“You shall afflict your souls and do no work at all;…For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that you shall be clean from all your sins before the LORD.” Lev. 16:29-30. They were to do no work at all, it was to be a sabbath of solemn rest and they were to fast for 25 hours. Fasting is always associated with prayer, why? It humbles the soul, weakens the knees and prepares man’s heart for him to enter into God’s presence and receive His message. This day they will be made clean, v.30 (taher) ceremonially clean, purified “from all their sins.”

In Ezra 8:21-23 it says they, “afflicted their souls” and, “proclaimed a fast” v.23. They fasted and entreated the LORD and He answered their prayer, Isa. 58:5. There are two personal requirements in our text for atonement: 1 – Afflict your souls; 2 – Do no work at all. The second one is easy for most of us, it’s the first one we have trouble with, “Afflict your soul” (ana – humble, abase, ravish, bow down) your (nefesh – soul, life force, breath, the immaterial part of a person, the seat of emotion and desire, the heart-soul-mind, the real YOU). The ‘Day of Atonement’ was the most important day in the Jewish calendar. It is sometimes called, “The Day” or “Yom Kippur.” It is a “Sabbath of Rest,” or a “Sabbath of Sabbaths.” Only on that day did the high priest enter into the Holy of Holies, Ex. 30:10; Heb. 9:7-8, and not without blood to make atonement for himself and the people of Israel. The priest was to enter three times into the ‘Holy of Holies’ and sprinkle the blood seven times. It was also on that day that the people were to afflict their souls to humble themselves before their God. In Matt. 27:50-51 the moment Yeshua/Jesus yielded up His Spirit willingly to His Father the temple veil was rent, torn from top to bottom. Not neatly folded up and put away to be used another day but torn from top to bottom rendering it useless and opening the ‘Holy of Holies’ for immediate access for any and all who would enter. Heb. 10:19-20 says, “Having therefore, brethren boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus; By a new and living way, which He has consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say His flesh;” We now can enter into the Holiest or the ‘Holy of Holies’ boldly because of the blood of God’s supreme sacrifice, His pure, spotless Son, “The  Lamb of God.”

He has given us a new and living way Heb. 10:20, through the veil of His flesh, and He has become our High Priest, sitting on the right hand of God ever living to make intercession for us Heb. 7:25; Oh my friend, a new and living way, not a dead bloodless sacrifice, ‘The Lamb of God’ has made atonement once and for all for us and He is alive! The cross couldn’t keep Him, the grave couldn’t hold Him, hell didn’t want Him and heaven couldn’t wait for Him! Our prayer today is not one of ‘Atonement’ but one of ‘Cleansing’ one of having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, one of having our bodies washed with pure water, Heb. 10:22. Our atonement was made on Calvary 2,000 years ago on an old rugged cross, way up on a hill where they took our Jesus whom they couldn’t kill. Our prayer for atonement happened the day we cried out to Him for salvation, for me it was August 27th, 1972, 12:30 pm, 220 Shore Drive, Guilford, CT, I was sitting in a green chair looking out at the waves on a lake on a beautiful summer day when I cried from my heart to the heart of God, “LORD save me!” And He reached down from His throne in heaven and saved my sorry soul forever! When was your prayer for atonement? When did you cry out to God to save you, three words that changed your eternal destiny forever? “LORD save me!” “LORD remember me!” “Lord help me!” “LORD redeem me!” Spiritual birth and physical birth have many things in common one of which is, when you are born it’s a done deal, there is no going back. You can’t change your mind, and crawl back into the womb and say, “Forget it!” Neither can you change your mind once you are ‘Born Again!’ Once saved, always saved, there is no going back, no refunds, no returns, it’s a done deal! However, you are going to get dirty on the road called life and you have to stop along the way and wash up. Yeshua/Jesus was washing the disciples feet in the upper room in John 13 including Judas when Peter said, “Do my whole body Lord!” v.9. When Jesus said, “He that is washed (louo – bathed) needs not except to wash (nipto – wash off, rinse) his feet.” Picture in your mind a man returning to his home from a public bath house, his feet would become dirty and require cleansing not his body. So the believer is cleansed from all sin, “Once for all” Heb. 10:1-12, but he needs to bring his daily defilement before God so he might abide in unbroken fellowship with the Father and the Son, I John 1:1-10. In the O.T. the order of approach to God was the brazen altar/sacrifice, the laver/cleansing, and the holy place/access; In the N.T. the order is Calvary/sacrifice, confession/cleansing, then His presence/access.

We still need to afflict our souls with fasting for Divine guidance, Jud. 20:26-28; and for victory over temptation, Matt. 4:1-11 and we will talk more about this again later. Fasting accompanies Prayer, Luke 2:37; Confession Neh. 9:1-2; Mourning Joel 2:12; and Humiliation Neh. 9:1. Fasting humbles man’s soul, weakens his knees and prepares his heart for the message God has for him to receive and shows God that he is serious about what he is involved in, especially knowing God’s will in a particular matter. If you want to see the difference between man’s fast and God’s fast, study Isaiah 58 some time, but until then we will see you, “…Between The Lines…”

“The Prayer For Atonement” – ‘Lev. 16:29-31’ 1/11/13