Suggested Bible Reading: Leviticus 16-18
Devotional Thought:
The deaths of Nadab and Abihu (Lev. 10) must have put the fear of God into Aaron and the priests so that they wondered whether it was even safe to enter the tabernacle’s precincts to do their work. God made it clear that the priests needed not be afraid to serve, but that only the high priest was to enter the holy of holies, and that only once a year on the Day of Atonement. It wasn’t a matter of human choice; it was a matter of divine appointment. Any priest who disobeyed would die. Man does not have the liberty to make the Bible say what he wants it to say; he has the liberty to submit to what is does say. What a picture of God’s grace is seen in the first part of chapter 16. The high priest shall put on his special garment and enter into the presence of God and there the blood shall be applied from the lamb. We are able to enter personally into the presence of God, clothed in the garment of Christ’s righteousness having His blood applied for our sins. The picture of the scapegoat is a beautiful picture of what God has done for His children. The high priest would take two goats and cast lots. The one would be slain and the other released into the wilderness. The releasing of the goat symbolized the sins of the people being carried away, never to be held against them again. “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us” (Ps. 103:12). “Behold! The Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world!” (John 1:29) One goat died because there must be blood sacrifice before there can be forgiveness. The other goat lived but was “lost” in the wilderness, having “carried away” the nation’s sins. Because the living goat was part of a sin offering, the man who led the goat out of the camp had to wash himself and his garments before he could return to the camp. (vs. 26) The high priest’s steps show the similarities between the actions of Aaron and those of Christ: (1) The Son laid aside His outward glory-the High Priest removed his beautiful robes. (2) He took upon Himself a body of flesh and blood-the High Priest put on the linen garments. (3) He offered Himself as a sacrifice for sin and has gone into the heavenly Sanctuary by virtue of His own blood-the High Priest sacrificed the goat and took its blood into the Sanctuary. (4) The next time He appears to Israel it will be in all His glory and majesty-the High Priest came out to the people in his garments of beauty and glory. What an amazing illustration of God’s grace shown in the Old Testament economy.
Prayer Requests:
• Lord, please help me to always remember the price tag for sin. Although my salvation was free to me, it cost my Savior dearly. Thank you for dying in my place.
• Lord, please help me to grasp the reality of your grace. The fact that my sins are remembered no more and that they are cast in the deepest sea. Thank you for such grace.
• Lord, please help me to never presume upon your grace, but to walk worthy of the vocation wherewith I have been called.