Understanding Yom Kippur
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For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
If we could use one word to summarize the book of Hebrews I think the word would be “better”. The Lord provided better things for us, the Lord has better things for us, the Lord is preparing better things for us.
Tomorrow is the Jewish holiday “Yom Kippur”, as we were concluding our study about “salt of the Earth” this past Wednesday we kinda indirectly talked about the new covenant and how Jesus ushered in this new agreement between God and man. I believe that God was beginning to confirm the message for today on Wednesday night so I started praying and studying over what God was dealing with me on.
This day fell 10 days after the jewish fall new-year (Rosh Hashanah). Rosh Hashanah was the head of the Israelite new year that led to 10 days of penitence culminating with the Yom Kippur.
What is Yom Kippur? Yom Kippur is was and is considered to be the most important day of the year for the Israelites. This day is known in the english translation of scripture as “The Day of Atonement”.
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. For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people. And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people. Ye shall do no manner of work: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath.
It was a day of humiliation and a day for atonement of sins. The word “atone” again means to cover. In order for the Israelites to be in right standing with God, in order for them to be identified and associated with God their sins had to be covered. For the Lord says:
And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.
In order to be God’s nation, in order to be priests and representatives of God they had to be holy.
And ye shall be holy unto me: for I the LORD am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be mine.
I know that we are living under the dispensation of grace and I know Jesus died to usher in the New Covenant but even in 2020 God still demands holiness from us!
But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.
I want to share with you today how to achieve holiness before the Lord.
Yom Kippur a day of humiliation or a day of humility (root word) and a day for forgiveness of sin. Sin is “missing the mark” it is falling below the standards of God, it is wrong doing or even evil thinking, it is therefore actions, even thoughts that would offend God”.
I quote this scripture often Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord”.
The payment of sin, the payment for sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
God told Adam in Genesis 2:17 “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die”. It wasn’t the fact that Adam and Eve ate the fruit that caused them to fall into sin. It was the fact that they crossed the line and did what God told them not to do! Coupled with the fact that when they ate the fruit that they now had the knowledge to perpetually remain in a state of sin (disobedience) to God and to pass that state onto humanity.
This is one reason why as parents when your child tells the first lie.....you try to figure out where it came from. No one taught them to lie, it’s in their nature, sin/disobedience is in our nature! I don’t care how good you think you are, I don’t care if you made it a whole week without cussing someone out, I don’t care if you never stole anything in your lifetime, SIN IS IN YOUR MEMBERS!
Sin was the reason Israel’s relationship struggled, sin was the reason that the Israelites worshipped false gods, sin was the reason why they fell to sexual promiscuity, sin was why they hated mankind, sin was what introduced murder to the world, sin is what introduced diseases into the world, sin caused disobedience and rebellion, every problem that has plagued mankind takes its roots from sin!
Sin brought death, sin separated Adam and Eve from the presence of God and sin will do the same for you. Sin had to be dealt with and sin has to be dealt with. Sin caused Adam and Eve to realize their nakedness before God:
And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
When Adam and Eve sinned the attempted to cover their nakedness. The same is happening with mankind today, man is still trying to cover himself, still running from the presence of God, they try to cover themselves with excuses, they try to reason and justify their actions by saying you know I’m a good person and I’m not perfect, that’s that individual trying to cover themselves but you can’t cover yourself, you need GOD to cover you! You need to come out from the bushes hiding from God, you need to take the mask off and come to God so that he can cover you with the blood of Jesus Christ!
God being the merciful God that He was, the bible says:
Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.
Something had to die in order for their nakedness to be covered, hence the word atonement. Blood was shed, something died, not only did Adam and Eve die a spiritual death that day, but something had to die because of their sin. Don’t you know that sin can affect everything around you? God dealt with their nakedness by covering them, this believe it or not was a type and shadow of Christ.
So now, when we get to Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy we see that God is further implementing a plan to deal with the sin of mankind. God starts with his holy people Israel, the nation in whom he delivered out of the hand of the Egyptians. God tells them “You must be holy, because I, the LORD, am holy. I have set you apart from all other people to be my very own.” In order for them to be a holy people, they had to sanctify themselves, they had to follow all of God’s commandments, all of his laws in which he prescribed unto them.
