We are coming to the Day of Atonement, which has great significance for us as Christians. It is about the forgiveness of our sins, something we understand well. But it is also about something we need a greater revelation and appropriation of, and that is our purification and the removal of our sins. Let this be our experience as we celebrate the Day of Atonement this year.

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Show Notes:

We read in Leviticus 16 that the Day of Atonement is about cleansing the people of their sins. It was a solemn assembly, a time for the people to humble themselves and repent of their sins. Then the first goat was sacrificed as a sin offering, speaking to the forgiveness of their sins. But there was also a second sacrifice. The goat of removal was sent into the wilderness to take away all the iniquity of the people.

Most Christians relate to Christ who is our Atonement in the context of the forgiveness of sins. But the Day of Atonement is about being cleansed of our sins. And cleansing is more than external washing. It is about our purification. The prophecy of the Messiah in Malachi tells us that He comes for the very purpose of purification. Yeshua (Jesus) HaMashiach, the Messiah, came for our purification, which along with forgiveness is the cleansing and removal of our sins.

Therefore, we absolutely should celebrate the Day of Atonement this year. And as we celebrate it, we should remember that our atonement is not only about the forgiveness of sin. It is also about the purification of the believer, enabling us to truly enter the presence of the Father. With great thankfulness we reach in during this time to humble ourselves before Him and appropriate all that He has provided for us on this Day of Atonement.

Key Verses:

• Leviticus 16:29–31. “It is on this day that atonement shall be made for you to cleanse you.”
• Leviticus 16:18–22. “The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to a solitary land.”
• Malachi 3:1–3. “He will purify the sons of Levi.”
• Hebrews 10:1–2. “The worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sins.”
• Psalm 103:12. “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.”
• Hebrews 10:14–23. “Let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean.”

Quotes:

• “The Lord through the blood of Christ forgives us. But again, there’s something more that the Day of Atonement is pointing to that we want to receive. And that is this removing out of us the iniquity and the sin so that we don’t continue going through the same process of sinning.”
• “We as believers are not just to live lives having been forgiven of our sin. We are to live lives that are more represented by this event in the Day of Atonement that we are forgiven but also cleansed and purified.”
• “When God forgives, He does forget. He remembers our sin no more. But He goes beyond that because in the purification He is then able to put His law upon our heart and upon our mind.”

Takeaways:

• On the Day of Atonement two sacrifices were made. The first sacrifice was to forgive the sins of the people. The second sacrifice was to remove the sins of the people. We understand the forgiveness of our sins in Christ but not so much the removal of our sins.
• Atonement is for our cleansing. And that is not just cleansing as we relate to cleansing ourselves by taking a bath or cleaning something by wiping the surface of it. It is talking about purification.
• Malachi tells us that when Messiah comes, He is like a refiner’s fire and fullers’ soap and will sit as a smelter. The sacrifice of Christ forgives our sins but also puts us through the process of purification that is like the refining and purifying of gold or silver.