Days Israel Observed – God-Ordained

This topic identifies the days/occasions which God commanded His people ancient Israel to observe.

In the Old Testament (OT), these occasions are divided into three categories…feasts, new moons, sábbaths.  Concerning Israel, the Lord declared in Ho.2:11 LXX, “I will turn away all her gladness, her feasts [Strongs g1859 hehortáy, Greek], her new moons [g3561 noumenía], her sabbaths [g4521 sábbaton], all her public assemblies”.  (God would send away Israel captive to Assyria in 721 BC.)

Those days/occasions are entered in the two Tables below.  On the left side of the Tables, the sabbaths, new moons, and feast days are listed in rows.  The four columns across the top of each Table show the various Aspects of the Days/Occasions, and their differing characteristics.  A bullet dot ● means an Aspect applies to a Day or Occasion.  Analysis and discussion of the data is below the Tables.

DAYS ISRAEL OBSERVED – Table 1

Aspects (across):	Sábbath	No Work	Holiday	No Work
	Cessation	At All	Semi-Rest	“Servile”
Strongs numbers:	sábbaton	érgon	anápausis	latréutos
Greek = g	g4521	g2041	g372	g2999.1
Hebrew = h	shabáwth	melakáh	shabathón	abodáh
	h7676	h4399	h7677	h5656
DAYS/OCCASIONS:
Weekly 7th Day Sábbath	●	●	●
Day of Atonement	●	●	●
Land Sabbath – Year 7	●		●
New Moons
New Moon – Month 7			●	●
Passover Sacrifice
Unleavened Bread Day 1				●
Unleavened Days 2-6
Unleavened Day 7				●
Péntecost/Weeks				●
Feast of Booths Day 1			●	●
Booths Days 2-7
Last Great Day 8			●	●

DAYS ISRAEL OBSERVED – Table 2

Aspects (across):	Feast/	Do Only By	Assembly	Assembly
	Festival	God‘s Place	Summons	Feast Exit
Strongs numbers:	hehortáy	God‘s tópos	klaytós	éxodios
Greek = g	g1859	g5117	g2822	g1840.5
Hebrew = h	chag	mawkomé	miqrá	atzerét
	h2282	h4725	h4744	h6116
DAYS/OCCASIONS:
Weekly 7th Day Sabbath			●
Day of Atonement			●
Land Sabbath – Year 7
New Moons	●		●
New Moon – Month 7	●		●
Passover Sacrifice	●	●
Unleavened Bread Day 1	●	●	●
Unleavened Days 2-6	●
Unleavened Day 7	●		●	●
Pentecost/Weeks	●	●	●
Feast of Booths Day 1	●	●	●
Booths Days 2-7	●	●
Last Great Day 8		●	●	●

The above two Tables/grids reflect the days and occasions which the Lord gave to ancient Israel.  There are three categories of occasions…sabbaths, new moons, feasts.

The three categories were evident in the prophecy of Ezk.45:17 JPS Tanakh. “It shall be the prince’s part… in the feasts [Strongs h2250 chag, Hebrew], the new moons [h2320 chódesh], the sabbaths [h7676 shabáwth], in all the appointed seasons [h4150 móed] of the house of Israel.”

The apostle Paul wrote in the Greek New Testament (NT) Col.2:16, “Don’t let anyone judge you…with respect to a feast [g1859 hehortay] day, a new moon [g3561 noumenia], or a sabbath [g4521 sabbaton] day”.  (False teachers and Pharisees were acting as judges of how to keep various occasions.)

All days in my two Tables were an appointed time/season, h4150 moed.  There are 220 occurrences of this Hebrew term in the OT.  Moed h4150 had various meanings: Occasions both God-ordained and man-ordained (Zec.8:19), a personal meeting time (David & Jonathán in 1Sm.20:35, Amasá in 2Sm.20:5), a set meeting place (140 occurrences, Ex.27:21 tent of meeting), a signal (Jg.20:38), the regularity of migratory birds (Je.8:7), a period of years (Da.12:7).  The Greek LXX translation in English is season, time, assembly, signal, etc.  Moed h4150 didn’t refer solely to religious days/times of God.

