When you discover the actual crime - a mistake on the rug, a broken what-not, a chewed shoe - it only takes one phrase to crush your dog's faint optimism and fawning spirit. In a low, I'm-the-master-voice, you intone: "Shame on you! Oh, how could you? Shame!" Complete canine collapse ensues. Guilt overwhelms the creature. It throws itself on your mercy or slinks away in abject misery. This is probably one of the main reasons people like to have dogs as pets - it allows us to wield the power of punishment and forgiveness with such clear-cut, unambiguous results. Unfortunately, human beings are not nearly as reliable or repentant. Indeed, we seem to possess an uncanny ability to shift blame, ignore consequences and shirk responsibility. After one particularly corrupt boondoggle was exposed in the infamous administration of Chicago's Mayor Richard J. Daley, he was confronted by a young reporter. "Aren't you concerned and embarrassed by these activities, Mayor?" Daley turned to the earnest young man and bombasted, "Son, nothing embarrasses me!" Perhaps the passionless politician may not know when to blush, but shame eats away at most of us; guilt stops us dead in our tracks. Guilt and shame are a part of our lives. It always has been. We cannot rid ourselves of it, only repress it, medicate it, deny its stranglehold on our lives. Martin Luther was one who struggled with guilt. When still a young monk he went to confession every day. He was so guilt-ridden by his sins he would, if able, go every hour. On most nights Luther slept well, but he even felt guilty about that, thinking, "Here am I, sinful as I am, having a good night's sleep." So he would confess that. One day the older priest to whom Luther went for confession said to him, "Martin, either find a new sin and commit it, or quit coming to see me!" In a 1977 survey of 52,000 people, more than 40 percent indicated that they were often troubled by deep feelings of guilt. Those numbers are climbing in recent surveys, and so people seek to alleviate those pangs of a troubled conscience. The plagues of sins long past results in an ever increasing cry for freedom from the burden of one’s own tormented psyche. It is the sense of shame that leads people in record numbers into psychiatrists' offices; it is the feelings of guilt that are medicated in record numbers in our culture. So the question is always raised: “How can we handle our own guilt?” But the answer always comes, “Not very well!” We either ignore the guilt or allow it to fester within until we are so consumed that we find ourselves shivering in the corner, too fearful to seek God’s grace. The question, however, is not how we might handle our guilt, but how has God handled our guilt. It is only there we can find an answer that satisfies and gives us comfort not only for the moment, but for each and every day. That answer was spelled out in a dramatic display as God not only removed the guilt of His people's sin, but also the shame of their sins one day each year in Israel. That day, Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement, was a special day in which not only were the sacrifices carried out which showed that our sins were to be placed on another and that sacrifice would bear the brunt of our sin, but also how those sins might be removed. The sixteenth chapter of Leviticus is the conclusion of the first great section of this book. Up to this point, we’ve looked at God's provisions to meet His people's needs. As a Heavenly Father he watches over us, his people, with tender, compassionate care. He is intimately concerned with every detail of life, even the most trivial, even matters of diet. His concern for us is most clearly seen in how he removes our guilt as seen in Leviticus 16.
In many ways the events of this day parallel the series of sacrifices we’ve seen throughout Leviticus. Yet as we look at each aspect of this special day, we see how much fuller this one event typifies the work of Christ. Let’s take a look at what happened and see what that teaches us about Christ. The verses above are a summary which is spelled out in more detail through the whole chapter. FIRST AARON APPROACHES GOD CONFESSING HIS OWN SIN (Verses 3-4, 11-13) In order to prepare himself for this special day, he first bathes (verse 4) and places on a linen tunic. Every other day when Aaron fulfilled the roll of High Priest, there were regal vestments pointing to his special office. The robe was embellished with fine needlework, gold and jewelry, which would sparkle in the desert sun. Covering his chest was the breastplate with semi-precious stones. But this day, he wore a simple tunic held by a simple sash. He looked more like a servant, not a ruling monarch. In this he visibly showed to all that he had nothing of his own to claim before God. Then he sacrifices for himself (verses 11-13). He acknowledges his own sin. He did what few of us like to do, but we need to do. Many years ago The Times of London, that elitist newspaper of grand tradition, ran a series of Letters to the Editor on the subject, "What is wrong with the world?" This stimulated great interest over an extended period. Many highly respected people offered their views which were duly printed and avidly read by thousands of people. One day a letter appeared from G.K. Chesterton.
