Instructions are given for the Day of Atonement. This was after the events described in
Leviticus 10 when Aaron's sons, Nadab and Abihu, brought fire to add to the
fire at the altar of sacrifice. When it
was initially consecrated, fire came down from heaven and the priests were to
take care to keep that fire burning always, sort of like a starter, the Lord's
fire was always the source of the fire.
These two tried to bring "strange fire" to add to the Lord's
provision and they were killed when the Lord sent fire to consume them. On the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, Aaron is
to go alone into the tent of meeting after having sacrificed for both himself
and his family and also for the people.
His and his family's sins are dealt with first in the ceremony and then
the people's sins. Prior to entering,
however, there is this strange ceremony involving a goat for the Lord and a
goat for Azazel being chosen by lot. The
Lord's goat is sacrificed and the other is sent into the wilderness for Azazel.
It isn't at all clear who this Azazel is as you can see from the footnote, but
we will get more about this one tomorrow.
The purpose of Yom Kippur is when the sins of the Israelites are
remembered and repented of, sacrifice made, so that everything is restored
entirely.
What is a hypocrite?
A hypocrite, at the time, was an actor, particularly one who wore a mask
and played two roles. Jesus says that a
hypocrite is one who practices righteousness in public, either in giving to the
poor, in prayer, or in fasting, among other things. We are told to practice these things
privately, unseen, that the world may not even know we do them. Why is that?
Doesn't Jesus want us to show the world that we are different, our
priorities and values are different? The
reality is that today we are often called hypocrites by those outside the
church because we pretend in their eyes that we are righteous and judge the
world. We have no righteousness of our
own, we have nothing in that regard to claim to the world. The Pharisees were different, they honestly
believed themselves to be more righteous than other people and stood in
judgment. Jesus is not trying to say
that righteousness and religion is a private matter, clearly that isn't the
case. What He is saying is that we are
to walk humbly before our God in all things, our acts of righteousness or of
worship are done for an audience of one.
The dead rise first.
When? Paul says when the Lord
comes He will call them out first. That
experience is time-bound, so we have no idea what it looks like from the other
side, the Lord's side. We experience
things sequentially and God does not.
Time is something that happened and happens in our world, the created
order of things. Before creation there
was no time. We have the sun, moon and
stars that give us an orderly, sequential experience of life in time and space
but God is not that way and neither will eternity be experienced this way, in
the new Jerusalem there is no sun and no darkness, thus, no time. Atonement has been made, Jesus was slain from
the foundation of the world, the veil has been torn and we, by the Spirit, live
in that in-between time between this world and the next. When we worship we pierce that veil of time
and timelessness and join the worship of heaven which is always happening. Worship is not a Sunday thing, it is intended
to be a constant thing.
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