Rabbi Schneider - A Foreshadowing
The message that I have to bring to you today, beloved ones, is one of the most important messages you'll ever hear in your life, whether you hear it from me or somebody else. The content of today's teaching is what separates your faith in Jesus from every other supposed pathway to God that has ever been propagated from the history of the beginning of the world until the present time. The thing that separates our faith in Messiah Yeshua from every other supposed pathway to God is the blood of Jesus Christ. See, the Torah tells us in the book of Leviticus chapter 17, verse 11, "That the life of the flesh is in the blood. And I've given it to you on the altar," saith Yahweh, "to make an atonement for your soul. For it's the blood by reason of its life that makes atonement".
We are focusing today on the holiest day in God's sacred calendar called Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement. I'm going to the Book of Leviticus chapter 23, and I'm reading verse 26. "The LORD spoke to Moshe or Moses, saying, 'On exactly the tenth day of the seventh month is the day of atonement...'"
I want to encourage you to go back and watch the other episodes in this series where I've laid the foundation for all these appointed days of the Lord that take place during the fall season. I talked about God's sacred calendar. I talked about the first of the holy days in the fall, Rosh Hashanah or the Feast of Trumpets. I talked about how the Feast of Trumpets is a foreshadow of the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. Ten days from the Feast of Trumpets that happens on the first day of the seventh month on God's sacred calendar called the month of Tishrei, ten days into the month lands on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. "Yom" is the Hebrew word for "day". "Kippur" is "the day of covering". It's Yom Kippur or the day of covering-the day that the Lord covers the sins of His people through a blood atonement.
Now, during the days that the Hebrew scriptures were written before Jesus came, every year the high priest would go into the Holy of Holies, the most sacred space in the earth that first existed in the tabernacle, and then later was in the temple. Once the tabernacle entered the promised land, the tabernacle was built into a permanent structure called the temple. And in the very back of the temple or the tabernacle was a sacred space called the Holy of Holies. Inside the sacred space was an object called the Ark of the Covenant. It was laid over with gold. And inside the Ark of the Covenant were the ten commandments, the tablets that the Lord wrote on with His finger that contain the words that shape Western culture and the world's morality.
And on Yom Kippur, the high priests would bring in the blood of a bull and a goat. He would then take that blood and pour it on top of the Ark of the Covenant where the ten commandments were housed. And then when the Lord saw the blood on top of the Ark of the Covenant, which the New Testament refers to in the book of Hebrews as the mercy seat... In other words, the top of the Ark of the Covenant where the blood was poured was called the mercy seat. When the Lord saw the blood poured out, He overlooked the sins of Israel for the year. That was simply this ritual that took place year after year on Yom Kippur where the high priests brought in the blood. That was simply a shadow of what would ultimately accomplish the salvation of God's people through the forgiveness of their sin, through the blood of Yeshua Hamashiach.
That's why at Passover the last meal that Jesus celebrated with His disciples before going to the cross, Jesus took the Passover wine and He said to His disciples, "This is the blood of the covenant shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins". He was tying it back to Yom Kippur and was pointing to the fact that His blood would once and for all solve humanity's problem of sin. This is what separates your faith in Jesus from every other faith in the world. There is no other message in the earth that promises forgiveness for sin through a blood atonement. All the other religions of the world somehow create a philosophy in which if you're a good enough person you'll go to heaven.
Christianity, beloved one, teaches no such thing. Our faith teaches us that the wages of sin is death, and every man is guilty of sin. That no man goes to heaven because his good deeds supposedly outweighed his bad deeds. No. The Bible says, "The soul that sins, it shall die". That there's no one on the planet that is righteous before a holy God because of their outstanding lifestyle. Rather, what the New Testament teaches is that all men are guilty before their Creator because of not only the things that they've done but because of the things that we've thought and the words that we've said, those things that have proceeded from our life, that are not in harmony with God's Spirit. Man is separated from God and guilty before Him.
