Rabbi Schneider - Have You Accepted God's Mercy?
Are you sensing that something is happening in the spiritual atmosphere that surrounds us? Beloved, we are now in the midst of the fall holy season. On the last broadcast, I talked with you about the first in the Fall Holy Days, The Feast of Trumpets, Yom Teruah. We're focusing today on the second day of the fall holy season in God's sacred calendar. It's called in Hebrew Yom, which means "day" and Kippur, which means "covering." It's the day of covering. It's referred to in the Scriptures, in the Tanakh, as the Day of Atonement.
Hear the Word of God. I'm in the 23rd chapter of the Book of Leviticus. I'm reading now the 27th verse. The Lord says this. "On exactly the 10th day of the seventh month..." This is God's Biblical calendar. It's called the month of Tishrei. So on the 10th day of the seventh month of God's holy calendar, the Lord continues here. "...is the day of atonement." And the Lord commanded us to humble our souls during this day. In Judaism, one of the primary things that we do as traditional Jews is we fast from food as a way of humbling our souls during this day. Fasting from food is a way of kind of denying the flesh and putting ourselves in a posture of submitting to the holy manifestation of God's glory, recognizing that He's the judge of all the Earth.
You see, Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, involves the recognition that God is going to judge every creature that He has made, just as the New Testament teaches as well. In the New Testament we read about the White Throne judgment in the Book of Revelation, where we find that everyone that has ever lived will stand before the throne of God and be judged for the deeds they have done in their bodies. And the only ones that will escape a judgment against sin are those whose sin is forgiven through the precious blood of the Lamb of God.
You see, on the day of Atonement in ancient Israel, the high priest would take into the holy of Holies, which was first in the tabernacle, but then later in the temple, he would take the blood of a bull. Notice that word blood. He would take the blood of the bull and a goat into a sacred chamber. It was the most holy place on the planet called the Holy of Holies. And the Ark of the Covenant, which housed the Ten Commandments, was in the Holy of Holies. And on top of the Ark of the Covenant, there is what is referred to in the New Testament as the mercy seat, and the High Priest would take the blood of the bull and the blood of the goat and pour it on top of the mercy seat. And when the Lord saw the blood, He forgave the sins of Israel, because the blood atoned for their sin.
So the Day of Atonement is not just about human beings humbling their souls, but more importantly, it's about how God forgave humanity's sins. In the Torah we find in the Book of Leviticus, chapter 17, verse 11, that the Lord said this. "The life of the flesh is in the blood," sayeth the Lord, "and I've given it 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." And so in the Torah, we find all the different things that happened on this day in relationship to the blood atonement.
Well, in the Book of Hebrews, in the New Testament, the author of The Book of Hebrews goes through all that was prescribed in the Torah on the Day of Atonement. And then the author of the book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus, once and for all, fulfilled God's prescription for the remedy of sin through blood atonement, through His own blood. And because Yeshua atoned for our sins through His own blood on the cross 2000 years ago, the Bible tells us that those that put their trust in Him have their sins forgiven once and for all, and forever. So on this most sacred day in God's holy calendar, let's make sure that we have embraced Yeshua Hamashiach, Jesus Christ, as our Lord and Savior, because only those that put their trust in Him and are following Him as disciples will be saved.