Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur)

On the evening of Friday, September 15, 2023 began the Jewish New Year. On the Sabbath (9-16-23), the people started observing Rosh HaShanah, which means “head of the year.” The biblical name for this holiday is Yom Ha Teruah, which means “day of shouting/blasting.” The word תְּרוּעָה [H8643] teruah (ter-oo-aw’) is used to describe either an alarm for war, a loud battle cry, the blowing of a trumpet, a blast for a march, or a shout of joy. During the Rosh HaShanah synagogue services, the shofar (ram’s horn) is blown 100 times. This is known as the Feast of Trumpets, which is the beginning the civil new year. This observance commences 10 days of repentance, ending on Yom Kippur, which means the Day of Atonement. The word יוֹם [H3117] yom (yome) means “day” or “period of time” and the word כִּפֻּר [H3725] kippur (ki-poor’) means “atonement.” And so on the Day of Atonement, the shofar is blown at the end of the evening prayer service for the first time since Rosh HaShanah.

(Numbers 29:1-11)
“1 Now in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall also have a holy convocation; you shall do no laborious work. It will be to you a day for blowing trumpets. 2 You shall offer a burnt offering as a soothing aroma to the Lord: one bull, one ram, and seven male lambs one year old without defect; 3 also their grain offering, fine flour mixed with oil: three-tenths of an ephah for the bull, two-tenths for the ram, 4 and one-tenth for each of the seven lambs. 5 Offer one male goat for a sin offering, to make atonement for you, 6 besides the burnt offering of the new moon and its grain offering, and the continual burnt offering and its grain offering, and their drink offerings, according to their ordinance, for a soothing aroma, an offering by fire to the Lord. 7 Then on the tenth day of this seventh month you shall have a holy convocation, and you shall humble yourselves; you shall not do any work. 8 You shall present a burnt offering to the Lord as a soothing aroma: one bull, one ram, seven male lambs one year old, having them without defect; 9 and their grain offering, fine flour mixed with oil: three-tenths of an ephah for the bull, two-tenths for the one ram, 10 a tenth for each of the seven lambs; 11 one male goat for a sin offering, besides the sin offering of atonement and the continual burnt offering and its grain offering, and their drink offerings.”

In ancient Judaism, the high priest sacrificed an animal to cover for his own sins and the sins of his family, and then the sins of the nation. This holy day was a day of fasting and prayer. When the high priest had finished with the atonement sacrifice, a goat was released into the wilderness. This “scapegoat” symbolized Israel’s sins being cast out and to never return (Leviticus 16:8-10, 20-22, 29-34). In the temple, the Holy of Holies, was separated from the congregation by a veil from floor to ceiling. It was entered only once a year on Yom Kippur, when the high priest offered the blood sacrifice of atonement.

When Yeshua (Jesus Christ) died on the cross, that thick veil — that had once separated holiness from the congregation — was torn from top to bottom (Luke 23:44-46). Christ came as High Priest and entered the Holy of Holies (Heaven itself) once for all, not by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own Holy blood, having obtained eternal redemption (Hebrews 9:11-28). Believers in Jesus accept His sacrifice on the cross as the final atonement for sins, “24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; 25 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith” (Romans 3:24-25). And it is written that when Jesus (the Messiah) returns, Israel will look on Him, whom they pierced, and they will repent (Zechariah 12:10). On that day of repentance, Israel will be forgiven and permanently restored, grafted back in (Isaiah 66:7-14; Romans 11:25-27).

The English word “atonement” comes from an Anglo-Saxon word, which compounds the words “onement,” with the preposition “at”; thus, “at-onement,” or “at unity.” In some ways, this word has more in common with the idea of reconciliation than our modern concept of atonement, which, while having “oneness” as its result, emphasizes rather the idea of how that unity is achieved, by someone “atone-ing” for a wrong or wrongs committed. Atonement, in Christian theology, concerns how Christ achieved this “onement” between GOD and sinful humanity.

