Our pascal lamb, for the believer, is none other than Christ himself. We shall see here that the original intent of Passover was a family affair, not something done at the temple as a religious rite. I will comment on this and how the new covenant believer is the temple and sacrifices should be outside city gates but religion brings sacrfice within our temples. Historically gates are very important. Gates are important in both our personal and spiritual lives, as well. Finally I contrast the Last Supper to the Passover Seder.

— Tension between Exodus and Deuteronomy

To strictly follow the LORD we are told in Exodus 12:6 that at twilight on the fourteenth day of the month of Abib the whole assembly of the congretation of Israel shall sacrifice the lamb at twilight. Some of the blood shall be put on the doorposts and the lintels of the house where it is eaten (vs. 7)

This seems to be a family oriented affair where the lamb might not have been sacrificed at the tabernacle/temple but at each house.

Further instruction is given in Deuteronomy:
You may not sacrifice the Passover within any of your gates which the LORD your God gives you; but at the place where the LORD your God chooses to make His name abide, there you shall sacrifice the Passover at twilight, at the going down of the sun, at the time you came out of Egypt (Deut. 16:5-6)

Rabbi’s over the centuries have interprested the place where the LORD chooses to make His name abide as the being at the temple.

Question time: If the temple got placed within the city gates in Jerusalem is not the idea of sacrificing the pascal lamb at the temple ignoring God’s commands? Why are city gates important anyway?

Let’s explore these questions during this time leading up to Passover and how we should interpret things as New Covenant believers.

The idea of gates in Deut. 16:5 is a matter of some debate. The hebrew word šaʿar(shah’-ar) can mean gate, city, or door. It is a point of entry or exit. So slaughter withing your gates could orignally mean outside of your living area. That makes sense from a hygienic perspective. Who would do all of that within a kitchen or living area?

As far as cities go, like Jerusalem, all judgements, important decisions, and even markets are near to gates of a city. Again, hygenic requirements should place slaughter outside of city gats.
It is said that at the temple in Jerusalem that the Gihon Springs supplied ample water to wash away all of the blood shed during sacrificial ceremonies.

Leviticus 17 says in two places there is life in the blood. vs. 11 says ‘for the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls’. This is substitutionary atonement, the animal’s life for our lives. But Passover itself mainly deals with the death angel passing over us as we remember Yeshua as our sacrificial lamb.

When it comes to gates there are physical ones and ones that represent things spiritually…

— Personal and Spiritual Gates

Personal gates are what enters in or exits from our lives. We might need to get rid of some things like bad habits and things that lead us into sin like watching pornography or lustful desire for dishonest gain. We might need to let in good things like proper teaching and godly advice. Moses himself allowed his father-in-law Jethro to give him good advice about getting some help in leading. Many times it is our eyes and ears that serve physically as the gates to our temple.

Many argue that the place where the LORD our God chooses (for sacrifice) means at a central place like the temple. For sure Yeshua and the disciples went to sacrifice at the temple. However, the blood and the meal were to be used at one’s place of residence, at least for Passover. As a believer, if we are to consider our own bodies as a temple of the Holy Spirit that means we sacrifice something outside of ourselves. That could be our time or our resources. One could consider internal sacrifices as a religious rite like temple sacrifice. The words of Elijah to King Saul come to mind here….

Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
As in obeying the voice of the LORD?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
And to heed than the fat of rams. (1 Sam. 15:22)

For in chapter 13 Saul had taken upon himself to sacrifice which was not legal for him to do. In chapter 15 he partially obeyed the Lord in that he destroyed the bad and spared Agag, the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good.

For Saul had his gates wide open and because of that demons came in to torment him. He had his eyes full of pride, impatience, and things of the world. He also let things come into his ears that plagues him like ‘Saul has killed his thousands and David his tens of thousands’.

So sacrificing within our gates can be messy if not cleansed by living water. This brinds to mind the idea of baptism that now saves us, the pledge of a good consciousness (1 Pet. 3:21) and washed by the renewing of our minds (Rom. 12:2) as we present our bodies as living sacrifices. Still, we need this living water to cleanse the mind and the flesh from the mess that ceremonial rites bring into our lives, especially rites pertaining to ungodly things.

