3/30/25 Weekly Bible Lesson: What a Day!

Background — People seek reconciliation when relationships have soured. When our relationships break down, we ask what can we do to heal broken trust? What actions can we take to restore fellowship? God established an annual Day of Atonement that symbolizes for Israel the substitutionary atonement God provided for their sins, the total removal of their guilt, and ultimately the restoration of fellowship with Him. 

The Day of Atonement featured the annual cleansing of the sanctuary and the people. It provided the ongoing means of cleansing God’s redeemed people so God could continue to dwell among them. 

On the Day of Atonement, there were four main movements in the ritual drama, the first three of which involved the sprinkling of blood, the primary means of ritual cleansing. The high priest purged the three sanctuary areas on behalf of the priests and the people. 

The fourth movement was the driving off the scapegoat. All the people’s sins were symbolically laid on the goat, which then carried them far away. God forgave sin, cleansed away its defilement, and removed it from sight and memory (compare Psalm 103:12; Micah 7:19). 

There’s no better day to celebrate than the Day of Atonement with all its meaning and focus on sacrifice, healing, cleansing, and forgiveness. In the New Testament, atonement is celebrated in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. His atonement for sin is in His sacrifice on the cross. He paid the price for our sins by the shedding of blood, which cleanses us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:7). Our hope is in His victory over death and the grave.  

Verses 1-10, 20-22 — Verses 7-10 and 20–22 describe a most striking phase of the Day of Atonement ceremony, namely the dispatching of the scapegoat into the wilderness. After being chosen by lot, the animal is brought before the high priest, who places both his hands on the goat’s head and confesses all the nation’s sins. This action symbolically transfers the sins to the goat. The goat is then sent away into the wilderness. The symbolism of this ceremony is quite clear: this ceremony removes the sins from the people and leaves them in an unclean place, i.e., the wilderness. 

This is how God removed the sins of the people. In the New Testament, God does this through Jesus. Jesus, the perfect “scapegoat,” went to the cross to redeem us, taking our sins upon Himself, to bring us back into fellowship with God.  

Verses 11-19 — This section starts with the sacrifice of the bull and goat as sin offerings for Aaron and his household. A priest ought to be cleansed and forgiven before he can make the same sacrifices for anyone else. In the same way, God wants us to be clean before Him. We can’t do it ourselves, but when we submit to the authority and grace of God, we will be clean. 

The incense was holy and not to be used for any other purpose than to present it to God. The incense covered the mercy seat which was on the Testimony (the Ark of the Covenant). Aaron would burn the incense and create a cloud of smoke between himself and the Most Holy God, lest he look upon God on the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant and die. 

Then we have the most distinct part of worship: the sprinkling of blood from the bulls representing his sins and the sins of his household. The second sprinkling of blood from goats was for the sake of the sins of Israel. Sins committed influenced others. It’s the same today. We try to get away with something and drag others with us. We need to repent. God required the blood be sprinkled on the mercy seat in the Tabernacle seven times. Not six, not once, but seven. In Scripture, seven is the number of perfection. God required a perfect sacrifice in a perfect time performed in a perfect way to forgive sins and remove guilt. 

The sacrifices on the Day of Atonement pointed toward the coming of God’s Son, Jesus Christ. The blood that was sprinkled was the substitutionary atonement. The writer of Hebrews tells us, “Without shedding of blood there is no remission” (Hebrews 9:22). The Hebrews writer was reminding God’s people of the covenant relationship established by the perfect sacrifice of Christ. 

The blood teaches that death is the result of sin: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). 

Each set of instructions to Aaron required obedience in all the details “lest he die” (Leviticus 16:13b). Cleansing, attitude, preparation, and fulfillment of the sacrifice had to be done exactly as God wanted. 

Aaron was, in fact, a sort of mediator between God and the Israelites. He was the only one allowed to enter The Most Holy Place of the Tabernacle to make this sin offering. It would only be Jesus who was able to go to the cross on behalf of the world to make Himself a sin offering, and then Jesus alone who ascended to heaven (the true Holy Place) to present His blood to God (Hebrews 7:27; 9:12; 10:10). The Day of Atonement was commemorated once a year, because the blood of bulls and goats could not take away sin. However, the cross of Jesus and His sacrifice was done only once and never needed to be done again.