Atonement

The high priest gasped audibly as the cold water touched his skin. His tired eyes opened fully, and he shuddered involuntarily. He'd been up all night, as was customary, reciting the Torah and mentally preparing himself for the Holy Day service ahead. It was Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the calendar. Known to many as just simply the day. It required him to be on his toes. There was so much to do in order to prepare, and it had to be done just perfectly. Moses had been very clear as to the Lord's instructions and how it was to be performed, and very clear about the repercussions if it wasn't. He shuddered at the thought, and this time it had nothing to do with the temperature of the water. His thoughts briefly passed to his sons, Nadab and Abihu, and he banished the thought. He refused to allow himself to mourn. In their pride and in their arrogance, they had transgressed, and they'd received God's judgment for their sin. He would remember, though, that the Lord was just, that He was merciful, and more importantly, He would learn from their mistake and recognize that if He wasn't careful today, that He could face the same fate. It had to be done just right. The air had a crispness to it that was a sure sign of the arrival of autumn in the land of Sinai. Ten days prior, the host of Israel had kept Yom Teruah, and before long the Feast of In-Gatherings, Tukoh, would soon be upon them. There were so many preparations to be made, but he couldn't think of that now. Finishing up with his hands and his feet, he started to wash the rest of his body to ensure that he was clean. This was the first washing of five for the day, and before the day was done, he will have washed his hands and his feet ten different times. Looking out across the water, he saw the golden garments lined out for him to put on when he stepped out. The beautiful robes were gilded with gold. They were absolutely magnificent, a fitting raiment for the high priest of the Almighty God. With his priestly robes fastened around him, he would conduct the morning service, the morning sacrifices, light the lamps, burn the incense, all on his own. And that was only the beginning. It was going to be a long day. Once the regular service was completed, he would then wash in the mikvah again, cleanse his hands and his feet, and change his garments into the special holy white linen ephod, a simple outfit, a humbling outfit, used only one time a year on the day of Yom Kippur, the day of atonement. Running through the day's events in his head as he continued to clean the dirt of the wilderness from his skin, he mentally walked through the order of the sacrifices for the atonement service. First, he would begin by preparing himself personally by confessing the sins of himself and his family, and pray for forgiveness over the head of a bollock that had been chosen.

He was always hit with a twinge of guilt as he thought of this aspect of the day. It was always such a moving experience to transfer your sin to an innocent animal, and know that you would ultimately kill it for the mistakes that you had made, that you would pay for your sin with its blood. With a prayer of confession upon its head and the sins of his family symbolically placed upon it, he would then move on and cast lots for the two goats that had been chosen for the day's service. One lot would fall upon the goat for the Lord, the other upon what was known as the scapegoat.

With those chosen and the red threads tied around them to designate their roles, he would then return to the bollock again and pray over it one more time for himself and his family and the priesthood, and then slaughter the bollock as atonement for his and his family's sins.

That allowed him to be cleansed in the eyes of God. An attendant would collect the blood, keep it from clotting so that it could be used later in the service, and then came the part of the ceremony that really gave him chills every time he thought about it. When all of that was completed, he would pick up a censer full of coals and a ladle of incense, and he would ascend the ramp to the Most Holy Place to come before the very presence of God.

He was only allowed to enter this Holy of Holies. The holiest of all places, the holiest of all the holy places, one time a year, only on the day of atonement, was he, the high priest, and he alone allowed to enter into this place, and only after the processes and the rituals that he had just mentally run through. Ordinarily, this part of the temple was shielded by a very thick veil that separated the holiness of God from the carnality and the commonality of the people. With this veil pulled aside, he would step into the Most Holy Place and place the incense upon the coals. The smoke would fill the air of the Holy of Holies and cover the mercy seat. The people outside would know if this was accepted, if he left the Holy Place alive.

