The Drama of the Day of Atonement

There was a drama given to Moses after the death of Aaron's sons we call Nadab and Abihu, which is probably more likely closer to Nadib and Abihu. And this drama is laid out in Leviticus 16. It's like a play. It's actually instructions for the Day of Atonement. But the instructions for the Day of Atonement are laid out like a drama. We're going to cover four sections of this drama today. Now, there are more than four sections in the drama, but it's going to be hard just to get through these four. And these four really highlight the meaning of today. Why we're here fasting, even though I'm not going to cover too much about fasting today, we'll touch on it a little bit. But why are we here fasting? A lot of people criticize us for what we do, both on the Jewish side and on the Christian side. The Jewish side, thinking we're confused, Christians, Christians who think they're Jews when we do not, and Christians thinking we're trying to earn our way into salvation. As though we fast for penance, because we're sorry. So we fast to earn God's forgiveness, when nothing could be further from the truth. We do not fast to earn. We fast to learn. This is a great object lesson. It's a wonderful lesson. And even though it's uncomfortable, it is a beautiful day. Today is a festival of the Lord. It is a day to be celebrated. Why? Why would you come with no coffee and no food, and you're thirsty and you're hungry, and celebrate? That's what I want to tell you today. And it's all wrapped up in this drama that's in Leviticus 16. Section 1 is verses 2-5, where Aaron had to be clean in order to represent Jesus Christ, and he had to select two goats. That's section 1 of the drama. We're not going to spend too much time in section 1. Section 2, verses 7-10, one of these goats becomes a slain offering for sin, and that represents Jesus Christ. We're going to spend a lot of time in section 2. And then in section 3, verses 20-26, a live goat, a live offering, is given for sin. This is section 3, and this live goat represents Satan. A lot of people mistakenly think that both goats represent Jesus Christ. And I will show you why that's wrong.

Section 4, verse 31, we're supposed to afflict our souls, which means fasting. I'm not going to cover too much on that today, because our main focus is going to be on these two goats. In sections 2 and 3 of this drama that's laid out in Leviticus 16.

So let's jump into the drama in section 1.

Aaron is to be cleansed. He represents our high priest, Jesus Christ. He was the high priest at the time.

He is supposed to be holy to bring us before God, so he has to go through this own special drama just to make himself holy so that he represents the high priest to God, Jesus Christ. He's only allowed to do this one day and actually come before the presence of God at the mercy seat once a year in the seventh month on the tenth day today.

In Leviticus 16, verse 2, we read, And the Lord said to Moses, Tell Aaron your brother not to come at just any time into the holy place inside the veil. So the tabernacle that they had in later the temple that copied it had several sections in it, and one section was a holy place and only the priest could go in there.

But there was another curtain at the back of that tent or the back of the room when it was the temple, a building. And that was the most holy place. That's where the Ark of the Covenant rests, and above the Ark of the Covenant, the mercy seat. And behind that were two caribim with the wings span, touching both of the walls. And this represented the throne of God, and Aaron was only allowed to go before the throne of God on this day. Why this day? What does this day represent?

Why not just celebrate this whole thing at Passover? In the springtime when Jesus Christ was sacrificed, and get it over with? Well, if you're modern Christianity, that would pretty much solve your issue.

But that wasn't the plan of God. God's plan is so much more encouraging, so much more real.

Gets to the heart of the matter. God really thinks things through. So, He's only supposed to go into this holy place inside the veil once a year before the mercy seat, and it says, Before the mercy seat, which is on the ark, Lest he die, for I will appear in a cloud above the mercy seat. Now, He knew, and everybody knew, that God was serious about the lest he die part, because Nadeeb and Abihu were just burnt to a crisp for bringing bad fire into the temple, and defiling this temple. So, they took this very seriously. Verse 3, Thus Aaron shall come into the holy place with the blood of a young bull as a sin offering and a ram as a burnt offering, and he shall put on holy linen. Now, these sacrifices were for Him, because Aaron wasn't Jesus Christ, and Aaron had to represent Jesus Christ on this day. So, in order... All of this is just symbolism, brethren. In order for him to represent Jesus Christ, he had to offer offerings for himself and make himself clean. And once he was clean, he had to be spectacular. Notice this. Verse 4, He shall put on holy linen a tunic and linen trousers on his body. He will be girded with a linen sash, and with linen turban, he shall be attired. God wanted his clothes to represent our Savior.

These are holy garments, therefore he shall wash his body in water and put them on. So, he couldn't come from just working out in the field and be all smelly and stinky and put these clothes on. He had to take a bath to put these clothes on.

