Atonement Is About Reconciliation and Removal

We call this the day of atonement. That's an English word. I I remember growing up and we'd hear the phrase at onement. I remember that phrase very distinctly for many many years growing up in the church at onement. And to be honest with you, it always made sense to me, especially, you know, if we go back in our minds to those of us who knew and heard from Mr.

Armstrong, he would always make it an emphatic statement about this at onement and he would describe it as a process. And I I thought myself this year, it's one thing to have heard something, to have grown up hearing it, and to have accepted as a part of the church culture. It's another thing to know exactly what it's saying. I've decided just for all of our sakes to just pause for just a minute and look it up.

This word was formed from an older expression at one. two words being you that we know being used together meaning a rejoining a bringing together at one making two things that were separate at one together that was the original concept it's an English word concept meant when you add that to a word makes it an active process you can think of words that when we add if you see the word meant at the end of it it is an active process word and at onement is Therefore, the same when we add the term meant to the end, it

becomes a process word. The day of atonement, we use this word atonement at onement intentionally. Now, it's it's the English word that substitutes for a Hebrew word and a Greek word. Those Greek and Hebrew words have very specific meanings. So I don't want you to try to say at onement is therefore the same meaning as those words when I'm describing for you the meaning of the English word.

Those words have their own very distinct meanings in which when they're translated the translators going back as far as Tinsdale thought the best and most appropriate word to use into English would be atonement. I wanted you to have that background because it is real. It is true. There's a process of reconciliation that atonement alludes to.

That's why it's a very appropriate English word that substitutes in translation for us for these Hebrew and Greek terms. If you want to make a note for those of you who are notetakers, the Hebrew verb is kafar. K a p h a r. if you like to note that it I I I sometimes when I when I'm doing my Bible studies, I'm I like to I'm really word focused and I want to see, okay, what words here? What's the underlying term here? What's what's driving this word? And I'll look at multiple dictionaries, commentaries, and so forth to find out

what's behind that. So that's the Hebrew word that that generally that we would see in scripture that's going to be a part of our understanding today. The Greek word is catal. You have no chance. K A T A K A T A L L A G E. That's the English spelling for the Greek word. Okay.

So, you may not remember that, but I hope you'll have some sense of it later. So, the point of it is this day points to reconciliation. Uh let's go over here. I want to start today in 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verses 17-9. The Apostle Paul connects reconciliation and atonement. 2 Corinthians 5:1 17 says, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he's a new creation.

Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled to us or reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, bringing together things that have been separated. This is the work of Christ. So when we say at onement, we're talking about reconciliation first and foremost, not necessarily in the case of manto man.

We're talking about the separation that causes us to be separated from God through sin. There has to be a reconciliation for that. Atonement helps us to see the connection, helps us to understand that reconciliation process. Now today we're going to look very carefully at the ceremony that God commanded every year on the day of atonement itself.

We want to give a meaning of the day message. We want to focus very much so on exactly what this day does picture. I want you to understand as we begin then that where this day begins. Let's let's notice the command as as it's listed for us in Leviticus chapter 23. Let's notice how in the command itself what's how it begins to be how the instruction for the day begins.

Leviticus chapter 23 verse 27 it says on the 10th day Leviticus 23 27 also the 10th day of this seventh month that's today okay shall be the day of atonement. It shall be a holy convocation for you. You shall afflict your souls and offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. Verse 28 says, "And you shall do no work on that same day, for it is the day of atonement to make atonement for you before the Lord your God.

" this this Hebrew word for afflict on the day of atonement. A n ah it's pronounced hana a h nh. Now again I've told you there are times when I really like to think in the term that was used. We have we have an English word that's translated here from the Hebrew. The English word we're given in this is afflict.

What does that make you think of? If you afflict something, uh, to me it it it implies an action against something or something that's been taken against you or something you do against yourself. Afflict, it almost has a negative connotation. It's not really what the word means. Hana means to humble oneself.

Humble oneself. It means to bow down, to weaken, or to be humbled. That's what that word that you see translated as afflict. It means to be humbled. Okay? Notice that the afflicting is something that we do to ourselves. The humbling, the hanawing that we do, we do to ourselves. We don't do it to someone else.

