I'd just say that Chauvin, I'm going to mention a couple of different ways that various people make peace, and you might just draw one or two of those ways, the different groups and how they do that. We're continuing our themes of the Pentateuch and looking at the Office of the High Priest. And especially what was important is the Day of Atonement. We read about it here in Leviticus 16. Now the Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron when they approached the presence of the Lord and died. And the Lord said to Moses, Carry your brother Aaron. They shall not enter at any time of the holy place inside the veil before the mercy seat which is on the ark, lest he die. For I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat. Aaron shall enter the holy place with this, with a bowl for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. He shall put on the holy linen tunic. And the linen garments shall be next to his body, and he shall be girded with a linen sash, and tied with a linen turban. These are holy garments. Then he shall bathe his body in water, and put them on. And 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. Then Aaron shall offer the bull for the sin offering, which is for himself. They may make atonement for himself and for his household. He shall take the two goats and present them before the Lord at the doorway of the tent of meeting. The heretic shall ask lots for the two goats, one lots for the Lord, the other lots for the scapegoat. The heretic shall offer the goat on which the lots of the Lord fell and make it a sin offering. For the God on which the life of the scapegoat fell shall be presented alive before the Lord, to make atonement upon it, to send it into the wilderness as a scapegoat. Then Aaron shall offer the bowl of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make atonement for himself and for his household. He shall serve the bowl of the sin offering, which is for himself. He shall take a firepan full of coals of fire from the altar before the Lord, and two handfuls of finely ground sweet incense, and break it inside the veil. He shall put the incense on the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of incense may cover the mercy seat that is on the ark of testimony, lest he die. where he shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the mercy seat. On the east side, and also on the front of the mercy seat, he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times. Then he shall slaughter the goat of the sin offering, which 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, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat, and in front of the mercy seat. He shall make atonement for the holy place, because of the impurities of the sons of Israel, and because of their transgressions in regard to all their sins. And thus he shall do for the tent of meeting, which abides with them in the midst of their impurities. When he goes in to make atonement in the holy place, no one shall be in the tent of meeting until he comes out, that he may make atonement for himself, and for his household, and for all the assembly of Israel. Then he shall go out to the altar that is before the Lord and make it home free. He shall take some of the blood of the bull and the blood of the goat and put it on the horns of the altar on all sides. And with his finger he shall sprinkle some of the blood on it seven times and cleanse it from the impurities of the sons of Israel consecrated. When he finishes atoning for the holy place and the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall offer the live goat. Then he 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 through regard 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 man who stands in readiness. And the goat shall bear on itself all the iniquities to a solitary land, and he shall release the goat in the wilderness. Then Aaron shall come into the tent of meeting, and take off the linen garments which he put on when he went into the holy place, and he shall leave them there. He shall bathe his body with water in the holy place, and put on his clothes, and come forth, and offering his burnt offering in the burnt offering of the people, and make atonement for himself and for the people. Then he shall offer up and smoke the fat of the sin offering on the altar. And the one who has released the goat as a scapegoat shall wash his clothes and wash his body with water. Then afterward he shall come into the camp. But the bull of the sin offering and the goat of the sin offering, whose blood was brought in the place to make atonement in the holy place, shall be taken outside the camp. and they shall burn their hides, their flesh, and their refuge in the fire. Then one who burns them shall wash his clothes and bathe his body with water. Then afterward he shall come into the camp. And this shall be a permanent statute for you in the seventh month on the tenth day of the month. You shall humber your souls and not do any work where the native or the alien who sojourns with you For it shall be on this day that atonement shall be made for you to cleanse you. You shall be cleaned from all your sins before the Lord. This will be a Sabbath of solemn rest for you, that you may humble your souls. It is a permanent statute. So the priest who is anointed and ordained to serve as