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Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us (Heb 12:1).

One of the Elders, Eric Hall, that I am privileged to serve with at Corydon Baptist Church wrote this today.  With his permission, it is published here.

Last night at sunset Yom Kippur began.  Yom Kippur… the Day of Atonement.  In case you don’t know the Day of Atonement is one of the high holy days for the Jews.  It was the one and only time each year that the one and only high priest could enter into the holy of holies, into God’s very presence, and beg Him to accept the life of the lamb instead of taking the lives of the Israelites for all their sins that year.  Sacrifices were made daily in the temple but only one time a year did someone dare to approach the very presence of God.  You may also know that the high priest had a rope tied around his waist lest he sin while in God’s presence and be killed. No one else could go retrieve his body so the rope would be used to drag him out of there.

Their prince shall be one of themselves; their ruler shall come out from their midst; I will make him draw near, and he shall approach me, for who would dare of himself to approach me? declares the LORD. – Jeremiah 30:21

Would you dare to approach God, this God?  We forget what the presence of God is like.  The Israelites knew that I AM had revealed Himself as powerful and fearful and not to be trifled with!  They had seen with their eyes blood fill the rivers, frogs fill the land, locusts and hail fill the sky.  This God of theirs had plagued the strongest nation in the world, had wiped out the strongest army in the world, had parted the impassible sea, and made the mountain quake so violently that they wanted to hide.  The one thing they didn’t want was to get too close to this God.

We have the opposite sentiment it seems.  God is so familiar and tame that we don’t recognize the jealous God, the powerful God, the fearful God of the Jews.

Their prince shall be one of themselves; their ruler shall come out from their midst; I will make him draw near, and he shall approach me, for who would dare of himself to approach me? declares the LORD. – Jeremiah 30:21

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. – Hebrews 4:16

Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.  – Psalm 2:12

So should we draw near or be fearful to draw near?  The Bible’s answer I believe is: Yes we should be fearful to draw near ourselves.  It would be devastating for any sinner to get close to this Holy, Holy, Holy God. But the Bible wouldn’t stop there.  For a Prince and a Priest has drawn near for us.  You see, there has been an atonement.  His blood was accepted instead of mine.  And His grace and atonement will make you love the presence of God instead of run from it.

So what does the Day of Atonement mean for me and for you?  It at least means that God is serious about sin.  It means that if I knew God, really knew God I would be serious about offending Him… so serious that I would tie a rope around my waist as it were… so serious that I beg that He accept the blood of the Lamb though mine is deserved… so serious that I cherish and tremble and relish the incredible privilege of being in the presence of God.

I pray that this indeed would be a Day of Atonement for you, that you would hate your sins and fear for your life.  That you would accept, trust, and wildly love Jesus’ blood and atonement for you.  Remember what you’d be without Him?

Their prince shall be one of themselves; their ruler shall come out from their midst; I will make him draw near, and he shall approach me, for who would dare of himself to approach me? declares the LORD. – Jeremiah 30:21

For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.  He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself.  – Hebrews 7:26-27

-atoned for

Nearly every day since we settled into our new home in Depauw, IN my wife and I speak of being amazed that God has given us such an amazing home on such a gorgeous piece of property.  The home we purchased (or are paying the bank for) sat empty for a year or more and we are astounded!  Now, the home is not lavish.  It is a simple home built in 1964 by a couple who had been, up until we moved in, its only occupants.  And, the property may not suit a city boy's fancy.  But we truly feel like the Lord reserved this spot just for us.  We are amazed!

One of the things we think is cool about our neck of the woods are the sounds of train whistles in the evenings.  In Southern Indiana train tracks are very much still active, and we have a train that runs several times a day in the valley about a mile below our house.  The sound of the whistle is nostalgic.  It makes us long for a by-gone time as it echoes on the hills.  Kinda eery, even, how it generates a weird longing in me for yesteryear.

So often this is true of us spiritually, as well.  Deep within us human beings lies buried a sense of tragic loss.  Something is not just missing; something has gone tragically wrong with us and the whole world around us!  We've lost something precious, but because of sin's effects in us we grope blindly to find it until God's grace in Christ comes to us via the gospel.  This sense of loss is surely one of those truths we sinners "suppress in unrighteousness" (Rom 1:18).

Something has been lost!  In the beginning of creation, God pronounced things "very good" (Gen 1:31).  But very quickly in the Bible's history of this world we see tragedy strike the human race, and consequently the rest of creation (we were, after all, supposed to be ruling the creation as God's vice-regents).  The first man and woman, called Adam and Eve, tried to be autonomous.  They wanted to achieve something no human ever can or ever will - complete freedom to act as one desires with nothing to prevent one's will from becoming reality.  This kind of freedom only exists in God!  We were not made autonomous creatures, but very dependent beings.  The limited freedom we had in Eden disappeared in a flash when Adam and Eve disobeyed their Creator God.

Now, we are even more dependent creatures!  The promised freedom of sin and Satan backfired BIG TIME.  Instead of more freedom we got less - so much less that we became and have ever since been slaves (see John 8:34).  Now, we cannot not sin (bad English grammar, but still true).

I hear well-meaning Christians somtimes say we need to "return to Eden."  I get the sentiment.  It's the "train whistle syndrome."  For sure, Eden would beat the mess we live in now!  But here's the kicker - God always had more in store for His people than Eden.  If you and I could go back to Eden somehow, we'd still mess it up just like Adam did.  How do I know this?  Because Adam represented us all.  And, God chose him to be our representative.  Adam perfectly represented us all as human beings.  If we were Adam, we'd have bitten the forbidden fruit, too, maybe even sooner in the creation narrative than he did!

A preacher I heard one time said Adam and Eve sinned to try to be more like God but they didn't understand they were already as much like God as they were ever going to get.  Let me just say, "I hope not!"  If that were true, we are hopeless and doomed to repeat an endless cycle of disobeying our Majestic Creator.

This really is the point of Romans 5:12-14.  Because we are "in Adam" we all sin and we all die.  We are Adam's race, his children.  He perfectly represented us in that Garden on that fateful day recorded in Genesis 3.  We sin and die because of our union with Adam, our head.  But praise and glory to God His purpose and plan was always for something bigger and better than Adam and Eve in a Garden!

The rest of Romans 5 tells us of a new race of people - recipients of "the free gift" which is not like the lost freedom of Eden.  "For if because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abudance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ" (v. 17).

Hallelujah!  Jesus perfectly represents His people, too!  Those saved by grace through faith in Jesus are no longer just "in Adam."  We are now "in Christ," the Second Adam.  His righteousness is given to His people.  His headship reigns.  His glory is being restored in us, dear Christians!

And the Second Adam, Christ Jesus, promises us something far better than Eden.  The Bible's whole story-line is that through the Eternal Son of God who became flesh and died in place of His wrath-deserving people, God is moving His redeemed people from a Garden to a City!  And the City is better (though as a country boy it seems counter-intuitive for me to say such a thing).

"No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His servants will worship Him.  They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads" (Revelation 22:3-4).

Now, that's a train whistle worth longing for!  That's true freedom!