WHO IS JESUS CHRIST? (2 of 3)

Unchanging Faith ❧ Part 9

Leviticus 16 ❧ Pastor, Dr. John Denney

If you spend much time reading the Bible, sooner or later, a clear and amazing picture begins to emerge.  The picture really is unmistakable – you can’t miss it.  It is a picture of the greatest Person who has ever lived – the Lord Jesus Christ.  But there’s not just one picture, there are many. One Bible teacher notes there are at least 156 pictures of Jesus in the Old Testament alone! In addition to this, there are more than 800 names and titles for Jesus in the entire Bible.  Why so many pictures and so many names?  I think the famous 19^th century evangelist Billy Sunday had the best answer to this question when he said it was because Jesus is, “infinitely beyond all that any one name could express.”  Jesus, both in His Person and in His Work, is the predominant theme of the entire Bible. No other Person or any other book in all of history ever spoken with greater authority and power than Jesus and the Bible.  And no other Person or book has changed the world like Jesus or the Bible.  Because of this, it is not surprising to find there is no other Person more loved or hated than Jesus.  The same is true for the Bible. 

This morning we’re going to look at a second message concerning the most important question we could ever be asked, or answer for that matter. It is the question: Who Is Jesus Christ? As we think of Communion this morning, I want to take us to the third book of the OT, the book of Leviticus, and look at what is one of the most amazing pictures of Jesus in the Bible. This picture more than gives us a stunning portrait of Jesus, it shows us how God wants us to approach Him as we prepare for Communion. 

Turn with me to Leviticus 16.  The moment you read the first verse you get the impression you’ve just stepped smack-dab into the middle of a movie.  No one likes to start a movie halfway through.  It’s almost impossible to make sense of what is going on unless you can push the pause button and have someone watching it catch you up to speed.  So, let’s push the pause button and I’ll give you a thumbnail sketch of what is going on.  

Aaron, the High Priest, just lost two of his sons because they tried to approach God using “strange fire” (Lev. 10:1).  The people of Israel were painfully reminded God is holy and must be treated as holy.  You can’t treat God anyway you’d like and think He’s okay with it.  God’s holiness is the most emphasized attribute of His character in the Bible (Isa. 6:3). Aaron’s two sons, Nadab and Abihu, learned the hard way.  And now Aaron, the priests, as well as the people of Israel were now scared spitless to approach God.  God knew this. Even though God is holy, He is also forgiving and gracious. God wants them to know this, so He gives them an amazing picture of His grace and forgiveness, which is really a picture of Jesus.  God tells Aaron he is to clothe himself in simple linen garments. That is, he’s not to wear his royal High Priestly robe.  Then he is to take two unblemished male goats and bring them to the entrance of the Tabernacle as a sin offering (v. 7).  Lots were to be cast, like flipping a coin, to decide what would happen with each goat. One would be offered as a sacrifice and the other released deep into the wilderness (v. 8).  After the one is sacrificed, God tells Aaron to place his hands on the head of the remaining goat and confess over it all the sins of wickedness and rebellion of Israel (v. 21). Then, that goat was led into the wilderness where it would remain far away from the people of Israel. The first goat that was offered as a sacrifice showed the requirement for sin – its shed blood represents life given as payment for sin.  The second goat that was released showed the result of the shed blood – the punishment Israel deserved for their sin was removed from them never to return.  All of this takes place on Israel’s most holy of days, Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur = Day of Covering).  It is the day where God’s holiness and grace come together in the two goats portraying an amazing picture of Jesus.  God is showing them, as well as us, how to confidently approach Him.  Six important truths God wants us to know in approaching Him. How God Wants Us to Approach Him.  

1. We must come to God only by His invitation. (Aaron)shall not enter at any time into the holy place inside the veil, before the mercy seat which is on the ark, or he will die(Leviticus 16:2). Aaron’s two sons made the deadly mistake of trying to approach on their own terms.  God was saying to Aaron you can’t just waltz in before Me any way you like.  In Isaiah 6, the prophet Isaiah is brought before God’s throne.  One of the first things he sees and hears are angels calling out, Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts… (Isaiah 6:3, NAS).  Overwhelmed by God’s holiness and his own sinfulness, Isaiah cries out Woe is me! For I am ruined! Because I a man of unclean lips(v.5). If we think being holy means being stodgy, stuck-up, religious sticks-in-the-mud, we’ve got it all wrong.  Holy has the same root as wholly, meaning complete, whole in body, heart, soul, and mind. The old word for holy in German is Heilig, which also means healthy.  We long to be pure, healthy, and whole – without the stain of sin, shame, and guilt. God is completely without sin, shame or guilt – the way we long to be! God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all(1 John 1:5b). C. S. Lewis: How little people know who think that holiness is dull. When one meets real thing, it is irresistible. 

