The fulfilment of the Day of Atonement

25 September 2023, by Yolandie Mostert

I never cease to be amazed by the incredible amount of detail that the Lord built into the symbolism of each feast. The Day of Atonement is no exception. In fact, I believe there are still so many treasures yet to be discovered. We must be careful to never reach a place where we think that we know everything of anything. As long as we have a teachable spirit, there is always more treasures and revelation waiting.

The first time we read of this feast is in Leviticus 16. The two sons of Aaron were just slain by God because of the strange fire they brought before Him. The Lord then spoke to Moses to give an instruction to the priestly family. To be able to stand before YHVH was no small thing; they had to be prepared. Aaron was to offer a bull to atone for his sins and for his house. After that he was to take two goats. One was to be slaughtered and the other one was to be sent away into the wilderness.

Some further instructions can be found in Leviticus 23, including the date of the feast: the tenth day of the month Tishri.

In today’s message I want to focus on the two goats as well as how Jesus fulfilled the feast. While I was busy preparing for this message, the two goats stayed on my mind. Why the two goats? Admittedly, I have read this passage in Scripture plenty of times and I already understood that Jesus was the scapegoat carrying our sins away. But still I felt as if the Holy Spirit wanted to bring something else to my attention. Something about the two goats…

The first goat:

After making atonement for his own house, Aaron had to cast lots for the two goats. The first goat had to be slaughtered and the blood collected to sanctify the tabernacle. During this feast was the only time in a year that the high priest could pass the thick curtain that separated the Holy Place and Holy of Holiest.

Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering, which is for the people, bring its blood inside the veil, do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat and before the mercy seat. So he shall make atonement for the Holy Place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions, for all their sins; and so he shall do for the tabernacle of meeting which remains among them in the midst of their uncleanness. (Lev 16:15-16)

It’s quite interesting that the blood of the first goat wasn’t to make atonement for the people, but for the tabernacle. It seems like the tabernacle was affected by the trespasses and sins of the people. Remember, the tabernacle stood in the middle of the tribes. Whenever we walk through mud, our clothes will become dirty. Maybe it worked the same with the tabernacle. The uncleanness of the people most probably caused something like mud stains on the tabernacle that limited the amount of Light and Life to shine through. I’m not stating this as a fact, but this is my understanding at this point in time.

Take note of the reference to transgressions and sins. The atonement was to be made for these two things.

The second goat:

The treatment of this goat was completely different. After completing all the rituals concerning the first goat, he could fix his attention on goat number two. He was to lay his hands on the head of the goat while confessing the transgressions, sins and iniquities of the people. Thereafter a helper was to lead the goat, carrying the iniquities of the people, away into the wilderness. History teaches us that the goat was pushed off a cliff to ensure that it died and didn’t return to the people. Please note that this was the practise and not explicitly instructed in the Bible.

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 uninhabitd land; and he shall release the goat in the wilderness. (Lev 16:21-22)

Why the two goats?

I want to share with you the light that the Holy Spirit has shed so far on this feast for me personally. The two goats together form a unity. Think of the body and blood of Jesus, two separate parts of the Covenant meal, but still working together as one. The body of Jesus was broken for our healing and His blood was shed for our salvation and sanctification. Let’s compare the parallels between these elements and the goats. The one goat represents the body of Jesus that carried our iniquities away in order for us to receive healing on spirit, soul and body levels. The other goat represents the blood of Jesus that had to sanctify the tabernacle. We are the tabernacle, the temple of the Holy Spirit and Blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin.

But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. (Isa 53:5-6)

I want to focus your attention on two portions in the passage:

He was wounded (bored) for our transgressions (trespasses) – first goat
He was bruised (crushed) for our iniquities – second goat

It seems like there are the dealing with transgressions and sins and the dealing with iniquities are different. The two goats, as a unity, dealt annually with all three these aspects.

Transgressions, sin and iniquity

The Bible makes a distinction between these three words and they have different meanings and implications. I deal with this in a separate teaching. It’s crucial to understand the difference. A lot of misunderstandings will be avoided regarding generational blessings and curses.

In short:

Transgressions (trespass): The action or deed e.g. to steal a pen.
Sin: the sinful condition of mankind because of transgressions. All of us are subject to this sinful condition. We inherited it from Adam.
Iniquities: whenever transgressions are not confessed, the effect of it, are carried over to the next generation.

I will place a link to the teaching that deals with this a bit later.

Temporary treatment of the sinful nature of man:

From the time that Adam and Eve transgressed, mankind were defiled all the way down to DNA level with a sinful nature. We can compare it with an incurable disease. With each generation the effect of this sinful nature became worse. Just think how old people used to be in Genesis and how fruitful the earth was. People started to die at a younger age and the yield from the earth decreased. Generation after generation people transgressed and the sin became more. Think of a virus or cancer that gets fed.

Until the time of the complete and perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the annual sacrifices on the Day of Atonement, had to negate this effect. It’s as if mankind got some kind of wonder treatment to reverse the symptoms of the incurable disease to a manageable level. This is how important this feast was. If it wasn’t for the two goats on the Day of Atonement, I don’t think a lot of people would’ve been left by the time Jesus came to earth. That is just according to my thinking and extrapolating.