Following is detail about the three categories of days, and a comparison:

1. Sabbath Strongs h7676 shabawth noun occurs 100 times in the OT Hebrew Masoretic Text (MT).  In the OT Greek Septúagint/LXX the corresponding term is sabbaton g4521.  In the NT, sabbaton g4521 occurs 60 times.  I commonly refer to the Hebrew shabawth & Greek sabbaton as “sabbath” in English.

The root of the Hebrew shabawth h7676 is shabáth h7673 verb, meaning ‘to cease, rest’.  Ge.2:2 “On the 7^th day God ended His work which He had made, and He ceased [h7673, g2664 katapáuo] on the 7^th day.”

Sabbath h7676 was a near-full cessation.  The only occasions which are sabbaths: The weekly 7^th day sabbath, the annual Day of Atonement (Yom Kíppur), and the land sabbath every 7 years (Le.25:1-7).  Although the land sabbath year of rest isn’t a ‘day’, I’ve included it among God’s other OT occasions.

Pertinent OT LXX and NT verses about the 7^th day sabbath g4521: Ex.16:23-29, 20:8-11; De.5:12-15; Ne.13:15-22; Is.56:1-6; Je.17:21-27; Mt.24:20; Mk.2:27-28, 6:2; Lk.4:16, 23:56; Ac.13:42, 16:13.

The Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur was a double sabbath, according to the LXX (Le.16:31, 23:32).  It was the holiest day of the year.  Verses pertaining to the Day of Atonement: Le.16:1-34, 23:26-32, 25:9; Nu.29:7; Is.58:5, 13; Ezk.40:1-ff; He.9:6-7.

2. New Moons Strongs h2320 chodesh Hebrew noun, meaning moon or month.  As a new moon (the 1^st day or beginning or head of a month), it occurs 30 times in the Hebrew MT: Ex.40:2, 17; Le.23:24; Nu.1:1, 18, 10:10, 28:11, 29:1, 6; De.1:3; 1Sm.20:5, 18, 24; 2Ki.4:23; 1Ch.23:31; 2Ch.2:4, 8:13, 29:17, 31:3; Ezr.3:5-6; Ne.8:2, 10:33; Ps.81:3; Is.1:13-14; Ezk.45:17-18, 46:1-6; Ho.2:11; Am.8:5; Hag.1:1.  In the Greek LXX, the 1^st/beginning of the month is often rendered as “new moon”/noumenia g3561.  In the NT, “new moon” (noumenia g3561) occurs only in Col.2:16.

In the OT, there’s no direct command for the general populace of Israel to observe all new moons.  However, a combining of the above verses (in bold) regarding new moons indicates they were kept.  The new moon traditionally was sort of a mini-holiday for women in some respects.  The religious importance of new moons (Rosh Hashánah excepted) was less than that for sabbaths and pilgrim feasts.  Recognizing each passing new moon maintained awareness of God’s calendar for annual festivals.

Rosh Hashanah was New Year’s Day.  It traditionally commemorated the ‘birthday of the world’ of Genesis 1 at creation.  Le.23:24 Rosh Hashanah is the new moon (day 1) of Month 7 (as in the above Tables), according to Israel’s sacred year/calendar which begins near the spring equinox.  However, Rosh Hashanah is the new moon of Month 1, according to Israel’s civil year/calendar which begins near the autumnal equinox.  The Month 7 new moon references in Le.23:24; Nu.29:1; Ezr.3:6; Ne.8:2…are according to the sacred calendar occasion of Rosh Hashanah which is around Sep 22.  Barnes Notes Le.23:24 “The 1^st day’ of this month was the 1^st day of the Civil year…and was observed as the festival of the New year.”  JFB Commentary “That was the 1^st day of the ancient civil year.”

Rosh Hashanah means ‘head of the year’.  Rosh Hashanah precedes the Day of Atonement by 10 days and the Feast of Booths/Tabernacles/Ingathering by 15 days; these were at the “end of the year” (Ex.23:16).  That is, when the old civil year ended and the new civil year began.  The onset of a Jubilee year was proclaimed on the Day of Atonement (Le.25:9-10).  cf. Ezk.40:1 (“beginning of the [civil] year”).

