YES, you read that right. God is not fair. If God deals with us fairly, He would have wiped us out off the face of the earth. God is not fair. Lamentations 3:22 says, “Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed (destroyed), for his compassions never fail.”
God’s mercy is on full display in the parables found in the Gospel of Luke; like a shepherd who leaves his other sheep to find the one that is lost; like a woman who scours her house for a lost coin, or like a father who runs down the street to embrace his son who was lost and welcome him home. God is the God of grace.
While much of the world and Christianity went along with their daily routine, Jews celebrated one of the holiest days in their tradition, Yom Kippur. What Easter is for Christians is Yom Kippur to the Jews.
Beginning at sunset of September 17th and ending the sunset of the 18th, the whole Judaism celebrated Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement). It is so holy that even the non-religious/secular Jews go to synagogues to observe the feast. Its central themes are atonement and repentance.
Yom (Day) Kippur (to cover or hide) referred to as “the sabbath of sabbaths” according to Old Testament tradition was a time when the high priest would sprinkle lamb’s blood over the mercy seat that symbolizes the justice and wrath of God that sinner’s so deserve being met by the sacrifice of an unblemished lamb by which God declares the repentant righteous and forgiven by virtue of the sacrifice of the lamb. A sinner is someone who has offended God. A sinner has broken God’s law. A sinner is guilty in God’s sight. A sinner is separated from God. A sinner stands in opposition to God. A sinner stands under God’s curse. A sinner deserves God’s wrath and condemnation.
What’s fascinating is how the Jews open the day with a declaration called the “Kol Nidre” which reads:
“All vows, obligations, oaths, and anathemas,…which we may vow, or swear, or pledge, or whereby we may be bound, from this Day of Atonement…be deemed absolved, forgiven, annulled, and void, and made of no effect; they shall not bind us nor have power over us...”
In the modern times, religious Jews carry on certain traditions such as:
Leading up to Yom Kippur, ultra-Orthodox Jews participate in Kaparot, a symbolic tradition where a person transfers his sins to a chicken then slaughters the animal and eats it, traditionally, lamb. And a few days before Yom Kippur a religious leader whips fellow worshippers with a leather strap as a symbolic punishment for his sins during the traditional Malkot ceremony just hours before the start of Yom Kippur at a synagogue.
As a Christian, I believe that it is the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross that covers (atones) for sins. He was the Lamb who gave his life willingly to satisfy the wrath and justice of God toward us. It was John the Baptist who declared of Jesus as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” God “sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice …” (1 John 4:10). Jesus, out of love, was sent as an “atoning” sacrifice. This means Jesus’ sacrifice does something to us. It atones for our sins and removes the guilt associated with our blunders. It washes us and cleanses us. It also means that Jesus’ sacrifice does something to God. It takes away God’s wrath. It satisfies the demands of God’s justice that sinners pay for sin. Jesus removes the wrath of God by suffering and dying in our place. The death I so justly deserves, He died; the stripes I so rightfully deserve he took upon Himself. And thus the life He gives is mine and by His stripes I am healed.
What love. What tremendous, awesome love.
Yom Kippur is most beautifully reflected in the Christian ritual of Communion where Christians remember the sacrificial love of Christ on the cross. The cross is the most beautiful picture of God’s love and wrath meeting in the most enlightening way. It is a reminder of a time and place where joy and sorrow met.
Confluent Thoughts 