TRC DB Today Lev 16 ++ Lena's Journalin

Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.

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Leviticus 16:1-34
The Day of Atonement
1The LORD spoke to Moses after the death of Aaron's two sons, who died when they burned a different kind of fire than the LORD had commanded. F33 2The LORD said to Moses, "Warn your brother Aaron not to enter the Most Holy Place behind the inner curtain whenever he chooses; the penalty for intrusion is death. For the Ark's cover—the place of atonement—is there, and I myself am present in the cloud over the atonement cover.
3"When Aaron enters the sanctuary area, he must follow these instructions fully. He must first bring a young bull for a sin offering and a ram for a whole burnt offering. 4Then he must wash his entire body and put on his linen tunic and the undergarments worn next to his body. He must tie the linen sash around his waist and put the linen turban on his head. These are his sacred garments. 5The people of Israel must then bring him two male goats for a sin offering and a ram for a whole burnt offering.
6"Aaron will present the bull as a sin offering, to make atonement for himself and his family. 7Then he must bring the two male goats and present them to the LORD at the entrance of the Tabernacle. F34 8He is to cast sacred lots to determine which goat will be sacrificed to the LORD and which one will be the scapegoat. F35 9The goat chosen to be sacrificed to the LORD will be presented by Aaron as a sin offering. 10The goat chosen to be the scapegoat will be presented to the LORD alive. When it is sent away into the wilderness, it will make atonement for the people.
11"Then Aaron will present the young bull as a sin offering for himself and his family. After he has slaughtered this bull for the sin offering, 12he will fill an incense burner with burning coals from the altar that stands before the LORD. Then, after filling both his hands with fragrant incense, he will carry the burner and incense behind the inner curtain. 13There in the LORD's presence, he will put the incense on the burning coals so that a cloud of incense will rise over the Ark's cover—the place of atonement—that rests on the Ark of the Covenant. F36 If he follows these instructions, he will not die. 14Then he must dip his finger into the blood of the bull and sprinkle it on the front of the atonement cover and then seven times against the front of the Ark.
15"Then Aaron must slaughter the goat as a sin offering for the people and bring its blood behind the inner curtain. There he will sprinkle the blood on the atonement cover and against the front of the Ark, just as he did with the bull's blood. 16In this way, he will make atonement for the Most Holy Place, and he will do the same for the entire Tabernacle, because of the defiling sin and rebellion of the Israelites. 17No one else is allowed inside the Tabernacle while Aaron goes in to make atonement for the Most Holy Place. No one may enter until he comes out again after making atonement for himself, his family, and all the Israelites.
18"Then Aaron will go out to make atonement for the altar that stands before the LORD by smearing some of the blood from the bull and the goat on each of the altar's horns. 19Then he must dip his finger into the blood and sprinkle it seven times over the altar. In this way, he will cleanse it from Israel's defilement and return it to its former holiness.
20"When Aaron has finished making atonement for the Most Holy Place, the Tabernacle, and the altar, he must bring the living goat forward. 21He is to lay both of his hands on the goat's head and confess over it all the sins and rebellion of the Israelites. In this way, he will lay the people's sins on the head of the goat; then he will send it out into the wilderness, led by a man chosen for this task. 22After the man sets it free in the wilderness, the goat will carry all the people's sins upon itself into a desolate land.
23"As Aaron enters the Tabernacle, he must take off the linen garments he wore when he entered the Most Holy Place, and he must leave the garments there. 24Then he must bathe his entire body with water in a sacred place, put on his garments, and go out to sacrifice his own whole burnt offering and the whole burnt offering for the people. In this way, he will make atonement for himself and for the people. 25He must also burn all the fat of the sin offering on the altar.
26"The man chosen to send the goat out into the wilderness as a scapegoat must wash his clothes and bathe in water. Then he may return to the camp.
27"The bull and goat given as sin offerings, whose blood Aaron brought into the Most Holy Place to make atonement for Israel, will be carried outside the camp to be burned. This includes the animals' hides, the internal organs, and the dung. 28The man who does the burning must wash his clothes and bathe himself in water before returning to the camp.
29"On the appointed day in early autumn, F37 you must spend the day fasting and not do any work. This is a permanent law for you, and it applies to those who are Israelites by birth, as well as to the foreigners living among you. 30On this day, atonement will be made for you, and you will be cleansed from all your sins in the LORD's presence. 31It will be a Sabbath day of total rest, and you will spend the day in fasting. This is a permanent law for you. 32In future generations, the atonement ceremony will be performed by the anointed high priest who serves in place of his ancestor Aaron. He will put on the holy linen garments 33and make atonement for the Most Holy Place, the Tabernacle, the altar, the priests, and the entire community. 34This is a permanent law for you, to make atonement for the Israelites once each year." Moses followed all these instructions that the LORD had given to him.
FOOTNOTES:F33: Hebrew when they approached the LORD's presence; compare 10:1. F34: Hebrew Tent of Meeting; also in 16:16, 17, 20, 23, 33. F35: Hebrew azazel, which in this context means "the goat of removal"; also in 16:10, 26. F36: Hebrew on the Testimony, referring to the terms of God's covenant with Israel, which were kept in the Ark. F37: Hebrew On the tenth day of the seventh month. This day of the Hebrew lunar calendar occurs in September or early October.


Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living TranslationCopyright © 1996 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.

~ Lena’s Journalin’~
All of life here on earth seems to be about instruction, correction, and then obedience or rebellion.
When one is born they innately have a sense of selfishness, which starts out as a protective self preservation tool. Everyday one is taught birth by words and by example, in fact God made each human to be a “copy-cat”.
There is a way to see the world, the glasses or lenses are either clear or clouded depending on age, maturity, and mostly teaching. Our world starts by revolving around us then expands to include others. It takes a great deal of training to see outside of and participate in a world greater and larger than self.
We test the world to see how much of ourselves can be retained throughout life. Yet, if we are trained in the will of God we quickly see, it is clearly not all about us and our wills to do whatever we think is correct, but we begin to see that there is a much bigger world than even our eyes can see, so we grow to gain a sense of Him, His will, His plan and to show Him how much we’d like to be involved in it as ministers of His gospel.
The point I’m bringing us to here is that there are ways that seem right to men, but are not. There are ideas we have and they need correcting. There are pathways we start on that we need to turn around and run from. Most human ideas stem from the result of a fall where rebellion occurred and separation from God was made clear. God’s idea is to restore the previous fellowship prior to that painful separation. That is called redemption.
God has called men to be redeemed, and then redeem other men. He is looking for those who will receive Him and walk with Him in restoration, then live a restored life and lead others into restoration to God.
He has set out specific ways for that to be accomplished. The accomplishment of restoration is a very holy thing. It must be accomplished through the wills of men, who must accept the truth or perish, but the Way to restoration must be a freewill man or woman or child with a desire to live as another deems.
Oh boy, is that an easy task? It depends.
A freewill being doing what another has said, the way that other says it?
What does that statement do to your insides?
Just the thought of being told what to do and how to do it makes most people cringe.
You might be able to tell me what to do, but I’ll do it the way I see is right.
Or you may be able to give me a suggestion on how to do it, but inside of my heart I have plans to do it my way.
The only problem is that redemption and restoration of the rebellion cannot come that way.
The redemption and restoration must come the way it went. The curse has to be reversed through the freewill of one doing another’s will freely.
Many times a person will go through a motion and do what they are told, so it will look as though they are obedient, but God sees inside of the heart and knows whether the freewill is surrendered to another’s or not. There’s no fooling of God.
WHY is this so important to God? It is the restoration of the separation of death and life. God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. Darkness and light cannot dwell together. Where darkness is there is death, not life. Where light is there is no death. Jesus came and made a way to God’s light and life once again. There’s just one “catch”, one must choose with the freewill to accept or reject Him.
I’m not completely sure what happened with Aaron’s sons that day, but it was priests going before God for people’s sins. Lots of people’s sins. They had to be as pure as the lambs they offered. Not only in outer clothing, but even on the inside.
If they had any ideas of their own or wanted to try things their own way or point attention to themselves at all, there was darkness and thus death involved. They knew how serious God is about saving people from sin and how it must be accomplished. This cannot be accomplished by the hand or idea of man. There is only One Way to the restoration of our life before the Father and unto the Father. If we do not walk this way, we may die early, before our time.
Jesus is the way.
Being good is not the way
Jesus is the way.
Having a great idea about worship is not the way
Jesus is the way
Giving God some of my time is not the way
Jesus is the WAY back to God, back to light, back to life
There is only One WAY
That narrows down a few things, huh?
Yep quite a few.
An atonement had to be made for the sins of men that separate them from God or they will die eternally, never having another chance to see His light.
It had to be done God’s way. The sacrifice had to be given rather than taken away.
I can lay on an altar because I believe God wants my sacrifice and yet not really want to do it.
He wants to change our want to’s by His love, His great love. He loved us so much that His Son, in comparison to Aaron’s sons, did it his way with a desire to do it His way. His Son’s love was tested to the ‘nth degree. His desire became His father’s desire. He gave up His life. No one took it, it was given freely.
What has God asked of you that you give freely, willingly, without grudgery, without doing it your way? Was it reasonable to go to a cross, let men beat you up and bleed there in your underwear or rather naked, between two undeserving thieves? Is that reasonable, at all?
Why do we respond to God with resistance? Back to the beginning here. Rebellion, immaturity, self-centeredness….These works of our flesh corrupted nature war against the work of God and keep us from being saviors to a lost world. These things prevent us from learning, growing and being sacrifices for sin to save.
Thank God for Jesus who is the way to God.
Let’s ask for His help today with an open mind, to do it His way. No if’s and or buts at all. Not my will but Thine be accomplished today!


Daily Repetitive Verses:

Proverbs 27:17-19
17 You use steel to sharpen steel, and one friend sharpens another. 18 If you care for your orchard, you'll enjoy its fruit; if you honor your boss, you'll be honored.
19 Just as water mirrors your face, so your face mirrors your heart.
Psalm 122:1
1 When they said, "Let's go to the house of God," my heart leaped for joy.