Azazel – Time in the Chapel

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Jews Praying in the Synagogue on Yom Kippur
by Maurycy Gottlieb, 1878
Note the solemnity of the moment.
Image in the Public Domain

Yom Kippur 2019

There are many things that separate man from the beasts: intelligence, communication skills, sophisticated social order; the list goes on but the one I want to point out here is not so flattering. The animal kingdom is much better at facing reality than humans are. When an animal sees something good to eat, it eats. When an animal finds a safe place to rest, it rests. When an animal senses danger, it does something about it. It either fights or flees. This is where humans fail. Too often when we sense danger, we ignore it. You want proof? How about cigarette smoking, alcoholism and obesity. But there is a far greater danger that countless millions ignore every day:

(Heb 10:30) For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people.
(Heb 10:31) It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

“Oh, but we don’t like to concentrate on that in our ministry. We’d rather talk about the love of God.” How very human of you. You see danger, you ignore it.

The cynic will accuse God of being dark and vengeful and repressive because He says things like, “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9) or “all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God” (Romans 3:23) . We wonder why God is being so mean. Why doesn’t He just ignore it like we do? Suppose you’ve been driving all night through the Mojave desert. It’s dark. You’ve been on the road for hours and you decide to pull over just to get a little sleep. A few hours later, you are rudely awakened by a sheriff’s deputy banging on your window and shouting at you. You think, “Now, can’t he see that I’m tired and need some rest?” Next thing you know you hear a freight train speeding toward you. In the darkness and due to your unfamiliarity with your surroundings you parked your car on active train tracks. In a flash, that cop goes from obnoxious blowhard to live saver.

God is pointing out your desperate, sinful condition because it is placing you in danger. The Bible makes it clear: We are helpless, hopeless sinners. As much as God loves us all…and He does love us all, He will not ignore sin. Now, this is not the place to discuss “why”. In fact, if you accept that He will not ignore sin than the “why” question doesn’t matter because once you come to the conclusion that God is holy and you’re not you will be driven to the REAL question, “What can I do about it?” Well, your mood isn’t going to improve because the answer to the question, “What can I do about my sin separating me from God” is…nothing. But, ironically…and with God there is SOOO much irony…ironically, though God is ALWAYS the offended party, He is also the only one who can make things right and the ENTIRE Bible is a record of His remedy. By the way, the only way you can make sense of the Bible, the only way the Bible will bring you joy is if you look at it as a picture of “The Atonement”. The Bible isn’t a history book, although there is history in it. The Bible isn’t a morality guide, although there is morality in it. The Bible is not a world peace plan, although there is peace in it. God’s Book is a prescription for removing sin and reuniting His people and the Seven Feasts of Israel are all of that in miniature.

Today we talk about one of the most well-known of all the Seven Feasts: Yom Kippur; in the English, The Day of Atonement. God gave this Feast to His children to demonstrate all of what we’ve said thus far: He will not tolerate sin; it must be paid for; and we will NEED a substitute…a PERFECT substitute as payment. In the Old Testament, God established an elaborate system of offerings designed to do two things: Atone for sin and to tell a story. Join us for this podcast as we find out what that story really is. Spoiler alert: It’s Jesus!

But before you begin, make sure that you are prepared in your mind, heart and spirit. Take a few moments and go to the Lord in prayer and ask Him to allow you to see wondrous things out of His Law (Psalm 119:18). Plead with God…pleading means it’s important to you…show God that what He requires is important to you so PLEAD with Him to send His Spirit to fill you with His Truth.

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Anonymous Portrait of William Tyndale
This image is in the Public Domain

Atonement Part 1-Made-up Words

The Bible is one of the world’s most incredible documents. Christian or not, any objective thinking person has to admit that. In, in my opinion, you don’t even have to believe what the Bible says to respect it. There are few documents that have been so meticulously assembled, cared for and studied in all the history of human literature. Now, I am certain that scoffers and atheists may argue that I’m being a little hyperbolic but I honestly believe that most who have spent a decent amount of time researching its history would have to agree with my above statements. Like no other literature of any sort…religious or not…an unbroken documentary trail leads all the way back to the origins of this very ancient collection of writing. This is a beloved and revered book and we know that because of how much priority those that love God put on it. To us IT IS THE WORD OF GOD…the mind of God…the precious thoughts, instructions and judgments of a loving, living Father.

As proof, one need only look at the efforts that men and women have put forth down through the millennia to make the Bible available for all to understand. Though difficult to accurately estimate, some have said that the Bible has been translated in part or in whole into more than 3,000 languages. Now, the important part of that statistic is to realize that the VAST majority of those translations have been completed in recent times…certainly not more than 200 years. Another important fact to realize here is that the growth in the number of languages into which the Bible has been translated is accelerating largely BECAUSE there are so many translations. You see, linguists and etymologists will tell you that there are very few isolated languages. In other words, almost all languages are related to some other language. Without getting too bogged down in the details let me just say that the more languages something is translated into the easier it is to accomplish that next translation. Each translation is used as reference for other subsequent translations. That is partly why there are so many language versions of the Bible.

Now, imagine having almost NO other translations to work with AND throw in the fact that the language you want the Bible translated into is new and, frankly, incomplete. That is what faced William Tyndale in 16^th Century England. At the time, the Bible had only been translated into a handful of languages. The only “authorized” version was written in Latin; a language very few of Tyndale’s countrymen spoke. That alone severely limited access to the Word. In addition, Tyndale lived at a time of transition in England. His country was slowly defining a unified identity which would eventually include a national language. It may be difficult to believe, but the language we refer to today as English has only been spoken in England for less than 600 years. That means when God got a hold of William Tyndale and inspired him to write a Bible in the language the people of England there was hardly enough of a language to work with. Well, God always chooses the right person to accomplish His difficult tasks. So, take a moment to pray for guidance and help in understanding and then have a listen to this week’s episode as we dive into the fascinating subject of the English Language Bible.