Feasts of the FatherWe cannot examine ourselves honestly without the Spirit's help. Approach the Father in your condition — He promised a new heart and a new mind to those who believe He alone can change them.
Physical observance
This day is a Miqra Kodesh — a holy time for assembly, worship, and study. 'Afflict' (Hebrew: Anah) means to examine yourself in humility — not merely to fast from food. Isaiah 58 reveals the true fast: not bowing the head like a bulrush, but loosing bands of wickedness, undoing heavy burdens, letting the oppressed go free, breaking every yoke, dealing bread to the hungry. It is the practice of being still and allowing Messiah to reveal our wickedness and remove it. Why stop eating if you continue to sin against your Father?
Spiritual meaning
On this day the High Priest performed the ceremony of the two goats (Leviticus 16). One for the Father's sin offering, one for the scapegoat. This was fulfilled when Barabbas (a criminal) was set free and Yahushua (sinless) was given as sacrifice (Matthew 27:16-22). His blood cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7). The temple He is cleansing is His people — we are built together as a holy temple (Ephesians 2:19-22). This is NOT a day of condemnation but of cleansing and reconciling the Father's temple back to Him. Atonement means to restore or repair.
What is being cleansed
? Our very CONDITION. We are not merely people who occasionally sin — we are a species BORN in sin (Psalm 51:5), with hearts that are deceitful above all things (Jeremiah 17:9). We were dead in trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1). From the sole of the foot to the head there is no soundness — but wounds, bruises, and putrefying sores (Isaiah 1:5-6). Sin entered through one man and death by sin, and so death passed upon ALL men (Romans 5:12). This is our hereditary condition — permanent unless the Father intervenes.
The cleansing process
We cannot examine ourselves honestly without the Spirit's help. The Spirit's duty is convicting and reproving us of sin (John 16:8). While in a state of sin, our minds cannot acknowledge our error alone. It is only through the Spirit's working that our mind starts to recognize our condition and the harm our sins have caused — not only to our lives but to the Father Himself.
This is why Yom Kippur calls us to 'afflict' (Anah) ourselves — to look down, to lower yourself, to pay attention. It is the practice of being still and allowing Yahushua to reveal our wickedness so He can remove it. 'Search me, O Father, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting' (Psalm 139:23-24). 'Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind' (Romans 12:2).
The Father promised: 'A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and CAUSE you to walk in my statutes' (Ezekiel 36:26-27). It is the Father who gives you a new mind to think differently, and a new heart to hate sin. We must approach Him acknowledging: 'O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?' (Romans 7:24). He will see when we believe He is the only one to give us this change — and He will give it, because He promised it.
Prophetic fulfillment
Is Yahushua's cleansing work complete? Absolutely NOT. This feast BEGAN its fulfillment at the death of Messiah but the Father's tabernacle is not fully cleansed yet (Acts 3:19-21). After the High Priest finishes cleansing His people, He will place the confessed and forgiven sins on the scapegoat — satan, the originator and father of sin (John 8:44). The scapegoat will bear responsibility for those forgiven sins and be destroyed with sin in the end. One reason the professed people of the Father are weak is due to a lack of remembrance of His promises. Examine yourselves brethren. The time of cleansing is nigh.
Paleo Hebrew: Kippur
"The open hand covers — the word secures the person" — the Father's open palm (the mercy seat) covers us. His spoken word (the blood of Yahushua) secures and restores the person. Kippur is not condemnation — it is the hand of the Father reaching to cover you.
Sanctuary connection
The Vail
Between the Holy Place and the Most Holy
The Vail separated man from the Father's presence. Only the High Priest could pass through on this one day — pointing to Yahushua breaking down the wall of partition.
The Day of Atonement IS the Veil — the barrier between the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place. The Veil was made of blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen with cherubims (Exodus 26:31-33). It divided the Holy Place from the Most Holy where the Father Himself would come to dwell (Psalm 99:1, Numbers 7:89, Exodus 25:22).
The scriptures make it very clear what the Veil represents — the Messiah, His sacrifice, His mediation, and the only way to enter into the Most Holy: 'For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us' (Ephesians 2:14). 'Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Yahushua, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh' (Hebrews 10:19-20).
Before the Messiah's sacrifice, only the High Priest could enter into the Most Holy Place once a year, all other priests being prohibited from ever entering. This represents our condition of sin — we have all sinned, slaves to sin, condemned to death. The Father cannot dwell with sin. But now, through the blood of the Messiah, He has broken down that wall that divided us from the Most Holy where the Father dwells. If we believe in the Messiah and submit to Him, our sins are forgiven and we are made new creatures. No longer in bondage to sin or the flesh, the new creature now lives and walks in the Spirit. It is only through the Messiah's blood and His mediation that we can now enter in boldly.
Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh.
Hebrews 10:19-20
Key verses
On the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation; and ye shall afflict your souls. It is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before the LORD your God.
Leviticus 23:27-28Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul?... Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free.
Isaiah 58:5-7He shall take the two goats, and present them before the LORD... one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat.
Leviticus 16:7-10He shall sprinkle of the blood upon it seven times, and cleanse it... And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, putting them upon the head of the goat.
Leviticus 16:19-21Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
Ephesians 2:20-22If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
1 John 1:7Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.
Acts 3:19-21Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth.
John 8:44And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against me; and I will pardon all their iniquities.
Jeremiah 33:8Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Psalm 51:5Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.
Romans 5:12Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores.
Isaiah 1:5-6A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes.
Ezekiel 36:26-27O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
Romans 7:24Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Psalm 139:23-24And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Romans 12:2
Examine Yourself
The Hebrew word Kippur does not mean condemnation — it means restoration. The Father is not trying to destroy you on this day. He is trying to CLEANSE you, RECONCILE you, and RESTORE you to Himself. This is a day of blessed hope, not fear.
But it requires something of you: the Hebrew word for 'afflict' is Anah — to look down, to lower yourself, to pay attention. It is the practice of being still and allowing the Messiah to reveal your wickedness so He can remove it. Not just fasting from food — but fasting from self. Isaiah 58 asks: Is it to bow your head like a bulrush? No. The true fast is to loose the bands of wickedness, undo heavy burdens, let the oppressed go free, and break every yoke.
Yahushua is currently serving as your High Priest, cleansing the temple — and that temple is YOU (Ephesians 2:19-22). He is not finished. Many are still hearing truth, receiving it, and being cleansed. What sins are you still holding onto? What has He been convicting you about that you have not yet surrendered?
Remember the two goats: Yahushua was the sin offering. The scapegoat — satan — will one day bear the responsibility for all the forgiven sins he originated. But that day has not come yet. The cleansing is still in progress. This is why we examine ourselves NOW.
One of the reasons the professed people of the Father are weak and losing power is a lack of remembrance of His promises. Do not forget what Yahushua is doing for you right now in the heavenly sanctuary. He is working to restore you. Cooperate with Him.
Prayer
Father, I humble myself before You. I lower myself and pay attention to what Your Spirit is revealing in my heart. Show me the sins I have been holding onto. I do not want to be found clinging to what Yahushua died to remove. Cleanse me, restore me, reconcile me to You. I submit to the work of my High Priest. I will not resist the cleansing.