3. Feasts Strongs h2282 chag Hebrew noun, occurs 60 times in the OT.  The corresponding LXX term is hehortay g1859, which also occurs 27 times in the NT.

The three pilgrim feasts were Passover/Unleavened Bread, Péntecost/Weeks, Tabernacles/Sukkót.

Pilgrim feasts were based on the agricultural cycle in Israel.  The Lord commanded they be kept only at the one place where He dwelt, De.12:5, 16:16; 2Sm.6:2…never at two or more locations simultaneously.  Passover wasn’t allowed in their other various towns, De.16:5.  Those who didn’t come to Jerusalem for Booths/Tabernacles were to get no rain, Zec.14:16-19.  No location of man’s choosing was authorized.  (King Jeroboám’s attempted feast elsewhere failed, 1Ki.12:32–13:5.)  Pilgrim feasts, with their required offerings, were done only near/by God’s place (it was only in Israel).  see Table 2.

Israelite males were to attend three times each year.  ref Ex.34:22-24, De.16:16.  Benson Commentary Le.23:3 “Feasts were to be kept before the Lord in Jerusalem only, where all the males were to come for that end; but the sabbath was to be kept in all places, in synagogues, and in their private houses.”

Unlike the feasts, the weekly 7^th day sabbath and the Day of Atonement were observed in all their dwellings/towns.  see Le.23:3, 31-32.

Passover h6453 pésach occurs nearly 50 times in the MT.  The corresponding LXX term is g3957 pásha, which also occurs nearly 30 times in the NT.  ref Ex.12:1-11, 43-48; Le.23:5; Nu.9:1-14; De.16:1-8; Mk.14:12; Lk.22:1, 7; Jn.11:55.  Passover and the 7 Days of Unleavened Bread began on Abíb 14-15.

Passover was done only at one location (at a time).  Lk.2:41-42 Jesus’ parents took Him to Jerusalem every year.  It would have been sin for them to try to ‘keep’ Passover in a Galilee town, De.16:5.  (A man unable to do Passover at God’s sole place was allowed to keep it there the next month, Nu.9:9-14.)

After the initial Passover meals (and the Wave Sheaf ceremony, Le.23:9-14), the remainder of the seven days of Unleavened Bread can be kept in their home dwellings.  ref Lk.24:13-ff where two people were leaving Jerusalem on Sunday a few days after Passover, but still during the Days of Unleavened Bread.

During Israel’s history, the Passover became somewhat synonymous with the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  Ezk.45:21 “Passover, a feast of seven days; unleavened bread shall be eaten.”  Lk.22:1 “The Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is called the Passover….”  Interchangeable terms.

Unleavened bread h4682 matzáh occurs 50 times in the OT.  The corresponding LXX term, ázumos g106, also occurs 9 times in the NT.  ref Ge.19:3; Ex.12:15-20; Jdg.6:19-21; Ac.12:3, 20:6; 1Co.5:7-8.

The feast of Pentecost or Weeks (Ex.34:22-23) or Shavúot was 50 days later, Le.23:15-21.  Some may interpret v.21 as Pentecost can be kept “wherever you live” (CSB) in some circumstances?  Barnes Notes Le.23:21 “The Feast of Weeks was distinguished from the two other great annual [pilgrim] feasts by its consisting, according to the Law, of only a single day.”  In the OT, there’s no clear example of anyone traveling to the temple to observe Pentecost (there is in the NT, Ac.2:1-14, 20:16).  The apocryphal book of Tobit 2:1 shows him eating a meal in the land of Assyria at the time of Pentecost.  As Israelites migrated from captivity, many couldn’t afford the trip back to Jerusalem for this one-day observance.

The annual seven-day Feast of Booths/Tabernacles/Ingathering/Sukkot h5521 was very early in each new civil year (5 days after Atonement).  At the culmination of this feast was the 8^th Last Great Day called Shémini Atzerét.  ref Le.23:33-43; De.16:13-16; Ne.8:14-18; Zec.14:16-19; Jn.7:2, 37-39.  The Feast of Booths or Tabernacles too was kept only at the sole place in Israel where God’s Name dwelt.

