Lord, Lord!

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in you name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.' "

Matthew 7:21-23

Most of us find this particular passage to be among the most frightening in all of Scripture. Maybe it is for many but I don't think it's meant to be. I would, in fact, argue that it is one of the sweetest reminders of salvation by grace through faith that we see in Scripture. The only caveat is that "faith" may be something different than we often consider it to be. We tend to view faith as our belief concerning Jesus Christ and what He did for us on the cross and through His resurrection. Amen to that! This is indeed faith, but I would submit to you that this is only a part of the picture and faith without works is dead according to James.

"For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead."

James 2:26

Faith, as I have discussed in the past, is much more than an intellectual ascent concerning Who Jesus is and what He has done. Faith must be an actual tasting of the Lord - Jesus Christ seen and savored through the eyes of the heart and this seeing and savoring leading to a glorious joy. We could spend a thousand pages talking about "tasting" the Lord but today I would like to focus on one more aspect of true faith that is at the heart of Jesus' words in the text from Matthew 7.

The context of this passage is actually "The Sermon On The Mount" and can be found at the very end of all that Jesus says in this sermon. This is a long sermon and contains in it a plethora of exhortations, commands and directions for what Jesus desires for us. I always considered it odd that we tend to preach sermons that focus almost exclusively on the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus...yet Jesus never did. Jesus' sermons and conversations certainly focused in on His own centrality in the Gospel and points to His death and resurrection being the focal point of God's story of redemption. But it is more than a little curious that in what is considered to be His "main" sermon, Jesus says nothing about this. In fact, He points to something all together different - how we are to live our lives - otherwise known by the dirty W word, "works." There, I said it! Jesus is talking about works in the "Sermon On The Mount." Some of you are probably ready to beat me silly at this point, thinking that I will be arguing for salvation by works. I urge you to follow me to the end of my argument before you write me off as such.

The headings of each section of this sermon are as follows:

1. The Beatitudes - where Jesus pronounces blessings on those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger for righteousness, on the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers etc.
2. Salt and Light - where Jesus encourages us to live as salt and light in this world (and contrary to what some believe, saltiness has nothing to do with harshness or rebuke but grace, love and holiness)
3. Christ Came to Fulfill the Law - where Jesus makes very clear that He has not come to abolish the Old Testament laws but to fulfill them and warns anyone who tries to be rid of them that there will be consequences
4. Anger - where Jesus likens sinful anger with murder and exhorts us to be reconciled to our brothers at almost any cost
5. Lust - where Jesus uses hyperbole to show the seriousness with which we must fight against sin in our lives
6. Divorce - where Jesus makes it very clear that divorce is unacceptable and that it indeed causes other people to sin
7. Oaths - where Jesus tells to simply let our 'yes' be yes and our 'no' be no
8. Retaliation - where Jesus tells us to show scandalous grace to those who hurt us and sin against us
9. Love Your Enemies - where Jesus actually likens God's perfection with how He loves His enemies and commands us to do the same. I would like to note here that this is not some forced or coerced love that is spoken of but a sincere and heart-felt love that causes us to pray for and do good things for our enemies
10. Giving to the Needy - where Jesus commands us to keep our giving secret as well as making sure it is done without being forced (not letting your left hand know what your right hand is doing)
11. The Lord's Prayer - where Jesus teaches us how to pray
12. Fasting - where Jesus again commands us to be careful about announcing our good works
13. Lay Up Treasures in Heaven - where Jesus warns us of the lure of riches and commands us to serve God and not money
14. Do Not Be Anxious - where Jesus tells us to live as the sparrows of the air and the lilies of the field, not spending our lives budgeting and storing up riches to protect ourselves but to trust Him with all that we need to live
15. Judging Others - where Jesus warns us against the dangers of hypocrisy
16. Ask, and It Will Be Given - where Jesus exhorts us to seek God, ask of God and to trust in God's desire to give us good things
17. The Golden Rule - where Jesus tells us to treat others as we ourselves would like to be treated
18. A Tree and Its Fruit - where Jesus warns us of false prophets who may look like they believe all the right things but whose lives bear fruit that prove them to be false

As you can see, this long sermon contains almost exclusively exhortations and commands about how we, as children of God, are to conduct ourselves and live our lives. No mention of the message about His coming death and resurrection and no mention of salvation by grace through faith. And considering the stern statement of Matthew 7:21-23 this ought to really make us wonder at what Jesus really means by them.

