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Monday
Today I would like to
continue to speak to you about the biblical feasts of the
Lord, in particular, the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur in
Hebrew).
Yom Kippur is observed on the 10 th
day of the 7 th month, the month of Tishrei (Lev. 23:27 ).
It is the highest of all the holy days in Judaism.
On Yom Kippur (according to Lev. 16)
the High Priest entered the Holy of Holies in the
Tabernacle of Moses and offered the blood of a young bull
for his own sins and for the sins of his family. Then the
High Priest offered the blood of a goat for the sins of
the rest of the Israelites. It was the blood of these
animals that made “atonement” for the Israelites, thus
fulfilling the scriptures in Lev. 17:11 and Heb. 9:22 that
says, “It is the blood that makes atonement for the soul”,
and “without this shedding of blood there is no remission
of sin”.
The blood that Yeshua (Jesus) shed
on the “tree of sacrifice” made the final “atonement” for
our sins, putting an end to the Mosaic sacrificial system.
He also entered the Holy of holies in the Heavenly
Sanctuary, and as our great High Priest presented His own
blood to His Father signifying that it was finished,
having obtained once and for all, eternal redemption for
our sins (Heb. 9:11,12).
The Book of Hebrews ( 2:17 , 18)
also tells us that Yeshua is a merciful and sympathetic
High Priest and can identify with all or problems and
temptations, though He Himself never sinned.
Hebrews 7:25 says that He is always
interceding for us at the right hand of God. No matter
what you are going through, He's interceding for you right
now!
The book of Hebrews also tells us
that the priesthood of Yeshua is unchangeable. Other
priests died, but Yeshua rose from the dead and lives
forevermore!
Tuesday
Yesterday we began to take a look at
the biblical Jewish feast of Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement)
and how it pointed toward the ministry of Yeshua Ha
Mashiach (Jesus the Messiah). We saw how Aaron, the High
Priest of Israel, presented the blood of bulls and goats
as atonement for the sins of Israel . The blood of these
animals was sprinkled on the "mercy "seat in the Holy of
holies in the Tabernacle of Moses, year after year.
This, or course, pointed toward
Yeshua, our Great High Priest, who shed His own blood on
the tree of sacrifice as the final atonement for our sins,
and after being raised from the dead, presented His own
blood to His Father in the Heavenly Sanctuary, having
obtained eternal redemption for us all (Heb. 9:11,12).
Through Yeshua, the Son of God, God's “mercy” was extended
to all of us!
Yom Kippur is called the “Day of
Atonement” in English, but the Hebrew word “Kippur” came
from the word “Kipporah”, which means “covering” or in its
deepest translation, means “a ransom by means of a
substitute”.
The shedding of blood as a
“Kapporah” (an “atonement” or covering for sin”) goes way
back in the Bible, even back to the Garden of Eden
After sinning against God, by eating
the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,
Adam and Eve, realizing their nakedness, made their own
“covering” for their sins by sewing “fig leaves” together
as a “covering the themselves”. But God didn't accept
their covering, their own idea of “atonement”, so He made
garments of skin for Adam and Eve. The skin of these
animals required the “shedding of blood”, and without the
“shedding of blood” there is no forgiveness of sin. For
the first time in history, blood was shed to “cover the
sin” of man.
People today (like Adam and Eve)
still come up with their own idea of a “covering” or
“atonement” for their sins, such as “I'm a nice person and
I never hurt anyone". "Surely God won't send me to Hell.”
Some people think, “If I just give enough to charity, I'll
go the heaven.” Some of our Jewish people cast “stones” or
“pieces of bread”, which represent their sins, into a body
of water (called Tashlich in Heb.) thinking that God will
forgive their sins this way. Some, in Orthodox Judaism,
swing a dead chicken over their heads on Yom Kippur
(called “Kaparot” in Heb.) saying “this is the atonement
for my sins.” Some believe that “just because I'm Jewish”
I'm going to go to heaven”. Well, I'm Jewish also, but let
me tell you something…”
Unless you receive the “blood
atonement” that was shed for you by Yeshua the Messiah on
the “tree of sacrifice”, you're not going to make it into
heaven – whether Jew or Gentile, because God says in the
Torah (First Covenant) and in the New Covenant scriptures
“without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of
sin”. Yeshua the Messiah clearly said, “I am the Way the
truth and the light, no man comes to the Father but by Me!
Whether you are Jewish or Gentile, don't rely on the
“traditions of men” for your salvation, but on the word of
God which endures forever!
Wednesday
Today I would like to
continue to speak to you about the Day of Atonement, a
biblical Jewish feast called Yom Kippur in Hebrew.
