THE DAY OF ATONEMENT AND FEAST OF TABERNACLES

This will be the final post regarding the feasts of Israel and their relation to bible prophecy. 

Leviticus 23:27 & 32 Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD….It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath.

The Day of Atonement is also designated as a Sabbath day.  As noted in the previous post, time has been allowed since the blowing of the trumpets on Rosh Hoshanah to assess one’s spiritual condition and get right with God.  If done sincerely, I do not believe that anyone would find himself without reproach and the need for repentance.  It is a time for humbling oneself before Almighty God. 

It is on this day, only once each year, the High Priest would put on his special garments to enter the Holy of Holies to make atonement for the sins of every person in Israel.  As part of this ritual, two goats were presented at the temple, and lots were cast to determine which goat would be sacrificed for the sins of the people.  The other goat was designated the scapegoat and would be taken away and released in the wilderness, a picture of the removal of their sin for that year.

When Jesus was sacrificed for our sins, He served as the final sacrifice for sin that fulfilled that was typified by both goats.   He ushered in the New Covenant that provides salvation by grace through faith.  I think that it is likely on the Day of Atonement that Jesus will return to institute the New Covenant with the believing remnant of the people of Israel as foretold by the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel.  From that time forward “all Israel will be saved” as foretold by Paul.

Jeremiah 31:31–34 “Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel….I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

Ezekiel 36:26–28 “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, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.”

Romans 11:26–27 “And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.”

This day also marked that final harvest of the year, the fruit harvest.  So too I believe it will mark the final “ingathering” of the people of Israel to dwell in their nation with Jesus as their King as foretold by the prophets.

Isaiah 43:1, 5&6 “But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine…. Fear not: for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west; I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth;”

Jeremiah 23:3–6 “And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase. And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the LORD. Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.”

Ezekiel 11:17 “Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.”

Leviticus 23:34-35 & 39 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the LORD. On the first day shall be an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein…. Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the LORD seven days: on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath.

The fifteenth day of the month, five days after the Day of Atonement, marked the beginning of the Feast of Tabernacles—a feast that was to continue for seven days.  This feast is also known as the Feast of Booths and the Feast of Ingathering.  The first day of the feast is designated a Sabbath, and the eighth day that followed the last day of the feast was also designated a Sabbath. 

Leviticus 23:40-43 And ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before the LORD your God seven days. And ye shall keep it a feast unto the LORD seven days in the year. It shall be a statute for ever in your generations: ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month. Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths: That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.

During this feast the people were to build booths made out of tree branches and live in them for the duration of the feast.  This was to serve as a reminder of how their ancestors lived in tents, temporary dwellings, during their wilderness wanderings on the way to the Promised Land.  During that time they followed the leadership of God through His presence in the cloud, and He met their every need.

I agree with those who say that this feast is a picture of the joy that redeemed Israel—and all others on earth that accept Jesus as their King—will experience during the Millennium.  They will enjoy the presence of the King as He rules over them as their Good Shepherd in anticipation of eternity and the new heavens and earth.

The prophet Zechariah tells us that this feast will be celebrated by all nations throughout the Millennium.  That is because this time people from all nations of the world will be a part of that multitude anticipating the eternal Promised Land.

Zechariah 14:16 “And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.”