When I preached on the Feast of Unleavened Bread last month, someone came up to me after the sermon and asked me what leaven was. Because I did not explain this word, I failed to communicate to a number of people the meaning of leaven and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. I do not want that to happen again. That is helpful for understanding our English word, but it doesn t get to the root of the Biblical word. The Hebrew word means literally to cover.
Atonement covers our souls with the blood of a sacrifice.
Atonement is the cleansing of our souls from sin and guilt through a blood sacrifice. OK, let s go on to talk about the meaning of the Day of Atonement. It meant three basic things in the Old Testament. The tenth day of this seventh month shall be the Day of Atonement. What that meant was fasting.