There is reason to believe that the very day Nadab and Abihu so egregiously sinned is also the very day God gave these (Leviticus 16) instructions on enacting the Day of Atonement! Here’s how our chapter begins: “And the LORD spake unto Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered before the LORD, and died; and the LORD said unto Moses, Speak unto Aaron thy brother ….”

Certainly the Tabernacle was defiled that day, the day those two foolish men unlawfully tried to enter into the Presence of God!

And part of the Day of Atonement rites purged the holy “Tent” of God. I mean right from the Mercy Seat Itself … “And he shall take of the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy seat eastward; and before the mercy seat shall he sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times..” Leviticus 16:14

Then, going outward … “He shall make an atonement for the Holy Place (where sat the Table of Shewbread and the Golden Lampstand), 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.” Verse 16

Then, further eastward yet (still outward) … “And he shall go out unto the altar that is before the LORD (the brass altar at the door of the Tabernacle), and make an atonement for it; and shall take of the blood of the bullock, and of the blood of the goat, and put it upon the horns of the altar round about.” Verse 18

Verse 20 recapitulates … “And when he hath made an end of reconciling the holy place, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar, he shall bring ….”

Cleansing the whole Tabernacle, which had been defiled over the past year … from inside to outside!

Now here’s my “point” today. That’s the exact direction sin erupted (from west to east) in the Garden of Eden and its aftermath!

Adam and Eve sinned (as it were) in the “Holy of Holies!” (Where God came down and walked with them “every cool of the day!” Genesis 3:8)

Then … God cast them out of the Garden “eastward.” Where Cain killed Abel … and was expelled (moved) “east of Eden.” (“And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.” Genesis 4:16)

Then sin spread all over the world, by Noah’s day anyhow! As men began to multiply … “GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Genesis 6:5

Just as sin crept eastward from God’s Presence … so did the Blood Cleansing on the Day of Atonement travel from east to west! Purging sin everywhere in Israel! Even typically out “into the wilderness,” as per the scapegoat!

God has a good (omnipotent) sense of direction!

Is there anything to this “east-west” idea of Brother Bagwells? You must decide that as led of the Holy Spirit.

But I will close with this verse today … “As far as the EAST is from the WEST, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.” Psalm 103:12

Praise the Lord!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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It is undoubtedly the “highest” Day of the year in the Jewish Calendar, the great Day of Atonement. (All their God given “Holy Days” being discussed in Leviticus chapter 23, an upcoming study, the Lord willing.)

And one of the reasons is that this Day (meaning the blood shed that day in accordance with God’s specific instructions) brought for Israel “forgiveness” (or “atonement,” the Old Testament word) for a whole year!

Leviticus 16:34 … “And this shall be an everlasting statute unto you, to make an atonement for the children of Israel for all their sins ONCE A YEAR.” Yet … as you can see, to be repeated annually.

But still … the vast scope of this forgiveness!

As is presented in Leviticus 16:21-22 … “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.”

Look at this “list” of wrongs covered/atoned/forgiven by God on that amazing Day! (As you can see, I have capitalized them.)

The actual Hebrew words:

“Iniquities,” spelled “avon,” meaning “distortion, perversity!” Things we have “twisted” from God’s original Plan for humanity.

“Transgressions,” spelled “pasha,” meaning “rebellion!” (1 Samuel 15:23 … “For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft!”)

“Sins,” spelled “chattaah,” meaning “to miss out on” God’s Salvation, God’s Will, God’s Best for your life! (As in “The wages of sin is death.” Romans 6:23)

Then in our text, mentioned yet a second time … “iniquities” … still spelled “avon,” and still meaning “twisted perversions,” rejecting God’s Ways … as though we people needed double forgiveness in this area! And we surely do live in a perverted society!

What range, what vastness, what forgiveness!

What Grace!

What a God!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Hallelujah!

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I know the theme of today’s Lesson. It’s just that I do not have time to write it this morning. The Lord laid the “idea” on my heart yesterday morning, in fact!

Hint: “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 16:21-22

Sins, gone!

Born away by the “scapegoat.”

Lead by a “fit man!”

Both figures I believe being symbols or types of Jesus Christ our Lord!

But in that little two verse span above … the Holy Spirit uses all 3 main words for sin/iniquity/wrongdoing in the Hebrew Bible! (Just two in English, but 3 in Hebrew, for sure!)

ALL sin gone!

Wow!

Come back later, after we have driven home!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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Leviticus 16 is thematically the very “center” of the Book of Leviticus. (Everything leading up to it, chapter 16, is equally and beautifully balanced by the things that follow it!)

