The Days of Awe

Author’s Note: About 25 years ago I was sitting in my dorm room bored.  So I decide to write a holiday song… but I wanted to use a relatively unknown holiday.   I decided to write a song called, “Rosh Hashanah”.  It was quite catchy and I still get requests to sing it from some of my old friends.  Back then I didn’t know what Rosh Hashanah really was, but I sure do now.  I did a teaching a few years ago that went all the way back to Moses on Mt. Sinai bringing down the second tablets of the law.  The teaching stretched to the creation of the temple of Solomon and continued to the vision of John watching Jesus himself walk amongst the lamp stands.  The series was about seeking the face of God.  Turns out this had everything to do with the celebration of Yom Kippur and the sacred days leading up to it.  Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Years and it was just celebrated a few weeks ago.  It’s the beginning on an interesting connection of sacred holidays of the Jewish faith that string from that to the Day of Repentance which begins, actually, tonight at sundown.  In between them both are the 10 Days of Awe where the call of God is dwelt upon.  It is said that it is the decision to seek God during the days of Awe, and the repentance that takes place on Yom Kippur that will set in stone the people’s future.  It is those days that I see as symbolic of the call of God to this generation in this season.  Hurry.  Respond to the call while you still have time.  And may your name be written in the book of life!

The season begins with a renewal, another spin of this tired earth being circled by a relentless moon.  The past has been a checkered thing, stained with sin and brokenness.  But it’s not the past that is of concern during this time.  It is the future.  It is the near future where choices must be made and redemption must be sought.  New Years is behind us and it remains to be seen if the Day of Atonement will bring redemption.  That is up to us.  That depends on what happens now, in the days of awe.

The Days of Awe represents time in the Jewish faith, 10 days worth, where the people have a choice before them.  “Choose this day whom you will serve”.  It is said that these are the days to prepare one’s heart, and the heart’s of one’s family to decide if they will have this year be one where God is put first, or if they will go off into their own fate.  The decision made leads into the Day of Atonement where repentance is made and God’s face is sought.  The high priest of the Old Testament would prepare himself by seeking a sincere heart.  They would sprinkle themselves with water to symbolizing their desire to become pure.  They would prepare to go behind the curtain into the Holy of Holies.

“Show us the Father!”, the disciples begged.  That has been their hearts cry since the time of Moses, himself only being able to see the back of God as He passed by.  Yet such a radiance came about Moses that a veil had to be put over his face.  He heard God and knew God, but came short of seeing God’s face.

Every year the high priest entered the Holy of Holies, behind yet another veil that kept us from the face of God.  The veil was for the people’s own protection.  They repented and they sacrificed, and they decreed that we would follow the Most High, but there was still one thing that kept them from His face.

Sin.

So the High Priest would enter the smoky Holy Place on one day and in one way.  Like Moses, he was in the presence of God.  Like Moses, he only saw the back of the Father.  The veil still kept us separated.

“Show us the Father!” was the disciples plead as it had been the people’s plea.

“Do you not get it yet?” the Messiah responded.  “Do you not see?”

“If you see me, you SEE the Father.”

On that dark day in the month of Nissan on a cross of wood where only the cursed died, between heaven and earth, the final sacrifice was made for the forgiveness of sins.  This time, it was accepted fully.  This time the blood did more than just covered our sins.  This time it paid the full price.

This time the veil between the people and the Holy of Holies split wide open.

This time the path to God was made wide open.  This time we did not have to be satisfied with seeing the back of God, and only seeing the hand of God.

This time we can bodily approach the throne of grace, in the presence of the Father.

This time we can stare deeply into the face of God and live.

Jesus came to bring us life, and to the fullest.  Staring deeply into the face of God is where that life is.  When you do that, no other argument remains… How should I live my life?  What are my freedoms?  Do I have to give God my money?  Do I have to give God my sexuality?  Do I have to give God my time, or my attention, or my heart?

Those questions turn to dust when one is on their knees in repentance, and rise to their feet to live out that repentance and live their life in that redemption.  The face of God, once sought and once found will forever tattoo our very soul, and mind, and strength and heart.  When the face of Christ is seen, one can only respond in awe.

“He who has seen me has seen the Father”

These are the days of awe.  These are the days where the choice must be made.

“Choose this day whom you will serve”

And yet, one last veil remains.  Indeed two last veils still exist.  One is the veil that remains on the heart of mankind who choose to go off into their own fate.  The other is the veil that separates this world from the other. However, it is the precedence of this season to allow us beyond those veils.  It is precedence of these days to have those veils torn from top to bottom The days of awe are drawing rapidly to a close.  The Day of the Lord looms, but before it becomes one day in between.  Yet the question still looms.

“Choose this day whom you will serve”

I pray you won’t wait.  I pray you will choose wisely.  I pray that your name may be written the the book of life!

“Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.” (Hebrews 10:19-23)