Yom Kippur begins tomorrow evening. In the Yom Kippur ritual the Jewish people were instructed in the proper way to approach God. The Torah explicitly sets forth the way of worshipping God on this day. It is very different from what is going on in synagogues anywhere in the world today. Yom Kippur is really about the Temple, the priests and the sacrifices – not about rabbis and synagogues. Let’s see how Yom Kippur must be observed from the Torah itself, and what lessons we can learn and apply to ourselves and our service to the Lord:

First, the High Priest’s Preparations for ministry

16:1 Now the Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they had approached the presence of the Lord and died.

This refers to the incident described six chapters earlier, when Nadav and Avihu, two of the sons of Aaron the Cohen HaGadol, the High Priest, offered strange fire, and fire came from the presence of the Lord and incinerated them. The first lesson we must learn is that we must approach God on His terms – His way, not our terms, not our way, not with strange fire, false religion and philosophy. You don’t dare approach God with your own ideas, your own offerings, like the two sons of Aaron, and who were killed for it. God must be approached His way. God must be worshipped His way. Sin must be atoned for His way.

We can only approach God on His terms, not on our terms that we make up and we insist on. Since the Temple was destroyed in 70 AD the non-Messianic Jewish community has approached God on their own terms. They have rejected the Messiah that He has sent, and substituted repentance, prayer, good deeds and fasting for the God-ordained sacrifices and rituals of this day. However, without an innocent substitute, without the shedding of blood, without the exchange of life principle, there can be no atonement, no cleansing, no new life. Authentic Judaism today, therefore, only is found in Messianic Judaism.

Verse 2 reminds us that before Messiah Yeshua came, access to God was severely limited. 16:2  The Lord said to Moses: Tell your brother Aaron that he shall not enter at any time into the holy place inside the veil, before the kapporet – the ark covering which is on the ark, or he will die; for I will appear in the cloud over the ark covering.

Sin has severed our relationship with the holy God. Sin the Fall, we no longer have direct access to the presence of God. No one except the High Priest of Israel could enter the Most Holy Place, that special room within the Temple, where the Shechinah, the dwelling presence of God, was manifested on earth. Even the High Priest of Israel, the only man on earth, who could enter this special room, could only do so once a year, and only on Yom Kippur. If anyone else attempted to do so, he would die. Out of the perhaps one hundred million people on earth at that time, only one man, one millionth percent of humanity, could directly approach the actual presence of God. How sad.

Yes, the high priest could enter into the Most Holy Place, into the presence of God on earth, but he could only come with great caution, with ceremonies and sacrifices. Next came the High Priest’s atonement for himself.

The High Priest’s Ministry for himself and his family

16:3  Aaron shall enter the holy place with this: with a bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering.

16:6  Then Aaron shall offer the bull for the sin offering which is for himself, that he may make atonement for himself and for his household.

16:11-14  Then Aaron shall offer the bull of the sin offering which is for himself and make atonement for himself and for his household, and he shall slaughter the bull of the sin offering which is for himself. He shall take a firepan full of coals of fire from upon the altar before Adonai and two handfuls of finely ground sweet incense, and bring it inside the veil. He shall put the incense on the fire before Adonai, that the cloud of incense may cover the ark covering that is on the ark of the testimony, otherwise he will die. Moreover, he shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the ark covering on the east side; also in front of the ark covering he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times.

The high priest killed a bull for a sin offering for himself. He took some of the blood, a fire pan full of coals from the altar, two handfuls of incense, and went through the veil into the Most Holy Place.

You see, the High Priest of Israel was himself a sinner. Before he could atone for the nation, he first had to deal with his own sins. The high priest needed atonement both for his life and for his ministry. He needed sacrifices in order to approach the presence of the holy God.

Because of God’s mercy, He allowed the high priest, a mere man, to go within the veil, to come into His presence, to atone for himself and for the nation. But even there the High Priest put the incense on the fire so that the ensuing cloud of incense covered the ark, and the whole area of the Most Holy Place. This had to be do so that he would not die. Even the High Priest of Israel was not to gaze directly at the presence of God on earth.

