Messianic Forum: Messiah and Today: Spiritual Accountability

By David T. E. S. Cooke

During the month of Elul, Jews everywhere observe a time of spiritual accountability. Elul prepares the way for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year (Sept. 23rd, 2006), which is seen as a Day of Judgement. Following this are Ten Days of Repentance leading up to Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement (Oct. 2nd, 2006).

This is the time for Jewish people to acknowledge their personal failings, reflect on their good and bad deeds over the past year, and strive to follow God’s Torah with added resolve and effort. When Rosh Hashanah arrives, as one rabbi puts it, “we each stand before God and offer our best case for being ‘created anew’ – i.e. granted another year of life.” This process of spiritual accountability means balancing your moral and ethical chequebooks, and making up the difference when necessary. The goal is to offer God a good reason why He should accept you and “renew” your lease on life for another year.

However, there are some problems with this process of spiritual accountability. If we truly want to experience new life and be welcomed into God’s holy and loving presence, we need to understand two things. First, we have to understand what a full spiritual accounting entails. Second, we have to understand the central role of Messiah in our accountability.

1. How to Give a Full Account

Our spiritual accounting rightly begins by identifying our personal failings. We are to recall our sins, seek God’s forgiveness, and resolve to act differently in the future. This act of repentance is essential.

After this, people will often recall the good deeds they have done. There is an attempt to weigh out good and bad and prove one’s self more righteous than sinful – more good than bad. However, God has criticized this very common approach in His Holy Scriptures.

Psalms [Tehillim] 53:2,3[3,4] reads: “God looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any who understand, who seek God. Every one of them has turned aside; they have together become corrupt; there is none who does good, no, not one.”

Ecclesiastes [Koheles] 7:20 agrees, “For there is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin.”

God affirms this in Genesis 8:21, saying, “the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth.”

All people on this earth – whether they be Jewish or Gentile – are sinners. There is no one who is, in and of himself, RIGHTEOUS or GOOD. As the New Testament asserts in Romans 3:23, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Adam and Eve had sunk the human race into a miry pit; and with our own failures added in, we are sinking deeper and deeper!

Even our good deeds cannot rescue us. Isaiah 64:6[5] says, “But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; we all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” We may try to outweigh our bad deeds with our good deeds, but we will never achieve balance. The fact is, our most righteous works are tainted with sin and pride. The good that we do is filthy in the eyes of the Lord. Our sin has forvever taken us away from God’s presence.

2. The Role of Messiah in Our Spiritual Accountability

You might reply at this point, “What hope do we have if no one is righteous?! How can we be accepted by God if our good deeds will never measure up?” Well, this is the very reason why we need MESSIAH. We need Messiah to rescue us – we cannot save ourselves. Messiah alone gives us hope – and He does this in two ways.

First, Messiah bears our sins and removes them from us. Isaiah 53:5 reads, “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.” Messiah comes and takes our sins on Himself. He suffers the punishment for those sins and thereby releases us forever.

Second, Messiah gives us the gift of righteousness. God promises in Jeremiah 23:5,6, “I will raise to David a Branch of Righteousness; a King shall reign and prosper, and execute judgement and righteousness in the earth. In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell safely; now this is His name by which He will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.” We are not righteous in and of ourselves; but Messiah gives us the Lord’s own perfect righteousness. It’s a trade: His righteousness in exchange for our sins.

As we acknowledge our failures, we need to depend on Messiah completely! He alone is our hope. Thankfully, as we look back through history, we can see that Messiah has indeed come and done this work for us some two thousand years ago. The New Testament writes the following about Yeshua (Jesus), the promised Messiah:

Ephesians 5:2 says, “Christ [Yeshua] also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.”

2 Corinthians 5:21 records, “For He [God] made Him [Yeshua] who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

2 Corinthians 5:17 tells us, “if anyone is in Christ [Yeshua], he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

Preparing for Rosh Hashanah

During this month of Elul, undertake a full spiritual accounting. First, acknowledge that you are a sinner who can never measure up to the righteous standards of God. Second, take hold of your Messiah – Yeshua – and all that He offers you. Ask Him to remove your sins and to grant you the gift of God’s perfect righteousness. Then, you will not only have a new lease on life, but a new life that is eternal. Then, and only then, you will be welcomed into God’s holy and loving presence. Happy New Year!

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