The Day of Atonement

00:01 You ought to turn in your copies of the Scripture this morning to Leviticus the 16th chapter. Not going to be reading the text this morning, but we'll be referring to it often and going down through it this morning. On the 6th of the annual feast of Israel, the Day of Atonement, 00:20 or what is in Hebrew called Yom Kippur, and it has the idea of a covering for sin. A covering for sin. It is the 6th feast of the year, 2nd of the fall of the three fall feasts, and it is the one to which we turn our attention this morning. 00:39 The Day of Atonement. The word Yom is the Hebrew word for day, and Kippur, or Kaffer, is the Hebrew word for cover. So what we're talking about here is a covering for sin. And we know that what covers sin is in Leviticus chapter 17:11. It is the blood that makes atonement for the soul. 01:02 So what we have this morning is the ordinance of blood, sacrificial blood, to pay for the price of man's sin and reconcile a sinful man with a holy God. Harry Ironside shared an illustration many years ago. He was preaching in a small town in southern Washington, 01:23 just on the north banks of the Columbia River, and his hosts were sheep herders. They raised sheep, and one day they took him out to view the sheep that they were raising, and kind of off in the distance he noticed the sheep that looked like, or a lamb that looked like it had six legs. And so what was that about? 01:44 He wondered, and he saw another ewe, an old ewe that was kind of hobbling along, and went and nurtured that little lamb with six legs. And what happened, he found out, was that the ewe had had a lamb that had died from a rattlesnake bite, and they took that ewe, 02:05 and she didn't have a lamb then that was living, and they had another lamb whose mother had died. It was an orphan lamb, and so they took that lamb that had died from the rattlesnake bite, they cut off his skin and his back legs, and wrapped that skin over the top of the little orphan lamb, 02:25 and so it made it look like he had two legs sticking out the back, two extra legs, and then the mother lamb, which was the mother of the other lamb that had died, came and began to sniff around, whereas when she would have rejected him at the beginning without that covering, when he was covered by the other lamb, she accepted that. 02:44 It smelled right. 02:45 It appeased her sense of impropriety, and Ironside went on to say that this is a beautiful picture of the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. When we're covered, we're covered by the Lamb, and we are in Christ. 03:03 God, who was not inclined to accept us because we were not of His family, we were not of His kingdom, we were aliens of the Commonwealth of Israel, and we were without Christ and without God in the world, is now inclined and prone and even eager to accept us into His family, to nurture us, 03:22 and care for us, and to make that there is now, therefore, no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. Basically, that is a kind of a picture of what's happening in Leviticus chapter 16 on the Day of Atonement. Now, the Day of Atonement followed after the Feast of Trumpets 10 days later. 03:43 The Feast of Trumpets was always at the new moon, at the darkest time of the month, and Israel was on a lunar calendar at that time, and so the new moon was always at the 1st of the month. And so they waited 10 days, and if you remember from the Feast of Trumpets, those were the 10 days of awe, where they were to humble themselves and to afflict their soul, 04:04 hoping that God would find their name in the book of life and would allow them to live for another year. 04:10 There was, if you recall, the book of life unto death, and there was a book of life unto life, and then there were those that were in the middle, and those that were in the middle needed to afflict their souls in hope that they would be included in the book of life and allowed to live and prosper for another year. 04:28 Yom Kippur was at the end of the days of awe and was a time when they should seriously afflict their soul, the Bible says, and if a man did any work on that day, he would be destroyed from among the people. It was a holy convocation, a holy assembly, and was a solemn day of fasting and afflicting of one's soul, 04:50 and if one did not do that, he would be cut off from among the people. In addition to the daily offerings, which the priests sacrificed day after day after day in the tabernacle and later in the temple, there were additional offerings for the Day of Atonement. There was a bull, a ram, 05:09 two goats, seven lambs for the people, and another ram for the priesthood, along with grain offerings and drink offerings. 05:18 We find a detailed record of this both in Leviticus chapter 16 and also in history as it has been written about some of the details that are maybe extra biblical but are part of the Jewish commemoration of this feast. I want to talk to you this morning in this passage about the priest, 05:39 the provision, and the people. The priest, the provision, and the people. First of all, we turn our attention to the priest. The priest, the high priest, usually did not do the regular duties on the daily sacrifices, but when it came to Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, 05:58 the high priest was the only one who could do it unless for some reason he was incapacitated or unclean. 