Jesus Christ - The Goat for the Lord

Well, thank you, Mr. Blakey. That was beautiful. Wow! I still don't know how in that one party he did four different voices at the same time, but that was really good. Thank you so much. I had a lot to the Day of Atonement here in 2018.

Well, I wanted to begin the sermon today by looking at the fulfillment of a prophecy that this day looks forward to, and Jim was kind enough to already read it for me, so I appreciate that. I will read it if you want to turn to Revelation chapter 20 in verse 1. That's fine. If not, I'll just read it, because this is a prophecy that succinctly points to what this day represents. That is so very, very important. And here's what it says. Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit, and a great chain in his hand, and he laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old. Yes, that very being who was in the Garden of Eden. Yes, that one, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and he cast him into a bottomless pit and shut him up. In other words, he was put in isolation. He's put in an isolation cell, has no contact with anyone. He would shut him up and put a seal on him that he can't break, that he can't get out, that he can't escape, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things, he must be released for a little while. The unique event that allows universal atonement to the world is the removal of Satan from the presence of humankind. I think we sometimes may miss the importance of what atonement means. To deal with atonement and have true complete atonement, you have to deal with the cause and effect of sin. Jesus Christ deals with the effect. His shed blood forgives sin. But to have complete atonement, you also have to deal with the cause. The cause is evil.

The cause is a spirit being who, this very one, this serpent of old who was there in Eden, was the one who instigated and introduced evil into this world. And by the way, if Adam and Eve hadn't stumbled, their children would have stumbled. Somewhere along the line, we would still be in the same place we are today. But there needs to come a time when God wants to have universal complete atonement for this world. And he understands and pictured a long time ago that to do that, one must deal with the effect of sin, but one must also deal with the cause of sin. And again, that is evil. God is unfinished business with that ancient archangel who rebelled against him many, many, many years ago and who fervently has worked so hard to destroy his children. This holy day looks forward to the time of God's judgment on this spiritual being and when that judgment will be fulfilled.

So let's take a quick recap here to review the instructions regarding this day and what's taught about it in the Old Covenant. And then I would like to focus on the last half of this sermon on an event that occurred between this event here in Revelation chapter 20, this prophecy that we look forward to and the original instructions in the book of Leviticus. We're going to take a look at an event that was a partial fulfillment of what this day represents, a fulfillment that took care of the effect of sin but didn't take care of the cause of sin. So let's begin by going Leviticus chapter 23 and verse 26. And in Leviticus, of course, we are introduced into the feast of the Lord and they reveal God's unravel and reveal God's plan of salvation for all humanity, what God is doing, what his purposes are. And when we get down here to verse 26, we get to the point where we receive instruction on the day of atonement. So let's pick it up here. Again, Leviticus 23, 26, and the Lord spoke to Moses saying, also the tenth day of this seventh month shall be the day of atonement. It was just 10 days ago, it was the first day of the seventh month, we were blowing trumpets and we were celebrating the feast of trumpets and that was wonderful. So this is a holy day that follows that on the tenth day of the seventh month. It shall be a holy convocation to you. And again, the word convocation means a public gathering, a public meeting, a convention for you. You shall afflict your souls. And that affliction is in the form of fasting. On the day of atonement, we don't eat anything, we don't drink anything, we totally afflict our souls. Continuing, and an offering made by fire to the Lord. We no longer need to worry about coming before God with an offering because when you received the Spirit of God, you became a living sacrifice. We, our gods offering, our presence here today is our offering to God. And you shall do no work on that same day for it is the day of atonement that make atonement for you before the Lord your God. For any person who is not afflicted in soul on that same day shall be cut off from among his people and any person who does any work in that same day, that person I will destroy from among his people. You shall do no manner of work. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. So this instruction from God says this is a statute forever, not for just a short period of time, and it's a statute wherever you live. Whether you live in Jerusalem, Timbuktu, Cleveland, Tampa, in all of your dwellings, this is a festival that you will observe. It shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest and you shall afflict your souls on the ninth day of the month. For at even from even to even you shall celebrate your Sabbath. So when does the day begin? The day begins in the evening. It says right here, from even to even. I have people say to me things like, well, is the Sabbath seven days? Is the Sabbath or the Sabbath 12 hours long?