Feasts and new moons weren’t complete rests…they weren’t shabawth h7676 or sabbaton g4521.  (see Table 1.)  Rather, extensive work could be done preparing the food they’d feast on.  No “servile” work was done.  They were holidays or semi-rests/near-rests, in that sense.  Assemblies/convocations were held at the tabernacle or temple during feast days.  (Assembly days for Occasions are noted with a ● in Table 2.)  Some days were shabathón h7677 or anápausis g372 rest (noun)…not a near-full cessation.

The Hebrew term shabathon h7677 noun occurs 10 times in the OT (all in Exodus and Leviticus): Ex.16:23, 31:15, 35:2; Le.16:31, 23:3, 24, 32, 39 (2), 25:5.  The LXX term is anapausis g372, which also occurs 5 times in the NT as “rest” KJV (not as “sabbath”/sabbaton g4521!).

Harvard grad William Converse Wood Sabbath Essays, p.130-131 “Sabbath days’ does not refer to Jewish festivals….feasts are often spoken of in the NT, but not one of them anywhere is called a sabbath, or credited with the nature of the sabbath….The feasts of trumpets [Rosh Hashanah] and tabernacles are termed merely shabathon….The Septuagint notes this distinction, not translating these feasts by the Greek sabbaton [sabbath], but by anapausis, rest.”  Shabathons were like sabbatóids.

Bible translations don’t always reflect the distinction between (Hebrew) shabawth h7676 and shabathon h7677.  They wrongly translate shabathon as “sabbath”.  e.g. Le.23:24, 39 KJV incorrectly rendered shabathon as “sabbath” for Rosh Hashanah, the Feast of Booths Day 1, and Last Great Day 8.

Sabbaths did encompass the concept of semi-rest or near-rest, so they too were h7677/g372.  Yet more than that…sabbaths were near-total cessations.  Le.23:3 “Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, a holy convocation; you shall do no work therein.”  The “sabbath” is a holy day/period of cessation from certain activities, most (tiring) activities.  see Table 1.

Pulpit Commentary Le.23:3 “The sabbath and the Day of Atonement were the only days in which no work might be done, whereas on the other festivals it was only no servile work that might be done.”  No work at all was done on the 7^th day sabbath h7676/g4521 (De.5:14).

Again, sabbaths weren’t feasts and feasts weren’t sabbaths.  The Lord prohibited extensive food preparation on the sabbaths (unlike the feasts).  The Day of Atonement sabbath was even a fast day!  Israel was taught the lesson in Ex.16 by gathering manna six days each week…for 40 years!  But they didn’t gather on the 7^th day.  No work of any kind was permitted on sabbath (other than priests may do God’s work, Mt.12:5).

Bible translations in English differ.  But God’s various occasions (with their Aspects) can be accurately identified by the Strongs numbers which are associated with the old Hebrew & Greek source terms.

The Hebrew OT Ex.20:8, “Remember the shabawth [h7676] day, to keep it holy”.  It doesn’t say, ‘Remember the shabathon [h7677] (semi-rest) day, to keep it holy’.  The Hebrew/Greek terms shabawth h7676/sabbaton g4521…aren’t shabathon h7677/anapausis g372.

In Mt.11:28-30, Jesus exhorts believers to come be yoked to Him and find “rest”.  v.29 the Greek term here is anapausis g372…not sabbaton g4521 sabbath.  Jesus didn’t say He is the sabbath/shabawth!  To see Jesus as the sabbath is wrongly adding to His words.  Jesus isn’t our sabbath.  God/Jesus is greater than the sabbath and all else He created or ordained!  Thus Jesus is Lord of the sabbath (Mk.2:27-28), and of all creation.  Since Christ ceased from creating on the 7^th day, the weekly sabbath identifies God as Creator.  Vincent’s Word Studies Mt.11:29 “By coming to the Savior, they would first take on them the yoke of the kingdom of heaven, and then that of the commandments, finding this yoke easy and the burden light.”  A rest from the Pharisees’ oral law yoke of bondage; cf. Ac.15:10, Ga.5:1.

