Saturday, March 7, 2009

Leviticus 16 - Yom Kippur

The first reference to the Day of Atonement comes in the Book of Exodus,
chapter 30. The first nine verses detail the plans for the Altar of Incense.
There is then a special word of warning, followed by a brief reference
to the Day of Atonement:

Exodus 30:9-10: Do not offer any unholy incense on this altar, or any burnt offerings, grain offerings, or liquid offerings. “Once a year Aaron must purify the altar by smearing its horns with blood from the offering made to purify the people from their sin. This will be a regular, annual event from generation to generation, for this is the Lord’s most holy altar.”


Unlike the other Jewish holidays, the Day of Atonement was no festive
event. It was a day of national mourning and repentance. This was a Sabbath
day celebration, which meant that no work could be done.
Anyone who did not observe this Sabbath was to be cut off from his people, which is a euphemism for being put to death. Beyond this,
this was a day when the people were to “humble their souls”. This would thus be the only religious holiday which was characterized
by mourning, fasting, and repentance. No other sacrifice in Leviticus
more clearly anticipates the future, greater, atonement of Israel’s
Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ. And no other sacrifice provides a better
backdrop against which to see the vast superiority of our Lord’s
atonement over that of Aaron.


Leviticus 23:26-32: Then the Lord said to Moses, “Be careful to celebrate the Day of Atonement on the tenth day of that same month—nine days after the Festival of Trumpets. You must observe it as an official day for holy assembly, a day to deny yourselves and present special gifts to the Lord. Do no work during that entire day because it is the Day of Atonement, when offerings of purification are made for you, making you right with the Lord your God. All who do not deny themselves that day will be cut off from God’s people. And I will destroy anyone among you who does any work on that day. You must not do any work at all! This is a permanent law for you, and it must be observed from generation to generation wherever you live. This will be a Sabbath day of complete rest for you, and on that day you must deny yourselves. This day of rest will begin at sundown on the ninth day of the month and extend until sundown on the tenth day.”


Numbers 29:7-11: “Ten days later, on the tenth day of the same month, you must call another holy assembly. On that day, the Day of Atonement, the people must go without food and must do no ordinary work. “You must present a burnt offering as a pleasing aroma to the Lord. It will consist of one young bull, one ram, and seven one-year-old male lambs, all with no defects. These offerings must be accompanied by the prescribed grain offerings of choice flour moistened with olive oil—six quarts of choice flour with the bull, four quarts of choice flour with the ram, and two quarts of choice flour with each of the seven lambs. You must also sacrifice one male goat for a sin offering. This is in addition to the sin offering of atonement and the regular daily burnt offering with its grain offering, and their accompanying liquid offerings.


The day would begin as usual with the offering
of the morning sacrifice, the burnt offering of a one year old lamb. After these duties were performed, the High
Priest would commence the ceremonies of the Day of Atonement. The Day of Atonement is observed on the 10th day of the seventh month
of Tishri. It is the only commanded fast in the year and is, doubtless,
the most solemn day in the sacred calendar.
On this day the high priest laid aside his official ornaments and dressed
in a white linen garment entered the Most Holy place to make atonement
for himself, the priesthood and the congregation of Israel. The Epistle
to the Hebrews (chapter 9) explains that this annual entry by the High
Priest in the Holy of Holies foreshadowed the entrance of the Messiah
the High Priest of the Melchizedek Order into Yahweh's
presence to secure salvation for His people.


To the ancient Jews, the Day of Atonement was called “the great day” or sometimes even just “the day.” Modern Jews still regard Yom Kippur an important day of fasting, soul searching, and righting wrongs - yet they offer no sacrifice for sin.


The Day followed exactly six months after the setting aside of the lambs for the Feast of the Passover, and was followed five days later by the Feast of Tabernacles/Booths.


The Hebrew word kipper for atone means "to cover".
On the day of Atonement, the people of Israel confessed their sins as
a nation and the high priest went into the Holy of Holies to make atonement
for them. Sacrifices were made and blood was shed so that the people's
sins could be "covered" until Christ's sacrifice on the cross
would give people the opportunity to have their sin removed forever. The English word "atonement" means to make amends for, to reconcile,
to restore, to repair, to make at-one again. And that is exactly what
the Day of Atonement prefigures. It points to a specific time in the future
when the great High Priest of the Melchizedek Order (Yeshua the Messiah)
will literally bring the redeemed host of mankind right into the very
presence of His Father, in order that we may be AT-ONE with YAHWEH. That indeed will by a reconciliation beyond compare, when the Almighty's
estranged human family - alienated from Him by sin - will actually be
brought into His presence to be AT ONE with Him. This captures the thought behind the Hebrew word for atonement: Kipper, which means, “to cover.” Sin was not removed, but covered over by sacrificial blood. The New Testament idea of atonement is that our sin is not merely covered, but removed - taken away, so there is no barrier between God and man any longer.


