Yom Kippur/The Day of Atonement
Today thousands of Jews around the world are celebrating Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur simply means "The Day of Atonement" (Yom is the Hebrew word for "day" and Kippur is the Hebrew word for "atonement"). Christians ought to be well aware of Yom Kippur. Today, like every day, we ought to celebrate THE day of atonement.I have two Yom Kippur encouragements for us this year:#1: Soak yourself in the reality that THE day of atonement happened a long time ago, nearly 2,000 years ago. Nearly 2,000 years ago on a cross standing on small hill called Calvary, outside the city gates of Jerusalem, Jesus the pure and innocent Messiah bore the sins of Jews and Gentiles alike.Instead of the high priest sacrificing a goat as a sin offering on the mercy seat and instead of the high priest confessing the sins of Israel over a scapegoat that was sent out into the wilderness, on THE day of atonement, God the Father had his sinless Son-Messiah sacrficed on a cross. If you don't have the time to read Leviticus 16 today and to see how Jesus has brought the day of atonement to climax, at least read the following verses, understanding that long ago Jesus took on the role of the scapegoat:
And Aaron (the High Priest) shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat (now, Jesus Christ), and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins. And he shall put them on the head of the goat and sent it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness. The goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area, and he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness. Leviticus 16:21-22
My Christian friends, see what a Savior we have! See that roughly 1,400 years after this first Day of Atonement was celebrated in the wilderness, Jesus the Messiah had the sins of all nations confessed over his head as he hung on a cross in the wilderness. See that we no longer need to carry out the ritual of an annual Day of Atonement because Jesus fulfilled and once and for all carried out all that Leviticus 16 was looking forward to.Know that when you confess sin in your life this week, it is all being confessed over the head of Jesus.#2: Pray for your Jewish neighbors and friends who do not believe that Jesus the Messiah has already come. Apart from Jesus the Messiah there is no atonement for sin. Pray for your Jewish friends. Pray that they would know the one over whose head they can confess all their sins.