Four Major Themes for the Day of Atonement

Well, brethren, we all know that the Day of Atonement is rich in meaning. Mr. Martin's talked about fasting, about afflicting ourselves. That's certainly an important part of the Day of Atonement. In the sermon today, we're going to consider four major themes. Fasting will be one of those, but we're going to talk about four major themes of this unique Holy Day, this Day of Atonement.

First of all, the first theme is that the Father of Sin, the First and the Chief Sinner, must be bound and rendered powerless. He must be bound and rendered powerless. This is critical for our future, for the future of the world, the universe, for eternity. He needs to be rendered powerless. In Isaiah chapter 14, if you'll turn with me to Isaiah 14. I know we're very familiar with many of these verses, but now's a good time to go through them once again on this Day of Atonement.

It talks about Lucifer, Isaiah 14 verse 12. How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning. Lucifer means light-bringer or son of the morning, or day-star, as it may say in the margin in your Bible. O Lucifer, son of the morning, how you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations.

Satan has affected the nations of this world. Satan is the God of this world. He has affected the nations of this world for many, many years now. Thousands of years, nearly 6,000 years now, Satan has affected the nations of this world. For you have said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven.

I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. It's talking about initially how Lucifer rose up against God, his Creator. I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, or the other angels of God. I will also sit on 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, or I will basically rule over the Most High.

Satan, who was first known as Lucifer, became the Lord of Darkness. Just the opposite of what his name meant. It was changed to Satan, which means destroyer, which means adversary. Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the pit. You shall be cast into a bottomless pit, is basically what it's saying here. You will try to overcome God himself, God Most High, but in due time, you will be cast into outer darkness. So the Father of Sin, the First and the Chief Sinner, Satan the Devil, must be bound and rendered powerless.

In Ezekiel 28, it also speaks of Satan the Devil. It uses the King of Tyre here as a type of Satan the Devil, but it's clearly speaking of Satan the Devil. Ezekiel chapter 28 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 say to him, Thus says the Lord God. Clearly, the King of Tyre is a type of Satan the Devil, of Lucifer, who became known as Satan. Because these words could surely not really describe the King of Tyre, but they are describing Satan the Devil.

You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden the Garden of God. Now, was the King of Tyre ever in Eden? The Garden of God, talking about being there with Adam and Eve. But Satan was there with Adam and Eve. You were in Eden the Garden of God. Every precious stone was your covering. The sardius, topaz, and diamond barrel, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day that you were created.

You were the anointed carob who covers. Now, obviously, the King of Tyre was not a carob. But Lucifer was an archangel. He was a carob. And he was one of the top archangels that God had created. He was a created being. He is not like God, who is eternal. It's important to realize that Satan, you know, he has no power against God. God is eternal. God is omnipotent. He's all-powerful. I establish you. You are on the holy mountain of God. You walk back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day that you were created until iniquity or sin was found in you.

So, Satan, who once was known as Lucifer, or a light-bringer, became the Prince of Darkness or the Lord of Darkness. So, the King of Tyre is clearly symbolic of Satan the Devil here. Satan was the serpent who was in the Garden of Eden who tempted Adam and Eve to sin. He was the father of sin, the first sinner, and he also tempted Adam and Eve to sin.

Now, in Revelation 20, we see that Satan is going to be cast into that bottomless pit.

Let's go there. In Revelation 20, Revelation 20.

Revelation 20, and of course the Day of Atonement, in part, pictures this time when Satan is going to be bound.

Revelation 20. Let's read verse 1.

During that time, he's going to be in chains in the bottomless pit.

We don't know exactly how that's going to happen, where this bottomless pit is, but we know it's going to happen. Figuratively, symbolically, Satan is going to be cast into a bottomless pit, and that's where he's going to stay for a thousand years. So, he 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 until the thousand years were finished.

But after these things, he must be released for a little while. God has his reasons why Satan will be released for a little while. After a thousand years when people would not have been influenced by Satan the devil, God's going to again show the power of Satan the devil.

To tempt and to deceive, so there is no question in anyone's mind.

