The Importance of the Day of Atonement in Ancient Israel

This sermon is the fifth sermon I've given about the Day of Atonement since I moved here. Five different sermons over the last seven years. Each one has been different. And this one will wrap up what I started on that first sermon. Because in that first sermon, I started going through Hebrews 7, 8, 9, and 10 about the meaning of the Day of Atonement as outlined in the New Testament. And I'll finally finish it today so that next year we can start all over again. The first sermon was simply called the Mercy Seat. And I talked about the Ark of the Covenant, the Mercy Seat, and how important that was on this day. Because on this day, the ceremonies and rituals that were done in the ancient tabernacle were the most complicated rituals of the whole year. There was nothing like this day. Now it had to be done. And this was the most solemn day. We tend to think of the Passover as the being most solemn. But for ancient Israel, we'll talk about that in a few minutes, this was the most solemn. They were very solemn. There was actually fear on this day because of what this day meant. I went through the Mercy Seat and showed how they were a covenant people. And they received mercy and grace from God and how that applies to us and the mercy and the grace that God gives us. The second sermon was on our near kinsmen, our kinsmen Redeemer. I went through and showed how redemption is such a core aspect, how God is redeeming humanity to reconcile them to Him, that humanity is, according to God, His enemy. He loves us, but we're His enemy. And He has to reconcile His enemies to Himself. And went through how the laws concerning the kinsmen Redeemer in the Old Testament, that's just the type of Jesus Christ and what this day is all about. The third sermon I gave was on the meaning of the two goats and how there are that special ceremony on this day that it's not like any other ceremony. This was a normal sacrifice. There's two goats and there's a choice between the two goats. And one is sacrifice, the one who's taken out into the wilderness. And showed how this day pictures, once again, the work of Jesus Christ and the responsibility Satan has for introducing humanity to sin and for being the God of this world for all this time and how He will be removed. So there's a future aspect of part of the Day of Atonement. There's a prophetic aspect, but there's a now aspect that's real important to this day. And then last time I talked about Jesus Christ as our high priest. And if you remember, I actually went through a slideshow showing all the different clothing that the high priest wore on this day because he had the change clothes. He had to go through various washings throughout the day. He actually had the change clothes. And the last thing he did is go into the Holy Holy of Holies, the most holy place, and he had to have something he only wore on that day. He didn't wear it any other time during the year. So one time in a year when he went to the Holy of Holies, he had a very special set of clothing, including a miter he had to wear on his head, a breastplate, all these things he had to wear just for this simple ceremony. Well, it wasn't so simple, but complex ceremony that he was doing on this day. I talked about how Jesus Christ is our high priest, and this day pictures what He does as high priest. All those are aspects of the Day of Atonement.

It's easy to give a sermon and give a certain amount of explanation to the Feast of Tabernacles. Or to give a sermon and explain what the Passover is. Or to give a sermon and explain what Pentecost is. You cannot explain in one sermon everything that's contained in the Day of Atonement.

And it's hard for us to sometimes understand why this was such a solemn time for them. Why the people of ancient Israel this day meant everything. This day meant everything to them. Which will tell us something we need to understand about this day. Let's go back to Leviticus 23 and just begin by looking at the instructions given. The first instructions given about this day.

The second instructions that were given that are much more detailed and talk about the ceremonies. There are more Old Testament instructions on what to do on this day than any other holy day.

And there's more concentrated information in the book of Hebrews on this day than concentrated in any other part of the New Testament. You have to take all of it and put it together to get the full meaning. So it says here in Leviticus 23 verse 23, verse 26, The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, Also, the tenth day of the seventh month shall be the day of atonement. It shall be a holy convocation for you, and you shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire to the LORD. This afflicting of the souls meant to fast. And that's been what the Jews have done. Since the Babylonian captivity, they came out of that saying, No, we know what that means. You're supposed to fast. We understood what it meant at the time. And so fasting on this day is what we're supposed to do. We're here fasting. Although sometimes, why? Why are we fasting? We'll talk about that in a minute too. Why do you fast on this day? Every other holy day is a feast day. Every other holy day is a feast day. This is a fast day. 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 and your God.

