When was the last time you were afflicted for your
sins? In our worship we use a confession
of sins that includes the phrases, “the remembrance of them (our sins) is
grievous unto us, the burden of them is intolerable.” The question I always ask myself is, are
they? Can I honestly say that my sins
weigh so heavily on me that I am grieved by remembering them and they pose an
intolerable weight upon me? The Day of
Atonement is to be a day of dealing with sin, recognizing it for what it is, an
abomination that separates me from God, means that I am a rebel who has broken
covenant with Him. The nation was to
know the weight of their sins, they only knew they were forgiven if the priest
didn’t die in the holy of holies and the goat sent into the wilderness didn’t
return. It was possible that their sins
wouldn’t be forgiven. The festivals God
prescribed for them fall into two basic categories, remembrance of what He had
done for them already, including Passover and the Feast of Booths, and
thanksgiving for what He was doing for them in providing all the necessary
conditions for their agricultural endeavors, the engine of economic
prosperity. The Day of Atonement
straddles that divide as a remembrance that God did all He did for them in the
Exodus because He was in covenant with them and will continue to provide in the
future because of that covenant but that they have been unfaithful to that covenant
and their continued enjoyment of that protection and provision is contingent on
His mercy and forgiveness.
The narrow gate is Jesus Christ and it is also a life lived
for Him and according to His commands. Those
two things have to go together. He is
savior but He is also to be Lord and we cannot have salvation without lordship. He never intended to be nothing more than a
get of jail free card that we can play again and again. We are to pursue righteousness because we
have been set free from the penalty phase of the law. Sin is to be a continuing issue for us in
this body and we are to be ruthless in dealing with it in our lives. We are to feel the weight of sin in order
that we might also know that intolerable burden is taken by Jesus.
Was it important that Jesus was completely obedient to the
Father’s will? He went to the cross not
because it was His will but in obedience to the Father. He laid down His own preferences in order to
do the Father’s will. So, Paul says, we
are to be His obedient children in all things.
In this we love Him, by doing His will as Jesus has done. He is faithful and steadfast even though we
are fickle and wavering. The Christian
life is to be a journey towards faithfulness and steadfastness, a journey of
obedience and faith.
Then let us render him his own,
with solemn prayer approach the throne,
with meekness hear the gospel word,
with thanks his dying love record;
our joyful hearts and voices raise
and fill his courts with songs of praise.
with solemn prayer approach the throne,
with meekness hear the gospel word,
with thanks his dying love record;
our joyful hearts and voices raise
and fill his courts with songs of praise.
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