fragile human beings, can develop a relationship with out all powerful Creator. In Leviticus 16, God goes into great detail about how the Israelites, as a nation, can be made right with Him. The Day of Atonement was the greatest day of the year for the Israelites (much the same way we hinge the year on the Christmas season now). In Hebrew, the word לכפר (atone) literally means “to cover.” As we’ve gone through Leviticus, we’ve seen God outlining the different offerings and sacrifices for the people, but all the sacrifices they made could never remove their sins, only cover them. Our sins could only be covered until the perfect sacrifice from God was given on the cross, which is the sacrifice all the others pointed too. On Yom Kippur (The Day of Atonement) the people confessed their sins as a nation and the high priest would go into the Most Holy Place in the Tabernacle to make atonement for them.
The high priest couldn’t just go traipsing in to the Most Holy Place, though (Lev. 16:2). He had to spend hours preparing himself to meet God! How he dressed, bathed, and the sacrifices he had to make to cover his own sins before entering the tabernacle, everything! The high priest had to be absolutely focused on God when he interceded on behalf of the people.
Lev. 16:5-28 talks about two goats, which is sacrificed and one which is released into the wild as the Azazel (scapegoat). The two goats represents the two ways that God dealt with the peoples’ sins:
- He was forgiving their sin through the blood sacrifice of the first goat
- He was removing their sin guilt through the scapegoat that was released into the wilderness.
One more sidebar while we’re here. You’ll notice (Lev. 16:12) that the high priest had burn incense (and in fact take incense with him into the Most Holy Place). The incense burner would have been a shallow dish or bowl that hung by a chain or was carried by tongs. Inside the burner were a combination of sweet smelling spices and burning coals from the altar. In the Most Holy Place, the smoke would shield the priest from the full glory of the Shekhinah (God’s presence shining between the two cherubs above the Ark of the Covenant) otherwise he might die. The incense probably also had a more practical purpose, too. The sweet smell would draw the people’s attention to the morning and evening sacrifices at the Tabernacle (and help to cover up the often foul smell of burning sacrifices).
The Israelites went through all this every year to have their sins covered until the day when God would remove them completely, which He did (and does!) through His Son, Jesus. How spoiled we are that we can approach God any time we want (Heb. 10:16) without having to go through everything that the priests of old did!
Just because we have this access does not mean we get a free pass and can be careless in our worship of God. We must remember that God is holy, and our ease of access was bought at a steep price: Christ’s death. Christ opened the way so we would not have to go through all the rituals to come to God, but we must still take the time to prepare our hearts and focus our minds as we draw close to God in prayer.
After all, how can we develop a relationship with God if we never give Him our undivided attention, even for a few minutes each day?
Encounter: Have you taken the time to meet with God today?
Some references borrowed from the Life Application Study Bible (NLT) 2nd Edition published by Tyndale House Publishers.
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