Yom Kippur

 “what is it – really?”

((( Discussing today’s misinterpretation of Daniel chapter 9 )))

In 1843, around the first days of fall, a small group of people, which would represent nearly every protestant denomination across the world, waited and watched the sky for Christ's return, much like they have done several times since.

This group, back there in the eighteen hundreds, had come to call themselves Adventists, meaning; "those who are waiting for the coming of Christ".  They rallied under the leadership of a Mr. William Miller, a self-appointed evangelist in his time.  Back then you must realize, it did not require a master of divinity to preach, you were just "called" as they said, by the Holy Spirit.  If only today people were so in tuned with the same Spirit, as opposed to occupation compromise would not have crept in?

As the faithful watchers waited, the day of the predicted event came, and passed, without Christ's appearing. 

“Why hadn't He come”? 

Where had they figured wrong?  The bible seemed so clear, the prophecy so concise, what had happened? 

So, back they went to the scriptures to search deeper for the reasons much like the Bereans did checking out what Paul was telling them.

Acts 17:10-11

And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea : who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews.

These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.

You see, it all started when William Miller discovered an obscure prophecy given to Daniel in 605 b.c.[1]  It was a prophecy given by God to the Jewish nation, His chosen people, His church for the time period (and given to “us” in this time period as we will see).

This prophecy dealt with "the Cleansing of the Sanctuary"[2].

As Miller studied the bible, along with the historical documentation, he came to discover that the "Cleansing of the Sanctuary" was a yearly event in the Jewish tradition [3] which of course was still being celebrated in Jewish communities even in his day as “Yom Kippur”.

It seems odd now, looking back on it, that he would not have been naturally aware of this holiday as we are today.  But you must remember books were few and far between then, and there was no radio, TV, magazines, and the calendars were generic, mostly farmers almanac types dealing with planting rather than cultural holidays etc.

In our age of knowledge of course, on the information highways, we have heard of this ceremony of old, called “Yom Kippur”, because it is marked on about every calendar published.  Today most of the world does not call it “the Cleansing of the Sanctuary” as it was originally called, however, among the Jewish nations this custom has roots stretching back long before Millers time, even long before Daniel's time, in fact; all the way back to Moses' time ([4]), when the institution was first invented, and it was created by "God" not Moses as some would have us believe.

So, it was the discovery and study of this prophecy, and its stretching forth into Millers own age where it appeared to reach its fulfillment, that called it to his attention.  This then is why the longest of time prophecies ([5]) in the bible, became the initial cruxes of this newly formed Advent movement, with “no name” to this point.

As Miller and his converts studied the history surrounding this Typical Event([6]),  they discovered that God, the author of Prophecies, when He called His chosen nation out of Egyptian bondage, he had actually set a time, in prophecy, for their release, and it came to pass right as He had said it would, right on time.  They also discovered that other Prophecies also were “set around time" as well, including this one about the Cleansing of the Sanctuary.

To get the same impression or the picture they received as they studied this subject in Millers time, we must re-create these events of history in our minds as well.  Possibly because we do not know what the Prophecy is all about.  But most likely, as in Millers time, we today, despite the awareness that exists in this age of information, we too have lost sight of most all of "biblically"([7]) interpreted Prophecy ([8]) though none other than the “false Prophecy” all the biblical writers warned us about.

Isn't it true today that everybody and his brothers uncle is an interpreter of Prophecy?  Why, this one Prophecy alone, has been so broken up into pieces([9]), and applied to so many events past and future, and has been so falsely interpreted, by so called teachers of Prophecy, that it hardly resembles the bibles own interpretation([10]) of a typical event symbolizing the anti typical event.

The "history", surrounding this Prophecy; about the Cleansing of the Sanctuary, we will see has been ignored, and this is why the entire predicted event has been pushed off in the future, and I mean our future believe it or not (as seen above), and what is so amazing about preachers doing this, is the fact that the bible is as clear as a crystal of how this Prophecy has already been fulfilled, and it happened right there in Millers time believe it or not and we will see this in a moment.

You see, history is a source that stands on its own it happened and God recorded it or inspired His Prophets to write it down.  Therefore history to the serious bible student cannot be dismissed, even if we would like for it to be (such as the holocaust, or the events of the dark ages, or the reality of Christ Jesus.  Some dismiss about anything that is against their civil rights or humanistic beliefs or religious beliefs (know anybody like that?).  But history friends, needs no defense, it stands on its own two feet and needs no proving except to authenticate it.  Events such as the story of Moses and the Exodus, why nothing is so set in time and history, but there are some who desire to put these stories in the category of myth?  In fact there's a whole world of agnostics out there and it is growing, and what is even scarier than that is, these are the teachers of the subsequent generations.

