Changed

 Changed

As Yom Kippur, the Feast of Atonement approaches, through repentance we all should be focused on GOD, seeking HIS face, obeying HIS commandments, and through this process, we should all undergo a change.  This change is not by our own efforts but is an action of the grace, mercy, and judgment by GOD, WHO is reconciled to us through our Healer, Jesus Christ.

Our Jewish brothers and sisters associate Yom Kippur with the day Moses came down from Mount Sinai after spending 40 days and 40 nights with the LORD (a second time).  Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the second set of tables of stone, which the LORD wrote the Ten Commandments on with HIS Finger.  The skin of Moses' face shone so brightly that the people were afraid, so he wore a veil on his face while he spoke with them (see Exo 34:29-35).

What caused this change in Moses, transforming his face to shine so brightly that it needed to be covered?

Exo 32:30-33 "And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up unto the LORD; peradventure I shall make an atonement (kāp̄ar H3722: ROOT word of atonement) for your sin. And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin—; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written. And the LORD said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book."

After the sin of the Golden Calf (see Exo 32:1-29), Moses interceded for the people and offered GOD an exchange for their forgiveness.  He asked GOD to blot his name out of the Book of Life in exchange for forgiveness of the sinful children of Israel, which the LORD refused.  Why?  Because Moses was not an unblemished, sinless offering.

In fact, Moses had to plead with GOD to continue with them on their journey.  Because Moses found grace in the eyes of GOD and GOD knew Moses by name, the LORD agreed to continue leading the Israelites through the wilderness (see Exo 33:12-17).

Moses asks GOD to let him see HIS glory.  

Moses was asking for a deeper relationship with GOD and was seeking HIS face.

Exo 33:18-23 "And he said, I beseech thee, shew me תא thy glory. And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious תא to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy תא on whom I will shew mercy. And he said, Thou canst not see תא my face: for there shall no man see me, and live. And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me (תא), and thou shalt stand upon a rock: And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by: And I will take away תא mine hand, and thou shalt see תא my back parts: but my face shall not be seen."

GOD longs for a personal relationship with those of us who seek HIM.  This is revealed in HIS gracious willingness to reveal HIMSELF to Moses.  However, GOD is also protective of us and knew that the human Moses could only withstand a limited amount of HIS glory, so HE provided a covering, HIS Hand.  This is a display of GOD's mercy and judgment.  

Moses was brought to a place with GOD only allowed to the High Priest on Yom Kippur, the Holy of Holies.  The word for "back parts" (H268) in the specific sense that it was used attributes it to the "hinder part of the Tabernacle."  

The High Priest had to wash himself, change into white linen garments (holy garments), bring blood of the sin offering, and put a coal and incense upon the Altar of Incense to prevent his death (Lev 16:4,12-13).  Moses was allowed into the uttermost presence of the LORD without this ritual.  This displays the very personal, elevated relationship that Moses had with GOD.

As Moses is allowed to see the limited glory of GOD's back parts as GOD passed before him, GOD proclaimed HIS divine attributes (Exo 34:4-7).  With this, GOD not only revealed HIS glory, but revealed personal knowledge of WHO HE is to Moses, and through Moses, to the rest of us.  HE reveals HIS triune nature and Ten Attributes that describes WHO HE is.

Hidden, in the Hebrew letters of the phrase from Moses, "I shall make an atonement (kāp̄ar H3722: ROOT word of atonement)," GOD also reveals HIMSELF by Name.

ה → Look, Behold, Reveal    כ → Hand, Palm

ר → Head, Chief, Highest    פ → Mouth, Word    א → GOD

GOD used HIS Hand/Palm to cover and protect Moses in mercy and judgment.

But through grace, GOD Reveals the Hand of "the Healer."

The only Physician Who could "heal" us of the death brought on by sin. 

The three remaining letters can be assembled into the Name of Rapha (H7495), a word that means "to heal" or "to restore." 

Isa 53:3-5 "He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed (H7495)."

Due to the glory of this divine revelation of the back of Jesus, the Healer, Moses is changed.  Because of this change, Moses had to wear a vail upon his face in front of the people, just as glory of GOD needed a vail to separate the Holy of Holies from the Sanctuary.

I firmly believe that Moses saw the stripes on the back of the Healer, Jesus, our Messiah.  After all, it is said in Revelation 13:8 that Jesus was "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world" and in 1Peter 1:20 that He "was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times" for us.  Now the vail of separation has been torn in two, and through the blood of Jesus, we have been reconciled with the Father, saved from wrath, and have inherited eternal life. 

Rom 5:8-11 "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled (G2644) to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled (G2644), we shall be saved by his life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement (G2643)."

2Co 5:17-21 "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled (G2644) us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation (G2643); To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling (G2644) the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation (G2643). Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled (G2644) to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness (G1343) of God in him."

The word "atonement/reconciliation" is G2643 in the Strong's Concordance and means "the received blessing (of cleansing and purification) and the restoration of the favor of GOD to sinners that repent and put their trust in Jesus Christ."

This "atonement/reconciliation," through our High Priest Jesus Christ, causes a G2644 "change" and makes us different, and we are transformed into a "new creature."  

Not only is this "change" spiritual, but it is physical as well.  In the definition of this "change", Thayer's Greek Lexicon states that GOD "has deposited the doctrine of reconciliation in the souls" of those who speak of the gospel.  Imagine having such a close relationship with GOD, that your skin glowed and shined with the glory of GOD's doctrine of reconciliation.

Mat 5:14-16 "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."

1Co 15:51-54 "Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed (G236), In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed (G236). For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory."

This "change" is G236 and means "to change," "to transform," and "exchange" corruption for righteousness (G1343) and mortality for everlasting life.  One day, all of us who love GOD, keep HIS commandments, and trust and have faith in Jesus Christ will be changed.  One day, at the very end of Yom Kippur, the Tekiah HaGadol that is sounded will be the Trumpet of Jubilee (Lev 25:8-10) and will announce Jesus's victory over death and our liberation from the bondage of sin.

2Co 3:12-18 "Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech: And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished: But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away. Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord."

On Yom Kippur, the white garments worn by our Jewish brothers and sisters are reflective of the special garments the High Priest wore when entering the Holy of Holies.  They speak to the purification and spiritual elevation that will occur when we are changed.  We must pray for the vail to be taken off of their mind and heart so that they may receive the liberty that is in the Spirit.  Let us all seek a personal relationship with GOD with the same vigor that Moses expressed for the vail is open, and GOD wants us to seek HIS face, just as Moses did.

Rev 19:7-8 "Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints."

To all who read this message:

The LORD bless you, and keep you:

The LORD make HIS face shine upon you, and be gracious to you:

The LORD lift up HIS countenance upon you, and give you peace.

Amen and Amen.

A video is available for this teaching on YouTube: click here.