The tenth day of the month of Tishrei a Holy day, in fact the Holiest Day in Israel. A day of New Beginning, the day in the Old Testament that our sins are covered and we have a new beginning, a new birth, they are born again on that day. We have just spent the days since the Feast of Trumpets in searching out any sin, we have been repenting for anything that we feel is wrong in us for the last year. Yes just the last year, and here as a Jew is that reason - Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement is here. This is the only day that the High Priest can go into the Holy of Holies and he will be dressed in pure white garments.

This was the day the Nation of Israel is atoned for its sins for that year, Passover is about individual atonement. The day of Atonement from the days of the Old Testament, is the day our sins could be atoned for, it is a gracious day that we could have a new beginning, this is where we get the Born Again concept, there is in reality no Old and New Testaments in the Bible,it is supposed to be one Book. The Old Testament is before Jesus and the covenant back then was a temporary measure to cover the sins of the people until Jesus comes along and offers a re-newed covenant that will blot out your sin as far as the east is from the west.

Exodus 32:30 - 33 Moses has been Face to face with God, for his face to shine in such a way, this Day of Atonement also has a name of Face to Face.
30: And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up unto the LORD; peradventure I shall make an atonement for your sin.
31: And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold.
32: Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin?; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.
33: And the LORD said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book.
Notice Moses says that the sin is so great that if God cannot forgive them, then He should remove his name from the book of life. Moses certainly knew how to debate with God.

Elul 1 is the day Moses goes up the mountain to meet with God again, The children of Israel have built the golden calf and Moses has broken the 2 tablets which God gave him with the ten commandments on them. Moses has to go back up the mountain to plead for the nation and re-carve the two stone tablets. 40 days later is Tishrei 10, the day of atonement when Moses comes back down.

The difference between the Old Testament and the New is, in the Old Testament, all our sins are only covered by the blood of the sacrificed animals until Jesus comes and becomes our sacrifice, those sins are not gone, they are hidden. The Atonement brings our forgiveness, the blood of bulls and goats can only cover our sins they cannot take them away

The High priest can only go into the Holy of Holies on this one day in the year. The High Priest must be wearing white linen garments, so he will change his clothes and wash himself at least 5 times during the day, remember he still has to do all the sacrifices and so blood will go everywhere and he needs to wash and change you cannot enter into the Holy of Holies with any blemishes on your garments. The high priest will take coals from the altar and pour incense on to them placing it before the altar the cloud will ascend before God, the high priest will sprinkle the blood of the sacrifice onto the east side of the ark of the covenant.

If you go into a synagogue on this day anywhere you will find the congregation is dressed in linen robes of white. This has been happening since they gathered at Mount Sinai during the Exodus and is the only feast where they all are wearing white garments.

The two goats, one is to be sacrificed and the other is the scape goat, these goats are as identical as they can be, and so to make sure no mistake is made the scape goat will have a scarlet red ribbon tied to its horn. At the same time another scarlet red ribbon is tied onto the door handle of the temple. Lots are cast to select which one is for which, if the lot comes up in the right hand for the sacrifice goat, that is a good omen, in the left hand a bad omen. The Sacrificed goat is for the Lord, it is sacrificed to cover the sins of the nation, it is a symbol of Jesus and what Jesus will do on the cross. The other goat is also a symbol of Jesus, this goat is taken out into the wilderness away from the nation and the people. The priests will go out at least 10 miles and to make sure the goat is not going to walk back and bring the sins back with him, but to make absolutely sure this does not happen the goat is thrown off a cliff backwards, historically when you read the Talmud that records the events for that time the sash on the temple door would turn white when the goat was thrown off the cliff. Now watch this, the temple was destroyed in 70AD but for the 40 years prior to this from 30AD the lot for the sacrifice goat came out in the left hand every year, the red ribbon never turned white, the western most light on the temple menorah would never stay lit, the doors on the temple would open by themselves, the doors are so big it would take about 20 priest to push the door open, but they opened on their own.

The nation of Israel is dependent on this one High Priest for their forgiveness for that year, there is no getting this wrong, there is no allowance for a mistake, this is critical. You can only do this once a year, The High Priest was usually appointed by Herod in the time of Jesus, not of the line of Aaron, so he usually has no idea what he is doing. The entire nation is dependent on this one person getting it right, so much so that He is secluded away in the temple for 10 days before and rehearses the day along with a substitute just in case.