For any person who is not affected in soul that same day shall be cut off from his people. And any person who does any work on that same day, that person I will destroy from among his people, you shall do no matter of work on it. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations and all your dwellings. It shall be to you a Sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall afflict your souls on the ninth day of the month and evening from evening to evening. You shall celebrate your Sabbath. It's interesting. It's the tenth day, but it starts on the ninth day. That means you are to begin your fast before sundown. This day is a day that you are to be preparing for, not because you're preparing food, but because you're being prepared spiritually for what this day means. Sometimes we sandwich this day between the Feast of Trumpets, which is really exciting because it's the beginning of this fall Holy Day season, and we're all going to go to the Feast of Tabernacles. We're all excited about that. The Day of Toman, we do it, but do we pay it the attention we should? In ancient Israel, they would have had no trouble paying this day the attention they should because of the elaborate ceremonies that they had to do. Because if you go back to the time of the Tabernacle, when these instructions were given, the entire nation, millions of people, had to come watch what happened on this day, unlike any other day.

So let's look at this now in the context. Just the Day of Toman with the other Holy Days, the other fall Holy Days. We just kept the Feast of Trumpets, and that was very exciting. We look forward to the return of Jesus Christ. We know it's about the judgment, God pouring out His judgment on the earth before Christ returns, those seven trumpets, the Feast of Trumpets. On the seventh trumpet, Christ returns to save the world. Salvation comes. It's scary time, but it's an exciting time that we keep this Day of Toman. We know it has to do with reconciliation, human beings being reconciled to God. We know it's tied in somehow to some of the teachings of the Passover. And of course, we know that Satan is removed. So it's an interesting day if you can be so not stressed from fasting so much to think about it. And then, of course, we have the Feast coming up. Many of you will be leaving tomorrow morning, or the next day, or Sunday morning to go to the Feast. And that's where we're really, really excited about going to the Feast and picturing Christ's 1000 rule on the earth, and then the eighth day. But that's an exciting time, too. Another Feast Day. A Holy Sabbath that's a Feast Day because it is when God brings heaven to earth. New Jerusalem comes to earth. Now, that's exciting, too, isn't it? But this day, we don't eat. It's uncomfortable. I mean, yeah, in Satan's remote, that's good, but we don't eat. It's uncomfortable. Why do we fast? Why do we fast? And then we're going to go in to Hebrews 7, 8, 9, and 10, and cover the verses that we haven't covered in the other three sermons. So I've completed everything that's said just in those four chapters. Let's go to Joel 2. Joel 2 is interesting because Joel was written to people of ancient Israel, and he's talking ahead to the day of the Lord. Now, Israel, Judah, they all had their day of the Lord. There's more than one day of the Lord in the Bible. I gave a whole sermon on that a couple years ago. More than one day of the Lord. There's the day of the Lord, which encompasses when the whole earth is burned up, and all the incorrigibly wicked face annihilation. That's also called the day of the Lord. Then there's the day of the Lord that happened to Israel. There's the day of the Lord that happened to Judah, when he finally brought punishment upon them. The day of the Lord we talk about most of the time is the day of the Lord it has to do with Christ's return, because that's called the day of the Lord. That is the great day of the Lord, when we know that He is going to return, and there's going to be poured out these trumpets, these plagues, this what God is going to do, to bring humanity into subjection to Him. So the book of Joel is written about a day of the Lord that happened to those people, but in its greater context by far, it's a book about a day of the Lord that happens in the future. And here's what God calls out to the people that are facing this day of the Lord. Now therefore says the Lord, turn to me with all your heart, fasting, with weeping, and with mourning, to rend your heart and not your garments, return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness, and He relents from doing harm.

Fasting here is part of renting your heart. It's renting your heart. It's tearing your heart. It's repenting its humility. The reason we fast today is because this day should bring us into great humility before God. Fasting is just one simple way to do that. You know, God doesn't demand some great asceticism from us to be humbled, right? I mean, He could expect us all to show up beating ourselves, you know, stripped down with our backs naked, beating ourselves with flogs, or flogging ourselves with... what's the word I'm looking for?

Well, that's not it, but that's good enough. There's a specific word. Say, not enough sugar coming to the brain and no coffee. I hate to say that. No coffee is the problem.

