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COMING CLEAN WITH GOD ATONEMENT JEWISH STYLE “The tenth day of the seventh month is Yom Kippur” You are to have a holy convocation; you are to deny yourselves, making atonement for you before Adonai your God. Anyone who does not deny himself will be cut off from his people, and anyone that does any kind of work, I will destroy from among his people, this is a permanent regulation, through all your generations It is a Shabbat of complete rest, resting on YOUR Shabbat from the evening of the Ninth of Tishre (September 24 th this year) till the following evening (Vayikra (Leviticus) chapter 16 & 23:26-32)
The Day of Atonement is upon us, the year is 5764, a good year Amen? We are all gathered here tonight, why? Because ha-Shem has called us to a holy convocation, we gather in His name. Just 10 days ago we came together to be faithful to the scriptures in Leviticus 23 that called us to a holy convocation for Yom Teruah, the day of blowing,
We came and we now gather again to be obedient to the call of the Lord, to “gather” in a holy convocation, not only as individuals but corporately. We gather here and in synagogues tonight to fulfill the word of God, His Torah. Some of us come with a little understanding, and some of us come with less. Some come because they followed the crowd (Tradition), and some come pulled by a feeling deep inside they don't understand.
Many of our Jewish people make their way to the Shul this night to fulfill “An Obligation” in tradition, more that the call of our Lord. I pray that all of us here come with our hearts open wide, prepared to fulfill the inner most desires that Abba Father and Messiah have for us, to make Teshuvah (repentance), to turn from our sinful ways, and to prepare ourselves for the year ahead of us, asking for mercy for the year past and the year ahead.
We opened the Erev Yom Kippur service With Kol Nidrei. This century's old chant dates back at least to the 9 th century, its author is unknown, but the emotion it carries to Jews all over the world is very well known. Did you feel anything? Deep down in your soul?
It is very interesting to note that Kol Nidrei is not a prayer; it has no mention of Teshuah, repentance, it is a Decree. Traditionally Jews embrace Kol Nidrei to free themselves from past or future vows that have been violated or will be violated. Kol Nidrei emphasizes the extreme gravity that the Torah attaches not only to formal vows and oaths, but expresses how important that we keep His Mitzvot, His Word. In Joshua 1:8, God, tells Joshua how important it is, “keep this book of the Torah on your lips, and meditate on it day and night, so that you will take care to act accordingly to everything written in it. Then your undertakings will prosper, and you will succeed.” BEWARE: Vows made that are not of the heart. Proverbs 20:17 says “Bread of deceit is sweet to a man; but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel.” And Proverbs 20:25 says “It is a snare to the man who devours that which is holy and after vows to make enquiry.”
Vows are holy promises in God's eyes, Free will offerings. In the Talmud it says that vows not kept can lead to death of loved ones (Shabbos 32b). This is why the Messianic Kol Nidrei reminds us to make sure our Yes is Yes, and our No, No! It is a reminder that our vows are sacred, and not to be made half heartily, or made with no intention to follow through on, God is watching and listening. In Psalm 66:13 it says “I will go into thy house with burnt offerings: I will pay thee my vows.” And in Psalm 116:14 it says “I will pay my vows unto the LORD now in the presence of all his people.”
THIS IS A KEY TO YOM KIPPUR AND WHY WE START WITH KOL NIDREI!
WE ACKNOWEDGE BEFORE HIM THAT WE HAVE MISSED THE MARK, WE HAVE SINNED! AGAINST TORAH, and HIS COMMANDMENTS. In Nahum 2:1 the prophet proclaims: “Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that brings good news, proclaiming Shalom. Keep your feasts Y'hudah, fulfill your vows: for the wicked no more pass through you again; he is utterly cut off.” In this scripture Nahum is expressing how critical it is that we keep our vows, especially as it relates to the Feasts of Adonai, and there is a blessing that goes with it!
But Kol Nidrei does not release us from our vows, it is a plea to the Lord that “May we be forgiven”, it is only the Lord himself who releases us. In Vayikra (Leviticus) chapter 16, Moshe has written down the order of the temple service for Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur, the day of atonement when the High priest would present sacrifices of atonement not only for himself but for the whole nation.
