Live Without Fear
You are filled with fear as the men carry away the two charred bodies from the Tabernacle. What does this mean? How could God strike down two of his own priests? You listen attentively as Moses explains to you that the two sons of Aaron were struck down because they disobeyed the Lord’s command. You are filled with fear because you have seen the power of God firsthand. You trembled as the angel of the Lord passed over your house on the night of the Passover, you watched in awe as God brought the waters of the sea crashing down on the armies of pharaoh, and you were filled with terror as you saw the holiness of God revealed at Mt. Sinai. Moses has told you that God has given you the priests to intercede with God on your behalf. Yet you ask yourself, “If God’s own anointed priests weren’t worthy to stand before God, how can I ever be worthy enough?”
This same kind of fear and doubt can fill us as we think about Judgment Day. Think of the artwork, movies, and books that talk about Judgment Day. Most of them give us the impression that this is a great and terrible day that should fill us with dread and fear. It is a terrible thing to stand before the throne of an angry God. On the one hand, this makes sense. We understand that death is the ultimate consequence of sin. We know that when we die we will stand before the throne of God and be judged just as Jesus tells us in our Gospel this morning, “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and will come out. Those who have done good will rise to live, but those who have practiced evil will rise to be condemned.”
When we die or when the Lord comes again on the Last Day is the end of our time of grace. There are no more second chances. We will be called to account for the evil that we have done. Look at the faces of those who stand at the left hand of the throne of Christ. That thought should fill us with dread. We know that we are by nature sinners. We know that we daily sin against God in our thoughts, words, and actions. We have not loved God with all our hearts, all our souls, and all our minds. We have not loved our neighbor as ourselves. Our sins are like a massive credit card debt. They feel good when we initially run up that debt, but later that debt comes due. We owe God a massive debt that we can never repay. There is no way that we could ever do enough good in our lives to make up for the evil we have done.
When we focus on our sin and think of how unworthy we are we wonder how we can ever be saved. We look at Jesus sitting on his throne and we only see an angry judge who is waiting to pronounce his sentence against us. This is exactly where Satan wants us. He wants us to be focused on ourselves. He wants us to live in fear of an angry God and doubt the love and mercy of our Father in heaven. But God does not want us to be afraid. God wants us to live without fear confident that our sins have been washed away by the blood of Jesus Christ.
God did not want the Israelites to be afraid either. He wanted them to approach him with confidence. But the truth remains that on our own we are not worthy to stand in his presence. Sin must be atoned for. In Leviticus 16 God gives Moses instructions for how the high priest of Israel needed to make atonement each year for his sins and the sins of the people. It was only on this day that the high priest was supposed to enter the holy of holies and stand in the presence of the ark of the covenant. To do this the priest needed to sacrifice a bull for his own sin and sprinkle its blood before the Lord. He then needed to bring two goats and present them as offerings before the Lord. One goat was slaughtered as a sin offering and its blood was sprinkled before the Lord. The priest would then place his hands on the head of the second goat and confess the sin and rebellion of the people. This goat was then led into the wilderness bearing away the sins of the people. The priest did this each year so that on the most holy day, the most holy person (the high priest) performed the most holy rite in the most holy place with the most holy blood of the most holy animals so sinful Israel could have safe access to their God.
The writer of Hebrews wants us to have this picture of the Great Day of Atonement in our minds as we think about the death of Christ. The children of Israel lived without fear because they knew the priest was making atonement for them. The high priest had to offer these sacrifices again and again because he was just a man. The blood of bulls and goats could not pay for sins. The sacrifices of the Old Testament were pointing forward to a far greater sacrifice that would make full and complete payment for the sins of the whole world once and for all. This is why the writer of Hebrews says Jesus appeared once and for all, at the climax of the ages in order to take away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Everything in the Old Testament pointed forward
to Christ. He is the fulfillment of all of God’s promises. And we who live after his death and resurrection enjoy the salvation that he won for us on the cross by his sacrifice.
In Jesus Christ, we have a great high priest who offered himself as a perfect sacrifice to pay for the sins of the whole world. Because Jesus Christ was both true God and true man, he was able to do something that none of the high priests of the Old Testament were able to do. Jesus was able to offer a perfect sacrifice to God. Only Jesus as true God and true man was able to live a perfect life free from sin. Only he was able to offer himself as a perfect Lamb without blemish or defect. His blood was the holy blood of God and by his death, he was able to make atonement for the sins of the whole world. By faith in him, we have been washed clean by his holy blood. We have been made pure and holy in the eyes of God.
As our Great High Priest, Jesus continues to intercede for us before the throne of God. This is why we can live without fear. We know that through the death of Jesus, the debt of our sins has been paid. That massive amount of credit card debt has been wiped away as if it had never existed. We don’t fear death because we know that by his resurrection Christ has destroyed the power of death and given us the certainty of eternal life. We don’t live in fear of Judgment Day because we know that we have already been declared not guilty by the blood of Christ and no one can bring any accusation against us as Paul says in Romans 8, “Who will bring an accusation against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies! Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus, who died and, more than that, was raised to life, is the one who is at God’s right hand and who is also interceding for us!”
For Christians Judgment Day is not a day of fear and dread, but a day of rejoicing! Just as the high priest purified the tabernacle with blood, we too have been purified with the blood of Christ. We receive that blessed forgiveness again and again as we eat and drink his body and blood in the Lord’s Supper. We have been clothed in the white robe of his righteousness. On that great and glorious day, we will stand at his right hand and receive the crown of eternal life. Dear Christian live without fear because all your sins have been removed. Satan loves to torment us with the guilt of our sins. Just as the goat carried away the sins of the people our sins have been placed on Christ and he has carried them away as far as the East is from the West.
Dear friends live without fear! Live without guilt or shame! Our Great High Priest has made full and complete payment for all our sins. Nothing more needs to be done. On the cross, Christ cried out that his work was finished. He paid our debt in full. He received the punishment that we deserve. As the writer to the Hebrews says, “Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.” We can approach the day of our death free of fear because Christ has defeated the power of the grave. We can look forward to Judgment Day in joyful anticipation. And so, we pray, “Come quickly, Lord Jesus! Come! Amen!”