Atonement and the High Priest

On the Day of Atonement "ye shall afflict your souls." It is a day of fasting, affliction of the flesh, doing without food and water. We whom are Israelites should spend much time meditating on our lives, confessing our sins, and repenting and looking to the sacrifice of our High Priest the Messiah as atonement for us, that we might be truly reconciled to YEHOVAH God.

The Judahites had many striking ceremonies which marvelously set forth the death of Yeshua the Messiah as the great expiation of our guilt and the salvation of our being. One of the chief of these was the day of atonement, which we believe was pre-eminently intended to typify that great day of vengeance of YEHOVAH God, which was also the great day of acceptance of our being, when Yeshua the Messiah "died, the just for the unjust, to bring us [YEHOVAH's people Israel] to God."

That day of atonement happened only once a year, to teach us that only once should the Messiah die; and that though he will be with us again in the future, it will be without a sin offering unto salvation. The lambs were perpetually slaughtered; morning and evening they offered sacrifice to YEHOVAH God, to remind the Israelite people that they always needed a sacrifice; but the day of atonement being the type of the one great propitiation, it was but once a year that the high priest entered within the veil with blood as the atonement for the sins of the people of Israel.

And this was on a certain set and appointed time; it was not left to the choice of Moses, or to the convenience of Aaron, or to any other circumstance which might affect the date; it was appointed to be on a peculiar set day, as you find at the 29th verse of Leviticus 16: "In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month;" and at no other time was the day of atonement to be, to show us that YEHOVAH's great day of atonement was appointed and predestinated by Himself.

The Messiah's expiation occurred but once, and then not by any chance; YEHOVAH God had settled it from before the foundation of the world; and at that hour when YEHOVAH had predestinated, on that very day that YEHOVAH had decreed that the Messiah should die, he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers he was dumb. It was but once a year, because the sacrifice should be once; it was at an appointed time in the year, because in the fullness of time Yeshua the Messiah should be chosen by YEHOVAH God to die for the people of Israel.

Now, let us take a look at the ceremonies of this solemn day, taking the different parts in detail. First, we shall consider the person who made the atonement; secondly, the sacrifice whereby the atonement was typically made; thirdly, the effects of the atonement; and fourthly, our behavior on the recollection of the atonement, as set forth by the conduct prescribed to the Israelites on that day.

And at the outset, we remark that Aaron, the high priest, did it. "Thus shall Aaron come into the holy place; with a young bullock for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering" (Leviticus 16:3). Inferior priests slaughtered lambs; other priests at other times did almost all the work of the sanctuary; but on this day nothing was done by any one, as a part of the business of the great day of atonement, except by the high priest. Old rabbinical traditions tell us that everything on that day was done by him, even the lighting of the candles, and the fires, and the incense, and all the offices that were required, and that, for two weeks beforehand, he was obliged to go into the tabernacle to slaughter the bullocks and assist in the work of the priests and Levites -- that he might be prepared to do the work which was unusual to him. All the labor was left to him.

So Yeshua the Messiah, the High Priest, and he only, works the atonement. There are other priests, for "he hath made us priests and kings unto God" (Revelation 1:6). Every Christian-Israelite is a priest to offer sacrifice of prayer and praise unto YEHOVAH God, but none save the High Priest must offer atonement; he, and he alone, must go within the veil; he must slaughter the goat and sprinkle the blood; for though thanksgiving is shared in by all the Messiah's elect body, atonement remains alone to him, the High Priest.

Then it is interesting to note that the high priest on this day was a humbled priest. You read in the 4th verse, "He shall put on the holy linen coat, and he shall have the linen breeches upon his flesh, and shall be girded with a linen girdle, and with linen miter shall he be attired: these are holy garments" (Leviticus 16:4). On other days he wore what the people were accustomed to call the golden garments; he had the miter with a plate of pure gold around his brow, tied with brilliant blue; the splendid breastplate, studded with gems, adorned with pure gold and set with precious stones; the glorious ephod, the tinkling bells, and all the other ornaments, with which he came before the people as the accepted high priest. But on this day he had none of them. The golden miter was laid aside, the embroidered vest was put away, the breastplate was taken off, and he came out simply with the holy linen coat, the linen breeches, the linen miter, and girded with a linen girdle.

On that day he humbled himself just as the people of Israel humbled themselves. Now, that is a notable circumstance. You will see various other passages in the references which will bear this out, that the priest's dress on this day was different. As Mayer tells us, he wore garments, and glorious ones, on other days, but on this day he wore four humble ones. Yeshua the Messiah, then, when he made atonement, was a humbled priest. He did not make atonement arrayed in all the glories he now experiences on his throne in heaven.