06:06 Preceding about a week before the actual feast day, he would be quarantined, and he would be separated and put in special housing so that he would minimize his potential of being ceremonially unclean and defiled. For if the high priest could not do this, if someone could not enter into this holy of holies, 06:25 then the nation of Israel would need to bear their sin and have no covering before God. And so it is with our Lord Jesus Christ. If Christ has not saved us, we are not saved. We are still under condemnation. 06:37 If Christ's blood has not been applied to the heart of mankind on an individual basis, then we are still in our sins and at enmity with God. 06:48 And so the high priest could not fail, and he would spend that week practicing, practicing how to sprinkle the blood with the flick of the finger and the forefinger and the thumb, practicing how to burn the incense, how to light the lampstands. There could be no mistakes, 07:07 and to keep them from becoming unclean or disqualified and leaving them in their sins, these special precautions were taken. 07:16 Twice that week, he was sprinkled with the ashes of the red heifer mixed with water to be ceremonially clean, and there was a substitute that was appointed also quarantined in case for some reason he was unable. This was probably the priest next in line. So in verse 2, the Lord said to Moses, by the way, it's related to verse 1. 07:38 Verse 1 says, "Now the Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron when they offered profane fire before the Lord and died." Now we've been reading about the, I can't think of his name right now, but Uzzah, who helped, reached out and steadied the ark. But we also, we need to be aware of the two priests, 07:59 sons of Aaron, who offered strange fire to the Lord, and the Lord smoked them and caused the great fear to come upon the priests and all the people, and they died. And the Lord said to Moses, verse 2, "Tell Aaron, your brother, not to come at just any time into the holy place inside the veil before the mercy seat which is on the ark, 08:20 lest he die, for I will appear in the cloud above the mercy seat." And so then it goes on to explain what Aaron was to do, and he was to meet with God alone. In verse 17, it says that when he goes into this place of meeting to make an atonement, 08:41 there shall no man in the tabernacle of meeting, there shall be no man in the tabernacle of meeting when he goes in to make atonement in the holy place. This is man alone with God. 08:51 This is a transaction on behalf of the people, and in the case of the high priest, on behalf of himself, a transaction between man alone and God in the holy of holies. This is a transaction between them. In verse 3, he was to only come with blood. 09:10 He was to come the first time with the blood of a young bull as a sin offering, and he was to be clothed with the priestly garments. Now in verse 4, he shall put on holy linen tunic and the linen trousers on his body. He shall be girded with a linen sash, and with the linen turban he shall be attired. These are holy garments. 09:31 These holy garments were not the normal priestly garments. These holy garments were worn as linen garments, as only used at this time of going into the holy of holies and used only once and then discarded. And so he is to come. 09:49 He is to journey into the holy place in the way that God set it forth that he should come, with white linen to be worn on that day and never again. In verse 4b, he says, "Therefore he shall wash his body in water and put them on." Now he was to wash. Several times a day he was to wash and change clothes and wash again. 10:09 Five washings, I believe, throughout the day, only after he washed himself completely with water behind the screen that would show only a shadow of his movements. So they set up a screen that he would be behind that would only show the shadow so that witnesses could see that there was nothing added to his ceremony and nothing left out, 10:30 only the shadow of the movements to assure that no change of movement had taken place. In verse 6, Aaron shall offer the sin offering, the bull as a sin offering, which is for himself, and make atonement for himself and for his house. You see, Aaron needed an atonement himself, 10:51 which is different than the Lord Jesus Christ, our great high priest, who needed not to atone for himself, for he was the sinless one, undefiled, and without blemish. But Aaron needed to atone for himself and for the priesthood and then for the people. He must sacrifice for himself first. 11:10 In verse 17, there shall be no man in the tabernacle of meeting when he goes in to make atonement in the holy place until he comes out, that he may make atonement for himself, for his household, that is, the rest of the priests, and for all the assembly of Israel. 11:28 And so everything depended at this point on this feast in the high priest doing his job, doing it well, doing it right according to God's specifications. Verse 17, he says it was to sacrifice and cleanse the sanctuary, the tabernacle, the altar, the priests, and the people. 11:48 Verse 32, he refers to that. And the priest who is anointed and consecrated to minister as a priest in his father's place shall make atonement and put on the linen clothes and the holy garments. Then he shall make atonement for the holy sanctuary. He shall make atonement for the tabernacle of meeting, for the altar. He shall make atonement for the priests, for all the people of the assembly. 12:09 This shall be an everlasting statute for you to make atonement for the children of Israel for all their sins once a year, and Aaron did as Moses commanded. 