In the Most Holy Place the priest took some of the blood in his finger and sprinkled the Ark Cover. The blood of the bull was the symbol of the new, innocent and pure life provided for the priest and his household. This gave him new life to stand in a right relationship to God, and provided atonement for the priest’s offenses against God.

The Torah allowed priests to serve that were themselves sinful and in need of atonement. They were required to bring sacrifices for themselves. By contrast the High Priest of the New Covenant, Messiah Yeshua, did not need to atone for His sins because His Person and Work were flawless. He did not have to offer sacrifices for Himself before He could serve us. Our High Priest was holy, pure and undefiled. During His whole life He demonstrated perfect love and obedience to God, and conformity with His will. He was tempted in all ways like we are, yet never once did He yield to sin. Though living in a world of sin and temptation, He remained undefiled.

The High Priest had to be atoned for before he could serve others. The same holds true for us. If we are to serve God, we need atonement and dedication. You really can’t help others with their deepest needs, unless you are right with God and walking close to Him. We need to keep ourselves far from sin if we are going to effective servants for the Lord.

Let’s go back to verse 4. Verse 4 tells us that before he could take care of his own needs for atonement, the high priest first bathed in water, as an act of physical and spiritual cleansing.

16:4  He shall put on the holy linen tunic, and the linen undergarments shall be next to his body, and he shall be girded with the linen sash and attired with the linen turban (these are holy garments). Then he shall bathe his body in water and put them on.

After bathing, the high priest put on his garments: the linen undergarments, the linen tunic, the linen sash and turban. No ephod or breastplate was worn on this occasion because the high priest appeared as the head of the people in a simple humble manner. Likewise, Messiah Yeshua, our high priest, made atonement for us, not in the glorious robes of His divine glory, but the linen garments of humanity, clean indeed, but also ordinary and humble.

Like the High Priest that came from Aaron, and like Messiah Yeshua, we need to be right with God before we can really meet the deepest needs of others. We must be washed by the waters of baptism, and have atonement through faith and commitment to the Messiah, be dedicated to Him, and walk humbly before our God. Is that you?

Next, we come to the High Priest’s Ministry for the Aydah – the Holy Congregation

Having taken care of his own sin problem, the high priest then went out, cast lots for one of the goats for the sin offering, slaughtered it, took some of its blood back into the Most Holy Place and sprinkled it, as he had done with the blood of the bull. Through this atonement the nation received a new lease on life for one more year. Verse 5 says:

16:5-10   He shall take from the congregation of the sons of Israel two male goats for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering.

(skip verse 6) Then Aaron shall offer the bull for the sin offering which is for himself, that he may make atonement for himself and for his household.

16:7  And he shall take the two goats and present them before Adonai at the doorway of the Communion Tent. Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats, one lot for Adonai and the other lot for the Azazel – the scapegoat. Then Aaron shall offer the goat on which the lot for Adonai fell, and make it a sin offering. But the goat on which the lot for the scapegoat fell shall be presented alive before Adonai, to make atonement upon it, to send it into the wilderness as the scapegoat.

Let’s continue with verse 15:

16:15  Then he shall slaughter the goat of the sin offering which is for the people, and bring its blood inside the veil and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the ark covering and in front of the ark covering.

There was one way in which God could cover man’s sin of breaking His laws so He could be merciful to us. God did that when the High Priest sprinkled the blood on the kaporet, the Ark Covering, once a year. Until the blood of the Yom Kippur goat was sprinkled on the Ark Covering, the Ark was a place of judgement.

By covering the ark with a lid that was sprinkled with blood, God showed that He could cover the ark containing the 10 commandments which all of us violated, and grant us atonement. God could now sit on His throne and show mercy, because His righteousness and justice were completely satisfied. The sprinkled blood made it possible for a holy God to dwell among a sinful people. Now sinful man could meet with God, because of the atonement of the sacrifice.

God could say, “I am no longer offended because the evidence of man’s sin has been covered from My eyes, and I see only the blood of an innocent substitute who paid the required penalty of death.

What was all this pointing to? The Ark Covering and the blood that was sprinkled on it pointed us to the Messiah. Because of what Yeshua did, because of the blood that He shed, God is completely satisfied with His work of atonement. The Lord is able to forgive mankind, and is able to dwell in and among His people. Messiah is where atonement is made, where God dwells, where God and man meet. Have you come to the blood sprinkled ark covering?

