How Awesome Is That? by guest Charles Razzell

How is your year going so far? No, not the one that started on January 1st, but the one that began on Rosh Hashana, (September 21, in 2017). The start of the Jewish year begins with 10 “days of awe,” which are days set aside for repentance, introspection and charitable works leading up to Yom Kippur, also known in English as the Day of Atonement. This “Sabbath of Sabbaths” is a day of complete fasting from both food and water along with several other prohibitions. The scriptural basis for this practice comes from Leviticus 16:29-30:

This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: on the tenth day of the seventh month you must deny yourselves and not do any work – whether native-born or a foreigner residing among you – because on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you. Then, before the Lord, you will be clean from all your sins.

The Hebrew word for repentance is TESHUVAH, pronounced: tuh-SHOO-vah, meaning literally “return”, referring to a “return to God.”  This was never intended as a mere intellectual exercise, but was always profoundly practical. It required action, including confession, reconciliation and restitution. Isaiah 55:6-7 calls for this return to God in the following words:

Seek God while he’s here to be found,     pray to him while he’s close at hand. Let the wicked abandon their way of life     and the evil their way of thinking. Let them come back to God, who is merciful,     come back to our God, who is lavish with forgiveness.

There is no hiding in religious niceties here; it is downright practical and direct: “Let the wicked abandon their way of life.”   An important lesson we can learn from Jewish observance of the Days of Awe and Yom Kippur is a radical awareness of our need for atonement and forgiveness. However, it would be a tragic to stay in that place, and not alsounderstand God’s astounding and complete provision for our atonement! The fulfillment of the Day of Atonement was completed, once for all, when Jesus offered himself on the cross, as described in Hebrews 9:6-14.

But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands, that is to say, is not a part of this creation. He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.  The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!

May we never lose our wonder, at that act of amazing love!  As Steffany Gretzinger’s worship song puts it:   It's extravagant, it doesn't make sense We'll never comprehend, the way You love us It's unthinkable, only heaven knows Just how far You'd go, to say You love us To say You love us To say You love us   God’s love requires a response: If we understand, even dimly, that the One who was without sin died for us, we should be willing to move out of the comfort zone of “theory” and open ourselves up to receive him. Although we must take a step towards Him, he takes huge leaps and bounds to meet us, while we are on the way!  The prodigal son story illustrates this perfectly in Luke 15:20

So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

This is Teshuvah (repentance) in a nutshell. “I will get up and go to my Father” is a very practical statement that was immediately followed though by visible action. However, that action is not one that attempts to fix the problem directly by using our own resources, but it is a decision to depend entirely on the mercy of God and His resources!   The willingness to take concrete action, however small, is often a prelude to much greater supernatural power showing up, so that we are no longer self-powered but Christ-powered. This unequal partnership is key to enjoying the Normal Christian Life, which is always God-powered and goes far beyond what our own actions could ever achieve on their own.  How awesome is that?!                                                                          Blessings! - Charles