The Day of Atonement Pictures the Removal of the Primary Cause of Sin -- Satan!

Brethren, today is the Day of Atonement. This is not the celebration of Joshua's long day. It is one of God's holy days that we see in Leviticus 23. The Day of Atonement symbolizes the reconciliation God has with all humanity. It symbolizes a time of at-one-ment, as we'd like to say. But I want to ask a question. If we are reconciled to God through Christ's sacrifice, why do we need another holy day to teach us about reconciliation? If we are already reconciled, why do we need to fast as commanded on the Day of Atonement? What is behind this particular holy day? What is its significance? Well, brethren, a Day of Atonement pictures an essential step in God's Master Plan of Creation. This step must take place before humanity can experience true peace on earth, before we can have real at-one-ment with God the Father and Jesus Christ. Through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, our sins have been forgiven. But there is another party that has to be dealt with. Justice demands that another party be dealt with. And that party is Satan the Devil. And this day represents a time when his sins are placed on his head for what he has done to mankind over 6,000 years. So my theme today, my theme statement is simply this. The Day of Atonement pictures the removal of the primary cause of sin, Satan. The Day of Atonement pictures the removal of the primary cause of sin, Satan the Devil. Now let's get our bearings here and take a look at Leviticus 23. Leviticus 23 says about the Day of Atonement. We'll be reading verses 27 through 32. Let's take a look at what we have there and then unpack that section verse by verse. Leviticus 23 verse 27. Also, the tenth day of the seventh month shall be the Day of Atonement, and shall be a holy convocation for you. You shall afflict your souls and offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. And you shall do no work on that same day, for it is the Day of Atonement to make atonement for you before the Lord your God. For any person who is not afflicted and a soul on that 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 the people. You shall do no manner of work. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations and all your dwellings. It shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall afflict your souls on the ninth day of the month that evening. From evening to evening you shall celebrate your Sabbath. So there we have God's instruction for why we are to keep this holy day, but also how we are to keep this holy day. Let's again get our spiritual bearings and take a look at the salient features that this day presents. Verse 27. Also on the tenth day of the seventh month, so God tells us, delineates very clearly, when this day is that we are to worship on, shall be a day of atonement. It shall be a holy convocation for you. Now let's pause there. Let's unpack that. This day is a holy convocation. Strongs number 47, 44. According to Vines' Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words, the holy convocation means a public worship service, a convocation. The word implies the product of an official summons to worship.

So God has called all of us here as an official summons to worship. If you get a summons from a judge, you take heed of that. You act accordingly. You do what you need to do to take care of that. God is giving each and every one of us a summons. In the English, the American Heritage Dictionary says that a summons is a call by an authority to appear, to come, to do something. So we have come here today. We are appearing today. We are going to do something and have been doing something since sundown. We are worshipping the great God. We are worshipping the great God, specifically as He's asked us to do. Now let's take a look at what else this day represents. In the middle of verse 27, it shall be a holy convocation for you. Then it says, you shall afflict your souls. Here's another salient feature of this day. That's repeated in verse 29 and repeated in verse 32. So three times we are told in this admonition to keep the Day of Atonement that we are to afflict our souls. And we are doing that. And of course, we appreciate the sermonette that we heard earlier today about an attitude that God wants us to have as we are afflicting our souls. What does it mean to afflict your soul? Afflict comes from the Hebrew word ana, a-n-a-h, which means to be afflicted, to be bowed down, to be humbled, to be meek. And that same word is used in a number of different passages with regard to fasting. I'm not going to turn there, but if you want to add this in your notes, Psalm 35 verse 13, Isaiah 58 verse 3, and verse 5, and Ezra chapter 8 and verse 21, those citations that show how fasting is discussed in the Scriptures and afflicting our souls. Brethren, when you and I are fasting, we are expressing our humble desire to draw close to God. As you and I fast, we realize we are physical, chemical beings that apart from food and drink, our lives will be cut short. We must rely upon the great God for our sustenance, for our very being. So fasting helps us to have an attitude of at-one-ment, and that's why we want to do that on this day. We're commanded to do it, but we should want to do it because of the benefit that we have as we do it. Now we see something else going back to verse 27. We are to have a holy convocation, we are to afflict our souls, and at the end of verse 27, an offer and offering made by fire to the Lord. Now, we just heard a sermon at talking about that, so I don't need to go through a great deal of that. But why give an offering? What does that represent? What does this day represent? Again, this day represents an at-one-ment. By fasting, we bring ourselves into an attitude of at-one-ment. By giving an offering, we have the same thought.