Spritual gates are things we should maintain, as well. Dabbling in new age or occult practices leave us vulnerable to spiritual attack. Even not honoring the Lord’ supper by eating in an unworthy manner and not honoring the poor resulted in many becoming weak and sickly and some dying (1 Cor. 11). It is my belief that quite a bit of trouble some see is because of not having proper gates over behavior and not observing his commandments. This is not always the case, as in the situation with Job.

There was a rite associated with Passover that the Lord and all of his disciples are to perform yearly.

— The Last Supper vs. Passover Sacrifice
Matt. 26:17–29;Mark 14:12–25;Luke 22:7–38; John 13:21-30

Some consider that the last supper of Yeshua and his disciples was actually the night before Passover. Credence to this is found in John’s gospel where the idea that Yeshua was brought before Pilot at the sixth hour on the Preperation Day.

Now it was the Preparation Day of the Passover, and about the sixth hour. And (Pontius Pilot) said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” (John 19:14)

I found at least one reference to the Preparation Day actually being Friday of the week, not the day before Passover began. Synaptic gospels all point to the beginning of Passover making the Last Supper the actual Seder dinner. Seder means order. It is a very ordered dinner – much more than just sharing bread and wine and sometimes taking many hours to complete.

Now on the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying to Him, “Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover? (Matt. 26:17, Mark 14:12)

Then came the Day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover must be killed. He sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat (Luke 22:7-8)

I certainly won’t solve this enigma here but want to mention the duality of the last supper vs. temple rituals as was orignially the Passover celebration being Family-oriented then later Community-oriented. In either case the communal meal is still at home, it is the sacrificial rite that is differentiated.

Is it possible that the Lord instituted the Last Supper before Passover. The whole idea of Pasover originally being a family affair and then later turning into a national event at the temple defies explanation, in my opinion. What I will say is that Yeshua wanted to spend time with his closest disciples before going to the cross. The death on the cross is a great backdrop to the concept of all Israel slaughtering the pascal lamb at the temple.

Yet even at the last supper one unclean who had given access to Satan was seated next to our Lord, that is Judas Iscariot. His final place of departure is know as akeldama, the field of blood. The thirty pieces of silver for which he sold out our Lord has become known as blood money.

We should not be as Judas, nor even King Saul. While most of the others abandoned Yeshua out of fear, all were forgiven, even Peter.

So this Passover or commemoration of the Lord going to the cross, let us all remember his sacrifice. Let us keep our gates closed when needed and open when needed. Remember the family of God no matter how big or small the event becomes. Let us be cleansed from wickedness and gain new life from the blood of the lamb.

Sources:
https://www.thetorah.com/article/pesach-in-egypt-pesach-in-jerusalem
https://www.catholic.com/audio/ddp/the-last-supper-and-passover

• The tabernacle or temple?

John talks about the tabernacling of Yeshua (Jesus) with us:
John 1:14 says ‘the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth’.

skēnoō (skay-no’-o) means to fix one’s tabernacle, have one’s tabernacle, abide (or live) in a tabernacle (or tent), tabernacle or just to dwell

This implies a temporary existence. Our flesh and blood is a temporary existence even though 1 Cor. 3:16 & 1 Cor. 6:19 speaks of us as the temple of the Holy Spirit which dwells in us.

naos (nah-os’) means the temple as in Jerusalem but really only the Holy Place & Holy of Holies or metaphorically the temple consisting of all of the saints of every age

— The book of Hebrews seems to consistently use the terminalogy of tabernacle (skēnoō)

a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man (Heb. 8:2)

Do you not see that the sanctuary the children of Israel made was after the pattern of the true tabernacle?

…priests who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For He said, “See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain. (Heb. 8:5) [Ex. 25:40]

Ex. 25:8-9 says ‘let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them according to all that I show you, after the pattern of the tabernacle (miškān)’

If you read Exodus 35 you would see everyone had a contribution to the building of the tabernacle.

Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation (Heb. 9:11).

he sprinkled with blood (of calves and goats) both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry (Heb. 9:21)

— The book of Revelation uses both the temple and tabernacle

Rev. 7 says there is a temple in heaven which is even more confusing so the secondary idea of dwelling or living in a places seems more appropriate for skēnoō.

(those come out of the great tribulation) are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple (Rev. 7:15) And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them.

the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple (Rev. 11:19).

Then (the beast out of the sea) opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle (skēnē), and those who dwell (skēnoō) in heaven (Rev. 13:6).

After these things I looked, and behold, the temple (naos) of the tabernacle (skēnē) of the testimony in heaven was opened (Rev. 15:5)

Ark is the temple and that is in the tabernacle where God dwells???

At the consummation the dwelling aspect of God seems to also surface:
I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle (skēnē) of God is with men, and He will dwell (skēnoō) with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God (Rev. 21:3).

Rev. 21:22::
But I saw no temple in (the New Jerusalem), for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.

— Where is the temple and the tabernacle today?

The second temple was destroyed in AD 70 after General Titus laid seige to the city. For almost 2,000 years there has been no temple in Jerusalem. The Jews re-invented Judiasm into what is now called Rabbinic Judiasm. The Christians departed from the temple now declaring we are the temple of the Holy Spirit through faith in Yeshua. Some would like to see a third temple built in Jerusalem but I see that as negating the finished work of Christ upon the cross. We accept Yeshua into our hearts who cleanses our temples from the inside out.

So the temple of God is actually us in which God resides within the human heart. Our life is temporary and goes with us when we move about, just like a tabernacle. When Philip was done with his enounter with the Ethiopian eunich he moved on to his next assignment in Azotus and preached in all of the towns unto Ceasaria (Acts 8:40). So the temple of the Holy Spirit is our bodies but we are now mobile. The great commission applies to our Jerusalem (local communities) to our Judea and Samaria (our countries) and unto the ends of the Earth.

Yeshua says to the church at Laodicea ‘behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me (Rev. 3:20)’.

Laodicea was the lukewarm church which Yeshua wanted to spit out of his mouth. They were wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. They needed faith for he said they needed gold tried in the fires of affliction and white garments no longer soiled by the filth of sin and salve for their eyes so they might recognize their wretched and pitiable condition. For they considered themselves rich and in need of nothing.

If you remember from the Table of Shewbread lesson the table is where the utensils lie so that the bread and the wine might be eaten and drank by the priests each sabbath. We cannot dine with the Lord if ceremonially unclean and so David’s men had to have abstained for three days. The Loadiceans were not clean enough to partake of the shewbread unless they opened the doors to their hearts to let the Lord come in to cleanse.

Each cake of bread was itself pierced (ḥālal) as is challah bread these days. The hebrew word is also used in Is. 53:5 where it says he was wounded (ḥālal) for our iniquities. We are often wounded by others and life’s trials. Likewise Yeshua was wounded for he is the shewbread.

Perhaps the difference here between the outer courts, the holy place and the most holy place can be equated to our place of sacrifice vs. fellowship vs. dwelling in God’s presence.

The outer courts are where ceremony and ritual rule our lives. We think we draw close because of the ceremonies or services we attend. Yet we make no real sacrifices in our lives. Others like priests or pastors or friends offer up sacrifices in our place.

The holy place is where we dine with the Lord at the table with the bread of his presence. He breaks bread with us in the same way Christ was broken upon the cross. Yet they broke none of his bones, seeing he was alread dead (John 19:33). What was broken was his will for he said not my will by thine be done unto the Father. Brokenness actually took place in the Garden btw. We have to be broken before coming before the Lord.

The most holy place is where we actually dwell in his presence and opbtain mercy at the mercy seat which is sprinkled with the blood of bulls and goats. It is only the high priest who enters and then only once a year. We acquire that privilege by intimacy and the sprinkled blood of Christ who opened up the way for us while dying on the cross.

So the temple and tabernacle represent us. It is where God resides.