12:21 And so we have the priest here, everything depending on the transparency and the efficacy and the proper form of the priest. Interesting, in verse 23, when he concludes his priestly duty there, 12:39 when he concludes this transaction with the holy God of Israel, then he, towards the end, was to take off the linen garments. Look at verse 23. He shall come into the tabernacle of meeting, shall take off the linen garments which he put on when he went into the holy place and shall leave them there. 13:03 I got excited when I realized this. Who else left his linen garments after a transaction with God was completed? Jesus. Jesus. When his transaction with the Father to secure our salvation on the cross, and when he took that blood of the covenant, new covenant, 13:22 presented it to the Father as he rose up out of that grave, he left the linen grave clothes lay where they were, never to use them again. And you see, even in that, the typology and the picture of our Lord Jesus Christ as our high priest. Now, secondly, we look at the provision this morning. 13:42 The priest, it all depended on the priest, but it all depended also on the provision. What were they to provide? So in the afternoon, the priest would confess his sins over the head of a young bull. Three times he would pronounce the covenant name of the Lord, Yahweh. Now, 14:01 one thing we need to understand about Jewish culture is that the name of Yahweh, his personal name, his covenant name, his name that had been revealed to Israel through Moses was so holy that they never spoke his name or seldom or rarely. In fact, 14:19 if you look at a Jewish writing, sometimes they will leave out the middle O of God. They'll just call it G-D. That's because Hebrews and Jews do not, they do not pronounce God's name. 14:36 And when it comes to the name Yahweh, they would not pronounce the name Yahweh because lest someone mispronounce it or someone take it in vain and use it as a curse or a swear word or a byword and profane the name of the Lord. And so, but in this case, the priest, 14:54 the high priest, would speak the covenant name of the Lord, and each time the people and the priests that were observing would fall down and repeat, "Blessed be his name whose glorious kingdom is forever and ever." In verses 8 through 10, then, he would present the two goats, two goats that had been selected to the Lord, 15:15 and he would cast lots for these two goats. 15:19 One of the lots would be for the scapegoat, and one of the lots would be for the Lord, and they would take these golden tablets, these golden lots, put them in a golden vessel and shake and move that vessel around and randomly reach in and take out one 15:37 of those gold pads and put it up against the head of the goat. And if it said Yahweh on it, then that was the sacrificial goat, and if it said scapegoat or for the people on it, that was the scapegoat that was then sent out into the wilderness later in the day. And so we take the bull here in verse 11. 15:59 He took the bull and confessed the sins of the priesthood and of himself. Aaron shall bring the bull of the sin offering which is for himself and make atonement for himself and for his house, and shall kill the bull as the sin offering which is for himself. Then he would take a golden pan or a censer, 16:18 and he would ascend up to the brazen altar, the altar of brass, and take coals from the altar in that pan and take incense, a large handful or two handfuls of incense, and go back behind the curtain and the veil once again, and it would offer back in the place of darkness. 16:38 You remember back in the holy of holies there's no light back there. The lampstand is in the holy place, not in the most holy place, and the only thing back there is the presence of God, and whatever light that would give we don't know, but it was a cloud and is mysterious. 16:54 And he would go back there with these burning coals and put incense on those coals and lay that there before the Lord as a sweet-smelling offering to the Lord. He would then come back out and retrieve the blood of the bull and sprinkle it, counting aloud in the presence of the incense and the holy of holies and the ark of the covenant. 17:16 He would sprinkle seven times, counting out loud to make sure there were no errors and no mistakes. 17:22 He would then sacrifice the goat marked for the Lord and sprinkle the blood at the holy of holies in the same way, and then he would do the same procedure with the blood of the bull and the goat mixed together outside the holy of holies and outside of the veil. 17:41 Then he would take the living goat in verse 20 through 22, and when he has made an end of atoning for the holy place, the tabernacle of meeting, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat. Now this is where it gets very interesting. He shall take the live goat and shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, 18:01 confess over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel and all their transgressions concerning all their sins, putting them, get this, putting them on the head of the goat, and then shall send that goat away into the wilderness by the hand of a suitable man. We have what is called the scapegoat. 