Cause and Effect - The Day of Atonement

Well, thank you once again, and welcome to the Day of Atonement. Today we're here to worship God on another very important Holy Day that we know of as the Day of Atonement. The meaning and the purpose of the Holy Days are a constant theme throughout scriptures, and I thought it would be good for us to begin today by looking at something that Jesus Christ said in Matthew chapter 5. We'll actually begin in Matthew chapter 4 and verse 23 and see what his example was, because it's an example of exactly what's going to happen as the millennium begins after he returns to earth. He's modeling what's going to occur on the earth towards those who are left alive after the very tragic and terrible events of the Great Tribulation and the last Great Days. It says here in Matthew chapter 4 and verse 23, Jesus went about all Galilee teaching in their synagogue. So he was teaching, preaching the gospel of the kingdom. He was preaching the message of hope. It's going to get better. There are better days ahead and healing all kinds of sickness, all kinds of disease among the people. Then his fame went throughout all Syria and they brought him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments and those who were demon possessed, epileptics, paralytics, and he healed them. He was healing people with physical issues, mental issues, emotional issues, healing everybody who they brought to him. It says in verse 25, and great multitudes followed him from Galilee and Decapitus, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan. So Jesus Christ is serving with his whole heart at this point in his ministry, again reflecting what it's going to be like when he returns to this earth. And a world is going to need tremendous healing itself. He healed people with sicknesses and disease. He was teaching the Word of God at the local synagogues. He was attracting many people to his powerful message and his personal example. And in this situation, he saw an opportunity to kind of stop, slow down, and teach his disciples something. So it's believed, and we're going to get into verse 1 here of Matthew chapter 5, it's believed that Jesus went to the top of a mountain to get away from the large multitudes and the crowds that were following him. And he wanted to spend just a little bit of one-on-one teaching time with his disciples. He wanted to teach some spiritual concepts to his followers. So beginning in Matthew chapter 1, it says, and seeing the multitudes, he would could be consumed and overwhelmed by all the people they were bringing to him. He went up to a mountain, and when he was seated, his disciples came to him. So this was the intimate small group of followers. He had his literal disciples, and he opened his mouth, and he taught them, saying. Now it's interesting that he sat down at, that's a traditional rabbinical teaching method, is that you get in the same level as your disciples. So he sat down, he wasn't above them, he wasn't towering over them, he wasn't lecturing them, he sat down at their level, and he began to teach them. And this is what has become known as the Beatitudes, or the beautiful attitudes. They're called beautiful attitudes because whoever really has these qualities that Jesus Christ spoke about, acquires a deep spiritual contentment, and an attitude of joy, no matter what their physical circumstances.

When you acquire the beautiful attitudes, you transcend the trials and problems and issues that are going on in your life. Because you're looking at your purpose, you're looking at your very existence from a whole new perspective. You know that everything that happens to you is for a purpose. That you are part of God's personal development program, the special one he created for you.

And ultimately, when you get through that program, you'll be a better person. You will be where God wants you to be. So that is what was happening now. These teachings relate to our lives today, but they're also very encouraging promises about the future. And they relate to God's Holy Days. We'll only look at a few of the Beatitudes today, and the ones that relate very well to, of all discussions, the Day of Atonement.

And by the way, the Beatitudes also became part of what some call the Sermon on the Mount. So verse 3, let's take a look at verse 3. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. I'll read that from another translation, the New Century version. Those people who know they have great spiritual needs are happy because the kingdom of heaven belongs to them. The Greek word here for blessed is a macaree and it means supremely blessed, fortunate, deeply favored.

So he's saying deeply favored are you if you are poor in spirit. What does he mean by this phrase? Well, to be poor in spirit is to recognize and acknowledge our spiritual bankruptcy before God. It's understanding that alone we have absolutely nothing worthy to offer to God. Being poor in spirit is admitting that because of our sin we are completely impoverished spiritually and we can do nothing to deliver ourselves from a dreadful condition and that is sin. But we have a Savior who can do that for us.