He didn't call us here so that we could beat ourselves, that we're all here just to be tortured all day long. Fasting isn't supposed to be torture. No, it feels uncomfortable. Fasting is to remind us that we are physical before the great God, and that there's something great happening in what He's doing, and there's something He's doing in our lives. So, no, this isn't pettance. This isn't asceticism, so God is pleased with our suffering. Our suffering isn't pleasing God. Our suffering is to bring us into a mindset to understand what this day is all about. That's what this is. So, yes, we're fasting. That makes this day different. That makes this day a little bit more solemn. You didn't come in here probably as happy or as jovial as you usually are.

It's solemn. There's something different about it. What's different about it is we have to be humble before what God is doing. And this brings so many things into focus into what God is doing.

See, you can never fill your spiritual hunger that God has placed in all of us. You can never fill that with physical things. You can't fill your physical hunger with money, enough food, enough fun, enough things, a good enough job, or even other people. When people try to fill their spiritual hunger by making their husband or wife fill your spiritual hunger, you're dooming your marriage. Or if you try to get your children to fill your spiritual hunger, you're dooming your relationship with your children, only God can fill that. So what we do is say, well, if I get enough knowledge, it'll be filled. Well, knowledge is important, but knowledge doesn't fill it either. Only the knowledge that takes us someplace. And what we're going to talk about today is the knowledge that takes us to where that physical or spiritual hunger is filled. It's God's presence in us.

So we're here to fast, to be reminded, there's nothing physical you can do. There's nothing physical you and I can do to fill the spiritual hunger that's real. That this physical hunger is just a shadow of. It's just a shadow of, because the reality is that spiritual hunger is eternal. Only God can fill that eternally.

So we're fasting for a reason. So let's now go back to Hebrews and look at some of the verses we haven't covered and the other three sermons and see why this fasting and the humility that we're supposed to experience is absolutely vital to this Holy Day. Hebrews 8. Hebrews 8.

So Hebrews 7 starts talking about the high priest. Hebrews 8 starts to talk about the activities on the Day of Atonement, what the high priest did. Now remember, the people who gathered to keep the Day of Atonement at that tabernacle and then later at the temple were there because of a covenant. Not everybody could just show up to that. The covenant people came to this because this day determined whether they stayed in the covenant or not.

None of the other Holy Days did that. All the other Holy Days just celebrated things God was doing and that we know it also celebrated future events and prophetic events. To them, Passover was about coming out of Egypt. It celebrated something God had done to them and for them. But this was different. You know, they kept Pentecost to celebrate that they had received a covenant. Ten commandments were given on Pentecost. They were given a covenant from God on that day. They had received that they had it. This day was about whether they got to stay in the covenant or not. And so in the midst of this discussion about the Day of Atonement, here's what the writer of Hebrews says, verse 7 of chapter 8. For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. You and I aren't part of the Sinai covenant. That doesn't mean everything the Sinai covenant has done away with. But the structure of it has changed. The structure of that covenant has changed. If it wasn't, you and I would have to be in Jerusalem at a temple watching a high priest do these things on this day or we're breaking the covenant. So the structure of the covenant had to change. Or we'd have to be doing that. We'd have to be watching a Levitical priest go into the Holy of Holies and sprinkle blood. Well, we couldn't see that because he went behind a curtain. We wouldn't be allowed to see everything that went on, just part of it. So but the structure changed. He says there was something in that structure and that of that covenant of God that didn't work. Now that obviously everything in the covenant is not gone. We keep the Ten Commandments. Love God with all your heart and all your mind and all your soul. That's part of that covenant. Love your neighbor as yourself. That's part of that covenant. The Holy Days are part of that covenant. And we're supposed to keep those Holy Days, but we don't keep them the same. Our covenant is different. Or we would have to do certain things because it was commanded. He says, so what was the problem with the first covenant? Was it not well organized? The God said, you know what? I figured out a better way. Verse eight, because finding fault with them, they didn't keep the covenant. And there's a reason they didn't keep the covenant. The Sinai covenant was never supposed to be eternal in it and all of its structure, all of its instructions. I mean, probably a third of it is about doing sacrifices. And then a huge part of it is about how to run a civil government, like how to run your army. It has no meaning to the church. Now, sacrifices have meaning because they teach us about what we're talking about today. They teach us about Christ. But we're not to do that today. So huge sections of that covenant you and I don't do. We just don't do it because that doesn't do away with the moral law of that covenant. But here is what he now says, and the writer of Hebrews, which I think is Paul, some people say it's not, but I think it's Paul. He quotes from the book of Jeremiah, Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, with the house of Judah. Why? Because there was fault with them. Not according to the covenant which amaze with their fathers on the day that I took them by the hand that lead them out of the land of Egypt, because they did not continue in my covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord.

