This Part 2 is a continuation of “Day of Atonement (1) – Sacrificial Blood”. This topic’s foundational verses are addressed in Part 1. Only the initial paragraphs from (1) are repeated here in (2).
In ancient Israel, the weekly 7th day sabbath and the annual Day of Atonement (approximately Oct 1) were the only full sabbath days. The Day of Atonement was the holiest day. The Septúagint/LXX identifies the Day of Atonement as a double sabbath. Le.23:26-32 LXX “On the 10th day of the 7th month is the day of atonement, holy to you. It is a perpetual precept throughout your generations in all your dwellings. It shall be to you a sabbath [Strongs g4521, Greek] of sabbaths [g4521].” Le.16:29-31 LXX “On this day he [high priest] shall make atonement for you to cleanse you from all your sins before the Lord, and you shall be clean. It is a sabbath [g4521] of sabbaths [g4521] to you, and you shall afflict your souls [fast].”
Unlike God’s pilgrim temple feasts, the Day of Atonement (Yom Kíppur h3725, Hebrew) was kept in all their dwellings. Jewish Virtual Library “The most important day of the year. It was said that even if all the other festivals were to be abrogated, the Day of Atonement…would remain.” It was the Lord’s day. And this annual double-sabbath was the only recurring day of fasting commanded by God.
Luke wrote in Ac.27:9, “Sailing was now dangerous, since the fast was already past”. The Day of Atonement was then being observed within the Roman Empire. Cambridge Bible “The fast here meant is that of the great Day of Atonement.” Ellicott Commentary “The date may have been fixed on St Luke’s memory by St Paul’s observance of the Fast.” The fact that Luke refers to it indicates the Day of Atonement was being kept by Jews, and probably by many Christians too, outside the Holy Land. Adam Becker The Ways That Never Parted, p.268 “Gentile Christians from Syria-Palestine continued to celebrate Yom Kippur together with their Jewish neighbors until at least the 4th century, as sermons by Origen and Chrýsostom prove.” The Day of Atonement was a well-known occasion.
Some think John (a Jewish Christian) had been fasting when he received the book of Revelation. John eats a scroll (Re.10:9-10), but no food is indicated. Franklin Hall Glorified Fasting “The Revelation of Jesus Christ was given to John on the rugged Isle of Pátmos, where he’d been placed to starve to death. John converted his intended starvation into one of the greatest consecration fasts. Revelation of this kind almost always came to a prophet on an empty stomach.” Also seen in Revelation, is atonement.
The Lord had instructed Moses/Israel in Le.25:8-10, “You shall sound the trumpet [LXX g4536] abroad on the 10th day of the 7th month, on the Day of Atonement you shall sound the trumpet. You shall thus set apart the 50th year as holy, and proclaim liberty throughout all the Land unto all the inhabitants thereof. It shall be a jubilee for you.” The Day marked the jubilee special event. (Part of this verse was inscribed on the Liberty Bell at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, PA in 1752 AD.)
I awakened the sabbath morning of May 7, 2016 with Isaiah 58 impressed on my mind. The chapter is about a proper fast. Is.58 was traditionally read in the synagogue on the Day of Atonement! The Lord instructed the prophet Isaiah in Is.58:1, “Shout aloud, don’t hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. Declare to My people their transgression.” Proclaim it loudly, like the sound of a ram’s horn, a shofár (h7782). In Is.58:1, the Greek LXX trumpet is g4536 Strongs. Is.58:1 refers to the Day of Atonement.
God continued in Is.58:2-3, “Yet they [Israel] seek Me daily. ‘Why have we fasted’, they say, ‘and You don’t see? Why have we afflicted our souls, and You don’t notice?” Though they afflicted their souls on Yom Kippur (Le.16:29, 23:27, Nu.29:7), their fast was insincere. Pulpit Commentary Is.58:3 “The fast spoken of is probably that of the great Day of Atonement. The Day of Atonement was, like the sabbath, a day on which no work was to be done (Le.16:29).” Ellicott Commentary Is.58:3 “Only one fast, the Day of Atonement, was prescribed by the Law.” Benson Commentary Is.58:3 “Wherefore have we afflicted our soul’ – defrauded our appetites with fasting.” To fast was to afflict one’s soul.
The Lord continued in Is.58:6, “Isn’t this the fast that I have chosen…?” The Day of Atonement was set by the Lord. Pulpit Commentary Is.58:6 “This passage stands like a homily for the Day of Atonement.” God ordained it, not man. It was the Lord’s day, quite unlike any other day!
