DAY OF ATONEMENT

DAY OF ATONEMENT IS THIS WEDNESDAY!

DAY OF ATONEMENT - forgive

This next Holy day deals with the guilty & ashamed! The previous with the trapped, stagnant… the next and final Holy day will deal with the worried, anxious, helpless, or empty. DAY OF ATONEMENT - also called “Yom Kippur” - which simply put means the day to cover sinsthis was a day to cover sins but they looked forward to the day of the Savior who will remove their sins!This feast was 10 days after the feast of trumpets ...The Day of Atonement was about sacrifice for sins… Which this is one of the first times that we see repentance before sacrifice for sins… Example: the Feast of trumpets speaks of repentance then next came the Day of Atonement -speaks of sacrifice for sins;..... John the Baptist - repentance, Jesus - sacrifice for sins.Teaching us that repentance comes first before sacrifice...

​ NLTThe sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.

Psalm 51:17 NKJV

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart— These, O God, You will not despise.

teaches us the key to understanding the Day of Atonement...It says it is a day to “humble your soul”

Leviticus 23:27 NKJV

“Also the tenth day of this seventh month shall be the Day of Atonement. It shall be a holy convocation for you; you shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire to the Lord.

​ NKJVBut He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.”

James 4:6 NKJV

But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.”

Teaching us that pride, and selfishness is our biggest enemy… because it tries to keep us from the grace of God....Now pride has two sides … positive and negative...Positive pride is what most of us think of.... it compares itself to others and thinks they are better… Negative pride is often misunderstood as humililty… negative pride compares itself to others and think they are the worst....Negative pride says “I am a failure, I suck, I hate myself, I mess up at everything, sometimes even says I am depressed”This is not humility this is negative pride because your eyes are still on yourself...

C.S Lewis said “Humility is not thinking less of yourself it is thinking of yourself less”

So on the Day of Atonement it is about getting your eyes off your sins and onto the sacrifice.Now I know their are some people here who need to get their eyes off their sins and failures and onto Jesus...This also includes your calling… you may say I am a terrible musician, so I cant do worship… I am not social so i cant be an usher, I dont know much or am afraid so i cant teach...

We can focus on our failures, faults and stay down.... or we can look at the success of Christ and be lifted up We either can look down on ourselves or look up up to Christ!

​ NLTSo humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor.

1 Peter 5:6 NKJV

Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time,

On this day the Jews would attend a service where they would read Is. 61Some Rabbis in Jesus time believed that would be the words of the Messiah when He came.Now in Jesus goes into a service… and reads to the people. The Jewish people totally knew what this meant and they say in verse 22 “isnt this the son of Joseph”Remember that they expected the Messiah to read this, and they knew the Messiah was going to come from David.it is likely they didn't know that Jospeh was from the line of David..What is interesting is that after the temple was destroyed in 70 AD so they stopped reading Isaiah 61Today they read - a chapter that describes the Messiah.I think God is trying to tell them something....It is crazy they missed Jesus in their service in then, and they are missing Jesus now in . Now between , and Jewish traditions there is 5 major events of the day of AtonementFirst the priest would take a bull and sacrifice it for the sins of the himself and the priestSecond he would sprinkle the blood of the bull in the Holy of Holies and pour incense with coals on the mercy seatnote - the idea that the priest had rope tied around him when entering the Holies of Holies is probably a Medieval legend.... The Priest would cast lots ....one lot for the scape goat and one goat for a sin offering.The Priest would also sprinkle the blood of the sacrificial goat in the Holy of HoliesThe High Priest would lay his hands on the scapegoat and confess the sins of the nation & then release the goat into the wilderness.

​ NKJVThe goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to an uninhabited land; and he shall release the goat in the wilderness.

Leviticus 16:22 NKJV

The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to an uninhabited land; and he shall release the goat in the wilderness.

This is true for us too! God has removed our sins far away!!!What is interesting is that according to the Talmud (ancient Jewish writings) a scarlet cord that was tied to the neck of the scape goat turned white as it was led out of the city. but it was reported that 40 years before the temple was destroyed in 70 AD (which would be 30 AD - during Jesus ministry) the scarlet cord did not change to white....

because Jesus who was present at the time is the fulfilment of the scapegoat

The Day of Atonement ends with a final blast of the shofar and they would break their fast in the break-the-fast meal....by having a taste of the wine...

What is very interesting is that Jesus (the fulfillment of this feast) said “He will not drink this wine until He is with them in Heaven” ()

So Jesus in a sense Jesus doesn't break the fast…or end the feast

Teaching us that with Jesus the Day of Atonement doesn't end.

Salvation is eternal with Jesus.

I know there are some of you here that are guilty, or ashamed of your sins…

Jesus came to be a sacrifice for all sins!

He died for your sins so that you don’t have to die with your sins!

Maybe you are a Christian and you are focused more on your sins and guilt of it then on Jesus…

Like on the Day of Atonement get your eyes on Jesus!

We no longer have to live in our failures but in the victory of Jesus!

All He asks is for us is to trust that He paid the cost of your sins!