The people of ancient Israel were scattered and don't even know who they are. The people of Judah are still trying to live under the Sinai covenant, desperately trying to live under the Sinai covenant, because he discarded us because of it. But he said, I will give you a new covenant.

You know, when you talk to an Orthodox Jew, and he'll talk about his covenant with God, he'll talk about the Sinai covenant. He doesn't believe he's under a new covenant.

We believe we're under a new covenant, which is what this entire book is about, and what this day is about.

He says, verse 10, For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their mind and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none of his brothers saying, know the Lord. For all shall know me from the least of them to the greatest of them. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins, and their lawless deeds, and I will remember them no more.

Now that's interesting, because on this day, ancient Israel was reminded of something. That high priest would go into the holiest holies.

In the inter-testament time, between Malachi and Matthew, there are some records that going into the temple, they would actually tie a cord to the leg of the priest, the high priest. Because if he went in there and God rejected it, their offering, God would kill him, and nobody was going in there after, so they could pull him out. But understand what that would mean. I have a covenant with you, and I cover your sins. That's what the word atonement means. It means to cover. So I do not see your sins anymore. On this day of atonement, this day of covering, the high priest went in, and God either said, yes, I cover the sins of my covenant people, or I do not cover the sins of my covenant people. And if he did cover it, and he pulled them out, you know what it meant? It meant they were covered for one year.

Because next year, they had to do this all over again.

This was a solemn day because they were afraid. Because they understood before the Almighty God, at this point, even if there were millions of them there, it meant nothing. If he didn't give them atonement, it meant nothing. If they had to pull that high priest out of there, that meant God had abandoned them. And every year, a high priest had to go through all that preparation and various washings and changes of clothes and killing of animals, all this stuff, and put on this one garment, these garments he could only wear once a year, to go into that holy of holies, that holy place, and stand before that mercy seat, and splash it with blood, and ask God to please let us be your people for one more year.

Because next year, we'll be back doing this again.

The problem was, it couldn't change their conscience.

It could teach them how to be good people, but without God's Spirit, they could not be converted. Now, there are converted people in the Old Testament. You'll see them, where they had God's Spirit. But when you look at the history of ancient Israel, the reason the covenant failed is God's Spirit was not poured out into the great majority of them. It just wasn't. In fact, the predictions are in the Old Testament, there will come a time when the Messiah comes, and the Holy Spirit will be poured out in the large numbers of people. That started in Pentecost.

In the book of Acts, this one started. It's going to get bigger and bigger and bigger until Christ comes back, and God's Spirit is being poured out on the world.

And so there was something wrong with that covenant. And it was them. They could never become converted, except for those who did receive His Spirit. And like I said, you'll see them. I mean, John the Baptist, parents, Mary, Mother, Jesus, David. You'll see people through this time period. Obviously, Abraham and Sarah, Moses, they were converted. They had God's Spirit. But the vast majority of people don't have God's Spirit. Because look what he says in verse 19. And then he says, a new covenant, he has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. The old covenant was becoming obsolete because it wasn't long after this that the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed. And you can't have the Sinai covenant without a tabernacle. It all revolves around a tabernacle. You can't do the Sinai covenant without a tabernacle. Now, the core morality of it, you know, don't kill, don't steal, that stuff carries on. But the structure, how it was administrative, can't be administrative today. That's why if you go to a Jewish Seder on the Passover, you will see that they have a place set for Elijah. Because he's coming back sometime and we don't know where, so they set a place for him so he can come eat with them. Because they can't do it. That's why in the Jewish world up until 1948, there was a common greeting and a common saying that you would say when you said goodbye to somebody next year in Jerusalem. We have to all go back to Jerusalem or the covenant cannot be fulfilled. They know that. Why do you think they're trying to build a temple now? The covenant with them and God can't be fulfilled without that temple. So don't be deceived. That temple won't be the way to worship God.

They may have a Levitical priest there on this day in his garb bringing into a Holy of Holies a blood sacrifice. It is not how we are to worship God because that is obsolete.

Now here's why it's obsolete because he explains it to us in here. So let's go to chapter 9. I'm going to read this from the NIV. It's so different than the New King James. Just a little bit. We're just worded a little bit different. It's easier to read out loud.

