Yom Kippur 5783
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Me
Me
When I was a kid there was this one specific time I got in trouble. I know, I know… Shocker, right… I don’t recall what exactly I got in trouble for, but I know whatever it was it wasn’t good. I had pushed my luck just about as far as it could go.
You know you’re in trouble when your mom is mad at you and decides it’s dad’s turn to punish you because she can’t get through to you… It was one of those “wait till your dad gets home” kind of situations. When my dad got home my mom filled him in on whatever it was I had done to get in trouble that particular time and she told him she had been waiting for him to get home to handle it.
So, my dad had this belt back in the day, and I’m pretty sure it is still around somewhere just for the fun of it, but this was a thick, brown leather belt. He wore it all the time, but it was also the belt he would use to spank me. Now, before anyone gets anything twisted, this was back in the late 80’s/early 90’s when spanking your kid was still considered socially ok and he never beat me with the belt, just a few licks to get my attention and to bring correction.
Nonetheless, I had messed up and the big guns had been called in. I knew what was coming, I knew the thick leather belt was coming off, I knew it was going to be doubled over so it was more manageable in the his hand, I knew that once said already thick leather belt was doubled over it would become an even thicker surface about to cross my hindquarters, I knew there would be the traditional celebratory cracking the belt together a few times to warm it up and cause just a little more fear and anxiety before the actual spanking occured.
So, with all this in mind my dad takes me back to their bedroom, he proceeds to due everything aforementioned. At this point as the belt is making the cracking sounds I am already hysterical. Yet, instead of telling me to lean over the bed he begins to talk to me. He discusses my actions with me briefly and why they were wrong. He talks to me about the spanking I deserve and why I deserve it. He talks to me about the correction he desires to see in my behavior. But, instead of spanking me as he normally would, he tells me that even though I deserve the punishment for my actions he isn’t going to spank me this time. Instead, as I am already crying, he tells me he’s going to hit the bed with the belt several times and when he does he wants me to yell out like it hurt.
I never actually got the spanking, I was awarded some grace and mercy that particularly time. I don’t know if my mom was in on it or ever even knew I didn’t get the actual spanking. But, what I do know is I deserved to get my tail handed to me, and instead my dad forgave my actions and didn’t punish me as I deserved.
We
We
We have all probably experienced the relief of not getting what was coming to us at some point or another…
Maybe we’ve caught the glorious flashing blue lights in our rearview mirror when we were running late to work and going a little over the speed limit and for whatever reason the cop gave us a warning instead of a ticket.
Maybe we missed a very important deadline at work and instead of getting in huge trouble or getting fired over it our boss forgave us and worked with us to get it complete.
Maybe we were suppose to do the dishes before our parents got home and we drug our feet doing anything and everything else except what we were suppose to be doing, and when our parents got home the kitchen was still trashed and instead of punishing us they gave us a little longer and let us take care of them right away.
Maybe we’re sitting here with a hundred different scenarios flashing through our head about how we were able to get out of getting what was rightly coming to us and our life is so much better because of it.
God
God
This is the whole reality of Yom Kippur. Think about it, God gives Israel the Torah and within the Torah is a very descriptive list of Mitzvot to help keep Israel on the right track. The Lord tells Israel if you walk faithfully in the instructions of this covenant then I will protect and care for you. He even gives us a detailed list in Deuteronomy that we call “the blessings and curses” specifically for the purpose of telling us how well things will go if we are faithful and how bad things can get if we aren’t.
But then we come to Leviticus 16… In Leviticus 16 we get a very detailed description of the Yom Kippur service in the Mishkan, and later the Beit HaMikdash, through which the High Priest, as an intermediary, would make atonement for Israel’s sins once a year by entering the Holy of Holies to sprinkle the blood of goats and bulls on the Mercy Seat, the cover of the Aron HaBrit (Ark of the Covenant).
I believe there to be a great spiritual principle found in the premise of Yom Kippur that we need to fully appreciate and fully take to heart. It is a principle that is at the very core of what we believe as followers of Yeshua, the Promised Jewish Messiah and it is at the core of the reality of the Good News.
