Keeping the Day of Atonement

Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord? (Isaiah 58:5)

Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, even to me? (Zechariah 7:5)

And this shall be a statute for ever unto you: that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, ye shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all, whether it be one of your own country, or a stranger that sojourneth among you: (Leviticus 16:5)

A day for a man to afflict his soul. That is the Day of Atonement. And this shall be a statute for ever unto you: that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, ye shall afflict your souls… (Leviticus 16:29) Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls… (Leviticus 23:27) The reference in Zechariah to fasting and mourning in the seventh month must be to the fasting of the Day of Atonement, since that was the only fast in that month, which was otherwise full of festivals. The typology of the feast days point to Jesus return and eternity in paradise. Before this time comes a time of afflicting the soul: soul searching and repentance. The way we do that soul searching cannot be limited to outward displays: this is a critical principle. In the past people showed repentance by wearing itchy clothes and making their hair itchy. What about today? What do we do to show the world we are repentant today? Good things usually I would say, but we will go on next to look at what we should be doing. I know I am skipping a lot of cross references from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge for this verse, but the other ones are all for the words "to spread" and "an acceptable". I might go back to them later, but please, look them up yourself. I think I have gone over this verse (Isaiah 58:5) often enough, it  seems to climax the preceding verses without adding many new ideas. If you want to add something you can comment. If you want biblical evidence that we are living in the anti-typical Day of Atonement please feel free to contact me. Tomorrow we proceed to how to keep the Day of Atonement in our age.