Each year God gives us the opportunity to partake in His appointed times on the biblical calendar. As disciples of Jesus, we can be in the same rhythm of the holidays that Jesus followed. One of those appointed days is called the Day of Atonement. Every year on this day we get an opportunity to review our lives and come closer to God.
1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
The Day of Atonement is the holiest day of the year and is an appointed time for us to abstain from food and drink, spend time in prayer, confess our sins, and ask for forgiveness. The day always falls on the tenth day of the seventh month of the Jewish Calendar called Tishri. It is also known as Yom Kippur. This day has been set apart for us as a reminder and is to help us live a repentance driven life while we are alive. Leviticus 23:26-31 calls it a holy convocation, a celebration, or a dress rehearsal.
Atonement comes for those who repent, but it does not come for those who do not repent.
Atonement at the root meaning is understood to be a covering, but it has also been used and understood as one being purified, cleaned up, and put on the correct course. The Day of Atonement gives us the opportunity each year to get serious, make correction, seek God with all our heart, and be confident that He will accept our repentance, forgive our sins, and seal our verdict for a year of life, health and happiness. When you are living a repentant life, you are covered, and you can have confidence that you are on the right path.
This day is also supposed to be a reminder to us that there is a day when we will all stand before the judgement seat of Messiah and give an account of how we did with our lives. We will all see who we were supposed to be at that time, but we will also see the reality of who we are right now. Jesus gives many parables to help us understand what it will be like, such as the Parable of the Talents. This is the day we will know if we made it to 30%, 60%, or even 100% of what God intended for our life. God set the 10th day of Tishri as the day we are to be reminded of this, and He also said, “… it is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwelling places.”
The Day of Attornment has been set apart to help us find our place in the Kingdom of God; to remind us that we are to be living a repentance driven life. This is the day we get directions for the path that God has ordered our footsteps to follow. The Rabbis say this day is where everything in our life is decided for the coming year. As examples, the heavenly court decides how much money we are going to make, who will die, or even who will be able to come up a new level spiritually. Yom Kippur is the day we get to do an in depth review of our lives. This is why it is also important to prepare and take 30 days prior to Rosh Hashanah and create a list of what it is we need to work on. This review will happen whether we are ready or not. It has been appointed by God, and our job is to be prepared for the review. How we prepare for this review will determine what our outcome is for the coming year.
Know Who You are in Messiah
If you want to know who you are in Messiah, then you have to take time and prepare yourself to meet His expectations. Jesus said many will come to Him and He will let them know that He never knew them (Matthew 7:21-23). It will be wise to prepare for that day. This appointed time helps you recognize your strengths, and who God has created you to be. God’s intention for this day is to move you in a positive direction every year, and He has appointed it specifically for you to come closer to Him.
You will not be judged in comparison to Abraham, Moses, or anyone else, but you will be judged in accordance to who you were created to be. The only way you will achieve the understanding of who you are supposed to be, is by growing and taking an annual account of where you are, making correction, and continue to put forth effort and move forward with the plan God has given you.
Every year on Tishri 1, which is Rosh Hashanah, this day begins a 10-day timeframe that is to be used as self-reflection of where you are. These 10 days lead up to the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) to consider where you stand. After you have prepared over the 30 days of Elul, you should look in the mirror and ask yourself, “Is this who I am supposed to be?” God wants you to see the gap between who you are right now verses who you should be in comparison to His Torah. This is what James was referring to in
James 1:22-25 where he said, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law [Torah], the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.”
Yom Kippur is the day you are called to fast, pray, get serious with God, humbly seek His face, ask for strength to overcome sins, and ask God to reveal His instructions to you for your life. By the time Yom Kippur is completed, you should be aware of where your efforts need to be directed for growth. Because it is an appointed time, God will give you extra strength to overcome sin.
Living a Repentance Driven Life
A repentance driven life consists of knowing who you are in Messiah, continually working on yourself, and trying to attain who you should be. Having a list, such as the one you have been creating over this 30-day journey, is there for your review to remind you who God has made you to be. Honesty to yourself is key to success. To understand that God has called you to greatness in this life should be humbling.
There is no more time to ignore your sin, and no more time to play games as a disciple of Yeshua our Messiah. It is time to come higher in your spiritual walk. Be your best possible self. Find your place in the Kingdom of God and run after that position with all your heart, soul, and mind. Start living a repentance driven life today. The Messiah is almost here!
Jesus said in Matthew 24:45-51, “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’ and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Ask yourself, “Am I really Ok?” Are you where you know God wants you to be? Are you telling yourself you are living in victory while you are watching porn, gossiping every day, stirring up discord among others, making your job an idol, rejecting God’s instructions, not even trying to learn your position in the Kingdom of God, or not being grateful to the King of the Universe for what He has given you? This time of repentance is not just about your eternal salvation, it is about where your life is at right now. If you are failing at these examples of sin or anything else, don’t get discouraged! Be thankful that God gave us Jesus to rely on His merit to repent. God has set time apart every year for us to take an account, make a list, create an action plan, and to put effort into cleaning up our mess.
Soon it will be your turn to take the review with God – are you prepared?
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