Torah Study Prayer Blessed are you Lord our

Torah Study Prayer ØBlessed are you, Lord our God, King of the universe, who sanctifies us with Thy commandments and commanded us to engross ourselves in the words of the Torah. ØBarukh attah Adonai Eloheinu melekh haolam, asher kiddeshanu be'mitzvotav, ve'tzivanu la'asok be'divrei Torah.

Acharei Mot | | אחרי מות "After the death " Torah: Leviticus 16: 1 -18: 30 Prophets: Ezekiel 22: 1 -19 Gospel: John 7: 1 -52

Yom Kippur • Every year as we go through this portion, and a significant amount of teaching is dedicated to the Yom Kippur service. Sometimes we tie the Book of Hebrews and show Messiah becomes our only means for covering the rebellious and willful sins. • But what truly was the purpose of the Day of Atonement. How can a believer today celebrate such an important day, with the heart that our Elohim had in mind. • Before we get into the ritual of Yom Kippur lets take a look at the purpose behind the feast.

Yom Kippur • Here a few Key things that happened on Yom Kippur: • High Priest made a Sacrifice for willful rebellious sin of the nation of Israel. • There were two goats involved in the ceremony - Goat of departure and the goat of sacrifice. • Three significant events took place on this day - year of Shemitah or Sabbattical year, the Jubilee began on this date, and obviously the Feast of Yom Kippur: • Forgiveness of debts on a year to year basis, every seven years, prisoners got there freedom, and finally every 49 years, your inheritance would return back to it’s rightful owner (Jerusalem and the Temple Mount returned back to the tribe of Judah and the House of David): • Matthew 6: 2 So whenever you do tzedakah, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, so that they may be glorified by men…… 11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. • Here we have the “Lords Prayer” being taught, . . but when? • In context with Yom Kippur – we are being taught an eternal principal related to debts:

Yom Kippur and the Shemitah • Deuteronomy 15: 1 “At the end of every seven years you are to cancel debts. 2 This is how you are to cancel debts: every creditor is to release what he has loaned to his neighbor. He must not force his neighbor or his brother to repay, for ADONAI’s debt cancellation has been proclaimed. 3 A foreigner you may force, but your hand is to release whatever your brother owes you. • 4 “However, there should be no poor among you, for ADONAI will surely bless you in the land ADONAI your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess. 5 If only you would carefully listen to the voice of ADONAI your God, being careful to do all these mitzvah that I am commanding you today! 6 For ADONAI your God will bless you as He promised you. So you will lend to many nations, but not borrow; you will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you. • 7 “If there is a poor man among you—any of your brothers within any of your gates in your land that ADONAI your God is giving you —you are not to harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother. [a] 8 Rather, you must surely open your hand to him and you must surely lend him enough for his need— whatever he is lacking…. .

Yom Kippur and the Shemitah • . 9 Watch yourself, so there is no unworthy thing in your heart saying, ‘The seventh year, the year of cancelling debts, is near, ’ and your eye is evil against your poor brother and you give him nothing. Then he may call out to ADONAI against you, and it will be a sin upon you. 10 You must surely give to him, and your heart is not to be grieved when you give to him—for because of this thing ADONAI your God will bless you in all your work and in every undertaking of your hand. • As we begin to go through this teaching – the motives of your heart are going to be called into question!

Yom Kippur and the Shemitah • The cancellation of debts is to be done in appointed times. The entire process screams of heart issues in both your actions and motives toward your brother. • In these verses we are dealing with the Shemitah – this begins and ends on Yom Kippur. • So one of the main purposes of living and being part of the Kingdom of YHVH is than in his appointed time – we are to strive to eliminate the poor among us. – • Obviously debts are cancelled, but what is just as important as the money – is the way you look at them. Lift them up out of the shame of poverty – give them a chance to set things right.

Yom Kippur and the Shemitah • Leviticus 25: 1 Then ADONAI said to Moses on Mount Sinai, 2 “Speak to Bnei-Yisrael and tell them: When you come into the land which I give you, then the land is to keep a Shabbat to ADONAI. 3 For six years you may sow your field and for six years you may prune your vineyard and gather in its fruits. 4 But in the seventh year there is to be a Shabbat rest for the land—a Shabbat to ADONAI. You are not to sow your field or prune your vineyard. • 5 You are not to reap what grows by itself during your harvest nor gather the grapes of your untended vine. It is to be a year of Shabbat rest for the land. • 6 Whatever the Shabbat of the land produces will be food for yourself, for your servant, for your maidservant, for your hired worker and for the outsider dwelling among you. 7 Even for your livestock and for the animals that are in your land—all its increase will be enough food.

