The Sabbath Called Day of Atonement

 

Its Old Covenant Significance

²⁷ [Tishri 10] the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. Hold a sacred assembly and deny yourselves, but present an offering made to the Lord by fire… ²⁹ Anyone who does not deny himself on that day must be cut off from his people… ³¹ You shall do no work at all. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live… ³² From the evening of the ninth day of the month until the following evening you are to observe your Sabbath. LEVITICUS 23

The Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur in Hebrew) is the most sacred day to Israelites. It used to be the day, before the Jerusalem Temple was destroyed in 70 ad, when the Jewish high priest would enter its Most Holy Place to make atonement for the sins of the Jewish people.

²⁹ You must deny yourselves and not do any work—whether native-born or an alien living among you— ³⁰ because on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you. Then, before the Lord, you will be clean from all your sins. ³¹ It is a Sabbath of rest… ³² The priest anointed and ordained to succeed his father as high priest will make atonement. He will put on the sacred linen garments ³³ and make atonement for the Most Holy Place, for the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and for the priests and all the people of the community. ³⁴ This is a lasting ordinance for you. Atonement is to be made once a year for the sins of the Israelites. LEVITICUS 16

Take note: Deny yourselves in Leviticus 23:27 and 16:29 means fasting is required of the healthy past the age of 13. Also, abstention from sexual activity. The instruction applies to Christians as well. 

Its New Covenant Significance

THE DAY REMINDS US ALL OF OUR NEED TO FORGIVE AND BE FORGIVEN.

When a petition is made for forgiveness, it must come with propriety. Suppose you hit the jackpot in the lotto. Would you not hold on to your winning ticket like your life depends on it? And make sure that you claim your prize? After you have claimed it, would you not secure it from robbers and rats and keep on reminding yourself where you hid it? Of course you would! That is what acting with propriety means. Now, isn’t the forgiveness of God more valuable than a winning ticket?

For purposes of propriety, check the motive for your petition.  

¹⁴ Do everything in love. 1 CORINTHIANS 16

God is forgiving. Imitate His example.

²⁵ I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions… and remembers your sins no more. ISAIAH 43

⁵ Love does not keep a record of wrongs. 1 CORINTHIANS 13

³⁷ Forgive and you will be forgiven. ³⁸ For the measure with which you measure out will be used to measure back to you!  LUKE 6 cjb

⁵ Let your gentleness be evident to all. PHILIPPIANS 4

¹⁴ If you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. ¹⁵ But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. MATTHEW 5

Encarta defines forgive as

1.       stop being angry about something: to stop being angry about or resenting somebody or somebody’s behavior

2.       pardon: to excuse somebody for a misunderstanding, mistake, wrongdoing, or an inappropriateness

3.       cancel obligation: to cancel an obligation, such as a debt

How many times should the offender be forgiven?

⁴ If he sins against you seven times in one day, and seven times comes back to you and says “I repent,” forgive him. LUKE 17

²¹ Peter came to Y’shua and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times [in a day]?” ²² Y’shua answered, “Not seven times but seventy-seven times.” MATTHEW 18

Peter made a follow-up question, “Rabbi, how long must I wait for my neighbor to repent?” Y’shua replied, “Wait for as long as you want your neighbors to be patient with you, and for as long as your Father in heaven waits for your neighbor to repent. Your Father has been compassionate and patient with you, so be as compassionate and patient with your neighbor.” (Gospel of Barnabas)

²³ Once there was a king who decided to check on his servants’ accounts. ²⁴ He had just begun to do so when one of them was brought in who owed him millions of dollars. ²⁵ The servant did not have enough to pay his debt, so the king ordered him to be sold as a slave, with his wife and children and all that he had, in order to pay the debt. ²⁶ The servant fell on his knees before the king, “Be patient with me,” he begged, “and I will pay you everything.” ²⁷ The king felt sorry for him, so he forgave him the debt and let him go. ²⁸ Then the man went out and met one of his fellow servants that owed him a few dollars. He grabbed him and started choking him. “Pay back what you owe me!” he said. ²⁹ His fellow servant fell down and begged, saying, “Be patient with me and I will pay you back.” ³⁰ But he refused; instead, he had him thrown into jail until he should pay the debt. ³¹ When the other servants saw what happened, they were very upset and went to the king and told him everything. ³² So he called the servant in. “You worthless slave!” he said. “I forgave you the whole amount you owed me, just because you begged me to. ³³ You should have had mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?” ³⁴ The king was very angry, and he sent the servant to jail to be punished until he should pay back the whole amount. ³⁵ And Y’shua concluded, “That is how My Father in heaven will treat every one of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.” MATTHEW 18 tev    

³ So when you, a mere man, pass judgment [on your neighbor] and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? ROMANS 2

THE DAY REMINDS US ALL OF THE NEW HIGH PRIEST APPOINTED OVER US.

The old was replaced with the new. This explains why, at the death of the Son of Man, the 70-feet high and 4-inch thick curtain between the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place was torn in two by an unseen hand (Matthew 27:50, Luke 23:45). And why the Jerusalem Temple was burned and razed to the ground by the Roman army. The physical was made to give way to the spiritual.

The Priestly Difference

The new High Priest came down from heaven, as prophesied.

¹³ No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came down from heaven—the Son of Man. ¹⁶ For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. JOHN 3

He made atonement for all sins—past, present and future—once for all, not only of the Jews but of all humankind (1 John 2:2, 1 Peter 3:18). Made a sin offering of His own body and blood. And made it possible for sin to be atoned for any time of the year—not once a year.

He conquered Death and Hades. He was and is and will be our High Priest forever (Hebrew 7:3).

