Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur - The Day of Atonement)
Next observance: sunset of tuesday, the 25th of september 2012
** This is a Sabbath unto the Lord: “Do no regular work.” Lev. 23:28.
The Day of Atonement, better known as “Yom Kippur” (the day of covering, canceling, pardon, and reconciling) falls on the 10th of Tishrei ((the 7th Biblical month corresponding with September/October of our calendar year.)
Scriptural references: Leviticus 16:29-34, 23:26-32; and Hebrews 9:11-14, 22-24, 10:1-25.
Yom Kippur is the most solemn and important day in the Biblical calendar. Only once each year was any Israelite permitted to enter the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle or Temple and to approach the Lord where His Spirit resided above the Mercy Seat. And that person was the High Priest on the Day of Atonement.
The High Priest went through a complex set of sacrifices to atone for his own sins and the sins of all the people. A goat was then led outside the walls of the city to die, symbolically taking the sins of the people with it. The High Priest was then able to enter the Holy of Holies and sprinkle blood on the Ark of the Covenant. It was by no means certain that he would leave there alive. He only returned if God had accepted the sacrifice of blood. If he lived, he would go outside, lift his hands and pronounce the Aaronic blessing on the people.
The blood of bulls and goats could not provide true and permanent forgiveness of sins, so God’s Son (Yeshua) came to provide the ultimate sacrifice of Himself. He was sentenced to death in the Temple by the High Priest who said, prophetically, that it was good that one man should die for the nation. Yeshua was then led outside the walls of the city to bear the sins of the people – all the people of the world, not just the Israelites.
When the Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians, and again by the Romans, there was no longer a Holy of Holies, a High Priest, or a sacrificial system. The Jewish people had to find another means of atonement. Their solution was prayer and good deeds.
Today, the Day of Atonement is spent in the synagogue, in repentance, fasting and in prayer, petitioning God to have their name written in the Book of Life for one more year.
As Believers in the Lord Yeshua, we feel that He is both the High Priest, who entered into the Holy of Holies once and for all (Hebrews 9:12); and the Sacrifice, as He offered Himself as the living sacrifice (Hebrews 9:14). Since Yeshua died for us, we do not have to petition for redemption year after year because, by grace through faith, we have been redeemed and are inscribed in the Book of Life. This gift of God occurs through our individual acceptance of the Messiah’s atonement for sin, and the subsequent acceptance of His sovereign intervention in our lives.
This day is a good time to approach the Lord with the fear and awe He deserves. We are to repent of our sins and to thank Him for the sacrifice that brings us into continual “at-one-ment” with Him. Our atonement then allows our names to be recorded forever in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
Yom Kippur is a Sabbath from evening until evening. It is a day marked by complete fasting and prayer.