So to set the stage in truth for those who love truth([11]), lets recreate the history of this Prophecy and the events both before and after Daniel's time so we can get the picture, and listen this wont will not be hard;  nearly everyone who has seen the Ten Commandments movie, recalls the story of when the time of the children of Israel's release was about to come, Moses, an Egyptian citizen, and a Israel transplant into that nation, was called by God to lead Gods people out of Egypt and into the promise land of cannon.  There was even an old song, very popular years ago, written about it; a spiritual; "go down Moses and let my people go".  This is so ingrained in our history one must ignore it so that it will appear to go away in order to get rid of it.

Undoubtedly we should remember the tremendous miracles that surrounded the Exodus, as well as the plagues, and the parting of the Red Sea .  We may even recall the institution of another event sacred to the Jews, called the "Passover" still celebrated today and marked on every modern calendar.  I wonder why, we’re not a Jewish nation?

As you realize the Passover (a Typical Event) commemorated the "deliverance" of the people of God from the grips of the Pharaoh who had them bound in Egyptian slavery.  You may recall too, they had to sacrifice the symbolic lamb the night before the big day, typifying the Lords (Anti-Typical) blood, which assures deliverance (from the bondage of sin ultimately).  This of course was to be a symbolic event (Typical) mind you, and if you don't know; the event this institution symbolized, or pointed to, it was that day way out there in mans future when Christ would come as the lamb of deliverance, to deliver his people from the grips of sin, and assure them regained immortality at the close of this event by his coming for complete deliverance.

The cross is called the "Anti-Typical Event", that the "Typical Event", being the first Passover, pointed towards but had they not been taken out of Egypt the deliverance process would not have been complete, it was "symbolic" of both of these great events of history that happened right on time exactly as God predicted .  These biblical terms are important for us to understand as we look at the Prophecies that surround time and history (see footnote 6).

As Miller and his associates studied these Prophecies and learned these terms; the one thing they found most interesting was; this Anti-Typical event, being the slaying of the Lamb of God (Jesus’ crucifixion), took place right on time in history; right according to Daniel's prophecy, the Prophecy we are about to study of the Cleansing of the Sanctuary; and it happened exactly as the bible predicted hundreds of years before in the year 30 1/2 a.d. ([12]) 

In that very year, tradition would be fulfilled, as foreshadowed by the slaying of the lamb the night before the Egyptian deliverance.  That holy day was keep sacred throughout all Israeli history, right up until the day Jesus, the Anti-Typical Lamb, was crucified([13]).  This was accomplished on Friday, the day before the traditional "Passover day" there in Israel .  Thus fulfilling the symbolism's of the original Passover instituted way back there in Egypt .  Only this time it was not the symbolic lamb slain but the Son of God.

I linger on this Typical and Anti-Typical stuff because this is important for us to understand as we study Prophetic interpretation, for the larger portion of Prophecy was given in shadows and symbolism's, and we must see how God represents things, as things that represent things that will come.  Such as the lambs slain all those years, up until the cross, only represented the Lamb of God who was to come one day and shed His all Atoning Blood, once and for all, for the plan of salvation([14]). 

Bare with me now and you will not be confused, I promise, as we see how God operates and most important how he interprets all of His Prophecies, and especially this, one dealing with Yom Kippur, of which we are going to study.

Let’s go on with the story of the Exodus as we set the stage; 

You recall, how when the children of Israel reached Mount Sinai , in their trek towards Cannon.  God brought the procession to a halt at the mountain base.  And there he had them set up camp.  Then, as you recall, he called Moses up into the mountain to give him instructions. 

Of course you remember He gave him the tables of stone with the Ten Commandments written on them.  But, what you may not realize, the Lord also gave him a command, from that same mountain top, to build Him a temple, a Sanctuary.  (A Sanctuary, incidentally, that would require "Cleansing").

The Lord gave him plans for this Temple that would duplicate the pattern of the Heavenly Sanctuary ([15]).  He also told Moses something that should interest us very much, and that was He wanted him to build Him a place where He could dwell among His people as He worked out their Salvation. 

Through this temple and the workings within, He would show them His plan of Salvation.  A plan of which God had provided for them; by the volunteering of His Son, who had chosen Himself, to give His life as a payment for sin, a plan laid out long before the world was created([16]).  This plan then would provide a way of escape from the death penalty of sin for all mankind born into sin from Adam on.

It was in this Temple , or Sanctuary, that Israel would realize Atonement for their sins.  You can read about it in the book of Leviticus; about all of the various duties of the priests, and also the duties of "the people themselves" in the plan of salvation, a principal we lost site of in this faith only so-called religion([17]).

