The Great Exchange: The Day of Atonement Text: Leviticus 23:26-32
Introduction: The Central Problem
We come now in our study of Leviticus to the high point of the entire ceremonial law. If you want to understand the gospel, if you want to understand the cross of Jesus Christ in all its bloody and beautiful glory, you must understand the Day of Atonement. Our modern evangelical sensibilities often want to skip over Leviticus. It feels archaic, full of strange rituals and laws that seem to have little to do with our lives. But this is like trying to understand a novel by starting three-quarters of the way through. You miss the whole plot. The plot of the entire Bible is this: how can a holy God dwell with a sinful people? Leviticus, and particularly the Day of Atonement, is God's appointed answer in picture form.
The problem is not a small one. God is holy, holy, holy. He is pure, righteous, and just. His very presence is a consuming fire to sin. We, on the other hand, are not. We are shot through with sin. We are corrupt, rebellious, and unclean. So when this holy God, in His grace, decides to pitch His tent in the middle of Israel's camp, it creates a crisis. The presence of God is the greatest blessing, but it is also the greatest danger. His holiness is like a spiritual radiation that is lethal to sin. The daily sacrifices dealt with daily sins, but what about the accumulated filth? What about the sins done in ignorance? What about the very defilement that soaked into the tabernacle itself, just by virtue of it being in the middle of a sinful people? The Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, was God's annual, comprehensive answer. It was the great reset button. It was the day the nation was cleansed, top to bottom, so that the holy God could continue to dwell with them without consuming them.
But we must see this for what it is. It is a shadow. It is a picture. The blood of bulls and goats cannot actually take away sin. These rituals were promissory notes, pointing forward to the day when God Himself would provide the final, perfect sacrifice. This day is a detailed, dramatic prophecy of Good Friday. And if we fail to see Christ here, we will fail to understand what He accomplished there.
The Text
And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, “On exactly the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement; it shall be a holy convocation for you, and you shall humble your souls and bring an offering by fire near to Yahweh. And you shall not do any work on this same day, for it is a day of atonement, to make atonement on your behalf before Yahweh your God. If there is any person who will not humble himself on this same day, he shall be cut off from his people. And as for any person who does any work on this same day, that person I will cause to perish from among his people. You shall do no work at all. It is to be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your places of habitation. It is to be a sabbath of complete rest to you, and you shall humble your souls; on the ninth of the month at evening, from evening until evening you shall keep your sabbath.”
(Leviticus 23:26-32 LSB)
A Day of Humble Convocation (v. 26-27)
We begin with the divine command establishing this most solemn day.
"And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 'On exactly the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement; it shall be a holy convocation for you, and you shall humble your souls and bring an offering by fire near to Yahweh.'" (Leviticus 23:26-27)
First, notice the precision: "on exactly the tenth day of this seventh month." God is meticulous. Worship is not a free-for-all where we make it up as we go. God sets the terms. This day was the pinnacle of the fall festivals, following the Feast of Trumpets and preceding the Feast of Tabernacles. It was a day of corporate gathering, a "holy convocation." Atonement is not a private affair. While our faith is personal, it is never private. We are saved as individuals into a corporate body, the people of God.
The central command for the people is twofold. First, they are to "humble your souls." The Hebrew here is often translated as "afflict your souls," and the historic understanding is that this meant fasting. But it is more than just abstaining from food. It is a posture of radical dependence and repentance. It is the recognition that you bring nothing to the table. You cannot save yourself. You cannot make yourself clean. On this day, of all days, the Israelite was to feel his utter spiritual bankruptcy. He was to have no illusions of his own righteousness. This is the prerequisite for grace. God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. You must be emptied before you can be filled.
Second, they are to "bring an offering by fire near to Yahweh." While the people are humbling themselves, the priests are at work. The offering by fire, as we have seen, produces a "pleasing aroma" to the Lord. This is crucial. In the very moment of their deepest self-abasement, in the confession of their filth and sin, the scent rising to God is one of sweet savor. How can this be? It is because the offering points to a substitute. It is the aroma of a righteous one standing in the place of the unrighteous. It is the scent of the gospel. The fire consumes the sacrifice so that the fire of God's wrath does not consume the people. This is a picture of propitiation. The wrath of God is satisfied by the substitute, and the result is a pleasing aroma.
A Day of Atonement and Rest (v. 28, 31-32)
The purpose of the day is explicitly stated, and it is coupled with a strict prohibition.