Let the book tell you how long a Sabbath is. The Sabbath is from evening to evening. That's 24 hours. It's not 12 hours. That's not the opinion of men. That's what the book says, and that's what the Church of God follows. So it shall be in the ninth day of the month at even from evening to evening. That's 24 hours like any other Sabbath. You shall celebrate your Sabbath. The Jews look upon this day as the holiest day of the year. To them it's the Sabbath of Sabbaths. That's a phrase that they often use, and they focus on atonement, and they focus on repentance. Oftentimes Jews perform acts of charity during this time of year. This is another of God's holy days, again, that reveal this plan for humanity. But like all the holy days, this day pictures what Christ has done, what Jesus is doing, and what Christ Jesus will yet do in the future. All of the holy days are centered around Jesus Christ. So now let's go back a few chapters and see what the high priest was to do on this day. And in contrast to some past years where we've gone through Leviticus 16 in minute detail and looked at every animal and what that blood represented and that animal and how many times things were touched. And we went into incredible minute detail, and that's all available on the internet. This year I'm going to go through this a little more quickly because there's something else that I want to focus on this year. But we will review it. Leviticus chapter 16, beginning in verse 1. It says, Now the Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered profane fire before the Lord and died. And the Lord said to Moses, Tell Aaron, your brother, not to come just at any time into the holy place inside the veil before the mercy seat which is on the ark, lest he die, for I will appear in the cloud above the mercy seat.

So it's a reinforcement to Aaron, who is probably still grieving after the death of his two sons. God says, you have to do things my way. I have rules. I have regulations.

There are things that are important to me, and those things have to be respected. And when they're not respected, people get hurt. And so he wants to reinforce to Aaron that you just can't choose any day that you want to come into the Holy of Holies in my presence. There's one time a year when you're allowed to do that, and that happens to be allowed on the Day of Atonement with specific instruction. Verse 3, Thus Aaron shall come into the holy place with the blood of a young bull as a sin offering, and of a ram as a burnt offering.

And he shall put on the holy linen tunic and the linen trousers on his body. He shall be girded with a linen sash, and with the linen turban he shall be attired. These are holy garments. Therefore he shall wash his body in water and put them on. So here the high priest is prefiguring the high priesthood of Jesus Christ himself.

Jesus Christ, who alone can bring atonement and salvation to the world. Now this was contrary to what the high priest normally wore. Normally he was very colorful. You could point him out in a crowd. He was distinctive in what he wore. He had a breastplate on with different colored stones, 12 different colored stones, and some traditions say that they would actually flash. And he was like, as I've said before term I've used, like the NBC peacock. You usually could point out the high priest easily in a crowd, but not on this day.

He was to take all of that off, and he was to put on simple, plain, white linen. Total garments, turban, everything he had on was simple, white linen, because he was reflecting the humility of Jesus Christ. He was washing his body to represent the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ. This is what he was symbolizing. A number of animals would be used in this ceremony, including a bull and a ram and two young goats, but I'm just going to focus on the goats in our discussion here this year, and not spend a lot of time on the bull and the ram or other parts of the rituals.

Verse 5. And he shall take from the congregation of the children of Israel two kids of the goats as a sin offering and one ram as a burnt offering, and Aaron shall offer the bull that he was mentioned there in verse 3 as a sin offering, which is for himself, and shall make atonement for himself and for his house, so in order to represent Jesus Christ. He had to make sure that he was purified, that he had on the right garments, and that he had bathed himself, and that he sacrificed animals because of his own humanity as a human being in order to even represent Jesus Christ.

Verse 7. 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 for the Lord and the other for the scapegoat. The word scapegoat, if you have the New King James version, like I do, you may have another translation. The original Hebrew is a zozel. That's pronounced different ways, but I will pronounce it as a zozel today. That oftentimes is translated into the English versions as the scapegoat. Casting lots here is seeking divine judgment, and what the high priest was to do was to say, God, only you can reveal to me which one of these two goats is for you the phrase was for the Lord, and which one is not for the Lord, which one is a zozel.

And to God, this act of casting lots was very important because he would personally reveal to the people one goat from the other. According to the Jewish Encyclopedia under the article a zozel, here's what it says. Quote, the name of a supernatural being mentioned in connection with the ritual of the Day of Atonement. After Satan, for whom he was in some degree of preparation, a zozel enjoys the distinction of being the most mysterious, extra-human character in sacred literature.

