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Day of Atonement:
Together Again
The first chapter of the Book of
Genesis tells about a time when the first people, created by God
in His image, lived in a beautiful Garden. Adam and Eve not only
enjoyed each other's company, they related directly with God. He
had made a beautiful environment for them, and provided for
their every need. They needed only to tend the garden and watch
over it, and to obey the few simple rules God made to order
their lives. Genesis speaks of Him even "walking in the Garden,"
where they could encounter Him in their daily lives.
We really don't
know what would have happened
to them if they had stayed in harmony with God's plans for them
... for Genesis goes on to tell us very quickly that they turned
from obedience and found themselves cast out of that Garden and
away from the intimacy with God that they had enjoyed.
From that day to this, mankind in
general is born separated from the kind of intimate, direct,
daily relationship with God that Adam and Eve had originally
enjoyed. Each person hasn't committed the same sin that put a
gulf between God and themselves that Adam and Eve did. But very
early in every human life, human nature ensures that sin does
indeed enter the picture, and make reconciliation with God
impossible ... unless God Himself intervenes to "fix" the
problem.
The rest of the Bible tells
of the plan that God has had from the very beginning of time to
restore that relationship with the humans that He created in His
image, and to make available to them permanent membership in His
Family.
The Day of Atonement--the Day of
"Reconciliation"--is that part of the Times of Refreshing,
the cycle of the appointments with God that He established
from Creation, that reminds us of how this reconciliation is now
a reality in the life of Christians, and will eventually be
offered to all mankind through the preaching of the Gospel of
Jesus Christ.
(See the article
What Is
"Atonement"? elsewhere on this Times of Refreshing website for a
definition and commentary on the meaning of the word.)
Atonement in the Old Testament
When God brought the Israelites
out of bondage in Egypt, He originally asked of them only what
He asked of Adam and Eve in the beginning--that they obey His
commandments and look to Him as the source of all of their
needs. He offered them something very close to what Adam and Eve
had in the Garden of Eden ... a Promised Land that was "flowing
with milk and honey." They would only have needed to tend it and
watch over it, and they would have had lives of unending
prosperity and peace. But they failed in holding up their end of
the bargain perhaps even more quickly than Adam and Eve did.
While Moses was up on Mt. Sinai getting the stones of the Ten
Commandments and further instructions from God for the new
nation, the Israelites had already turned to worship of false
gods and a wild orgy of flouting God's standards for their
behavior.
At this point it is obvious to us
as we read the account that, just as we are all still sinners
today, those ancient Israelites were going to continually have
problems with obedience to God's ways. And thus we read of the
system of priesthood and sacrifices that God instituted to deal
symbolically with the sins of the people. The death of a
valuable animal would regularly remind them that their sins
deserved the death penalty but God was merciful and accepted the
sacrifice in their place. In Leviticus we read of numerous
sacrifices that the people were to bring as part of dealing with
their sins. But the most significant sacrificial ritual of all
is introduced in Leviticus 16, as part of the ceremonies of the
Day of Atonement.
Leviticus 16:29-34
"This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: On the tenth day of
the seventh month you must deny yourselves and not do any
work-whether native-born or an alien living among you--because
on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you.
Then, before the LORD , you will be clean from all your sins. It
is a sabbath of rest, and you must deny yourselves; it is a
lasting ordinance. The priest who is anointed and ordained to
succeed his father as high priest is to make atonement. He is to
put on the sacred linen garments and make atonement for the Most
Holy Place, for the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and for the
priests and all the people of the community. This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: Atonement is to be
made once a year for all the sins of the Israelites."
In other words, once a year from
then on, there was to be an annual appointment with God. On that
day, at the central place of worship for the nation, the High
Priest was to preside over an elaborate ceremony that was to
remind the people that they were sinners, and to provide a
"legal" method whereby they could be "cleansed" from the guilt
of the sinfulness that they all were guilty of. While they
were wandering in the wilderness for forty years, and even for
400 years after they entered the Promised Land, before Solomon
became king, this would have been wherever the Tabernacle was.
After Solomon's Temple was built, this annual ceremony was
always performed in Jerusalem. It was still being performed
there at the time that Jesus lived on the Earth.
Earlier in Leviticus, all of the
minute details of this elaborate ceremony are outlined.
Leviticus 16:
1-22
The LORD said to Moses: "Tell your brother Aaron
not to come whenever he chooses into the Most Holy Place
behind the curtain in front of the atonement cover on the
ark, or else he will die, because I appear in the cloud over
the atonement cover. This is how Aaron is to enter the
sanctuary area: with a young bull for a sin offering and
a ram for a burnt offering. …
From the Israelite community he is to take two
male goats for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt
offering. "Aaron is to offer the bull for his own sin
offering to make atonement for himself and his household.
