Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement and the New Testament

[mark kennedy]

Tuesday, October 11 will be the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur. This was the annual event when the High Priest entered the Holy of Holies to make atonement for the sins of the nation. This has profound significance for the New Testament believer and it's one of those links to the Old Testament that yields tremendous insight. Before I offer a lengthy cross reference and exposition I want to share something a little more anecdotal, it's related to the translation of Hebrew into English. Paul uses a unique Greek word for atonement that simply didn't translate into English, so William Tyndale when doing the first translation into English basically made up a word, atonement, which means something like 'at one moment'. The idea is the moment when the blood was applied to the mercy seat:

Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation G2435 through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God (Rom 3:25)

And over it the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercyseat; G2435 of which we cannot now speak particularly. (Heb 9:5)
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The word here in these two passages, translated propitiation and mercy seat is (G2435 ἱλαστήριον hilastērion). The Vine's has an excellent exposition of the word:

Mercy Seat: "the lid or cover of the ark of the covenant," signifies the Propitiatory, so called on account of the expiation made once a year on the great Day of Atonement, Hbr 9:5. For the formation see Exd 25:17-21. The Heb. word is kapporeth, "the cover," a meaning connected with the covering or removal of sin (Psa 32:1) by means of expiatory sacrifice. This mercy seat, together with the ark, is spoken of as the footstool of God, 1Ch 28:2; cp. Psa 99:5; 132:7. The Lord promised to be present upon it and to commune with Moses "from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim," (Vine's Expository Dictionary)​

That's the background and a sampling of how Yom Kippur relates to Christian views on atonement. There are a lot of ways to go with this so I'll wait and see if the subject matter arouses any interest. The feasts like the laws of Levitical sacrifice have tremendous significance for the New Testament believer. An understanding of the Levitical law is crucial to understanding books like Hebrews and Revelations, both are drenched in Levitical imagery.

Grace and peace,
Mark