Reconcilation to God Through Atonement

Well, as we all know, we're observing a unique annual Holy Day today. And the fact is, each one of us. Now, normally, if you have a certain assignment as far as serving at church, or if you are coming to services and just in the audience, you participate, at least in the song service. You participate by singing and by joyously appearing before God. But differently today, each and every one of us is participating, of course, by fasting. By the different descriptions you find in the Bible are afflicting your soul, afflicting yourself, denying yourself.

There are different descriptions that we have. I want us to look in Leviticus 23 because here it tells all of us that as we observe the Day of Atonement, in verse 31, it says, you shall do no work. And so it's an annual Sabbath. In verse 32 of Leviticus 23, it says, it shall be to you a Sabbath of complete rest, and you shall deny yourselves, or you shall fast, on the night and day of the month, and even from even to evening, and you shall keep your Sabbath.

And so here you even see a definition of when the Sabbath ends and begins. Begins and ends, I guess, would be better because it runs from one evening to the next evening. And yet all of us are observing this day because we're directed by God to fast. And we know after a certain number of hours that we're a little more puny, we're a little more less energized, we start to fade a little bit throughout the day.

And that's okay. That's actually what God designs. He designs the fact that we're human and that we're limited and that we need food and water. And of course, He also provides that for us as well, and so we can be very thankful for that. But I want to begin here in the sermon today by going through Leviticus 16, which as you know is the ceremony that Israel of the past observed. And I don't want us to simply read what we read here in Leviticus 16 and say, well, no, that was something that Israel did back then.

And of course, we know we don't do that today, and correct, we are not doing that today. But there is fabulous, fabulous insight from God in what He had them do on this day. And it has everything to do with what the Day of Atonement means, how significant it is that there is a way that is designed by God for us to be reconciled to God. See, now we were separated from God. Mankind was separated from God back, as we heard in the sermon at, back in the Garden of Eden, back when sin was introduced by the deceiver. And so, you know, man has been separated from God for the past 6,000 years.

And so what every single human being needs is ultimately to be reconciled to God. We need not be separated, we need to be united. We need to be in close union with our Heavenly Father. And so here in Leviticus 16, we see a ceremony that involved the whole community.

It involved the people, the nation of Israel, and it was a type. In a sense, it was a symbol. We're going to find out later when we read in the New Testament, we read in the book of Hebrews, we see that it clearly shows that what Israel did was symbolic.

It was what they were supposed to do, yes, but it represented something. And that's what we want to discover today. And it was a type of purification or of cleansing of the people. That's what we'll read here as we go into this. And if we turn to Leviticus 16, we see in verse 29 that everyone, they were to deny themselves and do no work, neither the citizen nor the alien who resides among you. So not only the Israelites, but anyone who lived among them with them, for on this day atonement shall be made for you to cleanse you from all your sins.

You shall be clean before the Lord. It's a Sabbath of complete rest, and you shall deny yourself. And so this was not simply something that Moses dreamed up. This was clearly given to him from God. And so God is the designer. He's the author. He's the one who put it together. And he's the one who would even later say that had a certain level of teaching to it, but there's a lot more. There's a lot more that I want you to grasp as you come to know the things of God and as you are a participant with God in growing to be a part of his divine family.

See, what I want to focus on as we read through this in Leviticus 16 is who is primarily involved? Who is primarily involved in this ceremony described? Well, you could say maybe two or three things, but you would clearly say that the primary involvement in this day of atonement was the high priest. In this case, it was Aaron. There would later be others who were in that role. But the primary involvement of the day of atonement, even though the people are involved, and I'm sure Moses was aware of what was going on, and he was participating, but Aaron, the high priest, was the primary participant. We're also going to see that there were two goats. Two goats, one that would be selected for the Lord and one for the Azazel.

