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Good morning, church. We’ll continue our studies from the book of Leviticus. Today we’ll look at Leviticus chapter 16. We’ll read a couple of verses. Please open your Bibles to Leviticus chapter 16, and we’ll read verses 15 to 20. Leviticus chapter 16, verses 15 to 20. I’m reading from the ESV version: “Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the people and bring its blood inside the veil and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, sprinkling it over the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat. Thus he shall make atonement for the Holy Place, because of the uncleannesses of the people of Israel and because of their transgressions, all their sins. And so he shall do for the
“tent of meeting, which dwells with them in the midst of their uncleannesses. No one may be in the tent of meeting from the time he enters to make atonement in the Holy Place until he comes out and has made atonement for himself and for his house and for all the assembly of Israel. Then he shall go out to the altar that is before the Lord and make atonement for it, and shall take some of the blood of the bull and some of the blood of the goat and put it on the horns of the altar all around. And then he shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times and cleanse it and consecrate it from the uncleannesses of the people of Israel.
“And when he has made an end of atoning for the Holy Place and the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall present the live goat.” Verse 29 and 30: “And it shall be a statute to you forever that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict yourselves and shall do no work, either the native or the stranger who sojourns among you. For on this day shall atonement be made for you to cleanse you. You shall be clean before the Lord from all your sins.” I want to read one more Scripture portion from Hebrews chapter 9, and we’ll read verse 12. Hebrews chapter 9, verse 12.
It says, “He entered once for all into the Holy Places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of His own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.” This is the point that I want to argue for in today’s sermon, or we can say that this is a central point of this sermon: Jesus, the perfect and final sacrifice who bore our sin and shame outside the camp by dying as our substitute, brings us near to God. Let’s pray. Father, we thank You for Your Word.
We pray that You would allow Your Spirit to work in our lives, enlighten our eyes, give us grace to see Your glory, Your love, Your mercies, and help us also see our sins in the light of Your holiness and lead us into repentance. Fill us with hearts of thanksgiving, Lord. We pray that we may be grateful to You and live each day, Lord, because of Your grace and mercy that You have shown towards us through the finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ. May these biblical truths be formed as convictions in our hearts, that our lives may be governed by Your truth. So, Lord Father,
in Jesus Christ’s name we pray, amen. Now, there are books of the Bible which we are drawn to naturally, like the Psalms, with their honesty, the honest prayers; and the Gospels, with the stories of Jesus, the beautiful stories during the times of our Lord; or the letters of Paul, with their depth.
And then there is Leviticus. Leviticus may seem difficult to modern readers because of its detailed rituals on sacrifice, priestly duties, dietary laws, and cleanliness, which seem outdated and irrelevant for today’s Church. Some dismiss it as a divine administrative guide, a collection of outdated laws that the Christian reader may safely pass over on the way, especially from the books of Genesis to Psalms. What many Christians miss is that the Pentateuch, that is, the first five books of the Bible, centers on the book of Leviticus, and Leviticus centers on Leviticus chapter 16, the Day of
Atonement, or the Hebrews call it Yom Kippur. To skip Leviticus is to miss the very heart of the Bible. Leviticus 16, the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, is the most solemn day in Israel’s calendar. And what is the problem that this Day of Atonement addresses? It is the most fundamental problem in the entire universe.
God is holy, and we are not. He is light; we are darkness. He is life; we brought death. He is consuming fire of infinite moral holiness and purity, and we are sinners who have wandered away from the ways of God. This morning we will walk through Leviticus 16 with one guiding question.
“What must happen for sinful people to dwell in the presence of a holy God?” The answer will take us from Aaron’s linen garments to the torn temple veil, from the wilderness goat to the hill of Golgotha, and from a tent of meeting in the desert to the true Holy of Holies in heaven itself.
Firstly, in verses 1 and 2, we see the problem of the holy presence. Look at verse 1: “The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they drew near before the Lord and died.” We have seen this in chapter 10, and before God says a single word about the Day of Atonement, He points to two corpses, Nadab and Abihu, Aaron’s own sons, who were ordained priests and stood in God’s presence, struck dead for approaching Him with unauthorized fire. Why does God start here? Because the beginning of chapter 16 serves as a key to understanding this question. The main question is, “If ordained priests can die for approaching God the wrong way, then how can anyone truly approach God?”
The death of Nadab and Abihu wasn’t a failure of God’s love. Instead, it revealed God’s holiness. This is a God who cannot take sin lightly, and this is a God who cannot be taken lightly, and whose presence isn’t some ambient, dazzling glory in the background.
