Jesus Christ Changes Everything by Pastor Jim Jung

Last week, across the world, Jewish people celebrated their most holy day of the year – Yom Kippur. This is a day that is known to us as the Day of Atonement (ref: Leviticus 16). According to Chabad.org “The day is the most solemn of the year, yet an undertone of joy suffuses it: a joy that revels in the spirituality of the day and expresses the confidence that God will accept our repentance, forgive our sins, and seal our verdict for a year of life, health and happiness” 



(http://www.chabad.org/holidays/JewishNewYear/template_cdo/aid/177886/jewish/What-Is-Yom-Kippur.htm).

The significance of the Day of Atonement for every believer, whether Jew or non-Jew, is that it reveals the grace, love and mercy of God toward humanity. For the Christian, Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement, has become an everyday event because of the Advent of Jesus Christ. Jesus became the substitutionary atonement sacrifice, once and for all. The New Testament says:

“…what God wants for us [is] to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all time…I will never again remember their sins and lawless deeds” - Hebrews 10:10; 17 (NLT).

The sacrifice of Christ on our behalf known as substitutional atonement, is the central message of the church today. The death, burial and resurrection of Jesus changed everything. Think of the sacrificial system in the Hebrew days of the Old Testament. If you committed a sin you were required to kill an animal and make a blood sacrifice, because something must atone for that sin. This led to the creation of this one day of the year. The Day of Atonement was filled with ritual, imagery and ceremony. The scene included:

·         The High Priest taking 2 goats. One goat was offered as a blood sacrifice; an atoning sacrifice on behalf of the people.

·         The other animal was called the Scapegoat. As all of the people assembled, the High Priest lay his hands on the head of the Scapegoat and performed a mass public confession, transferring all transgressions from the life of the violator onto the head of this young Scapegoat.

·         A young man then took the Scapegoat and lead it far out into the wilderness and let it go. The young man would then return to the camp and declare that the Scapegoat, and all of their sins were gone.

For the Christian, Jesus Christ became the sacrifice and the scapegoat. His life was given for us and all of our sins were transferred onto Him. John the Baptist declared to the people as Jesus came to be baptised, “Behold the Lamb of God who will take away the sins of the world” (John 1:29). John was revealing Jesus, the sacrificial lamb that the entire sacrificial system of the Old Testament had been pointing to all along. Here was the Scapegoat on whose body all the sins of the world would be placed.

Jesus Christ changed everything. His resurrected life now pulses in and through the lives of those who believe in Him. The Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, is a daily place Christians can come, knowing that Jesus Christ gave His life, a one off sacrifice. This brings great confidence that God will accept our repentance, and forgive our sins.

 L