Yom Kippur

[visionary]

The Day of Atonement is in the Sabbath of months (Seven month). The whole month is a sabbath. It is a time for introspection, self-correction and prayer.[1] It is a Sabbath of rest from sin, a very holy time, an appointed time that God has set aside to deal with sin once and for all.

By the end of the Day of Atonement, the judgment is signed, sealed, and set. The books are closed. The gavel falls. Every human being is inscribed either in the Book of Life or the Book of Death. One last, long trumpet sounds at the end of the day as the gates of heaven swing shut and close.

In discussing the Day of Atonement it is helpful to accurately define the word "Atonement." Atonement does not mean forgiveness of sin. It is from the Hebrew word kaphar which means, "Covering". This is the one day a year when the High Priest is to create a covering for Israel, separating the sin from the sinner forever. This covering, is the robe of righteousness, that fine linen you have been looking for. This is the wedding day when Yeshua will marry His bride.

The sense in which the word is used is as a covering-protection from danger. The idea is that God is dangerous, as a consuming fire, sin does burn up, melt like wax. If common, mortal, finite and sinful man is to enter the presence of the Holy, Immortal, Infinite and Righteous God, the man must be covered (i.e. atoned for) or he will be consumed and destroyed by the presence of God.

For example, Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden enjoyed the presence of God. They walked with him daily in the garden. Then they sinned. Their eyes were opened and they immediately realized that they were naked. They immediately realized that they were which covering. Instinctively they began to try to sew fig leaves together to cover themselves because they knew God was coming, and they knew they could no longer withstand his presence. They could not enter his presence which covering. Their effort to cover themselves, however, was futile; so when they heard God's voice and knew that he was entering the garden, they hid themselves. They could not come face to face with him. After judging them, the book of Genesis tells us, that God made garments of skin to cover them. Thus the story of the fall of man leaves us with our first glimpse of atonement. God kills an animal to cover Adam and Eve. It is the first record of death in the creation, and it is a sacrifice meant for a covering.


[1] Leviticus 23:26-32

 

[visionary]

Who knows but must maybe that day the Lord covered Adam and Eve was the very first Day of Atonement. According to tradition, Feast of Trumpets is the anniversary of their creation. Is it possible that 10 days later was the day they sinned?

Another example of the need for atonement is found in the story of Moses and the Golden Calf. After Israel sinned by making the golden calf, Moses ascended Mount Sinai to interceding for them. God was ready to destroy Israel; He was unwilling to even let His presence be among them. He said, "I will send an angel with Israel, but I cannot go with you or I might break out against you and destroy you." [1] Because of the sin of the calf, Israel found herself unprotected. She has no covering. She is in danger from the presence of God. But Moses says to Israel, "Perhaps I can make atonement for your sin." [2]. He fasts for forty days and nights, and then goes back up the mountain with the two new tablets. The two tablets are meant to replace the ones he broke when he saw the calf. He goes back up the mountain; back up into the presence of God. On the mountain Moses implores God for mercy and requests to be shown all of God's glory.

Face to face. God replies that no man can see his face and live. Moses would be consumed by God's glory. Instead God offers to cover Moses with his hand, hiding him in the cleft of the rock, while God passes by and declares the full meaning of His Name. He offers to tell Moses exactly who he is. He offers to reveal to Moses his essential person.[3] And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, 'The Lord, the Lord,***[4] the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.

[1] Exodus 33
[2] Exodus 32:30
[3] Exodus 34:5-7
[4] ***Did you notice “The Lord, the Lord”? There are two Lords. There are two, and there are many more texts where this is repeated, it could be because there were two Lords, God the Father, and God the Son that were addressed.

 

[visionary]

This experience that Moses went through was the first time in record history that the full extent of God's mercy and grace were revealed. Moses already knew God was gracious, he already knew he was abounding in loving kindness, but to what extent he probably never realized, until that moment when God covered him with his hand and proclaimed his Name.

Only then was it made clear that God is so Holy and pure that even when He reveals Himself it is only the essence of God and a better understanding of the meaning of his Name. In the Day of Atonement, we need to readily admit that we have no nothing, no worthy deeds, no spiritual strengths of our own; we have nothing to show God, nothing to tip the scales of judgment in our favor, except Yeshua. We have no basis to ask for mercy except for this, "You are the Lord, the Lord, gracious and compassionate:

The Second Time Moses, with the Ten Commandments, comes down from Mount Sinai, God makes a new covenant with Israel. When the people see Moses, his face is radiating brilliance from being in the presence of God. Moses achieved covering for Israel's sin. According to Jewish tradition, the day Moses came down from Mount Sinai was in the fall at the time of fall feasts.

The picture of Moses in his second coming is startlingly messianic. On Moses' first trip down the mountain out of the presence of God, the tablets were broken. Like Christ himself, the Word was broken for the sin of the people. After this initial descent down the mountain, Moses returned to the God. He went back into the very presence of God to make atonement, to effect a new covenant, to reveal the true and essential person of God. He was able to reveal the full extent of God's mercy and grace. These things accomplished, he then returned, bearing the New Covenant in his arms. He came down from the Father in splendor, in glory, in brilliance, terrible to behold.

On the Biblical calendar, the tenth day of the seventh month is the appointment known as Day of Atonement. The Day of Atonement is the Holiest day of the Biblical year. It is a day of intense prayer, fasting and calling out to God for mercy and grace. It is a day for doing business with God. It is a day for coming face to face with God. We can see an intersection of three holies. On the Day of Atonement, the Holiest man in the world (the High Priest of Israel) goes into the Holiest Place in the world (the holy of holies) on the Holiest Day of the year (the day of Day of Atonement). Let’s not take this lightly as others have died from assuming that this can be done in any manner.

 

[visionary]

And so it is today, God wants to come and speak directly to each and every one of us, so that you can believe in God and His Word forever. We are to prepare our hearts and minds to meet with in a personal way the almighty God. God has provided a way into the Most Holy and into His presence. [1]

This is the time that communion with the Lord will be the most blessed than at other times. These are the Lord’s set aside times just for talking with you personally.[2]

[1] Exodus 24:15
[2] Numbers 9:20-22