But it is a consuming glory of infinite holiness. The story of Nadab and Abihu shows us something we desperately need to understand. Access to God isn’t a human right. It’s a divine gift given only on the terms of God. To grasp this, we must understand what the tabernacle was. It was more than a tent of meeting. It was more than a worship tent. It was a theological symbol of the Garden of Eden. After Adam and Eve sinned, the cherubim with the flaming sword blocked the eastern entrance to Eden,
preventing access to the life of God. Similarly, Moses embroidered cherubim into the veil separating the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies, and its architecture served as a warning. The warning is this: “The way to God is barred. The way to God is barred.”
And the high priest’s annual entrance into the inner sanctuary was a central act of worship in the Old Testament: an Adam-like figure entering the place of Shekinah glory, passing through the cherubim veil, re-entering Eden, not just for himself, but for all of God’s covenant people.
And you see here in verse 2, even Aaron couldn’t enter just like that. Look at verse 2: “Tell Aaron your brother not to come at any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat that is on the ark, so that he may not die. For I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat.” So the mercy seat was above the Ark of the Covenant, where God’s glory appeared or rested, with cherubim spreading their wings.
It was the throne of God in the midst of Israel. And there is a stark warning here: “Aaron may not come into the Holy Place before the mercy seat, lest he die.” This teaches us a great lesson, and the lesson is this: holiness and sin cannot coexist. Holiness and sin cannot coexist. So what is the solution to this problem? The Day of Atonement is the solution. Secondly, we see the solution to the problem in verses 3 to 22. Verse 3: “But in this way Aaron shall come into the Holy Place: with a bull from the herd for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. And he shall put on the holy linen coat and shall have the linen undergarment on his body, and he shall tie the linen sash around his
“waist and wear the linen turban. These are the holy garments. He shall bathe his body in water and then put them on. And he shall take from the congregation of the people of Israel two male goats for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering. Aaron shall offer the bull as a sin offering for himself and shall make atonement for himself and for his house.” Before Aaron can serve others, he must address his own sin. He must deal with his own purity issues. He can’t enter God’s presence in his high priestly robes, those ornate garments of gold, blue, and scarlet, bearing the tribes’
names. Instead, he must wear simple linen garments of a servant, symbolizing repentance. He must bathe and bring a bull as a sin offering for himself and his household. First, before representing the people of God, he must remember he stands with them, equally guilty, in need of grace. Even the high priest could only enter the Holy of Holies as a forgiven sinner, not on any merit. Again, there is a stark reminder to all of us that we stand in the presence of God and are not consumed because of His grace. We stand in the presence of God and are
not consumed because of His grace. We are not consumed because of our merit; we are not consumed because of His grace alone. Therefore, there should always be a posture of humility and repentance in all of the redeemed people of God. Look at verse 11: “Aaron shall present the bull as a sin offering for himself and shall make atonement for himself and for his house. And he shall kill the bull as a sin offering for himself. And he shall take a censer full of coals of fire from the altar before the Lord and two handfuls of sweet incense beaten small, and he shall bring it inside
“the veil.” With his own atonement secured, Aaron prepared to enter the inner sanctuary. He took burning coals from the altar and two handfuls of sweet incense, placing the incense on the coals inside the Holy of Holies so that the cloud of incense enveloped the mercy seat. Why? Verse 13 makes it clear: he must do this “so that he may not die.” Even the high priest, properly prepared, couldn’t survive being exposed directly to the divine glory without protection. That cloud of incense was like a protection. Then he sprinkled the blood of the bull on it once
and seven times before it. The blood was applied in God’s very presence, at the center of the divine dwelling, as an act of atonement for Aaron’s sin. Then he made atonement for the sanctuary itself. Often overlooked, the ceremony wasn’t just about cleansing people; the sanctuary where God dwelled among the people also needed purification. Why? Because their uncleanness contaminated the holy space, and only blood, God’s chosen medium of atonement, can remove this corruption. Then, as we progress in the story, we see the story of two goats. This is so key, so central to the story. We see that in
verses 7 to 10 and then in verses 20 to 22. In verses 7 onwards, we see that two animals from the same flock are brought before the Lord and, by lot, face different fates. One goat is sacrificed, and the other is sent away.
Their different destinies together form a single meaningful sin offering, emphasizing that both parts of the sacrifice are essential for this atonement. In verses 20 to 22, we see the actual act itself. The first goat is slaughtered. Its blood is taken into the Holy of Holies and applied to the mercy seat. This represents propitiation. What is propitiation? The propitiation is that the just wrath of God against His people is being satisfied by a substitute. His wrath is turned away. That is propitiation.
