The Two Goats

Probably many of your friends or people you work with today think it's a little strange that you do this. The Day of Atoven is not kept throughout the Christian world. In fact, some Christians believe if you keep this day, you are dishonoring Jesus Christ. The observance of this day is a dishonor of Jesus Christ because it's part of something he did away with.

In the Jewish world, this is the most holy of all the holy days. Part of it is we're afflicting ourselves. If you tell somebody, I'm going to go fast because God commands us fast, many people would feel that's very strange. Yet here we are fasting and keeping this day.

As I said, in the Jewish world, it's considered the most sacred day of the year for a number of reasons. Even just as sacred as the Passover. There is a huge connection between the Passover and the Day of Atoven.

Between the two of them, we understand the greatness of God's love for us and why he does things the way that he does. In some of the Jewish groups, Judaism is like Protestantism. It's not as many groups, but there are different factions within Judaism. In one Jewish group, this is not called just Yom Kippur, which is Day of Atoven or Day of Covering. It's Yom Kippurim, which means the Day of Coverings. It's plural. Here's why they say that. The name of this most sacred of festivals is in the plural because it represents two streams of love.

As soon as the desire for reconciliation is awakened in the sinner's soul and wings its way heavenward, God's grace comes down beneath it, calming his breast with the assurance of divine pardon and forgiveness. In other words, it's Yom Kippurim's because two things are happening. One is the human response to God and that what God is doing.

And I find that interesting, but what's very important here is even in the Jewish world is an understanding that this has to do with reconciliation. Passover has to do with being saved. This has to do with being reconciled. And what does that mean to be reconciled to God? Kippur simply means, it comes from kippur, which is a Hebrew word that means to cover.

And there was this understanding that they had to kill an animal and the blood of that animal covered their sins. God didn't see their sins. It was gone. It was covered and erased through this blood of this animal. And on this day, it was so important because the sacrifices of this day were even more important than any other day. And there were ceremonies in this day that were different than any of the other ceremonies of any other holy day.

Two years ago, I talked about the mercy seat. In fact, I gave a slide presentation on the mercy seat and how the Holy of Holies, and you have the Ark of the Covenant, and the top of that is the mercy seat. And on this day, it was the only day that the high priest would go in and throw blood on the mercy seat. That the sins would be covered so that the people could stay in relationship with God.

It wasn't just forgiveness. This day isn't just about forgiveness. It's about relationship. You go to God to be forgiven with all your sacrifices. But today is the recognition that you could be forgiven and not be in a relationship. Which means your forgiveness eventually is lost. Because you're not in a relationship with God. You continue to sin. You continue to not relate to Him. That's why when He would tell them, you could keep the Day of Atonement and worship Baal, and it was not acceptable to Him.

And they did. There are many times in Israel's history, they kept the Day of Atonement and worship Baal. And no, this doesn't erase this. Because if you now are covered, if you really understand what it is to be forgiven, you must give up this and come into a relationship with Him. And this day is about being reconciled into relationship. This is why David, when he looked at his sins, he had a remarkable understanding of what it meant to have his sins covered.

It wasn't just like, okay, God covers them so He can't see them. He can't see my sins, but they're still there. He said, no. In one of the Psalms, he says, you put our transgressions as far as east is from west. We're reminded this day that our sins no longer count with God.

If we are covered, they no longer count. We hold on to our past sins. We think everybody else does. Unfortunately, we hold on to each other's past sins, too, sometimes. Past sins that God has forgiven. Sometimes we're in trouble with God because we're holding on to somebody else's past sin. When he says, no, I forgave them of that. They are covered, and they are in relationship with me. Let's go to Leviticus 23 and just briefly look at destructions concerning this day.

Then we're going to look at one of the ceremonies. It takes about five years to cover everything in the day of toth. And then you repeat back through the five. Leviticus 23. And let's start in verse 26.

So it is a celebration, but when we look at what was given to the Levitical priesthood, we understand that those things were symbols of the greater reality. As we've always said, all the holy days are types.

All the things that took place in the Levitical priesthood concerning the holy days were types of a reality. You and I live in the reality. Remember on the Passover? I said, we may look backward at Israel leaving Egypt, and we should. But you know, that's not the main reason we keep the Passover. It's Jesus Christ who is the Passover.