priest in his father's place shall make atonement. He shall thus put on the linen garments, the holy garments, and make atonement for the holy sanctuary. He shall make atonement for the tent of meeting and for the altar. He shall also make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the assembly. Now you shall have this as a permanent statute to make atonement for the sons of Israel for all their sins once every year. And just as the Lord had commanded Moses, so we did. There is a sermon outline on the back cover of the bulletin. Throughout the centuries, different cultures, when there have been differences, maybe battles between different tribes, have come up with different ways of making peace. These two hostile groups are at odds with one another. How is it? They can establish peace. Well, sometimes it's been in terms of blood brothers. You know, you cut your finger, and your enemy cuts his finger, and you mix the blood together. That's supposed to establish a relationship. In other cultures, it's smoking a peace pipe, you know, having some fellowship together. They would establish a bond of peace. In other cultures, they've gone to the extreme of having the two leaders of the different groups give a child to the opposite group. And as long as that child is alive, there's peace. Perhaps most typical is the intermarriage of an arranged marriage of typically a daughter. going and becoming, you know, the king's daughter-in-law and establishing a peace between two nations. And so, as these groups are at odds, as they're often warring, there's a realization that if there's peace, there's going to be better off for each side. If they can somehow achieve a peace, That's a better state than a continual warfare, and so they work, and how do we do that? How do we end the division? Those divisions can be serious, and even at times deadly, as maybe one tribe wars against another tribe, but the greatest division there is, The greatest of being at odds that there is and ever can be is that great division between God, a God who is holy, a God who cannot look upon sin with favor, and men and women who are sinners. How can there be peace? How can there be reconciliation between two groups that are so much at odds with one another? Because as we look at the Bible, it clearly tells us, first of all, the universality of sin. That all of sin falls short of the glory of God. Now, each one of us has sinned. It also tells us the seriousness of sin. Your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God. Your sins have hit this face from you. Our sins are a serious problem. They cause a separation with God. They cause God to hide from us. To hide His face from us. And the Bible also tells us of our inability to deal with our sin. In Proverbs 29 it says, Who can say I have cleansed my heart? I am pure from my sin. And the implied answer is no one, no one is able to cleanse themselves from their sin to get rid of this problem of sin. If any man or woman is to have peace with God, it's necessary for God to do something. God to take initiative to bring about peace, to bring about reconciliation. And God did that. And how did God do that? Well, He did it in terms of the priesthood. At the heart of the priesthood, what was involved in the priest is this idea of reconciliation, of establishing peace with God. It's an office in the Old Testament that is dealing with the question of how may we have peace with God? How can we who are sinners have peace with a God who cannot overlook sin? Now that's not all that the priesthood is involved in. The priesthood of praying, the priesthood of desire, the various judicial cases and that sort of thing. But at the heart of it, the essence of what the priesthood is involved, the highlight of the Old Testament priesthood was this idea of peace with God. How could there be peace with God? And it's highlighted in what happens on the Day of Atonement. There's much else that we could look at, but it's really highlighted. On the Day of Atonement, God was establishing peace with his people. And how did he do that? Well, the first point we need to notice is the context. The when and how God went about establishing peace on the Day of Atonement. And the first thing we need to notice is, in verse 1, the context that tells us, it was after the death of the two sons of Aaron. And you may remember that those deaths of Daneb and Abihu had offered strange fire before the Lord that he had commanded, and fire came forth and destroyed them, killed them on the spot. And so it's a reference to that. I think it would be in chapter 15, but if you look at chapter 15, it's not there, or chapter 14, or 13, or 12, 11. You have to go back to chapter 10 to find the incident being recorded. And the question is, why are there these six chapters in between when the event is recorded and now this response? They're bringing out the idea of atonement and the day of atonement. And if you look at those English reading chapters, it's not what you might expect. Because it starts in chapter 11 talking about what would be clean foods and what are unclean foods, what the Jews could eat and what they couldn't eat. We have this very serious matter that results in two of the deaths of the priests And then this mundane matter of what's clean and what's unclean. And then you go on in the next chapter and it talks