The need for atonement comes from the separation that has come about between GOD and humanity because of sin. For it is written that all of us were born into sin (Psalm 51:5; Romans 5:12) and “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Psalm 53:1-3; Romans 3:23). In both Old and New Testaments, there is the understanding that GOD has distanced Himself from His creations on account of their wicked rebellion. In Isaiah 59:2, the prophet tells the people of Judah, “your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God.” In Romans 5:8-11, Paul wrote, “8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. 11 And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.”
Therefore, atonement is the means provided by GOD to effect reconciliation. The atonement is required on account of GOD’s holiness and justice so that wrongs will be made right once again.

However, in order to fully understand the depth beyond the surface of atonement, we need to examine and understand both the Old and New Testaments.

The Old Testament:

In the Old Testament – which is the Jewish Tanakh – the sacrificial system was the means by which sins were atoned for, ritual purity was restored, iniquities were forgiven, the unclean became clean, and an amicable relationship between GOD and the offerer of the sacrifice was reestablished. In Leviticus 17:11, Moses, conveying GOD’s message to the Israelites, said, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.” In essence, this is the basic operating principle for atonement in the Old Testament – the substitutionary offering of the blood of an innocent slaughtered animal in place of the life of the guilty person who offered it. However, there have been significant scholarly debates regarding whether this accurately portrays the ancient Israelite understanding of atonement.

The meaning of “to atone.”

First, there exists some disagreement over the precise meaning of the Hebrew word כָּפַר [H3722] kāp̄ar (kaw-fair’), which means “to atone.” Among the more popular suggestions regarding the definition of this word are the following: to cover, to remove, to wipe out, to appease, to make amends, to redeem or ransom, to forgive, and to avert/divert. But recently in our historical timeline, one influential theory is that atonement has little or nothing to do with the individual offerer, but serves only to purify the tabernacle or temple and the furniture within from the impurities that attach to them on account of the community’s sins. This theory, though most probably correct in what it affirms, unnecessarily restricts the effects of atonement to the tabernacle and its furniture. There are, to be sure, texts that specifically mention atonement being made for the altar (Exodus 29:36-37; Leviticus 8:15). However, the repeated affirmation for most of the texts in Leviticus and Numbers is that the atonement is made for the offerer (Leviticus 1:4; 4:20,26); atonement results in forgiveness of sins for the one bringing the offering. As far as the precise meaning of kāp̄ar is concerned, it may be that some of the suggested meanings overlap and that a particular concept is more prevalent in some passages, and another one in others. But as always in Hebrew scriptures, the word must be determined by its proper context. (For a specific example, see my other article, “Moved“.)

There has also been debate over the significance of the offerer laying a hand on the head of the sacrificial animal (Leviticus 1:4; 3:2). This has traditionally been understood as an identification of the offerer with the sacrifice and a transference of the offerer’s sins to the sacrifice. Recently, however, this has been disputed and the argument made instead is that it only signifies that the animal does indeed belong to the offerer, who therefore has the right to offer it. But again, this is unduly restrictive; it should rather be seen as complementary to what has traditionally been understood by this gesture. Indeed, in the rite for the Day of Atonement, when the priest lays his hands on the one goat, confesses Israel’s sins and wickedness, and in doing so is said to be putting the sins on the goat’s head (Leviticus 16:21), this would seem to affirm the correctness of the traditional understanding. All sins are transferred to the goat that then gets cast out from their presence. The sacrifice is thus best seen as substitutionary: it takes the place of the offerer; it is rejected in his place; it dies in his place.

