Morning by Morning, September 15 - Our “Day of Atonement”
Good morning, Lord Jesus. I welcome You here in my heart and every moment of my day. ...
On the Biblical calendar, tonight at sunset begins the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur in Hebrew, and the holiest day of the year under the Biblical rhythm of seasons and festivals of the Lord set out in the Old Testament.
“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 atonement shall be made for you, to cleanse you; from all your sins you shall be clean before the Lord” (Leviticus 16:29-30).
Under the Law of Moses it was the day that all sins were washed away in a national day of repentance, as the people humbled themselves before God and the high priest offered sacrifice for his sins and the sins of all the people. Then 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. 34). That’s when their mourning would be turned to dancing and their fasting would be 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.
In Your eternal plan, every Day of Atonement pointed to the Day of Your Atonement -- the day You were both our High Priest and our Holy Sacrifice.
All the law of Moses, all the Prophetic Promises of the Word of God, all the physical rituals that speak of the spiritual realities were fulfilled in You (Luke 24:44). You are the Lamb of God who has forever taken away the sins of the world (John 1:29).
The ultimate Day of Atonement took place on the Day of the Cross. Your Sacrifice perfectly fulfilled of every law of the Old Covenant, that none of us could ever satisfy by human works or human righteousness. And after You paid the price for our sins “once for all,” the temple at the holy place of sacrifice by the high priest on the Day of Atonement each year was completely destroyed (Hebrews 10:10). Just as You had prophesied, no stone was left upon another; and no sacrifice has been offered by any 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). “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of (us) are one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). “Christ is all and in all” (Colossians 3:11). “For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body -- Jews or Greeks, slaves or free -- and we were all made to drink of one Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:13).
So as we humble ourselves before God -- this day and every day -- honestly acknowledging our sin and our need for our Savior has who forever made our sacrifice, You continue to fulfill Your Word of forgiveness through Your Covenant of mercy. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:8-9).
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 Your forgiveness! Then You send us into Your harvest. Thank You, Lord, for all the fasts and feasts of Your Covenant, now fulfilled in Christ for us all. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays
My friend, may you be filled with joy, forgiven and free, as you embrace all our Messiah and Perfect Sacrifice has done for us through His Atonement, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!
Tommy & Rocio Hays | Messiah Ministries
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412 S. Adams Street #148
Fredericksburg, Texas 78624
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