Jesus mentions that many will come to Him and call Him "Lord" and proclaim all of the things they have done for Him or in His name. This is interesting because according to 1 Corinthians 12:3, no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by or in the Holy Spirit. So the mystery of what Jesus is saying here is deep, indeed, because we know that according to Romans 10:9, if we confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord and believe in our hearts that God raised Him from the dead we will be saved. What in the world could be going on here? Are the people who Jesus is talking about saved or not? They call Him Lord and seem to be preaching His gospel, yet Jesus condemns them to hell.

The key is found in the second half of verse 21: "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." Only those who do the will of the Father get to enter the kingdom of heaven. That sounds odd because we know that we are saved by grace alone, apart from any works (see for example Ephesians 2:4-10). Yet, Jesus states very clearly that not everyone who knows Who He is, preaches His gospel and does mighty works in His name will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do the will of His Father Who is in heaven will enter the kingdom of heaven.

So what's really going on here? Are we saved by faith or by works? Are we to trust in Jesus or our good deeds? The answer is actually simpler than it at first seems to be and it is, of course, that we are saved by faith. However, faith is more than facts that we have bought into or truths that we have taken a stand on. Faith is the also the outworking of what we know to be true in our conduct, our hearts and our lives. No one can love their enemies without faith. No one can overcome sin without faith. No one can give to the needy in secret without trusting that God sees and will indeed be pleased by such a gift. No one can trust God to provide for them without faith. So it all comes down to faith in the end. But again, faith is much more than an intellectual ascent to the truth or an acceptance of some particular fact. Apart from works such as are laid out in the Sermon On The Mount there can be no salvation because the lack of them would prove that there was no real faith. Faith without works is dead and leads to death.

So why should we care about this? We all know that we are supposed to do the things prescribed for us, no commanded of us, in the Sermon On The Mount. The question is this: do we understand the weight of what Jesus is saying? Do we understand that without a faith that can forgive the worst of trespassers against us there is no real faith and thus no salvation? Do we understand that the "will of my Father" Jesus is speaking of is indeed the very things He just spoke of in His sermon? Do we understand that loving an enemy is much more than simply withholding punishment but actually doing good to them from a sincere heart of love and forgiveness? Do we understand that at the last judgment Jesus will not ask us what we believed but will actually look at the totality of our lives and make a sound judgment as to whether or not there was true, saving faith in our hearts? Don't make the mistake of thinking that at the last judgment you can say "Jesus is why I should be let in!" That is no different than what the people who Jesus condemned to hell did. "Lord, Lord..." That is not to say that there is any other reason than what Jesus did on our behalf that should gain us entrance into the kingdom of heaven - there isn't.

Our works do not gain us entrance at all. Our works simply show that our faith is genuine and of a saving nature. Our works show whether or not we truly do love people as Christ commanded us to do. Our works simply show whether or not we truly do trust God enough to forgive those who have sinned against us. Our works show whether or not we truly do treasure Christ and His Kingdom above all else. Our works show whether or not we truly do belong to Him and have been born again with a heart full of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control. None of the things that Jesus commands of us in the Sermon On The Mount are different from what Galatians 5 refers to as the fruit of the Spirit. Galatians focuses on the condition of the heart of faith and Matthew 5-7 shows us what such a condition of heart looks like.

Let's look at Matthew 6:14-15 as an example:

"For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."

It's pretty clear, isn't it? If you forgive, God will forgive you. If you don't forgive, God won't forgive you either. And forgiveness isn't just a state of the heart - it comes with loving behavior and loving pursuit of the person who has sinned against you. Just look at Matthew 5:43-48 to get an idea of the cost involved in truly forgiving someone. God doesn't just forgive you in a passive way - He pursues you and does good to you and His kindness leads you to repentance (Romans 2:4). It's important to point out that, once again, it's not your forgiving of another person that saves you, it is your faith in the act of forgiving that person that saves you. But don't be deceived, if you don't forgive people their sins against you through scandalous and loving actions, God won't forgive you either.