And so that, again, has great significance. The other thing that I'll mention as far as just a primary focus, first of all, the high priest. Secondly, the goats who were selected, one to represent the Lord and the one as the Azazel. And then third, simply the purpose that we just read here in verse 30-31. The purpose was to make atonement for the people. See, now that, if we understand those three things, then we will understand a great deal about the day of atonement. So let's start reading through here, and I want to mention several things that actually I think stand out or should stand out to us. Leviticus 16, verse 1, the Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron. And the Lord said to Moses, verse 2, tell your brother Aaron not to come just at any time into the sanctuary inside the curtain before the mercy seat that is upon or on top of the ark, or he will die. So here we see instruction, God giving Moses to tell Aaron the high priest, you're to come into this holiest of holies, this second second of the tabernacle and later the temple, and you are to approach the mercy seat. See, that has significance.

I'm reading only a part of it here as yet. But to see where it was that he was supposed to go, and how often he was to go. He wasn't supposed to go there commonly. This was an annual affair.

This was going to occur only once throughout each year. And so he says, I want Aaron not to go into this sanctuary and before this mercy seat, except as he has approved to do, tell your brother not to come just at any time into the sanctuary inside the curtain before the mercy seat that is above the ark or upon the ark, or he will die. For I appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat. To this mercy seat inside this tabernacle was a location where God, the Lord of the Old Testament, would commune with the people. He was making way whereby the people could communicate and commune with him. Now clearly, they were not offered some of the blessings, the amazing blessings that we are given today with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

But see, here was a way that God was communicating with a certain group of people, the people of Abraham, the people of Israel. It goes on, thus shall, in verse 3, Aaron come into the holy place with a young bullock for a sin offering and a ram for a burn offering.

And he shall put on the holy linen tunic, and shall have the linen garments next to his body, and fasten a linen sash, and wear a linen turban. These are whole investments. He shall bathe in water, and then put them on. He shall take from the congregation.

And so here, after Moses had told Aaron that this is how you're supposed to do it, this is how you're to prepare, you're not just to sloppily come in here and appear before God. You are to approach God one time a year. You're to do that as you are directed. And in verse 5, you are to take from the congregation of the people of Israel two male goats for a sin offering and one ram for a burned offering. And so again, as I mentioned to you, the primary subjects of the ceremony that was observed in Israel year after year after year was the high priest and then the two goats.

The two goats that we're going to read about here in verse 6.

Aaron shall offer the bull as a sin offering for himself, and he shall make atonement for himself and for his house. So this was actually, this actually had significance and meaning as well, because Aaron was as much of a sinner as everybody else was. He needed to be atoned for as well.

And it says in verse 7, he shall take the two goats and set them before the Lord at the entrance of the tent of meeting. And Aaron shall cast lots of the two goats, and one of the lots will indicate which lot is for the Lord, which goat will be represented for the Lord, and the other lot for as a zeal. And in verse 9, Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for the Lord, and offer it as a sin offering.

See, this is an amazing depiction that occurred every year, but it was bringing two goats before God and asking God to show, asking him to direct which goat represents the Lord, and which goat represents the azazel. And he was to take the goat that would represent the Lord, and he was to offer it as a sin offering. In verse 10, but the goat on which the lot fell for as a zeal shall be presented alive before the Lord, to make atonement over it, that it may be sent away into the wilderness, to azazel. See, now the fact was, you know, that both of the goats looked alike. You know, it wasn't something that Aaron was to pick out. He wasn't to say, I think I like that one, and he'll be for the Lord. It was something God would involve himself in, in directing which one is the Lord, or represents the Lord, which one represents what we will see to be Satan. Satan and his involvement in the sins of the world. Which one of the goats will represent the reconciliation that has to be made with God? And which one of them represents the separation. See, separation is what Satan caused way back in the time of Adam and Eve.

He caused man to be separated from God. And yet, thankfully, today, all of us have the privilege.

We have the honor, the blessing, and the opportunity of being able to approach God at any time.

