RPG Adults
DAY OF ATONEMENT!
TUESDAY, JUNE 18
Leviticus 23
Romans 5:10-11
“It shall be unto you
a sabbath of rest, and ye
shall afflict your souls…”
DAY OF ATONEMENT!
On the first day of the seventh month, the trumpet was blown to begin a new year. It was to be a day of holy convocation. No servile work would be done. A burnt offering would be made before the LORD for the atonement of sin (cf. Num 29:1-6). This also functioned like a prelude and preparation for the greater day which fell on the tenth of the same month. It was the Feast of the Day of Atonement.
The Feast of the Day of Atonement was the Sabbath of Sabbaths. The day of rest began on the evening of the ninth day, i.e. the close of the ninth day and the beginning of the tenth. This was a compulsory twenty-four-hour observance of rest. It was the only day in the year when the high priest alone was permitted to enter the Holy of holies. This passage in Leviticus describes the manner in which the people of Israel were to observe the day. Leviticus 16 describes the manner in which the high priest was to observe it. The nation was to afflict their soul. Anyone who refused to afflict his soul would be cut off from his people. The meaning of “cut off” (Lev 23:29) ranges from excommunication from societal life to death. The LORD would destroy anyone who did servile work. This was a very important day of self-reflection regarding the sinful state of the people, and how a life of grace and mercy had always been the only way of Israel’s existence and permitted by the LORD in the Land of Promise. Israel were to therefore be a holy witness unto the LORD upon the observance of this feast.
The strict physical observance was meant to impact the spiritual, mental and emotional being of every Israelite and the world. Imagine a nation of millions of people stopping work completely and spending this holy day to afflict their soul. The message was clear to the rest of the world. Their existence was also by the grace and mercies of God Almighty. If the whole nation, founded on God’s ordained cultures, laws and life, needed to afflict her soul, how much more the nations of the world that are founded on idolatry and living in sin and wickedness!
MEMORISATION: Leviticus 23:27
PRAYER: May I be eternally grateful to Thee, O Father, and never forget Thy grace and mercies in my life. In Jesus’ Name I pray. Amen.