Yom Kippur 2019

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

Atonement Part 4-Back to Alienation

God Judging Adam by William Blake
God Judging Adam by William Blake
Image in the Public Domain

Atonement Part 4-Back to Alienation

I don’t think we fully appreciate what happened to us in the Garden of Eden. I don’t think we really and truly grasp how much we lost back there. In fact, I’m sure we don’t. Mankind was created to be like God; the Bible says in His Image. (Genesis 1:26) Do any of you feel like a god, at the moment? Even if you have what may be considered by others as the “perfect life”; is it really? And, you know, this just happens to be one of the problems we live with: we don’t even know what makes us truly happy. Do you think God struggles with defining happiness? Of course He doesn’t. But, actually, I’m just guessing because even though I was created in His image, I have almost no idea what He’s like. Sure, I know some things about Him but He seems so different than me…so foreign. And THAT’S what happened to us in the Garden of Eden. In those opening passages of Genesis we only got the slightest of glimpses into the relationship between God and Adam but we can safely deduce from what we are told that God’s intention was plain and simple: fellowship. Don’t ask me why, but God created mankind to be His companion. Why do you think He made us in His Image? I may love my dog but I’d rather spend time with Catherine. She and I are alike. My black lab Gypsy is lots of fun to play fetch with but if I want to make a connection I have to find someone more like myself. In heaven, God has angels flying all around Him all the time. Theologians tell us that the heavenlies are full of different sorts of “created intelligences” but as far as we know, there is no being quite like mankind…except for God. He made us like Him so that we could have eternal, meaningful fellowship.

We lost all of that because of one sin. Even if Adam never sinned after that…and there is no record in the Bible that tells us he ever did…I’m not saying he didn’t but we aren’t told of one other of Adam’s sins. My theory on that, by the way, is because it doesn’t matter. We are not told of any other of Adam’s sins because, frankly, it wouldn’t have made any difference. In fact, we aren’t told if he did anything overly righteous, either, for the rest of his 900 or so years because, again, it didn’t matter. It was done. Adam’s ONE sin forever changed the relationship between mankind and God…in whose image we are created. “John, why do you keep bringing that up?” Because I want you to see how far we’ve come. I want you to grasp the impact of that one little sin. We went from “alike companions” to complete strangers because of just one sin. Do you really think sin doesn’t matter? Sin transformed us from God’s closest creation to banished strangers. Paul refers to it as “alienated”. (Colossians 1:21) God alienated us from Himself. When Adam sinned God had to put distance between Himself and the ones He created to be His family. Is it possible for any of us to sense the tragedy of that? You know what? I don’t think so…not without Christ.

We have been alienated and that is why the world is in the mess it is in. Someone may ask you why there is evil in the world. Well, you can say with Paul that there is evil in the world because we have been alienated from God…His choice…and the manifestation of that alienation down through these many millennia is that our minds now view God as a foreign enemy. Isn’t that frightening to think about? We have made an enemy out of the very personification of Righteousness, Goodness and Mercy. No wonder our newspapers…or whatever the modern medium is now called…are filled with shocking stories of human depravity. Then, like idiots, we dare ask God why He “allows” evil, all the while we treat Him as an invading tyrannical enemy. ALL BECAUSE OF ONE SIN.

But the story will not end that way. God has promised to fix all of it. Even though this isn’t His mess, He has taken on Himself the burden of restoring what He had set out to establish and THAT is what Atonement is.

This episode is the last in the series. But before you listen in, I once again, encourage you to take a moment to pray for guidance and help. Ask God to make His Love obvious to you. Seek His Understanding and Wisdom and then join us as we take one final (for now) look at this most fascinating Biblical word.

Atonement Part 2-Because “knowing” is also Important

The Martyrdom of William Tyndale (from Fox's Book of Martyrs)
The Martyrdom of William Tyndale (from Fox’s Book of Martyrs)
Image in the Public Domain

Atonement Part 2-Because “knowing” is also Important

There are lots of things you may want criticize about this ministry and the one thing that I am sure is on most everyone’s list is that we spend so much time on so many details. I happen to agree with that one. We do spend a lot of time on details and (admittedly this next statement is against every podcasting best practice) might I say this lesson is one of the worst offenders. Today we’re going spend a lot of time on only a few things. Why? Why do we focus so intently on these things? Well, because they’re important. I unapologetically argue there is nothing more important than what we discuss on this program week after week. These are the things of life and death. These are things worth living and dying for. That’s why I love William Tyndale so much. Like most Englishman of his time, he loved Mother England but when it became apparent that he would never be able to achieve God’s calling on his life he left behind everyone and everything he knew and for the rest of his life he was a hunted fugitive who eventually paid the ultimate price so that the common man and woman could get to know God better. And do you know why he did all of that? Because he thought it was important.

In this lesson we are still struggling to properly define the word “atonement”. We go over what we’ve been told it means and we ask “Why?”. One of the sub-purposes of this lesson…and frankly every lesson we present is to get you into the habit of wondering “Why”. Some may think that that is sowing dissension or inciting rebellion or even encouraging or facilitating doubt. Nothing could be further from the truth. KNOWING is important to your atonement. You see, we have to “accept” our Salvation for it to be applied to us; right? Can you really accept something you don’t understand? God loves you, but more importantly He wants you to love Him. You can’t love someone you don’t know. You and I should spend every day of our lives getting to know everything about God that we can. KNOWING what gifts He is offering you is the only real way to fall in love with Him and the only real way you’ll be able to give yourself to Him. Is it difficult? Yes. Does it take work? Yes. But you know what I’ve learned through my many years on this earth? Nothing valuable is ever easy.

So, take a moment to ask for God’s guidance. Believe me, you KNOWING these things is more important to God than it is to you. Therefore, He is more than willing to do all He can to get you to a point where you KNOW what your atonement really is. Why we weren’t just born with complete knowledge; I can’t say. Why does God make us toil for understanding; I don’t know. I can guess that it is because He wants you to truly appreciate His Love for you and that takes effort. BUT, He doesn’t expect us to go it alone. He offers Himself as our Guide into all Truth. (John 16:13) So, before you do anything, pray that God’s Spirit will assist you on this journey of discovering the majesty of His Atonement.