Not only did Yeshua provide His blood, and become the final sacrifice, but He is also our great High Priest. The High Priest had to atone for the people within the Most Holy Place all by himself. It was a one man job. One man atoned for the sins of all Israel. In the same way there is only one way to approach God – through Messiah Yeshua our High Priest and our Sacrifice. No other approach to God will work.

After the atonement for the nation of Israel, the came the High priest’s service for the Temple. Even the Bayt HaMik-dash, God’s Holy Temple, needed atonement, showing us the exceeding sinfulness of sin.

16:16-19  He shall make atonement for the holy place, because of the impurities of the sons of Israel and because of their transgressions in regard to all their sins; and thus he shall do for the Communion Tent which abides with them in the midst of their impurities. When he goes in to make atonement in the holy place, no one shall be in the Communion Tent until he comes out, that he may make atonement for himself and for his household and for all the assembly of Israel. Then he shall go out to the altar that is before Adonai and make atonement for it, and shall take some of the blood of the bull and of the blood of the goat and put it on the horns of the altar on all sides. With his finger he shall sprinkle some of the blood on it seven times and cleanse it, and from the impurities of the sons of Israel consecrate it.

Not only did the High Priest himself, and his family, and the nation of Israel, need atonement, but there was also a need to cleanse the Temple, God’s Holy House, because of the impurities of the Chosen People.

Having finished his duties within the Temple, the high priest then went out to make atonement for the mizbeach – the bronze altar. Talking blood of the bull and of the goat, the high priest put it on the horns of the altar. The blood was sprinkled seven more times on the altar so that it was completely consecrated for another year of service.

Even though this was where the sacrifices of Israel were offered up, where the high priest and the other priests continually served, since we were an imperfect people, with an imperfect priesthood, the altar itself had to be purified.

Israel was chosen to be the nation that was closest to the presence of God on earth. But every year on Yom Kippur, the holy people, the chosen nation were reminded that the holy Temple had to be cleansed because of our impurities. The lesson is that sin is exceedingly sinful, and that we are a sinful nation, much in need of atonement. If we were the chosen nation that was closest to God, what does that tell us about the rest of the world, and about the nature of mankind in general?

Isn’t it wonderful that our High Priest, Messiah Yeshua, is now in the true Temple in Heaven, which can never be defiled, where sin can never reach? From that perfectly pure Temple He can save completely (in a perfect, all-comprehensive manner) all who come to God through Him.

From that perfect and pure Temple in heaven, Messiah continually applies the blessings of eternal redemption. From that holy Temple, our High Prist is continually presenting us to God, interceding for us, and bestowing upon us all the blessings which He has purchased for us with His precious blood.

The Scapegoat

16:20-22  Next the high priest took the live goat, and on behalf of the entire nation of Israel he laid his hands on the head of the goat and confessed all the sins of Israel onto the goat.

When he finishes atoning for the holy place and the Communion Tent and the altar, he shall offer the live goat. Then Aaron shall lay both of his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the sons of Israel and all their transgressions in regard to all their sins; and he shall lay them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who stands in readiness. The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to a solitary land; and he shall release the goat in the wilderness.

When the High Priest confessed the sins of the entire nation onto the head of the Azazel, the scapegoat, it enabled this innocent life to bear sins. The goat took on the sins of the nation. It was led out into the wilderness, pushed over a cliff, never to return again. We didn’t want our sins coming back to haunt us!

The important lesson God wanted His people to learn was that after the sacrifice of the bull as the sin offering for the high priest, and the goat of the sin offering for the nation, the people could have full, complete and total assurance that their sins had been taken away from them. They would never be confronted by these sins again. God wanted the Jewish people to know that if they were faithful to God, and offered righteous sacrifices, they could know that they were atoned for, that they were right with God, that they were forgiven, that they were saved, that they would live.

The Yom Kippur rituals were meant to impress upon the entire nation the spiritual redemption that God wanted for them. But God never intended that Israel would go through the rituals as mere formality, but that every individual would find in the experience their own personal salvation. Each individual had to personally repent and seek the face of God.

In the New Covenant, we also need a personal salvation experience for each individual. God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son does not have the life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. Is that you? Do you know that you have eternal life because you have the Son of God, and He has you?

