Ron Hutchcraft Ministries - More Than a Holiday - #8114

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

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When our kids went to school in the Northeast, this was always a time to look forward to. It was a Jewish holiday, but everybody got out of school. It’s Yom Kippur, but it’s much more than holiday or even a holy day. It is actually a picture of the greatest act of love in human history by the One whose life mattered more than any other.

I’m Ron Hutchcraft and Yom Kippur is actually the celebration of the ancient Day of Atonement, when the sins of the Jewish people were symbolically carried away. What happened was the High Priest sacrificed one goat on the altar, symbolizing the death penalty that human sin carries.

Then he took a second goat to, in the words of the Bible, “…lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it—all their sins—the goat will carry on itself all their sins to a solitary place,” (Leviticus 16:20-22 ) called the scapegoat, actually. It was a picture of what it would take for you and me to ever have a chance with God, to ever have a way to be forgiven, to go to heaven.

The Bible says of Jesus, “He sacrificed for their sins once for all when He offered Himself” (Hebrews 7:27 ). “He personally carried our sins in His body on the cross” (1 Peter 2:24 NLT). When Jesus was dying he was absorbing every wrong thing, every selfish, every dirty, every hurting thing that you and I have ever done. That is how much He loves you and that’s why our eternity depends on what we do with God’s Son who died in our place.

Love to help you get started with Him. Go to our website, ALifeThatMatters.org, because God put you here to live a life that matters.

This radio program references (NIV): Leviticus 16:20-22 ; Hebrews 7:27 ; 1 Peter 2:24 NLT New Living Translation