Bible Study Seattle

The tenth day of the seventh month is Yom Kippur, the solemnest day among the Lord’s feasts.

“The Lord spoke to Moses, saying:  Now, the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement; it shall be a holy convocation for you: you shall deny yourselves and present the Lord’s offering by fire; and you shall do no work during that entire day; for it is a day of atonement, to make atonement on your behalf before the Lord your God.  For anyone who does not practice self-denial during that entire day shall be cut off from the people.  And anyone who does any work during that entire day, such a one I will destroy from the midst of the people.  You shall do no work: it is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your settlements.  It shall be to you a sabbath of complete rest, and you shall deny yourselves; on the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening you shall keep your sabbath.”  Leviticus 23:26-32

“The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they drew near before the Lord and died.  The Lord said to Moses:

Tell your brother Aaron not to come just at any time into the sanctuary inside the curtain before the mercy seat that is upon the ark, or he will die; for I appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat.  Thus shall Aaron come into the holy place: with a young bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering.  He shall put on the holy linen tunic, and shall have the linen undergarments next to his body, fasten the linen sash, and wear the linen turban; these are the holy vestments. He shall bathe his body in water, and then put them on.  He shall take from the congregation of the people of Israel two male goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering.

Aaron shall offer the bull as a sin offering for himself, and shall make atonement for himself and for his house.  He shall take the two goats and set them before the Lord at the entrance of the tent of meeting; and Aaron shall cast lots on the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other lot for Azazel.  Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for the Lord, and offer it as a sin offering; but the goat on which the lot fell for Azazel shall be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement over it, that it may be sent away into the wilderness to Azazel.

Aaron shall present the bull as a sin offering for himself, and shall make atonement for himself and for his house; he shall slaughter the bull as a sin offering for himself.  He shall take a censer full of coals of fire from the altar before the Lord, and two handfuls of crushed sweet incense, and he shall bring it inside the curtain and put the incense on the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat^[f] that is upon the covenant, or he will die.  He shall take some of the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it with his finger on the front of the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat^[i] he shall sprinkle the blood with his finger seven times.

He shall slaughter the goat of the sin offering that is for the people and bring its blood inside the curtain, and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, sprinkling it upon the mercy seat^[j] and before the mercy seat.  Thus he shall make atonement for the sanctuary, because of the uncleannesses of the people of Israel, and because of their transgressions, all their sins; and so he shall do for the tent of meeting, which remains with them in the midst of their uncleannesses.  No one shall be in the tent of meeting from the time he enters to make atonement in the sanctuary until he comes out and has made atonement for himself and for his house and for all the assembly of Israel. Then he shall go out to the altar that is before the Lord and make atonement on its behalf, and shall take some of the blood of the bull and of the blood of the goat, and put it on each of the horns of the altar.  He shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it and hallow it from the uncleannesses of the people of Israel.

When he has finished atoning for the holy place and the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall present the live goat.  Then Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and sending it away into the wilderness by means of someone designated for the task.  The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to a barren region; and the goat shall be set free in the wilderness.

Then Aaron shall enter the tent of meeting, and shall take off the linen vestments that he put on when he went into the holy place, and shall leave them there.  He shall bathe his body in water in a holy place, and put on his vestments; then he shall come out and offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people, making atonement for himself and for the people.  The fat of the sin offering he shall turn into smoke on the altar.  The one who sets the goat free for Azazel shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward may come into the camp.  The bull of the sin offering and the goat of the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the holy place, shall be taken outside the camp; their skin and their flesh and their dung shall be consumed in fire. The one who burns them shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward may come into the camp.

