Feb. 25

Leviticus 16

Yom Kippur was, and still is today, one of the most important Jewish Holidays.  " Because on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you" (v.30) The Jewish Study Bible explains it as the day the people of Israel end their day of fasting and not working with  a sense of security and peace in their knowledge of God. I have come to understand that God wants us to feel that peace that surpasses all understanding and He wants us to rest in the knowledge of Him and offers us exactly that through His Son.  I teach reading to special ed students, and one way we teach to sound out words is to break the word into chunks.  So if you break the word atone into two chunks, you get "at one"  - When we atone we become "at one" with God.   In the day of Moses and Aaron there were rituals involving two goats - one of the goats had all the sins placed on his head before being led away and carried with it all the sins of the people.  It reminded me of the song we sing in worship "Living He loved me, dying He saved me, buried He carried my sins my far away".  All of our sins were placed on Jesus when He died on the cross.  He carried them away, buried them, and rose so we can be "at one" with God through Him.  I grew up observing Yom Kippur but I'm going to be very honest, I never felt "at one" with God after the fast.  In Mark 7 Jesus warns against rituals and celebrating traditions. Following religious practices but having our hearts far away from God is very dangerous.  Atoning has been made available to everyone through The Cross.  It doesn't only happen once a year.  He invites us to fast, pray, and sit in the presence of God - at one with Him feeling secure, with a sense of His peace. 




Randi