Lesson 7 - Leviticus 4 Cont.

[Music] [Music] [Music] we left off studying Leviticus chapter 4 and in chapter 4 we got a new kind a new type of a sacrificial offering that was called the hut at the purification offering now some translators call this offering the sin offering but I think this translated name misses the point as this offering is not so much about a payment for a sinful actor of behavior it's about the person who sins having his purity restored it's about a remedy to the state of defilement a person finds himself in when he sins it's about the restoration of the sinner it's about reconciliation with God not payment for sin now I use the analogy of a person being poisoned and that the ha Todd was the antidote to that poison which has so infected that person how the poisoning occurred the precise nature of the poison is unimportant only the condition of the person who's been poisoned is it issue I know it's sometimes difficult for our minds to see the difference between the person who commits the sin and the sin itself or even how that sin changes the condition of the sinner so let me attempt another illustration of the purpose of the hot - I the purpura fication offering a man staggers into a hospital emergency room with a gunshot wound in his chest and he collapses he's unable to provide the doctors and nurses with any information the hospital staff immediately springs into action and sets about to determine the extent of the injury and how to treat it for the purpose of the best interests of the patient their sole intent all of their focus all of their effort is on saving this person's life how that gunshot wound happened where it happened who pulled the trigger was it attempted suicide or an accident was it done in self-defense was this person the aggressor none of this matters at the moment the behavior that led to this life-threatening condition is secondary even though it was that behavior that led to this man's precarious condition only the condition of this person is patient with the gunshot wound is what matters the medical staff is not trying to treat the behavior they're trying to treat the person even if this man was a criminal shot by the police while committing a crime it doesn't matter the doctors purpose is to save the person's life not to alter his behavior not to administer justice the hot offering is like that God is concerned about the person making sure the effects of his sinful behavior are counteracted and the effects of sin are always the same peace with God is endangered but there is a caveat the hot only concerns matters when that sinful behavior hit which has rendered the person unclean were unintentional or even more specifically inadvertent it was a mistake it was an error it wasn't intended now in our last lesson we saw that unlike the first three sacrificial offerings that we studied the hola the Minka and the Ziva the hot tot purification offering classifies people according to their societal status and their responsibility and it also assigns certain specific sacrificial animals to each class of person and the classes are high priest the nation of Israel as a whole the tribal leaders and then a common citizen and individual now because the high priest is the mediator between God and the people of Israel the high priest can do the most damage to the relationship between God and the Hebrew people when the high priest sins it has the effect of both polluting him and the entire nation of Israel so the sacrificial offering for him must be the greatest and that sacrifice is a mature bull meaning it's at least three years old we also saw that in this ritual of the hot to odd as it concerns the sin of a high priest only certain fats from the bull are burned up on the brazen altar and that no part of the bowl can be used by either the priests or the people rather it has to be removed entirely from the encamp meant of Israel taken outside the camp there's that term outside the camp and burned up on a common wood fire there the idea is to dispose of the bowl to get rid of it as the bull is the substitute for the sin of the high priest oh I'm not gonna go into it deeper just yet let me remind you that the sacrifice of the red heifer is also done in a similar manner as the hot dot is for the high priest and the writer of the book of Hebrews tells us that Christ was killed we're outside the camp you can refer to last week's lesson for a few more details about that so let's look now at the next highest class of people and the ritual called for in the hot tot offering the whole congregation after the high priest the sin of the whole congregation or words nation of Israel as a whole is viewed as the most serious just to be clear it's not that every last Israelite individual sinned the same sinned at the same time rather it's that the behavior the judgment the decisions of most of the group becomes representative of the whole group it is rather ironic that in modern Western Christianity we tend to view sin as exclusively a personal and individual manner that is the only sin that can have some negative effect on you personally is the sin that you commit that if in a group you're the exception to the rule that somehow you will escape the consequence of the behavior of the others Hebrews you see I've always had a concept of both corporate responsibility and individual responsibility and they get it from the scriptures in the Bible we find Israel being removed from their land exiled and dispersed because as a group they brought God's wrath upon themselves the innocent and the guilty both suffered so to speak we find all throughout the Bible that nation's communities even families will suffer dire consequences due to the sins of some members of their group but by no means all in the end times we're told that entire nations will be judged based on their treatment of Israel yet I can assure you that every nation on earth at that time at a time I think is very close we'll have many believers among them that love and bless Israel nonetheless as a whole these nations will be judged on their national policies and their collective actions towards Israel God will hold us all responsible corporately as a group for the actions of our