Birthday!

I loooooove birthdays!

 

It is a time to reminisce on the past years of life, to be thankful for the present one and hopeful for any future ones.

 

I also see it as a new year in one's life. Here now starts the beginning of another chapter in someone's life, and with it comes the hopes and plans for a makeover, new life change, new commitments and so much more.

 

I thank God for seeing another birthday! This week starts my 'new year'! Although I would like to celebrate all week, I also want to take this time to be reflective, deliberate and purposeful in strengthening my spiritual walk with The King. 

 

Yom Kippur also is this week. It is the holiest day in Judaism, and it is a very solemn day of fasting and prayer for all (you can read about the day in Leviticus 16). Yom Kippur ('Day of Atonement') is well-known and constantly studied and spoken about in the Seventh-day Adventist faith. We believe this day does not just apply to this annual holy day, but that we are living in literal day of atonement where we should be afflicting our souls (Leviticus 23:32) before the Second Coming of Christ Jesus.

 

So to birthday celebrants worldwide, do we even take a moment (during our feasting and celebrating) to be solemn and reflective? Do we take some time to examine ourselves and to serve others instead of being served on our big day? Let's change the way we celebrate our birthday; let's spend some time giving instead of getting on our day, and perhaps even fasting a bit (it doesn't just have to be from food) as we seek for a deeper connection with Our God and Our fellow men.

 

Yom Kippur/Day of Atonement

Sabbath, October 3-4, 2014 will be a HIGH Sabbath!!

This year, Yom Kippur (The Day of Atonement) falls on a Sabbath day! That gets me excited and contemplative. Here is a little about this special day:

"Yom Kippur is the holiest day of the year—the day on which we are closest to G‑d and to the quintessence of our own souls. It is the Day of Atonement—“For on this day He will forgive you, to purify you, that you be cleansed from all your sins before G‑d” (Leviticus 16:30)." Chabad.org

The Day of Atonement was a most solemn day for all Israel. In Leviticus 23:27-28, we learn "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. And ye shall do no work in that same day: for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before the LORD your God"

The word 'Atonement' in Hebrew is 'Kippür' which we see in the Holy Day's name. It is derived from the word 'Kaphar' which means to cover, purge, cleanse and reconcile. During the year of constant sin and constant sacrifice, there was one day when all the sins (and blood-stains) collected in the earthly sanctuary were finally purged. What a heavy, heart-searching, solemn day that must have been, but when it was completed, I imagine it being a day of peace, joy and rejoicing!!! There was also a stern warning to those who did not afflict (`anah) their souls for that day . In Leviticus 23:29, it says whoever didn't afflict his soul, would be cut off from the people.

There are many of us who believe that this symbolic custom that was performed in biblical times and is observed by our Jewish brethren is also taking place in the heavenly sanctuary; but before we can find out what's happening in heaven, we should study what happened on earth.

Read and study Leviticus 16 and 23 this Sabbath/Yom Kippur.

I pray that you this day will be a holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD. And ye shall do no work in that same day: for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before the LORD your God. (Lev 23:27-28)