Yom Kippur and the Jubilee • 8 “You are to count off seven Shabbatot of years — seven times seven years, so that the time is seven Shabbatot of years— 49 years. • 9 Then on the tenth day of the seventh month, on Yom Kippur, you are to sound a shofar blast—you are to sound the shofar all throughout your land. 10 You are to make the fiftieth year holy, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It is to be a Jubilee to you, when each of you is to return to his own property and each of you is to return to his family. 11 That fiftieth year will be your Jubilee. You are not to sow, or reap that which grows by itself, or gather from the untended vines. 12 Since it is a Jubilee, it is to be holy to you. You will eat from its increase out of the field. • 13 “In this Year of Jubilee each of you will return to his property.

On this Day • Cancellation of debts. • Return of your inheritance • Prisoners and slaves released • Assisting the poor reclaim their honor • All done with the blowing of the Great Shofar! • And Have you noticed…. we haven’t even spoke of one ritual or Temple function:

10 th Day of the 7 th Month • Some of the ways Israel tried to avoid this, is amazing. Even today, we see some farmers transferring farms into Israeli Arab hands, and then afterwards transferring back to them, just so they can continue to make a profit. • If you truly want the supernatural to work in your life, follow this commandment exactly as it’s laid out and watch as your families life are immediately transformed. • Just to get an idea of what are Elohim is trying to say…. He has the Prophet Isaiah write 2 chapters on the heart condition…literally a couple of cycles before both Israel and Judah are exiled from the land…. let’s take a look:

How Israel failed • Isaiah 58: 1 “Cry aloud, do not hold back! Raise your voice like a shofar. Tell My people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins. 2 Yet they seek Me day to day and delight to know My ways, as if they were a nation that did right, and had not forsaken their God’s decree. They ask Me for righteous judgments; they delight in the nearness of God. ” • Before the exile, there wasn’t a system of religion imposed on the people that kept them from breaking or keeping the commandments – it was more fluid – there was a constant ebb and flow of making mistakes or missing the mark, and then crying out and Prophets and Judges were sent to remind them of Justice and Righteousness. • For a generation or two, there was this delight in keeping His commandments, and watching YHVH supernaturally restore lives and land. • After the exile, a system of religion developed in Babylon. Before that, it was a way of life. In the return they developed systems – some would say, so they wouldn’t get exiled again, … by the first century it had lost it’s heart.

10 th Day of the 7 th Month • You can see here in these few verses that the people were on fire for their Elohim – it wasn’t an imposed system of religion. • Today we see the same thing in the churches – as a result there is the beginning of a “great falling away” • When we go back and explain the processes of Yom Kippur, keep in mind it was with the intent of verse 2, -- to get people excited about be part of a Kingdom that had no poor among us - not a system of religion.

10 th Day of the 7 th Month • Isaiah 58: 3 “Why have we fasted. yet You do not see? Why have we afflicted our souls, yet You take no notice? ” “Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and exploit all your laborers. • 4 Behold, you fast for strife and contention and to strike with a wicked fist. You should not fast as you do today to make your voice heard on high. • 5 Is this the fast I have chosen? A day for one to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and spreading out sackcloth and ashes? … • Will you call this a fast and a day acceptable to ADONAI?

10 th Day of the 7 th Month • 6 “Is not this the fast I choose: to release the bonds of wickedness, to untie the cords of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to tear off every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, to bring the homeless poor into your house? When you see the naked, to cover him, and not hide yourself from your own flesh and blood? • What more is there to say…. what are your priorities during YHVH’s feast? • Are your priorities more important? • Are you like the Levite, and the Priest who would not help a man laying on the side of the road…or does it take somewhat outside of the system of religion to notice someone in need?

System of Religion • Jeremiah 51: 44 I will punish Bel in Babylon— What he swallowed I will make him disgorge out of his mouth. Nations will no longer stream to him. Yes, the wall of Babylon has fallen! 45 Come out of her, My people! Each of you, • Revelation 18: 4 Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you participate in her sins and receive her plagues! 5 For her sins have piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes. • There is a spiritual and physical location to Babylon…. in the first verse it is referring to Iraq, but in the second, one of the exports of Babylon is false worship, or mixed worship: • Religion is not the problem, it’s a system that takes the kindness and love, and proper instructions, and replaces them with a hierarchy and rules that don’t bring about Righteousness and Justice>

10 th Day of the 7 th Month • When our priorities line up with our King: • 8 Then • your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will spring up speedily. Your righteousness will go before you, the glory of ADONAI as your rear guard. ” 9 Then you will call, and ADONAI will answer. You will cry and He will say, “Here I am. ” If you get rid of the yoke among you — finger-pointing and badmouthing— 10 If you give yourself to the hungry, and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then your light will rise in darkness, and your gloom will be like midday. • This is our calling…our ministry, our purpose!

