26 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 27 “Now on the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. It shall be for you a time of holy convocation, and you shall afflict yourselves and present a food offering to the Lord. 28 And you shall not do any work on that very day, for it is a Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before the Lord your God. 29 For whoever is not afflicted on that very day shall be cut off from his people. 30 And whoever does any work on that very day, that person I will destroy from among his people. 31 You shall not do any work. It is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwelling places. 32 It shall be to you a Sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall afflict yourselves. On the ninth day of the month beginning at evening, from evening to evening shall you keep your Sabbath.” ~ Leviticus 23:26-32
24 For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. 25 Nor was it to offer Himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not His own, 26 for then He would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. 27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, 28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him. ~ Hebrews 9:24-28
I was reading a Christian blog explaining the Jewish feasts, and they explained the Day of Atonement as a ‘Do-Nothing Day’ for Christians because Jesus did it all for us when it comes to atonement. Jesus did it all with regard to our salvation being purchased for us and establishing a new covenant, but there is much for us to do on this day. The Day of Atonement was the most Holiest of feasts the LORD God established. It was the one day a year the High Priest could enter into the Holy of Holies where the Presence of the LORD would come down on the Mercy Seat. Jesus, our High Priest, went behind the curtain in Heaven and made the final sacrifice for our sin. He gave His own blood.
Here’s what I’m getting at: this feast should be just as holy, if not holier, to us than to the Jews. Why? Our God sacrificed His own blood to purchase our salvation. To give us freedom in Him, yet we still give in to temptation. Yet we still continue our lives as if He didn’t. We make claims like ‘we have nothing to do with our salvation.’ We choose the world over Him. TV instead of prayer. Games instead of worship. Social Media instead of reading our Bibles. We should be spending this day on our knees begging for His forgiveness. Begging for His mercy. Begging for His grace. We should spend the day humbling ourselves before our God, our Savior.
This isn’t the biggest ‘Do-Nothing Day’ for Christians. This is the biggest cry-out-to-Jesus day for Christians. The biggest day of reflection. The biggest day of repentance. Don’t waste this day.
Peace. Love. Go Forth and Don’t Do Nothing.