The Day of Covering

1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,240
Well, Yom Kippur is translated the day of covering, but it was also known as the day of judgment,

2
00:00:06,240 --> 00:00:11,600
because it was the day that the High Priest stood before the Lord on behalf of the whole nation

3
00:00:11,600 --> 00:00:18,560
of Israel and made a sacrifice for atonement of their sins. You know, the New Testament uses

4
00:00:18,560 --> 00:00:26,960
this powerful concept to describe Jesus' role and sacrificial death that did not just cover sin

5
00:00:26,960 --> 00:00:34,720
for another year, but removed it for all eternity. So welcome to this week's Shabbat Shalom devotional

6
00:00:34,720 --> 00:00:41,280
when I seek to share a little inspiration and bring a little piece to the close of your very busy week.

7
00:00:41,840 --> 00:00:50,000
Well, we are skipping a Torah study this week in order to talk about the High Holiday of Yom Kippur,

8
00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:56,720
which takes place this week. We read about it in Leviticus 23 verses 27 through 31.

9
00:00:57,840 --> 00:01:03,360
Also, the tenth day of this seventh month shall be the day of atonement. It shall be a holy

10
00:01:03,360 --> 00:01:10,560
convocation for you. You shall afflict your souls and offer an offering made by fire to the Lord,

11
00:01:10,560 --> 00:01:18,000
and you shall do no work on that same day, for it is the day of atonement to make atonement for you

12
00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:23,520
before the Lord your God. You shall do no matter of work, skipping down to verse 31.

13
00:01:24,480 --> 00:01:32,240
It shall be a statute forever through your generations in all your dwellings. So this

14
00:01:32,240 --> 00:01:40,400
is the holiest day of the whole Hebrew calendar year when their sins were atoned for the whole year.

15
00:01:40,400 --> 00:01:46,400
So the original Hebrew word translated atonement. It's very interesting. It's very important that

16
00:01:46,400 --> 00:01:54,000
we understand this. The Hebrew word is kippur, or the verb is kafar, and it means to cover or to

17
00:01:54,000 --> 00:02:00,800
conceal. So for this reason, Yom Kippur is known as the day of covering. And because it was also the

18
00:02:00,800 --> 00:02:08,160
day, the sins of the entire nation were judged by God. It became known as the day of judgment.

19
00:02:08,800 --> 00:02:13,040
So now it's a feast that's to be kept forever, meaning even today,

20
00:02:13,040 --> 00:02:20,160
Israel should be keeping this feast. Israel was to humble or afflict their souls, which means to fast

21
00:02:20,160 --> 00:02:27,840
or abstain from food and repent for any sin in the previous year. The high priest was to offer

22
00:02:27,840 --> 00:02:34,640
blood sacrifices to make atonement for the sins of the people, the sins of the priesthood, and of the

23
00:02:34,640 --> 00:02:42,480
nation collectively committed during the previous year. So if you remember last week when we talked

24
00:02:42,480 --> 00:02:50,640
about Yom Teruah, the day of blowing of trumpets, that began a 10-day period of repentance. It called

25
00:02:50,640 --> 00:02:57,520
the people to attention and to begin a period of repentance and reevaluation that culminated

26
00:02:57,520 --> 00:03:07,280
10 days later on the feast or the day of atonement. Yom Kippur, as Israel's sins, were temporarily

27
00:03:07,280 --> 00:03:14,080
covered for the next year, but not permanently removed. And this is an important difference.

28
00:03:14,800 --> 00:03:23,040
Now, two points I want to make about this day is, first of all, what a healthy routine that to take

29
00:03:23,040 --> 00:03:29,680
a spiritual assessment and repent of any sins that may have crept in over the last year. You know,

30
00:03:29,680 --> 00:03:35,840
while we should live a daily life like that of sanctification and reassessment and repentance,

31
00:03:35,840 --> 00:03:44,320
the truth is time goes by. And before you know it, you may have even forgotten about a trespass

32
00:03:44,960 --> 00:03:53,760
or ignored some wrongdoing. So to have an annual routine of personal reflection and restitution

33
00:03:53,760 --> 00:04:03,280
is wonderful. Our God is so good. He knew the frailty of man and He put these things into place

34
00:04:03,280 --> 00:04:11,440
to help us. The second point I want to make is about the New Testament application of this concept.

35
00:04:11,440 --> 00:04:18,400
So in the book of Hebrews, the writer uses this very imagery of the high priest and entering the

36
00:04:18,400 --> 00:04:25,360
holy of holies and the sacrifice for sin in the imagery and context that described the eternal

37
00:04:25,360 --> 00:04:32,800
significance of Jesus' role and sacrifice. So as we close today, I want to encourage you to read

38
00:04:32,800 --> 00:04:40,960
Hebrews 8 through 10. The writer of Hebrews explains how that the tabernacle was a shadow

39
00:04:40,960 --> 00:04:47,680
of the true tabernacle which was in heaven. Moses built it based on a model God showed him

40
00:04:47,680 --> 00:04:54,880
in the spirit. So every year on Yom Kippur, the high priest entered a copy of the heavenly holy

41
00:04:54,880 --> 00:05:02,320
place and the earthly priesthood, which was from the line of Aaron, conducted this. So Jesus was

42
00:05:02,320 --> 00:05:09,520
not of the line of Aaron. He was of the tribe of Judah, but he was an eternal priest according to

43
00:05:09,520 --> 00:05:18,720
the order of Melchizedek. So when Jesus ascended to heaven, it was as Israel's great high priest.

44
00:05:18,720 --> 00:05:25,280
It was the high priest for all of us, the mediator of a new covenant, and he entered the most holy

45
00:05:25,280 --> 00:05:32,400
place in the heavenly tabernacle, not by the blood of goats and calves to cover sin for one year,

46
00:05:33,200 --> 00:05:42,720
but once and for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. So read about it

47
00:05:42,720 --> 00:05:49,040
in Hebrews 8 through 10. Jesus' sacrifice accomplished not just a covering of sin for the

48
00:05:49,040 --> 00:05:57,120
year, but the removal of it. Wow, a lot to think about this Shabbat and over the day of atonement,

49
00:05:57,120 --> 00:06:19,760
Yom Kippur, with that I wish you Shabbat Shalom.