Day of Atonement & Why Character Matters to God

Well, thank you once again. Alan, thank you, Mr. Graham. Beautiful rendition of the 23rd Psalm. I'll have to remember that one. Brother James' air. That was lovely. Very, very beautiful. Also, the flowers are beautiful. You'll notice there's a little flickering light up front, and of course, all the mums in the fall colors are extremely beautiful. Special thanks for everyone who have put all of those together. Well, again, welcome to the day of Atonement. This is a day about atoning for human sin, as Moses was inspired to write in Leviticus chapter 23, beginning in verse 26. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, also on the tenth day of this seventh month shall be the day of Atonement, and it shall be a holy convocation for you. You shall afflict your souls, and offering an 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. End of quote, again, that was Leviticus 23, and God's instructions regarding this day. The Hebrew word translated into English as Atonement is kippur, and kippur means expiation. That's the meaning of that word. Expiation is the act of making amends, or a reparation for guilt, or wrongdoing. And it's from that word the Jews had the name yam day, or the day of Atonement. That's exactly where that comes from. Today we're going to be reminded that to remove sin, we must remove both the cause and the effect of sin. The cause of sin, the painful lingering effects of sin, both have to be removed before there can be restoration and complete healing. So let's begin today's sermon near the end of the book of Revelation. Revelation chapter 20, if you'll turn there with me, and we're going to begin in verse one. We're going to begin with the end in mind, which I think is one of the seven habits that the late Dr. Covey spoke about and wrote about. Begin with the end in mind. Revelation chapter 20, beginning in verse one, if you'll turn there with me. Prophecy about the future. And the final demise of that being that we know of as Satan the devil. Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven having the key to the bottomless pit. That's a spiritual abyss to prison, spiritual prison, and a great change. So this angel is going to bind up Satan. This change is like having handcuffs on, having cuffs on your feet, having a ball and chain around yourself. It stops you from being mobile. A great chain in his hand, he laid hold on the dragon, that serpent of old, going all the way back to Genesis chapter three in verse one, where he's referred to as the serpent, that serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years and cast him into the bottomless pit and shut him up and set a seal on him so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while. And I saw thrones, and they that sat in them, and judgment was committed to them.

Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus, and for the word of God, who had not worshipped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands, and they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

These are the saints. These scriptures are talking about the future that God has planned for each, and every one of you. Verse five, that the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection, speaking of those who are on thrones, speaking of those who are eternal and immortal beings. But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

Though in this prophecy, John sees the devil being bound up, being put in a spiritual prison, he sees the rewarded saints of Jesus Christ sitting on thrones to serve the world with their love and their leadership, what they had prepared for all during their physical lives. Now let's drop down here to verse seven and see what happens when the thousand years are expired.

Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison, and will go out to deceive the nations which are on the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is of the sand of the sea.

This could be hundreds of million tsunamis, this could be a billion people or more. Think of sea sand, how can you count? There's so much sand. How can you count the number of grains of sand on the seashore? Verse 9, they went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, which is Jerusalem, and fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them.

The devil who deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophets are. Some translations like the new Revive Standard version say they were, because they would have been burned up a thousand years ago, when they were tossed in there. But yet their remains, their ashes and so on, could still be there. So you could say where the beast and the false prophet are, that would actually work as well. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

Then I saw a great white throne on him who sat on it and who's faced the earth and the heaven fled away and there was no place found for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and the books were opened and another book was opened, which is the book of life. The book of life is God's heavenly record of those who were saved by his grace, those who have repented, those who have a relationship with God.

And the dead were judged according to their works and by the things that were written in the books and the sea gave up the dead who were in it. The death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them and they were judged in each one according to his works. Then death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. This obviously occurs a thousand years after the millennium has expired in a thousand years or over as it's set there in verse seven.

Verse 15 here, and anyone not found written in the book of life, anyone not saved by God's grace, was cast into the lake of fire. So let's spend just a minute talking about this event here with Grog and Magog. This is a totally different event than the earlier sixth trumpet blast that I spoke about a week or so ago, also known as the second woe that's mentioned in Revelation chapter 9.

At that time in Revelation 9, an army of 200 million huge army crossed the river Euphrates to invade the Middle East. In contrast, this scripture states that Satan is to deceive nations in the four corners of the earth. Some people look to pinpoint nationalities. Oh, Gog and Magog!