That's why we do it. So yes, we see the type of it. And that was a real event that happened to those people. We see the power of God. But that is secondary to the primary reason.

When we look at this day, we're told here in Leviticus 23, it's to be a holy convocation. They were to afflict their souls by humbling themselves through fasting. And fasting is a humbling experience. There were special offerings and ceremonies on this day. And it was to be a Sabbath. A Sabbath in which they were to do no work.

What we do have, and Mr. Myers just touched on this, so I'm going to fill out all the details. He just gave you a little bit of the ceremony. We have one of the unique ceremonies, and there's a number on this day. But one of the unique ceremonies on this day, there is no other ceremony like it in the entire Old Testament. It is totally unique. So let's go to Leviticus 16, and then we're going to look at what this means to us. But we don't do this today.

We don't keep these days the way that they kept them at that time. There was a silver trumpet blown on this day. Well, there are two of them blown on this day. I really enjoyed blowing the shofar on the Feast of Trumpets, but I'm going to have to try to find a long silver trumpet. There's no keys on it. So it's like a long bugle. Every note changes. No changes are done by your lips. But at least there's a mouthpiece. There's no mouthpiece on that rail. So none of them are exactly the same. They're all slightly different. I've got to find myself a great big silver trumpet. So Leviticus 16. So let's start in verse 3.

The entire chapter is, as was mentioned in the sermon, the entire chapter is about the Day of Atonement and all the specific things they were to do on this day. And of course, if we go to the Book of Hebrews, we won't have time to go to much of the Book of Hebrews today, but there's entire chapters in the Book of Hebrews explaining Leviticus 16 and how this applies to the priesthood of Jesus Christ. Thus Aaron shall come into the holy place with the blood of a young bull with a sin offering and of a ram as a bird offering. Then shall put on the holy linen tunic and the linen trousers on his body. And it's very interesting too. There was very special clothing he had to wear this day. And that's another part of this day that we don't think about much, but why did he have to wear this special clothing? Everything means something in all the clothing that he had to wear. It talks about the trousers, the turban. In fact, it says, these are the holy garments. Therefore he shall wash his body in water. This is the end of verse 4. And he shall take from the congregation of Israel, or the children of Israel, two kids of the goats as a sin offering and one ram as a bird offering.

So the ram is a normal bird offering, but now you have these two goats. Why two? Why two? And Aaron shall offer the bowl as a sin offering, which is for himself, and make a tome that are covering for himself and for his house. So before he could even do his ceremonies, he had to kill a bowl for himself and for his house. And the Levites and all the people there during the service are now forgiven by God. The rest of Israel is still waiting. They're still waiting. All this has to be done before they understand our sins too have been forgiven. We are in relationship with God.

He has not abandoned us. One thing about this day is to remind us that we're not abandoned. We're not abandoned by God. And that we have this, what the Bible calls, what the New Testament calls justification. We were allowed to come into a relationship, and we're allowed to come into a relationship, not because we learned to entertain God and dance fast enough or do certain ceremonies. It's because he forgave us. That's why we're allowed to come. And you and I can't make that happen. He doesn't. And this is where we talk about the love of God, because we have to understand how offensive evil is to God. And all of us have in us some evil.

And it is offensive to God. It is repellent to God. It is the opposite of what he is.

He says that he shall take the two goats, and present them before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. And I'm going to read this very strange ceremony. There's nothing else like it. He's making these two goats, and he's going to sacrifice his love. He casts lots. In other words, one of them is going to get marked as a certain kind of goat, and the other is going to get marked as a different kind of goat. He shall cast lots for the two goats, one lot for the Lord, and the other for the scapegoat. Scapegoat is a very bad word there. I mean, we think of scapegoat as someone who is unjustly accused. The azazel goat, as we'll see, receives this. This is a symbol of someone who receives justice from God. And it says, and Aaron shall bring the goat on which the Lord's lot fell, but the goat on which the lot fell to be the azazel goat shall be presented alive before the Lord to make a toad upon it, and let it go as the scapegoat into the wilderness.

