Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement is celebrated on Tishri 10th. The holiday officially will be the 10th day after Yom Teruah/Feast of Trumpets. The new moon was declared and observed on Tishri 1 (Hebrew calendar) after sunset on Tuesday, September 11, 2018 (Gregorian calendar).
Please note there are discrepancies in marking time. Secular calendars state these Hebrew appointments are two days earlier than the identification of the new moon and subsequent holidays. Secular calendars are mathematical calculations. God says to observe for a new moon as a starting point. There is at least a two or three day difference depending on the observation of the new moon by two witnesses. There is man’s way and there is God’s way. They are not the same.
There is the difference of calendars. There is a Hebrew calendar and there is the western Gregorian calendar.
These dates do not take Metonic cycles into account. Some years have 13 months in a Hebrew calendar. In a 19 year cycle, 7 years have 13 months to bring the calendar back into accuracy and balance.
Some think the seventh month of Tishri (Hebrew calendar) does not start until October (Gregorian calendar) in 2018 because the event does not take place after the Fall Equinox.
Anybody confused yet???
This is why date setters and outlandish predictions for whatever the event may be are totally defeated across time. Humanity can not agree on how to mark time. Humanity can not accurately mark time when instructed by God Himself.
ANY human being on earth who claims to know the exact date of whatever is simply full of hot air and at direct odds with Jesus Christ Himself.
Matthew 24:36 But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. -Jesus
The author’s point is this. Take these dates with a grain of salt. People are making a good faith effort to be accurate. But there is no consensus opinion regarding exact accuracy, yet everyone claims to be right. “Listen to me because I know.” And those who disagree are in error… Really???
So… in 2018, Yom Kippur/Day of Atonement is effectively Thursday, September 20 on our Gregorian calendar.
The Day of Atonement is viewed as the holiest day of Judaism. The day is a Sabbath of rest. Yom Kippur is the only appointment a fast is required. The appointment begins at sun down. It is the last day of the 40 day period of Teshuvah. See Leviticus 16 for details of Yom Kippur/Day of Atonement.
The 10 days between Rosh Hashanah/Feast of Trumpets and Yom Kippur are known as the “Days of Awe”. These are to be 10 days of repentance. The idea is to have serious introspection of one’s life and conduct relative to God’s commandments. Review the sins of the past year and seek to repent. If one has sinned against another, find the person and make amends.
Tradition (not found in the Bible) says God looks in the “books” to determine who lives for the next year. Who will have a good life? Who will have a bad life? These 10 days allow for a chance to change.
Ultimately, no one person is going to pay or atone for their sins to a holy and just God. That’s where Jesus Christ enters the picture. He is the high priest of Leviticus 16.
Hebrews 9:11-14 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
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