In these daily rituals, as well as at the "Day of Atonement" or the "Cleansing of the Sanctuary" (on Yom Kippur), man was to gain a graphic image of gods plan of removing sin, both corporately and individually, and how it worked for their redemption from the plague of death.  A plague which had been upon mankind since the fall of Adam and Eve, apparently shortly after the first week of creation.

The Lord wanted man not only to see what he was doing for them, but he wanted them to understand their part in this plan as well([18]).

This temple that Moses built was a portable thing that they carried with them on their journey those forty years in the wilderness.  It was the figure of the temple eventually built once they settled in Jerusalem ([19]) many years later. 

It had three stages or compartments.

 

 

                                                                 SANCTUARY

The courtyard was contained within a surrounding a high curtain wall.  Inside was a rectangular building with two compartments.  The holy place was veiled from the most holy place called also the Holy of Holies.  This inter sanctum represented the very presence of god. This was the place where the lord worked out the plan of salvation for them.  Believe it or not he actually came down and inhabited this holy space.  And dwelt in the Holy of Holies in this rude temple made of wood and animal skins.  At night the people could see the Shekinah glory of the Lord there in the temple built by the hands of man.

Into this presence no man, not even the high priest of Israel could enter.  Except for only one time each year.  And that was on the "Day of Atonement", the day of the "Cleansing of the Sanctuary", "Yom Kippur".

This was the highest of all the days in Israel ([20]).  It was a day of judgment actually for Gods people living back there.  It was to be accomplished each year just like clockwork on a specific day of every calendar year. 

The accuracy of this "timed event" is witnessed by the setting of it, in all the time records throughout history.  Despite the changes from one calendar([21]) to another, we have established equations between all of these calendars throughout history that help us establish this day with absolute accuracy even to today.  Just take a look at the calendar on your wall, and you will see all the equitable dates listed;  such; as Rosh Hashanah, Passover, so too "Yom Kippur".

This highest day of every year as I said, it was also day of reckoning for Gods people, a day of heart and soul searching.  The reason is; if the individual’s sins had not been confessed and atoned for by the end of the day and transferred into the sanctuary, they were lost forever, cut of from salvation.  So it was a solemn day, a day not to be taken lightly, set as a high Sabbath ([22]), even to this day and time, which you will soon see..

This annual event was called the cleansing of the sanctuary.  It was this event Daniel had described in the 9th chapter of the book of Daniel that William Miller picked up on. 

Unfortunately though, in his interpreting of this prophecy, he did not know all of the things we know today surrounding this event, he didn't know this at first anyway;  he thought, as well as his followers, the Cleansing of the Sanctuary meant, the end time event of the second coming, where the fires of destruction would "cleanse" the earth of sin.  You see the earth was conceived by them to represent the sanctuary.

Thus this misinterpretation ([23]) was applied, by them, to this longest of the time prophecies of the bible.  A prophecy that stretched from the going forth of the command to restore and build the temple which had been destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon([24]) unto the coming of the Messiah the Prince (when he began his ministry).  It stretches then on past this time of his baptism, pass the crucifixion, and the stoning of Stephen clear up to the year of 1843 a.d.  So naturally it caught the attention of people in that time frame where Miller was living ([25]).

This reckoning of the prophecy of the cleansing of the sanctuary was not first made by Miller and those of his time, but had been determined by many in the past including Sir Isaac Newton, Martin Luther, Abraham Lincoln and other biblical scholars and historians who wrote about prophecies throughout the ages.  Unfortunately the Jews hadn't studied this one particular prophecy or they could have known for sure who Jesus was and the very year of his baptism and crucifixion.

Miller and his followers thus set, the date of Christ return to Cleanse the Sanctuary, and might I add with all sincerity, and with honest hearts and minds it appeared to be according to the bible to them.  Of course nothing happened, so they returned to their reckoning to determine what was wrong with their calculations. 

They realized suddenly, that when going from, or calculating from, b.c. time to a.d. time, there is no year "0".  So to account for this you must add one year to any crossing dates.  It was clear now they were simply off by "one year".  The fever pitched again for another bitter disappointment that awaited them on the next Yom Kippur the following year.

After this new date came and passed the creditability of William Miller was washed.  Most gave up on this date setting thing which had caused quite a stir anyway among the ranks of religion, who quoted scripture saying no man knows the day nor the hour of Christ's return, which is true, and by this the large portion of his followers returned to their nominal denominations.

Miller however and those who had studied this thing, knew the accuracy of this date, according to prophetic interpretation, as it is applied to history and the calendar.  They felt there was no other way to interpret it.  What was wrong?  An event was to take place in that very year none could deny this.  So what was the meaning then of this prophetic vision?  What was this event supposed to be?