He mentally ran through the sanctification process. He would sprinkle the blood of the bullock on the mercy seat. He'd sprinkle it in front of it. He'd sprinkle it around it. He'd do this seven times. Then he would slaughter the goat to the Lord, sprinkle its blood upon the mercy seat as a sin offering for the people of Israel, so as to make atonement for the Holy Place. Mixing the blood of the bullock and the goat, he would finally make atonement for the altar of incense, and with that the sanctuary would be cleansed. Then it was time to return to the live goat, the only animal left alive, the scapegoat. He would confess Israel's sins upon its head, all of their idolatry, their stiff-necked rebelliousness, and the other transgressions, all piled up on the head of this live goat, which would then be led away by another priest to a spot mutually chosen about ten to twelve miles from the camp.

When the priest reached this spot with the goat, according to some sources, he was to push the goat off of a cliff that was located there and ensure that the goat was never going to return. That goat would be put away, taking the sin of the people with it. And what an incredible amount of sin it was. He was saddened by the kinds of sins that the Israelites were committing as they wandered out here in the wilderness. From the grumbling against God and his anointed not long after they left Egypt, to Korah's attempted rebellion, the pollution of the Sabbath, the lack of faith they displayed as they neared Canaan, there was much that the hosts of Israel needed reconciliation for, much that the Lord was angry with them about. But as he continued to bathe himself somewhat distractedly now, he realized that he had plenty to be guilty for as well. Otherwise, this mikvah wouldn't be necessary. He thought to himself how ironic it was that each and every year this process had to be redone, that each year the sanctuary was cleansed, and next year the sanctuary needed to be re-cleansed, and the sins of the people year after year after year would be put on the head of the scapegoat. Would it ever change? In the eyes of the high priest, mankind would always need reconciliation. Brethren, that was then, and today not much has changed. Mankind as a whole is in desperate need of reconciliation to God. This day that we're all gathered here to observe, the Day of Atonement, represents a time in God's plan for salvation.

Where the source of mankind's sin, Satan the devil, as we heard this morning in the sermonette message will be cast out, bound, and put away for a time. And the full realization of reconciliation with God can begin, not just for those who God calls at this time, but for the whole of mankind that remains at that time, and eventually that relationship will be offered to all people. So what is reconciliation?

Why is it so important to God? Why must mankind be reconciled? Why isn't simple forgiveness enough? The title of today's message is Atonement, a Final Reconciliation to Almighty God. The word reconcile is defined as the act of uniting two parties who are estranged. It's the act of uniting two parties who are estranged. In other words, bringing together two individuals or groups of individuals that are separated because of something that happened between them.

You maybe can think of someone that you've worked with at some point in time, or maybe you're one of those who has the family quarrel sometimes where one whole half of the family won't speak to the other half of the family because of something that was done 35 years ago over a grandma's potato salad.

Possible. Maybe, maybe not. But it's amazing sometimes the grudges that we can hold against one another and the things that we can hold against one another. But why does mankind need reconciliation? These two parties that require reconciliation are no longer closed. They're no longer closed. They're separated. And sometimes they're not even affectionate towards one another anymore. That issue, whatever it was that happened to cause that problem between them, created a rift. Created a rift between those two individuals or between that group of individuals. Now, we know that God is faithful.

God loves us even when we've strayed. So that lost affection in our relationship, our relationship with God, that estrangement comes from our end of the bargain. Not God's. It comes from our end of the bargain when we drive ourselves away from God through our actions and our choices. Let's turn over to the book of Isaiah. We'll start today by taking a look at a passage that was written that kind of explicitly discusses this separation that occurs between man and God.

We'll look at Isaiah. We'll be in chapter 59. Isaiah chapter 59, and we'll pick up the passage in verse one. We'll go one through nine. So Isaiah 59, beginning in verse one. Isaiah 59, one says, Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, nor his ear heavy, that it cannot hear. Verse two, But your iniquities have separated you from your God, and your sins have hidden his face from him, so that you will not hear. For your hands, and he goes into this laundry list of things that they had done wrong, your hands are defiled with blood, your fingers with iniquity, your lips with spoken lies, your tongue has muttered perversity.

No one calls for justice, nor does anyone plead for truth. They trust in empty words, they speak lies, they conceive evil and bring forth iniquity. They hatch viper's eggs and weave the spider's web. He who eats of their eggs dies, and heaf or in from that which is crushed a viper breaks out. Their webs will not become garments, nor will they cover themselves with their works.

