Chosen for the Lord To Atone for Us

Can we even imagine? Can we put our mind into a place to imagine what it's like to have Satan banished? I struggle to. I have hope and I can have dreams, right? But I struggle to put myself there because I've grown up living under the influence of his reign on this earth, of his evil, of his selfishness, of all these aspects that he has brought into humanity's lives and that someday will be removed. Some don't like us talking about Satan a lot on this day because they're saying we're giving Satan a holy day. We're talking too much about him. But the reality is he has been the king of this world. He's been the prince of the power of the air. He's been the evil influencer, and God has allowed that so that mankind can make a choice. Do we want to be with God and follow under his authority, or do we want to go our own ways and pretty much be in tune with Satan?

God wants us to go higher. He planned mankind in the Garden of Eden to be the pinnacle of his creation, made only after his own image. He has not held anything back from us in what he desired in his heart for us to be able to achieve and realize he did not even withhold his own son.

And so as we go through this day, this isn't a day to recognize Satan. It's a day to recognize evil and what God is going to do to replace that evil and to remove it from the world.

Let's open our Bibles to Leviticus 23 and verse 26.

This is, of course, where God's holy days are outlined in Scripture.

And we're going to read about the significance of this day and what God commands that we should be doing on this day of atonement. Leviticus 23 and verse 26.

I'm so thankful God put celebrate in here, right? Because five-year-old Mike Phelps was not celebrating this day. But God wants us to celebrate this day because of the significance of what this day holds.

It was on this specific holy day of the year, as we see in Leviticus 23 as well, where the high priests of the nation of Israel had specific responsibilities to perform that were unique to this day. These responsibilities were His and His alone to perform, not of the other priests.

And all of this points us also to our new high priests, our supreme high priest, Jesus Christ.

So on this day of atonement, we will review the role that the high priests served on this day and how it relates to the new covenant meaning for atonement. As we start out, let's begin in Hebrews chapter 9. The book of Hebrews is an ultimate gift for all of us because in it the writer explains thoroughly this change of priesthood to become, instead of a physical high priest, to a spiritual high priest in Jesus Christ. And with this understanding, it weaves in and ties in together all of the Old Testament instructions with the new covenant and with our salvation being in Jesus Christ alone. Notice Hebrews 9 and verse 1. It says, then indeed, even the first covenant had ordinances of divine service and the earthly sanctuary. For a tabernacle was prepared, the first part in which the lamp stand, the table, and the showbread, which is called the sanctuary. So He's referring to the Old Testament, the tabernacle in the wilderness, the tent that would be set up.

God gave specific instructions on how it should be set up, what colors, what fabrics should be used, what implements should be placed, like it talked about here, the showbread, the table, the lamp stand, where it should be placed. And then there is an inner sanctuary, an inner more holy place that we'll get into next, that was also part of this temple. Verse 3, and behind the second veil, and so that's what we're getting to, this is the second area, the part of the tabernacle, tabernacle, which is called the holiest of all, which had the golden censer and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, and in which were the golden pot that had the manna, errands rod that butted in the tablets of the covenant, and above it were the caratbin of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail. Now, when these things have been thus prepared, the priest always went into the first part of the tabernacle, performing the service. So he's referring to the priest who'd always go into the first part of the tabernacle, the part that was not the holy of holies, and do their customary service. This is where the, as it says here, you'll notice it says, let me find it, the priests' plural. It says in verse 6, now when these things had thus been prepared, the priests' plural. This is where the multitude of the priesthood would go in and do their work. But we're going to read very shortly about what the high priest, him alone, was to do on this specific day of the year. Let's turn to Leviticus 16 and 1, in verse 1. Leviticus 16 and verse 1 lays out the exact responsibilities and instructions that the high priest was given on this day of atonement to perform. These instructions were to be performed once a year, and they were very specific in how the high priest would carry out his duties on this day. And the symbolism is not lost as we are under the new covenant and as we have a new high priest.

I was telling Laura on the drive here how excited I am to share this message, because these types of messages, the symbolism that we're going to look at today, just is woven throughout the entirety of Scripture, and it brings to life God's Word.

