Leviticus (Lesson Six: The Day of Atonement [Chapter 16])

Holiness to the Lord: A Survey of Leviticus

Lesson Six: The Day of Atonement (Chapters 16)

1. The Centrality of the Day of Atonement

In response to Nadab and Abihu’s death

Israel had seen that coming to God in our way or on our terms means death and wrath. Now, God is showing his way to bring his people to himself, by providing an “atonement,” or “ransom” for them. The High Priest alone could minister in this capacity, and only on this day could he pass beyond the veil into the Most Holy Place.

Central in the Calendar and Festal Year

The Day of Atonement was on the tenth day of the seventh and most important month in the ecclesiastical year, which was inaugurated by the Feast of Trumpets (the Jewish New Year’s Day), and thus became the first month of the civil year. So Jesus’ death came in the fullness of times (Gal. 4:4), and was the climactic and most important event of human history; and it inaugurated a new year of God’s favor (Isa. 61:2). It was the only Feast in which it was commanded for the Israelites to afflict themselves (prob. with fasting, see Ps. 35:13), and yet it prepared way for the most joyful Feast (Booths). So its fulfillment, Good Friday, was a time of sorrow, but it prepared the way for the joyful ingathering of the nations. (cf. Jn 16:20).

Central in Leviticus

All the feasts (including the Day of Atonement) are treated of in Lev. 23; but this one alone is treated much more extensively, at the heart of Leviticus, which itself is at the heart of the Pentateuch.

2. The Ceremonies of the Day of Atonement

The High Priest had to bathe his body and put on the pure white garments of the regular priesthood (not his ordinary vestments), to show the need for humility and identification with his brothers and absolute purity and righteousness when he approached God. First, he offered a ram for his own burnt offering and a bull for his own sins and brought incense into the Most Holy Place, so a cloud might cover the mercy seat; then he sprinkled the Mercy Seat with blood (with which he would also purify the Holy Place, the Altar, etc.). Coming out, he would cast lots on two goats (one for “Azazel” [to go away into the wilderness] and one for the sin offering). He would offer another ram for Israel’s burnt offering, and the goat for a sin offering in the same way he had offered the bull, passing a second time into the Most Holy Place with incense and blood.

Next, he would bring the live goat (which had to look similar, and even be bought at the same time and place, according to custom, showing the identification of the two as parts of one and the same sacrifice). He would confess the sins of the people upon its head and have it sent into the wilderness. All the sin offerings would be burnt outside the camp. Both he who led away Azazel and he who burnt the offerings would wash themselves and return to camp.

3. The Fulfillment of the Day of Atonement on Good Friday

Jesus’ Death the Fulfillment of High Priest, Sin Offering, and Azazel

All of this ceremony speaks very exactly of the substitutionary and sin-bearing ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. For he was as the High Priest, wholly clean and having passed through the water of baptism, in the Jordan River, to consecrate himself to his redemptive task; and also having taken up the high priestly garments of human flesh, in which he lived a life of perfect purity and righteousness, so that he might win redemption for his people. As the High Priest, he offered up a sacrifice, and joined that sacrifice with fervent and sweet-smelling prayers of intercession for those whom he came to save (John 17), which rose up to the Father in a cloud, and covered all the unsightly sins and transgressions of the people, so that he might not look upon their guilt; only, his sacrifice was his own body, which God had prepared for him (Hebrews 10:5-7), and by which he bore the sins of the people (1 Peter 2:24). And so, having made an acceptable sacrifice and a perfect and sweet-smelling plea of intercession, he entered the Most Holy Place of God, and won eternal redemption for his people, enabling God to dwell among them forevermore (Hebrews 9:24-26).

Jesus is thus the last and greatest High Priest; but let us not forget that he is also the final scapegoat, Azazel, and likewise the final sin-offering. So great and wonderful was the effective sacrifice of Jesus, that on this Day of Atonement, it took two goats to symbolize what he would accomplish, the one showing forth just what he would do for his people, submitting to a bloody death in their place; and the other showing the blessed results that this self-sacrifice would obtain, in taking their sins far from them. Just as the High Priest took all the sins of the people and placed them upon the goat Azazel, so Jesus the High Priest took all the sins of his people and placed them upon himself, as our scapegoat. And then, just as the scapegoat went off into the wilderness, carrying the people’s sins far away, so Jesus went into the grave, and carried his people’s sins there (cf. Ps. 103:12). Only let us note the graphic illustration of the means by which he should take the people’s sins away, in the fate of the other goat! For just as that goat was slaughtered, so Jesus was slaughtered by violent and bloody men, and it was by this bloody death that he took the sins of his people into the wilderness and got rid of them forever.

Other Features of the Day of Atonement Fulfilled in the Work of Christ

The Year of Jubilee was proclaimed on the Day of Atonement (Lev. 25:9); so also the Year of God’s favor (Isa. 61:2) was proclaimed after Good Friday, by the apostles bearing the Good News.

The Sacrifice of the Day of Atonement was only for the afflicted and penitent; so Jesus did not come to save the righteous, but sinners (See Mat. 9:10-13).

The offerings were burnt outside the city; so Jesus was wholly consumed by God’s wrath outside the gates of Jerusalem, and we must go there to him, and so make ourselves despised strangers to this world, if we would be his disciples (Heb. 13:11-14).

Both he who led the scapegoat into the wilderness and he who burnt the offerings became unclean, and thus had to wash before entering the camp. In this way, we are reminded that the Jews, the Romans, and all of us for whose sins Christ suffered, were unclean and wicked in our sending Christ to the cross; and yet that very wickedness God was using to accomplish our redemption and purification, as we see in Acts 2:22-24; 4:27-28. And so as well, when we were wickedly putting Christ to death and incurring guilt, he was only crying out, “Father forgive them,” and absolving that very guilt we were incurring (Luke 23:34).

When bringing the blood into the Most Holy Place, the High Priest was dressed only in white, and afterwards he would change into his garments of glory and beauty which showed his identification with his people. So Jesus went to the cross humbly, as one of us, dressed only in his spotless righteousness; but afterward, he was transfigured with great glory, and stands in the splendor of divine majesty to represent us to God.

Once again, we see in the need for cleansing of all the Holy Places, that Jesus’ death would not just secure our own redemption, but the restoration and rejuvenation of this sin-cursed earth.

That the High Priest had to offer two sacrifices, one for his own sin and one for the sin of the people, indicates his insufficiency, and taught the people to look ahead to a greater Priest and Sacrifice. Hebrews 9-10 deals chiefly with the Day of Atonement, and has much to say about this theme.

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