Upon his brow there was no diadem, except for the crown of thorns; around him he wore no purple robe, except that which he wore for a time in mockery; on his head was no scepter, except the reed which they thrust in cruel contempt upon him; he had no sandals of pure gold, neither was he dressed as king; he had none of those splendors about him which should make him mighty and distinguished among men; he came out in his simple body, in his naked body, for they stripped off even the common robe from him, and made him hang before YEHOVAH's Temple in Jerusalem, naked, to his shame, and to the disgrace of those who chose to do such a cruel and dastardly deed.

In the next place, the high priest who offered the atonement must be a spotless high priest. Because there were none to be found Aaron, being a sinner himself as well as the people, had to sanctify himself and make atonement for his own sin before he could go in to make an atonement for the sins of the people of Israel. In the 3rd verse you read,

Also, before he went within the veil with the blood of the goat which was the atonement for the people, he had to go within the veil to make atonement there for himself. In the 11th, 12th, and 13th verses, it is said,

Before Aaron took the blood (which was a type of the Messiah) within the veil, he took the blood (which was a type of the Messiah in another sense) and purified himself. Aaron could not go within the veil until his sins had been typically expiated by the bullock, nor even then without the burning smoking incense before his face, lest YEHOVAH God should look on him and he should die, being an impure mortal.

Moreover, the Jews tell us that Aaron had to wash himself, I think, five times in the day; and it is said in Leviticus 16 that he had to wash himself many times. We read in the 4th verse, "These are holy garments; therefore shall he wash his flesh in water, and so put them on." And at the 24th verse, "He shall wash his flesh with water in the holy place, and put on his garments." So you see it was strictly provided for that Aaron should be a spotless priest on that day.

He could not be so naturally, but ceremonially care was taken that he should be clean. He was washed over and over again in the sacred bath. And apart from that, there was the blood of the bullock and the smoke of the incense, that he might be acceptable before YEHOVAH God. But we have a spotless High Priest; we have one who needed no washing, for he had no filth to wash away. We have one who needed no atonement for himself. He was pure and spotless; he needed no incense to wave before the mercy seat to hide the angry face of justice. He needed nothing to hide and shelter him; he was all pure and clean. If he had not been a holy High Priest, he could never have taken our sins upon himself, and never have made intercession for YEHOVAH's people Israel.

Again, the atonement was made by a solitary high priest -- alone and unassisted. You read in the 17th verse of Leviticus 16,

No other man was to be present, so that the people might be quite certain that everything was done by the high priest alone. It is remarkable, as Matthew Henry observes, that no disciple died with the Messiah. When he was put to death, his disciples forsook him and fled. The Judean authorities crucified none of his followers with him, in case any should suppose that the disciple shared the honor of atonement. Criminals were crucified with him because no one would suspect that they could assist him; but if a disciple had died it might have been imagined that he had shared the atonement.

YEHOVAH God kept that holy circle of Golgotha select to the Messiah, and none of his disciples must go to die there with him. Our High Priest did it all alone. As an antitype of Aaron, no son of his stood with him; no Eliezer, no Phineas burned incense; there was no priest, no Levite -- only himself. Alone and unassisted he made atonement for Israel's guilt. The bath of his blood is our only washing; the water from his side is our perfect purification. No one but the Messiah has carried out the work of salvation for YEHOVAH's people Israel.

Again, it was a laborious high priest who did the work on that day. It is astonishing how, after comparative rest, he should be so accustomed to his work as to be able to perform all that he had to do on that day. If we count up how many creatures he had to kill, we will find that there were fifteen beasts which he slaughtered at different times, besides the other offices, which were all left to him. In the first place, there were the two lambs, one offered in the morning, and the other in the evening; they were never omitted, being a perpetual ordinance. On this day the high priest killed those two lambs.

Here, then, was one bullock, a ram, seven lambs, and a kid of the goats; making ten. The two lambs made twelve. And in the chapter we have been studying, it is said in the 3rd verse: "Thus shall Aaron come into the holy place: with a young bullock for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering;" which makes the number fourteen. Then, after that, we find there were two goats, but only one of them was killed -- the other being allowed to go away. Thus, then, there were fifteen beasts to be slaughtered, besides the burnt offerings of thanksgiving which were offered by way of showing that the people of Israel now desired to dedicate themselves to YEHOVAH God from gratitude, that the atonement of sin offering had been accepted.