Yahweh's family of true believers:



  • Ransomed at the Passover and liberated by the blood of His Son - the
    Passover Lamb.


  • Purged of sin, hypocrisy and false doctrine during the Days of Unleavened
    Bread     to become a holy Temple of God.


  • Filled with the power of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost in order to bear fruit for all
    eternity.

  • Victoriously gathered and defended at the Feast of Trumpets when the trumpets
    of Yahweh will sound throughout the earth.

  • And finally on the Great Day of Atonement, brought into the very presence
    of the Almighty by his Son the High Priest to be at-one with Him for all
    eternity.


  • Luke 15:22-24: “But his father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet. And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast, for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So the party began.


(1) The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of Aaron’s two sons, who died after they entered the Lord’s presence and burned the wrong kind of fire before him.


(2) The Lord said to Moses, “Warn your brother, Aaron, not to enter the *Most Holy Place behind the inner **curtain whenever he chooses; if he does, he will die. For the ***Ark’s cover—the place of atonement—is there, and I myself am present in the cloud above the atonement cover.


*Most Holy Place: This is the Holy of Holies; that place within the veil where the ark of the covenant ,etc., were laid up; and where God manifested his presence between the cherubim.


**curtain: The Hebrew term parokhet is usually translated “veil” or “curtain,” but it seems to have stretched not only in front of but also over the top of the ark of the covenant which stood behind and under it inside the most holy place, and thus formed more of a canopy than simply a curtain. There is a veil between the ark, and the two other pieces of furniture representing the persons and altar of incense which is very close to the veil. This veil, sown with cherubim represent the time when the angel with a flaming sword that turned every direction prevented Adam and Eve from entering the Garden from the east entrance. Therefore, whenever the High Priest enters the Holy of Holies, it is symbolic of a re-entrance to where God had resided (since the garden was also called the “garden of God”, implying that the garden AND heaven were united in a way we cannot perceive except spiritually and theologically today). Jesus’ work on the cross and his entrance to the third heaven is exactly what the High Priest’s entrance into and work in the Holy of Holies preaches.


***Ark:

1 Chronicles 28:2: David rose to his feet and said: “My brothers and my people! It was my desire to build a temple where the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant, God’s footstool, could rest permanently. I made the necessary preparations for building it,

Psalm 132:7-8: Let us go to the sanctuary of the Lord; let us worship at the footstool of his throne. Arise, O Lord, and enter your resting place,
along with the Ark, the symbol of your power.


The mercy-seat was the covering on the Ark of the Covenant of Yahweh, where atonement could be made and man become reconciled to God. It was the ‘kapporeth’, the place where reconciliation and atonement was finally performed. This was a solid gold slab on which were the two cherubim at either end looking inward. It was the same size as the chest which it covered. It comes from the root ‘kpr’ (to cover) and the conjugation used signifies the place where sins are ‘fully covered’ so that they are no longer seen by God and held against the sinner (Jeremiah 18:23). It is the place where the punishment for sin was met by the shedding of blood, the place of atonement, of reconciliation, where He and His people were made at one. There is also a suggestion behind it that it is the earthly throne of Yahweh between the cherubim.


Hebrews 4:16: So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.


Hebrews 9:7-12, 24-26: But only the high priest ever entered the Most Holy Place, and only once a year. And he always offered blood for his own sins and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance. By these regulations the Holy Spirit revealed that the entrance to the Most Holy Place was not freely open as long as the Tabernacle and the system it represented were still in use. This is an illustration pointing to the present time. For the gifts and sacrifices that the priests offer are not able to cleanse the consciences of the people who bring them. For that old system deals only with food and drink and various cleansing ceremonies—physical regulations that were in effect only until a better system could be established. So Christ has now become the High Priest over all the good things that have come. He has entered that greater, more perfect Tabernacle in heaven, which was not made by human hands and is not part of this created world. With his own blood—not the blood of goats and calves—he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever...For Christ did not enter into a holy place made with human hands, which was only a copy of the true one in heaven. He entered into heaven itself to appear now before God on our behalf. And he did not enter heaven to offer himself again and again, like the high priest here on earth who enters the Most Holy Place year after year with the blood of an animal. If that had been necessary, Christ would have had to die again and again, ever since the world began. But now, once for all time, he has appeared at the end of the age to remove sin by his own death as a sacrifice.