Because of the Blood Atonement we do not get what we deserve, but instead we receive compassion, mercy, and forgiveness.
(Repeat)
Let’s dig into the Word together.
“It is to be a statute to you forever, that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you are to afflict your souls, and do no kind of work—both the native-born and the outsider dwelling among you.
For on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you. From all your sins you will be clean before Adonai.
It is a Shabbat of solemn rest to you, and you are to afflict your souls. It is a statute forever.
The kohen who is anointed and who is consecrated to be kohen in his father’s place will make the atonement, and put on the linen garments, the holy garments.
He is to make atonement for the Holy Sanctuary, for the Tent of Meeting, for the altar, for the kohanim, and for all the people of the assembly.
“This will be an everlasting statute for you, to make atonement for Bnei-Yisrael once in the year because of all their sins.” It was done as Adonai commanded Moses.
See, verse 33 is very interesting, especially once you take into full account the totality of the magnitude of the High Priest’s duties on Yom Kippur. Because of the fact that the Hight Priest was only allowed to enter the Holy of Holies on one day a year it is often presumed that he only went in once on that day. But, when we read the totality of Leviticus 16 in context what we realize is the High Priest was responsible for entering behind the curtain into the Holy of Holies several times on Yom Kippur.
We see in verses 11-14 that the High Priest had to slaughter a bull for a sin offering for himself and the priesthood, he had to enter behind the curtain into the Holy of Holies to make atonement for himself. Then in verse 15 he is to go in to make atonement for the nation of Israel. Then in verse 16 he is to enter and make atonement for the Holy Place because of Israel’s sins. Then, also in verse 15, he is to go in again to make atonement for the Tent of Meeting (the tabernacle itself) because it dwells with Israel even in the midst of their sins.
Altogether, the High Priest enters the Holy of Holies four times every Yom Kippur to make atonement. And each time, he has to take off his regular priestly garments, he has to go through Mikvah, he has to put on the special linen garments, then he has to grab his incense pan and stick it in the curtain and put incense on it creating a smoke that would envelope the room and serve as a barrier between himself and the Shechinah in the Holy of Holies.
Then, after all that is done and after he has sprinkled the blood on the horns of the altar and performed the remainder of the sacrifices and procedures he would then take the scapegoat and place his hands upon its head and proclaim “viddui” or confessions of the sins of Israel over the goat and they would send the goat out into the wilderness to symbolically carry the sins of Israel away from the camps of Israel. All of this was on top of the regular sacrifices and offerings that had to be made on any given day, and on Yom Kippur only the High Priest was allowed to perform all of these Tabernacle services, and no one but him was allowed in the Tabernacle until all was done and atonement was made for everyone.
So again we read:
The kohen who is anointed and who is consecrated to be kohen in his father’s place will make the atonement, and put on the linen garments, the holy garments.
He is to make atonement for the Holy Sanctuary, for the Tent of Meeting, for the altar, for the kohanim, and for all the people of the assembly.
“This will be an everlasting statute for you, to make atonement for Bnei-Yisrael once in the year because of all their sins.” It was done as Adonai commanded Moses.
The only way Israel could be cleansed from their sins was by the annual sacrificial service performed by the High Priest. This particularly pertains to the blood atonement brought on Yom Kippur. In fact, immediately following this detailed description of the priestly duties of Yom Kippur we read...
“Anyone from the house of Israel, or from the outsiders dwelling among them, who eats any kind of blood, I will set my face against that soul—the one who eats blood—and will cut him off from among his people.
For the life of the creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your lives—for it is the blood that makes atonement because of the life.
Therefore I have said to Bnei-Yisrael: No person among you may eat blood, nor may any outsider dwelling among you eat blood.
The blood atonement is key… Not the scapegoat, although it’s part of the process. Not the ritualistic service of the priest itself, although it is a part of the process. Not the carcasses burning on the altar, although it is a part of the process. Not the priest bathing in mikvah or changing his clothes over and over again, although that’s all part of the process. Not even the “viddui” or confession of sins, although it is a part of the process.