Each year people continued to transgress, increasing the effect of sin and even passing it on to the next generation. Then the Day of the Atonement came and the effect was partially negated. This cycle continued until the Jesus became the final sacrifice.

Jesus is the fulfilment

Besides the fact that the sacrifice of both goats was fulfilled in the broken and crushed body of Jesus, He also fulfilled the role of the High Priest. He is both the High Priest that entered in once and for all as well as presenting Himself as the perfect atonement. The book of Hebrews, especially chapter 9 and 10, explains the fulfilment.

For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another— He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. (Heb 9:24-26)

For the Lord and for Azazel?

We find quite a strange verse in Leviticus 16.

Aaron shall cast lots on the two goats–one lot for the Lord, the other lot for Azazel or removal. (Lev 16:8 AMPC).

This verse has caused a lot of speculation and almost mystical meanings. So who or what is the Azazel?

Many people take the word Azazel from the apocrypha book of Enoch as one of the fallen angles. They then claim that the goat was sent into the wilderness to appease the devil. This doesn’t fit with any of the Bible’s teachings. I really don’t see the need to explore in this direction. It might just open a door for Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism) which will lead to bondage by the Kundalini spirit.

Others claim that Azazel refers to the deserted place in the desert. When referring to the Strongs dictionary, we find the following meaning: ‘goat of departure’ – the goat that was sent away. The word only occurs three times in the Bible and only in this one chapter. Most English versions translates the word as ‘scapegoat’.

There are teachings about Jesus being the one goat and Barrabas being the one that got away. Personally I think this is stretching and adding meaning to things that doesn’t fit. Almost like forcing a puzzle piece into a wrong place out of frustration.

The focus of my message is not on Azazel, but rather on the two goats. I believe the Holy Spirit will shed light on the subject if needed.

Prophetic fulfilment:

The Day of Atonement is the sixth of seven feasts. There is still a future fulfilment ahead. Because of time and space I will prepare a separate message on how this feast will be fulfilled during the Day of Lord. If you are not familiar with the Day of Lord, please research this yourself. I do have a teaching available on the subject, but it’s more important to study the Scriptures yourself. You will be surprised at how many passages in Scripture talks about his Day. It’s a pity that there are so little sermons and teachings about it.

How do we celebrate the Day of Atonement?

This feast is the most serious of all the feast. The Lord called His people to a day of affliction and humbling of themselves. Even today, Jewish people will fast food and drink for 26 hours.

Because we are washed by the Blood of Lamb, we don’t need to be depressed on this day. It’s a day of joy and thankfulness. We celebrate the perfect offer of Jesus.

Personally, we fast on this day. For us, it’s a day where we can put food aside in order to spend quality time in the presence of God. The high priests back then had to go through so many steps and rituals, just to be able to enter and exit safely. Jesus paved a new and living way for us. We are allowed to enter into even the deepest place in the presence of YHVH, yet still so many people choose to play in the outer court. May we never disregard this privilege of entering in and make we never make light of it.

Today is also a day of forgiveness because we are forgiven. Let’s not continue into the new season with roots of bitterness in our hearts. Only the penetrating light of God can really reveal our hearts. We need to spend some time searching our own hearts. We are so quick to declare that we don’t have bitterness. Let’s rather ask the Holy Spirit to shine the light of truth in our heart.

We also pray for the salvation of all mankind – Jew and Gentile. As God’s people we desperately need a heart for the lost. How else will we be able to participate in the harvest?

I’m closing this message with Hebrews 10:19 and further on.

The writer describes a few things that we have to because of this great privilege of entering into the Holy of Holies. I’m going to read the passage and add a few comments.

Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, (Heb 10:19-21)

Our response now follows:

let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. (Heb 10:22)

We have to draw near. It is our responsibility to come closer in faith with a true heart.

We have to apply the blood of Jesus in order to draw near with clean hearts and hands. I really think we are presumptuous to despise the holiness of the Lord. The two sons of Aaron were killed because they wanted to serve God on their terms. It’s rebellion. We need to move into God’s order. He is still a holy God. This fact has not changed. We cannot enter in based on our own righteousness. It’s only through the Blood of the Lamb. May we never forget this. Our holy God requires sanctified holy lives (1 Pet 1:15-16).

The writer continues to describe our reaction to the wonderful sacrifice of Jesus:

And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. (Heb 10:24-25)

Our vertical relationship with the Lord is always influenced by our horisontal relationships with people. We cannot have the one without the other. We are wrong in saying: ‘I only need God and not people’. This is not what the Bible teaches. We are supposed to exhort and support one another. And not get mad the moment the exhortation come from a fellow brother or sister. We are supposed to faithfully gather together in order to support and build each other. Not just to receive word, blessing or something for ourselves, but rather to give what we’ve received from the Lord. Otherwise our actions reveal our disobedience and ungratefulness for what Jesus has done for us.

And finally:

For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins (Heb 10:26)

Let us never despise the costly price that Jesus Christ paid for us. Let us always be thankful. May we celebrate with joy and with fear and trembling before this great God before whom we can stand.

May you have a ‘Mary at Jesus feet’ experience in the secret place of the Most High. And may you grown deeper in to His heart in this next season until you live on the heartbeat of YHVH.

Shalom!