We can approach him any time of day or night. We can approach him and request his mercy and his forgiveness. We can draw close to him. We can receive his nurturing whenever we suffer.

There's a lot of things that are wonderful about what is depicted here.

But it shows how one of the goats would be slain, and then the blood of that goat would be, let's drop on down to verse 15, slaughter the goat that represented the Lord, the goat of the sin offering that is for the people, and bring its blood inside the curtain, and do with its blood as he did the blood of the bull, sprinkling it on the mercy seat and before the mercy seat. And in verse 16, he shall make atonement for the sanctuary because of the uncleanness of the people of Israel, because of their transgressions and their sins, and he shall do for the tent of meeting which remains with them in the midst of their uncleanness.

See, now this ceremony that Aaron was so intricately involved in involved taking this one goat and slaying it and using its blood to make atonement for the people and for the tent and for everything around them because it was all contaminated. And of course, the sprinkling of that blood is what would make atonement possible. And down in verse 20, when he had finished atoning for the holy place and the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall present the live goat.

And so here, now the other goat, the one that was designated by God, the one who directed to identify who Satan is and what his effect has been on the people.

Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of a live goat, and shall confess over it all the iniquity of the people, the people of Israel, all their transgressions, all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat. And so the blame for being the deceiver, the blame for being the separator, because that's what Satan is. He's the one who separates man from God.

The blame for his corruption of mankind will be simply placed on his head, putting them on the head of the goat, sending it away into the wilderness by means of someone designated for the task. And the goat shall bear on itself all their iniquity to a barren region, and it shall be set free in the wilderness.

Now, what was that indicating? Well, that was indicating that one of the goats that indicated the Lord would be a sin offering and that would cause reconciliation to come to man in God. And the other would be bearing his own guilt, bearing his own blame. And ultimately, when you see this description of being sent out in the wilderness, sometimes you wonder, well, I wonder where he went. He got lost in the desert and he was out there wandering around.

I don't know exactly where they would go, but the symbol was that he is banished. He is banished.

And that, of course, is what we read in Revelation 20. How that Satan is going to be, as we already read, so I won't take time to read it again. Revelation 20, verse 1 through 4 and 5, Satan is going to be, as Jesus returns and establishes the kingdom of God, he's going to be banished. He's going to be contained for a thousand years. And see, that has great significance to the world tomorrow. It has great significance to the reign of the kingdom of God on earth.

It has great significance to how it is that people at that time will have access to God.

That is, in some ways, not corrupted in quite the same way as we know it today.

But I want to point out, you know, we've gone through the ceremony here, and I know it's something we almost always go through on the day of atonement, and so I'm sure all of you are, or many of you are familiar with it. But it should take on more meaning, more significance. It was a ceremony. It was symbols, symbols of things that have spiritual meaning as we're going to get into. But as I pointed out to you a few weeks ago, the fall holy days are really exciting.

They're exciting to get to the Feast of Trumpets in the Day of Atonement and the Feast of Tabernacles in the last great day because, you know, the weightier matters of the law are depicted by these days. The Feast of Trumpets depicts, of course, judgment. Judgment from God. Judgment that's going to come upon this earth. And judgment, as Jesus said, that all of us need to be acquiring. We need to be acquiring how to understand judgment. But then judgment, being connected with the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement clearly focuses on mercy.

See, where was Aaron to go? He was to go into the holiest of holies and he was to come before the mercy seat of God. He was to sprinkle the blood around. Its focus was on mercy.

And, of course, the mercy of God as he extends that to men. See, he's extending that to some first fruits today. He's extending the mercy of God, the forgiveness, reconciliation, onement, all of the different words that you can use that are similar in meaning.

But he's extending that mercy. He's extending that forgiveness to us as the first fruits.

Now, he's going to expand that mercy being extended into the millennium. He's going to expand that through a thousand years where the cause of separation has been removed. And people will learn to know the Lord. They will learn to know who is the king, who is the ruler.

