Yom Kippur 5787 begins at sundown Sunday, September 20, 2026, and concludes at nightfall Monday, September 21. In Jewish tradition, it is the holiest and most solemn day of the year and centers on repentance and atonement. It is the culmination of the Ten Days of Awe, a sacred season that calls us to stop, examine our hearts, repent, and return to God.
Yom Kippur is not simply about a change of calendar.
It is about a change of heart.
It is a divine invitation to come into the light, to deal honestly with what is hidden, and to allow God to cleanse what we cannot cleanse ourselves.
The biblical pattern of Yom Kippur was centered around atonement, cleansing, confession, sacrifice, and holiness. Leviticus 16 describes the High Priest entering the Holy of Holies and making atonement for himself and the people.
For those of us who follow Jesus, these ancient patterns point us toward the greater reality of Christ and His finished work of redemption. The sacrifice is no longer something we accomplish to earn forgiveness. Christ has made the way.
But grace does not make holiness irrelevant. Grace calls us into holiness.
Yom Kippur speaks so powerfully to us today. There are moments when we need more than a new beginning, we need a holy reset. We need to allow God to search our hearts and reveal what we have tolerated, excused, carried, or concealed.
We cannot prepare the way for what God wants to do while refusing to deal with what He is asking us to surrender.
Alignment precedes alleviation.
Preparation precedes visitation.
And private posture affects public position.
The greatest awakening may begin not with what happens around us, but with what happens within us.
Yom Kippur reminds us that repentance is not weakness. It is an invitation to restoration.
It is not condemnation. It is mercy.
It is not merely looking backward at what went wrong. It is turning our hearts forward toward what God desires to redeem.
As I’ve often said, we cannot change the past, but the decisions we make each day help shape our future.
So today, perhaps the question is not simply, “What do I need God to do for me?” Perhaps it is: “What is God asking me to surrender to Him?
What needs to be confessed?
What needs to be forgiven?
What relationship needs reconciliation?
What offense needs to be released?
What compromise needs to be confronted?
What wound needs to be surrendered?
What distraction needs to be removed?
What altar needs to be repaired?
And what part of our lives needs to be brought back into alignment with the heart and purposes of God?
Yom Kippur is a call to holiness.
Not holiness as religious performance, but holiness as wholehearted surrender.
It is a call to return.
A call to remember the seriousness of sin and the greatness of mercy.
A call to prepare our hearts for what God wants to do next.
As we enter this sacred day, may we not simply mark Yom Kippur on a calendar.
May we allow its message to mark our hearts.
May the Lord search us, cleanse us, restore us, and realign us.
May He remove whatever hinders our obedience and revive whatever has grown dormant.
And may our repentance produce not merely sorrow over the past, but transformation for the future.
Because the goal is not simply to leave Yom Kippur feeling forgiven.
The goal is to leave changed. And ready to Be, Bring, and Broadcast the Gospel in the days ahead.
This is God’s appointed reset.
This is a time for holiness.
This is a time for awakening.