The Day of Atonement or Yom Kippor

The Day of Atonement or Yom Kippor

By Pastor Gary Wayne

Text: Romans 9:11-14, Leviticus 23:26-28
Read through Lev.16, Heb.9-10 – it gives us an excellent picture of this celebration.

This is the most Holy day of the Jewish colander.
It was the only day the High Priest could enter the Holy of Holies, and offer sacrificial blood in repentance for the past year.

No other celebration comes as close to explaining what Jesus did for us when He was the sacrifice for our sin.

This fall celebration begins with Feast of Trumpets, (Rosh Hashana).
This started a 10 day period of repentance and preparation for the Day of Atonement.

During this time, people would spend time in studying scripture, in prayer, and in setting their lives in order for this special “Day of Atonement.”

These ten days repentance and sacrifice prepared them for the Feast of Tabernacles five days later.

The Day of Atonement had its special meaning filled rituals that all began when Moses set up the Tabernacle in the wilderness.

Two look-alike goats would be brought and they would cast lots to determine which one would be the sacrifice, and which would be the scapegoat.
A red ribbon would be tied around the horns of the scapegoat to tell them apart.

They would then take a young bull and the high priest would lay his hands on its head symbolizing the transferring of his personal sins onto the bull. They would kill the bull, catching its blood in a bowl.

A rope was tied around the ankle of the high priest, because if things didn’t go well and he was killed, no one could go in and retrieve his body.
The high priest would then enter the holy of holies and sprinkle the bull’s blood on the Ark of the Covenant to cleans himself from sin.

If he lived through the experience, they knew God had forgiven him.

The high priest would go back out and kill the first goat, again catching the blood to be presented behind the veil in the Holy of Holies again.
He would sprinkle the blood on the Ark seven times, representing the sins of the whole camp of Israel.

Because of the shedding of blood, God would forgive their sin.

Heb.9:22 “…without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”
It is only by the shed blood of Jesus that we can personally enter the Holy of Holies today.

The high priest would go back outside and lay his hands on the other scapegoat, symbolically transferring the sin of Israel onto that goat.
That goat would then be lead out into the wilderness where it would be left to remain lost forever.

When Jesus died on the cross He fulfilled the first sacrificial goat.
But Jesus is also our scapegoat. Isa 53:6 “…And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”

The word Atonement = to cover, blot out, or cancel.
Jesus was the Atonement sacrifice.
Jesus covered, blotted out, or canceled OUR SIN! That’s GOOD NEWS!!!

What happens when we try to cover up our sin?
Adam & Eve tried that. They sowed fig leaves together – human attempt to deal with a sin problem.
How did God respond to Adam & Eve? He covered them Himself. (Gen.3:21)
Only God can cover sin.

Heb 9:11-14

In the O.T. Israel was forgiven only once a year, but today, because of the New Covenant Jesus gave to His bride, we can go into the Holy of Holies any time we desire, and be forgiven, and have relationship with God.
In the O.T. animal blood covered our sin. In the NT, Jesus Blood "removes" our sin.

Isa.43:25 "I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins."
Ps 103:12 “As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.”