"And you shall not do any work on this same day, for it is a day of atonement, to make atonement on your behalf before Yahweh your God... You shall do no work at all... It is to be a sabbath of complete rest to you..." (Leviticus 23:28, 31-32)
The reason for the mandatory rest is theological. "For it is a day of atonement." Atonement means covering. It is the day when sin is covered, cleansed, and dealt with. And this work of atonement is done entirely "on your behalf before Yahweh your God." The people do nothing to achieve it. The high priest performs the ritual, but ultimately it is God's provision. Therefore, for an Israelite to work on this day would be an act of high-handed rebellion. It would be a declaration of self-sufficiency. It would be like saying, "God, your provision for my sin is insufficient. I need to add my own efforts to the pile."
This is why the prohibition is so absolute. It is a "sabbath of complete rest." The Hebrew is Shabbat Shabbaton, a sabbath of sabbaths. This is the most emphatic declaration of rest in the entire Old Testament. It is a forced stop. On this day, you are to do nothing but rest in the provision that God has made for your sin. This is the very heart of the gospel of grace. We are not saved by our works. We are saved by faith alone in the work of another. Our salvation is a Shabbat Shabbaton. We cease from our own labors, our own attempts at self-justification, and we rest completely in the finished work of Jesus Christ. To try and add our works to Christ's finished work is to violate the Day of Atonement. It is to refuse the rest.
This is declared to be a "perpetual statute." Now, we know that we no longer sacrifice animals. So how is it perpetual? Because the reality it pointed to is perpetual. The ceremonial law is fulfilled in Christ, but the moral principle it taught is eternal. The principle is this: we must perpetually cease from our own works and rest in Christ's atonement. The Lord's Day is our weekly celebration of this reality. We work from our rest, because Christ has accomplished the great atonement.
The Solemn Warning (v. 29-30)
The gravity of this day is underscored by the severe penalties for disobedience.
"If there is any person who will not humble himself on this same day, he shall be cut off from his people. And as for any person who does any work on this same day, that person I will cause to perish from among his people." (Leviticus 23:29-30)
These are terrifying warnings. To refuse to humble oneself, to refuse to fast and repent, is to be "cut off from his people." This means excommunication. It means to be put outside the covenant community, outside the camp where God dwells. To be cut off from Israel was to be cut off from God's promises, God's presence, and God's people. It was a sentence of spiritual death.
Why such a severe penalty? Because to refuse to humble yourself is the essence of pride. It is to say, "I have no need of atonement. I am not that bad. I am righteous enough on my own." Such a person is rejecting the entire basis of God's covenant relationship. He is rejecting grace. And for one who rejects grace, there is nothing left but judgment.
The second warning concerns work. For the person who works on this day, God says, "that person I will cause to perish from among his people." This is even stronger. God Himself will act to destroy that person. Again, this is because working on the Day of Atonement is a profound act of unbelief. It is a rejection of God's perfect, sufficient sacrifice. It is to trample on the provision of grace. The man who insists on saving himself through his own efforts will be left to his own efforts, and the wages of sin is death. If you reject the substitute, you must bear the penalty yourself.
The Gospel of Atonement
This entire passage is saturated with the gospel. It shows us our desperate condition and God's gracious solution. We are the ones who must humble our souls. We must come to God with empty hands, confessing our sin and our inability to save ourselves. This is repentance.
But repentance alone does not save. We need an atonement. We need a sacrifice. And we see it prefigured here. The offering by fire, the work of the priest, the covering of sin, all point to one place: the cross of Jesus Christ. He is our great High Priest, and He is also the sacrifice. He entered the true holy of holies, heaven itself, not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood, having obtained eternal redemption (Hebrews 9:12).
On the cross, Jesus humbled Himself to the point of death. And in His sacrificial death, He became the pleasing aroma to God on our behalf. He accomplished the true atonement, the final covering for sin. Because of His work, God can be both just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
And what is our response? It is to cease from our work. It is to enter into His Shabbat Shabbaton, His sabbath of complete rest. We stop trying to earn our salvation. We stop trying to pile up our filthy rags of righteousness. We rest. We trust. We believe. To refuse this rest is to be cut off. To reject this humbling of the soul is to perish. But to all who will humble themselves, to all who will cease from their labors and trust in the finished work of Christ, God grants a full and final atonement. He covers our sin, He clothes us in Christ's righteousness, and He invites us to dwell in His presence forever.