We don't ask someone else to do it to us. We are to do this thing to ourselves. The connection between humbling, haning oneself and fasting is made directly in the Old Testament. Turn with me to Psalms 35:13. Psalms 35 verse 13. It says here is a psalm of David. He says, "But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth. I hoded myself with fasting.

" You see here the word humbled is used. Could have also used afflicted. I afflicted myself with fasting. I humbled myself with fasting. I hanade myself. I like seeing the word in both cases the the the Hebrew word under it. It is hanade. Same term. We see it now translated two different ways, but it's the same term.

So, we can begin to see its broader or more maybe I should say its more specific meaning. How do we h ourselves? David says, "Will I hod myself with fasting over in Ezra sorry Ezra uh chapter 8 verse 21 Ezra chapter 8 verse 21. Ezra had lots of challenges he was trying to deal with in real time as he came back to visit Jerusalem many years after King Cyrus had let the Jews go home.

And we get to verse 21. Let me double check that this is where I want to start. Yeah. He says, "Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of a of a Hava that we might hana ourselves before our God." You see the word in the English here, humble ourselves. It is the same word to hana ourselves before our God, to seek from him the right way for us and our little ones and all our possessions.

And so here again as David had said what was the point of hanai humbling. How did you humble? Both cases it is by fasting. Fasting is the clear old testament manifestation of hanaing oneself humbling ourselves. And so God tells us that he wants us to do this humbling to ourselves. I mean you can I suppose force someone else to fast but it would obviously be against their will.

God wants us to be a part of our will. A choice that we make on this day which he commands us to do this. That is the proper beginning for the day of atonement. We come before God in humility. We are humbling ourselves right now. The longer the day goes on, I think the more humble physically we all feel. meaning I I feel weakness in my body as the day wears on.

I'm sure you do too. It's not normal for us to go without food. Our bodies need the fuel of food and water to work. God knows that. Hence, we also know that if we were to do this for an extended period of time without a miracle from God, that hum that humility would end with our the end of our life. So he doesn't ask us to go a week or 30 or 40 days.

He asks us to go one day with a clear purpose to humble ourselves and therefore to approach him in that humility. I've been thinking here about where we are now. This is the day of atonement. We are we've already gone through now the feast of trumpets. We've had our our our Sabbath between on the day of atonement. Where are you and I prophetically? Are you physical still? No.

You're a spirit being in the sense in the sense of needing food and water from that from the moment we were resurrected and turned into a spirit being. We don't need food and water anymore. Doesn't mean that we wouldn't ever consume it. Sidebar on that. It means that we won't need it.

Your physical body doesn't need it in order to operate. We don't have a physical body. We have a spiritual body. But on this day of atonement, who's still alive? Humanity. Who's the ruler of humanity who's deposed on this day? It is Satan. We have to think about that's why I want you to kind of pause and walk yourself through some of these elements today.

We humble ourselves as a we call it a foretaste during the feast of tabernacles, don't we? We're not going to be human beings during the feast of tabernacles. We are spirit beings. We enjoy today a foretaste of that when we keep and celebrate the feast of tabernacles, right? Well, in a similar sense, we are foretasting the day of atonement today and its spiritual prophetic meaning for the world.

God seeks reconciliation with humanity. Humanity has been sinning without repentance except for those whom God has called out of this world. So very few of us have been given an opportunity to exit the systems of this world and to come under the rule of God and Jesus Christ and to exit the rule of Satan.

Though we still live here, this is Satan's world. It has run his way. We see that in the product of this world as it follows its master. So we're we're here in essence doing what God wants the world to do to humble themselves. Now he is going to have done a lot of things that will cause the world to be humbled. Whatever's left of mankind, that remnant will have been well, I I think I mentioned this on trumpets and probably even on Sabbath, but PTSD does doesn't seem to cover quite in my mind what what will be the condition of humanity at the

end of Christ's return, the day of the Lord, and all of those events and the decimation. So, these are some of the thoughts that I have. Why are we humbling ourselves? Well, certainly today, we still need it, don't we? Because we are seeking that very reconciliation that God wants. This is our way of demonstrating we want to be reconciled to God.

I'm fasting today because of that and because of what it pictures and so there is a present application and a future fulfillment. But I want you to I want to make sure that on this day that we have one very clear distinction in our minds. There is the sin that we commit and there is the sin that we are enticed to commit.

