The Day of Atonement
The Day of Atonement for Christians is better known as Yom Kippur to the Jews. It is the most important day of the year for the Jewish people. Sometimes referred to as “The Sabbath of Sabbaths”.
Some Jews do charitable work or give donations leading up to this day as a way of seeking God’s forgiveness and to atone for their sins. They do this between trumpets and atonement, and they know it as the days of awe. They hope, by doing good deeds and asking for forgiveness, their names will end up in the “book of life”. Today, we would call this “Salvation by Works”.
Israel has always been looking for a Messiah, someone to deliver them from their enemies. But when He came, they did not recognise Him. The one thing they failed to see was the primary reason the Messiah came the first time was to defeat an enemy that Israel did not understand. That enemy was sin. The one thing that made all of humanity an enemy of God.
Yom Kippur was temporary, and it was also a clear pointer to Jesus. It was to remain in place forever, or, until the completion of the age, as we see in Heb 9:23-26.
Heb 9:25 Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own.
Heb 9:26 Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.
The Good News
Here is the good news for Yom Kippur: Jesus the Messiah has put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. In the words of Jesus Christ himself. “It is finished”.
Jesus appeared once to defeat sin and the works of Satan. He is so much more than the Messiah Israel was waiting for. He is the temple, the Passover lamb, the sacrificed goat, the high priest, the prophet, and the King of kings and Lord of lords.
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