He who was ordained priest in Jerusalem toiled like a common Levite on that day, working as laboriously as a priest could do, and far more so than on any ordinary day. It was the same with Yeshua the Messiah. What a labor the atonement was for him! It was a work that all the hands of the universe could not have accomplished; yet he completed it alone. It was a work more laborious than the treading of the wine-press, and his body, unless sustained by YEHOVAH's spirit within, could scarcely have borne such tremendous labor. There was the bloody sweat in Gethsemane; there was the watching all night, just as the high priest did for fear that uncleanness might touch him.

There was also the hooting and the scorn which he suffered every day before -- something like the continual offering of the Lamb. Then there came the shame, the spitting, the cruel flagellations in Pilate's hall; then there was the walk through Jerusalem's sad streets; then came the hanging on the tree, with the weight of the people's sins on his shoulders -- and the terrible stoning that followed. It was a tremendous labor that our great High Priest carried out on that day -- the taking of the sins of all Israel upon his shoulders and casting them into the depths of the sea. The atonement was made by a toilsome, laborious High Priest, who indeed worked hard that day; and Yeshua, though he had toiled before, never worked as hard as he did on that wondrous day of atonement.

Thus have I led you to consider the person who made the atonement: let us now consider for a moment or two the means by which this atonement was made. You read at the 5th verse of Leviticus 16,

The first goat is considered to be the great type of Yeshua the Messiah the atonement. The first goat is a type of the means whereby the atonement was made.

Notice that this goat, of course, answered all the pre-requisites of every other thing that was sacrificed it -- must be a perfect, unblemished goat of the first year. Even so was the Messiah a perfect man, in the prime and vigor of his manhood. And further, this goat was an eminent type of the Messiah from the fact that it was taken of the congregation of the children of Israel, as we are told at the 5th verse. The public treasury furnished the goat.

So Yeshua the Messiah was, first of all, purchased by the public treasury of the Judahite people before he died. They had valued him at thirty pieces of silver, a good price; and as they had been accustomed to bring the goat, so they brought him to be offered: not, indeed, with the intention that he should be their sacrifice, but unwittingly they fulfilled this when they brought him before Pilate, and cried, "Crucify him, crucify him!" Indeed, the Messiah came out from the midst of the people, and the people brought him. Ironic that it should be so! "He came unto his own, and his own received him not;" his own led him forth to slaughter; his own dragged him before the mercy seat.

Note, again, that though this goat, like the scapegoat, was brought by the people, YEHOVAH's decision was in it still. It is said, "Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats: one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat." This mention of lots is to teach us that although the Judahites brought the Messiah of their own will to die, yet the Messiah had been appointed to die; and even the very man who sold him was appointed to it -- so records the Bible. The Messiah's death was fore-ordained, and there was not only man's hand in it, but also YEHOVAH God's. "The lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of the LORD." So it is true that man put the Messiah to death, but it was of YEHOVAH's disposal that the Messiah was slaughtered, "the just for the unjust, to bring us to God."

Next, take note of the goat that destiny has marked out to make the atonement. Come and see it die. The priest stabs it. Notice it in its agonies; behold it struggling for a moment; observe the blood as it gushes forth. Here we have our Savior. See his God's vengeful sword sheathed in his heart; behold his death agonies; see the clammy sweat upon his brow; see his tongue cleaving to the roof of his mouth; hear his sighs and groans upon the tree; listen to his shriek, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani," and you have more now to think of than you could have if you only stood to see the death of a goat for your atonement. See the blood as it flowed from his wounded body after the terrible stoning he endured, and from his feet it finds a channel to the earth; from his open side see it gush. As the blood of the goat made the atonement typically, so our Savior dying for the people of Israel, made the great atonement for our sins that we may go free.

But note well, this goat's blood was not only shed for many of Israel for the remission of sins as a type of the Messiah, but that blood was taken within the veil, and there it was sprinkled. So with Yeshua's blood, "Sprinkled now with blood the throne." The blood of other beasts (except only that of the bullock) was offered before YEHOVAH God, and was not brought into the most holy place; but this goat's blood was sprinkled on the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat, to make an atonement. So our Savior's blood has made atonement within the veil. He has taken it there himself; his own merits and his own agonies are now within the veil of glory, sprinkled now before the throne. By his one offering he made atonement for ever, even as this one slaughtered goat made atonement once in a year for the sins of all the people of Israel.