I want to talk about for a minute about... because we're going to talk about these two goats. Most Christian commentators look at this, and I say almost. Many look at this and say, well, both of these goats are a type of Jesus Christ. And let's look at it here and see why there's two goats and what happens to them is different. And what happens to the second goat is totally different than every other sacrifice that represents Jesus Christ. That's why this is a unique ceremony. There's nothing else like it in the Bible. There's nothing else like it given to the Levitical priesthood.

So the first goat is for the Lord, and he is killed for the atonement of the people.

Now, we understand every single holy day we go through. We look at the sacrifices and every single one of those sacrifices that start with the Passover and end with the last great day, the eighth day. Every sacrifice in there for the atonement of sin is a type of Jesus Christ. He is all those sacrifices. That's why he is called the Passover. It's a name that's given to him in the New Testament. He is the Passover. He is the Lamb of God. John the Baptist said it. John in the book of Revelation says it all through the entire New Testament. He is the Lamb of God. So he is the Lamb. He is the bull. He is all these things represent him.

So this goat that is killed for the people, so that his blood... Now, remember, they live in a society where they understand, my sins are covered because they cut the throat of that animal. That blood comes out and that's my blood. That should be me and it's not. So it covers. It is my substitute. That's why we're not going to read it today, but you get into the book of Hebrews and it says, you know, the blood of lambs and bulls and ghosts could not be true substitutes for the value of a human being. So those are only symbols, it says. Those were symbols of the only being that had the value to do this, whose life was worth more than all human beings, who could act as a substitute once for everybody. Well, you know, point of David told us a big thing for these people because they're waiting. Will God accept our covering? We know that Jesus Christ is our covering. His blood covered us. So that God no longer sees our sins. Our guilt that you and I carry for our past sins is not how God sees it. Once you have been covered, it is covered. Now, your current sins, you say, well, what about my current sins? When you go before God because once you come into this relationship, see, this is more than just forgiveness. It is relationship. In this relationship, every time you ask for forgiveness, you're asking for, and that's why it's hard to do this, but we have to do this. God applied Christ's sacrifice, His pain, His suffering, His blood for me today. See, we do that at Passover. That's why Passover is so emotionally difficult. It's so emotionally difficult because we're realizing every year we're brought into remembrance. Oh, yes. This event makes our lives possible. Without that, eat, drink, and be merry because you're going to die without that event. But, you know, that event should be real in our lives every day because every day when you get on your knees and ask God for forgiveness, His blood covers your sins. So, you and I walk around feeling upset over our sins for 30 years ago, but it's been covered. When you ask for forgiveness and you get off your knees today, and you feel guilty about what you did three days ago, it's been covered. God doesn't see it anymore.

That's the relationship because if He was looking entirely at our sins, He'd say, don't come before me. They're covered. Is there as far as these from West? The forgiveness of God is a core message of reconciliation, this relationship. And we have to accept that. That's why this is a humbling day. To accept forgiveness every day, you have to be incredibly humble. You know, think about it. Sometimes we'll carry our sins from the past, and it's actually pride. We don't have the ability to believe, actually believe God is so great, He'll forgive me. But sometimes, the reason we hold onto our sins is actually pride. It's to remind God, God can forgive me. My sins are too great. God says, well sure, I can't. I'm bigger than your sins.

God's bigger than us, and He's bigger than our sins.

Now, this doesn't give us license to sin. Okay, no one's going that direction, but we know that.

You end up with license to sin, you end up outside of the relationship, and you end up outside of atonement, and you don't want to be outside of atonement. But we need to be celebrating that we're in atonement. We're under atonement. The more we understand we're under atonement, the less chance we're going to have of ever being outside of it. And that means we have to understand God's motivation for this. It is desired to be in relationship with us. First John 2. First, we'll come back to, uh, what it is, limiting to 16, and hear just a little bit. First John 2. Verse 1. John says, My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. He said, you know, it's not like we can say, okay, God has forgiven us, therefore our sins don't matter. They do. John says, you need to know these things, because if we really know these things, we will be fighting sin. Isn't that what the Days of the Love and Bread teaches us?

