Dr. Manny Arango (0:00)

Hey, Bible nerds. This is Dr. Manny Arango and I'm your host for the Bible department podcast powered by Arma. This podcast follows a Bible reading plan we created to help you read the entire Bible in a year. You can head to the show notes or thebibledepartment.com to download our reading plan and join the journey. To all my fellow pastors, I've got a question for you. Does your city know that your church exists? Listen, I get it. You're preaching, you're leading, you're discipling, you're doing ministry. We are in the same boat. And let's be honest, social media and marketing, not your strong suit. Not mine either. And that's probably the last thing on your mind. And that's why we chose to partner with Church Candy marketing for our church Plant the garden. We out here, y'all. They help churches get more actual guests walking through the doors on Sunday without your eye having to stress over ads or algorithms or trying to crack the social media code. Right now, Church Candy is helping nearly 400 churches reach their communities with simple invite ads. And it works. It's super effective. I can tell you from firsthand experience. So if you're tired of being your city's best kept secret, how about you do this? Go to churchcandy.com Manny and book a free consultation book a discovery call. Their team will break it all down and show you how to start seeing new faces at your church this Sunday. I'm in the trenches with you trying to grow the church. And how about we just start a whole campaign? No more empty churches. So let's partner with Church Candy and get our churches full. The glory of Jesus. Let's go. Chapter 16 and 17. I. I can't overemphasize how important these chapters actually are for the book of Levit. Leviticus. If you've done the reading, then let's break it down. Let's get into it. If you have not done the reading, go ahead and read Leviticus, chapter 16. 17. You may notice that throughout our journey in Leviticus, right, Like yesterday we had five chapters. Today we only have two chapters. It's because we wanted to keep the sections of the book based on the themes that already exist. We wanted to keep the structure of the book, you know, true to the actual structure of the book. So that's okay. Like, I'd rather you encounter the content in the format that it was originally designed to be encountered. Okay than kind of breaking up stuff just so that you could have an even number of Chapters every day. So yesterday we had five chapters, but all those five chapters were all about purity laws. And today we only have two chapters. That's because these two chapters are all about the day of atonement. All right? Day of atonement. Big, big, big deal, okay? So Leviticus is a chiasm, okay? The entire book is a chiasm. One of the things that we've probably talked about at some point on this journey is that in Western civilization or Western literature, the climax of something comes at the end, right? So the end of a movie, once the climax happens, you kind of have a falling action and then the movie's over. That is not the way that Eastern literature is formatted. In Eastern literature, instead of the climax or the most important thing being at the end, instead of having a inciting incident, then like rising action, then a climax, and then falling action, you are going to have a chiasm, which means the most important thing happens directly in the middle. So what we're going to have in the book of, of Leviticus is going to be a day of atonement is in the middle. And then on the. On the outsides of that day of atonement, you're going to have laws around purity. And then if you keep moving out outwards of the center, you are then going to have instructions for priests, okay? And then if you keep moving outwards towards the center, you're going to have instructions about rituals, okay? These are the three ways that Israel is going to be holy so they can live amongst God. They have to take part in rituals. They have to have a priesthood, and they have to have purity as an embedded system in their. In their life. So how they eat. Sexual purity, like, there's got to be practiced morality and purity. These are two different things. Some of the laws are going to address morality, like sexual behavior. Some of the laws are going to address purity, like how to deal with bodily fluids and discharges in childbirth. None of those things are sinful, but they do represent death and decay. And death and decay are completely opposite of who God is. God's eternal, okay? He does not decay. He doesn't die. He doesn't change. And so these things don't make us sinful, they make us human. And since these things are different than who God is, and since God is holy, things that represent death and decay cannot be near God, okay? So I can't touch a dead body and then go to the tabernacle. Doesn't work that way. Also, death in and of itself is a result of the Fall, which is a result of sin. So even though these things are not sinful, they are reminiscent of sin, okay? They're sin adjacent, okay? Because if there was not sin, there would not be death. Okay? So and if, if, if there, if there were not sin, then man would be able to eat from the tree of life and wouldn't be dealing with the certain forms of mortality that man has to deal with. Anyway, we're not going to get down that rabbit hole. So I want you to see that the day of atonement, that Leviticus, chapter 16 and 17 lay at the very heart of the book of Leviticus, okay? So we have laws, purity laws, then we have instructions for priests, and then we have rituals, okay? And all of these things mirror each other. And the one thing