We read in Le.25:9 and Is.58:1-ff that the trumpet sounded on the Day of Atonement (especially in the jubilee year). It was the only double-sabbath day of the Lord. It is present in the book of Revelation.
Re.1:9-11 “I, John…was on the island of Patmos. I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet [g4536], saying, ‘Write in a book what you see.” Notice the similarity to Le.25:9 and Is.58:1. It was on this holiest day of the year, the Lord’s Day of Atonement fast, when the trumpet was loudly sounded (Le.25:9). John hears Jesus’ voice loud like a trumpet on the Lord’s Day (Re.1:10), and Isaiah was to raise aloud his voice like a trumpet on this fast day (Is.58:1).
John told Jesus’ message to the seven churches of Asia Minor in Re.2–3. Then John writes in Re.4:1-2, “After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice, which I had heard like a trumpet [g4536], said, ‘Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things. A throne was set in heaven, and One sat on the throne.” John sees the heavenly sanctuary!
There was only one day of each year when man was permitted entrance to the Most Holy Place of God’s tabernacle/temple sanctuary. (ref Part 1.) On the Day of Atonement the high priest was allowed to approach the Lord who dwelt between the chérubim atop the ark. That Day the trumpet sounded; the priest saw the ark. John wrote in Re.11:19, “The sanctuary of God was opened in heaven, the ark of His covenant appeared in His sanctuary”. John too saw the ark (containing the Decalogue) on that Day.
God had said in Is.58:13, “If you will turn away your foot from the sabbath, from doing your interests on My holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord”. Ellicott Commentary Is.58:13 “The sabbath is as holy ground.” Matthew Poole Commentary Is.58:13 “Whether we understand it of the occasional sabbath in solemn humiliations or otherwise set apart for sacred services, which is called a sabbath, Le.16:31 [Day of Atonement].” The sabbath fast of Yom Kippur was the most sacred day.
Matthew Henry Commentary Is.58:14 “Even in Old Testament times the sabbath was called the Lord’s Day, and is fitly called so still; and for a further reason, it is the Lord Christ’s day, Re.1:10.” Matthew Henry identified “the Lord’s Day” of Re.1:10 as a sabbath.
Whereas John refers to Sunday as the “first of the week” (Jn.20:1, 19)…not “the Lord’s day” of Re.1:10. The Lord’s Day…“My holy day”…was a sabbath. (also see the topics, “Sabbath 7th Day” and “Sabbath Day Became Sunday in Rome”.)
Wikipedia “The shofar is blown in synagogues at the end of every Yom Kippur. The Rabbis created the practice of the Shofar’s sounding every Yom Kippur rather than just on the Jubilee (once in 50 years).”
Yet that Lord’s Day sabbath of Re.1:10 may have been an actual Jubilee Day of Atonement!
The prophet Ezekiel recorded years by counting from their captivity and/or the jubilee year. Each new jubilee cycle was proclaimed by a trumpet sounding on the 10th day of the 7th month…Yom Kippur.
Ezekiel wrote in Ezk.1:1-2, “In the 30th year…I was by the river Chebár among the exiles. In the 5th year of King Jehoiachín’s exile, the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel the priest in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar.” ref 2Ki.24:10-16. The river Chebar in N. Mesopotámia flows into the Euphrates. King Jehoiachin/Jeconiáh/Coniah and Judah were taken captive by Babylon in 597 BC. Jewish Virtual Library “In the winter of 597 BCE Nebuchadnézzar exiled him.” The 5th year of exile was 592 BC.
Later Ezk.40:1-3, “In the 25th year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the 10th of the month in the 14th year after the city was taken, on that same day the hand of the Lord was upon me. In the visions of God He brought me into the Land of Israel and set me on a very high mountain.” The previous civil year ended as the new year began near the autumnal equinox (Sep 20), see Ex.23:16 & Ex.34:22. New Year’s Day was Rosh Hashánah, the 1st day of the 7th month Tíshri. The 10th of the month was the Day of Atonement (followed by the Feast of Ingathering/Booths). Jerusalem was destroyed in 587-586 BC.
