Yom Kippur and Our High Priest

We interrupt our walk through Isaiah to stop and pause for the holiest day on the Jewish calendar - Yom Kippur, or Day of Atonement.

This was the one day a year when the High Priest would enter the Holy of Holies and sprinkle the blood of the bull and goat on the mercy seat. Let's look at Leviticus 16:6-10 for context:

“Aaron shall offer the bull as a sin offering, which is for himself, and make atonement for himself and for his house.  He shall take the two goats and present them before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of meeting.  Then Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats: one lot for the Lord and the other lot for the scapegoat.  And Aaron shall bring the goat on which the Lord’s lot fell, and offer it as a sin offering.  But the goat on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord, to make atonement upon it, and to let it go as the scapegoat into the wilderness.

First, Aaron the High Priest had to make an offering for himself via the bull.  Then he was able to continue with God's directive to cast lots for the two goats - one which would die for the sins of Israel (known as the Goat of the Lord), and one which would be set free and sent into the wilderness (known as the azazel, or scapegoat).

Fast forward to the ultimate sacrificial death of Yeshua our Messiah.  Most believers would acknowledge that He became our Passover Lamb.  But is there also a picture of His high priesthood at His death?

Yes.

When Yeshua stood before Pontius Pilate, Pilate wanted to wash his hands of the matter and take no blame for what happened.  So Pilate offered the people a scapegoat - Barabbas.  The people accepted the scapegoat and Barabbas was set free.  Yeshua the Messiah then became the Goat of the Lord, the sacrifice that would take away the sin of the whole world.

Some ancient manuscripts of the gospel of Matthew have the full name of Barabbas written as Yeshua Bar Abba.  Early church father Origen was troubled by this and declared that the name Yeshua must have been added in by a heretic.  It is likely that later scribes removed this reference.

 It is interesting to note that Yeshua Bar Abba means Jesus, Son of the Father.  Even without the name Yeshua, we are still left with the term Son of the Father. 

So we are left with a picture of two similar goats with similar names, one chosen to die and one chosen to be set free, in the very same manner as the two goats in Leviticus 16.

It gets even more interesting.

According to the Talmud (Jewish oral law that was codified in the second century AD and expounded upon), there were several signs by which people would know whether or not God had received their sacrifice and forgiven their sins. 

First, the priest would draw lots from an urn as outlined in Leviticus 16.  One lot was written, For the Lord. The other said To the Scapegoat.  The priest would pull both lots out of the urn - one in each hand.  If the priest drew the lot For the Lord in his right hand, that meant that God had received the sacrifice.  However, if it showed up in the left hand, it meant the opposite - that God had rejected the sacrifice. 

The Talmud records that from 30 AD to 70 AD, the same result showed up every time - rejected.  The odds of this happening 40 years in a row are over one in one trillion.

Another sign was that a scarlet thread was tied to the horn of the scapegoat, and it would supernaturally turn white when God received the sacrifice.  Part of the red thread would be actually tied to the temple doors - this way the people could see if it turned white or not. 

The Talmud also confirms that the thread did not turn white during those 40 years, and then the temple was destroyed in 70AD. 

So from the death of Yeshua to the destruction of the temple, the Talmud itself confirms that God rejected the sacrifices, beginning in the year 30.

Yeshua truly IS both our Passover Lamb and our Atoning High Priest.

But Messiah came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.  Hebrews 9-11-12

Thanks to Ron Cantor of Messiah's Mandate for the Talmudic information.

Hanukkah - Past, Present, and Future

This year we celebrate an early and unique Hanukkah (meaning dedication); the only time in our lifetime when Hanukkah converges with Thanksgiving.  The last time it happened was 125 years ago, and because of the nuances of the calendars, it will not happen for another 70,000+ years.

In other words, never again.

Hanukkah Past

Going back a few centuries, we can discover that the first Thanksgiving in America, celebrated by the Pilgrims, was based on Sukkot, or Feast of Tabernacles.  This seventh feast of the Bible can be likened to a Jewish Thanksgiving.  Sukkot has always been a time of celebration after the last great harvest of the year (and has a future fulfillment of the last great harvest of the Earth).

Going back even further, we discover that Hanukkah was a celebration to re-dedicate the refurbished holy temple in 165 BC.  It had been desecrated by the Syrian ruler Antiochus IV, who was then defeated by a small but feisty band of Jewish fighters known as the Maccabees.

What you may not know is that this particular celebration of Hanukkah in 165 BC was also based on Sukkot - in particular the Sukkot when Solomon dedicated the first temple in I Kings 8.  They were having such a blast at that dedication that Solomon decided to add a second week to the festivities, and finally on the eighth day of the second week, he sent them home.

This year's "Thanksgivukkah" brings them all together again.

Hanukkah Present

In this period we live in, between the previous second and future third temples, the Word tells us that we ARE the temple of the Holy Spirit. 

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?  You are not your own; you were bought at a price.  Therefore honor God with your body."  I Corinthians 6:19-20

Thinking about the cleansing and rededication of the Temple - that Hanukkah commemorates - reminds us that we are to be continually cleansing and dedicating our lives and our bodies to the service of the Lord.  This dedication is not a one-time event, but a continual process of sanctification that lasts the rest of our lives.

 

 

Hanukkah Future

 

This will also have a future fulfillment when the third temple will be re-dedicated after the desecration by the antichrist.

