Today at sundown the Jews will celebrate Yom Kippur, The Day of Atonement, the holiest day of the year. It was the one day of the year when the High Priest could enter into the Most Holy Place, the Holy of Holies behind the veil where the Glory of God dwelled above the Mercy Seat in the Tent of Meeting or in the Temple.
The Priest would ready himself meticulously, performing all the requirements of cleansing and covering in order to present the offering for the entire nation of Israel for the year. On this day, he represented the whole people. He brings the blood of the perfect sacrifice in order to atone- or cover- the sins of the Nation for the entire year.
It was a rigorous ordeal. It was a big responsibility. If he were not prepared according to the mandates required by God, it could cost him his life.
And what were the requirements of the people this day?
To humble their souls before God.
“On exactly the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement; it shall be a holy convocation for you, and you shall humble your souls and present an offering by fire to the Lord.
You shall not do any work on this same day, for it is a day of atonement, to make atonement on your behalf before the Lord your God.
IF there is any soul who will not humble himself on this same day, he shall be cut off from his people.
As for any person who does work on this same day, that person I will destroy from among his people.
You shall do no work at all. It is to be a perpetual statue throughout your generations in all your dwelling places.
It is to be a Sabbath of complete rest to you, and you shall humble your souls; on the ninth of the month at evening, from the evening until evening you shall keep your Sabbath.” Leviticus 23:26-32
The Day of Atonement is a day that points to Jesus Christ.
Now of course, I am not Jewish, but the more I study the Word of God the more I come to appreciate the Feasts and Holy Days of the Jews. I see Christ in all of them, which indeed is their whole purpose.
In this picture of the Day of Atonement, we see Christ as our High Priest, as the perfect sacrifice, and as our perfect rest.
“Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.” Hebrews 4:14-15
Christ is our perfect sacrifice, the unblemished Lamb; as the Son of God, born without the inherent sin connected to the seed of Adam. This sacrifice done once and for all.
But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation;
and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.
For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? Hebrews 9:11-14
Christ is our Sabbath; our resting place.
Because of Christ’s finish work on the Cross, we no longer toil for our salvation, it is completed in Christ. There is no longer any work to be done except to believe in that finished work.
“Therefore it was necessary for the copies of the things in the heavens to be cleansed with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; nor was it that He would offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the holy place year by year with blood that is not his own.
Otherwise, He would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment, so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.” Hebrews9:23-28
“After saying above, “Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You have not desired, nor have You taken pleasure in them” (which are offered according to the Law), then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will.” He takes away the first in order to establish the second. By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”
Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time onward until His enemies be made a footstool for His feet. For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. Hebrews 10:14
Since the work of God is wrought in Christ Jesus, since all is fulfilled on our behalf to satisfy the judgement of God in order to make us clean and holy before God, what is left for us to do?
To humble ourselves before the living God and recognize what He has done for us.
I am not Jewish, I know, but I love and know the God of the Jews, the God that presents Himself in the Hebrew Bible (The Old Testament). I see Him throughout it as I study His Word. I see how it points to the New Covenant established and completed in Christ.
My offering before God on this day is to humble my soul before Him.
Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
Hebrews 10:19-22
What God desires of me is to actually do what He has provided me the ability to do; to enter into His Presence, to worship Him and commune with Him in the fellowship of His Holiness. Oh God, I pray that we never lose appreciation for what He has done in order for us lowly, sinful souls to do that! In Christ we are made clean! In Christ we are prepared and clothed in order to enter behind the veil and into the Presence of His Glory! We can do that every day, any moment, within a moment. All because of the work Christ did! We can rest in His mercy and in His love for us.
Today I choose to honor this special day that foreshadowed the coming of the Lamb of God, the perfect sacrifice that atoned for the sins of mankind, for the sins of mine- and yours if you choose to accept Him as such. Today I choose to humble myself before Him, to lay my very life at the foot of the cross where He bled and died for me. Will you join me today in recognizing this holiday that may have started with the Jews but had its finish for the church? It is not just theirs to celebrate, but ours as well.
Praise God for it!