A sacrificial system was instituted, so that they people could worship God. Why? Not because they were horrendous people who were cruel to animals, not because they were bored and just wanted to make a sport of killing but because of sin! If they were going to worship God guess what......their sins had to be covered. God is a holy God, and if they were going to be identified with God as his people, their sins had to be dealt with. A payment had to be exacted for their sins. Therefore God institutes daily rituals, daily sacrifices from sun up to sun down, everyday so that their sins could not be taken away but be covered. You messed up, you had to bring a sacrifice, you wanted to seek God’s face....you needed to bring a sacrifice, you found yourself in trouble, you had to sacrifice. Lev 20:26 God establishes the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) so that the High Priest could go into the Holiest of All where the Ark of the Covenant (The Mercy Seat) resided which signified the “Presence of the LORD” to sprinkle blood on the mercy seat to atone for the sins of himself and the sins of the nation. Again something had to die, the bible tells us that the High Priest would take two goats, lay his hands upon the goat to transfer the sins of himself and the sins of the people upon the two goats. One goat was killed, the other goat was let go outside of the camp and was sent away to carry our sins away (carry our sins away). The High Priest offers the goat on the altar, takes the blood put it in a basin, goes and cleanses himself, put on white garments, enters into the Holiest of All to present the blood of atonement for the atoning of sins. They had to do this year after year. That system was not good enough. Why? Because it just covered sin, it did not actually deal with the conscience of sin.
For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
Therefore, on the day of atonement, it was a somber day, it was a day in which they were reminded of the fact that although they sacrificed to God daily, those sacrifices were not good enough to deal with the conscience of sins. They repented, but they kept falling into the same sins, they fasted, but they still had to sacrifice everyday, still had to sacrifice every year. The scriptures say that it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin! So now we have a problem, what can be done now, what do you do when you keep sinning and you can’t help yourself?
Thought:
Being religious is not what causes you to be close to God. The Israelites although they had religion were still considered to be according to the scriptures “far off”.
Well, God was not finished, the LORD had plan that He set in motion when the foundations of the world was created.
God sent another High Priest in the order of Melchizedek, the bible says that even do Jesus wasn’t qualified to be a High Priest after the order of the Levites, Jesus became a High Priest after Melchizedek, by the power of a life that cannot be destroyed. Because even though he died on Calvary, God raised Him from the dead to be alive forever more and to be our Great High Priest! The bible says “For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer” In other-words this says “And since every high priest is required to offer gifts and sacrifices, our High Priest, our High Priest, our High Priest, must make an offering, too. What offering? What did Jesus offer?
Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.
Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God. Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
That is why, when Christ came into the world, he said to God,
“You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings.
But you have given me a body to offer.
You were not pleased with burnt offerings
or other offerings for sin.
Then I said, ‘Look, I have come to do your will, O God—
as is written about me in the Scriptures.’ ”
First, Christ said, “You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings or burnt offerings or other offerings for sin, nor were you pleased with them” (though they are required by the law of Moses). Then he said, “Look, I have come to do your will.” He cancels the first covenant in order to put the second into effect. For God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time.
Well......Jesus didn’t go into the Holiest of All.....no He didn’t on earth, because the design of the earthly tabernacle was a copy of the true tabernacle that is in heaven. This man (Jesus) verse 12 says after he offered one sacrifice (testify.....what Jesus did is enough for you) for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. Guess what, don’t you know that your enemies are God’s enemies!? For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified or as the NLT says “he forever made perfect those who are being made holy”.....it is an ongoing process but the Lord has you covered!
And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment, so also Christ was offered once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people. He will come again, not to deal with our sins, but to bring salvation to all who are eagerly waiting for him.
Closing scripture:
A Call to Persevere:
And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.
Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.
Key words:
Not sufficient
Unable to approach
Far-away
Atonement
Repentance
Fasting
Purification of the flesh (outward cleaning)
Reconciliation