We have a Savior who can change everything. Jesus is saying that no matter what our status in life, rich or poor, whatever ethnicity, whatever religious background we came from, no matter what our status is we must recognize our spiritual poverty before we can come to God in faith and receive the salvation he offers. That's why we emphasize so much repentance and those who go through the baptism classes will tell you that it's a reoccurring theme in the baptism classes.

We dig deep, we drill deep about what repentance is and the fact that repentance, it goes far beyond just being sorry and remorseful and apologetic. It means that we want to turn around and we want to turn the direction of our life around and head towards God instead of walking away from him which is what we did most of our lives before God called us. It means to turn around and go the other way and that other way is to go towards the true light and of course that light is God.

So what does being poor in spirit, how does it result in the kingdom of heaven? Well, while the phrase kingdom of heaven is very broad in its meaning, essentially it refers to salvation and eternal life in the kingdom of God, the kingdom we all long for on this earth. God offers salvation as a gift through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross and the full payment for sin's penalty.

But before we can receive that gift, we need to understand that we of ourselves are unworthy of it. We needed to go through a process when God called us for our conversion to be sure and that process is spiritual bankruptcy, being poor in spirit because when you get to that point in your life then God can begin working with you.

Then you can understand and always appreciate what the Savior did for you, the price that he paid, and how he purchased you, how you have become his. So again, it's so important for us to understand that you're blessed when you become poor in spirit because you've hit a point in your life where you can now become a child of God and begin that training process and become part of the kingdom of heaven, part of God's family.

We must recognize our sinfulness before we can understand our need for a Savior. That is why biblical repentance is that first crucial step. And we must admit our spiritual poverty before we can receive the spiritual riches that God offers. So we have to hit low, we have to hit the bottom. You have to bottom out in life before God can start giving us those spiritual riches. So we must in short be poor in spirit just like he said. So when Jesus says, blessed be the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, he's declaring that before we can enter God's kingdom we must recognize the utter worthlessness of our own righteousness and who we may think that we are and our inability by our own works to save us or really do anything good.

Verse 4, we can relate to this today, blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted.

Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. Some of us mourning a little bit now. Maybe our little our tummies are growling. Maybe we're feeling a little achy. Maybe we have that caffeine headache is already hitting some of us because we drink coffee every day or maybe we're feeling a little down.

How about meek? It's easy to be meek when you're hungry, isn't it? It's kind of easy to be meek when you're tired. When physically you're just not quite hitting all your cylinders, it's very easy to be meek. Is there a holy day that pictures a time of mourning? Well, sure there is, but it's followed by a time when people will be comforted and that is the Feast of Tabernacles. Let's take a look here at verse 6. See if this relates to us today. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled. Now physically, most of us here today are hungering and thirsting for something else, right? And I won't, I know pastors in the past, they like to torture us. They would give very descriptive meals of how everything looked and smelled and all those kinds of things and I'm not going to do that because I would torture myself as much as you. But I will say that we're hungry today and we're thirsting physically, but even better than that and hopefully what the fast is helping us to do is to hunger and thirst for righteousness because you get to the point when you fasted when you realize just how temporary, just how shallow our lives are. We skip a couple of meals and we're already uncomfortable. We already can't focus on things, right? We're already struggling mentally and physically when we've skipped a few meals, when we haven't had any water for 12 hours, 15 hours, it begins to have an effect on us. And the lesson there is there's something far more important than just physical drink and physical food because we are so temporary and what is far more important is being part of the family of God. Being there at that twinkling of an eye, when this fleshly temple, this tabernacle we have, literally is dissolved and we become spirit being. When at the twinkling of an eye we are changed and we no longer carry around the burdens of this flesh and hunger and the need for water and the need for our next breath of air and all of those things we are absolutely dependent on to continue as physical beings. So hopefully we can relate to this scripture today, hungering and thirsting for righteousness because the real meaning of the fast is that we should be longing for something far deeper and better than just food and drink. We should be longing for the kingdom of God. We should be longing for our spiritual entrance into the family of God when we'll no longer need drink or food. Let's go now to Leviticus chapter 23 and see the instruction regarding this day in the book of Leviticus. That's something that we traditionally and should do on the Holy Day. Leviticus chapter 23 in verse 26. We'll be spending a lot of time in Leviticus today to learn more about this day. And the Lord spoke to Moses, verse 27, on the tenth day of the seventh month shall be the day of atonement. It shall be a holy convocation for you and you shall afflict your souls and made an offer and offering made by fire to the Lord. So sure enough, we have a holy convention today. We are assembled here. We have afflicted our souls and we gave a Holy Day offering. We gave a little bit of ourselves and gave that as a gift back to God for him to do with what he wills.

