Most modern Christians know very little regarding Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement). In fact, they can tell you all about Santa and the Easter Bunny (but they usually don’t know those originated in Babylonian paganism), and yet they know little regarding a holy day the God they claim to serve, commanded them to observe FOREVER (See Leviticus 16 & 23 for primary information regarding this day).
My purpose in this post will not be to cover all that occurred on this day, nor the immense symbolism of it, nor how Christ has and will fulfill the events of this day. There are thousands of videos and articles about that (check out 119 Ministries or A Rood Awakening, amongst others, if you wish to learn more about that). My purpose will not even be to argue that you ought to observe this day (and all of God’s holy days. And stop celebrating pagan holidays like Christmas, Easter, Halloween, Valentine’s Day, etc.), only to give you my witness that God still honors this day.
This day, Yom Kippur, is considered to be the highest and holiest day of the entire year. This makes it even more sad that most who claim to follow Christ don’t observe it, or even know what it’s about or even when it is! Christ observed this day, and if we are suppose to be following him, shouldn’t we also? Just like the true Sabbath of Saturday and not the pagan Catholic invented Sunday?
Yom Kippur is the day of national atonement, as Passover is the celebration of personal atonement. On this day, after one goat was sent into the wilderness (which represents Satan), and the other goat was burnt entirely (which represents the burning of the wicked), the High Priest of Israel would take the blood of the burnt goat, enter the Holy of Holies (the holiest place on earth) and sprinkle the blood 7 times (the holiest number) on the eastern side (the holiest direction) of the Ark of the Covenant (the throne of God and holiest object on earth).
This blood, though sprinkled to the east by the High Priest, was actually on the left hand of God (as the goat sacrificed symbolized the wicked). When Christ was crucified, his blood ran down the crack made by the earthquake, and dripped down into the cavern where Jeremiah had hidden the Ark of the Covenant, onto the western side of the Ark, the right hand of God. And thus by the most holy beings blood, were we made able to sit down again with God (For proof of this information, watch Michael Rood’s teaching, The Great Secret of Solomon’s Temple).
When the High Priest passed the veil and entered into the Holiest Place sprinkling the blood, he confessed the sins of himself and Israel, and asked for God to forgive them. All of this has been only to set the context for my testimony. There is so much symbolism and meaning I would love to go into, but frankly don’t have time.
This year, Yom Kippur occurred on sundown September 20th through sundown September 21st (God measures days from sunset to sunset. Midnight to midnight is a pagan Gentile way). That day, as the sun began to set, I knelt with my wife in prayer. I had spent much time in repentance the previous days and weeks, preparing for this moment. I confessed all my sins to God, as well as those of my wife and of one other person I felt authorized to be able to beg of their forgiveness. I asked God to confirm to us that we had been forgiven of our many sins of the past year. We closed our prayer and shortly thereafter went to bed.
That night I beheld a vision. I beheld all my sins from the past year. I saw them in panoramic view, almost as if my life were flashing before my eyes. They were extensive and painful to view. It seemed like the vision lasted for hours. I was shown that my greatest sin was relying too much upon man. This vision finally closed and I found myself standing in a large rectangular building. The room I was in was split in two; a curtain or veil dividing it down the middle. The room was dimly lit, and there were other objects in there but my focus was on this curtain. Joseph Smith then stepped out from behind the curtain and opened it and bade me enter. This occurred at the far end of the curtain to my right, alongside the wall of the building. I passed through this veil, Joseph staying behind me. I then turned to my left, and as I did so, I saw the heavens open in encircling light! Two glorious hands pierced from this light, and I could see them clearly about half way up the elbow. The light was so glorious I could only see the hands, but I know my God stood there; he was that light. I drew close to these hands, falling upon my knees. I brought my face and hands close to these hands of God, but I durst not touch them. I examined them and found they contained the marks of the crucifixion. These were indeed the very hands of Christ!
I, as God’s high priest over my family, had entered into the Holy of Holies on the holiest day of all, entered the presence of my God, beheld his glory, and received a remission of my sins.