Their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands. Their feet run too evil, not away from evil, they run too evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity, wasting and destruction are in their paths. The way of peace they have not known, and there is no justice in their ways. They have made themselves crooked paths.

Whoever takes that way shall not know peace. God's hand isn't shortened. His ear isn't heavy that he can't hear. But what Isaiah tells us here is that our own iniquities, our sin, our shortcomings, the fallings that we have in our own life, the choices that we make, are in opposition to the law of God. And those things that are in the opposition to the law of God then separate us from our God.

He goes on to describe again in detail, we went through a whole bunch of the things that they actually were doing that were so awful. They talked about hands being defiled with blood, fingers with iniquity, lips as folk lies, the way of peace and the way of God. They know not.

Now, if you take a look at the world around us today, has anything changed? This was written thousands of years ago. Has anything changed? Nope. He's spot on. Spot on. I looked at the headlines this week, just a casual examination of the headlines.

I didn't even dig that deep. I opened CNN.com and I took the top four headlines I could find. One, war with Syria, rattling of sabers in Syria, chemical attacks on their own people, etc. and we've got to go in there, according to the headline. Fourteens with their entire lives ahead of them were shot and killed in Tennessee for whatever they have no idea what for and what the reason is at this point.

A woman who recently married was hiking with her husband in Glacier National Park, got into an argument, pushed him off a cliff and killed him. And the fourth one, and I won't get into the grisly details, but they recently discovered in Connecticut a man who planned to lure children to his home where he had an entire processing plant set up to eat them.

The things that people in this world do are unreal. Unreal. What Isaiah said in Isaiah 59 is not far off of the condition of our world today. Our world is sick. It is horribly diseased.

But before we get too much further and pass those problems off on everybody else, keep in mind Isaiah's words are to us. Isaiah's job was to prophesy to the people of God.

Isaiah was telling the house of Jacob their sins, God's people, the Israelites. These words weren't spoken to a Gentile audience, to the Moabites, the Jebusites, or any of the other ites. This was the Israel. This was their sins, their iniquities. And brethren, when we really look at it, and if we really truly examine our lives, these are our sins. These are our iniquities. This is our carnality. Let's go to Romans 8, verse 1. Romans 8, verse 1. You know, it's interesting. I don't think you ever really take for granted how nice the water is up here until it's not here. Romans 8, verse 1. I always thought while you're turning there, I always thought it'd be fun to come in one of these days with an empty Dutch brothers cup with a straw, just going, hey, how's it going? Oh, oh, what? I always thought that'd be a fun little prank, as we were talking about things to do on the tome. Romans 8, verse 1. But then I sit and I go back to that thing where I'm like, well, when I was a child, I thought as a child and put away my child as a way, as a prank, things like that. Sure. Romans 8, verse 1. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and of death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh on account of sin. He condemned sin in the flesh.

That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh, this is verse 5. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can it be. So then those who are in the flesh cannot please God. The carnal mind, our own human nature, is enmity towards God. It's hostile to God. Our carnal mind is hostile to God. Carnality is a complete 180-degree difference from the Spirit of God, from the mind of God that's in us in the Holy Spirit. It's 180 degrees different. Complete other end of the spectrum. The two are diametrically opposed.

Now before we receive the Holy Spirit, we only have our carnal mind. We can begin to think about what God wants us to do. Then we receive the Holy Spirit, and within us are two minds that are now in direct conflict with one another. Direct conflict with one another. We try to live God's way, and we fail. The big difference is, once we've been baptized, at least with the Spirit, we're making the effort to live God's life and growing little by little. Paul discusses this concept in Romans 7. It's just a page back, same open page on my Bible. But Romans 7, verse 15, he talks about this struggle, this battle back and forth between the Spirit of God within Him and the carnal mind that is also in Him. Romans 7, verse 15, he says, For what am I doing? I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I don't practice. But what I hate, that's what I do. But what I hate, that's what I do. And we're well aware of this concept. We want to please God. We want to live God's way. But despite our best efforts, we fall short. At the end of the day, when the battle between our carnality and the Holy Spirit is over, the Holy Spirit won some decisive victories. But carnality still won the day. Despite our best efforts, we fall short.

