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Yom Kippur/Day of Atonement Is Upon Us
Issue #23 | October 2nd-3rd, 2025 | Zach Demoff
Zach Demoff
October 02, 2025
Greetings, my friend,
Welcome to The Arsenal, your bi-monthly resource for training and equipping you to live a set-apart lifestyle.
🧎Day of Atonement Is Here
Shalom to everyone observing today. The fall season’s second appointed time on our Creator’s calendar has arrived, and it’s a day for us to reflect, humble ourselves, and make a true effort to repent of the sins we’ve identified in our lives. And perhaps even seek forgiveness from not just our Heavenly Father, but also those around us whom we’ve wronged over the past year.
🤔…what is this day for exactly?
Yom Kippur, directly translated from Hebrew as “Day of Atonement,” is one of the seven appointed times Yahweh commanded His people Israel to observe throughout every single year through the giving His Torah at Mount Sinai to Moses. Of these seven appointed times, Yom Kippur is the holiest day of the year. All of these appointed times can be found in chapter 23 of the Book of Leviticus, and some of them are mentioned in several other places as well. Here’s a comprehensive list with Scriptures for reference:
• Passover/Pesach - Exo. 12:6-14, Lev. 23:5
• Feast of Unleavened Bread - Exo. 12:15-20, Lev. 23:6-8
• First Fruits - Lev. 23:9-14
• Feast of Weeks/Shavuot/Pentecost - Lev. 23:15-22
• Day of Trumpets/Yom Teruah - Lev. 23:23-25
• YOU ARE HERE 👉 Day of Atonement/Yom Kippur - Lev. 23:26-32
• Feast of Tabernacles/Sukkot - Lev. 23:33-44
📖 How is Yom Kippur observed per Yahweh’s commands in Scripture?
It’s observed on the tenth day of the seventh month on the biblical calendar (Lev. 23:27), known as Tishrei in modern day. It also technically begins on the evening of the ninth day of Tishrei and lasts until the evening of the tenth day, as instructed in Leviticus 23:32. This is because Hebraic calendar days are technically observed from evening to evening. And it’s my belief Yahweh mentions “evening to evening” in His commands regarding Yom Kippur specifically so that we’re reminded of the correct timing of the transition from one Hebraic day into another for the sake of correctly observing such an important day on His calendar.
Yom Kippur is also the holiest day on the biblical calendar. Why is this? Because in ancient Israel, while the Levitical priesthood was still able to active, it was the only day of the year the High Priest was allowed to enter the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle (and later, the Temple in Jerusalem) where Yahweh’s presence rested above the Ark of the Covenant. The High Priest would then make atonement for the sins of the entire nation of Israel by performing specific rituals before Yahweh’s presence, which can be found in Leviticus chapter 16.
Like most of the appointed times, Yom Kippur is a Sabbath, meaning no regular/everyday work is done. Your servants and animals also get a day off too. But also, because this is a solemn day of introspection, reflection, prayer, and repentance of sin, we’re also strictly commanded to “afflict our souls” on this day, which is commonly and traditionally understood to be fasting from food.
We’re to have a holy convocation, which means devoting that entire day to The Father in every aspect. Consequently, this often involves a lot of prayer and worship, often done corporately with other believers as well.
Lastly, an offering made by fire was to be sacrificed to Yahweh that day by the Levite priests.
Additionally, the Jewish people have several notable traditions associated with the holiday:
Prior to Yom Kippur itself, many Jews will often make donations or volunteer time to charitable organizations as a way to help make atonement for themselves according to their theology on atonement. They also make an effort to seek forgiveness from anyone they’ve wronged over the past year.
Many Jews wear all white on this day, symbolizing purity and humility.
In addition to all food AND water, Jews will also abstain from other physical pleasures, such as bathing, wearing leather shoes, and having sexual relations to name a few examples.
Five prayer services are usually held throughout this day, opposed to the usual three per ordinary day
Many Jews also participate in an annulment of vows ceremony, which helps provide them a fresh start to another year until Yom Kippur is observed again.
🤷♂️ But I’m not Jewish, and I believe in Christ as my Savior. What do these appointed times in the Old Testament have to do with me?
