Yom Kippur – The Day of Atonement Heb 9:6-7; Lev 16
v7 reminds us that the Jewish High-Priest went into the HoH, once a year on Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) – the most sacred day in the Jewish calendar. This study is mainly to provide some background and preparation for the lessons and contrasts which are the main themes of chapters 9 and 10. In modern Judaism the sacrifices and ceremonies that we are going to consider are no longer practiced. There is no High-Priest, no altar, no temple. Hosea’s tragic prediction about Israel’s sacrifices has been fulfilled:
4 For the children of Israel shall abide many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, without ephod or teraphim. 5 Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They shall fear the LORD and His goodness in the latter days. (Hosea 3:4-5).
V6 of Ch 9 tells us that, after the tabernacle was built and fitted out as we have previously seen the priests always went into the first part of the tabernacle, performing the services. 7 But into the second part the High-Priest went alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the people’s sins committed in ignorance
The first verse of Lev Ch 16 tells us what prompted this law, the death of the two sons of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, when they offered profane fire before the LORD, and died. We don’t have time to look at what happened then, but you can read about it for yourself in Chapter 10. God wanted His people to be absolutely clear about the rules for people going into the inner part of the Tabernacle, the Holy of Holies, which was virtually the same as going into His holy presence.
In verse 2 we read that the LORD said to Moses: "Tell Aaron your brother not to come at just any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat which is on the ark, lest he die; for I will appear in the cloud above the mercy seat. The gist of what follows in the remainder of the chapter is that only Aaron could enter God’s presence in the Holy of Holies, then only once a year, and only after precisely following the rituals and offering the required sacrifices. Among this, there are some important lessons about the holiness of God, the sinfulness of man and the need for regular, repeated offerings to cover the people’s sin – yet these offerings gave only one of them brief entrance into God’s presence.
So what happened on that day?
Preparation of the High-Priest
First Aaron, the High-Priest, had to prepare himself. Before doing anything else he had to wash his body in water v4. Then, having bathed, he had to dress himself in a special way. He didn’t wear the gorgeous clothes made with gold, blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine linen (Ex 28) but instead he wore the clothes simple clothes of an ordinary priest.
Next v 3,6 he took a bullock, killed v11 and offered it as a sin offering for himself, his household; and for the rest of the Jewish people. He took the bull’s blood, some coals from the fire and incense v12 into the holy place, put the incense onto the coals and went into the Holy of Holies wafting the smoke from the incense in front of him v13 so that it obscured the Shekinah glory of God that rested above the Ark of the Covenant. Finally he sprinkled the blood of the bull on and around the Mercy Seat.
Two goats – one offering
He also took two goats to the entrance to the Holy Place as a sin offering v5,7, probably leaving them at the entrance while he went inside with the incense and bulls blood. He presented both goats to the Lord and cast lots to determine which would die and which would live v8-10. One lot chose a goat to be sacrificed to the Lord and the other, one to be sent away into the wilderness. This second goat is called the scapegoat, presumably because it escaped immediate death.
Aaron then killed the first goat as a sin offering for the people v15 and took its blood into the Holy of Holies, sprinkling it on and around the Mercy Seat as he had with the bull’s blood. In this way he made atonement for the Holy Place which was contaminated by the the children of Israel because of their uncleanness of, and because of their transgressions v16.
After this he went to the altar of burnt offering and applied blood from both the bull and the goat to the horns of the altar v18. As with the blood sprinkled at the Mercy seat this was done to purify the altar and its surroundings which had been contaminated by the sin of the people v19. This all sounds very gory to us, but God promised that when He saw the blood, it would cover over man’s sin.
The Scapegoat
Finally he took the second goat, the Scapegoat, and laid both his hands on its head while he confessed over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions. I suspect that the confession was made in general terms as it would have taken rather more than a day to confess them all in detail! After this they sent the goat, and shall send it away into the wilderness v21. There it bore on itself all their iniquities to an uninhabited land v22.
After this was all done Aaron took off the linen garments, bathed again v27 and burned the fat from the goat, possibly the bull too, and returned to the people, his work done for another year. Others disposed of the remains of the goat and bull v27-28.
The purpose
V30 makes the purpose clear, it was to cleanse you, that you may be clean from all your sins before the LORD. Indeed it went further 33 then he shall make atonement for the Holy Sanctuary, and he shall make atonement for the tabernacle of meeting and for the altar, and he shall make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the assembly.
What a relief it must have been to Aaron and the people to see this goat carrying away all their guilt, never to return or, at least, not until the next year when it all happened again! V34
Lessons
Well that’s all very interesting; if you like history and can cope with all the blood and gore! But what possible relevance does it have for us today? Well I want to draw out some out some lessons next, we’ll also pick up some other crucial ones as we journey on through Hebrews after this diversion.
Sin and forgiveness
The first lesson is that sin is a problem for all men and women, even God’s people. Even the priests and holy places become contaminated by our sin. Lethargy, envy, complacency and many other sins invade the church. This needs to be dealt with in both our individual and corporate lives and it can only be dealt with through the work and sacrifice of Jesus, our Great High-Priest – no one else could do this for us. We’ll return to this repeatedly as we study this bit of Hebrews, so I’ll leave it there for now except to note that sin needs to be addressed regularly.