The key part of the process is the very specifically the blood atonement.
Because of the Blood Atonement we do not get what we deserve, but instead we receive compassion, mercy, and forgiveness.
But, you may find yourself asking, what does Judaism do now if blood atonement can’t be made in the Temple being there’s no Temple and no priesthood standing today? Well, aside from the longing of our Jewish world for the reestablishment of the Temple and Priesthood… Judaism, since the destruction of the Temple by the Romans in 70 CE has wrestled with this very reality. The conclusions that have been arrived at are that in place of the sacrificial proceedings of Yom Kippur we atone for our sins through prayer (particularly liturgy) and our confession of our sins as we do with the Al Cheit and Ashamnu, we atone for our sins through the study of Scripture, we atone for our sins through doing good deeds and giving to charity and so on.
But Leviticus 17:11 is very specific, is it not…?
For the life of the creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your lives—for it is the blood that makes atonement because of the life.
Thankfully, even though the Temple no longer stands, HaShem had a far greater plan in store, one for which the Temple service stood as a prophetic foreshadowing. We may not have an earthly high priest performing the rituals on Yom Kippur any longer, but we do have a far greater High Priest who has made atonement for our sins in the Holy of Holies in Heaven, the Tabernacle not made by human hands and that the earthly Mishkan was modeled after.
Now here is the main point being said. We do have such a Kohen Gadol, who has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens.
He is a priestly attendant of the Holies and the true Tent—which Adonai set up, not man.
For every kohen gadol is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices, so it is necessary for this One also to have something to offer.
Now if He were on earth, He would not be a kohen at all, since there are those who offer the gifts according to the Torah.
They offer service in a replica and foreshadower of the heavenlies—one that is just as Moses was instructed by God when he was about to complete the tabernacle. For He says, “See that you make everything according to the design that was shown to you on the mountain.”
But now Yeshua has obtained a more excellent ministry, insofar as He is the mediator of a better covenant which has been enacted on better promises.
Yeshua HaMashiach has become our intermediary! He has become our greater High Priest in the order of Malchi-Tzedek. He has sprinkled His own blood, the blood of the spotless lamb slayed for our sins, upon the true Mercy Seat, the very throne of God, to atone for our sins once and for all.
But when Messiah appeared as Kohen Gadol of the good things that have now come, passing through the greater and more perfect Tent not made with hands (that is to say not of this creation),
He entered into the Holies once for all—not by the blood of goats and calves but by His own blood, 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 Messiah—who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God—cleanse our conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
Remember, Leviticus 17 says that only blood can make atonement for our sins. We are not able to haphazardly change the Word of God to fit our circumstances. The Temple no longer stands because it was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE, it has been gone for almost 2000 years now… And Judaism has been flying by the seat of our pants ever since with regards to Yom Kippur and atonement because my Jewish people’s eyes, as a whole, have not yet been opened to the reality of Yeshua as our promised Messiah and the true forgiveness and atonement that can be found in Him.
But, the truth is He did offer His life for our sins. He did pour out His blood on the Mercy Seat for our forgiveness. Flavius Josephus’ writings and the Talmud even corroborate much of the Gospel message of what occured when Yeshua died and leading up to the destruction of the Temple some 40 years later. Particularly in the discussion of the horrors that Israel experienced for 40 years leading up to the destruction of the Temple when the ground would quake, the Menorah would randomly go out, the courtyard gates would miraculously open on their own (which many theorize is actually a reference to the Parokhet of the Holy of Holies ripping), the crimson cord on the horns of the sacrificed goat stopped turning white, and more... They state that for 40 years until the Temple was destroyed Israel experienced great terror at the events taking place at the Temple, and the Temple was destroyed by Rome in 70 ce. What exactly occured approximately 40 years before this? Yeshua’s death, burial, and resurrection. To which Matthew 27 states:
And behold, the curtain of the Temple was split in two, from top to bottom. And the earth quaked and rocks were split apart.
