Day of Atonement

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Day of Atonement
High Priest Offering a Sacrifice of a Goat, as on the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur; from Henry Davenport Northrop, Treasures of the Bible, published in 1894
NameDay of Atonement
DateThe 10th day of the seventh month by the sacred calendar
OriginMoses’ coming down with the second set of the Ten Commandments
Ritual in the Old TestamentThe high priest enters the Most Holy Place and makes atonement. The scapegoat is sent away to a solitary place in the desert.
Ritual in the New TestamentKeeping worship services while confessing and repenting of sins
Fulfillment of prophecySins are transferred to Satan from Christ

The Day of Atonement, on the tenth day of the seventh month by the sacred calendar, is God’s sixth feast among the seven feasts in three times. It is held after the Feast of Trumpets, which is the beginning of the Third Time Feast, and five days later, on the fifteenth day of the seventh month by the sacred calendar, the Feast of Tabernacles gets held for seven days[1] around September and October by the Gregorian calendar (solar calendar).

Atonement means removal of sins. The Day of Atonement is an important day when we can receive the forgiveness of the sins that we committed over one year before God. In Hebrew, it is called Yom Kippur (יוֹם כִּפֻּר). Yom (יוֹם) means day,[2] and Kippur (כִּפֻּר) means atonement.[3] In the Old Testament times, the Day of Atonement was the only day for the high priest to enter the Most Holy Place.[4]

The Origin of the Day of Atonement

While Moses stayed on Mount Sinai for forty days to receive the first set of the Ten Commandments, the Israelites thought Moses must have died and they made an idol of a golden calf as a god to lead them to the land of Canaan. Moses witnessed this scene while coming down with the Ten Commandments. In great anger, Moses broke the stone tablets of the Ten Commandments,[5] and the Israelites repented of their sins.

God forgave the Israelites and called Moses to Mount Sinai to give them the Ten Commandments again.[6] Moses fasted on Mount Sinai for forty days and received the second set of the stone tablets of the Ten Commandments. It was the tenth day of the seventh month by the sacred calendar.[7] The Israelites were allowed to receive the Ten Commandments once again, which showed God’s will that He would forgive the Israelites of their sins. God commanded that the day when Moses received the second set of the Ten Commandments should be kept for the generations to come as the Day of Atonement.


“The tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. Hold a sacred assembly and deny yourselves, and present an offering made to the LORD by fire. Do no work on that day, because it is the Day of Atonement, when atonement is made for you before the LORD your God.”

Leviticus 23:26–31


The Ceremony of the Day of Atonement

Old Testament Times

The essence of the Day of Atonement in the Old Testament was that the high priest entered the Most Holy Place and offered a sin offering on behalf of the Israelites who had sinned. Access to the Most Holy Place, where the ark of the covenant was enshrined behind the second curtain of the Holy Place, was strictly controlled at ordinary times. Only once a year, on the Day of Atonement, the tenth day of the seventh month by the sacred calendar, the high priest could enter the Most Holy Place after offering a sin offering.[8][9]

On the Day of Atonement, the high priest offered a young bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering,[10] and from the Israelite community he took two male goats for a sin offering and a ram for burnt offering, and he presented them at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. The high priest cast lots for two goats, one lot for God as a sin offering and the other for the scapegoat. The high priest put all the sins of the Israelites on the scapegoat’s head. The scapegoat was sent to a solitary place and released in the desert.[11] According to Leviticus 16, the detailed ceremonies and procedures held by the high priest and the people on the Day of Atonement are as follows.[12]

  • Offerings of the Day of Atonement
Sin Offering Burnt Offering
Priest Young bull Ram
People Male goat Ram
  • Ceremony Order for the Day of Atonement
  1. The high priest takes a bath, puts on the sacred linen tunic, tie the linen sash around him, and put on the linen turban.
  2. He offers a young bull for his own sin offering to make atonement for himself and his household.
  3. He takes a censer full of burning coals from the altar and two handfuls of finely ground fragrant incense, and enters the Most Holy Place.
  4. He puts the incense on the fire and let the smoke conceal the atonement cover above the Testimony, so that he will not die.
  5. He takes some of the bull’s blood and sprinkles it with his finger seven times before the atonement cover.
  6. He goes out of the Tent of Meeting, and casts lots for two goats that the people brought. By doing so, he determines which goat to use as a sin offering and which goat to be sent to the desert as a scapegoat.
  7. He slaughters the goat for the sin offering for the people.
  8. He takes its blood into the Most Holy Place and sprinkles it on the atonement cover and in front of it. While the high priest is in the Most Holy Place, anyone must never be in the Tent of Meeting.
  9. The high priest comes out to the altar, take the bull’s blood and the goat’s blood, and puts it on the all the horns of the altar. And he sprinkles it on the altar with his finger seven times.
  10. The high priest lays both hands on the head of the scapegoat and confesses over it all the sins of the Israelites. Then he sends the goat away into the desert in the care of an appointed man. (After releasing the goat in the desert, the appointed man washes his clothes and bathes himself; afterward he may come into the camp.)
  11. The high priest goes into the Tent of Meeting and takes off the linen garments he put on, and he bathes himself with water in a holy place and puts on his regular garments and then comes out.
  12. He sacrifices the burnt offerings for himself and the people, and burns the fat of the sin offering on the altar.
  13. The bull and the goat for the sin offerings must be taken outside the camp; their hides, flesh, and offal are to be burned up. (The man who burns them must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water; afterward he may come into the camp.)