that has no mirror is Leviticus. Chapter 16 is right at the center. The next thing I need you to see is that Leviticus is at the center of the Torah, okay? So Genesis in Deuteronomy are the outsides of the Torah, the first and last book of the Torah. Then you move in, you're going to have Exodus and numbers, and then you move in again and you get Leviticus. So Leviticus is at the center of the Torah. It's dead center of the. Of the five books of Moses. And then at the center of Leviticus, you have the Day of Atonement. So the. The content that we're about to go through today is the center of the center. So arguably some of the most important, like, literary content that the authors of the Bible like, want us to read. Okay, so Leviticus, chapter 16 is the center of the center of the center. Okay, the center of the center of the center. It's. Leviticus is already the center of the Torah. This is the center of Leviticus. And so we're really, like, gearing up to study the heart, the very heart of the Torah Bible department family, it's Dr. Manny Arango. And first thing I want to say is that I'm proud of you for completing the New Testament. You did it. And now that we're in the Old Testament, I hope that looking at Genesis and Exodus from an ancient perspective and worldview has kind of like opened your eyes. Well, I got news for you. If you've enjoyed some of the interpretations that I've brought to the table from Genesis, then that's just the tip of the iceberg. This entire book, crushing chaos, was written from an ancient hermeneutic. I'm looking at stories like the Flood, Adam and Eve from the perspective of an ancient person. And we've got an event coming up on April 26th where I'll take a lot of the content from this book and I'll turn that content in a live lectures. You don't want to miss it. You can actually register for that event right now. The link is in the description. And more than content, I think what you'll find as we gather together in Nashville are like minded believers and friends in a community of people that you don't just watch content with online that you can get to know in person. I'd love to see you in Nashville. I'd love to hug you, high five you, and I'd love to nerd out together for one day as we come together in Nashville to learn about how to crush chaos. I'll see you in Nashville. Peace. Leviticus chapter 16 is God's response to Nadab and Abihu offering Yahweh unauthorized fire. Now, there's all kinds of interpretations for what Nadab and Abihu actually did. It doesn't matter. Like the, the details don't matter. What we do know is that they do something that is completely unauthorized. Whether that's changing the liturgy, whether that's trying to upstage their father. There's all kinds of things that they could have been doing. What matters is that a fire comes out from God and consumes them. Okay. They get holy, consumed. Now you can read this in Leviticus chapter 10. We actually read this a couple days ago. Leviticus chapter 10 says Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu, took their censors, put fire in them and added incense, and they offered unauthorized fire before the Lord contrary to his command. So fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. Okay, so that whole chapter is going to end and then we are going to get five chapters, which is the five chapters we were reading yesterday, chapter 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15, which are all going to give us purity laws. Chapter 11 is going to start with the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, say, say to the Israelites, all of the animals that live on land, these are the ones you may eat. So immediately God starts talking to them about kosher, what it means to eat kosher, to live a kosher lifestyle. We are going to get food, childbirth, defiling, skin diseases, cleansing skin diseases, discharges for the next five chapters. And then Leviticus chapter 16 is going to start. And for a lot of us, we probably don't get the context of what's happening in Leviticus 16 because five chapters of laws were already given. Leviticus 16, verse 1. The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron who died when they approached the Lord. Oh, I forgot about that because that was five chapters ago, or really six chapters ago. But obviously I'm here to help us realize context. Leviticus chapter 16. The instructions regarding Leviticus chapter 16, the day of atonement, are spoken or given to Moses on the day that Nadab and Abihu die. All right, so we are still at the day that these jokers have died. All right, that's all of our context clues, the lot. Let me give one more context clue. Is that anyone in the ancient world would have been very, very, very relieved. Big sigh of relief with a book like Leviticus. Because anyone in the ancient world would have been wondering, what do the gods require of us? It would have been this massive, stressful, anxiety inducing question mark that would have been lingering over their lives. What did the gods require? And, and so every year we offer more and more and more just to try to be safe. We're just, we're just kind of guessing, taking shots in the dark here on what the gods really want. But Yahweh says I'm not like the gods who won't tell you what they want. First of all, those gods aren't able to tell you what they want because they're deaf and mute in their idols. Second of all, I'll tell you exactly what I want. We'll take the guessing out of this. I don't know if anyone else is like me. You know, my wife doesn't need me to surprise her for Christmas. She, she just tells me what she wants. Okay? And every