The Most Important Day of the Year!

Today is Thursday, October 2nd.  Just an ordinary Thursday, but this time tomorrow will be a highly special day.  The problem is, very few Christians will have a clue about it and will not take the day seriously.  Beginning at 6:16 p.m. cst on Friday, this day is not only the Sabbath, but the absolute most important day of the year.  It is Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.

If you ask most Christians what is the most important day of the year they will most likely say either Good Friday or Easter, but that is not the day God has said is the most important.  The Children of Israel created a golden calf and began to worship it.  As a result, Moses went up onto the mountain to plead with God, face to face, to spare the lives of those people.  In fact, Moses spent almost three months on the mountain pleading for the lives of his people and God granted pardon on the 10th day of the 7th Hebrew month,  Every year the Jews celebrate the 10th of Tishrei as Yom Kippur; the day God granted atonement for the sin of the golden calf. It is a day which God said to keep and to uphold.  The instructions for that day are given in Leviticus 16-18 if you would like to read it for yourself.

This great day is preceded by the celebration of Rosh Hashanah on the 1st and 2nd of Tishrei.  It is best known for the blasting of the shofar, some 100 times to be specific.  It is the beginning of the New Year and is also the anniversary of the creation of Adam and Eve.

So why are these two celebrations so important and should Christians celebrate them faithfully?  Take a look with me about these days.  During the days of Jesus, the Jews taught that on Rosh Hashanah the heavenly court convened.  On that first day there are also two books opened; the Book of Life and the Book of Death.  During the next ten days the adversary brings accusations against mankind. Mankind then, has 10 days to repent, return to God and seek His forgiveness in order for their names to be written in the Book of Life for another year.  It was taught that God closed and sealed the books on Yom Kippur and that He would not reopen the books until Rosh Hashanah the next year.  In this heavenly courtroom it was decided who would live and who would die during the coming year.  (Hmmmm, is any scripture jumping to the forefront of your mind about now?)

During this "trial" of sorts, the heavenly court states that they cannot pass a sentence on a human without that particular human's approval.  How can this be?  No person in their right mind would pass a terrible sentence upon themselves, would they?  The answer?  The court declares they will send a situation into the life of the human which is similar to their very own situation.  As the human judges that situation, so shall his own sentence be.

Just in case you think this is an old wive's tale, look with me at the teachings of Jesus.  Read Matthew 7 and Luke 6.  Jesus, Himself, is speaking of this very principle.  It is called measure for measure.  The traditions of the Rabbis taught that however you measured out either yourself or judgment to others in this life is the way life and judgment will be measured out to you as well.  They took this lesson from King David who, after his sin with Bathsheba, was confronted by the Prophet Nathan.  Nathan presented David with a scenario to see how he would judge.  David pronounced the judgement and Nathan then replied, "You are that man, David."

The ten days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are spent doing a fall cleaning of our hearts, souls and minds to prepare for God's decision.  Will our names be written in the Book of Life or the Book of Death?  Will we live another year or die?

Now is the time of salvation.  Now is the time for us to ask forgiveness and to forgive.  Now is the time to mend fences.  Now is the time to repent, repent, repent and turn our whole lives back to God.  The blowing of the shofar, (translated trumpets in most English Bibles), is the only language the Adversary cannot understand.  The blowing of the shofar confuses the adversary so that we may come to God in reckless abandon, without fear, to beseech Him for another year of life on this earth.  We can confess, forgive and repent without the enemy understanding a word we speak.  He cannot take our words and turn them against us for these ten days.  We are told by the sages that after the blowing of the shofar we are to scream our requests out to God.  Scream, scream, scream for these screams, along with the shofar keep the adversary confused and befuddled.  Yet God can understand our every cry, our screams our moanings!  (Think Joshua and the battle of Jerico here!)

Perhaps your name is written in the Book of Life for another year or perhaps it is not.  This has nothing to do with your eternal salvation.  Before sundown tomorrow, have you forgiven all?  Have you shown mercy, compassion and kindness?  Have you given charity?  Mostly, have you repented - made a 180 and turned to look into the eyes of God in order to follow him, leaving your unforgiving, judgmental, unmerciful, uncompassionate, and unkind heart behind?  It is a day for fasting from the things of this world.

Repent, turn from evil and return to God.  Seek His mercy through your mercy to others.  Some day the books will be opened for the final time.  On that day of Yom Kippur, all those whose names are NOT written in the Book of Life will be cast into the Lake of Fire, the second death.  Shalom!