YOM KIPPUR ~ The most important Holy Day for the Nation of Israel
YOM KIPPUR ~ A most holy opportunity for Christians in our Nation
Yom Kippur is the ancient Jewish celebration, just as their new Civil Year has begun at Rosh Hashana, for personal and corporate self-reflection and repentance, in order to begin the new year with a beautiful, clean slate from which to start anew.
Most of us have made personal New Year’s Resolutions based on our hope for personal change and self-improvement. Where do you think this custom came from? I would guess, like many other customs for Christians, there is a Hebraic root! It would seem plausible that the lesson of Yom Kippur has spilled over into Gentile customs with the Civil New Year on our Greek Calendars, from their Hebrew one.
A spiritual self-examination followed by true confession to the Lord for any area of life where we have “Missed the Mark” is where the opportunity rests; to remember, revisit, repent, and reconcile ourselves, first on a horizontal level with people whom we may need to attempt to restore a relationship, followed by this same introspective approach to restoration and a returning fully, to our Lord.
Any area in life in which we might need to repay something that we have taken from another person, physically or spiritually, is an opportunity to show sincere, personal accountability and shine the light of God back into a strained relationship.
The 10 Days of AWE between Rosh Hashana, the beginning of the new Civil Year, and Yom Kippur, on the 10th day of the new year, is the time set aside for this personal reflection, accountability for righting all wrongs, and deep repentance which will lead to a more committed walk with God in the coming year.
This is a time of fasting and praying, reaching out to do good for others, and initiating the possibility for restoration in personal relationships, which may be strained.
Yom Kippur is a call from God to stand before Him in humility and love, confessing what needs to be restored in us, with others, and within our relationship with Him.
Reconciliation can come in this beautiful, personal process, even with the most difficult circumstances which linger and need God’s healing touch! This is a time which was instituted by God Himself, for the healing not only of every person, but for the entire Nation of Israel. This is MERCY in ACTION from God, for His own.
As His Wild Olive Branch, grafted into the root of Israel, we too have this beautiful CALL from God for repentance, cleansing, and starting over as if yesterday and all the days before that, never happened!
How magnanimous is our God who gifts us with Yom Kippur to jumpstart a sweet, new year of being face to face (Panim El Panim) with Him; covered in His righteousness. This is an invitation! This is our choice! I see this as the most important holy day of the year for myself. This is God’s gracious opening into His tabernacle, to meet with Him in His Holy Place, a place to abide in Him and He in us, as often as we purposefully walk over His Covenant threshold, and into His peace. With Messiah Jesus as our Great High Priest on Yom Kippur, we have been given the freedom of entry into the Father’s presence. May you experience a blessed Yom Kippur, and enter His Shalom!
Sydney