Sermon Tone Analysis

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*The mercy seat.*
–        *Famous cover-ups:* I had John do some visuals for me, I used them out at the prison, but I thought that they were too good to use just the once.
*[P]* Every so often we see reported some great cover up.
[Watergate, Bill Clinton, Pol Pot, Stalin, cultural revolution] They all have one thing in common: some one had done something shameful and they didn’t want people to know.
They wanted to appear fine and upstanding when the truth was something other.
The thing is, that the cover up became known – we all know about it now.
You can’t keep things covered up no matter how hard you try and no matter how much you want to.
A famous American president, Abraham Lincoln, once said “You can fool some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time”
–        *All try to cover up:* But it is not just the rich, famous and powerful – we all try to cover up *[P]*.
We all have things we are ashamed of, we all try to appear good decent people but the truth is otherwise.
The instinct to try and cover up is strong and universal.
At work when someone makes a mistake.
Traffic cop pulls you up for speeding – what is your reaction?
– a medical emergency, plane to catch.
We all try to cover up.
We try to get out of the consequences for what we have done; we don’t want to face the music.
The burden of our sins is intolerable.
We try to cover up but it is impossible [*Hebrews 4:13* /There is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do/.
*Luke 12:2* /But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known./]
All will be revealed – you can’t keep it hidden.
We may fool every one else, think we’ve got away with it, but you can’t fool God.
God sees and will expose the wrong we have done: [*Psalm 90:8* /You// have placed our iniquities before You, Our secret sins in the light of Your presence/.]
There is no hiding.
We’d all like to be able to hide it, cover up, but it cannot be done.
–        *The universal need for cover up:* This need to cover up goes way back – indeed, back to the very first man *[P]*.
We all know the story of Adam and Eve – God placed them in a garden, there was only one rule: “Don’t eat from the tree in the middle of the garden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”
But of course they rebelled, broke God’s command.
Immediately, they knew that they had done wrong, were ashamed, but they could never undo what was done – so what did they do – tried to cover-up, the very first of many cover-ups: [*Genesis 3:6-11* /When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.
Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.
They heard the sound of יְהוָה God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of יְהוָה among the trees of the garden.
Then יְהוָה God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?”
He said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.”
And He said, “Who told you that you were naked?
Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?/”].
God knew, you cannot cover-up, your sins find you out.
They covered themselves with fig leaves – it was a very unsatisfactory cover.
God made a covering for them [*Genesis 3:21* יְהוָה/ made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them./]
– to do so He had to kill an animal – the very first death that ever took place - the first of many.
Sin brings about death.
It took the death of a living soul to make a covering.
Every single man since Adam has been infected with the same rebellion.
We want to make out that we are good people, but there are things that we have done that we cannot undo, things that fill us with shame, things we don’t want others to know about, least of all God.
The old Anglican prayer book service states: “The burden of our sins is intolerable” We need the shame, the sin, covered up.
This is a deep and fundamental need of every single person who ever lived – we are all fundamentally the same.
We need covering.
–        Observant male Jews wear a covering on their head *[P]* – does anyone know what it is called?
– a /kippah/ *[P]*.
It is not to cover sin, but the head.
It was never worn in Jesus day, in fact you see modern portrayals of Jesus covering his head with a /tallit/ (prayer shawl) but it never was – Paul tells us in [*1 Corinthians 11:4* /Every man who has something on his head while praying or prophesying disgraces his head/.]
But the reason I mention it is it comes from a verb root meaning to cover: (כָּפָר) *[P]* – it also has meanings to make atonement, make reconciliation, purge.
Stick with me for a bit of a Hebrew lesson – see these basic letters, if you put different vowels you get a different but related word: (כֹּפֶר) *[P]* which means a ransom, a gift to secure favour – it covers the cost owed.
Or with other vowels you get (כִּפֻּר) *[P]* which means atonement, covers that which is owed morally, make amends.
It is used especially in the expression “day of atonement.”
– יוֹם כִּפֻּר – remember the Arabs attacked Israel in 1973 when they were unprepared on their holy day, the day of atonement, we remember it as the יוֹם כִּפֻּר war.
So there are these shades of meaning, to cover, to ransom, to atone for sin – they are all related, different aspects of the same thing.
So why the Hebrew lesson?
Well I am finally getting around to reading today’s passage!
And there is a word in it: (כַּפֹּרֶת) *[P]* place of atonement, it is the cover or lid that was put on the Ark of the Covenant, the KJV calls it the “mercy seat” – why?
Good question!
It is not a seat and the word is not related to mercy.
I don’t know the answer except the translators were influenced by the Greek translation and their own theology rather than understanding the meaning and derivation of the word.