This isn't just a collection of old texts, historical stories. This is the story of salvation.

And when we see it woven from beginning to the end, and we see the symbolism of the high priest that was performed here in Leviticus and understand that we have a spiritual high priest and Jesus Christ who is interceding daily for us. You can't help. Maybe I'm just giddy. I can't help but get excited. Maybe I'm on blood sugar, and I'm having some kind of weird things going.

This is exciting because we realize how great our God is. This isn't just mankind's ideas that got captured in a book of stories. This is God Almighty sharing His plan of salvation with us and showing the magnitude of not only of the giving of His Son, but the role that His Son plays on your and my behalf. And we see it because we understand what the Old Testament, what the high priest did in the Old Testament, and the symbolism here, and how it conveys now to Jesus Christ.

Notice Leviticus 16 in verse 1. Now, the Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron when they offered profane fire before the Lord and died. So Aaron had two sons. They did not follow according to God's command. They did not treat this area and the temple tent as holy and sacred. And they were just haphazardly going along doing what they wanted to do. And God says, you can't be in my presence acting this way. And they died. And so it was after this, after they died, when Moses gave this instructions through God. And it says, and the Lord said to Moses in verse 2, Tell Aaron your brother not to come at just any time into the holy place inside the veil. This would be the Holy of Holies. Before the mercy seat, which is on the ark, lest he die, for I will appear in the cloud above the mercy seat. So God's presence was in the Holy of Holies. His presence filled that area as that cloud would arise out, and they would follow the cloud. They would see that cloud. That cloud originated from within this area of the temple. And so this is where God's presence was in a physical way on this earth with His people. And this aligns with what we see in Hebrews 9. I'm going to put my marker here, because we're going to come back to Leviticus chapter 16. If you have a marker in your Bible, you can do the same. If you have another second marker, you got the fancy Bible. You can put it in Hebrews, because we're going to be flipping back and forth a lot between Leviticus and Hebrews.

But this is in Hebrews 9 and verse 7.

So the writer of Hebrews not only expounds and helps us understand the role that our high priest serves, he actually references what we're reading here in Leviticus chapter 16. And so he begins laying out and comparing the two so that we can grow in greater understanding about the significance of this day. Notice Hebrews 9 and verse 7. Speaking of this priesthood, he says, "...but into the second part the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the people since committed in ignorance." And so this is that once a year time when the high priest could enter into the Holy of Holies on this day of atonement, and it was his duty alone. Notice, let's go back to Leviticus 16. I just want to continue to build this this comparison. Leviticus 16 and verse 3. So if you put your ribbon there, we'll just flip right back to it. Leviticus 16 and verse 3. And so here God says, you don't just come in at any time. This is a very special holy place, and there's a significance in why it's holy.

Notice 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 burn offering. Verse 4. He shall put on the holy linen tunic and the linen trousers on his body. He shall be girded with the linen sash and with the linen turban he shall be attired. Notice God says these are holy garments. Therefore he shall wash his body in water and put them on.

So God is laying out specific instructions that this high priest would have to perform and to do himself before even going into the holy of holies. These articles of clothing were different from the clothes worn at different times of the year for the priests.

You can put in your notes Exodus 28 verse 4, but it outlines the normal ornaments usually worn. Those ornaments were described as the richly garments, including the ephod that had all the different colors woven into it with blue, purple, scarlet, gold threads, and then they would wear that breastplate with the precious stones in it. So that was one type of garment that the high priest would wear.

But on this day of atonement, the high priest would wear these holy garments specifically set aside to be worn, and it's also referenced as the white garments. From Jamison Fawcett and Brown commentary, it shares this about these clothing items. He was not to attire himself on the occasion in the splendid robes that were proper to his sacred office, but in a plain dress of linen, like the common Levites, for as he was to make atonement for his own sins as well as those for the people he was to appear in humble character.

There's great symbolism in this as well. Even though God set this person apart as high priest and he served specific roles for his people, this person wasn't without sin. This high priest had issues. He had challenges. He had to atone for his own sins before he could even atone for the sins of Israel. And it reminds us that even though he was a high priest, he was like everybody else there in the community.