Of all the days in the Tables, the 7^th day sabbath is the only occasion made holy (Gen.2:1-3) prior to Moses, the Old Covenant, and the Levitical order.  JFB Commentary Le.23:3 “The sabbath has the precedence given to it.”  Presbyterian scholar Ligon Duncan acknowledges in The First Things – The Creation Ordinances “In Genesis 1 and 2…there are four great creation mandates given….our four Creation ordinances are procreation [Ge.1:28], labor [Ge.1:28, 2:15], Sabbath [Ge.2:1-3] and marriage [Ge.2:21-25].”  Not Old Covenant Levitical feasts or new moon celebrations.  God’s four Creation ordinances supersede both the Old Covenant and the New Covenant, and all priestly orders!  Therefore, the 7^th day sabbath is the only day in the Tables which may be applied to the present Christian order of Melchisedek.  Let’s not forget…the 7^th day has been holy time since Creation!

{Sidelight: My own personal practice for decades is to observe the 7^th day sabbath as a day of rest.  (I’m not Seventh Day Adventist.)  I may also worship the Lord and traditionally go to church on Sunday or any day.  I’ve found that putting out leavened bread for seven days each spring helps renew my resolve to put/keep sin out of my life.  (cf. Ac.20:6.  Paul figuratively related leaven to sin, 1Co.5:6-8.)  Also I fast on the Day of Atonement (cf. Ac.27:9) and may attend a church meeting on that day or on Rosh Hashanah.  Doing these things can help a Christian stay focused on God.  This isn’t to say that honoring the annual Days of Unleavened Bread, Yom Kippur, or Rosh Hashanah is a substitute for Jesus’ sacrifice.  “Repent and be baptized” (Ac.2:38), and belief in His blood…is vital.}

Much more can be said about God’s occasions (and other observances) and their timing on the calendar.  For more detail, see the topics: “Sabbath 7^th Day” (series), “Sabbath Day Became Sunday in Rome”, “Day of Atonement”, “Feasts of the Lord and the Jews”, “Passover and Peace Offerings”, “Passover and the Exodus Timing”, “Feast of Booths”, “Jesus’ Last Supper Timing”, “Christmas and Jesus’ Birth Month”, “Halloween All Souls Day”, “Wedding Pattern in Bible Holydays”.

Day of Atonement (2) – in Revelation

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 7^th 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 10^th day of the 7^th 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 4^th 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 10^th day of the 7^th month, on the Day of Atonement you shall sound the trumpet. You shall thus set apart the 50^th 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 7^th 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 10^th day of the 7^th month…Yom Kippur.

Ezekiel wrote in Ezk.1:1-2, “In the 30^th year…I was by the river Chebár among the exiles. In the 5^th 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 5^th year of exile was 592 BC.

Later Ezk.40:1-3, “In the 25^th year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the 10^th of the month in the 14^th 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 1^st day of the 7^th month Tíshri.  The 10^th 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 “30^th 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 10^th 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 25^th year of captivity would mark the beginning of a year of Jubilee….”  Jacob Milgrom Ezekiel’s Hope “The probable reference of the ‘25^th 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 50^th 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 10^th day of the 7^th month on the 49^th year and then concluded with the 50^th year. Now one should be able to see that if the 5^th year of king Jehoiachin’s captivity was in fact the 30^th year of the Jubilee count and that 20 years passes that it would then be the 50^th year or the Jubilee year in which King Jehoiachin’s 25^th 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 7^th 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 7^th 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!

Day of Atonement (1) – Sacrificial Blood

Atonement has to do with expiation for sin and reconciliation with a holy God.  In this topic we’ll preview the gospel of salvation through the Old Testament (OT) Day of Atonement and sin offerings.

In ancient Israel, only the weekly 7^th day sabbath and the annual Day of Atonement (approximately Oct 1) were 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 10^th day of the 7^th 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; you shall afflict your souls [fast].”

