«　WEEK 18　DAY 1　»

　　Heb. 9:11-12 But Christ, having come as a High Priest of the good things that have come into being, through the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made by hands, that is, not of this creation, and not through the blood of goats and calves but through His own blood, entered once for all into the Holy of Holies, obtaining an eternal redemption.

　　Because of the negative situation of God's people, as portrayed in Leviticus 11 through 15, according to God's concept and in His divine economy there is the need of redemption. Because the Old Testament time was not the time for redemption to take place, a type, a shadow, of the coming redemption was needed. This shadow is the expiation in chapter 16. The expiation accomplished through the animal sacrifices in the Old Testament is a type pointing to the redemption accomplished by Christ in the New Testament. (Lev. 16:1, footnote 1)

　　The root of the Hebrew word translated "expiation" means "to cover." The noun form of this word is rendered "expiation cover" in Leviticus 16:2 and in Exodus 25:17. The root of the Greek word used in the Septuagint and in the New Testament, translated "propitiation" in Romans 3:25; Hebrews 2:17; and 1 John 2:2 and 4:10, means "to appease" (the situation between two parties). On the Day of Expiation the blood of the sin offering was brought into the Holy of Holies and sprinkled on the expiation cover, the lid of the Ark (Lev. 16:14-15), which covered the Ten Commandments within the Ark (Exo. 25:16), signifying that the sin of the ones coming to contact God had been covered but not yet removed....In this way the situation of fallen man in relation to God was appeased but was not fully settled, until Christ came to accomplish redemption by offering Himself as the propitiatory sacrifice to take away man's sin (Heb. 9:12; 2:17; 1 John 2:2; 4:10; John 1:29). (Lev. 16:1, footnote 1)

　　According to Hebrews 10:4, expiation in the Old Testament could not take away sins. If expiation had been able to take away sins, there would have been no need for the people to continually offer the sin offering year after year. The repetition of the offering was an indication that the taking away of sins for the accomplishment of redemption had not yet taken place. Therefore, it was necessary for the Lord Jesus to come to die on the cross for our redemption.

　　Leviticus 16:15-19 presents a picture of the accomplishing of expiation, the covering of sins. With the type of the expiation in the Old Testament age, we know how Christ accomplished the taking away of sins in the New Testament age. Let us consider the details in Leviticus 16 and their significance concerning the accomplishing of expiation.

　　The first step for the accomplishing of expiation was to slaughter the goat of the sin offering for the people (v. 15a). Goats signify sinners (cf. Matt. 25:32-33, 41). We were born sinners, having a sinful nature inwardly and sinful deeds outwardly, and the wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23). Therefore, it is reserved for us to die once (Heb. 9:27). For this reason, in the accomplishing of expiation, man was required to take the goat of the sin offering as his substitute.

　　The slaughtered goat of the sin offering is a type of Christ, who was made in the likeness of the flesh of sin, being the sin offering for us, the sinners. "God, sending His own Son in the likeness of the flesh of sin and concerning sin, condemned sin in the flesh" when Christ was crucified in the flesh on the cross (Rom. 8:3). When Christ was incarnated (John 1:14), He became one with us in the flesh. He did not know sin, but He was made sin on our behalf to be judged by God, and thereby God condemned sin in the flesh (2 Cor. 5:21; John 3:14). In Him, that is, in becoming one with Him in His resurrection, we have become the righteousness of God. By this righteousness we, the enemies of God, have been reconciled to God (Rom. 5:10). (Truth Lessons—Level Three, vol. 2, pp. 72-74)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Leviticus, msg. 46; Life Lessons, vol. 4, lsn. 39