Yom Kippur from a Christian Perspective
Introduction
The Book of Jonah is read every year to the assembled congregations of the Jewish people in their synagogues, all over the world, on the afternoon of Yom Kippur to the present day. Yom Kippur, יוֹם כִּפּוּר (Yōm Kippūr), which means ’Day of Atonement‘, is the holiest day of the year in Judaism, which occurs on the 10th day of the seventh month (Tishri). The central themes of Yom Kippur are:
- Atonement (which God ordained to include a sacrificial “offering made by fire unto the LORD“)
- Self-reflection (which God ordained to include self affliction of one’s soul)
- Sabbath Day of Rest and Repentance.
This special sabbath day was established by God in Leviticus 23:26–32 and Numbers 29:7–11, during the time of Israelites exodus wilderness sojourn. Today, the Jewish people traditionally observe this holy day with a day-long fast, confession, and intensive prayer…often spending most of the day in synagogue services that include five distinct prayer and reading sessions.
Following the afternoon reading (Minchah) from the book of Jonah, the concluding prayer service of Yom Kippur, Neilah ( נְעִילָה, meaning ‘locking’), involves final prayers of repentance leading up to the “closing of the gates” at sunset, which is followed by the shofar blast, marking the end of the fast, victory over the devil, and heralding the promise of a sweet new year.
Notably, the one thing that is missing is the obligatory atoning sacrifice of “one young bullock, one ram, [and] seven lambs“, to be the “offering made by fire unto the LORD.” Due to the absence of a functioning earthly Temple, the substitute being currently offered is that which can be viewed as conforming to Hosea 14:2, “Take with you words, and turn to the LORD: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive [us] graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips.” Repentance is good, but it cannot atone for one’s sins. The problem is that no one, no matter how repentant, with or without animal sacrifices, can sufficiently atone for his or her own sins, that is why there is such a desperate need for a sin bearer; a Savior, Who is only the Lord Jesus Christ.
Why Jonah? How Does He Relate to Atonement?
The Book of Jonah is often dismissed by many people (regardless of their religious beliefs) as nothing more than a fanciful “fish story”, and thus having no basis in reality. It has also been downplayed by some professing Christians as not having any intrinsic spiritual value beyond the obvious in the historical account as provided in the Bible and Jesus’ reference to it. Nonetheless, it can be shown that the Book of Jonah is not only a true historical account (and NOT some fairytale), but, even more importantly, that God perfectly, Spiritually, crafted both the historical account, and the recording of it, to serve as a “Sign” (as an Historical Parable) pointing everyone to the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ and His Atoning Sacrifice.
So, Yes, God orchestrated the historical events described in the Book of Jonah and the recording of them, such that they would directly relate not just to “atonement”, but more specifically point to Jesus and His Atoning Sacrificial Work.
The “Sign” of the Prophet Jonah Points to the Atoning Work of the Lord Jesus Christ! “Behold, A Greater Than Jonah [Is] Here“!
The Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 1:22, “For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:” and Jesus specifically said that Jonah was the only “sign” that the Jews would be given in both Matthew 12:39-41, “But he (Jesus) answered and said unto them , An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas:For as Jonas (Jonah) was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas (Jonah) [is] here.” and in Matthew 16:4, when the Jewish Pharisees and Sadducees asked Jesus for a sign, He said, “A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas (Jonah). And he (Jesus) left them, and departed.“
In Luke 11:29&30, Jesus provides additional insights, “And when the people were gathered thick together, he began to say, This is an evil generation: they seek a sign; and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet. For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation.” And then, as was just noted above in Matthew, to underscore the point, Jesus said in Luke 11:32, “The men of Nineve shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas [is] here.“
The Greek word Jesus used is σημεῖον (sēmeion)G4592, rendered in the King James as : sign (50x), miracle (23x), wonder (3x), token (1x). The Jews were asking for a visible miracle. To believe by seeing is not believing by faith, and Jesus treated the Jews demand as the mark of the unregenerate/unsaved. Yet God did give them a “Sign”…The Sign of the prophet Jonah.
That is why Jonah belongs with Yom Kippur—and why the choice is so ironic. Jonah was appointed by God to serve as a prophetic “Sign” of The Messiah, Who Is Jesus Christ, Who epitomizes “Atonement”. Jesus paid the full Atonement price for the sins of His people (the Eternal Israel of God), through His sacrifice as the Lamb of God (John 1:29), fulfilling Passover in the first month of the Jewish calendar. Yom Kippur points forward to the Final Atonement, the Last Day (John 12:48), the time when God’s Plan of Salvation ends, at the sound of Last Trumpet, when the Gates of Heaven will be closed (and all the Believers are secured). It foreshadows the day when all those who remain unsaved will have to atone for their sins by themselves for an eternity in Hell.
The Book of Jonah Provides a True Historical Account Based Upon Jesus’ Own Statements
Jesus’ own words establish that:
- Jonah was a real historical person,
- Jonah was a real prophet, who preached to Nineveh, and they repented (and they were not destroyed),
- Jonah was actually swallowed by a great fish/whale,
- Jonah suffered there three days and three nights, and
- Jonah served as a “sign” pointing to Jesus. Anyone who disbelieves the book of Jonah is challenging the validity of God’s Word.
The very first verse of Jonah, Jonah 1:1 provides immediate useful insights on how perfectly Jonah serves as a “Sign” pointing to Jesus:
- The Word of the LORD (יְהֹוָה (Yᵊhōvâ))H3068 came to Jonah, hence Jonah was indeed a prophet of God.
- Jonah (יוֹנָה (yônâ))H3124, which means “Dove” (or “Turtledove” of “Pigeon”) a “sacrificial animal” for the poor and leprous. (Jesus is identified in Revelation 13:8 as the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world“, and lambs, like doves, are sacrificial animals for sin.)