about purification for mothers after they give birth. And then it goes on to talk about leprosy. And then how a leper is declared clean and how you would clean a leper's house. And then it talks about unhealthiness and cleansing from unhealthiness in a general way. And the question is why? Why deal with all these issues that don't seem to be of such great importance as what has just happened back in chapter 10 and what is talked about later in chapter 16? But the point that God is making between chapter 10 and chapter 16 is that people must know the difference between the clean and the unclean, between the holy and the profane, and what makes holy and what makes one unclean. Purity or uncleanness before God is a serious matter. as a way of saying that, of emphasizing that point, and really make the point that there's no cheap or easy way to be reconciled to God. It just doesn't happen automatically. The people need to understand, first of all, their uncleanness before Him, and then the great cost involved in their becoming clean. And until they understand this idea of clean and unclean, of being holy and being in share before God, they won't understand what is going on in the day of atonement. They won't understand the significance of the death of day to have an abiding human. That underscores the importance that as you approach God, as you seek to be reconciled to God, it's crucially important how you do that. Well, today we no longer live under all these Old Testament regulations about what are clean and unclean foods, or regard to leprosy, and all the sacrifices that we read about in the Old Testament. But we still need to realize this message. The seriousness of sin. The seriousness of being unclean before God because of our sin. Today's preachers are being told, don't talk about the opponent. Don't talk about Christ's death or sin. They're told it's too negative a message. But it's the message that men and women need to hear. We need to understand the need for atonement is a serious matter. overcome, and we need not regard her lightly. Secondly, the special significance of the day of atonement is spread out as you look at verses 29 and 31. It's the only day during the Jewish year that there was to be total fasting by the people. Other times they could have done it voluntarily. They can do it in regards to a vow or that sort of thing. But if you look at verses 29 and 31, it says, humble your souls, or literally afflict your souls. And it's really a reference to the fasting. That the fasting would be an outward sign of what was going on inwardly. That you would understand your deep need. Spiritually. And he would forego even the pleasure of eating food because it was so important. And there are other times when the people celebrated, the other times when they had offerings and that sort of thing, but this was the only day where they fasted. It's saying that this day It's more important than all the other days. There's Pentecost. There's a Passover. And those are significant. But this was the most solemn, most holy day in the whole year. The morning and evening sacrifices as they went on, day after day, were important. But what happened this day was the most important thing of all. The greater significance, thirdly, of the day of atonement is also seen in the fact of the priest who offers it. In verse 32, he's called the priest who is anointed, or we could say the anointed priest. In Exodus 31, 10, he's called the priest. In Leviticus 21, 10, he's called the priest who is pious. among his brothers, and that became shortened to the high priest. They're all referring to that one priest, who is the anointed priest, who is the high priest, who had the leadership in the priesthood, who was first in it, and then Eleazar, and then on down. That one of all the priests who would be the high priest, who would be the family leader, who would have the highest office. Now, the Levites were set apart for service, and in that, there was one family, the Kohathites, that had the priesthood. And in that, even one family in there, Aaron and his sons, who served and did the sacrifices. But even in that, it was narrowed down to just really the oldest male who served as high priest. He alone could do the sacrifices on the Day of Atonement. The other sacrifices the other priest could do. But when it came to this day, it fell to him and him alone to do these things. And he even has special garments, not his usual garments, that he had to put on. And that word anointed in the Hebrew is the word from which we get Messiah, and in the Greek is the word which we associate Christ. It implies being set apart for a particular work. That the high priest was set apart for this work. of atonement, that one day of the year when he went into the Holy of Holies. And parenthetically, we could add that about 175 BC, as they had these priests descended from Aaron in Eleazar, at that point the priesthood changed. They didn't take and continue that true priest. But really a pretender was made high priest. It was really a political appointment done by an outside power to ensure the loyalty of the Jews. And so the true priesthood, the true high priest was set aside. And really an imposter was put into place and remained in place until the destruction of the temple. And so as we read of the high priest, It's not the one who really should