And of course Pentecost teaches us, we can't fight sin without God's Spirit in us. Till all the Holy Days link together. And if anyone sins, so we say, okay, but we still struggle, we still sin. Our human nature is still partly corrupted as we go through this process of being sanctified, of being changed by God's Spirit. He said, so when we do fall down, and we do sin, and we do something, we have an abrogate. You may have someone who comes to your defense with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous. And He Himself is a propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but for the whole world. And propitiation is an interesting word. It means to gain somebody's favor. So you've sinned. You're out of favor with God. But Jesus Christ is there saying, my sacrifice applies to this person. And the Father says, you have my favor. You have my goodwill come before me because of this advocate. This is a reality that happens in your life and my life all the time.

We don't think about it. But this is a reality that they played out once a year, and they were like, you're like my life all the time. Every day. You and I do something that would break our relationship with God. And Christ says, apply my blood to that person. And God covers it, and it's gone. And God says, come. And sometimes we haven't even repented yet, because we don't know the repent yet, or just being stubborn, or different. And God said, I've come.

And this relationship can continue. Of course, you know what happens in that relationship? He brings us to repentance. He's the one that is like, oh wow, I really need to say I'm sorry.

You ever been praying about something? And then in your mind, that maybe you need to repent about something? Yeah. This whole thing's happened in reality, and you're restored to the throne of God. And Christ said, let him come. And the Father says, okay, let him come. Let her come. You go, and your sins are covered, and your advocate, which means defense attorney, says, oh wait, wait, you're really killing. You need to repent. And you find yourself before God saying, ah, you know, I messed up today.

That's what's happening. This reality is happening, and this is what this day pictures.

It's not just the Passover for salvation. It's the relationship that happens with Christ as this goat and as this advocate. That's why throughout the Old Testament, God is called the Redeemer of Israel. He bought them. He paid a price for them.

But you know, that really becomes, I mean, the Scripture zeroes in on that concept of redemption when we get to the New Testament. For this relationship to happen between you and I and God, a price had to be paid. And that's what's hard for us to understand sometimes. That's what's hard for us to understand. Why would God pay a price for us? Why did He just forgive us?

Or if God loves everybody, why does He even care? And this is where we find this incredible balance, this mind of God. Can you imagine a world where it didn't matter anything what you did? You could kill, steal, cheat, lie. And God said, it's okay. You know what that would be?

That would be Satan's world. That would be basically the mess you and I live in, only 10 times worse.

There has to be justice. Now, what if you have, so if you have love and no justice, everybody says, I don't care what you do. But what happens when that person is stealing from you? Well, then you do care. Well, yes, but I love you, so I guess I have to let you steal from me. See, there's a problem. If we have love with no justice, well, what happens if we have justice with no love? Well, actually, justice with no love comes down to just a harsh reality that you're bad, you're, you know, and you're no good, and why even live? You're stuck between anarchy and being under a wall that crushes you and kills you, and where, how do you live under either of those? And God says, no, I will have justice, but I love you so much, I'll pay the price for you. He wouldn't do away with price. He would not do it. That'd be like you saying, I really don't care if you raped and murdered my wife. It's okay because I love you. No, it's not okay.

God says evil is not okay, and there's a price to be paid for that evil, but I'll pay it for you because I will not compromise with evil, but I love you that much. That's what Atonement brings us back to. I love you that much, that I will pay the price, and I will redeem you. I will buy you. 1 Peter 1.

That's what redeem means. I will buy you. I mean, you redeem something. You ever get a coupon that says, you know, turn this in, buy one, get one free, and it says redemption value one cent or something. You know, the point is you walk in with that piece of paper, and it has a value. It is redeemable. You're redeeming it for your half off or for your free milkshake or whatever it is you're taking in for. It's redemption. Even that's the price you're paying for your for your free hammer. Well, there's a price for you and I that has to be paid, or you and I cannot escape our own self-destruction. 1 Peter 1. And let's go to verse 17.

I'm a James. That will help me. 1 Peter 1 17.

And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according each one's works, this starts with a judgment. If you call on the Father, remember, He judges without partiality. You know what that means if I stop there? I'm doomed. God's always fair. So let's list your crimes. Well, let me listen to my good things. I say, okay, but that can erase your crimes.