This is why Paul, in his letter to the Romans, begins his gospel by explaining that man is guilty and that there's only one remedy and that's the blood of Jesus. Yom Kippur is the foreshadow in the Hebrew Scriptures that's pointing to Jesus. That's why much of the book of Hebrews in the Brit Chadasha, the New Testament, tells us that Jesus fulfilled this holy day called, once again, Yom Kippur. The blood of Jesus is the answer. That's why the book of Revelation tells us that those that are going to heaven go to heaven because they overcame by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony. This is why Jesus said, "Unless you eat my flesh, receive me into your life," and he said, "Drink my blood, you have no life in yourself".
I want to say again, beloved, do not be deceived. I know that you've probably met many people in your life that are not believers in Jesus, they're not Christian people. And you look at them and you think, "But look how good of a person they are. Look how caring they are. Look how beautiful they are. Look how good of a spirit they have". And you think, "God wouldn't send them to hell". We might even think, "They're a better person than I am". We might think, "Wow, they're a better person than most of the Christians that I know". But I want you to know, beloved ones, there is no way to heaven but through the blood of Jesus. We've all been created in God's image. God has put His goodness inside us. We're tainted by sin but still we can see the glory and the beauty of God in all individuals. We can see the beauty in their eyes. We can see at times the caring spirit, but even animals care for their young, right?
I mean, think about a bear. A bear does not have moral consciousness like we do. But even a bear will take care of her young. The imprint of the Creator is in His creation. But just because as human beings that have been created in God's image we're able to display some of God's glory and some of God's goodness simply because we're created in His image, that doesn't mean we're going to heaven. The Bible teaches us instead, We all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And that there's only one remedy by which men could be saved, and that is the person of Jesus.
And this is why the Day of Atonement is so important for you to understand. Because when your faith is rooted in the Hebrew Bible, when your faith in the risen Yeshua HaMashiach, the Son of Man that was prophesied about by the prophet Daniel, when your faith is first rooted in the Hebrew Bible, then you will absolutely have the assurance that's necessary for you to know that Jesus' words are true when He says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man come unto the Father but through me". And what we learn through studying the Hebrew Bible, in particularly today the Day of Atonement, is that no man can stand in God's presence blameless outside of a blood atonement.
This is why, again, my favorite scripture in the Hebrew Bible, Leviticus 17:11, "The life of the flesh," the LORD saith, "is in the blood. And I've given to you on the altar to make an atonement for your soul. For it's the blood by reason of its life that makes atonement". Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin. So regardless of what I see with my eyes... When I see moral people that are not believers in Jesus, I don't allow myself to be deceived. I don't allow myself to think, "Well, maybe you don't have to believe in Jesus to go to heaven. Maybe all paths lead to the same place". Whenever I started thinking thoughts like that, if I'm tempted because I see good people, caring people, good neighbors, I always bring myself back to the blood of Jesus, and I say, "No, the blood of Yeshua is the only answer".
The Bible tells us in the book of Ephesians, chapter 1, verse 7, "In Him, in Yeshua we have redemption through His blood". In Him we have redemption through His blood. The word redemption, beloved one, carries the idea of being bought. God bought us through the blood of Jesus. "We've been purchased," the Scripture says, "for the Father through the blood of the Lamb". The Father sent Yeshua into the world to purchase you, if you're a believer in Him, through His blood. Again, without the shedding of blood, there's no remission of sin. So in order for you to be brought to the Father, in order for you to be able to stand before the Father holy and blameless, you have to have the blood of Jesus that has been paid and is paid for your sin.
Jesus redeemed us. He bought us for the Father. But I want you to consider this: even though the blood of Jesus purchased us for the Father in the mystery of the Lord, there's still required from you and I a decision of our will. In other words, we're the ones that have to decide to put our faith in Jesus. And when we put our faith in Jesus, His blood is applied to our life and in an instant we're saved. So let me say it again. The blood of Jesus Yeshua purchased us for the Father. In Him we have redemption through His blood. But it's not enough simply that Jesus died and shed His blood for our sin. We have to take a step towards Him in faith, receive Him into our life. And when we do, His blood covers us and at that point that transaction is made, we are now in the Father, holy and blameless.