year, I'm the luckiest husband in the world because this woman will just say, hey, I want these things. Just get me this. If, if you do this, I'll be very, very happy. Okay? There's no, like, pop quiz. I don't have to like, wonder like, oh my gosh, what does my wife want? No, just. Here we go. Here's a list of what I want. Just get these things and everybody's going to be happy. I'm sorry. For any husbands out there who just, you know, every year you just kind of, you know, you're just guessing. You're out here guessing. And so the Canaanites, Babylonians, Assyrians, they're all just guessing. They're guessing. What does BAAL want? What does Asherah want? What. What do the gods want? And the Israelite God says no one has to guess. Bring a bull. Bring A goat. Okay? If you do this, then bring this and everything will be fine. And I'll teach the priests how to coordinate sacrifices so that no one has to guess. Let's get into some nerdy nuggets. Here's what is going to happen. On the day of atonement, the high priest is going to sacrifice a bull for his own sin, okay? Before the priest can. Can represent Israel in sacrificing anything on behalf of Israel, the priest first has to deal with their own sin, which immediately sets Jesus apart, okay? Jesus does not have to offer any sacrifice for his own sin because he's blameless, okay? He's the fulfillment of the great high priest. Next, the high priest cannot just go into the tabernacle or the holy of holies whenever they want. They can go once a year to offer this sacrifice. Next, the high priest is going to wear a very, very, very simple outfit on the day of atonement, okay? Every other day, the high priest looks like a freaking crazy weirdo out there in the wilderness with like, massive hat on and. And. And freaking 12 jewels on his chest. I mean, the high priest looks freaking crazy, but the high priest is supposed to look distinct, okay? Nobody is dressed like the high priest. He's supposed to look set apart. He's supposed to look holy, okay? He's supposed to look kind of bizarre. He's supposed to, like, grab your attention, okay? Because looking at the high priest teaching you something about God, okay? That God is glorious, that God is totally other, that God's holy, okay? But on the day of atonement, so here's the difference. On every other day, the high priest's job is to represent God to the people. So therefore, when. When the high priest is representing God to the people, he can look like God, okay? He can look. His dress, his attire, his uniform can look glorious. But on the day of atonement, he's not representing God to people, he's representing the people to God. And therefore he takes all those clothes off and he has to present himself to God humbly, okay? He's not. On the day of atonement, he's not representing God to people. He's representing people to God. And God is not someone to impress. God is not someone to display glory around, okay? There is no glory like Yahweh. And so when you represent God, you have to look glorious. When you represent humans, you have to look humble, okay? Because we. Our righteousness is as filthy rags. We have nothing to offer God, okay? So on the day of atonement, it's a solemn day. It's. It's a day that is to be taken serious. And so the high priest's clothes represent that. Next, the. The high priest is going to offer two goats, okay? Two goats. Two goats. Both goats. Very, very important. We're going to cast lots, AKA holy dice, for which goat is going to be the one that gets slaughtered and killed and offered to Yahweh. So one of these goats is going to get sacrificed and offered to Yahweh. This is what we would call the blameless goat. This goat has to be blameless because only something that is blameless can be offered in the place of sinful humans, okay? And the blood of this goat is going to be put on the lid of the ark of the covenant, the place where God's presence touches as a covering. Now, for a lot of us, we only understand a sin, sacrifice or offering in the context that we've done things wrong and we need to be atoned for. But the blood of this goat doesn't get applied to Israel. The blood of this goat gets applied to the tabernacle because the people of Israel's ritual impurity and moral impurity run the risk of polluting God's tabernacle, okay? It's almost as if the actions that the. The. The moral or ritual impurities that accumulate throughout the people of Israel. It's almost like this sea of chaos that is wanting to drown the tabernacle, okay? And if it does overtake the tabernacle, then God will do what God actually did in Ezekiel, chapter 10, which is bounce. God will leave. And if God leaves, remember we talked about this when we talked about the flood in Genesis. If God leaves, then what will happen is chaos, okay? This is the passive wrath of God as opposed to the active wrath of God, okay? So we don't want God to leave, which means the tabernacle has to be atoned for. So this first goat is not atoning. It's not getting. Remember, like the Passover lamb had to get put on the doorpost of the house so that when the death angel came, he would see the blood and pass over the house, okay? The blood is not applied to the person or their house. No, this blood is applied to God's house, to God's tabernacle, so that impurity does not pollute God's tabernacle, rendering God's tabernacle ineffective. Now there's a second goat, okay? When you roll the holy dice, okay, you cast lots and you realize, okay, one of these goats is going to die. And gets offered to Yahweh. But there's gonna be a second goat which is gonna get offered to Azazel. Okay? Azaz is a Semitic word for