JEWELS FROM SUNDAY SCHOOL - USING SCRIPTURE TO UNDERSTAND SCRIPTURE

JEWELS FROM SUNDAY SCHOOL

USING SCRIPTURE

TO UNDERSTAND SCRIPTURE

Explore the Bible – Session 12

Bible Skill on p. 114

Leviticus 16:3-6 3 Thus shall Aaron come into the holy place: with a young bullock for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt 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, 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. 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. And Aaron shall offer his bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make an atonement for himself, and for his house.

Susie: On the Day of Atonement, Aaron had to follow specific procedures prescribed by God. He had to bathe, put on special clothing, and prepare everything in order. Once all was in place, his first task was to offer a sacrifice for his own sins and those of his own household. He could not officiate sacrifices for others until he was cleansed from his own sin.

Hebrews 9:7 But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people:

Susan: Again in Hebrews, we are told the high priest could enter the Holy of Holies only once a year and only after offering a blood sacrifice for his own sins and those of his household. After he offered a sacrifice for himself, he was covered. Only then was he acceptable to offer a sacrifice on behalf of the people.

Hebrews 9:11-12 But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.

Susie: Jesus as our High Priest, had no need to offer bulls or goats as a sacrifice for His own sins because He was the perfect, sinless Lamb. He had the right to enter the heavenly holy of holies because of His own blood.

Susan: Because Jesus was, from eternity, the perfect Son of God, he had no need to offer a sacrifice for Himself. He had the authority to enter the Holy of Holies in Heaven after offering Himself as a sacrifice for sinful men.

Hebrews 9:13 For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

Susan: Jesus’s sacrifice did not cleanse us externally alone, but internally to the heart and soul, the very core of our being.

Leviticus 16: 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: 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.

Leviticus 16:34 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.

Susan: In Hebrew, this day is known as Yom Kippur and is still celebrated yearly with reverent fasting among the Jews.

Susie: The sacrifice of animals demanded by God was only a foreshadowing of the sacrifice made of the final, perfect Lamb of God. The Day of Atonement served as a temporary cleansing and had to be repeated every year.

Hebrews 9: 22 And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 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: Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

Susan: The Tabernacle and the Temple were pictures of the permanent Temple in Heaven. 

Susie: The priest had to enter each year on the Day of Atonement to purge Israel, to cleanse its people from their sin.

Susan: Jesus, acting as our High Priest, only had to offer Himself once to cleanse away our sin. Jesus’s blood was the soap of His love to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Hebrews 10:3-4 But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.

Susie: The blood of the Jewish sacrifices could not permanently remove sin. Thus, the sacrifices had to be made over and over again.

Hebrews 10: 9 Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God;

Susan: The sacrificial system under the Law of Moses was replaced by the sacrifice of God Himself wrapped in the human form of His Son, Jesus. The Old Covenant of the Law was replaced by the New Covenant of His blood shed for the remission of sins.

Matthew 26:28 For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

Susie: The blood of Jesus shed on the cross was the final sacrifice and the only means of reconciliation, atonement, for our sins.

Hebrews 10: 19 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; And having an high priest over the house of God; Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.

Susan: Because of Jesus’s acceptable sacrifice of Himself, those who have trusted Him and received this precious gift of God can enter into the presence of the Lord with boldness and confidence. Rather than being separated from God by the chasm of our sin, we now enjoy “familyship”—our relationship is that of child to Father—because of the blood of Jesus.

Susie: Believers are no longer covered with the guilt and shame of sin. We are made pure in God’s eyes because of Jesus’s death on our behalf. This is what is meant by being “covered by the blood.”

In summary, Aaron and his descendants had to offer sacrifices for themselves before others and had to sacrifice year after year to atone for the sins of Israel.

Jesus was Himself the perfect sacrifice given one time only to satisfy God’s judgement and make atonement for those who would receive Him. He had no need to sacrifice on His own behalf because He lived a perfect, sinless life as the God-man.