The following is the sermon I gave on Good Friday, 2021.

We don’t have a day like it on our calendar. It was 10 days after the Jewish New Year celebration, and it was the most solemn day on the Jewish calendar. You have to imagine that this day began with silence and anticipation – the whole nation would shut down. Unlike Christmas that starts with giddy joy, there was a gravity to the day. The priest was taking his annual journey into the manifest presence of God on behalf of the whole nation. It was called The Day of Atonement.

The Day of Atonement brings together two central truths: GOD IS HOLY, AND WE ARE SINFUL – and those two realities don’t mix. That word holy means “unique” or “set apart.” Often times we think of holiness as being morally perfect, but the idea in the Bible is bigger and richer. God’s holiness refers to him being the only one capable of making a world for of beauty and life, he is powerful, beautiful, magnificent – and all these attributes make God utterly unique – or holy.

I think the metaphor of the sun is helpful. The sun is unique and powerful, it’s the source of life on this planet. You could say the sun is holy – and so is the area around the sun. But the very power that generates life is also dangerous. If you get too close, it will destroy you. In the same way, there is a paradox at the heart of God’s own holiness, if you are impure, God’s presence is dangerous to you. Not because it’s bad, but because it’s so good! (credit: The Bible Project)

 And we are IMPURE. We learn from the Scriptures that all of us are sinful (Romans 3:23). This isn’t an issue for some, it’s a reality for all. Just this week… 

A good friend had to put his son in a treatment center. 

Another friend has a family member who is going through a divorce. 

Another person shared with me about abuse they suffered. 

A genocide is going on in China.

The world is still reeling from a pandemic.

We only need to do a cursory swipe through our news app to see that sin has stained our world and fractured God’s good creation. Sin is an unraveling of God’s good design – an undoing of the shalom and goodness he designed us to enjoy. It’s literally killing us.

 Sin kills us, because it separates us from the God of life. Just read back through Genesis 3 and you’ll see that the consequence of sin is death BECAUSE sin removed Adam and Eve from God’s presence. Because God is holy, we cannot enjoy his presence if we are stained with sin and death. Isaiah brough the images of God’s holiness and our sinfulness together when he cryed out,

“Woe is me! For I am lost; for I’m a man of unclean lips, and I dwell amongst a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.” (Isaiah 6:5) 

The early Israelite community took sin very seriously – because they knew God takes sin seriously. 

Here’s the good news… God wants to dwell with his people – that was the whole point of the Tabernacle (Exodus 25:8). The solution to entering God’s presence is to become pure; but the problem is, we cannot do that on our own. That’s why God gave the Israelites clear instructions about how to become pure – SO THAT they could go into the temple and be a community who dwelt in the presence of God. 

That’s what The Day of Atonement was all about - it was God’s solution for the problem of sin in the Israelite community. The word “atone” means “cover” – and it’s the day where they symbolically experienced God covering their sins. It was about a community and individuals getting right with God so that they could enjoy intimacy in his presence. 

The day revolved around three characters: the High Priest, and two goats. This was the one day per year that the priest was allowed to enter the Holy of Holies. That was the inner chamber of the Tabernacle and it was separated from the Holy Place by a scarlet curtain. 

 The day began with the High Priest bathing and offering sacrifices for himself – because he needed to be clean as he entered the presence of God. He put on his vestments that included a scarlet robe. He was going in as a representative for all the people and he couldn’t survive if he carried the stench of death into the presence of Life. The central focus of the ceremony, the height of its tension and drama, was the priest’s entrance into the Holy of Holies.

After sacrificing a bull for his own sin, he came out of the Holy of Holies and was presented with two goats – both perfect, without blemish. He then cast lots; one goat would be a sin offering and the other would be the Azazel. 

Let’s look closer at what went on with each of the goats. The first goat is the goat of the sin offering. 

15 “Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the people and bring its blood inside the veil and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, sprinkling it over the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat. 16 Thus he shall make atonement for the Holy Place, because of the uncleannesses of the people of Israel and because of their transgressions, all their sins. And so he shall do for the tent of meeting, which dwells with them in the midst of their uncleannesses. (Leviticus 16:15-16)

The sin offering goat was about taking blood, which was symbolic of perfect life, and using it to cleanse the space. “Atoning (covering) for the Holy Place.” (v. 16) When we think of blood, we often think of death; but that’s not how the Israelites thought about it. For them, the life was in the blood – so blood represented life and purity. (Leviticus 17:11) They were symbolically covering the stain of death with the gift of life. This goat was about PURIFICATION from sin’s pollution. This allowed for intimacy between a holy God and sinful humans. 