We have an attitude of wanting to give, to be like God. God is a great giver. Let's take a look at just one verse here, 2 Corinthians 9. We'll be going back to Leviticus 2 Corinthians 9 and verse 7. 2 Corinthians 9-7. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver. But notice the idea of our heart, a heart that is at one with the great God. Whether we give a penny or a million dollars, God doesn't really make a difference to God. God owns everything. He can raise up rocks to do the work. He can do all sorts of things to bring money into the cost of life. But we have a great deal of that. We have a great deal of that. We have a great deal of that.

Remember, God is looking at our hearts. Where are our hearts? And, you know, I would say, having seen the offering that we gave as a congregation on trumpets, I don't know that I've ever seen an offering like that. Now, we do have a number of people in the room who make a very nice income. I have no idea what those people gave. It's not my business to know what those people gave. But I know that as a congregation, you gave a tremendous And as your pastor, I appreciate the fact that it shows where your hearts are.

It shows that you want to work to be done. You want to see the return of Jesus Christ. You want the millennium to be here as soon as possible. We know difficult times are coming, but we want to see the end of that story. What we've pictured at the Feast of Tabernacles, what we picture in the last great day. We want to see those days coming. And your heart shows that you're very much into that. And that's a very good thing. We go back now to Leviticus 23. We see in verse 27 we are to have a holy convocation. Number one. Number two, we are to afflict our souls.

Number three, we are to make an offering. But now verse 28, we see something else we are to do as a salient feature of this holy day. And you shall do no work on that same day, for it is a day of atonement, to make atonement for you before the Lord your God. That is reiterated in verse 30 and 31. No work is to be done. Rather, God wants us, our Creator wants us, to have a laser-like focus on the meaning of this day. Not to be distracted by work or anything else.

God wants us to convene. He wants us to come together. He wants us to afflict our souls, give an offering. Those things are representing a frame of mind. It's a frame of mind to be here, to be a part of the convocation. And certainly it's a frame of mind to make sure we're not doing any work. And we're focusing entirely on this day. Now, in my notes, I've got a subheading here.

And my subheading says, Lessons Learn From a Goat. I think you know what I'm getting at. Lessons Learn From a Goat. I gave a sermon on the Day of Atonement back in September 2017, going through the two goats of Leviticus 16. I'm not going to do that now. I do want to talk a little bit about the one goat. We know one of the two goats represented Jesus Christ and His sacrifice, our sins being placed on Christ, but there was another goat. Let's go to Leviticus 16. Leviticus 16, verse 10. But the goat in which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, or the azazale, shall be presented alive before the Lord to make an atonement upon it, and to let it go as a scapegoat into the wilderness.

So a very different result for this particular goat. Very different. The priest chose by lot this particular goat, the azazale. Many scholars identify the azazale as the name of a demon inhabiting the wilderness. That says so there in the Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible. The azazale goat represents Satan, who bears the responsibility for what he has done in relation to our sins. The instigator, the cause, the primary cause for justice to be done, this has to be dealt with.

There are those who believe that both goats represent the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We have never taught that in the history of God's church. Now some people believe that, who may attend God's church, that is not what we teach. One does represent Jesus Christ, but the other does represent Satan the Devil. Let's take a look, dropping down to verse 20. Leviticus 16, verse 20. Talking about the high priest here. When he has made an end of atoning for the holy place, the tabernacle of meeting and the altar, he shall bring the live goat.

He shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, confessing over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions concerning all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and shall send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a suitable man. Now none of that represents the work of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ died for our sins. He wasn't led away into a wilderness. But that is what's taking place with this particular goat, which represents Satan the Devil. Verse 22. The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to an uninhabited land, and he shall release the goat in the wilderness.