One of the first effects of the death of this goat was sanctification of the holy things which had been made unholy. You read in the 15th and 16th verses of Leviticus 16,

The holy place was made unholy by the people of Israel. Where YEHOVAH God dwelt should be holy, but where man comes there must be some degree of unholiness. But notice that the second great fact was that their sins were taken away. This was set forth by the scapegoat. You read at verses 20-22:

When that was done the great and wonderful atonement was finished, and the effects of it were set forth to the people. Now, we do not know how many opinions there are about this scapegoat. One of the most strange opinions to us is that which is held by a very large portion of the scholars, and found in the margins of many Bibles. Many so-called scholars think that this word scapegoat, Azazel, was the name of the devil who was worshipped by the heathen in the form of a goat; and they tell us that the first goat was offered to YEHOVAH God as an atonement for sin, and the other went away to be tormented by the devil, and was called Azazel, just as the Messiah was tormented by Satan in the wilderness. It is enough to object to this opinion that it is difficult to conceive when the other goat was offered to YEHOVAH God, and should be sent among demons. Indeed, the opinion is too absurd for belief. It needs only to be mentioned to be refuted.

Now the first goat is Yeshua the Messiah making atonement by his death for the sins of the people of Israel; the second is sent away into the wilderness, and nothing is heard of it any more for ever. Here a difficulty suggests itself -- "Did the Messiah go where he was never heard of any more for ever?" That is what we have to consider here. The first goat was a type of the atonement; the second is the type of the effect of the atonement. The second goat went away, after the first was slaughtered, carrying the sins of the people of Israel on its head, and so it sets forth, as a scapegoat, how the sins of we Israelites are carried away into the depth of the wilderness by the Messiah. There is extant a painting of the scapegoat dying in the wilderness: it was represented with a burning sky above it, its feet sticking in the mire, surrounded by hundreds of skeletons, and there dying a doleful and miserable death. Now, that was just a piece of gratuitous nonsense, for there is nothing in the Bible that warrants it in the least degree.

The rabbis tell us that this goat was taken by a man into the wilderness and here tumbled down a high rock to die; but, as an excellent commentator says, if the man did push it down the rock he did more than YEHOVAH God ever told him to do! In fact, YEHOVAH told him to take a goat and let it go. As to what became of it, neither you nor I know anything -- that is purposely left out. The Messiah has taken away the sins of YEHOVAH's people Israel upon his head, just as the scapegoat did, and he is gone from us -- that is all.

The goat was not a type in its dying, or in regard to its subsequent fate. YEHOVAH God has only told us that it should be taken by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness. The most correct account seems to be that of one Rabbi Jarchi, who says that they generally took the goat twelve miles out of Jerusalem, and at each mile there was a booth provided where the man who took it might refresh himself till he came to the tenth mile, when there was no more rest for him till he had seen the goat let go. When he had come to the last mile he stood and looked at the goat till it was gone, and he could see it no more. Then the sins of the people of Israel were all gone too.

We see a fulfillment of this in Acts 1:9-11 where the Messiah ascends into Heaven and "was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their [the disciples] sight." The disciples, like the "fit man," gazed up into Heaven until they could see him no more.

Now, what a fine type that is if we do not enquire any further! But if we start focusing on things that YEHOVAH God intended us to be in ignorance of, we will gain nothing by it. This scapegoat was not designed to show us the victim or the sacrifice, but simply what became of the sins. The sins of the Israelite people were confessed upon that head; the goat is taken out; the people lose sight of it; a fit man goes with it; the sins are going from them, and now the man has arrived at his destination; the man sees the goat in the distance skipping here and there over the mountains, glad of its liberty. It is not quite gone -- a little farther, and now it is lost to sight. The man returns, and says he can no longer see it. Then the people clap their hands, for their sins are all gone too. We may have to take a long journey, and carry our sins with us; but now we can see them utterly cast into the depths of the wilderness of forgetfulness -- where they shall never be found any more against us for ever!

But notice, this goat did not sacrificially make the atonement. It was a type of the sins going away, and so it was a type of the atonement; for since our sins are thereby lost, it is the fruit of the atonement. But the sacrifice is the means of making it. So we have this great and glorious thought before us, that by the death of the Messiah there was full, free, perfect remission for all those Israelites whose sins are laid upon his head. For we should notice that on this day all sins were laid on the scapegoat's head -- sins of presumption, sins of ignorance, sins of uncleanness, little sins and great sins, sins few and sins many, sins against the law, sins against morality, sins against ceremonies -- sins of all kinds were taken away on that great day of atonement.