I like to compare it to what happened at Passover. We read about in the Torah, in the Hebrew Bible every Israelite family had to take a lamb. And then they took the lamb, they put the lamb to death. And then they took the blood of that lamb, listen now, gathered the blood of the Lamb. We're going back 3,500 years ago in Egypt when Israel was being redeemed out of Egypt by the Father. Every Israelite family took that lamb, put the lamb to death, then they took the blood of that lamb, gathered it in a basin.
But listen now, the fact that the lamb was put to death wasn't enough to save them. The fact that the blood was in the basin wasn't enough to save them. Something more was required. Every Israelite family now had to take the blood that was in the basin and apply it over the doorpost and lentils of their home. And it wasn't until the individual Israelite family took the blood of the Lamb, brought it to their own home where they lived and put it over the doorpost and lintels of their home and then went inside, it wasn't until that happened, that they were saved and spared from the wrath of God that moved through Egypt that night. In the same way, in the same way, it's not enough just that Jesus died on the cross. We now have to take the blood of Jesus over our life and apply it to ourselves by faith. We need to make a decision, beloved one, to receive Him personally.
The Day of Atonement, once again, finds its climax in the person of Yeshua of Nazareth. And not only has Jesus' blood redeemed us, but furthermore, the blood of Yeshua cleanses us. One thing is legal, redemption is legal, but the blood of Jesus continues to flow. If you can imagine a waterfall, if you ever seen like a picture of Niagara Falls, or some other great waterfall, the water just continuously, powerfully, it just continues to pour down and pour down and pour down and pour down so powerfully, so majestic. That's the way the blood of Jesus is. It's living. It's continually being poured out over our life. And as we partner with the Lord, as we partner with Hashem through our faith and through our obedience to His Word, what happens is the blood of Jesus that's continually being poured over our lives in a living active way, even as that water is going over a waterfalls, cleanses us. This is present time, a present reality, where you and I are being changed day to day by the Spirit through the blood of Jesus.
So we read, for example, in the book of 1 John 1:7 these words. "But if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin". And I love that reality, because it's not just a legal reality. It's an experiential, beloved one, reality. And if you're like me, you'll notice that as you age you get cleaner and cleaner. We still are aware of our sin. We're still repenting because repentance keeps on going to a deeper and deeper level as we discover who God is and how He wants us to live.
Just as a quick side note, to give you an idea of this, did you know that it's a sin not to be happy? A lot of us we think a God is so austere, so powerful. But you know what? It's a sin not to be happy. God actually punished Israel because they didn't rejoice before Him for all the good things He had done. You might think, "Oh, I'm not committing adultery, you know, I'm not cheating on my tax return, I'm not doing this, I'm not doing that, therefore, I'm righteous before the Lord". And you might be righteous before the Lord as it relates to your tax return and not committing adultery, but you might be a sourpuss. And you might have just not a good attitude.
Do you know what? There is sin in your soul for not living in a spirit of joy. The point that I'm making is the blood of Jesus cleanses us and cleanses us. And the deeper we go with the Lord, the more He shows us the areas in our life that need adjustment. I like to call it a soul adjustment. The blood of Jesus continues to wash us and transform us by the act of Spirit of God in our life. And then lastly, today I want to talk about the fact that the blood of Jesus justifies you. This is related to the other concept that I shared. But you know, you're gonna stand before the Lord, beloved, even as we're standing in His presence, you and I, right now as this broadcast is proceeding.
And you know what? We're justified in Him through the blood of Jesus. What does that mean? It means this. It's true that when you look at your life and you look at your past, you realize that you're guilty, you realize that there's things that you said that you knew were gonna hurt people. You intentionally said things to hurt somebody. And some of you have said terrible things to people. But you know what? You're justified. The blood of Jesus has paid for your sin and my sin. There are things in all our life that we look back at and we cringe the way that we've treated other people at times, the things that we've done, the bad decisions we've made, the exploits that we went in when we were young. We look back we just cringe. But you know what? When you stand before Jesus your sins will have been revealed to you as being removed as far as the east is from the west. You are justified, beloved one, because of the blood of the Lamb.