Verse 4, And I saw thrones, and they sat on 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 worshiped the beast or his image, had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands, and they lived and they reigned with Christ for a thousand years, the same thousand years where Satan will be bound.

But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished.

So then it refers to the first resurrection, which goes back to verse 4, at Christ's returns, then those who were martyred and beheaded will be resurrected in the first resurrection because they were faithful even to the death.

And those who were faithful and didn't die, as the scripture says, those who are alive and remain shall be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, at the trumpet blast when Christ returns, those who are alive will be changed to spirit at that time. This is the first resurrection.

The rest of the dead will not live again until the thousand years are finished.

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 they shall reign with him a thousand years.

So we have marvelous times ahead of us. Those who remain faithful, who are called chosen and faithful, they will rule and reign with Christ for a thousand years.

Now let's go ahead and read a little bit more in verse 7. Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison. He will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, together them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea.

They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints, and the beloved city 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 Brinstone, where the beast and the false prophet were cast, better translation, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. They will no longer have access to God.

They will be in torment, as it says here, forever and ever.

So the devil who deceived those human beings, who followed Satan at the end of the thousand years, that devil who deceived them is going to be cast into the lake of fire in Brinstone, where the beast and the false prophet had been cast a long time ago, a thousand years before.

And they will be tormented forever. That is, Satan and his demons.

So here we see that Satan is going to be bound. He will be loose for a short time.

Satan has great power in one sense, not nearly as powerful as God himself, but certainly he has powers that we don't have.

We are human beings, flesh, physical.

Satan is a spirit being, an evil spirit being, but a spirit being nevertheless.

Now let's go to Leviticus 16.

You knew we'd get here sometime today.

Leviticus 16.

Now it talks about Aaron, the high priest.

It talks about the holy place.

It talks about him being clothed in holy linen, holy garments that he had to wash before he would go into the holy place, which the high priest could only go in once a year and only the high priest.

Verse 7, it says, He shall take the two goats and present them before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of meeting.

Then Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other lot for the scapegoat, or the Azazel goat, the Azazel.

And Aaron shall bring the goat on which the Lord's lot fell and offer it as a sin offering. So this was the Lord's lot. This was the Lord's goat.

And this is the goat that would die as a sin offering.

But the goat on which the lot fell to be the Azazel goat shall be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement upon it and to let it go as the scapegoat or the Azazel into the wilderness.

Now I'd like to read a little bit here.

And I'm not exactly sure.

I'm sorry, I can't even tell you exactly where this came from.

I put it in my notes, got it off the internet somewhere.

So, you know, I really can't say exactly where it came from.

But let me read what it says here. Azazel is the chief of the Satorim, or goat demons.

Now it was interesting when my wife and I were in Israel last summer.

We went up to Mount Hermon, a place called Benaias, and they had the goat pan.

They had worshipped this goat.

It was in the side of the mountain.

And it was quite interesting.

It was a place of pagan worship to these goat demons.

I mean, it was interesting to see what we're going to talk about here to some degree.

You know, it's all related together. There was an awful lot of pagan idol worship going on in the land of Israel and in the high places. And we'll even reference that as I go through and read some of this to you.

So, Azazel is the chief of the Satorim, or goat demons, who haunted the desert and to whom most primitive Semitic, most likely non-Hebrew tribes, offered sacrifices.

The Old Testament states that Jeroboam appointed priests for the Satorim.

You remember Jeroboam, who was apostate.

He appointed priests for the Satorim. But Josiah destroyed the places of their worship as the practices accompanying this worship involved...

Well, I didn't like to read this.

A certain act of women with goats. Let's just put it that way.

Sick.

The Satorim, or hairy demons, as the word itself means, are mentioned in Leviticus 17 verse 7 and 2 Chronicles 11, 15 as goat demons. Isaiah 34, 14 says that the goat demons greet each other among the ruins of Edom, along with Lilith and other wild beasts.

The name Azazel may be derived from Azaz, A-Z-A-Z, and El, meaning strong one of God.