Verse 28, and you shall do no work on that same day, for it is the day of atonement to make an atonement for you before the Lord your God. So everyone was to take the day off. For any person who is not afflicted and soul on that same day shall be cut off from his people and any person who does any work on that same day, that person I will destroy from among his people. You shall do no manner of work. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in your dwellings. It shall be to you a Sabbath of solemn rest. You shall afflict your souls. And that's what we're doing. We've afflicted our souls. We're here resting on typically what we do on a Sabbath day. Only we're not even, we don't even have any food preparation on this day. So it's a very special day. It's a high day. On the 10th day of the month, that even from even to even, you shall celebrate your Sabbath. And of course, the word day here in these verses is yom, and this shows that a yom is 24 hours long because it says on this day that you shall afflict your souls from one evening and 24 hours into the next evening and then you can stop. This command from God is the fifth of the seven annual festivals outlined in Leviticus 23. The nation was told that this day of atonement was a holy convention and everyone should afflict their souls on this day. The word of afflict comes from the Hebrew word anah, meaning to be humbled, to bow down, or to be meek. Think about what Jesus said, blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Today we are being very meek if we are afflicting our souls.

So let's go back a few chapters now to Leviticus chapter 16. I think it's very important to cover the rather classic instruction that we are given about the meaning of this day. We have a number of brethren who this is their very first day of atonement. So I know many of you, like myself, have heard, had the understanding of what the goats represented in Leviticus 16 for perhaps 30-40 years, but we have a number of brand new folks with us that have not heard and understood the beautiful theology of this event. So again, Leviticus chapter 16 and verse 29 will start. It says, this shall be a statute forever for you in the seventh month and the tenth day of the month. You shall afflict your souls and do no work at all, whether a native of your own country or a stranger who dwells with you. For on that day the priest shall make atonement for you to cleanse you that you may be cleaned from all your sins before the Lord. It is a Sabbath of solemn rest for you and you shall afflict your souls. It is a statute forever. So this reinforces Leviticus chapter 23, what we just read.

And we're going to see a very powerful theology presented here in atonement, in forgiving of sin, in God dealing with both the cause of sin, the original cause of sin, as the excellent sermonette discussed today, and dealing with the effects of sin. So let's start out with the priest. It said the priest will make atonement for you. The priest here represents the future Jesus Christ as the perfect high priest making atonement for all humanity. That's what this human priest was going to portray, was going to act out in this very meaningful and beautiful ceremony. This ceremony was commanded of the human high priest only one time a year on the day of atonement. As a matter of fact, the truth is that if he tried to do these things on any other day, he would have been the former high priest, because he would have died. He does things that you can only do as the high priest, that you are allowed to do on this day. The verses we just read were actually the end of the ceremony. So we're going to go back to verse 1 here in chapter 16 to the beginning of the chapter and find out what the unique rituals were that occurred on the day of atonement and what they represent.

Leviticus chapter 16 verse 1. And it's interesting even the timing. You know who was grieving really strongly about now when all of this is instituted? Aaron, because his two sons had just died for offering profane fire before God. So he lost his two beloved sons. So he's already mourning. He's kind of in the mood for the instruction that's going to be given here. And it says, 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. So you know the message that Aaron's going to get from this? The message Aaron's going to get from this is thinking about what happened to his sons. Everything that God says here, I'm meticulously, in great detail and care, need to do everything that God says and not go beyond it. Not to do my own thing. Not to add to it. Not to take away from it. So after the death of Aaron's sons, while Aaron's still grieving, God decides to reveal to the nation a special solemn ceremony that portrays hope and reconciliation to the nation of Israel and this entire ceremonial service of the sacrifices and the burning of incense and the trimming of lamps. And everything that's instructed on this day is instructed to the high priest alone. And again, this high priest prefigured Christ who alone brings atonement and salvation to the world. Jesus Christ had to do it all by himself.