Unlike other Hebrew proper names, the name itself is obscure. End of quote. Again, that was from the Jewish Encyclopedia. The closest understanding that anyone can get to this very obscure term, a zozel, is that the Arabs have a similar word, and it's a zala. And the Arab word, which probably has roots with the this Hebrew term a zozel, the Arab word as a zala means lonesomeness. It means to be isolated, to be in a desert or in a wilderness.

So this zozel was a goat of departure that would take something upon itself and to be cast away into the desert or into a wilderness.

Let's talk about theology just for a second. Some teach that both of these goats represented Jesus Christ and his sacrifice. They believe the two goats just simply represented two different aspects of the one sacrifice of Jesus Christ. They say one goat represented his death for the forgiveness of sin, and the other goat, which we understand as the zozel, represented his role as a sin-bearer.

But as we discuss this further and as we review this chapter, I think it's very easy to see that the theology here just doesn't fit that both of these goats would represent Jesus Christ. Let's begin with the need for Aaron to cast lots. Why cast lots, then? Any goat would do. If they both represent just a different aspect of Jesus Christ, there's no need to cast lots to distinguish one goat from the other goat because any goat could do. According to Jewish tradition, these two goats were to be of the same size, about the same age, and the same color. Unless you looked at them really, really close, they almost appeared to be twins. This represented the fact that only God could reveal to a deceived humankind who was his beloved son, the true son of God, in contrast to who was the god of this world, a counterfeit god. Verse 9, and Aaron shall bring the goat on which the Lord's lot fell and offer it, so it was to be killed, slaughtered, sacrificed as a sin offering, but the goat on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement upon it and let it go as the scapegoat into the wilderness. I'm going to read verse 9 here from the New International Version. But the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord to be used for making atonement by sending it into the desert as a scapegoat. So both goats have a role in making atonement. Both goats do make atonement. The goat for the Lord makes a complete and total atonement through its shed blood, and it represents Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, dealing with the effect of sin.

The azazel goat, on the other hand, makes atonement by his removal, by his isolation from people. This is the devil being sent into the wilderness because he is the cause, he is the originator of all human sin. His attitude, his spirit, his influence is the cause of human sin.

So God is dealing here with both cause and effect. The effect of evil were the sins of the people which needed forgiveness, and thankfully Jesus Christ, by being the Lamb of God and shedding his blood, took care of the effects of sin. The cause of all evil was the influence of Satan, the devil, on the nation and on the entire world, and that, too, has to be dealt with.

So we see here that one of the two goats was for the Lord, it was sacrificed and his blood shed.

The blood was sprinkled in various areas of the entire tabernacle to cleanse it. The goat represented the blood of Jesus Christ, which takes away the sins of the world. And this event looked forward to the perfect life of Christ and his ultimate sacrifice, as we understand represented by the Passover as the Lamb of God. Jesus Christ came into the world, he lived a perfect life, he shed his blood to cleanse the world from sin. And that's good news for all of humankind.

But God still has some unfinished business to attend to, and that unfinished business is represented by this Azazel goat. So first, the goat for the Lord was sacrificed, and that was done. And then, as a secondary step, later on, probably moments later, but later on, the Azazel goat was dealt with. The terrible consequences of sin had to be atoned for with shed blood, and that was the goat that was before the Lord. But what about the cause and originator of sin? If you don't eliminate the origination of sin, what will happen? You'll continually get more sin. If you don't deal with the cause, you will continue to suffer the same problems over and over again. Verse 21, Then Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, confess over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel, all their transgressions, all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and shall send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a suitable man, pictured by that angel that we just read about a few minutes ago in the book of Revelation. Verse 22, The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to an uninhabited land, and he shall release the goat in the wilderness. 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. The ritual is over. The symbolism about the two goats and the atonement ceremony, and that was being fulfilled, as it's written in the book of Psalms, chapter 103, in verse 12, As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us, sending the azazel into the wilderness, represented the original instigator of all the sins of the nation being removed. Verse 21 says that it was a responsible individual who would take the goat into solitary confinement, just like the angel does in Revelation chapter 20 and verse 3 that we read a little bit earlier.

The recap. All of the sins of Israel were forcibly placed on this live goat's head. The priest used two hands, seized the head of the goat in a firm way. The goat was not for the Lord, but for the azazel representing Satan the devil, the originator of sin and deceiver of all humankind. It states that all the iniquities, all the transgressions, all the sins of Israel were confessed upon its head.