10 th Day of the 7 th Month • 11 Then ADONAI will guide you continually, satisfy your soul in drought and strengthen your bones. You will be like a watered garden, like a spring of water whose waters never fail. 12 Some of you will rebuild the ancient ruins, will raise up the age-old foundations, will be called Repairer of the Breach, Restorer of Streets for Dwelling. • There is a reward beyond just personal healing…. some of us who were there to take care of the needy during His appointed times, instead of focusing on the ritual will be given the “Honor” to rebuild His Temple. • Now do you understand why we Fast during Yom Kippur – we are lining up with the Heart of our King – we are making His priorities our priorities….

His Sabbaths • All YHVH’s feast are Sabbaths, but there is purpose in the weekly Sabbath…not so you can be fed, so you can feed others: • 13 If you turn back your foot from Shabbat, from doing your pleasure on My holy day, and call Shabbat a delight, the holy day of ADONAI honorable, If you honor it, not going your own ways, not seeking your own pleasure, nor speaking your usual speech, 14 then You will delight yourself in ADONAI, and I will let you ride over the heights of the earth, I will feed you with the heritage of your father Jacob. ” For the mouth of ADONAI has spoken. • If the Sabbath is all about you getting some studying in…or having someone hear your theology, than you have missed the point. Yes, study is important – but the heart of the Sabbath is Honoring our Father on His day – and building relationships with your brother – this is the weightier things of Torah.

His Sabbaths • Isaiah 56: 1 Thus says ADONAI: • “Preserve justice, do righteousness. For My salvation is about to come, and My righteousness to be revealed. 2 Blessed is the one who does this, the son of man who takes hold of it, who keeps from profaning Shabbat, and keeps his hand from doing any evil. 3 Do not let a son of a foreigner who has joined himself to ADONAI[a] say, ‘ADONAI will surely exclude me from His people. ” Nor let the eunuch say, ‘Behold, I am a dry tree. ’”

His Sabbaths • For thus says ADONAI, “To the eunuchs who keep My Shabbatot, who choose what pleases Me, and hold fast My covenant: 5 I will give to them in My House and within My walls a memorial and a name[b] better than sons and daughters. I will give them an everlasting name that will not be cut off. • Why is this so important? • Because so much division has got into the Hebrew roots movement, Christianity, ----there is one Torah and one Kingdom. There is one new man, no gentile or Jew. • Shiloh was started, because we were tired of the divisions…so let’s not create new ones!

Yom Kippur • So now that we know the purpose of Yom Kippur, lets go and study the ritual, the Temple service, the process…but this time we know how to prepare our Hearts for the Fast. • Leviticus 16: 1 The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they drew near before the Lord and died, 2 and the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron your brother not to come at any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat that is on the ark, so that he may not die. For I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat. • 3 But in this way Aaron shall come into the Holy Place: with a bull from the herd for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. 4 He shall put on the holy linen coat and shall have the linen undergarment on his body, and he shall tie the linen sash around his waist, and wear the linen turban; these are the holy garments. He shall bathe his body in water and then put them on.

Yom Kippur • 5 And he shall take from the congregation of the people of Israel two male goats for a sin (Chattat) offering, and one ram for a burnt (Olah) offering. • 6 “Aaron shall offer the bull as a sin (Chattat) offering for himself and shall make atonement for himself and for his house. • This is so important, the one who is doing intercessory for the people must come before the King with clean hands and a pure heart. How affective is your intercessory prayer if you have sin in your life. . . • 7 Then he shall take the two goats and set them before the Lord at the entrance of the tent of meeting. • 8 And Aaron shall cast lots over the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other lot for Azazel. [1] 9 And Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for the Lord and use it as a sin offering, 10 but the goat on which the lot fell for Azazel shall be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement over it, that it may be sent away into the wilderness to Azazel.

Yom Kippur • After the death of Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron were commanded to come into the Kodesh Ha. Kodesh (Holy of Holies) once a year. • The process of coming before the King, would be done 5 x that day, even though Leviticus spells out only twice: • Leviticus 16: 29 “And it shall be a statute to you forever that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict yourselves [2] and shall do no work, either the native or the stranger who sojourns among you. • 30 For on this day shall atonement be made for you to cleanse you. You shall be clean before the Lord from all your sins. 31 It is a Sabbath of solemn rest to you, and you shall afflict yourselves; it is a statute forever. 32 And the priest who is anointed and consecrated as priest in his father's place shall make atonement, wearing the holy linen garments. 33 He shall make atonement for the holy sanctuary, and he shall make atonement for the tent of meeting and for the altar, and he shall make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the assembly. 34 And this shall be a statute forever for you, that atonement may be made for the people of Israel once in the year because of all their sins. ” And Moses did as the Lord commanded him.

