Leviticus 16-17

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Leviticus 16:1-34

“And the LORD spake unto Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered before the LORD, and died; 2 and the LORD said unto Moses, Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times into the holy place within the vail before the mercy seat, which is upon the ark; that he die not: for I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat. 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 [sash], and with the linen mitre shall he be attired: these are the 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. 6 And Aaron shall offer his bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make an atonement for himself, and for his house. 7 And he shall take the two goats, and present them before the LORD at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. 8 And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat [Hebrew: “Azazel”]. 9 And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the LORD’s lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering. 10 But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness. 11 And Aaron shall bring the bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and shall make an atonement for himself, and for his house, and shall kill the bullock of the sin offering which is for himself: 12 and he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before the LORD, and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the vail: 13 and he shall put the incense upon the fire before the LORD, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is upon the testimony, that he die not: 14 and he shall take of the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy seat eastward; and before the mercy seat shall he sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times. 15 Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood within the vail, and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat: 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. 18 And he shall go out unto the altar that is before the LORD, and make an atonement for it; and shall take of the blood of the bullock, and of the blood of the goat, and put it upon the horns of the altar round about. 19 And he shall sprinkle of the blood upon it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it, and hallow it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel. 20 And when he hath made an end of reconciling the holy place, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat: 21 and Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness. 22 and the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness. 23 And Aaron shall come into the tabernacle of congregation, and shall put off the linen garments, which he put on when he went into the holy place, and shall leave them there: 24 and he shall wash his flesh with water in the holy place, and put on his garments, and come forth, and offer his burnt offering, and the burnt offering of the people, and make an atonement for himself, and for the people. 25 And the fat of the sin offering shall he burn upon the altar. 26 And he that let go the goat for the scapegoat shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward come into the camp. 27 And the bullock for the sin offering, and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the holy place, shall one carry forth without the camp; and they shall burn in the fire their skins, and their flesh, and their dung. 28 And he that burneth them shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp. 29 And this shall be a statute for ever 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. 31 It shall be a sabbath of rest unto you, and ye shall afflict your souls, by a statute for ever. 32 And the priest, whom he shall anoint, and whom he shall consecrate to minister in the priest’s office in his father’s stead, shall make the atonement, and shall put on the linen clothes, even the holy garments: 33 And he shall make an atonement for the holy sanctuary, and he shall make an atonement for the tabernacle of the congregation, and for the altar, and he shall make an atonement for the priests, and for all the people of the congregation. 34 And this shall be an everlasting statute unto you, to make an atonement for the children of Israel for all their sins once a year. And he did as the LORD commanded Moses.”

Introduction

[Audio version: https://resources.ccphilly.org/detail.asp?TopicID=&Teaching=WED572]

“Leviticus chapter 16, closing out the first section, it is a description of the Day of Atonement, Yam Kippur, and as we journey through the Law and the Prophets, hear more, but this is the first in-depth look we have at it. It says “And the LORD spake unto Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered before the LORD, and died; and the LORD said unto Moses, Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times into the holy place within the vail” the Holy of Holies, “before the mercy seat, which is upon the ark; that he die not: for I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat.” (verses 1-2) So, the LORD now saying to Aaron, through Moses, ‘Look, talk to your brother, tell him he doesn’t have to be terrified,’ and I’m sure that’s what their thoughts were, his two sons had offered strange fire back in chapter 10, and fire came forth from the presence of the LORD and consumed them. Now the LORD is saying, ‘Look, you don’t have to be terrified, there is a proper way to make entrance and a proper time.’ Imagine God having enough guts to tell us that there’s a proper way and a proper time to do something. Doesn’t he have nerve, everybody in our culture wants to do whatever they want to do, and God to be whatever they want him to be, and here’s God telling us there’s a right time and a right way. You know, I appreciate that about the Lord, when I got saved, I was overwhelmed with the fact that he was conscious in of himself, I was washed, wave after wave with his love, I was glad he wasn’t somewhere meditating on his navel trying to figure out who he was. He was not insecure at all, he knew exactly who he was, he’s unchanging, he’s immutable, he’s always the same. And he says ‘This is the way it’s supposed to be done, and this is when it’s supposed to happen, and tell Aaron he doesn’t have to be terrified, there’s a right way to do this.’ ‘And he’s not to come here, it says in the King James, “at all times,” that means he’s not supposed to wander into the Holy of Holies any old time he feels like it.’ There’s an order to this, “for I will appear” he says, and just think of what Aaron’s thinking when he hears this, “I will appear” not just a cloud, not just the Shekinah, but “I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat.” Whenever Aaron goes in there once a year, on Yom Kippur, that the very features of the LORD will be manifest in the cloud, he said, “I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat. Thus shall Aaron come into the holy place: with a young bullock for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering.” (verses 2b-3) This is Yom Kippur, and as we journey through this, this burnt offering is mentioned, but the entire attention, our attention is taking place on the sin offering. “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 [sash], and with the linen mitre shall he be attired: these are the holy garments; therefore shall he wash his flesh in water, and so put them on. 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.” (verses 4-5) Now, it starts to prescribe what he’s to do. Interesting as we watch this high priest on the Day of Atonement, this is the day that he officiates, without his robes, without his priestly attire, just in a linen attire, which was the common attire, he was common with all men on this day. It was only the blood that made anyone in Israel, including the priests, accessible. And it’s certainly a picture of Christ, as it were, coming in his humanity, walking among us. He’s going to offer 15 sacrifices on this day, we’ll find out more about that, and he does all of that himself, the high priest, no help in these offerings. It is a long, bloody day. He’ll wash himself at least five times, change at different points into his priestly garments, then back into the linen again, very interesting picture as we journey here. So, he takes these two goats, two kids, for the sin offering, and one ram for the burnt offering. “And Aaron shall offer his bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make an atonement for himself, and for his house.” (verse 6) Now the word “atonement” is in chapter 16, 16 times. It means “to cover,” it’s throughout the chapter, the blood being a covering for sin. Blood is in this chapter 9 times, it’s in chapter 17 thirteen times, it is a major theme as we go through these chapters.