He was like any other Israelite in that he had fallen short before his God. And so it's a great reminder as we all are together that none of us are above one another, especially on this day. It's amazing what food and drink can do to a human's body and bring us all down to the same level in a relatively short amount of time. We are imperfect people. We may serve in different roles, in different capacities, in our lives, and in the church, but at the end of the day, we're still human.

We still have our flaws. We still need our God and we still need our Savior. So we know that white specifically also signifies purity in being without sin, and in dressing this way, the high priest became a type of Christ foreshadowing the greater high priest to come. Matthew Henry's commentary adds an interesting viewpoint. It says, Christ made atonement for sin in our nature, not in the robes of his glory, but in the same fleshly garments we wear, these human bodies that Christ inhabited when he was God in the flesh.

Just as the high priest was to set aside his splendid robes for this occasion, Christ did the same in giving up his glory and possession in the Godhead to live, as you and I do fully, as man in every physical sense of the Word. And in doing so, he atoned for the sin of mankind, therefore becoming the eternal high priest.

This is just still, this is one of those aspects of sharing this message. It just is mind-blowing when you understand the way that that God's own Son came down to this earth to live as you and I did, to humbled, he humbled himself in doing so, yet for our sake, for you and for me, and what and the tie-in to what this day pictures can't be missed. Let's continue in verse five here, Leviticus 16, verse five, 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.

Aaron shall offer the bull as a sin offering, which is for himself, and make atonement for himself and for his house. So again, he had to make atonement for his own sins and for the sins of the other priests that served in the priesthood. This was part of the requirement that this must be that first sacrifice offered before he could even enter in to the most holy of holies.

Now, verse seven, then 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 for the scapegoat. 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 a scapegoat into the wilderness.

So two goats were presented before God and lots would be cast to determine which goat would be the sin offering and which would be the scapegoat.

Now, the word scapegoat, as you probably have studied into and looked at, is probably not the best English word to use to describe it. Often we call it with someone's scapegoat, they're taking the fall for something that they didn't do, that they're not really responsible for. They're kind of falling on their own sword is what we would refer to them as doing. One who would be unfairly held responsible for someone else's actions. But this is not the meaning of the Hebrew word, which we'll explore more in just a bit. The Hebrew origin of scapegoat is azazel, which means goat of departure because it's going to be sent out and released. Azazel means to go away, to disappear, to be gone, and we'll see in a bit the specific role that this azazel goat will serve. Something else we should note here is the phrase to make atonement upon. The word atonement means to cover, to placate, or to cancel, to cleanse, or to forgive, or to be merciful, to pardon, to purge away, or to reconcile. So the sins of Israel would be covered or purged here by going through this process that the high priest is doing. There's another tie into what Aaron is instructed to do and what God the Father himself did in the future fulfillment of the role of the high priest. It was on this Jewish today, based on Jewish custom, that the high priest in serving in this way, when the two goats would be brought to him, is there would also be two lots that would have been prepared. One would have said the Lord or would have symbolized Jesus Christ or that sin offering. The other would have symbolized Satan the devil or this azazel goat. There would have been two, maybe dice or two, ways that an item would have been designated one way or another.

These two items, these two lots, would have been placed into either a bag or into a vase, and the high priest would reach both of their hands into this vase blindly, like not knowing which lot they're going to pull out. He put one lot in each of their hands and then removed their hands, still not knowing which lot has been decided. Then they would walk over to the two goats, place their hands over each of the two goats, turn their hands up, and reveal which goat is being selected to be the sin offering and which goat will be the goat of departure or the azazel goat. The significance and the illustration of this point is just mind-blowing to me again, because this is the same process in choosing the goats that God the Father did in choosing His own Son to be the death, to be the sacrifice for the world. God Himself chose His Son to fulfill this role so that you and I have a Savior, and in a similar fashion, the high priests left it up to God to choose which of these two goats would be the sin offering and which would be the goat of departure. You can put into your notes 1 Peter 2 verse 4, where it references how Christ was chosen by God. 1 Peter 2 verse 4 says, coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious. So God Himself chose His Son to be our sacrifice.