And the instructions that were given here were instructions to the human high priest alone. Verse 2, and the Lord said to Moses, tell Aaron your brother 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. Now think about the context. His two sons had just died for doing something that was contrary to instruction. So do you think Aaron got it? You bet he's listening. He's listening very intently.

Continuing, God says, for I will appear in the cloud above the mercy seat. So he says, my very presence will appear in the cloud on this day during this ceremony as my presence will be felt within this camp and will provide forgiveness and will provide strength and encouragement and hope that I am still your God. You are still my people. Verse 3, 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. So again, because he's going to represent Jesus Christ, he has to wash his body which represents the washing away of sin and purity and he's taken off the usual high priest garb which as I've said before looked like the NBC peacock including a breastplate with these stones representing the 12 tribes of Israel and according to Jewish tradition when people needed an answer the stones would actually glow and light up in a particular order to reveal God's will.

You could spot the high priest hundreds and hundreds of yards away because of the way he was dressed but not on this day. He wore simple plain white linen because he was representing the Son of God. He was representing the future Jesus Christ himself. So again, washing his body represented the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ and the phrase I will appear is he saying you are representing actions that I will myself do in the future so be careful take great care in what you do.

Verse 5, 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 and Aaron shall offer up the bowl mentioned earlier in verse 2 as a sin offering which is for himself and make atonement for himself and for his house. So before he can do anything else he has to represent the sinless pure righteousness of Jesus Christ so he offers up before he tries to atone for anything else within the tabernacle he's got to atone for himself and for his house for his family and that's exactly what he does that step 1 verse 7 he shall take the two goats and present them before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of meeting and Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats one for the Lord and the other for the scapegoat I'm gonna read verse 8 from the translation God's Word one lot will be for the Lord and the other for the azazel because the Hebrew word there is azazel and we know from our own culture today that usually we use the phrase scapegoat meaning someone unjustly is being punished for something else that someone did and hence they are the scapegoat they're the ones being blamed for something else but in this case this goat is not a scapegoat this goat is receiving the judgment that it absolutely positively deserves it's interesting here it says that Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats casting lots is seeking divine judgment on which one of these two goats is for the Lord and which one according to God's divine revelation is for the azazel there's a reason for that before we get to that let me read to you from the Jewish encyclopedia what it says according to Jewish history and tradition what this azazel was under this article quote the name of a supernatural being mentioned in connection with the ritual of the day of atonement after Satan for whom he was in some degree of preparation azazel enjoys the distinction of being the most mysterious extra human character in sacred literature unlike other Hebrew proper names the name itself is obscure end of quote now some teach many Christian scholars teach that both of these goats represent Jesus Christ and his sacrifice they believe that the two goats simply portray two different aspects of Christ one sacrifice they say one goat is for the death and the forgiveness of sin that's the goat whose blood is shed and the other goat represents Jesus Christ as a sin bearer well as we review this chapter I think you're going to see very clearly that that theology simply doesn't fit properly let's begin by asking the question why would Aaron cast lots if these goats represent two aspects of what Jesus Christ did and it wouldn't matter if they both represent something that Jesus Christ did then it wouldn't there would be no sense no reason to cast lots to decide which one is for the Lord and which one is for the Yezazzle either goat could fulfill that role so why cast lots good question well according to Jewish tradition and Mishnah these two goats were to be of the same size the same age and the same color in other words they almost look like twins you humanly it was hard to tell them about tell them apart and that's exactly why they were chosen so why cast lots well it represented the fact that only God could reveal to a deceived humankind who his beloved son is who offered eternal life in contrast to who the counterfeit God is the God of this world remember the Apostle Paul said in second Corinthians chapter 11 and verse 14 he said and no wonder for Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light this world is deceived and it can't tell the difference between two powerful beings it takes God to reveal to that to this world Satan is presented as an angel of light in contrast to that Jesus Christ is the light of the world as it says in John chapter 8 and verse 12 Satan is considered the prince of the power of the air from Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 2 in contrast to that Jesus Christ is the Prince of Peace as mentioned in Isaiah chapter 9 and verse 6 Satan