And yet, those people are going to benefit from understanding that their sins have separated them from God and that they need the mercy of God. And, of course, as we go beyond the millennium into the white throne judgment, billions of people, billions of people that God loves and that He wants to add to His family. He will not add them without having them understand their need for mercy. He won't do that. They will become a part of God's divine family, understanding that this is not what I deserve. I deserve to die. But I am being given a reprieve. I'm being given a ransom just as we are today. We're being given the blessing of God because God holds out before us eternal life. But He shows, and primarily He shows this through these holy days, what His plan is about and how it is that Trumpets focuses on judgment and atonement, mercy, and we could say the feast on living by faith, living humbly with God, truly living a life of abundance and joy and a closeness to God. That again, He's expecting us to live even today, even in this society, even in this corrupt and dying world. So I think we could safely say that mercy comes through the blood of our high priest. The mercy that God extends to us comes through the blood of our high priest. Now we need to know who that high priest is. We need to know, you know, how it is that we've been redeemed from sin. And of course, we're talking about a high priest, not like Aaron, who was of Levitical priesthood. He was the high priest of a Levitical priesthood. He had a certain physical lineage. A high priest that is of an order of Melchizedek is the high priest that each and every one of us have to identify with. We have to identify with the blood of our high priest, Jesus Christ. So I want to mention four things, or I want to cover four points here at least. And the first of these is simply that all of us are fasting today for a reason. We're fasting because we seek humility before God. We seek an understanding of repentance. See, in Deuteronomy 8, if we turn over a few pages here, Moses wrote in Deuteronomy 8, verse 2, he says, Remember, the long way that the Lord your God has led you these 40 years in the wilderness. See, he was saying this at the end of their journey in the wilderness, in the desert that they were in, and in the difficulties and the troubles and problems, traumas out in the middle of the desert, nothing to eat, nothing to drink, only had to depend on God. They were struggling with that. But here he says, Remember, the long way that the Lord led you through these 40 years in the wilderness, he did that in order to humble you, to test you, testing you to know what is in your heart, whether or not you will keep his commandments and he actually did humble you by letting you hunger, by feeding you with manna, with which neither you nor your ancestors were acquainted in order to make you understand that one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

See, here he talks about how it is that going without food, or, you know, there's something about food and water and about how much we crave that, how much we need that, just to sustain our physical lives. And you see what Moses said is that, well, God worked that out where you were humbled, where you were hungry for a while. And then he sent either the water or he sent the manna or he sent the quail, whatever it was he needed to do to take care of the people.

But see, all of us are seeking to come before God in humility. So we're seeking the humility that God can give us by understanding our need for forgiveness and our need to be repentant.

See, that is absolutely imperative. It cannot be overlooked. See, the mercy of God is the mercy of God, we could say, and we could read many verses that talk about how the mercy of God endures forever. And that could be said in somewhat of a general term, and that certainly will always be correct. But for someone to receive the mercy of God, we have to come to repentance. We have to come to humility before God. So where we say, yes, I need your mercy, yes, I need your forgiveness, yes, I want. See, God's not just doing that with us today. He's going to do that throughout the millennium and throughout the white throne judgment beyond that. No people are going to be a part of the family of God without coming to see. I have to be repentant. Luke 13. Luke 13.

Jesus gave an example.

In verse 1, he says, in Luke 13 verse 1, at that very time there was some present who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood piloted mingled with their sacrifices. And he asked him, well, do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way that they were worse sinners than other Galileans? Jesus was trying to make a point and he was saying it about humanity in general. He says, no, not at all. I tell you, unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. And then he went ahead to say about the eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them in accident clearly. Do you think they were worse offenders than others in Jerusalem? He says, no, they're not. He says, unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.

