10 Etanim- the 7-th month

The tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. Hold a sacred assembly and deny yourselves, and present an offering made to Jehovah by fire (…), Lev. 23:27-32. In Jom Teruach the Book is open and judgment is delivered. Then we have ten days of threat. Can anything change the delivered judgment? Jom Kippur is the last day, when the judgment can be changed.

The Book of Jonah tells about the prophet who adjudicated Nineveh, the capitol of Assyria, the most powerful kingdom on the earth in that days, full of violation, idolatry and all ungodliness. Jonah, who at the beginning didn`t want to go to Nineveh after God`s persuasion (stay in the belly of the fish), he got there finally and preached the prophetic word that in forty days Nineveh is going to be destroyed. After hearing the judgment- Nineveh fasted and repented. As a result it wasn`t judged.

Isaiah 58:1-12, Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to lose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? There is a great power in repentance. When we admit our sins and repent. Fast helps us in that. Fast doesn`t change God, but it softens our hearts when they are hardened and makes us more open and sensitive for the spiritual world. There are things which cannot be broken through until we begin to fast. Jom Kippur is the day of total fast.

Jonah was a sign: he spent in the belly of the fish three days and three nights, like Jesus who was in the hell for three days and three nights, A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah is here, Mt. 12:38-41. Thanks to Jesus and His work not only one metropolis can be rescued, but everyone who believes in Him. That`s why He is greater than Jonah.

Lev.16, tells that once a year, just in the Day of Atonement, the High Priest- after purifying himself- entered the Most Holy Place in the Temple. There was the Covenant Ark, where Shekinah lived- the Presence of God, with the blood of goat and bull to make an atonement for the sins of Israel. Through this sacrifice Israel became righteous before God and then God could answer their prayers.

Hebr. 9:11-28, When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man- made, that is to say, not a part of this creation. He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but He entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. (…)How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our conscience from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant (…). Jesus cleaned things on earth and in heaven.

2 Cor. 5:14-21, we implore you on Christ`s behalf to reconcile with God while there is still time. Everything God has to do, He had already done. Everyone individually makes a decision today to receive Him or to reject Him.