- Jonah’s father was named Amittai (אֲמִתַּי (‘ămitay))H573, which means “Faithful”, “Trustworthy”, “True”, or “My Truth”.
- 2 Kings 14:25 tells us “Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet, which [was] of Gathhepher.“ Gathepher (“winepress of shame”) was a village adjacent to what later became known as Nazareth. The same town where Jesus was raised and began His Ministry.
A Little Discussed Great Conversion in the Book of Jonah: We should also note that the mariners’ plight in Jonah 1:3-16 (when the ship was hit with the tempest of God’s wrath) forms a second, smaller picture of the same Salvation Gospel: their idols failed, the truth was spoken to them by a prophet of God, the substitute is given up, the storm stops because of the sacrificial atonement of Jonah (Jesus), and then the men fear the LORD, and make vows to Him only.
This is only an excerpt of a more complete posting: A Christian Study of The Book of Jonah.
Two Days of Atonement?
A Christian reader may well ask why God instituted a Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) in addition to Passover. Passover was not only the day in Moses’ time when the Angel of Death saw the blood of the unblemished lamb placed upon the doorposts of Israelite homes and “passed over”; it was also the very day that Jesus, as the Lamb of God, died on the cross to atone for the sins of God’s people. In effect God created two Days of Atonement—and therefore two Judgment Days—one for the saved, and one for the unsaved.
Judgment Day #1 is Passover. Jesus became the Sin-Bearer and was judged for the sins of His Elect, His Church, His Bride, the Eternal Israel of God (past, present, and future). His resurrection proved the payment was made in full. Easter Sunday also opened the New Testament era that continues until the Last Day.
Judgment Day #2 is typified by Yom Kippur. God placed it in the seventh month, at harvest time, marking the end of the world as Jesus said in Matthew 13:39. It points to the Last Day. All who remain unsaved when that day is fulfilled must atone for their own sins with no Savior in their place.
Conclusion
The choice of Judaism to choose the Book of Jonah to read on Yom Kippur is most fitting. This is because:
- The salvation of both Nineveh and a group of mariners was because of the “sacrifice” of Jonah being thrown into the sea and in the “belly of Hell” “forever” (picturing an atoning offering made by fire) within the temporal space of three days and three nights.
- The prophet Jonah is the very “sign” that Jesus referenced as pertaining to Himself and to His Atoning death and Resurrection establishing that Jesus was victorious over sin and death.
Therefore the book of Jonah provides insights on the only way that anyone can avoid “atoning” for his or her own sins when the final trumpet blows and when the doors to Heaven are shut.
If only the readers of Jonah would understand the reality that Jonah was used by God to typify (be a “sign” pointing to) the Person and Work of the promised Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. Only Jesus can be the “offering made by fire” to pay the full atonement price for the sins of any and all those who believe on Him. And just as Jonah cried from within the belly of the great fish/whale in Jonah 2:9, “Salvation [is] of the LORD.“
The earthly Jonah may have been rebellious or fearful in apparently seeking to elude God’s providence, but God still used Jonah as a “sign” to represent Jesus Christ: leaving the Father’s presence, entering the storm of wrath, being cast out into the sea, being sacrificed so that others would live, spending three days and three nights in what Jonah’s prayer identifies as “Hell” “forever” (Jonah 2:2 & 2:6), rising again to life, and sending a warning to the Gentile world. Because of God’s benevolence, those who hear, repent, and cry out to God for mercy are spared. Those who will not repent, and do not trust in God’s Son as the atoning “offering made by fire” for their sins, will bear their own judgment.
That is why the same holy day, Yom Kippur, can look so different depending on one’s perspective. While it is clear that Yom Kippur points to the Last Day…
- With Christ, the Atonement Day (Judgment Day #1) already happened at the Cross on Passover in 33 AD; Yom Kippur, while still prefiguring the Last Day, is no longer to be feared as Judgment Day, but as the day that sorrow will be turned to joy when Jesus returns on the clouds of glory to take His people up to Heaven to be with Him for eternity! .
- Apart from Christ, Yom Kippur remains a day of mourning and affliction: a Day of Atonement (to remind us that no one can possibly pay the price for sin, no matter how repentant one might be). Sadly it is only typifying the affliction of souls that will begin when Jesus returns as Judge of Judgment Day #2.
For that reason, perhaps the believer should instead look at Yom Kippur as a day of thanksgiving and praise to Jesus for His victory over the devil, his minions, and our sin-cursed flesh. The payment of sin has been paid in full by Jesus for the believer. There is no longer any fear of death for the believer, as only Jesus and His Heavenly Kingdom awaits. Yom Kippur should therefore be more of a day for feasting and joy, similar to when God saved His people from a prefigurement of the last day in Esther 9:22: “As the days wherein the Jews rested from their enemies, and the month which was turned unto them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning into a good day: that they should make them days of feasting and joy, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor.“
See also: An Expositional Summary and Outline of the Book of Esther and A Spiritual Exposition of Esther Chapter 9. And Esther Chapter 10 provides the exclamation point on that reading.
And speaking of “Atonement”, there is another place where we can find it in the Bible…”Atonement” was there, hidden, in Noah’s Ark!
The message that this review seeks to leave with the reader is the same warning preached by Jonah to Nineveh. Judgment Day, the final Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), is coming, and it will not be postponed forever. In John 14:6, we read “Jesus saith unto him (Thomas), I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” Have you made peace with God for your sins through the Atoning Sacrificial Work of the Lord Jesus Christ? If you have, then Yom Kippur (representing the Last Day) will not be a day of mourning and condemnation, but rather a day of rejoicing and salvation!
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