See, coming before God is not just going without food and water on this day of atonement for 24 hours. It is seeking a humility before God and a repentant attitude before God that is acceptable to him, that is able to receive his mercy. So you see a description of the people of God here in 1 Peter. 1 Peter chapter 2. 1 Peter chapter 2. He's talking about the church. Peter is writing to the church and he says in verse 9, you are a chosen people, a race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into this marvelous light. That's what God has done for us. But see what the description is in verse 10. The description of the people of God that God chooses to give understanding to, to grant repentance to, to cause the divine nature to grow in us. It says in verse 10, at one time you were not a people, but now you are the people of God. So he says, I'm the one who draws them together. I'm the one who brings people to a recognition of who Jesus is and calls them, draws them to Jesus Christ. I'm the one who shows them who the right God is, the one that is representing of the Lord. I'm the one who represents that.

I'm the one who shows how it is. You have to come out of the world. But he says, once you were not a people, but now you're the people of God. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. See, brethren, thankfully, you know, each of us can rejoice in the fact that God's mercy is extended to us as we receive it. We can ignore it.

We can demand our own way all we want. The mercy of God won't be extended to us.

He extends that to us when we humble ourselves before Him. He extends that to us even as we learn the lessons of fasting. You have an entire section in Isaiah 58 that I won't read through today. It talks about fasting that was done wrong and then fasting that was done correctly. And it shows how the heartfelt devotion to God that was involved in the right type of fast before God produced an attitude of repentance. And because of that, then God desires. And this is in Isaiah 58, verse 6 through 11. He desires to answer us, to help us, and to guide us continually.

But He also points out to go on our own, to go our own way. That's really, you know, unfortunately, the way that people often do. To go a way that is a way of division. See, we can read about how wrong division is, and certainly there are many reasons for it. And yet, you know, division is simply just doing what seems right in your own eyes. That's what division is. Doing what is right in your own eyes. That's exactly what Lucifer did. It's exactly what mankind has bought into. It's exactly the inclination of human nature. That's why fasting is the prescribed benefit of the Day of Atonement. Because in understanding that mercy is being extended, you know, we want to accept that. We want to come before God in humility. Secondly, I want to focus on the blood of our high priest. And you see this in Hebrews 9. Hebrews 9, of course, the book of Hebrews is a book about Jesus Christ. It's about him as a high priest after the Order of Melchizedek. Maybe we could read that here in Hebrews 7, verse 15. Hebrews 7, verse 15, it says it's even more obvious when another priest arises resembling Melchizedek, one who has become a priest, not through a legal requirement concerning physical dissent, like Aaron or his descendants were. They all came through a given line from Aaron. But it says not a high priest who has become one because of a legal requirement, but through the power of an indestructible life. For it is attested of him, as this talks about Jesus, that you are a priest forever, according to the Order of Melchizedek.

See, understanding the high priesthood of Jesus Christ is what the book of Hebrews is about.

It was written by Paul to show the Jewish Christians that all of their involvement, even in the Day of Atonement, was not really what God wanted to achieve. It was a symbol of the real things that are happening to you with Jesus Christ being extended to you, and you being able to be a part of the Church of God. That's what this book is about.

But in chapter 9, let's see the specifics here. It says, now even, and this is talking of the First Covenant, and then of course the New Covenant, the Second, but in verse 9, now the New First Covenant had regulations for worship in an earthly sanctuary, and a tabernacle was constructed, and the first one, which was the lampstand and table and the bread of the presence. This is called the Holy Place.

And then behind, verse 3, behind the Second Curtain was a tent called the Holiest of All.

And in it stood the golden altar of incense, and the Ark of the Covenant overlaid on all sides with gold in which there were a golden urn holding the manna. It's remarkable what was placed in the tabernacle and later the temple. It would be amazing to find this stuff. But of course, with Jerusalem being plundered many, many, many times, and with the Ark not being known as far as where it is, that would be a remarkable find. If archaeologists want to find something, finding that would be great. To me, it might not be great to most of the world.