is the God of this world as Paul mentioned in second Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 4 in contrast to Jesus Christ who was the word who was with God and who was God in John chapter 1 verse 1 it's confusing the world can't tell it apart the phrasing of the Hebrew doesn't support the view that both of these goats represent Jesus Christ it takes intervention from God his calling and his spirit to understand good from evil especially when evil is presented as a acceptable and honorable and good in the world that we live in today the Hebrew is very clear here one goat is for the Lord and the second goat is for the Azazel so in other words one goat is for the Lord and the other is for something else if you're not for the Lord then you're obviously for something else again many folks use the word translators use the word scapegoat and it's a very poor choice of words because of who this goat represents in Hebrew the word Azazel means to depart or to go away the Arabs have a similar word a Zala which means lonesomeness it means isolated so word for desert and the Azazel goat is a go to departure that will take something upon itself and depart and be cast away let's take a look now in verse 9 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 scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement upon it and to let it go as the scapegoat into the wilderness I'm going to read verse 9 from the New International Version but the goat taken by lot as the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord to be used for making atonement by sending it into the desert as a scapegoat so both goats are going to make an atonement the goat for the Lord makes a complete and total atonement through its shed blood and that goat certainly represents what Jesus Christ did as our Passover this is Jesus the Lamb of God dealing with the effect of human sin the Azazel goat makes atonement by his removal from the people this is the devil being sent into the wilderness because he is the cause and the originator of sin God is dealing with both cause and effect the effect was the sins of the people which needed forgiveness it needed Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God and his shed blood to treat the effect of human sin the cause was the influence of Satan the devil and God wants to deal with the cause of sin as well as the effect verses 11 through 14 now backtrack the outline that we just read and it covers in more detail the commands we just the instructions that we just read and provides a little more detail for them so let's take a look at them 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 kill the bowl as a sin offering which is for himself then he shall take a sensor of burning coals of fire from the altar before the Lord with his hands full of sweet incense beaten fine and bring it inside of the veil now this altar that it's speaking about at this point in the instruction is the altar of incense not the altar or burnt offerings were sacrificed that's a little bit later on we'll read about that in a few minutes so he was from that altar which was just outside of the Holy of Holies he was to take incense from that altar into the Holy of Holies and we'll read about that so understanding that let's now take a look at verse 13 and he shall put the incense on the fire before the Lord that he got from that altar of incense so he goes into the Holy of Holies 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 should 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 finger and then he will sprinkle it with his finger seven times so he was to bring cloudy incense into the holy place incense that was so thick and smoky that it obscured his ability to see God's presence remember God said earlier I will be in the cloud and if he would have seen God in his purest and strongest essence of who and what God is he would have died so that incense was to obscure his presence before his view of God 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 else he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times sprinkling the blood seven times represented the complete forgiveness of sin which Jesus Christ would later offer by his shed blood so the priest is performing this ceremony he is portraying the sacrifice that Jesus Christ would make Jesus Christ our great high priest our inter intercessor for us who right now is at the right hand side of the father verse 15 let's go back to the story then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering which is for the people and bring its blood inside the veil to do that which he did with the blood of the bull so first he had to make us an atonement for himself then as we'll see here he's making an atonement for the people then he's making an atonement for the various articles inside that tabernacle including the other altar so step by step he's instructed to make a atonement not just for the nation and the people but even for the articles inside of the tabernacle it says and he shall sprinkle it on the mercy seat I shall sprinkle it on the mercy seat and before the mercy seat verse 16 so he shall make atonement for the holy place because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel because of their transgressions for all their sins and he shall do so for the tabernacle of meeting which remains among them in the midst of their uncleanness so added on top of himself was the atonement for the holy place and the tabernacle of meeting so now the high priest would perform the same ceremony with the goat as he had done earlier with the bull dipping and touching the blood seven times on the mercy seat the seven times represented the complete forgiveness of sin offered by Christ verse 17 there shall be no man in the