Don't trust in your works for they will gain you no good standing with God. We are saved by grace through faith. But, if you look at your life and think that you can circumvent the life of humility, suffering, sacrifice and hardship that Jesus demands of us in this text I urge you to assess yourself soberly and find out if you indeed are in the faith. If you don't love anyone but those who you are drawn to and those who love you back - repent and live like Jesus! If you have budgeted your life away and avoided living like a sparrow in His Father's hands - repent and live like Jesus! If you think that Jesus is impressed by the numbers of people you have drawn through your preaching or if you think that Jesus will reward you for doing everything for Him - repent and live like Jesus! If you think that anything other than a faith that dies to your own rights and needs will save you - repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand.

Living a life like that which Jesus demands doesn't look successful nor does it look very sexy. In fact, it will look like you have lost everything. You will pursue people who have hurt you with love and care. You will forgive, from the depths of your heart, those who have done the most heinous things to you. You will be betrayed and abandoned by the very people you love and pursue. You will be mocked and reviled because you take extreme measures in your life to put sin to death. You will be alone at times...you will feel like this earth is not your home...you will suffer abuse at the hands of people you have loved and still do love...you will suffer financial difficulty...you will give generously but no one will know that you did...you will love your spouse, even in the face of extreme betrayal and unhappiness...you will look weak...you will have your heart broken over and over again. But in reality, you have lost only your life in order to gain eternal life with Christ.

A Letter to a Brother in Christ

Do you ever come across old emails that encourage you? I came across an email letter I wrote to a dear Brother in Christ back in 2007. I wanted to post this as an encouragement for the Body of Christ....

Brother,

Thank you for your candid email. I actually was prompted by the Lord a few days ago to intercede in prayer for you in this specific area of temptation. So, I have already been praying for you and I will continue to pray for you in this spiritual battle.

I have been reading that book on the Pursuit of Holiness (great book). The author identifies essentially two points of the Christian life: the love of God and the fear of God. These must go hand in hand. They are basically two sides of the same coin. The author claims a lot of times we as Christians get this unbalanced. Sometimes we are flippant about sin and the fear of God and just "dwell" on His love and start to say sin is okay or "is under grace". Other times we do not dwell on His love and because of sin and failure with the fear of God we never recover and are continually in despair. I feel this must be in equilibrium or balanced in the Christian life by the Holy Spirit.

I believe you have the right idea to start at the Cross. That is where we all need to go and receive repentance and restoration from Jesus. We must really grasp and understand what the atonement really is especially in regards to the area of sin in our lives. I believe at the Cross of Christ we can develop and understand both the love and the fear of God.

I think a lot of times we look at the Cross of Christ as a point to where Jesus was physically tortured and died a gruesome dead (which is true), however, we fail to see the spiritual implications of the "scandal of the cross". In all reality God turned His back on His Son which I believe was the most "painful" point for Jesus who is part of the Trinity of God but at the point of the cross God's wrath was poured out on Jesus Christ on mine and your behalf. He became sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God. How awesome is that!! Praise the name of Jesus!

However, we must remember that sin is a serious thing to God. It essentially is the opposite of holiness. Since God is holy He cannot be around sin. In the Old Testament the priest would enter the holy of holies once a year to give a sacrifice to God for the sins of the people. Their legs would be wrapped with ropes and bells so that when they started to jingle someone outside would pull them out from the presence of God because they would be devoured because of their sin (this particular concept is not explicitly described in the Bible but is more of a Jewish tradition – but the point is well made).

God cannot stand sin and neither can He be in the presence of sin. However, this is where we come back to the "scandal of the cross". Jesus who knew no sin and is the perfect Lamb of God took our place at the "gallows" so to speak. Since God cannot be in the presence of sin He turned His back on His one and only Son and His wrath was poured out on Him for us. This is a very serious thing. So along with Jesus our Lord we must die to our sin (Jesus was sinless of course but took our sin onto Himself) because He died in our place. We also must live in this life because He is Life and has purchased life for us; so that we may no longer be bound by the things of this world.