They came back to the bible with more intensity than ever to seek an understanding through prayer and supplications much like Daniel did.  And the answer did come just like it did for Daniel. 

They discovered that Yom Kippur was not only an annual traditional Jewish event, but was also a symbolic event as well.  An event symbolizing the time Christ was to enter into the Holy of Hollies in the heavenly sanctuary in heaven (of which the earthly was but a pattern).  He was to enter in to this compartment to begin the Cleansing of the Sanctuary, not the earthly as did the high priests throughout history up until Christ but the heavenly sanctuary was to be cleansed also.

His entry into this apartment commenced the Anti-typical Day of Judgment, the Anti-typical Cleansing of the Sanctuary in heaven.  Meaning that the final events had come to the pages of time itself, events that Daniel was told to shut up in the vision, for it was not for many days.  In that day (post 1844 a.d.) when he would stand in his lot? ([26])  meaning the day Judgment would begin of course, thus this was the sum of his visions and the intent of this prophecy.

As Miller and his associates studied deeper, they saw that soon every case would come before the heavenly court.  And the High (Anti-typical) priest (Christ himself) would one day then finish his work, which was begun at Calvary .  They could visualize how Christ's work would begin with the first case of the first deceased person who died "in Christ" (Abel I assume), and then His (Christ’s) work would logically terminate with the last case of the last person still alive just prior to the end of time. 

Then, at that time, at the close of the Judgment process (the Close of Probation), at the end of the Anti-typical Day of Atonement, just as in Israel, but now in heaven, Christ would take off His priestly robes because every case had been presented before the Judgment seat of God, and when that Anti-typical day was through Jesus would put on His kingly robes, and then, and only then, would it be time for Him to come back to this earth and gather the harvest of the redeemed.([27])

"No man knowth the day nor the hour", something they ignored in their excitement there in 1844.  Now rang clearly true.  Miller and his Millwrights were wrong in the event, but were “not wrong” in the timeliness of the event for in 1844 the great Anti-typical Judgment Day began “in heaven” as predicted by God through His prophet Daniel.

As a result of being wrong in the interpretation of the event of this prophecy, the Millerites met with bitter disappointment.  However out of this came a thorough knowledge of the truth.  A new light as it were, one of which Daniel did not have but a vision of, but was told to wait until that blessed event took place([28]).  And this was a vision of the great Anti-typical Day of Atonement.

At some point in time friends, we must face the facts, the final hours of this last (Anti-typical) “Yom Kippur” will take place in heaven, closing time itself for eternity.

Will the end of the prophetic Anti-typical day, coincide with the Typical day as set in our time?  Only God knows, but in solemn self observation we should not take lightly the hour in which we live.

The last day events according to the prophecies are happening in rapid succession.  The Abomination of Desolation ([29]) is at this very moment moving in the high places as spoken of by Christ himself in Matthew 24.  Where He refers to the very book of Daniel wherein contained are these very prophetical events.  Of these things he says "let every one who has an ear understand", will we?  Should we?  Do we?  The winds of strife friends, that have been held back so long, are now beginning to breeze upon us. 

If only we would see the times and seasons, and bare our hearts and minds towards the Lord, who is the Author and Finisher of our faith.  Our Lord, who was that symbolic lamb, slain as it were before the foundations of the earth ([30]).  These things then would be opened up to our minds and hearts, and it is in these very personal places "in us", where Satan wants to place his mark (see Revelation 14:9), but so it is in these same very places, God wishes to place His marks (see Deut.6, Hebrews 8:7-12).  And the differentiation of these two groups, who have let one or the other mark them, God or Satan; is seen clearly in Revelation 14:6-12, as the “Adventists” stand this time "for real" just prior to His return. 

"Blessed" the bible ends in Revelations last book of Jesus' last call, "blessed-happy" is he who has “right to the tree of life" and who, by Gods power, is able to keep His Commandments (Rev. 22:14).

  As we conclude this little study, of the real meaning of Yom Kippur, it comes clearly to this; In Revelation 14:6 John describes the gospel that we are to be taking to all the world in these end times.  This gospel is to most defiantly include the knowledge of these things we have just brought forth.  For John said in verse 7 of this chapter of Revelation; "for the hour of His Judgment 'is' come".  God realized for all who would read and understand this prophecy, shut up to Daniel and even John, the event of the Cleansing of the Sanctuary would already "have come" or would have already begun (post 1844 a.d.) as we read and learn of it. 

Can we say for sure we know which of the two sides, described in the remaining of this vision, we are on? Will verse 14 be an event we will welcome or will it find us unprepared, surprised? 

  May God give us strength to find the truths that will set us free is my prayer.

Please go on to study the Abomination of Desolation with me for further revelations.