tabernacle of meeting when he goes into making atonement in the holy place until he comes out that he may make atonement for himself for his household and for all the assembly of Israel Jesus Christ himself had to do it alone now afterward he could be comforted by angels but he had to do what he was required to do for our salvation he had to do it alone to make atonement for us verse 18 and she shall go out to the altar that is before the Lord and make atonement for it and shall take some of the blood of the bull and some of the blood of the goat and put it on the horns of the altar all around at this time this is now the altar of sacrifice where all the sacrifices were made then he shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times cleanse it and consecrated from the uncleanness of the children of Israel and when he is made an end of atoning for the holy place the tabernacle of meeting in the altar he shall bring the live goat so that was the end of that form of atoning which was and represented the shed blood of the Lamb of God Jesus our Savior and what he did for us the Passover so there's the end of that atoning and now there's a second atoning that must take place for that goat that was designated for Zozl so we see here that one of the two goats was for the Lord it was sacrificed as a recap here his blood was shed and sprinkled in the various areas of the entire tabernacle the goat represented the blood of Jesus Christ which takes away the sins of the world and this event looked forward to the perfect life of Jesus Christ and the ultimate sacrifice of his during the Passover Jesus Christ came into the world he lived a perfect life and he shed his blood to cleanse the world from sin again that's good news and we under understand that and that is exciting and it's good not just news for us but for all of humankind but God still has unfinished business to attend to that treats the effect of human sin it makes it possible that that sin is forgiven but it doesn't treat the cause the generator the originator of all sin that being who was in the very first rebellion and said I want to be like God what I have isn't enough I'm entitled it's not good to be just number two to be a God's throne to be an archangel I want to be number one I want it all from those very thoughts generated sin and that's sin throughout the millennia eventually infected the very first man and the very first woman and we find ourselves where we are today in this world because of those first thoughts of that being many many many many many millennia ago when he wanted to be in charge when he wanted to rule 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 world wilderness by the hand of a suitable man the goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to an uninhabited land and he shall release the goat in the wilderness then Aaron shall come into the tabernacle of meeting shall take off the linen garments which he put on when he went into the holy place and shall leave them there his part of that ceremony is over he gets dressed again in his usual outfit and that is basically the ceremony that we read today let's go into a little more detail about the last verses we just read however the Hebrew word for lay when it says that he will lay both of his hands on the head of the live goat the Hebrew word for lay is samak and it means to lean upon to take hold of the high priest what he did here forcefully placed his hands on the goats head remember the curse and the prophecy that God gave to Satan and then he said in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15 I will put empty between you and the woman and between your seat and her seat he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel and this represented the bruising of Satan's head when this high priest laid both of his hands forcefully seizing that animal obviously would be struggling and trying to get away wouldn't be very happy about this would confess all the sins of the nation on this animal a very powerful scripture all the iniquities all the sins of Israel were confessed upon its head and this event was needed to achieve universal atonement and its future fulfillment symbolized by this very day that we look forward to when Jesus Christ returns to earth and Satan the devil himself is put away is locked up into the wilderness in spiritual chains so that he can affect the world no more let's read about that in Revelation chapter 20 beginning in verse 1 Revelation chapter 20 beginning in verse 1 you know again I want to mention to some biblical scholars say that Jesus is the is Ozzal well I have these questions for anyone who thinks Jesus might also be fulfilling the role of the is Ozzal when did enable man or an angel take Christ into the wilderness and never be seen again I don't read that anywhere now granted I understand that Jesus Christ was cursed as Paul said in Galatians chapter 3 in verse 13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law having become a curse for us I understand that Paul says for it is written curse it is everyone who hangs on a tree and yes I agree that Jesus became a curse for us but he was resurrected after three days he didn't disappear he didn't go somewhere no one else ever saw or heard from him again he was resurrected three days later Luke stakes and acts one that Christ was seen on earth for 40 days by numerous people before his ascension he spoke and he taught his disciples during this time so he cannot represent what the is Ozzal was but here's who does in Revelation chapter 20 in verse 1 then I saw an angel coming down from heaven having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand and he laid hold of the dragon that serpent of old who is the devil and Satan and bound him for a