Another reference is Isaiah 28 verse 16. It says, therefore, thus says the Lord God, behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation, whoever believes will not act hastily. So God chose, God placed, God did these things, and the significance of the high priests letting God choose which goat would be the sin offering goat and which one would be the azazel goat can't be missed. Again, this day points to a much greater aspect that God is doing for all of humanity. Continue in verse 11, and Aaron shall bring the bull the sin offering which is for himself and make atonement for himself and for his house, and he shall kill the bull as a sin offering which is for himself. And so again, the high priest must be reconciled with God before he could make reconciliation for the sins of the people.

But as we know, we now have a new high priest that exists eternally as our Savior, Jesus Christ, who needs not to be reconciled to God because he lived his life perfect and is that perfect sacrifice. Turn back to Hebrews 7 this time in verse 11.

This is another one of those changes that occurs with the new covenant. This is something that was different. Jesus Christ never has to atone daily or annually for his own sins before he can reconcile us with God. That was a role that the high priest, the physical man, had to perform, but Jesus Christ is not physical. He is spiritual, and he lived this perfect life, and that perfect sacrifice covers our sins. Notice Hebrews 7 verse 11, therefore, if perfection were through the Levitical priesthood, for under it the people received the law, what further need was there that another priest should rise according to the order of Melchizedek and not be called according to the order of Aaron. For the priesthood being changed of necessity, there is a change of the law.

And so this change of the law is who could officiate as the high priest. Verse 13, verse 25, in Hebrews 7, This is just amazing. Appreciate again the the sermonette and recognizing this point.

Verse 26, This is the way that our high priest, our Lord and our Savior, serves a much greater fashion than in those strictly ordinances outlined in Leviticus, and this is one of those changes that we see under the new covenant. Let's go back to chapter 16, Leviticus chapter 16, and continue in verse 12.

It says, As mediator of the new of the nation of Israel, the high priest needed to enter the most holy place.

I imagine I put myself into the shoes of a high priest because they were human like anyone else.

If that was my task, and this was the day of atonement coming up, I would be really serious about every aspect of what I'm going to do here because God has said multiple times, if you don't do it the way that it's prescribed here, you will die. And so the whole priest may have, I don't know, maybe he didn't feel timid, maybe I'm imputing something that he didn't feel, but I can't imagine the high priest didn't have some ideas in the back of his head about the importance of this day and that he better do what he was told or else it's not going to turn out well.

This was the last step that separated him from life and death before he entered in to the holy of holies. Jewish tradition, and this is from Matthew Henry's commentary, states that he would have taken the coals in one hand or in a device in one hand and he would have had the incense in the other. He would have approached the mercy seat, turned to the side so as not to look directly upon the throne of God and the presence of God. He would have placed the coals on the ground before the Ark of the Covenant and the mercy seat and he would have scattered the incense across these coals so that the cloud, this incense smoke, would have filled the entire room very quickly and would have filled it completely and then most likely would have walked out backwards in reverence of the presence that he was in and the work that he had just done and may have offered a short prayer and then he would have left. Again, this is from Jewish tradition, but could you...

they're probably not far off from the significance of what this high priest would have done and at least the approach he would have taken towards the Holy of Holies, this area that would have had God's presence. But our high priest came from the presence of God and returned to the heavens and now sits at the right hand of God. This is so important to also understand as we come into this day that God came, our Savior came, from the heavens. He came from the presence of God.