Sources:
https://assemblytestimony.org/books/book-13-the-glory-of-the-tabernacle/chapter-9-the-table-of-shewbread/#loaves
https://tabletalkmagazine.com/article/2017/12/the-table-of-showbread/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0lqDutbCVs

The Table of Shewbread is important to Christians because it helps tie together the manna in the wilderness to the miracle of the loaves and fishes with the 5000 to Yeshua as being the manna from heaven. The 5 loaves of the young lad in the crowd of 5000 is like the request of young David for 5 loaves for his hungry men. There is also a eucharist depicted in the tabernacle using the shewbread and wine. For Yeshua becomes the manna and shewbread of the presence.

• Description of the Table

Core texts: Ex. 25:23-30 & Ex. 37:10-16

We start here with the eight (or nine) ‘you shall’ commandments:
You shall also make a table of acacia wood; two cubits shall be its length, a cubit its width, and a cubit and a half its height.
You shall overlay it with pure gold, and make a molding of gold all around.
You shall make for it a frame of a handbreadth all around.
You shall make a gold molding for the frame all around.
You shall make for it four rings of gold, and put the rings on the four corners that are at its four legs. The rings shall be close to the frame, as holders for the poles to bear the table.
You shall make the poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold, that the table may be carried with them.
You shall make its dishes, its pans/spoons, its pitchers (jug), and its bowls for pouring. You shall make them of pure gold.
You shall set the showbread on the table before Me always.

What is not brought out in this text is the idea that the priests would eat the showbread and using the utensils partake of bread and wine in a communal meal just like we would partake of the bread and wine to commemorate the death and resurrection of Yeshua.

— Weekly practice for the shewbread

Core text: Lev. 24:5-9

You shall take fine flour and bake twelve cakes with it. Two-tenths of an ephah shall be in each cake. You shall set them in two rows, six in a row, on the pure gold table before the LORD. You shall put pure frankincense on each row, that it may be on the bread for a memorial, an offering made by fire to the LORD. Every Sabbath he shall set it in order before the LORD continually, being taken from the children of Israel by an everlasting covenant. It shall be for Aaron and his sons, and they shall eat it in a holy place; for it is most holy to him from the offerings of the LORD made by fire, by a perpetual statute.

Twelve cakes of bread is what was left over each week after the sabbath when the old bread was removed from the table of shewbread. It is said that each loaf consisted of about 4 quarts of flour — roughly equivalent to the amount of of manna collected on the day before the Sabbath.

We shall see that during the ministry of Yeshua he called the disciples to himself and with five barley loaves and two fishes told them to feed the 5000 during the miracle of this name. We read in each of the gospels that there were twelve basketfulls of leftovers after feeding all of the people. The twelve disciples had in essence 12 loaves of the holy shewbread remaining, but we are not told if the feeding of the 5000 happened on the sabbath.

Five loaves is also significant in that it represents the five books of the Torah, five offerings according to Leviticus, and many things in the Tabernacle represented by five ingredients in the holy anointing oil; five curtains bars, and pillars; and an alter 5×5 cubits.

Two fish represents opposites (day and night, good and evil, hot and cold, two sexes, binary).

— King David’s experience with the shewbread

Core text: 1 Samuel 21:1-6

Now David came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. Ahimelech was afraid when he met David, and said to him, “Why are you alone, and no one is with you?”

So David said to Ahimelech the priest, “The king has ordered me on some business, and said to me, ‘Do not let anyone know anything about the business on which I send you, or what I have commanded you.’ I have directed my young men to such and such a place. Now therefore, what have you on hand? Give me five loaves of bread in my hand, or whatever can be found. The priest answered David and said, “There is no common bread on hand; but there is holy bread, if the young men have at least kept themselves from women. Then David answered the priest, and said to him, “Truly, women have been kept from us about three days since I came out. The vessels of the young men are holy, and the bread is in effect common, even though it was consecrated in the vessel this day.”

So the priest gave him holy bread; for there was no bread there but the showbread which had been taken from before the LORD, in order to put hot bread in its place on the day when it was taken away.

One comment about the three days of ritual purity in which David’s men kept away from woman. It was only a requirement at Mount Sinai for three days purity (Ex. 19:15). It is also the same chapter where Moses told the children of Israel they would be a kingdom of priests unto the LORD (vs. 6). I am not sure David was thinking of Sinai when he made that statement or not but it does fit with the idea of receiving shewbread for his men.