The relationship between GOD and the offerer:

Second, granted that the word kāp̄ar has to do with the forgiveness of sins, the question arises as to the exact effect that it has on the relationship between GOD and the offerer. The question here is whether the effect is expiation or propitiation. Does the offering expiate the sin – wipe it out, erase it, remove it? Or does it propitiate the One to whom the sacrifice is offered? That is, does it appease and placate GOD, so that the threat of GOD’s wrath is removed? In one respect, the distinction seems artificial; it seems logical that expiation (erasure of sins) naturally results in propitiation (the appeasement of GOD’s wrath). On the other hand, the modern-day tendency to deny that GOD could possibly be a GOD of wrath makes the question relevant. In any case, there are certainly, in both religious and nonreligious contexts, passages where something like “appease” or “pacify” appears to be a proper rendering of the word kāp̄ar (Genesis 32:20; Exodus 32:30; Numbers 16:46-47; 25:1-13 ;1Samuel 3:14). The effect of atonement is that sins are removed and forgiven, and GOD is appeased. Therefore, both expiation and propitiation are true results of atonement.

In conjunction with this last point, it is also important to note that there are a number of places where it is said that GOD Himself does the kāp̄ar, that GOD is the One who makes atonement:

Deuteronomy 21:8 calls upon GOD, literally, to “Forgive [kāp̄ar] Your people Israel whom You have redeemed.”

In Deuteronomy 32:43, GOD will “atone [kāp̄ar] for His land and His people.”

Psalm 65:3 says, “As for our transgressions, You forgive [kāp̄ar] them.”

In 2Chronicles 30:18-19, Hezekiah prays, “18 May the good Lord pardon [kāp̄ar] 19 everyone who prepares his heart to seek God.”

Psalm 78:38 says that the Lord, being compassionate, forgave [kāp̄ar] Israel’s iniquity and did not destroy them.

Psalm 79:9 asks GOD to forgive [kāp̄ar] Israel’s sins for the sake of His own name.

In Isaiah 43:3, kāp̄ar is translated as “ransom,” and GOD says to Israel that He gave Egypt as their ransom.

In Ezekiel 16:63, GOD declares that He will forgive [kāp̄ar] all the sins that Israel has committed.

And so we see that in most of these passages, “to provide atonement” is to be understood as synonymous of “to forgive.” However, as many commentators have noted, in at least some of these passages, the thought is that GOD is either being called upon to take or is taking upon Himself the role of High Priest, atoning for the sins of the people. Again, it is important to remember GOD’s declaration in Leviticus 17:11 that He has given to the Israelites the blood of the sacrificial animals to make atonement for their sins. Atonement, no matter how it is conceived of or carried out, is a gift that GOD graciously grants to His covenant people.

That leads to a consideration of one particularly extremely relevant passage. Isaiah 52:13 – 53:12. In this text a figure referred to as “my [the Lord’s] servant” (52:13) is described as One who “took up our pain and bore our suffering (53:4). He was “pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities” (53:5). “The Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him” (53:6). And then we are told, “But the Lord was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief; if He would render Himself as a guilt offering” (53:10).

Now, there are many issues with regard to the proper interpretation of this “Servant Song” (as it is often called), one of them being whether the term translated “guilt offering” should really be thought of along the lines of the guilt offering described in the book of Leviticus (5:14 – 6:7; 7:1-10). But if the traditional Christian understanding of this passage is correct (and I believe it is), we have here a picture of GOD Himself assuming the role of High Priest and atoning for the sins of His people by placing their iniquities and sins on His Servant, a figure regarded by Jesus and the apostles in the New Testament to be GOD’s very own Son, Christ Jesus.

The New Testament:

The relationship between the Testaments:

When we come to the New Testament, four important initial points should be made. First, GOD’s wrath against sin and sinners is just as much a New Testament concept and consideration as an Old Testament one (as I explained in great detail in my article, “Purge The Evil”). GOD still considers those who are sinful and unrighteous to be His “enemies” if they are not in Christ (Romans 5:10; Colossians 1:21). Wrath and punishment await those who reject and refuse to confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior (John 3:36; Romans 2:5; Ephesians 2:3). Why? Because they rejected their only means of salvation from GOD’s wrath. Atonement is the means of averting this wrath. Therefore, if anyone rejects the covering of Christ, they will receive GOD’s wrath and it will be completely consistent with His justice.