He knew God. He knew the plan. He had created the earth. He'd created us. The joy and the love that Jesus Christ has for humanity from the very beginning cannot be measured. And yet, here He is now becoming our high priest and now sits at the right hand of God. Continuing on in verse 14, speaking of the earthly high priest, He shall take some of the blood of the bull and the sprinkle it with His fingers 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. Then He shall kill the goat of the sin offering, which is for the people, bring its blood inside the veil, so this is again in the Holy of Holies, and do with that blood as He did with the blood of the bull and sprinkle it on the mercy seat before 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 the meeting, because of their transgressions for all their sins, and so He shall do for the tabernacle of meeting, which remains among them in the midst of their uncleanness. There shall be no man in the tabernacle of meeting when He goes in to make 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, as our high priest, did this eternal work alone. When we think back to who bore the sins of the world, it was our Savior. And who was He surrounded by when He died on and being crucified and when He died on the cross, He was left alone. His disciples who had walked with them for the most part, those who were closest to Him, had scattered out of fear. They had turned away because they didn't know what would happen next. A few believers were nearby, but He was surrounded primarily by the evil ones, the ones who were crucifying Him, the ones who were asking for Him to die.

And in a way, this again symbolizes what this high priest would do, being the only one allowed to be in the tabernacle. All the other priests were to be outside. He went in alone to do this work, and we just we can't miss the symbolism that our high priest came and fulfilled.

Verse 18, and He shall go out to the altar that is before the Lord and make atonement for it, and He 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. Then He shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with His fingers seven times, cleanse it, and consecrate it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel.

And so, looking back to verse 15 again, the high priest would take the blood of the goat into the most holy place before the mercy seat, sprinkle the blood as He did before. And at this point, the blood of the bull representing the sin offering for Him and the blood of the goat representing the sin offering for the people would have intermingled. Both the priests and the people were human. Again, each had their own sins that needed to be atoned for equally.

And as this blood was sprinkled on the mercy seat representing God's throne, the high priest acted out the function Christ performs for us today, having ascended to the very throne of God to present the blood of His sacrifice, Christ intercedes for us as our high priest. Notice Hebrews. It goes back to Hebrews 9 and verse 11.

We're doing a lot of flipping back and forth, but I know none of you guys have lunch plans, so...

I can't make too many food jokes on this day because I always felt the pastor who did that and made food jokes was so insensitive. It's just so not pastorally like, right? And so ever since I became a pastor, I'm like, I can't make a lot of food jokes on the day of atonement, so I'm going to try not to. But notice Hebrews 9. We're going to stay in the book of Hebrews for a little bit as we jump around here just for a few minutes. Hebrews 9 and verse 11. But Christ came as high priest of the good things to come, this future time to come, all this that God wants to be able to be fulfilled with his son being our advocate, our intercessor at his right hand. 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. In verse 12. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood, he entered the most holy place, or again, the holy of holies, once for all having obtained eternal redemption. Because of Christ's perfect sacrifice, you and I have access to the throne of God. I try to envision this whenever I pray because we don't want to miss the significance that you and I have an opportunity to approach our heavenly Father and to be in his presence through prayer. And this is what our Savior did, opening this door so there is no separation anymore. There is no veil. There is no nothing that is restricting God from hearing our prayers and from hearing our conversations with him. We can enter into our conversation. We can enter into his promises. We can enter into his mercy and into his love. And there are times where each of us feels unworthy to enter God's presence because of our own sins and weakness. But before God, we must still go. Just as the high priest would go, every high priest that served in this function knew that he was not without sin. He knew that God laid out a way that he could have his sins covered. But he knew in the back of his mind, I'm not perfect. I don't have it all figured out.

I may not even be the nicest person 24-7. But God still tells me that I have to do these things.

I have to enter into his presence. I have to become before my God and to do it with respect and to do it the way that God outlined. But God, our Father, wants you and I to do the same thing. In his mercy, he receives us because our advocate sits at his right hand. Our Savior intercedes before God on our behalf, as the high priest did for Israel. Notice Hebrews 8. Let's go one chapter earlier, Hebrews 8 and verse 1. It says, Now this is the main point of the things we are saying.

We have such a high priest who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens, a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected and not man. So this is the whole point. This is the whole point of the book of Hebrews. A significant point of the book of Hebrews is that we have a high priest who is sitting at the right hand of God, who intercedes for you and me daily, and that the physical has gone away but the spiritual has remained. Notice Romans 8 while we're here in the New Testament. Turn to Romans 8 and verse 26.

Romans 8 and verse 26.