Another comment here. It says that Ahimelech the priest was afraid. It is true he had need to be afraid for at this point in time King Saul was looking to do harm to David and any that helped him. Hence David concocted this story about being on a secret mission for the king. A spy called Doeg the Edomite reported all these things to the King and in the end Ahimelech and 85 priests got executed. It is also another case where David gets grace but those around him get hurt.

–– Yeshua’s comments on the shewbread

Core text: Matthew 12:1-4

At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. And His disciples were hungry, and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. When the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!” But He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the showbread which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests?

The text in 1 Samuel does not explicitly say it was the Sabbath but the objections of the Pharisees centered on activities Yeshua and his followers were doing on the sabbath and included the priests ministering on the sabbath, healing a withered hand on the sabbath, and care for an animal who falls into a ditch on the sabbath. For sure, eating the shewbread, which was reserved for the priest and his family, was not legal for David to do.

— Yeshua our bread of life

Later we hear Yeshua giving a sermon on the true bread from heaven and states:
Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ” Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world (John 6:31-33)

The sermon on bread of life was most directly pointing to the manna in the wilderness but it was also referring to the shewbread because that is why the table of shewbread was put into the tabernacle and temple: to remind everyone of the manna. Now Yeshua goes even further and claims he is that bread.

John 6:53-55:: Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed.

Many abandoned Yeshua at this point in his ministry. Many will say this is because he seemed to be telling them to eat his flesh and drink his blood pointed to a gruesome requirement of cannibalism. Some may have taken it that way but I am more inclined to think they were merely offened by the implication that he is the manna from heaven. They did understand him speaking as a metaphor but they did not like the implications. He said ‘the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven’. He spoke of My Father. He was calling them to accept him as the Son of God. The miracle of feeding the 5000 was supposed to validate his claim.

Sources:
https://www.wikihow.com/Bible-Number-5-Meaning#:~:text=In%20the%20Bible%

• Description of the Ark

Core texts: Ex. 25:31-40 & Ex. 37:17-24

Most of the objects of the holy tabernacle which are described in two places within Exodus: the Ark of the covenant, the showbread table, the golden lampstand, the tabernacle itself, the bronze altar, the court of the tabernacle, and the priest’s garments. Inbetween the two descriptive chapters is the incident of the golden calf. In chapter 37 the text identifies Bezelal as responsible for creating the objects. His name means in the shadow (protection) of God. This is reminiscent of Psalm 91: He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. For there is safety dwelling under the shadow of the Allmighty.

— The Ark (Ex. 25:10-17)

(The children of Israel) shall make an ark of acacia wood; two and a half cubits shall be its length (117 cm), a cubit and a half its width (70 cm), and a cubit and a half its height (70 cm). .

You shall overlay it with pure gold, inside and out you shall overlay it, and shall make on it a molding of gold all around.

You shall cast four rings of gold for it, and put them in its four corners; two rings shall be on one side, and two rings on the other side.

You shall make poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold.

You shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark, that the ark may be carried by them. The poles shall be in the rings of the ark; they shall not be taken from it.

You shall put into the ark the Testimony which I will give you.

It is interesting that in chapter 25 the pronoun alternates from the third person plural to the second person singular. It is the “thou shalt” and the “you shalt” in KJV english. Yet when you go to chapter 37 the instructions are solely given to Bezalel. I assume he had helpers but the point is there is a specific person instructed to carry out this work.

The Testimony included the golden pot of manna, aaron’s rod that budded almonds, and the two tablet of the Law (10 commandments) although 1 Kings 8:9 says only the two tablets remained by the time of Solomon. There is only speculation on how the jar and staff disappeared. Some things just don’t last thru time. God’s law will last because Yeshua said ‘until heaven and earth disappear not the smallest letter or stroke of a pen will disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished’ (Matt: 5:18). But remember it took only a day or two for manna to breed worms and the staff would bud and dry up quickly as well.

