Leviticus chapter 16 speaks of only one thing, the expiation, and this matter of the expiation is a type of the propitiation made by the blood of Christ as part of His redemption on the New Testament; Christ accomplished expiation!
The subject of the book of Leviticus is that Christ is everything in the fellowship service and life of God’s redeemed. Christ is everything to us, and even in the matter of the expiation, Christ is everything to us as God’s people.
Expiation is a term used in the Old Testament, and the New Testament word – which is the fulfilment of the type of expiation – is propitiation. When we speak of expiation, we speak of the Old Testament type, and when we speak of propitiation, we speak of the New Testament fulfilment.
However, since we don’t use the word expiation too much in our Christian life and church life, we may think that the matter of expiation is secondary or obscure. But the expiation cover in Exo. 25 mentioned by Paul in Rom. 3:25 must be considered part of the central vision of Paul’s completing ministry.
When we speak of expiation we need to consider three things: the act of expiation, the means of expiation (the sacrifice offered for expiation), and the place of expiation.
The person who carried out the act of expiation is Christ, the sacrifice that is offered for expiation is Christ, and the place where the expiation occurs is also Christ. Christ is really everything to us, His people.
This week we will consider the matter of expiation and in particular the place of expiation.
The tabernacle had three sections, the outer court, the Holy Place, and the Holy of Holies. In the outer court the main item was the bronze altar, the altar for burnt offering, where the sacrifices were offered. This altar typifies the cross of Christ, where He accomplished redemption through His death.
We may think that this is also the place of expiation, the cross where He died, but this thought is not the one in Leviticus.
The deepest part of the tabernacle was the Holy of Holies, where we see the Ark of the testimony which signifies Christ as the embodiment of God. The ark was made of acacia wood (signifying Christ with His humanity) overlaid with gold (signifying Christ with His divinity).
Upon the ark there is a cover, a lid; the ark is like a box, and there is a covering on the box and there is something inside the box. The main constituents of the ark is the testimony, the tablets of the law, which typify Christ as the testimony of God.
Christ in His God-man living lived out the rich attributes of the bountiful God in His aromatic virtues, testifying of who God is and expressing what kind of God He is. Later on Aaron’s rod that budded and the golden pot were also added.
On top of the gold cover there were two cherubim that were facing each other, looking down at the cover of the ark. This spot, in between the two cherubim, is where God met with His people, and here is the expiation place, the place where expiation was made.
Expiation began in the outer court at the bronze altar, but it was accomplished at the expiation cover in between the two cherubim. It was here that the blood was sprinkled to cover the sins of God’s people.
Also, it was here that God met with His people and spoke to them. Yes, God did speak to His people from the tent of meeting, but His exact address was the expiation cover, the propitiation place, the lid of the ark of the testimony.
We need to locate God, His oracle, and the place of His speaking, which is actually the expiation plate.
Expiation is a Type of the Redemption we need because of our Negative Situation
Chapter 16 of Leviticus describes the expiation; many translations say “atonement” instead of expiation – these two are synonyms, but expiation conveys the right meaning. From ch. 11 to ch. 15 in Leviticus we see the negative situation of God’s people, and in ch. 16 we see God’s redemption through expiation.
According to God’s concept and in His divine economy, because of our negative situation, there’s the need of redemption (Col. 1:14; Eph. 1:7).
In Lev. 11-15 we see the living of God’s people, what kind of living we should have; God is training us to live a clean, holy, and rejoicing life, but our living is so full of sins, leprosy, and problems. Because we are short of God’s holiness, righteousness, and glory, we need redemption.
However, in the Old Testament there was not the real redemption – the Old Testament time was not the time for redemption to take place, so a type, a shadow, of the coming redemption was needed, and this is the expiation spoken of in Lev. 16. Expiation is a type of propitiation (which is the New Testament fulfillment), and it is also a type of redemption.
Propitiation is included in redemption, which is a broader term; propitiation is a specific aspect of redemption.
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 (see Heb. 9:11-12); Christ accomplished expiation for us.
When Christ came, all the offerings were replaced by one unique offering, Jesus Christ. In particular, He became the reality of the sin offering, making propitiation for our sins before God.
The root of the Hebrew word translated “expiation” means “to cover”; the noun form of this word is rendered “expiation cover” in Lev. 16:2 and Exo. 25:17. The day of expiation is Yom Kippur, meaning, the day of covering of our sins.
In the Old Testament our sins were covered, but they were not taken away.
On the Day of Expiation the blood of the sin offering was brought into the Holy of Holies and was sprinkled on the expiation cover, the lid of the Ark, which covered the Ten Commandments within the Ark; this signifies that the sin of the ones coming to contact God had been covered but not yet removed (Lev. 16:14-15; Exo. 25:16).
