MORE YOM KIPPUR
Seems like everywhere I look now I see YOM KIPPUR. Sort of like this cascade of Tupperware that keeps tumbling out of one of my cupboards every time I open it. You would THINK, wouldn’t you, that I could take just twenty minutes of one day to organize this cupboard and throw out this Tupperware, that I NEVER USE. Howbeit, after so many years, one becomes one flesh with their Tupperware and cannot seem to part with it. Just another reason the rapture day will be one of GLORY!
HIS GLORY
Matthew 16:27
For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.
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Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.
consider the above verses carefully, for it was right after this statement by our Lord that:
Matthew 17:1
And after six days (6000 years) Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart,
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And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.
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And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him.
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Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.
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While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.
In the first instance above, Jesus was talking about the rapture of the living (who would not taste of death), and then directly after that we have the “after six days”, three of the deciples were brought “up” to the mountain “apart”. Signifying the rapture of the living. Jesus and Moses and Elijah are then seen in their “glory”, Moses a type of the those who died in Christ (for the scriptures clearly state that Moses “died”, and the Lord said “It is given for man once to die”), and Elijah as a type of the raptured saint, taken alive. Jesus has thus said here and elsewhere that He would appear “in His glory, with His angels”. Now, isn’t it interesting that the only day that the high priest could go into the Holy of Holies to be in the actual presence of the Shekinah Glory was on Yom Kippur? Anyone else who ventured even so much as to the threshold of the Holy of Holies, would die. And it was in the Holy of Holies, that the presence of the Shekinah Glory of God would be manifested to the high priest who entered therein on Yom Kippur. Great fear would strike anyone who experienced the presence of the Shekinah Glory of God, even Moses at the first Tabernacle manifestation:
Exod 40:34-35 Then the cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tabernacle of meeting, because the cloud rested above it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.
and the deciples on the day of the transfiguration:
Matthew 17:6
And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid.
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And Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid.
I like that word “arise” in there.
And the shepherds in the field at night, saw His Glory, and were “sore afraid”…
And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
When Jesus returns, it will be “in power and great glory”:
And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.
And so it is, that this “Glory” of our Lord will appear unto us on that day of the rapture, soon to come, quite likely on Yom Kippur, for that seems to be the message from the beginning even in the wilderness tabernacle, that the Shekinah Glory appeared in His Glory to the high priest who went into the Holy of Holies, on only ONE DAY OF THE ENTIRE YEAR. What other day of the whole year might we see the “Glory” of our Lord? There is only one day of the year that this manifestation is made on behalf of the people, through their high priest, at the feast of the Attonement / Redemption.
I have read a number of Yom Kippur sermons given by various Jewish rabbis, and again, found another nugget of gold for us. First, let us hear that good Jew, Paul, who seems to pepper his lessons to us with these Jewish metaphors; to us gentiles or wild olive branches we need to be given ears to hear, but to the Jew, so very natural, which is why the Jews will very rapidly graft back into their natural olive tree after we are gone. To us it’s like a fun jelly-bean hunt. And here is one of these:
Paul says:
Phillipians 2:12
Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
Paul, above, is speaking about the “days of awe”, or period of repentance prior to Yom Kippur; how can we know that?
and, now, Doves, hear what the modern rabbis say at their Yom Kippur sermons, about the preparation of our souls in the repentance time between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, and in particular that day when the high priest went into the Holy of Holies: (URL’s given first)
http://templebatyamtahoe.org/rabbiArticles/StudentRabbis/yksermon1.htm(from a Yom Kippur evening service – sermon) Yom Kippur, a day of fear and trembling as we stand before God waiting to be judged, challenges us to overcome our everyday fear and trembling, and listen to the still small voice within, listen to our hearts.
http://www.thereporter.com/faith/ci_3079021 "It's 10 days of awe," Vale said. "We are supposed to be in fear and trembling because we are getting this special audience. ... You act as if you are being judged, from Rosh Hashanah through Yom Kippur. It's like a courtroom, but it's a happy time because we have God's ear. We are supposed to change, so we act, more than ever, like God is listening. For the month before, and the 10 days between, it really matters - we can change ourselves. We can change our hearts, feelings, ideas and, most important, our actions to make it OK with God."
http://www.bethelsudbury.org/jewish_basics/text005.php3?page=725(from a Yom Kippur evening Rabbi’s sermon) Much has been said about the biblical notion of yirah, which is literally fear and trembling.
THE TRUMPETS
Now, during this season there are not a few trumpets. Starting on Elul 1st, the beginning of the 40-day repentance period, the shofar is blown once a day, except for the day before Rosh Hashanah (apparently this is to confuse satan –yeah, right…..) and then on Rosh Hashanah the shofar is blown 100 times, which signifies that heaven’s gates are wide open, and the heavenly court sits in judgment. The final blast of the trumpet after the 99th one, is longer and louder than the rest. It is called the TEKIAH GEDOLAH. Of course we have looked to this trumpet as that which would call us “up hither”. But, sadly, this year, not. So, on Rosh Hashanah, there is a “last trump” which we have associated with the rapture of the saints. But wait, there’s another trumpet coming up at the close of Yom Kippur; it is called the SHOFAR HaGADOL, which means “the great call”, and it is a huge, long blast on the shofar. This is the final invitation to repent before the doors of heaven are closed. Thank you Jesus. That gives us one more “last trumpet”; that is, the last trumpet of the whole 40-day repentance season. Interesting that the book of Jonah is recited in Yom Kippur services. I tell you, if the rapture is on Yom Kippur, it won’t take those Jews long to figure some things out, and the “great delusion” would have to involve, as Daniel says, the a/c “seeking to change the times and the law”, for he will probably try to enshroud himself in some kind of “glory cloud” (for he can appear as an angel of light, remember) and claim to be the returned Christ, or some other such nonsense which we certainly don’t have the stomach for, and don’t want to be here to witness. The true Body of Christ would have to be gone, for this unveiling, for wouldn’t we make a noise huh?