Chesterton's brief, witty contribution ended the correspondence. He had "hit the nail on the head!" Aaron likewise began the day with a sacrifice for his own sin. Having slaughtered the bull, he took coals from the altar where the bull was to be burned, placed them in his censer, and entered into the first room of the tabernacle. Every day, Aaron would follow this procedure: he would enter the first room, place incense on the golden altar, trim the wicks of the lampstand, weekly change the bread on the Table of Presence. And each day he would sprinkle blood on the inner veil, the veil which separated him from the very presence of God over the Ark of the Covenant. But this day was to be different. Having passed through the first veil into the Holy Place of the tabernacle was not unusual, but this day, this one day of the year, he was to enter into the next room, to go behind the veil into the Holy of Holies, into the room where the Ark of the Covenant stood. Imagine the fear as he pulled back the curtain and through the dim light of the lampstand he could see the golden box over which two golden cherubim hovered with outstretched wings over the cover of the ark, the mercy seat. His fear would be well founded, for only a short time before his own sons were struck dead by God when they entered improperly. So with fear he came with the blood of the bull and the smoke from the incense. He enters with his hands full of incense and blood. As he comes in, the smoke and sweet smell of incense wafts through the dark room. Verse 13 says the smoke is to conceal the atonement cover above the Testimony. The concealment is necessary for within the ark resides the two stone tablets of the Law, given by God to Moses on Sinai. The Law expressed the divine decrees of perfect obedience. The danger in entering this room, even this one day a year, is that to come in as a sinful person is to come under God’s holy displeasure due to our disobedience of his Law. The incense burning on the coals from the fire which burned the bull reminded Aaron of the sacrifice God would make through Christ. This was his only hope. With the smoke fogging his vision, he takes the bowl of blood, dips his hand into the still warm sanguine fluid, and sprinkles it on the top the of the Ark, the Atonement cover, the mercy seat. As the blood is placed on the atonement cover, Aaron is reminded that while the Law’s just demands necessitate his death, God, through a sacrifice, would make atonement, cover over the condemnation of the Law of God. In this one moment the law is magnified, Jehovah glorified, the sinner justified. The holy law, having its demands met, exults in declaring the sinner free! NEXT AARON APPROACHES GOD ON BEHALF OF THE PEOPLE (Verses 7-10; 15-16; 20-22) With these frightening first steps, Aaron approaches God once again, this time for God’s people. This is similar to before, but now illustrates more vividly to the people the absolute completeness of sins forever forgiven, never to return. This is accomplished by one sacrifice of two goats (v7). Two goats are taken to the entrance to the Tabernacle, lots are cast to determine which goat will be presented to the Lord as the sacrifice and which then will be the scapegoat, that is which will be allowed to escape from the Israelites having their sin placed upon its head. In verse 15 the sacrifice of the first goat for the people is described. Just as with the bull sacrificed for his own sins, this time the goat for the people is killed and again, on this one day of the year, the Day of Atonement, the blood is taken behind the veil to the Ark and sprinkled on the Atonement Cover. In verses 20-22 the second goat is then taken, this time not to be killed, but to be sacrificed in a different fashion. While this day was especially sacred since only on this day could Aaron go behind the veil, perhaps the most striking event of Yom Kippur was this ceremony. In this Aaron shows atonement in another form. With the other sacrifices few would ever see the bull or goat killed, and no one but Aaron actually saw the blood sprinkled on the Ark. But this one event was a spectacle for all of Israel. Aaron would, as with other sacrifices, place both his hands on the head of the goat. As he laid on his hands, he spoke, confessing all the wickedness, rebellion and sin. Wickedness - their perversions, distortions of God’s Law. Rebellions - transgressions, the crossing the line which God laid down for them not to cross. Sins - the ways in which they missed the mark; even though they tried to live a moral life, they constantly fell short of the perfection God demanded. Once that had taken place, the goat was sent off, through the throngs of people. As the goat was led away from the people, the masses parted to let the now sin-bearing goat leave, to go far out into the desert, never to be seen again. What a joyous celebration it must have been as the people watched the silhouette of the goat disappear over the horizon, etching indelibly upon their hearts and minds a profound insight into the nature of God: God completely removes our guilt and shame. In this one great redemptive drama of two goats illustrating one truth, fulfilled for us in Christ. We see the two great privileges afforded to us because of the gospel: God is propitiated - guilt is expiated. With