We are forgiven, once for all when we are saved, but that doesn’t mean that we stop sinning. These sins hinder our service and fellowship with God and one another. This is why John warned us:
8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. 1 My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 1 John 1
The high-priest confessed all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions concerning all their sins v21over the head of the scapegoat. The three terms used here have slightly different meanings. Iniquity means to pervert, distort, or turn aside; transgression means to cross over the line or to rebel; and sin means to miss the mark. Together these comprise every possible breach of the Divine law, or offence against God. Similarly the NT gives us three definitions of sin:
sin is the transgression of the law 1 John 3:4
what ever is not of faith is sin Ro 14:23
to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin Jas 4:17
If we think about this at all we tend to stop at the first definition and forget the others. Sin is not only doing wrong, it is also not doing what is right or doing something when our conscience tells us that it is wrong. And how often do we rely on common-sense, making pragmatic decisions rather than stepping out in faith when we know that God wants more from us?
What would Jesus do? is a good test of the positive. Would I do it if Jesus was watching me? is a good test of the negative, though, of course Jesus is always watching – it is just that we forget!
A casual confession of our sin is not enough though. Confession on the Day of Atonement was a very serious business. Forgiveness required the death of one goat and the banishment of another. The work was that of Aaron, but the people were intimately involved since they had to afflict their souls v29. This probably involved fasting and humbling themselves before God. Confession that does not come from the depths of our hearts and involve a sincere intention, by God’s help, to forsake the sin is not genuine and will not receive a positive response from God.
Thankfully we don’t have to wait for a year to confess our sin, we can do it daily and particularly when we gather at the Lord’s table. First we are to examine our hearts, then to confess and leave behind our sin, finally we eat the bread and drink the wine. (1 Cor 11)
There are other lessons about sin and forgiveness in this chapter. Before Aaron could help his people his own sins had to be forgiven. In the same way we can’t help others if we have unconfessed sin in our own hearts. Similarly, as the high-priest took off his glorious robes and put on the robes of an ordinary priest, we can only help others if we do so humbly – as sinners saved by grace, not as those who are superior and look down our noses at them!
Then there are the two goats. The first reminds us that there is no forgiveness without death and bloodshed. This is clearly a picture of the death of Jesus on the cross. The scapegoat reminds me that when my sins are forgiven they are taken far, far away. The scapegoat declares that it is impossible for God ever to tell you about your sins again, for they are all put away.
Ps 103:12 As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
Micah 7: 18 Who is a God like You, Pardoning iniquity And passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain His anger forever, Because He delights in mercy. 19 He will again have compassion on us, And will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.
Is 43: 25 I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins.
Pictures of Jesus
There are also many reminders of Jesus here. We can’t deal with them all today, but note that:
• No animal sacrifice can properly reflect the work of Christ. Perhaps this is why he was prefigured by two goats, which together made one offering. The goat that was sacrificed reminds me of Christ dying for my sin, while the scapegoat reminds me that He rose again to put my sin out of reach.
• The high-priest took off his glorious robes and put on the robes of an ordinary priest to perform the sacrifices and purification. This reminds me that Jesus laid aside the glory that was His in heaven and came down to this earth as one of us to live and to die for us.
6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Phil 2
• The confession of the people’s sin over the head of the scapegoat reminds me that Jesus took my sin upon Himself
4 Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Is 53
• The high-priest was alone in the inner Tabernacle Lev 16:17. In the same way Jesus alone bore my sin and made atonement for me.
• When the high-priest came out of the Tabernacle the people knew that the sacrifice had been accepted and their sins were forgiven. If he had got something wrong he would have been struck down dead for his folly. So too when Jesus rose from the dead it shows that the Father accepted His sacrifice and my forgiveness is certain as a result.
• After the work was completed the high-priest put His ceremonial robes back on. This reminds me that Jesus was raised from the dead, after His sacrifice on Calvary, in a glorified body. Then He ascended to heaven and took up His rightful place at His Father’s right hand.
9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Phil 2
Azael
Finally, some take the sending of the scapegoat into the wilderness to be a declaration to Satan that the guilty have been forgiven and that he has no power over them. I don’t know if this was the intention, the arguments seem rather thin to me, but I have no doubt that Jesus resurrection made it abundantly clear to Satan that his doom was written and that the Church would be delivered from his kingdom into that of Christ.
10 Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, "Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. 11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. Rev 12
Conclusion
May we learn how terrible sin is and, by God’s grace, turn from it to follow in Christ’s footsteps. But, inevitably, we will fail and, when we do, we must deal with that sin quickly – confessing it to God, keeping short accounts with Him. If we don’t then it will poison our lives as individuals and as a Church, badly hindering our witness to Him.
34 "This shall be an everlasting statute for you, to make atonement for the children of Israel, for all their sins, once a year."