strength. And El is a Semitic word for God, like Emmanuel or Samuel. Okay? God in Hebrew is El or Bethel. Okay? Beth is house. El is God. Bethel is a house of God. Anyway, you get the point. Azazel, this is a demon that lives in the wilderness. Okay? And this is also part of a mosaic tile. I would say it's like one of the mosaic tiles in the picture that the Bible's painting. For who Satan is, Who is this Satanic creature? You know, we're going to get a mosaic tile of Leviathan. We're going to get a mosaic tile of the serpent. We're going to get a mosaic tile of the accuser. We're going to get all these mosaic tiles throughout the Old Testament. And then the New Testament is going to put that mosaic together and actually create a cohesive picture. Especially when we get to places like Revelation chapter 12 and the Gospels and Paul. Okay? The New Testament is going to put all these mosaic tiles together. But the Old Testament doesn't do that. Okay? So Azazel, this is not a blameless goat. The high priest has to lay hands on this goat and put the sins of Israel onto this goat. And now send this goat off to the wilderness demon named Azazel. This goat would be the scapegoat. So this goat takes the sins of the people, bears the sins of the people. Now let's get into our timeless truth. Most people have never heard of Azazel, which is interesting. I learned about the freaking the wilderness demon when I was in middle school. So I always thought everybody knows about Azazel. There's two ways to kind of see Azazel. The first is that when I sin, there's a debt that I owe to God because I've sinned. But there's also a debt that I owe to Satan because I've sinned. That sin is like going to a restaurant and ordering things off the menu. And I don't have the money to pay for the food that I've. That I've ordered. I owe God, right? Because God is gonna come in and pay my debt so that I could leave. But I still owe the restaurant. It is Satan that is the one who creates. That perverts pleasurable things in order to create sin. And so there's an offering that's now sent out to Azazel. The second way to see it would be like Sending. Send. It's like sending Azazel. It's like lighting poop on fire and putting it on someone's porch and then ringing the doorbell, you know, it's like, hey, here's. Here's all the freaking sin. It's like my dad, you know, my dad's Cuban, and Fidel Castro just emptied out all of his prisons one day. And my dad was serving in a prison sentence. He had been in prison for 18 years. And Fidel Castro just emptied out the prisons and just sent all the prisoners to Miami. It's like, hey, you like Cubans? Here you go. You know, take the Cubans. So there's two ways to see this offering, or not this offering, but this goat that's sent out to the wilderness to be. To. To go to Azazel. The first way to see it is, hey, like. Like the people of Israel owe Azazel a debt because they've sinned, okay? The second way to see it is sending your worst enemy, the worst thing that they could ever get in the mail, okay? It's like sending anthrax in the mail to Azazel. You know, Remember when that was a thing? You guys remember? I remember when that was a thing. I was scared to open the mail all through middle school. Thought I was going to get anthrax. All right, couple of things that we need to say, timeless truths. Okay? First one, One of the things that you need to know when you're reading the Bible period is that the wilderness is the realm of chaos. The wilderness is the realm of chaos. So what we're gonna see in the first couple chapters of Genesis is a garden of Eden surrounded by wilderness. Okay? That's the imagery, okay? Garden surrounded by wilderness, which means order surrounded by chaos. And then Adam and Eve are cast out of the garden, back where, into the chaos. Next you're going to get a tabernacle. And remember, the tabernacle is a microcosm of what? The Garden of Eden. And where are the Israelites? Out in the wilderness. So the tabernacle is a realm of order surrounded by a sea of chaos. Wilderness equals chaos. Where is Jesus going to go in order to contend with Azazel or Satan in the Gospels? He's going to go out to the wilderness. Okay? So the wilderness is the realm of chaos. This theme is important all the way through the Bible. And last, our last timeless truth is that Jesus is both goats. Jesus, his blood is his blameless sacrifice. And the blood that was shed is a ransom, okay? Purchases us back from sin. So he is the first goat that has that dies. But he is also the scapegoat. He bears the sin of humanity the same way that the high priest laid his hands on that scapegoat to send that scapegoat out to Azazel. The. The. The sin of humanity was laid on Jesus so that he could die as a propitiation for our sins. All right, family, that's Leviticus 16. We didn't even get into 17, but you can read 17 on your own. And. And you got it. All right, tomorrow, day one 13, we are going to get into the next section of this book. We're going to get into Leviticus, chapter 18 and 20. Hey, if you're not on a streak, it's a good time to start. If you are on a streak, I'm proud of you. Glad that you're sticking with us. You're going to make it through the Bible and it's going to be amazing. I love you guys. I'm so, so, so proud of you. Peace. Thanks so much for joining us on the Bible Department podcast. You can find us online and learn more about the show at thebibledepartment.com and on Instagram @thebible department. If you enjoyed this episode and want to dive deeper into the Bible, you can get free access to our library of courses@thebibledepartment.com we'll see you back here tomorrow. Sa.