And this too, the Book of Leviticus is the structural center of the whole Pentateuch, the Five Books of Moses! (Clearly, Leviticus being the third of the five!)

So this Day of Atonement Ritual (loaded with holy symbolism) is critically important to understanding Old Testament theology. The very “fulcrum” on which the Mosaic law balances!

It unlocks the “key” to New Testament theology too, at least when one considers that so much of the chapter points directly to Jesus! (The bullock, the goats – both of them, the “fit man,” and all that bloodshed! Even the High Priest as well!)

But there is one little verbal “hint” of how much God values the Day of Atonement. More apparent in Hebrew than in English, but nonetheless instructive, very enlightening.

In Leviticus 16:31 we read: “It (the Day of Atonement) shall be a SABBATH OF REST unto you, and ye shall afflict your souls, by a statute for ever.” Where afflicting one’s soul is a euphemism for “fasting.”

The hint?

“A Sabbath of rest!”

In Hebrew this phrase actually doubles the noun Sabbath! It is literally “the Sabbath of Sabbaths!” That’s how much God thinks of this Day!

That’s also the Hebrew way of expressing a thing in terms of “utmost importance!” (As in “King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Holy of Holies!”) And now … “Sabbath of Sabbaths!”

In case anyone thinks I am being too minute, too precise here … Leviticus 23:32 says the same thing (again) about the Day of Atonement! “It shall be unto you a SABBATH OF REST (Sabbath of Sabbaths), and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath.” (Leviticus 23 is the great chapter where God discusses all the “Holy Days’ He has given Israel to observe. Israel’s “Calendar!”)

Wow!

That’s HOW MUCH God evaluates the Day of Atonement!

The Day Israel’s sins were forgiven! God’s gracious offer of “Atonement” having been made!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

I’d say each of us should also value the day we got saved!

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The “result” of that great Day in Israel’s Calendar, the glorious Day of Atonement?

“For ON THAT DAY shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the LORD.” Leviticus 16:30

Sure sounds good, “cleansed from all sin!”

But there’s even more!

“And he (the priest) shall make an atonement for the holy sanctuary, and he shall make an atonement for the tabernacle of the congregation, and for the altar, and he shall make an atonement for the priests, and for all the people of the congregation.” Leviticus 16:33

Everything “atoned!”

By the blood of innocent animals. (Foreshadowing the Blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ our Lord!)

Now, the verb “to make atonement” is “kaphar” in Hebrew. It means “to purge” and is so translated 10 times in the King James Version of the Bible. It is also rendered “to reconcile” 3 more times. “To forgive” 3 times as well. “To cleanse” 1 time as well as “to pardon” 1 time.

Wow!

The awesome, powerful result of the Day of Atonement!

No wonder it was to be Israel’s most “high and holy” Day!

The only Day in the year in which that little Nation was commanded by God “to fast,” to abstain from earthly food! With the implication “to rest” (as on the Sabbath) and “to feast” (spiritually) on this Heavenly Food!

Forgiven!

And yet, here is one more use of “atonement” in the Old Testament. Its “first occurrence” in the Bible, in fact. God to Noah concerning the a significant building project … “Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and SHALT PITCH (kaphar) it within and without with pitch.”

Here it means “to cover.” To protect by covering! To so protect that the devastating “waters” of the Flood (Judgment) cannot destroy the Ark, Noah’s Home during the Deluge!

This sounds good, too!

And that, dear readers/students, is God’s Plan of Salvation as set forth in the Pentateuch!

It sure sounds adequate to me!

All of which (every detail) looks forward to the coming of Jesus, to the Incarnation/Virgin Birth … when Calvary (the Cross) will answer fully the issue of sin, once for all, forever!

And why do I say “forever?”

That last verse in our chapter, in Leviticus 16 … “And this shall be an everlasting statute unto you, to make an atonement for the children of Israel for all their sins ONCE A YEAR.” Verse 34, “once a year,” surely you noticed that!

Then, at the end of that year … another day of heavy labor for the High Priest, another goat to be slain, another goat to be led into the wilderness! Another day of fasting!

But with Jesus as the Sacrifice, with Jesus as the High Priest … “Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people’s: for this he did ONCE, when he offered up himself.” Hebrews 7:27, meaning just that, “once-for-all,” or as I indicated, “forever!”

Jesus does not have to die annually!

His Blood has permanent Power!

Oh, yes, as the Book of Hebrews loudly trumpets … Jesus is BETTER!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Hallelujah!

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