Great question. And believe it or not, they have everything to do with us followers of Messiah, actually! Here are some key points to consider:
✝️ In His famous Sermon on the Mount in chapter 5 of Matthew’s Gospel, Yeshua explicitly told us He didn’t come to do away with the Torah: He doesn’t even want us to think He did! But rather, He came to fulfill it, complete it, and bring it to full meaning.
“Do not think that I came to abolish the Torah or the Prophets! I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill. Amen, I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or serif shall ever pass away from the Torah until all things come to pass. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever keeps and teaches them, this one shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees and Torah scholars, you shall never enter the kingdom of heaven!”
🤝 There’s an important detail about the New Covenant Yahweh makes with His people that so many believers miss or overlook. During the Last Supper, Yeshua and His disciples took communion for the very first time, and during this time, He mentions the cup of wine represents the blood of this new covenant that is poured out for many through His sacrifice. This is a huge fulfillment of one of the biggest prophecies in the Old Testament, found in chapter 31 of the book of the prophet Jeremiah. Chapter 8 of the Epistle to the Hebrews goes into detail about this.
Another huge prophecy fulfilled through Yeshua’s sacrifice was that in the last days, Yahweh would pour out His Spirit upon all the earth. The prophets Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Joel all foretold of this ground-shaking event (Isa. 44:3, Ezek. 36:28, Joel 2:28-29), as well as Yeshua Himself (John 14:26). And as most believers know, the Holy Spirit was poured out on the Feast of Weeks, also known as Pentecost, a very short time after Yeshua’s ascension to Heaven. Now, anyone who accepts Yeshua as their Savior and is baptized will receive the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38).
Why does all of this matter? Because the standard theological belief is that through this new covenant and outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the believers, it’s believed that the conditions of the “old covenant,” such as keeping the laws in the Torah, are now eradicated through the grace of Yeshua. It’s also believed the Torah isn’t needed because the Holy Spirit is here to guide us now.
This sounds great and makes sense on paper, but what do the terms of this “new covenant” actually say? And how does the Holy Spirit actually guide us? Let’s look to Jeremiah 31 and Ezekiel 36 for some answers to these questions. The Scriptures speak for themselves!
“‘Behold, days are coming’ —it is a declaration of Adonai — ‘when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— not like the covenant I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. For they broke My covenant, though I was a husband to them.’ it is a declaration of Adonai . ‘But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days’ —it is a declaration of Adonai — ‘I will put My Torah within them. Yes, I will write it on their heart. I will be their God and they will be My people. No longer will each teach his neighbor or each his brother, saying: ‘Know Adonai ,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest.” it is a declaration of Adonai . ‘For I will forgive their iniquity, their sin I will remember no more.’”
“Moreover I will give you a new heart. I will put a new spirit within you. I will remove the stony heart from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Ruach within you. Then I will cause you to walk in My laws, so you will keep My rulings and do them.”
🇮🇱 The Bible states that as believers in the Messiah, we have been grafted into the commonwealth of Israel! That means that the commandments, prophecies, and promises made to Israel are for us too! And that may clear up some confusion that you may have received from seeing the new covenant Messiah instated is for the house of Israel. We of the nations have been grafted into Yahweh’s chosen people through the renewed covenant He made with us through His Son Yeshua. The Apostle Paul explains all of this in his epistles to the Roman and Ephesian churches of his time:
“But I am speaking to you who are Gentiles. Insofar as I am an emissary to the Gentiles, I spotlight my ministry if somehow I might provoke to jealousy my own flesh and blood and save some of them. For if their rejection leads to the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? If the firstfruit is holy, so is the whole batch of dough; and if the root is holy, so are the branches. But if some of the branches were broken off and you—being a wild olive—were grafted in among them and became a partaker of the root of the olive tree with its richness, do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, it is not you who support the root but the root supports you. You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” True enough. They were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but fear— for if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will He spare you. Notice then the kindness and severity of God: severity toward those who fell; but God’s kindness toward you, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you too will be cut off! And they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in; for God is able to graft them in again. For if you were cut out of that which by nature is a wild olive tree, and grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree? For I do not want you, brothers and sisters, to be ignorant of this mystery—lest you be wise in your own eyes—that a partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, ‘The Deliverer shall come out of Zion. He shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. And this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins.’”
