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Day of Atonement - Leviticus 16
Day of Atonement - Leviticus 16
“This shall be a permanent statute for you: in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall humble your souls and not do any work, whether the native, or the alien who sojourns among you; for it is on this day that atonement shall be made for you to cleanse you; you will be clean from all your sins before the Lord." (Leviticus 16:29–30).
It is hard to imagine just what it was like to experience the events described in Lev. 16. The sounds of the animals, the smell of burning flesh and stagnate blood, the sight of the Priest in his holy garments in contrast with the slaughtering of the animals for sacrifice. It should have at least made a great impression concerning God and sin! While we will later see a list of all the sacrifices that were to be made on this day, the Day of Atonement, 'Yom Kippur', what we see here is the limited picture of the High Priest's activities.
Sin creates a terrible picture. There must be atonement made for it. The atonement requires death, the shedding of blood. Such atonement was to be accomplished in very rigid order as divinely revealed by God unto man. Yet, after all of this was done, it had to be repeated again the next year, and the next, and the next..., generation after generation, High priest after High Priest, it never was finished.
Thus, we are informed concerning the reality of atonement with God. This picture in Leviticus 16 is just that, a picture of the TRUE atonement. Turning to Hebrews we see that Aaron gives way to Jesus, animal death/blood gives way to Jesus' body/blood, the earthly tabernacle gives way to heaven and the very presence of God. The yearly sacrifices give way to the 'once-for-all' sacrifice of Jesus. The yearly atonement gives way to eternal redemption (9:12).
We are given a reminder of this in the Lord's supper where we 'remember His death'. We partake of bread and fruit of the vine remembering his dying for us and his consequent resurrection, ascension, glory, and priestly intercession. We are reminded that we are a people that have sinned but are now pardoned. Our sins have been atoned for, they have been washed away, they have been forgiven. We have had our hearts sprinkled clean by the blood of Jesus and our bodies washed. We now are acceptable unto God. Let us never forget that only through Jesus have we found salvation from sin. Let us ever praise Him for His mercy and forgiveness.
"Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water." (Hebrews 10:19–22).
Hugh DeLong