The Israelites had, so to speak, heaped trash into God’s living room all year long, now every bit of it was covered and “washed” by the sacrificial blood. The place where God’s space and Israel’s space overlapped was once again pure and undistorted, at least for one more year.

The second goat was called the Azazel. Azazel means the goat of departure – he’s taken away. Traditionally, this goat has been called the scapegoat. The reason will become clear as we read Leviticus 16:21-22, 

21 And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins. And he shall put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness.22 The goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area, and he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness.

They Israelites symbolically prayed their sins into this goat. We’re not sure how long all of this took, but imagine the priest placing his hands on the goat’s head and praying, “We confess our…”

Adultery
Murder
Greed
Lack of justice
Hatred

Then the goat was led away into the wilderness. There are traditions that hold that the goat was then pushed off a cliff – you didn’t want that goat showing up in your front yard. This goat represented expiation or the removal of sin’s guilt. 

Make sure you capture the picture: One goat goes into Holy of Holies via its lifeblood. The other goes away from God and the community carrying sin. The two goats represent one symbol - the carrying away of sin, and the bringing to people to God.

Now, I tell you this, not because I’m into animal sacrifice, nor do I think we should get two goats and reenact The Day of Atonement. No, please don’t! The author of Hebrews gives us a hint as to what we should do with this. In Hebrews 10:1 he wrote,

For the law was but a shadow of the good things to come, not the true form of these realities. The law could never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. 

In order to make a shadow, you need something real and tangible, then light has to be cast against it, and the shadow is created. The shape and form are there, but the substance and reality is missing. The Day of Atonement was a SHADOW… but Christ is the substance.

Jesus brings the images of the High Priest and the two goats together into one masterpiece. 

Let me unpack the images for you. First, the high priest. Remember, the High Priest was the representative for the people. The author of Hebrews picks up this idea and puts some flesh on the shadow for us. In Hebrews 9:11-12 he wrote,

11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) 12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.

The word “priest” literally means “bridge builder.” The role was to make a way for people to dwell with God. The High Priest represented people before God. In the same way Jesus is our representative – he not only stands before God, but he STANDS IN OUR PLACE!

He “appeared in the presence of God on our behalf.” (Hebrews 9:24)

And he doesn’t carry in the blood of a goat, but he goes in on the basis of his own perfect blood. 

Not only that, but when Jesus the High Priest is finished with his work, he doesn’t leave the presence of God, HE SITS DOWN. Listen to Hebrews 10:12,

12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God

He sat down because the sacrifice is done… but he is still in God’s presence interceding and advocating on our behalf RIGHT NOW. He’s still the Great High Priest building a bridge between us and the Father. This very moment, you have an advocate who says, “they are covered in my blood; they’re with me!” 

Jesus is our High Priest, but he is also the scapegoat. Remember, the sins of the community were prayed into the scapegoat and he was led out of the city into the wilderness. (Leviticus 16:22) The scapegoat experiences the punishment that sin deserves – death and exile away from the presence of God. As Hebrews 9:28 says,

“He has been offered to bear the sins of many.”

“Bearing the sins” is the same language that was used for the Azazel. Isaiah’s prophecy captured this poignantly. 

4 Surely he has borne our griefs
    and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
    smitten by God, and afflicted.
6…and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:4, 6b)

Let’s pause and just imagine Jesus on the cross carrying our “grief” – the Hebrew word literally means sickness. He also carries our “sorrows” – the word in Hebrew literally means pain. Jesus bears and carries our sickness, our pain, and our guilt. Here’s the hard truth, Jesus either carries our sin away, or we are carried away eternally by our sin. Either he is our scapegoat, or we suffer the fate the scapegoat suffered. Praise be to God that he bore the rightful penalty of sin which is death and exile from the presence of God.