The Two Goats, Representing Two Significant Beings

“And he shall take the two goats, and present them before the LORD at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat.” [Hebrew: “Azazel”] (verses 7-8) We have a very interesting term here in verse 8 and verse 10, it’s the only place we find it, the Hebrew is Azazel, “the scapegoat” and every scholar you read argues over what it actually means. Some think it means to tear down, some think it means it was just the name of the goat, some think it’s an ancient name for a goat-demon, or for Satan himself, that sins where sent back to the original tempter that started the whole mess [and that last one is the Sabbatarian Churches of God interpretation, and it seems to fit as well]. But none of that can be verified. And it’s very interesting, even to read those who break down the language and syntax saying there’s no certainty, we can’t be sure, but we have this very interesting term, King James, a scapegoat, you might have those three words in those two verses Azazel, you might have a gloss in the column there. So verse 8 says “And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat. And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the LORD’s lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering. But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness. And Aaron shall bring the bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and shall make an atonement for himself, and for his house, and shall kill the bullock of the sin offering which is for himself:” (verses 8-11) Over and over and over it’s saying that all of our righteousness is like filthy rags, even the high priest. Aaron was not in the high priest’s office because he was more holy or more acceptable before God for any reason. He was simply in the priest’s office by God’s appointment of grace. This was Aaron the idol-maker, who had made the golden calf, and God still places him into the office of the high priest. And when this day comes, he’s completely aware of what atonement means, the Day of Atonement, because the first thing he has to do is offer sacrifices for himself and for his family. [Also, by very strong inference, if one goat, selected by lot is to be sacrificed for, or representing the LORD, that would represent the sacrifice of Jesus Christ to pay for the sins of mankind. And if the other goat, as we’ll see, has those sins of mankind placed on his head and is sent away into the wilderness, that by inference has to represent Satan. It can’t represent Christ, because Christ is directly represented by the sacrificed goat. That is the obvious spiritual logic used by the Sabbath-keeping Churches of God to come to the conclusion that the Azazel goat represents Satan. I believe that is an accurate interpretation as well.] That he himself is a sinner, and before he officiates for anyone else, there’s this need of atonement in his own life. And just what a picture is here, and for you and I. And I’m sure, after Moses told Aaron, ‘Look, when you go in to the Holy of Holies, the Shekinah Glory is going to be there, and the LORD’s going to appear in the cloud, so he don’t want you to wander in there any old time.’ There’s a time to do that, and there’s a way to do it. Now I’m sure that Aaron’s here with a checklist, ‘OK, is this done, ok, is this done?’ before he goes in there, like a pilot ready to take off a jetliner, going through the list, if you were going to walk into that Holy of Holies, and not long before that your two sons had just been burnt to a cinder by the fire coming forth from the presence of the God, and now it’s going to be your turn to go in there, and when you go in there the Shekinah Glory is going to be over top of the Mercy Seat, and the LORD’s going to appear in the cloud, and who knows what that means, you’d be going through your checklist, ‘did I do this? did I kill this? do I have the right linen britches on? do I do this, do I do that?’ You know, this is an interesting process, and I’m sure that it leant itself to incredible detail for those simple reasons. [I was an engineman in the forward engineroom of a World War II class submarine, and we didn’t dive the boat, shutting down their 16 cylinder diesel engines, shutting certain valves, opening other valves, without going through a written plastic-coated checklist, every single time, never done simply by memory.] “and he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar” where his sons got strange fire from, we’re not sure, “before the LORD, and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the vail:” (verse 12) This is his first entrance, first time he’s ever done this, it is his first entrance and the first entrance of every priest year after year on the Day of Atonement, will be to go in, take fire from the altar, to put it in the censer, and take a handful of incense that’s prescribed in the Law, and then when you come in to the presence of the LORD, where this Light is, the Shekinah Glory, just try to imagine, then dropping the incense on the fire, and then having the smoke then ascend in there. What, just incredible to think of what’s happening here. So this is his first entrance, verse 12. “and he shall put the incense upon the fire before the LORD, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is upon the testimony, that he die not:” (verse 13) So the cloud of Glory is right in front of him, the LORD appearing there, but he’s to mingle the incense with the fire so that that cloud of incense mingles right in with the cloud of God’s presence, a remarkable scene. Verse 14 is his second entrance, “and he shall take of the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy seat eastward; and before the mercy seat shall he sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times.” (verse 14) So this time he goes in with the blood of the bullock, and it says he sprinkles it on the Mercy Seat eastward. Now the Tabernacle itself faced eastward, so for him to do this, it means when he went in, he had to go around the backside of the Mercy Seat when he sprinkled the blood on the Mercy Seat, because he was to sprinkle it eastward, and seven times he took that and he’s sprinkling blood through the presence of the LORD on the Mercy Seat, and then it seems his directions were to come around the front and then sprinkle before the LORD with his finger seven times, before the Mercy Seat. “Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood” now the third time “within the vail, and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat:” (verse 15) So he goes in again now with the blood of the goat, the sin offering for the nation. Again, imagine going in before the presence of the LORD there over the Mercy Seat, walking around to the backside of the Ark of the Covenant, and sprinkling seven times the blood towards the entrance, but onto the Mercy Seat, and walking back around the frontside and sprinkling seven times on the ground in front of the Mercy Seat [it was actually sprinkled on the edges of the Mercy Seat, not the ground]. “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.” (verse 16) the whole camp, God says, he’s camped in the middle of all their uncleanness. “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.” (verse 17) Again, a picture of Christ, alone, no man there as it were, entering into a place where no human energy could add a single thing, when Jesus said “it is finished, it’s done,” no one to add to that, it is completely done once and for all, [and there, the blood of the first goat represents Christ, and the other goat, obviously represents Satan], and we can dwell on that for the rest of our lives, and I’m sure we will for eternity. But here he goes in alone, what an interesting, sobering, holy experience, no one else in the Tabernacle, he goes in alone to make atonement in the Holy Place. “And he shall go out unto the altar” now the alter of sacrifice that’s before the Tabernacle “that is before the LORD, and make an atonement for it; and shall take of the blood of the bullock, and of the blood of the goat, and put it upon the horns of the altar round about. And he shall sprinkle of the blood upon it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it, and hallow it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel.” (verses 18-19) Look, here’s where they brought their sacrifices all year, and once a year everything is cleansed to a fresh start, even the altar itself, the Tabernacle itself, everything cleansed on the Day of Atonement, fresh start.