Second, salvation is promised to those who come to GOD by faith in Christ Jesus, but there is still the problem of how GOD can, at the same time, be “just” Himself and yet also be the One who “justifies” sinners and declares them righteous (Romans 3:26). GOD will not simply declare sinners to be justified unless His own justness is also upheld. Atonement is the way by which GOD is both just and Justifier.

Third, as we saw in the Old Testament, ultimately, GOD is the One who atones, so also in the New Testament, GOD is the One who provides the means for atonement. It is by His gracious initiative that atonement even becomes possible. If Jesus’s death is the means by which atonement is achieved, it is GOD Himself who presented Jesus as a sacrifice of atonement, for it is written in Romans 3:24-25 that we are “24 justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; 25 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith.” It was GOD Himself who “so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16). GOD Himself “sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1John 4:10). And Romans 8:32 says that GOD “did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all.” Additionally, Christ Himself was not an unwilling victim who happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time; rather, Jesus was actively involved in the accomplishing of atonement by His sacrificial death. In John 10:15-18, Jesus said that He willingly lays down His life for His sheep, He willingly lays down His life so that He can take it up again, and He concludes by saying, “18 No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father” (see also, Luke 9:31; Hebrews 9:14). For this reason, it is written in Romans 5:6, “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.” Christ’s first coming was a divine appointment, the kairos (proper timing of GOD).

Fourth, the atoning sacrifice of the Son was necessary because, ultimately, the Old Testament sacrifices could not truly have provided the necessary atonement, for it is written in Hebrews 10:1-4, “1 For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near. 2 Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sins? 3 But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year by year. 4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.”

Portrayals of Christ’s work of atonement:

It has become common as of late to refer to the different “images” or “metaphors” of atonement that appear in the New Testament. This is understandable on one level, but on another level there is something misleading about it. So, for example, when the New Testament authors speak of Christ as a sacrifice for sins, it is not evident that they intended for the reader to take this as imagery. Rather, Christ (the Son) truly is a sacrifice, offered by GOD the Father, to literally take away sins, and to bear in His own body the penalty that should have been placed on the sinners. Christ’s sacrifice has an organic connection to the Old Testament sacrificial system, as the “full, final sacrifice.” The author of Hebrews would not have considered this to be imagery. In fact, a better case could be made that, from his perspective, Christ was the real sacrifice, and all the instances of sacrifices in the Old Testament were the imagery. So, as we look at the different portrayals of Christ in His work of atonement in the New Testament, some of these may best be categorized as imagery or metaphor, while others perhaps are better described as a “facet” of, or a “window” on, the atonement. It should also be noted that the individual portrayals do not exclude the others, and in some cases, they overlap. So let’s examine the overlap.

Ransom:

Some passages in the New Testament speak of Christ’s death as a ransom paid to set us free (Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45; 1Timothy 2:6; Hebrews 9:15). The same Greek word λύτρον [G3083] lutron (loo’-tron) — which is translated as “ransom” in these passages — are rendered as “redeem” or “redemption” in other passages (Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:14). Other forms of the same word are also translated “redeem” or “redemption” in Galatians 3:13-14; 4:5; Titus 2:14; Hebrews 9:12; 1Peter 1:18-19; Revelation 14:3. A near synonym of these words is used in Revelation 5:9; 14:4, referring to how Christ “purchased” people by His blood. In most of these cases the picture of Christ purchasing people is that of slaves who have been ransomed, redeemed, or purchased from the slave market, being set free from a life of slavery. Sometimes this is referred to as an “economic” view of atonement, though this label seems a bit crass, for the purchase is not of a commodity but of human lives at the expense of Christ’s own life and blood. Many skeptics or unbelievers like to claim that Jesus had to pay a ransom to Satan in order to get His children back, but that’s simply absurd because Satan is not on an equal level to where he would possess the power to withhold anyone from the Lord. That’s why Satan fell from Heaven (Luke 10:18; John 12:31; Revelation 12:7-9; 20:2) and why Satan had to receive permission to take action against Job yet was limited by what he could do (Job 1:12; 2:6). Simply put, the Lord is the Judge and it’s as if the Judge overruled the death sentence to those who truly repented and placed their faith in Christ Jesus, truly confessing that Jesus received what they deserved. Jesus paid their debt, and because of that, they are set free. It’s like receiving a Presidential pardon while on death row. Those who are ransomed are redeemed from a life of slavery to sin and to the Law, which is “a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear” (Acts 15:10). Because we were slaves to sin and destined for death, Jesus died so that we may truly live and be set free eternally in new glorified bodies on the New Earth under the new heavens (1Corinthians 15:35-57; Revelation 21-22).