Yeshua had provided a better atonement, a better sacrifice. Not one made by man for man, but rather one made by God for man. A true blood atonement, one for which the former had only been a foreshadowing. An atonement that was once for all and eternal, not needing to be offered year after year over and over again.
The punishment due us for our sins is the reality of eternal death… Yet, HaShem has provided a far greater way through the Blood Atonement of Messiah. When we call upon Yeshua’s Name for our Salvation and repent of our sins our sins are forgiven and the curse of the Law which is eternal death due us for breaking the Law is washed clean.
Because of the Blood Atonement we do not get what we deserve, but instead we receive compassion, mercy, and forgiveness.
If we say we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.
My children, I am writing these things to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an Intercessor with the Father—the righteous Messiah Yeshua.
He is the atonement for our sins, and not only for our sins but also for the whole world.
Yeshua paid the ultimate sacrifice so that you and I would not have to suffer for all eternity. He paid the ultimate sacrifice to restore us and make us sons and daughters of the King of Kings. We no longer need the blood of goats and bulls because they were but a foreshadow of something far greater, the final atonement in the Blood of Messiah Yeshua.
The fact is, you and I are sinners… We sinned long before we found Messiah, and sadly as humans we’re going to continue to sin. But because of the Blood Atonement of Messiah our sins are forgiven and the eternal punishment due us is forgiven.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
He is the atonement for our sins, and not only for our sins but also for the whole world.
You
You
(Call worship team back up and unmute)
Odds are each and every one of you can think of scenarios pretty quickly in which you were able to get out of serious trouble and were shown great favor and mercy.
But, how much more mercy and forgiveness have you been shown by Messiah Yeshua? Yom Kippur may be a solemn occasion and a time of repentance, but it can also be a time for you as a follower of Messiah Yeshua to rejoice in the true Atonement you have been provided by the Blood of the Spotless Lamb.
If you are listening to this sermon today and you have not yet put your trust in Yeshua, you have not yet cried out upon His Name for forgiveness and Salvation, then today is the ideal day to do so. This Yom Kippur is the perfect opportunity to receive the full and true atonement found only in the blood of the Lamb, Yeshua HaMashiach and for you to be washed clean of your sins and become an heir to the Kingdom.
If you are Jewish and observing Yom Kippur and wondering how in the world the acts of prayer, study, good deeds, and charity could ever replace the blood atonement commanded in Torah for the atonement of our sins, then you are not alone. And more so, how can our sins be forgiven without the Temple? The reality is that the Temple service was always intended to be a foreshadowing of something greater, a foreshadowing of true atonement made by God for man, not man for man. A true atonement that is perfect, that is eternal, and that is completely and totally free for all… All you have to do is to call out upon the Name of Yeshua, confess that you have sinned and have fallen short of the Glory of God, and that you are in need of His Salvation.
For if you confess with your mouth that Yeshua is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
For with the heart it is believed for righteousness, and with the mouth it is confessed for salvation.
For the Scripture says, “Whoever trusts in Him will not be put to shame.”
We
We
I began this message talking about my dad not spanking me even though I righty deserved it, and truth be told, this is just one instance I am aware of. But, odds are there are probably countless times I deserved a punishment and he forgave me instead and probably never mentioned anything about it.
But how much more powerful a reality is the forgiveness and mercy found in the Atonement of the Blood of the Lamb, Yeshua HaMashiach?
We are going to spend a few minutes in worship, as we do I want to encourage you to take this time to focus on the great miracle that has been provided in the Atonement of Yeshua, once and for all our sins have been redeemed. Once and for all the Sacrifice has been made. Once and for all the Blood that brings true atonement and Salvation has been sprinkled on the Mercy Seat in Heaven. And we are invited to receive freely and fully of His mercy and grace.
As we worship, I want you to contemplate all the mercies that have been shown to you. Contemplate His love and compassion. If you know there are areas in your life you still need to seek repentance and restoration in, now is the time. If you have never accepted Yeshua as your Messiah and Atonement, now is the time. Do not let this Yom Kippur go by without finding true atonement, true forgiveness, true Salvation in Messiah Yeshua.