The Israelites who were emancipated from Egypt walked the path of the desert. God called Moses onto Mount Sinai in order to give the necessary laws to the people. After Moses fasted for forty days, he came down from the mountain with the Ten Commandments which were written by God Himself.

On the other hand, the people at the foot of the mountain thought that Moses died, seeing that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain. So they made a golden idol in the shape of a calf and worshiped before it, saying that they needed gods to go before them. Coming down from Mount Sinai, Moses saw this and he threw the tablets to the ground and broke them to pieces. Three thousand people were killed by God’s anger.

The Israelites deeply regretted their behavior, and repented before God with earnest hearts. As a result of the repentance, God granted them the Ten Commandments once again. The fact that God gave the Ten Commandments a second time meant that God forgave the people’s sins in His grace.

On the tenth day of the seventh month by the sacred calendar, Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments given a second time.

God appointed this day as the Day of Atonement on which the sin people had committed for a year could be forgiven, and He made this day celebrated for the generations to come. And also God let the trumpet blast from ten days before the Day of Atonement so that the people might not forget their sins and repent deeply, bringing their sins home to them. That day was the 1st day of the seventh month by the sacred calendar―the Feast of Trumpets.

The Feast of Trumpets 2012

ⓒ 2012 WATV

ⓒ 2012 WATV

On September 16 (the 1st day of the seventh month by the sacred calendar), the Feast of Trumpets which is the beginning of the autumn feast was celebrated in the Church of God worldwide.

Mother gave thanks to Father for allowing us to keep the long-awaited autumn feast which is the last among the three times of feasts, and prayed that we would blow the trumpet calling for repentance of the whole world so that everyone could receive atonement from God. And She also prayed earnestly that the children would confess every sin they had committed in heaven and on the earth enough to go to the kingdom of heaven by bearing the fruit of repentance with pure spirits.

The most essential meaning of the Feast of Trumpets is “repentance.” General Pastor Kim Joo-cheol preached that the most necessary thing for a sinner, the most urgent thing in this age when the kingdom of heaven is very near, and the purpose of Jesus’ coming was “repentance.” He explained the parable of the prodigal son (Lk 15:11-24), saying, “Only when we repent, can we return into the arms of Heavenly Parents and to the kingdom of heaven, our home country.”

And he continued, “The person who repents completely is able to turn other people to the way of repentance and lead them to Father and Mother. Let’s go to Samaria and to the ends of the earth and preach the gospel so as to lead the whole world to repentance” (2 Ti 4:1-5).

After the worship service, Mother said, “Let us pray a prayer of repentance with all our heart and with earnestness, for ten days till the Day of Atonement,” and blessed the children worldwide to produce fruit in keeping with repentance enough to stand in front of Father in a holy and godly appearance.

From this day to the Day of Atonement, the worship service of the Prayer Week for the Day of Atonement, when we confess our sins and faults in the past, was offered both in the early morning and in the evening. Meditating on the meaning of the feast, the members pressed on prayer more devoutly and had the time of repentance from the heart.

The Day of Atonement 2012

ⓒ 2012 WATV

On September 25 (the 10th day of the seventh month by the sacred calendar), there came the Day of Atonement on which the grace of atonement was promised. The members who had offered the prayer of repentance with all their heart for ten days came to Zion with solemn hearts.

Mother offered the prayer of thanks to Father for having established the feast for the children who could not help but receive the punishment of death due to the grave sins that they had committed in heaven and on the earth, and She asked Him to smell the pleasing aroma of repentance that the children offered earnestly with the heart of grief. In addition, encouraging the children who had offered the prayer of repentance both in the morning and in the evening, She said, “This day, Father clothes us with purity in order to lead sinners to the kingdom of heaven. Since all our sins are forgiven as promised, let us not repeat the sins anymore but save even one more soul with earnestness, so that we can become the children of love, who give joy to Father.”

On the occasion of the Day of Atonement, General Pastor Kim Joo-cheol preached about the will of God and His holy sacrifice hidden in the ceremony of the Day of Atonement in the old covenant.

In the days of the old covenant, when people committed sins, they offered burnt offerings in the temple with female lambs or female goats as sin offerings. The Day of Atonement was a day when the high priest entered the Most Holy Place only once a year and made atonement. At this time, lots were cast for the two male goats―one for a sin offering to God, and the other for the scapegoat representing the devil. The high priest put all the sins of the people, which the temple had taken charge of for a year, on the scapegoat and sent it into the desert. This represents that Christ, the temple, temporarily takes charge of the sins we commit in the ordinary life, and then He hands them over to the source of the sin, the devil, according to the regulation of the feast (Leviticus 16).

The place where the grace of the atonement was finally accomplished is “the Most Holy Place.” Pastor Kim Joo-cheol said, “The Most Holy Place, which Christ entered at once for the forgiveness of all human beings, represents Heavenly Jerusalem Mother,” and emphasized, “Following Christ, we must go before Jerusalem Mother, the reality of the Most Holy Place, to receive the complete forgiveness of sins” (Heb 10:19-20; Heb 6:17-20; Rev 21:9-22; Gal 4:26). And he also stressed the point that we must not go close to sin but lead all the people in the world to Elohim God, thinking of Father and Mother who became the reality of the sin offering on the altar of burnt offering in order to ransom the sins of children without avoiding all sorts of hardships.

The members, who put on a new spirit, were determined to live a life of repentance by saving souls, and hoped that the way of glory would be opened soon so that all the people in the world could come to Heavenly Mother and repent.

ⓒ 2012 WATV