Yom Kippur - The Day of Atonement

"The tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. Hold a sacred assembly and deny yourselves, and present an offering made to the LORD by fire. Do no work on that day, because it is the Day of Atonement, when atonement is made for you before the LORD your God."
- Leviticus 23:27-28

Yom Kippur (Hebrew:יום כיפור yom kippūr) is the Jewish holiday of the Day of Atonement. Atonement is the process of forgiving or pardoning a transgression. This was originally accomplished through rituals performed by a High Priest, the Kohen Gadol, on Yom Kippur. In Christian theology, the atonement refers to the forgiving or pardoning of sin through the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, which made possible a reconciliation between God and creation.

Yom Kippur is observed on the 10th of Tishri. This year Yom Kippur will begin at sunset on October 1 and end at nightfall on October 2. The Bible calls the day Yom Hakippurim (Hebrew, "Day of the Atonements"). It is one of the Yamim Noraim or Hebrew "Days of Awe". The day is commemorated with a 25-hour fast and intensive prayer. It is the most holy day of the Jewish year. Yom Kippur is a Sabbath day. Therefore most Jews refrain from working and will attend synagogue services.

It was on this day - the only day - that the High Priest was able to enter the Holy of Holies, and then only after elaborate ceremonial washings, offerings, and rituals. This was also the day that two goats were selected, one for an offering and one as the "scapegoat." As many aspects of the feasts were prophetic, the scapegoat is also Messianic. The scapegoat died to pay the penalty for the sins of Israel, the Messiah, Jesus died to pay the price of the sins of His people, both Jews and Gentiles. The ceremonial acts that were to be carried out by the High Priest on Yom Kippur are described in Leviticus 16 (see also Exodus 30:10; Leviticus 23:27-31, 25:9; Numbers 29:7-11).

Since the destruction of the Temple by the Romans in 70 AD, the God-centered observances of the Torah have tragically been replaced with a man-centered, good works system of appeasement through prayer, charity, and penitence.

Yom Kippur traditionally ends with one long note of the Shofar, a musical instrument usually made from a ram's horn. The significance of the ram's horn is traditionally rooted in Genesis 22:1-19. Here God commands Abraham "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about." Abraham is called upon by God to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, as a test of his faith. After God halts the sacrifice at the last minute, Abraham spies a ram trapped by his horns in a nearby bush and provides the animal instead as a sacrifice. God providing the Lamb is prophetic of Jesus as Jesus is often called the Lamb of God in the Scriptures. Also when Isaac asks his father where the lamb for the offering Abraham replys, in total faith but also prophetically "My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering..." (KJV) Many scholars believe that the very same hill upon which this event took place was later to become the place of the skull, Golgotha, the very hill where Jesus was crucified. The very place where God did provide Himself, the Lamb as an offering for the sins of mankind.

It is also interesting to note that the first instance in which the word "love" appears in scripture(in most translations, it is the second in the time NIV) is when God commands Abraham to sacrifice "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love..." Compare the commandment God gave to Abraham with John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." Woven throughout all the Old Testament feasts is the foreshadowing of God’s plan for the redemption of mankind.

Those of us who have placed our trust in Jesus Christ are able to enter behind the veil and stand in the Holy of Holies. We have forgiveness because of the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ on the cross.

On a day where The Jews fast and celebrate a Day of Atonement, we should be thankful that Christ has already made atonement for our sin. His body broken and His blood poured out so we might be blameless and righteous in His sight. Not by any merit of our own, but purely the Grace and Sacrifice of our Lord and Saviour, our King of Kings and Messiah, our Creator and Friend. Jesus Christ.

See also Yom Kippur by Rand at A Form of Sound Words.