The Feast of Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement)

By Marv Rosenthal

7 Feasts
In the Old Testament, we read of the 7 feasts – or convocations – God made with ancient Israel.

Interestingly, these feasts still have prophetic implications today – not only for the Jewish people, but for the Church, as well.

Some balk and argue that these feasts were made with Israel solely, and not the Church. Therefore, the ancient feasts cannot relate to the Church in any way. In response, we make the following observations, to which many more can be added:

1. The Feast of Passover was made with Israel, but it depicts Christ’s death on Calvary for the sins of the world. Clearly, its provision goes beyond Israel.

2. The Feast of Unleavened Bread was made with Israel, but it depicts the fact that the Lord’s body would not decay in the grave. Again, this is crucial to Church doctrine.

3. The Feast of Firstfruits was made with Israel, however, it depicts the Lord’s triumphant resurrection. It is because He lives that the Church will also live.

4. The Feast of Pentecost was made with Israel, but it depicts the birth of the Church. Believing Jews and believing Gentiles become one in Christ.

5. The Feast of Trumpets was made with Israel, but it foreshadows the rapture of the Church.

6. The Feast of Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) represents Israel’s national salvation.

7. The feast of Tabernacles speaks of Christ’s Millennial Kingdom – the 1,000-year period when Christ will dwell with humanity on a restored and refurbished planet Earth.

The Feast of Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur – the Day of Atonement – began yesterday evening (Sept. 24, 2023) and is being celebrated today as well.

Whereas the Feast of Trumpets occurred on the first day of the Hebrew month Tishri at the new moon, the Day of Atonement occurred 10 days later. The 10 days from Trumpets to the Day of Atonement are known as “the days of awe.”

According to Jewish custom, 3 books are opened on the Feast of Trumpets. One is the Book of Life for the righteous. Second is the Book of Life for the unrighteous. The third is the Book of Life for those in-between.

If one were to be deemed righteous, his name is written in the Book of Life for the righteous at the Feast of Trumpets. If one were to be declared unrighteous, his name is written in the Book of Life for the unrighteous, and he will not survive the year.

If one is deemed in-between, judgment is delayed for 10 days from the Feast of Trumpets to the Feast of the Day of Atonement. It is during this period that an individual is given the opportunity to repent before the book is closed and her destiny is sealed.

While I will not be dogmatic on this issue, I strongly believe that at the Feast of Trumpets the Church will be raptured and the Lord’s wrath on Earth will begin. At His return to Earth, many Jewish people who survived the Lord’s purging of the earth will be saved. The prophet Zechariah wrote:

And on that day I will seek to destroy all the nations that come
against Jerusalem. “And I will pour out on the house of David
and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and of pleading,
so that they will look at Me whom they pierced; and they will mourn for Him,
like one mourning for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him
like the bitter weeping over a firstborn” (Zechariah 12:9-10).

Paul, in the context of a believing remnant from among the nation of Israel at the end of the age, wrote:

For I do not want you, brothers and sisters, to be uninformed of this
mystery –so that you will not be wise in your own estimation – that
 a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the
Gentiles has come in; and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written:
“The Deliverer will come from Zion,
He will remove ungodliness from Jacob” (Romans 11:25-26).

But it will not be Israel’s Day of Atonement. [That will occur on Yom Kippur.] From among the nations of the world, many will not take the mark of the Antichrist. When the Lord Jesus returns to Earth, many will repent of their sins before the Book of Life is forever closed.

The Lord had these Gentiles in mind in His Olivet Discourse. He taught:

But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels
with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. And all the
nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them
from one another, just as the shepherd separates the sheep from
the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, but the goats on
the left. Then the King will say to those on His right, “Come, you
who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:31-34).

It is this multitude from among the nations, along with those from among the Jewish people, who will enter the Millennial Kingdom still in mortal bodies (as distinct from the raptured and glorified Church who will inhabit the New Jerusalem).

The Blood Atonement
Year after year the sound of the ram’s horn calls Israel to repentance, but there is no atonement in Judaism today. There is no blood sacrifice, no temple, no priesthood, and no adherence to the Levitical regulations.

Within the Jewish breast, a yearning exists for true forgiveness before God, but it will never be found through the traditions of men, such as doing mitzvot (good deeds), emptying crumbs from the pockets, or transferring one’s guilt to a substitute fowl (the modern-day practices of Yom Kippur). It can only come through accepting the infinite sacrifice of Jesus, the Lamb of God.

The Hebrew Scriptures tell us that God provided the Messiah as His “offering for sin” (Isaiah 53:10). His is the only sacrifice for sin today. If His sacrifice is rejected, only one tragic alternative remains – men and women must suffer the penalty for their own sin.

This penalty is death and eternal separation from God (Isaiah 59:2; Romans 6:23). But to those who have put their trust in Him, He says, “I will remember their sin no more” (Jeremiah 31:34).

Have you put your trust in Jesus to take away your sins, or are still following the traditions of humanity?

Marv Rosenthal, founder and President of Zion’s Hope, was an acclaimed international Bible teacher for almost 6 decades.