Verse 5, And he shall take them from the congregation of the children of Israel, two kid goats as a sin offering and one ram as a burnt offering. And we're going to spend a lot of time on those two kid goats. But the point in section 1 of this drama in Leviticus 16 is that only our Savior can bring us before God. Only our Savior can bring us before God. And so, section 1 of this drama ties the Passover into the Day of Atonement. These two days are intricately linked. As a matter of fact, we're going to see at the end of the sermon, all of the holy days are intricately linked through the sin offering of Jesus Christ. Every single holy day is linked by the very first festival, the Passover. Section 2 of this drama, the sin offering, the first goat, is sacrificed. In Leviticus 16 and now in verse 7, it says, He shall take two goats and present them before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. And then Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other lot 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 and make atonement upon it and let it go as a scapegoat into the wilderness.

God's holy days outline His plan for redeeming, redeeming humanity. So you could say, what do the holy days mean, the redemption of mankind? You could sum up all of the holy days with that phrase, the redemption of mankind. You see, the Bible is the story of the children of Adam and Eve rejecting God, rejecting the tree of life, and taking of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And all of the children of Adam and Eve who left access to the tree of life are doing things their own way in their own time, by their own rules, and they're being guided by Satan and prompted by Satan to do so and have been since the Garden of Eden.

And the entire rest of the Bible is about those children getting back to God's tree of life, getting back to eternal life. And the holy days are all about that plan of redemption, getting the sons of Adam and Eve, sons and daughters of Adam and Eve, back to the tree of life. So this day is about how God prepares to fulfill that role.

So let's just review the holy days for a second. The Passover. What's it about? Passover reminds us that Christ's atoning sacrifice is for sin, but it doesn't get applied to the world at his first coming when he was actually the Passover. So it's an interesting thing to observe. God has this all planned out. The Passover happens in the springtime, but the Day of Atonement, where Christ's sacrifice is actually starting to be applied to the whole world, doesn't happen for months at the end of the year in the fall. The sacrifice happens in the spring. It gets applied much later. How interesting. The Days of Unleavened Bread reminds us that repentance and obedience must accompany any human being's acceptance of the Passover.

There's a responsibility to accept the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. You can't just walk up to the stage and say, I love Jesus, and you're done! Now you can go believe in evolution and anything else you want because you're saved. It doesn't work that way. And that's what the Days of Unleavened Bread teach us. And then Pentecost comes. And reminds us that a small group of firstfruits, the church, is being enabled by God's Spirit to become lights in a spiritually dark world.

And then we move into the fall. When trumpets points to the future, when Christ will crush the powers of this world that support sin, there's an infrastructure in this dark world that makes it easy to sin and hard to follow God. That's why when we go through this now, we're called firstfruits, and there's a reward, a much bigger reward. Salvation isn't a reward. That's a free gift. But there's a reward to the firstfruits.

And at this Feast of Trumpets, He will resurrect His saints, and they will rule with Him and usher in a new age of light. And then comes the Day of Atonement today. Not only does it picture the removal of Satan, as we heard in the sermonette, but it also pictures the forgiveness and restoration of a people called Israel. And I'll show you that in the prophecies, how this day is exactly tied in to the redemption of Israel. And why Israel, and why not Egypt or South Africa? Why Israel? Well, part of Israel is South Africa, but nonetheless, why not India? Why Israel? We'll get there.

So, God gives forgiveness and restoration to Israel, and this is where Jesus Christ will make a new covenant with them and enable them to actually keep God's law in their hearts. And then we have the Feast of Tabernacles, which pictures the redemption that will spread from Israel to the entire world, at least those who were left alive. And this is where repentance and conversion are made available to everybody who's alive. And then the Pinnacle Festival, the eighth day, or what we call the Last Great Day, pictures the resurrection and forgiveness and conversion of all people from Adam on who died before they were spiritually enlightened.

Everybody who ever lived will now be given their first chance, not second chance. It's actually their first chance at salvation.

This day, the day we celebrate today, pictures a time when the Passover sacrifice starts to be applied to the world. And notice how God starts this redemption with Israel, and then He moves it to the whole world. Let's start in Jeremiah 23, verse 7. We're still in the second section of the drama of Leviticus 16. We're still on the sacrificial goat.

Jeremiah 23, verses 7-8. Therefore, behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that they shall no longer say, as the Lord lives, who brought the children of Israel from the land of Egypt. But as the Lord lives, who brought up and led the descendants out of the house of Israel from the north country, and from all the countries where I had driven them, and they shall dwell in their own land.

The tribulation will be so bad, and the day of the Lord will be so horrible that when they come out, they will not say, we're the children of Israel, who God brought from the land of Egypt. They will say, we're the children of Israel, who God brought from captivity out of the north, which would be Europe, and brought back into the land of Israel.

