Culture
Miriam's View on Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur
Shalom,
I am
Miriam in Israel. I thank you for joining us today as I will be sharing today
about the holiest and most solemn day of the Jewish year, Yom Kippur.
Yom means day and
Kpar is covering, so the day of covering.
“For
on this day He will forgive you, to purify you, that you be cleansed from all
your sins before God” (Leviticus 16:30)
What are we
covering? We are covering
our sins which we have committed before man and God. There are strict
guidelines according to the Bible which are acceptable to the Father, the God
of Israel.
Why do we need a
covering? In the Garden of Eden after Adam
and Eve sinned, God covered them with animal skins (Gen. 3:21). This was the
beginning of the animal sacrifice system and it
was instituted by God. We have all sinned since the first man Adam. The first man’s sin also was
covered or forgiven with that first act of sacrifice. The animal provided the
Kpar as is in the root of the Hebrew language, also Kapara.
How can we be
covered or forgiven? In
the Hebrew bible Lev.17:11 a blood sacrifice is to be given which is literally
another life instead of your life. The life is in the blood and therefore the
sacrifice is substituted for my life.
Let’s try to keep
in mind here the first man at the garden of Eden Adam was told if you eat of
this tree you shall surely die. We do know that Adam and Eve sinned against God
and death entered for us all. The death is the penalty of man’s sin.
You see according
to God’s word we are deserving of death due to sin which has come upon every
man. You shall surely die Yet our loving creator has provided the sacrificial
system in ancient original Judaism.
This system was
in place for hundreds of years in the true history account of the holy land
Israel. God in His mercy accepted a blood sacrifice in a holy place of his
choosing, that place was the ancient temple of the one true God in Jerusalem.
The sacrifice was as a death exchange.
Who would make my
sacrifice? The
high priest in fact would on this one day of the year offer the atoning or
covering sacrifice, known as the kapara for God’s people.
Jewish people and God fearing gentiles were
allowed to continue living in forgiveness and God’s mercy after this annual
sacrifice of Yom Kippur was made on behalf of the Am scuela, the people
of Israel. Let’s stop and think about that a moment. We are living by grace. We
were given the privilege to keep on living. Let that sink deep into our hearts.
What does
sacrifice do for me personally?
The essence of
Yom Kippur is forgiveness and life. When once forgiven every year by a blood
sacrifice a Jewish person or God fearer could then be assured his or her name
would be written in what is known as the book of life. The Priest himself had
to make a sacrifice for his priestly office and his life as well before making
the sacrifice for the entire nation of Israel.
So you ask me
well he was the priest mapito, what are you talking about as is the
expression in Israel.
Priests are holy you say. Well speaking in
love and truth the bible teaches us that no one is holy like our God and only
through him do we have righteousness imputed to us or deposited into our lives
(inner man). We are holy but it is his holiness which makes us holy.
1 Samuel 2:2
“There is no one holy like the Lord,
Indeed, there is
no one besides You, nor is there any rock like our God.
The book of life traditionally
will be where your name will be written if one repents truly in the heart
during the 10 days leading up to Yom Kippur. These are the days of Yamiim
Noraiim. Days of reverence and fear of God.
When Yom Kippur
comes you must have already repented .. The gates of heaven which were once
opened to forgive us will be closing on Yom Kippur. The sacrifice was only made
after a long time of grace had been allowed to repent. It does however close
and if your name is not written you cannot then enter.
The book of life
is believed to be the guarantee that you are allowed into heaven with the Lord
God. Is it a coincidence that Yeshua commands us to desire that our names be
written in the book of life in Revelation 20:15, And if anyone’s name was
not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
Luke 10:20,
Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but
rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven.”
Now today we have
no temple to offer a sacrifice, no high priest and no alter in Israel. I tell
you the truth, I live here and I know.
So what do we do
for our sins you ask? Ahh… now that’s an excellent question.
Today Jewish
people will pray and do good deeds, all very important. however what about
God’s word and the sacrifice? Did God suddenly change; all those hundreds of
years were not to be remembered for anything? No he did not change.
The temple was
historically destroyed by the Romans and for 2 thousand years the Jewish people
did not have their temple. By faith they continued to believe in God, the one
true God of Abraham Izzak and Jacob. However, it is worthy to note that through
disobedience Israel was dispersed to the nations. This was God’s doing, not
man’s.
When God saw fit in His perfect timing he
brought his people back to the land he gave the forefathers. The hallmark of
the Jewish people is that Jews are known as the people of God, the chosen
people. And without a temple or a holy place to sacrifice atoning for our sins,
well…the Holy Land is not the same.
