Old Testament Festivals
Also the tenth day of this seventh month shall be the Day of Atonement. It shall be a holy convocation for you; you shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. And you shall do no work on that same day, for it is the Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before the Lord your God. Leviticus 23:27-28
Today we are going to fast-forward six months, to the “seventh month.” The number seven is a holy number to Israel. Consider: the seventh day was a Sabbath day, on which Israel was to do no work or chores. The seventh year was a Sabbath year, in which fields were to get “rest.” After seven “seventh years” (every fiftieth year) came the Year of Jubilee, when slaves were to be released and property restored. So it is not surprising that the seventh month would also take on significance.
Since at that time, there were no calendars (or cell phones), each new month was introduced by the blowing of trumpets (cf. Numbers 10:10; Psalm 81:3). But the seventh month marked the end of the agricultural year, and the beginning of a new civil year (a.k.a. “Rosh Hashanah”). Thus the seventh month began with the Feast of Trumpets (see Friday’s devotion).
On the tenth day of this “seventh month” was the Day of Atonement. Leviticus chapters 16-17 spell out the regulations for priests for this day, but Leviticus 23 points out what the people were to remember–in a nut-shell: “Not all the blood of beasts On Jewish altars slain Could give the guilty conscience peace Or wash away the stain.” (TLH 156:1) They still needed a scapegoat.
And then Jesus came. On Good Friday, God laid on Him the iniquity of us all. His one New Testament sacrifice did what all the other sacrifices combined could not. His sacrifice purges the sins of the whole world! (1 John 2:2) Your sins and mine, all purged by Jesus’ blood shed on the cross. That is fantastic. It’s awesome, It’s… well, it’s Good!
But Christ, the heavenly Lamb, Takes all our sins away;
A sacrifice of nobler name And richer blood than they.
The Lutheran Hymnal 156:2