Curse Bearer:

In Galatians 3:13-14, there is also the picture of Christ as One who bore the curse of the Law in our place. The language is especially striking because rather than saying that Christ bore the curse, Paul says that Christ became “a curse.” This is an especially forceful way of saying that Christ fully absorbed and received the curse of GOD’s wrath that was meant for us.

Penalty Bearer:

Closely related to “curse bearer,” this portrayal depicts Christ as One who has borne the legal consequences of our sins, consequences that we should have suffered; rather, because Christ has borne the penalty, we are now declared to be innocent and righteous and no longer subject to condemnation. This idea stands behind much of the argumentation that Paul uses in Romans and Galatians, and it also intersects with other portrayals. Passages representative of this picture are Romans 3:24-26; 4:25; 5:8-21; 8:32-34; Galatians 3:13-14; Ephesians 2:15. It is also what should be understood by Peter’s description of Christ’s death as “the just for the unjust” (1Peter 3:18), as well as in 2Corinthians 5:21, where Paul states that Christ has become “sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

Propitiation:

There are four passages where the NIV uses “atonement” or “atoning” in the translation to reflect either the Greek verb ἱλάσκομαι [G2433] hilaskomai (hil-ahs’-kohm-eye) or related nouns ἱλαστήριον [G2435] hilastērion (hil-ahs-tay’-ree-on) or ἱλασμός [G2434] hilasmos (hil-ahs-moss’). This is the word group that the LXX (Septuagint; Greek Old Testament) regularly uses to translate the Hebrew verb kāp̄ar and related nouns. There has been much debate about the precise meaning of the word in these four New Testament texts, in particular, as to whether it means to “expiate” (“remove guilt”) or to “propitiate” (“appease” or “avert wrath”). The better arguments have been advanced in favor of “propitiate”; at the very least, propitiation is implied in expiation. The wrath that we should have suffered on account of our sins has been suffered by Jesus Christ instead. Although the specific word is not used, this is the understanding as well in those passages where it is said either that Christ died “for our sins” (1Corinthians 15:3), “gave Himself for our sins” (Galatians 1:4), “bore our sins” (1Peter 2:24), or that His blood was poured out “for forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:28; cf. Ephesians 1:7).

Passover:

In 1Corinthians 5:7, Paul states that “Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed.” Although the Passover has not traditionally been thought of as a sacrifice for sins (though many scholars would argue that it was), at the very least we should recognize a substitutionary concept at play in Paul’s use of the Passover idea. A lamb died so that the firstborn would live. And if you’re not covered by the Lamb’s blood, then you’re going to experience GOD’s wrath. The Gospel of John seems to have the same understanding. In John 1:29, Jesus is proclaimed as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” And then in his account of Jesus’s passion, John narrates that His crucifixion was precisely at the same time as the slaying of the Passover lambs (John 19:14).

