The Sacrifice of Atonement for the Yearly Sins of All Israelites

Could the Israelites be sanctified once for all by the sin offering of this earth?

Never

"Aaron shall offer the bull as a sin offering, which is for himself, and make atonement for himself and for his house. He shall take the two goats and present them before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. Then Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats: one lot for the Lord and the other lot for the scapegoat. And Aaron shall bring the goat on which the Lord's lot fell, and offer it as a sin offering. But the goat on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord, to make atonement upon it, and to let it go as the scapegoat into the wilderness" (Leviticus 16:6-10).Here, Aaron took two goats at the door of the tabernacle of meeting to atone for the yearly sins of Israelites.

"Then Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats: one lot for the Lord and the other lot for the scapegoat." A sacrificial animal was needed for the lawful atonement for daily sins in order to pass the sinner's sin onto it by laying his hands on the head of the offering. But for the yearly sins of the Israelites, the High Priest, on behalf of all the people, passed the yearly sins onto the sin offering on the tenth day of the seventh month every year.

In Leviticus 16:29-31, it is written, "In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all, whether a native of your own country or a stranger who sojourns among you. For on that day the priest shall make atonement for you, to cleanse you, that you may be clean from all your sins before the Lord. It is a sabbath of solemn rest for you, and you shall afflict your souls. It is a statute forever" (Leviticus 16:29-31).

In the Old Testament, the people of Israel brought a sin offering to atone for daily sins and passed their sins on to its head, confessing, "Lord, I have committed such and such sins. Please forgive me." Then, he cut the throat of the sin offering, gave the blood to the priest, and went home, convinced that he was now free of his sins. Thus, the sin offering died for the sinner, with the sin on its head. The sacrificial animal was killed instead of the sinner. In the Old Testament, the sin offering could be a goat, a lamb, a calf, or a bull, that is, one of the sacred animals that God had distinguished.

God, in His infinite mercy, allowed an animal's life to be offered instead of a sinner having to die for his/her sins. In this way in the Old Testament, sinners could atone for their sins through the sacrifice of atonement. The trespasses of the sinner were passed onto the sin offering by the laying on of hands, and its blood was given to the priest to expiate the sins of the sinner.

However, it was impossible to atone for sins every day. As a result, God allowed the High Priest to expiate the sins of a whole year, every year on the tenth day of the seventh month, on behalf of all the people of Israel.

Then what was the role of the High Priest on the Day of Atonement? First, Aaron the High Priest laid his hands on the sin offering, confessing the sins of the people, "Lord, the people of Israel have committed such and such sins, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, blasphemy...."

Then, he cut the throat of the sin offering, took its blood, and sprinkled that blood seven times on the mercy seat inside the Holy Sanctuary. (In the Bible, the number 7 is considered to be the perfect number.)

It was his task to pass the yearly sins of the people onto the head of the sin offering on their behalf, and the sin offering was sacrificed vicariously.

Because God is just, to save all people from their sins, He allowed the sin offering to die in place of the people. Since God is truly merciful, He allowed the people to offer the life of a sacrificial animal in their stead. The High Priest then sprinkled the blood on the east side of the mercy seat and thus, atoned for all the sins of the people for the past year on the Day of Atonement, on the tenth day of the seventh month.

Who is the sacrificial Lamb according to the Old Testament?

Jesus who is without blemish

The High Priest had to offer two goats on the Day of Atonement for the people of Israel. One of them was called the scapegoat, which means 'to put out.' In the same way, the scapegoat of the New Testament is Jesus Christ. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).

God gave us His only Son as the sacrificial Lamb. As the sacrificial Lamb for all mankind, He was baptized by John the Baptist and became the Saviour, the Messiah of the world. Jesus means 'the Saviour' and Christ means 'the anointed King,' so Jesus Christ means 'the Son of God who came to save us all.'

Just as the yearly sins of the people were expiated on the Day of Atonement in the Old Testament, Jesus Christ, almost 2000 years ago, came to this world to be baptized and bled to death on the Cross to complete the gospel of the atonement for all our sins.

At this point, let us read a passage in Leviticus. "And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, confess over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, concerning all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and shall send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a suitable man. The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to an uninhabited land; and he shall release the goat in the wilderness" (Leviticus 16:21-22).

It is written that the sins of all Israelites were put on the head of the goat as it is also stated in Leviticus 1. 'All their transgressions' refers to all the sins they committed in their hearts and with their flesh. And 'all their transgressions' were put on the head of the sin offering by the laying on of the High Priest's hands.

Next Part By the Law of God, We Have to Have True Knowledge of All Our Sins