It must be Russia. It must be Mongolia. It must be China. It must be Iraq or Iran. But you know, I think it's much wiser, biblically speaking, to define the term Gog and Magog as a spiritual term because the scriptures say that they come from the four corners of the earth. They'll look at this as a spiritual term for anyone who allowed themselves to be deceived by Satan upon his temporary release. If you lived in that kind of world of peace and plenty and prosperity and living by God's law and enjoying the joys and the privileges that go in existing in that kind of a world and were so easily swayed and turned against God or his government or his laws, I believe that is what it means when it says Gog and Magog.

So why would God allow this to happen after a thousand years of peace?

Well, it's because to God character matters. God wants to know if obedience is permanently wired into people's hearts or if it's just superficial. If it's there because it's easy to go with the flow.

It's easy to just be like everyone else and if everyone else is good and righteous then I can be good and righteous. God wants to make sure that those whom he gives eternal life and sonship are faithful and true forever. Not just for a week, not until the temptation start, not for just a thousand years, ten thousand years, a million years, he wants to be sure that the people he gives sonship to are loyal and faithful forever. He will not give the power of sonship to those who are so easily deceived and manipulated by others. They're unfit to serve and to rule. And we could even say that God is kind of touchy about this issue. We're going to see in a few minutes exactly why this is so important to God and why he may be a little bit touchy about the importance that character matters. So this is the end of Satan and his rule over the earth. We began with the end in mind. So now let's go back to the beginning of recorded human history. Let's pick up this story in Genesis chapter 3, beginning in verse 1. Genesis chapter 3, beginning in verse 1. It says, now the serpent, remember that phrase in Revelation chapter 20 in verse 1 referred to the serpent of old. Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, has God indeed said, you shall not eat of every tree of the garden? Let's ask a couple of honest questions here. Who created the serpent?

Why does God allow this cunning serpent into the garden? Who invited him there? Who asked him to come to the party? Well, of course, the Hebrew word in which we translate in the English cunning is arum, and it means usually in a bad sense someone who's crafty or subtle, deceptive, manipulative. So let's answer those questions. Getting a little bit ahead of myself and some scriptures we'll read in Ezekiel in a minute. But here's the answer to those questions. God had previously created a very beloved, heavenly, spiritual being. Gave him everything. Gave him everything. He was beautiful. He was perfect. He was talented. God gave him everything he had, and it wasn't enough. Just like God's given us every talent and everything that we have.

Is it enough for us?

So he created this beautiful being and is being rebelled against him. This serpent here, mentioned in Genesis 3, was formerly known as an archangel. It was an archangel named Lucifer, which means the one who brings light, or light bringer. And as punishment, he had been cast down to earth, and this world, this earth, was part of his present domain. God allows this fallen angel, now called, we call him Satan or the devil. By the way, both are two different Greek words, but they both basically have the same meaning, and it means slander. One who goes around, slandering other people, saying lies, saying things that are not true, making mountains out of molehills, trying to put doubt in other people's minds, trying to influence other people with their opinion. Those are slanders. That's the very title that Satan and the devil have, both again, different Greek words, but they mean the same thing. So he allowed his fallen angel, known as Satan or the devil, to manifest himself as a serpent. So God created the serpent, created him to be something else, but due to rebellion, God had limited his domain to the earth and a certain amount of the heavens, because Satan did talk to God in the book of Job, heaven, but his realm was obviously greatly limited. So God created this being that became the serpent.

So why is he here? Who invited him to the garden party?

Well, God did, because as I said a few minutes ago, God is in the character development business.

And to develop good character, one must be confronted by temptations and choices to resist.

Character development requires resistance in the same way that trying to bulk up your muscles requires weight resistance in order for your muscles to be stronger. In order for our character to be stronger, it requires resistance. As I stated a few minutes ago, God wants to know if obedience is permanently wired in the people's hearts, or if it's simply superficial. God wants to make sure that those whom he gives the gift of eternal life and sonship are faithful and true forever. He will not give the power of sonship to those who can be so easily deceived and manipulated either by the influence of other people, slander, or the influence of Satan the Devil himself. The truth is, brethren, is that God wants to know if we were confronted with a temptation or a number of choices and only one is right. Will we consciously, on purpose, choose to do what is right, or will we not? That's really what God wants to know.