So the high priest here is representing the risen Jesus Christ. He seizes this Azazel goat, places the portion of the sins that he had part of on that goat, and the goat is taken away into the wilderness. So the symbolism of this live goat here represents what's going to take place to Satan the Devil. Let's take a look at Revelation 20. Revelation 20. Revelation 20.

So Satan here is bound. We can, in one sense, this day is a solemn day. We are fasting on this day. But in another sense, as we heard in the sermon, this is a tremendous day of rejoicing. Satan is bound. The demons are bound. The cause of sin is dealt with in terms of the instigator of sin. Again, our sins are dealt with by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. But again, justice demands that Satan be dealt with. And God very much deals with Satan on this day. And the demons, to make sure that they are not able to hurt us as well. Now, I want to give a little bit of a speculation here. Label this speculation. This speculation is something that Mr. Waterhouse many times would refer to. So I just label it for all that it's worth there. Let's go to Ezekiel 13. I think I've shared this with you in the past, but I want to be very clear. We're speculating here. Ezekiel 13, starting here in verse 1. And the word of the Lord came to me saying, Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel, who prophesy and say to those who prophesy out of their own heart, false ministers who are not proclaiming the truth of God because God has sent them, God has not sent them, who prophesy out of their own heart, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God, woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit, not the Spirit of God, and have seen nothing. O Israel, your prophets are like foxes in the deserts. You have not gone up into the gaps to build a wall for the house of Israel to stand in battle on the day of the Lord. Verse 5 is basically talking about as a true prophet, as a true man of God, you are to be there to give meat and dew season. You are there to warn the people. You are to tell the people that they are now following the great God. You are to help them to try to understand that they need character from the great God. But you've not done any of that. You preach smooth things. You preach things that weren't the case. You preach false things. Verse 6, they have envisioned futility and false divination, saying, Thus says the Lord, but the Lord has not sent them, yet that they hope that the word may be confirmed. These false prophets are hoping that, like a broken clock could be right twice a day, they're hoping that maybe some of their prophecies will come to pass by luck. But God didn't send them. God didn't put the words in their hearts and minds. Verse 7, Have you not seen a futile vision? Have you not spoken false divinations? You say, The Lord says, But I have not spoken. And these next two verses were the ones that Mr. Waterhouse would lean on.

Therefore says the Lord God, Because you have spoken nonsense and envisioned lies, therefore I am indeed against you, says the Lord God. My hand will be against the prophets who envision futility and who divine lies. They shall not be in the assembly of my people, nor be written in the record of the house of Israel, nor so they enter into the land of Israel, then you shall know that I am the Lord God.

Mr. Waterhouse would look at those last two verses, verses 8 and 9, and say, Not only is Satan bound, not only are the demons bound, but God is going to allow these people, these ministers, to sleep in the dust, to sleep in the dirt, and to wait the second resurrection. They will not live into the millennium. Now that was his thought. I guess people can say, Well, can't they repent? Well, of course they can, and then they will when their time comes. So I just bring that out as a little bit of a speculation, thinking about what is being bound. Satan is being bound. The demons are being bound. And certainly, why would God want to have these people here when they can wait for the second resurrection?

A number of years ago, I gave a sermon to the congregation here about the work of the devil, the work of the demons. We talked about their tactics.

And part of that sermon, I went through some of the names of Satan the devil. And as I was thinking about this message today, about Satan being bound, it just occurred to me when you look at Satan's names and understand what God is going to do, then you see a remedy for those names. As an example, let's look at just a couple of Satan's names here. One is Satan. We see in Job chapter 1 and verse 6, we won't turn there, but in Job chapter 1 and verse 6, he is called Satan.

From the brown driver in Briggs Hebrew and English lexicon, the word Satan means a super-human adversary.

One of the ways that we rejoice on this day of atonement is the fact that our super-human adversary is going to be bound. The demons will be bound, and we'll have a whole different society.

As we enter the kingdom of God, enter the millennium. Let's go over to Isaiah chapter 32.

Here's a verse from a time that God first called me as a teenager. I've remembered this verse, and for whatever the reason, this verse has always stuck out in my heart and mind, as a very beautiful verse to think about and meditate on.

Isaiah chapter 32 verse 1, Behold, a king will reign in righteousness, and princes will rule with justice.

