Marian
Scriptures: Leviticus 16 Leviticus 23:26-32 Isaiah 53 Romans 9,10 and 11 Leviticus 17:11 Hebrews 7:27 Hebrews 9:12
As I write this devotion the Jewish people are fasting and praying. It is their annual festival known as YOM KIPPUR.
Until recent years I thought little about the Jewish roots of my Christian faith or the importance this plays in understanding Scripture more fully. Yet it is here, in our Jewish roots that we see Scripture open up, linking together Old and New Testament as one story – His Story. It is through these roots that we come to see the importance of the law and the prophets and how they relate to the birth, life, teaching, death and resurrection of our most precious and Holy Lord Jesus Christ.
Recently I was both shocked and saddened when a family member who professes to believe in Jesus announced that he gave up believing the Old Testament when he was 13. He added, “Surely Christians only believe the New Testament. The Old Testament is the Jewish faith and has nothing to do with the New Testament.”
My heart broke as his words spilled out and I wondered if he knew what Bible Jesus used if not the Old Testament! The Apostle Paul explains the importance of the Jewish people in God’s plan of redemption for the whole world in his letter to the Romans, Chapters 9, 10 and 11 – especially chapter 11. Well worth reading.
In our English language ’Yom’ translates to ‘Day’ and ‘Kippur’ to ‘ Atonement’. The name ‘Yom Kippur’ is based on the Torah verses, (Leviticus 23:26-27) “ADONAI spoke to Moses, saying: “However, the tenth day of this seventh month is Yom Kippur, a holy convocation to you, so you are to afflict yourselves. You are to bring an offering made by fire to ADONAI.” The literal translation of ‘kippurim’ is ‘cleansing’. Yom Kippur is the day when Jewish people atone for their misdeeds and become cleansed and purified.
So what does this mean for us today? As I continued my study I realised how God so often teaches us through pictures. The Day of Atonement laid out in Leviticus 16 is a powerful picture that points toward the sacrifice of our dear Saviour, Jesus Christ. Please take a moment to read that chapter and you will see how the priest first has to atone for his own sins. Instead of wearing his priestly robes, he wore a simple white cloth and the people would line his route to the tabernacle. Before he could atone for the sins of the people, he needed to atone for his own sin. This meant sacrificing a bull and taking some of the blood to sprinkle on the mercy seat in the Most Holy place. Following this, two goats were brought to him. One was sacrificed. The priest would take its blood and sprinkle this on the mercy seat for the sins of the people. Around the mercy seat were two golden cherubim which represented the judgement of God. When the blood was sprinkled, His justice was satisfied and His mercy released through the sacrifice. Thinking back to the garden of Eden, we see how God diverted the curse away from Adam and onto the ground. On the Day of Atonement God allowed the death sentence the people deserved to be passed onto the animal rather than leaving it with the people who had sinned.
Finally the live goat was presented to the priest. God instructed him to lay both hands on its head and confess the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites. As the priest prayed, naming specific sins, an act of transfer took place and the sins were removed from the people and lain upon the goat. This scape-goat was then sent into the wilderness by a man appointed to this task, and it was never seen again. The sins of the people had been removed for another year.
What a powerful picture this is in foreshadowing the coming of Jesus into the world to die as a living sacrifice for the sins of us all, not only for a year, but for all time! I would like to point us to some powerful passages of Scripture that encapsulate what our dear Saviour achieved upon the cross. You may like to look for others which are peppered throughout Scripture. Here are four:
Leviticus 17:11 “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life.”
Isaiah 53:5 “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was laid on him”
Hebrews 7:27 “He (Jesus) has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up Himself.”
Hebrews: 9:12 “He entered once for all into the holy place, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.”
“Love SO amazing SO divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.”
Prayer: Heavenly Father we come before You with hearts overflowing and tears of gratitude that Your Love was so immense toward us, even though we don’t deserve it, that You were willing to send Your own precious Son to atone for our sin.
When I survey the wondrous cross,
On which the Prince of Glory died.
My richest gain, I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.
AMEN
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