The Picture Worth a Thousand Words

This photograph, taken on August 14, 1945 by Alfred Eisenstaedt on V-J Day in Times Square is one of the most iconic photos of all time. It first appeared in print a week later in Life magazine. What is so cool about this photo is that that it communicates the joy of victory in World War 2 in a way that words could never describe. It says so much more than just a man kissing a woman.

It's been said that "a picture is worth a thousand words." It's true. One of the most important differences between Jewish thought and western thought is that westerners think with words, but Jewish people think in pictures. One example is the concept of the kingdom of God. If I were to ask you to describe the kingdom of God that Jesus speaks of, you would immediately think of words to define and describe it. Not so with Jesus, on at least ten different occasions Jesus says "the kingdom of heaven is like...(a landowner, a King, a mustard seed, a treasure, a dragnet)" Jesus was not using words to define it as much as He was using pictures to describe it to them. The Old Testament is replete with pictures designed to teach important truths in a context that would be understood by God's chosen people, the Jews. This morning I ran across one of the more vivid ones. It demonstrates with glorious detail what confession and repentance and forgiveness looks like.

Highlight:

'Atonement will be made for you on this day to cleanse you, and you will be clean from all your sins before the Lord . It is a Sabbath of complete rest for you, and you must practice self-denial; it is a permanent statute. ' Leviticus 16:30-31

Explain;

Leviticus 16 gives us a beautiful picture of repentance in the life of a redeemed people, God’s chosen people. The people were to take two goats before the Lord at the tent of meeting. This was the place in which people met God (we learned this a few days ago). Aaron would then cast lots (a way of placing two things before the Lord and allowing the Lord to choose.) One of the goats (chosen by God) would be slaughtered and it’s blood (representing it’s life) would be shed. According to Hebrews 10:27 “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” The goat would be slaughtered and then the blood would be taken into the presence of the Lord in the Holy of Holies and the blood sprinkled on the mercy seat atoning for the sins of the people. He is to do this 7 times. This is significant because this number 7 is representative of completion meaning this blood completely forgave them and God would extend His mercy to them. The Lamb had been the sacrifice substituted for them and now its blood shed for them would allow God (who is a God of Justice) to forgive their sin and show them mercy. A beautiful picture of God’s forgiveness. The carcass of the slaughtered goat would then be burned (consumed outside the gate of the city).

But the picture doesn’t stop there, it’s just getting started. Aaron then took the goat that was chosen to live and places his hands on the goats head and confesses over it all of Israelites’ iniquities transferring them symbolically to the scape goat. (16:21) and then that goat is led outside of the camp far away from the camp and then released so that the sins of the people no longer reside within the camp but they are gone from their midst.

We then learn they are supposed to do this once a year on the day of Atonement. Once this is done, they are take a Sabbath of complete rest. They were to cease from working, from their labor and rest in the face that their sins had been forgiven. Then they were to practice self-denial.

Apply:

My goodness what a picture of what repentance really looks like. The Lamb slain for us was God’s choice. He chose the Lamb to be slain for us. He was a perfect spotless Lamb. He once for all was slaughtered for us and Hebrews 9:11-12 tells us, "'But Christ has appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come. In the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands (that is, not of this creation ), he entered the most holy place once for all time, not by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. ‘

He sprinkled His own blood as the Lamb on the mercy seat once and for all enacting our forgiveness through the sacrificial justice of God on our behalf. In doing so, God’s mercy and forgiveness are poured out on us because of the blood fo that sacrifice. Then His body (carcass) is consumed on the cross (where else?) outside the city gates of Jerusalem (outside the camp).

But don’t miss the other part of the beauty of the picture. It is after that sacrifice has been made, that we are to (as the priest did) confess over that Lamb all of our sins. To confess means to say the same thing. It means to verbally acknowledge our wrongs before God and place them on the Lamb. Then those sins are carried away from the camp. We have put them away from us, out of our presence. We can’t ask God to forgive our sins and then live in them. They must be carried far away from us.

Then we are to take a Sabbath rest. In doing so we remember that God’s payment for our sins is perfect, that we have obtained mercy through that sacrifice, that our sins have been put away from the camp and we can’t now REST in the face that our sins have been paid. We don’t have to work for our forgiveness. Hebrews 4:9-11 reads, "'Therefore, a Sabbath rest remains for God’s people. For the person who has entered his rest has rested from his own works, just as God did from his. Let us then make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall into the same pattern of disobedience. ' Hebrews 4:9-11

One final picture. Now our lives are filled with that Sabbath rest that remains and now we are to live in self-denial. Jesus repeatedly said, “If any man will be my disciple, let him DENY HIMSELF and take up his cross and follow me.” Our lives are purchased with Christ’s blood and we honor Him by denying ourselves. Giving up our rights and what we want, dying to those things (on that cross) and following Jesus. Giving our lives in self-denial following after Jesus Christ and He wants for us. We have been forgiven by His death and now we take up His life lived out in us. As Leviticus 16 says, “it is a permanent statute.”

Respond:

Jesus thank You for this glorious picture. Thank You that You are my perfect Lamb that died and shed Your blood to assuage God’s wrath on my sin. Thank You that Your blood has been perfectly sprinkled on the mercy seat. That I have obtained mercy and forgiveness through it. Help me to verbalize my sins before You in confession. Help that goat not to come back to the camp. Often times I have been guilty of making search parties in the desert looking again in guilt for the goat that has been sent away. Help me to rest in the fact that it is gone for good. Help me not to let it back in the camp. Then help me to rest that my sins are forgiven. Help me to enter that Sabbath rest of knowing my sins are gone. Then help me to live in that self-denial. Help me to take up my cross and deny myself. Help me to live the resurrected life that you offer as I learn to die to myself.