18:20 This is the substitute. One goat dying, the other goat bearing the sin, both the picture of Christ, the sacrificial offering, and the one who bore our sins and our iniquities and infirmities outside the gate, and signifying that our sins have been removed. They would take this out into the wilderness, 18:40 10 miles out, and release him, never to see him again, never to have that goat show up again. In fact, as Jerusalem got more populated and the temple around the temple, they would actually kill that goat outside so that it would never be seen because if there were so many people around, it could wander back in, 19:00 and you wouldn't want your sins showing up again on Monday when you had them forgiven on Sunday or Saturday. Some people need to learn that lesson, that when they confess their sins, they're gone. They need to realize that we're forgiven and cleansed, never to be held against us again. But also, some people, when they confess their sins, 19:18 need to get rid of them and truly repent and get those sins out in the wilderness where they can die of starvation. No, what we oftentimes do with that scapegoat is we keep feeding him and keep him around as a pet. No, he's not a pet. He's a sin. 19:35 Sin, besetting sin. You need to repent and get that sin out of your life and remove it, ask God to remove it by his precious blood. So we would then take the remains of the sacrifices in verse 27 and 28. 19:51 The bull for the sin offering and the goat for the sin offering whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the holy place shall be carried outside the camp, and they shall burn in the fire their skins, their flesh, and their offal, their innards, their leftovers. And then he who burns them shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, 20:12 and afterward he may come into the camp. And the one who took that scapegoat out in the wilderness needed to come in and wash his clothes and wash his body so that he can then enter into the camp having dealt with sin. Then the priest would, we don't see this in this passage, 20:30 but historically, the priest would address the congregation with scriptures from Leviticus and Numbers, reading these scriptures, explaining to the people the significance and what had been happening that day, and returning one more time to the holy of holies to retrieve the pan of incense, bathe again, 20:51 change into normal priestly garments. And this was the way that they were to have their sins atoned for for the next year. Now, something happened in AD 70 to mess this all up. The temple was destroyed. You recall in AD 33 or whenever, 21:10 whatever date it was that Jesus Christ died and rose from the dead, the veil in the temple was rent, so things were already beginning to change. Somebody was asked a question, what did the Jews do when the veil in the temple was rent and torn? 21:27 I think it's Josephus or one historian said they sewed it back up again and went on like nothing had happened. 21:35 But in 70 AD, something did happen. Their temple was destroyed and has never been rebuilt to this day. Some of us believe that it will be rebuilt during the tribulation period, but that's another subject for another time. 21:51 One of the rabbis then began to promote the idea that God's word says in the Old Testament that I would have mercy and not sacrifice. 22:01 So they began to downplay the sacrificial system and developed a works-oriented system where they would actually work for their salvation because there was no other way to have a sacrifice for their sin. Since the law was clear that sacrifices must be made only in Jerusalem, 22:21 it became strictly forbidden to use any animal that would in any way be used or connected with the sacrificial system or that might be mistaken to continue the sacrificial system. So today, for instance, 22:41 on Passover, most Jews eat chicken or turkey rather than try to reproduce a bull or a goat or something like that. However, having said that, there did develop a practice among Jews called caparot, and caparot was a ceremony of substitution. 23:02 See, deep in the Jewish mind, there's still something missing from this works-oriented salvation. There's got to be an atonement. There's got to be shedding of blood, for the Bible says without the shedding of blood, there is no remission. And so they developed, some of them hold to this even today, 23:22 the ceremony of substitution using an innocent animal like a chicken. 23:27 And so they will use a chicken so that it doesn't look like it's a bull or a goat or sheep or a lamb, and they will find this from us, one specifically trained to select the bird, and then they will grab the chicken with their left hand and place their right hand on its head and wave the fowl three times overhead while pronouncing. 23:50 People still do this. "This is my substitute, my vicarious offering, my atonement. This fowl shall meet death, but I shall enjoy a long, happy life and peace." After reading several selections from Job and the Psalms, a person lays his hand on the head of the bird as a symbol of identification. 24:11 It is killed as his substitute and given to the poor for their final meal before the feast, or excuse me, before the fast. That's the priest and the provision. Let's talk about the people. The people, why was this needed? Why was this needed? 24:30 Well, it was needed because there needed to be a substitutionary atonement to cover the sins of the people. Everyone, no one was exempt from this. 24:41 Verses 16 and 17, we already read verse 17, but this says in 16, "So he shall make atonement for the holy place because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel and because of their transgressions for all their sins, 24:56 and so shall he do for the tabernacle of meeting which remains among them in the midst of their uncleanness." It is very clear in this passage of scripture that the reason for this day of atonement was to cover their sin and to deal with their uncleanness. Verse 17 at the end, make atonement for himself and all the assembly of Israel. 25:17 Verse 19, he shall consecrate it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel. 25:23 And verses 29, the talk, excuse me, not verse 29, but verse 30, "For on that day, the priest shall make atonement for you to cleanse you that you may be cleaned from all your sins before the Lord." And verse 33, "Then he shall make atonement for the holy sanctuary, 25:42 and he shall make atonement for the tabernacle of meeting and for the altar, and he shall make atonement for the priest and for all the people of the assembly." It was because of their uncleanness. Why did Christ, the high priest, come for us and make the sacrifice that he made to the Father God? It was because of our uncleanness, because of our sin. 26:03 And by the way, that goes and stands for each and every one of us. Doesn't matter how good you might think we are, how good you might think you are, doesn't matter how well-behaved you are, doesn't matter how well you submit to your parents, how well you come in conformity with the church, doesn't matter how many times you're baptized, 26:21 it doesn't matter how many times you think that you don't need anything else. It's uncleanness, folks. It's, brothers and sisters, it's all of us, all of us. 26:35 Now, thankfully, Jesus said, "He that is washed need only have his feet cleansed." You don't have to get saved day after every day. You don't have to get resaved and resaved and resaved and resaved. You repent, wash your feet, that place of contact between you and the world if you're washed by the blood of Jesus Christ. 26:59 So what is about this people? To deal with the sin and separation between a holy God and sinful man, to bring peace and fellowship and relationship between the people and between God, to deal with the guilt and the shame of sin, to satisfy the demands of this holy God, and to pay the price for our sin, 27:19 for our uncleanness, for our defilement, and for our worldliness. And each and every one of us need to have that consciousness that without Christ, without being under the covering of the blood of the Lamb, we are still guilty. Whether you feel guilt or you don't feel guilt, you're guilty. 27:37 Whether you feel shame or you don't feel shame, you're shameful. Whether you feel separated or you don't feel separated, you're separated from God without the sacrificial work of the Lord Jesus Christ being applied to my heart and to yours. 27:54 We need a substitute. We need an atonement. We need a sacrifice. We need a great high priest who can do this on our behalf. Dr. 28:10 Bainbridge was a man who wrote the book Around the World Tour of Christian Missions. And in his journey as a traveler, he toured to Tokyo, Japan, this many years ago. 28:23 In his tour to Tokyo, Japan, he was admitted to the country, and then someone asked him, "Who stands for you?" "What do you mean who stands for me?" And he thought they were asking about his passport, so he produced his passport. They said, "No, who stands for you?" He didn't know what they meant again, 28:43 and so he produced some more papers, letters of invitation, introduction, and things like that, but those were not satisfactory to the authorities. The question was repeated again, "Who stands for you?" It was then explained that there was an ordinance that no foreigner could enter into Tokyo for any length of time without a sponsor, 29:06 without a substitute. 29:09 And so these foreigners would hire natives to be their substitute, and the natives would hire themselves out. And basically, it was to assure that if a law was broken and they could not punish the foreigner, they would punish the substitute. They would punish him, 29:30 even if it meant suffering death. If the penalty were even death, the substitute suffered the death. This is a picture in the natural of what has happened with us through Christ in the spiritual. And oh, the change that is made when that happens. During World War I, Britain and France, men were conscripted into the French army. 29:51 They were drafted, and the draft came to a man, and he had a family and wasn't able to go and do very well. And so he had a friend who said, "I'm single. I don't have a family. 30:01 I'll go and answer this call on your behalf in your name, your address, and everything as if I'm you." And so the record showed that this man took the place of this father who was unable to go. Several years later, he got drafted again. He got drafted again. The friend, 30:20 the substitute, actually died on the battlefield, and the original man got drafted again. He said, "I cannot go, and furthermore, I'm dead." They said, "What do you mean you're dead? You're standing here. You're alive." He said, "No, look at the record. Look at the record. Look at the official documents. I am dead. 30:38 I died on the battlefield in the person of my substitute." And Napoleon took that case and rendered the ruling that the substitution was actual and binding, that there was no way this man could be conscripted to serve again because a substitute had died in his place. 31:00 Those are just some pictures about Christ, our substitute. I want you to go in the time that remains through the book of Hebrews. Because we cannot leave just looking at the shadow of the real. We must go and look at the substance of the real, Christ being the fulfillment of the shadows. 31:20 Like I said in our last message, when you hug someone, you don't hug their shadow. You don't embrace their shadow. You embrace the person. And so it is with Christ. We're not embracing an Old Testament day of atonement. We're embracing the person of Jesus Christ who is both high priest and sacrifice, both in one package. 