Torah: Vayikra (Leviticus) 16:1-34; Haftarah: Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 57:14 — 58:14
HOW TO OBSERVE A TRUE YOM KIPPUR
As we read about the Yom Kippur service in the Torah, in the book of Leviticus chapter 16, we catch a glimpse of what the ancient service was when the Holy Temple stood in Jerusalem. We read in verse 5 concerning the Kohen, the High Priest: “And from the Israelite community he shall take two he-goats for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering."
The ram was for himself, to cleanse for his own sins, so that he could perform the ritual of atonement for the house of Israel. The two male goats were God's requirements for forgiveness on Yom Kippur for the people. In verse 7 we read what was to be done with the two goats: "Aaron shall take the two he-goats and let them stand before the Lord at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting; and he shall place lots upon the two goats, one marked for the Lord and the other marked for Azazel."
Azazel was the scapegoat and it is at the very heart and essence of Yom Kippur. Continuing reading in verse 9: "Aaron shall bring forward the goat designated by lot for the Lord, which is to be offered as a sin offering; while the goat designated by lot for Azazel shall be left standing alive before the Lord, to make atonement upon it and to send it off to the wilderness as a scapegoat."
We have two pictures here, first, a picture of the sacrifice of one goat for sin offering, and second, a picture of an innocent scapegoat who takes the people's sins away as the high priest confesses upon it all the sins of the house of Israel. Continuing in verse 15: "He shall then slaughter the goat of the sin offering, which is for the people, bring its blood behind the curtain, and do with its blood as he has done with the blood of the bull: he shall sprinkle it over the cover of the Ark and in front of the cover."
Sacrifice has to be made; blood has to be shed for the remission of sins. And after that we are told in verse 20: "When he has finished atoning for the Holy Place, the Tent of Meeting, and the altar, the live goat shall be brought forward. Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat and confess over it all the iniquities and transgressions of the Israelites, whatever their sins, putting them on the head of the goat; and it shall be sent off to the wilderness through a designated man."
The sons of Aaron continued this practice until the Temple was destroyed in Jerusalem. This practice of transferring of sins is at the center of biblical Judaism, but, by-and-large, Jewish people have forgotten what the Torah teaches that our sins are to be transferred to a scapegoat. True, some Orthodox Jews do what they call, the ceremony of kapparot, in which a woman takes a chicken and a man takes a rooster and they wave them above their heads three times and say: "May my sins be transferred to this chicken (or rooster) and may it go to its death and may I go to life." They understand that the Torah cannot be broken, that is why they are still doing it. But most of Israel does not practice it. So, what do they do with this scripture? Does Israel observe a true Yom Kippur service as it is prescribed in Leviticus 16?
The concept of transferring of sins is the only thing that God ever said would bring atonement on Yom Kippur. Those who claim that now prayer, penitence, and charity - tefillah, teshuvah and tzedakah - avert God's severe decree have ignored Torah's teaching concerning the need for the transference of sins, thus making the Torah meaningless. It is awesome to understand that the sins are transferred, and that it is a vicarious atonement. The Torahic belief is that you do not pay for your own sins, that you have to have your sins transferred, that your sins should be forgotten, taken away and not remembered. Torah teaches that the atonement has to be made on your behalf and not by you.
This picture is eternal, and this is what Jewish people need to understand. It is an eternal picture as it is commanded in verse 29: "And 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 you shall do no manner of work, neither the citizen nor the alien who resides among you. For on this day atonement shall be made for you to cleanse you of all your sins; you shall be clean before the Lord. It shall be a Shabbat of complete rest for you, that you may humble your souls; it is a permanent statute."
Leviticus 23 has made us understand very clearly that the statutes of Yom Kippur are to be kept in all our generations. But, how can we keep this rite without the Holy Temple in Jerusalem?
One thing it is clear, we cannot say that we believe in the Torah, and then disregard parts from it. We have in the traditional Judaism two movements, Reform and Conservative who both say that this is a relic of antiquity, that this is not something that God expects us to practice any more since there is no Temple that stands. They have a point there, so they throw out what God has set down as a permanent statute. But you cannot change the word of God, you cannot add to it or subtract from it, you have to deal with it, you have to understand why God gave it also for this generation, not as progressive history, but as an eternal principle. But these rabbis have substituted the sacrificial system with a system of their own saying that prayer, penitence, and charity avert God's decree. God nowhere in Scripture said that.