Those that are in the flesh cannot please God. And so what happens is our sins create a chasm between ourselves and God, this yawning, gaping canyon between us and God, this giant rift. And God simply forgiving the sins isn't enough, because the rift is still there.

And the rift is still there, because even with the sin blotted out, the nature is still there. Our human nature is still present, even with the sin gone, and it's the nature that has to be changed. In order for us to be reconciled to God, that chasm had to be bridged. That chasm had to be bridged. That separation between man and God had to be rectified in some way. And mankind couldn't cross that gap, no matter how hard they tried. You could only sacrifice so many bulls and goats to seek forgiveness for your sins. And year after year after year this process continued and continued. The Day of Atonement, as it was conducted in ancient Israel, to an extent, was kind of like a band-aid placed over a much bigger issue. It was a temporary fix that pointed towards a future and more permanent fix. Let's go over to Hebrews 10. Let's go over to Hebrews 10. We'll pick it up in verse 1. Hebrews 10 verse 1. Hebrews 10 verse 1, it's actually under a heading in my Bible, it says, animal sacrifice is insufficient. Hebrews 10 verse 1, for the law having a shadow of the good things to come and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approached perfect. In other words, it didn't matter how many animals were sacrificed, it wasn't going to make those who came perfect.

For then would they not have ceased to be offered, for the worshippers once purified would have had no more consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices there was a reminder of sins every year, for it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.

Sacrificing bulls and goats year after year after year after year could never make perfect those who drew to participate in that service. The blood of bulls and goats wouldn't be enough to cross that chasm. We can't go across the gap on our own. Our actions are not enough. God had to send someone across that chasm for us. And as you well know, it's one of the most well-known scriptures in the Bible, John 3.16, God sent His only begotten Son across that chasm. Christ came to earth, He lived a physical life, did not sin, and was crucified for the sins of us all. Matthew 27 records these final moments, and in these final moments an extremely important event occurred to our discussion today. Matthew 27, we'll pick it up in verse 50 with the moment that Christ died. Matthew 27, verse 50. Matthew 27, verse 50, says, And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and He yielded up his Spirit. Then, behold, this is the event, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. And coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city, and they appeared to many. Verse 54, So when the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake, and the things that had happened, they feared greatly, saying, truly, this was the Son of God. You kind of read that last statement, and you think to yourself, you think? Maybe with all the stuff that happened? Yeah, it turns out. But many incredible things happened upon Christ's death, but possibly none more significant or symbolic for this day, the day of atonement, or, frankly, in God's holy day plan, was the renting of the veil, the tearing of the veil. The veil of that temple separated the sanctuary of God, where the Ark of the Covenant rested in the old days. If this was the spot that separated again the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple of meeting and the other temple area, it really physically separated and spiritually represented separating the holiness of God from the carnality and the sinfulness of man. And it provided a literal physical separation as well as a spiritual separation. But with Christ's death, that veil was torn asunder, top to bottom, ripped completely open. That separation was now removed. The blood of Christ's sacrifice, once and for all, provided mankind for the first time with full access to God.

Full access to God. No longer was accessing the Lord's presence once a year event.

24-7 access to God was now available through a new high priest and intercessor. Let's turn over to Ephesians 2. We'll pick up the passage in verse 13. Ephesians 2.

Ephesians 2 and verse 13. We'll see the words of Paul here. Ephesians 2 verse 13.

But now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off, so you who were once far off, once separated, once really far from the presence of God, have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made both one and has broken down the middle wall of separation. Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, and that is, in this translation, that is the law of commandments contained in all the ordinances. So as to create in himself one new man from the two, thus making peace. Verse 16. That he might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.

And he came and he preached peace to you who were far off and to those who were near, for through him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. Those of us who were once far off were brought near by the blood of Christ. He broke down the wall of partition. He reconciled us to God and gave us something again that had not been available up to this point, the ability to access God the Father regularly, to boldly come before the throne of grace.

For the first time in the history of mankind, mankind had direct access to God through Christ our High Priest. We had a new covenant, we had a new High Priest, and we had universal access. Jew, Gentile, it didn't matter. Provided you had been baptized and had chosen to follow God, you could boldly again come before that throne to ask forgiveness of your sins through Christ as a mediator. That veil was rent. That chasm had been bridged. Second Corinthians, though, puts it a little bit differently. Second Corinthians, go to Second Corinthians 5.