Paul writes here, Likewise, the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now he who searches the hearts and knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because he makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. In verse 34, Who is he who condemns?

It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. There's been so many times we've prayed to God recognizing our mess-ups, recognizing how far we have fallen short of God's glory and His expectations for us.

There's times we can't even get the words out because we're just so tired of ourselves, and all it sounds like is groanings and frustrations and maybe even heavy breathing.

But what's amazing is God knows our heart. He understands what's going on inside of us better than we even know ourselves. We don't have to utter special or sacred words in order for our Father to hear and to understand. And the same as with our Father, our intercessor, He sees, He understands, He knows. He lived this life in a physical way. He knows what it feels like to struggle, to have loss, to be hungry, to go through these things that you and I do. And so, as He intercedes, there is no one better, no one who could be any better to intercede for us than our own Savior, Jesus Christ. So again, we see this connection between a physical high priest and the greater high priest in Jesus. It's at this point in the process that the whole nation would have been atoned before God, and God could have wrapped it up. He could have put a bow on it and brought it to an end here, and it would have been complete. But God wasn't done yet. There still needed to be one held accountable for the sins of the world. Go back to Leviticus 16 and verse 20.

Appreciated Mark Bryant's sermonette. It saved me a little bit from having to dive into too much detail to certain aspects of what we're going to read next. But again, I appreciated today's sermonette because it also magnified who is being held responsible and why he has to be dealt with.

Leviticus 16 and verse 20. And when he had made an end of atoning for the holy place, the tabernacle of meeting, the altar, and the altar, he shall bring the life goat.

Aaron shall weigh both of his hands on the head of the life goat, confess over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions. So notice, I don't think God is missing by using the word all here, all the iniquities, 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 their iniquities to an uninhabited land, and he shall release the goat into the wilderness. The sins of Israel would be placed on this goat and sent away into the wilderness. While the first goat was killed was a sin offering, representing Jesus Christ. The second goat has a sins of Israel placed on it, representing Satan.

Satan desires that we remain at fault and separated from God. He desires that we all miss out on everything that God wants for us to have as His children. He hates us, and He hates this day that represents the reconciliation of humanity with God. We often talk about the crazy things that happen around the holy day times of the year and spring holy days, fall holy days.

That's not to be missed because things come out of left field that are sometimes just strange.

We've lived life long enough. We can recognize it. Put this in as Mike Phelps' commentary. Okay, don't take it any further than that. But I think when we get to the two holy days that signify repentance, it signifies reconciliation, it symbolizes being able to be at one of God. We get Passover, and we get this day that we're celebrating here at home. And Satan hates these days so fiercely that if there's anything he can do to distract us, to create confusion, to get us looking to something else instead of what these days picture, I think this is what goes on at this time of the year. He knows he's not ignorant of God's plan, but he's fooled himself.

He's deceived himself to think that he can somehow still win. And so as he sees us gathering today, he knew the approach you were taking to these days. He knew the things that you had going on in his life, and this is exactly coming from his playbook. And he wants us to miss this day. He wants us to miss out on the significance of it. He wants us to miss out on all of God's holy days. He wants us to miss out on salvation. He wants us to lose our hope. He wants to just hold us down and beat us down if he was able to, and he would do that if God gave him full license to do it. But God allows it so that we can be overcomers. God gives it so that we can then say, no, I'm going to continue the fight. I'm going to continue the struggle. A thunderstorm may be in front of me, but I'm going to keep running my race. I may not know how it's going to get dark on this path, and I don't know where all the twists and turns are going to be in life, but I'm not going to just quit if I find myself off the trail. Maybe I'm even caught up in a thorn bush or something, but I'm going to yell out to my God, bring me back to the path. Show me back to where I need to be. This is part of the test. This is part of what we go through in life so that God knows that we will fight and struggle and call our way forward to the end of our lives. And so as these trials come in, I mean, I'm not saying we should sit back and say, yay, another holy day trial, another difficulty that came out of nowhere, but we should celebrate that we have a God who overcame the world, and then we go forward not quitting. We can't lose our hope. We recognize it for what it is. It's a weird thing that came out of left field like they do some years, but I am not going to keep it from letting me keep these days. And if you're at home or if someone's sick, then you say, for the day, I'm going to be at home. Today, I'm not going to be able to be with everybody else, but I'm not going to quit. I'm going to keep going forward. I'm going to keep working to be able to continue to observe these holy days as fully as I can. Satan is a liar and a deceiver and has been a powerful destructive force on this earth, as we heard again in the sermonette. He's not going to go away until God puts him away. And in John 8, we have a passage where Jesus Christ is in the temple teaching, but the scribes and the Pharisees were only interested in challenging his teachings and his authority. In this passage, Christ gets through the crux of the issue, pointing the finger at the source of this wrong attitude. This is John 8 and verse 40.