But what God said was that without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins. “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 that makes atonement by reason of the life.” Vayikrah (Leviticus) 17:11 And notice that God provided it, He gave the sacrifice to make atonement, not Moshe, not Aaron, not the priests, not us, but God. “According to the Torah, nearly everything is cleansed with blood, and apart from shedding of blood there is no remission.” Hebrews 9:22
Without the forgiveness of sin, we cannot appear in front of a Holy God. And so this is the requirement - there has to be blood to be offered to God for the sins, transgressions and iniquities that have been committed. Orthodoxy tries to replace it symbolically with chickens and with roosters. Do they really believe that a chicken is taking away their sins? But did we ever truly believe that a goat took away our sins? If we could have believed that a goat could take away our sins, why not a chicken? And since they can only offer a goat in the Holy of Holies, in the Holy Temple which does not stand now, it is important that they do something to fulfill what God said is required. So the Orthodox do not disregard the Scripture, they try to retain its meaning through a similar ceremony. But in so doing they also have had to change the Scripture, because the Torah said that only a goat can be sacrificed and it can only be sacrificed in the Holy of Holies.
Messianic Judaism does not do away with these Scriptures and does not change them. Messianic Judaism understands, based on other revelatory passages from Tanakh, that animals cannot take the place of human beings paying for their sins, that animals are only symbols, that the goat offered up to God and the goat which has all of the sins of Israel confessed over and sent into the wilderness, are only pictures of what the Messiah was to do for us. We understand that chickens and roosters cannot replace the ceremony, but that the two goats speak of Messiah's work on our behalf. Through these pictures we get the message that God has given us as a permanent statute and we can believe it without altering the Scripture. We believe that it was a sacrifice done for us, that our sins were transferred to that sacrifice, and that it is God Himself who made atonement for us, our people in antiquity never made atonement for themselves. These two goats always gave the picture of atonement for us. “Yet it pleased YHVH to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief: when you shall make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of YHVH shall prosper in His hand.” Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 53:10
Messiah Yeshua, the suffering Servant, was predestined from eternity past to come and sacrifice His life for us. God the Father planned this for us to have a way to come back to Him and restore the fellowship with Him. Yeshua fulfilled it and the Father was pleased. Only believing in Messiah Yeshua, who came before the destruction of the Temple to fulfill all typologies of the mosaic sacrificial system, can keep us true to the text; without the Messiah having come, yes, it is a big problem to know what to do now that the Temple does not stand. But the Temple does not stand for a good reason, because God has fulfilled the rites of the Temple through Messiah, thus the Temple is no longer needed. When we believe in Messiah we do not do away with the Scripture or changing it, but we actually see the Scriptures come to life in a Person and that this atonement actually happened.
Through king David God explains the purpose of what was written in Leviticus 16. In Psalm 40 David speaks in the spirit of prophesy and the Messiah speaks through him and says: "You gave Me to understand that You do not desire sacrifice and meal offering; You do not ask for burnt offering and sin offering. Then I said, 'See, in the scroll of the book [Torah] it is written of Me. To do what pleases You, My God, is My desire; Your Torah is within My heart.'" Tehilim (Psalms) 40:6
God never wanted animal sacrifice; they never really took away sin. He did not want meal offerings because grain could never cover our iniquity. But we certainly thought so. In the Torah, which cannot be changed or altered, it is required; and yet He says it is not required because it speaks of something or someone else that is required. Verse 7 says: "It is written of Me in the scroll of the book." This person here, speaking through David, says that what we read in Leviticus 16 about the two goats was written about Him. He says, What is written in Torah concerning sacrifice, concerning sin offering is about Me, and I delight to do Your will, O God, Your Torah is within My heart. All sacrifices of the Temple, all the rites of the Temple, all the rituals are in this person's heart and He delights to fulfill them within Himself. Messiah Himself became the sacrifice to satisfy God's requirement for remission of sin, so that all of our sins were transferred to Him.
Therefore, we no longer have to make atonement year after year for sins because He did it for us once-and-for-all. “Torah is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins. It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins... For by one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.” Hebrews 10:1-4,14
Let us be grateful right now that we have had atonement done for us and that Yeshua is in heaven interceding through His own blood for us. We can believe in Him, we can receive forgiveness, we can start anew with a clean heart and be made holy. All your sins, no matter how many, are forgiven you for His name sake if you will take His hand in faith right now.
Let us observe a true Yom Kippur.
Shabbat joy, peace, and blessings! Shabbat Shalom!