There is guilt on both sides of that equation. But under no possible scenario does the Bible give us an out on our personal guilt. I am responsible for every single choice I have made to sin. It doesn't matter who encouraged me, how I was enticed. It doesn't matter. None of that matters. James chapter 1 verse14.

James chapter 1. Let's look at where the finger points. James chapter 1 verse 14 says, "But each one is tempted." Okay, when he's drawn away by what? By somebody else's desires, by what somebody else wants. It doesn't say that. It says drawn away by his own desires and enticed by them. Then when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin.

And sin when it is fullgrown brings forth death. That's not a new formula, but it makes very clear who's responsible for our sins. I I remember years ago he wasn't of our generation, but I think his name was Rhett Skelton. Used to have a skit in which he blamed everything on the devil. The devil made me do it.

I thought, he's just amplifying the thoughts of most human beings. It's not my fault. I didn't choose this. Somebody made me do this. I want to be absolved of my responsibility in this. And if I could point to Satan and say that that being is who's behind my sins, what are we trying to do? absolve ourselves of guilt. God says there there's no absolving yourself of guilt. You're guilty.

You chose it. They're your sins. You were enticed by your desires, not by Satan's. You have your own culpability in every choice that you've made. Very important that we see that we get to cast none of the blame for our choices onto Satan. Does that mean that he's faultless? No. He has a role.

It's the role of the enticer, the tempter. There's a guilt that's associated with that for him that does not absolve us of our guilt. You are familiar with this, but I think it's worth reading it today because I want to make sure that I embed this point very clearly for you. Romans chapter 3 23. Romans chapter 3 23 where Paul essentially says the same thing.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. All of us have sinned. And that's what I want to make sure we understand today on this day of atonement that that sin every time each and every one of our sins has separated us from God. Like period, it is that separation from God which is at the core of the word at onement reconciliation with God.

That's what this day is about. How does God be reconciled with his people? How are we reconciled with our God when we have separated ourselves through our sins? Thankfully, Christ sacrifice pays the penalty for our sins. We know that. We rehearse that going all the way back to the very first feast day of Passover where we rehearse Jesus Christ laying down his life as the lamb of God.

Not for himself, not for a few special people, not for the favored ones or his pals or his buddies, for everyone. So, we have an atoning sacrifice, a reconciling sacrifice in Jesus Christ for us. Now, I want to turn over to Leviticus 16 and walk through this day more carefully. Leviticus chapter 16. Going to be a little bit methodical today, I hope, as we walk through the elements of this.

Where else you got to be? You got a lunch appointment I should know about? All right. Leviticus begins. Leviticus 16 begins here in verse one. Says, "Now the Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron when they had offered profane fire before the Lord and died." Why do you think God begins with this? I want some of these ideas to marinate for a second.

What was the attitude of Naab and Abaiu? I think you recognize it in this world right now because we see it everywhere, especially we Americans. What's the big deal? I don't see a problem. Why are you making something out of this? Let's go back to Leviticus. I'm doing this on the fly here. Leviticus 10. Then Naab and Abu right at verse one.

Naab and Abu, sons of Aaron, each took his sensor and put fire in it. He put incense on it and he offered profane fire before the Lord which he that is the Lord had not commanded them. Okay, can you see them in the moment saying, "So what? What's the big deal? Here's some fire. Here's the incense. Doesn't this honor God?" And now why why isn't this just perfectly fine? Verse two says, "So fire went out from the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord instantly.

" Notice that God doesn't come down, sit down with them, walk them through the error of their ways, and help them to understand and come to repentance. He made a decision in the in that very moment that something far more important was at play here. Moses says to Aaron in verse three, "This is what the Lord spoke, saying, "By those who come near me, I must be regarded as holy and before all the people, I must be glorified.

" This is dad saying, "Because I said so, and that is good enough. Your job is to obey, not invent a new way, change what I said, or dismiss it as somehow being irrelevant to you. God demonstrated in the death of these two young men, this was not cavalier. This was not excusable. Now, we go to Leviticus 16.