So I am not happy with “mercy seat” as a translation, I think “Atonement cover” is a better literal translation, but to save controversy lets just leave it un-translated and call it כַּפֹּרֶת – knowing that 1~/ it was the cover on the ark of the covenant, 2~/ it was the place where sin was covered, the ransom for sin was paid and atonement made, making amends for sin, putting estranged man back “at-one” with God.
*[P]* READ [*Exodus 25:17-22* /“You shall make a כַּפֹּרֶת of pure gold, two and a half cubits long and one and a half cubits wide.
“You shall make two cherubim of gold, make them of hammered work at the two ends of the כַּפֹּרֶת.
“Make one cherub at one end and one cherub at the other end; you shall make the cherubim of one piece with the כַּפֹּרֶת at its two ends.
“The cherubim shall have their wings spread upward, covering the כַּפֹּרֶת with their wings and facing one another; the faces of the cherubim are to be turned toward the כַּפֹּרֶת.
“You shall put the כַּפֹּרֶת on top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the testimony which I will give to you.
“There I will meet with you; and from above the כַּפֹּרֶת, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony, I will speak to you about all that I will give you in commandment for the sons of Israel./]
You can see the place of atonement is central to this meeting with God, coming near to יְהוָה.
But why the cover?
What did it cover?
Well, what was in the ark? *[P]* 1~/ The terms of the covenant, *[P]* written in stone – if you didn’t abide by them they testified against you, the covenant was broken – you’d had it!
2~/ Aaron’s rod – Divine authority, *[P]* if you rebelled against it, likewise – you’d had it?
3~/ Bowl of manna – *[P]* here is Divine provision, but in Numbers 11 the people complained about the manna, יְהוָה sent quails to supply the meat they craved but He also sent an epidemic that killed many – in fact Paul said in 1 Corinthians 11 that Christians had got sick and even died because they ate the covenant meal in an unworthy way.
Divine provision is a blessing but if you are unworthy it becomes a curse.
Yes, a cover was needed, to cover over the exacting, harsh and unyielding demands of what the covenant box contained.
–        *The day of atonement: *God provided for this universal need of a covering for sin and its shame; for His people Israel He had a special covering up ceremony, it is called the Day of Atonement, it took place once a year – in Hebrew: יוֹם כִּפֻּר (day of covering, day of making amends for the wrong done).
כִּפֻּר means “to cover” “to atone” – that is to make amends.
We have all done wrong and need to make amends.
On the Day of Atonement a peculiar ceremony was performed to cover the sins of the people.
*[P]* Two goats were presented to the high priest, lots were cast and one goat was selected and the priest sacrificed it and its blood was sprinkled in the tabernacle or temple on the lid of the ark of the covenant, the כַּפֹּרֶת, the cover, the place of atonement.
The blood made atonement, covered the sins.
God requires blood to atone for, to cover sin, the death of a living soul.
[*Heb 9:22* /without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness (or remission of sins)/]/./
What about the other goat?
The priest laid his hands on it and confessed on it all the sins of the people.
All the sins of the whole nation for a whole year were placed on this poor goat – it was then led out into a solitary place in the desert and released.
It wandered away carrying this awful load of sin.
Let’s read [*Leviticus 16:1-34* /יְהוָה said to Moses: “Tell your brother Aaron that he shall not enter at any time into the holy place inside the veil, before the כַּפֹּרֶת which is on the ark, or he will die; for I will appear in the cloud over the כַּפֹּרֶת.
“Aaron shall enter the holy place with this: with a bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering.
“He shall take from the congregation of the sons of Israel two male goats for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering.
“Then Aaron shall offer the bull for the sin offering which is for himself, /(Hebrews points out that Jesus didn’t need to make this offering because He had no sin)/ that he may make atonement for himself and for his household.
“He shall take the two goats and present them before יְהוָה at the doorway of the tent of meeting.
“Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats, one lot for יְהוָה and the other lot for the scapegoat.
“Then Aaron shall offer the goat on which the lot for יְהוָה fell, and make it a sin offering.
“But the goat on which the lot for the scapegoat fell shall be presented alive before יְהוָה, to make atonement upon it, to send it into the wilderness as the scapegoat.
“Then Aaron shall offer the bull of the sin offering which is for himself and make atonement for himself and for his household, and he shall slaughter the bull of the sin offering which is for himself.
“He shall take a firepan full of coals of fire from upon the altar before יְהוָה and two handfuls of finely ground sweet incense, and bring it inside the veil.
“He shall put the incense on the fire before יְהוָה, that the cloud of incense may cover the כַּפֹּרֶת that is on the ark of the testimony, otherwise he will die.
“Moreover, he shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the כַּפֹּרֶת on the east side; also in front of the כַּפֹּרֶת he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times.
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