God with us has some requirements that cannot be ignored.
Leviticus 16:1,6-10, 30 The LORD spoke to Moses after the death of Aaron's two sons, who died after they entered the LORD's presence and burned the wrong kind of fire before him.6 "Aaron will present his own bull as a sin offering to purify himself and his family, making them right with the LORD.7 Then he must take the two male goats and present them to the LORD at the entrance of the Tabernacle. 8 He is to cast sacred lots to determine which goat will be reserved as an offering to the LORD and which will carry the sins of the people to the wilderness of Azazel.9 Aaron will then present as a sin offering the goat chosen by lot for the LORD. 10 The other goat, the scapegoat chosen by lot to be sent away, will be kept alive, standing before the LORD. When it is sent away to Azazel in the wilderness, the people will be purified and made right with the LORD.30 On that day offerings of purification will be made for you, and you will be purified in the LORD's presence from all your sins.
To know God and have "God with us" is an accomplishment that few will ever achieve despite the fact that so many of us are seeking to know him. Anyone that is interested in knowing God has so many worldly options available but there is only one way that God has provided.
We don't have to figure it out for ourselves, God's word gives us a great amount of teaching on how to have "God with us" and the benefits that it brings. In my three previous post, from the book of Isaiah, we looked at the: Hope of God with Us, the Peace of God with Us and the Rule of God with Us.
God gave his people the desire to have a relationship with him and he mercifully gave them the rules to follow so they could approach him without losing their life. Don't forget the consequences of Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu, back in Leviticus 10:1-3, the sons were the first priest that did not take God's holiness serious.
It is amazing enough that God would come to be with us and give us hope and peace for this world but the good news of God's story doesn't end here. It is even more amazing that God would give us his plan for us to follow so that he can be with his people for all of eternity.
Our relationship with God is governed by God's rules.
Exodus 30:10 "Once a year Aaron must purify the altar by smearing its horns with blood from the offering made to purify the people from their sin. This will be a regular, annual event from generation to generation, for this is the LORD's most holy altar."
God gave his people a calendar full of rituals, feast and festivals but the most important annual day that he gave his people was Yom Kippur. A day that God's people did nothing physically to provide for their own forgiveness, they could not bring a sacrifice, they had to depend on the sacrifice and the work of their high priest to provide atonement and forgiveness of their sins.
God's people in the Old Testament could not come into God's presence as casually as we do today. (Hebrews 10:19-22, Ephesians 2:18) Only the high priest was allowed to enter the Most Holy Place and that was only allowed one day a year on the Day of Atonement.
The day began as every other day, the daily sacrifice of a one year old lamb, would precede the annual Day of Atonement rituals which would allow the high priest, Aaron, to enter the most holy place without the penalty of death. (Exodus 29:38-42, Numbers 28:3-6)
Two goats are needed to represent the truth of the atonement.
1. The first goat shows us the debt that must be paid.
Our rebellion against God requires the death penalty, we didn't believe God when he told us that "we would surely die" as a result of our sin and now we live in the reality that God is true to his word. (Genesis 2:17)
Psalm 103:9-10 He will not constantly accuse us, nor remain angry forever. 10 He does not punish us for all our sins; he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.
2. The second goat is for the people
The goat which is driven away from the camp, into the wilderness, to never return, symbolizing the even greater agony of our Lord, His separation from the Father because of our sins but it also symbolizes the removal of our sin away from us.
Psalm 103:12 He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.
God's people confess their sins and God sends their sin as far as the East is from the West to no longer be brought up as a charge against us. And since we are freed from our sins we can experience God with us here on earth and we have have the hope of glory. (Jeremiah 31:34, Colossians 1:27)
The slain and abandoned Savior offers you atonement.
Matthew 27:45-46 At noon, darkness fell across the whole land until three o'clock. 46 At about three o'clock, Jesus called out with a loud voice, "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?" which means "My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?"
The two goats together are an illustration of the work that was accomplished through the death of Christ on the cross. Jesus blood was spilled to be the substitute sacrifice that was required to pay the debt of sin that we owed and he was sent outside of the camp, abandoned by God. (Hebrews 9:1-29)
Jesus sacrifice is the ultimate fulfillment of the Day of Atonement, our great high priest did all of the work, he brought the sacrifice that was offered for our forgiveness so that we could approach God intimately. (John 1:29)
Jesus offers his children the true and lasting day of atonement that each of us must experience in a personal way. Have you had a personal day of atonement when you were made made right in God's eyes?
RELATED ARTICLES
Day of Atonement (bible.org)
