"A Day of Reckoning"

Pastor Dan's sermon from 2/25/2007

Scripture Reference: Leviticus 16:1-22

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That Great Day of Reckoning

Christianese...We hear it all the time. Some of us are well-learned in this strange language. Some of us pretend to be well-learned and can espouse it with the best of theologians. I may say something like this, "I have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ who is the propitiation and expiation for my sins through His atoning work and I have been reconciled as He paid the ransom for me at Calvary. I am justified, sanctified and will certainly be glorified at His second advent. Praise the Lord, Hallelujah, Alleluia, Amen!" Now you may not know what the theological essence and import of those words are, but you know, way down deep, that there is something holy about what I just said. And so you respond, "Amen!" I could write an entire article about Christianese, but that’s for another time. Actually, I want to focus on two of these strange words as you prepare to hear God’s revealed Word this Lord’s Day. Propitiation and Expiation.

These two words are central to another theological word… Atonement. What does it mean that Jesus is our atone-ment? How is atonement even possible? Understanding atonement is central to understanding the depth to which Christ went in His humiliation in order to provide salvation for His people. Understanding atonement brings fuller meaning to the words Christ cried on the cross, "My God! My God! Why hast thou forsaken me?" It may even bring us to tears of joy when we hear those words, "Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing." At Calvary, Jesus atoned for our sins. "He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins." He is the propitiation and expiation for us so that we can "know Him who is true."

So what is propitiation? To answer this question we must look to the book of Leviticus. Yes! Leviticus has much to do with our lives today. In fact, take a look at Leviticus 16 and give it a read. This is the basis for what the Jews continue to call Yom Kippur, meaning, The Day of Atonement. To summa-rize quickly, on one day a year, the high priest, and only the high priest, was instructed to enter the Holy of Holies where the Ark of the Covenant resided. God’s presence conde-scended upon this place above the atonement cover or what Martin Luther called, "the mercy seat." This mercy seat covered the Ark of the Covenant which contained Aaron’s priestly staff, the tablets of the Law and manna from heaven.

The high priest was only to enter one day each year and was instructed to make atonement for his sins and the sins of the people. This passage foreshadows Jesus Christ and His aton-ing work in so many ways. In fact, Hebrews is a great book to read about how Jesus Christ is the Supreme High Priest who has ended all sacrifices of this type in that He was the final sacrifice of atonement. To summarize, the high priest would sacrifice a bull for his own sins and a goat for the sins of the people. The blood of these animals was to be sprinkled upon the mercy seat to represent the atoning work of the substitu-tionary sacrifice.

This is where propitiation comes in. Propitiation is the cover-ing of our sins. By placing the blood of the goat on the mercy seat, the blood covers the sin of the people from the holiness of God. If one thing is clear from Leviticus, it is that God cannot stand sin. That is the reason for all of these laws that may seem so meaningless to us today but actually reveal a deep truth about man’s sinful condition and God’s holiness. Romans 3:10 tells us, ―there is no one righteous—not even one.‖ Many are familiar with Romans 5:12 which declares that ―sin entered the world through one man and death through sin and in this way death came to all men be-cause all men sinned.‖ There is no escape from the justice of God! Man needs mediation in order to even approach His presence.

God reveals the perfection of His holiness in His wrath against sin. That is why Christ went to the cross. Jesus went there in our place, the way the goat took Israel’s place on the Day of Atonement, in order that, "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteous-ness of God." Jesus covered our sins by His substitutionary blood. It should have been us on the cross yet He agreed to give Himself.

But atonement has this second part to it that many often forget. Once the sacrifices were over (and you can imagine that the high priest was a bloody mess) the high priest would place his hands on a second goat, the scapegoat, say a prayer of confession and finally send this goat off into the wil-derness. Jewish tradition records that the scapegoat did not make it to the wilderness unscathed. It became a tradition to mock and curse the scapegoat. Many would abuse the goat, plucking its fur and screaming at it. Finally, the goat would be taken to a cliff by a designated person and consequently pushed over the cliff so that it might never return to the Israel camp.

What a picture. This is what is meant by expiation. Not only does the atoning work of the cross cover our sins, but Christ’s work excises our transgressions. Our guilt is literally removed. Psalm 103:12 tells us that our sin is displaced as far as the “east is from the west.” We often forget that our sin has been completely taken care of. Removed! Do you know what that means?

Christ has covered us over by His substitutionary death and sacrifice. God sees the work of Christ rather than our faulty works. Don’t cheapen the work of Christ by believing there is something we can do on our own to gain God’s favor. You were not saved by works! No! We were saved by the grace of God! Further, God has removed our sins so that we are declared to be “joint heirs with Christ.”

Space limits me from going into a full exposition. I plan on getting into some of the finer points over the next two weeks. The first week we will take an in depth look at Leviticus 16 and propitiation and expiation and what it means to our lives and our Christian walk. The next week we will take a look at the definite atoning work of Christ on the cross. More on that later. For now, read Romans 3:23-28 and Leviticus 16:1-22 to prepare yourself for worship on Sun-day. Until then, may the God of hope fill you with joy and peace.