The Good Laodicean - USING ATONEMENT BEFORE ITS FULFILLMENT

No. 72 - USING ATONEMENT BEFORE ITS FULFILLMENT
By: John J. Blanchard
Thursday, October 13, 2005

Day of Atonement

Atonement is a holy day that is a real dichotomy in some ways because we experience both the somber, sad feeling yet a joyous feeling. We want to examine why and learn about what we can do at this time to use this day before it actually occurs. What I mean to say is to learn the lessons of Atonement so that we can imbibe of what God wants us to do. We can learn what He wants us to do and use it before the Day of Atonement is actually fulfilled in its own right.

We want to look at a couple of scriptures that talk about the Day of Atonement first. If you would, turn to Leviticus chapter 23 where it is outlined with the rest of the holy days. In Leviticus 23 beginning in verse 26 God specifically says to keep the Day of Atonement. “And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ‘Also the tenth day of this seventh month shall be the Day of Atonement. It shall be a holy convocation for you; you shall afflict your souls…’” (which means to fast) “‘…and offer an offering made by fire to the Lord.’” We have just given a physical offering, but we are supposed to offer of our own selves (of our own lives) to Him.

Continue reading in Leviticus 23:28-32. God instituted the day. He said it is a solemn day, and we are to do no work. We are to fast on this day. If you back up to Leviticus chapter 16, the day is also spoken of here. Leviticus 16 sheds a little bit more light on what the people were actually told to do on the Day of Atonement. Read Leviticus 16:1-10.

So we see what was actually done that day was very specific. Leviticus 23 does not tell us the specifics, but the people were to do some very unusual things on that day to make atonement and to place guilt, as we see, on this second goat.

Drop down and read verses 15-16. The first goat that was to be killed was to help clean up the holy place for all of their sins. Take note of that.

Continue reading in Leviticus 16:17-20. We see this was an extensive procedure to clean up Aaron (as the high priest), to clean up the holy place (the tabernacle) and the congregation of Israel. This was a very extensive procedure to get all of the uncleanness off the people.

Continue reading in verse 21: “‘Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, confess over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, concerning all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and shall send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a suitable man.’”

It is as if the guilt was transferred, in essence, off the people and on to this goat. It was a very sobering situation involving the death of sacrificial animals, the sprinkling of blood seven times, a specific set of rituals to go through to make sure that the temple (the holy place), the tabernacle and the people were all cleansed.

If you drop down to verse 29, you will see that this is an eternal statute. It is to be done forever. Read verses 29-34. We see that this is an eternal statute and something to be done forever. We see it has a lot of significance. Everything we have read so far is very sobering. The people have sin, they have guilt they are carrying, and they have to go through this extensive procedure to be cleaned up. Before they can be cleaned up, the high priest must be cleaned, the priesthood must be cleaned, the holy place must be cleaned, the tabernacle and the temple must be cleaned. It is a very big deal. Yet there is a joyous side to this. We can see that if we turn to Leviticus chapter 25.

Read Leviticus 25:8-12. This seven times seven signifies seven testing periods of seven years long each, adding up to a total of forty-nine years being measured from Atonement to Atonement to Atonement. This would be right down to the forty-nine years. When you come to the fiftieth year that Atonement would be the mark of a Jubilee Year. That Jubilee would be one of proclaiming liberty throughout all the land. It would be liberty from your debts, which would be a physical sign of being liberated from our sin and then going into what we understand now to be the Millennium. It is the Millennium of God. So after seven testing periods you have this wonderfully joyous occasion! That is the upside of the Day of Atonement.

SATAN TO BE PUT AWAY
We understand along with this what really makes liberty all that it can be is that Satan and his influences are locked away. That is what happens when this goat that is led into the wilderness has all the guilt of the people put upon it and is let out into the wilderness to be let go away from the people. That symbolizes Satan being set apart and locked away from the people of God during the Millennium (actually from the whole world). He is unable to influence mankind anymore.

Turn to Isaiah chapter 14 for another view of this. We looked into this on the Feast of Trumpets a little more extensively than we can do today. Read Isaiah 14:12-15. Lucifer wanted to ascend to God’s throne, and when he was stopped from doing that, he wanted to take over the congregation of God. He is told here that he will have his comeuppance. There is a Day of Atonement coming, and he will be judged. He will be locked away in the lowest pits.

This is what we look forward to, brethren, on the Day of Atonement. Satan’s influence will be stopped, and the Millennium will start. The people of the world will be released into the liberty of the children of God. You can see that by turning to Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8 speaks of this liberty there.