“Therefore, keep in mind that once you—Gentiles in the flesh—were called ‘uncircumcision’ by those called ‘circumcision’ (which is performed on flesh by hand). At that time you were separate from Messiah, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Messiah Yeshua , you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of the Messiah. For He is our shalom , the One who made the two into one and broke down the middle wall of separation. Within His flesh He made powerless the hostility— the law code of mitzvot contained in regulations. He did this in order to create within Himself one new man from the two groups, making shalom , and to reconcile both to God in one body through the cross—by which He put the hostility to death. And He came and proclaimed shalom to you who were far away and shalom to those who were near— for through Him we both have access to the Father by the same Ruach . So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household. You have been built on the foundation made up of the emissaries and prophets, with Messiah Yeshua Himself being the cornerstone. In Him the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple for the Lord. In Him, you also are being built together into God’s dwelling place in the Ruach.”
📩 In the Apostle John’s first epistle to an assembly of believers living in what is now modern-day Turkey, he told them how we prove we love the Messiah is keeping His commandments. This is John repeating what Yeshua said Himself (John 14:15). And because we know Yeshua told us He only speaks what The Father taught Him (John 8:28), and because we know Yahweh doesn’t change (Malachi 3:6), it’s very safe to assume that “the commandments” being spoken of are Yahweh’s commandments found in the Torah!
“Now we know that we have come to know Him by this—if we keep His commandments. The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God is truly made perfect. We know that we are in Him by this— whoever claims to abide in Him must walk just as He walked. Loved ones, I am not writing a new commandment for you, but an old commandment—one you had from the beginning. This old commandment is the word you have heard.”
And as a final nail in the coffin, John makes a very important distinction, also in his first epistle: We believe that the Messiah atones for our sin. But what exactly is sin according to the Bible? Turns out, it’s breaking the Law, the commandments in the Torah! Some English translations say lawlessness, others refer to it as transgression of the Law. But the meaning is the same: if we want to be obedient followers of Yeshua, truly learn to be like Him and know Him on a deeper level, and not to unintentionally sin against Him, it’s in our best interest to know and keep the same commandments He kept, and the ones that lead us away from what the New Testament calls sin! NOT for salvation, as that comes through faith alone, but because of our immense love for Him and our calling to walk just as He walked.
“Everyone practicing sin also practices lawlessness—indeed, sin is lawlessness. You know that Yeshua appeared in order to take away sins, and in Him there is no sin. No one who abides in Him keeps on sinning; no one who sins has seen Him or known Him.”
🌾 So what’s the significance of this Day for Christians today?
Believe it or not, all of the biblical festivals/appointed times have a very strong Messianic significance to them! By closer examination at Scripture, we can see how Yeshua’s sacrifice and atonement for our sins, as well as His prophesied return and rule on this earth, adds another level of meaning to these Feast Days in addition to their historic significance!
Below is how Yeshua fulfilled the appointed times in the spring season through His first coming to this Earth:
• Passover - Yeshua died on Passover, and at the exact time the Passover Lamb for the Torah’s required sacrifice was being slain at the Temple in Jerusalem, which we know from historical records was the ninth hour, around 3 PM (Matt. 27:45-50). Yeshua is known as our Passover Lamb according to the Apostle Paul (1 Cor. 5:7), the ultimate sacrifice. The key here is that Passover is a memorial of the Israelites’ freedom from slavery in Egypt. In the same way, by becoming the spiritual Passover sacrifice, Yeshua has freed us from the slavery of sin and condemnation to eternal punishment and separation from Yahweh through faith in His mighty power to save us and subsequent repentance.
• Feast of Unleavened Bread: Leaven represents sin in the Bible (1 Cor. 5:6-8). During the Feast, no leaven bread is to be eaten or even found in your home. This Feast is tied to Passover, and because of His death on Passover, Yeshua cleansed us from our sins, removing the spiritual leaven from us, as we do from our houses before the Feast. He was the sinless One, and when He took communion with His disciples, He symbolically used unleavened bread, which contains no leaven, to represent His body, and ultimately, and also His perfection.