John 8 verse 40, Christ says, But now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God. How many times have we almost been crucified for telling the truth? I mean, not literally, of course, right?

But if we tell somebody which day is really the Sabbath, we may not have a friend, or we may make somebody not as happy with us at the end, right? If we stand up for doing the right thing, if we, our boss wants us to lie to a client, and we say, I can't do it, our boss may not be very thrilled with us in that moment, but we know we're okay with God. And so, as Jesus told the truth, they should have received Him. They should have applauded. They should have said, yes, thank you. But they sought to kill Him. Notice the word truth mentioned here. He told them the truth.

We see this as a contrast in verse 44. He says, You are the Father, the devil, and the desires of your Father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in Him. Zero. Not a... It's not found. This is His character. This is His nature. No truth. When He speaks to lie, He speaks of it from His own resources, for He is a liar and the Father of it. Because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. This is the challenge we heard during the offeratory message. We're to preach God's Word. It's to go out. We're to do our part, both collectively as we bring our offerings and our ties together, and the Home Office uses it for a lot of different ways. We use some of it here to preach the gospel. But we do it in our own life. And as we go out, we have the truth. We have the understanding. But many say, I don't know about it. Or that's not how I've been taught all these years. Those who have come out of other religious ideas, you recognize how hard it is to undo that teaching. I've talked to many and they say, I understand the concept at a high level, but I'm having a real struggle removing the false information I've been taught. These false ideas about Jesus Christ, about what He came to do, about His life, about His resurrection, about God's plan. I have a really hard time unpacking and undoing. It's kind of like learning how to do math wrong. Anybody sat in a... I did that.

Thought I understood math right. Go take the exam and it's completely wrong. And then they're like, oh, you did it wrong. And they try to teach you. But your mind wants to go back to what you thought was right. Same thing with proper way to spell word. There's so many words I try to spell. Mike Phelps's way, because it looks right to me. And then somebody says, no, that's wrong spelling. But I'm like, nope, the I is always going to be before the E. Nope, this is how it always has to be. It's hard to retrain our minds. It's hard to undo something that you've solidified a certain way in your thinking process. And it's the same thing with the sins in our lives that become habitual.

It's the same thing with attitudes that can sneak in and then grab hold and we don't want to let it go. It's just these lies. It's just false truth. And so to go to the truth, to follow the truth, can sometimes be challenging. And so as we walk this journey with God, and as He brings us out of darkness to more of the light of truth, we have to be patient with one another and others around us, both at home and out in society. We proclaim the truth. We stand behind God's Word, but we do it in a hopefully in a loving way that others will say, let me think on that for a bit. I can't argue what you've just said, but I'm not there right now.

And so we go on. We share it. We give them time to think about it. And then hopefully in time, they can receive God's Word when the timing is right in God's eyes. From the moment man was created on earth, Satan's influence has been around God's greatest creation. He has done a wonder unlike anyone else could ever have done. The confusion, the lies, the mistrust, the brokenness, we could go down and down and down this list of things that he has done. And when we try to sit and imagine what not having his influence and power affecting our lives would be like, I feel like the closest thing we could probably make an analogy or illustration of is trying to think what would our existence be like if we had no gravity on this planet? If we were not under the forces and sways of gravity, what would our daily lives look like? Would we just float away?