Local synagogues
on Yom Kippur will say many prayers for many categories today. Jewish people
will try and obey the ten commandments and do rightly in the fear of God. Much
of Yom Kippur is Rabbinical today but I am not going to discuss the Rabbinical
side and all of the inner workings of that.
Yet when that day
Yom Kippur comes one must truly show account before God. Everyone wants his
name to be in the book of life. Repentance however is a key factor and only
when that is truly achieved in the heart of a person will his name be accepted.
In ancient days
of the sacrificial system the heart had to be right before God. A sacrifice
with an evil heart will not suffice. We must have a new heart. Jeremiah 31:31
the people of God are promised a new heart and spirit.
So Yom Kippur is
really a serious day. Today we would call it mandatory soul searching with
strings attached. It has a catch to it, no repentance, no book of life for you.
This is not an easy thing to do but with God’s
holy spirit it is possible. Yom Kippur is a foreshadow of the perfect sacrifice
of Yeshua Ha Mashiach, Jesus the Messiah, Christ. His once-for-all-perfect sacrifice for sins (Hebrews 9:25-10:4). His willingness to be
the sacrifice, not merely to offer one (Hebrews 10:1-10)
Philippians 4:3
holds the key to Yom Kippur for today and always. There we find the lamb’s
book of life. Yeshua is known as the lamb of God. God provided a sacrifice for
me for you and for all Israel when he willingly became a sacrifice. His life
for my life, he died so I can live. 'I am the way and the truth and the life' (John 14:6). We are all wanting on Yom Kippur to find
our way… back to God.
This Yom Kippur
will your name be in the book of life? How
many will truly find their way back?
If you accept and
know The Jewish messiah and Messiah to the world Yeshua it is guaranteed. "Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you
shall not have life within you" (John 6:53). This means partaking in
belief on the sacrifice (life) God offers for forgiveness after true
repentance.
Yeshua said on
the cross it is finished. He knew we would be without a temple and sacrifice
for thousands of years. He knew also only He could become sin for us and be
that perfect unblemished atonement sacrifice. Sinless Yeshua. The sacrifice had
to be without blemish in the whole sacrificial system, for hundreds of years; Blemish » Animals with, forbidden to be used for sacrifice Leviticus 22:19-25 for you to be accepted--it must
be a male without defect from the cattle, the sheep, or the goats.
The
wonderful truth about the New testament is that it agrees completely with all
the Old testament. That is why Yeshua is the end of the law or in other words
the goal of the law of Torah. This does not mean we do whatever we want and
have no law anymore. It means it is fulfilled.
The
beautiful rituals performed in ancient time fulfilled a specific goal, to get
right with God. The God of Israel never forgot his Jewish people or anyone who
calls upon his name.
Today there is no inner temple for the high priest
to make a sacrifice for you or me. There is no holy of holies where only he
could enter on this one day for the people. There is no animal and no alter.
The Jewish people can only hope that through
prayer and good deeds the nation will be forgiven on Yom Kippur.
We
can have a sure hope however in the Messiah of Israel. 1 Tim. 2:5. But Jesus was MORE than just a man.
That is why Paul wrote in 2 Cor. 5:19, "that God was in Christ,
reconciling the world unto himself…" And again in 1 Tim. 3:16, "God was manifest in the flesh…" And also in
Heb. 1:3, we find that Jesus was "the express image" of God.
God
loves the nation of Israel and his mercy is always ready to be poured out for
her and for all. “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore, I
have drawn you with lovingkindness” (Jer. 31:3).
Jesus Yeshua makes that sacrifice for the nation and
world today. Your name in the book of life does come but it is with a sacrifice
and that is only found in our Lord, Yeshua, Jesus the Christ.
The coming of God in the form of man to be a sacrifice so
we may live. He died for you, he died for me.
The atoning sacrifice for Israel and all the world he is the
kapara. John 4:13-14. Salvation
is of the Jews. (John 4:22.) He is our high priest and the everlasting
sacrifice has been made for you. Let’s enter into those gates on Yom Kippur
with thanksgiving and repentant hearts, full of love to our brothers and
mankind for every nation.
Jesus said to
her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but
whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty
again, the water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water
welling up to eternal life.”
Now join us again for the waters being poured
out by the procession of the priests in Jerusalem once forgiveness has taken
place on Yom Kippur. We are biblically alluding to the fullness of joy
which follows next on Succoth. The forgiveness of God shown to us, this
wonderful day of grace called of atoning and Yom Kippur.
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