Happy new year! I hope you are having a good holiday season. I use the word “holiday” deliberately here, not to obscure the centrality of Christ in Christmas, but to focus on the literal definition of “holiday”: a “holy” day. Throughout the year, we have various celebratory days that are “set apart” (that’s what “holy” means). The rest of the days are common, or unholy, by contrast. There’s nothing wrong with these ordinary days; they’re just not special like the others. As we start a new calendar year, did you know that God has a calendar full of scheduled holy […]
Tag Archives: Yom Kippur
Overturned
Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” Jonah 3:4 Today was Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. It is the holiest day of the Biblical calendar where atonement was made for the nation of Israel (see Leviticus 16). One of the traditional readings on this day is the book of Jonah because of its connection to repentance and mercy. God threatened to destroy the city of Nineveh and sent the prophet Jonah to announce its demise. After a detour at sea involving a storm and a great fish, […]
An Appointment
The Lord said to Moses: “Tell your brother Aaron that he is not to come whenever he chooses into the Most Holy Place behind the curtain in front of the atonement cover on the ark, or else he will die. For I will appear in the cloud over the atonement cover. Leviticus 16:2 Today is Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, the holiest day in the Biblical calendar. When the tabernacle and temple stood, it was the one day each year which the high priest could enter into the Most Holy Place where the Ark of the Covenant rested. Unlike […]
Cleaning Up
Then Samuel said, “Assemble all Israel at Mizpah and I will intercede with the LORD for you.” When they had assembled at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it out before the LORD. On that day they fasted and there they confessed, “We have sinned against the LORD.” And Samuel was leader of Israel at Mizpah. 1 Samuel 7:5-6 Sundown today marks the beginning of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. It is a day of fasting and repentance, a day to seek the Lord. It is a day to make things right between you and God as well as […]
A Tale of Two Goats
Then [Aaron] is to take the two goats and present them before the LORD at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. He is to cast lots for the two goats–one lot for the LORD and the other for the scapegoat. Aaron shall bring the goat whose lot falls to the LORD and sacrifice it for a sin offering. But the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the LORD to be used for making atonement by sending it into the desert as a scapegoat. Leviticus 16:7-10 The second of the fall festivals, Yom Kippur […]
Fire on the Mountain
On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the LORD descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, the whole mountain trembled violently, and the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder. Then Moses spoke and the voice of God […]
Atonement
“This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: On the tenth day of the seventh month you must deny yourselves and not do any work–whether native-born or an alien living among you — because on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you. Then, before the LORD, you will be clean from all your sins. It is a sabbath of rest, and you must deny yourselves; it is a lasting ordinance. The priest who is anointed and ordained to succeed his father as high priest is to make atonement. He is to put on the sacred […]
Holiday Weekend
Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. Colossians 2:16-17 Monday was Memorial Day, a day in the US where we remember those who have fought in our wars and gone before us. Sunday I mentioned it was Pentecost. That made for a full holiday weekend, but also an enjoyable one. Perhaps you’ve read on my blog about the various festivals mentioned […]
Fasting and Forgiveness
The LORD said to Moses, “The tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. Hold a sacred assembly and deny yourselves, and present an offering made to the LORD by fire. Do no work on that day, because it is the Day of Atonement, when atonement is made for you before the LORD your God. Leviticus 23:26-28 Today is Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), which began last night at sundown. I’m sitting outside in the garden at JUC. There is barely a car on the road. Last night I wandered around with a few others from […]