God, through Jesus’ sin cleansing work on the cross offers to remove our sin damaged lives of guilt and shame and make us whole again giving us His peace. We have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith,Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory (Romans 5:1-2, NLT). 

1. We must come to God with an offering for our sin. He shall take from the congregation of the sons of Israel two male goats for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering (Leviticus 16:5). They could not come before God without an offering for their sin.  The two goats were for a sin offering.  One was chosen for sacrifice and the other as the escape goat, a picture of God permanently removing the people’s sins and the punishment they deserved. 

God was doing this not just for Israel, but us as well.  Jesus is seen in both goats; He is our sin offering and He is our escape goat permanently removing our sin and its punishment far from us. God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time(Hebrews 10:10, NLT). With his own blood—not the blood of goats and calves—he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever(Hebrews 9:12). Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him (Hebrews 7:25). People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood(Romans 3:25, NLT). 

1. We must come to God through a mediator.  On just about any other day the Tabernacle would be busy with the activity of others.  But not on this day.  The only person at work was the High Priest. The High Priest alone was to come before God and make an offering for the sins of the people. When he goes in to make atonement in the holy place, no one shall be in the tent of meeting until he comes out (Leviticus 16:17). The Bible says Jesus is our great High Priest (Heb. 4:14), Who is our Mediator between us and God. For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5).  In John 14, Jesus makes an incredible statement.  He says, I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me(John 14:6). Notice Jesus didn’t say He is one of many ways to God.  He said He is the only way.  

1. We must come to God in humility. You shall humble your souls and not do any work…(V. 29).  They were to do two things: humble themselves and not do any work.  Humility means seeing ourselves as we truly are in view of Who God truly is. In fact, the word here has the idea of looking down.  When we do this, we see the desperate plight of our own sinfulness and our great need for God’s forgiveness.  We’re more than sorry for our sins, we’re sick of them and want to be rid of them.  We want to do what is right before God.  James gets at the heart of this when he says: Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy (James 4:8-9, NLT). The Bible calls this repentance. Vance Havner, one of yesteryears great preachers commented, Repentance is almost a lost note in our preaching and experience and the lack of it is filling our churches with baptized sinners who have never felt the guilt of sin or the need of a Savior … We are trying to get young people to say, ‘Here am I’ before they have ever said, ‘Woe is me!’ 

Nor were they to do any work.  What a powerful picture! Just as Israel could not justified by their works, nor can we.  Just as their sin was atoned for apart from their works, so is ours. When one of Great Britian’s great evangelists, Rodney “Gypsy” Smith got saved, an elderly gentleman explained to him the importance of trusting Christ alone. Gypsy Smith got it. He revealed both a great humility and trust in Christ when he replied, “I cannot trust myself, for I am nothing; and I cannot trust in what I have, for I have nothing; and I cannot trust in what I know, for I know nothing.” 

1. We must come to God in confession. Then Aaron shall lay both of his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the sons of Israel and all their transgressions in regard (in addition) to all their sins; and he shall lay them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who stands in readiness(Leviticus 16:21).  Notice how complete this confess was all the iniquities of the sons of Israel ,all their transgressions, all their sins. No sin was left undealt with. NLT translates this mutinous trio of sin as: all the wickedness, rebellion, and sins of the people. 

1. We must come to God in faith alone. You shall humble your souls and not do any work (Leviticus 16:29). We’ve already touched on this, but I want to emphasize that just as we’re forgiven and saved by our faith alone in Christ, so were the saints of the OT.  The Bible tells us in Colossians Israel’s whole system of worship was a shadow of which Jesus is the substance (Col. 2:17; Heb. 8:5). In other words, God was showing them a picture of Jesus through their whole system of worship long before He came!  We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are… (Romans 3:22, NLT).

A pastor was giving an invitation at the end of his Sunday morning message when a five-year old boy, sensing the invitation of the Holy Spirit came down the aisle. Not knowing if the boy was old enough to understand salvation, the pastor took him to his office and began to ask some theological questions. The more he questioned, the more confused the boy became. Finally, in exasperation, the little guy stopped and innocently pleaded, “Pastor Patterson, in your message this morning you said that if I would come and ask Jesus to save me—He would! 

How Does God Want Us To Approach Him? 

We must come to God only by His invitation.

We must come to God with an offering for our sin.

We must come to God through a mediator.  

We must come to God in humility.

We must come to God in confession.

We must come to God in faith alone.