Read Romans 8:18-22. We see that the earth (the entire planet) has been groaning and suffering now for thousands of years and looking forward to (without knowing it) the Day of Atonement. They are looking for that day when Satan will be locked away and the Millennium will start. The people can have the joyous, peaceful Millennium that they have always hoped for and always wanted.

When you put these two halves together (the jubilant side and the sober side), it is like the jubilant side is so awesome how could it have a down side! There are two important details we have to pay attention to that go along with the Day of Atonement. They are two very important details.

REGARDING GOD AS HOLY
It is not just a happy story. We can see that by going back to Leviticus 16 at the very start when God was explaining in Leviticus 16 the intricacies of what needed to be done on the Day of Atonement. We read over something that you might not have noticed. Leviticus chapter 16. Verse 1: “Now the Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered profane fire before the Lord, and died…” Then God told Moses what they had to do for the Day of Atonement.

Can you imagine, Aaron was the high priest of the time. He was the first one who would go into the Holy of Holies and offer these sacrifices for himself, for the priesthood and for his family. Then he would go out and clean the Holy of Holies and the temple and then offer sacrifice for the people. But he had to do that knowing that his two sons perished and that this whole assembly followed that incident when his two sons offered profane fire. We are told in the King James Version that it was strange fire. Well, what is this?

If you were to look up the term strange or profane, you would find it is the Hebrew word zuwr which means to turn aside, to turn aside especially for lodging, as if, so to speak, to go to the wrong house. So these two young fellows turned to the wrong source (the wrong house). The definition goes on to say to be foreign, or strange or profane, in a sense to commit adultery. So when these two young fellows offered profane fire, they were doing something strange before God. It was something He had not commanded. It was something that was turning away from righteousness. We need to go back and look at that incident, because we can learn from it.

Go back to Leviticus chapter 10, just a few pages back. Leviticus chapter 10 tells the story of Aaron’s two sons. Read verses 1-3. God did not mince words here! By anyone who comes near Him, He must be regarded as holy. And before all the people, He must be glorified.

Continuing in Leviticus 10:4. “Then Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel the uncle of Aaron, and said to them, ‘Come near, carry your brethren, from before the sanctuary out of the camp.’” Just like that goat, take them out of the camp.

Continue reading verses 5-7. Here God is explaining to the people through Moses that if they are a priest they have the anointing oil of God. They have been anointed to a very high calling. God says when they approach Me, they must approach Me as holy. They must glorify Me before the people. He was so upset by this that He said when you carry them out into the wilderness, do not even mourn for them. So that is the situation Aaron found himself in that very first time he had to perform the functions of the high priest on the Day of Atonement. That would be, of course, a very sad thing for him. Yet it is a very joyous occasion that he could take the guilt off the people and put it on to an animal (a goat) and send it into the wilderness. But he must have had terrible mixed feelings that day. He had sadness yet great joy that God had given him the ability and the job to remove the guilt and the sins from the people.

This is significant, brethren, and it is something that we need to learn from. God called priests in this day and age, too. He gave those of us who have a calling the anointing oil. He said you may have My Holy Spirit but make sure you approach Me and regard Me as holy. Make sure before all the people that what you do makes them see that I am worthy of glory and am holy.

We must revere God, brethren. On this holy day when we humble ourselves by fasting and praying to be at one with Him, we are revering God. We are following His instructions. Whenever we represent Him (all year long), we must do so properly. We must show that He is the glorified Being that He is. We need to proclaim His glory and His majesty to the people we meet in our daily lives, through our examples and through the way we live. We need to exhibit compassion and love in everything we do.

HOLY DAYS IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER
My second point is that the holy days are in chronological order. This point goes with the first point. Ten days ago we were celebrating the Feast of Trumpets. As we studied, that day represents Jesus Christ’s return. However, we find chronologically ten days later there is still a cleansing of the holy place, and of the holy people, and of the priests that needs to take place! Because if the holy days are in chronological order, ten days after Christ’s return (which may very well represent ten years) there are still people of the firstfruits needing to be cleaned up! Why? It is because they were left behind at Christ’s coming!

Let us take a brief look at Christ’s return and some of the things that go on around that time. Look at Matthew chapter 25. It is the parable of the virgins. We are going to read verses 1-6. So a cry goes out: Jesus Christ is coming! The people who hear this cry are people with the oil. Just like we were told by God (and Moses) back in Leviticus 16, those who have the oil must come before Me and regard Me as holy and glorify Me before all of the people.

Continue reading Matthew 25:7-13. It is sobering. There is a sobering side to this. There is a happy side, but there is a sobering side.