Banishing The Azazel Goat Into The Wilderness--What That Symbolizes

“And when he hath made an end of reconciling the holy place, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat: and Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness.” (verses 20-21) Now I imagine that must have taken some time, particularly what may have gone on that year in Israel. You know, as we move forward to Manasseh and some of the kings, some poor high priest had to go in and recite all of the sins of the nation, that must have been a bit time consuming. “and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness.” (verse 21) So the idea of a scapegoat, with all of the sins of the nation being put onto this animal, one being sacrificed [and you can see how the sacrificed goat represented Jesus Christ, so this other goat must represent Satan, who is banished from off the earth in Revelation 20:1-3], and the other one now being let go into the wilderness, and as it were, as he leaves, taking the sin of the nation and carrying it away. Notice, “and the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.” (verse 22) Now it must have been a remarkable scene in the days of Jesus, for anyone to sit on the Mount of Olives, if you go there today, you get a remarkable view of the Temple Mount itself. The Temple Mount at that time, the most remarkable building in the world, the base, the Temple itself equivalent to 30 football fields, if you can imagine. Stones at the base, forty-two, forty-five foot long, over 600 tons, I mean, just unbelievable. And for someone to sit on the Mount of Olives and watch the high priest, in and out of Herod’s Temple, changing his garments from plain linen to his priestly garments, going back in in linen, coming back out again, the slaughtering of 15 animals, at the end of the day the scapegoat coming out the east gate, and then over the Mount of Olives and let go into the wilderness, what a remarkable, remarkable picture, and object lesson it must have been. This is where it’s initiated, this is where we’re hearing about it for the first time. And of course that’s the way Jesus in Luke 24, it says he left Jerusalem, he came out of the city, he went up to the Mount of Olives, he went as far as Bethany, and then he ascended, as it were, taking our sins. At that picture, of course, all settled at the cross.

The Remainder Of The Bullock And Goat For The Sin Offerings Are To Be Taken Outside The Camp And Burned

“And Aaron shall come into the tabernacle of congregation, and shall put off the linen garments, which he put on when he went into the holy place, and shall leave them there: and he shall wash his flesh with water in the holy place, and put on his garments, and come forth, and offer his burnt offering, and the burnt offering of the people, and make an atonement for himself, and for the people. And the fat of the sin offering shall he burn upon the altar. And he that let go the goat for the scapegoat shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward come into the camp. And the bullock for the sin offering, and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the holy place, shall one carry forth without the camp; and they shall burn in the fire their skins, and their flesh, and their dung. And he that burneth them shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp. And this shall be a statute for ever 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:” (verses 23-29) Now “afflict your souls,” this day of seriousness, and soberness, to be sober, never to take atonement for granted. Of course in the tradition of Israel, that turned into a day of fasting, of afflicting the soul. [Sabbath-keeping Churches of God disagree, citing Jewish scholars, these Scriptures are interpreted as solidly commanding this day is a day of fasting. Sunday-observing Calvary Chapels do not follow this biblical interpretation. There will come a day, after Jesus’ 2^nd coming, when we’ll know for sure, and it probably will be a commanded day of fasting, as Zechariah 12 strongly implies.] You read Isaiah chapter 58, which speaks to them and says ‘Is this the fast that I chose, you’re crabby because you’re not eating, you’re fighting with your fellow Israelites, you’re yelling at people and whining and complaining, and being hard on your servants.’ He says ‘This isn’t the fast I chose, but it is to pour out your soul for the less fortunate, to give your bread to the hungry, to reach out your hand to the destitute, to fast before me that way, broken for others. Then your health will rise up speedily. Then you’ll call and I’ll answer.’ Even in all of this ritual, the LORD didn’t want just ritual. He wanted their hearts attached to this, he wanted them to understand the wonder of atonement and cleansing. “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: 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.” (verses 29b-30) And you want to read Hebrews chapter 9, beginning around verse 22 on into chapter 10 to about verse 4, where it says there, that Christ was unlike this priesthood, because he was offered once and for all. He was not like the Levitical priesthood, Aaron’s line, that year after year had to go and offer these sacrifices. And it says there it was impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to put away sin, to deal with the problem, that Jesus went once and for all, Peter tells us in 2^nd Peter or 1^st Peter 3:5, that he died once and for all. What wonderful, wonderful news. “It shall be a sabbath of rest unto you, and ye shall afflict your souls, by a statute for ever. And the priest, whom he shall anoint, and whom he shall consecrate to minister in the priest’s office in his father’s stead, shall make the atonement, and shall put on the linen clothes, even the holy garments: And he shall make an atonement for the holy sanctuary, and he shall make an atonement for the tabernacle of the congregation, and for the altar, and he shall make an atonement for the priests, and for all the people of the congregation. And this shall be an everlasting statute unto you, to make an atonement for the children of Israel for all their sins once a year. And he did as the LORD commanded Moses.” (verses 31-34) And I bet he did.

