Yom Kippur More Study Notes

Scripture

Let’s have a look at several scriptures regarding Yom Kippur. We’ll start with Exodus 30:10:

"And Aaron shall make atonement upon its horns once a year with the blood of the sin offering of atonement; once a year he shall make atonement upon it throughout your generations. It is most holy to the Lord." (Exodus 30:10)

The next one is Leviticus 16:29-34:

This shall be a statute forever for you: In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all, whether a native of your own country or a stranger who dwells among you. ³⁰'For on that day the cohen shall make atonement for you, to cleanse you, that you may be clean from all your sins before the Lord. ³¹It is a sabbath of solemn rest for you, and you shall afflict your souls. It is a statute forever. ³² And the cohen, who is anointed and consecrated to minister as cohen in his father’s place, shall make atonement, and put on the linen clothes, the holy garments; ³³ then he shall make atonement for the Especially Holy Place, and he shall make atonement for the tabernacle of meeting and for the altar, and he shall make atonement for the cohens and for all the people of the assembly. ³⁴ This shall be an everlasting statute for you, to make atonement for the children of Israel, for all their sins, once a year.' And he did as the Lord commanded Moses." (Leviticus 16:29-34)

Then there is Leviticus 23:26-32:

"And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²⁷ '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. ²⁸ "And you shall do no work on that same day, for it is the Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before the Lord your God. ²⁹ For any person who is not afflicted in soul on that same day shall be cut off from his people. ³⁰ And any person who does any work on that same day, that person I will destroy from among his people. ³¹ You shall do no manner of work; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. ³² It shall be to you a sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall afflict your souls; on the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening, you shall celebrate your sabbath." (Leviticus 23:27-32)

And finally, Numbers 29:7:

"On the tenth day of this seventh month you shall have a holy convocation. You shall afflict your souls; you shall not do any work". (Numbers 29:7)

Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, is the most holy day on God’s calendar and it carries a theme that’s constantly woven throughout Scripture. Three and one-half thousand years after the Lord instituted it, Yom Kippur is still a powerful influence on the culture and worship of Israel. But even more importantly, Yom Kippur provides the necessary backdrop for understanding the scope of Messiah’s payment for sin and the security of God’s people today.

Dates

Yom Kippur is on the 10th day of Tishri, or in September-October on the Western calendar. It starts at sundown ten days after the Feast of Trumpets, wrapping up the ten Days of Awe.

Theme

The theme of Yom Kippur is one of atonement for the Children of Israel.

Historical Observance (What the Scriptures say)

Until the destruction of the Temple, Yom Kippur was kept to make atonement for the previous year’s sins. It was, and still is, the most solemn of the feasts. Unlike the other Appointed Times, one person -- the high priest -- primarily fulfills the requirements of Yom Kippur. The people of Israel would participate in the aspects of self-denial and abstention from work. The atonement spoken of consisted of blood sacrifices (substitutionary sacrifices) of innocent animals. Priests in the Temple had to take extra care to ensure they did not inadvertently become ritually unclean and therefore unable to perform their duties. The whole nation’s forgiveness depended on it!

Two goats, clean and perfect in every way, were chosen and brought to the Temple. One was offered to the Lord in sacrifice. The other was ceremonially heaped with the sins of the Israelites then sent into the desert. You may have heard the term ‘scapegoat’ for someone who was forced to take the penalty for another’s actions -- well, this is where the term came from.

Yom Kippur was also the only day the High Priest was permitted to enter the Holy of Holies in the Temple, the place where the Glory of God resided. The solemnity of Yom Kippur was emphasized by an increase in the usual number of animal sacrifices.

Modern Observance

Again, modern observance of Yom Kippur bears little resemblance to Biblical observance, mainly because of the destruction of the Temple. Accompanying the change to the sacrificial system were changes to the theology of Yom Kippur. Abstaining from eating and drinking is the primary feature of the modern observance of Yom Kippur, but the Jewish people have interpreted Hosea 6:6 ("For I desire mercy and not sacrifice"), to allow them to seek atonement through mitzvot, or good deeds, rather than through blood. Other prohibitions of pleasurable activities may include bathing, and sexual intercourse.

In addition to the fasting, Yom Kippur is observed through attendance at up to five Yom Kippur services at the local synagogue. The day of services begins before sundown on the evening preceding Yom Kippur with the Kol Nidre ('all vows') service. The Kol Nidre prayer asks for the absolution of all vows that the individual Jew may have made innocently or under duress during the preceding year. Other prayers for Yom Kippur include the Al Chet ('for the sin') -- a confession of a long list of general sins -- and the Ashamnu ('we have sinned').