I'm sure it would be great to you. Finding the Ark of Noah also would be great. I don't know that that even exists anymore. I don't know that any of it exists, but here it talks about what was placed in this Holy of Holies. In it stood the golden Ark of Incense, altar of incense, the Ark of the Covenant overlaid on all sides with gold in which there was a golden urn holding the manna. And so there was a preservation of manna at that point. Aaron's rod that budded.

See, there was a time, and you can look back in Numbers 17, a time when Aaron did not have the respect of the people that God says, I want you to give him. Now, he was human. He sinned, just like Moses did, but he says you will respect Aaron and the Aaronic priesthood. He said that in order to, again, get it directed to him, to direct the worship to the great God. So Numbers 17 covers Aaron's rod, budding, and the tablets of the covenant. And so these were all things in the Holiest of Holies, and above it were this caribim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. And again, the seat was the lid of the ark, and it was then had the caribim above it. And he says of these things we cannot speak now in detail. So he had to say, well, I haven't seen it. I haven't seen it. I don't know exactly what that looks like, and I'm not able to explain it anymore. But he goes on to say in, and again, you see the focus on the mercy seat here. It says in verse 6, such preparations having been made, the priest would go continually into the first tent to carry out their ritual duties. See, that was regular duties that they did throughout the year. But verse 7, only the high priest goes into the second, and he but once a year, and not without taking the blood that he offers for himself and for the sins committed unintentionally by the people.

To hear, you know, we see the description of what Aaron and his descendants would do.

You know, they would always take a bullock in there and shed the blood of the bullock for themselves.

But see, that's not going to be needed as we go ahead and read in verse 8. By this, the Holy Spirit indicated that the way into the sanctuary had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle is still standing. And this is a symbol of the present time during which gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshipper.

To hear, he's talking about the blood of bulls and goats, the blood that was spread as Aaron was directed to do. He says that really didn't achieve the cleansing that is needed for every human being.

See, it was a symbolic of a certain level of cleansing, but it wasn't what we see described here in verse 9. It could not perfect the conscience of the worshipper.

See, Eric mentioned this the other day in his sermonette about the conscience.

And it's important for us to understand what this is talking about because the significance of the blood of our high priest is able to do more than what you read about in the Old Testament and what the Israelites were asked to do.

He says that the blood of the bulls and goats could not perfect the conscience of the worshipper in verse 10, but deal only with food and drink and various baptisms and regulations for the body imposed until the time comes to set things straight or right. But in verse 11, when Christ came as a high priest of the good things to come, then through the greater and the perfect tabernacle, one that is not made with hands, that is not of this creation, he has entered in verse 12 once for all. See, Aaron and his descendants were to perform their duty among Israel every year.

They would do it over and over and over again. You know, there was only a symbol of the need for cleanliness or to be purified. But he says when Jesus came, he entered once for all into the holy place, not with the blood of bulls and goats, but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. See, it's through the blood of our high priest that we receive the mercy of God and that we are able to be reconciled to the Father and that we are able to have true atonement and be able to look toward eternal redemption, eternal life in the family of God. He goes on to say here in verse 13, if the blood of the bulls and goats with the sprinkling of the ashes of a heifer, if that sanctified those who had been defiled so that their flesh is purified, see, there was a certain amount of purification that was at least symbolized by those activities.

He says, how much more in verse 14, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God, how much more can this blood of our high priest purify our conscience from dead works in order to worship the living God? See, the blood of the high priest, and I'm not talking about Aaron, I'm talking about the high priest after the order of Melchizedek, the blood of Jesus is what purges and purifies our conscience from dead works.

And see, we can think, yeah, well, that means my sins, and yes, it does. It does mean my sins, sins that I've done, that were essentially dead works, and yet in some cases we think some of our works are good, and yet God says, well, no, I'm needing to purify you of all of that. None of your works are what I'm asking. I'm asking that you accept my Son, and I'm asking that you accept my mercy, and I'm asking that you are a completely convicted Christian. That's what I'm asking.

And see, what we should learn about this in purging our conscience, see, what do our consciences need to be purged of?

Well, again, we could say sin, but, you know, our consciences really need to be purged of guilt, of fear, of jealousy, of anger, of doubt, of hatred. See, that's what our consciences need to be purged of. That's what the blood of our high priest is able to do. See, that's what God is offering us today.

Now, I know, as humans, we still labor with a certain level of doubt and guilt and fear and hatred, but we know that we're supposed to be getting rid of those things, but, see, that is truly achieved through more deeply appreciating the blood of the high priest.

The blood that has been extended in order to purify our consciences from dead works.

And he goes on to say in verse 15, for this reason he's the mediator of a new covenant. And to those who are called, they may receive the promised eternal inheritance, because the death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions under the first covenant. See, we are able to be forgiven of our sins, but we're able to be purged, we're able to be cleansed of the things that our consciences labor with.

Guilt, doubt. You could say that, you know, there is a certain description that I've heard recently would be the demon of doubt, because that's really how it affects us, it bothers us.

Jealousy, anger. See, if God says that we're able to be relieved from that, we're able to be purged through the blood of Jesus Christ of these innermost thoughts that are contrary to God. See, where did these come from? Where did the human proclivity for jealousy and guilt and fear and hatred and doubt come from? Well, it comes from Satan's deception. It comes from his involvement in the lives of Adam and Eve. It comes from his hatred, his jealousy, his fear, and disrespect for God. See, that's again what we so wonderfully heard read earlier.

You know, Lucifer lost sight of the fact that he was a created being. You can never do that. That's a fatal flaw. In this case, clearly with Lucifer it was, with us it is too.

But see, he's the one who was jealous of God. He wanted to overthrow God. He's the one who got so angry, he had to overthrow God. He was the one who had these debilitating attitudes, I guess we could say, that actually robbed us of joy with God. See, God wants us to be joyous. He wants us to be able to delight in the forgiveness and mercy that he has extended to us. Too often we're burdened down, and that joy is taken from us by guilt or fear or doubt or jealousy or anger.

If we drop on down to verse 22, we can follow through the remainder of this chapter here.

In verse 22, indeed it says, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin.

Thus, it was necessary for the sketches of the heavenly things to be purified with these rights, but the heavenly things themselves need better sacrifices than these, for Jesus did not enter a sanctuary made with hands, human hands, a mere copy of the true one, but he has entered into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. And so here you see Jesus as our high priest. There are a lot of different descriptions you can give to Jesus. He's not only the Savior, the Messiah, the anointed one. He's not only our Redeemer, He's not only the Good Shepherd, He's not only the King and the Ruler and the Creator. He's the high priest, the high priest whose blood was worth more than all of us put together. But it says Jesus has now entered into heaven to appear in the presence of God as our high priest on our behalf. And nor was it to offer Himself again and again as the high priest entered the holy place year after year with blood that is not his own, for then he would have had to suffer again and again since the foundational world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the age to remove sin by the sacrifice of himself. See, now this is truly good news. This is truly wonderful to be able to recognize that the blood of our high priest has been offered and given for us to purge us from sin and to purge us from a conscience that often lives past. Purge us from things that we'd like to get rid of.

We simply need to bring them to God and continue to bring them to God. See, the last thing I want to mention is that as we think about this day of atonement being the day of mercy, the day when mercy is extended to us and we are able to be covered by the blood. Now, obviously, the Passover Day is a day that symbolizes Jesus and his blood being shed as the Lamb of God. Here, the description in connection with the blood that is purging and cleansing and purifying Christians is the blood of the high priest, the blood that was offered for us. And then his intercession for us at the right hand of God. See, he's for us. He has bought and paid for us, but he wants us to be successful. He wants us to succeed. He wants to be close to us. He wants us to follow his example. And I want to close with the last point, at least here, with John chapter 8, because we're familiar with this example. And I'll only briefly focus on this before we close. But here in John 8, you see an example of a woman brought by the Pharisees to Jesus. And, of course, the example of Jesus as the Son of God and as the Savior and Redeemer of man is the same as the character and example of our high priest, Jesus, who is right now in heaven. He is merciful. He is loving. He is kind.