Leviticus 17:1-16

“And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 2 Speak unto Aaron, and unto his sons, and unto all the children of Israel, and say unto them; This is the thing which the LORD hath commanded, saying, 3 What man soever there be of the house of Israel, that killeth an ox, or lamb, or goat, in the camp, or that killeth it out of the camp [for the sake of sacrificing it], 4 and bringeth it not unto the door of the tabernacle, to offer an offering unto the LORD before the tabernacle of the LORD; blood shall be imputed unto that man; he hath shed blood; and that man shall be cut off from among his people: 5 to the end that the children of Israel may bring their sacrifices, which they offer in the open field, even that they may bring them unto the LORD, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, unto the priest, and offer them for peace offerings unto the LORD. 6 And the priest shall sprinkle the blood upon the altar of the LORD at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and burn the fat for a sweet savour unto the LORD. 7 And they shall no more offer their sacrifices unto devils, after whom they have gone a whoring. This shall be a statute for ever unto them throughout their generations. 8 And thou shalt say unto them, Whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers which sojourn among you, that offereth a burnt offering or sacrifice, 9 and bringeth it not unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, to offer it unto the LORD; even that man shall be cut off from among the people. 10 And whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, that eateth any manner of blood; I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people. 11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. 12 Therefore I said unto the children of Israel, No soul of you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger that sojourneth among you eat blood. 13 And whatsoever man there be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, which hunteth and catcheth any beast or fowl that may be eaten; he shall even pour out the blood thereof, and cover it with dust. 14 For it is the life of all flesh; the blood of it is for the life thereof: therefore I said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh: for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof: whosoever eateth it shall be cut off. 15 And every soul that eateth that which dieth of itself, or that was torn with beasts, whether it be one of your own country, or a stranger, he shall both wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even: then shall he be clean. 16 But if he wash them not, nor bathe his flesh; then he shall bear his iniquity.”

Introduction: The Sanctity Of Blood

Two Reasons

“Now as we come to chapter 17, it’s going to talk about the sanctity of blood, because God hallowed it and set it aside, in verse 11 he’s going to say, there’s two reasons God says it’s sacred, one is because the life of the flesh is in the blood, life itself is sustained in the blood. [Life in the more complex lifeforms would not be possible without blood and a circulatory system, that delivers oxygen and food to the cells and takes away carbon dioxide and wastes from the cells.] And secondly he says, ‘I have given it to you on the altar to make an atonement for your souls.’ So because of that, blood should be regarded in a certain way. And knowing the culture that they came out of in Egypt, knowing the culture they were going to face in Canaan, he says some very specific things to them about their attitude towards life, blood, the attitude that should keep them separate from the pagan religions around them.