Verse two, the Lord said to Moses, "Tell Aaron your brother not to come at just not to come at just any time into the holy place inside the veil before the mercy seat which is on the ark, lest he die." Well, what that'd be like. Now you know why we begin with Naab and Abaiu. When God said lest he die, he means it. This is why this is so important for us to understand.

For I will appear in the cloud above the mercy seat. Now God goes on to give him instructions of what he was to do, how he was to prepare himself by bathing, specific clothing to put on. None of it optional. Moses, excuse me, Aaron does not get to say, "What's the big deal? I didn't put that piece on. So what? Lest you die." We get anasticized to this idea that God cares about these things in the details because we live today in a world in which when we commit a sin, we don't die.

So, it's easy for us to say, "Well, it's not that serious." And yet, we're given these instructions, these examples, so that we can understand that it is this important to God. Verse three, thus Aaron shall come into the holy place with the blood of a young bull as a sin offering, and of a ram as a burnt offering.

He shall put the holy linen tunic and the linen trousers on his body. He shall be girded with a linen sash and with the linen turban he shall be attired. These are holy garments. Therefore he shall wash his body in water and put them on. Aaron stands here on this day in place of someone, Jesus Christ, the high priest. Moses, excuse me, Aaron has a problem.

Aaron's human. Aaron has sinned. We have all sinned. As we read in Romans 3:23, Aaron's a sinner. Yet on this day, he stands instead of Jesus Christ as the high priest of the people. The spiritual meaning. He cannot be the high priest of all of God's spiritual creation in this moment as is pictured by his role until he's cleansed.

And so, a process is presented to him to be cleansed. Verse six, Aaron shall offer, we read earlier that he he took a bull. It says, "And Aaron shall offer the bull as a sin offering which is for himself." This is a separate and special process that's dedicated specifically to him because of who he is to represent, Jesus Christ.

He must be personally cleansed. Aaron shall offer the bull as a sin offering which is for himself and make atonement for himself and for his house. Reconciliation between him and God for himself and his household so that he can be the standin for Jesus Christ. Now obviously Christ is our high priest and never sinned. Perfect high priest.

So he didn't need a sacrifice separate from his own or for his own sins. He didn't have any sins. But Hebrews identifies Jesus Christ as the perfect high priest for us whom this earlier priesthood could only picture. Now we go back to Hebrews. You might want to mark Hebrews for our review here. Hebrews chapter 7 beginning in verse 26.

Hebrews 7:26 says, "For such a high priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens. who does not need daily as those high priests to offer up sacrifices first for his own sins. On this day of atonement, the bull shed his blood for that purpose to offer up sacrifices for his own sins and then for the peoples.

For this he Christ did once for all when he offered up himself, the perfect lamb of God slain from the foundations of the world for all of us. Now, Aaron entered behind the veil in the Holy of Holies, which you could only enter, as we read earlier, on this day annually, at no other time, lest you die.

And only the high priest, the physical high priest, and only after he had washed himself, prepared himself, and put on the holy garments. And then only after he offers the bull and sacrifice for his to cover his sins. Now he stands as the prophetic Jesus Christ fulfilling that role physically. Back to Leviticus 16. Once he has been cleansed, the people must be cleansed.

Now earlier verse five, let's we're going to grab five and we're going to drop down. Verse five says, "And he shall take from the congregation of the children of Israel two kids of the goats as a sin offering and one ram as a burnt offering." Okay. Now verse 15. Let's drop from 5 to 15. Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering which is for the people.

He's going to bring this blood of this sin offering, this goat inside the veil. And he's going to do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bull. Okay, let's let's see what he did with the blood of the bull. Verse 11. And Aaron shall bring the bowl of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make atonement for himself and for his house, and shall kill the bowl as the sin offering which is for himself.

He shall take a sensor full of burning coals of fire from the altar before the Lord with his hands full of sweet incense beaten fine, and bring it inside the veil. And he shall put the incense on the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of incense may cover the mercy seat that is on the testimony, lest he die. He shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the mercy seat on the east side, and before the mercy seat, he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his fingers seven times.

So this is what he did for himself. Then in verse 15, he shall kill the goat of the sin offering which is for the people. He shall 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. So he shall make atonement for the holy place because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions, for all their sins.

