Leviticus 16

v1-4: Only Aaron, the High Priest, could only enter the Most Holy Place, and he could only do this once a year. His “entrance into the Most Holy Place is a type of entrance into heaven which Christ made for us is.” He “entered into heaven at his ascension once for all,” representing those He came to save, so that now we can enter into God’s presence and approach His throne of grace every day.

v5-14: The two goats, “were both together to make one sin offering for the community.” One of the goats was killed, “as a sign of atonement for sin, to satisfy God’s justice,” while the other was sent away, “as a sign of the forgiveness or removal of sin by the mercy of God.” In these two goats, Christ was prefigured. “The goat that was killed was a type of Christ dying for our sins.” The goat sent away, shows that “when God forgives sin, he is said to remember it no more, to cast it behind his back, into the depths of the sea, and to separate it as far as the east is from the west.” Though we deserve to be abandoned by God and sent away from His presence, that punishment was transferred onto Christ who took them far away so that we won’t ever be forsaken by God.

v15-19: Atonement needed to be made for the tabernacle because “the tabernacle remained among them in the midst of their uncleanness.” From this we learn how much we, like they, needed to be purified. If “the tabernacle, only by standing in the midst of such an impure and sinful people, needed the atoning sacrifice,” how much more do their hearts?

v20-28: “Whenever hands were laid on the head of any sacrifice, it was always done with confession, according to the nature of the sacrifice, and as this was a sin offering, it must be a confession of sin.” By doing this, they were trusting that God had ordained for the punishment which they deserved as sinners had been transferred to the animal sacrifice. In the same way, we are to, “put our hands on the head of the offering, by relying on Christ as… our righteousness” and “pleading on his atonement to receive forgiveness for our sins.”

v29-34: The sacrifices on the Day of Atonement had to be repeated every year, because “they could only faintly and weakly make atonement.” Effective atonement could only be done “by the offering up of the body of Christ once for all, and that once was sufficient, so that the sacrifice does not need to be repeated.”