There Is To Be Only One Place For You To Sacrifice Your Sacrifices

“And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto Aaron, and unto his sons, and unto all the children of Israel, and say unto them; This is the thing which the LORD hath commanded, saying, What man soever there be of the house of Israel, that killeth an ox, or lamb, or goat, in the camp, or that killeth it out of the camp [for the sake of sacrificing it], and bringeth it not unto the door of the tabernacle, to offer an offering unto the LORD before the tabernacle of the LORD; blood shall be imputed unto that man; he hath shed blood; and that man shall be cut off from among his people:” (verses 1-4) Now this is what he says, it’s in regards to their wilderness wandering. In Deuteronomy chapter 12 this statute will be altered, as they come into the land and spread out through the entire land. Here, because they’re traveling in the camp, because the Pillar of Fire is there, because every day they have a supply of Manna, they have a miraculous sustenance, and I’m sure in the Manna was all your amino acids, all your minerals, all your vitamins, everybody could eat it, there were no allergies. You didn’t have to worry about everything that we worry about now, if you’re gluten intolerant it didn’t matter, you could eat Manna. So that was there. So what he says is ‘I don’t want anybody in the camp of Israel, in our journey, slaughtering an ox or an animal and not bringing that to the Tabernacle. If you want to eat meat, you bring that to the Tabernacle, there’s one place for sacrifice, there’s one place for blood to be shed, there’s one God, there’s one Tabernacle, there’s one Altar, there is one order to all of this,’ because he didn’t want them tempted to set up their own worship, to worship in some other place. Imagine that, here’s God again telling them ‘I want you to gather to a place.’ He tells us in Hebrews ‘that we should not neglect the gathering together of ourselves, as is the manner of some, especially as we see the day drawing near.’ We should be stirring one another up to faith and good works, especially as we see the day drawing near. It’s amazing for me to see some people come here, cancer, wheelchairs, we have blind folks that come regularly. And then some folks ‘Oh, I had a hangnail, haven’t been here in a couple weeks, I had a headache, and stay out for the month of September.’ Look, God calls his people to a place, as an assembly, there’s order. And I think television church is great for the person, possibly, that is paralyzed or for some reason can’t get out. But when we gather, and he gathers in our midst, there’s something that takes place in a public assembly that doesn’t take place in any other environment. [The electronic law of mutual inductance mirrors what occurs when even just two Holy Spirit indwelt people draw near to each other in fellowship. The magnetic inductance force when two inductors are drawn close to each other doesn’t merely add the two inductive levels of force together as one sum, but an extra amount of inductive force is generated and added to the force of the two inductors. This is a picture of what occurs when two or more believers gather together for fellowship, whether informally, or within a church service. It’s like having two logs burning next to each other in a fireplace. Move them apart, and the fire dies down, and even goes out in some instances. Three logs, two closely next to each other, and one on top really gets the fire burning. We can’t see it, but each truly Holy Spirit indwelt believer is glowing from within, the Spirit glowing within us.] I think it’s important for us to gather together as best we can. And God understands when we can’t, and his grace is there. We always have some folks laying in the hospital, laying home convalescing under the care of a physician, wishing they were here, we always have them, we should pray for them. But here the LORD challenges them, ‘If you’re going to worship, I don’t want you offering a sacrifice somewhere outside the camp, be tempted to offer it in some other way, at some other altar, you come to the Tabernacle, that where the priests and Levites would always have their due,’ because as they offered the peace offerings, part of that went to the priests, part of it went to the worshipper, part of it went to the LORD. He says ‘I don’t want that being shed everywhere, like it’s a common thing.’ He says, here’s why, “to the end that the children of Israel may bring their sacrifices, which they offer in the open field, even that they may bring them unto the LORD, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, unto the priest, and offer them for peace offerings unto the LORD.” (verse 5) You know, we just would like convenience religion, shoot the lamb in the backyard from the window, not even getting dressed in the morning, go out there in your pajamas, ‘Boom!’ people like that, convenient. It isn’t always convenient. But there’s a wonderful experience on the other side of obedience. Listen, many of us in this room can have the tendency of being quitters. And God understands that, some of us are fragile and made in different ways. But you know, it’s always one step beyond our quitting point where our whole life with Jesus flourishes and moves forward, it’s always one step on the other side of obedience, where wonderful things take place. And he never asks us for anything and then he’s going to be our debtor, he’s never going to owe us, that’s just never going to happen. He gives us 100-fold, he says to the intent, that they come, they bring their peace offering before the LORD, “And the priest shall sprinkle the blood upon the altar of the LORD at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and burn the fat for a sweet savour unto the LORD. And they shall no more offer their sacrifices unto devils, after whom they have gone a whoring. This shall be a statute for ever unto them throughout their generations. And thou shalt say unto them, Whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers which sojourn among you, that offereth a burnt offering or sacrifice, and bringeth it not unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, to offer it unto the LORD; even that man shall be cut off from among the people.” (verses 6-9) Now when we read that idea of cut off, many times it means their life is cut off, sometimes it means they’re cut off from fellowship, but the context here seems to be idolatry, so this would be a death sentence. As we get to chapter 20, these things will be outlined again quickly in regards to the sentences passed, we’re going to find there’s 15 things that were capital crimes, that carried a death sentence, I believe 15 of them. So very interesting as we move forward and look at some of these things. [Comment: We must remember, that the Law of God as given in the books of Exodus through Deuteronomy were the Constitutional Laws of the Land for the physical nation of Israel, and will yet be the Constitutional Laws for all the nations of the world during the Millennial reign of Jesus Christ and the resurrected, immortal saints of God. The punishments and death penalties in this Constitutional law of God do not apply to the Church, the greater Body of Christ. If someone is deliberately and willfully breaking any of the Ten Commandment laws of God, as outlined in the four Gospels and Epistles, as Paul showed in 1^st Corinthians 5, the only thing the church can do is kick that individual out of church. Where certain church movements, such as the Puritans, try to enforce a theocratic government over a state and people living within that state, this is unbiblical and leads to many evils. Christian-nationalism nowadays is headed in this direction, and it’s evil. The greater history of the Roman Catholic church is a history of that church marrying itself in an unholy marriage to state governments, utilizing those state governments to enforce Catholic dogma, and often having those state governments killing those individuals it views as heretics. Millions died under those evils of church abuse of power. This is not God’s way, nor does the Church, the greater Body of Christ have such authority in carrying out Old Testament Law of God penalties. Obedience to the Laws of God is totally voluntary within the Church, carried out through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit (see https://unityinchrist.com/topical%20studies/America-ModernRomans6.htm).]