31:43 And so we have Christ as the sacrifice. In Hebrews 9:22, there is blood required for forgiveness. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission. That was the true in the Old Testament and true in the New. Verse 26, this sacrifice was made once. 32:04 He then would have to suffer often since the foundation of the world, but now, once at the end of the ages, he has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, as it is appointed unto man once to die, but after this, the judgment. He was to bear the sins of many in verse 28. So Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. 32:26 And so he was sacrificial for the entire human race, just like the atonement on the day of atonement was for the nation of Israel. Christ's atonement of blood is for the human race. Chapter 10, verses 1 through 4, we have that the insufficiency of the old, 32:46 for the law having a shadow of the good things to come and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices which they offer continually, year by year by year by year by year, I added that, make those who approach perfect. For then would they have ceased to be offered, for the worshipers once purified would have had no more consciousness of sins. 33:07 But in those sacrifices, there is a reminder of sins every year, every year. You can never get completely clean before this awesome holy God, only temporarily so. For it's not possible for the blood of bulls and goats could take away sin. But in Chapter 10, 33:27 verse 14, he says, "For by one offering, he has perfected those forever, those who are being sanctified." And so those of us who have been justified by faith in Jesus Christ and who are being sanctified can stand before God uncondemned, blameless, without blemish, 33:48 and completely acceptable to him. Why? Because we've been covered up with that Lamb's sacrifice. 33:58 This gives us boldness to go into the holy of holies, into the presence of God. 34:01 Therefore, verse 19 of Chapter 10, "Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus." I don't know how much boldness those Old Testament high priests had when they entered into that eerie dark place where this smoke and glowing kind of glory of God. 34:22 I don't know how much confidence they have. In fact, history would also record, I don't think they ever had to use this, but biblically, the high priest would have bells on so that you knew behind the veil that they were still working. They were still moving. They were still okay. If the bells stopped ringing, that high priest was in trouble, and so were you. 34:42 But I've been told, and I don't know if there's substance to this or not, but I've been told that they would take the high priest and put a sash on him or a rope that in case he made a missed move in the holy of holies, they could pull out his dead body and not have to go in and get him and face wrath themselves. 35:03 Makes sense. I don't think there was a lot of confidence going back in there. If you did have any confidence, it was confidence in the blood of the sacrifice that you were bringing to the holy of holies. Brothers and sisters, this morning, we can enter with boldness into the holiest place of all through the blood of Jesus. 35:23 We never have to shrink back, draw back, be afraid that God's going to reject us when we're covered by the blood of Jesus. What great confidence there is that we can come boldly into the holy of holies and bring forth our petitions and offer the sacrifice of praise, 35:45 the fruit of our lips, bringing glory to his name. This high priest, Hebrews makes the case, was not qualified to be a high priest because he was of the descendants of Levi, but he was of a better high priestly line, and that was from the order of Melchizedek. 36:07 This would be a problem if there were not another order. And that order is the order of Melchizedek. And so he says in Chapter 7, verse 17, "You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek, without sin, without defilement." Look at verses 24, 36:26 "But he," in Chapter 7, "But he, because he continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. Therefore, he is able to save to God to the uttermost those who come to God through him since he always lives to make intercession for them." For such a high priest, get this, he didn't have to make a sacrifice for himself. 36:46 Such a high priest was fitting for us who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and become higher than the heavens. Who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for his own sins and then for the people's? For this, he did once for all when he offered up himself. 37:08 For the law appoints as high priests men who have weakness, but the word of the oath which came after the law appoints the Son who has been perfected forever. No more need for caparot. No chickens waving over your head. 37:26 No flipping of the blood of bulls and goats in front of the mercy seat or on the mercy seat or in front of the tabernacle or on the horns of the altar. No need for that. The blood has been applied to our hearts by faith. That blood speaks a witness of better things and able in the heavens before God. 37:47 And all who are sanctified by that blood and are under that cleansing flood are clean forever. Don't have to get saved again, folks. Don't have to get saved again. If you're saved, you repent, you confess, you come back, you ask God to forgive, 38:09 but this is a once-for-all transaction. Thank you, Jesus. Now, there is one more consideration that has prophetic implications. I'll try to be brief. The long-term prophetic implications is that the feast, 38:29 a day of atonement, follows the feast of trumpets. Now, that's significant when it comes to end-time prophecy. It is my belief, as I study these feasts, that the feast of trumpets, prophetically coming in the future, will set the period of affliction of the soul of the Jewish people. 