It is thought that Azazel may have been derived from the Canaanite God, Aziz, A-S-I-Z, who caused the sun to burn strongly. It has also been... I mean, that's what they said. It caused, you know, this God caused the sun to burn strongly, which, of course, is bunk, because it had no power to do such a thing.

God is the one who created the sun, and thankfully God created it in such a way that we're still alive, because we would be burned up in an instant.

If we weren't just exactly the right distance from the sun.

So, it was derived from the Canaanite God, Aziz, who supposedly caused the sun to burn strongly. It has also been theorized that he has been influenced by the Egyptian God, Seth.

Leviticus 16, 8 tells that the Lord ordered his high priest, Aaron, to place lots upon the two goats.

One marked for the Lord, the other marked for the Azazel on the Jewish day of atonement.

The goat designated by Lot for the Lord is to be used as a sin offering, while the goat designated for Azazel shall be left standing alive before the Lord, to make expiation with it and to send it off to the wilderness for Azazel.

Aaron was to lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities and transgressions of the Israelites, whatever their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and it shall be sent off to the wilderness.

Thus the goats shall carry on it all their iniquities to an inaccessible region into the wilderness, and the goat shall be set free in the wilderness.

Leviticus 16, 21-22 also says that he who set the Azazel goat free shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water. After that, he may re-enter the camp.

From this passage in Leviticus, it was seen that Azazel is conceived of as a personal being, as lots were drawn for the Lord and for him. Also, Leviticus mentions that Azazel lives in the wilderness, as do the serene. Because of this ritual, Azazel is known as the scapegoat.

The goat that is sent to Azazel is not as a sacrifice, but as a symbol that there is no longer any unexpiated guilt.

Both the goat and the man who leads away the goat are unclean, and the only way the man can re-enter the goat, the camp, is by washing his clothes and bathing.

I think that's as far as I need to read. There's a little bit more here, but if you want to study into the Azazel and what it means, certainly there's lots of material out there.

Scapegoat is really not a good translation, because when you think of the scapegoat, you think of someone who's not really guilty, but someone who is taking a bum rap.

This is not the case for the Azazel, who represents Satan the devil.

Satan is guilty, and Satan will pay the price for his sins. The first point is that the father of sin, the chief sinner, must be bound and rendered powerless. Now he is the god of this earth, and he wreaks havoc on the earth, and he tempts people, and he deceives the whole world. Now, let's read a little bit further, as in Leviticus 16 again. So Aaron shall cast lots, and in verse 8, Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats, one lot for the Lord, the other lot for the scapegoat, or the Azazel. And Aaron shall bring the goat on which the Lord's lot fell, and offer it as a sin offering. So that obviously depicts Jesus Christ. Christ paid the penalty for our sins. Christ laid his life down for our sins. Christ shed his blood for our sins. He is the Lamb of God who shed his blood for our sins. But the goat on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, verse 10, shall be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement upon it, and to let it go as the scapegoat into the wilderness. And Aaron shall bring the bull of the sin offering which is for himself, and make atonement for himself and for his house, and shall kill the bull as the sin offering which is for himself. He shall take a censure full of burning coals of fire from the altar before the Lord, with his hands full of sweet incense beaten fine and bring it inside the veil. He shall put the incense on the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of incense may cover the mercy seat that is on the testimony lest ye die. And he shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it on, sprinkle it with his finger on the mercy seat on the east side, and before the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times. Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering which is for the people. Okay, this is a goat for the people to pay the price, the penalty for the sins of the people. He shall bring its blood inside the veil, do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat so he shall make atonement for the holy place because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel and because of their transgressions for all their sins. So he shall do for the tabernacle of meeting which remains among them in the midst of their uncleanness. There shall be no man in the tabernacle of meeting when he goes in to make atonement in the holy place until he comes out that he may make atonement for himself, for his household, and for the assembly of Israel. He shall go out to the altar that is before the Lord and make atonement for it and shall take some of the blood of the bull, some of the blood of the goat, and put it on the horns of the altar all around. Then he shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times, cleanse it, and consecrate it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel. And 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. Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, confess over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel and all their transgressions concerning all their sins. Now this represents again the father of sin.

