CELEBRATING CHRIST AS OUR ATONEMENT

“For on that day the priest shall make atonement for you, to cleanse you, that you may be clean from all your sins before the LORD” – Leviticus 16:30

CELEBRATING CHRIST in the ATONEMENT is an expression of the prophetic significance we attach to the entire package of Redemption. Atonement means “covering.” The purpose of the sacrifice was to bring reconciliation between man and God by covering the sins of the people. Our chief interest is in the Christian perspective to this feast.

The Day of Atonement or Yum Kippur is the most solemn and significant holy day of the Jewish calendar. It was divinely packaged to be a complete Sabbath, devoid of any form of work or labour. In the Old Testament, the Day of Atonement was the day the High Priest made an atoning sacrifice for the sins of the people in order to bring reconciliation between the people and God. After the blood sacrifice was offered to the Lord, a goat – the scapegoat – was released into the wilderness to symbolically carry away the sins of the people, never to return!

When the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 AD, the people of Israel could no longer present the required sacrifices on the Day of Atonement, so it came to be observed as a day of repentance, self-denial, charity, prayer, and fasting. The Day of Atonement was a yearly reminder that all of Israel’s daily, weekly, and monthly rituals, sacrifices, and offerings were insufficient to atone for sin. The observance of the Day of Atonement is first recorded in Leviticus 16:8-34 and 23:27-32.

On this day, the high priest would remove his official priestly garments, which were radiant vestments. He would bathe and put on a pure white linen robe to symbolise repentance. Next, he would make a sin offering for himself and the other priests by sacrificing a young bull and a ram for a burnt offering. Then he would enter the Holy of Holies with a pan of glowing coals from the altar of incense, filling the atmosphere with a smoky cloud and aroma of incense. Using his fingers, he would sprinkle the blood of the bull on the mercy seat and the floor before the Ark of the Covenant.

The high priest would then cast lots between two live goats that had been brought by the people. One goat was killed as a sin offering for the nation. Its blood was added by the high priest to the blood already sprinkled inside the Holy of Holies. With this act, he atoned even for the Holy Place. With grand ceremony, the high priest would then place his hands on the head of the live goat and confess the sins of the whole nation before the altar of burnt offering. He would then give the live goat to an appointed emissary who carried it outside the camp and set it free into the wilderness, to symbolically carry away the sins of the people. After these rituals, the high priest would enter the tent of meeting, bathe again, and redress in his official garments. Taking the fat of the sin offering, he would present a burnt offering for himself and one for the people. The remaining flesh of the young bull would be burned outside the camp.

The structure of the Tabernacle and the Temple portrays how sin separates humanity from God’s holiness. Only the High Priest could enter the Holy of Holies, passing through the heavy veil that separated between the people and God’s presence. Once a year on the Day of Atonement, the High Priest entered and offered the blood sacrifice to cover the sins of the people. Jesus became the ultimate fulfillment of the Atonement. At the very moment He died on the cross, “the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom…” (Mt.27:51a). Jesus Christ became our High Priest and entered heaven (the Holy of Holies), once and for all, not by the blood of sacrificial animals, but by His own precious blood shed on the cross (Hebrews 8 & 9). Join me in CELEBRATING CHRIST as the Ultimate ATONEMENT for our eternal redemption!