Other Yom Kippur traditions include wearing white, reading the Book of Jonah, the Yizkor service (memorializing close relatives), the blowing of the shofar at the end of the festival, a meal before the fast, and a meal to end the fast. During Yom Kippur, the usually colourful synagogues are decorated in white to symbolize purity and cleansing from transgression.

Prophetic Significance

Like the other autumn feasts, Yom Kippur prophetically points to Messiah’s future work with His people, which will occur in the end times. It also speaks of the redeeming work our Messiah has already done.

The prophet Daniel outlined a whole series of prophetic events for Israel in his 'seventy weeks' vision. Daniel accurately predicts Messiah’s First Coming 483 years after the order to rebuild the City. We know from history that this was fulfilled and Yeshua began his ministry at exactly the time predicted. In Yeshua’s times the messianic expectation was so strong it could almost be tasted! In fact, the Magi who appeared after He was born most likely knew all about the teachings of Daniel.

Daniel also predicted that Messiah would be 'cut off' (Daniel 9:26) and, after that, an unspecified gap of time before the seventieth week (the final seven years of this age). During this gap of time Daniel predicted the Temple would be destroyed (Daniel 9:26), an evil world ruler would appear (the anti-Messiah), the Temple would be rebuilt, and the anti-Messiah would desecrate this new Temple with an image of himself (remember the Lord will not tolerate idol worship; hence the desecration) (Daniel 9:27, Matthew 24:15, 2 Thessalonians 2:4), and the Jews would be persecuted and forced to flee to the hills (Daniel 12:1, cf. Jeremiah 30:7, Revelation 12:6). Then the Lord will stand up in great wrath to exercise His judgment upon the wicked. The Messiah will return to establish His throne, and Israel will look upon Him whom they pierced, and repent. Isaiah 66:8 suggests that a nation might be born in a day ("For as soon as Zion was in labour, She gave birth to her children"). The national prophetic fulfillment of this rebirth could have been when in 1948 Israel was re-established as a nation. And we also look forward to the spiritual fulfillment of Israel’s Day of Atonement and redemption, as the nation comes face to face in repentance with the Messiah, in the last days.

These prophesies paint a thrilling and horrifying picture of the Lord’s plans for Israel in the Last Days. No matter what you may have been told, the Lord has not finished with the nation of Israel! We believe the birth-pangs have started in Israel and God has even now started to work His redemption amongst his people Israel. That marks their spiritual birth.

Now, back to the biblical observance of Yom Kippur. An important thing to remember about the animal sacrifices at Yom Kippur in Biblical times is that the sacrifice only ensured that Israel’s sins were 'covered' for the year, like throwing a blanket over them so they would no longer be noticed. The word in Hebrew, kippur, is related to the covering - kippa - a Jewish man wears on his head. That’s why the ceremony had to be repeated year after year. Sins kept piling up under the covering like dirt under a rug.

We serve a holy God, who cannot bear to even look upon wickedness. His justice requires blood to be shed for our wickedness. The New Covenant book of Hebrews concerns the priesthood in the Lord’s temple and its change under the provisions of the New Covenant. In temple days, the cohen hagadol ('high priest') would make an animal sacrifice to atone for his own sins before he could complete the rest of the atonement ceremony. Year after year, the ram’s horn at the Feast of Trumpets calls Israel to repentance, but there is no provision for atonement in traditional Judaism today. There can be no blood sacrifice because there is no Temple and no one to serve in it. Forgiveness will never be found in the good deeds of men.

In the case of the High Priest Yeshua (Jesus) of Nazareth, being sinless, he did not have to bring the blood of an animal to make atonement for Himself; he performed the service entirely for us by means of his own blood. This, of course, was accomplished through the death of Yeshua. Hebrews 9:13 explains the significance of this:

"For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh [of the priest], ¹⁴how much more shall the blood of Messiah, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" (Hebrews 9:13)

In other words, the high priest could only restore outward purity because he used the blood of animals. Yeshua’s service as high priest restores our inward purity because he used his own blameless blood. Look at Hebrews 9:24-26:

"For Messiah has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; ²⁵not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another, ²⁶He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. (Hebrews 9:24-26)

The penalty for sin is eternal separation from God, but for those who have put their trust in Yeshua the Messiah, he says, "Their sin I will remember no more" (Jeremiah 31:34). This is the hope Believers in Messiah may find in the celebration of Yom Kippur, our Day of Atonement.

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