God gave Ezekiel visions on that jubilee Day of Atonement! The year was 573-572 BC. Ezekiel was fasting. The “30th year” prior to Ezk.1:1 was the previous jubilee of 622 BC. Barnes Notes Ezk.40:1 “If that was a jubilee year, which is highly probable, this vision also falls in a jubilee year. The jubilee year began with the month of Tishri, a sufficient reason for speaking of the time as ‘the beginning of the year.’ The 10th day of this month was the day of atonement, Le.16:29-30.” The civil year (not the sacred year) began on Tishri 1. Geneva Study Bible Ezk.40:1 “This is to be understood as September.” Rodger C. Young The Jubilee and Sabbatical Cycles “The prophet Ezekiel, aware that the Day of Atonement in his 25th year of captivity would mark the beginning of a year of Jubilee….” Jacob Milgrom Ezekiel’s Hope “The probable reference of the ‘25th year’ to the jubilee year, which begins in the fall (Le.25:9).” 622 – 50 = 572.
Chronology of Jubilees “It can more firmly be established that Ezekiel could have received his vision of a new Temple around the time of a 50th year of a 50-year cycle. Essentially, the year 572 BC hypothetically did correspond with around the time of a jubilee year.” Yom Kippur proclaimed jubilee.
rootsweb.ancestry.com Ezekiel 1:1-2 & Ezekiel 40:1 “The final year or the Jubilee year which began on the 10th day of the 7th month on the 49th year and then concluded with the 50th year. Now one should be able to see that if the 5th year of king Jehoiachin’s captivity was in fact the 30th year of the Jubilee count and that 20 years passes that it would then be the 50th year or the Jubilee year in which King Jehoiachin’s 25th year of captivity came to pass as the scripture gives note.” Ezekiel noted it.
The remainder of the book of Ezekiel, chapters 40–48, consists of the awe-inspiring visions God gave beginning on that Day of Atonement fast! Pulpit Commentary Ezk.40:1 “Of the prophet’s [Ezekiel’s] utterances, it was beyond question the grandest and most momentous.” Given him on that Lord’s Day.
Similarly, it seems the awesome visions which John recorded in Revelation came on the Day of Atonement, centuries later! The day wasn’t just some Sunday. Continuing in Ezk.40 are verses which compare with Revelation. Ezk.40:2 & Re.21:10 both Ezekiel and John envisioned a very high mountain. Ezk.40:3 & Re.11:1 both Ezekiel and John envisioned a measuring rod.
Also on Yom Kippur, God executed His judgment of His people, sealing the verdict. Again Re.4:1 “I saw a door standing open in heaven.” That was between the Holy Place and Most Holy Place on the Day of Atonement. v.2 John sees the throne inside the Most Holy Place on that Day.
Re.8:1-3 “When He [Jesus the Lamb] broke the 7th seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. Another angel came and stood at the altar, holding a golden censer; and much incense was given to him to offer with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar before the throne.” (He.9:3-5 describes the earthly sanctuary type of the heavenly. “There was a sanctuary called the Holy of Holies, having a golden altar/[censer] of incense and the ark of the covenant. Above it were the cherubim….”)
Continuing with Re.8:4-5, “The smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints went up before God. And the angel took the censer and he filled it with the fire of the altar and threw it to the earth [Land].” The high priest took a golden censer into the Holy of Holies only on the annual day of atonement.
Following is Isaac Newton’s commentary tying Re.8:1-5 to the Day of Atonement…William Whitla Sir Isaac Newton’s Daniel and the Apocalypse, p. 314-315: “The 7th seal was therefore opened on the day of expiation [day of atonement], and then ‘there was silence in heaven for half an hour. And an angel (High-Priest) stood at the altar having a golden censer; and there was given him incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints, upon the golden altar which was before the throne.’ The custom was….while he offered the incense, the people prayed without in silence, which is the silence in heaven for half an hour. When the High-Priest had laid the incense on the Altar, he carried a Censer of it burning in his hand, into the most holy place before the Ark. ‘And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand.”
But in Re.8:5, the angel overturns the golden censer, to pour out God’s judgments upon the Land! The Lord chooses to ignore prayers of Judah, and refuses the atonement. Ellicott Commentary Re.8:5 “As in the parallel vision in Ezk.10:2 when the man clothed with linen is bidden to ‘go in between the wheels, even under the cherub, and fill his hand with coals of fire from between the cherubim, and scatter them over the doomed city’; so here the ashes fall—the judgments are at hand.” The doomed city in Ezk.10:2 also is Jerusalem (ref Ezk.8–11). Jerusalem previously was destroyed in 586 BC.
Again, the ark in the Holiest Place was seen by man only on the Day of Atonement. Re.11:19 – John Tudor Church of England Quarterly Review “The temple of God is then opened, and the ark of his testament seen, 11:19; and the voice issues from the throne, 16:17; both expressions equally denoting the holy of holies, which was only entered once a year….All the imagery in this poem was taken from the Day of Atonement—the golden censer, the incense, the deep affliction, the temple opened, and the ark seen indicating the opening of the veil on the day of atonement.” Now let’s go to Re.15….