This special event is needed to achieve universal atonement, and its future fulfillment is symbolized by this very day every year, year after year, to remind all of us that God dealing with total universal atonement deals with both the cause and the effect of sin. A few things that you may find interesting in verses 29 through 34 remind us twice that the Day of Atonement is to be a statute forever. It's also called an everlasting statute in verse 34 in case people ask you why you continue to keep the Day of Atonement in 2018. Verse 29 states that it's a holy day for both the native Israelite and a stranger who dwells in the land. So it was a holy day for both the Israelites and the Gentiles as a statute forever, wherever your dwellings are. Again, let's be reminded why the goat for the Lord was actually sacrificed. That goat represented, symbolized, the purpose and the role of Jesus Christ as he walked on earth as the Lamb of God. Leviticus, chapter 17, in verse 11, if you'll turn there with me, we'll see what this goat symbolized because it is so powerful in the theology of understanding the sacrifice of the blood of Jesus Christ. Leviticus, chapter 17, in verse 11, it says, for the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul. So what occurred in the Day of Atonement was just a temporary substitution that pointed to the Lamb of God in a time when Jesus Christ would shed his blood for the forgiveness of sins. That's what those animals represented. They all pointed towards the rule that Jesus Christ would fulfill, and in 31 A.D., the blood of Jesus made atonement possible for all human sin. So far today, we have reviewed the fulfillment of this day as prophesied in the book of Revelation, chapter 20. We began there. It's kind of, we could call it the end of the story when the devil is by an angel put in a bottomless pit, put in solitary confinement, and locked up so he can no longer influence the people in this new kingdom that's about to be established so he doesn't poison God's kingdom when it is established on this earth. Then we went all the way back to the book of Leviticus and saw the original instruction in Leviticus 23, and the instruction given to the high priest on the Day of Atonement in Leviticus 16. So we've reviewed that. So let me ask a question. Was there a partial fulfillment of these events presented in the Gospels? Well, indeed there was. And it was a time when Jesus walked on earth. What I'd like to do for the rest of the sermon here today is I'd like to examine a direct confrontation between two powerful beings of great contrast and purpose. These two beings that we will read about are no longer represented as two different gods. They're both there, just like in Leviticus 16. They're face to face. They're one-on-one. They meet during a time of fasting, and it all begins in the wilderness. Let's go to Matthew chapter 3 and verse 13 and get a little background of this confrontation. Matthew chapter 3 and verse 13.

Matthew wrote, Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him, and John tried to prevent him, saying, I need to be baptized by you, and you're coming to me?

But Jesus answered and said to him, Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he, referring to John, allowed him. I'm going to read that from the translation of God's Word for today. Jesus answered him, This is the way it has to be now. This is the proper way to do everything that God requires of us than John gave in to him.

So Jesus is baptized to be an example for you and I of the fact that we need to be baptized.

We need to repent of our sins. We need to make ourselves servants of Jesus Christ, and we need to receive God's Spirit. Verse 16, a little differently here with Jesus, obviously, when he had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water, and behold, the heavens were open to him. And he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and a lighting on him. So it wasn't a laying out of hands, per se. The Spirit of God is descending, and suddenly a voice came from heaven. This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

So what's happening here? Jesus Christ, who's possessing the Holy Spirit, is acknowledged as the Father's beloved Son. It's now time for the future King of God's kingdom to confront the God and King of the Anti-Kingdom, Satan himself. Here Jesus is obviously set apart through this ceremony. John placed his hands upon Jesus to baptize him. The Holy Spirit descended upon him. The voice of the Father was spoken, confirming that Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God, designated to shed his blood for the sins of the world. So now that this has happened to fulfill all righteousness, what is the first thing that Jesus Christ does after this confirmation?

The very first thing he does. Does he turn water into wine? No, that's his first miracle. That's not the first thing he does. Does he heal someone? No, that's not the first thing he does. The first thing he does is he is led by the Spirit to the dwelling place of the Azazel. And where is that?