It represents Satan the devil, who is the tempter of mankind and is the accuser of the brethren.

Concerning all their sins, putting them on the head of the of the goat, and shall send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a suitable man. The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to an uninhabited land, and he shall release the goat in the wilderness.

Now this suitable man is a type of Jesus Christ. Christ is the one that is ultimately going to have Satan bound for those thousand years. Christ was the one who was able to to take off the seals in the book of Revelation. Remember, John actually cried because at first no one was known to be suitable to do this until, of course, Christ did it because Christ is perfect. And he was the one that was suitable. He's also the one that will see that Satan the devil is cast into the abyss or into the great pit, the bottomless pit.

Verse 23, Then Aaron shall come into the tabernacle of meeting, shall take off the linen garments which he put on when he went into the holy place, and shall leave them there.

And he shall wash his body with water in the holy place, put on his garments, come out, and offer his burnt offering, and the burnt offering of the people, and make atonement for himself and for the people. I think that's as far as we need to read. You can read through the rest of it if you'd like later on. But clearly, this chapter shows partially what this Day of Atonement is about. I mean, this is what was to take place on the Day of Atonement anciently. Obviously, we don't do the same thing today because Christ came and fulfilled all of this. Christ is our atoning sacrifice.

Satan the devil, of course, again representing the one who's responsible for sin. In a sense, the devil makes us do it, but not ultimately. We also bear some responsibility for our sins. We can't blame everything on Satan, but Satan is certainly the father of sin. He is the father of lies. He is the father of all these sins. And again, when the hands were laid upon him, and all the sins were put upon him, it's because, again, he was the father of sin. He's the one that initially rose up against God the Father and tried to take over, rebelled against God. And frankly, a lot of people have been following his example. And we all have to be careful that we don't rise up in rebellion against God and what God is doing on this earth. So, the first point, again, is Satan must be bound and rendered powerless. We see that that is what's going to take place according to Revelation. We read that in Revelation, chapter 20. Satan will be cast into that bottom with spit and bound there for a thousand years. Now, let's go on to a second theme of the Day of Atonement. And we've talked about it quite a bit already. And that is, only Jesus Christ, our high priest today, is fit to render Satan powerless. Only Jesus Christ, who is our high priest today, is fit to render Satan powerless. You can't do it. I can't do it. Of course, God the Father could do it. But he, in his plan, has chosen Jesus Christ, who will be the instrument who will render Satan powerless at his return. Like Passover, the Day of Atonement, pictures the atoning sacrifice of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Passover also pictures the sacrifice of Christ, but it looks more to Christ's first coming. Christ came to die for our sins. When we go to the Passover, we remember the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Passover is extremely meaningful. We remember that Christ died for us, that he laid his life down for us. Now, Atonement looks to the return of Jesus Christ. Scripture says that Christ is coming back again, and he's bringing salvation with him this time. First, he came to pay the price, to show that he was worthy, because only Christ could pay the price. He laid down his life, having lived a perfect life. He laid it down for you and me, for our sins. So, our sins are forgiven in Christ, and we picture that every year at Passover. The Day of Atonement pictures the return of Christ, in a sense. Christ atoned for us. He's coming back, and presently he's making intercession for us. He is our high priest, who is at the right hand of God, and he makes intercession daily for us. Again, your sins are forgiven through the shed blood of Christ. This symbolism is clearly seen in Leviticus 16, when a young, innocent goat is slain and offered as a sin offering for the people.

The high priest in the Old Testament times was the one who administered this service on the Day of Atonement. Christ is now our high priest, who intercedes on our behalf. When we sin, it is Christ who speaks to the Father on our behalf. Christ's job wasn't completed at the stake or upon His resurrection. Christ continues to work on our behalf. He speaks to the Father for us, He intervenes for us, He makes intercession for us, and the Father grants repentance to us based on our attitude of humility and genuine godly sorrow and remorse for our sins. So what event makes it possible for us to have our sins forgiven? Well, Genesis chapter 3 prophesied of what would need to take place. Genesis chapter 3, in the very beginning of the Bible, after Adam and Eve had listened to the serpent in the Garden of Eden, in verse 15, again, this is a prophecy, so the Lord God said to the serpent, and He prophesied, and I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. Notice that seed is capitalized because it's speaking about one who would be born of a woman, actually born of a virgin, who would become the Christ, would be the seed that would lay his life down for us. He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. Christ's heel was bruised when he was crucified.