Let's go now to verse 2. It says, And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.

And the serpent said to the woman, You will not surely die. That's, of course, a lie. He's a liar. You know what? He was dead today. Now, she didn't die immediately, but she grew old and she died, just like all human beings grow old and they die. But he said, You will not surely die, for God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. Well, that's a half-truth with negative consequences. You see, God is aware of evil, but he has no desire for it. Whereas human beings are clueless.

She was about to experience because her eyes would be opened when she ate that fruit. She was about to experience feelings that she never felt before in her life. Feelings that you and I, throughout our lives, at one time or another, have felt. Because she desired for her eyes to be opened and to have those feelings and knowledge of good and evil. Because of that, she felt shame and guilt and humiliation and would experience discouragement and fear. And all the negative things as human beings we experience and suffer, simply because she bought into a half-lie, that your eyes will be opened, implying you'll just know so much more. Won't it be fun? And you'll be like God.

The woman is lied to and manipulated by someone she just met and doesn't really know. By the way, this continues to happen every day on earth in more ways than one.

So now that we looked at the first time in human history, this being is mentioned in the garden. Let's go even earlier to Ezekiel chapter 28 and verse 11 and find out more about this carob, this archangel, this beautiful creature that God had created and what happened.

What happened to him? Ezekiel chapter 28 and verse 11.

Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me saying, Son of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre. And to a small degree, this is a metaphor, and to a small degree, some of these things certainly apply to the king of Tyre. But no one would ever claim that any king of Tyre in history was the seal of perfection.

Not even his highest paid associates would have claimed he was the seal of perfection, that he was on God's holy mountain. So this is obviously a metaphor, and it's a metaphor about that beautiful creation that God made, named Lucifer at that time, and what happened.

So lamentation for the king of Tyre. Again, this is Ezekiel chapter 28, and we're in verse 11 going on to verse 12. And say to him, Thus says the Lord God, you were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom, perfect in beauty. Wow! That's pretty cool. You were an Eden.

An Eden just means pleasurable. It means a place of pleasure or paradise, though this being was in a spiritual Eden, which we will see was very near God's throne. You were an Eden.

The garden of God, in the garden of God that existed on earth, was just simply a small example of the paradise that heaven is in God's throne. Every precious stone was your covering, the Sardis, the Topaz, the Diamond, the Vero, the Onyx, the Jasper, the Sapphire, the turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes, a very cryptic translation from the King James, what it really is, it says your jewel settings. The settings in which all of these jewels existed were solid, gold, and beautiful. And the engravings that came along with those jewels and those settings were absolutely magnificent. So these things were prepared for you on the day that you were created. So this magnificent being that God made, he created to serve him. God trusted him. God gave him positions of power and authority and the ability to serve in great ways. Verse 14, you were the anointed carob who covers. I established you. You were on the holy mountain of God. You walked back and forth in the midst of the fiery stone. So he was at the very throne of God. The spiritual holy of holies. The spiritual ark of the covenant. So beloved was this being created by God with perfection, wisdom, and beauty, perfect, and all of those things was something God loved. Verse 15, you were perfect in your ways from the day you were created till iniquity was found in you. So there came a time that, unfortunately, this beautiful carob flipped on God. And we may not know exactly what was going on in this being's thoughts, being spiritual mindset, but flipped literally on God until iniquity was found in you by the abundance of your trading. And the Hebrew word here is peddler, and what he may have been trading are lies and slander about God, about God's laws and God's kingdom. By the abundance of your trading, you became filled with violence within and you sinned. Therefore, I cast you as a profane thing out of the mountain of God, and I destroyed you, O covering carob.

Carob, who covered God's literal throne from the midst of the fiery stones.

So again, this is a metaphor. No human king would have the qualities of perfection and beauty in being an anointed carob, so this goes beyond just the lamentation for the physical king of Tyre that's mentioned there in verse 11. In Revelation chapter 12 and verse 4, it refers to a red fiery red dragon, and it states that his tail drew a third of the stars out of heaven and threw them to earth. And that may indicate that this beloved carob, when he rebelled, that one third of the angels rebelled with him and became demons.

So God created these beings, and maybe he just assumed he created them to be righteous. He created them to be perfect. He created them the personification of beauty and wisdom and all of these wonderful qualities. And maybe God just assumed that the character would always be there.

