"The LORD spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they drew near before the LORD and died, and the LORD said to Moses, "Tell Aaron your brother not to come at any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat that is on the ark, so that he may not die. For I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat. But in this way Aaron shall come into the Holy Place..." Lev 16:1-3
What a horrible moment Leviticus 10 must have been for Aaron. His sons were both set in as priests in chapter 9, and then they were both killed by God for their disregard for His holiness! The shift in tone between those chapters is palpable... it's hard to imagine what must have been going through his mind. Nadab and Abihu improvised with their roles in God's presence by choosing to change the way they offered incense in the Tabernacle. Not a big deal, right? Wrong... and they were struck down by God as a result. What a terrible moment- not just of grief... but also of trying to answer the question: what can be done to avoid God's wrath again? What we saw yesterday is that God directed Aaron to the one place where God's anger towards sin could be taken care of: the mercy seat... the "place of propiation." And Aaron was to go there only one day per year- the Day of Atonement. Three things come to light as we studied a bit more about that day...
First, God's holiness is foreign to the earthly: God told Israel to make the Tabernacle so that earthly people could interact with a holy God. The patterns weren't just based on random proportions... instead, they were to mirror the reality of heaven. Hebrews 9:1-5 was clear that all the regulations from the Old Testament were pointing to other realities... to other places. And at the heart of the Tabernacle was the Ark of the Covenant- covered by the mercy seat- the place of propitiation. So on the Day of Atonement, after great sacrifice to atone for his and Israel's sin, Aaron brought blood into the Most Holy Place, behind the curtain and sprinkled blood on the mercy seat. Why? Because the Ark represented the heavenly throne of God. And you don't just waltz up to the Throne.
Second, God's anger is justified against the guilty: God didn't need to apologize, therefore, about his treatment of Aaron's sons. In fact, God was merciful by helping Aaron to understand how to prevent his OWN death. Remember, on the Day of Atonement, Aaron walked into the courtyard (past the altar and basin), into the Tabernacle (past the table of bread and the lampstand), he would pause at the altar before going beyond the curtain. He would take coals on a censer and place it in the Most Holy Place, then return to get incense to throw on that fire. What must that have been like? This was how his sons died... they offered incense that was common and profane before a God who was uncommon and holy. Hebrews 9:6-10 reminds us that deep down, Aaron knew the system wasn't fully operational yet. His conscience wasn't fully cleansed... even after a year of sacrifice, even after the Day of Atonement. Aaron was still sinful, and all the blood of bulls and goats could never remove his sin.
Sadly, I think too many of us as Christians start here... and never leave. We know that God was at least satisfied by Christ's death to forgive our sins. But we live as though God is bearing a grudge against us because of the lack of perfection that defines our lives now. We have bad habits, give into old sins, forget to exercise self-control, and go weeks without reading the Bible. These things are serious, but not in the way we feel them... our consciences are never fully purified... and we wonder if they ever could be. We avoid God's presence because we're afraid of His anger. Enter propitiation- the process by which God's wrath is removed from His people... because...
Third, God's sacrifice is sufficient for our purity: Hebrews 9:11 begins "When Christ appeared"- what glorious truth... Christ appeared to deal with God's wrath (not in some earthly copy of heaven) but in heaven itself! Christ's blood pleads for His people at the Throne, and Christ is seated at the Father's side as our propitiation. The Cross has now become our mercy seat- the "place of propitiation" for us... all pictured in the two goats of the Day of Atonement. One goat slaughtered with its blood sprinkled on the Ark, the other one banished from the people of Israel as a representation that the guilt from their sins was removed from the nation. As our scapegoat, Jesus has removed our sins from us... and as our propitiation, "the blood of Christ purifies our conscience from dead works to serve the living God." Heb 9:13-14
The wonderful upshot of it all is that God is not angry with His people. What would be different if we really believed this... if the threat of God's anger didn't hang over the shoulders of God's church today?
- I think we'd be calm in the Father's presence, remembering that Christ came to be made like us, to become a priest for us to make propitiation for the sins of the people. He suffered like us so that He can help us. Don't believe me? Read Hebrews 2:17-18... it's right there.
- I also think we'd be quicker to love others rather than to get angry at them. Love doesn't find its source in our capacity to love. Instead, it's defined by the fact that our Father loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. God was not content to let His wrath dwell on us, and so we ought to make sure that we are committed to the same mindset with others. That's from 1 John 4:10.
Have a great week!