And the offended God demands death, and a life is given. The second goat, the scapegoat, is referred to here in the text as Azazel. It is a scapegoat. It’s brought before Aaron, who places both his hands firmly on its head. This double-hand press is a formal act of identification and transfer. He confesses over it all the iniquities of the people, all their transgressions, all their sins, and formally transfers them to this animal. Then the goat is led eastward, away from the Holy of Holies, from God’s presence, away from the community, and released into the wilderness. Israel watched with a quiet hope as the goat disappeared, carrying their sins away. In witnessing this, they were meant to grasp something far more profound: the sins are truly gone.
Not just hidden. Not postponed. They are gone for good. I think the psalmist was remembering the Day of Atonement when he said these words in Psalm 103, verse 12: “As far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove our transgressions from us.” The two goats together beautifully highlight the multifaceted nature of the human sin problem. Sin, as we understand it, brings both a penalty to be paid and pollution to be cleansed. We all need propitiation, that is, divine wrath to be satisfied, and expiation, which means having guilt washed away.
Any explanation of atonement that focuses on only one aspect is incomplete. The Day of Atonement addresses both, offering a glimpse of the profound work of Christ that He would do later on that hill. But nevertheless, we see a limitation of this Levitical system. Look at verse 29.
“And it shall be a statute to you forever that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict yourselves and shall do no work, either the native or the stranger who sojourns among you.” And look at verse 34: “And this shall be a statute for you, that atonement may be made for the people of Israel once in the year because of all their sins.” And Aaron did as the Lord commanded Moses.
At the end of the chapter, God institutes the Day of Atonement as a perpetual annual observance. The tenth day of the seventh month, every year, all work is forbidden. All the congregation fasted; they afflicted their souls. But this ceremony was inadequate. Why? The fact that it must be repeated is the point: year after year, the same high priest, the same ritual, because the last year’s atonement could not cover this year’s sins. And the Levitical system, by divine design, was provisional. It was always meant to be a temporary economy of grace,
pointing forward to something greater. The Levitical system was a type. What is a type? A type refers to a person, institution, event, or object in the Old Testament that God designated as a preordained pattern foreshadowing a greater reality. That is, the type is a shadow; the antitype is the real substance found in the New Testament, specifically in the person and the work of Jesus Christ or His Church. The type is the shadow, and the antitype is the substance. You may be wondering, “Where do these people get these terminologies, type and antitype?” These are very biblical terminologies. Look at Colossians chapter 2, verses 16 and 17.
Paul says there, “Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come.” These are a type. “But the substance”—the antitype—“belongs to Christ.” Speaking of the Old Testament priests and sacrifices, the writer of Hebrews says in Hebrews chapter 8, verse 5, “They serve a copy”—type—“and shadow of the heavenly things.” Look at Hebrews chapter 9, verse 9. Again, talking about the Old Testament priesthood and sacrifices, the writer of Hebrews says, “That which is symbolic for the present age.” Look at verse 23 of Hebrews chapter 9:
“Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites”—the type he is talking about—“but the heavenly things,” the real substance, “themselves with better sacrifices than these.”
Look at Hebrews chapter 10, verse 1: “For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come.” The Levitical system was necessary for the Old Testament, Old Covenant saints, but to us it is instructional. It teaches that God is holy and He cannot tolerate sin. Finally, all this points to the antitype, the better High Priest, the better sacrifice. All the aspects of Leviticus chapter 16, including the linen garments, the cloud of incense, the blood upon the mercy seat, and the scapegoat in the wilderness, direct our focus to a person who died on a cross outside the camp.
When we interpret these elements in relation to that man, everything in Leviticus chapter 16 illuminates with profound significance. Firstly, we learn that Jesus is a better High Priest than Aaron. He is a High Priest of a different order. He is not from the Levitical tribe.
He is a High Priest of a different order, and He mediates a better covenant. Aaron had to atone for himself before he could atone for others. Jesus requires no prior atonement. In Hebrews chapter 7, verse 26, the writer of Hebrews says, “For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a High Priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.” Look at verse 27: “He has no need, like those high priests, like Aaron, to offer sacrifices daily, first for His own sins and then for those of the people, since He did this once for all when He offered up Himself.” Jesus didn’t need atonement for Himself because there was no sin in Him. He’s the Lamb, and He is the priest and the sacrifice. He offered Himself for others once for
all—not daily, not year after year, once for all. Secondly, Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the slaughtered goat and the scapegoat. The New Testament shows that Jesus Christ fulfills the slaughtered goat and the scapegoat. He is the slaughtered goat, with His blood presented in the Holy of Holies as a perfect atonement for sins.