You can only proclaim the year of jubilee on this day.
King James Bible : Luke 4:16: And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.
17: And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,
18: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
19: To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
20: And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.
21: And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.
the acceptable year of the Lord is the year of Jubilee, so Jesus is in Nazareth for Yom Kippur and it is also a year of Jubilee which only happens once every 50 years. Now remember the scape goat and what they did to the goat, look what they try to do with Jesus in verse 29.
29: And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.

Now, The Day of Trumpets is known for the opening of the book, and here the Book is closed, Jesus closes the scroll and hands it back on the Day of Atonement. The judgment of each person is given out on Yom Kippur, look at Revelation chapter 8, the High Priest will have a sensor filled with hot coals as he enters the Holy of Holies, he sprinkles incense onto the coals to let the smoke cove the Mercy Seat, the priest then sprinkles the blood of the sacrifice onto the Mercy Seat seven times. Now go back and Read Revelation 8 and see the resemblance in the ceremony. Then in Revelation 11: 15 - 19, remember the only day you ever get into the Holy of Holies is on this one day Yom Kippur.

Now look at this as various other scriptures show the Day of Atonement:
Revelation 6:9-11,
9: And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:
10: And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
11: And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow servants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.
Revelation 8:2-6 ,
2: And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets.
3: And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.
4: And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand.
5: And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake.
6: And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.
Isaiah 61:1-2 the day of vengeance is to come on this day.
1: The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
2: To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;
Notice this scripture is the one Jesus read out in Nazareth but has the conclusion of "and the day of vengeance..." that day is still to come which is why Jesus did not finish reading all of verse 2.

Jesus is not going to come back until the Nation of Israel says "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord". So we as Christians need to be praying for the national redemption of Israel.
Romans 11:1: "I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin."
26: 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:" All Israel to be saved.
Romans 10:1 "Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved."
Acts 3: 17: And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers.
18: But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled.
19: Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;
20: And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you:
Heaven is holding the Lord back until this is all done.
Jeremiah 31:31: Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
32: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:
33: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, 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.
34: 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.
35: Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is his name:
36: If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the LORD, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever.
Last time I checked, the Sun, the moon, the stars are still in the heavens, you only have to look upwards to see them, if those depart from the sky then the nation of Israel will also cease from being a nation before me says God. God has a covenant with Israel and it is not going to end. The church needs to realise the Messiah is Jewish you cannot preach a Pagan, blonde haired, blue eyed Messiah back to the Jews and expect them to accept you with open arms. I would say that we as gentile believers should let the Messianic Jews teach us first and then we can be used to make the non messianic Jews jealous, but more than anything else we should simply pray for Israel to see the veil that blinds them lifted and for that matter the veil that blinds us gentile believers also be lifted.

Prophetically this also has an importance to Israel as a Nation, this is the day that Israel will realise the Jesus is the Messiah, the national redemption of Israel. 2 Corinthians 3: 13-16
13: And not as Moses, which put a veil over his face, that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished:
14: But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same veil untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which veil is done away in Christ.
15: But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart.
16: Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away.
This is talking about the taking away of the blindness of Israel, the veil will be taken from their eyes and hearts and they will be redeemed. Moses put the veil over his face when he came down from Mount Sinai on the first Day of Atonement. When you take the veil off, you are seeing the purposes of God and your Holy calling. But before you get all high and mighty it is not just the Nation of Israel who have a veil over their eyes, look at Isaiah 25: 7-8
7: And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations.
8: He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it.
There is a veil over the gentile eyes and heart as well, all people only see a small perspective, as though in a very dimly lit room. Non of us see the full glory, or know the full interpretation of God's plan. Once the veil has been removed and lifted off then death and victory will be swallowed up. Be aware that there are still plenty of prophecies yet to be fulfilled. There are promises to Israel that have not been given yet.

Now in 5 days time after this feast we have the next and last feast, the Feast of Tabernacles, also known as the Feast of the Nations. They as the Jewish Nation, have made atonement for themselves, in the upcoming next feast they act in the priestly calling and they make atonement for the nations.