That the qualities that God is and God desires would always be there among his spiritual creation.

But obviously something happened, and those qualities were not there.

Verse 17. Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty. You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. I cast you to the ground. I laid you before kings that they might gaze at you. This is referring to Satan's defeat after gathering Gog and Magog in an attempt to destroy Jerusalem. A fire, you may recall, we read that, fire comes down from heaven and destroys the rebellious army, turning them to ashes. Continuing here in verse 18. You defiled your sanctuaries by the multitude of your iniquities, by the iniquity of your trading. And again, he could have been trading lies and slander and untruth about God in order to get support from other fallen angels who became demons. By the iniquity of your trading, therefore, I brought down fire from your midst. It devoured you. We read about that in Revelation chapter 20 and verse 10. And I turned you to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all who saw you. All who knew you among the peoples are astonished that you you had become a horror and shall be no more forever. Now, of course, Satan is spiritual, being no more forever means that he is in solitary confinement. He is locked up in a spiritual prison for all eternity. Can't influence another single creature in the universe.

So at this time, people will be astonished. The humiliated creature that they look at, this prophecy talks about here, this humiliated creature was once the prince of the power of the air. This creature that's been defeated by God and humiliated. This is the evil genius who caused so much pain and suffering by billions of human beings throughout history. This is the evil force that manipulated mankind for millennia, the one who caused so much pain and suffering.

This is the faith that the prophecy says that we read about already in Revelation chapter 20.

But let's find out a little bit more about this magnificent creature, Isaiah chapter 14 beginning in verse 9.

Isaiah described a little bit about him before his rebellion and his demotion.

And then also ties them together what we just read. Isaiah chapter 14 in verse 9.

Isaiah writes, hell from beneath is excited about you, excited to see this saint and the devil finally getting what he deserves, what he gave to everyone else, which was death and suffering. To meet you at your coming, it stirs up the dead for you and all the chief ones of the earth. It has raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. They all speak and say to you, have you also become as weak as we? So it's a great white throne judgment after a thousand years. Individuals who were kings in their first lifetime, maybe the king of Mambo Jumbo, and he's resurrected. And you know what? I'm just a humble, meek person now.

I'm not the king of Mambo Jumbo anymore. I died. And in this world, I'm a nada. And he looks and he sees what has become of Satan the devil. Have you become like us?

Have you been brought low too? Have you been humiliated? I went from being a king at some place to being just a mere human being now with no rank and privileges. And here you are. Have you become like one of us? Verse 11, your pomp is brought down the shield, which is the grave, and the sound of your stringed instruments. The maggot is spread under you and worms cover you. In other words, you're not so beautiful anymore. You know what? You're not perfect in beauty.

You're not much to look at anymore, Satan. Lucifer.

Verse 12, how you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning, how you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations, you who controlled and manipulated the nations, who intervened so that kings would rise and kings would fall and wars would happen and people would die and diseases would be rampant and plagues would kill people and famines would kill people. You did all of these things. You who weakened the nations look at you now.

Verse 13, for you have set in your heart the five eyes.

I will ascend unto heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. That means above all the other angels that exist in heavens. I also will sit in the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the most high. Move over, God! It's my turn! That's what he thought in his heart. This is what he says. Yet you shall be brought down the sheol to the lowest depths of the pit. Remember that phrase in Revelation 20? The bottomless pit? Down to the lowest depths of the pit. Verse 16, those who see will gaze at you and consider you saying, is this the man who made the earth tremble? Who shook kingdoms? This, Satan the devil, who manipulated billions of people from millennia, caused the death and suffering of billions? Is this the one who shook kingdoms, who made the world as a wilderness and destroyed its cities and caused famines and diseases and depopulated areas of the world through his vindictiveness and evil throughout history? Who did not open the house of his prisoners? Better translation is, didn't let his captives go free? As some other translations phrase that, did not let his own captives go free? Why should he? When you're a slave to sin, unless you repent and accept Jesus Christ as your Savior, you are a slave forever. That's how he views it. Let's talk about the phrase Lucifer for here for a few minutes. This is the Hebrew word Heilael, and it means brightness or morning star. He was God's morning star, someone whom God trusted in. This once magnificent creature was created by God to serve at the eternal's very throne. But his perfection and his beauty became distorted by his ego, and he became corrupt and vain and jealous of the very God who gave him every talent and ability that he had, including Lucifer's perfection and his beauty. Those were gifts from God, but they weren't enough.

