Weekly Bulletin

This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: Atonement is to be made once a year for all the sins of the Israelites.  And it was done, as the Lord commanded Moses.         Leviticus 16:34

 

For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants.  For this reason Christ had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.      Hebrews 2:16-18

 

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.  For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering.  And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.         Romans 8:1-4

 

In fact, the Law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness….. Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.      Hebrews 9:22, 27-28

 

 

Two significant things happened in the past week, things which happen every year in September.  One was the Autumn Equinox that occurred on Tuesday September 22.  The term equinox means “equal nighttime,” and it happens twice each year, in the springtime and in the fall.  Because of Earth’s annual orbit around the sun and Earth’s slight tilt on its axis, the sun’s rays land more directly on the Northern Hemisphere between March and September, then more directly on the Southern Hemisphere between September and March.  On the two days of equinox each year, the sun is straight above Earth’s equator as its direct rays shift from one hemisphere to the other, and that yields an equal duration of daytime and nighttime in both halves of the planet on those days.  By the miracle of Creation, that phenomenon occurs every year like clockwork, beyond any human control.  Here in Indiana this week, it was like someone flipped a switch.  Nighttime temperatures fell by about ten degrees, and some TV meteorologists even mentioned the possibility of snow flurries.  (Fortunately so far, they were mistaken.)

 

The other significant occurrence of the week was Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement observed on September 21 that brings to a close the Rosh Hashanah celebration of the Jewish new year.  Atonement is defined as “action taken to correct a past wrongdoing or to express remorse and repentance, to make a sacrifice in hope for reconciliation.”  Yom Kippur often is termed the most solemn of the Jewish holidays because it is a society-wide day of repentance for sins against both God and fellow humans, and a day of seeking God’s atoning, reconciling forgiveness.  The detailed instructions for observing the Day of Atonement (including special washings and garments, and the sacrifice of a bull, a ram, and goats) are found in Leviticus 16.  That chapter begins by saying that God gave the instructions to Moses after his two nephews (Aaron’s sons) were consumed by fire (Leviticus 10) because as priests, they “offered unauthorized fire before the Lord” in disobedience to God’s command.  Many Old Testament scholars, however, trace the origins of Yom Kippur back to Mt. Sinai and the events of Exodus 32. 

 

The Need for Atonement      According to Exodus 19, the Israelites arrived at Mt. Sinai three months after Pharaoh finally allowed them to leave Egypt under Moses’ leadership.  It had been three months of drama and struggle – escape from the Egyptian army by crossing of the Red Sea on dry ground, griping about (yet miraculously receiving) water and food, and divine deliverance from a military attack by the Amalekites.   While the two million or so Israelites camped at the base of Sinai, Moses shuttled up and down the mountain to deliver God’s expectations and the people’s replies.  After God spoke the Ten Commandments in the hearing of the people (Exodus 20:1-17), Moses went up the mountain into God’s presence and for 40 days and nights received detailed instructions on just about every aspect of God’s desires for his people (Exodus 21-31), conveniently recorded by God for him on tablets of stone. 
             Moses came back down the mountain after 40 days and found that Aaron and the Israelites had lost hope of his ever returning.  In their impatience and superstition, they had made a golden idol resembling a calf, a “god” they hoped would lead them out of the wilderness.  Moses angrily smashed the stone tablets, destroyed the golden calf, and rallied the Levites who remained loyal to God to kill 3000 of the people who had rebelled (Ex. 32:28).  When Moses returned to the Lord’s presence the next day, he sought God’s forgiveness on the people’s behalf, but a plague nevertheless broke out among them, and many more died as further punishment for their idolatry.  God then called Moses back up Mt. Sinai for another 40 days and nights to restate the Law and re-issue the stone tablets to him (Exodus 34).  Moses began those 40 days with a heartfelt priestly prayer for God’s forgiveness of the Israelites, himself included (34:8,9).  Scholars believe that the later Leviticus 16 instruction for an annual Day of Atonement, a society-wide day of repentance and seeking of God’s forgiveness, stemmed in large part from this incident.  God knew many of them would conveniently “forget” their need for contrition, repentance, and forgiveness if they weren’t regularly reminded of it publicly and formally – hence, an annual Day of Atonement was put into the Law.  .

