The tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement, (Lev. 23:27)
Happy Yom Kippur! Over the last few weeks I have been teaching a series called “Route 66”. Using the old “Mother Road” as a mnemonic device, I teach through a corresponding book of the Bible with each stop. You can join us at www.highlinecc.org if you want to understand the Bible better than most do.
Two weeks ago, I taught through the book of Leviticus (not one a lot of non-Jews know well). The book contains the Law God gave Moses at Mt. Sinai. It is an extension of the book of Exodus. In the twenty-third chapter of the book, God gives Moses instructions on annual holy days the nation was to observe in the Promised Land. One of those days was called “Yom Kippur”. The words mean “Day of Atonement”. Today is roughly the 3,500th time the holy day has been observed by Jews around the world.
During the days of the Tabernacle, and later the Temple, this was the day where once a year the High Priest of Israel was allowed into the Most Holy Place, or Holy of Holies. There he was to sprinkle the blood of one of two sacrificial goats to atone for the sins of the nation. The place where the blood was sprinkled was on a covering that sat on top of the Ark of the Covenant and was called the “kippuret” or “place of atonement”. Later it became known as the “Mercy Seat”.
The second sacrificial goat was called the “scapegoat”. The High Priest laid his hands on the head of this goat and confessed the sins of the people. The goat was then taken out into the wilderness and set free. It was an image of the mercy and grace of God to take our sins as far as the “east is from the west”. It all pointed to an event to take place fifteen hundred years later, and almost two thousand years ago.
The true Day of Atonement is Good Friday. The Bible says that the blood of bulls and goats never really took away sin. But when Jesus went to the cross, and gave his life, shedding his own blood, the ultimate sacrifice to forgive the sins of humanity was realized. The book of Hebrews says he entered the true tabernacle, heaven itself, and there presented his sacrifice at the real Mercy Seat. That sacrifice is available to all, and only needs to be received personally to atone for our sin.
For most of us, we stop and reflect upon the death of Jesus during the Easter season. But it makes sense that today, we stop on this central feast day in the Jewish world and remember the real Day of Atonement!