Then he is to take the two goats and present them before
the LORD at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. He is to
cast lots for the two goats—one lot for the LORD and the
other for the scapegoat. Aaron shall bring the goat whose
lot falls to the LORD and sacrifice it for a sin offering.
But the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat shall be
presented alive before the LORD to be used for making
atonement by sending it into the desert as a scapegoat. …
The
goats would have been virtually identical, both of them without
blemish.
Aaron shall bring the bull for his own sin
offering to make atonement for himself and his household,
and he is to slaughter the bull for his own sin offering. He
is to take a censer full of burning coals from the altar
before the LORD and two handfuls of finely ground fragrant
incense and take them behind the curtain. He is to put the
incense on the fire before the LORD, and the smoke of the
incense will conceal the atonement cover above the
Testimony, so that he will not die. He is to take some of
the bull's blood and with his finger sprinkle it on the
front of the atonement cover; then he shall sprinkle some of
it with his finger seven times before the atonement cover.
He shall then slaughter the goat for the sin offering for
the people and take its blood behind the curtain and do with
it as he did with the bull's blood: He shall sprinkle it on
the atonement cover and in front of it. In this way he will
make atonement for the Most Holy Place because of the
uncleanness and rebellion of the Israelites, whatever their
sins have been.
He is to do the same for the Tent of Meeting,
which is among them in the midst of their uncleanness. No
one is to be in the Tent of Meeting from the time Aaron goes
in to make atonement in the Most Holy Place until he comes
out, having made atonement for himself, his household and
the whole community of Israel.
"Then he shall come out to the altar that is before the LORD
and make atonement for it. He shall take some of the bull's
blood and some of the goat's blood and put it on all the
horns of the altar. He shall sprinkle some of the blood on
it with his finger seven times to cleanse it and to
consecrate it from the uncleanness of the Israelites.
When Aaron has finished making atonement for the
Most Holy Place, the Tent of Meeting and the altar, he shall
bring forward the live goat. He is to lay both hands on
the head of the live goat and confess over it all the
wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites—all their
sins—and put them on the goat's head. He shall send the goat
away into the desert in the care of a man appointed for the
task. The goat will carry on itself all their sins to a
solitary place; and the man shall release it in the desert.
The "Most Holy Place" of
the Tabernacle, sometimes called the "Holy of Holies,"
contained the Ark of the Covenant. This
chest held
the Ten Commandment tablets. When the Temple was built
in Jerusalem in Solomon's time, this Ark was placed in
the new Most Holy Place, deep inside that Temple. About
400 years later, when Jerusalem was attacked, the Temple
destroyed, and most of the people taken to captivity in
exile in Babylon, the Ark disappeared from history. When
the Jews came back from Babylon, they rebuilt a Temple,
but the Holy of Holies was then empty.
The greatly expanded Temple that
Herod built, still standing when Jesus and His disciples visited
Jerusalem, also had an empty Most Holy Place. But once a year,
on the Day of Atonement, the High Priest would still enter that
compartment and sprinkle the blood of the atonement goat toward
the spot that the Ark would have occupied in the ancient
Tabernacle and Solomon's Temple. After
this he would emerge from the Temple for the rest
of the rituals for the Day of Atonement. He would
place his hands on the head of the second goat, and
"confess" over it all of the sins of the whole Israelite
nation, symbolically placing them on its head. The goat
would then be led out from the Temple area, out from
Jerusalem, to a point far outside the city environs, and
released, to roam in the wilderness.
Atonement in the New Testament
For Christians, Jesus is referred
to in the New Testament as "our Passover Lamb" (I Corinthians
5:7), the one whose blood "covers us" so that the penalty of
eternal death passes over us. In a similar way, the New
Testament also makes it clear that the symbolism of the ancient
Day of Atonement ceremony was ultimately pointing to Jesus.
First the book of Hebrews clarifies that Jesus is the ultimate
High Priest, who is the one that makes atonement.
Hebrews 2:17
For this reason he had to
be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he
might become a merciful and faithful high priest in
service to God, and that he might make atonement
for the sins of the people.
Then Hebrews reviews what
occurred on the Day of Atonement beginning in the time of Moses,
and clarifies that all of these things were ultimately fulfilled
through the sacrifice of Christ. Below are excerpts of
this material. For the complete passage see the page of
Key Scriptures
Related to the Observance of the Day of Atonement.
Hebrew 9:1-15, 27-28
Now the first
covenant had regulations for worship and also an
earthly sanctuary. A tabernacle was set up. In
its first room were the lampstand, the table and
the consecrated bread; this was called the Holy
Place. Behind the second curtain was a room
called the Most Holy Place, which had the golden
altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the
covenant. This ark contained the gold jar of
manna, Aaron's staff that had budded, and the
stone tablets of the covenant. Above the ark
were the cherubim of the Glory, overshadowing
the atonement cover. But we cannot discuss these
things in detail now.