You Are To Eat No Manner Of Blood

So, here, “and bringeth it not unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, to offer it unto the LORD; even that man shall be cut off from among the people. And whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, that eateth any manner of blood; I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people.” (verses 9-10) now you don’t have to tell me that, really, I mean. My family’s German and you know, they ate some weird things, I can pick on Germans because I am one, but they eat some weird stuff. If you go to a real German butchershop and see some of the things they squeeze inside of an intestine, some of it’s really interesting. They make blood pudding, that’s one of the things, and blutwurst and different things. Look, we’re under grace now, so you can enjoy that [no]. “that eateth any manner of blood; I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people.” (verse 10) We come now to this central verse “For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.” (verse 11) It is hallowed because God has decided that was the thing that was to be poured out to make an atonement for the soul, “Therefore I said unto the children of Israel, No soul of you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger that sojourneth among you eat blood.” (verse 12) the life of the flesh is in the blood. One of the problems in Israel today is there hasn’t been a blood sacrifice since 70AD. One of the problems for the religious Jews in Israel today, who say ‘We’re righteous before God because of faith.’ Well faith in the Old Testament was relative to that blood sacrifice that was in front of them, it wasn’t the blood that was removing the sin, it was the blood that was offered in faith, the worshipper came, and the worshipper was never examined, the bull was examined, the lamb was examined. The worshipper just by coming with a lamb was admitting he had a problem. The one that had to be spotless and without blemish was the lamb. And it was in that sacrifice, and then faith, in the idea that there is an innocent substitute that’s died in my place, that God honoured that faith. The life of the flesh is in the blood. I don’t know what Adam and Eve were like physiologically before the fall [I don’t either, but I assume they were just normal human beings]. Jesus when he rose from the dead, no doubt his blood, a picture of these sacrifices, was bled out. When he said to his disciple Thomas ‘Touch me, doth a spirit hath flesh and bone?’ He didn’t say flesh and blood, he said ‘Doth a spirit hath flesh and bone?’ And it says in the resurrection our bodies shall be fashioned like unto his glorious body. So in the resurrection our bodies will have a spirit drive system, not a blood drive. [Jesus, as being very God, God the son, is like God the Father, whom the apostle John called a fiery Spirit, i.e. God and the angels are spirit-beings. And if Jesus is now a spirit-being, we shall be also in the resurrection to immortality. Paul says in 1^st Corinthians 15, that both flesh and blood shall not inherit eternal life. So, different denominations have different minor secondary doctrinal teachings about these things. That’s ok.] Right now we’re a very complicated carbon-burning machine. Your blood circulating, ah, 58 quarts an hour, 3,000 gallons a day, while we’re here studying the Bible for an hour after the worship ended, your complete blood will go through your complete system 88 times in an hour. This is just free information about blood. And it’s a remarkable system, because it goes through your lungs, it picks up oxygen, it picks up things it needs [sugar, minerals], and it transports them to every single cell of your body. In 1616, I forget his name right now, the man who discovered and started the diagram of the circulatory system started to understand what a remarkable thing that it was. And as the blood goes down from arteries to capillaries, capillary the Latin word for hair, because your capillaries are actually thinner than human hair. And your corpuscles, your blood gets in line single file, they don’t know why, everybody in line, gets in line to go through the capillaries, singled file, and squeeze through them. If you have good circulation, you’re warm because those corpuscles squeezing through the capillaries cause friction and give you heat. If you have bad circulation your hands and your feet are always cold, my wife, her hands are freezing. She makes great pies, somebody here knows I’m telling the truth. If you have cold hands, when you work with the yeast, the yeast doesn’t rise, you make better pastries. I’m just trying to be positive about that. [laughter] So, this remarkable system, they don’t know how they know to do that. If you cut yourself, it somehow, there is a link between your circulatory system and your neurological system that they don’t understand. You know they make artificial blood now and it’s saved people’s lives, but it lacks so many of the things they’re still discovering about real blood. Because if you cut yourself, somehow there’s a signal that goes out in your system that says ‘Leak! Err, err, leak!’ or something like that, that your blood understands, and immediately cells begin to go to that area, coagulants, to stop the bleeding, other cells go to begin to mend tissue immediately, and your white cells that are going, go there to fight infection, take the shortest route, they leave the vein or capillary and travel right through muscle tissue, they take a right and leave the vein and take the shortest route to the wound. And doctors have no idea, ‘Who told them to do that? Who told them the route? How’d they know they could leave, who made up the rules here?’ You know, there’s so much that goes on here, the Bible not a scientific book per se, but science always corroborating the wonder of Scripture and the things that it says, and here it says, life the way we know it is sustained by the blood. Again, a girl Kathy and I knew on the West Coast, we were friends with her father, he had been wounded in World War II running onto a beach in the South Pacific, and got hit with a shell and blew both of his legs off. And he said “I was laying there watching other soldiers run by me, Marines,” and said, “I could literally feel my life running out of my legs into the sand, I could never explain it, but I laid there, and I could feel my life running into the sand.” Of course he lived, because that’s how I found out the story. What a wonderful Christian, joy-filled man, a remarkable guy. But the life, it says here, is in the blood.