The sin offering was offered in the outer court at the bronze altar, and the blood was brought from the outer court into the Holy of Holies, one day each year, and it was sprinkled on the expiation cover.
If we were to come into the Holy of Holies and our sins were not covered, the Ten Commandments within the ark would expose us and condemn us, and there would be no way for us to fellowship and interact with God; therefore, the blood was sprinkled on the cover of the ark.
Now when the two cherubim see the blood, they see not the law exposing us but the blood covering us. 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 (see Heb. 9:12; 2:17; 1 John 2:2; 4:10; John 1:29).
Expiation was something temporary, and it had to be repeated year after year, for sin was merely covered – not taken away. But praise the Lord, in the New Testament reality, the Lamb of God takes away the sin of the world, and He did this once for all!
Thank You Lord Jesus for taking care of our negative situation by coming to make propitiation for our sins. Thank You for providing a way for us to not only have our sins covered but also removed. Hallelujah for the Lamb of God who came to take away the sin of the world! Our sins are removed and we can have fellowship with God! Now we can stand before God based on the blood of Jesus Christ and meet with God in Christ, the propitiation place, to have God’s speaking and His presence! Praise the Lord!
Christ was made Sin for us, Sinners, and He accomplished Expiation for us
In Lev. 16:15-19 we see a picture of the accomplishing of expiation, the covering of sins, which is a type of the propitiation which the Lord has accomplished for us.
Expiation was not the full solution, for expiation merely covered the sins; expiation was with a view toward the coming redemption of Christ. God accepted the temporary covering of sins until the permanent removal came with Christ.
For example, let’s suppose we are indebted to another brother in the church for 1 billion dollars, an amount we can never repay – it is a crushing debt, even if we work our whole life, we can’t repay it.
So now there’s an issue between us and that person, and every time he sees us he reminds us of the money we owe him, and we are reminded of our debt; our relationship becomes very uncomfortable.
But if we have a rich friend who can pay our debt, and he is willing to assume our debt and give a promissory note, promising that he will pay it, our relationship is restored; we no longer have a debt, for our friend has promised to pay it.
The animal sacrifices ordained by God are the “promissory note”, the promise that the payment is sure, and it is coming in the future; the fulfillment is the propitiation accomplished by Christ through the process of His death, resurrection, and ascension.
Before God we have a great debt, the problem of our sin; we can’t pay this debt, but Christ came and paid the debt in full, and God accepted it!
Now we have the blood of Christ which was sprinkled on the expiation cover, becoming the proof that our debt was paid. God accepted that, our conscience is at peace, and we can come forward to God and have a normal and peaceful relationship with Him!
We can come forward to God based on the blood of Jesus Christ to enjoy God and fellowship with God, not being condemned by His righteousness, holiness, and glory, but being fully covered by the blood of Jesus Christ!
Hallelujah, we can come forward to the throne of grace, which is actually the lid of the ark, the expiation cover. Expiation is the promise to pay, and the sprinkled blood on the cover of the ark in the heavens is the full receipt: our debt was paid in full, with no problems!
The first step for the accomplishing of expiation was the slaughtering of the goat of the sin offering for the people (Lev. 16:15). Hallelujah, Christ accomplished expiation for us!
We as sinners are signified by a goat (Matt. 25:32-33, 41), and the slaughtered goat of the sin offering is a type of Christ, who was made sin for us, the sinners.
Jesus Christ became like us, in the likeness of the flesh of sin, and He became the sin offering, being slaughtered on the cross for our expiation, to deal with our sins. He didn’t 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).
When we believe into the Lord Jesus, we become one with Him in His resurrection and we have become the righteousness of God in Christ. Hallelujah, by this righteousness we, the enemies of God, have been reconciled to God (Rom. 5:10).
Thank You Lord for becoming flesh and for being made sin for us, sinners, so that we may become the righteousness of God in You! Thank You Lord, for accomplishing expiation by being slaughtered for us to be our sin offering. Thank You for Your precious blood which covers us and gives us the standing to fellowship with God and enter into His presence. Hallelujah, now the righteous, holy, and glorious God can fellowship with us, and there’s no condemnation because the blood of Jesus has paid the price and removed our sins! Praise the Lord!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Mark Raabe for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Leviticus, msg. 46 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Leviticus (2), week 6, The Expiation.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Propitiation made by the blood, / Jesus’ redemption bought us for God! / No condemnation, justification! / We have peace toward God! (Hymns #1131)
# In His blood forgiveness shines; / Oh, ’tis glorious to find! / Israel just atonement knew, / We have that and cleansing too. (Hymns #1124)
# Now that my Lord His blood has shed, / You cannot sentence Him again, / Nor ask me further recompense, / Can but forgive and fully cleanse. (Song on, By righteousness was I condemned)
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