It's like a man who commits armed robbery and shoots the man, then takes the money back, and says, I'm sorry for what I did. We're all square now, right? Well, what about the man who killed? See, the good thing doesn't erase the bad thing. It doesn't work this way. We understand justice doesn't do that. He says, conduct yourself throughout the time of your stay here in fear.

So, boy, that sentence by itself is, oh, be afraid because God's going to judge you. But that's not the end of the sentence. Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your father. But with the precious blot of Christ who was as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, remember the price paid. Remember the price paid.

So that you can, you now, can go before the righteous judge. And what he does is he uses that price that you and I should have paid. He uses that price to capore the cover. And your sins no longer exist. That's why David said, block them out. They no longer exist. They have no meaning to God anymore. This should free us from holding on sometimes to the past that we feel like holds us back or other people look at or, you know, that's not how God sees it. If we understand this and if we are covered, it is not just about forgiveness, though. It's about reconciliation.

That through redemption, you're bought to have a relationship. You're not bought by God to say, okay, I bought you now. Go do what you want. We're bought to have a relationship. We're bought to come into His presence. And in doing so, we obey Him. In doing so, we have faith. In doing so, His law suddenly means something to us.

Because we're in relationship and we know how this relationship works, we begin to trust Him and we begin to say, you know what? Your way really works. Your laws work. When nobody steals, it's a better world. But you also start to realize the spiritual side of it. When nobody hates, it's a better world.

We start to realize that what God wants is a change in human nature.

It's very interesting that in the history of the United States, many of the people who came here from Europe—now, we're not talking about the people who came here from Africa because they were in forced slavery—but many of the people who came here from Europe, many of them—not all of the Vietnamese—but many of them came as indentured servants. They were in poverty or they didn't have enough money to get here or they owed somebody a great debt or they committed some minor crime. And so what happened was they became somebody's indentured servant. They came here and they had to work off as a servant, as a type of slave for that person, for years in indentured servitude to pay off the debt. So say you owed somebody a lot of money. Say you hadn't paid the rent on your little hovel you rented from the guy in the castle and you lived in Europe someplace and you didn't pay your rent for a year. And he comes and says, okay, I'm going to throw you a debtor's prison. And then someone comes along and says, I'll tell you what, I will pay for your prison bill, but you've got to come clear over to the colonies and work for me for seven years. I'll pay you and your family and give across. But basically, you and your family worked for me for seven years. You're basically a slave to me. Many people said, good, give me out of prison.

And they worked then. And when that period was up, the person would say, okay, you paid off your debt, you're free. They got some kind of bill that said you paid your bill. And people came here because it was good. Once I get free, I can maybe get some land. I mean, there's land here at this point in those colonies. Everybody can get land. I can get some land. I can have my own place.

You know, indentured servitude was part of ancient Israel's culture. It's a little bit because 25. Now, last year, my entire sermon was on this concept of indentured servitude. I'm not going to go near as much detail today, but I want to bring it up again because it ties in with this idea of redemption. How do I get bought out of my slavery? Okay. How does someone buy me out of slavery? Well, their laws were very strict about how an Israelite could be bought out of slavery if they sold themselves into slavery. They either ran up such debts that they ended up in indentured servitude, or they just sold themselves. I mean, I can't pay my bills. I mean, okay, I'm going to sell myself to you. What do you do, though? How do you get out of that? Well, you end it until the term is paid. It might be 10 years, 20 years. Who knows how long indentured servitude can last? So what if someone wanted to get you out? I mean, you can't get yourself out. You wouldn't be an indentured servant if you could pay the bill. You see what I mean? You can't pay the bill is the problem. Now, this is one of the ways that the Day of Atonement ties into the passage, the idea of slavery. And you can't pay the bill. You can't get out of the slavery. You're trapped in it. ancient Israel was trapped in it because they were forced slaves or were forced into slavery by violence. Now, that's what black slavery was here. But the indentured servitude was different. It wasn't enforced by violence. It was, I sell myself. So what happened in ancient Israel? Well, then he was 25. Verse 47.

Now, if a soldier or stranger chews close to you becomes rich, one of your brother who dwells by him becomes poor, and he sells himself to the stranger or sojourner close to you or to a member of the stranger's family. Now, you know, Israelites first help each other out, but what if somebody else was living there in Israel? You became their indentured servant. After he is sold, he may be redeemed again. Okay, you can buy back, but how can he be bought back? Well, my best friend is going to go buy me back. You know, your best friend could not go buy you back.