nation those believers even though they may love Israel who live among those nations who go up against Israel will be affected according to God's judgment upon the whole group to which they belong now I'm not talking about salvation here personal salvation is a matter between one individual and the Lord your entire family or nation can be unbelievers but if you accept Christ you are singled out and saved from the eternal separation from God but let's remember though in reality personal salvation is very narrow in its scope sadly because of our Western culture that it's become so individualistic and has abandoned extended families in favor of the small or nuclear family parents and children nobody else we tend to extend this concept too far and we can kind of distance ourselves from the group or the community of which were apart we think we can kind of huddle in our homes and shut out the world and escape all the injustice --is and rejection of our Lord that's displayed on a corporate level by our government well guess what that's not how you have a sees us he sees us as individuals in light of salvation but as part of a group when it comes to the overall behavior of that group and the divine wrath that that overall group is going to be subjected to here on earth see we see the order of importance between a group and an individual right here in Leviticus for after the high priest God places more importance and responsibility on the group as a whole than he does on the leaders of the group and finally of an individual acting alone so in verse 13 were told that if the whole assembly the nation of Israel as a whole commits some kind of a sin in the form of an error an act that is against God's laws and Commandments but then they're suddenly made aware of it they suddenly realize it then they're to see atonement by means of the hot taught sacrifice let's reread a part of Leviticus chapter 4 we're gonna read from verse 13 on to the end page 111 if you have a complete Jewish Bible starting at verse 13 of chapter 4 if the entire community of Israel inadvertently makes a mistake with the assembly being unaware of the matter and they do something against any of the mitzvot the commandments of God concerning things which should not be done they're guilty when the sin they have committed becomes known then the Assembly is to offer a young bull as a sin offering and bring it before the tent of meeting the leaders of the community are to lay their hands on the Bulls head and slaughter the bowl in the presence of AD and I the anointed Col and the priest is to cut is to bring some of the Bulls blood to the tent of meeting the coin is to dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle it seven times in the presence of Adonai in front of the curtain he's to put some of the blood on the horns of the altar before Adonai there in the tent of meeting all the remaining blood he's to pour out at the base of the altar for burnt offerings which is at the entrance to the tent of meeting and he is to remove all of its fat and make it go up in smoke on the altar this is what he is to do with the bull he must do the same with this bull as he does with the one for the sin offering thus the colon the priest will make atonement for them and they will be forgiven he is to bring the bowl outside the camp and burn it as he burned the first bowl it is the sin offering for the Assembly when a leader sins and inadvertently does something against any of the mitzvot vada and I concerning things which should not be done he is guilty if the sin which he committed becomes known to him he is to bring as is offering a male goat without defect lay his hand on the goat's head and slaughtered in the place where they slaughter the burnt offering in the presence of Adonai it is a sin offering the coins to take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar for burnt offerings its remaining blood he is to pour out at the base of the altar for burnt offerings all its fat he is to make go up and smoke on the altar like the fat of the sacrifice for peace offerings thus the priest will make atonement for him in regard to a sin and he will be forgiven if an individual among the people commits a sin inadvertently doing something against any of the commandments of Adonai concerning things which should not be done he is guilty it's the sin he committed becomes known to him he is to bring as his offering a female goat without defect for the sin he committed he's to lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and slaughter the sin offering in the place of the burnt offerings the colon is to take some of its blood with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar for burnt offerings all its remaining blood he is to pour out it at the base of the altar all its fat he is to remove so the fat is removed from the sacrifice for pita as the fat is removed from the sacrifice for peace offerings and the colon is to make it go up in smoke on the altar as a fragrant aroma pradhan I thus the colon will make atonement for him and he will be forgiven if he brings a lamb as a sin offering it's to be a female without defect lay his head on the head of the sin offering and slaughter it as a sin offering in the place where they slaughter burnt offerings the coin is to take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger put it on the horns of the altar for burnt offerings and all of its remaining blood is to be poured out at the base of the altar all its fat he's to remove as the fat of the lamb is removed from the sacrifice for peace offerings and the coin is to make it go up in smoke on the altar on top of the offerings Barratt and i meet by fire thus the cohen will make atonement for him in regard to the sin he is committed and he will be forgiven now the sense of this is not that the community of Israel large knew they were trespassing against the OVA and sort of hit it or refused to acknowledge it rather they simply were unaware of what they had done but then something caused them to become aware of it even so even if they had no intention of doing anything wrong God pronounces them as living in a state of guilt now you and I may look at this and say man dad's pretty harsh