Second Corinthians 5 does put it a little bit differently. It's a good kind of different. Second Corinthians 5, and we'll pick it up in verse 14. We'll go through verse 20. Second Corinthians 5, 14 says, Verse 17, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new.

Verse 18, Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. The ministry of reconciliation. That is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now, interestingly enough, the word reconciliation there is different than the word reconciliation that's in Ephesians. The different word. The word reconciliation there, in that section, in verse 18, is the word katal—and I don't speak Greek, it's all Greek to me, but I'm going to do the best I can—is the word katalige. And it's used four times in two books within the Bible. Four times in two books. One of the books is Romans, the other here is in 2 Corinthians. And it's a different word of reconciliation than the word in Ephesians. In Ephesians, we're dealing with uniting two estranged parties, taking two parties who are separated for whatever reason, and uniting them together and bringing them together. The word used here takes it a step further. The definition of katalige is to restore, define, favor. To restore, define, favor.

It's actually translated in Romans 5.11 to the word atonement. It's translated atonement in Romans 5.11. We won't turn there. Romans 5.11 says, and not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement. The restoration of that divine favor. Restoration of divine favor. And that's the place where we find ourselves today. The Holy Spirit in us has begun a conversion process that allows us to spiritually grow, leaving more and more and more of our carnality behind as we draw closer to God. That's not perfect, not yet. And it won't be until the events of this day, the events that are symbolized by this day in God's Holy Day plan, when they are finally fully realized. We grow little by little by the mind of God in us. And, you know, this is all well and good for us. What about the rest of the world? What about the rest of the world? They don't have God's Spirit. They're not being reconciled to Him. And yet, they're just as separated by their sins as we are. We have to remember God's plan is universal. God's plan is universal. It's designed for the whole of mankind, not just for us. And I think sometimes we lose sight of that. Sometimes we lose sight of the fact that God is like Mr. Consello brought out this morning from 2 Peter 3.9. You know, the Lord doesn't desire that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. It's not just us. It's everybody. You know, while Peter and 2 Peter is writing to an audience of believers, the same is true about the rest of the world. God does not wish anyone to perish. He wants all of mankind to come to repentance. And the design of His plan brings us about in such a way that mankind as a whole will have that opportunity. If you look at the Day of Atonement within the context of the remainder of the Holy Days of God's plan, we can see how absolutely instrumental the events of this day are. Now, we'll go back one Holy Day, though, because I want to set the stage for where we're going with Atonement. Coming out of the events pictured by the Feast of Trumpets, we have a world that has essentially become unmade. It has come apart at the seams in the plagues that preceded or preceded Christ's return. We have wars, we have pestilence, we have destruction. Christ comes back at the final trumpet. The world, rather than welcoming Him with open arms, goes on the offensive. You know, and many more people die.

Those who are left over and left alive at this time, who will be the first generation of people to enter the millennium, you can imagine what is going through their brains.

The world has literally come apart at the seams. And not only that, they saw the dead rise, and they saw people who were alive with them transfigured and changed.

There's no explanation for that in today's world, other than aliens or something, which is where everybody goes anymore, it seems like when they can't explain something. Many are not going to have an explanation for what they've seen. And for those who remain, it's no longer business as usual. The rebuilding process throughout the millennium has to begin, but, and Mr. Consella mentioned this this morning a little bit, you can't get to one thousand years of peace and rebuilding in the millennium until the events of this day occur. You can't get there. The incredible foreshadowing of this eternal kingdom of God can't occur unless that chasm, that huge rift between God and man, is sealed once and for all, and for all men, not just those who were called at this time.

You can't get to the point where mankind and God are no longer enemies without the events of this day. And in order to do this, the instigator of this sin that separates us and makes us enemies has to be put away. We went there already. Let's go there again. Revelation 20. We'll read a couple passages past verse 1 and 2. But Revelation 20, one of the most just incredible passages in the Bible is the last few chapters of Revelation. It's just so neat to see that little hint to the end result. But Revelation 20, verse 1, says, Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having a 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 bound him for a thousand years. And he cast him into the bottomless pit, and he shut him up, and he set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more, until the thousand years were finished. But after these things, he must be released for a little while. Now, we know that he gets a little bit time left, gets a little bit at the very end, to deceive any more than he might be able to get before God finally finishes it off.