The Lord Christ authorized His OT pilgrim feasts to be kept only in the environs of the tabernacle or temple; ref De.16:5-6, 15-16.  (see “Feasts of the Lord and the Jews”.)  Unlike the temple feasts, the Day of Atonement (Yom Kíppur, in Hebrew) was to be kept in all their dwellings.  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.  Benson Commentary “The fast here spoken of was the day of atonement.”  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 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 4^th century, as sermons by Origen and Chrýsostom prove.”

Some Christians today still honor the day.  Pastor Don Finto said on Sunday 9/15/2007, “The [upcoming] Day of Atonement is the holiest day of the year”.  Benny Hinn “Join Pastor Benny Hinn in fasting on the Day of Atonement on Monday 9/28/2009.”  Those pastors aren’t Jewish.

The Day of Atonement (h3725 kippur) is also known as Yom Kippur by Jews.  Yom Kippur means ‘day of covering’.  Sins were covered by blood on Yom Kippur.  Let’s look at forgiveness in the OT:

At the annual temple service, Yom Kippur was the national sin offering day for ancient Israel.  Blood was brought into the Most Holy Place by the high priest (Le.16:14-16) only on this holiest day of the year.  The Lord commanded a fast on this day (Le.23:27).  The offerer wasn’t authorized to eat his own sin offering (Le.6:30)!  The slain goat wasn’t eaten (Le.16:27).  It is appropriately a day of fasting.  (This was unlike the Passover animals, which were peace offerings, not sin offerings.  The spring Passover sacrifice from the flock and herd, De.16:2-3, was eaten.  see “Passover and Peace Offerings”.)

The Lord said in Le.17:11, “The life [or soul, h5315 néphesh] of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls. The blood by reason of the life makes atonement.”  Blood is the principal carrier of life in the body.  De.12:23 “The blood is the life [soul].”  Ge.9:4 “Its life [soul h5315], that is, the blood.”  The lifeblood.

Sin is so serious…God required the death of His creatures, clean domestic animals, to expiate lesser (menial) human sin.  Sin kills.  Sin offerings were accepted at the tabernacle/temple during the year.

Blood was necessary for forgiveness, to atone.  Le.4:1, 2-35 shows sin offerings for unintentional sins.  Le.4:11-12, He.13:11 the animal was afterwards burned, not eaten.  Le.5:1-19 shows sin/guilt/trespass offerings.  These were for sins of ignorance, omission, and against holy things.  (Le.5:11-13 the poor may offer birds…or grain.  He.9:22 “Almost all things are cleansed by blood.”  But not quite all…God allowed the very poor, who didn’t have an animal/bird or couldn’t pay for one, to offer grain.)

Le.6:1-7, 19:20-22 shows intentional sins (and the guilt/trespass offering).  They’re more serious than unintentional, accidental or inadvertent sins.  But these sins in Le.6 also aren’t capital sins.

Individuals made sin/guilt offerings during the year…but they weren’t made for unknown (secret) sins.

Le.16 reflects the annual Day of Atonement service for the nation of ancient Israel as a whole.  It was a day of national repentance.  Only on this most solemn day was the high priest allowed into the Holiest Place behind the veil.  To atone for Israel’s sins, known and unknown, the Lord required that blood be sprinkled at the mercy seat on the Ark of the testimony.  To avert God’s wrath.  So that Israel could be forgiven, remain the people among whom God dwelt, and not be sent into captivity or cease as a nation.

The Lord instructed Moses/Israel in Ex.30:10, “Aaron shall make atonement…on it [altar of incense in Holy Place] with the blood of the sin offering of atonement once a year throughout your generations. It is most holy to the Lord.”  This was the holiest ceremony of the year.  God is very holy; He won’t dwell with sin!  He.9:7 refers to the Day of Atonement. “Only the high priest enters, once a year, not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance.”

In the annual service, the high priest first atoned for his own sins with the blood of a bull, Le.16:11-14.  Two goats were involved in the ceremony, for the people.  The high priest offered the blood of one goat (v.15-19).  Then he laid his hands on the head of the second goat and transferred the sins, iniquities and transgressions of the people onto this goat.  The goat, bearing all their wrongs, was released alive into the wilderness (v.20-22).  One goat was slain to atone, the second lived to carry away their sins.  David wrote in Ps.103:12, “As far as east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us”.

