As we continue our journey through the Fall Holy Days, we are in the midst of the Ten Days of Awe between Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur. This is the time of year when we think deeply about our covenant relationship with God, confessing sins to bring restoration to ourselves, our congregation, and the world. Prophetically, this time of year points to the return of Yeshua, the salvation of Israel, and the restoration of the world. This means that when Yeshua returns there will be a reversal of fortune and the vast majority of Jewish people who are alive at that time will embrace Yeshua, as well as the people groups of the world. Certainly, there will be a judgment at that time as the Scriptures teach, but in the end Yeshua will be ruling from a restored Jerusalem.
Peace, love, and morality will then reign in the world. In one sense, the Day of Atonement is “fulfilled when each of us embraces Yeshua as the Messiah.” As we walk through these days, may our focus be on peace, love, and morality among ourselves and the world around us. May we influence the world with the light of Messiah.
In our services for Yom Kippur, we engage in “Living Yizkor.” Traditionally, “Yizkor” (“remembrance”) is the time when we remember our deceased loved ones. We are not praying for their salvation (no purgatory!), but remembering them well. The first line of our liturgy for “Living Yizkor,” a Messianic adaptation of the traditional Yizkor, reminds us that now is the time to follow Yeshua. We read: “It is appointed for people to die once and after this comes judgment. We give thanks to You today, Adonai, for sending Messiah Yeshua to be the atonement for our sins.” This is true today and it will be true when Yeshua returns. Therefore, as part of our Living Yizkor, we intercede for our living relatives and friends and the world.
We pray that in the tough times in which we live, people will turn to the Lord. We not only pray for ourselves and our own lives but the lives of others. We are thankful that we can live in the presence of the future to a degree, and influence the world today with the light of Messiah. During this week, let us intercede for Israel and the Jewish people around the world who are desperate for light like in no other period in our lifetime. Let us intercede for our family and friends in whatever ways are needed.
In the New Covenant Scriptures, 1 Peter 2:9–12 sums up this important ministry of all Messiah followers. We all enter into the calling of Israel when we come under the Kingship of the King of Israel: “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the One who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. Once you were ‘not a people,’ but now you are ‘God’s people.’ You were shown ‘no mercy,’ but now you have been shown ‘mercy.’” As a priestly people, may we take time this week to pray for this world to turn to the living God!
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Howard
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