And so shall he do for the tabernacle of meeting which remains among them in the midst of their uncleanness. So God identifies why the blood was necessary. The transgressions and sins of Israel had produced uncleanness in the people as all sin does. The blood was applied to the mercy seat and then used in cleansing the holy place and the altar.

So that ceremony teaches that sin produces defilement and that atonement requires sacrificial blood. Hebrew tells us what the blood of animals could only picture. I said might want to keep a spot here in Leviticus and a spot possibly in Hebrews. I didn't even do that myself. Hebrews 9 verse beginning in verse 11.

So Hebrews 9 verse 11. It says, "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. 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.

" Christ entered the true holy place with the value of his own life as the sacrifice. That place is the tabernacle in heaven, the third heaven. It isn't the physical. It is the spiritual. It is the eternal. Christ's blood provides the cleansing that the Levitical ceremony anticipated. His sacrifice does what animal blood could never do.

There was never any salvation in all of those sacrifices for the people. So the penalty for our sins is covered through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Now I want you to see that the two goats that we see here they it says the two goats for the sin offering this is their initial title but we see that very quickly there's a distinction that's going to be made between those two goats.

They're both presented before the Lord before the tabernacle of the Lord. Let's go back now to Leviticus. If you marked your Bible get there quicker. Leviticus 16 verse 7 says, "He shall take the two goats and present them before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. Then Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other lot for the scapegoat.

" Well, every year we rehearse this because it's important. We know how we use the word scapegoat today. In the English language, it always means the person wrongly blamed. We need somebody to take the fall. And so the famous plotline in so many movies and series is we've got to find us a scapegoat. We're guilty.

We don't want to take the fall. We need someone to take the fall for us. So that's why it's not an appropriate word. The what's the Hebrew under it? It's a very unique word. Aazle. A Z A Z E L. Aazle is only translated scapegoat. But the underlying word is a zazle. And it doesn't mean to escape guilt or to put the blame on someone else or to be the one wrongly blamed.

Verse nine. And Aaron shall bring the goat on which the Lord's lot fell and offer it as a sin offering. But the goat on which the lot fell to be the aazle. Like I highly recommend that you put a line through scapegoat and write somewhere around there aazle. That is the correct word. The lot fell to be on.

So, but but the goat on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat shall be or the aazle shall be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement upon it and to let it go as the aazil into the wilderness. So God himself determines two different and distinct roles for these two goats. Hopefully you can clearly see by the way they are initially presented to us that there's a very clear difference.

One is called one is called for the Lord. The other is called the aazle. Those are not the same thing. This word is found only this word is found only in this chapter and interpreted in several ways. Brown's Driver and Brig records both uh entire removal and of course many others also hold it that the term's proper name is of a desert spirit.

Many believe that that's a better rendering of what the word aazul is intended to mean. But the text itself gives us something firmer than this etmology that we would chase down. One lot is for the Lord, the other is for Aazo. The contrast within the passage tells us there's something different. Kyle and Delich, this is a famous commentary of the Old Testament.

Make uh that grammatical point. This is how they do it. quote, "The words, one for the one lot for Yhovah, one for Aazil, require unconditionally that Aazil should be regarded as a personal being in opposition to Yhovah." They're getting that conclusion directly from the contrast that's presented directly in the scripture itself.

Because the two designations send these goats in very different directions. The ceremony continues. Verse 20. Verse 20. And when he had made an end of atoning for the holy place, the tabernacle of meeting, and the altar, then he shall bring the live goat. Once the atoning is complete, the live goat is now presented.

Okay. 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. The goat shall bear on itself all there, that is all these iniquities placed on its head to an uninhabited land, and the man shall release the goat in the wilderness.

So only after the blood work of the bull and the goat of the Lord has been completed does Aaron turn to the living goat. Atonement has happened now. Now notice what happened here. Aaron places both hands on the head of the live goat. Did you notice that he did not place his hands on the head of the goat for the Lord? There's no similarity between these roles. They're very different roles.

And it's really important that we see these distinctions. He confesses the sins over this live goat which transfers responsibility symbolically to its head, places it into another man's hand, and that man takes that goat away from the camp where it is banished to the wilderness and released. So the live goat is associated with confession, accountability, and removal.

But its destination is banishment and isolation. The living goat never enters the holy place. Its blood is never sprinkled on the mercy seat. It never becomes the sacrificial victim whose death makes atonement for Israel or the high priest or anyone else. Its role begins after the sacrificial work has already been finished.

