The Day of Atonement,
known in Hebrew as: Yom Kippur, is the sixth feast of redemption (Lev. 23:27-28).
More than a “feast”, we could consider this a solemn day. God gathered his
people on this day, the 10th of Tishri (seventh biblical month), to
make atonement.
(Leviticus 16:29-30) And it shall be
a statute to you forever that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the
month, you shall afflict yourselves and shall do no work, either the
native or the stranger who sojourns among you. (30) For on this day shall atonement be made for you to
cleanse you. You shall be clean before the LORD from all your sins.
What does it mean to “make atonement”?
An atonement has
two ways of seeing it; although they seem to be opposites, they both apply:
1. One is to pay the penalty for a fault committed.
2. Another is to erase the fault through a sacrifice.
When a fault is committed, there is a punishment or sentence
that has to follow. The only way to avoid this punishment or sentence is either
by paying the compensation ourselves or to wait for someone else to pay it for
us.
DAY OF DISCLOSURE
Yom Kippur is the day when we settle our accounts with God. If
we are honest, we will see that we have all failed. If “the wages of sin is
death” (Rom. 6:23), then we should all die…
(Romans 3:23) for all have
sinned and fall short of the glory of God
What every sinner deserves is death, but that is not what
God wants…
(Ezekiel 33:10-11) And you, son of
man, say to the house of Israel, Thus have you said: ‘Surely our transgressions
and our sins are upon us, and we rot away because of them. How then can we
live?’ (11) Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I have no
pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from
your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?
The Lord wants to give us the opportunity to find salvation
– in Him.
(Ezekiel 18:30-32) “Therefore I
will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, declares
the Lord GOD. Repent and turn
from all your transgressions, lest iniquity be your ruin. (31) Cast away
from you all the transgressions that you have committed, and make yourselves a
new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel? (32) For
I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord GOD; so turn, and live.”
“To repent” in
Hebrew is the verb: Shuv, which literally means: to return.
The act of “repenting” in Hebrew is: Teshuvah, which is also
translated as: convert.
God’s desire is that we live, and not die. But this depends
on each person – if we repent and recognize that the Lamb of God (Yeshua) made atonement for us.
(Romans 3:24-26) and are
justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus, (25) whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be
received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine
forbearance he had passed over former sins. (26) It was to show his
righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier
of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Whoever repents, will have his sins forgiven; but whoever
doesn’t, will have to bear their own sins. This is what Jesus explained to
Nicodemus:
(John 3:16-21) For God so
loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him
should not perish but have eternal life. (17) For God did not send his Son
into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved
through him. (18) Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does
not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of
the only Son of God. (19) And this is the judgment: the light has come
into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because
their works were evil. (20) For everyone who does wicked things hates the
light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be
exposed. (21) But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it
may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.
Our works should come to the light… not for condemnation,
but to be atoned for and to be rectified.
TURN TO ME
As we mentioned before, the word for “Atonement” in Hebrew is Teshuvah, which means: to return, to
turn back.
Repentance is not only to “feel remorse” and stay the same;
it implies a change. True repentance is recognizing that we have gone astray
from the Way of God, and then to commit to return, to turn back, to walk in
that direction (doing things as God commands).
The problem is that many have no idea that they have turned
away from God’s order, either because of ignorance or because they reject God’s
Law. Malachi prophesied about this:
(Malachi 3:7) From
the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not
kept them. Return to me, and I will
return to you, says the LORD of hosts. But you say, ‘How shall we
return?’
It is sad to say it, but many believers don’t know the Word
of God, and therefore do not know what is good or bad. Even worse, others
reject Torah, without giving it much thought. On the days of Malachi, some people
had that same attitude, thinking that they would still have their way even though
they were out of God’s order…
(Malachi 3:14-15) You have said,
‘It is vain to serve God. What is the profit of our keeping his charge or of
walking as in mourning before the LORD of hosts? (15) And now we
call the arrogant blessed. Evildoers not only prosper but they put God to the
test and they escape.’”
Can someone really believe that God will not come to make
justice and ask everyone to render their accounts? This is the “false theory of
grace” which says that it doesn’t matter what we do after we have been saved
because God forgives us. And certainly God can forgive us, but there has to be
repentance on our part.
To have “our debts settled” with God, we have to genuinely repent,
which implies recognizing our faults, receiving God’s forgiveness, and then
rectifying.
(Isaiah 1:16-20) Wash
yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my
eyes; cease to do evil, (17) learn to do good; seek justice, correct
oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause. (18) “Come
now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like
scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they
shall become like wool. (19) If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the
good of the land; (20) but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be eaten by the
sword; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
If God has “delayed” His justice on Earth, it’s only to give
us time to repent. Peter clearly explains it on the end of his letter:
(2 Peter 3:9-14) The Lord is not
slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward
you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach
repentance. (10) But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then
the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be
burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will
be exposed. (11) Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of
people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, (12) waiting
for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens
will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they
burn! (13) But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and
a new earth in which righteousness dwells. (14) Therefore, beloved, since you
are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish,
and at peace.
This is the same thing that Malachi says on his last
chapter, which speaks of the Day of the
Lord, when Yeshua will bring justice to Earth – and we will do well by
being on the “right side”.
(Malachi 4:1-6) For behold, the
day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers
will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says
the LORD of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor
branch. (2) But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise
with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.
(3) And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles
of your feet, on the day when I act, says the LORD of hosts. (4)
“Remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and rules that I
commanded him at Horeb for all Israel. (5) “Behold, I will send you Elijah the
prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. (6)
And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of
children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of
utter destruction.