So after the tribulation, Israel is brought back, and there won't even be mention of Egypt anymore. And they will be forgiven. Notice, let's drop down to Jeremiah, chapter 50, verse 19. Speaking of this time, Jeremiah, same book, chapter 50, verse 19, but I will bring back Israel to his home. And he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfied on Mount Ephraim and Gilead. And in those days, and in that time, says the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought. But there shall be none, no lawlessness in Israel.

And the sins of Judah, they will not be there. Why? For I will pardon those who I preserve. Finally, we see, pardon actually starts to happen in Israel. Israel starts to be forgiven of their sins.

Forgiveness of sin comes by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, pictured by that first goat in Leviticus 16 drama. So that sacrifice is a substitute for death that we deserve. And the same will be true for the whole nation of Israel at Christ's return, when He restores them as a nation again. Let's notice Paul talks about this in Romans. Let's go to Romans 11, verse 25. Romans 11, 25. Paul says this about that time when Israel is brought back. Romans 11, 25. And I'm going to read this from NIV.

I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited. Israel has experienced a hardening, in part, until the full number of Gentiles has come in. So when Paul is writing to the Roman Church, he realizes that the Christian Church gets persecuted by the Jews, and they're very hard. And he says, brethren, I don't want you to be conceited. I don't want you to think badly of the Jews and of Israel. I want you to soften your heart. And then he says in verse 26, And in this way, Israel will be saved. As it is written, the deliverer will come from Zion and will turn the godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them. I will take away their sins.

When does God take away Israel's sins? And how do we know the Day of Atonement pictures God starting with Israel and applying the Passover sacrifice to Israel? Well, notice the timing in Zechariah 12. This is what ties in the Day of Atonement with the redemption of Israel. And you know, this isn't new, by the way. This has been taught in the Church of God since the early 80s, at least. And the Jews have always taught the Day of Atonement is the Day of Redemption for Israel. They've always taught that. This has been known for millennia. And let's notice in Zechariah chapter 20, verse 9. Again, I will read from the NIV.

This is the timing of when Israel will accept the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And if Israel is going to have their sins forgiven, it means they're going to become Christian. They're actually going to repent and be baptized and receive God's Holy Spirit. When does that happen? Zechariah chapter 12, verse 9. On that day, what day? I will set out to destroy the nations who attacked Jerusalem. Oh, this is visa trumpets! And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and supplication.

They will look on me the one they have pierced.

Israel will look to Jesus Christ immediately after the Feast of Trumpets. What happens after the Feast of Trumpets? Today, the Day of Atonement. And it happens before the Feast of Tabernacles, which pictures all of mankind receiving that Passover sacrifice. God starts it today with Israel. They will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and they will grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn. What is that talking about? Mourning and grieving? Repentance.

They will realize, just like you and I realize right now, that it's not somebody else's sins that are responsible for Jesus Christ's death. You're in my sin. We have to personally go to God and say, hey, I realize not only did I sin, but I am a sinner by nature. Will you please apply the sacrifice of Jesus Christ to me? And that creates mourning, or grief, and repentance. And that's what this is talking about in Zechariah 12. That Israel, after the return of Jesus Christ, will accept the one that they pierced, and they will mourn him. They will mourn what they did to him, just like you and I do now, before we are baptized. What is the result of Israel accepting Christ's sacrifice? Let's drop down to chapter 13 in verse 1. Zechariah 13 in verse 1, In that day, a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness, it shall be in that day, says the Lord of Hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols from the land. Israel is where God will start his salvation of all of mankind. Why does he do that?

Why is God starting with Israel, and not India? Because God made a promise to a man named Abraham.

It's not that the Israelites, the Jews and the Benjamites and the Levites and the Ephraimites and the Manassites and the Danites and all the other Israelites are any better than any other people on the planet. That is not the point at all. The point isn't them. The point is God. God gave his word, and God does not break his word. And even when they rebelled, and went away from God, God will spank them and bring them back.

So, the reason why God is using Israel is not because Israel, the Israelites, are better people than any other people on the planet. That is not the point. The reason God starts with Israel is that God made a promise, and God keeps his word. He shows his faithfulness to all of mankind by being faithful to Israel. And we can see, when he saves Israel, he's going to save everybody, because they were an incredibly rebellious people.

And here, God brings them back and saves them, and applies the sacrifice of Jesus Christ to them, and cuts off all the idols from their land, and reading on in verse 2, and they shall no longer be remembered, that is, those idols. And I will also cause the prophets and unclean spirits to depart from the land.