This shall be a statute to you forever: In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall deny yourselves, and shall do no work, neither the citizen nor the alien who resides among you.  For on this day atonement shall be made for you, to cleanse you; from all your sins you shall be clean before the Lord.  It is a sabbath of complete rest to you, and you shall deny yourselves; it is a statute forever.  The priest who is anointed and consecrated as priest in his father’s place shall make atonement, wearing the linen vestments, the holy vestments.  He shall make atonement for the sanctuary, and he shall make atonement for the tent of meeting and for the altar, and he shall make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the assembly.  This shall be an everlasting statute for you, to make atonement for the people of Israel once in the year for all their sins. And Moses did as the Lord had commanded him.”  Leviticus 16

There is all manner of prophetic significance to the Day of Atonement.  This will likely coincide with Yahshua descending on the Mount of Olives to pronouce judgment and blessing.  Many will the Lord kill on that day.

The hebrew4christians article:  http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Holidays/Fall_Holidays/Yom_Kippur/yom_kippur.html

In the fifth Yom (‘day’) of creation, YHWH created the birds and fish:
“Then God said, “Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens.”  God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind; and God saw that it was good.  God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”   There was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.”  Genesis 1:20-23

Mankind was created on the sixth.  We are operating with the assumption that these ages of creation were 7,000 years long.  It seems that death must have been in operation long before Adam and Eve were on the scene.  At a minimum, the birds and fish need to eat plants.  That means plants were dying.  It is likely that birds and fish were also dying, unless they were living up to 7,000 years.  This is probably why YHWH had to make a special garden for Adam & Eve so that they might be shielded from some of these realities.  It is very possible that Adam saw death and thus understood YHWH’s warning, “in the day [yom] that you eat from it you will surely die.”  Genesis 2:17

It is interesting that YHWH gives this instruction before the creation of Eve.  Is it possible that she did not witness death?  Is this why she may have been more vulnerable to Satan’s temptation?  We’ll have to ask her when she rises from the dead.  In any case, the ‘fall’ happened long before Adam & Eve were on the scene.  The fact that both grain and animals figure prominently in the Mosaic sacrifices shows that they have a prominent part in the paradise world to come.

Yom is a biblical Hebrew word that can mean ‘day’.

“And there was evening, and there was morning – the first day.”  Genesis 1:5

“And there was evening, and there was morning – the second day.”  Genesis 1:8

“And there was evening, and there was morning – the third day.”  Genesis 1:13

These are very poor translations.  Trying to squeeze creation into six literal 24 hour days is patently absurd.  Genesis 1 should use the English word ‘age’ or ‘epoch’.  This author’s opinion is that these ‘days’ or yoms were 7,000 years apiece.  Wikipedia article:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yom

Seven 7,000 year ‘days’ of creation is 49,000 years, plus a 1,000 year ‘day’ for Jubilee makes 50,000 years.  Before this time was a large indeterminate amount of time noted here:  “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”  Genesis 1:1

This statement covers a time before the six ‘days’ of creation.

“Let the land produce vegetation… plants and trees…  – the Third Day.”  Genesis 1:10-13

“Let there be lights in the… sky to seperate the day from the night.  – the Fourth Day”  Genesis 1:14-19

Certainly, plants and trees require light to live, so how can it be that light was created the ‘day’ after vegetation was created?  But wait:

“And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.  God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.  God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.”  And there was evening, and there was morning – the first day.”  Genesis 1:3-5

Clearly we see here that The sun and stars must already have been formed and the earth must be rotating to have night and day.  We know that stars and sun were formed earlier because:

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”  Genesis 1:1

When reading Genesis 1 we must be very careful to note the prospective that the view is taken from.