The story does not end there. He rose again! He conquered sin and death and we now have an opportunity to live righteously before Him by the blood of Jesus. Your identity is no longer of this world but your identity is found in Jesus Christ. Let the life of Christ reign in your mortal body so that you may not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

My advice would be to stick close to Jesus. Worship Him and adore Him. Study His Word and grasp His love for you and develop the fear of the Lord which is the beginning of all godly knowledge - which will propel your life towards godliness and holiness. His love will penetrate those ugly areas of our lives and they will start to dissolve, but our responsiblity is to keep in step with the Spirit.

Remember to cleave to your wife in all circumstances. Do not let the enemy get between you and cause division. Do not let your sin become "habit", and I believe that is why you wrote this email to the brothers. I see the conviction of the Holy Spirit upon you and that is a good thing.

Let the Holy Spirit search your heart and cleanse you and build you up. It is all about relationship with Jesus.

Have a wonderful New Year! Use this New Year as a "new season" in this battle to walk blamelessly before the Lord.

Hang in there and fight the good fight of faith! Jesus loves you and we do too. I feel prompted to leave you with a few verses bunched together for you to meditate and dwell on.

Blessings,
E

“But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.

He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, "VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY" And again, "THE LORD WILL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE." It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

Bible Reading

For those who might be interested, here is a good collection of Bible reading plans for the New Year.

I am going to go with the Discipleship Journal Reading Plan because it allows for a few days of falling behind each month and being the procrastinator that I am I find this helpful in order to stay on track. You can read about John Piper's reasons for going with this plan as well. It's like God has given me permission to fall behind which reminds me that I am under grace and not under law and that my Bible reading should be from desire and not compulsion.

At any rate, I highly recommend using a Bible reading plan.

Blessings,

Kristian

Glorious Joy - A Vision For The New Year

In almost every way 2008 has been the worst year of my life...but it has also been the best year of my life in almost every way. I have experienced some of the deepest betrayals but also the most profound healing of my heart wrought by the Holy Spirit and Christ's body, the Church. I have seen dreams die but I have also seen God fulfill His desires for me...desires that fill me with joy. I have wept and I have laughed. I have despaired and I have hoped. I have died and I have truly lived. Such is life under the hand of a sovereign God Who works all things out for my good.

At every moment that I began to see light at the end of the tunnel another devastating blow would be dealt that brought more heartache and more sorrow. With every disappointment would come a lesson from the Lord and these lessons are precious.

"In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith - more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire - may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ." 1 Peter 1:6-7

You see, without suffering and trials there can be no growth. Without difficult circumstances and sorrow in this world, our faith would not be so clearly displayed for all to see and Christ would not be so clearly revealed to be the greatest treasure of the universe. This text makes it very clear to us what the purpose of our suffering in this world is - that our faith may be proven to be genuine and that this faith will result in praise and glory and honor for God in Jesus Christ. Let me try to explain:

1. If God is truly your treasure, you will not run away from Him or let go of Him simply because life is difficult and He has brought some painful hardships your way. No! You will cling ever more tightly to Him and you will seek your treasure in Him - letting go of the treasures of this world. In short, God will be revealed to all around you as the all-satisfying and glorious treasure of your life. As you weep tears of sadness but also acknowledge His endless goodness you will show that He is worth losing all things for. As you go through the pain while worshipping Him you will be giving a testimony to the profound worth that is in Jesus Christ. You will find for yourself and show to the world that your joy is found in Christ and in Christ alone. You may lose friends, family, wealth, reputation and all worldly hope, but your joy and satisfaction will come from finding that your faith is genuine and that you belong to Jesus Christ.

"Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." Philippians 1:18-21

2. Not only will you faith be proven as genuine and your joy be full because Christ alone is your treasure, but Christ Himself will be praised and glorified as those around you see that He is your treasure. Those who look on (among them may be those who hurt or betrayed you) will see that your joy is not found in this world but in a person, Jesus Christ. That must make them wonder at how worthy and glorious Christ really is and it will cause the angels in the heavenly realms to give praise, glory and honor to God. Not only that, when Christ is your treasure in this way, you are also giving praise, glory and honor to Him.

"Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible ad filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls." 1 Peter 1:8-9

This text is found immediately following Peter's discourse on the purpose of suffering and is intended to remind us that Christ is honored and glorified as we are satisfied in Him, despite our circumstances. Oh, the joy of knowing Christ and beholding Him by faith. The glorious joy that is felt, experienced and radiated as we look to Him (Psalm 34:5) brings glory, praise and honor to Him. And notice how God is glorified here...by and through our joy in Him. I have said this a million times and I will probably say it a million times more: God's glory and our joy are not two separate things - they are one and the same. God is glorified by our glorious joy in Him; as God is glorified we are filled with joy and as we are filled with joy, God is glorified.

"For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever." Romans 11:36

This is my vision for 2009. I want Christ to be honored in my body whether by life or by death; whether in good times or bad; whether I have friends or not; whether I am wealthy or poor; whether life goes my way or my life falls apart...I want Jesus Christ as my treasure and nothing or no one else. I want the world to see how beautiful, satisfying, and glorious Christ is and this will happen as I live my life in Him, cherishing Him as my treasure and worshiping Him in the best and the worst of times...though His worth is most clearly seen in the worst of times.

How great is our God and how worthy of praise, glory and honor! May God fill you with His Spirit in the New Year and may He be your treasure. May you be enraptured with Him and His beauty and may you desire to live in peace with those in the body...not just peace, but an interconnectedness that goes way beyond friendship to oneness in the Body of Christ.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all!

Kristian

Reflection

The other day I posed a question that just "randomly" came to my mind to some of the members of my household. I asked them how would it feel to live in a world where you could not see your own reflection at all. Let us say there was no means of seeing your own reflection...no mirrors...no water reflection...no cameras...no apparatus that would allow you to see your image.

I really did not know why this philosophical type of question came to my mind. One of the first thoughts that came to my mind about this question involved the Trinity of God. Where the Bible says in Colossians 1 that Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God. So, Jesus is the reflection or image of what God thinks of Himself and at the very same time being a unique eternal person of the Trinity of God.

Although this is true and one could come up with perhaps many different "angles" that fit into the question I posed earlier about reflection. I believe God was speaking to me about a different angle primarily one that deals with the issue of faith.

Let me explain, after this original question came to my mind I had several conversations with various friends over the weekend about faith, prayer, overcoming sin, purity, etc.

This Sunday morning as I picked up the book I am currently reading by A.W. Tozer called The Pursuit of God. I now know what the Lord was trying to tell me through that particular philosophical question that was ingrained in my mind earlier in the week.

The following quote from Tozer really touched me and I hope it is a blessing to you as well:

"Faith is the least self-regarding of the virtues. It is by its very nature scarely conscious of its own existence. Like the eye which sees everything in front of it and never sees itself, faith is occupied with the Object upon which it rests and pays no attention to itself at all. While we are looking at God we do not see ourselves - blessed riddance. The man who has struggled to purify himself and has had nothing but repeated failures will experience real relief when he stops tinkering with his soul and looks away to the perfect One. While he looks at Christ, the very things he has so long been trying to do will be getting done within him. It will be God working in him to will and to do.

Faith is not in itself a meritorious act; the merit is in the One toward Whom it is directed. Faith is a redirecting of our sight, a getting out of the focus of our own vision and getting God into focus. Sin has twisted our vision inward and made it self-regarding. Unbelief has put self where God should be, and is perilously close to the sin of Lucifer who said, "I will set my throne above the throne of God." Faith looks out instead of in and the whole life falls into line."

Is Jesus In Your Boat?

Happy Thanksgiving to all! I have much too be thankful for this year to the Lord. His endless love, abundant mercies and amazing grace in my life are just a few of the many things that I am thankful for this year. As I was reading the Word the other day from Matthew 8:23-27 another thought came to my heart to be thankful for and that is God’s peace in the storm.