But we see in the future fulfillment of this day that that is exactly what this day pictures. Satan will be put away. Satan will be put away. He will not have the opportunity to influence mankind for a full thousand years. And that thousand years of peace and prosperity in God's reign on earth will represent—and think about this. This is the first time in human history, since the early days of Adam and Eve, that Satan has not been behind the scenes pulling the strings.

Can you imagine what that's like? It's beyond—I mean, I can imagine it. I mean, we all can. We can go to a place where we go, oh, it's just going to be this and this and this. We don't have any kind of frame of reference for that. We've known—all we've known is the world where Satan is present. Can you imagine a world where hate doesn't exist and love reigns?

Can you imagine a world where peace is the rule, not the exception?

Or a world where others will be esteemed greater than one's self, and the needs of others will be put above the needs of your own? Now, does that mean that there won't be sin? No. No.

But there will be less and less of it as time goes on. As we get further and further into that, I can imagine the first few years of that millennium are going to be rough. They're going to be rough. You know, Christ's return is not—they're not handing out these little magic pills where you take one of the pills and all of a sudden everything's great. You have to learn. And generation by generation, as they learn and as they teach their children, and as they get further in, people start to realize, this way of life, this thing that God's got going on, is so much better than what I ever knew before. And that's when the changes start to occur.

And you know, that's the thing that's so interesting to me to think about. You know, even with Satan gone, human nature is still going to be present. So, yeah, it's going to be rough at the beginning. But as time goes on, not just that sin is going to be removed and that cause of sin is going to be removed, mankind's very nature is going to change. What we know is human nature today is going to shift. And after a while, it'll be to the point where what we know is human nature today will be completely eradicated and a new nature will be formed in man.

Human nature will become a shadow of its former self. And eventually, it'll be the way that God desired it from the beginning. You know, mankind will not only be reconciled to God, they'll be reconciled to one another. Peace will finally descend upon this earth.

You imagine the day when a Jew in an Arab can walk across and shake hands?

When wars come to an end, when our weapons and our implements of war are turned into farming equipment, you can't get there without today. Today has to happen first. It's an instrumental and absolutely pivotal point of God's plan. Let's go to Isaiah 11. Kind of paint a little bit of a final picture here, just as we get to visiting our last scripture for the day. Isaiah 11. Isaiah 11 and we'll pick it up in verse 1. Isaiah 11 and verse 1 says, There shall come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge, and of the fear of the Lord. His delight is in the fear of the Lord, and he shall not judge by the sight of his eyes, nor decide by the hearing of his ears. But with righteousness he shall judge the poor. And decide with equity for the meek of the earth. He shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of his loins, and faithfulness the belt of his waist.

Verse 6 is where we always go during the Feast of Tabernacles. We went there a little early, but the wolf will dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, the calf and the young lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them.

The cow and the bear shall graze, their young one shall lie down together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play by the cobra's hole, the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper's den. Verse 9, They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

I love this passage because it shows a hint of the end result. It gives you just a glimpse of what it can look like. The final steps of what God is doing is incredible. They will not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, the earth full of the knowledge of God as the waters cover the sea. What an incredible promise! The events of this day are instrumental in making that happen. The Day of Atonement is a pivotal part of God's plan of salvation. As long as Satan is present, mankind will always need reconciliation. As long as Satan is present, mankind will always need reconciliation. Our very nature allows us to be attuned to his influences and to transgress. The only way to reach the point of reconciling all men to God is to remove Satan from the picture and shift our nature. The reconciliation process that was begun with Jesus Christ coming across the gap, taking the sin of the world upon himself and dying, spilling his blood to atone for our sins once and for all, becoming our new high priest and mediator, providing us access to the true mercy seat. The very throne of God began a process that will be completed by the events that are pictured by today. God will draw his people to him and will reconcile them all, sealing the gap that separates man and God once and for all, never to be opened again. God speed that day.