8. (a) How did Atonement Day procedures indicate who would benefit first from Christ’s sacrifice? (b) What application of Jesus’ sacrifice was indicated by the sin offering “for the people”? (c) What further fact was illustrated by the leading away of a goat into the wilderness?

⁸ Even as blood from the bull offered for the house of Aaron was taken first into the Most Holy, so the benefits of Jesus’ sacrifice were applied first on behalf of those who would be associated with Christ in the heavenly priesthood. This was done from 33 C.E. onward. Jesus Christ had no sins for which atonement must be made, as did Aaron, but those who would be underpriests with Christ did. These were pictured by the tribe of Levi. (1 Peter 2:4, 5)

6. Briefly outline what took place on Atonement Day.

⁶ Officiating at Israel’s sacred tabernacle, and later at the temple, was a high priest who was a member of the Levite house of Aaron. Other males of Aaron’s house were underpriests, and the rest of the males of the tribe of Levi served as assistants. To provide a covering for sins, the high priest sacrificed two animals, the blood of each of which was presented separately in the Most Holy, as prescribed by Jehovah. First was a young bull offered up by the Aaronic high priest for “himself and his house,” which included the entire tribe of Levi. (Leviticus 16:11, 14)