The Day Of Atonement - Yom Kippur Series

Yom Kippur / Day of Atonement

Leviticus 23

April 3, 2022

Today we’re looking at the 6th of the 7 feasts of Israel. This is the most holy and solemn day on the Jewish calendar. It is the day of atonement. It’s God’s decision day. Will you or won’t you be inscribed and then sealed into the book of life for another year?

Have you been good enough, contrite enough, have you expressed sorrow at your sinfulness? Have you sought to make amends for your sins? Have you returned what you stole, have you asked others to forgive you? Most importantly, have you turned to God and asked God to forgive you for your sins for the past year?

This is the day. This is the deadline of all deadlines.

It started with Rosh Hashonah, the Feast of Trumpets on the 1st day of Tishri, now it’s the 10th of Tishri. During the period between these two feasts you are to seek God’s presence through prayer and repentance. In fact, the entire chapter of Leviticus 16 is devoted to the duties of the priest on this one day. That’s how important it is to God. We’re going to look at passages from Leviticus and Hebrews to better understand this holy day and see where Jesus fits into it.

In Leviticus 23, The Lord told Moses - - -

27 “Now on the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. It shall be for you a time of holy convocation, and you shall afflict yourselves and present a food offering to the Lord.

28 And you shall not do any work on that very day, for it is a Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before the Lord your God.

29 For whoever is not afflicted on that very day shall be cut off from his people.

30 And whoever does any work on that very day, that person I will destroy from among his people.

31 You shall not do any work. It is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwelling places.

32 It shall be to you a Sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall afflict yourselves.

On the ninth day of the month beginning at evening, from evening to evening shall you keep your Sabbath.” - Leviticus 23:26-32

When you read this passage, understand that the word afflict has several different meanings in Hebrew. It means we’re to humble ourselves, bow down, be afflicted ... and the belief is that by fasting, we afflict and humble ourselves before God.

So when you see the word afflict, it’s a call to fast before God. And the fast goes as you see in the last verse from sundown to sundown. It’s a 24 hour fast. I’ve been there. It’s a long 24 hours too. When I was growing up we would have a final meal and brush our teeth. Understand this is a total fast for whoever’s able. No sips of water or brushing your teeth. Nothing enters your mouth.

We would go to Temple on the night of Yom Kippur. The temple was packed. There were extra seats. The service would last about 2 hours and we’d go home. The next day there was an ongoing worship, which in reality lasted pretty much all day. You could go at any time and just pick up where they were in the service.

It would end around 3 PM, and we would come home, then go back for the final portion of the Yom Kippur worship. Finally, it would be over and we’d break our fast by eating a breakfast. The worst time for me was the final 2 hours in temple. My stomach was crying out for food and what made it worst one year was when I had a couple of sips of orange juice, and felt totally full and couldn’t eat for another couple of hours.

So, let’s look at Yom Kippur and see what happened on that day, because there’s a great deal of symbolism which takes place which we can certainly relate to and see Jesus in the midst of this holy day.

I’m going to read portions of Leviticus 16, it includes a great deal of very detailed instructions for the High Priest. There were a number of very specific rituals he was to perform on the Day of Atonement. More are mentioned in Numbers 29 too

The High Priest was to bathe a number of times this day. He would start the day with a bath, then put on his priestly garments. Then he would come before the people and sacrifice a bull to atone for his sins and the sins of his household. He would take some of the blood of the bull inside the Holy of Holies and sprinkle it on the altar. This was the only day of the year when the priest could enter the holy of holies and enter into the inner sanctum of the temple.