But there was no animal blood sacrifice/substitute to expiate major capital sins!  The penalty for capital offenses was death, upon the testimony of two witnesses (De.17:6-7, 2Co.13:1).  From personal, and circumstantial, evidence.  Capital sins are, e.g….murder, adultery, kidnapping, blasphemy, false witness in capital cases.  Also Nu.15:28-31, the person who rebelliously defied God and despised His word was utterly cut off.  No sacrifice for these sins.  The prescribed penalty was death without mercy (He.10:28).  Though usually a commensurate fine was instead paid, except in cases of 1^st degree murder, Nu.35:31.

For capital wrongs, the sinner’s own blood is required by a just God.  Harvard University’s Jacob Neusner Judaism When Christianity Began, p.153, 158 “Offerings then expiate those sins which are not committed as an act of rebellion against God. The ones that embody an attitude of rebellion, by contrast, cannot be expiated through the surrogate, the blood of the beast, but through the sinner, who is put to death by the court or is flogged by the court’s agents or is cut off in the prime of life. So God sees into man’s heart….Above all, death marks the final atonement for sin.”

The end of a person’s biological life, death, is the consequences of sin for everyone (eventually).  De.24:16 “Everyone shall be put to death for his own sin.”  (cf. Ro.6:23 “The wages of sin is death.”)

The Day of Atonement service reflected the highest mediatorial work of the high priest (Encyclopedia of the Bible).  This OT service did remove sins and “sent them away”…but it didn’t remove the sin nature from people’s hearts (He.10:1-4).

Along with animal sacrifices for sins, a sequence of repentance, confession, restitution was required for forgiveness (cf. Le.6:1-7).  This mindset/action was concurrent with the ‘work’ of doing sacrifices.  Philo The Special Laws 1:43:236 “Pardon shall be given to such a man…by works.”

It wasn’t choosing one or the other!  But today there’s no temple at which to expiate (lesser) sins.  Many (non-Christian) Jews have said the non-sacrificial elements alone are sufficient to cover sin.  But that’s not what the word of God reveals and requires!  Without a physical temple, what did the Lord provide as a just blood substitute to expiate sins?  (To pay the penalty for, or to make amends.)

Is.53:1-12 reflected a prophesied future sinless human sacrifice.  v.12 “He poured out His life [soul h5315] unto death…He bore the sins of many.”  This will be Jesus.  Benson Commentary “He willingly laid down His life.”  JFB Commentary “His life, which was considered as residing in the blood.”

Paul wrote in 1Co.15:3-4, “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. He was buried and was raised.”  He.4:14-15 Jesus, our great high priest in the order of Melchisedek, was sinless.  1Pe.1:18-19 Christ’s precious lifeblood redeemed mankind.  He.9:28 “Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many.”

Jesus bore our sins on the cross.  He died…and yet He lives at Father God’s right hand in heaven (Ac.2:32-33).  The OT type was in the Day of Atonement temple service…the one goat was slain, and the second scapegoat or escape-goat bore Israel’s sins and lived (Le.16:21-22).  They pictured Christ who died, was resurrected, and now lives!

The New Testament writers and early Jewish Christians had faith that Yeshúa’s (Jesus’) sacrifice was sufficient to cover their sins.  We don’t read of them bringing any offerings for sin or guilt to the temple, which existed until 70 AD.  (Nu.6:13-21 the sacrifices for voluntary vows did include a sin offering, cf. Ac.21:23-26.)  Jesus’ sinless Divine life (via the virgin birth) is worth more than the sum of all human lives…and much more than animals’ lives!  His blood is enough.  see “Jesus’ Virgin Birth”.

But “Jesus” isn’t a name magically invoked, and then we merely return to willingly commit more sins or carelessly ignore God’s laws that identify sin…the violation of which animal sacrifice was required by Christ for forgiveness in the OT.  That kind of cheap grace, so-called, is a sham.  We’re to obey the Lord.  God gives the indwelling Holy Spirit, enabling us to overcome the sin nature (Ro.8:4-14).