There were to be 3 offerings, first a bull for the SIN of himself and his family. It is this bull that would make atonement for Aaron (and generations to come). The blood of the bull is used to cleanse the Holy of Holies and the tent of meeting, and the Altar in the face of the uncleanness of Israel (16:15-16), The Life of the animal is in the blood and it's the Blood that bring atonement. There is a shadow here of Messiah, We need to remember that Yom Kippur is the time that Moshe came down from the mountain with the second set of tablets. If you don't remember Moshe had been on Mount Sinai, seeking forgiveness for the abomination of the Golden Calf, it is on Yom Kippur that this seeking came to its pinnacle, “the eternal day of forgiveness”. It is one of God's greatest gifts that we can confess our sins make Teshuvah (repent) and he will grant us atonement. God permits us to let the past slip away so that we can start fresh, a clean slate.
After Aaron made atonement with the blood of the bull in the holy of holies, his attention was turned to two goats. Lots are drawn to for the goats (The Lord chooses). Both of these goats have no blemish, representing no sin, One for Adonai (La Adonai); this is this goat that is the shadow of Messiah's sacrifice. In II Corinthians 5:21 God made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that we might become God's righteousness in him. It is this goat's blood that is sprinkled on the Holy of Holies for our transgressions! This first goat sheds it blood for the Sin of the people, and it blood was brought into the Holy of Holies, and sprinkled on the Ark of the Covenant.
Once this is finished, the Cohen Gadol (Aaron) moves to the second goat, the Az'azel (scapegoat) as it s commonly referred to (Tinsdale 1531 first). God chooses the goat that is sent away to Azazel, by the casting of lots. Plainly and simply God himself is providing a means of getting rid of Israel's sin. There are several streams of understanding, thought and opinion on the Az'azel which I will share on tomorrow, you just will have to wait!
The basic story is the Az'azel, after the Cohen Gadol lays his hands, and lays the nations sin on it's head, is led out into the desert, its final fate is never mentioned in Torah, but with it goes the sins of the nation. Through this action a whole nation watched as the goat was led out of the camp, Sin has left the camp and its people, to the nation a clean slate! Then Aaron would take off the fine linen tunic and bath his body in water in the Holy Place, and then he made a burnt offering making atonement for himself and the people
All this ritual is very impressive, but doesn't it really just set the stage for each of us to come before ha-Shem, to make Teshuvah before God? Psalm 51:16 says “for you don't want sacrifice; or I would I give them; you don't take pleasure in burnt offerings.” And Psalm 51:17 says “My sacrifices to God is a broken spirit; God you won't spurn a broken, chastened heart.” The Lord has always been looking for more, for the circumcision of our hearts. the Lord has always desired a permanent arrangement. In Jeremiah 31:31 a promise of a New Covenant is promised, made on better promises offering eternal ramifications.
JEWISH TRADITIONS AROUND 30 A.D. EXPEREINCED A BIG SHAKE UP.
For centuries the Jewish people relied on the Yom Kippur temple service to wash them clean of their sins. But major events happened that would change the status quo forever. The great Rabbi's at the council at Yavneh in 90 AD. transformed the Yom Kippur sacrifice service, they proclaimed that ritual and prayer was enough to replace sacrifice, and do good deeds, not exactly what scripture called for.
It was considered a good omen if the lot marked La Adonai was drawn by the priest in the right hand. 40 years prior to the destruction of the temple in 70 A.D. the lot for La Adonai was drawn by the priest in the left hand (Talmud, Yoma 39a). Once the temple was destroyed, Israel's ability to atone for sin was gone, at least as prescribed in Leviticus. Scripture is clear that the cleansing ONLY comes from shedding of the BLOOD Lev 17:11.
According to the Talmud, the destruction of the Temple did not come as a total surprise to the Jewish people, in fact, the Talmud records that four ominous events occurred approximately forty years before the destruction of the Temple. Those four events were to warn the Rabbi's of the Temple's impending doom. According to Jewish tradition, all four of these signs came to pass. The four signs were:
1. The lot for the Lord's goat did not come up in the right hand of the high priest.
2. The scarlet cord tied to the door of the Temple on the Day of Atonement stopped turning white after the scapegoat had been sent out. The scarlet cord (scarf) that was soaked in the blood of the goat for Adonai.
3. The westernmost light on the Temple candelabra would not burn. It is believed that this light was used to light the other lights of the candelabra.