God has given it another purpose. And of course, that fits what scripture tells us about Satan and what this Day of Atonement pictures about the future after Christ returns. You know, Satan didn't create human desire. I often say, who was Satan's Satan? Who caused Satan to sin? So, Satan doesn't cause us to sin either.

He is the tempter, but he doesn't own my sins. He owns his part in enticing those sins because he doesn't commit them for us. So he bears guilt for his own work as the great deceiver and tempter and he is accountable for his part. Revelation 12 and verse 9. We walked through this both on a little bit on uh trumpets.

We walked through it again on Sabbath and we'll touch on it again today. Verse 9, Revelation 12. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old called the devil and Satan. In case you're not clear, all the titles, we know who this is. And what did he do? Who deceives the whole world. He was cast to the earth and his angels were cast out with him.

So Jesus identifies Satan as the source of lies and murder because of his deceptions. He owns his role, not the outcome of what we choose to do. We own that. And God's going to hold this instigator responsible for the harm that he has deliberately encouraged over the years. One of the things that I re react negatively to is the idea that the day of atonement is about the cause of sin being put away. It is not.

He is not the cause of sin. I choose my own sins. He is the instigator of sin. He is the tempter of sin. He is the enticer of sin. But he does not cause me to sin. And perhaps that's not meant, but it sure makes me think that's what meant by that idea. I have to own my own part in that. I want to address two false ideas in our remaining time here because I think these are very important for us to understand.

They come around every so often, every year or two. We hear them again and again. And I want to make sure you're very clear on these two things. The first thing is the two goats do not represent Christ. They do not represent Jesus Christ. They have different roles and different functions. But this is I I don't intend to cast dispersions on the person who believes it.

I don't know what's behind their their their desire to believe this. But we just have to simply understand the scripture doesn't support that teaching. These goats have different roles. They're not the same role. Now, what's interesting is, and I've had these conversations with people to to use to justify this belief, I have repeatedly heard the same argument.

Wasn't there two birds, one dead, one live, used also in a cleansing fashion, just almost exactly like this? And the answer is not exactly like this. Let's go back and look at what they're talk talking about in Leviticus chapter 14. First of all, it is not about the sins of humanity, even our individual sins.

This is talking about the healing of someone who has something called leprosy. So, this process, whatever this process is involving these two birds, is dealing with something very specific. It's a malady called leprosy. Let's just pick it up at verse one here of chapter 14. Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying, "This shall be the law of the leper for the day of his cleansing.

He shall be brought to the priest, and the priest shall go out of the camp, and the priest shall examine him. And indeed, if the leprosy is healed in the in the leper, then the priest shall command to take him take for him who is to be cleansed two living and clean birds, cedarwood, scarlet, and hippos hissup, sorry, cedarwood, scarlet, and hissup with these two live clean birds.

And the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthn vessel over running water. As for the living bird, he shall take it the cedarwood and the scarlet and the hissip and dip them in the living bird or and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water. He shall sprinkle it seven times on him who is to be clean from the leprosy and shall pronounce him clean and shall let the living bird loose in the open field.

This is as far as I can tell the argument that the two goats could represent Jesus Christ because of how similar they believe that this is to the same thing. There are a number of problems with that. In this case, the living bird does not have hands laid on him. Doesn't have the sins of the individual prayed over it and placed on its head.

It is not released immediately into the wild. It is taken and first dipped in the blood of the first bird. There are not lots cast over the two birds as though God has to make a decision about which bird should fulfill which role because the roles are not separate. They combine together for one cleansing. Doesn't matter to God in that case.

Pick a bird. They are the same role. Okay. Very important to see these distinctions. Because in my experience, when we start to get off track, it is almost always because we've been thinking too long. We start to get to thinking that something sounds good. And maybe if we've been thinking on something already and somebody comes along and says, "But you know, isn't this like that?" And if you've been thinking a little too long and you're getting a little confused and then you read this, you might be thinking,"Yeah, that's amazing how

similar that sounds." When what we ought to do is stop and say, "Hang on a second. Are these the same event? Are these really doing the same things? If they were, I should be looking for lots here. I should be looking for very distinct roles for these two birds. But I don't see that.

