Yom Kippur
By Debbonnaire Kovacs, Sept, 24, 2015 This shall be a permanent statute for you: in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall humble your souls and not do any work, whether the native, or the alien who sojourns among you; for it is on this day that atonement shall be made for you to cleanse you; you will be clean from all your sins before the Lord. It is to be a sabbath of solemn rest for you, that you may humble your souls; it is a permanent statute. Leviticus 16:29-31
And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment, so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him. Hebrews 9:27, 28
Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Hebrews 10:19-22
By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. 1 John 4:17
Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, because God has pronounced judgment for you against her. Rev 18:20
Those who know I celebrate the Old Testament Feasts sometimes ask why. I hasten to assure them that I (and a growing number of other Christians) celebrate them as having been already fulfilled by Christ, rather than as a shadow of things to come, as God’s people did for many centuries.
I first became interested in the feasts because of the language: phrases like “it is a permanent statute,” and “throughout all your generations.” It’s exactly the same language used of the Sabbath, which we Adventists often use to try to convince others that they ought to keep the seventh day as Sabbath.
The only two differences I could find—and these are important differences—are that the feasts are not in the Ten Commandments, as the Sabbath is, and they were not instituted at Creation. But them, why would they be? Unlike the Sabbath, these feasts were given by God specifically because of sin.
And yet…there are several places that speak of feasts being kept in heaven, and it is clear from the biblical and extra-biblical records that the apostles and the earliest Christians, at least the Jewish ones, did still keep the feasts. In our own tradition, Ellen White said that the spring feasts were fulfilled by Christ’s first coming, and the fall feasts would be fulfilled by his second coming.
Dr. Samuele Bacchiochi (I tend to either agree strongly or disagree strongly with Dr. Bacchiochi’s opinions) felt that, rather than living in the “antitypical Day of Atonement,” we could see ourselves as living during the “antitypical” (if you will) Ten Days of Awe. This makes a lot of sense to me, since those are the days of preparation, of seeking and giving forgiveness, of a New Year’s examination of one’s life, getting ready for the Day of Judgment coming up.
When I read that an ancient Jewish tradition is to wear white on that day in trust that God will acquit us, I was strongly struck. All my life I’d been taught that Judaism had fallen completely into legalism, but here was Grace. From that day, I’ve spent the Ten Days between Rosh Hashanah examining my life, and I’ve fasted from both food and work and worn white on Yom Kippur, joining millions in prayers of repentance for myself, my family and friends, and even for the world, praying for peace, justice, and for the Deliverance. Soon! Please!! And thanking God from the bottom of my heart that judgment has been made for me by Jesus, even though I in no way deserve it.
I have no burden to try to convince others that they or anyone else should keep the feasts. I can only say it’s been an enormous, immeasurable blessing to me.
Happy New Year, and may God richly bless you and yours. Maybe, just maybe…next year we’ll celebrate in the New Jerusalem??
O Lord, let it be so!
A blessing for me too. Solidarity with Israel. Having a portion with Israel and rejoicing in Israel’s King
We preach everywhere that the Old Testament festivals were fulfilled at the cross. Yet in the next breath we introduce the Investigative Judgment doctrine, which emphasizes that the Day of Atonement will not be fulfilled entirely until the last Scapegoat is through the gate.
This makes it difficult to explain things to friendly Christians who want to know more about our beliefs, as Adventists (and who generally hold that the Day of Atonement was consummated at the cross). We seem to have an inherent contradiction in our treatment of the Day of Atonement, and this devotional offers us a chance to meditate on this difficulty.
It would seem, logically speaking, that to support the IJ doctrine Adventist would be foremost in continuing to urge observance of the Yom Kippur “sabbath,” even as we point to Jesus as Lord of the weekly Sabbath. We are a people immersed heavily in the concept of judgment, and certainly the Day of Atonement should be held as a precursor of that Great Day of Atonement when Jesus declares “It Is Finished.”
Edwin,
Please don’t take this as me telling you (or anyone else) what to do.
I think you avoid doing what you describe in your first paragraph, so my suggestion is that you avoid using the word, “we”, in describing those who do that.
The subject of the antitypical Day of Atonement is understood in so many different ways among members of our denomination as to make it impossible for me to say what “we” believe on that subject.
My parents were adventists before I was born, I was educated in SdA schools grades 1-12 plus two quarters at PUC. I didn’t understand what I could find in Ellen White’s writings on that subject and I was quite sure I couldn’t explain it the way it was explained by week-of-prayer speakers when I was in school. After my PUC days, I studied the subject for another couple of decades before I thought I was prepared to explain it.
The nearest I have ever come to “celebrating” the annual Day of Atonement has been to offer to explain my understanding of that subject on or about the time of year it is celebrated by the majority of Hebrews in the United States. I believe the calculation of that date is different than the way Samuel Snow had calculated it before announcing his findings to the aventists at the Exeter, New Hampshire campmeeting in August of 1844.
If you are interested in a non-dogmatic discussion, you may email me r.metzger44@gmail.com
Few adventists are interested in observing the feast days and fast days the Lord gave his people. Maybe the word, “observing”, is a better choice than, “celebrating”. Maybe a focus on the meaning of the holy days and the meaning of the symbols is more important than the symbols themselves.
How do we who study the sacrificial system for its spiritual value make it clear that we are studying, not the traditions of “Judaism” but the Christianity (focus on the Christ or Messiah) that existed long before Jesus was born?
It seems to me that Debbonnaire is not suggesting that we adopt the traditions of Judaism–only that there is much that we can learn from the biblical instruction that constitutes an enacted prophecy. The great God of heaven could not give his law in thundertones from the mountain without demonstrating the gospel in the sandbox at the foot of the mountain.
The historicist method of Bible interpretation employed by the pioneers of the advent movement is based on the premise that the church is the true continuation of Israel. When that is adequately understood, it isn’t necessary to base our beliefs on the writing of Crosier or Ellen White.
People who base their beliefs on the teaching of a religious organization or those of a modern prophet will find that, ultimately, the only thing they have to offer is a modern “authority” by which to interpret the Bible.
Thank you all for your conversation. I agree, Roger, that “observe” might be a better word–though they all carry baggage these days! As for adopting the traditions of Judaism, I guess the clearest way I could put it would be to attempt to differentiate between the ones Jesus kept and the ones added both before and after his time. I don’t say to ignore the others; as you see, I wear white, which I believe is a medieval variation.
All in all, I would say that those who are interested, do search more, and then find out by experience which traditions bring blessing to them–by which I mean, which traditions bring them closer to God. Traditions are good; God made us people who love them.
And yes, we have barely scratched the surface of what “we can learn from the biblical instruction that constitutes and enacted prophecy.” In fact, I think that’s why I like it so much–instead of just talking about something (which we Adventists are past masters at!) it acts it out. It’s a bodily form of worship, which both testaments make clear…GOD LIKES!