Sunday, June 1, 2008

Leviticus - The day of Atonement


At the outset, I must confess to struggling with Leviticus. It seems to be a whole book of rules – which may or may not be superseded.

I have always wondered that if we can preach Malachi 3:16 – “Bring the full tithe into the storehouse” from our pulpits – do we need our priests to observe the edicts of Leviticus too…Is it OK for a Christian minister to shave the sides of his beard off? (Lev 21:5) Priests cannot be dwarves, blind or lame. By the way…you cannot be a priest if your testicles are damaged…would this be on the application form or would there be some sort of test? (Lev 21:20)

The not in my margin at Leviticus 23:26 is a simple one – it states ‘Yom Kippur’ and refers me to Romans 11:25-27.

The ‘Day of Atonement’ is possibly the most important day on the Jewish religious calendar. Even today, synagogues have up to three times more people than usual. Perhaps it is like Easter n the west!

The Day of Atonement was the one day of the year that the High Priest could enter the Holiest of Holies – right into the presence of God to atone – or cover – the sins of the entire nation of Israel.

The High Priest would ritually cleanse himself and his co-priests would tie a rope around his waist. If God struck him dead, the rope would be used to drag his body back out under the curtain. I wonder how you would put this in your job description when applying for life insurance?

When He died, Jesus tore the curtain separating the Holiest of Holies where God’ presence dwells from top to bottom. The curtain was 18 inches thick and too high to be ripped by man – God ripped it.

Forever more mankind has access to the atoning power of God to forgive sin – we are covered every day of the year!

Today is the acceptable day of salvation – not just Yom Kippur.





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