I should be seeing something that relates to sin. I don't see that either. I see leprosy also just some of the little details. So the live goat remember is is brought before Aaron after Aaron has completed the blood application. So the live goat, did did we read that it was dipped in the blood of the dead goat? Did they just let it go in the camp or even right outside the camp? It's like, what are the real similarities here? Did the did the live bird have sins confessed over it as the live goat did? No. So one by one, you start to to tip

over these dominoes and they bang against each other until the whole argument falls apart. The ceremony presents removal rather than resurrection. The goat goes in into an uninhabited place, but the bird is released right outside of camp. Little details I'd like you to be thinking about when somebody says to you, "The two two goats must represent Christ.

" When I pushed back with the last person I had this conversation with, and they gave me this argument, this is pretty easy to knock down to me. What's the root of the argument? This is what came out next and it's one I think is particularly risky that you have to think very carefully about. The the argument was I do not believe God would allow Satan to be central figure in any of his holy days.

Does the scripture say that there are so many things wrong with that idea? It's hard to know where to begin. Seriously. And I don't mean that as a criticism. I mean, it's literally broken thinking. Here's how I explain it to you. If somebody says, "I can't see how God would allow Satan to be a central figure in any of his holy days.

" I would say, "What is that supposed to mean? Does it Are you saying that God is honoring Satan because he is a part of a holy day?" Okay, let's go all the way back to something that you can relate to, the days of unleven bread. What do we do during the days of unleavened bread? We remove leavenvening. We eat unleavened bread for seven days.

Correct. What does leavened bread represent? Sin. 1 Corinthians chapter 5. 1 Corinthians chapter 5. The Apostle Paul makes it very clear what these days picture verse 7-8 where Paul says, "Therefore, purge out the old leaven that you may be a new lump since you truly are unleavened for Christ indeed our Passover was sacrificed for us.

Therefore, let us keep the feast, not with the old leaven, nor with leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. So, if we're to be consistent in applying any logical reasoning to scripture, if Satan is honored because his removal is pictured on the day of atonement, then leaven or sin is honored because it is pictured by removal during the days of unleavened bread.

You can't have both different ways. So, either it's about honoring something or it's about removal of something. And in both cases, it's about removal. First, it's removal of sin. Then, it's the remover of the instigation of sin, the instigator. There's no position of honor here. And so, where's the person get off the track? It's reasoning, substituting what I think makes sense for what the scripture says.

And that's why I've gone through so much this year to try to prepare us, help us to see how do we approach our Bible. We begin with the scriptures, not with our thinking. We let the scriptures guide to where we're supposed to go with our thinking. We don't guide the scriptures with our thinking. This is how somebody can get off.

It's why I want you to be armed for these kinds of conversations that you can have in which somebody presents a little bit of something that's a little bit off. If you're armed, if you've heard, if you've read and studied, you should be prepared to reject those ideas. Those two goats do not represent Jesus Christ.

And Satan is not honored because he is a part of a holy day. It's not honored what happens to him under any stretch of the imagination. Okay. Atonement points to reconciliation and the removal of the great deceiver. We go all the way back to Revelation chapter 20. We know because we now read in detail what happens on the day of of atonement in Leviticus 16.

We've read sins are placed on the head of the goat, the live goat. After the atoning is complete, that live goat is given to the hand of a man, a suitable man. And that live goat is led to the wilderness, a place of banishment and permanent removal for that goat. Then we get to Revelation 20 and verse one.

It says, "Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven." Remember trumpets ends with verse 21 of chapter 19. Atonement begins here with verse 20 or chapter 20 and verse one. I saw an angel coming down from heaven having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan.

And he bound him for a thousand years. He cast him into the bottomless pit and shut him up and set a seal on him so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. I mentioned this on Sabbath, but this is a one of my favorite images. Uh it is imagery as we know.

This is a this is given to John by, you know, by revelation in the spirit by God. So John's trying to describe things God's showing him. Things I think we would all struggle to put into words. He sees an angel coming down. He's got a giant chain and he's got a key. He is the jailer. He puts the chains on Satan. He opens the jail door. He puts him in.