Sacrifice:

This theme has already been touched on in the other portraits, but it is important to recognize the significance of this concept in the New Testament and especially in the book of Hebrews. There, Christ is portrayed as both sacrifice and the High Priest who offers the sacrifice (Hebrews 2:17; 7:27; 9:11-28; 10:10-21; 12:24). He came, not as some have argued, to show the absolute uselessness of the sacrificial system, but rather to be the “full, final sacrifice” within that system, that He would “make propitiation [hilaskomai] for the sins of the people” (2:17). The sacrificial system was useless to all of us mere humans born into sin because none of the sacrifices ever truly removed our guilt; every sacrifice was only temporary. But for this reason, Jesus, discussing the possibility of who can be saved, said in Mark 10:27, “With people it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God.”

Of course, it is not just the death of Christ that secures our redemption. His entire earthly life, as well as His resurrection and heavenly intercessory work, must also be recognized. But with regard to the work of atonement per se, Christ’s earthly life, His sinless active faithful obedience to the Father’s will is what qualifies Him to be the perfect sacrifice in accordance with His deity. For if Jesus had only been a mere man through the sinful seed of Adam, His sacrificial death would not suffice eternally. It is because Jesus is GOD that His sacrificial death is eternally sufficient and without end. His bodily resurrection by the Holy Spirit is the demonstration of GOD the Father’s acceptance of the Son’s sacrifice (see “Trinity“). Romans 4:25 says, “He who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification.”

Therefore, both the death and the resurrection matter. For this reason, Paul wrote in 1Corinthians 15:13-19, “13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; 14 and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain. 15 Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; 17 and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.”

Conclusion:

Atonement fulfilled:

Sadly, the Jewish Temple was destroyed in 70 AD by the Roman Empire and it was never rebuilt. For centuries upon centuries now, the Jewish people have not been able to offer sacrifices in accordance to the Law of Moses (which they claim is still binding). And yet every year they will observe Yom Kippur without actually observing what is written in the Law. They have substituted sacrifices for prayer, good works, and charitable donations, hoping that their penalty of sins will be taken away without sacrifices. However, according to the Law that they claim to live by, every Jewish believer who has rejected Yeshua Jesus Christ’s sacrificial death and resurrection have all died in their sins because (1) they did not offer any sacrifices to atone for their sins, and; (2) they have rejected the only perfect and permanent sacrifice made through Jesus Christ.

In Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus explained that after the Harvest, He is going to separate the wicked from His children, putting His sheep (His children) on the right and the goats (the wicked) on the left. But why are the wicked declared to be goats? Because it stems from the sacrificial system of the Old Testament. In Leviticus 16, the “scapegoat” is mentioned as part of GOD’s instructions to the Israelites regarding the Day of Atonement. On this day, the high priest would first offer a sacrifice for his sins and those of his household; then he would perform sacrifices for the nation. From the Israelite community the high priest was instructed to take two male goats for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. The priest brought the animals before the Lord and cast lots between the two goats – one to be a sacrifice and the other to be the scapegoat. The first goat was slaughtered for the sins of the people and its blood used to cleanse the Most Holy Place, the tent of meeting and the altar. After the cleansing, the live goat was brought to the high priest. Laying his hands on the scapegoat, the high priest was to confess over it all the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites – all their sins – and put them on the goat’s head. He then sent the goat away into the wilderness in the care of someone appointed for the task. The goat carried on itself all their sins to a remote place; and the man released it into the wilderness. Symbolically, the scapegoat took on the sins of the Israelites and removed the guilt from them. For Christians, this is a foreshadowing of Christ and of the wicked on Judgment Day.