A Very Dangerous New Heresy Is Arising In The Church

Interesting, I was listening to my old tapes, 10 or 11 years ago, and mentioned that in the liberal strains of the Church, there’s something coming to the surface called “Slaughterhouse Religion,” where liberal theologians are mocking the atonement [see https://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/slaughterhousereligion.htm (this source, by the way, is merely exposing this “new wind of religious doctrine,” not endorsing it as being true, but more as a heresy)]. It has come to the surface in such a remarkable [and disgusting] way, and any of you guys who got the book “Faith Undone,” read the 11^th chapter, the whole 11^th chapter is on “Slaughterhouse Religion,” there are those out there today saying that Jesus did not die on the cross for our sins, that the Father would never send his Son there to die for our sins, that that is child abuse, that it’s prehistoric religion, that it’s cruel, and it’s a vile doctrine, the Atonement of Christ. Can you believe that? [Amazon review: Faith Undone Paperback – July 1, 2017 by Roger Oakland (Author) “Is the emerging church movement just another passing fad, a more contemporary approach to church, or the discontent grumblings of young people looking for answers? In fact, it is much broader and is influencing Christianity to a significant degree. Grounded in a centuries-old mystical approach, this movement is powerful yet highly deceptive, and it draws its energy from practices and experiences that are foreign to biblical Christianity. The path the emerging church is taking is leading right into the arms of an interfaith perspective that has prophetically profound ramifications. It is indeed a new way of being Christians, and in every conceivable manner, it is striving to bring about a new reformation. Without a doubt, it will have an impact on all churches in the Western world and far beyond. For behind this new kind of church is a well-designed strategy and maneuver by the prince of this world, the enemy of our souls, to literally take apart the faith of millions—it will be nothing less than faith undone.”] Leon Morris says the word “blood” is in the Bible 460 times, 362 times in the Old Testament, 98 times in the New Testament, right from the Book of Genesis when God showed Adam and Eve blood sacrifice, right to Cain & Abel, Abel offering a blood sacrifice, right to Noah getting off the Ark and offering a blood sacrifice, right through the Passover night when the blood of the lambs brought redemption to the children of Israel, through Israel’s entire sacrificial system, to the cross of Jesus Christ, to you and I, standing in his presence in heaven, and it says in the midst of the elders and in the midst of the thrones, and in the midst of the four beasts was a Lamb with the marks of slaughter upon it. A lamb with the marks of slaughter, Jesus Christ dictating the Book of Revelation, his favorite name for himself is the Lamb of God, 28 times in the Book of Revelation, blood from one end to the other. Not gross, not, God’s love, atonement, redemption, provision. And I listen to some of these guys today preaching, and I think, I listen to this guy for an hour, I’m glad he’s not selling cars, I’d have bought one. But besides that, I don’t know what he’s talking about. I didn’t hear blood once, I didn’t hear repentance once, I didn’t hear cross once, I didn’t hear redemption once, I didn’t hear sin once. It’s remarkable, redemption is being pushed aside in modern theology to be [so that it is] non-offensive. But it is the anchor of our souls. It is the center of everything we believe. The Bible tells us that the blood of Jesus Christ, through his blood, we’re justified, through his blood we’re redeemed, through his blood we’re washed, through his blood we’re sanctified, through his blood we’re brought near, through his blood we’re cleansed, through his blood we’re purchased, through his blood we have forgiveness, go through the New Testament and see what it says about his blood. It’s the reason we’re here this evening. I’m not ashamed of that, I’m not ashamed of that. And every other form of child abuse, child sacrifice in pagan religions is a perversion and a counterfeit of the one sacrifice that was made before the world’s were formed. And who offered Christ? ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believed in him would not perish but have everlasting life.’ Did the Father offer Jesus? Jesus said, ‘I lay down my life, no man takes it from me, if I lay it down I take it up again,’ it says in Hebrews ‘he was offered through the eternal Spirit,’ so who offered Jesus, the Spirit, the Father, or himself? Yes. Was there abuse in that? No. It was voluntary on every front. It was done with a love that in the ages to come we’ll still be coming to understand, and a mercy we’ll still be learning about, because it was poured out on our behalf, so that sinners like you and I, and Aaron and Moses and David and Saul of Tarsus and so many others could be cleansed and forgiven, and accepted before a holy God. And throughout his Book, he wants that whole idea reverenced. In this chapter he’s challenging them not to take blood for granted, not to abuse blood. In fact, in the Book of Acts, in the New Testament, the question comes to James and the elders in Jerusalem, the apostles, do the Gentiles need to be circumcised? And they wrestled through it and said ‘Why should we lay any burden, a yoke of burden upon them that neither ourselves or our fathers were able to bear? If they will do these necessary things, it seemeth good to the Holy Ghost and to us, that if you abstain from blood, things strangled, idolatry, sexual immorality, fornication, yea do well.’ Even in the New Testament there was this abstaining from blood, because the Roman world was polluted with sacrifice to idols and blood. God says here, ‘The life of the flesh is in the blood.’ “and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. Therefore I said unto the children of Israel, No soul of you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger that sojourneth among you eat blood.” (verses 11-12)