Well, how about this other guy used to work for you? He'll buy me back, and I'll just go work for him. That couldn't happen either. What you sold yourself to be an indentured servant, it was very hard to get out of it because it was protected by law.

This is one of the reasons for this law, because it teaches us something about God and about Christ. He says, one of his brothers may redeem him, or his uncle's or his uncle's son. So, okay, he's my uncle or my cousin. So, one of my brothers, my uncle or my cousin. In other words, you have to be really close relatives. Sometimes this is called the law near kinsmen.

The only person who could redeem you was a very, very close relative, a member of the same family. It couldn't just be an Israelite. It couldn't be a member of the same tribe. Why not the tribe of Reuben? I just get another Reubenite. It doesn't work.

It has to be a member of your immediate family.

Brothers may redeem him, or his uncle or his uncle's son may redeem him. Or anyone who is near akin to him and his family may redeem him. Or if he is able, he may redeem himself. Of course, the problem is, is you can't redeem yourself. That's the problem with the law.

If you could redeem yourself, you wouldn't have been, you wouldn't have sold yourself. So, okay, buy yourself back. Well, of course, the answer is, I can't. Okay. Only a near relative. When you look at that law, you say, okay, what's that have to do with us? We don't have a dirt of servitude today. It doesn't mean anything to us, but it does. Let's go to Hebrews.

It's hard to go through the day of the total, but I've gone through the book of Hebrews at least once. It's Hebrews. And this is what I, like I said, give a whole sermon on last time. So we went to Mercy Seed. We went through the law of the year, kinsmen. Now we're going through the two ghosts, but some of these things overlap. Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 9.

But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that he by the grace of God might taste death for everyone.

Verse 10. For it was fitting for him, for whom all things, and by whom all are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through salvation or through sufferings. For both he who sanctifies, and those who are being sanctified, are all of one, for which reason he is not ashamed to call them brother.

All through the Bible talks about redemption. The Lord must redeem you. Christ is our redemption.

But according to the law of near kinsmen, the only person that could redeem you is of the closest of family members.

Here we see Jesus Christ comes as a sacrifice for what? Not just for those he created, because, you know, it says in Hebrews, a little earlier, it says that God created all things through Jesus Christ. So he came for his animals. Is that what he came for? He came for... I created these little animals. I need to go save them. He came for his brothers and sisters, his brother.

This is a declaration that we are the family of God.

Christ is our near kinsman.

He's the brother. That seemingly meaningless law back there is really important. We're bought and we're sold into slavery. We're paid for. We can't get out of it, except except your kinsman pays for us. The price of you and my to get out of our servitude is our deaths. No other price will be accepted. And so he came as our brother and he died and so that we are what? His children. We're God's children in Christ's brothers and sisters. Our near kinsmen. I mean, to grasp that.

That first goat is for the Lord.

It is the redemption. It is the price to be paid. But it wasn't the goat was a symbol. The near kinsman was a reality.

The near kinsman was a reality. That's why he became like us.

He became like us so we can become like him.

He became like us so that we can become like him.

We're all part of that family. This is a remarkable statement.

That's why he goes on later in this chapter. He says that. Well, let's just read it. Verse 14. It is much that as the children, that's us, have partaken a flesh of blood, he himself likewise shared in the same. He became like us.

He's the near kinsman.

That through death, he might destroy him who had the power of death. That is the devil. Also, the devil's part of this. It's the devil who brought sin into our lives.

It is Satan who has deceived us. It is Satan who led Adam and Eve and all of us away from God. So God had to bring us back.

It is Satan who we have sold ourselves to.

So he came to him, he might destroy him who had the power of death. That is the devil. And released those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. We were indentured servants our whole lives, and death is the other way out.

For indeed, he does not give aid to the angels.

And one of the arguments in the book of Hebrews is, we're not angels. And Christ wasn't an angel. We are something different.

For indeed, he does not give aid to angels, but he does give aid to the seed of Abraham.

And we know that we already went through where Christ is the seed of Abraham. And all those Jew or Gentile who have come into the church are the seed of Abraham.