thousand years and cast him into a 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 but after these things he must be released for a little while so this fit man in Leviticus 16 represents this angel spoken of in Revelation 20 who spiritually chains Satan to a bottomless pit or a spiritual wilderness where he can't influence he can no longer be an originator of sin he cannot be the prince of the power of the air he can no longer emanate negativity in the minds of the human beings in the world tomorrow he can no longer inject those negative thoughts those temp thoughts of temptation and sin and bitterness and anger and resentment and envy and all the thoughts that are products of the works of the flesh this unique event is a universal atonement the removal of Satan from the presence of humankind God has unfinished business with this ancient archangel who rebelled against him and so since that time has fervently sought to destroy everything that God has ever tried to do including when God created Adam and Eve and was trying to create his own family this being every step of the way has tried to destroy human life the scriptures themselves say that for the elect's sake Jesus Christ will return or else this world would destroy itself all human life would be wiped off of this planet if it weren't for this the sake of the elect that's when Jesus Christ will return to this earth yes Jesus Christ died for our sins but something remains to be dealt with the victory of Christ removed sin but the originator of sin he's still active he's still active today he's still here in this world and he needs to be dealt with the realization of six thousand years of human pain and suffering caused by this originator of human sin is sober it's humbling the empty feelings in our stomachs today remind us of how limited and temporary we are without the continuing presence of our creator inside us when Christ was tempted by Satan he was physically famished but he was spiritually filled is that the way we feel today are we physically famished tired maybe by now stomach growling headache grumpy but in spite of all that are we excited spiritually are we filled spiritually with the excitement of knowing what this holy day represents and it's hope for all humanity that's very important brethren our hunger should remind us of how empty and meaningless this physical life is without the knowledge of God because without God's knowledge we'd be out there with everyone else just working today hopeless no goals just trying to survive trying to pay our bills without any understanding of the purpose of human life or God's calling God's family or all those things that we know and love we'd be out there just like everyone else I'd like to talk about a couple of reasons why we continue to fast today as we conclude this sermon on the day of atonement we observe this as the new covenant day of atonement we respect it it's written as far back as acts chapter 27 verse 9 where Luke records that they couldn't sail they were going to a particular destination because the fast had already occurred and every scholar acknowledges that's referring to the day of atonement most likely in 59 AD so Luke a Gentile himself is acknowledging the day of atonement 28 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ he this is Luke and Paul his traveling companion are still observing the day of atonement two things that I'd like to highlight as we conclude the sermon today and one final scripture a couple of reasons why fasting is so important to us and why in the new covenant we continue to fast just like was originally instructed in Leviticus 23 affliction which frankly we as Americans aren't that used to affliction serves to remind us that we are just mere mortal flesh it reminds us of how much our thoughts are taken up with self I want water now I want a good meal right I want a cup of coffee and I really do want a cup of coffee it reminds us of how much our thoughts are taken up with self the hunger reminds us that we are dependent on food and water constantly to sustain our temporary physical lives and if we go without it for a short period of time we tend to mourn we tend to be physically weakened well in a spiritual way we're dependent upon the bread of life and the water of the spirit to sustain our spiritual existence let's never forget that let's make sure that every day just like we want water and food for our physical sustenance that every day we are tapping into the bread of life and the water of the spirit to sustain our at-one-ment with God spiritually because without Christ in us we truly are spiritually bankrupt no doubt about it the second thing I'd like to mention to me has always been very important regarding why we fast on the day of at-one-ment fasting reminds us that we live in a world of spiritual slavery and it continues on this very moment as we speak humankind needs freedom from Satan and from the sting of death the only way for that to happen is for the devil to be restrained and sealed and prevented from first destroying mankind in this age and then prevented from influencing mankind after the return of Jesus Christ one final scripture I thought would be interesting for us to examine today in John 11 and verse 1 we don't often think of Jesus Christ as mourning but Jesus Christ had great compassion he had tremendous mercy he could be touched he heard things that people said and it brought him the tears he mourned for the state of the world for the suffering the emptiness the loneliness that people had when he walked on the earth John 11 and verse 1 there was a certain man that was sick Lazarus of Bethany the town of Mary and her sister Martha and it was Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped his feet on her hair