But Christ was resurrected. It was not a deadly wound or a deadly blow. Christ was resurrected to life. He's now at the right hand of God. On the other hand, Satan the devil will be rendered powerless, as we said earlier, because he shall bruise your head. A fatal blow symbolically and spiritually. Satan will be bound. He will be loose for a short time, but then he will be cast into the lake of fire, and he will be cast into outer darkness for eternity.

God is going to deal with him as he sees fit. If, sometime down the line, God decides to destroy him, God could certainly do that. God created him. He can certainly destroy him, if that's what he determines to do. As far as we know, he's going to be cast into outer darkness. What that fully means and entails, we won't know until we're spirit. Then I have a feeling we'll know. In Hebrews chapter 2, and we'll go there, it talks about how Christ became flesh.

It talks about how Christ became flesh, and that he might die for all of us. Hebrews chapter 2, let's go there, Hebrews 2 verse 14. Hebrews chapter 2 verse 14.

Inasmuch then, as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared in the same. In other words, Christ became flesh and blood. He shared in the same, that through death, he might destroy him who had the power of death. That is the devil.

When the devil came and deceived Eve, he said, you shall not surely die. But they did die. And it was because they listened to him that he had power of death. Satan the devil. And release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For indeed, he does not give aid to angels, but he does give aid to the seed of Abraham. Therefore, in all things, he had to be made like his brethren. Christ had to become like us. He is our elder brother. He is the firstborn among many brethren. Christ came and he became human so that he could lay his life down for us. He was tempted in every point as we are, yet he was without sin. None of us can say that, but Christ was without sin.

So in all things, he had to be made like his brethren, that he might be a merciful and fearful faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to make propitiation. In other words, to pay the penalty for the sins of the people. For in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he is able to aid those who are tempted. Christ is able to aid us. He is our high priest. He lives. He's at the right hand of God. He makes intercession for us. Christ loves us and he's there for us. Now, in Hebrews 4 verse 14, seeing then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace. We need to go boldly before the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. We must not become discouraged because Satan wants to use discouragement and depression. That's what Satan will do. Satan will convince you that you are not worthy to bow before God, to pray to God. You know, he will convince some people, he will try to convince all of us, that we are not worthy to approach the throne of God. Certainly we fall far short, but the Scripture tells us, come boldly to the throne of grace. In other words, you have to have faith in Jesus Christ as your Savior, and you have to go boldly before the throne. It says that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. So when we're in trouble, perhaps Satan is after us in various ways, or people are after us, our enemies are after us, we go boldly before the throne. We ask God for help. We expect God to deliver for us. And when we've sinned, we bow before God and pray for forgiveness. First and foremost, we go humbly before the throne of grace. And we pray that God would forgive us.

At the same time, we must have faith that God will do just that. That he will grant us repentance, and that he will forgive us. So don't let Satan discourage you to the point you don't pray, you don't study, you don't seek God. When you sin, that's when you need to seek God faithfully and fervently. You need help at that time. So you need to go before God's throne and get the help that Christ will give you. He will make intercession for you. Whereas Satan is the accuser of the brethren, Satan will accuse you before God. First he tempts you to sin, and then when you follow Satan and sin, then he goes before the throne of God and accuses you before the throne. Now, that's the kind of being Satan the devil is. Christ, on the other hand, will make intercession and will plead your case before God. Now, we don't have time to go to Hebrews 9, but you could go read that sometime, and it relates to this point. As well as does 1 John 2, verses 1 and 2, where it talks about Christ, who is our propitiation, who laid down his life for us, paid the penalty for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world, it says. Now, it's not just about the firstfruits. It's not just about us. God is calling everyone. God has a wonderful plan. He is calling everyone. Eventually, all people will come to know the true God. Let's go on to a third theme for this day of Atonement, and that is, through the atoning sacrifice of Christ, we may enter into Atonement or at-one-ment, becoming at one with God. Now, we've also talked about this to some degree. What does this mean? Well, brother, love for God and love for one another is to be the major identifying sign of Christ's disciples.