This burning day is the “Day of the Lord”…
YOM KIPPUR: DAY OF
THE LORD
In the messianic fulfillment, Yom Kippur represents the
Day of the Lord. This is the day in
which the Lord will come to judge in righteousness; that is, he will deal with
each one according to their own deeds, but he will forgive anyone who has
repented.
(Acts 2:19-21) And I will show
wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and
vapor of smoke; (20) the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood,
before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day. (21) And it
shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved.’
That will be the most fearful day, but it will also be the
most glorious day.
Joel, the prophet, reveals to us how the people of God have
to prepare themselves for that day…
(Joel 2:11-15) The LORD utters
his voice before his army, for his camp is exceedingly great; he who executes
his word is powerful. For the day of the LORD is great and very
awesome; who can endure it? (12) “Yet even now,” declares the LORD,
“return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with
mourning; (13) and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to
the LORD your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger,
and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster. (14) Who knows
whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, a grain
offering and a drink offering for the LORD your God? (15) Blow the
trumpet in Zion; consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly;
TWO COMMANDMENTS FOR
THE PEOPLE
The fulfillment of the Day
of Atonement will happen when the Messiah returns, on his Second Coming. Meanwhile,
the Lord has called us to celebrate and rehearse this day… as an eternal statute
(Heb. L’Chukat Olam, which means: forever!):
(Leviticus 16:29-31,
NASB) This shall be a permanent statute for you: in the
seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall humble your souls and not do any work, whether the
native, or the alien who sojourns among you; (30) for it is on this day
that atonement shall be made for you to cleanse you; you will be clean from all
your sins before the LORD. (31) “It is to be a sabbath of solemn rest for
you, that you may humble your souls; it is a permanent statute.
The instructions to the people were simple:
1. “Humble your souls”
2. “Not do any work”
Let’s analyze what these instructions mean so that we can
understand their spiritual meaning:
1. “Humble your souls”
“To humble” in Hebrew is: Anah, which literally
means: depress. It can also be translated as: decrease, afflict, weaken, break,
or submit.
A very effective way to willingly get afflicted is by
fasting. We can tell this is how it has been interpreted because of how it is
written in several biblical references…
(Psalms 69:10) When I wept and
humbled my soul with fasting, it became my reproach.
(Isaiah 58:3) ‘Why have we
fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no
knowledge of it?’ Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure,
and oppress all your workers.
The purpose of fasting is to humble ourselves before God; it
is to break our own will so we can summit to God’s will. The affliction of Yom Kippur is not to condemn us but to place us in
the right position to receive the Lord… and to also cleanse our lives before He
comes. But it is important for us to realize that salvation can only come from
God (through faith in Yeshua) and not from our own righteousness. No one can become
victorious by their own righteousness, for we have all sinned (Romans 3:20-26).
This is directly related to the next instruction…
2. “Not do any work”
Rest is the central message of all the feasts. We have to
learn to rest in God. This implies letting go of the wheel and trusting in God…
resting in Him. But, it is so hard for human beings to do this! We have to
learn to let go and rest, for our own good. If we don’t give up the control of
our own lives, the Lord won’t be able to take the wheel – and that is the only
way to save us.
This brings us to the description of Yom Kippur on Leviticus
23…
COMPLETE REST AND
HUMILITY
The most complete description of this feast is found in
Leviticus 16, but we cannot forget about the reference on Leviticus 23…
(Leviticus 23:27-30) Now on the
tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. It shall be for you a
time of holy convocation, and you shall afflict yourselves and present a
food offering to the LORD. (28) And you shall not do any work on that
very day, for it is a Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before
the LORD your God. (29) For whoever is not afflicted on that
very day shall be cut off from his people. (30) And whoever does any work on
that very day, that person I will destroy from among his people.
The consequence of not humbling ourselves on that day and
not resting is very strong: such person shall be cut off and destroyed from
among the people of God. It sounds too extreme. But instead of rejecting the
message, let’s try to understand the profound spiritual message…
The Lord calls his people on that day to have an encounter
with Him. The instruction that He gives us is simple: humble yourselves before
Him and rest (Lev. 23:27-28).
(Leviticus 23:31-32) You shall not
do any work. It is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your
dwelling places. (32) It shall be to you a Sabbath of solemn rest, and you
shall afflict yourselves. On the ninth day of the month beginning at evening,
from evening to evening shall you keep your Sabbath.
In a spiritual sense, work represents our deeds, and rest
represents the relief that we find when we know that it is not our own deeds
that save us, but the work of God in our lives. No one is righteous enough to
save themselves (Rom. 3:24; Gal. 2:16). On the days of rest and on the feasts
this is what we become aware of, and we present ourselves before the Lord with
an attitude of humility and thankfulness for all that He has done for us. The
physical rest is an external manifestation of the spiritual rest (Heb. 4:8-10).
When we keep the Day of Atonement, year after year, we are
rehearsing what will happen on the day the Messiah comes down to Earth. It will
be a glorious and fearful day, all at once. It will be the day of forgiveness
of sins for everyone who has repented and humbled himself before Him,
recognizing He is King. But for those who didn’t want to repent but instead
rebel against His authority, it will be a day of judgment and condemnation.
Jesus died as the Lamb of God on Passover, and his blood
frees us from sin. He will not have to die again on his Second Coming (because
he already did on his first, Hebrews 9:11-12), but what he will do on that day
is to “put an end to iniquity”. Finally the inheritance of sin that came from
Adam will be put to an end. Also, the devil will be imprisoned and will not
tempt men any more (until the end of the Millennium, only for some time, Rev.
20:2-3, 7-10).
(Hebrews 9:27-28) And just as it
is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, (28) 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.
This is what we rehearse and wait for on the Day of
Atonement, Yom Kippur.
[Note: There is much more to talk about on this feast, but
we will end it here until another time…]
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