The Hunting And Killing Of Animals For Food

“And whatsoever man there be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, which hunteth and catcheth any beast or fowl that may be eaten; he shall even pour out the blood thereof, and cover it with dust.” (verses 11b-13) now this is someone that’s hunting for game, animals that would be considered clean but not for sacrifice. So even in the field it says, you take an antelope, you take something they could never get obviously to the Tabernacle, and it’s an animal that’s not to be sacrificed at the Tabernacle, and they take that game for food, that where they kill that animal they should drain the blood there, and then out of respect cover that blood with dirt so it’s not visible, even to that point, reverence. “For it is the life of all flesh; the blood of it is for the life thereof: therefore I said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh: for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof: whosoever eateth it shall be cut off. And every soul that eateth that which dieth of itself, or that was torn with beasts, whether it be one of your own country, or a stranger, he shall both wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even: then shall he be clean.” (verses 14-15) I wouldn’t need this verse you’d think, you find a dead animal it says, if you’re going to mess with that or eat it, you’re unclean till evening, don’t come around. Probably talking about an animal in the flock that falls off a ledge and you see it die, or something that’s attacked by another predator and is killed, if you or a stranger partake of that, wash your clothes, bathe yourself in water and be unclean until the evening. “But if he wash them not, nor bathe his flesh; then he shall bear his iniquity.” (verse 16) there’s punishment then for that. Now, as we head into chapter 18, which we really don’t have enough time to do this evening, chapter 18 through 20 really speaks about their conduct. In chapters 18 to 20 it says ‘Because I am the LORD your God’ 26 times. God will give them a reason ‘I don’t want you to do this.’ You’ve raised kids, right? ‘Why!?’ I mean, how many times have you had your kids, at 3 or 4 or 5 and you say ‘No, you’re not allowed to do that.’ ‘Why!?’ Well 26 times in chapters 18 to 20 it says ‘Because I am the LORD your God.’ 42 times in chapters 18 to 26 it says that, this is the reason, ‘Because I am the LORD your God.’ And you would say that to your kid, ‘Because I’m 230 lbs and you’re a shrimp, that’s why.’ He has no other explanation needed. And the LORD says ‘Because I am the LORD your God,’ that’s good enough, that’s good enough, his Word, that’s good enough. Because I’m sure if he appeared in your bedroom and said ‘I don’t want you to do that anymore,’ you wouldn’t say ‘Why?’ ‘Because I am the LORD your God. You understand?’ ‘Yup, yup, yup, yup, yup…’ So read ahead, very interesting things in these chapters as we move into them. I’m having a great time in Leviticus, it has a bad reputation somehow, I kind of really like it. And we’re through some of the tougher things, we’ve dipped down and come up where there’s some fun things.

In Closing

So I encourage you to read ahead, next week if the Lord tarries, ah, 18, 19, 18 and 19, let’s go for that, if we’re bold, 20, read the next three chapters, just to be prepared as we go into these things. But let’s have the musicians come. Look, let’s set our hearts, let’s worship, we have time for two songs, and the Lord already told these guys what they should be. We’re going to put the book out again, Sunday, we’ve got them at cost we’re giving them to you for, I don’t normally do this, I think it’s important for you to know, I think it’s an important read, ‘Faith Undone,’ because it talks about the Emerging/or Emergent church. And that’s very hard to define, the borders are unclear and foggy. And within what calls itself the Emergent church there’s some wonderful people that say some great things, then 5 percent weird stuff, there’s some very dark characters, who are very malevolent in what they’re putting forth, and it’s very dark, and very hurtful and blasphemous. But you need to be aware. And look, the rule has always been this, we need to remember, because we want to be nice to each other, but look, the rule is this, “A little leaven leavens the whole lump.” “Ye shall not sow mingled seed, ye shall not weave together wool and linen, you shall not plow with an ass and an ox.” There’s an unequalness that we’re to stay away from. The Bible says in Proverbs, “Every word of God is pure.” So we have what we need here, it’s so obvious and it’s so clear. But it’s being pushed aside, it’s being stepped away from, and I’m slowly, we’re always, the pastors, we worked through this for months at staff meetings, ‘we don’t want to be Pharisees, what do we need to see? Are there good things, what can we learn? And what are the promises being made that can never be kept, and what are things that are just dark here and wrong, and coming like an angel of light, with consequences that we don’t want to think about in the long run?’ And it’s certainly something we need to think about today, and look, as time goes on, more and more we’re getting painted into the corner of ‘You’re a fundamentalist,’ ah, Christine Amanpour, if you ask her, she’s on TV, there’s fundamentalists in Islam and there’s fundamentalists in Christianity, they consider you one of those, trouble-makers, in keeping the world from having a one-world religion and one-world government, everything’s your fault now. I told them, I tried to teach ‘em but they won’t listen, it’s all their fault. And then fundamentalist Jews, very interesting to see that, this is CNN, this is the major networks, this is the trend, and there’s a church that wants to be in step with that, that’s willing to sacrifice everything that’s sacred for the sake of power and acceptance and inclusiveness and political correctness, and one day it will end in lending itself from Laodicea to the great whore, no doubt. And we will be gone. From the mezzanine I don’t care what they do with that. But let’s pray, let’s be thankful that we understand that he shed his blood for us, poured his life out for you and I, what a wonderful thing that is, that we will never have to stand before God by our performance, it’s never going to be because we’re worthy. Remember in Revelation chapter 5, it says John cried because no man was found worthy in heaven, on the earth, or under the earth to open the Seals. That alleviated tremendous pressure from me, I thought I was the one for years that had to be worthy. No man was found worthy, but the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, behold the Lamb, he is the one, he is the one that is worthy. And everyone in this room, whatever amount of sins we have, if we come to Christ in faith, it is washed in the blood of the Lamb, undeserved, unearned, all of his grace, all of his majesty, all of his power on our behalf. And I can’t wait to see him, and throw whatever crowns I might come out of this with, at his feet, at his feet. Let’s stand, let’s pray…[transcript of a connective expository sermon on Leviticus 16:1-34 and Leviticus 17:1-16, given by Pastor Joe Focht, Calvary Chapel of Philadelphia, 13500 Philmont Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19116]