4. The Temple doors would open by themselves. The rabbis saw this as an ominous fulfillment of Zechariah 11:1, “Open thy doors, O Lebanon, that fire may devour thy cedars.” The opening of the doors to let in the consuming fire foretold the destruction of the Temple itself by fire. (The temple was burned by the Romans).
The sages drew two conclusions from these warnings. First, they realized that the destruction of the Temple was God's judgment on the Jewish people for ungodliness. Second, they perceived the warnings as God's way of giving them time to prepare for the restructuring of Judaism around the synagogue. What amazing event happened 40 years before the destruction of the 2 nd temple? I believe they missed the most important event, number 1, making 5. Yeshua was born, rejected, crucified and arose! Do you think this would be the judgment against Israel? How much more rebellious can you get than to reject Messiah? They were right, God had a better plan, one created from the foundations of the universe; He would send Himself to pay the price of our sin!
Remember Jeremiah 31:31? Yeshua is the better covenant (read Hebrews 7:22-28)!
The haftorah Partia for Yom Kippur is Isaiah 57:14; Isaiah speaks of the future where the Lord promises to revive the spirit of the humble and the broken. Isaiah writes that God will heal them in spite of their rebellious way. Some in the Body of Messiah say we do not need the feasts and we surely don't need Yom Kippur! I say that it the farthest thing from the truth…… With the coming of Messiah Yom Kippur just got a whole lot better!
Messiah was rejected by the majority of Jews, but remember this was part of the prophecy (Isaiah 53: Acts 13:26-33). We still sin! We still need to come clean, to make Teshuvah, to turn, and who do we turn to? We turn to King Messiah, Yeshua the Machiach! For Messiah came in the order of Malki-Tzedek ( READ HEBREWS 7:15-21). No intermediary! We go directly to the source! Yeshua. Yeshua's blood makes the FINAL atonement from our sin; it is His Blood that grants us the remission of our sin. Yeshua wants to hear from us on Yom Kippur, He wants to hear our mouths speak of repentance, We still need cleansing! Some say Guilt is a state of mind, what is right for one may be wrong for another and visa versa that is a lie of the enemy.
We have a God that judges on the day on atonement, in Hebrews 4:12, it says: “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul and spirit, joints and marrow, as it judges the thoughts and purposes of the heart.” And in Revelation 19:11, it says: “Then I saw heaven standing open, and there was a white horse! Its rider is named Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and wages war. “There is God's right and the enemy's wrong. The relative world code of conduct, what is in place now is not God's. Be on guard, because many who proclaim to know the bible preach this relative message of truth. Yeshua came to free us from the burden of sin, FOREVER, not from the Torah and its Godly code of conduct and instruction. r eceiving God's cleansing in no way dismisses our need To live according to God's rules, commandants. Far from it, it is his cleansing that enables us to live godly lives. We must live within the structure that God has given us, without it we have confusion and disaster ( the world is in this state now), isn't there confusion and disaster that comes with Abortion, the homosexual lifestyle, and taking God out of our schools government offices and public places? Yeshua is our way out of disaster and death, spiritually and physically. Yeshua is our salvation and our solution, He wants to see us move to action, in our repentance. The good news is Yeshua continues to cleanse us, as we look to him for that cleansing.
MESSIAH IS OUR COHEN HAGDOLAND OUR SIN OFFERING! HE IS OUR HIGH PRIEST. Yeshua is our High Priest, today on Yom Kippur; in fact he is our Cohen Gadol, every day, for the rest of our lives! It says in Heb 3:1 “Therefore, brothers whom God has set apart, who share in the call from heaven, think carefully about Yeshua, whom we acknowledge publicly as God's emissary and as Cohen gadol. He was faithful to God, who appointed him; just as Moshe was faithful in all God's house.” (Numbers 12:7)
Remember our reading in Hebrews 7, it says “FOREVER”! Can their be better intercession for us then a High Priest that has personally paid for our sin, lived a perfect life, gone to heaven and forgiven our sin? We do not have to have a mortal intermediary, we have God himself, Yeshua as Cohen Gadol, came to earth to take our sin away, one time and forever.
HE IS OUR SIN OFFERING! He shed his blood for us, it had to be His Blood, for we know there is no not atonement with out the blood, Lev 17:11 SAYS: “for the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that make atonement for the soul.”
