Leviticus 15-16
Continuing to utilize Warren Wiersbe’s outline for Leviticus 13-15, personal sanctity is at the heart of our opening passage today. That is, one’s purity before the Lord. As a reminder, the specific context for God’s commands to Moses (to convey to the people of Israel) in these chapters dealt with ceremonial cleanliness, as an unclean person was not to come into the tabernacle and defile the place where God dwelt (more on that in a bit). God has already addressed how a leper was to be examined and cleansed in the previous two chapters, and now in Leviticus 15, He reviews laws about bodily discharges.
Rather than getting bogged down in the weeds, I would just reinforce what Wiersbe wrote regarding this chapter: “There should no area in our lives from which God is excluded, and every relationship should be under His control.”[i] What a convicting thought, as often I find myself trying to compartmentalize my union with God. I may be willing to give Him almost all that I have, but inevitably there is one (or more frequently more than one) area that I still wish to control. Hudson Taylor is quoted as saying, “Christ is either Lord of all, or He is not Lord at all.”[ii] Let our sincere prayer be daily (and perhaps multiple times throughout the day as we feel the yearning to retake the reins), “Lord Jesus, I surrender all. Have your way in every facet of my life. I give it all to you.”
As we move into Leviticus 16, we learn more about what the Jews consider to be the most important day of the year—the Day of Atonement (known today as Yom Kippur). This was such a holy day for the Israelites because it was on this day that atonement would be made for their sins. From the outset, we see that God instructed the high priest (Aaron, in this case) to only come inside the Holy of Holies at the time prescribed by God, wearing precisely what God had ordained, and bringing with him an offering that was acceptable to God (vv. 2-4). In other words, in approaching a holy God, the high priest was not to do so flippantly or haphazardly, but in a manner that acknowledged that it was only because of God’s invitation that he was allowed to approach the mercy seat. For all who are in Christ, although we now have access to God, let us not become prideful when entering into His presence, thinking it’s because of some great achievement on our end that we have this blessing. Instead, we ought to be reminded that it’s only because of the blood of Jesus (i.e., God’s invitation) that we can enjoy communion with Him.
Leviticus 16:5-22 tells of how the high priest was to take from the congregation two male goats for a sin offering. After making atonement for himself (as the priests were to be clean before God prior to entering into the most holy place where God dwelt), Aaron was to “cast lots over the two goats, one lot for the LORD and the other lot for Azazel. And Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for the LORD and use it as a sin offering, but the goat on which the lot fell for Azazel shall be presented alive before the LORD to make atonement over it, that it may be sent away into the wilderness to Azazel” (16:8-10). All of this was done while the people remained outside the tabernacle (16:17). A few takeaways we can glean from this particular portion of Scripture:
· The two goats’ ministry to the Israelites represents what the Lamb of God has done for us. One was slaughtered and the blood used to atone for the sins of the people, while the other carried the people’s sins out until the wilderness, to be remembered no more.
· In staying outside the place where God would accept their offering and atone for their sins, the people of Israel were completely dependent upon the work of the high priest to reconcile them to God. Likewise, we have mentioned several times in this volume that there is nothing we can do to justify ourselves before a righteous God. Rather, we must fully rely on the finished work of Jesus Christ on our behalf to receive forgiveness of our sins.
The Day of Atonement was a reminder to God’s people about the need to repent of their sins. It was to be a permanent statute, and in the here and now, Jews still observe this holy day. But what about for Christian churches in the present? What should be our application to this holy day? Lamenting on how some churches seem to be laser-focused on evangelism at the expense of personal repentance, Vance Havner said, “If the time, money, and effort spent in trying to work up evangelism in lukewarm churches were spent in calling the churches themselves to repentance, confession, cleansing, and empowering, evangelism would be the natural result.”[iii] He goes on to say in another sermon, “The church can do many things after she repents, but she can do nothing until she repents.”[iv]
What is our response to the Day of Atonement, body of Christ? It starts with us individually recognizing our brokenness and confessing this sin to God. Only then can our hearts be postured in a way that the Holy Spirit can reign in our lives. Repent and turn to God (Acts 3:19)!
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Journal responses to the following prompts:
· Is there an area of your life that you have made “off limits” to the lordship of Jesus?
· How can you faithfully respond to the Day of Atonement today?
[i] Ibid, p. 274.
[ii] Taylor, J. (n.d.). Christ is either Lord of all, or He is not Lord at all. Quotefancy. Retrieved April 13, 2026, from https://quotefancy.com/quote/1491413/James-Hudson-Taylor-Christ-is-either-Lord-of-all-or-He-is-not-Lord-at-all
[iii] Havner, V. (n.d.). Repentance as a church priority. Vance Havner. Retrieved April 13, 2026, from https://vancehavner.com/repentance-as-a-church-priority-2/
[iv] Havner, V. (n.d.). A call to repentance. Sermon Index. Retrieved April 13, 2026, from https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/vance-havner/a-call-to-repentance/