Speculations abound for the location of the Ark of Testimony from hidden chambers under the temple mount to a cave on Mount Nebo (Jordan), to being held in a monastary in Aksum, Ethiopia. In the 1981 movie ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ in the Indiana Jones series, the Ark was found. Unfortunately only demons remained within it’s contents. If the Ark and the Tablets were to be found it would serve as a significant archeological discovery but provide very little to our understanding of spiritual principles and concepts. Next, let’s look deep into the idea of what the Ark symbolizes.

— The Mercy Seat (Ex. 25-17-22)

This is where we get into the typology and symbolism of the mercy seat and see how Christ’s sacrifice as the Passover lamb is not directly related to the Day of Atonement.

You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold; two and a half cubits shall be its length and a cubit and a half its width. This is about 45″ x 27″ in english measure.

You shall two cherubim of gold; of hammered work you shall make them at the two ends of the mercy seat. Make one cherub at one end, and the other cherub at the other end; you shall make the cherubim at the two ends of it of one piece with the mercy seat. The cherubim shall stretch out their wings above, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and they shall face one another; the faces of the cherubim shall be toward the mercy seat.

You shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the Testimony that I will give you. There I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the Testimony, about everything which I will give you in commandment to the children of Israel.

Lev. 16 speaks of the blood sprinkled on the mercy seat Verse 14 speaks about the blood of the bull and the blood of the goat. It shall be sprinkled onto the front of the mercy seat on the east and in front of the mercy seat sprinkle the blood seven times. The blood of the bull is a sin offering for the high priest and the blood of the goat for the people.

In biblical numerology the number is most significant. Last week we spoke of the seven lamps on the menorah and the seven churches of Asia Minor. Seven signifies the completion of the week and also siginfies the names of the Spirit of God. The once sprinkled blood onto the front of the mercy seat represents the oneness (or unity) of the Godhead. Even the two angels can point us to the two witnesses spoken of in Revelation and also the One New Man concept of Apostle Paul in the letter to the Ephesians (Jew and Gentile). I could also speak here of the two lambs that are sacrificed continually each day in the Temple, one in the morning and one in the evening.

The sprinkling of blood is a reference to the Day of Atonement which is covered by the writer of Hebrews:

Heb. 10:19-22: therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus,
by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

The veil of the temple torn in two from top to bottom speaks of Christ’s flesh being torn away from him as he died. A new creation would soon emerge. The One New Man as head of his church provides a way of access to the Holy Sanctum where God once dwelt. Our hearts have to be sprinkled clean through the pledge of baptism and holy living.

I believe that Apostle Paul was alluding to this atonement for sin when he wrote to the Romans:

Rom. 3:24-25:: we are justified by his grace as a gift,through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forebearance he had passed over former sins.

But again, Paul was mainly speaking about Christ’s sacrifice at Passover, not Atonement per se.

— New Covenant Concepts on the Mercy Seat

It is once a year during Yom Kippur that the high priest ventures into the Holy of Holies to make atonement for himself and for the people. What is Christ’s role then in regards to the Holy of Holies? Be prepared, this is really deep and challenges some of our understanding of what ‘Lamb of God’ signifies.

The writer of Hebrews, when it comes to the Ark and the Mercy seat states: Of these things we cannot now speak in detail (Heb. 9:5) but the writer does give us some absolute truth.

If you read between the lines, the author of Hebrews seems to be saying in verses 8 and 9 that at the present time, while the temple is still standing, that the way into the Holiest of All has not yet been made manifest. This is very interesting and curious also. Decades after Christ’s resurrection we are told all things have not yet been revealed. He also references the first tabernacle and says it is symbolic of the present time so tabernacle and temple seem to alluded to as being equivalent spiritually which we shall see shortly is how John seems to be doing in his revelation of things to come.

Heb. 9:11-12:: Christ appeared as the high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation). He entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.

Please notice it is not the earthly tabernacle has Christ appeared. The text here says nothing of the temple but speaks metaphorically about the tent, or tabernacle. So why is the temple not even a consideration?

