Leviticus- Our High Priest and Our Sacrifice

Photo Source: http://www.visitstillwaters.com/HighPriest.jpg

Leviticus 16:3-5, 16-17, 29-30

3 Thus shall Aaron come into the holy place: with a young bullock for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering.4 He shall put on the holy linen coat, and he shall have the linen breeches upon his flesh, and shall be girded with a linen girdle, and with the linen mitre shall he be attired: these are holy garments; therefore shall he wash his flesh in water, and so put them on.5 And he shall take of the congregation of the children of Israel two kids of the goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering.

16 And he shall make an atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions in all their sins: and so shall he do for the tabernacle of the congregation, that remaineth among them in the midst of their uncleanness.17 And there shall be no man in the tabernacle of the congregation when he goeth in to make an atonement in the holy place, until he come out, and have made an atonement for himself, and for his household, and for all the congregation of Israel.

29 And this shall be a statute forever unto you: that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, ye shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all, whether it be one of your own country, or a stranger that sojourneth among you:30 For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the Lord.

In the book of Leviticus, it is hard to find a picture of anything other than rules. I mean, God gave the Israelites rules concerning their behavior, what they are and aren’t allowed to eat, and even rules on how to deal with people’s “bodily discharges” (gross!!). But the most prominent laws throughout the book of Leviticus are those that deal with the priests and offerings. The priests, chosen from the family of Aaron in the tribe of Levi, were set apart for God’s work. And though all the people were held to the same standards, God had some specific instructions for the priests to follow as they led the people in worship.

The passages above, excerpts from chapter 16, are just small glimpses at what happened on the Day of Atonement. Only one man within Israel, the high priest could go into the Holy of Holies. And he could only go in a certain day out of the year. This was that special day. The priest would begin the day dressed in beautiful golden robes, which were only for the high priest, and then change into ordinary priest robes. The next step was to take care of his own sins and those of his family. For this offering, the priest would sacrifice a male bull, place two hands on the bulls head, and confess his sins and the sins of his family. The blood was then collected and given to an assistant. While the assistant took the blood, the high priest filled a censer with coals from the altar of sacrifice and approached the Holy of Holies. 

The next step was a “lottery” between two goats. The priest had two identical goats and cast lots to see which one would fulfill each step. The one who the lot of l’YHWH (“to the Lord”) fell on would be sacrificed. His blood would be sprinkled over the Holy of Holies. The bull’s blood would be sprinkled on the veil outside the Holy of Holies. The attention then turned to the second goat. The lot which fell on him was designated l’azazel (“removal”). This was the scapegoat. The priest would lay hands on this goat and confess the people’s sins before God, essentially transferring all of the wrongdoings of the people onto the scapegoat. The scapegoat was then escorted by another priest deep into the wilderness where it was released to live out the rest of its life.

You may be wondering by now, “This is great, but I thought this series was about Christ, not the Holy Days of Israel.” Well, the connection of Christ comes in two parts. Hebrews chapters 2, 7, 9, and 10 contain verses that link Christ to the Day of Atonement. Hebrews 2:17 says that Jesus became “a merciful and faithful high priest…to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.” While Israel’s high priests came and went, lived and died, Jesus ministers permanently, securing our salvation forever (Hebrews 7:23-24). The author of Hebrews continued to say that this high priest (Jesus) is “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; (Hebrews 7:26)” or in other words, perfect! There is no need for an annual Day of Atonement any more. Christ’s death on the cross was the final Day of Atonement! 

Hebrews 9:24 continues the theme of Christ’s priesthood

24 For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: 

The connection of Christ as priest goes even deeper. Just as the High Priest exchanged his golden garments for plain ones, Jesus exchanged His throne in glory for human flesh and bone (Philippians 2:5-8)

The second part of the connection is Christ as our sacrifice. While the blood of the bull and the goat were temporary and could not really take sins away, they pointed to Christ’s sacrifice, when He would one day take all mankind’s sins away. If you would like to look into this more, Hebrews 10:1-14 goes into great detail on Christ as the perfect sacrifice, which we went into last time with Christ as the Passover Lamb.

Next time we will look at Numbers, where Christ is pictured as the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night.