Jesus Our High Priest – The Day Of Atonement

by David E Lister

Recently I was teaching through the Book of Leviticus. The typology of the high priest in chapter 16 taught me a lot about Jesus and what He did for us.

This section of Scripture deals with the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), all the instructions for the priests, and more importantly, the high priest and how he was to minister to the Lord, for himself, his family and the people. Many scholars suggest that the instructions were given to Moses right after the deaths of Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu. (Lev. 10) So, there might have been a great deal of fear in approaching the Lord in service to Him in the tabernacle, which He called His sanctuary (Lev. 19:30). But God tells Moses that Aaron was not to be afraid, but to do what the Lord said to do, and then everything would be fine. It is important to remember that if one is to see the Lord and live eternally, one must approach Him as He describes. We all come to the Father through faith in His Son and through His shed blood at the cross. There is no other way! Jesus reminded us that anyone who tries to come to the Father any other way is a “thief and robber.” (John 10:1)

It is important to note that the sacrifices offered on the Day of Atonement brought a threefold cleansing: 1) to the high priest and his family (Lev. 16:6, 17), 2) to the people of Israel (v. 17), and 3) to the tabernacle (v. 16, 20, 33). It did seem strange to me that the holy sanctuary would be defiled and need cleansing, but yet here it was in Scripture. The sins of the people not only defiled themselves, but they also defiled the tabernacle of God! So, it seems that the sacrifices made on earth purified the earthy sanctuary, but Hebrews 9:23 tells us that our Lord’s sacrifice purified “the heavenly things” with the blood of a better sacrifice. But more about that in a little bit.

On this day the people of Israel were to get serious about sin; they were to “afflict themselves” or “deny themselves” which carries the meaning or the picture of the affliction they were under as slaves in Egypt (Ex. 1:11-12) or the pain Joseph suffered as a prisoner (Ps. 105:18). Today all too often the message in the church is the opposite about sin; repentance is rarely taught and the church is baptizing sinners causing a weak body that is unable to throw back the evil encroaching all around us.

The first thing we notice the high priest was required to do was to make sure the proper sacrifices were available: a bull and a ram for himself and his family, and two goats and a ram for the people. These sacrifices would have been inspected to make sure they were without defect according to the ordinances of the general laws of the sacrifice. (Lev. 4)

After that, in an act to humble himself, the high priest would enter the Holy Place where he would remove his high-priestly garments and put on the linen robes of a simple priest. This is a picture of Jesus emptying Himself by humbling Himself and taking the form of a bondservant. (Phil 2:5-8)

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Next, the high priest would sanctify himself at the laver by washing. He set his “self” aside in order to serve the Lord, family and the people. I believe we see this with Jesus at His baptism when God the Father says of Jesus, “ This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.” With these words we see God the Father having been ministered to by the Lord Jesus, because He was well pleased. Later on the Mount of Transfiguration The Father would repeat His words, so we see that Jesus continued ministering unto The Lord. We also know He is now ready to ministry to and for family. We can ask who is the family here? First, we see the Father, Son relationship. We also recall the blood relations between John the Baptist and Jesus. But more for us, Jesus’ words of who is His true family are should be on our mind, “For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.” “To those who received Him He gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12). In John’s gospel God reveals that Jesus was made manifest to Israel (John 1:31) . In other words, Jesus was sent to the house of Israel to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord (Luke 4:18-19). After His baptism Jesus was now ready to fulfill the Scriptures that would glorify God and bring to those that trust Him, salvation.

After sacrificing the bull (killing the animal by cutting its throat) the high priest would enter the Holy of Holies with a tray of incense on his left hand and a censer of live coals in his right. Once inside, he would set the coals down, pour the incense into his right hand, and then place the incense on the coals. The cloud of incense symbolically represents the glory of God. This reminds us of Christ and His first request in His high-priestly prayer, “glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify Thee.” (John 17:1) The ultimate goal of God’s great plan of salvation is not the good of the people but the glory of God. (Eph. 1:6, 12, 14)

The high priest would then exit the Holy of Holies and then return, bringing back the blood of the bull to sprinkle on the mercy seat. He first sprinkled it one time eastward, which was towards the people and upon the mercy seat, and then 7 times (the number picturing perfection) in front of him onto the Ark of the Covenant. He sprinkled this with his finger. He would then exit the Holy of Holies again and sacrifice the goat (again just cutting its throat and catching the blood in a vessel.) Then he would bring the blood of the goat into the Holies of Holy and repeat what he had done with the blood of the bull before the mercy seat.

