"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. For on this day shall atonement be made for you to cleanse you. You shall be clean before the Lord from all your sins." (Leviticus 16:29-30)
Yom Kippur usually falls in September or October each year. It's the day of atonement after the Jewish new year, Rosh Hashanah. On this day, Jews ask God for forgiveness for their sins to secure their fate. It's also known as the Sabbath of Sabbaths.
Jews believe the first Yom Kippur occurred after God gave Moses the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai. When Moses came down from the mountain, he found the Israelites worshiping a gold idol calf. After they atoned for their sin, God forgave them and offered Moses a second set of tablets.
The ten days from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur correspond to the last ten days of the 40-day period when Moses was on Mount Sinai receiving the second set of tablets. according to the Hebrew calendar. Yom Kippur completes the annual period known in Judaism as the High Holy Days or "Days of Awe".
Jewish tradition states, God inscribes each person's fate for the coming year into a book, the Book of Life, on Rosh Hashanah, (the beginning of creating Adam on the six day them God rest on the Sabbath) and God waits until Yom Kippur to "seal" the verdict.
To “atone” is literally to make two persons “at-one.” It is a state of complete reconciliation.
During the Days of Awe, a Jew tries to amend their behavior and seek forgiveness for wrongs done against God.
It is the day when the High Priest of Israel made atonement for the sins of the nation with a blood sacrifice.
Many Christian believers view Yom Kippur as a time for identification with our Jewish brothers and sisters and intercession for love ones.
However we must remember that Jesus is the One that makes us at one with God and broke the curse of multiple animal sacrifice and separation from God.
"Let it be known to you therefore, my brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you; by this Jesus everyone who believes is set free from all those sins from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses."
(Acts 13:38-39)
the New Testament identifies as Jesus the Christ. No other Old Testament sacrifice so clearly points to the superiority and finality of Christ’s atoning work on the cross.
The writer of Hebrews makes it clear that in the eyes of God, there can be no atonement without the shedding of blood.
Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. (Hebrews 9:22)
In the Old Covenant, the High Priest had to make this sacrifice in a very specific way within the Holy of Holies of the Temple once a year on the Day of Atonement. There was no end to this ritual, because the blood of bulls and goats were not sufficient to cover the sins of the people beyond the prescription of the Law.
The writer of Hebrew confirms that after Jesus died and rose again, he ascended into heaven and:
…entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. (Hebrews 9:24-26)
Jesus became our High Priest and poured out his blood in the heavenly Holy of Holies once, for all time – and for all of mankind.
That is why after the Jews broke the Sinaitic Covenant and were expelled from the Promised Land – one of the curses that resulted from breaking that particular covenant (see Deuteronomy 28) – the prophet Jeremiah declared that “the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a ‘new covenant’ with the house of Israel…” (Jeremiah 31:31)
The Sinaitic Covenant was made between God and man, and sealed with the continuous sacrifice of animals – so when the Children of Israel sinned, the covenant was broken and they were expelled from the Promised Land.
The New Covenant is unbreakable because it was made between the Son of God and the Son of Man – Jesus representing both God and mankind – and it is sealed in the sinless, spotless blood of Christ. Because Jesus is fully God, He can represent the godhead in this covenant. Because Jesus is fully man, and yet without sin, he can represent mankind in this covenant. Because Jesus never sinned and never will sin, this New Covenant is an unbreakable agreement between God and man
Yom Kippur 2021 will begin in the evening of
Wednesday, 15 September
and ends in the evening of
Thursday, 16 September.
Marcel and Jacqueline Bruff 🙏🏾
Walk Good in Christ
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