The Feast of Atonement
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The Lord again spoke to Moses: “The tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. You are to hold a sacred assembly and practice self-denial; you are to present a fire offering to the Lord.
On this particular day you are not to do any work, for it is a Day of Atonement to make atonement for yourselves before the Lord your God. If any person does not practice self-denial on this particular day, he must be cut off from his people.
I will destroy among his people anyone who does any work on this same day. You are not to do any work. This is a permanent statute throughout your generations wherever you live.
It will be a Sabbath of complete rest for you, and you must practice self-denial. You are to observe your Sabbath from the evening of the ninth day of the month until the following evening.”
For one great day of the whole year a day of national cleansing and repentance was observed. The High Priest would enter the Holy of Holies and with the blood of the sacrifice, sprinkle it on the Mercy Seat, found between the two Cheribim.
The Ark of the Covenant & Mercy Seat
Atonement means “to cover”. On this great Day of Atonement, the sins of the nation were covered by the blood of the sacrifice. Also known as the Day of Judgment, it was to be a day of great soul affliction with godly sorrow, repentance, and confession of sins. It was to be a day of great mourning, fasting, and contrition of spirit and heart. It was also believed to be the final day of judgment and accounting of one’s person would be sealed and the gates of heaven closed (Celebrating Jesus in the Biblcal Feasts, Booker, pg. 126).
So, for the Jewish nation, the ten day period between the Feast of Trumpets (RoshHaShanah) and The Feast of Tabernacles (Yom Kippur) is known as the Days of Awe or the 10 Days of Repentance, during which people prepare themselves for the Day of Atonement typically with prayer, repentance, confession, and good deeds.
Feasts of the LORD
Jesus’ Prophetic Fulfillment
Jesus fulfilled the spiritual aspect of the Day of Atonement when he entered the heavenly holy of holies giving his shed blood for the sins of the world. Our sins were not just covered, but completely wiped out, taken away, and remembered no more. 1 John 1:6-7
If we say, “We have fellowship with Him,” yet we walk in darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth. But if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.
If we say, “We have no sin,” we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
He entered the most holy place once for all, not by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow, sprinkling those who are defiled, sanctify for the purification of the flesh,
how much more will the blood of the Messiah, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works to serve the living God?
Sins are wiped away only if one believes upon and receives Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. For those who choose not to, their is no other provision, no other way, no other sacrifice to eternal life, forgiveness of sin, or the satisfaction of God’s wrath. John 14:6
Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
The Book of Revelation tells us that only those who names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life will be saved and acknowledge before the Father. Nothing unclean, detestable, profane, and or false will be allowed into Heaven, nor written down in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
In the same way, the victor will be dressed in white clothes, and I will never erase his name from the book of life but will acknowledge his name before My Father and before His angels.
Nothing profane will ever enter it: no one who does what is vile or false, but only those written in the Lamb’s book of life.
So one can proclaim faith in Christ but the works reveal the heart, and one’s belief in Christ. Appearance is only skin deep, the Holy Spirit verifies the truth. If we walk in step with the Spirit, we will practice Christ’s truth and sin will not deceive us. Sin will lead us to confession, confession to forgiveness, and forgiveness to righteousness - this is a daily process of sanctification. Because Jesus died for all sin, and clensed us from all sin, does not mean we have no need of daily repentance. Jesus’ blood satisfied our debts, but new debts have need to be reconciled to His ledger.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
We need daily healing from the daggers of lust, envy, ego, and selfishness “because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” daily (Romans 3:23). We still have need to go to the temple to confess and repent, but what the temple is, has become who the Temple has become…Jesus. The perfect sacrifice, the perfect atonement for sin. He purifies us as we seek to be one with Him. By deeds, trials, tests, and the Word we become secure on the Vine. Jesus says to His disciples,
Every branch in Me that does not produce fruit He removes, and He prunes every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more fruit. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.
Remain in Me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in Me.
The Feasts of the Lord are visual reminders on how and why to stay connected to the Lord Jesus. The Day of Atonement and Days of Awe are a reminder that we cannot attain life by ourselves and that there is a day of accounting for who we are and what we have or have not done. It is a reminder that Jesus blood and sacrifice is the only thing that qualifies us for Heaven, nothing else. Being faithful to the teachings, ways, and salvation provided in Christ is one’s cleansing sanctification for daily living.