Re.15:5 “The tabernacle of the testimony is opened.” God’s testimony was the Decalogue (Ex.31:18). It was written on two tablets and contained in the ark, which was in the Holy of Holies. The Lord’s judgment is based upon His commandments and principles.
Re.15:6 angels therein are clothed with linen (g3043). Only on the Day of Atonement could the high priest enter the Holiest Place clothed in linen holy garments (Le.16:4, 23, 32 LXX), not his everyday priestly attire. Matthew Poole Commentary Re.15:6 “These angels came in the habit of high priests.”
Blood was carried into the Most Holy Place. The high priest sprinkled the blood of atonement seven times on the altar of incense before the Lord (Le.16:19). But in Re.15:7, angels representative of the high priest have seven bowls filled with the blood-red wine of…the wrath of God (cf. Re.14:10)!
Re.15:8 “And the sanctuary was filled with smoke.” A cloud or smoke-screen had protected, in a sense, the high priest in the sanctuary, lest he die (Le.16:12-13). This event occurred only on Yom Kippur.
Then in Re.16, God executes His verdict/judgment. Rosh Hashanah and the Days of Awe Lead to the Time of Judgment “Yom Kippur. That’s when the judgment falls.” The bowls containing God’s blood-red wrath…are poured out upon the Land! Re.16:3-5 two angels pour out their bowls; the sea, rivers, springs became blood! Josephus Wars of the Jews 3:10:9 “The lake [of Gennesarét] is all bloody, and full of dead bodies.” That was the Sea of Galilee during the Roman-Jewish War of 66–70 AD.
Peter J. Leithart Atonement Inverted (9/25/2015) “Though the Jews who killed Christians think they are doing service to God, this offering is rejected, and the blood is instead poured out on the land. Instead of cleansing the land, this rejected atonement pollutes it.”
This inversion atones for the innocent blood shed in the Land. Re.16:6-7 “For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and Thou have given them blood to drink. They got what they deserved.” Blood for blood. The blood of martyrs is figuratively poured back upon the guilty Land, defiled with blood.
In Mt.23, Jesus had prophesied woes upon the Jewish leaders who opposed Him. Mt.23:33-37 “You serpents, you brood of vipers. Upon you shall come the guilt of all the righteous blood shed on the earth [Land]. Truly I say to you, all these things shall come upon this generation. O Jerusalem, you that kill the prophets.” The Lord declared His judgment upon those responsible for the blood of righteous Israelites & Jewish Christians. It happened.
Le.24:17 “If a man takes the life of any human being, he shall surely be put to death.” The lifeblood of man atones for the blood of man.
Atonement makes possible the reconciliation of man, and even God’s creation, to God. It involves His judgment. Nu.35:33-34 “You shall not pollute the Land in which you are; for blood pollutes the Land and no expiation can be made for the Land for the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of him who shed it. You shall not defile the Land in which you live, in the midst of which I dwell.”
Leithart op. cit. “Here [in Re.16], the blood of the saints is poured out on the land, and calls up an avenger of blood who will bring the blood of the killers to return on their own heads.”
Centuries earlier, the Lord had denied the atonement for the northern kingdom of Israel. He sent them into captivity to Assyria in 721 BC. Later, the Lord denied the atonement for the southern kingdom of Judah. He sent them into captivity to Babylon; Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem in 586 BC. Likewise, the Lord denied the atonement for Judah after Jesus was crucified. Titus destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD. For more on this aspect of God’s justice, see the topic “Babylon the Great’ in Revelation”.
In conclusion…the book of Revelation, the judgment of God and the wrath of the Lamb (Re.6:16-17, Lk.23:28-30) may seem severe. But God is just and fair.
The good news for Israel is…Israel and the Jewish people can be re-grafted in! The apostle Paul wrote in Ro.11:21-26, “Behold the kindness and severity of God. If they [Israel] don’t continue in their unbelief…God is able to graft them in again. And thus all Israel shall be saved.”
“All Israel” includes the Jews. Paul didn’t know dates…but in God’s good time. The Lord loves the Jewish people. As discussed in Part 1, Christ’s atoning blood applies to all peoples, through faith (Ro.3:23-25). And the final chapters of Revelation are the silver lining after the storm. Praise the Lord!
Bible Topic Exposition 