(3) “When Aaron enters the sanctuary area, he must follow these instructions fully. He must bring a young bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering.


On this day, after the morning whole burnt offering (a lamb of the first year) had been offered with its accompanying grain offering, Aaron’s approach to Yahweh had to commence with offerings for himself because the true high priest was to be SPOTLESS! The Jewish writers say that for seven days before the day of expiation the high priest was to retire from his own house, and to dwell in a chamber of the temple, that he might prepare himself for the service of this great day. During those seven days he himself did the work of the inferior priests about the sacrifices, incense, etc., that he might have his hand in for this day: he must have the institution read to him again and again, that he might be fully apprised of the whole method.


(4) He must put on his linen tunic and the linen undergarments worn next to his body. He must tie the linen sash around his waist and put the linen turban on his head. These are sacred garments, so he must bathe himself in water before he puts them on.


He was not to dress in his high priest's garments, but in the simple garments of the Levites, because it was a day of humiliation;
and as he was to offer sacrifices for his own sins, it was necessary that
he should appear in clothing suited to the occasion. Hence he has neither
the robe, the ephod, the breastplate, the mitre, etc. Now, he appears, before God as a
sinner, offering an atonement for his transgressions, and his garments
are those of humiliation. Beautiful colored materials, intricate embroidery, gold and jewelry made
him look like a king. On the day of atonement he looked more like a slave.
His outfit consisted of four simple garments in white linen. On
this one day, the high priest enters the ‘other world,’ into
the very presence of God. He must therefore dress as befits the occasion.
Among his fellow men his dignity as the great mediator between man and
God is unsurpassed, and his splendid clothes draw attention to the glory
of his office. But in the presence of God even the high priest is stripped
of all honor: he becomes simply the servant of the King of kings, whose
true status is portrayed in the simplicity of his dress. Ezekiel (9:2-3,
11; 10:2, 6-7) and Daniel (10:5; 12:6-7) describe angels as dressed in
linen, while Revelation 19:8 portrays the saints in heaven as wearing similar
clothes.


The breastplate and the tunic and the gold and the blue and the scarlet would all be put aside. It was a picture of the Messiah who would lay aside His glory (Philippians 2:7).


(5) Aaron must take from the community of Israel two male goats for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering.


(6) “Aaron will present his own bull as a sin offering to purify himself and his family, making them right with the Lord.


(7) Then he must take the two male goats and present them to the Lord at the entrance of the *Tabernacle.


*Tabernacle: Hebrew Tent of Meeting


(8) He is to cast sacred lots to determine which goat will be reserved as an offering to the Lord and which will carry the sins of the people to the wilderness of Azazel.


(9) Aaron will then present as a sin offering the goat chosen by lot for the Lord.


(10) The other goat, the scapegoat chosen by lot to be sent away, will be kept alive, standing before the Lord. When it is sent away to *Azazel in the wilderness, the people will be purified and made right with the Lord.


The two goats represented the two ways God was dealing with the Israelites' sin:

1) He was forgiving their sin through the first goat, which was sacrificed, and

2) He was removing their guilt through the second goat, the scapegoat, that was sent into the wilderness.


*Azazel is a name many scholars have debated about its meaning.


(11) “Aaron will present his own bull as a sin offering to purify himself and his family, making them right with the Lord. After he has slaughtered the bull as a sin offering,


(12) he will fill an incense burner with burning coals from the altar that stands before the Lord. Then he will take two handfuls of fragrant powdered incense and will carry the burner and the incense behind the inner curtain.


Only fire from the brazen altar of burnt offering, where atonement had been made, could be used for kindling the incense on the golden altar in the holy place. All other fire was "strange fire".


The Jews say that he was to go in side-ways, that he might not look directly upon the ark where the divine glory was, till it was covered with smoke; then he must come out backwards, out of reverence to the divine majesty; and, after a short prayer, he was to hasten out of the sanctuary, to show himself to the people, that they might not suspect that he had misbehaved himself and died before the Lord.