The wilderness. Let's read about that. Matthew chapter 4 and verse 1. Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness. The same place the Azazel was sent to year after year to represent Satan the devil in Leviticus chapter 16 and verse 21. Led into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil and when he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights afterward, he was hungry. I think that's the greatest understatement in Scripture, personally. Here I've been going what? 15 hours my knees are knocking, I'm about ready to fall to the floor. I'm a sissy! And by the way, obviously he had divine intervention.

Human beings cannot live without food and water for 40 days, so please don't try that on your own. Don't try that at home. He obviously had divine intervention, but the point here is that 40 is the number of trial and testing and I think it's very safe to say that he was on the ebb of the most that a biological body could endure before death after not eating for 40 days and 40 nights. You can't get any weaker physically and I'm sure emotionally than going without food and water for 40 days and 40 nights. You are in the cusp of your biological system shutting down and you dying. So Jesus is fasting here just like you and I are on this day of atonement. Fasting shows we are not a slave to our own appetites or physical desires. Jesus stated in Matthew 16, verse 24, if anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Fasting is one of those ways that we deny ourselves.

We want to eat. We like to eat. We like to drink. It's pleasurable. It gives us physical strength and energy. But we voluntarily, consciously decide when we fast to deny ourself.

Fasting is a form of self-discipline. It's a type of self-denial that places our flesh in submission to our spirit. Fasting isn't easy, but when we do, we demonstrate that our God is not our belly, that our God is not our fleshly desires. Our God resides in heaven. We show God that we value our relationship with him more than food, more than physical comfort, more than anything in this physical life. In essence, during a fast, biologically, we are slowly dying to our flesh when we fast, and we are showing the Father that we're willing to die for what we believe in.

All of these are reasons why fasting is so important for us, particularly on this day, as we think about human sin and as we think about the world's need for a Savior. Let's take a look now at verse 3. It says, now when the tempter came to him, he said, if you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread. But he commanded and said, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. The first thing Satan attacks is ego, and this is particularly difficult for men. He says, if, you know, I've heard these rumors that you might have some god-like quality, there might be something special about you. If you're the Son of God, well, typical male ego particular, well, what do you mean if? I'll show you. So the first thing he does is he attacks the ego of Jesus Christ. If you're the Son of God, command. Be authoritative, just demand and command that these stones become bread. You'd like a little piece of that nice soft warm bread with butter on it right now, wouldn't you? And he answered and said, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. So he tempts Jesus Christ to yield to his physical cravings at the expense of his spiritual strength. Jesus, again, is at his absolute weakest point here physically. You can't get any weaker and lower than Jesus Christ is right now biologically, physically, emotionally. The very one pictured in Leviticus 16 is the goat who would ultimately sacrifice his blood, is standing next to the one who is pictured as the azazel goat who was sent into the wilderness. The tempter wants the true bread of life to give it all away.

Allow your ego to get to you. Make a commanding statement. Sacrifice the spirit to please the flesh. He wants him to give it all away for a piece of physical bread to temporarily ease his hunger.

But Jesus Christ demonstrates the victory of spirit over flesh, even when that flesh has been emaciated and decimated by 40 days of no food and no drinking of water.

Satan will try another tactic. Verse 5, then he took the devil took him up to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and he said to him, if we'll give the ego thing one more chance here. If you are the son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written he shall give his angels charge over you, and in their hands they shall bear you up lest you dash your foot against the stone. And Jesus said to him, it is written again, you shall not tempt the Lord your God. You don't willy-nilly do things to destroy your life. Thinking, well God's just got to intervene. God must intervene. So therefore I can be callous and I can lack caution and I can do foolish things and God will protect me. Jesus says you just can't think that way. What happened here? Instantaneously, Satan transfers Christ from the wilderness to Jerusalem at the top of the temple, and since they both have spiritual connections, this is a very easy thing to do. The devil sits above and controls all the religions of the world. He says these are mine to give you. I control them all, including what had become of Judaism at this time. Jesus had said to Jewish leaders in John, chapter 8 and verse 44, you are of your father the devil and the desires of your father you want to do.