No appreciation, no thankfulness, no humility, and he allowed himself to be destroyed by his very own ego. Well, with this background and understanding, now let's go more deeply into the meaning of this day, Leviticus chapter 16. If you will turn there with me, Leviticus chapter 16, and we will pick it up here in verse 1. And we will see the amazing ceremony that occurred on this day, particularly around two goats. One who would represent Jesus Christ, the goat for the Lord, and the other who would represent the deceitfulness and the rebellion of this very being we've been talking about known as the Azazel. Leviticus chapter 16 beginning in verse 1. Now the Lord spoke to Moses after the death of his two sons when they offered profane fire before the Lord and died. And the Lord said to Moses, tell Aaron your brother not to come just at any time into the holy place inside of the veil. So inside of the tent of meeting was a small room known as the Holy Apollos, and there was a curtain, there was a veil that separated one from walking in there, and in there, of course, was literally the presence of God, was the Ark of the Covenant, a chest, and a lid sitting on top of that, sometimes called the Atonement Seat, by the way. And no one could ever cross that curtain, not unless you wanted to die. No one would ever cross that curtain, except on this day of Atonement, the high priest was given the permission to do that, and even he had to do something with incense, so that he himself didn't die. We'll read about that. So not to come at just any time into the holy place inside the veil before the Mercy Seat, which is on the Ark, and this is sometimes also called the Atonement Seat. Lest he die, for I will appear in the cloud above the Mercy Seat. Thus Aaron shall come into the holy place with the blood of a young bull as a sin offering, and as a ram as a burnt offering, and he shall put the holy linen tunic on, 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, only worn one time, this day, the day of Atonement, once a year, and therefore he shall wash his body and put them on. So the high priest is going to prefigure Jesus Christ, who alone can bring Atonement and salvation to the world. This was a simple, plain, white linen garment, in contrast to the high priest, who usually looked very colorful. You could pick the high priest out in a crowd. He wore a breastplate that had jewels on it. Sometimes those jewels would even flash. Very colorful. If you read the colors, that his outfit was very, very colorful. Again, you could easily pick him out in a crowded room. Not now, not in this day. He was simply to put on to reflect the perfection and righteousness of Jesus Christ. Plain, white garments. Everything was linen, and everything was clean and plain and white. Washing his body represented the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ. He was also human, so he needed to wash his body for that reason. A number of animals would be used in this ceremony, including a bowl, a ram, and two young goats. Let's pick it up here in verse 5.

And he shall take from the congregation of the children of Israel two kids of the goats, as a sin offering, one ram, as a burnt offering, Aaron shall offer the bowl, as a sin offering, which is for himself, and make atonement for himself and for his house, because he was unclean, and his household was untamed. So he needed to atone for himself almost immediately before he could continue this ceremony. And 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 lot for the Lord and the other lot for the scapegoat, or more properly refined from the Hebrew, the Azazel.

So he cast lots for these two goats who looked alike. They could have been twins. They purposely were chosen to look very much alike. After all, one represents Jesus Christ, and the other, though he rebelled against God, originally was created perfect in beauty and imperfection. We just read about that. So originally, they could have been similar, passed off as similar in righteousness and beauty. So they looked very close, and only lots could determine which one was for the Lord, and which one of these goats, though he looked good on the outside, almost a twin, was not for the Lord, but for the Azazel. So the divine judgment occurs in which of these two goats is for the Lord, and which is for the Azazel. To God, this act of casting lots was very important. He personally would reveal the one goat from the other, because sin is attractive. Satan and his ministers transformed themselves into angels of life. Satan is very deceitful, and he can come across as very charming and attractive and subtle.

Before we see what the priest does with these two goats, let's see what he does in an orderly fashion. This is a synopsis of what the high priest does in this day. Rather than going into the scriptures, as I've done year after year, and slogging through verse after verse after verse, I'm going to give you a paraphrased synopsis of everything the priest does leading up to how he deals with the two goats. It begins with, Aaron must wash himself, and he has to put on those holy linen garments. These clean white garments represent Christ, and Aaron is also a sinner himself, so he must wash himself to prepare to fulfill this role. He must use a bull, a ram, and two goats as part of this ceremony. Some are burnt offerings, and some are offerings for sin. The ram, for example, is used very early in the ceremony as a burnt offering, and it's never referred to again. But the bull and the goats are referred to a number of times.