Hebrews 9. Let's start in verse 11.

When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made. That is, say, not as part of this creation. When Jesus Christ became the wave sheep offering during the days of unloving bread. And he now then ascends to the Father after his ascension. After he comes back for 40 days, he goes up. He is now the high priest in the real temple. Understand it's the real temple.

All the other temples were copies, bad copies. It's always fascinating to see a copy of the copy, right? I mean, you can find drawings. You can find where they've actually reconstructed what the old tabernacle would have looked like. And you can see a copy of the copy. But it's not a copy of the original. The original is in heaven. The original is the throne of God. He says, he did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves, but he entered the most holy place where the high priest can go and he'd go once a year. Once for all, by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption, the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who were ceremonially unclean sanctified them that they were outwardly clean. How much more then will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our conscience? See, their conscience could not be changed. Cleanse our conscience from acts that lead to death so that we may serve the living God. Jesus Christ, when I went through the whole sermon about how he became the high priest, is in the literal temple serving his high priest. Now, so good on this day.

He's serving his high priest every moment of every day.

The change here is dramatic. If you and I are going to keep that covenant exactly, the Sinai covenant exactly, we have to have a high priest go every year, once a year, to go there and intercede for us, or we are no longer the people of God.

If God doesn't accept him and his sacrifice, we are no longer the people of God. That's what they faced every year. That's why this day was a day of very solemn and some fear and some worry.

He goes on, For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, and now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins commended under the first covenant. If we understand this, this strips us away of all of our pride. That's why we have to be humble this day. We have to be humble this day.

To understand where you are and where you are before God. Every time you pray, every time you come to Sabbath services, every time you live any place you are, you're in direct contact with God Almighty and the high priest in the temple. You don't have to do this once a year.

He says, verse 16, In a case of a will, it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made it, because a will is enforced only when someone has died. It never takes effect while the one who made it is still living, right? This is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood. When Moses had proclaimed every commandment of the law to the people, he took the blood of calves together with water, scarlet wool, and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll in all the people. And he said, This is the blood of the covenant which God has commanded you to keep. In the same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and everything used in its ceremonies. In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness. And those people took the blood of goats and lambs and bulls, and they sprinkled it, and they splashed it, and they cut it, and it bled out. This was a bloody day, by the way, for the priest. There was a lot of blood being splattered all over the place today. Because to go before God, you brought your blood or some substitute, and this was the substitute. And if God did not accept that substitute, the high priest didn't come out. And you weren't God's covenant people anymore. He says it was necessary then for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. This is not a copy anymore. You know, the old tabernacles destroyed.

Solomon's Temple destroyed. Sarovabel's Temple destroyed. Herod's Temple destroyed. The old copies don't even exist, and right now they're trying to build new copies. But you and I don't go before the copies. You and I go before the reality of what's really happening for the Almighty God.

For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary. This is verse 24. There was only a copy of the true one. He entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God's presence. Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again the way the high priest enters the most holy place every year with blood that is not his own. Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the age to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Just as man is destined to die once and after that to face judgment. So Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people, and he will appear a second time not to bear sin but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him. Christ is coming back. This day is all about him coming back.

This day is about what we're going to get to experience. Christ comes back. There's this judgment on the world. These plagues poured out by God as he brings the world to submission to him. Jesus Christ comes back. The saints are resurrected, and our reconciliation is complete. Our reconciliation is complete. We'll meet Christ as our high priest, and we'll meet God that says we will see him face to face. He had to die once for all of us. Those bulls and those goats and those were copies, poor copies, meaningless copies in the long run because not one person has ever been saved by the blood of an animal sacrifice. Never has anybody actually received salvation through an animal sacrifice. All they received was God says, I won't look at your sins because I forgive, and because there's a greater meaning and there's a greater blood that will forgive you of your sins. I will accept that blood for your sins.

See, this is all about our covenant. It's the one thing about atonement we don't look at. It's about our covenant with God. That's why new covenant Christians should keep this day, and those who say we shouldn't lack understanding. They just lack understanding.

Because this is all about the reality of what you and I are living all the time, and we are waiting for him. We're waiting for him to come and bring us into this relationship. If this doesn't give us a sense of wonder and a sense of humility, we are in bad shape.

