AMAZING THINGS THAT THE ANCIENT HEBREW CALENDAR HAS TO SUGGEST…

AMAZING THINGS THAT THE ANCIENT HEBREW CALENDAR HAS TO SUGGEST TO US ABOUT THE COMING APOCALYPSE

Part 3

Yeshua likened His death and resurrection during the Passover season to Jonah’s time in the belly of the fish. After Jonah’s ordeal, he obeyed the Lord and went into Nineveh to preach to the heathen — after which there was the largest mass repentance and conversion of souls ever recorded in scripture. The next time that happens, Biblically speaking, is at the return of Lord. Interestingly enough, the day recorded on the Hebrew calendar as the day that Jonah preached and Ninevah converted was Tishri 10th, Yom Kippur!

Now let’s look at some other interesting aspects of Yom Kippur.

The feast days of Passover and Yom Kippur are both representative of the coming of Messiah (i. e., two comings). The ancient rabbis taught that Messiah would reveal Himself on a Passover. And of course, His first appearance WAS to fulfill Passover — which He did. And it is not unreasonable to think that He might fulfill Yom Kippur (i. e., His second coming) ON a Yom Kippur. Daniel’s prophecy of the 70 Weeks is very interesting in this regard.

“70 weeks are determined upon your people and upon your holy city, to finish the transgression and make an end of sins and to make RECONCILIATION for iniquity and to bring in everlasting righteousness and to seal up the vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most
Holy.” Dan. 9:24

The word “reconciliation” here is the word “kaphar”. It is where the word “Kippur” comes from. Both words are translated as “atonement”. And Yom Kippur, of course, is called the DAY of atonement.
In other words, one of the main things Daniel’s 70th Week is to usher in is Atonement. Sounds like the ultimate Yom Kippur to me!

Now let’s look at Leviticus chapter 23 where Yom Kippur is described.

“Also on (Yom Kippur), there shall be a day of atonement. It shall be a holy convocation unto you. AND YOU SHALL AFFLICT YOUR SOULS.” Lev. 23:27

“And you shall afflict your souls”.

Now that’s a very odd thing to say on the day that is supposed to be the happiest day on the entire Hebrew calendar! I rather suspect that it has a prophetic implication. Because in Mat. 24:29-30 we are told that the entire earth (or what’s left of it) shall mourn when they see the Lord appear. And in Zec. 12:16-13:1 we are told that the Israelis (or what is left of them) will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son and shall be in bitterness for Him as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. Just a thought.

Now let’s look at Revelation 8:1.

“And when He had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.”

Silence for about the space of half an hour. Now what could that possibly mean? To the average gentile believer this would have no meaning. But to a religious Jew, specifically during the time when there was a temple and thus temple services, half an hour of silence meant only one thing — Yom Kippur! Yom Kippur was the one day out of the entire year when the high priest would enter into the Holy of Holies — during which time there would be silence about the space of half an hour in the congregation. And that’s very interesting when we understand that everything that is happening in the heavenlies during the Great Tribulation is a sort of drawn out temple service on a cosmic scale, if you will, as we see played out throughout the book of Revelation. And if Yom Kippur is, as we have noted, THE culmination of all temple services, then that becomes doubly interesting. Because Revelation 8:1 takes place at the very end of the Great Tribulation. I believe that the picture that is being presented to us is one where the horrors of the Great Tribulation having almost come to their conclusion, the world is plunged into darkness (Mat. 24:29) followed at some point by half an hour of this horrible silence (in which is only broken by the wails and groans of the survivors) — followed by a super-nova like blast of light as the Great High Priest emerges from the Holy of Holies onto this world to execute terrible judgement on the one hand and bring atonement to fulfillment on the other. A perfect picture of Yom Kippur, it would seem.