THE ATONEMENT WITH GOD IS A TWO STEP OPERATION
The people of this world are guilty of sin. Two things are needed to bring mankind back to God. The number one thing is paying the penalty for sins and for true repentance. Secondly, we must learn to stop sinning. The evil influences that keep luring us back into sinful behavior must be removed from our lives. Both functions are done by the love and power of the true Messiah Jesus. The core scripture for Atonement states :
Leviticus 16:15 NKJV 15 "Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering, which is for the people, bring its blood inside the veil, do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat and before the mercy seat.
The first major action by the high priest is to sacrifice an animal for the sins of the people. Who sacrificed himself permanently for the sins of the world?
Romans 5:10-11 KJV 10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. 11 And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement. {atonement: or, reconciliation}
The Bible bluntly states that Jesus was our atonement for sins. The New Testament links Jesus Christ and the sacred Day of Atonement. Is it not amazing that most Christians do not thereby celebrate this biblical celebration. Yes it is! A lot of truth has been lost. The New Covenant church kept the Day of Atonement.
Acts 27:9 KJV 9 Now when much time was spent, and when sailing was now dangerous, because the fast was now already past, Paul admonished them, {the fast: the fast was on the tenth day of the seventh month}
The only Bible the New Testament brethren had was the Old Testament and most of the New Testament is AS NEEDED writings about Jesus and the solving local problems. Think of all that would have been lost if the Corinthian Church had not had so many problems. The New Testament church kept the Sabbaths, weekly and annually. They did not have the NT to site.
2 Timothy 3:14-17 NKJV 14 But you must continue in the things which you have learned ..., 15 and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,..thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Christians did not have any collected books for guidance except the Old Testament which honors the Day of Atonement. But the New Testament also supports the Day of Atonement.
THE NT EXPANDS OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE DAY OF ATONEMENT
Paul explains that Jesus Christ is our real High Priest and his procedures at the Temple were simply a model repeated every year of our real reconciliation to God spiritually.
Hebrews 9:11-12 NKJV 11 But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. 12 Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.
Jesus is the real high priest and his death is the real, permanent sacrifice for sins. What happened at the Temple was an important model for many centuries of the coming work of the true Messiah. The subject of this New Testament book is the high priesthood of Jesus and how his saving work is the real model for the Day of Atonement.
Hebrews 9:23-24 NKJV 23 Therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us;
Jesus has entered the real holy of holies which is God's throne in heaven. He is right now advocating for us true believers as our high priest at God the Father's right hand and controlling the Holy Spirit. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us of sin. Paul is drawing a clear connection between the blood of the Atonement sacrifice that was taken into the holy of holies and the blood of Christ.
JESUS IS THE POWER BEHIND PART TWO OF ATONEMENT
If our sins have been forgiven by the blood of Christ why do we need a second function? Why is there another ceremony left regarding sin and reconciliation ? We are justified of past sins but we are still dogged by sins in the future. Sinful pressure and human nature are still at play in our lives. Mere forgiveness does not solve our problems we need help and removal of __?
Leviticus 16:21-25 NKJV 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. 22 "The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to an uninhabited land; and he shall release the goat in the wilderness.
Garner Ted Armstrong stated that Satan was our partner in crime. The Day of Atonement celebrates the covering or atoning for sin ( propitiation of sin) and also the removing of sin (expiation of sin). Satan is the trouble maker. His removal will eliminate much of the encouragement to yield to evil. The Devil is removed; what a blessing wow! The enticing of Adam to disobey God was Satan's doing and mans' removal from paradise.
When a trouble maker is removed, one has peace. We've seen playgrounds where a trouble maker stirs up fights and squabbles. Satan is spiritual so we cannot see his evil influences. Atonement is also about atoning for unknown sins and unseen destructive, spiritual influences. The Holy Days are a shadow of thing to come. See Col. 2:16-17. What does the scapegoat or the goat exiled into the wilderness represent in God's future plan?
Rev 20:1 Then I saw an angel ... having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. 2 He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; 3 and he cast him into the bottomless pit, ..., so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while.
The goat represents Satan who will be locked away. He gets a short reprieve, to test those in the millennium who have never been tested, and then is locked up forever. Without his seditious influence the millennium will be a wonderful, Godly paradise. Satan the first rebel against God is pictured every Day of Atonement as being removed to a desolate place. His sinful influence erased forever.
CONCLUSION
Jesus leads the angelic host that will free the world from evil and remove Satan and his demons. Christ paid to cover our sins and as our high priest and is actively helping us to grow in goodness. At-one-meant holy day is all about the functions of Jesus to fully save mankind. True believers should do our part and focus on repentance leading up to the Day of Atonement.
Hebrews 9:13-14 NKJV 13 For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, 14 how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
Dead works are sinful, disobedient actions. Believers should love Christ for all he is doing for us. Repent of dead works and fully benefit from the Day of Atonement.
Hebrews 8:9-11 NKJV 9 "...with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them...; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the LORD. 10 "For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
Thank Christ for helping us to live the abundant, obedient life and changing our carnal hearts.