Back up, if you would, to Matthew chapter 24 and read verses 36-44. We understand Jesus Christ is going to come as a thief in the night. We do not know when He is coming, but He is not a thief. He is not a thief or a robber. He is the good shepherd. So what is He saying here? If we are not careful, our house can be broken into before Christ, the shepherd of the true house, arrives. Isn’t that the definition of zuwr, that you turn away to another house? So this can happen stealthily without us even knowing, prior to Christ’s return! Hence, you have five wise and five foolish. We need to realize, brethren, that when Jesus Christ returns, things will have transpired that will sort us out at Christ’s return in a very remarkable way. One will be taken, and one will be left.

The Marines have a saying, “we will never leave a fallen comrade behind.” I think in a sense God takes that a step further. Even though He is taking one and leaving one behind, He is leaving a lifeline back there. He is leaving a way for those people to hold on to salvation. We are going to look at that a little bit, and that will help us to understand what we can learn from the Day of Atonement. We can learn how we can prepare for the actual fulfillment of the Feast of Trumpets and the Day of Atonement.

When God’s house was broken into and overcome, as we mentioned in the Feast of Trumpets sermon, brethren turned to a foreign god. We all did, without realizing it, to one extent or another. In a way when we offer sacrifices and we are worshipping under a false god, we are offering profane fire! We are offering the wrong kind of sacrifice. It is a sacrifice God did not command. We are in grave danger at that point. It is a form of double mindedness, as it were. It is a double-minded Christian. There are Christians who on the outside seem to be doing everything right. They go to Sabbath services, pay tithes and keep the holy days. On the surface we look fine, but inside we could be very, very off base. A double-minded person does not necessarily look like that on the outside.

NOT BEARING OUR CROSS
I want to list a few very important ways that the Church has become double minded. (1) We do not bear our cross. That means we do not give up selfishness. Bear your cross in the Greek means to get rid of all selfishness. I will just mention one of the ways. That is hanging on to the idea that we deserve a place of physical safety while the entire world (and most of our brethren) perish horrible deaths. That is not a Christian way to live. That is not showing God’s compassion or glorifying God to our fellow man.

Turn, if you would, to Matthew 16:24 and read to verse 27. We can see here that part of being wise and part of being foolish is if we are willing to lay down our lives for our fellow man and for our brethren. Or do we want to preserve our lives while the entire earth goes up in some sort of conflagration? It is a sorting out of our heart, brethren. It is like a being with two hearts. The body of Christ has two hearts right now (two minds). One is very harsh and cruel, and one is very compassionate. We have to sort this out so we get down to a single mind. That is where we are heading with this sermon.

If you would, turn to Revelation chapter 12. There are many scriptures we could go through about bearing your cross and being compassionate toward our fellow man. Read them on your own. The point is the same. Revelation 12 sums it up this way in verse 11 (speaking of the saints who would be called after Christ’s first coming): “‘And they overcame him…’” (that is Satan) “‘…by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.’”

That is the characterization of the people who overcome Satan. We must overcome Satan by no other means but to not love or lives so much so that we are willing to die for our fellow man and for our brethren. God’s house has been broken into and this principle turned upside town. So many people across the earth who are in the Church who have been called and have received the oil (the Holy Spirit) are desperately looking for a physical place of safety and protection from their physical enemies. This is not Christian. It is not what Christ did, and we are to follow in His footsteps. He laid down His life for His sheep and for all mankind. That is what we are called to do, brethren.

JUDGING EACH OTHER
(2) A second place where we have let down our guard and become double minded is a way of judging each other. We have judged each other and the world so very harshly in the last number of years. Turn to Matthew chapter 7. We have become very brutal people. Read Matthew 7:1-6.

Brethren, when we are harsh on one another, and judge each other very critically and pass harsh judgment on the world saying they deserve everything they are getting and more, we are trampling the beautiful precious things that have been given to us. That is, love, mercy, compassion and forgiveness. Instead of using those precious things to help the world and help our brethren, we expose them to a very harsh and judgmental body of Christ. That allows Satan to turn on us, and the dogs tear us to shreds. This has happened to the body of Christ.

Christ goes on to say in Matthew 24:12, which you are all familiar with, that the love of many will grow cold. This is what has happened to us, brethren. We have grown cold. We have become desensitized to people suffering. We say they deserve it. Well, that is not what Christ said. Christ was very compassionate. He healed the sick. He was compassionate to the hurting and the deceived.