Christ is the complete atonement for our sins. In many ways, He embodies each aspect of the Day of Atonement. We are told that He is our great High Priest (Hebrews 4:14). He is also the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world (Revelation 13:8) as a sacrifice for our sins. And He is our scapegoat. 2Corinthians 5:21 says, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Our sins were laid on Christ – He bore our sins just as the scapegoat bore the sins of the Israelites. Isaiah 53:6 prophesied Christ’s acceptance of the sin burden: “All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.” After the sins were laid on the scapegoat, it was considered unclean and driven into the wilderness. In essence, the goat was cast out. The same happened to Jesus. He was crucified outside of the city. Isaiah 53:3,12 says, “He was despised and forsaken of men…. He poured out Himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet He Himself bore the sin of many, and interceded for the transgressors.” Jesus embodied what the scapegoat represented – the removal of sins from the perpetrators.

However, on Judgment Day, it is written that the wicked will be separated, declared as goats, and then they will be cast out. Thus, like a Pasteur pipette or a sponge, Christ Jesus absorbed all sin and death unto Himself only to release it on the goats on the day of judgment when he casts them away into what Scripture refers to as outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 25:30). So, when you read such Scriptures as Psalm 5 (David’s prayer of protection from the wicked) and Psalm 10 (a prayer for the overthrow of the wicked), may you know and understand the greatness of GOD’s love! GOD loves the righteous so much that He absorbed all the pain, suffering, sin and death in life in order to separate all who are wicked from all who are righteous, to place the punishment back on the wicked and cast them away — all so that the righteous children of GOD can dwell in eternal joy with the Lord, who is the Great Shepherd! It was prophesied in Isaiah 25:8, and it is written as Truth in Revelation 21:4: “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”

In the end, through the great reversal, GOD will cast the scapegoats away so that the children of GOD (sheep) may have eternal life with eternal joy with the Shepherd (Jesus). However, we must remember that GOD desires all people to be saved (Ezekiel 18:23,32; 33:11; John 3:16-17; 1Timothy 2:4; 4:10; Titus 2:11; 2Peter 3:9)! So, what are we doing or not doing to the Lord with every action we do or do not do to other people? Are we feeding the hungry? Are we giving drink to the thirsty? Are we welcoming the stranger? Are we providing clothes to those who need to be clothed? Are we comforting the sick? Are we visiting those in prison? Are we stopping along our travels in order to help someone in need (Luke 10:30-37)? Are we loving our enemies and praying for those who persecute us (Matthew 5:44)? Are we forgiving others (Matthew 6:14-15)? Now that we know that everything we do or do not do to others is actually done unto the Lord, how does this knowledge change our perspectives on how we should live our lives? How does it change our perspectives on how we should respond to people? Now that we know that so many Jewish people are observing 10 days of repentance prior to the Day of Atonement, let us repent of any hatred in our hearts towards them and may we pray that their hearts will no longer be hardened so that their eyes and ears will be opened in order to receive the Truth of Yeshua Jesus Christ and be saved.

I’ll conclude with Romans 11:17-36: “17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the rich root of the olive tree, 18 do not be arrogant toward the branches; but if you are arrogant, remember that it is not you who supports the root, but the root supports you. 19 You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” 20 Quite right, they were broken off for their unbelief, but you stand by your faith. Do not be conceited, but fear; 21 for if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you, either. 22 Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God’s kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off. 23 And they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24 For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree? 25 For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery—so that you will not be wise in your own estimation—that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; 26 and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written,
“The Deliverer will come from Zion,
He will remove ungodliness from Jacob.”
27 “This is My covenant with them,
When I take away their sins.” [Isaiah 59:20-21; 27:9; Jeremiah 21:33-34]
28 From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God’s choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers; 29 for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. 30 For just as you once were disobedient to God, but now have been shown mercy because of their disobedience, 31 so these also now have been disobedient, that because of the mercy shown to you they also may now be shown mercy. 32 For God has shut up all in disobedience so that He may show mercy to all. 33 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! 34 For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor? 35 Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to him again? [Job 41:11; Isaiah 40:13] 36 For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.”

Lord, we pray for Israel and all of Your children of the natural branches that they return to You and be grafted in again. And we pray for all others to come to knowledge of Truth as well. It seems impossible, but we know that what is impossible for man is possible with You. Amen.