Here we're looking at the reign of Jesus Christ.

When Jesus Christ is reigning after his return that we see on trumpets, and we come into the time of the Day of Atonement, we see that the adversary, that super-human adversary, is going to be dealt with. Notice the kind of society we then have.

We know the kind of society we have now.

You don't want to walk in certain areas of certain large cities or a lot of other places for fear somebody's going to prey upon you. Somebody's going to hurt you. Some parts of the world, it's all people can do to stay alive because of civil war and strife. And yet, in the world tomorrow, when the super-human adversary is bound and shut up, notice what we see in verse 2. A man will be like the hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest, as rivers of water in a dry place, as a shadow of a great rock in a weary land.

Think about what that's saying. A man. Now, verse 1 is talking about the rule of Jesus Christ. I believe verse 2 is talking about the subjects under that rule. A man, a person who is converted in the millennium, a person who is striving to live God's way, because Satan is not in the picture anymore, shall be as a hiding place from the wind.

You know, when there's a strong wind outside, you want to make sure that you can take refuge someplace. You don't want to be out in the open, lest some flying debris hits you. And so, you know, in the world tomorrow, apart from Satan, when Satan is our superhuman adversary, is put away, human beings will act as an opp... they'll have the opportunity to really help one another, to protect one another, to serve one another. It says he is a covert from the tempest, a place of shelter and security. So human beings will be something you would look for. Where is somebody who can help me? Not, well, I'm alone by myself, and somebody's going to prey upon me. No, we're alone by ourselves, and it's the millennium. And we're looking for another human being, because we know that the human beings will be there to help us.

Wind and tempest are emblematic of calamity and oppression. But the sense here is this person is not going to be a calamity to you, but a help to you. As rivers of water, Isaiah often uses this figure of rivers of water, talking about blessings, talking about being grateful and refreshed for the thing being spoken of, being refreshed that there are people who will give you a helping hand. You know, brethren, we still see that today. Not everything is evil, not everything is black, not everything is dark. There are so many times when I can watch the news, or you can watch the news, and you see some calamity, and you do see people coming to other people's aids, and you really feel good about that. You feel good about somebody who would risk a body to help somebody else, not thinking about themselves, but thinking about others. We still have that. I'm thankful we still do, but in the world tomorrow, we'll have much more of that.

And then the end of verse 2 here, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land, the shadow of a great rock, you know, in a burning desert, you want some shade. Is there a connection here between what is said here as a great rock and that rock that followed them was Jesus Christ? Perhaps so. I didn't take time to delve into that. But because of what it says in verse 1, a king will reign in righteousness, and people learn and accept that rule and that righteousness, then we see the kind of people that are going to be in the world tomorrow who aren't affected by Satan because Satan is bound. That's truly something for us to give a great deal of thanks for.

In John chapter 8, we have another name for Satan. This is the second one, the only last one I'm going to get into. Satan is called the devil, which means the slanderer. There's Greek lexicon, defining the word of devil. It says, slanderer resulting in a murderous spirit, prone to slander, falsely accusing. Slander resulting in a murderous spirit. How have you been hurt in times gone by, by somebody saying things about you that weren't true, that weren't so, that have slandered you, that have belittled you publicly, who have said all manner of things to hurt your reputation among maybe your peers at work or in the neighborhood? And yet because Satan is bound, this sort of thing, the devil will not be doing this anymore. Let's turn to Zephaniah chapter 3.

Zephaniah chapter 3, scripture that you and I have come to really love. Zephaniah chapter 3 verse 9. For then I will restore to the peoples a pure language, that they may all call on the name of the Lord, to serve Him with one accord. It's a whole different way of communicating. Not slanderous, not slanderous resulting in a murderous spirit or attitude, but a pure language that we can call upon the name of God, and get instruction from Him. Verse 12, Zephaniah 3, 12. I will leave in your midst a meek and humble people, and they shall trust in the name of the Lord. The remnant of Israel shall do no unrighteousness and speak no lies. Nor shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth, for they shall feed their flocks and lie down, and no one shall make them afraid. So again, what we're seeing here in verses 12 and 13 is because the devil, the slanderer, has been put away, has been bound.