(13) There in the Lord’s presence he will put the incense on the burning coals so that a cloud of incense will rise over the Ark’s cover—the place of atonement—that rests on the Ark of the Covenant. If he follows these instructions, he will not die.


The smoke shielded him from the Ark of the Covenant and the presence of God so that he would not die.


(14) Then he must take some of the blood of the bull, dip his finger in it, and sprinkle it on the east side of the atonement cover. He must sprinkle blood seven times with his finger in front of the atonement cover.


Note that he sprinkles on the nearest side only, not on all four sides. He is only a temporary visitor here with restricted rights, and even now must not come too close. The ‘seven times’ indicates completeness.


The Holy of Holies would be in complete darkness lit only by the coals from the censer and a very faint light coming through from the golden lampstand through the gap in the veil through which the High Priest comes. And there in the dark shadow would be the famed and revered Ark of the covenant of Yahweh. (After the Exile all that would be there was a large stone put there to serve as a substitute until the Ark could be returned. Or at least the latter was what many believed).


(15) “Then Aaron must slaughter the first goat as a sin offering for the people and carry its blood behind the inner curtain. There he will sprinkle the goat’s blood over the atonement cover and in front of it, just as he did with the bull’s blood.


2 Corinthians 5:21: For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.


(16) Through this process, he will purify the Most Holy
Place, and he will do the same for the entire Tabernacle, because of the
defiling sin and rebellion of the Israelites.


(17) No one else is allowed inside the Tabernacle when Aaron enters it for the purification ceremony in the Most Holy Place. No one may enter until he comes out again after purifying himself, his family, and all the congregation of Israel, making them right with the Lord.


Atonement of the holy place is done alone, without anyone present to
help or to watch. This was a picture of Jesus who was forsaken by all when He became the covering for our sins.


(18) “Then Aaron will come out to purify the *altar that stands before the Lord. He will do this by taking some of the blood from the bull and the goat and putting it on each of the horns of the altar.


*altar: The altar of burnt offering.


The type given is of Jesus entering the Holy of Holies, which has been fulfilled. But, He has not yet come back out of or returned from the Holy of Holies (in type).


(19) Then he must sprinkle the blood with his finger seven times over the altar. In this way, he will cleanse it from Israel’s defilement and make it holy.


(20) “When Aaron has finished purifying the Most Holy Place and the Tabernacle and the altar, he must present the live goat.


(21) He will lay both of his hands on the goat’s head and confess over it all the wickedness, rebellion, and sins of the people of Israel. In this way, he will transfer the people’s sins to the head of the goat. Then a man specially chosen for the task will drive the goat into the wilderness.


(22) As the goat goes into the wilderness, it will carry all the people’s sins upon itself into a desolate land.


Now as the years went on there was a highly developed ritual that went with this as the temple was finally established in Jerusalem. There was a certain area (10 miles out) where the scapegoat was generally released. There were men that would stand at vantage points all the way out to the Judean wilderness. The priest would be going out and the people would all be waiting back in the great area of the temple mount. The priest would come to the wilderness area where he turned it loose. As it ran and when it disappeared, he would give a signal to the fellow back on the mountain peak, who would give the signal to the next guy, who would send to the next, to the next, to the next. And in just a few moments the signal would come from the Mount of Olives to those down in the temple mount that the scapegoat has gone, the sins are gone. There would be this great rejoicing of the people and singing of praises to God as the news would come back that the goat carrying the sin was gone - just as are sins are gone, never to return, when we've accepted Jesus' atoning sacrifice on the cross for us.


(23) “When Aaron goes back into the Tabernacle, he must take off the linen garments he was wearing when he entered the Most Holy Place, and he must leave the garments there.


(24) Then he must bathe himself with water in a sacred place, put on his regular garments, and go out to sacrifice a burnt offering for himself and a burnt offering for the people. Through this process, he will purify himself and the people, making them right with the Lord.


(25) He must then burn all the fat of the sin offering on the altar.


(26) “The man chosen to drive the scapegoat into the wilderness of Azazel must wash his clothes and bathe himself in water. Then he may return to the camp.


(27) “The bull and the goat presented as sin offerings, whose blood Aaron takes into the Most Holy Place for the purification ceremony, will be carried outside the camp. The animals’ hides, internal organs, and dung are all to be burned.


(28) The man who burns them must wash his clothes and bathe himself in water before returning to the camp.


(29) “On the tenth day of the appointed *month in early autumn, you must **deny yourselves. Neither native-born Israelites nor foreigners living among you may do any kind of work. This is a permanent law for you.


