Day of Atonement Requirements

Be careful to celebrate the Day of Atonement on the tenth day of that same month--nine days after the Festival of Trumpets. You must observe it as an official day for holy assembly, a day to deny yourselves and present special gifts to the LORD. Do no work during that entire day because it is the Day of Atonement, when offerings of purification are made for you, making you right with the LORD your God. All who do not deny themselves that day will be cut off from God's people. And I will destroy anyone among you who does any work on that day. You must not do any work at all! This is a permanent law for you, and it must be observed from generation to generation wherever you live. Leviticus 23:27-31

God is serious about the celebration of His Festivals. The Day of Atonement offered the Israelites an opportunity to make things right with the Lord. That Festival continues to be observed today and is better known as Yom Kippur. It begins at sunset on the ninth day of the seventh month on the Jewish calendar, ending at sunset on the tenth day. This year it falls on September 29-30.

Temple Model - Jerusalem

Purified priest entered that Holy of Holies to offer

Atonement to God for sins on the Holiest Day of the year.

Now we can go straight to God--daily. 

During Tabernacle and Temple times the high priest sacrificed a goat as a sin offering on the altar within the Holy of Holies and another goat was released into the wilderness as a scapegoat carrying the iniquities and transgressions (fancy words for sins) of Israelites (Leviticus 16:20-22).  It is a sacred and holy day—one that God requires that NO WORK be done on that day. Here He promised that if anyone worked on that day, He would destroy them. Death. What a promise! Would that motivate you to be obedient? Yom Kippur is the holiest of all Jewish holidays. Obedience to God—to seek God’s forgiveness is of upmost importance to a Jew. It should be important on a daily basis to Christians.

Prayer ~  Heavenly Father, I humbly bow before You acknowledging that You required the Israelites to make an atonement for their sins…and You expect me to do the same. I pray that people won’t wait until Yom Kippur to set things right with You. I confess that I don’t always have a good attitude…and that it blocks my relationship with others…and especially with You. Forgive me…and help me to treat others more kindly—to treat them as if they were Jesus.

Daily Bible Reading: February 21 – Leviticus 24-25  

© 2017 by Mickey M. Hunacek. All rights reserved.

All scripture quoted from the New Living Translation (NLT) unless otherwise noted.

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