What do you know about the Feast of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement?

Leviticus 16 connects three spheres of holiness:
• The holiest day of the year (the Day of Atonement),
• The holiest man in the world (the High Priest of Israel),
• The holiest place in the world (the Holy of Holies)

The High Priest had to enter the Tabernacle to make atonement for Israel, the Holy of Holies, the Tabernacle, and the altar.

Because these things remained continually in the presence of God, they needed to be atoned for. Without atonement, they could not remain in the presence of God. That atonement must come through the blood.

This forces a question:
How does a person find Atonement without the Temple?
Isaiah 53:4-6 reads, “Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, but HE was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes, we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, everyone, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all”

The Jewish commentator, Rashi, at the start of the crusades in 1096CE, interpreted the “Suffering Servant” of Isaiah 53 as Israel. HOWEVER, before the idea of the birth of Rashi existed in the mind of his great-great-grandmother, the ancient sages taught that Isaiah 53 applied to the Messiah

Isaiah wrote, in Isaiah 43:11 that there would be no other Savior than God Himself. Yeshua claimed to be the Living Temple in John 2:21. If you believe this, then in Him all the elements of the sacrificial system are found. He is the High Priest, the Offering, and the Tabernacle itself.

Consider This: 40 is the number of Testing. Yeshua shed His Blood in 30ce, 40 years before the second Temple was destroyed. This can be proven by the Jewish people’s own writings: The Mishnah of the Talmud.
Here is how:

On Yom Kippur, two lots were picked to determine the functions for the two sacrifices – “For the LORD” and “For Azazel”

It was considered a good omen if the lot marked “FOR the LORD” was picked by the High Priest in the right hand, the hand of service.
This was done from the time of Moses until the last 40 years prior to the destruction of the Temple. From that point, according to the Talmud [Yoma 39a], every year for the last 40 years, it was picked in the left hand.

Another point: A portion of the crimson sash that had been tied around the horns of the He-Goat marked “For AZAZEL” was attached to the door of the Temple.

The sash would turn from red to white when the He-Goat was 10 miles into the wilderness or met its end. This signaled to the people that God had accepted their sacrifices and their sins were forgiven according to Isaiah 1:18.

It reads: “Come now, and let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”
Again, the Mishnah tells us that 40 years before the destruction, the sash stopped turning white. This was when Yeshua died for our sacrifice.

Another Point: The Jewish Talmud tells us that the Veil that separated the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place was so firmly woven that 2 teams of oxen pulling in opposite directions, with the Veil between them, could not tear it apart.

Also, The Talmud tells us that 40 Years before the destruction, The Veil was torn from the top to the bottom, NOT bottom to the top.

The priests tried to mend and sew the Veil together again; but were unable, for NO thread or cord would hold in the repaired part. It was still torn when the Temple was destroyed.

Question: Who is “Azazel,” also called “the scapegoat”?
Leviticus 16:10 reads, “But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness.”

The word “scapegoat” is only mentioned in one chapter in the entire Bible - Leviticus 16. Many bible teachers, without biblical precedent, teach that Yeshua was the “scapegoat”.

BUT Consider this:
In Israel today, if you called an Israelite, (sabra), by the name of “Azazel,” you better be ready to duck. You have just called him the devil. Here is why.

Jude was the “half-brother” of Yeshua.
Jude 14-15 reads, “And about these also Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, ‘Behold the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way and all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him’”

This quote in Jude comes from the book of Enoch, which existed at the time of Yeshua and His disciples. It came into existence, in its older sections around 300bce, and became completed before Yeshua’s time at the end of the 1st century BCE.

“Azazel,” the Hebrew word for "scapegoat", is seen as a biblical type of Satan [HaSatan] in this same Book of Enoch.

Consider this: In the Book of Enoch, Chapter 8, verses 1-3, it reads, “And Azazel taught men to make swords, and knives, and shields, and breastplates, and made known to them the metals of the earth and the art of working them, and bracelets, and ornaments, and the use of anti-mony, and the beautifying of the eyelids, and all kinds of costly stones, and all coloring tinctures. And there arose much godlessness, and they committed fornication, and they were led astray and became corrupt in all their ways"

The High Priest places the sins and punishment of the people upon “Azazel,” the scapegoat, by the laying on of hands. Then the scapegoat is lead into the wilderness more than ten miles, never to return.

Consider this: YESHUA RETURNED!

This is better understood to be a picture of HaSatan being cast into the Lake of Fire.
Revelation 20:10 reads “And the Devil who deceived them was thrown into the Lake of Fire and Brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night, forever and ever.”

Where does that leave us as believers who have accepted the sacrifice of Yeshua?
Psalm 15:1-2 reads, “… LORD, who shall abide in Your tabernacle? who shall dwell in your holy hill? He that walks uprightly, and works righteousness, and speaks the truth in his heart.”

As you celebrate this Feast, know this: The ceremony of the Day of Atonement uniquely patterns the work of Messiah: His death, His sacrifice, and the atonement of His blood.

You can boldly, not proudly, enter the presence of God because the blood of Yeshua, your Messiah covers you.

Today He stands interceding on your behalf before the throne of God, just like the High Priest, which He is.

It is, for this reason, we, as Messianic believers, dress in white on this day

Shalom