Here is another fact that is worth mentioning. If we turn to Leviticus 25:9 we will read:

One of the effects of the atonement was that when the Year of Jubilee came, it was not on the first day of the year that it was proclaimed, but "on the tenth day of the seventh month." That was the best part of it. The scapegoat is gone, and the sins are gone, and no sooner are they gone than the silver trumpet sounds,

On that day sinners of Israel go free; on that day our poor mortgaged lands are liberated, and our poor estates which have been forfeited by our spiritual bankruptcy are all returned to us. So when the Messiah died, slaves won their liberty, and lost ones received spiritual life again; when he died, the earth, the long lost inheritance, is ours. Atonement and jubilee ought to go together. If we Israelites have never had a jubilee in our hearts, we have never had a day of atonement.

One more thought concerning the effects of this great day of atonement, and one we will find runs throughout the whole of the chapter -- entrance within the veil. Only on one day in the year might the high priest enter within the veil, and then it must be for the great purposes of the atonement. Now the atonement is finished, and we may enter within the veil: "Having boldness, therefore, to enter into the holiest, let us come with boldness into the throne of the heavenly grace." The veil of the Temple was rent by the atonement of the Messiah, and access to the throne is now ours. Nothing is more valuable than access to the throne. Access to the mercy seat is one of the greatest blessings mortal Israelites can enjoy. We never should have had any right to come there if it had not been for the day of atonement; we never should have been able to come there if the throne had not been sprinkled with the blood.

In the Fourth Place, What is Our Proper Behavior When We Consider the Day of Atonement?

That is one thing that we ought to do when we remember the atonement. Surely there is nothing that moves us to repentance like the thought of that great sacrifice of the Messiah which is necessary to wash away our guilt. "Law and terrors do but harden." But the thought that Yeshua died is enough to make us soften. It is good that when we hear the name of Golgotha to always to shed a tear, for there is nothing that ought to make a sinner weep like the mention of the death of the Messiah.

On that day "ye shall afflict your souls." The Day of Atonement is also a day of fasting, affliction of the flesh, doing without food and water. We whom are Israelites should spend much time meditating on our lives, confessing our sins, and repenting and looking to the sacrifice of the Messiah as atonement for us, that we might be truly reconciled to YEHOVAH God.

Drops of grief ought to flow, to show our grief for what we did to pierce the Savior. Weep for the Messiah; weep for him that died; weep for him who was murdered by your sins, and "afflict your souls."

Not only that, but we are not to "work at all," as we find the same verse, 29th. When we consider the atonement, we should rest, and "do no work at all." We should rest from our works as YEHOVAH God did from His on the great Sabbath of the world; rest from our own righteousness; rest from our toilsome duties: rest in Him. "We that believe do enter into rest." As soon as we see the Day of Atonement ending, we should say, "it is done, it is done. Now we will serve our God with zeal, but now we will no longer seek to save ourselves, it is done, it is done."

Then there was another thing which always happened. When the priest had made the atonement, it was usual for him, after he had washed himself, to come out again in his glorious garments. When the people saw him they took him to his house with joy, and they offered burnt offerings of praise on that day: he being thankful that his life was spared, (having been allowed to go into the holy place and to come out of it alive) and the people of Israel being thankful that the atonement was accepted. Both of them offered burnt offerings as a type that they desired now to be "a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God." Therefore, let us go into our houses with joy; let us go into our gates with praise.

The atonement is finished; the High Priest has gone within the veil and salvation is now complete. He has laid aside the linen garments and he stands before us with his breastplate, and his miter, and his embroidered vest, in all his glory. Hear how he rejoices over us, for he has redeemed YEHOVAH's people Israel, and ransomed them out of the hands of his enemies.

Let us go home with the High Priest; let us clap our hands with joy, for he lives. The atonement is accepted, and we of Israel are accepted too -- the scapegoat is gone and our sins are gone with it. Let us then go into our houses with thankfulness, and let us come up to YEHOVAH's gates with praise, for He has loved His people Israel, he has blessed His children, and given unto us a day of atonement, and a day of acceptance, and a year of jubilee.

Hope of Israel Ministries -- Preparing the Way for the Return of YEHOVAH God and His Messiah!

Hope of Israel Ministries
P.O. Box 853
Azusa, CA 91702, U.S.A.
www.hope-of-israel.org

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