Turn, if you would now, to Matthew chapter 14. We are only looking at a few scriptures here and there, brethren, but there are many that would make every one of these points very solid. Whenever you have time, study them. Matthew 14, verse 13: “When Jesus heard it, He departed from there by boat to a deserted place by Himself.” So Christ wanted a little quiet time. “But when the multitudes heard it, they followed Him on foot from the cities. And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick.”

When Jesus Christ was very tired and needed some private time, He was still moved with compassion for the masses. He did not say you deserve to die and you are all sinners. You deserve to go up in some kind of conflagration. Leave Me alone! No, He had compassion. Through His ministry this is the way He was. He was loving, compassionate, did healings and was forgiving. We are to emulate Him. We need to stop judging one another harshly and stop judging the world harshly. Get ready to lay down our lives if necessary.

FALSE SIGNS AND WONDERS
(3) The third point where we have let down our guard is preaching false signs and wonders. We are double minded on this. We tell the people of the world the Millennium is coming, rejoice! Then with the other side of our mouth (almost like speaking with a forked tongue) we say the flip side or the bad side of this coin is most of you are going to die horrible deaths from famine, pestilence, earthquake, disease, fire, whatever. But don’t worry because the Millennium is coming after that! Brethren, if you have watched the news and you see the babies dying around the world, those mothers and fathers cry for them just like we do here. We are to have compassion like Jesus Christ had. We are to realize that our job is to help alleviate suffering from the world and hasten the return of Jesus Christ. Stop preaching false signs and wonders.

If you would, turn to Matthew chapter 24 again. In verse 24 Christ said: “‘For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand.’” He told us two thousand years ago, and we have all read the scripture many times. Every time Christ was talking to us did we have an ear to hear what He was saying to the Churches? Back up and He tells us in the same chapter what these false signs and wonders are.

Matthew 24, verse 4: “And Jesus answered and said to them: ‘Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, “I am the Christ,” and will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.’”

We have had those beginnings of sorrows for six thousand years. Don’t wave them in people’s faces! People have been suffering while waiting for deliverance from Satan, from his influence and from the trap they have had sprung on them for the last six thousand years. They are waiting for the liberty that the sons of God will bring them when Jesus Christ returns. We need to show them these wonderful spiritual markers that Jesus Christ is about to come and set us free.

II Thessalonians chapter 2 mentions these false signs and wonders again. We did cover them in depth on the Feast of Trumpets. Read II Thessalonians 2:7-8. This is what we need to be concerned with on the Day of Atonement, brethren. There are people who are going to perish.

II Thessalonians 2, verse 9: “The coming of the wicked is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders…” We just saw what those were in Matthew 24.

Verse 10: “…and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”

We must not gain any kind of pleasure from what is happening to the world or to even look forward to any kind of horrible catastrophe to come on the world. And do not wave it in their face as a sign that this is from God because that is not showing God to be holy, glorified, compassionate and merciful the way He really is. As people with the oil, we need to show what kind of God He is, or we run the risk of being punished. Do not preach false signs and wonders. This is what we are taught.

We need to learn from Jesus Christ what those false signs are in depth and what the true signs are, so we can preach the truth. Then we can give people hope, and that is what the world needs right now. The Church needs hope, and the world needs hope.

Isaiah chapter 52 tells us what we can be like if we want to bring the world hope. Read Isaiah 52:7-8. That means at the resurrection we will be able to see Jesus Christ eye to eye if we have been preaching good things and have brought peace and hope to mankind.

Continue reading Isaiah 52:9-10. When there is the resurrection, the world will be able to find who was preaching the truth. They will be able to see how God sorted out the wise from the foolish and who they are being liberated into. They are going to have liberty into the sons of God. It will be a peaceful, wonderful time. It won’t be into the hands of a bunch of cruel tyrants who are unmerciful and who are without compassion toward them. This is what we need to learn before the Day of Atonement and indeed before the Feast of Trumpets is fulfilled in reality.

OUR MINDS AT ONE WITH CHRIST
How do we do this? We do it by becoming one mind with our Savior Jesus Christ. We do it better sooner than later. It is not as good to do it later, however, it is better to do it later than never. It is better to do these things sooner and learn and preach the truth sooner. But there is going to be a second chance. Do it then later. If you don’t get it now, do it later. If we do not choose to do it right in either time, we will have lost everything! That would include salvation and eternal life.

That is the sobering side of the Day of Atonement. We all want to partake of the Feast of Trumpets. But we have to show what this holy day means and what that interval between Trumpets and the Day of Atonement means as well. It means a second chance to those who missed the resurrection. They were not ready. Their houses had been broken into and did not get repaired in time. They did not know the right signs. They scared the people and drove them away from God. They caused anxiety and fear within the Church, too, and the selfish behavior within the Church. We need to let God renew our minds while we still have time.

