Days of Awe
What Yom Kippur Should Mean to Everyone
Today I'm talking to you about Yom Kippur, the day of atonement, the fast, and why it's relevant to Christians and for anyone who is interested in participating, how to prepare for it.
The first thing to prepare for to be aware of is the date. It starts October 11th which is Friday at Sunset runs through sunset October 12th Saturday. This means it's also a “double Sabbath.” By “double sabbath” I mean we have the regular weekly Sabbath and the feast day celebration fast, which is a sabbath, at the same time. It's also significant because October 7th 2023 was a double Sabbath too. If you remember, Israel was attacked that day as their nation was celebrating.
It was on a Sabbath that they were attacked and that's why they were all together and a little more vulnerable than normal. This year, the fast happens on October the 12th and Israel is going to be at complete rest. They're going to be vulnerable again and we know that the terrorists like to hit Israel on their special days. They like to poke at Yahweh/Yehovah and they like to poke at Israel so we should be extra alert this year as we prepare for the fast because if what prophecy teaches us is correct, it's going to turn into a global thing before too long
Now the first day of the seventh month is called Yom Teruah, or the day of trumpets. Christians should know, sadly many don’t, that's the day that signifies the return of the Messiah “For the Lord will return with a shout with the sound of the trumpet the dead in Messiah will rise first.” Following Yom Teruah, we have 10 days and we have the day of atonement or Yom Kippur.
Now in Judaism, these 10 days are called “the days of awe awe.” It's a time for a lot of self-reflection and repentance because the Jews associate the day of trumpets, Yom Teruah, with people's names being written in the Book of Life and the day of atonement, Yom Kippur, is the day they associate with names being sealed in the book of life. Observing of Yom Kippur and the Holiness of the day that names are sealed in the book of life is very important to them.
What's really interesting about this is because “Messianics,” meaning Jews and Christians who accept Yeshua or Jesus as their Messiah, are the ones who should have the proper information to associate these Holy days with prophecy! There's a little bit of this in the Old Testament, but it becomes abundantly clearer when you study it in conjunction with the New Testament.
Further, Judaism has a lot of traditions and we shouldn't totally shy away from them just because they are Traditions. I believe that our admonishment from the Messiah is to not let Traditions (trigger-warning) “Trump” the truth, or trump the Torah! Traditions can't be allowed to take on a life of their own or become bigger than than reality like they did at the time of the Messiah’s first coming.
But, I believe that we do need to learn from them because for perhaps five or six decades following Yeshua’s sacrifice on the cross, Christianity and Judaism were together. That's right! Remember, Acts 15 was dealing with Gentiles who accepted the Yeshua as the Messiah, or if you prefer, Jesus as the Christ, and they showed up at synagogue on the Sabbath and they were worshiping right along with both non-messianic and Messianic Jews and so they decided that they had to have a meeting to sort out what to do with those people.
You see, Christianity really shouldn’t be a new and separate religion. It started as a sect of of Judaism and as such, I for one believe that we should be keeping those Jewish feast days just the same way that Yeshua and the early believers did. It was important to Him, it was important to them and I believe it should be important to us. Sadly, we don't know or understand what the 10 days between Yom Teruah and Yom Kippur are supposed to signify to us. Anything we can think of would be all speculation on our part. But it's not a bad thing to know about it, reflect on it and to observe it.
Interestingly, there's a parallel between those 10 days of awe in the fall and the spring feasts because the first day of the first month of the year is Aviv one, which happens in the spring. Only 10 days later, the lamb is selected for Passover. So that's something to raise an eyebrow about because those 10 days in the spring are talking about the selection of Yeshua as the Lamb of God. Because we know that Yeshua died on the cross for our sins and to make atonement for mankind, that's not a difficult parallel to make!
We can also see other parallels. For example, Yeshua was crucified and buried in garments that were seamless, with no hem in them. These garments are reminiscent of what the high priest would put on once a year to go visit with “Yahweh/Yehovah” (God) in the tent of meeting on Yom Kippur. When we look at the book of Hebrews where it is written that Yom Kippur, the day of atonement, is the day for the forgiveness of sins committed in ignorance. Do we have a parallel between that and the crucifixion of Messiah? Yes we do because as he was dying he asked God to forgive the people who were crucifying him. He was asking for their forgiveness because they executed Him in ignorance, thinking that they were doing a good thing.
So, if you are one of those who is already preparing for the fast that starts October 11th at Sunset and runs through October 12th, please meditate on what the messiah's sacrifice has done for all of mankind. He made a way for the forgiveness of sins committed in ignorance. This is an enormous blessing and those who keep these fast days do so, not to try and impress God, or to try and earn their salvation. They keep these days because of what they mean. They keep them because the early church kept them and they did it because they were told to do it. They kept them because they believed God and they did what his son did.
I write this to invite everyone out there who believes in Yeshua as the Messiah to observe these special Jewish Holy days too, even if it’s doing nothing more than remembering Him for all He has done for us.