LESSONS FOR BIBLE CLASSES.
By G. H. Bell
LESSON XXI.—THE SERVICES ON THE DAY OF ATONEMENT.
1. What scriptures show that it became necessary to cleanse the sanctuary? 2. Why did it become necessary to do this? 3. How had the sanctuary become polluted by the uncleanness of the people? 5. On what day was it done? 6. What was made complete by the ceremonies of this day? 7. Where were the services performed that were described in our last lesson? Lev. 4:4–7. 8. When did the high priest enter the most holy place? 9. How did he prepare himself to enter this sacred apartment? Lev. 16:12, 13. 10. Why was this precaution necessary? 11. How was the high priest dressed while engaged in these solemn services? Verse 4. 12. What animals were required for the services of this day? 13. What did the priest first offer? 14. For what purpose was this offering made? 15. What did the priest do with the blood of the bullock? 16. What did he do with the young goats at the door of the tabernacle? 17. Which goat did he take as a sin-offering for the people? 19. For what purpose was this offering made? 20. What is the penalty for breaking the law of God? Eze. 18:20. 21. Why did the goat have to suffer this penalty? 23. Why was the blood of these sin-offerings sprinkled upon the mercy-seat? 24. What was the mercy-seat? 26. What work did the priest perform after he went out of the most holy place? 27. How was this work performed? By reading Lev. 16:16, 19 it will be seen that it became necessary to cleanse the sanctuary from the uncleanness of the children of Israel. This cleansing, called the work of atonement, was performed once a year, on the tenth day of the seventh month. Lev. 16:29. The ceremonies of this day completed the yearly round of services. The services described in our last lesson were performed in the first apartment of the sanctuary, and at the altar of burnt-offerings in the court. Only once a year was the priest allowed to enter the most holy place, and this was on the day of atonement. Before entering this sacred apartment, he filled the golden censer with live coals taken from off the altar. On these coals he sprinkled incense, so that as he entered the most holy place, a cloud would rise before him; for the glory of the Lord which rested upon the mercy-seat was so dazzling that no man could approach it and live. While engaged in these solemn services, the high priest wore a plain linen suit instead of the rich garments in which he usually ministered. The animals required for the services of this day were a bullock and a kid for sin-offerings, a kid for the scape-goat, and two rams for burnt-offerings. The high priest first offered the bullock as a sin-offering for himself and his family. After killing the bullock, he took some of the blood and entered the most holy place. There he sprinkled the blood upon the mercy-seat eastward, and before the mercy-seat seven times. The priest then presented the young goats before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle, and there cast lots upon them; one lot for the Lord, and the other lot for the scape-goat. He then killed the goat on which the Lord’s lot fell, and did with its blood as he had done with the blood of the bullock. This was to make an atonement for the sins of the people. In a figure, the sins of the people were laid upon the goat—their sin-offering; and so the goat had to suffer the penalty that the people deserved to suffer for having broken the law of God. The blood, which represents the life, was sprinkled on the mercy-seat to show that the law, written on the tables of stone deposited beneath it, demanded the life of those who had broken that law. Then the priest went out, and made an atonement for the first apartment, called here the tabernacle of the congregation, and for the altar of incense, to cleanse it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel. “And he shall go out unto the altar that is before the Lord, and make an atonement for it; and shall take of the blood of the bullock, and of the blood of the goat, and put it upon the horns of the altar round about. And he shall sprinkle of the blood upon it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it, and hallow it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel.” Lev. 16:18, 19. G. H. Bell.