Lev. 16, Day of Atonement

Yom Kippur it is called now. The holiest day of the Hebrew calendar. It is established with its ancient regulations in Leviticus 16.

Some good commentaries may be found here:

http://www.abideinchrist.com/messages/lev16v1.html

http://calvarychapel.com/simivalley/commentaries/Leviticus16.htm

http://www.searchgodsword.org/com/wen/view.cgi?book=le&chapter=016

http://www.pbc.org/dp/stedman/leviticus/0516.html

The establishment of the Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippur, was easily as important as the Passover remembrance. It is one thing to have your sins 'passed over' but another to have them atoned for entirely. Yom Kippur presents a picture of the latter, and in it, the Promise of the Messiah's deliverance.

There are some interesting points I would like to add to the above:

1. A goat is used. In Matthew 25, Jesus tells of the separation of the sheep from the goats, and the goats are representative of unregenerate people, the unbelievers, who are on their way to hell. That a goat was used as the scapegoat on the Day of Atonement would not have escaped Jesus' listeners. And then, later, Jesus Himself became the scapegoat, bearing all the sins of the people.

2. The scapegoat was released into the desert. Jesus Himself was led into the desert by the Holy Spirit where He fasted for what is evidently the longest time a human body can go without food and live -- 40 days -- and then, in what was presumably a much weakened condition physically, was tempted by Satan.

3. The scapegoat symbolically carried ALL the sins of the entire Israelite community into the desert. Likewise, Christ carried all the sins of humanity to the cross.

I recommend reading the entire chapter and then reading each of the commentaries and Stedman's excellent sermon. You will come away from it all with a much deeper understanding of the meaning of atonement and the impact of what Jesus did for us.

[ November 21, 2002, 12:41 AM: Message edited by: Helen ]