And that's what the Day of Atonement is all about. The Passover now gets applied to all of mankind, starting with Israel, because God keeps his word. But God's mercy is contingent.

God's mercy is contingent on stopping the pattern of disobedience in the world. And that's where the third part of the drama of Leviticus 16 comes in. It's not just come up to the stage here and say, I love Jesus. There is a contingent based on your action and my action. Now, we know that, but Israel will also come to know that. The third section is the scapegoat, or in Hebrew, the Azazel goat. And this goat doesn't get killed, but sins are placed on him and he's taken away. And this is where a lot of people get confused and think, well, that's Jesus Christ. He is kind of like a scapegoat. You know, he takes our sins for us, even though he wasn't guilty. And that goat certainly wasn't guilty. Right? And the sins were put on that little goat so people can think, well, the goat represents Jesus Christ. Well, the goat actually isn't a scapegoat. It's not what it means.

Let's read the passage. Leviticus 16, verse 20. Leviticus 16, verse 20.

And when he has made an end of atoning for the holy place, the tabernacle of meeting in the altar, he shall bring the live goat. Now, this is that Azazel. Aaron shall lay both hands on his head of the live goat, and notice a huge statement here, and confess over it all of the iniquities of the children of Israel, and their transgressions concerning all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a suitable man. And that goat shall bear on itself all the iniquities of the inhabited land, and he shall release the goat in the wilderness. So what is this scapegoat?

It's actually not a scapegoat, as it says in your King James Version. The Hebrew word Azazel means goat of departure in strongs, or entire removal in brown driver brig. In other words, this goat is the go-away goat. That's what it means. The go-away goat. This goat goes away.

Why does he go away? Because Satan has to go away. In order for God's contingent plan to work for the whole world, Satan goes away. Jesus Christ doesn't go away. Jesus Christ does not represent a go-away goat. When he comes, he's not going anywhere. He'll stick around. So why does the go-away goat, or Satan, have to go away?

Because he deceives the whole world. Revelation 12, verse 9. This drama in Leviticus 16 talks about the redemption of the whole world, starting with Israel. And you know what? Satan has to go away. Revelation 12, verse 9. So the great dragon was cast out that serpent of old called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world. And he was cast to the earth, and his angels will cast with him. Satan is a deceiver.

And he influences mankind to become evil like him.

Jesus said in John 8, verse 44, which, by the way, John 8 occurs during the Feast of Tabernacles. So this statement happens right around this time. And he says in John 8, 44, You are of your father the devil, your father the devil, he calls them. Even though God is their father, Jesus Christ realizes that they're following a new father now, and Satan has them under his sway. He says, you are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He gets us through desire. All right? That's an important term, as we'll go through some of the things that Peter says in just a minute. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, nor there is no truth in him.

When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources. For he is a liar and the father of it. So Satan is, as a result, the God of this world. He is now their father. That's why I said people will actually have their first chance at the eighth day. They don't have a chance right now. No man comes to Jesus Christ unless the father who sent him draws the person to Jesus Christ. The world is captured by Satan, and Satan is actually the God of this world.

Jesus called him their father. Paul calls him their God. 2 Corinthians 4. This is the second book of Corinthians, second letter to the Corinthian church. Chapter 4, verse 4. I'm going to read this from the New Living Translation. It says, 2 Corinthians 4, 4, Satan, who is the God of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don't believe. Faith is an important aspect of salvation. It begins the process. It carries you through your entire life. And you never, ever give it up all the way through to your change. So those who don't believe, it says, they are unable to see the glorious light of the good news or the gospel. They don't understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God. So Satan actively works in the minds of people, and what is he doing? He's growing or he's cultivating disobedience in them, as I believe was mentioned in the sermonette. Ephesians chapter 2, verse 2.

Paul, the Apostle Paul, weighs in on this as well. Oh, he did. That was 2 Corinthians was Paul 2. Ephesians 2, 2. In which you once walked, even we, even you and I, the church, in which we once walked, according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience. So what is Satan cultivating in mankind? To walk away from God, to take of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, to stay away from the tree of life. That's why Satan has to go away. Satan is the go-away goat.

Satan maneuvers politics of the world through people of the world to create so much evil that it's easier to disobey God and qualify for destruction than it is to obey God. And that is his goal. Destruction of mankind.

This day pictures his removal. Satan is the go-away goat.

And why is that important? There's a lesson in that for you and me today. Right now, we can pick a lesson up from that go-away goat. Do you know what the word mitigate means? It means to mitigate something. It's a court term. When you mitigate something, you lessen it. Right? Yeah, they did something, but there's a reason why they did it that mitigates it. In other words, makes it less or lessens the penalty sometimes.