38:51 And the Jewish people will again afflict their souls in the time of Jacob's trouble, which is a seven-year period of tribulation. 39:01 And the rapture of the church will signify the regathering of the Jewish people to their homeland where they together will face the days of awe, God entering into a renewal of the new covenant with them as a people. 39:18 And if you want to turn just quickly to Zechariah Chapter 12, Zechariah Chapter 12, 9 through 13, 39:36 "It shall be in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and supplication." Who's this going to be on? The house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem? The spirit of grace and supplication. 39:55 "Then they will look on me whom they pierced." The Jewish people pierced their Savior. Yes, they will mourn for him as one mourns for his only son and grieve for him as one grieves for a firstborn. 40:12 "In that day, there will be a great mourning in Jerusalem like the mourning at Haddad-Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. And the land shall mourn, every family by itself, the family of the house of David by itself, and their wives by themselves, and the family of the house of Nathan by itself, and their wives by themselves, 40:31 and the family of the house of Levi by itself, and their wives by themselves, the family of the house, or excuse me, the family of Shimei by itself, and their wives by themselves, all the families that remain, every family by itself and their wives by themselves. 40:47 And in that day, a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. 40:55 And it shall be in that day, says the Lord of Hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idol from the land, and they shall no longer be remembered." There will be a fountain opened for the Jewish people in confirmation of what Paul said in Romans Chapter 11, that in that day, all Israel shall be saved. 41:15 Jeremiah 31, verse 31 to 34, I refer to you that the new covenant, by the way, folks, was not was was made for us Gentiles, but it was given specifically to the Jewish people. They have not entered into that new covenant yet. But at the end of the days of awe, 41:34 that day of atonement when the Messiah is recognized for who he is by the nation of Israel, 41:42 they will weep and mourn and repent and receive the new covenant. Jeremiah 31 says, "Behold, the days are coming," declares the Lord, "that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. Not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, 42:02 my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband," declares the Lord, "but this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days," declares the Lord. "I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, 42:22 saying, 'Know the Lord,' for they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest," declares the Lord. 42:29 "And I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." We get to enter into that. We have entered into that as one grafted in, as a Gentile race grafted into the plan of God. 42:45 Oh, what glory it will be when the Jewish people also recognize our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are regrafted into the plan of God, and the kingdom shall come under the authority of the King, King Jesus. 43:02 So this morning, we have an atonement. We have one who makes us at one with God. We have a high priest who is sufficient for the call. We have a provision of himself that is totally satisfactory to the Father. And we, as his people, 43:21 are forgiven and cleansed from all unrighteousness. Let's pray. 43:32 I'm wondering this morning if there's someone here who would say, "Brother Todd, I have not been covered by the blood of Jesus. 43:43 If I were to die today or Christ were to come, I would stand guilty before God because I have never given my heart to the Lord Jesus Christ. I have never come under his sacrificial provision for me. I have never confessed my sins. I have never given my life to Jesus Christ. 43:58 And today, I stand condemned and judged and guilty and in shame before a holy God who demands that I come only one way, through Jesus. And today, 44:17 I need to give my heart to Jesus Christ, confess my sins, repent of my sins, ask him to come into my life." I would invite you to pray with me something like this. "Dear Lord Jesus, I need you in my life. 44:39 I need you to be my Savior, for I have sinned and broken God's laws. I need you to be my Lord and take control of my life. 44:53 I need you to be my covering for sin by your death and resurrection. I believe that you are the Son of God, the only Savior, the only hope, my only help. 45:15 Come into my life. 45:17 Make me a new person and save me now. I believe and I confess that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. 45:35 To God be the glory." And if you prayed that prayer with me this morning, I would invite you. We're not going to have a public invitation this morning, but I'd invite you to contact one of the pastors, contact me after the service, say, "I prayed with you, Brother Todd. 45:52 And I'd like to make myself known as a child of God, forgiven, no longer condemned, but fully alive in Jesus Christ." Please contact us, 46:07 and we'll pray with you and get you started on that road of walking with the Lord.