*month: This would be the seventh month (Tishri). Yom Kippur is one of the three fall festivals and here are their dates in 2009:




  1. Feast of Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah which means "Head of the Year" or "First of the Year") - 9/19/09.

  2. Day of Atonement
    (Yom Kippur) - Sunset September 27, 2009 - nightfall September 28, 2009.

  3. Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) - starts 10/3/09.


The 7 feasts correspond to the Menorah:



  1. Passover (Pesach) - FULFILLED

  2. Feast of Unleavened Bread - (Hag Ha Matzah) - FULFILLED

  3. Feast of First Fruits - Yom HaBikkurim - FULFILLED

  4. Feast of Weeks (Pentecost) - Shavuoth - FULFILLED

  5. Feast of Trumpets (The Jewish New Year) - Rosh Hashanah - YET TO BE FULFILLED

  6. Day of Atonement - (Yom Kippur) - YET TO BE FULFILLED

  7. Feast of Tabernacles - (Succot) - YET TO BE FULFILLED



**deny: afflict or humble your souls.


Modern Jews who do observe the Day of Atonement typically fast for that day. Yet they have no sacrifice for sins. Some Jews consider charity a suitable substitute for sacrifice; the word “charity” in modern Hebrew is the same as the word for “righteousness.” Some Jews consider sufferings a suitable substitute for sacrifice; among the Jews of Eastern Europe there used to be custom to inflict 39 lashes upon themselves on the Day of Atonement. Some Jews consider good works or the study of the law as suitable substitutes for sacrifice.


(30) On that day offerings of purification will be made for you, and you will be purified in the Lord’s presence from all your sins.


(31) It will be a Sabbath day of complete rest for you, and you must deny yourselves. This is a permanent law for you.


Yom Kippur ends with the blowing of the Shofar, the trumpet that heralds the coming of the Messiah.


(32) In future generations, the purification ceremony will be performed by the priest who has been anointed and ordained to serve as high priest in place of his ancestor Aaron. He will put on the holy linen garments


(33) and purify the Most Holy Place, the Tabernacle, the altar, the priests, and the entire congregation.


(34) This is a permanent law for you, to purify the people of Israel from their sins, making them right with the Lord once each year.” Moses followed all these instructions exactly as the Lord had commanded him.


Numbers 29:7-11: “Ten days later, (after the Festival of Trumpets) on the tenth day of the same month, you must call another holy assembly. On that day, the Day of Atonement, the people must go without food and must do no ordinary work. You must present a burnt offering as a pleasing aroma to the Lord. It will consist of one young bull, one ram, and seven one-year-old male lambs, all with no defects. These offerings must be accompanied by the prescribed grain offerings of choice flour moistened with olive oil—six quarts of choice flour with the bull, four quarts of choice flour with the ram, and two quarts of choice flour with each of the seven lambs. You must also sacrifice one male goat for a sin offering. This is in addition to the sin offering of atonement and the regular daily burnt offering with its grain offering, and their accompanying liquid offerings.


The rituals of the Day of Atonement were to be repeated each year. For over a thousand years, this drama was acted out, first within the Tabernacle, and later within the Temple. The ritual found its fulfillment on a spring day in the first century A.D. The Romans had set aside three crosses. Three thieves were destined to hang upon those crosses. They had been apprehended, judged, and found to be guilty. They were placed under the sentence of death. But one of those thieves missed his appointment. He never went to the cross. His name was BARABAS. Another man went to the cross in his place. Jesus died upon the cross of Barabas and Barabas was set free. We have been set free, too. And it was not because we were any more deserving. It was a gift of GRACE.


The Feast of Trumpets is followed by ten days called by modern Jews, "the days of awe." This is a time of national repentance for Israel. The 10th day of the seventh month is the Day of Atonement. On this day the priest entered the Holy of Holies into the presence of God to sprinkle the blood on the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant. The Passover clearly represents personal salvation, [each family had their own lamb, and celebrated Passover at home]. But the Day of Atonement represents national salvation for Israel. Only one sacrifice was offered for the whole nation. The Bible makes it clear that at the second coming of Christ, the surviving Jews will look upon Christ and be saved in a day. [cf. Zechariah 12:9,10 & 13:1, Romans 11:25-27, Revelation 1:7] If there is any day on the Jewish calendar which is a prophecy of the second coming of Christ to overthrow the world kingdoms and deliver His people Israel, this is it.



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