 

The book of Daniel gives us a prophecy of the last seven years of history.  Without going into too many numerical details, after sixty-nine weeks (seven-year periods), a Messiah was to show up and then be cut-off (meaning be killed).  Guess who showed up 483 years after this prophecy?  The math shows Him riding into Jerusalem on a donkey at exactly the right time.

 

When the Jews as a national body rejected the Messiah, that seventieth week was put off until a future time so that the kingdom could be offered to the Gentiles. 

(Thank you, Lord, for the opportunity to join Your kingdom!)

 

Daniel 12 speaks of the horrible things that will happen during the second half of that 70th "week," which will last 3 1/2 years.  Revelation speaks of 1260 days, and Daniel speaks of 1335 days.  Why the extra 75 days?

 

It is interesting to note that there are 75 days from Yom Kippur to Hanukkah.  While we cannot dogmatically predict how every element of the fall feasts will be fulfilled, it seems to me that the national salvation of Israel on a future Yom Kippur will be followed by the third temple's dedication (or re-dedication) 75 days later. 

 

And the best part of all this is that the Lion of Judah - Yeshua, our King of Kings - will be present during all the festivities!

 

 

Yom Kippur

Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), which begins at sundown tonight, is the most solemn day in the Jewish calendar. The Bible prescribes Yom Kippur as a day of affliction (Lev. 16; 23:26-32). In the ancient world, the High Priest woke up early, donned his priestly garments, and sacrificed a bull for both himself and his family. He then cast lots over two goats, choosing one for the Lord and designating the other as the goat to remove sin. Only on this day did the High Priest enter into the Holy of Holies in the Temple to offer incense and sprinkle blood on the Ark of the Covenant. Before concluding the sacrifices by burning both the bull and the goat, the High Priest placed blood from the Lord's goat onto the second goat. He then cast the second goat into the wilderness, thus symbolically removing Israel's sin.

In modern observance, Yom Kippur involves a fast from both food and drink. Many spend the entire day praying in the synagogue. During the Ten Days of Awe preceding Yom Kippur, many Jewish people give tzedakah (charity) which some consider a replacement for the animal sacrifice. A small segment of the Orthodox Jewish community practices kapparot, a ceremony in which a person waves a chicken over his head, before killing the chicken as a symbolic transfer of sin. According to tradition, the Book of Life and the Book of the Dead are closed on Yom Kippur, and the fates of those within the books are sealed for the coming year.

Followers of Yeshua the Messiah confidently look forward to eternal life, because our names are written in the Book of Life. When He died, the veil of the Holy of Holies ripped in two, symbolically breaking a barrier between humans and the presence of God. Previously, only the High Priest had access to this room, and he only entered it once a year on Yom Kippur (Matt. 27:51).

However, Yeshua's death gives believers access to God, because He entered into the Heavenly Holy of Holies to offer His blood for our redemption (see Heb. 9:11-12). Unlike the Israelites' annual sacrifices on Yom Kippur, Yeshua's one sacrifice continues to provide atonement to this day. Yom Kippur, for followers of Yeshua, reminds us of the certainty of our redemption through the blood of our Messiah and High Priest, Yeshua.  It is no mistake that Yeshua means salvation.

Yom Kippur also reminds us of the ultimate salvation of the Jewish people. The prophet Zechariah speaks of a day when the nation of Israel will recognize her Messiah and "they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son" (Zech. 12:10). When the Jewish people recognize Messiah, as Paul writes, "All Israel will be saved" (Rom. 11:26). The Day of Atonement thus reminds us of our own salvation and also looks forward to the salvation of Israel.

The final Feast, Sukkot, will be five days after Yom Kippur and is the most joyous Feast of them all!  My next post will feature a picture of the first sukkah that I have ever built.  It is still in progress but will be done soon.  Come back soon and read more about Sukkot, The Feast of Booths!  Find out why I believe that Yeshua was born on the first day of Sukkot.

PS.  Thanks to Chosen People Ministries for help with the details of Yom Kippur. 

Yom Kippur - Day of Atonement

Tonight begins the feast of Yom Kippur - The holiest day in the Israeli calendar and the sixth mo'ed, or appointed time in the Bible. In scripture, this is the one day of the year that the high priest entered the Holy of Holies, and first atoned for his own sin, and then for the sin of the people of Israel. But since the temple was destroyed in the year 70, this has not been possible.

It is interesting to note that the custom of wearing a yarmulke (Yiddish), or kippah (in Hebrew), developed after the destruction of the temple. The word kippah comes from the same root word as kippur, which means atonement, or covering.  The Israelites were temporarily covered by the Yom Kippur sacrifice.  When Yeshua came to earth and was sacrificed, He covered us once for all with His blood.

Hebrews 9:11-13 says, But Messiah came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.

Since Yeshua already made atonement for the world at Passover, what is the prophetic significance then, of Yom Kippur? It is a snapshot of the future, of Romans 11:25-27, when the nation of Israel will collectively receive Yeshua as her Messiah.

...That blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written:

“ The Deliverer will come out of Zion,
And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob;
For this is My covenant with them,
When I take away their sins. (Quoted from Isaiah 59:20-21)

Today, Yom Kippur is a solemn day of fasting and repentance for Jewish people. The fasting and mourning take place during the day, and then a joyous celebration takes place in the evening, as the day is drawing to a close. When the people of Israel first recognize her Messiah, they will mourn. Zechariah 12 says:

And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.

But joy will follow, as we will see in the Feast of Tabernacles, which is coming soon. Stay tuned, chaverim! (that means friends in Hebrew)


PS.  I know!  I still have one more church to cover in the letters to the seven.  I hope to finish it tomorrow.