So Jesus acknowledged that exactly what Satan is saying here. He controls the religions of this world. He dominates them, but I am not going to thwart the plan for my physical body to be a perfect sacrifice by placating my ego to jump off of this pinnacle thinking that my father has to save me. I'm not going to do that. Again, he challenges Jesus's authority and he tempts him to do something that would destroy his physical body and thwart the father's plan for a blood sacrifice to occur at the crucifixion. He's going to give him one more shot at it. One more chance, one more angle. The Azazel, verse 8, again, the devil took him up on an exceedingly high mountain in biblical prophecy. A mountain is symbolic of a nation. And he showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, all these things I will give you if you will fall down and worship me. And Jesus said to him, away with you, Satan, for it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve. Jesus Christ does not dispute the fact that the devil controls all the nations and all the governments in the world. Even though Jesus Christ was the creator, he allowed Satan to become the god of this world for a specific time because he wanted the enemy to be there to develop character in those who would be members of his family. That is why the serpent was in Eden. Because he wanted that counterforce so that those who would enter his family would learn by choice to choose good, would understand that there's good and evil, would reject evil, and would consciously choose to do what is right. We call that holy, righteous character. And it takes that opposing force, that temptation, from a dark spiritual world in order for us to learn to make those choices. Satan offers control of all the nations on earth to Christ because they are Satan, the devils to give away. He owns them. Lock, stock, and barrel. And Jesus Christ recognizes that this is a cheap counterfeit to the destiny that Jesus has to rule all nations as king of kings and lord of lords. Satan says to him, look, you don't have to die. You don't have to be crucified. You don't have to experience scourging. You don't have to be mocked, have a crown of thorns rammed on your head, stabbed in the side with a spear, humiliated. You don't have to go through any of that. I can give all of this to you right now, along with a good meal immediately. That's his offer. And if Jesus had taken it for the remainder of his physical life, he would have ruled over all of the earth.

For the remainder, he was about 33 years old. For another 30, 40, maybe 50 years, he would have ruled all the earth, and then he would have died, and you and I wouldn't have a savior.

So that wasn't acceptable to Jesus Christ. He wasn't about to accept a counterfeit.

Jesus refuses to break God's law or to compromise with the truth. Verse 11, then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and ministered to him.

From this point on, even Satan himself knew that Jesus Christ would fulfill his destiny, that he indeed would continue to fulfill the three and a half years of his ministry, that indeed he would be willing to allow himself to be crucified, to shed his blood for the forgiveness of sins as the Lamb of God. Satan, from this point on, knew that he was absolutely defeated. The only thing he could do left was to defend his wrath, to defend his anger and frustration on the world. And again, as presented in Leviticus 16, verse 21, the devil returned to the wilderness while the Lamb of God remained designated as King of Kings and Lord of Lords on the succeedingly high mountain, representing his authority and kingship over Satan the devil, served by angels, now being nourished and replenished so that he can complete his mission as Savior of the world. And just like in Leviticus 16, the goat for the Lord had to die first, and then as a secondary later step, the Azazel, was dealt with. What we've seen today in Matthew chapter 4 here is simply a partial fulfillment of what the two goats represented in Leviticus 16. The goat for the Lord, Jesus Christ, fulfilled his role in 31 A.D. and now sits at the right hand of the Father as our great high priest. He has atoned for the effect of sin by his blood. And when he returns the earth, the rest of that prophecy will be fulfilled as the Azazel, the cause and constant instigator of all human sin will finally be isolated, locked up in solitary confinement in a spiritual prison. One final scripture today, Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 14. Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 14.

The effect of all human sin has been dealt with. It was Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

The cause of all human sin, which is evil, has yet to be dealt with. And it will when Jesus Christ returns to earth and has an angel bound Satan in that spiritual confinement so the kingdom of God can be established and be successful and fulfill God's will. Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 14. Inasmuch then, as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, we all are heartless. We all are a flesh and blood struggling with our own challenges in our lives. He himself, likewise, shared in the same. Jesus Christ emptied himself of his glory that he had in the Godhead and came down to this earth and walked as a human being, walked as a mere man. He took the greatest demotion that ever existed in the history of the universe, from God to a human being, mere human being. He himself, likewise, shared in the same that through death, that's his death, his sacrifice, he might destroy him who had the power of death. That is the devil.

As we fast today and mourn for a world that is lost and a world that is confused, let us rejoice knowing that Christ Jesus has fulfilled his role as the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. And at the same time, let us also be comforted, knowing by the sure word of God that the devil has a short time left before his solitary confinement allows this world's Atonement to finally be universal and be complete. And God, because of his love and his grace, has revealed that understanding to his people today. Have a wonderful and a fulfilling Day of Atonement 2018.