KnoWhy #479 - How is the Day of Atonement Understood in the Book of Mormon? (2 Nephi 2:10)

Looking carefully at ritual cleanliness laws in the Old Testament in light of the Day of Atonement ceremony can help explain how we can become symbolically clean and enter into the presence of God. According to the Law of Moses, many things could make a person ritually unclean. The Book of Mormon teaches that, when it comes to spiritual cleanliness, only Christ can bridge that gap between unclean or sinful humanity and an ultimately clean and purely righteous God. The Book of Mormon sometimes appears to refer to this Day of Atonement ordinance to emphasize the universal nature of the Christ’s Atonement. The universal Atonement, in opposition to the universal uncleanness humans experience, is illustrated in 2 Nephi 2:10, which states that it is the intercession for all that brings all men to God.