The Day of Atonement

This is going to be a rocky post because it is a hard one to understand and put into words but I’ll try my best.  In Leviticus 16 the Lord instructs Aaron to atone for himself and the Israelites. The Day of Atonement is for all the Israelites. The priest, Aaron, is supposed to have sin offerings and burnt offerings to offer up to the Lord. There is a goat which they set free to signify the sins leaving the people. It happens in the seventh month on the tenth day and no one is to do any work on that day, it is a day of fasting for all.
Before Aaron could atone for the people he had to be worthy himself and therefore had to bring his own burnt and sin offerings to offer to the Lord. They two goats that Aaron had to bring were both symbolic of the Lord. The first gave its life for the people and the second took upon itself the sins of the Israelites. 

Elder James  E. Talmage added more to the institute manual. He said,

“The sacred writings of ancient times, the inspired utterances of latter-day prophets, the traditions of mankind, the rites of sacrifice, and even the sacrileges of heathen idolatries, all involve the idea of vicarious atonement."

The word vicarious means "taking the place of another person or thing; acting or serving as a substitute."

The Lord served as our substitute, he took our place. He was willing to go through all that pain and take on our sins in order for us to be able to return to the Celestial Kingdom.  Without the Atonement we wouldn't be able to be made whole. Through Christ we are able to be perfected and return to our Heavenly father. When we repent we are shown mercy from the Lord because he was able to experience those things that we have been through. Jesus Christ suffered so much for us and we need to be willing to take advantage of the sacrifice and repent of our sins. Better yet, not sin! :) We will get there one day and we can become as our Father in Heaven through Jesus Christ.