The spirit of seed of Abraham. He does give aid to the seed of Abraham. Therefore, in all things, he is made to be like his brother. Of course, the near kissman, he was like his brother. So in all things, he was made like his brother. He might be an immersible and faithful high priest, and things pertain to the God. To make a propitiation.

To open up God's favor, which is by the word grace means. To open up God's favor, it's something he gives, it doesn't mean he doesn't give. To open that up is because of him.

Because one of the brothers paid the price. One of the near kinsmen, and the father accepts this son's sacrifice for all.

Then he might be an immersible and faithful high priest, and things pertain to the God. To make propitiation for the sins of the people.

This whole day, maybe that's what we'll cover next year, has to do with the high priest.

Everything about this day is centered around the high priest.

More than any of the other days.

And all that is a symbol of what Christ is doing right now. Because he is the high priest! Right there, he is a faithful high priest. What was the high priest supposed to do in the Old Testament? Tells us exactly what Jesus Christ is doing today. But the problem is, they failed at it, and he does not.

You see, there can be no reconciliation with God. There can be no relationship with God. Until, until the price is paid for slavery.

Now, understand this, because what's interesting in none of those passages is the price of redemption paid to Satan.

Is not paid to Satan? You know, we always pay the kidnapper, right? That's not justice. Can you imagine justice, God paying the ransom to Satan?

The ransom is paid in his court of law.

It's paid to him.

Christ's sacrifice is given to God for us.

You know, you remember, God worked all this out to show us something. This has all worked out to tell us, this is how much I love you. But the kidnapper gets nothing.

He gets none of this ransom. He gets nothing. And that's what we have to... You know, people think, well, why would God pay a ransom? Why would he redeem us from Satan? He's redeeming us from the law, the penalty of the law, not from keeping the law, but in the penalty of the law. He's redeeming us from what? Justice. His justice demands.

He's not paying the kidnapper anything. And that's where we get to the second row.

See, both of these ghosts can't be Christ, because what happens to the second one is unlike anything in any Levitical ritual.

So let's go back to Matthew 16.

Verse 20. So when Aaron, when he has made an end of atoning covering the Holy Place, the tabernacle of being in the altar, he will bring the live goat. Don't everybody's already killed the dead goat. Oh, you killed a dead goat. No, the goat is dead because he killed him.

I didn't have coffee this morning, so you'll have to... And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, confess over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel and all their transgressions concerning all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and shall send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a suitable man.

And the goat shall bear on itself all the iniquities into an uninhabited land, and he shall be released to goat into the wilderness.

It's not the blood of Satan that allows us to have a relationship with God. This one doesn't die. All the other sacrifices involve blood. All the sin sacrifices. Now, there were great offerings that were thanksgiving. You know, you brought a thanksgiving offering to God. That didn't necessarily mean blood. But all sacrifices that have all sinned required the blood. It required the redemption price. It required the blood of a brother. For the justice of God. And, by the way, the justice of the brother.

This is Jesus' requirement on us, too. Don't forget that. I must die for you because you're worthless if I don't. Now, that's love. But understand, this is His justice, too. He doesn't have a different set of justice than the Father. His justice is, I didn't have to die for you or you're worthless. Because my sense of justice requires your death. So don't think Jesus looked at this differently than the Father. But what an act of love! What an act of care! You have that much value to me! The Father said, you have that much value to me. I can't change who I am. I don't know how injured God did change who He was.

But you've got to be brought back. There's no blood with this animal. This has nothing to do with the redemption process. This has nothing to do with the forgiveness of sin. This one is dragged out and thrown into the wilderness. You are worthless. This one represents what we just read in Hebrews. What we just read in Hebrews. He came to destroy Him who has done this to us.

He's dragged out and put in the wilderness. It's interesting, at the time of the New Testament, there were enough people living around in the wilderness. They didn't want to wander around the wilderness and someone would kill Him and eat Him. So they would drag Him out to a cliff and shove Him off. That's how they got rid of the disaster. They dragged Him off of the wilderness someplace.

If anything in this second goat represents Jesus Christ, this is the strong man who takes Him out in the wilderness. There's a representative Christ. He's the strong man who does it. But the goat represents Satan.