And how would we navigate things that were super, super heavy would suddenly be very light. It's a whole mind shift. We can't even really... I can kind of imagine what living on this earth without gravity would be like, but I can't understand it internally because I've grown up my whole life living under the force of gravity. Humanity has lived their entire lives under the force of our adversary. And this day when this force, this pressure, this evil is removed, it's going to be amazing in so many different ways. The future fulfillment of this day will be when Satan and his influence is removed from the face of the earth. And I appreciate it again, Mr. Sylvester, going to Revelation 20, which lays out the prophetic meaning of this day and when it will unfold.

I'll skip it for the sake of time, but Revelation 20 verses 1 through 3 shows when Satan will be bound by a powerful angel and cast into the bottomless pit, no longer able to deceive or to create confusion in the lives of man for a time. As this goat that the high priest would lay his hands on and place the sins of the nation upon, as this goat was cast into the wilderness and inhabited a place where people do not live, Satan will also be cast away into a place where he can no longer interact with humans. Jesus died for our sins, but Satan will bear the blame for his role in our sins and the way that he continues to spread lies and cause division between God and man.

Let's go back, I think, for the last time to Leviticus chapter 16.

Was that a sigh because I said the last time? I think that's exactly. Ian and I are going to have to have a conversation. The last time, finally! Boy, how quickly they learn at such a young age.

Pastures almost wrapped up and I can get down and I can play. I'm just teasing. I'm teasing. I'm sure that was a sigh because he just enjoys sitting in his mom's lap. But going back to Leviticus 16, there are some final instructions that God gives. And primarily, these are about what the high priest, because the work that he did was dirty work. It was both physically and ceremonial dirty work.

And so there were ceremonial washings for the high priests. And also, the man who took the Azazel goat out into the wilderness had his ceremonial washings that he was instructed to do. But let's look at verse 29, because this ties it back in to you and me today and for why we continue to observe this day of atonement. Leviticus 16 verse 29, this shall be a statute forever for you in the seventh month on 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 among you. For on that day, the priest shall make atonement for you to cleanse you, that you may be cleansed 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. And the priest who is anointed and consecrated to minister as priest in his father's place shall make atonement and put on the linen clothes the holy garments.

Then he shall make atonement for the holy sanctuary, and he shall make atonement for the tabernacle of meeting and for the altar, and he shall make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the assembly. It was all inclusive. Nobody, nothing, was left out. He says, This shall be an everlasting statute for you to make atonement for the children of Israel, for all their sins, once a year. And it says, And he did, as the Lord commanded Moses.

From our UCG booklet, it says this about this day that we're celebrating, The day of atonement represents a coming time of reconciliation, during which, with Satan banished and the world having been devastated by the horrific events leading up to this time, a humbled and repentant humanity will at last be reconciled to God. This is only possible because we have a supreme high priest who not only bore our sins so that we can be truly reconciled to God, but also sits at the right hand of God, interceding for each one of us.

Because of his sacrifice, we can come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. And he references Hebrews 4 and verse 16.

It says, The reconciliation of all humanity with God through Christ's atoning sacrifice is what this day pictures. In his awesome sacrifice, Christ fulfilled the sacrificial system God gave to Israel. Let's go back and close in the book of Hebrews, Hebrews 9 and verse 13.

I'm almost done, Ian. Hang in there with me, bud. Hebrews 9 verse 13.

Hebrews 9 verse 13. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God. And in this boldness of what we was being talked about, turn to Hebrews 10 verse 19. So one chapter forward, chapter 10, Hebrews 10 verse 19. It says, Therefore, brethren, having boldness, that's you and me, we can have boldness with God, to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way he consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, his flesh, and having a high priest over the house of God.

Notice all these let us statements. Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and with our bodies washed with pure water.

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful, and let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but doing what? But exhorting, building up, encouraging one another, and so much more as you see the day approaching. It is always amazing to be able to celebrate God's holy days with all of you, and so thank you for sharing this day with me.

This day again holds so much particular meaning and important aspects that, again, adds part of the color to this beautiful artwork that God is painting as he continues to bring reconciliation to the entire world.