All three of the synoptic gospels record the temple curtain being torn in two from top to bottom during his crucifixion (Matt. 27:51, Mark 15:38, and Luke 23:45). This is when Yeshua breathed his last. Luke records it was at the time of twilight when the sacrificial lamb was slein. I submit to you it is then when God abandoned the idea of the priest only going into the Holy of Holies once a year on Yom Kippur. We all have such entry available to us through Christ’s blood to enter in and worship at the Ark of the Testimony and at the Mercy Seat.

The typology does not support the Day of Atonement but rather opens up the pathway for atonement. This is why we have Hebrews which explains things better than other writings which deal strictly with the Passover lamb (John 1:29,36;Acts 8:26-40;1 Pet. 1:18-21; Rev. 5:6-13).

The blood of the lamb is not technically right for the Day of Atonement. The lamb’s blood was a passover symbol so that the Death Angel would pass over us but the lamb is also a symbol of the 2x/day continual sacrifices at the temple. According to Numbers 28 the daily lamb sacrifices were burnt sacrifices as part of food offerings and on the Sabbath day two BURNT offerings consisting of male lambs. But Christ is one so a double daily sacrifice is not good symbology either.

It is interesting in Heb. 9:7 that it speaks of blood being offered in the holy place for the high priest and for unintentional sins of the people, thus not speaking of atonement for intentional sins. Other versions translate this as sins done in ignorance or errors of the people. That is why Heb. 10:26 goes on to say if we go on sinning deliverately that there is no more sacrifice for sins.

Heb. 9:24:: For Christ has entered, not into holy place made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.

More on the Tabernacle itself in a few weeks.

Heb. 13:11-12 (Lev. 4:12,21) speak about the blood brought into the holy places by the priest for a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the city gates and goes on to say likewise Yeshua suffered outside of the city gates.

What I am not saying here is that the sacrifice of Yeshua is no no effect or that he wasn’t our ultimate sacrifice for humanity. What I am suggesting here is that a lamb of God typology for the sin sacrifice on the Day of Atonement is NOT very accurate. He died during Passover, not The Day of Atonement. Let me explain further.

The blood of the goat (or bull) is not traditionally symbolic of the blood of Christ. We call Yeshua the lamb of God. A young ram is also a lamb. A young goat is normally called a kid. This is where the analogy to the blood of Christ breaks down when it comes to the mercy seat. The daily sacrifice consisted of a male lamb morning and evening (every day!). Sacrifices of Passover also used the lamb.

In Num. 28:19 there were 2 bulls, 1 ram, 7 male lambs a year old used as a burnt offering during Passover. Verse 22 says that a goat was to be used for a sin offering, to make atonement for you. Does this not suggest the Passover lamb is not a good typology for our sin offering? For sure Hebrews does say that Yeshua was burnt outside of the city gates (Heb. 13:11-12).

Lev. 4:3: young bull required for anointed high priest (sin offering)
Lev. 4:13-14: you bull required for entire community (sin offering)
Lev. 4:22-23: male goat for the high priest (burnt and sin offering)
Lev. 4:27-32: female goat or lamb for common people (burnt offering)

Remember it was the ram (not goat) caught in the thickets that Abraham sacrificed for his son, his only son Isaac. So why is Yeshua considered The Lamb of God and not a ram, goat, bull, or even 7 lambs?

This is because in Exodus 12 there is one lamb selected from each household on the 10th of the first month. It was to be sacrificed on the eve of the 14th of this month, at twilight. The lamb was to be an umblemished male a year old from the sheep or the goats (Ex. 12:5) so the Word of God leaves open the possibility of a goat for a offering at Passover.

My main point here is the the Passover sacrifice is really a family affair! Of course in Jewish history one would want to sacrifice it at the temple and that caused many logistical obstacles due to the size of worshppers. The blood of the lamb was put on the doorposts and lintels of the house to remember the Exodus and to keep the Death Angel from coming into our household.

I would have to say after all of this that Christ should be the Goat of God for our sin offering as strange as that sounds. He was the Lamb of God for our Passover to keep away the Death Angel.

Sources:
https://www.jtsa.edu/torah/the-golden-calf-and-the-tabernacle/#:~:text=But%20there%20are%20many%20other,high%20priest%2C%20is%20abetting%20apostasy.