Bible Study Guides – “That Your Sins May be Blotted Out”

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December 9, 2000 – December 15, 2000

MEMORY VERSE: “I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for Mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.” Isaiah 43:25.

STUDY HELP: The Great Controversy, 419–422.

Introduction

“In the typical system, which was a shadow of the sacrifice and priesthood of Christ, the cleansing of the sanctuary was the last service performed by the high priest in the yearly round of ministration. It was the closing work of the atonement—a removal or putting away of sin from Israel. It prefigured the closing work in the ministration of our High Priest in heaven, in the removal or blotting out of the sins of His people, which are registered in the heavenly records. This service involves a work of investigation, a work of judgment; and it immediately precedes the coming of Christ in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory; for when He comes, every case has been decided.” The Great Controversy, 352.

“A Day of Atonement”

  1. What was the purpose of the Day of Atonement? Leviticus 16:30.

NOTE: “As the sins of the people were anciently transferred, in figure, to the earthly sanctuary by the blood of the sin offering, so our sins are, in fact, transferred to the heavenly sanctuary by the blood of Christ. And as the typical cleansing of the earthly was accomplished by the removal of the sins by which it had been polluted, so the actual cleansing of the heavenly is to be accomplished by the removal, or blotting out, of the sins which are there recorded.” The Faith I Live By, 206.

  1. What preparation for this solemn day was given? Leviticus 23:24, 25.

“An Atonement for the Holy Place”

  1. For what did the high priest make atonement? Leviticus 16:16, first part.

NOTE: As the sinner confessed and repented his sins, the guilt of those sins was, in the symbols of the flesh and blood of the sacrifice, transferred to the Holy Place. The Day of Atonement was concerned only with those sins, the ones that had been confessed and repented. There was no atonement possible for sins that had not been repented of.

  1. Why did he need to make atonement for the Holy Place? Leviticus 16:16.

NOTE: See The Great Controversy, 418.

  1. How does Paul speak of Christ fulfilling the Day of Atonement? Hebrews 9:26.

“The Goat upon Which the LORD’s Lot Fell”

  1. What choice was made between the two goats on the Day of Atonement? Leviticus 16:7, 8.

  2. What was done with the Lord’s goat? Leviticus 16:9, 15.

NOTE: “The goat upon which fell the lot for the Lord was to be slain as a sin offering for the people. And the priest was to bring his blood within the veil and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat and before the mercy seat. The blood was also to be sprinkled upon the altar of incense that was before the veil.” The Great Controversy, 419.

“Within the Veil”

  1. What was done with the blood of the Lord’s goat? Leviticus 16:15–19; Hebrews 9:7.

NOTE: See The Great Controversy, 420.

  1. What was to be the result of the Day of Atonement for the people of God? Leviticus 16:30.

NOTE: See The Great Controversy, 613, 614.

“The Goat for Azazel”

  1. How is the second goat described? Leviticus 16:8, margin.

NOTE: “Far from involving the recognition of Azazel as a deity, the sending of the goat was . . . a symbolic expression of the idea that the people’s sins and their evil consequences were to be sent back to the spirit of desolation and ruin, the source of all impurity.” Jewish Encyclopaedia, vol. 2, 365.

“…while the sin offering pointed to Christ as a sacrifice, and the high priest represented Christ as a mediator, the scapegoat typified Satan, the author of sin, upon whom the sins of the truly penitent will finally be placed.” The Great Controversy, 422.

  1. What was the fate of the other goat? Leviticus 16:10, 20–22.

NOTE: “When the ministration in the holy of holies had been completed, and the sins of Israel had been removed from the sanctuary by virtue of the blood of the sin offering, then the scapegoat was presented alive before the Lord; and in the presence of the congregation the high priest confessed 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.’ Leviticus 16:21. In like manner when the work of atonement in the heavenly sanctuary has been completed then in the presence of God and heavenly angels and the host of the redeemed the sins of God’s people will be placed upon Satan; he will be declared guilty of all the evil which he has caused them to commit.” Maranatha, 306.

“Ye Shall Afflict Your Souls”

  1. What special commands were given to Israel to be observed on the Day of Atonement? Numbers 29:7; Leviticus 16:29, 30; Leviticus 23:27, 32.

NOTE: “We are now living in the great Day of Atonement…. All who would have their names retained in the book of life should now, in the few remaining days of their probation, afflict their souls before God by sorrow for sin and true repentance. There must be deep, faithful searching of heart.” God’s Amazing Grace, 69.

“…while the sins of penitent believers are being removed from the sanctuary, there is to be a special work of purification, of putting away of sin, among God’s people upon earth. This work is more clearly presented in the messages of Revelation 14.” The Great Controversy, 425.

  1. What warning is given to those who refuse to afflict their souls in the time of Atonement? Leviticus 23:29.

NOTE: “As the books of record are opened in the judgment, the lives of all who have believed on Jesus come in review before God. Beginning with those who first lived upon the earth, our Advocate presents the cases of each successive generation, and closes with the living. Every name is mentioned, every case closely investigated. Names are accepted, names rejected. When any have sins remaining upon the books of record, unrepented of and unforgiven, their names will be blotted out of the book of life, and the record of their good deeds will be erased from the book of God’s remembrance…. All who have truly repented of sin, and by faith claimed the blood of Christ as their atoning sacrifice, have had pardon entered against their names in the books of heaven; as they have become partakers of the righteousness of Christ, and their characters are found to be in harmony with the law of God, their sins will be blotted out, and they themselves will be accounted worthy of eternal life.…” The Faith I Live By, 212.q