King James Bible Study – “And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” – Mark 8:34
Date: Tuesday, February 18, 2020
Chapters: Leviticus 16-18
Message: Joy In The Atonement
Hello My Friend,
Atonement; Agreement; concord; reconciliation after enmity or controversy. Expiation; Satisfaction or reparation made by giving an equivalent for an injury, or by doing or suffering that which is received in satisfaction for an offense or injury. There is always a price to pay for sin, God despises sin, it actually makes us enemies with Him, and God does not even have to punish us Himself, we do it to ourselves the longer we remain in sin. When we choose Jesus Christ as our Saviour, we are telling God that we know we have offended Him by our sin, and asking Him to forgive us, pardon the sin, and reconcile with us. And God, through our faith, not only forgives, He forgets the sin, and we are not punished for it. Praise God! Jesus became our atonement. “For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.” – Romans 5:10-11.
The Day of Atonement is one day out of the year that the entire congregation would come together, confess their sin, be forgiven, they would be forgotten, and they would not face any punishment for breaking the commands of God. And it all begins with two goats. “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. 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. And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the LORD’S lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering.” – Leviticus 16:5-9.
“and make an atonement for himself,” Remember, apart from Christ, we are all sinners, it does not matter if one is a priest, pastor, or Sunday school teacher, we all sin, and must deal with our own sins before we are to address everyone else (Matthew 7:1-6). “And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats;” He was to choose which goat would be the sacrifice and which one would be set free. Now, once the sin offering for the LORD was chosen, the high priest would start the process of atonement for the entire congregation, this was the only time the high priest was able to go behind the veil.
“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: 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. 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.” – Leviticus 16:15-17.
“And he shall make an atonement for the holy place,” Think about this, those who are saved are God’s tabernacle, while we are saved once we receive Christ as our Saviour, our flesh becomes defiled, sometimes of our own doing, sometimes of being exposed to others. We need, as Jesus tells us, to wash our feet because sin does get us dirty. Thankfully, we do not have to wait once a year to do this, we can do this daily. Now, once God received His offering, it was time to bring the live goat. “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: 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.” – Leviticus 16:20-22.
“putting them upon the head of the goat,” All of the sins of the entire congregation were cast upon the head of the goat as they were confessed. The goat was then let go into the wilderness, taking the sin with him, freeing the people of them. Both of these goats are Jesus Christ all wrapped up into one, He is the sacrifice offered to the LORD for our sin to make an atonement for us, taking each and every sin to the cross. In fact, when God, the Father saw His Son on the cross, He could not bear to look at Him as He was covered in the sin of all mankind, but His body was accepted, and His sacrifice would make atonement permanent. “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” – Romans 8:2-4.
“made me free from the law of sin and death.” We are set free from the punishment of our sin, that means our soul will not end up in hell, and it will live forever. Jesus gave His life, and shed His blood for us, He did away with the need for a yearly sacrifice, but we still need to make an appoint to afflict our souls, and reflect on what He did for us. And this is why we observe Resurrection Day (Easter) every year, but we should not wait until once a year to get right with God, nor should we ever use our salvation as a means to live in sin, we will be held accountable for unrepentant sin. The shedding of blood is very serious to God, even animals blood. Why? Blood is always required for atonement. All of the sacrifices offered by Israel or a stranger who chose to dwell among them, was to be presented before the door of the tabernacle, if the animal was killed outside of the camp they needed to bring it to the door of the tabernacle, and offer it to God. If they did not then they would be cut off.
“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, And bringeth it not unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, 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: 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. 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.” – Leviticus 17:2-7.
“blood shall be imputed unto that man;” Since the blood of an animal was the temporary fix for atonement, it is very precious to God, if someone killed an unblemished animal and did not offer it to God, it offended Him. “And they shall no more offer their sacrifices unto devils,” This is in reference to the golden calf, they called it their god and were offering sacrifices to it as if it was God. Every command that God gives us has to do with His seeing others doing these things and how they destroy lives. And contrary to what many say today, that these laws were given to Israel only, and no longer apply to Christians, they are incorrect, this applies to all who choose God, and He confirms this. “This shall be a statute for ever unto them throughout their generations. 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. 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.” – Leviticus 17:10-11.
“for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.” Without the shedding of blood there is no atonement, and until Christ came this was the only way a soul could be forgiven and pardoned from the punishment required for their sin. Not every form of blood was acceptable, and today, there is only one blood sacrifice acceptable to God, and that is Jesus Christ. No one can get to God without Christ, no amount of animal sacrifices, we must know Christ personally as our Saviour to be accepted by God, otherwise, we will be cut off from among His people (Hebrews 9:12-15). And, if you ever wondered why God had so many rules to begin with, just ask Him, but most of them are common sense. God tells Israel as well as anyone else who wanted Him in their lives why they were to follow His law, and still today. “Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, I am the LORD your God. After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do: and after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, shall ye not do: neither shall ye walk in their ordinances. Ye shall do my judgments, and keep mine ordinances, to walk therein: I am the LORD your God. Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the LORD.” – Leviticus 18:2-5.
“I am the LORD your God.” When we choose Christ we choose God, since the two go hand in hand, we cannot have one without the other, and that goes for the Holy Spirit as well. When we choose Christ as our Saviour, we are telling God that we want Him in our lives, this is a choice we make ourselves, He does not force Himself upon us. If the people of the world want to commit these abominations, then so be it, but they shall have their reward (II Peter 2:13-17). And let me tell you, of all the sins we can commit the ones that effect the most are ones done with the body. God had seen it all, we have read of the incest between Lot and his daughters, not to mention homosexuality in Sodom and Gomorrah before it was destroyed (Genesis 19). Even among the children of Israel, there was a lot of sexual sin, with Reuben having slept with his father’s wife (Genesis 35:22), then Judah having slept with his daughter-in-law (Genesis 38:13-18). It was time to set some boundaries.
“None of you shall approach to any that is near of kin to him, to uncover their nakedness: I am the LORD. Moreover thou shalt not lie carnally with thy neighbour’s wife, to defile thyself with her. And thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Molech, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD. Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination. Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion. For whosoever shall commit any of these abominations, even the souls that commit them shall be cut off from among their people. Therefore shall ye keep mine ordinance, that ye commit not any one of these abominable customs, which were committed before you, and that ye defile not yourselves therein: I am the LORD your God.” – Leviticus 18:6,20-23,29-30.
“that ye commit not any one of these abominable customs,” God’s commands are not grievous, I mean, keep yourself clean so you do not get some disease, do not sacrifice your children, no sexual relations among family members, people of the same sex, or animals (my goodness people are disgusting), worship and honor only God. We are human beings, not animals, and let me tell you, there are animals more moral than people, we need to stop acting on every lust known to man, and start acting like we are one of God’s. “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.” – I John 5:3-4.
Today’s Prayer: God, thank You for life, and for eternal life through Your Son, His precious blood gave me more than life to my soul, it gave me a new life all together. Thank You so much for Your mercy and Your grace in saving a sinner like me, I know my flesh and I have defiled it more times than I can count, but I am forgiven through my faith in Your Son alone, and all of that is forgotten. Thank You for Your indwelling Spirit that replaces my sinful nature with Your Spirit. As I walk in Your ways year after year, I am aware of sins that wreck my relationship with You, help me to understand and remove any sin that may be hindering my walk with You. Lead me and guide me with Your mercies, and grace, teach me, grow me, and put You hedge around me so that I may not even be tempted to sin against You. I ask these things in Your name, Jesus. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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