath in His death on the cross in our place that by faith in His death we are granted the totality of God's infinite love expressions toward us [love].

Application: Christ's atonement teaches us to LIVE (1) on the ONE hand CONFIDENT in God's love FOR us, and hence lovingly toward one another (2) AS WELL AS righteously as separate from SIN!