So he will slaughter the bull as an offering for himself and his family. So that's what he does.

Then he goes to the altar, and he creates incense from an incense burner. Obviously, the sacrificial altar was stoked up with fire all the time to incinerate animals. He takes this sensor in which he puts a few handfuls of special powder into it. It creates smoke. He takes it inside of the Holy of Holies. This is the inner sanctuary beyond the curtain, and this creates a cloud of smoke to obscure the power and majesty of God from Aaron, lest Aaron should be struck dead by the brilliance and power of God's vistage. So he does that.

The mercy seat is also called, as I said earlier, the atonement cover.

Then he takes some of the bull's blood, and he sprinkles it seven times on the throne of mercy. That's that atonement cover. Sprinkles it seven times with his finger, and this represents the perfect blood of Jesus Christ obliterating all sin. He's going to do things to atone for sin for himself, his family, all of Israel, for the tabernacle itself, the tent of meeting, for the altar where animals are sacrificed on, and the holy place. Through these acts, he's going to do something to atone for the sins of the nation in all of those utilities.

Next, Aaron slaughters the first goat, the one that was chosen to be the one for the Lord.

This also represents the forgiveness offered by Jesus Christ, his blood. And then he goes into the holy of holies, and he sprinkles the blood around the mercy seat, just like he earlier did the bull's blood seven times. He sprinkles that blood around there, and this is again to cleanse the most holy place because of the people's sins. He then leaves the holy of holies, and he goes to the tent of meeting. This is the literal tabernacle enclosure itself, and he sprinkles blood around it seven times. This is a synonym for the tabernacle enclosure itself. This is verse 16. This is mentioned, and no one else is allowed to be there. Then Aaron goes to the sacrificial altar. This was the altar where animals were sacrificed. This also needs to be cleansed from the sins of the people. So he goes there, and he sprinkles both the bull's blood and the goat's blood around the horns of the altar. He does this seven times to cleanse it from the sins of the people. And seven always represents the perfection of Jesus Christ, the ultimate complete sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins. Then he brings the one live goat to him, to whom the lot determined was the azazel. And at this point on, we'll pick up the story. Let's backtrack just a bit and go to verse 9. And Aaron shall bring the goat in which the Lord's lot fell and offered as a sin offering. We just read about this. In the many ways, its blood was sprinkled seven times in different areas of the tabernacle. 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. I'm going to read this from the new international version. I think it's translated better. But the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord to be used by making atonement by sending it to the desert as a scapegoat. So this translation says the atonement is made by removing, by forcing out of the community, the influence in the presence of this goat. So both goats make atonement. The goat for the Lord makes a complete and total atonement through its shed blood. And again, we read in various areas of the tabernacle where its blood was used seven times to purify areas of the tabernacle because of the sins of the people. This represents Jesus as the Lamb of God dealing with the effect of sin.

The Azazel goat makes atonement by his removal and by his isolation from the people. And this represents the devil being sent into a wilderness because he is the cause. He is the inspiration. He is the tempter and originator of human sin. So both of these goats represent God dealing with cause and effect. The effect of evil are the sins of the people which need the shed blood and forgiveness of Jesus Christ. The cause is all evil was the influence of Satan on the nation and on the world. So if you want to have complete atonement, you have to deal with both the cause and the effect. Just a reminder that we see here that one of the two goats was for the Lord. It was sacrificed and his blood was shed, representing Christ. It was sprinkled in various areas of the entire tabernacle. And this event looked forward to the perfect life of Jesus Christ. It looked forward to the Passover. Actually, there's a link here between this and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ becoming the Lamb of God as the Passover. Jesus Christ lived. He came into this world. He lived the perfect life. He shed his blood to cleanse this world from its sins. And that part is good. That's good news for humankind. And many Christian religions certainly and rightly and correctly focus on the shed blood of Jesus Christ reconciling us to God, making atonement for us because of his sacrifice to God and making it possible for us to be the children of God. Wonderful, biblical.

That's incredible. God's gift and love for us.