that doesn't seem fair it's like driving in a 55 mile an hour zone and then encountering a 35 mile per hour speed zone but to 35 mile per hour speed signs behind a bush they grew up and it covered it but wouldn't you know it there's some cop there with a radar gun he NAB's you e-tickets you says it doesn't matter the law is the law that just seems unfair to us but as we're gonna see at the end of verse 20 by following God's prescribed procedure of atonement the group will be forgiven and restored to fellowship with God and really that's not fair either because the price to restore the group to a pure condition is paid for by an innocent animal not by the people who are responsible for God's justice system isn't man's justice system God declares guilt and forgiveness according to his standards we are declared guilty according to God's rules not ours and were declared forgiven according to God's rules not ours and that principle is probably the biggest stumbling block for most people when it comes to accepting the issue as their Savior because we prefer to judge for ourselves what is right and wrong good and evil and even more what the price should be paid by us if any at all to set things right when the whole congregation sins the required animal sacrifice is a young bull a young bull his general classified as a yearling a mature bull which was required when the high priest sinned was generally three years old so the same type of animal is used for both when the high priest sins and when the whole congregation sins the only difference is the age of the bull but that age difference also creates the value difference the use of the same species the same gender of the animal indicates just how similar in seriousness and responsibility are the sins of the high priest as compared to the sins of the whole congregation and the difference is pretty small and we see that the ritual is that the young bull is brought to the tabernacle and the elders of the community are to lay their hands on the animal now in Hebrew this act of laying on of hands is called semuc ha elders and Hebrews ennum all right were the people's representatives now how they were chosen is not entirely certain but the key is to understand that these were not tribal leaders who inherited authority instead they were common folk good some way or another set themselves apart as having great wisdom good judgment leadership skills a true heart for the people and there would have been hundreds maybe more of these elders to serve these three million Israelites they had a hierarchy among themselves so that it would have been the chief elders who were called upon to lay their hands on the ball and again the concept of laying on hands is to symbolize symbolize the transference of the guilt of the people onto the innocent animal who would then lose its life as a ransom to remove the guilt of the people and restore them to the Lord well at the end of verse 15 we get a little phrase that you would do very well to put into your memory banks and it occurs where it says and the bull shall be slaughtered before the Lord see this phrase before the Lord is significant because it tells us where the Associated action occurred during the days of the wilderness Tabernacle and later on the first temple era even in the second temple era of the New Testament when the phrase before the Lord is used it means that whatever action is going on that it is to the east of the door of the sanctuary here's the door here's east and the idea is that if one were standing at the door to the sanctuary he should be able to see the ritual action that's occurring I demonstrated this to you in the offering of the red heifer it had also to be an offering before the Lord but it also had to occur 3,000 feet away from the door to the sanctuary because it was required that the sacrifice happen outside the camp so in order for both of those conditions to be met that ritual the red heifer ritual had to occur on a spot that was high enough with enough elevation for the priest that was officiating to be able to look down and view the door into the sanctuary although it was from a pretty good distance more than half a mile so the spot selected for the mythic odd altar that was the place where the red heifer was burned up was near the summit of the Mount of Olives that's because it was beyond that 3,000 foot can't boundary and it was also high enough that the priest could see down to the door of the sanctuary now the idea behind all this is that in the minds of the biblical Hebrews Jehovah inhabited the Holy of Holies inside the sanctuary and it the sanctuary then faced directly east so with the Lord sitting atop the mercy seat in the Holy of Holies his view was to the east if any ritual was to be be formed performed before the Lord it had to be performed to the east and in view of the door to the sanctuary so now we can scoff at all that a little bit but that's not the point the point is that when the scriptures we get the phrase before the Lord it meant that something was in view of the sanctuary door east of it so now we understood we can understand where it happened where it was taking place so the elders of the people lay their hands on the young bull it slaughtered the Bloods caught in the container and then the high priest sprinkle some of that blood on the parapet which is the veil that separates the holy place from the Holy of Holies that was behind it then he would smear some blood on the horns of the incense altar which is inside the holy place just as he did in the ritual to atone for his own sin with the remainder poured out now at the base of the brazen altar that's at a big burning burnt altar that's on the outside now except for the age of the bull the ritual for the hot tot for the high priest versus the whole congregation is identical demonstrating the near equality of extreme seriousness and responsibility of their sins now notice what it says at the end of verse 20 says thus the priest will make atonement for them and what will happen they will be forgiven we've talked about this before and we're gonna talk about it again because sadly the church is yearly nearly unanimous in its misunderstanding of this principle the Hebrew