Turn to Romans chapter 12. Read verses 1-2. We need to show the people of the world and in the Church what is the perfect will of God. We should not preach horror stories to them. That is not what they need. They need the peaceful truth. Beautiful feet will bring it to them.

Read Romans chapter 15, verse 1-2. God says our neighbor is everyone out there on the planet. Continue reading verses 3-6. This is fulfilling what God said back in Leviticus that we must be showing God to be glorified and that He is holy whenever we come before Him if we have the oil.

I Corinthians chapter 1, verse 10: “Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.” Look at the divided body today and you can see we have not done this very well. We must have the same mind of Christ and the beautiful feet that bring the peaceful good news to the world.

Read I Corinthians chapter 2, verses 6-13. Continuing in verse 14: “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him…” So if we do not want to be foolish, we need to be listening to God, brethren. Continue reading in verse 14: “…nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For ‘who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?’ But we have the mind of Christ.”

If we are listening to Him and we hear Him in our ear and we see what He is trying to say, we will be able to preach the truth and bring beautiful news to the world (the gospel of the kingdom). It is the good news. But we need this mind of Christ to be renewed in us and restored in us so that we can do this right. We will glorify God and not bring profane offerings to God.

We can sacrifice our lives to God to our last dying breath, but if we are preaching death, destruction and mayhem we have profaned the name of God. He will say on that day I do not know you! I am a compassionate God. I want to save the world. I want a beautiful Millennium, and you did not lead the world to see that about Me.

Read Philippines 2:1-5. He spells it out very plainly, brethren. If we are mercifully minded, kind, affectionate and compassionate toward one another and toward the world, then we know we have the mind of Christ dwelling within. Get that renewed while we still have time. Remember the chronology of the holy days, because what we are talking about here is true at-one-ment. Our mind is at one with Jesus Christ because we have allowed Him the opportunity to work within us and teach us the compassionate and loving way that He demonstrated. We have let Him use our bodies to be fitly joined together to be a temple for Him, which still needs cleaning up. Unfortunately, after Christ returns, there will be some who would have been part of that who will still need to be cleaned up. That is what the chronology of the holy days tells us. That is why the atonement is both joyful for the world and joyful for the Church, yet very, very sad and sobering for the Church knowing that some of us have fallen short.

The Day of Trumpets will separate the wise from the foolish. The time between Trumpets and Atonement will be a last-chance opportunity where God the Father and Jesus Christ have thrown a lifeline. People can still repent then and preserve salvation.

Go back and reread what we covered on the Trumpets sermon and I Corinthians chapter 3. There are gold, silver and precious stones in the temple, and there are wood, hay and straw. Right now we need to choose what we want to be a part of. We need to choose what we want to be made of. Atonement is the end of the line for the Firstfruit harvest. It is the end of the line. There are no more opportunities after the Day of Atonement. Therefore, we need to remember that if we want to be part of the Firstfruits we need to make it to the Feast of Trumpets. If we want to be offered the opportunity of salvation between Trumpets and Atonement, we are going to have to get it right because there are no more opportunities after that.

EXAMINE OUR LIVES
It is definitely going to be a jubilant time where we can welcome the world into the truth of God. We can bring them peace and have an innumerable multitude that will know the truth of God. But it is also a sobering time and a time when we need to look at ourselves very carefully. As we said on the Feast of Trumpets, for the next ten days examine ourselves in a sober manner (almost like a Passover again) making sure we are repenting. We need to get rid of those things in our lives that are holding us back. We have a choice to make, and that choice was mentioned back in Deuteronomy chapter 30.

Turn to Deuteronomy 30. After discussing the blessings and cursings in Deuteronomy 28, God said some very interesting things in Deuteronomy chapter 30, verse 1: “‘Now it shall come to pass, when all these things come upon you…’” (meaning the correction and the punishments that we needed) “‘…the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God drives you, and you return to the Lord your God and obey His voice, according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul…’” He says if you remember now (if you learn from the correction and return to Me), wonderful things can still happen.

Drop down to verse 11 of Deuteronomy 30 and read verses 11-16. That is the Millennium. We want to be blessed in the Millennium and inherit the promises that God has made to us. We need to learn from the examples of the Old Testament, brethren. Return to God, glorify Him and speak the truth about Him while there is still time. The world is looking for liberty. They want liberty so bad, and we are supposed to help bring it to them.

For a concluding scripture, turn to Romans chapter 10:14. “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!’”