Leviticus. The description of The Day of Atonement is vivid. The High Priest had to symbolically cleanse himself, then his family. Then he offered sacrifice for the people. This was the only day of the year that ANYONE could go behind the veil into the Holy of Holies (or "Most Holy Place") which represented the presence of God. After the sacrifice, the High Priest laid his hands on Azazel, the scape goat, and symbolically placed the sins of the people upon its head. Then the goat was released to carry the sins away. This was called the remission of sins.
Here we are, several thousand years later, looking back on the cross. It's the place where Jesus paid our sin price with His own blood. "It is the blood, given in exchange for a life, that makes purification possible." (Leviticus 17:11 NLT) When we receive Him, God carries our sins away. We don't have to be a "High Priest" to enter God's throne room and we aren't limited to one day a year. Wow!
When Israel was enslaved to Egypt, they were dealing with the difficulty of the slavery. Their slave status left them as societal outcasts who were seen as "different". It meant that they were not so tempted to worship the gods of the Egyptians. That all changed, however, when they were free from slavery and on their own. They were surrounded by pagan people with a variety of pagan worship acts, including child sacrifice and sexual immorality. Their very freedom exposed them to a great temptation to follow after the false gods. The warnings in Leviticus 18 reflect this.
How does this relate to us? To you?
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