February 24
Lev 15:1-16:28 | PS 40:11-17 | Prov 10:13-14 | Mark 7:1-23
Some Christians will question why it is so important to even bother with the Old Testament since Jesus brought about a New Covenant based on grace and His sacrifice, rather than the law. Unless one is familiar with and understands the Old Testament, it is nearly impossible to grasp the concepts of what transpired in the ministry and the life and death of Jesus Christ. Jesus said in Matthew 5:17, " “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill." (NKJV). The life and death of Jesus Christ marks a continuation of God's story. Without Jesus, and without the Temple which was destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D., the Bible comes to an abrupt end. In fact, without the temple, and with it, the ability to shed blood on behalf of the sins of the people the continuation of the story doesn't really make any sense. Realize in Leviticus 17:11, we read "for the life of the body is in its blood. I have given you the blood on the altar to purify you, making you right with the Lord. It is the blood, given in exchange for a life, that makes purification possible." No blood, no cleansing from your sins. Currently, since there is no temple, the Jewish people before the Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippur, spend the week prior to this date trying to be good. They feel by doing this, their good works will outweigh their bad works and that this will satisfy the requirements of the law for atonement. This construct completely rewrites the law and the requirement for blood. Realize that most biblically illiterate Christians are no different believing that their goodness will open up heaven to them. God's requirements haven't changed. My atonement and my standing before God, does not and never will rest on my so-called goodness. Blood was required and is still required. My standing is based on the shedding of Jesus' blood on the cross of Calvary. It is my accepting of this sacrifice that has cleansed me. This is the continuation of God's story for all mankind. Reject Jesus and you have rejected the only path available for atonement and salvation. As Jesus said in John 14:6, "Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me."
We read of the most holy day of the year, Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement in Leviticus 16. This was the only day of the year that the High Priest, and only the High Priest, could enter into the Holy of Holies, and come before God at the Mercy Seat. If you question the continuation of the story which hinges completely on the blood of Jesus Christ, consider the words written in both the Jerusalem and Babylonian Talmud which are the main writings of rabbinic Judaism. We read in the Jerusalem Talmud: "Forty years before the destruction of the Temple, the western light went out, the crimson thread remained crimson, and the lot for the Lord always came up in the left hand. They would close the gates of the Temple by night and get up in the morning and find them wide open" (Jacob Neusner, The Yerushalmi, p.156-157). Realize the Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70A.D. A similar passage in the Babylonian Talmud states: "Our rabbis taught: During the last forty years before the destruction of the Temple the lot ['For the Lord'] did not come up in the right hand; nor did the crimson-colored strap become white; nor did the western most light shine; and the doors of the Hekel [Temple] would open by themselves" (Soncino version, Yoma 39b). Though all 4 points are interesting, the crimson strap ( though not in the Bible), was attached to the scapegoat and a portion would be attached to the wall of the Temple. Tradition has it that every year, when God accepted the sacrifice for the people on Yom Kippur the strap would miraculously turn white (Isaiah 1:18, "Come now, and let us reason together," Says the Lord, "Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool.") But 40 years before the Temple was destroyed, which would correlate to when Jesus was sacrificed, the strap did not change therefore their sacrifice was not accepted.
Their sacrifice was not accepted because God's story moved forward, yet the bulk of the people were unwilling to accept God's new revelation. Jesus laid down His life, the perfect sacrifice, once and for all, for all mankind. The former sacrifices covered temporarily, Jesus' perfect sacrifice cleansed us permanently. We read in Hebrews 9:11-12, 15, " So Christ has now become the High Priest over all the good things that have come. He has entered that greater, more perfect Tabernacle in heaven, which was not made by human hands and is not part of this created world. With his own blood—not the blood of goats and calves—he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever...That is why he is the one who mediates a new covenant between God and people, so that all who are called can receive the eternal inheritance God has promised them. For Christ died to set them free from the penalty of the sins they had committed under that first covenant." Just as the people's sins were set free through the Scapegoat as we read in Leviticus 16:21-22, "Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, confess over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, concerning all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and shall send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a suitable man. The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to an uninhabited land; and he shall release the goat in the wilderness.", our sins are released through our Savior as they were placed upon Him on the cross over 2000 years ago. Our sins are removed and never remembered. Also, as opposed to the once a year approach, we now have direct, continuous access to the Father through the Son, as revealed by the tearing of the veil which separated the Holy of Holies in Matthew 27:51. This is why the entirety of Scripture is so important. Our story, Biblical Christianity, reveals God's love story of redemption for His children. Though faith is required, ignorance is not. He has given us the story. We simply need to care enough to take the time to read it and accept it.
Messages from Pastor Lloyd Pulley: