The 10th day of the 7th Hebrew month is the appointed time of Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur is an anniversary or a day of remembrance of the greatest display of the compassion of YAHUAH for His people.
Why was this date set as an annual observance?
Let us look back in time when the Hebrew people were freed from slavery in Egypt and were led into the wilderness. Elohim struck Pharaoh and the Egyptians with the ten plagues and brought His people out to freedom. YAH gave them His Commands, and they accepted them.
Less than six weeks later, while Moses was on Mt. Sinai receiving the tablets of stone with the commandments written upon them, the noise of corruption was in the camp. When Moses came down with the Commandments, he smashed them on the ground because the people were found worshipping the golden calf - a betrayal to the Almighty. Because the people stood against YAH, many died by the sword of the Levites that day. Idolatry is a terrible sin that brings the punishment of death.
Notice that the first time Moshe went up Mt. Sinai, it was YAH who gave the two tablets of stone and wrote the Commands on them (Ex. 24:12). This was like a gift that He presented to His people that would bless them. The betrayal with the golden calf destroyed the trust that He had in His people. After this ordeal, the people saw the wrath of Elohim and prayed and repented for weeks. Then, YAH forgave Yisrael.
YAHUAH summoned Moshe to cut two new tablets of stone, and He would write on them the Words that were written on the first stones that were broken (Ex. 34:1-4). This time, Moshe had to retrieve two sets of stones and then bring them up Mt Sinai in the morning presenting himself to the Almighty on the mountain.
The first Commands on the stones were broken on account of sin and required repentance. Moshe was an intercessor, and he had to cut out the second set of stones from the rock which means he himself had to prepare for the Witness.
The morning time was significant because the morning is a new day, a new beginning. Moshe had to present himself to YAH, and this way, he had to be of a repentant heart and mindset. In His compassion, YAHUAH used one man to prepare for the people to be saved. Therefore, YAHUAH heard the cry of the people, saw their repentance, and called Moshe back up to give him another set of stones. Moshe brought down the stones to a joyous people.
The day that Moshe returned down from Mt. Sinai for the second time was the 10th day of the 7th month. Therefore, this day is the day that YAH showed His compassion and atoned for the sins of His people. The tenth day of Tishrei, when Moshe returned with the second set of tablets, was the first Day of Atonement, and from that time, YAH made it an appointed time for repentance and forgiveness.
For ten days, we need to work on ourselves to repent and confess our sins in preparation for the Day of Atonement, the day set for the compassion of YAH.
Understanding Sin
Sin is an act of disobedience to the will of the Creator which diminishes the soul.
When one commits a sin, it goes deep within the soul. Sin ravages the spirit of a man diminishing his being. Even if one doesn’t do it again, the sin remains until it is repented of and atonement is given.
When we sin, we don’t just get a slap on the wrist and think that it's okay - it will go away. It goes a lot deeper than we know. The only way for the sin to be dealt with is through repentance, a turning back to the will of Elohim.
Mal 3:7 “From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from My laws and did not guard them. Turn back to Me, and I shall turn back to you,” said יהוה of hosts. “But you said, ‘In what shall we turn back?’"
YAHUAH asks us to return to Him, and He promises that He will return to us. In doing so, He completes our repentance, for man alone cannot effect a complete atonement. It is YAH's compassion that brings atonement to the repentant one. YAHUAH greets the repentant ones and gives them a new heart and new spirit.
Yehez/Ezek 36:26 “And I shall give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. And I shall take the heart of stone out of your flesh, and I shall give you a heart of flesh."
Repentance is an approach to YAHUAH from the distance of sin. When one sins, he commits a twofold evil: first, the sinner harms himself and second, he angers the Creator by not doing His will. Angering YAH is the worst because the arrogance in doing the wrong deed builds a barrier between Elohim and himself.
Understanding Repentance
Repentance is turning from sin to do what is right and acceptable to YAHUAH.
There are two absolutely essential components of repentance. The first component is to have remorse over the past. The second is to give up the sin.