word used here in this sentence to express the translation make atonement or expiate depending on your Bible version is Kippur alright and the Hebrew has always been very clear in its meaning it means to wipe clean to cleanse to disinfect we also discussed that Hebrew is a cognate language of Akkadian and in Akkadian is the cognate word Cooper ooh Kippur Cooper ooh and it also means to clean or wipe clean however it is an axiom at least within Western Christianity since the time of Constantine that sins in the Old Testament weren't really atoned for they were covered have you heard that one before they're just covered by the blood of an animal sacrifice and it is customary in Hebrew English dictionaries that have been edited by Gentiles to define the word Kippur as covered over that's incorrect it's just a flat-out bad definition how often have you heard that the difference between what the animal sacrifices of the priest did and what Christ did that in and then the Old Testament and a man sins could only be covered over but they weren't wiped clean or that his sins weren't really forgiven they were just kind of covered over which is a kind of inferior forgiveness to what's available as today via the New Testament faith nothing could be further from the truth over and over we see in the Torah that if a priest will make Kippur for the worshiper his sins will be Salak forgiven pardoned as an act of grace by God let me say it again so there can be no doubt the sins of an Israelite who made the proper sacrifice and did so with a contrite and sincere heart had that sin forgiven by the father he was relieved of his guilt he did not have to face it again so do not be thinking that these animal sacrifices were somehow ineffective they were completely effective for what they were intended to do however the thing they could not do was make atonement and thereby gain forgiveness for all sins of every kind some sins generally classified as as high-handed sins or intentional sins they couldn't be forgiven by means of the Levitical sacrificial system there was no animal sacrifice designed to atone for those kinds of sins and so that person died in his sin and was therefore permanently separated from God and also with each new act of sinful behavior another animal sacrifice was needed even more even though the Israelite was forgiven of his sins his sinful behavior his nature was still such he couldn't be in the presence of the father of heaven Christ remedied each of these terms and conditions of the sacrificial system as one who trusts in Yeshua even your high-handed sins can be atoned for his sacrifice was once and for all another's not needed in fact there's not another one available even if you wanted one and by means of his death for a preparation of the indwelling of the holy spirit our natures are now seen as clean so that we can be in the presence of the Father in his heaven Ivan asked so many times this this question what happened to the Old Testament Hebrews who kept the Torah and died in good stead with the Lord so what happened to them or is the New Testament some silent sometimes refers to them what happened to the saints of old you've heard that statement before the saint of old well according to Luke 16 the right just went to a place called Abraham's bosom whereas those who did not keep Torah went to a different place often translated in our Bibles is in the Greek is Hades now while I'm in no way dogmatic about this because there's just too little information to be absolutely certain it sure appears that there was a temporary place where those who had been obedient and thus judges righteous went to after their death and they were held captive there safe and sound until Christ announced the good news that they were now free to go to heaven notice that it was after his crucifixion but before his ascension that he we're told he went down into the earth to confront both the dead in sin and the dead in their Torah righteousness a gap is described in the story a separation between the two chambers and those in the place of darkness and poor meant only awaiting their eternal fate of destruction could you those who have joined Abraham in a chamber of joy and light and Shalom that that chamber of Abraham's bosom is now indeed because it has no further use those who were in it were freed by Yeshua sacrifice and those who have trusted in Christ since that time go directly to the presence of the Father there is no midway point absent in the body present with the Lord why was a temporary place Abraham's bosom ever needed once again it was because even though those sins were absolutely forgiven behavioral sins absolutely forgiven by means of animal sacrifices coupled with sincere repentance man had to have a nature exchange in order to be pure enough to it be admitted to God's heaven that nature exchange happened on Shavuot Pentecost with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in believers well let's move on next in the hierarchy of Israel societal rank and importance and therefore in responsibility before God are the tribal leaders and here we see a definite shift because the animal sacrifice is no longer a bull now it's a male goat the male goats have stepped down in value from a bull the same basic steps are taken the goats brought to the tabernacle the guilty tribal leader lays his hand on the goat because this his guilt is now transferred over to the goat the goat slaughtered some of its fats burned up on the brazen altar next additional differences between the hata ritual for the tribal leader compared as compared to the high priest and the congregation as a whole arise and certain portions of the goat are given to the priest as food this is known because in verse 26 is explained the goat carcass is to be used as in the Ziva slaw meme offering rather than the remainder of the goat being destroyed outside the camp like was being done with the bowls further the blood ritual that is the sprinkling of the goat blood takes place on the outside of the sanctuary building and it's performed by a common priest not the high priest blood is also dabbed not on the incense altar horns but on the brazen altar horns because it's outside the sanctuary so with