Feasts of the Bible

The Day of Atonement: How It Points to Christ

Fall feast · Leviticus 23:27 · The tenth day of the seventh month (Tishri)

The Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, was the holiest day of Israel's year, when the high priest alone entered the innermost Holy of Holies with blood to make atonement for the sins of the whole nation, and a scapegoat carried their guilt away into the wilderness. Christians see it fulfilled in Jesus, our great High Priest, who entered heaven itself, not with the blood of goats, but by His own blood, having obtained eternal redemption for us.

The institutionAlso on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD.Leviticus 23:27 (KJV)

The feast God gave Israel

On the tenth day of the seventh month came the most solemn day of the year: Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement. It was a day of affliction of soul, of fasting and repentance, when no work was done and the whole nation humbled itself before God. On this one day, and no other, the high priest was permitted to pass through the veil into the Holy of Holies, the innermost chamber of the tabernacle, where the presence of God dwelt above the mercy seat.

The ritual, given in Leviticus 16, was exact and awful. The high priest bathed, put on plain white linen, and offered a bull for his own sin. Then two goats were taken for the people. One was slain, and its blood was carried within the veil and sprinkled upon the mercy seat, for on that day the priest made atonement to cleanse them from all their sins. Over the other, the live goat, the priest confessed all the iniquities of Israel, laying them on its head, and it was led away into the wilderness, bearing away their guilt, never to return. So the nation's sin was both covered by blood and carried away, on the one day when heaven and earth met at the mercy seat.

What the feast meant

The Day of Atonement taught Israel the seriousness of sin and the costliness of forgiveness. Sin could not simply be overlooked; it had to be atoned for, covered by the blood of a life given in place of the guilty. And it taught them the distance between a holy God and a sinful people. The way into the Holy of Holies was closed all year; only once, and only through blood, and only by one appointed man, could anyone approach the presence of God.

The two goats together told the whole of what forgiveness requires. One died, its blood answering the demand of justice. The other lived but was driven far away, carrying the sin out of sight and out of reach, as far as the east is from the west. Guilt covered, and guilt removed. Yet the very repetition, year after year, whispered that the work was not finished. If it were truly done, why must it be done again every autumn.

Fulfilled in Christ

Fulfilled in ChristNeither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.Hebrews 9:12 (KJV)

The letter to the Hebrews takes the Day of Atonement and shows it fulfilled in Jesus with overwhelming clarity. He is the great High Priest, but greater than Aaron, for He offered not the blood of animals but Himself. Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. He did not pass through an earthly veil into a room made with hands, but through the heavens into the true presence of God, once for all.

And in Him the two goats meet in one. He is the slain goat, whose blood answers justice, and the scapegoat, who bore our sins away, for the LORD laid on Him the iniquity of us all. When He died, the veil of the temple was torn from top to bottom, the barrier that had stood all those centuries opened by the hand of God, because the way into the holiest was now made new and living through Christ. What the high priest could do only for a moment, once a year, Jesus has done forever, once for all.

The wonder of it

The Day of Atonement was the beating heart of Israel's worship, and every part of it pointed beyond itself. The single mediator, the blood carried in, the guilt laid on the head of the innocent, the removal of sin, the closed veil, all of it was waiting for One who would fulfill it not as a picture but as the reality. That God should have built into the calendar of a wandering people a day that so exactly foretold the priesthood and sacrifice of His own Son is a marvel that grows the longer you gaze at it.

And the deepest wonder is this: on that ancient day the priest went in and came out, and the people waited anxiously to know that the sacrifice was accepted. When Christ our High Priest entered heaven with His own blood, He sat down, the sacrifice accepted forever, the work complete. There is no more anxious waiting. The atonement is finished.

The one that never had to be repeated

The letter to the Hebrews draws out one detail with great force: the ancient priests stood daily and yearly, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which could never take away sins. The very repetition was the proof of its incompleteness. If the blood of goats could truly cleanse the conscience, the offerings would have ceased. But every autumn the Day of Atonement came around again, a yearly remembrance of sins, because the debt was covered but never finally paid.

Then came One whose single sacrifice needed no repeating. This man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God. The sitting down is everything. The old priests never sat, for their work was never done; there was no chair in the tabernacle. But Christ our High Priest, His offering complete and accepted, sat down. By one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. What returned every year now stands finished forever, and the conscience that could never be cleansed by the blood of animals is washed clean by the blood of the Son of God.

How it speaks to us now

Yom Kippur answers the deepest fear of the human heart: that our sin is too great, and that God is too holy, for us ever to be at peace with Him. In Christ that fear is put to rest. Your sin has been covered by blood far more precious than any goat's, and carried away farther than any wilderness, never to be laid against you again. The veil is torn. You need not stand outside, hoping. Through the great High Priest you may come with boldness to the very throne of grace, cleansed, forgiven, and at home in the presence of God.

A note in honesty: Christians read these feasts as shadows whose substance is Christ, in the words of the apostle Paul (Colossians 2:17), and they are cherished across the traditions as one of the clearest windows into the gospel. Faithful Jewish readers understand them differently, and we hold ours with respect and without contempt. The spring feasts were fulfilled at the first coming of Jesus, to the very day; the fall feasts many see as pointing toward His return, though Scripture forbids the setting of dates, for no one knows the day or the hour. We marvel at the pattern without pretending to a calendar God has not given.

Related: The Feast of Trumpets · The Feast of Tabernacles · Who is Jesus · All the feasts of the Bible