Spiritually, we're in bad shape. If we don't have a sense of wonder and a sense of humility to understand what God is doing, and you are part of that for reasons—I don't know why he called us except we were the small and the weak—we're part of this. And of all the stuff that goes around our lives, this is the center of what's happening. The high priest standing before the father, who's also our brother, and we're going before him once a year and saying, oh good, we'll make it another year. When you take that Passover, you're reminded, what? This is forever. Unless you turn against God, Jesus Christ is still there. He's never going away. His sacrifice has always been for everybody.

So we have to make the decision. This isn't a matter on we're hanging by our fingernails, because next year, what if he rejects the high priest? The high priest did it once, and that's all that's needed, because we're part of a new covenant in which God has poured out his spirit in us and will change the conscience. That's what Jeremiah said. It couldn't change their conscience. And then the writer of Hebrews says, and it changes their conscience. There's the difference. That's why we don't need the rituals. We need the reality. We need the reality. Hebrews 9. Now, remember, these four chapters are about the Day of Atonement. And now he's beginning to sum up what he's been teaching about the Day of Atonement. Therefore, in conclusion, after all this study of the Day of Atonement, therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place, oh, I'm sorry, the only person going to the Most Holy Place was the high priest once a year. Not anymore. The high priest is there. He invites his disciples, his brothers and sisters, to come into the Holy Place every day. That's the invitation you have.

Doesn't this shake us? Doesn't this move us? This is the reality. He says, you have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus.

As I said, whatever poor copy they make over in Jerusalem is meaningless. Whatever poor copy they make in Jerusalem, which there will be a temple before the end, is meaningless. It just is. Because every day you should have confidence. You enter the Holy of Holies because your high priest is there with you.

By a new and living way open for us through the curtain that is his body. And since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.

Baptism. You enter the covenant through baptism. Every time I hear you'll get some evangelical Protestants, some believe in baptism, some say, no, baptism is not necessary. And you say, well, yes, it is. And they'll say, oh, you believe in salvation by works. No, I believe in covenants. And when God says, I want to make a covenant with you, and this is the sign that we've made a covenant, I want to do the sign. Oh, God says, I want to make covenant with you.

And my answer is, good, let's make a covenant. I don't like that sign you gave me, but I'll make it anyways. Can you imagine that? Our answer to God is, no, that baptism stuff. That seems like silly religious stuff to me. I'm not going to do that, but you and I are like this, right? So if I do that, obey God and say, yes, I wish to enter into this covenant, baptize me so I can be baptized with forgiveness, take on the body of Christ, take on the Holy Spirit, be baptized with the Holy Spirit by the laying on of hands. Well, you're trying to earn salvation.

No, I'm not. I'm trying to have it given to me by repenting. Cleanse with what? This is all part of the covenant. See how this is part of the covenant is part of atonement. Atonement shows us what the covenant is. Sprinkled to cleanse us from guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. God will do this. Christ has already been sacrificed. He's already the high priest. He's already ascended. It's already been done. But more does God have to do except for us to follow. Let us hold unswervingly. Verse 24. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together as some who are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another and all the more as you see the day approaching.

We're back to the day approaching, that time coming. And it is coming. All these things. He says, if we understand the teachings of the day of atonement, because that's the subject, he said all these things should be happening in our lives. This is what is supposed to happen. This is what it produces in us.

Because we go into the presence of God every day because we are led there by our high priest. And we're in the holy of holies. We're in the most holy place. Literally, not a copy, but literally. And what happens? Well, according to what we just went through, there's a list in there. Paul says we have confidence to enter the most holy place. Do we have confidence to enter the most holy place? Or are you always holding back because of your past sins? Or because it's just not that important with all the other things you have to do in life?

And God is secondary in your life. So you're telling God the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, Him being there interceding for me, Him bringing me to you so that we can be reconciled. Because you and I are in the process of being reconciled. It's completed on the day of atonement when Christ comes back. But we're in the process of it now. We tell Him that's not important enough. You can't forgive me of my sins. Then what is Christ doing?

Wasting His time helps us draw near to God, it says. We understand what this day is all about. What the two goats and the high priests and the near kinsmen and everything that's in there, the mercy seat, the fact that it's tied in with the covenant, then it's going to draw us near to God. It says having a sincere heart, our hearts and minds will be sincerely trying to follow and obey God.

