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Series 3:
Lesson 47: |
MOSES
THE DAY OF ATONEMENT |
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Passages to Study: Leviticus 16:1-34, Hebrews 9:7-14, 24-28.
Read with the class: Leviticus 16:1, 2, 7-10, 15-22.
Memorization Text: Younger children: John 1:29. “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh
away the sin of the world”.
Older children: John 1:29.
OBJECTIVES: To teach:
1. That sin had to be removed so that Jehovah, God most holy, could dwell among His
people.
2. That unless ones sin is forgiven, he/she cannot enter Heaven.
3. That God has made provision so that men and women can enter His presence.
4. That entrance into God’s presence must be on the basis of a sacrifice, as He
commands in His Holy Word.
5. That God had to see the blood of the substitute in order to pardon sin and accept the
sinner.
6. That the pardon given is total and complete. Sin is removed, never to be remembered
again.
SCENE No. 1. VISUAL AIDS. Moses and the Israelites, bringing two goats, gather in
the presence of the High Priest.
DEVELOPMENT:
Sug. Begin by asking the students what day is the most important of their lives.
Cmt. It may be necessary to specify that it is not a matter of which day they like best in
the week, but when something of great importance happened in their lives.
- The believer’s most important day is the one in which he/she was born again and
his/her sins were pardoned or blotted out.
- If a person’s sin is not pardoned, he/she cannot enter Heaven, and his or her life
here in this world has been wasted.
- To an Israelite, the most important day of the year was the Day of Atonement, the day
when the sins of the past year were put away.
- Jehovah God, who was living among the people, was most holy, so being in His presence
required that sin be purged.
Cmt. To ATONE means to purge or remove that which is causing offence. It results in
the bringing together of two people who previously were enemies.
- The Israelites had to bring an animal to God. It was offered as a substitute so that
they would not die in their sins.
- In order to forgive, God needed to see the blood of the animal that died in the place of
those who were making the offering.
- Seven months after erecting the tabernacle, the Day of Atonement was celebrated by
Israel for the first time.
- It was a solemn day in which no one did any work.
Obs. The order of events is as follows:
- The high priest washed and dressed himself in his sacred white garments, vs.4.
- Aaron first had to offer a young bullock and a ram for himself and his household. vss.
3,6.
- From the Israelites, the high priest received two young goats for a sin offering and a
ram for a burnt offering. v.5.
- These animals were sacrificed to purge the sins of the Israelites, and symbolize
different aspects of atonement for their sin.
SCENE No. 2. VISUAL AIDS: The steps that the High Priest followed can be shown
with the following figures: (If possible, use different figures)
1) The high priest casting lots over the two animals.
2) The high priest leading the selected animal to the altar of sacrifice.
3) The high priest standing before the Brazen Altar, and offering the first goat as a sin
offering.
4) The high priest standing in front of the Ark showing where the blood was sprinkled on
top and in the front.
Note: To show that point 4 takes place in a different area (the Most Holy Place) than does
point 3, separate the figure of point 4 from the rest. Arrows pointing from one
figure to the next can be used to show the different stages of the ceremony.
5) The high priest with his hands on the head of the second goat, confesses the sins of
the people.
6) A man, chosen for the task, leads the second goat away from the camp to an uninhabited
area.
Note: Each figure teaches a lesson. The teacher will need to take into account the
age of the children.
DEVELOPMENT:
- Both of the animals presented at the door of the tabernacle had to be acceptable to God.
v.7.
- The high priest cast lots over the two goats to choose which was to die as a sacrifice
for sin and which was to be taken into the wilderness, far away from the camp.
- The animal that does not die is called the scapegoat or “animal of departure”.
Apl. The two animals teach two aspects of a single work.
- They are figures of Christ:
1) when He purged our sin through His death at Calvary, and
2) when He made remission of sin possible. (Remit: to send or to take somewhere else.)
Cmt. As a result, the offer knew that his sins had been pardoned.
- The “fit man” does not start on his journey with the second animal until all
has been finished in the Most Holy Place. v.20.
Cns. Apply this order of events to the death of Christ.
- Blood was sprinkled once on top of the Mercy Seat and seven times before the Ark.
v.15.
Lsn. This difference is understood as being once for God’s eye and seven times (the
number of perfection) in front of the ark for the eye of man.
Cmt. The main teaching is that God must punish sin. In this story, judgment falls on
the animal that is sacrificed and not on the sinner.
- God saw the blood that was sprinkled before Him in the Most Holy Place.
Cns. Blood is evidence of a life taken away in death.
Cmt. All this pointed toward the cross where the Son of God would one day die.
Apl. The first goat spoke of the Lord Jesus in His death and of the effectiveness of
His blood shed.
- John the Baptist’s proclamation had to do with this event when he exclaimed, “Behold
the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world”.
- Upon coming out of the Most Holy Place after sprinkling the blood, Aaron, the high
priest, would then do the following:
v.21 “Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over
him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all
their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of
a fit man into the wilderness.
v.22 “and the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not
inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.”
Cns. This visual lesson reinforced for the Israelites the truth that a substitute had died
for their sin. The animal that was being taken away as if carrying the sins of Israel,
never returned.
Apl. This ceremony, carried out once a year, is called The Day of Atonement.
- To atone is to purge or remove that which comes between two persons.
Sug. Discuss with the students what the Israelites would feel as they watched the man
leading away the second goat upon whose head their sins had been confessed, which sins
were now being taken away.
Apl. The second goat teaches the effect of the work of Christ. He has blotted out
forever the sins of every believer and has removed them from us.
SCENE No. 3. VISUAL AIDS.
1) A black heart and a white one, separated by a cross. This is to give a picture of
cleansing.
2) Upon the cross, place a figure of Christ, in silhouette, with the “burden” of
sin (coloured red) placed upon His shoulders. 1 Peter 2:24.
3) Illustrate Psalm 103:12: A child kneels between two arrows, one pointing to the East
and the other to the West. The red bundle of his burden of sin can be seen fallen from his
shoulders. Sin is separated from the sinner as far as the east is from the west.
4) Use a drawing of a scene from “Pilgrim’s Progress”. A burden falls
from the back of the pilgrim called “Christian”, as he reaches the cross.
This shows the relief experienced by the sinner when he trusts Christ.
5) Illustrate Micah 7:19: A red bundle is falling far down into the depths of the sea.
DEVELOPMENT:
- Although the illustrations are from the material world, they teach spiritual truths.
- Notice that the “burden”, separated from the sinner, speaks of the remission
of his sin. |
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