• First Fruits: Per the biblical accounts of the time of Yeshua’s death and resurrection, and His sign of the prophet Jonah that states He was to be dead for three days and three nights, many believe Yeshua rose from the dead on First Fruits that year. This is significant because just as the Israelites gave their first portions of their harvest to the High Priest as an offering, Yeshua, being the first to rise from the dead, was the firstfruits of the future resurrection (1 Cor. 15:20). Specifically, the first fruits of the “harvest” of souls in the future resurrection that will be brought to the ultimate High Priest: Yeshua Himself (Heb. 4:14-16) when we meet Him in the air upon His glorious return to Earth (1 Thess. 4:16-17).
• Feast of Weeks/Shavuot: In the Book of Acts chapter 2, we read that the Holy Spirit, which was prophesied to be poured out on Yahweh’s people in the last days, finally descended upon humanity on Shavuot that year (Acts 2:1-4). Historically, many believe Shavuot was the day the Torah was given on Mount Sinai to all of Israel. On the same day, the Spirit was poured out and is given to all believers in the Messiah, who are grafted into Israel as explained earlier. This also fulfills Yeshua’s words, who said that people will worship Him in spirit AND in truth (John 4:23-24), where “truth” is defined as the Word, or the Torah (Psalm 119:160, John 17:17).
This is a perfect example of how Yeshua fulfills the Law: He doesn’t get rid of what was already put in place: He brings a new, fresh, beautiful meaning to the standard of holiness Yahweh has set in place for all who love Him and wish to know Him!
The fall’s appointed times, however, have yet to be fulfilled through Messiah. But they will be through His second coming and the events to follow! For example, as we discussed just ten days ago, the Day of Trumpets/Yom Teruah is extremely prophetic of Messiah’s second coming, which is accompanied by a loud shofar blast as one would perform on Yom Teruah.
In a similar fashion, Yom Kippur has a prophetic significance of its own for Christians today. There’s a large parallel between the events of this day and the final Day of Judgement to come at the end of time, prophetically spoken of in both the Old and New Testaments. During Yom Kippur in ancient Israel, the sins of the nation were dealt with and atoned for in the Holy of Holies before Yahweh through the High Priest performing animal sacrifices and other rituals. Similarly, In these last days, the Messianic era, we now have Yeshua, our ultimate High Priest (Heb. 4:14-16), who entered the Holiest place of all and made eternal atonement for us through His blood.
And because of Him, on the Day of Judgement that’s to come, where all of humanity will be judged for their actions, those whom Yeshua has redeemed through His blood will have eternal atonement for their sins, and be welcomed into the Kingdom of Heaven!
This concept is demonstrated in the following Scripture:
“But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.”
HalleluYah!! Such a wonderful gift!
🙌 So, how do we observe Yom Kippur today?
First and foremost, leave your ego behind. Today is not about a day off work for you or to fulfill a spiritual obligation from the Bible because it makes you feel more holy. This is a very set-apart day and reminder to get right with our God, because your relationship with Him and your eternity depends on it.
Second, a personal recommendation of mine is in addition to fasting as one way to “afflict your soul,” try giving up something that’s important to you and may also distract you from His presence. This day is about your relationship with the Messiah, and He desires to meet with you during this appointed time! Don’t let anything distract you. This year, I’ll be turning off my smartphone completely after beginning my fast this evening, and I won’t turn it on again until after breaking my fast tomorrow evening. It’s one easy way to clear my mind and focus on my 1-on-1 time with my King and Savior.
Lastly, we’re to have a holy convocation on this day, so make it happen! Dedicate every aspect of your day to Him, and use this as an opportunity to make Him a part of your daily life. Spend intentional time talking to Him in prayer, read His Word, gather, worship and pray with other believers, and meditate on His goodness, mercy, and love for you. So much so that He humbled Himself by coming down from heavenly glory to this earth as a man and died a horrible death (Philip. 2:5-8), for you! Sometimes we don’t truly think about that enough. Use this day to spend some time pondering on how you can show love to our Messiah.
If you’re observing today, it’s my prayer that you have a powerful encounter with our King on this very holy day. And that you also truly humble yourself, ask the Spirit to help you recognize and ask Yeshua for forgiveness of your sin, and do your utmost to repent of them going forward. Because we must remember: One day will we all stand before the throne of Yahweh, the Almighty God, and give an account.
But praise be to our God, that He sent His only begotten Son to make atonement for us on that day for those who truly believe and make an effort to change! There’s absolutely no better day than today to make those changes and create a lasting plan to change for the better. Because eternity with Him is so worth it.
Be blessed.
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