What's interesting, of course, is when we look at these holding days, we have the Feast of Trumpets, the return of Jesus Christ, we have the Day of Atonement, the time of reconciliation, and we have the Feast of Tabernacles, Christ reigning on earth. But you know, in those three things there, those three happenings, there's another thing that happens, and it's tied into this day. Revelation 20. Revelation 20.

Actually, we need to do a whole sermon on the Day of Atonement on Satan. So there's another. So we get the High Priest yet, we have Satan. Two more years, and I can start at the beginning again, and we'll go through the Mercy phase.

Revelation 20, verse 1.

Until the thousand years were finished, but after these things he must be released for just a little while, and that's at the beginning of the Great White Throne Judgment. A strong man, here it's an angel, see the correlation here?

He takes him and takes him into his own wilderness.

That's on the Day of Atonement, or I mean, this is what the symbolizes. And when Jesus Christ comes back, Satan is removed.

See, this is why the Feast of Trumpets Day of Atonement, Feast of Tabernacles, were all connected in meaning.

I think it does us no good to take and try to analyze the space between, you know, well, there's ten days between these days and a couple days between these days, and there must be meaning to all those other days. The Scripture doesn't go through the meaning of all the days in between the Holy Days.

That's because we're not to read too much into that. We're to read into or receive from each Holy Day the symbols of that Holy Day, and what they mean. These events are all happening real close to each other. They're all happening, and I don't know how many days happen between Christ standing on the Mount of Olives and Satan being bound. I don't know. Because those days aren't explained in the Scripture as having importance. They may happen on the same day.

You see what I mean? We may be trying to read things that aren't there. The point is that each Holy Day tells us something. When Christ establishes His priesthood, what does He do when He stands there out of all of us? He gives it to Jerusalem and establishes Himself as the High Priest, which is what the Day of Atonement is all about.

So, He's King of Kings. Next thing He is is Priest of Priests. The High Priest. All these things are connected. You know, in some of the small Jewish synagogues today on the Old Kippur, they don't know what to do. They desperately need atonement. They don't know about Jesus Christ. And they don't have a temple. They don't have a High Priest.

There's a desperation for this atonement. I need my sins covered. I need a relationship with God. And so, in some of the... This isn't very common, but in some Jewish synagogues today, or last night usually. They take a chicken. They ring the neck of the chicken, and they swing it around. The rabbi swings it around his head, or the person doing the sermon three times. And they chant, This is my substitute, my vicarious offering, my atonement. This chicken shall be death, but I shall find a long and pleasant life of peace. I have to have a substitute. They understand that. You and I know who the substitute is. I find every sad. I find, really, a chicken's neck, and having the congregation tone-neck, in tone-devil, they swing that around. Very sad! Because it's a desire for atonement. It's a desire to say, God, please accept me! And you and I, at times, feel that need. God, please accept me. And God's answer is, I have! Not because we have some animal atonement, but because we have a brother atonement. Who wasn't just like any other brother. He was the Word, he was with God, and he was God, and he became atonement.

It is a blessing from God. Don't ever take lightly the blessing to know and to understand and receive that atonement. Satan hates this day. He will try to ruin it for you, by the way. This is the day that God brings salvation to humanity.

This is the day that he knows it's just about the end of his run. It's just about the end of his run. So I hope all of us can humbly appreciate, because this is the day about humbling ourselves. The privilege of observing this day with our brother, our high priest, who stands before our Father, the actual Holy of Holies. He's actively bringing atonement, and pardon, and mercy, and redemption for us, and is the only hope for a dying world. But you know, it's also a day of celebration, because it pictures the day when our arch-enemy, Satan, is conquered. We don't have to ever deal with him again. I hope all of you have a wonderful day of atonement. Kim and I are leaving very quickly, so we can get up to give the sermon. I'm doing the sermon in Nashville this afternoon, so we'll be leaving very quickly. So we probably won't see most of you now until after the feast. I hope all of you have a wonderful feast of tabernacles, not just physically. To go have a vacation is what this is. I mean, it's just a blessing. There's a physical blessing to it. But spiritually, you can understand what God is doing and what he's called you to, and what our future is, and how that breaks down, and how you and I live right now today.