Oh what joy does fill my heart at the thought! And what sadness it doth bring my soul to know of my unworthiness before my God, and yet his mercy abounds still! God be praised for the unspeakable gift of his Son! Why unspeakable? Because no words we speak are able to convey the depth of emotion of the reality of what Christ worked out for us. He is the Lamb of God! He was slain for the sins of the world! And he is full of mercy and quick to forgive. This was God’s witness that not only was I clean before him (and those I had prayed for), but also that he still honors the Day of Atonement. It is a day he recognizes, with signs confirming.
I wish to end by letting you know that repentance is easy and immediate. The only thing that is difficult, is freeing ourselves from our own wicked desires, but even God will handle that and give you a new heart. That is what the new covenant (renewed covenant in Hebrew) is! It is to receive a new heart so that you will obey his law willingly (Ezekiel 36:24-36). And what is his law? It is the Torah. Law in Hebrew, is Torah. It means the instructions God has for us to follow. For sin is transgression of the law [Torah] (1 John 3:4). And when we sin (break Torah, The 5 Books of Moses), we are guilty before God and under the curses of the Law, and must rely upon Yeshua (Jesus), to save us. His name, Yehoshua (Yeshua for short), literally means Yehovah Saves. And that is exactly what Yehovah our Father did for us through Yeshua his Son (John 3:16).
Some Hebrew terms need to be defined that will help you understand how to come unto God, and also the meaning of Yom Kippur, which is really the meaning of the Atonement of Christ. It is important to understand at least a few Hebrew terms, to really understand what God is saying. It is highly probable that the Adamic Tongue, is really Hebrew. There are terms as far back as Genesis 1, that only make sense in Hebrew. Such as Adam, meaning Man.
Kippur: Atonement. Denotes a covering, to buy back that which was lost. Is this not what the Atonement does?
Teshuvah: Repent. Literally to return. Return to God. Forsake this Gentile pagan world, and keep God’s Torah.
Tefillah: Prayer. Literally, to self-judge. This understanding is demonstrated in Yeshua’s parable of the Pharisee and Publican prayers (Luke 18:9-14). God is not Santa Claus. We aren’t making a list of wishes and then getting what we want even if we were horrible. When you go before God, judge yourself, be honest with him and yourself. You will then teshuvah to him. If that is always how you pray every day, then when you appear before him on Judgement Day (which is the Day of Atonement), you will be clean.
Tevilah: Wash. To immerse. This denotes the act of what we commonly call baptism, from the Greek, meaning to immerse. Same meaning, different languages. Tevilah is the act of baptism, and is interesting because of it’s close connection to the word tefillah, and even related to teshuvah. Thus showing that when you tefillah (judge yourself), you will realize your sin and will desire to teshuvah (return to God), and will then tevilah (wash, baptize yourself) out of the desire to be clean, which is all made possible by the kippur, wherein those prior sins are covered and you are bought back from the devil.
Mikvah: This refers to the water with which you tevilah in. Literally, a pool of water. This word is interesting because of it’s close association to the Hebrew word for hope. This is fitting, as being baptized (or mikvah’ed or tevilah’ed) is an act of hope, with a promise from God you will be clean. Jeremiah 17:13 is translated as calling Yehovah the “hope of Israel”, but the word hope in this passage, is literally “mikvah”. Yehovah is the “mikvah (hope)” of Israel, for it is he who cleanses us and allows us to be born anew.
Tzedekah: Refers to charity, but literally means, righteousness. This is the end result of going through teshuvah though tefillah, doing the tevilah in the mikvah, by relying on Yeshua, and the kippur he made possible, by which we become tzedekah. To be righteous is to keep the commandments. The self-righteous are those who claim to keep the commandments, and may do many outwardly, but inwardly and in secret, they sin unrepentantly. It also designates those who seek to rely upon their own righteousness, instead of Christ’s atonement. The truly righteous, are those who keep all of the commandments they know, yet still understand it is only through Christ they are saved.
And now I’ll really end. You cannot understand scripture properly unless you understand Torah. You cannot read the back of the book and the sequels, without reading the front of the book. It just doesn’t make all that much sense. Seek after God, love his truth above all else, and he will reveal himself you in his own way and in his own time. Amen.