Bull Chattat Offering

Yom Kippur • First time inside the veil: • Leviticus 15: 11 “Aaron shall present the bull as a sin offering for himself, and shall make atonement for himself and for his house. He shall kill the bull as a sin offering for himself. 12 And he shall take a censer full of coals of fire from the altar before the Lord, and two handfuls of sweet incense beaten small, and he shall bring it inside the veil 13 and put the incense on the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is over the testimony, so that he does not die. 14 And he shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the front of the mercy seat on the east side, and in front of the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times. • Aaron only has 2 hands, but it seems like he is doing this all at one. In the Yoma fifth tractate of the Seder Moed of the Mishnah (Order of the Festivals) It spells out that Aaron would go in a total of 5 x that day. First he would come in and place the blood of the bull and goat on a stand. Then he would return to offer up the incense….

Vessels used to hold Incense

Goat Chattat Offering

Yom Kippur • Leviticus 15: 15 “Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the people and bring its blood inside the veil and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, sprinkling it over the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat. • 16 Thus he shall make atonement for the Holy Place, because of the uncleannesses of the people of Israel and because of their transgressions, all their sins. And so he shall do for the tent of meeting, which dwells with them in the midst of their uncleannesses. 17 No one may be in the tent of meeting from the time he enters to make atonement in the Holy Place until he comes out and has made atonement for himself and for his house and for all the assembly of Israel.

Horns of the Altar

Yom Kippur • Leviticus 15: 18 Then he shall go out to the altar that is before the Lord and make atonement for it, and shall take some of the blood of the bull and some of the blood of the goat, and put it on the horns of the altar all around. 19 And he shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it and consecrate it from the uncleannesses of the people of Israel. • This time, he will go inside the veil, where the stands for the blood of the bull and the goat had been placed, he will take a little from each one, and mix it in the same vessel. Then it will be brought out to the Mizbeach. The term atonement is being used, but what is happening, is that the sins of the people are literally being wiped clean.

Releasing the Goat of Azazel

Yom Kippur • 20 “And when he has made an end of atoning for the Holy Place and the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall present the live goat. 21 And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins. And he shall put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness. 22 The goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area, and he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness. • To truly understand what is taking place here with the goat of Azazel or the “goat of release” – lets take a look at the words of King David:

Yom Kippur • Why the two goats? • Psalm 103: 6 ADONAI executes justice— judgments for all who are oppressed. 7 He made His ways known to Moses, His deeds to the children of Israel. 8 ADONAI is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and plentiful in mercy. 9 He will not always accuse, nor will He keep His anger forever. 10 He has not treated us according to our sins, or repaid us according to our iniquities. • 11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His mercy for those who fear Him. 12 As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. 13 As a father has compassion on his children, so ADONAI has compassion on those who fear Him.

Changing of Garments

Yom Kippur • 23 “Then Aaron shall come into the tent of meeting and shall take off the linen garments that he put on when he went into the Holy Place and shall leave them there. • 24 And he shall bathe his body in water in a holy place and put on his garments and come out and offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people and make atonement for himself and for the people. 25 And the fat of the sin offering he shall burn on the altar. • 26 And he who lets the goat go to Azazel shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp. 27 And the bull for the sin offering and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the Holy Place, shall be carried outside the camp. Their skin and their flesh and their dung shall be burned up with fire. 28 And he who burns them shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp.

Yom Kippur • This part of the text is here to explain a point of transition – once the service and the fast are over…. . • High Priest will change after he completes a Mikvah • The Priest who returns back from the release of the Goat of Azazel, must also complete a Mikvah. • All Olah and Chattat offering ashes must be removed from the camp. • The very next day, there will be a complete return to the daily offerings as were done before this day. • As we finish the reading of Yom Kippur, I want to end with the Day of the Lord:

The Day after the Final Yom Kippur • Joel 3: 1 “So it will be afterward, I will pour out My Ruach on all flesh: your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dreams, your young men will see visions. 2 “Also on the male and the female servants will I pour out My spirit in those days. 3 I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth— blood, fire and pillars of smoke. 4 The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood, before the great and awesome day of ADONAI comes. 5 Then all who call on ADONAI’s Name will escape, for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be rescue, as ADONAI has said, among the survivors whom ADONAI is calling. ”

Yom Kippur • In the beginning we learned that the Day of Atonement is where we demonstrate to our King our Love for others. • He connects 3 events, Yom Kippur, Shemitah, and Jubilee – to a day of freedom for the oppressed. • We are to observe with excitement and anticipation for the wonders he will show us in His appointed time. • Finally, every year it is a dress rehearsal for the return of our Messiah and King who will return riding on the clouds – Will we be one of the survivors He will call to be a witness on that day?

Aaronic Blessing • Hebrew: • Y'va-reh-ch'cha Adonai v'yeesh-m'reh-cha, Ya-air Adonai pa-nahv ay-leh-cha vee-choo-neh-ka, Yee-sa Adonai pa-nahv ay-leh-cha v'ya-same l'cha Shalom. In English: • The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.