That's how we are known. 1 John 4, verse 7. Again, it speaks of Christ, who is our atoning sacrifice. Let's go to 1 John 4. 1 John 4. 1 John 4, verse 7. 1 John 4, verse 7.

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this, the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. And this is love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation, to pay the penalty for our sins. Beloved, it also means propitiation, means mercy seat. It's because Christ laid down his life for us. We can go before the mercy seat and ask for forgiveness because Christ paid the penalty for our sins. The wages of sin is death. Christ paid that penalty for us. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. And again, it's not speaking about just the brethren, it's talking about the whole world, learning to love the whole world, learning to love everyone. In chapter 5, verse 1, whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God, or is begotten of God, and everyone who loves him who begot also loves him who is begotten of him. By this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and when we keep his commandments. We are a commandment-keeping church. We believe in keeping the commandments. We do not believe that God did away with the commandments when Christ died for us.

We believe he made it possible for our sins to be forgiven as he laid his life down and shed his blood for us, but he did not do away with the law of God. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world, and this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? We must have faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God who paid the penalty for our sins.

Now, brethren, we are reconciled to the Father through the Son. The first fruits have a special relationship with God now. That's true. We have a special relationship. We are called now.

God is working with us. God is holding us accountable as well. We must respond to God's calling. Only those who are called chosen and faithful will be among the first fruits.

So we must respond to the call, and if we do, we'll be chosen by God. Once we're chosen, we're granted the Spirit of God, then we must remain faithful. And if we remain faithful, if we die with God's Spirit dwelling in us, or if we are alive with God's Spirit dwelling in us, then we have remained faithful. We have endured to the end.

And so we shall live forever with Christ and with the Father.

Now, in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, it talks about the ministry of reconciliation and how we are ambassadors for Christ. 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verses 14 through 21. 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verses 14 through 21. Let's go there. 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 14. For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus, that if one died for all, then all died. And he died for all. Christ died for all. That those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for him who died for them and rose again. Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. In other words, we look at everyone as a potential child of God, as a Spirit-born member of the family of God. That's how we're supposed to look at people, not as mere human beings, but as potential sons of God. Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, Christ came in the flesh. Yet now we know him thus no longer, as Christ is no longer in the flesh, but now in the Spirit.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away, behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. That is, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. For he made him, for he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. So here again, we see that we are to be ambassadors for Christ. We are to set an example of a true Christian life by showing love for each other and for the entire world.

The first fruits are to be producing the fruit of God's Spirit as a consistent regular basis.

Remember the fruit of God's Spirit? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, for meekness, faithfulness, and self-control. These are the nine fruits of God's Spirit that you can look up later in Galatians 5. If you care to, we're very familiar with the fruits of God's Spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, meekness, faithfulness, self-control. If we allow those fruits to be produced in our lives on a daily basis, then we will certainly be good ambassadors for Christ.

Now, we know that these days are the feasts. God's revealed these days to us. It's good that we're here. This is a double Sabbath. We're here not only because it's the weekly Sabbath, but we're here because it's the day of atonement. This is a high day, an annual holy day, a holy convocation, a commanded assembly. So it's good that we're meeting here today to discuss these things. Remember, God said, these are my Sabbaths you shall keep, and these are a sign between you and me. So it's good that we are here. That's in Exodus 31, that these days are a sign between God and His people. And again, having love for one another is also a major sign, even more important than being here on the Sabbath or the high days. We have to leave here, and we have to have love 24-7. And we keep the holy days once a week, or seven to eight times in a year annually, but every day we are to show love one for another. That's how we are known as the disciples of Jesus Christ. Now let's go on to the last point, number four, another theme regarding this day of atonement.