When everything
had been arranged like this, the priests entered
regularly into the outer room to carry on their
ministry. But only the high priest entered the
inner room, and that only once a year, and never
without blood, which he offered for himself and
for the sins the people had committed in
ignorance. The Holy Spirit was showing by this
that the way into the Most Holy Place had not
yet been disclosed as long as the first
tabernacle was still standing. This is an
illustration for the present time, indicating
that the gifts and sacrifices being offered were
not able to clear the conscience of the
worshiper. They are only a matter of food and
drink and various ceremonial washings—external
regulations applying until the time of the new
order.
When Christ came as
high priest of the good things that are already
here, he went through the greater and
more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made,
that is to say, not a part of this creation. He
did not enter by means of the blood of goats and
calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once
for all by his own blood, having obtained
eternal redemption. The blood of goats and bulls
and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who
are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that
they are outwardly clean. How much more, then,
will the blood of Christ, who through the
eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to
God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead
to death, so that we may serve the living God!
For this reason
Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that
those who are called may receive the promised
eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a
ransom to set them free from the sins committed
under the first covenant.
...
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.
In the description of the
Day of Atonement in Old Testament times, there is mention that the goat was to be
let go outside the environs of Jerusalem. That is what was
supposed to be done, according to the original biblical
command. But evidently, custom had added to this commandment by
the time of the first century:
But on the way out,
the people in the city and the surrounding
countryside, considering the scapegoat as an object
of desecration and horror, heaped upon it every
conceivable form of verbal abuse and sought to hurry
it on its way. They genuinely believed that it was
truly burdened with their sins and was now an object
of shame and repulsion.
The goat had been
identified by having a piece of scarlet cloth
fastened to one horn. There is no doubt that if it
had attempted to come back again, it would have been
driven away in horror. ... According to tradition,
this did happen once, and the goat returned from the
wilderness. Because of the horror with which the
poor creature was viewed by the people, one can
imagine their consternation. That it should have
returned did not, it seems, suggest to them that the
sacrifice was not acceptable to God--only that the
arrangement was not acceptable to the community! The
authorities determined that it should not happen
again. They therefore gave instructions thereafter
that the last man should lead the scapegoat to the
edge of a precipice and push it over backwards, with
the reasonable certainty of breaking its legs, if
not actually killing it. This extraordinary
precaution was necessary because, pushed over
forwards, goats have been known to deliberately land
not on their feet but on their head, in order to
avoid breaking their legs, and they can apparently
sustain a drop of fifty feet without injury in this
position. (Arthur Custance, The Doorway Papers
http://www.custance.org/old/seed/ch30s.html .)
Compare the description above
where all "heaped upon it every conceivable form of verbal
abuse and sought to hurry it on its way," to the description of
Jesus at the time of His crucifixion. Here was the ultimate One
who was taking upon Himself not just the sins of one nation, but
of the whole world:
Mark 15:16-20, 25-32
The soldiers led Jesus
away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium) and
called together the whole company of soldiers. They
put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a
crown of thorns and set it on him. And they began to
call out to him, "Hail, king of the Jews!" Again and
again they struck him on the head with a staff and
spit on him. Falling on their knees, they paid
homage to him. And when they had mocked him,
they took off the purple robe and put his own
clothes on him. Then they led him out to
crucify him.
...It
was the third hour when they crucified him. The
written notice of the charge against him read: THE
KING OF THE JEWS. They crucified two robbers with
him, one on his right and one on his left.
Those who passed by hurled insults at him,
shaking their heads and saying, "So! You who are
going to destroy the temple and build it in three
days, come down from the cross and save yourself!"
In the same way
the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked
him among themselves. "He saved others," they
said, "but he can't save himself! Let this Christ,
this King of Israel, come down now from the
cross, that we may see and believe." Those
crucified with him also heaped insults on him.
What separates
US from God?
Romans 3:23
…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
How can WE be
“reconciled”?
Romans 3:24-25
… and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption
that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of
atonement, through faith in his blood.
Why TWO goats?
One for sacrificial blood:
Hebrews 9:22
In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed
with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no
forgiveness.
Matthew
26:28
This is my [Jesus'] blood of the covenant, which is poured out for
many for the forgiveness of sins.
One for showing God’s view of our sins after the blood of Jesus
atones for them:
Psalm 103:12
As far as the east is from the west, so far has
He removed our
transgressions from us.
I Peter 2:22-24
He committed no sin, and no deceit
was found in his mouth." When they hurled their
insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made
no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges
justly.He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree,
so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his
wounds you have been healed.
Together
Again
For the
Christian, the time has already come when we are no longer are
separated from God. The reconciliation, the true Atonement has
come, and we are Together Again with our Father.