Paul states that in Romans chapter 3, verse 25. It says that “God put forward Christ as a propitiation,” using the same Greek word that was used for mercy seat, making Him the final mercy seat where God’s wrath is turned away. And secondly, He is the scapegoat.
Second Corinthians 5, verse 21, says, “For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin.” Our sins were pressed on Him. And just as Aaron transferred sins onto the goat, God transferred the sins of His elect to Christ at Calvary.
Christ, who knew no sin, became the sin-bearer for His people, making the exchange total and final. Thirdly, Jesus is the perfect and final sacrifice that secures eternal redemption. Look at Hebrews 9:11–14. Hebrews 9:11–14: “But when Christ appeared as a High Priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent—not made with hands, that is, not of this creation—He entered once for all into the Holy Places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of His own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.”
Verse 13: “For if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer sanctify for the purification of the flesh.” Verse 14: “How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”
And then, in Hebrews chapter 10, verse 12: “But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God.” His sitting down is an expression of the finished work. That work is finished. No more atonement is needed. Nothing from our side is needed for our atonement. And fourthly, Jesus bore our sin and shame outside the camp. After the scapegoat was sent away, the remains of the sin offering were also burned outside the camp. Look at Leviticus chapter 16, verse 27. It says, “And the bull for
“the sin offering and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the Holy Place, shall be carried outside the camp. Their skin and their flesh and their dung shall be burned up with fire.” And then, in Hebrews chapter 13, verses 11 onwards, the writer of Hebrews says, “For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the Holy Places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp. So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through His own blood. Therefore let us go to Him
“outside the camp and bear the reproach He endured.” The flesh and the dung of the sacrifices were carried out of the camp and were burned. Jesus made Himself no better than that waste. He hung on Calvary outside the camp, outside the gates of the city, bearing our sin and reproach. Finally, Jesus’ sacrifice draws us near to God. Mark chapter 15, verse 38, says, “And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.”
When Jesus died, the curtain, the thick curtain embroidered with cherubim, guarding the entrance into the Holy of Holies, was torn in two. Only once a year, only the high priest could enter behind that curtain. But now, through the blood of Christ, forgiveness has been purchased, and God’s people have been brought to God. What Jesus did on the cross, a million Days of Atonement could never do: He brought us near to God. Dear brothers and sisters, you are in Christ, and these are our privileges, that we are brought near to God. And today, if you are not in Christ, if God has provided salvation through substitution in the death of His Son, then
what other remedy could possibly exist? There is no other way to get right with God. Jesus paid it all for your salvation on the cross. He hung on that cross in your place. He bore your sins and took your punishment. He suffered and died for your sins under God’s holy anger, which was burning against your sins. God crushed Jesus for your sins. He shed His blood, died, and rose again for those who believe in Him. And this Gospel destroys our pride. It leads us to abandon every other path and throw ourselves entirely on the mercy. What
prevents you from coming to Jesus in faith? If you come to God through Christ, acknowledging your sin, turning away from your self-centered lifestyle, looking to Him, receiving His forgiveness, trusting in His finished work, you will be made right with God. Your guilt will be taken away. Your shame will be removed.
Your relationship with God will be established. And today, if you are in Christ, remember these things. Remember, your penalty is taken. Your sin has been dealt with in the death of Christ once for all. We draw grace daily from that fountain of the finished work of Christ to overcome our daily sin. There is now no condemnation. You are in Christ, and God is working on you. We need to progress in our Christian life. Secondly, rest your assurance on the finished work, not daily performance. Do not be overwhelmed by your past failures. If you have sinned, repent; flee from sin. Your standing before God does not rise and fall on your quiet times, on your prayers, or your failures yesterday.
Yes, they are necessary for our progress. They are the means of God’s grace. But our standing isn’t on it. We stand on the eternal sacrifice of the sinless Son of God. And if you are in Christ, you are perfected before God even as you are being sanctified by the Spirit of God. Assurance isn’t earned through good days, and it’s not gone on a bad day. It’s a gift from God, given through the blood of the Lamb.
Thirdly, draw near to God. Now God is your Father. Pray with confidence. His grace is always available for us. Fourthly, see in the Lord’s Table the continuing proclamation of this atonement. Every time we gather around the Lord’s Table, we proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes. The bread and the cup are the New Covenant’s way of doing what the Day of Atonement did visually, directing the eyes of faith to the sin-bearing, wrath-satisfying, guilt-removing death of Jesus Christ.
Finally, take the word of atonement to the world around you, because there is no other way for people to come to know God or to be saved. Let’s pray.