For many of us 2008 has been a difficult year full of hardships and storms but God is faithful and good. His peace is available for anyone who would want to come and draw near to Him through faith in Jesus Christ. Here is the passage:

Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We're going to drown!"
He replied, "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?" Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.
The men were amazed and asked, "What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!"

There many important points in this text but I will name a few that the Lord put on my heart:

1. The storms of life can come “without warning” and can be furious when it hits your own life in such a way as to rock you. I believe many of us have faced this in one way or another in our lives and in particular this past year.

2. At times when these storms occur it “seems like” God is asleep on us. We ask Lord where are you? How come you will not save us? Don’t you see the power of the storm it is going to kill us?

3. However, God answers us in His timing and tells us to trust in Him. We must look to Him in the storm and put our full hope and faith upon Him for only He can deliver.

4. We must not be afraid when faced with the storms of life. Jesus reminds us to check ourselves to see where we are putting our faith. Are we putting our faith in the stock market, our jobs, the housing market, our government, our own intellect and abilities or are we putting our full faith in God? I believe if we put our full assurance and faith in God during the storm we will not be afraid but instead we will be overcome by love, power and a sound mind.

However, in order to know the peace of God during the storm one must ask themselves “Is Jesus even in my boat”? The only way to face the storms of life and the coming future storms is to have Jesus Christ in the boat of your life. When He is in your boat you have comfort, hope, salvation and deliverance. If he is not in your boat the furious and powerful storm without warning will surely overtake you and you will be lost in the sea.

In your heart today pray to God and receive the newness of life and the peace that surpasses all understanding through His beloved Son the Prince of Peace - Jesus Christ. Let me end with the actual reliable words of Christ in regards to the storm and the many troubles we may face in this life:

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” – John 14:27

The Day of Atonement

On the Biblical calendar one of the feasts of the Lord called the Day of Atonement and commonly known today as Yom Kippur falls on our Gregorian calendar on October 8th (sunset) until October 9th (sunset).

I was just meditating today on this Feast of the Lord and what the Bible says about it (read Leviticus 16, Leviticus 23, and Numbers 29 to learn more about this particular Feast of the Lord).

As a summary essentially this Feast Day was marked on the Lord’s calendar as a day when the High Priest would go into the Most Holy Place and make the sacrificial offering for his sins and the sins of Israel. There were very specific commands by God on how the High Priest would prepare himself to enter the Most Holy Place. The Most Holy Place is where the presence of God would rest and because God is Holy anything that was not cleansed and consecrated would ultimately die in His presence.

“The LORD said to Moses: "Tell your brother Aaron not to come whenever he chooses into the Most Holy Place behind the curtain in front of the atonement cover on the ark, or else he will die, because I appear in the cloud over the atonement cover. This is how Aaron is to enter the sanctuary area….” – Leviticus 16:1-3

"This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: On the tenth day of the seventh month you must deny yourselves and not do any work—whether native-born or an alien living among you because on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you. Then, before the LORD, you will be clean from all your sins. It is a sabbath of rest, and you must deny yourselves; it is a lasting ordinance…This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: Atonement is to be made once a year for all the sins of the Israelites."
– Leviticus 16:29-31, 34

What we read here in the Torah is only a shadow of the reality which is Jesus Christ. Praise God that He sent Jesus Christ into the world to be our great High Priest and Sacrifice for sin once and for all!

My dear friends let us keep this lasting ordinance in remembering the finished work of Jesus. Let us meditate this day on how His blood has cleansed us from all sin and we not only are sanctified but we can now also enter the Most Holy Place by ourselves and experience the presence of the living God!

Have you experienced God’s presence in your life? If your spiritual life feels dry at the moment which can happen to all of us; I encourage you to step in by faith into the presence of God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Take your sabbath rest in Him and deny yourself and experience His life-giving presence today.

I encourage you to meditate on the following excerpts of verses from the book of Hebrews chapters 9 and 10. May the Lord Bless you!

The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. If it could, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation. He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.

For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God's presence. Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

Blessings,
Emmanuel