Yom Kippur: the Beginning of a New Beginning 

By Rev. Lonnie C. Crowe 

"And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: "Also the tenth day of this seventh month shall be the Day of Atonement. It shall be a holy convocation for you; you shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire to the LORD. And you shall do no work on that same day, for it is the Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before the LORD your God. For any person who is not afflicted in soul on that same day shall be cut off from his people. And any person who does any work on that same day, that person I will destroy from among his people. You shall do no manner of work; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. It shall be to you a Sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall afflict your souls; on the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening, you shall celebrate your Sabbath" (Lev 23:26-32). 

Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement is the most solemn and important holy day of the Jewish calendar. In the Old Testament, the Day of Atonement was the day the High Priest made an atoning sacrifice for the sins of the people. 

After the blood sacrifice was offered to the Lord, a goat was released into the wilderness to symbolically carry away the sins of the people. This "scapegoat" was never to return. The scapegoat represents the atoning work of the cross. Just as the sins of the nation were placed on that sacrificial animal, our sins were placed on Jesus as He suffered the agony of the cross.  

Truly, "Surely he hath borne our Griefs and carried our Sorrows; Yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of GOD and afflicted." (Isaiah 53:4) 

 For Christians, Yom Kippur celebrates the atonement of Jesus Christ through His death and resurrection.  Through His atonement, the price for our sin has been paid, and we are reconciled to God. 

 

As we rightly should, millions of Christians are fervently praying for our nation to return to righteousness. Many see biblical Israel as an analogy of the United States of America. In that analogy, we are often praying for political solutions to our dilemma. However, biblical Israel is not analogous to the USA. Biblical Israel is analogous to the Church.

We must begin walking in the truth of 1 Peter 4:17, “For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?”  Just as judgment must begin at the house of God, righteousness must begin at the house of God. 

Rosh Hashana sounds the trumpet for a new beginning. Yom Kippur teaches us that a new beginning begins with repentance. Repentance is completed when we are transformed by the renewing of our minds so that that we prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (Romans 12:2.) 

It is time for the Church to repent. It is time for believers to lay our shortcomings at the feet of Jesus who is our Kippur, our atonement.  

Yom Kippur prayer: Most gracious, omnipotent, loving Father, we acknowledge our coldness, our indifference to You and to Your word. In that indifference we have become cold rather than fervent in the spirit. (Romans 12:1.) In our coldness we have become judgmental and often hostile toward our brothers and sister in Christ even as You have told us to love one another. (1 John 3:13-16)

We have had little desire for the depths of Your words. We have not only settled for, but have also desired, a diluted and deluding message that merely tickles our ears. (2 Timothy 4:3) 

Precious Lord, renew within us a hunger for You as Paul wrote to the Ephesians 14-19: “For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” 

May this season of new beginnings bring to the body of Christ the fulfillment of Yom Kippur. “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.” (Ephesians 3:19-21)