Yom Kippur or ‘the day of atonement’ has become a special day in my calendar.
Over the years God has spoken some wonderful truths to me and set me free with different words, truths and promises that He has spoken to me on this day. I vividly remember what He said to me Yom Kippur 2006 in Croatia. It has changed my life ever since that point.
Traditionally Yom Kippur has been seen as an irrelevant Jewish feast, but the Bible actually calls these feasts and days “These are the Lord’s appointed annual festivals.” Lev 23:37a As I am trying to get in line with God’s calendar, that the Jewish people are still following, I have clearly seen God doing things according to His calendar, why wouldn’t He? I believe it is important to at least be aware of what season we are in in God’s calendar, I have found it often throws light on what He is up to now.
For instance did you know that right now is the 10 high holy days? The 10 days before Yom Kippur? Are you finding things hard or frustrating right now? If so this may be a part of the reason, God wants us to be contemplating Him and reflecting in these 10 days, digging up and finding the ‘stuff’ that He wants to then dispense with on Saturday, Yom Kippur. He wants to help. I want to get rid of any and all ‘stuff’ that is there and if Saturday is the day then I say “Bring it on.” I want to line up with His calendar.
Lev 23:26-32 tells us “26 Then the Lord said to Moses, 27 “Remember that the Day of Atonement is to be celebrated on the ninth day after the Festival of Trumpets. On that day you must humble yourselves, gather for a sacred assembly, and present offerings to the Lord by fire. 28 Do no work during that entire day because it is the Day of Atonement, when atonement will be made for you before the Lord your God, and payment will be made for your sins. 29 Anyone who does not spend that day in humility will be cut off from the community. 30 And I will destroy anyone among you who does any kind of work on that day. 31 You must do no work at all! This is a permanent law for you, and it must be observed wherever you live. 32 This will be a Sabbath day of total rest for you, and on that day you must humble yourselves. This time of rest and fasting will begin the evening before the Day of Atonement and extend until evening of that day.”
I am Not under the law and I don’t want anyone to feel this is something that they MUST do or they will be punished by God, that is the old pre Jesus covenant. But I do think that there is value in things that you do for God costing you something. King David’s words in Samuel come to mind when he was offered at no cost a piece of land so he could give it to God. His response was “I will not give to The Lord that which has cost me nothing.” The story is in 2Samuel 24:18-25. Our desire/hunger is also important.
Fasting is another discipline that costs us something. On Yom Kippur the main thing God asks of us is to NOT work! Are we so addicted to work that we cannot stop? Does our modern Christianity have a place for things that ‘cost us’? Or are we only interested in easy or pleasurable or beneficial to me?
The day of Atonement is the day of At-one-ment, the annual day that God dealt with sin and made people at-one with Him. This in our New Testament condition was obviously fulfilled in Jesus and available every day, He is the ultimate one time sacrifice, but what a great opportunity to allow God to stir things up in us in these preceding 10 high Holy days and then allow Him to take it all and to deal with it all on Yom Kippur. I like the idea of getting in line with God’s calendar and in-sync with His seasons and times. Yes I think these are important to God.
Saturday is a day I am choosing to give to Him. I will not be working, I will choose to fast and I will be setting apart time to ‘hang out’ with Jesus and to be hearing His voice. Oh and you can be sure I’ll be asking Him to take away my remaining ‘stuff’ and putting everything at the foot of the cross.
So what are you doing on Saturday?