Today is the somber Jewish holiday, Yom Kippur or Day of Atonement, one of the seven feasts given by the Lord that they were to remember forever. According to Old Testament law, this was the day the priest would enter the Holy of Holies and atone for the sins of all Jewish people. The chosen priest spent a long and rigourous day washing himself, sacrificing animals and sprinkling the blood over everything required. It meant everything to the Jews. This was the day their sins were atoned for. One day. One time a year. My respect and love for the tradition and history of the Jewish people could not go deeper. What little I have studied on this subject has only increased my love for them. They are God's chosen nation. Scripture says we are to pray for their peace. But today, my spirit feels heavy for them. I want them to know (and one Day they will) that their sins are once and for all forgiven through the one time atonement of the blood of Jesus. No longer do they need to wait for this one Holy day to arrive to feel freedom, guilteless, pure, cleansed, sinless. They can have it every day of their lives. He was the last blood sacrifice to ever be needed. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins. (I John 2:2) It was finished the day He was hung on the cross.
Oh for the grace this side of the cross. Where would I be without it? To know that daily I can approach the throne of grace in my time of need (Hebrews 4:16) and in the privacy of my own home seek forgiveness that has already been atoned for. For if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). Right here. Right now. Every day.
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