have been high priest in the New Testament. But fourthly, we can see the significance of blood. It's brought out in the biggest 1711, that as atonement takes place, it's done through blood. I've given it, and he's talking, God's talking about the blood, to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls. How does atonement take place? How can the priest atone for the people in their sins? It's by blood, the giving of blood in order to make atonement. You know, it's often said in terms of criminal behavior, if you want to find out what's going on, follow the money. Or if we want to understand what's going on in terms of atonement and the day of atonement, follow the blood. Notice the significance of the blood and how it's used, and where it comes from, and how it's sprinkled around. It will give us great insight into what's going on. And that blood is truly significant. Well, the second point this morning is the ministry of the anointed priest. On that day, what was involved? First of all, It was the one day that the priest goes in to the holiest of holies. You know, there's a couple of times in verses 12 and 15, it talks about entering the van. And that's a reference of going from the ardor court, the holy place, to the holiest holy place. That place that represents God, represents God's presence. As verse 2 says, not to go into that holy place, Except for this one day during the whole year, this place that represents God's presence, his divine throne room, so to speak. So he goes in and ministers in the presence of God. B, as a high priest goes in to this place, he represents the people. You know, his actions are sometimes for himself, but quite often are for the people. And so he's standing there, not just as a man, but he's standing there representing the entire nation, and especially spread out in verse 21, as he lays his hands on the goat and prays over the goat, confessing over all the iniquities of the sons of Israel and all their transgressions. So he's putting his hand on that goat. He's doing so as a representative of all the people confessing all their sins. On top of this goat. And verse 33 makes atonement for the priests and for all the people that sin. He's acting as their representative as he stands there with the block. He's standing there as a representative of needy people, of men and women who are sinners, who need blood to cover over their sins. And just as we might think of the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations going in and speaking on behalf of our nation, of representing us, that what he says carries weight because he represents our nation. So, too, Aaron and his son. Going, representing the people, representing them in their need, in their sins, before God. Third thing to notice is that the high priest, the anointed priest as he's called, makes atonement. That word atonement really means bringing to one. Bringing two factions who are at odds. into one, and notice the ones for whom he makes atonement. In verse 6, it's for himself and for his household. He's given a bowl from the congregation, from the people, and that's a bowl that's offered first. It's awkward for his own sin that he sees going in and representing the people. There's a problem. There's a problem with his own sin and the sin of his family. And it has to be dealt with. And so that bull is the first one that's being awkward, that's being slaughtered. His blood is shed for his sins. Then in verse 15, he makes atonement for the people. And there's a goat that's awkward. The blood of that goat is shed for the people. But in verse 16 it also says he makes atonement for the holy place. This tent is a holy place and it's in the midst of the people has impurities associated with it. And in verse 33 it mentions the holy place and the tent of meeting of the altar. All those things needing atonement and the priests and all the people of the assembly needing atonement. And what they all have in common is they've all been tainted by sin. Some directly. The humans are sinners. And they need atonement for their sins. Some, the tent and the altar, the holy place, are tainted because of their association being in the midst of sinners. And because of the contact that they have. and needs to be atoned for. And so atonement takes place for all these things. D, we can see that this atonement involves death and blood. You have the death of the bull for the priest and for his family, the death of the goat for God's people. For atonement to take place, A death must take place. Death is the penalty for sin. And with it, there's the blood. Because as that death takes place, then the blood is applied. And as he would go through the veil, the priest doesn't go in empty-handed. He must take blood with him. That death that's being symbolized in that blood. And it's sprinkled then. at the mercy seat and before the mercy seat. Asking, in effect, that that blood would cover over the sin of the priest, the high priest as he goes in. And then as the blood of that goat is sprinkled, too, on the mercy seat and in front of it, again saying, Lord, take notice of the death that covers over for the sins of the people, that makes up for the sins that they've committed. Of course, the death of that bull and the death of that goat really couldn't really take away sin. In fact, it was a reminder of all the previous