Lessens the blame. There's a mitigating factor to mankind. And Satan's influence is that mitigating factor. God mitigates sins of people who do not have his spirit. They are still culpable. In other words, they're still responsible for their own sins before God.

But not as much as if they had God's Holy Spirit.

Let's notice the fact that these sins that everybody commits in the world today are sins of ignorance.

They're sins that they don't really understand that they're doing. Human nature is such, and Satan's influence is so blinding, that people don't actually realize that they're wrong when they sin.

We justify ourselves in just about anything that we do. And it's God's Spirit that convicts us and helps us to see that, no, we're the ones who are wrong. Not just what we do with our hands and our mouth, but actually how we are on the inside is wrong. Human nature does not come to that conclusion on its own. Without God, we're in a bad place.

They don't get that. Hebrews 9, verse 6. Hebrews 9, verse 6. Mr. Lockhart read from Hebrews 10. All of this is talking about the Day of Atonement, by the way. Hebrews 9 and 10. Hebrews 9, verse 6. Now, when these things had been thus prepared, the priests always went into the first part of the tabernacle, performing the services. But into the second part, the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself. That's the first part of the drama. And for the people's sins committed in ignorance. Now, when we read in Leviticus 16, I emphasized that it said all of the sins of Israel. Right? So when he put his hands on that goat, he put all of the sins of Israel on that goat. How were those sins committed? Well, Paul says they were committed in ignorance.

Ignorance. All of the sins of Israel.

The Expositor's Bible Commentary says this, quote, And this not merely for such sins of ignorance, as had afterward recognized and acknowledged in the ordinary sin offering of each day. In other words, there was always, every day there was a sin offering. If somebody committed a sin in ancient Israel, they repented. And that represents you and I repenting after we're baptized. Remember, remember, ancient Israel was symbolically baptized when they went through the Red Sea. And after they were baptized, supposedly forgiven, it represents the forgiveness that we go through when we're baptized, then the sacrifices were instituted. And they had to do these daily sacrifices every time they sinned, and it represented our growth becoming like God, and we repent every day. The Day of Atonement is not like that. The Day of Atonement is far bigger than that. It represents everybody being forgiven, and people's sins are mitigated by blame being put on Satan also. So it's not just that the blame is taken off of the people and put on to Satan. It's that some of the blame is put on to Satan. But some of the blame still remains in the people, and we'll see that in a Scripture in just a moment. Some of the blame remains in the people, and they still need the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. But what lesson does this mitigation teach you and me? What does the Day of Atonement do for you and me now in 2017? It says, continuing on in the Expositors, they recognize and acknowledge in the ordinary sin offerings of each day, but for all iniquities of the children of Israel and all their transgressions and even their sins." So Leviticus 16, verse 21, Aaron is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat, confess over the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions concerning all their sins are put on the head of this goat, and then they send the goat away in the wilderness by the hand of a suitable man. The Day of Atonement acknowledges that mankind's sins are done in ignorance.

Notice when Peter is speaking to the crowd in Acts chapter 3. Peter was speaking of the execution, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. And that was an incredibly difficult thing for Peter to go through. And yet, remember, Peter was persecuted by the leaders of the Jewish community after Jesus was sacrificed, and he still says this in Acts chapter 3. Let's notice what Peter says in Acts chapter 3 of the killing of Jesus Christ. Acts chapter 3 and verse 17, Yet now, brethren, I know that you did it in ignorance, as also did your rulers.

Some of the blame is not on them. So what do we do with this information?

Obviously, everybody still needs to repent and accept the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, so blame is still on every individual. But some of the blame is lifted off. What do we do with that information? You and me.

Speaking in the way of the human heart, Paul told the Ephesians in Ephesians chapter 4, let's go there, Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 17. Ephesians 4, 17.

This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk. Now, this church in Ephesus, the congregation, just like you and me, left the dark world and now have God's Holy Spirit and are supposed to walk in the light. But how did the Gentiles walk? He says, in the futility of their mind. Their minds are corrupted. Paul's getting to the point here. People's minds are corrupted. Verse 18. Having their understanding darkened and being alienated from the life of God. All of mankind was alienated when we were kicked out of the garden. And our minds were darkened.

Because of the ignorance that is in them. Because the blindness in their heart.

Brethren, you and I are no longer considered ignorant.

You and I, if we've been baptized and have God's Holy Spirit, are fully accountable to God.

Notice again what Peter says in 1 Peter this time. I forgot to bring my coffee up here.

He's talking to the firstfruits now. Those who have God's Spirit. And he says in 1 Peter 1, verse 13.

Therefore, gird up the loins of your mind and be sober. And rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. So we go through this whole life walking through a dark world as children of light. And our redemption doesn't come until the end when Jesus Christ returns.

