The Atonement – significant for Christians?

The Day of Atonement is a very important day on the Christian calendar. Yes, the Christian calendar. It’s also important for Jews as well, better known as Yom Kippur. 

But for Christians who might not see the connection, and most of them don’t, here’s the first question to ask yourself: Who made the atoning sacrifice for the sins of humanity? Well, it’s none other than Jesus, the Christ. It wasn’t any other person than the Son of God, whose mission was to come to Earth to die for the sins of every human being ever born. 

The Day of Atonement is one of God’s seven annual festivals or “appointed times,” outlined in Lev. 23. He calls them “my feasts,” or “feasts of the LORD,” NOT a feast of the Jews as many Christians believe in error. It does not say that! 

As our worldly activities come under the grips of the COVID-19 pandemic, as has been the case since the start of 2020, each day we face the uncertainty of when this nightmare will ever end. There’s talk it could be around for many years, based on the experience with dealing with similar pandemics. No one knows for sure. In many countries, it’s no longer regarded as a pandemic but rather an endemic.

The world needs hope, the real one, not the false ones which we set our minds on – money, prosperity, power, and happiness, all of which are temporary and will end at some point in human history. What better day to look to for hope than the Day of Atonement, which will be celebrated this year on October 5? It projects us into the future when the world will be at one with God, and there will be no pandemics, endemics, wars, famines, pestilences, crimes, death, or sorrow to confront daily.

In the coming days, we are not going to stop hearing of wars and rumours of wars; neither will we see any ease in earthquakes, natural disasters, pestilences, increasing famines, acts of terrorism, increasing poverty, crime, corruption, failing governments, and changing weather systems. All of these have been prophesied to happen. Before the Kingdom of God is established, the Bible warns these are the beginning of sorrows or the “birth pangs.”  They will just be the beginning or warming up to a time when humans will regret they were ever born; the wrath of God against evil and wickedness will be so unbearable that many will seek death and will not find it.

The journey we call life is all about choices. There’s hardly a day that goes by that does not involve making a choice. It could be a choice about what to eat, or wear; a choice between going to work or not, buying a house, or a car, getting married, staying single, opening a new bank account, saving, or spending. The list goes on.

It’s rather interesting that the choices we make determine how we live our lives; what we get and what we receive, be they defeats or triumphs. Many of us have live long enough to learn lessons from the wrong choices and to gain wisdom from the right ones. Ultimately, it’s our choices, which will determine our destiny as human beings, yet many pay scant regard to this reality of life.

The choices can vary between two extremes, a negative or positive, yes or no, indecision or indifference, but for the most part, any decision taken still boils down to a choice. In other words, if you stay neutral on a particular position or choose to remain indifferent on a matter, it is still a choice. There’s no escape from making a choice about which road you will take in this life. The Day of Atonement reminds us of who died for our sins. Who is it now affords us mercy and forgiveness when we make wrong choices and sin against him?

Our maker and Creator of the Universe, in His wisdom, offers us the right choices to make in every facet of life. He is our Maker, and being the one who puts us on this Earth, and gave us intelligence to make choices, wouldn’t you say He has all the authority to tell you what are the right choices in life? The secular world believes this is debatable, but that belief is ludicrous given the fact that we did not create ourselves. Our carnal mind is always at enmity with the Creator (Romans 8:7), hence there’s a tendency to be hostile to any advice He gives for our own good?

The child of God must use their troubling experiences to prepare them for what lies ahead. The picture ahead is not pretty. It will be terrible to say the least, nevertheless, for God’s people who just celebrated the establishment of the coming Kingdom of God, they know true joy will come in the morning after going through the difficult times ahead. If the Great God is calling YOU to escape the Wrath of the Lamb that is upon us, may you heed His advice and repent!  If you accept Jesus Christ as your ONLY true Saviour, and that of the world, it will be the MOST IMPORTANT decision YOU will ever make in your lifetime. Time will prove it! When the wrath of God is past, there will come peace and joy which the children of God have been longing for. Out of the doom and gloom comes the real boom – eternal life, free from pain or sorrow. Thank God for the Day of Atonement.  For more on this subject, download FREE our booklet The Assurance of Salvation.