What is the Day of Atonement and what is the rationale for observing this day? The Day of Atonement is one of the days that the Lord has ordained for His people to appear before Him, for thus says the Lord;
“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” (Leviticus 23:27-28).
The Day of Atonement is the only Sabbath that begins from the evening and the reason for that is for one to begin fasting or afflicting the soul the evening before the Day of Atonement.
We are then further instructed saying; “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" (Leviticus 23:32).
Please note carefully that, the Day of Atonement is on the tenth day of the seventh month, but we are asked to begin the fasting on the evening of the ninth day, signifying that the evening of the ninth day is not part of the tenth day and this is the only Sabbath that includes the evening before the Sabbath.
A close examination of all the other Sabbaths shows that there is absolutely no inclusion of the evening before as clearly specified with the Day of Atonement, and therefore, the phraseology “from evening to evening, you shall celebrate your Sabbath:" Pertains only to the Day of Atonement.
In our new dispensation, the rationale for observing this day has not been changed, which is to:
1. A day to have a holy convocation
2. A day to afflict the soul (fasting)
3. A day to offer an offering to the Lord
4. A day no customary work should be done
5. A day for the High Priest to make atonement for us before the Lord our God.
The difference between the old dispensation and our new dispensation is:
a. Application of service conducted by the High priest.
We no longer have physical temporary high priests who first need to offer sacrifices first for himself and for the people. But we have an Eternal Spiritual High Priest, Jesus Christ who is seated at the right hand of the Father interceding on our behalf.
b. Offerings for sins
No longer do we need the blood of animals to make atonement for our sins, but we now have the body and blood of Jesus Christ which He offered for us once and for all, and has given us His flesh to eat and His blood to drink in the form of the bread and wine, which is used as the substance for whatever offering one would like to offer to the Lord, whether it be a sin offering, a fellowship or peace offering or a thanksgiving offering.
The day of Atonement therefore, should be a day that all God´s people should follow the instructions given with regards to the Day of Atonement and beseech Him to intervene in the problems we face in the land, for this is what the Lord said to Solomon; “When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:13-14).
My humble prayer is that today, will be a turning point for COVID 19 pandemic worldwide, so that our faith should not be in the wisdom of men, relying on their vaccines to resolve this crisis, but that our faith should be in the power of God.
With brotherly love
Lucius Joseph
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