But God has some unfinished business to attend to. And that is treating the cause of human suffering and sin. The Azazel goat. Let's go to verse 21. So he brings the goat to him. It says, And Aaron shall lay both hands on the head of the live goat, confess over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel, 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 or responsible man. The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities into an uninhabited land and shall release the goat in the wilderness. Then Aaron shall come into the tabernacle of meeting, take off the linen garments which he put on when he went to the holy place, and shall leave them there.

Sending the Azazel into the wilderness represented that instigator of all sins of the nation being removed. Verse 21 states that a responsible individual would take the goat into solitary confinement just like the angel does in Revelation chapter 20 verse 3 that we read earlier. I've read a number of commentaries that say, well, this goat is also referring to Jesus Christ. When he went back to the father, he went into a wilderness. Bologna, hogwash. There are billions, perhaps trillions, of spiritual beings in heaven. That's not a wilderness! That doesn't even make sense! So it's very important for us to understand who this goat represents. All the sins of Israel were forcefully placed on the second live goat's head. This goat who was not for the Lord but for the Azazel represents Satan, the originator of sin and deceiver of all humankind. It states that all the iniquities, all the transgressions, all the sins of Israel were confessed on its head, and the special event is needed to achieve universal atonement, dealing, treating the cause and the effect of all sin.

And its future fulfillment of Satan being put away, isolated into a spiritual prison, is symbolized by this day of atonement.

So in conclusion, you may recall in a sermon a few weeks ago that it was mentioned that God can take a negative, even horrible event and work it out to fulfill His plan, because He is God. God's will and His plan shall eventually be done, and no human being, no one, no event can stop God's will. So let's recap here what we discussed on this day of atonement in the year 2020. God created a beloved and magnificent being to serve Him at His very throne.

The carob's name was Lucifer, and God gave him everything, and every quality that Lucifer possessed. But sadly for Lucifer, it wasn't enough. He rebelled against God in an attempt to become God Himself. But He failed, and He took one-third of the angels with Him.

Lucifer became God's adversary, and the rebellious angels became demons, and He was limited on His domain, and one of His domains was earth. God desires to expand His spiritual family. He wants to share everything that He has with you, everything with His new sons and daughters, including all eternity and all glory. However, God will not endure a group of future Lucifer's rebelling against Him or His laws of rebelling in His future kingdom. God knows His children need to be trained.

His children need to develop good character and consciously, purposely, choose to do right, no matter what temptation or what deception is thrown at them, or what options are presented before them that they will consciously always choose to do the right thing, according to God's law and God's purpose. So God, rather than dealing with Satan's rebellion immediately by casting Him into a spiritual prison, which is His ultimate fate, God took this painful negative event of the rebellion of someone who He loved and trusted, and He used Satan to complete His plan of good character development among His future children. He's allowed Satan to be an angel of resistance for all humanity and for His children throughout the ages, for millennia, since the time of the garden in Eden. In the future, when the kingdom is established, God will pour out His Spirit on all flesh, and Satan will be restrained for a thousand years and then temporarily loosed to see who we can influence as a final test to see who is alive at that time, who can be so easily manipulated because they had everything given to them. They live in a beautiful and in a perfect world, the end of a thousand years, the kingdom of God, and to see what they will do when they are tempted, when a being tries to manipulate them, whether they'll fall for it. And unfortunately, Gog and Magog will. They will be deceived by the devil and will be destroyed. Finally, Satan's usefulness is part of God's plan to add children to his family will come to an end, and Satan will have the punishment that has long been awaiting him for many, many, many years. Permanent banishment and isolation in a spiritual prison for eternity. This banishment is picture by this very day of atonement. We afflict ourselves yearning for a time when all humanity is forever free of his destruction and his evil. And let's all pray on this day of atonement that God speeds up the day of the return of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Well, that's my atonement sermon today. My voice is just about shot anyway, but I did want to wish all of you a rich, inspiring, and fulfilling feast to Tabernacles this year. And I want you to remember, once again, something I mentioned a few weeks ago. What kind of feast are you going to have this year? It's the kind of feast that you determine and plan to have in advance. We decide by our mindset and our attitudes what kind of day we're going to have today, what kind of life we're going to have, and what kind of feast we're going to have this year.

Because the spiritual, what's going on on the inside, should always trump what's going on in the outside world. So I wish all of you a magnificent, fulfilling, testable of Tabernacles.