Having full assurance of faith, our faith is strengthened by understanding the meaning of this day, or it's supposed to be. Being cleansed from a guilty conscience, we hold on to past sins, and that guilty conscience drives us to do more sins. We won't accept the forgiveness. We won't forget things.

Holding unswervingly to hope. You feel like you have no hope in your life? Study.

Study Hebrews 7, 8, 9, and 10, because it's supposed to lead us. And it's all about this day, to hope. It spurs us to love one another and encourage good deeds. Understanding what this day is all about brings us together because we are the covenant people.

We are the covenant people. Interesting. Fasting is usually a very personal thing. You only see fasting as a group in the Bible when the covenant people are under attack. Or in this case, the covenant people are told to be humble before me. Be humble and see what I am doing, God says.

It's supposed to inspire us to continue meeting together, especially in the Holy Convocation. And we've seen that. Where people just stay home more and more easy. It's easier to stay home than to come to Holy Convocation and watch it. Now there's people that they're shut-ins that can't. We understand that. But there's people sometimes it's like, ah, it's just, I'm tired today. I'll stay home. You don't understand. You don't understand what God is doing. And according to this, that helps you understand. So we read that a lot of times not in the context. Context is that it's the Day of Dormant and understanding is meaning. And it leads us to encourage one another because if we have these things, the confidence to enter the Holy Place, the help to draw up near to God, we have a sincere heart. We have the full assurance of faith. We're being cleansed from a guilty conscience. We're holding unswervingly to love. We're spurred to love one another. We're spurred to encourage good deeds. We're inspired to continue to meeting together in the Holy Convocation. And we try to encourage one another. If we're doing all those right, that's a pretty big list. Didn't think this day had so much meaning, did you? This is what it's supposed to lead us to. At least according to Paul. This is where we're supposed to go.

We're fasting today because we're appearing before the reality of the High Priest who's entered the real Holy Place once. He never has to do it again. It was enough for all of us. According to God, it only took one person's blood to be enough for all of us. He's there doing the job of the High Priest, the work of the High Priest, the work of the near kinsmen, all those things that this day is about. He's there doing those things. This should make us humble.

Even when all we can think about is, man, am I hungry, or without coffee, I'm fuzzy brained, or I'm tired because I'm running out of energy. We think those things right now. We can't help it. It's not evil, but they're supposed to take us someplace. This isn't just a day of waiting for the sun to go down. Oh, good. We've got two hours of service, and then I'll sleep with the day as much as I can, and then just wait the sun down, and then this day's over. Then we're missing it. We're missing it, because that's not what it's about. That's not what it's about. It's about understanding what God is doing. We're being prepared for the literal Feast of Tabernacles, which is the thousand-year reign of Jesus Christ. We're about to do a poor copy of the real Feast of Tabernacles. We're about to participate in a poor copy of that. It's great to have copies, right? Because the reality is not here yet, but we're about to participate in that. But it's just a copy. It's just a copy. God is in the process of reconciling you to Him, and it's complete on the Day of Atonement. In other words, doing this with this day pictures. That's the return of Jesus Christ. If your reconciliation with God is complete, and you'll be at one with Him and with Christ, and you'll never sin again, and you'll never suffer anxiety again, or fear again, or depression again, or a sense of loss, all those things will be gone. And you'll never get sick again. But that reconciliation is a process. You're in it now. And God is involved in it, and Satan will be removed. You and I are having Satan removed from us bit by bit, right? Because we're one foot in the kingdom and one foot in the world, because of where we live right now. But He is removing Satan from us one step at a time. And then He'll be gone. He can't ever affect us again. Besides, as the spirit children of God, He couldn't affect us. It would be impossible for Him to affect us, because we'll have been changed.

Hold on to what this day means. Don't let this be the least important of the Holy Days. To ancient Israel, it was the most important.

But you don't have to worry. Oh, wow. We get one more year. Next year, we'll see if God accepts the sacrifice of the high priest again. You don't have to worry about that, because He's already accepted it forever. It's just what we follow. That's the point. God's done His work. And this knowledge, this understanding, what we've covered today, isn't just—it can't be just—book knowledge. This must fill every one of us, our hearts and our minds, with awe and wonder and humility before the great God. I hope all of you have a very wonderful, physically wonderful, and spiritually wonderful feast of tabernacles.