If one deceides that one does not need Jesus, are you able to drink the cup that He drank? Are you able to pay the price He paid? With the Jews, none were willing, and non were able. Jesus’ disciples were not even able to stay awake and pray while Jesus was tempted with abandoning the salvation of His creation. Are you without sin to satisfy God’s wrath? None are.
According to Rabbinic history and writings, the scapegoat, sent off to the wilderness with the sins of the people, was tied with a crimson wool thread around its horns. A portion of that crimson thread was also attached to the door of the temple. As the goat was escorted to, and pushed over a cliff, with the sins of Israel upon it, if the wool thread on the door of the temple turned white, their sacrifice to God was accepted and Israel’s sins were forgiven. This sign was based on Isaiah 1:18 which says,
“Come, let us discuss this,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are as red as crimson, they will be like wool.
According to the Rabbinic writtings, for forty years prior to the destruction of the temple, the thread stopped turning white. Has the thread stopped turning white for humanity? Only through the grace, faithfulness, and obedience of Jesus Christ, does our wool turn white. Only through our faithfulness and submission to Christ does it stay white. Thank you Jesus!
Our Personal Response
Whatever Jesus experienced on earth in His flesh, we will experience in the flesh as well. Whatever He experienced spiritually, we shall experience as well. Jesus was crucified for our sins, we will be crucified for others sins and our response is to die to self, like Christ, take up our cross, and follow Him (Matthew 16:24-26). We are called to put off the old man of sin, and put on the new man of life (Ephesians 4:22). As Jesus was resurrected from the dead, we are to walk in the newness of life, raised from the grave of sin and death in Jesus Christ.
For we know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that sin’s dominion over the body may be abolished, so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin, since a person who has died is freed from sin’s claims.
Sin no longer has claim over the follower of Christ, but can still entangle a follower of Christ. Therefore we need to re-apply the balm of Jesus’ healing atonement, making confession and repentance of sin. For the Day of Judgment will come, some time soon, when all the world will be condemned, who do not call Jesus Christ Lord (1 Cor. 11:31-32). Disciples of Christ are chastened and judged by the Lord so that we may not be condemned with the world. We are tested and corrected, so that our faith is firm, our eyes clear, our hope fixed on Jesus.
If we were properly evaluating ourselves, we would not be judged, but when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord, so that we may not be condemned with the world.
Moses was led into the wilderness for forty years for what purpose? So that the Lord our God may know what was in his heart, whether he would keep God’s word and commands (Deut. 8:2). I believe it was also so, even more so, so that Moses would discover what was really in his own heart and if he would follow God. So Moses would know how far or how close he really was to the Father, how unworthy and incapable He really was in the holiness, grace, and goodness of God. How close do we really think we are to Christ? How close are we truly?
Our response in trial and temptation shows us the reality of our being. Jesus did not die to save us from trials and problems, but He will help us overcome our trials and problems as we seek His face and repent, acknowledging our need of Him.
You rejoice in this, though now for a short time you have had to struggle in various trials so that the genuineness of your faith —more valuable than gold, which perishes though refined by fire —may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
We receive trials so that we will not have a trial at the Day of Atonement, so that we will not be condemned with the world at the Day of Judgment. God will only allow us to experience a difficult trial of our faith unless He sees some value for it in our life in Him. All trials will not be the same, will not last forever, and can be difficult, but the purpose in all trials is to test the genuinenss of our love and faith in Christ. We can take great comfort in the fact that as Christ was tested, we will be tested. Testing and trial is a mark of a disciple of Christ.
But even more of a mark of a disciple of Christ, is how we handle the trial: like Jesus or like the world? Will we come out like gold, or like dust (Job 23:8-10)? Because of the faithfulness and sacrifice of Christ, His grace in granting to us salvation, trials are not encountered and navigated alone. He is with the faithful follower. He will never leave us, nor forsake us, the one who rests in His atonement (Heb 13:5). “He will try you, and you will come forth as Gold”