In taking a closer look at the
ministry of Aaron, the High Priest, on Yom Kippur, he did
the following according to Lev. 16: He entered the
“mikvah” (the bronze laver filled with water in the outer
court of the Tabernacle of Moses) and washed his entire
body. He then put on special holy garments, presented
special incense before the Lord and sprinkled the blood of
a young bull on the “mercy seat” in the Holy of holies as
“atonement” for his own sins and the sins of his family.
Aaron also presented two male goats
before the Lord. Lots were cast for the two goats. One
goat was sacrificed for the sins of the people and the
blood of that goat was sprinkled on the “mercy seat” and
on the horns of the altar, along with the blood of the
bull. However, the other goat (called the “scapegoat”) was
released into the wilderness. One goat represented God's
judgment, the other God's mercy.
Later on in Temple history a certain
ritual was added to all of this, using three scarlet
woolen ropes. One scarlet rope was tied to the horns of
the sacrificial goat, one was tied to the horns of the
scapegoat and one hung from the front of the temple. After
all the Yom Kippur sacrifices were completed by the High
Priest a mighty miracle took place. The scarlet rope
hanging from the temple supernaturally turned “white”.
This was God's sign to the Israelites that their sins were
forgiven, conforming to Isa. 1:18, “though your sins be as
scarlet, they shall be white as snow”.
However, immediately after the
crucifixion of Yeshua (Jesus) and for the next 40 years
until the Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D.,
the scarlet cord never turned “white” again. This, too,
was God's answer to the Israelites - that there was no
need for that to happen any longer because the sacrifice
of Yeshua, the “blood of atonement” that He shed on the
tree of sacrifice, put an end to the Mosaic sacrificial
system.
In addition, just as Aaron offered
special incense before the Lord, Yeshua offered Himself as
a “sweet fragrance to God” (Eph. 5:2). As High Priest,
Aaron made intercession for the people in the Holy of
holies on Yom Kippur, pointing toward Yeshua, our Great
High Priest, who always interceding for us at the right
hand of God.
On Yom Kippur, Aaron appeared before
the glory of God, which dwelt between the cherubim above a
"horizontal mercy
seat in the Holy of holies. According to John
20:12, two angels stood where the body of Yeshua had laid
horizontally in the tomb, one at His head and one at His
feet, with the glory of God in between them, a picture of
God's “mercy” through the death of His son. For one brief
moment that tomb became the Holy of holies for all of us!
Today we still have access into the
Holy of holies through the blood of Yeshua. “Let us
therefore come boldly to the “throne of grace” that we may
find mercy and grace in time of need”. (Hebrews 4:16)
Thursday
Over the last few days
we've been speaking about Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), a
biblical Jewish feast of the Lord, observed on the 10 th
day of the 7 th month, the month of Tishrei (Lev. 23:27).
We have also been taking a closer
look at the ministry of Aaron, the High Priest of Israel,
on Yom Kippur and how it pointed toward the ministry of
Yeshua (Jesus) our Great High Priest. In addition, how the
blood sacrifices of bulls and goats pointed toward the
final and perfect “blood atonement” of Yeshua, the blood
that He shed on the tree of sacrifice for the forgiveness
of our sins.
In many ways the feast of Yom Kippur
has been fulfilled in the 1st coming of the Messiah, but
there is a further fulfillment of the Day of Atonement in
the 2 nd coming of the Messiah.
As we all know, Yom Kippur is a day
of national mourning in the Bible, a day of fasting and
prayer and of afflicting one's soul (Lev. 23:29).
The prophet Zechariah speaks of
another national day of mourning in the land of Israel
that is coming in the future. Zech. 12:10 says, “They will
look upon me whom they have pierced, they will mourn for
Him, as one mourns for an only Son, and grieve for Him as
one grieves for their firstborn.” Zech. 13:1 goes on to
say, “In that day, a fountain shall be opened for the
House of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem , for
sins and for uncleanness”. This is clearly a picture of a
national “Day of Atonement” for Israel in the future. It
is connected with the 2 nd coming of the Messiah, for the
prophet Zechariah goes on to say in chapter 14:2-9, “For
in that day, I will gather all the nations to battle
against Jerusalem….then the Lord will go forth and fight
against those nations as He fights in the day of battle –
and in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of
Olives…and the Lord shall be King over all the earth…In
that day it shall be, the Lord is One and His Name One!
The apostle Paul confirms this in
Romans 11:26, 27. “And so all Israel will be saved, as it
is written, the Deliverer will come from Zion and He will
turn away ungodliness from Jacob, for this is My covenant
with them, when I take away their sins”.
What a beautiful picture of God's
mercy and forgiveness extended to the whole House of
Israel in her greatest time of need.
Surely it will come to pass that
Israel will see her Messiah and that all though out the
land they will cry out:
“Baruch ha ba b'shem Adonai”
Blessed is He who comes in the Name
of the Lord”.
Friday –
Overview of the week
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