Romans
5:9-11
Since we have now been
justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from
God's wrath through him! For if, when we were God's enemies,
we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son,
how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved
through his life! Not only is this so, but we also rejoice
in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we
have now received reconciliation.
The Jews in
the time of Jesus had no conception of the deeper meaning behind
the yearly ritual of the Day of Atonement. And after the
destruction of the Temple in 70 AD, they were no longer able to
even have that ritual to deal with their sins. Over the ensuing
centuries, without any biblical law to guide them, the rabbis
attempted to create substitute rituals and customs to somehow
take the place of the Levitical practices. Without the
priesthood, the Temple ceremony, and the blood of the animals,
the people had no assurance of forgiveness. Substitutes have
been invented, but they have never really filled the void, and
many Jews look forward earnestly to the rebuilding of another
Temple in Jerusalem some day so that the ancient ceremonies may
be revived. Thus the regular cry at the end of many annual
observances, a hope for "Next year in Jerusalem!"
While waiting, though, they do
the best they can with substitutes.
One such
substitute, among certain branches of Orthodox Jews,
is the custom of Kapparot. This is a personal ceremony
done in the home, not one conducted in a synagogue. To
perform the rite, a male takes a live rooster, while sometimes a woman
takes a live hen. Certain prayers are recited which refer
to the symbolism of the ceremony being related to atonement, and
then the fowl is "waved" over the head, followed
by slaughtering it and giving the meat to the poor.
Page from a child's book around
1900,
showing a family Kapparot ceremony
Some
"redeem" the dead fowl with money, and give the money to the poor
instead. Others skip the fowl entirely and sling a bag of money
around their head and then donate it to the poor. For a more detailed description of this ritual, see the
Jewish Feast & Holy Day Customs :Yom Kippur/The Day of Atonement
article.
Obviously this
tradition has no roots in the Bible at all, and is merely a
human attempt to find SOME way out of the problem of having "no
remission of sins without the shedding of blood."
If they only
understood what the ancient ceremony of the two goats was
pointing toward, they would know that they have no more need of
such physical ceremonies because the ultimate reality toward
which the ceremony was pointing has come:
Hebrews 9:24-27
For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a
copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear
for us in God's presence. Nor did he enter heaven to offer
himself again and again, the way the high priest
enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his
own. 26Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the
creation of the world.
But now he has appeared once for all at the end
of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.
Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face
judgment, 28so 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.
For those who have accepted the
sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and recognize Him as Lord and Savior,
their
“Scapegoat” is coming back!
But they do not
need to fear.
He isn't
bringing their sins back with Him.
He is bringing
their reward!
If you are not sure of your
standing in the matter of the atonement, you are invited to read
the material on the Steps
to Salvation webpages.
Now that you
have an overview of the Biblical background, symbolism, and
Christian significance of the Day of Atonement, you may wish to
explore some of the ways in which Christians observe this Feast.
The 3Rs:Day of Atonement article
provides a variety of descriptions and suggestions for such
observance.
See the
Day of Atonement Scripture Collection
for a concise set of the primary passages from the Old and
New Testament related to the observance of this day.
Jesus: The Reason for These
Seasons
Many people who accept Jesus
Christ as Savior and Lord, whether they refer to themselves as "Christian" or
"Messianic," observe the Day of Atonement as a time of worship,
fellowship, and celebration. They believe that this Holy Day, along with the other
Feasts and Holy Days described in Leviticus 23 and Deuteronomy 16, are shadows pointing to the
reality of Jesus. And they believe that there are valuable spiritual lessons to
be learned year by year through actually physically setting aside these Times
of Refreshing as
"appointments with God."
For more about the biblical Feasts
in general, see the article Theme Times elsewhere on
this Times of Refreshing website.
For an
explanation of the Biblical background and Christian
significance of each of the Holy Days and Feasts as
they come in their seasons, explore the links below:
T.G.I.S.
The Weekly Sabbath
Let My People Go!
The Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread
On Fire!
The Feast of Pentecost
Reveille!
The Day of Trumpets
Together Again
The Day of Atonement
Roughing It
The Feast of Tabernacles
The Edge of Eternity
The Eighth Day Assembly
For sources of the Hebrew, Greek,
and English definitions in this and other articles on this website, see the
Information page.
For sources
of the Biblical quotations in this and other articles on this
website, see the Information page.
Email the Times of
Refreshing WebAuthor
All of the articles on this Times
of Refreshing website were written by Pam Dewey, with
the support and sponsorship of Common Ground Christian
Ministries. For more of Pam's inspirational and educational
writings, visit The Oasis website at
www.youall.com/oasis
All website content
© 2006, Pam
Dewey and Common Ground Christian Ministries
All rights reserved. Material may
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to copy for any other purposes, please contact the author at
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