²⁵ I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies. JOHN 11

He now dwells at the Father’s side at the Tent of God (John 1:18) and shares one throne with Him (Revelation 7:17, 22:1, 3). There is no gulf between them. Every time our petition reaches Him, He can instantly appeal for Divine Providence to grant it. 

Perfect for All Time

²³ Under the old arrangement there had to be many priests, so that when the older ones died off, the system could still be carried on by others who took their places. ²⁴ But Y’shua lives forever and continues to be a Priest so that no one else is needed. ²⁵ He is able to save completely all who come to God through Him. Since He will live forever, He will always be there to remind God that He has paid for their sins with their blood. ²⁶ He is, therefore, exactly the kind of High Priest we need; for He is holy and blameless, unstained by sin, undefiled by sinners, and to Him has been given the place of honor in heaven. ²⁷ He never needs the daily blood of animal sacrifices, as other priests did, to cover first their own sins and then the sins of the people; for He finished all sacrifices, once and for all, when He sacrificed Himself on the cross. ²⁸ Under the old system, even the high priests were weak, and sinful men who could not keep from doing wrong, but later God appointed by His oath His Son who is perfect forever. HEBREWS 7 tlb 

¹ What we are saying is this: the Messiah, whose priesthood we have just described, is our High Priest, and is in heaven at the place of greatest honor next to God Himself. ² He ministers in the temple in heaven, the true place of worship built by the Lord and not by human hands. ³ And since every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices, the Messiah must make an offering too. HEBREWS 8 tlb

¹¹ He went into that greater, perfect tabernacle in heaven… and once for all took blood into that inner room, the Holy of Holies, and sprinkled it on the mercy seat; but it was not the blood of goats and calves. No, He took His own Blood, and with it He, by Himself, made sure of our eternal salvation… ¹⁴ His sacrifice frees us from the worry of having to obey the old rules, and makes us want to serve the living God. HEBREWS 9 tlb

⁹ We do see Y’shua—who for awhile was a little lower than the angels—now crowned by God with glory and honor because He suffered death for us. Yes, because of God’s kindness, Y’shua tasted death for everyone in all the world. ¹⁰ And it was right and proper that God, who made everything for His own glory, should allow Y’shua to suffer, for in doing this He was bringing vast multitudes of God’s people to heaven; for His suffering made Y’shua a perfect leader, one fit to bring them into their salvation. ¹¹ We who have been made holy by Y’shua now have the same Father He has. That is why Y’shua is not ashamed to call us His brothers. ¹⁴ Since we, God’s children, are human beings—made of flesh and blood—He became flesh and blood too by being born in human form; for only as a human being could He die and in dying break the power of the devil who had the power of Death. ¹⁵ Only in this way could He deliver those who through fear of Death have been living all their lives as slaves to constant dread. ¹⁶ We all know He did not come as an angel but as a human being—yes, a Jew. And it was necessary for Y’shua to be like us, His brothers, so that He could be our merciful and faithful High Priest before God, a Priest who would be both merciful to us and faithful to God in dealing with the sins of the people… ¹⁸ For since He Himself has now been through suffering and temptation, He knows what it is like when we suffer and are tempted, and He is wonderfully able to help us. HEBREWS 2 tlb 

THE DAY REMINDS EVERYONE THAT forgiveness IS LIKE WATER IN THE FAUCET:

TO DRAW WATER, WE MUST COME TO THE FAUCET AND OPEN IT.

The act of atonement by the new High Priest has made no promise of “blanket pass over” or “blanket forgiveness”.

³⁷ If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him. JOHN 7

On the weight of His Passover sacrifice, the new High Priest has earned (and technically God has relinquished and passed on to Him) the legal right to forgive sin and erase its record from the Book of Accounts; the legal right to free the repentant soul from Lucifer’s claws; and the legal right to reward him with restoration if he stands firm to the end.

¹⁹ God was reconciling the world to Himself in the Messiah, not counting men’s sins against them. ²⁰ We implore you on the Messiah’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 2 CORINTHIANS 5

¹⁷ Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 2 CORINTHIANS 3

If we do not accept the new High Priest as our personal God and Savior, we are rejecting the only One who could bring about the total forgiveness of our sins.

²⁴ I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am, you will indeed die in your sins. JOHN 8

He is now waiting for us to say, “Do it to me, Lord!” Make the good judgment of asking Him and you start on life anew, on a clean slate.  

³⁷ All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and whoever comes to Me, I will never drive away. JOHN 6

¹⁵ Repent and believe the Good News! MARK 1

²⁴ Make every effort to enter through the narrow gate. LUKE 13

¹³ For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. ¹⁴ But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few finds it. MATTHEW 7

Trumpet Call

The Day of Atonement calls for at-one-ment with the new High Priest. Go find a man of God today and be helped on this matter. Beware, though, for Lucifer has fielded phony men of God to douse godly intentions. If a “man of God” tells you to come back tomorrow, do not give Lucifer the satisfaction. Go and find a real man of God; he does not delay the Messianic work of redemption. Do not stop until you find one. 

¹⁵ The Messiah came with this new agreement [covenant] so that all who are invited may come and have forever all the wonders that God has promised them. HEBREWS 9 tlb

¹ Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Y’shua, the Apostle and High Priest we confess. ³ Y’shua has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. ⁴ For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. HEBREWS 3

Y’shua said in the Gospel of the Hebrews: “He who seeks will not give up until he finds; and having found, he will marvel; and having marveled, he will reign; and having reigned, he will rest." In the Oxyrhynchus Gospels: “He who seeks will find, he who finds will be surprised. He who is surprised will prevail and he who prevails will find peace.” In the Gospel of the Hebrews: “He that is amazed will prevail, and he that prevails shall rest in peace.” (Wikipedia)