The Day of Atonement/Yom Kippur

TINK (Things I Never Knew)

This post may be lengthy, but if you profess to be a Christian, you should know this. Once a year, usually in Jewish circles, the Day of Atonement is observed. It is also know as Yom Kippur. It is the most solemn holy day on the Biblical calendar. The other feast days and appointed times are times of feasting and getting together and fellowship, songs and dancing. Yom Kippur is a day of humbling yourself, sometimes fasting and all day prayers of repentance. The city of Jerusalem shuts down. Everything is closed. No one is driving anywhere. The entire city stops to seek the face of God. On this day, Jewish people everywhere are repenting and just hoping that their name is found in the Book of Life.

A little history. In the Old Testament, the Day of Atonement was observed on the 10th day of the 7th month, 10 days after Trumpets.

“And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord. And ye shall do no work in that same day: for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before the Lord your God.”

Leviticus 23:26-32

On this day, the High Priest would bathe and put on special garments. He would sacrifice a young bull and a ram to atone for his own sins. He would enter the Holy of Holies with a pan of glowing coals from the altar of incense. He would sprinkle the blood of the bull on the mercy seat and the floor before the ark of the covenant. He would then present the two goats and cast lots. One goat would then be sacrificed for the atonement of the Holy Place. The sins would be placed upon the other goat and it would be carried away by a strong man into the wilderness and released to carry away the sins. The scape goat.

“And he (Aaron) shall go out unto the altar that is before the Lord, and make and atonement for it; and shall take of the blood of the bullock, and of the blood of the goat, and put it upon the horns of the altar round about. And he shall sprinkle of the blood upon it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it, and hallow it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel. And when he hath made an end of the reconciling the holy place, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat: And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness: And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.”

Leviticus 16:8-34 for further reading

Only, once a year, the High priest entered the Most Holy Place. This signified that even their daily and weekly sin sacrifices did not truly cover them. On the Day of Atonement, their sins were covered. “Atonement” is the word “kapporet” and means “covering”, the covering of the ark, the Mercy Seat. Jesus’ sacrifice is called the “propitiation” or “expiation” for our sins—the very same word used for Kapporet of the cover of the ark of the covenant in the Holy of Holies, sprinkled with blood of the sacrifice on Yom Kippur. Those who trust in Jesus’ atonement, know that our sins have been covered by His blood, once for all.

“Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.”

Hebrews 9:12

Since the 2nd temple was destroyed in 70 AD, the Jewish people no longer have a place to sacrifice. They have no way of having their sins covered. If they are not messianic and have not recognized Jesus as the messiah, they have no forgiveness of sins. On this most holy day, they repent and fast and afflict themselves hoping that God will write their name in the Book of Life for one more year. Really think on how that would feel. No peace. No forgiveness. No clean slate. No hope. No joy. No covering. No atonement.

Recently, I had the privilege of having a Jewish guest in my home. She sat at my table and we talked about the Day of Atonement. She shared her plans to travel soon to a synagogue on the Day of Atonement. She talked about their belief that on that day God looks over your deeds and judges whether or not to write your name in the book for the following year. You do not get an answer. You just have to go away hoping. If you somehow die in the the following year, it means that God did not write your name in the Book on the previous Day of Atonement. If you live another year, it means your deeds were good enough to grant your name being written down for one more year.

I was struck with how much we take our salvation for granted. We live daily in peace and joy, knowing that Christ has already made the atonement for our sins. That doesn’t mean we are free to sin. That means, we have a place to turn to night or day to seek forgiveness and renewal. We can go to the Father in Jesus’ name and He sees the blood atonement and we can be forgiven.

I have since tried to imagine life without that assurance. I can hardly even picture it. As we shared coffee and snacks, it hit me. Here I sat at my table, me, the grafted in branch, with my new friend, the natural branch. I know better than to boast against the natural branches, as God blinded them to make way for the Gentiles. I just felt so sad for them. They don’t know Jesus/Yeshua. They don’t recognize Him. They don’t accept His atonement. They don’t know forgiveness. No wonder they long daily for the rebuilding of the temple. Indeed, they are striving towards that, because then, perhaps, they can reinstate the sacrifices and just maybe on the Day of Atonement they would have a chance to have their sins covered. Their hearts long for something that already exists. They just can’t see it.

Take time today to thank God and praise Jesus, that He made a way for us. As my 7-year old walks around quietly singing “I’m free indeed. In Christ, I’m free indeed…” Just wow. How much do we take that peace for granted.

“For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others;For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgement;So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.”

Hebrews 9:24-28

“Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.”

Hebrews 10:22

Updated Note: During the time of this post was the first time I had ever observed the Day of Atonement. Sadly, I learned that my Jewish friend form this post died a few days short of a year from the day of our visit. A few weeks later, she had sent me a gift from Israel. I have no way of knowing if she ever opened her eyes to Jesus or received His true Atonement. I think of her often.

The graphing notebook I use for Verse Mapping