Make Atonement כִּפֶּר

We are in moving into chapter nine of Leviticus with our word for today. כִּפֶּר smear, pitch, cover over, appease, pacify, make amends, make atonement, make good, make propitiation. It is used 102 times in the Old Testament. The basic idea of our word is to cover over. The first time it is used in the Bible is a great example of our word. Genesis 6:14 Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark, וְכָֽפַרְתָּ֥ and cover it inside and out with pitch. It makes sense that this covering over is a great way to describe the idea of atonement or covering over our sin which is all the other uses of our word. Our word is used the most in the book of Leviticus which is not surprising because it gives a lot of details to the priest in regard to the sacrifices for tabernacle worship. This is how our word is used in our chapter. Leviticus 9:7 Then Moses said to Aaron, “Draw near to the altar and offer your sin offering and your burnt offering וְכַפֵּ֥ר and make atonement for yourself and for the people, and bring the offering of the people וְכַפֵּ֣ר and make atonement for them, as the Lord has commanded.” We see in the New Testament the Holy Spirit picks up on this and ties it to Christ as our sacrifice for sins. Hebrews 7:26-28 For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself. For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever. Not only is Christ better than these Old Testament priests because he doesn’t have to make a sacrifice for his own sins because he never sinned. This is why he can be our sacrifice and become sin for us. The Holy Spirit goes on to explain another aspect of Christ being better than the Old Testament priestly system. Hebrews 9:25-28 Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. Did you catch that? The priests in the Old Testament brought in blood to sacrifice that was not their own but Christ offers his own blood as the sacrifice for our sins. He died for us in our place. I’ll close with one more use of our word that is part of prophecy that predicted Christ coming to be our cornerstone of salvation. Isaiah 28:16, 18-19 Thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion, a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation: ‘Whoever believes will not be in haste.’ … Then your covenant with death וְכֻפַּ֤ר will be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol will not stand. Ephesians 2:19-22 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. 1 Peter 2:4-5 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.