What Does Yom Kippur Have to Do With the Messiah?

At the heart of Yom Kippur is a non-negotiable theological principle: "the life of the flesh is in the blood," and it is "the blood by reason of its life that makes atonement." This is found in the Torah in Leviticus 17:11 and affirmed in the New Testament book of Hebrews: "Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins." The principle is substitutionary - it's only through an innocent one's blood being shed that a guilty one's sins can be atoned for.

Only one that's unblemished or holy can make a sacrifice for the sin of someone that's guilty. This is why Yeshua's sinlessness is not a minor detail but the very foundation of His atoning work. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." Jesus took our sin, died in our place, and He gave us His righteousness instead.

Forgiveness does not come through fasting, liturgy, prayer, good deeds, or human merit. The only way that Israel has ever been forgiven, beloved ones, is through a blood sacrifice, when an innocent one died in their place. It wasn't through fasting, it wasn't through liturgy, it wasn't even through prayer. The only way that God can forgive sin and release people from their sin is when an innocent one dies in the guilty one's place. And this is what Yeshua HaMashiach did. He died in your place, and He died in my place.

The blood of bulls and goats offered on Yom Kippur could never, in itself, take away sin. Hebrews 10:1 establishes that these sacrifices were shadows and types of what was to come. The sacrifices are like a credit card. The card itself has no independent value, but the merchant accepts it because they know real payment is coming. God accepted the animal blood each year because He knew the final payment was coming in His Son.

This distinction matters because it clarifies that God did not ignore sin in the Hebrew Scriptures. The sacrifices were a legitimate, accepted covering within their context, but they were always pointing forward. All these blood sacrifices, including the blood that was sacrificed on the Day of Atonement, were simply shadows of the blood of Yeshua that was shed once and for all. The credit card analogy also carries a practical implication: the payment has been made, but the individual must still swipe the card through faith to access the benefit.

The destruction of the Temple in 70 AD created a profound question: How could the Torah's requirements for Yom Kippur be fulfilled without a functioning Temple, priesthood, or sacrificial blood? Yet none of these exist in their original biblical form today. With no Temple and no sacrifices, the priests have also scattered. So Judaism today is without a Temple, and there's no longer a functioning biblical priesthood.

The shedding of blood, with an innocent one dying in the guilty one's place, is the whole purpose of Yom Kippur. In some Orthodox Jewish communities today, the custom called kapparot is practiced whereby a chicken is put to death on behalf of the guilty Jewish soul. But the chicken cannot fulfill God’s requirement for justice as “the soul who sins will die” (Ezekiel 18:4).

Only Yeshua fulfills what the animal sacrifices in the Temple pointed toward. He is the final and sufficient sacrifice for sin. Jesus gave His life for you and for me, fulfilling Yom Kippur forever so that we never have to offer up the blood sacrifice of an animal again. His single offering perfected believers for all time.

No matter what one has done, God's response is love and an open invitation to be forgiven. Because Father loves us so much, He made a way for us to come back into fellowship with Him, to be restored as sons and daughters, and to be able to stand before Him holy and blameless. The atonement achieved through Yeshua's blood means believers stand before God not on the basis of their own merit but on the basis of His love and the finished work of the cross.

Yet this grace does not negate the reality of judgment. The fear of the Lord is part of the weight of His glory yet is clean. God's patience gives people an opportunity to repent, but Scripture also reveals that this opportunity does not remain open indefinitely. By the time the bowls of wrath are poured out in Revelation, the opportunity for genuine repentance has closed for the permanently hardened. For those who have not yet received Jesus, the appeal is direct: "There's no name under heaven, by which men can be saved but the name of Yeshua of Nazareth." Yom Kippur serves as a reminder to repent before that window closes.

Because Yeshua atoned for our sins through His own blood on the cross 2,000 years ago, the Bible tells us that those who put their trust in Him have their sins forgiven once and for all, and forever. Beloved, if you love Jesus, you've been forgiven for your sin. Praise the name of Messiah Yeshua and glory to God the Father.