Now, the goat that was sacrificed for the Lord was chosen in this way. There were two pieces of gold in the form of coins, and written on one was “For the Lord” and on the other “azazel.” Some scholars believe azazel is a compound of the two Hebrew words “goat” and “to go away.” The two coins were placed in an urn, the urn was shaken, and the high priest would reach in and take one coin in one hand and one coin in the other. At this point one goat would be on his left, the other on his right. He would then open his hand on the goat’s head and place the coin there. (Does anybody see the Great White Throne Judgment?) The lot falls from the hand of the Lord, as He first chose us. Immediately the azazel goat would have a red thread tied to its horn; many think of this relating to Isaiah 1:18. The other died at the knife and hand of the high priest. Once the high priest had finished anointing the Holy of Holies with the blood of the goat he would exit and anoint the Holy Place, which he had already anointed with the blood of the bull. Proceeding to the brazen altar he anointed the horns of altar. By doing this the high priest had purified the tabernacle and altar “from the uncleanness of the children of Israel.” (v. 19) Here we see what Lord did in the heavenly things. (Hebrews 9:23-25). I asked myself why the heavenly things needed to be cleansed? The only thing that I could come up with is because Satan profaned the Holy Place. (See Ezek. 28:11-19.) His sin defiled it! I also remind myself that the heavens are a created place (Gen. 1:1).

Here in these two animals offered as a sin offering we see a picture of our Lord. In the bull it is the strong dying for the weak; in the goat we see the innocent dying for the guilty. While the two goats constitute one offering, I see two aspects: first with the goat that “goes away” I see Barabbas or even me. Jesus took my sin; I got to go free. But I also see the good news: the sins of the people being carried away not to be seen again. “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.” (Ps. 103:12) Oh what a wonderful picture of how Jesus would take our sin away!

Now after the scapegoat was dispatched into the wilderness and was “lost,” the high priest would then reenter the Holy Place and put on his robes again to finish the last part of the day’s activities. This is a reminder of our Lord returning to heaven and again taking up the glory that He deserves. (Rev. 4:11; 5:9-14) It should be mentioned that the people had been very anxious to get the high priest to dispatch the goat . I can imagine the people’s attitude when Jesus was being taken outside; they wanted Him dispatched, but not for the forgiveness of their sin! What a difference.

The high priest would finish the day by making an offering on the brazen altar: a ram for himself and a ram for the people, each a symbol of total devotion to the Lord. This was done according to the laws of the burnt offing found in Leviticus 1, 6 and 7. The instructions show us the body is dismembered and skinned, the parts washed, and everything is burned up except the hide which was given to the priest. (Lev. 7:8) Immediately following this, the fat of the bull and goat was burned upon the brazen altar as the sin offering (see Lev. 4:8-10). The remainder was taken outside the camp and burned up. “But there is forgiveness with You, that you may be feared. (Ps. 130:4) Once this was done, the high priest supervised the carrying of the sin offerings outside the camp to be burned. (Lev. 4:1-12; Ex. 29:13-14) This is exactly what would happen to Jesus as He was lead out of the city to be crucified. These two aspects of the sacrifices point to a total consumption of the animals, and shows us how the Lord was totally devoted to the Father. It also shows us what the Lord requires of us as “living sacrifices.” (Romans 12:1) We are to be totally devoted to Him!

It should be noted that during the time the high priest was doing his work in the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies, all the priests and all the people were outside the sanctuary of the tabernacle. This is a picture of all of us; we are all on the outside desiring to be free of our sins. But it is only Jesus our High Priest who can make the way clear for us. It is only by believing that there is nothing we can do but trust in the work that He has done for us, that are we allowed to enter into eternal life, resting on His finished work.

It is my hope that this article will help you see Jesus and some of the work He has done for you. May the Lord of all give you grace and peace.