whose brother Lazarus was sick therefore the sisters sent to him saying Lord behold whom you love is sick when Jesus heard this he said this sickness is not unto death he is not going to die you get it these are my words from the Messiah I am telling you Mary Martha don't worry he is not going to die but for the glory of God that the Son of God may be glorified through this sickness okay they believed him Jesus heard the news and he was delayed in his journey by the time he arrived because he was so outgoing and people wanted to be healed and people wanted to hear the good news of the kingdom of God by the time he arrives Lazarus has been dead for four days and I mean he's dead it stinks this isn't some guy pretending to be asleep for four days there are already odors coming out of the cave where this man has been put into verse 32 will drop down there for the sake of time then Mary came where Jesus was so she left by this time he had died and she left the scene she goes out to meet Jesus coming to Bethany and she saw him and she fell down on his feet saying to him if you had been there if only you could have made a difference it could have been different if if you would have been here on time but you weren't here on time and he died remember what Jesus had told her originally what he had said to her this sickness is not unto death she's already in her mind she's convinced herself her brother is dead and he's never going to be resurrected and he's not coming to life again he's dead as a doornail and he's gone forever if you had been here my brother would not have died therefore Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who came with her weeping and he groaned in his spirit and he was troubled he was touched everyone crying about him how much they loved Lazarus and they're moaning and they're they're deep grief and he's thinking all if only they had the faith they lack faith these people don't have any hope they don't have anything to hang on to so he was groaned in spirit it was troubled and he said where have you laid him and they said Lord come and see and it says very simply Jesus wept he was overwhelmed with compassion on people who lacked faith and hope who lacked an understanding of what their purpose was he mourned for all of them when he witnessed their suffering their sadness their loss of a loved one it touched him and it caused him to weep verse 36 then the Jews said see how he loved him and some of them said could not this man who opened the eyes of the blind also have kept this man from dying Jesus overhears that it's a statement of a lack of faith isn't it remember what Jesus said originally this sickness is not unto death and he overhears someone who just was given up if only he'd been here this man who healed so many if only he could have been here on time too bad so sad Lazarus is dead that Jesus again groaning in himself as soon as he heard these words because these words were just a lack of faith that hurt him it made him sad it made him mourn for the condition of humanity again groaning in himself came to the tomb it was a cave and a stone lay against it and Jesus said take away the stone Martha the sister of him who was dead said him Lord by this time there is a stench for he's been dead four days Jesus said to her I do not did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God then he took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying and Jesus lifted up his eyes and said father I thank you that you've heard me and I know that you always hear me but because of the people who are standing by I said this that they may believe that you sent me what Jesus is saying here in a nutshell is father I normally don't need to have an audible prayer like this in front of a group of people normally my mind can connect with your mind and I can make a prayer and a request to you and it's done it's as good as done but for their sake because they lack faith because they haven't gotten it from the very moment when I told Martha and Mary this sickness is not into death they've already convinced themselves there is no hope that Lazarus is dead he said I said this that they may believe that you sent me now when he had said these things he cried with a loud voice Lazarus come forth and you who had died came out bound hand and foot with grave clothes and with his face was wrapped with a cloth and Jesus said at them lose him and let him go then many of the Jews had come to Mary and had seen the things Jesus did believed in him so brethren on this day of atonement in 2016 this world is entombed in a cave in sin and death and to most people particularly since belief in God has waned there is no hope people look at the political elections hopeless people look at their lives in their future hopeless discouragement despair depression and a worldwide scale because people don't have hope only the presence of Jesus Christ can offer this world the freedom and the life that it needs can take it out of its entombment and give it life only the Son of God can resurrect the hopes and the dreams of a lost humanity the hope God offers in the meaning of this very holy day known as the day of atonement yes brethren Jesus the Savior reigns but unfortunately the great deceiver in this earth is also reigning during this age and this day looks forward to a time when he will be dealt with the day will come on the day of atonement that we look forward to and that we symbolize in the celebration of this day when the cause and effect of human sin will be removed from this world I wish all of you a deeply fulfilling day of atonement and we won't have a chance to see you the Sabbath beat J and I both wish all of you Godspeed and protection and have a truly fulfilling and rewarding feast at Tabernacles