So, this last trumpet of the season of repentance could very well be that which is blown on Yom Kippur. Now, at the Feast of Tabernacles, there’s a blowing of three trumpet blasts, in the temple service, when the priests pour the pitchers of water over the altar strewn with branches. So, the third of these might also be a “last trump”,,,but somehow it just doesn’t do anything for me (at least now, for after Yom Kippur I will be seeing and hearing trumpets in everything I read…….. :--) At any rate, the Feast of Tabernacles is the “feast of ingathering”, which represents the gathering in of all the fruits of the fields and vines and trees, and this is a seven-day feast, typical of the seven days of Jacob’s trouble, and indeed is when the great Husbandman, our Lord, will undertake to “gather in” His entire harvest, involving judgment. The period leading up to the Day of Attonement / Yom Kippur, is one of mercy and grace, and longsuffering,,,,,,,even Jonah recognized this:
Jonah 4:2 …”for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil”
and the people of Nineveh appear to have done a better job at repenting, proclaiming a fast (Yom Kippur), “returning to God”, than many devout Israelites might do:
Jonah 3:5
So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, (day of Attonement / Yom Kippur), and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.
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For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
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And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water:
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But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands.
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Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?
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And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.
But here is where it gets interesting about the timing of this event of redemption for the city of Nineveh (which is a “type” of the gentile church and her redemption):
Jonah 4:5
So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city.
Above, Jonah high-tails it out of the city, because he is just so sure that city is going to go up in a conflagration of fire; he doesn’t know that the Lord God accepted their earnest repentance. Like some sour people, he actually gets angry that they were spared. He prepares a “booth”; thus, it is a hint to us that this happens at the time of Yom Kippur and directly afterward when booths, or tabernacles, were prepared for the feast of Tabernacles. And after this “redemption” of the gentile city (the church), Jonah (a type of the “jealous” Jew after the rapture), must suffer in the “heat” of the day, and with “depression”. (the tribulation). Paul says of this:
I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.
It is interesting that in the accounts of the transfiguration of our Lord on the mount in Matthew 17 and Mark 9, is immediately followed, when they returned down the mountain, by a fuss being made over a rather implacable demon who wouldn’t respond to the deciples. Jesus said this type came out by “prayer and fasting”, and He rebuked the spirit. So, after the transfiguration, (after the rapture) there is a picture of an increasingly demonic presence in society that will need “prayer and fasting” to overcome, and the age of grace and gifts to the deciples of healing and casting out demons, will have come to a close, with a different approach (prayer and fasting) necessary to “overcome”. (The judgment years).
Before I forget, I read somewhere that there will be a lunar eclipse on the 17th of October. There was an annular solar eclipse on or near Rosh Hashanah wasn’t there. Now, in Isaiah 13:10 and Joel 3:15, as well as our Lord’s words, we hear that the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not give her light, when the Day of the Lord is near. That is as far as I will go in to this, but to me these two eclipses are notable.
But as the Lord called upon Rome to build the highways and seaways for the spread of the gospel to the early church, He has also called upon modern “Rome” to give us the internet, for the fast travel and communication of which the prophet Daniel spoke. Thank goodness, for there are not many around me to discuss these things with,,,,and John has provided a meeting place for us to heed the words of Paul:
Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
Above, I detect a hint of something mysterious. Who are these saints who don’t gather together with others? I think it could be that these people are those who during the days of “affliction of the soul, with repentance”, (days of awe) would sequester themselves in solitary reflection and prayer during these days…….but Paul says, “gather together”, especially when we see the day coming.
In part of your reflection on this coming day, know that in the entire and great mission of our Lord, the day of Yom Kippur, represents His presence in the Holy of Holies, with the Father, INTERCEEDING on our behalf, for the remission of our sins, and for the ultimate reward of the sacrifice of His blood sprinkling therein upon that altar of God’s, that of our REDEMPTION. What better day, for our eternal High Priest in heaven, to emerge from “heaven” (the Holiest of the Holiest), and declare to us “the truth hath set you free---come up hither now”
Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, (The Holy of Holies) and the bride out of her closet.
Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the”PRAISE” of his glory.
what other day than Yom Kippur can we praise HIS GLORY?, for that is the day of the manifestation of the Shekinah Glory in the Holy of Holies.
The word “Yippur”, means “covering”. Consider:
Genesis 3:21
Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.
Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.
This one has gone on way too painfully long……
See you all in the air……remember the five fingers in the air sign for the Doves….(and the Lord will give us all a little gold Dove pin)
Your sister in Christ, Arlene