Day of Atonement, Lifetime of Mercy 9-20-10

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Steady my thoughts on Your name and center my spirit in Your Presence. … “This shall be a statute to you forever: In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall deny yourselves, and shall do no work, neither the citizen nor the alien who resides among you. For on this day of atonement shall be made for you, to cleanse you; from all your sins you shall be clean before the Lord” (Leviticus 16:29-30). Saturday was the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Under the Law of Moses it’s was the day that all sins were washed away in a day of national repentance, as the people humbled themselves before God and the high priest offered sacrifice for his sins and the sins of all the people. And that solemn day would lead into the days of the Feast of Tabernacles at the time of the harvest to begin five days later (v. 23:34). Their mourning be turned to dancing, their fasting turned to feasting. There’s something in the human soul that knows our sin against the will of God and knows our need for forgiveness by the mercy of God. And under the Old Covenant, with its precise rituals and ordinances to be followed to perfection, You made provision for the fulfillment of our human need for divine mercy through the sacrifice of the blood of a pure, spotless, and blameless animal by the high priest in the holiest place on the holiest day. And every Day of Atonement pointed to the Day of Your Atonement—the day You were both the high priest and the holy sacrifice. All the law of Moses, all the prophetic promises, all the physical rituals that speak of the spiritual realities were fulfilled in You (Luke 24:44). You are the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29). Just after Your death at the cross on the Day of Atonement, in perfect fulfillment of every law of the Old Covenant that none could ever satisfy by human works or human righteousness, the holy place of sacrifice at the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed. Just as You had prophesied, no stone was left upon another and no sacrifice has been offered by the high priest in that holy place since the year 70 AD to the present. There is no longer a need for the sacrifice of the blood of animals. Messiah has come, fulfilling the prophecies the One who would willingly suffer the penalty of our sins, once for all (Isaiah 53:4-12). You are our high priest; You are our perfect sacrifice—for Jew, for Gentile, for all (1 Peter 3:18). And as we humble ourselves before God to acknowledge our sin and our need for our Savior has who forever made our sacrifice, You continue to fulfill Your Word of Your Covenant, from the days of the generation of Moses through the generations of today that “from all your sins you shall be clean before the Lord” (Leviticus 16:30). “If we confess our sins, He who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). In Christ Jesus, our Messiah, Savior, and Lord, every day we entrust our lives to Your love, embracing the mercy of Your sacrifice, is our Day of Atonement. With clean hands and pure hearts, cleansed by the blood of the Lamb, You turn our mourning into dancing and our fasting into feasting in the joy of our forgiveness and send us into Your harvest. Thank You, God, for all the fasts and feasts of Your Covenant, fulfilled in Christ for all. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, please keep us in prayer in preparation for my time of ministry in Wales with Heather Butler and our team at gatherings we'll lead all across the country during our Encounter Wales revival campaign during the month of October. If you'd like to be on our interactive intercessory prayer team, please let me know and I'll get you on our email prayer team list. Thank you and God bless you! Subscribe for free by email to me at Messiah Ministries: MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord ... Ministering the Healing Love of God" www.messiah-ministries.org To order my books and our ministry resources or contribute to our ministry on-line: www.shop.messiah-ministries.org Messiah Ministries; 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 God bless you!