Satan has, in that sermon I went through a number of weaponry that Satan uses.

I'd just like to talk about a few of these. False doctrine. False doctrine that has deceived a world.

Thankfully, you have not been deceived. But we've got to be very careful. We can't sit back and just be an autopilot, because the Bible does talk about when the end time comes, that man of sin.

Who people will think is Jesus Christ on planet earth. He will do things so that maybe even the elect can be deceived. So we've got to be on our game. But let's take a look at Isaiah 11.

Isaiah 11. Because Satan is bound, the demons are bound, false doctrine will not be going forward in the world. Isaiah 11.9. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, for there shall be full the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

No more a hindrance from Satan the devil. No more false teachings. No more false prophets, perhaps. Well, not perhaps. Even if God allows them to live into the millennium, they're not going to be allowed to spew out false doctrine. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord. Don't you just wish that time were now? Where everything that people have said is true. You know, prior to services today, I was having a conversation with some here. We're talking about vaccinations. We're talking about masks. You know, we want to do what's right. We want to do what's healthy. We want to follow the laws. But one of the things we've seen, all of us have seen, is there's so much confusion by men of science saying various things about masks, some for, some against, various things about vaccinations. Wouldn't it be nice if there was just the truth being spoken of, and you could understand it and know exactly what's what, as opposed to so many different voices out there saying so many different things and contradictory things? Well, that's because there's a demon, there's a devil out there that is doing those things. False philosophies. Let's take a look at Colossians, Chapter 2.

Because Satan is bound, there will not be these false philosophies in the world tomorrow.

Verse 8, Colossians 2.8, That's what we have now. This is why the Apostle Paul had to make sure he was teaching the truth, and people understood that what he was giving them was truth.

Verse 6 and 7, When I first started giving sermonettes back in the mid-70s, one of the things that was drilled into my mind was, was, Delisandro, just don't get up there and say any old thing. You teach as you have been taught. What does the Bible say? Not, what do you think? What does the Bible say? And we've been teaching this for generations.

To walk as Jesus Christ walked, as we see in verse 6, and to teach as we have been taught. Proper doctrine. Again, we know that in the last times, proper doctrine will not be heated by everybody. Let's go to the book of Galatians.

Galatians chapter 1.

This is something Paul had to deal with as well.

Galatians chapter 1 verse 6, I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him, who called you into the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another, but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ.

That's Satan's doing, but he's going to be bound. So we don't have to worry about this in the world tomorrow. But even if we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. So the Apostle Paul here preaches a double curse for those who have preached falsehood, like we saw there in Ezekiel chapter 13.

Isaiah chapter 30. Talking about false ministers.

Isaiah chapter 30.

We're not going to worry about that because of the Day of Atonement. God's not going to allow that to happen.

Again, a scripture that we have come to appreciate for years and years and years and generations. Isaiah chapter 30 verse 20. And though the Lord gives you the brevity and the water of affliction, yet your teachers will not be moved into a corner anymore, but your eyes shall see your teachers.

So have a relationship with you.

Your ears shall hear a word behind you saying, this is the way walk in it whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever you turn to the left.

Now, this is talking about us as the resurrected saints, teaching in the world tomorrow. We're not going to force people to do what's right, but we will be guiding people, teaching people, educating people as to what is right.

So, brethren, today, we're going to include earlier today, today we've taken a look at the Day of Atonement, picturing the removal of the primary cause of sin, Satan.

We've seen the salient features of this holy day.

It's a holy convocation in which we afflict our souls, we take up an offering, and we do no work.

We've taken a look at the fact that there was a goat typified in Leviticus 16 and represented Satan the devil, who was taken off into the wilderness, and justice was done.

We've taken a look at a couple of the names of Satan and the devil, the superhuman adversary and the slander, and how those things will no longer be because of what this day represents.

We've taken a look at some of Satan's spiritual weaponry, false doctrine, false philosophies, false ministers.

This will not be in the world tomorrow because Satan is being bound.

So, brethren, Mary and I wish each and every one of you a very fine Feast of Tabernacles and last great day. We'll be leaving for the feast in Pewaukee Monday afternoon, and we just pray that all of you would have safe travels and that you would remain well.