And that is, through prayer, through proper prayer and proper fasting, we learn to do God's will more faithfully through proper prayer and proper fasting. Obviously, we have to be yielded to Christ in order to pray properly. In order to fast properly, we have to be yielded to Christ. We have to do it in a proper way. There's always an improper way to do almost anything.

Prayer and fasting are essential to building a close personal relationship with God the Father and with Christ. Remember, when we pray to God, we are communicating with Him. We're talking to Him. We are communing with Him. So it comes from the heart. We have to lay our heart bare before God the Father and Jesus Christ. We are sharing with God. We're praising Him. We're thanking Him. We're showing our appreciation to Him when we pray for all that He's done for us.

So it is a thing of the heart. When we fast, we set aside a time period where we humble ourselves by not eating or drinking anything. We begin to see how dependent we truly are on God who provides us all things. God is the one that provides the air that we breathe constantly throughout the day. He sustains our life continually. He allows us to have food and water on a regular basis. We take it for granted. We fast so that we can humble ourselves, realizing our dependence upon God. We should fast more than just on the day of atonement.

This is one time when we're required to fast. But we should try to fast at other times to show that we really are the disciples of Christ. Christ said, when I leave, my disciples will fast. He went to the Father. We're supposed to be fasting.

So when we are fasting, when we fast, we are sacrificing a very basic human need to draw closer to God. We're showing God that He's more important to us than food and water.

And that's pretty important to show God that He's more important to us than food or water.

This shows our willingness to surrender our will to God's will.

Humanly, it is difficult to fast for every fiber of our being cries out for food and water.

After a time, now we could go on and fast for three or four days. And I guarantee all of us would then be crying out, much more so than we are now. Now, some of you are probably crying out more than others. Some of us don't have as much of a problem fasting. Some of you may be suffering quite a bit now. You're crying out for food, for water, for sustenance.

Eventually, we would all get there if we fasted longer.

Proper fasting does bring beautiful results in one's life. So if you haven't really tried it, try it. Fast more often. It is a powerful tool to help us draw close to God and to grow spiritually.

Isaiah 58 and 59 talks about proper fasting. We're not going to take the time to go there because I don't want to be too long-winded on this day of atonement.

I don't want to withhold you from eating and drinking too much longer, although you still have another hour. So I guess we could go for a while. I know you're tired.

What a wonderful blessing it is to be here on the day of atonement and to be here fasting together and fellowshiping with one another. This day, as all of God's holy days, are indeed rich in meaning. Let's rehearse once again the four themes that we've talked about today.

First of all, Satan is about to be bound and rendered powerless. Hallelujah! Praise God that day's coming. Secondly, only Jesus Christ, our high priest, is fit to render Satan powerless.

Christ, who died for us. Which leads us to the third point. We, as first responders, we as firstfruits are entering into atonement. Christ is the atoning sacrifice, and we are becoming at one with God through Christ living in us. Christ does the works in us as we learn to yield to Christ. And number four, through prayer and fasting, we shall learn to do God's will more faithfully. So it's important that we're here today obeying God. So, brethren, Barbara and I wish you all a very fine and wonderful Feast of Tabernacles. I don't know about you, but I'm pretty excited about heading out of Oklahoma, going to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and keeping the feast.

I mean, I talked about the nice accommodations, but that's secondary. Very, very secondary to what the real reason I'm going. That is to go up and worship the King. That's why I'm headed up. That's why I'm going to Galveston, is to worship the King. We should all go up and worship the King.

You know, it's a wonderful opportunity to worship the King. So let's remember all those who could not attend this year. You know, we made a list of those who were not able to attend, and we gave you a copy of that. I think you all got copies of that. So let's pray for those people who were not able to come. Pray that they hopefully will be able to attend next year. And let's all pray for God's Kingdom to come soon. So all people everywhere might come to know the true God and share in all the blessings and all the benefits of God's Kingdom and God's way of life.

So let us go up and worship the King.