He locks the door and puts a seal on it. And for the next thousand years, Satan is incarcerated. He has been removed. He has been dethroned. He is no longer the king of this earth. And why? It says very plainly that he should not that he should deceive the nations no more. The whole point of his rule has been deception, helping us to fool ourselves that what we do is good and right and meaningful when it's exactly opposite of what God says.

We have been trying to kill ourselves since the very first creation of man began. 6,000 years we've been trying to find ways to destroy each other. And Satan has been our cheerleader, our instigator. He has been the prince of the power of the air broadcasting his attitudes. He's been doing this for thousands of years.

How can Christ bring that final jubilee until Satan is removed? He can't compete when the whole world is still filled with deception. Christ has to compete with the ruler of this age. Who is the ruler then? There's not going to be any doubt who is the ruler. Satan is incarcerated. He is removed. There will be one ruler over this earth, Jesus Christ.

Satan will be removed and all of his angelic helpers. And they're going to be replaced with kings and priests, first fruits. That's what we are qualifying for today is to take our role in what they were supposed to be doing. We're going to be helping Jesus Christ bring the government of God. All of the wonderful things that we read about, all the things that we're going to be hearing about during the Feast of Tabernacles that are a future reality coming to this world.

And we get to help make that happen. And none of that is going to happen until this day is fulfilled. Satan has to be removed. Finally, reconciliation can come to this world, a world that has been separated from God. by its ruler can now be reconciled through Jesus Christ. So Christ is the one who provides the sacrifice through which our guilt can be forgiven.

Satan's work never provided an alternative to that. who's always trying to help us to stay separated. That brings us back to our own responsibility because it would be easy to hear that Satan deceived the whole world and began shifting the blame for our conduct onto him. Atonement gives us no permission to excuse our own sins. We still repent for our sinful choices.

But the ceremony that we watched presents a complete picture. Our guilt requires sacrifice. Christ provides that sacrifice. Our high priest gives us access to God. And the deceiver who has opposed God's purpose is eventually going to be removed on this day after Christ returns.

So God deals with every part of the problem of the separation that has happened between him and his creation. Nothing is left unresolved. Hebrews then brings this lesson directly back to us as Christians over in Hebrews chapter 10. We sit in this place early. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 19. Verse 19. Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus.

Spiritually, when we get on our knees now and we pray to our father in heaven, we are spiritually going behind the veil because Christ has paid the price by the blood of Christ, by a new and living way which he consecrated for us through the veil that is his flesh. and having a high priest over the house of God.

Let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and with and our bodies washed with pure water. Isn't that beautiful symbolism pulled directly out of Leviticus 16 and applied to us? washing, cleansing, purification, reconciliation. So we keep atonement then with two times in view.

We live now, you and I, under the benefit of Christ's sacrifice and his priestly work. We have access to that throne because of Jesus Christ. We've entered into the new covenant early. That's the covenant that's coming when Christ returns. When all men will one day have their chance to be reconciled with God. So this holy day addresses both the present and the future.

Here we are fasting today because we're in the new covenant. Because it pictures us reconciling with God. And that has to happen for us too. That Jesus Christ sacrifice covers our sins and it must or we cannot be reconciled. And that Satan has guilt in our in helping us just as much as he has everyone else. He doesn't get off the hook for instigating us to commit sin either.

Even though I'm responsible for my choice, he owns his part, too. and he's going to answer for what he has done. So atonement shows a God who forgives the repentant sinner, who cleanses the defilement created by sin, and who opens access through our high priest and removes the adversary who has deceived mankind.

Every part of the ceremony of this day moves us through reconciliation. So the day of atonement leaves us with both a personal lesson and a future hope. We humble ourselves. We acknowledge our own sins. We look to Jesus Christ for forgiveness and access to God. And we look ahead to the removal of the being who has deceived this world.

God deals with our guilt through the sacrifice of his son Jesus Christ. Otherwise, no reconciliation's possible for us either. He's going to deal with Satan's guilt by removing him from the place of authority on this day. That brings us back to the Jubilee trumpet that sounded on this very holy day.

On the 49th year, no trumpet for 49 straight at a row. No trumpet. On one day of atonement in 50 years, the slaves are set free. A world held captive in the future is going to be set free from its capttor. This is what this day pictures. This is why this is one of the most essential holy days in God's plan. The Jubilee is coming.