Jesus’ death on the cross supposedly put an end to the temple animal sacrifices.  Yet how many Christians had chicken today?  Did not that animal sacrifice its life so they could live?  The same goes for vegetables and grain.  And many Christians say a blessing before dinner – is that not thanking God for the animal sacrifices that sustain us?  If not for the death of grains, vegetables, and animals, we’d all be dead.  Jesus’ death is the same thing, but on a much grander scale.  One of his hard sayings had people scratching their heads:

“I am the bread of life.  Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.  I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.”  Then the Jews began to argue with one another, saying, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?” So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves.  He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.  For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink.  He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.  As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me.  This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever.”  John 6:48-58

The Pharisees could only think of cannibalism, but Jesus clarified to his followers:

“Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this said, “This is a difficult statement; who can listen to it?”  But Jesus, conscious that His disciples grumbled at this, said to them, “Does this cause you to stumble?  What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before?  It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.”  John 6:60-63

Jesus was talking about spiritual life, not earthly.  This was over the heads of most people at the time.  But YHWH has designed life to be sustained by death.  The immortality that everyone pines for is at the discretion of YHWH himself.

For 2016, Yom Teruah is now!  From sundown October 2 to sundown October 4.  For an interesting article on Yom Teruah and Rosh Hoshana, see:  https://www.nehemiaswall.com/yom-teruah-day-shouting-became-rosh-hashanah

The above article states that Yom Teruah and Yom Kippur is not the start of a new year.  It also states that Yom Kippur is merely the blowing of trumpets to call attention to the start of the fifteith year six months later.  The NASB states:

“You are also to count off seven sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven years, so that you have the time of the seven sabbaths of years, namely, forty-nine years.  You shall then sound a ram’s horn abroad on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the day of atonement you shall sound a horn all through your land.  You shall thus consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim a release through the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, and each of you shall return to his own property, and each of you shall return to his family.  You shall have the fiftieth year as a jubilee; you shall not sow, nor reap its aftergrowth, nor gather in from its untrimmed vines.  For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to you. You shall eat its crops out of the field.”  Leviticus 25:8-12

Sunday, October 2, 2016 was world communion Sunday.

“On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and said, “This is my body, which is given for you.  Do this in remembrance of me.”  In the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this in remembrance of me as often as you drink it.”  For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord’s death until he comes again.”  1 Corinthians 11:23-26

To a Gentile, it sounds like we can have communion any time we like: “as often as you drink it.”  But the Last Supper was Passover.  It is only once a year.  Of course God isn’t overly angry with a person whose heart is in the right place but changes the commands out of ignorance.  God is more angry with those who jump through the right commands but whose hearts are full of greed, malice, etc.

Most churches have a sanctuary.  It is a place where we are supposed to become more sanctified.  But there’s another process:

“Don’t be fooled by those who say such things, for “bad company corrupts good character.”  Think carefully about what is right, and stop sinning. For to your shame I say that some of you don’t know God at all.”  1 Corinthians 15:33-34

Ouch!  Paul is saying that some of the believers are fakes!  Sanctification is greatly aided by the company you keep.  Paul also has some very un PC advice:

“I meant that you are not to associate with anyone who claims to be a believer yet indulges in sexual sin, or is greedy, or worships idols, or is abusive, or is a drunkard, or cheats people. Don’t even eat with such people.”  1 Corinthians 5:11

“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.  Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you.  For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.”  Exodus 20:8-11

The point of the Sabbath is to rest, both for our health, but also because YHWH rested on his Sabbath.  The rule is to avoid normal commercial work on that day.  YHWH’s normal work is creation, from which he rested following the creation of Adam and Eve.  It doesn’t mean we can’t walk more than 642 steps.  Such regulations miss the point.  The Pharisees were confused, so Yashua cleared up the matter:

“So the Jewish leaders began harassing Jesus for breaking the Sabbath rules.  But Jesus replied, “My Father is always working, and so am I.”  So the Jewish leaders tried all the harder to find a way to kill him. For he not only broke the Sabbath, he called God his Father, thereby making himself equal with God.”  John 5:16-18

Of course Jesus did not break the Sabbath, he was referring to work in the sense of doing good.  He only broke their Sabbath rules; the traditions of men.  He did not break the Mosaic Sabbath.  Notice also that the livestock must rest.  This is not only for their health, but it hints at the role animals will play in the Millennium.

The Fall Feasts are approaching.  There are:  Feast of Trumpets, the day of Atonement, Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret.