(tm) The word atonement means "reconciliation."

The word atonement means "reconciliation."

During the thousand years the elect will be married to God in perfect reconciliation, and the nations of the saved also will be joined to God, although not as fully as the Bride of the Lamb. Throughout the thousand-year Kingdom Age the nations of the saved will be ruled in righteousness by the victorious saints (Isaiah 2:3; Revelation 2:26,27).

The thousand-year Kingdom Age is, as we have stated, the fulfillment of the Day of Atonement and includes the marriage of Christ and His saints. At the beginning of this period the Bride of the Lamb, or at least a firstfruits of the Bride, will be given the fine linen of righteous conduct to wear (Revelation 19:8).

At the end of the thousand years the Wife of the Lamb will descend from the new heaven to the new earth as the holy city, the new Jerusalem (Revelation 21:10). The Church will attain completeness and perfection during the Kingdom Age, having progressed from the fine linen to the glorified new Jerusalem.

The thousand-year period is for the purpose of reconciling the Christian Church to God through Christ, and also reconciling to God the nations of saved peoples of the earth, as we understand the Divine plan.

One may protest that Christians already are reconciled to God through the blood of the cross. It is true that legally we have been reconciled to God through the blood of the cross. However, it must become true that our whole personality is reconciled to God in actuality, and it is not true that the personality of most Christians has been reconciled to God. There is much darkness in every one of us that is at war with God, with God’s will and purpose in us.

The kingdom-wide fulfillment of the feast of Tabernacles is the new heaven and earth reign of Christ.

The new Jerusalem, the Wife of the Lamb, is the eternal dwelling place of God among the nations of saved peoples of the earth.

And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. (Revelation 21:3)

Having mentioned the kingdom-wide, spiritual fulfillment of the last three of the seven Old Testament convocations, let us consider now the personal, spiritual fulfillment.

The personal, spiritual fulfillment of the Old Testament Blowing of Trumpets is the coming of Christ to establish His Kingdom in the heart of the individual. The fulfillment includes the preparing and placing of the believer concerning his or her position in the army of the Lord.

The personal, spiritual fulfillment of the Day of Atonement is the total reconciliation of our personality to God.

The personal, spiritual fulfillment of the feast of Tabernacles is the dwelling of the Father in Christ in the saint through the Holy Spirit, making it possible for God through the saint to dwell among the nations of saved peoples of the earth.

The Christian Church, the Body of Christ, is being constructed as the dwelling place of God and Christ so it may serve as a house for God in the earth.

It is our understanding that the personal fulfillment of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and Tabernacles will take place (although not perfectly and completely) in the victorious saints before Jesus returns, and it will be these saints who will be ready to rise to meet the Lord in the first resurrection from the dead.

It requires the fulfillment of the last three feasts in us before we are prepared adequately to meet the Lord when He appears and to rule with Him over the nations of the earth. The promises of rulership are to the victorious saints.

And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father. (Revelation 2:26,27)

After we have received the baptism with the Holy Spirit, which is the personal fulfillment of the fourth feast, we then are ready for the Lord to come to us in the personal fulfillment of Trumpets.

The personal fulfillment of the feast of Trumpets is the coming of the King, Christ, to wage war against His enemies that are in our personality, in preparation for the dwelling of God in us (the personal fulfillment of the feast of Tabernacles). During our personal fulfillment of the Day of Atonement the Lord judges the darkness in us, the worldliness, lust, and self-will.

The personal, spiritual fulfillment of the first four feasts are preparatory works (Hebrews 6:1). The actual construction of God’s house commences when the Builder of the Church, Christ, comes to us in the personal fulfillment of the Blowing of Trumpets. This is when the work begins. (It is significant that the Blowing of Trumpets is New Year’s Day in the Jewish culture.)

The coming of Christ to us in the personal fulfillment of Trumpets is announced in John 14:3. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. (John 14:3)

We suggest that the coming of the Lord is in two parts: (1) to the believer in personal fulfillment of the Blowing of Trumpets; and (2) in and with the whole group of victorious saints at the time of the Lord’s return to earth.

We suggest further that until we partake of the individual fulfillment of Trumpets it is not possible for us to be part of the Lord’s appearing to the world. The Lord Jesus is not coming alone to the world but in the company of those who share His Life. Only those who have become part of Him can be part of the kingdom-wide fulfillment of the Blowing of Trumpets, the coming of the King to the world. They alone will rule with Him over the saved nations.

When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:4)

If Christ is not our life, if we are not living in total dependence on His Person and Presence, then we are not ready to appear with Him in glory. This means that the majority of churchgoers of today may not be prepared for the coming of the Lord—partly because of the false teaching surrounding the catching up ("rapture") of the believers.

The personal fulfillment of the feasts flows from and is part of the kingdom-wide fulfillment. The kingdom-wide fulfillment benefits the elect only as they experience the personal fulfillment.

The death of Christ on the cross of Calvary benefits us only as we appropriate this kingdom-wide fulfillment in personal fulfillment. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost benefits us only as we appropriate this event, bringing it into our experience.

So it is true that the kingdom-wide fulfillment of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and Tabernacles will benefit us only as we experience them in individual, personal fulfillment.

One of the greatest errors in contemporary Christian thinking is that the culminating acts of redemption will fall upon the believers without any present or future exercise of faith and obedience on their part. The current belief is that the coming of the Lord and the resurrection from the dead will bring to each Christian, no matter how lukewarm and worldly, a sovereign, inevitable deliverance.

The idea is that we shall be ready to meet the Lord and return with Him in glory because at some previous point we have made a profession of belief in His death and resurrection. We accepted Christ years ago and now we are waiting for Him to come and take us to Heaven, after which we shall return as the mightiest of kings and lords. Even if we did not have the Scriptures, our common sense ought to warn us that something is wrong with such thinking!

The spiritual aspects of the coming of Christ, the resurrection from the dead, and the Day of the Lord, are taking place in the victorious saints now just as they have in the victorious saints throughout church history.

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