But friends, Jesus is our substitute – taking the rightful punishment for sin which is death (Romans 6:23) – cast from the presence of God. We have to allow this to rest on us today. It was to deal with OUR evil, sin, and death that Jesus endured the cross. Yes, 

“It was my sin that held him there until it was accomplished…”

All the wrong you have done and all the pain you have suffered… he holds it all. The remarkable thing about God is not only that he isn’t holding humanity’s sin against them, but that he is holding our sin - willingly, lovingly, giving himself for us. 

Are you still beating yourself up for a mistake that you made years ago? Jesus took it to the cross for you. Are you still carrying the pain of a failed marriage? Yes, that hurts, and yes there are still consequences of sin, but you don't need to punish yourself anymore... that has been taken to the cross...

He is THE LAMB WHO TAKES AWAY THE SIN OF THE WORLD (John 1:29). 

Jesus is our High Priest and scapegoat, but he’s also the goat that was the sin offering. The picture is of a crime scene. Death has been carried away, but the space still needs to be cleansed. The residue of death must also be eliminated. Remember, the role of that goat was to cleanse the space through blood. Now remember, to the Jewish mind, blood didn’t represent death, it represented life. Catch this, Jesus’ perfect life creates clean space in the spiritual realm for sinful people to dwell with God and not be killed by his holiness. But Jesus didn’t just cleanse ethereal space, he cleansed us. 

 Remember, the sprinkling of the goat’s blood was done on the “mercy seat” – it’s the place atonement is made. This concept is picked up in the New Testament as well. Listen to what Paul wrote in Romans 3:24-25,

24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.

That word “propitiation” is hilasterion in the Greek and it literally means “mercy seat.” Jesus’ blood does that same thing for us that the sacrificial goat’s blood did for the Israelites… it cleanses the space from the stain of impurity, sin, and death. WE ARE CLEAN SPACE because of the blood of Jesus – after all, our bodies are the new temple! And what’s the result? Listen to Hebrews 10:19,

19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus…

Confidence to approach God. Wow, don’t miss that invitation. God loves YOU and wants you to be with him and he has made a way for that to be our reality.

LET’S PULL ALL OF THIS TOGETHER ON CALVARY’S HILL.

They dressed Jesus in a scarlet robe – just like the High Priest (Matthew 27:28).

They paraded him in front of the crowd and offered to free him, but the crowd responded, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him.” Away… that’s what they did with the Azazel, the scapegoat. (John 19:15)

They took him to Golgotha which was “outside the city gate” (Hebrews 13:12) – exactly where the scapegoat was led.

Jesus cried out, “my God, my God, why have you forsaken me.” (Matthew 27:46) Remember, the Azazel is led away from the presence of God because he’s carrying the sin away. 

The solider pierces his side and blood and water pour out. (John 19:34) Just like the goat that was killed for the sin offering, Jesus’ blood is shed for us – making us clean space.

Finally, we read that when Jesus yielded up his spirit, the curtain of the temple (60ft tall, 4in thick) was torn in two. (Matthew 27:51) Where would that curtain have been? In the Holy of Holies – the very place the High Priest did his work.

Matthew doesn’t want us to miss the connection to the Day of Atonement. The tearing of the veil at the moment of Jesus’ death dramatically symbolized that His sacrifice, the shedding of His own blood, was a sufficient atonement for sins. It signified that now the way into the Holy of Holies was open for all people, for all time, both Jew and Gentile, through Jesus.

Today we celebrate the fact that the powers of sin, death, and evil took their best shot, but God gave his greatest gift. The cost of our life was the cross of Christ. 

The cross means: 

We have complete forgiveness: our sin is taken away. 
We have been made pure: you have been cleansed by his blood and are clean space.
We have intimacy with God: you are the Holy of Holies

Look at the cross. Take it in. Look at your guilt, shame, sickness, and pain. But remember that through his body given and blood shed, through the finished work; the sin that threatened to destroy us has been defeated by that God that is sacrificially for us. If God remembers your sin no more, you can let it go.

He was torn that we might be put together. He was bound that we might be free. He died that we might live forever. He took stood in our place, that we might stand before him forgiven and pure.

Come behold the wonderful mystery. Come behold eternal wisdom. Come and sit. Come and wait. Come and listen. And enter in with confidence; the Lamb has overcome – sin has been atoned for and the debt canceled.

Amen.