Burnt Offering and Dedication

16:23-25  the Yom Kippur ceremonies did not stop with atonement. Once atonement had been made, the high priest, the other priests and the people could then enter into the blessedness of dedication to God.

Then Aaron shall come into the Communion Tent and take off the linen garments which he put on when he went into the holy place, and shall leave them there. He shall bathe his body with water in a holy place and put on his clothes, and come forth and offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people and make atonement for himself and for the people. Then he shall offer up in smoke the fat of the sin offering on the altar.

The high priest took off his humble linen clothes. Then he would bathe in a special place, put back on his entire high priestly clothing of beauty and splendor, and sacrifice a ram for a burnt offering of dedication for himself, and one for the entire nation. Serving in his clothes of glory as the official high priest after atonement had been made, he could dedicate himself and the nation to God for another year.

In a similar way, after we are atoned for, we must be dedicated to God’s purposes. We must present our bodies, our lives, our fortunes, as a living a holy sacrifice acceptable to God, which is our spiritual service of worship.

The fat of the sin offerings was burned on the altar. But since the blood of these offerings had been offered in the Most Holy Place, the remaining portions of the bull and the goat were brought outside the camp to a selected place and entirely burned. None of it was eaten. Verse 26:

16:26-28  The one who released the goat as the scapegoat shall wash his clothes and bathe his body with water; then afterward he shall come into the camp. But the bull of the sin offering and the goat of the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the holy place, shall be taken outside the camp, and they shall burn their hides, their flesh, and their refuse in the fire. Then the one who burns them shall wash his clothes and bathe his body with water, then afterward he shall come into the camp.

Just as the one who brought the scapegoat loaded with the sins of Israel into the wilderness had to wash his clothes and bathe with water, because he had been in close proximity to the sins of Israel, so also the one who burned the carcasses of the sin offerings had to wash his clothes and bathe before he was allowed back among the people. Sin is so serious, so destructive, so deadly, and so easily transmitted. So we need to always be on alert not to get entangled with evil.

Other Yom Kippur Instructions

16:29-31  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 Adonai. It is to be a Sabbath of solemn rest for you, that you may humble your souls; it is a permanent statute.

16:32-34  So the priest who is anointed and ordained to serve as priest in his father’s place shall make atonement: he shall thus put on the linen garments, the holy garments, and make atonement for the holy sanctuary, and he shall make atonement for the Communion Tent and for the altar. He shall also make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the assembly. Now you shall have this as a permanent statute, to make atonement for the sons of Israel for all their sins once every year. And just as Adonai had commanded Moses, so he did.

It was impressed upon Israel that this day was one of the most important days of the year, occurring in the seventh month, indicating that this month was the most perfect time for atonement and final redemption. The observance of this day is a permanent statute for all Israel. Even the gentiles living among the Jewish people were required to observe this day. It is Shabbat Shabbaton, a Sabbath of Sabbaths. It is the one day a year for intense soul searching, to understand the awfulness of sin, that sin leads to spiritual death. It is a day for prayer, fasting and searching one’s soul, and knowing that God has provided His way of atonement through Priest, Temple and Sacrifice.

It is a day to remember how awful sin is, that the priests, the sanctuary, and the chosen people of Israel, were not perfect. Every year everyone in the nation, even the Temple itself, was in need of atonement.

I’m sorry, but Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Humanistic, or Chasidic Judaism are all man-made religions that approach God on their terms – not His terms. They are offering strange fire at will not, that can not, bring atonement.

May God help us see that Yom Kippur in the Torah was meant to be a temporary way of covering over the sins of Israel until the final atonement provided by the Messiah. He is the final and perfect Sacrifice. He is our High Priest, who continually, eternally, and perfectly, serves us and saves us from the sinless heavenly Temple in which He dwells. Through His incarnation, through all the experiences of His life of sorrow and faith, through His death upon the cross, through His resurrection and ascension, Yeshua is our one and only High Priest, God and Man in one Person, the perfect Mediator between God and man. Is He your High Priest? Is He your Sacrifice? Are you part of that glorious and eternal Temple, the true Temple, that place where God and man dwells together, that He is building? hope so!