the atonement ritual for the tribal leader we see a very significant step down in the importance of both the sacrificial animal the one who must perform the sacrifice aw as you would compare it to the high priest sins of the sins of the whole congregation from a bull we step down to a male goat from the entire animal being destroyed outside the camp now parts of it can even be used for food from the high priest having to perform the sacrifice now a common priest can officiate it everything will find in Leviticus completely blows apart the standard Western Christian concept that a sin is a sin is a sin before the Lord that God doesn't grade or classify sins that pilfering a candy bar makes you just as guilty as committing premeditated murder that whether is the President of the US as a pastor of a congregation or a member of a church he holds us all equally accountable as for salvation that's correct as for responsibility in our earthly duties and the seriousness of those occasions that we sin that is totally wrong both the nature of that sinful behavior and the position of the responsibility a person holds in society matters and finally verse 27 deals with individuals the lowest class of Haddad now let me state when I refer to class I'm not talking about a societal worth of an individual versus a high priest or that that a person's individual value to God versus a individual value of a group or a leader is less or more that's not what we're talking about here it's about the reality that the high priests sins are far more dangerous to israel's peaceful relationship with God than when the whole congregation sins and the whole congregation United in sin is more dangerous than one a tribal leader sins and a tribal leader sins are more dangerous because he's an influence a lot of people under his authority than one a single person sins you see that relationship this is an important truth that we have no choice but to wake up to and acknowledge in today's terms for example the sins of a general congregation of believers Wizards Torah class or a Baptist Church assembly or a Lutheran congregation or a messianic synagogue it carries with it a higher consequence and more importance than even the leader of that group bears and the sins of the leader of that group carry with it greater importance and more danger than the sins of an individual group member and by the way notice how I just skipped over High Priest and I began in status with the whole congregation when I just did my comparison to modern day do not ever equate a teacher a pastor a bishop or whatever with a high priest the high priest position is permanently taken there's only one of them that's Yeshua and he's already passed his test okay let me say that again the congregation as a whole is more accountable and creates greater danger when it comes to sinning before the Lord then even the congregation leader we tend to want to see it the other way around so when you join a group particularly a group of professed believers it is no small decision if that group operates out of holy spirit outside of a holy spirit guidance and you belong to it you can't both renounce it and stay in union with it at the same time you can't determine for yourself that I know they're not right but I'm above it all so says the Lord right here in Leviticus don't get me wrong the idea that every individual will agree wholeheartedly with every other individual in the group is not the issue nor is such a thing very likely to happen under the best of circumstances so the individual is to bring his hot tot offering as a female goat or as it shows us in verse 20 32 optionally a female sheep may be offered now a female animal is generally considered of lesser value than a male annual male animal of the same kind so we see yet another step downward in the price of the ransom for an individual making a hot dot than for any of the other classes this ritual is now familiar to us the female gold her sheep is brought to the tabernacle the individual lays his hands on to the animal to transfer his guilt next the animal slaughtered a common priest smears blood under the horns of the brazen altar the organ fats are removed it's burned up on the brazen altar and were reminded again for the purpose of burning these animal parts in verse 31 it's to create smoke which is a pleasing order to God and then verse 35 reinforces the practice whereby the priests can keep certain parts of the sheep or goat for their personal food as God says this aspect of the rituals to take the form of as a vash la même now notice once again and I'm not going to point this out rather I am going to point this out often as we go through Leviticus that the scripture state and these are the final words of chapter 4 the priest shall make Kippur and the sinner shall be forgiven the ritual sacrifice wipes clean the defilement of the one who sinned and thus the sinner is restored to full relationship with the Father next week we'll start a little bit a kiss chapter 5 father God let us take this to heart and we go out of here father understand help us to understand better where we fit in this hierarchy as a leader as a group as a nation and to understand father that while indeed our salvation is on a one-on-one basis with you whatever groups we belong to Lord we will share a common affect with that group whether it be blessing from your right hand or whether it be wrath from your left father I thank you today for this message of peace that you bring us every single time that peace is available with you just for the asking all we have to do is believe that is the lawgiver you came down to earth and became the sacrifice so that we could be truly given full freedom from not only our sinful behaviors but from our sinful nature they came to us from Adam we bless your Holy Name in this place and we ask you to be with us as we leave and head back out into our community out to our families then we will take this knowledge with it and not store it away but act upon it blessed be your holy me mommy okay [Music] [Music] [Music] issue mission

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Length: 44min 43sec (2683 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 13 2018