The
day of Atonement was in the fall of the year. It started at
sunset on one day and ended the next sunset. It often came in
September or October as our calendar calls this time of the
year. The Jewish calander was diferent than ours.
Several different animals
were killed on this day with different meanings for each one.
Some were a symbol of the leaders who had sinned. Each person
was to make sure his own sins were forgiven and the appropriate
animal was killed. The death of animals was sad. It is hard to
understand why an animal had to die for the sins of people. But
Jesus died for our sins when He had not done anything wrong. It
was a big lesson He was trying to teach the people. He does not
ask us to kill animals any more. He already died for us as the
LAMB.
The main service began
when two baby goats were brought to the door of the Sanctuary.
Lots were cast which would represent two individuals. One was
Jesus, the other was Azazel or Satan. (Leviticus 16: 5-10)
How
did they cast lots? I have never seen this done. There are
several descriptions in the dictionaries. To cast lots means to
toss little rocks. This was often done by shaking them in a jar.
The gold rock for the Lord was marked and the one for Satan was
marked. The rocks were drawn out of the jar. The goat on which
the rock marked "Lord's" was to be the Lord's goat.
This one was killed as a sin offering for the people. The other
one was to be kept alive and used as the scape goat (Lev. 16:
8-10)
The
High Priest killed the baby goat that was picked to represent
the Lord. Then he took its blood into the Most Holy Place.
As he went past the altar
of incense, he put some extra incense on it. So a cloud of sweet
perfume of prayers would go with him as he went before God in
the Most Holy Room. He took hot coals from the altar and
incense. Putting these in his censer, he was ready to go into
the Most Holy room. (Lev. 16:12)
The
censor was a gold container which held incense. Holy fire was
used to burn the incense. The incense smelled sweet. It could be
smelled even two miles away from God's tent.
Your prayers are like
sweet smelling incense. God enjoys it when you talk to Him.
On this special day of
atonement, extra incense was put in the censer. There were many
prayers being prayed by the people as the High Priest, alone in
God's tent went into the Most Holy Room. The cloud of smoke from
the incense was very thick. It covered the ark. (Lev. 16)
Incense
Mixture Sweet incense that burned was a mixture of four spices
in equal amounts. The first three were gum resins. Resin is the
juice from a tree. The fourth spice came from a shell. The
spices were called stacta, galbanum, frankincense, and onycha.
In
the Most Holy room the blood of the baby goat was sprinkled on
the mercy seat of the ark seven times. The people and the other
priests were outside of the Sanctuary. They were all praying and
asking forgiveness for all that had been done wrong. Only the
forgiven sins were covered by the Lord's goat blood. Everyone in
the camp needed to have their sins forgiven in order to be
covered by this goats blood.
Jesus
is doing this job right now in heaven. He is not using the blood
of goats. He uses His own blood. He is not really spreading His
blood around in Heaven. This is a symbol of what He did on the
cross to take care of the sins of His people. Those who did not
ask for forgiveness from Him, did not get His help. They had to
pay for their own sins. On that day of Atonement, if anyone had
sins not confessed, they died. The penalty for sin is death.
Jesus paid the price for us so we would not have to die. Jesus
is our High Priest. He is working on the record books in heaven
to see who is asking for forgiveness. He knows we are all
sinners. He knows that some sinners want His help. Those who
want to do it their own way, will have to pay the price of
death.
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