Resources/Articles
The Great Day Of Atonement
Leviticus 16 describes the ceremony of renewal for Israel. It was a day which the Jews looked for with anticipation. The sin and uncleanness of the people had accumulated over the past year. Guilt abounded. Defilement covered the land. The barrier of sin lay between man and his union and communion with God. This wall must be broken down. An annual atonement and reconciliation was required. The ceremony involved a priestly cleansing, garments of white, sin offerings, entry into the Holy Place, sprinkling of blood on the Ark of the Covenant and before the Mercy Seat, and the scapegoat.
Our Lord, the Christ and Savior, became an atonement one great day several years ago. He became the sin offering clothed with righteousness. He was “bathed” by Mary (John 12:1-8). He bore our griefs and carried our sorrows (Isaiah 53:4). The guilt and defilement upon us, He laid upon Himself (2 Corinthians 5:21). His life blood was offered and sprinkled upon us to remove an evil conscience (Hebrews 10:22). Jesus entered into heaven, the most holy place, and now provides for us a union and communion with God.
Reconciliation may be a long word to spell, but its meaning has a great impact on our souls. It is the effort Jesus made to bring us into a relationship with God. Ephesians 2:13-18 explains it so well: “But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For He is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us...for to make in Himself of twain one new man, so making peace; And that He might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby...For through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.”
When the High Priest entered the Most Holy Place, he took no one with him. He was alone. Jesus entered heaven and opened the way for all His followers to gain access to God. He died alone. There was no “supporting cast.” His death purchased for man an entrance into the presence of God (Hebrews 10:19-22). What Jesus did is a grand achievement! As a result, what the Israelites could not do at all, and which only one person could do (High Priest) one time a year, we can do today - daily!
What more could be done for us than to wash, clothe, and offer one man so we could be reconciled and delivered from sin! What do we do in return? We are to live as children of God. “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope that it waver not...and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good works” (Hebrews 10:23,24). Our devotion to a man who sacrificed so much is motivation enough for us to be faithful, right? It should be, but notice this warning for those who were once forgiven and in union with God, then fell away: “For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which shall devour the adversaries” (Hebrews 10:27,28). “See that ye refuse not him that speaketh” (Hebrews 12:25).
