Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement was the day appointed for a yearly, general and perfect expiation for all the sins and uncleanness that might remain, despite the regular sacrifices. It was Israel’s annual cleansing from sin. Leviticus 16:1-34 gives the full account of this day along with its services. The Levitical ritual was a constant reminder that “the Law...can never by the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make perfect those who draw near” (Heb. 10:1).
Even with the most scrupulous observance of the prescribed ordinances many sins and defilements would still remain unacknowledged and therefore without expiation. This want was met by the appointment of a yearly, general, and perfect expiation of all the sins and uncleanness that had remained unatoned for and uncleansed in the course of the year (Lev. 16:33). Thus on the day of Atonement Israel was reconciled to Yahweh, which was necessary before the Feast of Tabernacles which prefigured the ingathering of the nations or the Millennium dispensation. In connection with this point it may also be well to remember that the Jubilee year was always proclaimed on the Day of Atonement (Lev. 25:9). The tenth day of the seventh month, or Tishri (October), and the fifth of Atonement (Lev. 16:1-34; Num. 29:7-11). The day was a high Sabbath in which no work was performed. All the people were to afflict their souls and to fast from the evening of the ninth to the evening of the tenth under penalty of being cut off from Israel (Lev. 23:27-32). Leviticus 16:5-28 and Numbers 29:7-11 indicate that the sacrifices for the day were as follows: (1) Ordinary morning sacrifice. (2) Expiatory sacrifices for the priesthood, namely, a young bull. (3) The sin offering for the people, a kid from the goats for Yahweh and another for Azazel. (4) The burnt offering of the priests and people and with them, another sin offering. (5) The ordinary evening sacrifice.
If the Day of Atonement fell on a Sabbath, the ordinary Sabbath sacrifices were offered besides all these. The Day of Atonement’s typical meaning was fulfilled in Christ. He is our Great High Priest, who instead of offering a sin offering for Himself, offered Himself as a sin offering for us (Heb. 9:11-14). But the fact that the Day of Atonement is placed between the feast of Trumpets and the feast of Tabernacles which is a type of Israel’s millennial rest implies that it typifies the Second Advent of Christ. The Day of Atonement will therefore be literally fulfilled by the glorified resurrected incarnate Son of God at the Second Advent (Zech. 12:7-14; 14:4; Matt. 24:29-31; Rev. 19). There will be a national Day of Atonement or mourning in Israel at the Second Advent of Christ (Zech. 12:9-14; 13:1).
The Feast of Tabernacles is the third of the great annual feasts and is also called in the Scriptures the festival of Tents (Hebrew: hag hassukkot, “Feast of Booths,” 2 Chron. 8:13; Ezra 3:4; Zech. 14:16, 18-19; Greek: skenopegia, John 7:2, “