 

New Covenant Availability      A year between Days of Atonement is a long time to live with a heavy burden of guilt, remorse, shame, and sorrow resulting from the destructive impact of selfishness and sin.   My limited Old Testament understanding is that under the Law, people who sincerely repented of sins could be forgiven without waiting for Yom Kippur or confessing to a priest and making a sacrifice, but there was an expectation that those steps would be taken whenever possible. 
             The prophet Jeremiah’s words to the Judeans who were headed for exile in Babylon in 585 BC surely was a message of hope and promise in those dark days, that the time was coming when God would make a new covenant with them (Jeremiah 31:31-34).  Rather than a list of rules to be kept, it would be a living, life-giving covenant etched into their minds and onto their hearts, not merely on stones.  It would be a covenant which would offer all people the opportunity actually to know the Lord and to receive his forgiveness for their sins. 
             Jeremiah’s words were a foretelling of the Messiah’s quiet entry into the world almost 600 years later — his simple, exemplary life, his sacrificial atoning death and miraculous resurrection, his ascension into heaven, and his return to his disciples in the person of the Holy Spirit.  By his Spirit, he would be with them always, not just on high holy days.  The Spirit would teach them his Way, empower and guide them to live it, and convict them of sin if they strayed from it (John 16:7-11).  The opportunity to repent, receive his forgiveness by accepting his atoning sacrifice, and renew their covenant with him was available every moment of every day.  It still is.  When Jesus said “Blessed are those who mourn” as the second of his eight Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-12), he was speaking of the spirit of the Day of Atonement.  Sin’s harm to the Creation God made and loves is to be mourned every day, even as we obey Christ’s leading every day to oppose that harm and to help bring healing to its victims. 

 

New Covenant Chronology       Just as the timing of the Autumn Equinox is beyond any human control, Christ’s atonement for humankind’s sin is an already-accomplished fact of history that will never be changed.  The writer to the Hebrews repeatedly emphasizes that Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross illustrated the deadly seriousness of sin, and that his death satisfied — once and for all time — the Law’s requirement (Hebrews 9:22) for blood to be shed in exchange for forgiveness of sin.  (The Law contained that requirement because people believed life to be in the blood of creatures.  They saw that sin was an offense and insult to the Creator of life which required an atoning sacrifice of life in order for the sinner to be made right again.)  For many centuries, animals were sacrificed as symbolic substitutes for sinners seeking forgiveness.   Sometimes that was done sincerely, but too often it was only a transactional ritual with no atoning quality.  In love for all humankind and his desire to be known by them, Jesus put an end to that, offering his life as the atonement for all sin, for all time.  Only one step remained…..

 

New Covenant Acceptance      I have read or heard some people say that since Christ made that atoning sacrifice once for all time, their sins have been forgiven and they’re bound for heaven, regardless of how or for whom they choose to live.  They are correct that Jesus died that sacrificial death to atone for all our sins, but they leave out an essential part which is found in John 1:12-13.  John wrote there that “to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become the children of God – children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”  Christ’s atonement has indeed been accomplished for all, but we each must accept that gift into our lives by admitting our need for it, by repenting of sin, and by believing Jesus’ identity as God in human flesh, able to forgive sin and transform our lives.  Only then can Christ’s atonement accomplish in our lives what he went to the cross to make possible.

 

 

 Queries for Worship-Sharing and Reflection

 

1)  How do you understand the difference (if any) between atonement and salvation?

2)  Why is it important that the Day of Atonement includes repentance for sins against both God and neighbors?

3)  What do you think of when you hear that a faith community is observing a Day of Atonement?

4)  Why would George Fox include both escaping sin’s penalty and negating sin’s power as parts of atonement?