Messiah is our sure thing! We no longer need to have the blood of bulls and goats, covering over our sin. Ephesians 5:2 says Messiah gave him self in Love, willingly, as a sacrificial lamb, and in Hebrews 9:25 it says that Messiah did not offer himself over and over again, like our forefathers had to go into the Holy of Holies each year, with blood that was not his own! For we are not saved by the blood of bulls and goats! (Hebrews 7:27).
And there is a bonus! Not only has he redeemed us with His blood, but Messiah is coming back to receive those that have put their trust in Him! (Hebrews 9:28). Yom Kippur is a time for us to come before our King, our Cohen Gadol to seek out mercy and cleansing, Heb 4:16 Says: “So let us keep on coming with boldness to the throne of grace, so that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. “
SO WHAT IS, OR SHOULD YOM KIPPUR BE TO US, BELIEVERS IN MESSIAH IN THIS AGE? Yom Kippur is more than the opportunity to escape punishment by atonement. It is the annual recommitment to cleanse Jewish life, of sins committed “with malice and forethought.” Yom Kippur God declared in Isaiah. 1:18, “...though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be white as snow...” and in Revelation 7:14 “These are the people who are coming out of the terrible suffering. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb.
- We come before God to ask forgiveness for our shortcomings,
- We come to confess our sins before a Holy God
- We come to Ask for forgiveness for the sin we will commit in the coming year
- our sin of the past year
- We come to partake in the day of fasting,
- A day of introspection to be in right standing with God
- We come to open our hearts before the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, to let God in and let Evil out
- We come to acknowledge He is God
- We come to Honor our heritage as given by God to all generations, forever
- We come to acknowledge and accept our Kippur, our Atonement
- We come to acknowledge that Messiah is our atonement
- We come before Messiah with a contrite heart, acknowledging we are weak and we need Him who calls us him own
- We come to say we desire to be closer with our God, our King and our Friend
- We come to confirm our acceptance of Yeshua's Blood atonement for us
- We come to recommit our lives and life to Messiah King
- We come as an act of faith
- We come as an acknowledgment that we are still sinners and need Messiah's Blood today and every day
- We come because we are obedient
- We come because we have been called
- We come because We Need Him
- We come because there is no life without HIM
- We come because He loved us first,
- And we come because he Died for us to make atonement for our transgressions
- We come to have our names written and sealed in the lambs book of life
The Lord gave me a neat analogy this week, and it came from Jim's problems with his driveway. He had installed a nice new driveway, but wasn't installed properly; it was breaking up due to wear and tear before its time just like we tend to be. As with the new driveway we start out clean each year but get beaten up. The solution for the driveway was getting it sealed to protect the asphalt (seals out the elements). We are the asphalt, and Yeshua is the sealant that covers us, protects us (seals out attacks) so we can face the world and its shortcomings. If we let him cover us, we will be sealed in his book saved and sound, no matter what the world brings against us, it will run off. We need Yom Kippur each year to get or sealing.
- And we come to Honor Him, Yeshua who redeemed us for all time
YOM KIPPUR, THE DAY OF ATONEMENT, THE DAY THAT MARKS THE SUPERNATURAL LOVING RELATIONSHIP THAT THE CREATOR GOD HAS WITH HIS CHOSEN PEOPLE, A PEOPLE BORN OUT OF LOVE, WITH LOVE FOR YOM KIPPUR IS ABOUT LOVE, WE SHOW OUR LOVE OF GOD AND OUR GREATFULNESS FOR HIS MERCY, COMPASSION by changing, turning, making Teshuvah. YOM KIPPUR IS THE BEGINNING OF OUR RENEWED RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD. DO NOT MISS THIS HOLY OPEN DOOR FOR GROWING CLOSER TO YESHUA; HE HAS DONE IT ALL TO SET US FREE FROM THE BONDAGE OF SIN. I PRAY THAT YOU ALL HAVE PUT YOURSELF IN A POSITION TO BE WRITTEN IN THE LAMBS BOOK OF LIFE AND HAVE BEEN SEALED FOR NOT ONLY A GOOD YEAR, BUT AN ETERNITY.
G'mar Chah-timah Tovah
May you be sealed in the Book of Life, AMEN |
