Yom Kippur
Understanding The Day of Atonement
One question that New Testament believers can have is, "Should we be celebrating the feasts on the Jewish calendar?" If you ask most Christians, they will probably tell you no. A few years ago, I would have said the same thing, but now that I have gotten more instruction and teaching on the culture of the Bible, I believe we absolutely are to be celebrating the feasts. We are generally taught they are Jewish feasts, if we are taught about them at all, but they are not just Jewish feasts. They are the feasts of the Messiah, and each of the six feasts point to Yeshua and His first and second coming. The spring feasts point to His first coming, and the fall feasts point to His second coming. Right now, we are in the season of the fall feasts.
Last weekend, we celebrated Rosh Hashanah or the Jewish New Year. We stepped into the new year 5784, focusing on the DOOR. Immediately following the new year are ten days known as the High Holy Days, or the Ten Days of Awe. These set-aside days are for reflection, prayer, and confession before the Lord to prepare our hearts for the new year. They end the 40 days of teshuvah that began on Elul 1, the last month on the Hebrew calendar. The High Holy Days end this evening as Yom Kippur begins. What exactly is Yom Kippur?
Yom Kippur, also known as The Day of Atonement, is the holiest day of the year on the Hebrew calendar. It means the day of covering, yom kaphar. It is a day to fast, pray for forgiveness, and seek God's face. It was the day the High Priest went into the Holy of Holies and sprinkled blood on the mercy seat for himself and the unknown sins of the people of Isreal for that year. Scripture tells us that Yeshua became the final sacrifice needed to atone for sins. He was the last High Priest to enter the Holy of Holies, giving His very life and blood to be sprinkled on the mercy seat. Hebrews 9 tells us about Yeshua’s sacrifice and what it accomplished under the New Covenant for Yom Kippur.
Now the first covenant had both regulations for worship and a Holy Place here on earth. 2 A tent was set up, the outer one, which was called the Holy Place; in it were the menorah, the table and the Bread of the Presence. 3 Behind the second parokhet was a tent called the Holiest Place, 4 which had the golden altar for burning incense and the Ark of the Covenant, entirely covered with gold. In the Ark were the gold jar containing the man, Aharon’s rod that sprouted and the stone Tablets of the Covenant; 5 and above it were the k’ruvim representing the Sh’khinah, casting their shadow on the lid of the Ark — but now is not the time to discuss these things in detail.
6 With things so arranged, the cohanim go into the outer tent all the time to discharge their duties; 7 but only the cohen hagadol enters the inner one; and he goes in only once a year, and he must always bring blood, which he offers both for himself and for the sins committed in ignorance by the people. 8 By this arrangement, the Ruach HaKodesh showed that so long as the first Tent had standing, the way into the Holiest Place was still closed. 9 This symbolizes the present age and indicates that the conscience of the person performing the service cannot be brought to the goal by the gifts and sacrifices he offers. 10 For they involve only food and drink and various ceremonial washings — regulations concerning the outward life, imposed until the time for God to reshape the whole structure.
11 But when the Messiah appeared as cohen gadol of the good things that are happening already, then, through the greater and more perfect Tent which is not man-made (that is, it is not of this created world), 12 he entered the Holiest Place once and for all.
And he entered not by means of the blood of goats and calves, but by means of his own blood, thus setting people free forever. 13 For if sprinkling ceremonially unclean persons with the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer restores their outward purity; 14 then how much more the blood of the Messiah, who, through the eternal Spirit, offered himself to God as a sacrifice without blemish, will purify our conscience from works that lead to death, so that we can serve the living God!
15 It is because of this death that he is mediator of a new covenant [or will]. Because a death has occurred which sets people free from the transgressions committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promised eternal inheritance. 16 For where there is a will, there must necessarily be produced evidence of its maker’s death, 17 since a will goes into effect only upon death; it never has force while its maker is still alive.
18 This is why the first covenant too was inaugurated with blood. 19 After Moshe had proclaimed every command of the Torah to all the people, he took the blood of the calves with some water and used scarlet wool and hyssop to sprinkle both the scroll itself and all the people; 20 and he said, “This is the blood of the covenant which God has ordained for you.” 21 Likewise, he sprinkled with the blood both the Tent and all the things used in its ceremonies. 22 In fact, according to the Torah, almost everything is purified with blood; indeed, without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.
23 Now this is how the copies of the heavenly things had to be purified, but the heavenly things themselves require better sacrifices than these. 24 For the Messiah has entered a Holiest Place which is not man-made and merely a copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, in order to appear now on our behalf in the very presence of God.
25 Further, he did not enter heaven to offer himself over and over again, like the cohen hagadol who enters the Holiest Place year after year with blood that is not his own; 26 for then he would have had to suffer death many times — from the founding of the universe on. But as it is, he has appeared once at the end of the ages in order to do away with sin through the sacrifice of himself. 27 Just as human beings have to die once, but after this comes judgment, 28 so also the Messiah, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to deliver those who are eagerly waiting for him.
Hebrews 9, CJB
When Jesus died, the veil to the Holy of Holies was torn from top to bottom as a declaration that through His blood, we can now come to the mercy seat and find forgiveness of sins (Matthew 27:50-51), not just on Yom Kippur, but at any time.
So why would we need to observe this feast today if Jesus was the sacrifice? When we step into God's appointed times on His calendar, we are aligning ourselves with His plans upon the earth. We will see breakthroughs and shifts that might not happen otherwise. I can tell you from experience that alignment happens when we acknowledge the times God has set up instead of always going by the times that man has set up on our calendar. These feasts are in cycles to take us deeper into our relationship with God and His plan for our lives. We see breakthroughs and His hand in our lives in significant ways when we step into them.
What would it look like if you wanted to honor Yom Kippur tomorrow? I know many people who have been doing some type of fast over the past ten days for these High Holy Days. You would fast and spend time in prayer and the Word. Listen more than you speak on this holy day. Allow the Holy Spirit to bring up what He needs to tell you so you can be prepared to step fully into this year of the OPEN DOOR. We want to be aligned with Heaven to walk through the right doors this year. Any doors that are not written in our book in Heaven, we want to ask the Lord to close now at the beginning of the year. As I was researching this holiday, I read in Valerie Moody's book The Feasts of Adonai that people would wear white clothing on this day to symbolize purity (Isaiah 1:18). They do this because it is symbolic of the holiest day of the year, just like one's wedding day is the holiest day of their lives. Yom Kippur is considered a type of wedding. Because it is considered a type of wedding, you can read the Song of Solomon as part of your meditation. Song of Solomon is a marriage book. Yes, on the surface level, it is about the marriage of a man and woman, but deeper is the marriage of our Heavenly Bridegroom to His Bride. Part of the Bridegroom's instructions to His Bride is,
You must catch the troubling foxes, those sly little foxes that hinder our relationship. For they raid our budding vineyard of love to ruin what I’ve planted within you. Will you catch them and remove them for me? We will do it together.
Song of Songs 2:15, TPT
The little foxes are the things in our hearts that will keep us from walking in intimacy with our Bridegroom. The foxes are the sins we must repent from and ask the Lord to give us revelation and power to overcome through His Spirit. The foxes are ingrained mindsets held in place by pride and self-protection. If we set aside time to be with Him on this holiest of days, we can avoid these foxes from causing ruin in the coming year.
Today, I pray that you will allow the Lord to inspect your heart and come into agreement with His assessment. He has so much for us in this new year! We don't want anything to hinder the abundant blessings and open doors for our destiny! May His kindness lead us all to repentance.
Shalom,
Brandee