Verse 14, As obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts as in your ignorance. So when he's talking to the firstfruits, we are no longer in ignorance.

You and I do not get to claim that mitigating factor. We are responsible to God. This go-away goat is for Israel and the world.

So you and I have a harder road to go down, and that is why there is a greater reward now. That's why many are called and few are chosen now. The great opening of salvation. The great application of the Passover sacrifice happens in the fall at atonement. A lot of people get confused. Why are there two holy days where you kill a lamb or you kill a goat? Why do they have to do it twice? And that's why.

There are firstfruits that go now. There are people who will lead with Jesus Christ to help and assist our Lord, our captain of our salvation, Jesus Christ, in bringing all of mankind into salvation.

But we are held accountable now.

He says in verse 15, But he who called you is holy, and also be holy in your conduct, because it is written, Be holy, for I am holy. So walking in lust is what is ignorance. And the sin of ignorance means you're without God's Holy Spirit. And when you have God's Holy Spirit, you are no longer ignorant, and there is no longer a mitigating factor for you and me. But don't worry. There is still grace. There is still repentance and mercy and growing towards, you know, God and becoming like God.

But this go-away goat is not for you and me. The day of atonement is not about the firstfruits.

This is about the salvation of all of mankind, the application of Jesus Christ's sacrifice that's pictured at the Passover, that's applied to the entire world finally after his return. Satan is sent away.

So does that mean that all people are considered innocent? No. They're still culpable for their sins. But God does consider Satan's influence as a mitigating factor. And let's see that in Luke 12.

Luke 12 shows how Satan's influence mitigates God's anger. Luke 12 verse 47. And that servant who knew his master's will, that's you and me, by the way, and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. So God's anger is very large when you know what you're doing and you walk away anyway. In fact, there is a point where there is an unpardonable sin. When you cast off the Holy Spirit, there is no second sacrifice. So being a first fruit is kind of a big deal. It's a one-shot deal. So don't walk away.

Stay the course.

Verse 48. There's a but.

But he who did not know, who didn't know, everybody who sinned in ignorance, Hebrews chapter 9. Everybody who was in darkness, 2 Corinthians 4, 4.

He who did not know, yet committed these things, deserving of stripes, yet he still deserves punishment. For him, much will be... I'm sorry, deserving of stripes, he shall be beaten with few. He's not going to have as hard a way to go as you and I do.

You and I have a harder way to go than those people who come next. And that's why the reward for you is great. Stay the course.

And you might think that that's the lesson that we can take now from the mitigating factor that all the sins were placed on the go-away goat. And maybe it is, but there's one more point we can take from it. One more point. Let's continue on, though, in verse 48. He will be beaten with few, for to whom much is given, much will be required. And to whom much is committed, they will ask him the more. In other words, God expects a profit, a return on his investment. If he gives you his Holy Spirit, it's supposed to produce something in you. Those people who are ignorant, they get less. They also get a less reward.

So with this understanding, brethren, and here is the point, of the mitigating factor, the making less, putting less blame on people who are ignorant.

We should be even more forgiving than we are, for the things that people have done to us, because they're doing them to us in ignorance.

They're in the dark. They're incredibly selfish, and they can't see beyond themselves, and they don't even know it.

And the whole universe revolves around them.

If you do anything that convicts them or makes them look guilty, they lash out at you, don't they? And you're the bad guy now.

You keep the Sabbath, and you keep the Day of Atonement. And that adds a sense of pressure. So they call you Goody Two Shoes, and they mistreat you. And I won't tell you what my family has done to me, in-laws and whatnot, but it's rather funny.

But I know they've done it to you, too. But can you mitigate that? You should. You ought to. You ought to lessen it. It's not that they're not guilty, and it's not that God's not going to teach them a lesson in the future. He will.

They're still guilty, but lessen it.

Don't be hostile back to them. Lessen it.

Because they're in darkness.

They did things in ignorance. They lash out at you in ignorance. Remember that. Mitigate it.

Satan is the go-away goat in the drama of Leviticus 16. He manipulates mankind to do evil against God and each other, and that influence is going to be removed.

To whom much is given, much is required. We were given the Holy Spirit now in a dark age, and we are required to walk all of our lives in this dark age and face it every day. And you can do it. And the reason you can do it is because God is with you. Romans chapter 8. And when God is for you, no one can be against you.

So you've got it made. You've just got to walk down the hard road. And you can do that. Revelation chapter 20 verses 1 through 3. Revelation 21. And then I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of that dragon, 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.