the death of the first goat we see the work of Christ our High Priest who is both Priest and victim dying for our sins. In the scapegoat, we see Christ removing from us the weight of our own guilt, his rising again for our justification. One animal could not point out both the Divine and human nature of Christ, nor show both his death and resurrection, for the goat that was killed could not be made alive. "In 1515, five years before Luther nailed his ninety-five theses to the church door, the French Reformer Lefevre wrote in Paris: 'O unutterable exchange! The sinless One is condemned, the guilty go free. The Blessed bears the curse, the cursed bear the blessing. The Life dies and the dead live. The glory is covered with shame, and the shame covered with glory.'” FINALLY AARON PROCLAIMS THE COMPLETION OF THE SACRIFICE (Verses 23-24) As the scapegoat is led away, the people felt the heavy burden lifted; as they watch the fading shadow of the goat disappear into the desolate desert, Aaron returns to the tabernacle one final time. Once inside, he removes the linen garments of the servant and a second time bathes. He dresses in his full regalia and appears again to the people. Having made the sin offering clad in humble attire, he now returns for the final burnt offerings in the royal dress of the High Priest. Just as Christ came in the form of sinful man and died the humiliating death of a sacrifice on the cross, concluding his work with the words, “It is finished!” He was then, three days later, raised victoriously from the tomb, and forty days later, glorified and seated at the Father's right hand side. Max Lucado in his book On the Anvil sees this same promise and fulfillment when he writes: “Thousands of years before Jesus was called the Lamb of God, God promised forgiveness. 'Someday,' he promised Hosea, 'someday I will remember their sins no more.' 'Someday,' God confided to Jeremiah, 'these people will be my people and I will be their God.' 'And someday,' wrote David, 'the mistakes of men will be tossed, not under a rug, or behind the sofa, but far, far away. As far as the east is from the west.' And do you know what? That someday came. On a garbage heap outside of Jerusalem. Someday the almighty God, who has every right to make me burn forever, will look past my apathy, my gluttony, my lying, and my lusting. He will point to the cross and invite me to come home . . . forgiven . . . forever. " WHAT IS THE ANSWER TO OUR FEELINGS OF GUILT, THE SHAME WE CAN NOT SHAKE? It is in this living parable that we see the reality of what God accomplished, completed for His people. But yet how often do we carry around with us those burdens? How often do we respond to our sin like a disobedient dog, wondering if our master will scold us once more? How often is God’s face veiled from you by memories of sins which haunt and disturb you? How often do you feel wrath from a troubled conscience, so you run and hide from God’s loving embrace? How often do your shameful habits make you wonder whether God holds you accountable and will only condemn you? I find so many Christians struggling at this point. They say, "I know that God has forgiven me. I know that the Word is true, that he has paid the debt for my sins. And yet I seem to feel so guilty all the time, so haunted, and I feel ashamed to come to God. I feel that I am unworthy." And they wrestle with these problems and are troubled by thoughts which come to them even while they are trying to pray. This is Satan's favorite ground of attack upon us. But this is what God is dealing with on the great Day of Atonement. This is the final matter to be settled which would otherwise exclude us from the presence of God. The answer to this guilt and shame for the believer is found at the cross. Because of the cross, God will not treat us like disobedient dogs, but as disobedient sons and daughters whom He has adopted by His grace, whom He will not shame, for the shame has been taken far from us, the guilt was borne by another. The heart of the good news of the gospel is that on the cross our position before God is secured. "If you want to understand the Christian message,” Luther said, “you must start with the wounds of Christ." It is the Cross which has revealed to good men that their goodness has not been good enough. It is the cross which has revealed to guilty men that their guilt is not strong enough to withstand the gracious removal of their sin by Christ. When you consider your sin, knowing you have failed God’s Law, when you feel the shame overwhelm you for the wrongs you have done, when the load of guilt keeps you from joy, look to the cross. There you will see the sacrificed goat hanging; there you will see the scapegoat on whom our sins were placed; there you will see your debt paid, your death dying, your curse suffering. At that point you must either renounce your own righteousness and thankfully embrace Christ’s gift or proudly cling to that guilty conscience, that joyless shame, and reject the gift God offers in his Son.When we respond to Christ, we can get up, shake off those guilty fears. Wesley understood this great truth in his hymn, Arise, My Soul, Arise, as he reminds us that the priest who was also the victim now lives to intercede for us.
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