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the Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur is
the most holy and solemn day of the
Jewish calendar it is the only day when
the high priest could enter the Holy of
Holies the most sacred place within the
tabernacle and ancient temples it was
the only day when the high priest
reconciled Israel with God and
symbolically brought them back into the
presence of the Lord no other day and no
other ancient ritual comes closer to the
full meaning and purpose of the
atonement of Jesus Christ the fall
season of festivals begins with Rosh
Hashanah the beginning of the Jewish New
Year Rosh Hashanah marks the start of a
ten day period of repentance and
preparation for the Day of Atonement
during these 10 days Israelites would
seek to draw closer to God in
preparation for these sacred rituals on
the day of atonement all of Israel would
be forgiven for their sins of the
previous year thus allowing them to be
cleansed and prepared for the Feast of
Tabernacles or Sukkot to occur five days
later Feast of Tabernacles was the final
and most joyous of the three major
Jewish feasts of Passover Pentecost and
Tabernacles the day of atonement
followed a complex yet beautiful ritual
symbolizing that all of Israel now had
been forgiven and was able to re-enter
the presence of the Lord through the
high priest the ritual began with the
high priest dressed in his normal
colorful golden garments offering the
daily mourning ritual of sacrifices and
burning of incense on the altar of
incense he then would wash his flesh and
change into simple white robes the act
of washing and changing clothes would
actually occur five separate times
throughout the ritual the wearing of
just the white robes could symbolize the
Savior who leaving his head
we thrown laid aside all the glory and
put upon himself the plain robe of
humanity becoming like one of us the
color of white is also a powerful symbol
of purity representing the absolute
purity of the true great high priest
even Jesus Christ
next the high priest would bring two
goats into the tabernacle or temple and
cast lots for each of them one lot was
for as IL or the scapegoat and the other
was for the Lord a red ribbon was tied
around the horns of the scapegoat to
distinguish it from the other goat the
high priest would then take a Bullock or
young bull and place his hands on its
head symbolically transferring his own
sins and the sins of his fellow priests
to the bull he would then slit the
throat of the bull and catch the blood
in a dish to be saved for later services
he then would bring a burning coal from
the altar of sacrifice and incense into
the Holy of Holies through the veil for
the first time here dressed in all white
the high priest would burn the incense
before the Lord the room would fill with
smoke the cloud of smoke often being a
symbol of the presence of God the high
priest then would exit the holy of
Holy's wash again and take the blood of
the bull and re-enter the holy of holies
for a second time he would then sprinkle
seven times the blood of the bowl on the
Ark of the Covenant the shedding of the
blood of the young bull represented that
the high priest was forgiven and
reconciled to enter into the presence of
the Lord the high priest would then kill
the goat that was chosen for the Lord
again saving the blood in a dish he then
would enter the holy of holies with this
blood for the third and final time as he
did before he would sprinkle the blood
of the goat seven times before the ark
as the goat was the offering for the
people this act of bringing its blood
into the Holy of Holies
represented that all of Israel was
symbolically able to enter the presence
of the Lord
through the high priest and because of
the shedding of the blood of the
sacrifice just as the high priest could
only enter by blood so - it is only by
the shed blood of Jesus Christ that we
can enter God's presence as the high
priest exited the Holy of Holies he
would then sprinkle the combined blood
of the bull and the goat before the veil
of the tabernacle he would also use the
blood to cover the four horns of the
altar of incense the remaining blood
would be poured out at the base of the
altar of sacrifice in the outer court
the high priest would then return to the
scapegoat and place his hands upon its
head symbolically transferring the sins
of all of the people to the goat he then
would utter the sacred name of the Lord
which was never to be said except on
this holy day Oh Jehovah I entreat thee
your people the house of Israel has been
iniquitous sinned and erred before you
oh then Jehovah cover over I entreat
thee upon their iniquities their
transgressions and their sins the goat
was then taken outside of the tabernacle
and led into the wilderness the
guiltless goat dependent upon its owner
for its care and protection would become
lost and died in the desert
perhaps no symbol of the Savior is more
powerful than the scapegoat innocent of
any wrongdoing just like this goat the
savior has had laid upon him the sins of
the world as isaiah so beautifully
stated 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 modern readers often
gloss over the significance of the Day
of Atonement
as simply an outdated archaic ritual of
death and covering of blood
however as one better understands each
of the aspects it teaches a powerful
message of the atonement of Jesus Christ
the word atonement or Kafar in Hebrew
actually means to cover thus as the high
priest literally covers with blood the
ark the veil and the altars of the
tabernacle he symbolically shows that
atonement has been made and that the way
is now open to progress back through the
tabernacle because of the shedding of
blood from the Scriptures we learned
that when the Savior went to pray and
suffer in Gethsemane he first left eight
disciples at the entrance then took
Peter James and John further into the
garden and then by himself went further
into pray though it is impossible to
know the exact reason for this
three-level progression the Savior
creates within the garden it has a
strong correlation to the three levels
of the tabernacle with the outer
courtyard the holy place and the Holy of
Holies it is as if the Savior desired to
recreate these three levels to show that
he was officiating as our great High
Priest and interceding on our behalf
how beautifully the symbolism of the Day
of Atonement teaches us that it is only
through the shed blood of the Lamb of
God even Jesus Christ that we can once
again enter the presence of the Lord it
is only because he took upon himself our
sins and iniquities that we can be
forgiven and our burdens made light
because of him we can have our sins
covered over blotted out or atoned for
the book of Hebrews teaches but Christ
being come an high priest not with the
blood of goats and calves but with his
own blood he entered the most holy place
once for all having obtained eternal
Redemption how wonderful it is that
unlike ancient Israel who only could be
forgiven once a year we can daily come
to the Lord lay our sins and guilt upon
him and continually be forgiven and
cleansed because of his atonement
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