True repentance comes when thoughts and deed both come into play. The desire for the sin is eradicated by the thought of the repentant one to not commit the sin again. Our repentant heart overcomes the desire to commit the sin. This desire to not sin brings us closer to YAH, and we receive blessings and not punishment.
Atonement and Purity
There are two goals of Yom Kippur: to receive atonement and to be purified on this set-apart day. On this day, the Almighty will atone for us, and He will cleanse us.
We must purify ourselves before YAHUAH. Purity is essential, even higher than atonement. Atonement is when we receive forgiveness for our sins after repentance, but purity is when our ways are changed.
When one is purified of his ways, he has changed, and he is no longer yielding to the temptation to sin. Our lives worsen when we resist appeals to improve and rebel against attempts to change us. We must cleanse ourselves by getting rid of personal, psychological, and intellectual residue of sin.
The first goal of Yom Kippur is to earn YAH’s compassionate decision to not punish us for past misdeeds. The second is to purify us so that we change our ways. We must change because of the many impurities around us in today’s culture and society. Impurities are all around His people. Yom Kippur is typically a time for purification.
Confession and Repentance There can be no repentance unless it comes with a sincere verbal confession.
Confession brings repentance to completion. Repentance is based on the heart, mind, emotion, and intellect. It must include remorse over the past and resolution for the future. When we confess and repent, we must also have in our hearts our future way to live without sin.
The New Covenant
Moshe and the first set of tablets is the sign of the first Covenant that was broken, and the new tablets signify a time of peace.
The Torah is our life, and we have to obey in order to live. When Elohim told Moshe to cut out a new set of stones and come to Him and present Himself, this was a sign of the the Renewed Covenant.
Yesh/Isa 57:15-16 For thus declares the high and exalted One who dwells forever, whose Name is set-apart, “I dwell in the high and set-apart place, with him who has a bruised and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of bruised ones. (16) “For I would not strive forever, nor am I wroth forever, for the spirit would grow faint before Me, even the beings I have made."
Yom Kippur is the time that YAH set for His compassion, when He relents from anger to renew his relationship with the repentant ones. This is the time when Elohim turns the captivity of those who repent and have a humble and contrite spirit, those turning back to YAHUAH. It is the day that the Almighty shows compassion causing His Covenant to be renewed with His people.
Moshe was responsible for teaching the Torah to the people so that they would do the will of Elohim. When we turn back to YAHUAH, He leads us in His way, in the Torah of Moshe, which are YAH's Laws. He revives us in His Laws and writes them on our hearts and minds. When repentance and confession are accomplished, then we can be purified.
Our purification:
Yehez/Eze 36:24-27 “And I shall take you from among the gentiles, and I shall gather you out of all lands, and I shall bring you into your own land.
(25) “And I shall sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean – from all your filthiness and from all your idols I cleanse you.
(26) “And I shall give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. And I shall take the heart of stone out of your flesh, and I shall give you a heart of flesh,
(27) and put My Spirit within you. And I shall cause you to walk in My laws and guard My right-rulings and shall do them."
Yom Kippur is the season of the favor of Elohim. We are revived through our repentance, confession, and our declaration to not sin willfully in the future.
Now again, for a third time, the laws are written by Elohim - not on tablets of stones, but on the tablets of our inward parts, our hearts and minds. This is total forgiveness - to have YAH purify us and then implant His laws into us that we should obey always.
(Yirm/Jer 31:32-34) "not like the covenant I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Mitsrayim, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them,” declares יהוה. “For this is the covenant I shall make with the house of Yisra’ĕl after those days, declares יהוה: I shall put My Torah in their inward parts, and write it on their hearts. And I shall be their Elohim, and they shall be My people. “And no longer shall they teach, each one his neighbour, and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know יהוה,’ for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares יהוה. “For I shall forgive their crookedness, and remember their sin no more.”
Once His laws are written on our hearts, we have found favor with יהוה Elohim, and we are in His Covenant to serve Him while He blesses our life and make us fruitful and set-apart. He gives us His spirit and all the messengers of heaven come to us. We become redeemed ones.