Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD.

Yom Kippur’s Foreshadow

In Hebrew this day is called Yom Kippor and it is the most holy of all the holy days of God. It took place on the 10th day of the 7th month of Tishri just 9 days after the feast of trumpets.

The High priest on this day and this day only could enter into the Most Holy Place and stand before the ark of the covenant which was sealed with the Mercy Seat overshadowed by the golden archangels that symbolized the throne of God. There he would offer that blood of sacrifice for himself first, that he might enter and then for the sin of the people that they might be forgiven.

While he worked, the people were to “afflict their souls.” This meant they were to be fasting, praying and confessing there sin. In other words while the priest offered the shed blood of the offering for their sin, the people were to be repenting of their sin. As they were in the act of prayer, fasting and confessing they also looked with expectant eyes for the High priest to reappear at the door of the Temple. This signified their faith in the promise of God, that if they came and confessed then God would heal and forgive.

The Bible Scholoar Paul Van Gorder gives a good description of the Day of Atonement, “On the day of atonement, the high priest in Israel would first lay aside his robes of glory and put on a linen coat and breeches. Then he would slay a bullock, enter the holy place, and sprinkle the blood once upon the mercy seat and seven times before the altar. After the high priest had slain the bullock and sprinkled its blood, he would choose two goats. Then he would slay one of those goats and sprinkle its blood exactly as he had done with the bullock. But this time the blood was not for himself. The Lord’s lot had fallen upon this goat, and its blood was sprinkled within the veil for all the people of Israel. The priest would then lay his hands upon the head of the second goat and confess the sins of the people. That animal was then led away into the wilderness, never to be seen again.

While this was going on the people were to be afflicting their souls. Gorder continues, “While the people were still in mourning, the high priest would enter the tabernacle or temple and exchange his linen garments for his robes of glory. Then he would appear before the people. When they heard the tinkling of the bells upon the fringes of his robe, they would know he was finished with this task. And when they saw him, they would acknowledge with much rejoicing that their sins were covered.”

Yom Kippur’s Fulfillment

This is of course one the strongest types or pictures of Jesus death on the behalf of others that we have in all the Bible.

Jesus Christ laid aside his “robes of glory” and took on the robe of human flesh. He then, as that perfect sinless one offered himself as the sacrifice for our sin.

Just as one goat was slain as a propitiation, the payment, for our sins, the second goat was sent away. This was foreshadow of our sin being forgiven by the shedding of Jesus’ blood and our sins being sent away never to be seen again.

Psalms 103:10-12 He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.

This was done by Jesus Christ who offered Himself and also acted as our great high priest.

Philippians 2:5-8 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:  And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Hebrews 9:24-28 For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: ...28 So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

Hebrews 13:12 Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.

The Prophetical Fulfillment.

 Just as the other feasts all have their fulfillment in the person of Jesus Christ and on a particular event in God’s Plan for the Ages, so also does this Yom Kippur.

 Once the first trumpet has sounded and the New Testament people of God have been taken from this earth, a time of great sorrow for God’s Old Testament people will begin.

 This time called Jacob’s trouble in the OT and the tribulation in the New corresponds to the time of “affliction” that would precede the return of the High Priest before the people.

Jeremiah 30:5-7 For thus saith the LORD; We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace. Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child? wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness? Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble…

It would be a time of Israel seeing their sin, of rejected their true Messiah and now calling out to God for forgiveness. It would be a time a time of sorrow, the time of Jacob’s Trouble but then it ends with the appearing of their King, Savior, Redeemer and High Priest coming forth from the holy place of God’s throne room to save His people.

Oh, won’t they rejoice, when they see Him coming with the host of heaven, crowned and arrayed as for war.

Zechariah 12:10-11 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. 11 In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon.

Zechariah 13:1 In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness.

The earth will have gone through the worst natural and manmade disaster in all of history. The Bible says the Sun will not shine, the stars will fall from the heavens and the moon will turn to blood.

Then the armies of the world under the command of the Beast, the Anti-Christ will turn and march upon Israel. This man who they thought was their messiah instead turned out to be  their annihilator. In the blackness of those last days, half the city will fall but then the true Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, the man of Galilee returns. This man who was lowly born in a Bethlehem stable, trained as a carpenter, and lived His final years as a traveling Rabbi, that same Jesus that they as a nation rejected now returns as King and heir to the throne of David.

He will shine across that blackest of black skies, like lighting blazing all around the world from east to west, and all the earth will see Him coming from Heaven with the Army of God. Then with one word of His mouth, falling like a mighty sword strike, the armies of the Beast are destroyed and Israel, God’s nation, is saved. Then as one united people, they will look on Him whom they have pierced and mourn but their mourning will turn to joy when they see the  salvation of God, their High Priest, the true Messiah, the King of Israel has come. He brings God’s wrath to the unbelieving world but God’s forgiveness to those who put their faith in the blood of the Lamb of God, that takes away the sin of the world.