Satan is the go-away goat, and he is going to go away. He will return at the end. Everybody will have to face their trials. Satan will be returned for a short while, but we'll cover that on a different day. Okay. All right. Section 4 of the drama.

Section 4 of this drama that was given to Moses just after Nadeeb and Abihu were killed is found in verse 31.

Leviticus 16 in verse 31. And it tells people that this is a statute forever, that you have to keep this Day of Atonement forever. And you have to afflict your soul.

And the word afflict your soul means don't eat any food or water. And unfortunately, or fortunately, if you look at it properly, but unfortunately for those, especially the kids, who are just learning to do this, why do we have to do this? Are you sure it means fasting? Well, you know, why can't it just mean, you know, going without bubblegum for a day, you know? That's afflicting my soul. Going without coffee would afflict my soul. I'll tell you that much. That's for sure. But no, it does mean fasting. We'll notice how they defined afflicting your soul. If the writers of the Bible defined it fasting, then it's fasting. If they defined it going without bubblegum, then it's going without bubblegum. Let's see what they wrote about it. Isaiah 58 verse 5. Isaiah 58 verse 5. It is a fast that I have chosen.

What's a fast that God has chosen? A day for a man to afflict his soul.

There it is. Afflicting your soul means fasting. It means covering your mouth.

Why do we do it? It is to bow down the head like a bulrush.

You know, when you fast... No, not right now. For most of us, especially those of us who have a little bit of body fat, like I do, I can go through half the day without fasting, no problem. But at the end of the day, this body needs food. And I'm going to take a nap, almost guaranteed, unless somebody's in the hospital and I have to go annoy them, I'm going to be horizontal.

Right? Because it makes me bow down my head like a bulrush.

It humbles me.

It makes me realize how weak and insignificant I am. And it's not a big trial. Fasting for 24 hours from sunset to sunset is not a big deal. It's actually quite healthy for most human beings. And if it's not healthy, if there's a risk, the church has always said, go ahead and eat something. For people who are diabetic, who can go into a coma, you should not go into a coma on the day of atonement. That is not the point. This is supposed to be an easy fast. It's a 24-hour fast where we bow our head like a bulrush. Now, if you go into convulsions, that's not bowing your head like a bulrush. Drink some OJ or something. Have a Coke.

You know? Don't go into a sugar coma on the day of atonement. That is not the point. The point is, bow your head down like a bulrush. It's humility.

Why humility? This is an amazing part of the day of atonement. This is an amazing part of God redeeming mankind. Remember, all the holy days are about the redemption of mankind. And fasting is part of that. Because mankind has to bow their head like a bulrush. And to spread out like sackcloth and ashes. Well, that's repentance.

That's sorrow when you put on sackcloth and ashes. Remember Job? When he sat in ashes, he was incredibly sad. And he was very sad. Reading on. Would you call this a fast and acceptable day of the Lord? Is this not the fast that I have chosen? And what does this do? Notice the result. Notice the symbolism.

To lose the bonds of wickedness. To set you free from the go-away goat. What does the go-away goat do? What does Satan do to mankind? Deceives the whole world. Influences them to be disobedient. To be wicked. And they are bound. And what does fasting represent? What does bowing your head and repenting represent? Freedom.

It's not punitive. It's not punishment. It's not lashing you with a whip. That's not what fasting is all about. Fasting is about freedom. Fasting is about bowing your head and repenting so that you're free. Free from what? The bonds of wickedness. The go-away goat. You're free. To undo the heavy burdens. To let the oppressed go free. And to break—notice this word—every yoke. This day is huge. It's why we celebrate it. We don't mourn the Day of Atonement. I ask you to never mourn the Day of Atonement again. Oh no. I can't wait for the feast, but we've got to go through the Day of Atonement first. This day is a celebration. This day is a day when not just some people are set free, but everybody will have the opportunity to be set free. It starts right here. Well, it started at Passover, when Jesus Christ came 2,000 years ago, but you have to wait a while between Passover and the Day of Atonement. Passover doesn't get applied to the world until we start with the Day of Atonement. And every yoke will be broken. How? Because every human being will be humbled. How will every human being be humbled?

By fasting? No.

The whole world will be set free from the plague of sin, and that's what bowing of the head means. And we can notice in Psalm 35, verse 13, that King David also agrees with that definition of fasting, that it humbles us. Psalm 35, verse 13, But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth, and I humbled myself with fasting, and my prayer would return to my own heart. Fasting represents a whole lot more, but we just don't have time to cover it today.

So people will be humbled, actually, by the Great Tribulation. And they will come out of the Great Tribulation humbled. Oh, I'm sure they will miss quite a few meals during that tribulation time. But they will be a people whose head are bowed down like a bull rush, and they will literally have sackcloth and ashes. They will have nothing left.

