29 And this shall be a statute for ever unto you: that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, ye shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all, whether it be one of your own country, or a stranger that sojourneth among you: 

30 For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the Lord. 

31 It shall be a sabbath of rest unto you, and ye shall afflict your souls, by a statute for ever. 

32 And the priest, whom he shall anoint, and whom he shall consecrate to minister in the priest’s office in his father’s stead, shall make the atonement, and shall put on the linen clothes, even the holy garments: 

33 And he shall make an atonement for the holy sanctuary, and he shall make an atonement for the tabernacle of the congregation, and for the altar, and he shall make an atonement for the priests, and for all the people of the congregation. 

34 And this shall be an everlasting statute unto you, to make an atonement for the children of Israel for all their sins once a year. And he did as the Lord commanded Moses.

We have been told the details of this special ritual and here in the final verses it is explained that this is to be yet another yearly holy day for the people. In later passages we will hear it named as the Day of Atonement. This day has more in common with the Feast of Unleavened Bread, than the Feasts of Firstfruits, and Ingathering. Like the former, it was to be a special sabbath, in which no one would do any work, only devote themselves to the observances of that holy day. It was also like the Feast of Unleavened Bread in that it was set upon a specific day and month of the year.

Thus, on the same day each year, the people would consider the special ritual of the priest, and how he was making atonement for them all. As we read in verse 33, it was atonement for the sanctuary, for the tabernacle, for the altar, for the priests, and for all the congregation. All that Israel was and all that they had made was sanctified as one conduit to the Lord. This explains why Aaron would sprinkle the blood upon even the mercy seat. It was also the work of the Israelites, a vessel in the fallen world, and as such it was necessary to periodically recommit it to the Lord.