What about the more serious capital sins for which death was prescribed, upon the testimony of two witnesses?  e.g. 2Sm.12:7-14 no animal blood could atone for David’s adultery, murder and despising of God’s word (Nu.15:30-31)!  Whether or not witnesses came forward…the Lord knew what David had done.  Neither the Day of Atonement sacrifice, nor an individual sin offering, could expiate David’s major sin!  Only David’s own life, or the life of a sinless human victim, could atone/substitute.

2Sm.12:15-18, 24 David’s capital sins were covered by the death of his innocent newborn son.  The baby was sinless, knowing no sin which later would be atoned by his own death.  The Lord chose to take his life in place of David’s life.  This little one was a type of Christ, if you will.  David was forgiven.

2Co.5:19-21 “He [God] made Him [Christ] who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf.”  Christ became that which He did not know.  Jesus was completely sinless.  He’d committed no sins for which His own death on the cross must atone.  His life as Creator God (Jn.1:1-3, He.1:2) is worth more than the sum of all our lives…so Jesus’ sacrificial death was sufficient to atone for our sins in the eyes of God.  (Though we all still die physically, we’ll live forever in eternal life!  see “Life After Death – for Saints”.)

Ac.13:38-39 “Through Him [Jesus] forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and through Him all who believe are justified in all things from which you couldn’t be justified by the Law of Moses.”  Capital sins couldn’t be justified by the Yom Kippur goats or sin offerings, according to the Law of Moses.

Matthew Poole Commentary Ac.13:39 “There were some sins which by the ceremonial law there was no sacrifice appointed for.”  Major sins/crimes.  Matthew Henry Commentary “By Jesus Christ we obtain a complete justification; for by him a complete atonement was made for sin.”

After our belief, confession of sin, and repentance…through Christ’s sacrifice we stand justified from all kinds/categories of sin.  We’re not condemned by God.  Pulpit Commentary “Upon the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus, a free and full forgiveness of sins to all that repent and believe the gospel.”

Reading through the chapters of Hebrews 9–10 will provide a more complete understanding.  They go into more detail about Jesus’ sacrifice as related to the Day of Atonement.

We’ve all sinned.  Christ is our atonement or propitiation through His blood.  Ro.3:23-26 “He [God] passed over our sins previously committed.”  We receive the gift of total expiation for all sins we’d done.  Ro.5:8-9 “Much more then, having now been justified by His [Christ’s] blood, we shall be saved from God’s wrath [condemnation] through Him.”

Human courts may (justly) condemn a criminal to physical death.  But upon repentance and belief in Christ’s sacrifice, the condemned man stands un-condemned by God.  Thank You, Lord!

Lk.23:39-43 shows that a criminal, condemned by the courts, can be forgiven and be with the Lord.  Unrepentant thieves, kidnappers, murderers, adulterers, haters of God, etc. won’t inherit the Kingdom of God, 1Co.6:9-10.  v.11 “And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.”  All the repentant who believe in His sacrifice!

Ro.8:1 “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”  No eternal condemnation.  Jesus/Yeshua has atoned for all our sins.

Ti.2:11-14 “The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men.”  Gentiles too can be redeemed from all wrongs and be saved!  People who didn’t know of Yom Kippur.

1Jn.1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us.”  Our confession is still required, including sins and transgressions in the future.

The song title has it…Nothing But The Blood of Jesus.  Christ’s precious blood/life/soul is our atonement…even for capital offenses repented of (such as David’s)!

Jesus fulfills both atonement goats of Yom Kippur.  (For that matter, He fulfills the Passover, the burnt offerings, etc….Christ fulfills all the OT sacrificial types.  also see “Sacrifices and Burnt Offerings”.)

Father God saw Christ’s atoning blood poured out.  God’s justice has been upheld.  We stand reconciled to the Father.  The ancient Day of Atonement service and sin offerings foreshadowed the real living gospel…the gospel of eternal salvation through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ our Lord!  He is the propitiation, the appeasing, the atonement, for the sins of the whole world (1Jn.2:2).

This topic is continued in “Day of Atonement (2) – in Revelation”.