And this day represents a day when there will be a people who are ready to accept the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Hebrews 9, we were there. Let's go back there.

Hebrews 9, describing the Day of Atonement, or its meaning, we'll start in verse 8.

Hebrews 9, verse 8.

I know we're going a little bit long, but I figure you don't have lunch plans, so...

Hebrews 9, 8. The Holy Spirit indicating this, that the way into the holiest of all has not yet been made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing. In other words, they did these things, these rituals, but they didn't know what they meant.

And you do. You actually get to know what the Day of Atonement means.

Verse 9. It was symbolic for the present time, in which both gifts and sacrifice are offered, which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to conscience. Sacrificing a bull does not change your inner man, in other words.

Verse 10.

But with his own blood, he entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For the blood of bulls and goats, and the ashes of a heifer, and the sprinkling of 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? And what does it do? It doesn't do physical cleansing. Cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Why do we keep the Day of Atonement every year, year after year, to repeat this object lesson every year? Can't we just do it once when we're a kid and remember it?

No. It's so that we will remember that our conscience is supposed to be cleansed, not clean, but cleansed. We're in the process of it. Why? Because we have a task to do, brethren. We are to serve the living God. On this earth, in this dark age, when the prince of the power of the air, the ruler of this world, the father of mankind right now, their God, Satan, rules. Drop down to verse 15. And for this reason, he is a mediator of a new covenant by means of death. His death replaced our death.

When I do baptismal counseling, I tell this story that was related to me. It was, if you're a sinner, you're like a prisoner on death row. And you're sitting in your cell, and you hear the door open, and the guard walks down the hall, and you can hear the shoes of the guard walking towards you to take you to your execution.

But all of a sudden, from the other direction, your lawyer walks up, and he opens the door, pulls you out of the cell, and he takes your place. And the guard comes and takes him and executes him instead. And that's what Jesus Christ did for every single one of us. And that's what Paul's talking about here, by means of death, for redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant. Because the only thing the law does is draw a line between good and evil.

And if you break that line, you're guilty and responsible for death. Why? That those who are called may receive the promise of eternal inheritance. Again from the Expositor's Bible commentary, the time which was ordained for this annual observance is significant the tenth day of the seventh month. It was appointed for the seventh month as a sabbatic month, in which all related ideas of rest in God and with God in the enjoyment of the blessings and now complete redemption. Let me stop the quote there and just say what he means is, God picked the seventh month for a reason. Because the seventh is the Sabbath.

The seventh day is the Sabbath. The seventh month is the Sabbath month. It's the month of rest, the month of redemption, the month when all of the yolks that bind everybody down will be broken and people will be set free. What a beautiful plan this is. It's not in the first month when the Passover occurs, a process takes place, and then in the seventh month, at the end, that's when the freedom and that Passover is actually applied.

Reading on in the quote, it was therefore appointed that for the month, for that month, and for the day in which supported, preceded this great, I'm sorry, this greatest of annual feasts to signify in type the profound and most vital truth, that the full joy of the sabbatic rest of man with God and the in-gathering of the fruits of the complete redemption is only possible upon the condition of repentance and the fullest possible exipation for sin. There are three major things that must happen before all sin can be removed.

Before the Passover that we celebrated in the spring can actually be applied to the whole world. First, Israel, and eventually all of mankind, must be humbled and repent. And we symbolize that by fasting today, and that is actually part of our celebration to fast.

We're celebrating something by not eating. We're celebrating freedom by not eating today, because the head must be bowed like the bulrush. And Israel must be humbled and repent, and God will humble Israel with great affliction during the Great Tribulation, and they will be a people ready to repent and serve God. And I just want to throw in there, fasting means something else really, really great and significant about the affliction of Jesus Christ.

We just don't have time to cover that today. So there's lots more to cover, plenty, plenty more to cover on days of atonement in the future. But overall and in general, fasting humbles us, and that's the first thing that has to happen in Israel.

Second, Satan must be removed, symbolized by the go-away goat, the Azazel goat, removing Satan's influence over mankind to disobey God, constantly pushing him and mitigating God's anger. And brethren, that should mitigate our anger towards other people. That should give us the impetus to say, let it go. Just let it go. They don't know what they're doing.

The second thing that has to happen is, Satan has to be put away. And then the third thing has to happen for mankind to be brought back to God is that Jesus Christ's Passover sacrifice has to be applied to all of the sins of the people. Not just the personal repentance of the firstfruits that are happening right now in the church. The Day of Atonement celebrates God's extension of the reconciliation and mercy beyond the church, first to Israel and then to all other people.

That's what the Day of Atonement means.