times that there had been a death and a sacrifice. The morning and evening sacrifice, the weekly sacrifices, the monthly sacrifices that were required. The sin offering and the guilt offering and all the rest. They really have taken away the sins of the people. Or else there would be no need for this yearly repetition. And the fact would even remain with all this. With the day of atonement and the priest going in and ministering in the presence of God. But the worshippers still stood far off. They still were not able to enter God's presence. There was still a recognition that they were still sinners. Well, here you should notice the function of the live goat. In verse 22, after the sins of all the people have been confessed on him by the high priest as he lays both hands on him and confesses it, it says, the ghost shall bear on itself all the iniquities to a solitary land. All that's been done, the sacrifices, All that's been done on the Day of Atonement, the death of the bull, the death of the goat, really wasn't sufficient to take away the sins of the people. And thus we have this goat as seen as carrying on to deserted place, the sins of those sins being placed upon him and being carried off. And finally, one other thing we should notice. is in Numbers 35. And so far we've been talking about the death of the animals. We see here in Numbers 35 that the death of the high priest had a significance as well. It brought a certain sort of relief and release. The manslayer, and that's the person who accidentally killed someone, was to remain in the city of refuge until the death of the high priest. That that death, whether it be a few weeks or a few years or many years later, was a sign that this man could go back home. Could go back to his field and his home and to his living in his hometown. It was a release from the bondage of having to stay in that city of wreckage. And so his death, in some ways was a relief, a setting free. All of which brings us then to our third point. The ultimate fulfillment of the priestly office, of the role of high priest is found in Jesus Christ. The fulfillment of all that is being pictured on the Day of Atonement is found in Christ. What the human sinful priest could not do, Because they were sinners, because they had to take blood for themselves. It could be done by Jesus Christ. He was a priest of a different order, the order of Melchizedek. What the blood of that bull being shed and that goat being shed could not do, a really removing sin, Jesus Christ did by his death. What the Day of Atonement could not truly accomplish, as it had to be repeated year after year, Jesus Christ did once for all on the cross. What was symbolized by that live goat as it carried the sins of the people away to be dealt, Jesus Christ did on the cross. And although the death of the high priest brought a certain type of release, the death of Jesus Christ brought the ultimate release from sin and from death. And that limited access that only the high priest had, only once a year when he could enter in before God's presence. has been changed completely as that curtain in the temple was torn from top to bottom at the death of Christ. And we can now come through Christ as the presence of God. As we think about this, I encourage us to think in terms of two applications. First is in terms of the Lord's Supper. As we look forward to next week, And as we think about what Jesus Christ did, he was a prophet, he was a priest, he was a king on our behalf, and is a prophet, priest, and king. That in the Lord's Supper, we highlight that priestly mark. That all that was being symbolized in the Old Testament, all that was being symbolized on the Day of Atonement, finds its fulfillment in Christ. What could not be accomplished? by all those sacrificial deaths was accomplished by the death of Jesus Christ. And second, as we think about the Day of Atonement, the people, as they waited, had to rely upon their representative. There was one man chosen from the whole nation who went in and represented the people before them, and they had to rely upon him to make atonement. How much more do we have that one man, the God-man Jesus Christ, as our representative, and we rely upon him and what he has done, not on earth, but before God the Father in heaven. in making atonement for us. And just as they had to rely upon their representative, how much more do we rely upon our representative? Do we rely upon Jesus Christ for forgiveness of sins, for new life? It's a call to trust in Christ alone. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we give you thanks for the High Priestly Worker, Christ, who went not into the earthly temple in Jerusalem, but came into your very presence, took not the blood of bulls and goats, but shed his own blood so we could have new life, so we could have abundant life, so we could be adopted into your family and all the other benefits that come to us through Christ. We give thanks for that and for that the Lord suffers and reminds us of those key truths. of what he did as our representative and how he established peace and reconciliation with you. Help us to be those men and women, those boys and girls who rely upon him as our representative for life and for godliness and for eternal life. for the forgiveness of our sins. Thank you for our heart peace. It's in his name we pray. Amen.