He is for us. And He has allowed His blood to be shed so that we could be forgiven.

In this case, of course, the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery in verse 3. And, of course, they were not there to learn anything.

They were wanting to trap Jesus, wanting to see if they could have something to throw at Him.

Of course, in verse 6 it says this. They said this to test Him so that they might have some charge to bring against Jesus. But He bent down and broke with His finger on the ground. And, of course, as they all watched what He was doing, they, in a sense, became convicted.

Their conscience got to them. They became convicted of the fact that, you know, we are not above sin ourselves.

Jesus said, Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.

Go ahead. If you don't have any sin, then you can throw the first stone. And, of course, they all had to admit, we're sinners. We have sinned.

And so when they heard it, they eventually all walked away. And in verse 10, Jesus straightened up and said to the woman, Woman, where are they? Where are those who are condemning you?

And, of course, she said, No one is here, sir. And Jesus said, Well, neither do I condemn you, but go your way, and from now on, do not sin again. Go and sin no more.

See, now, what was the pattern here that Jesus Himself was following?

Well, there was a certain level of judgment here. This woman apparently had been caught in the act, so sin was involved. Judgment was clear. But what did Jesus do? Well, it says He extended mercy. He saw that she was repentant, that she was humbled, and that what she needed was not to be condemned, but to be given mercy. And He said, then go and sin no more. Walk in faith. Live a different kind of life. See, whenever we read the weightier matters of the law of judgment and mercy and faith, we need to know that those apply not just in a statement as we can easily make, but they imply in almost every aspect of our lives. See, we're not only recipients of the mercy of God through the blood of our high priest, Jesus Christ, but we're to be extending that mercy as well. One of the beatitudes is blessed are the merciful, for they shall be given mercy. And so, I think it's fabulous to see how it is that God has created a system of annual holy days, of annual Sabbaths that teach us so much, not simply about the past, but about today, and about the future, and about how it is that this day of atonement does typify the mercy of God, how that because of His mercy and because of the blood of Jesus, we are able to be at one with God.

We're able to be united instead of separated, which is, of course, Satan's way. We can be forgiven of our sins. We can be reconciled to God, because without Jesus Christ, that is impossible.

He's the only way through which that can occur. We can be cleansed of not only our sins, but of our guilty conscience.

Now, it's not wrong to feel guilty when we know we have sinned. But see, God can even remove that guilt.

He can remove that guilt. He can remove the feelings of jealousy and hatred and anger, because often we might resolve the situation, but those feelings are still there.

Those feelings need to be purged as well. And so, through the sacrifice of Jesus, we are able to be reconciled to God, and because of that. See, that's actually when we think about the world to come, the world tomorrow, the millennium. God is going to have created a setting by removing Satan that will enable people to receive his mercy and learn to walk with him. That's what we look forward to. That's what we pray for. That's why we're told to pray, thy kingdom come. And that, of course, is why we celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles and why, at this point, having gone through the day of trumpets and the day of atonement, we can look forward to the glorious Feast of Tabernacles and the time that is depicted when God will rule and reign for a thousand years here on earth. So I hope that this helps all of us to be able to gain insight into not only the plan, but the way of God, because his is a way that is perfect and a way that is really merciful to all of us.

So I do want to wish all of you a wonderful, uplifting, spiritually beneficial and uplifting feast.

I hope that wherever you go, that you will have safe travels and that we will all meet here about three weeks from now to be able to talk about the wonderful blessings that God provides to all of us.