After appointing Joshua as the leader of Israel,[13] God once again specified the regulations of regular burnt offering, the Sabbath, and feasts.[14] According to God’s commandments, one young bull, one ram, and seven male lambs a year old were offered as a burnt offering on the Day of Atonement.[15] Along with the burnt offering, a grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil was presented; each offering had a different amount of flour. With the bull, three-tenths of an ephah [About 6.6 L] of fine flour was prepared; with the ram, two-tenths [About 4.4 L]; and with each of the seven lambs, one-tenth [About 2.2 L].[16] One male goat was offered as a sin offering, in addition to the sin offering, the regular burnt offering with its grain offering, and their drink offerings.[17]

New Testament Times

The law is a shadow of good things to come, and the reality of the sin offering in the Old Testament is Jesus Christ. Jesus is the reality of the sin offering presented on the Day of Atonement; He allowed mankind to receive the grace of the forgiveness of sins through His sacrifice on the cross[18][19][20] and opened the way for them to enter the Most Holy Place in heaven.[21] So the regulations of the Day of Atonement also changed from offering animal sacrifices to worshiping God in spirit and in truth[22] through the precious blood of Christ, who is the reality of the sacrifices. The Day of Atonement in the New Testament times became completed as the people of God could repent of their sins and were forgiven.

Fulfillment of the Prophecy

The ceremonies for the Day of Atonement in the Old Testament times contain the principle of the forgiveness of sins.

  • Sins of the people → Transferred to the sanctuary → Transferred to the scapegoat on the Day of Atonement → The scapegoat wanders about in the desert, bearing the sins and dies in the end.
  • Sins of mankind → Christ bears their sins → Transferred to Satan, the devil, on the Day of Atonement → The devil is imprisoned in the Abyss and thrown into the lake of fire

Sanctuary

In the Old Testament times, whenever the Israelites sinned, they brought an animal to the priest as a sacrifice for their sins. When the priest slaughtered the animal, put its blood on the altar in the sanctuary and made atonement for them,[23] their sins were temporarily transferred to the sanctuary.

The sanctuary that temporarily bore the people’s sins represents God.[24] Spiritually, mankind committed sins deserving of death penalty in heaven and were cast down to the earth.[25][26][27] God Himself became the sanctuary and bore their sins.

Sin Offering

Jesus Christ—God who came in the flesh—was crucified on the cross on behalf of all mankind as the reality of the sin offering.[19] He temporarily bore all our sins and transgressions, and He atoned for our sins all at once through His precious blood.[18]

Scapegoat

Scapegoat sent away to a solitary place in the desert

Scapegoat (עֲזָאזֵל[azazel] in Hebrew) has been diversely understood and translated as “the goat that departs,” or “demon.”[28][29]

The scapegoat represents Satan, the devil, who is the author of sin.[30] In the Old Testament times, the people’s sins were kept in the sanctuary and transferred to the scapegoat on the Day of Atonement. In this way, the sanctuary was cleansed, and the scapegoat carried all their sins to a solitary place in the desert where it died. Finally, all their sins were destroyed.

In the same way, Jesus Christ transferred all our sins to Satan, the devil, through His sacrifice on the cross as the reality of the sin offering on the Day of Atonement. This opens the way for mankind to return to the kingdom of heaven, while the devil, the author of sin, is kept in the Abyss, carrying all the sins, and he is cast into the lake of eternal fire.[31]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Leviticus 23:24–34".
  2. ↑ "yom", 《Bible Hub》, "day"
  3. ↑ "kippur", 《Bible Hub》, "atonement"
  4. ↑ "Hebrews 9:7".
  5. ↑ "Exodus 32:7–19, 27-28".
  6. ↑ "Exodus 34:1–4".
  7. ↑ "Exodus 34:28–29".
  8. ↑ "Leviticus 16:2–3".
  9. ↑ "Exodus 30:1–10".
  10. ↑ "Leviticus 16:3".
  11. ↑ "Leviticus 16:5–10".
  12. ↑ Leviticus 16:3-34
  13. ↑ "Numbers 27:22–23".
  14. ↑ "Numbers 28-29".
  15. ↑ "Numbers 29:7-8".
  16. ↑ "Numbers 29:9-10".
  17. ↑ "Numbers 29:11".
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 "Hebrews 10:1–4, 9-11".
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 "John 1:29".
  20. ↑ "Ephesians 1:7".
  21. ↑ "Hebrews 10:19–20".
  22. ↑ "John 4:23".
  23. ↑ "Leviticus 4:1–5:13".
  24. ↑ "Ezekiel 11:16".
  25. ↑ "Luke 19:10".
  26. ↑ "Matthew 9:12–13".
  27. ↑ "Romans 6:23".
  28. ↑ AZAZEL (Scapegoat, Lev. xvi., A. V.), Jewish Encyclopedia
  29. ↑ Azazel, Britannica
  30. ↑ Kim Joo-cheol, Chapter 15 The Feasts of God, MY SHEEP LISTEN TO MY VOICE, Melchizedek Publishing Co., Ltd., 2021, pg. 172
  31. ↑ "Revelation 20:1–10".
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