Redemption past and future
It may be observed that some of the passages dealing with redemption indicate that it is yet ahead of us. We have been "sealed unto the day of redemption." Other passages of Scripture state that we already possess "redemption through his blood." We understand that redemption is ours the moment we accept Christ; and yet it still is ahead of us.
If the redemption is past but is still future, the fulfilment of the Day of Atonement is past and yet still future. This is true. Our Christian experience of the Day of Atonement and the Year of Jubilee is present with us now but is coming to an even greater extent when the Lord returns from Heaven. It is true also of the Kingdom of God that we are in it now, and yet it is coming to the earth in the future.
We can observe, while studying the feasts of the Lord (Leviticus, Chapter 23), that the Day of Atonement is sixth in a series of seven observances.
In the kingdom-wide fulfilment of the feasts of the Lord, the Day of Atonement will come after the blowing of the seventh trumpet—the trumpet of God that announces the return of the King, Christ. Yet, our traditional, customary understanding of the atonement is that the Day of Atonement was accomplished through the death of Christ on the cross two thousand years ago (Hebrews, Chapters Nine and Ten).
The Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross and shed His blood. His blood is the atonement for our sins. He brought His blood before the Presence of God Almighty in Heaven and sprinkled His blood on the spiritual realities there.
It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: (Hebrews 9:23,24)
The above passage is the new-covenant fulfilment of the Levitical Day of Atonement (Leviticus, Chapter 16), that is, of the sprinkling of the blood of the slain animals. This part of our redemption has been accomplished already.
The redemption that is coming in the future and that even now is working in us is the visible fruit of what was accomplished on Calvary. All that was purchased on the cross will be released into the "glorious liberty of the children of God."
The inheritance of each believer will be restored to him. It will be the "redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory" (Ephesians 1:14).
We lost our inheritance and were brought into servitude by our sins. During the aspect of the Day of Atonement that is yet to come, the consequences of our sins (our sins already having been forgiven in Christ) will be removed from us. The power and effects of sin will be destroyed so God can restore to us all that was lost through the fall of Adam and Eve.
As we look about us we can see the truth of the above statements. Christ has died for our sins—of that we are certain; and we who have accepted Him possess the sure knowledge that our sins have been forgiven and that we have passed from the authority of Satan to the authority of Christ. We know of a certainty that this is so and we have the Holy Spirit as a foretaste of the additional glory that is to come in the future.
We discover also, to our dismay, that we still are bound by many chains. We do not behave in righteousness, holiness, and obedience to God as we should. We fail in many ways as we attempt to reveal the Person and Glory of Christ.
We suffer sickness, in some instances, as well as confusion and unbelief. Also, the world continues to grow worse and worse in its sins and darkness until the message of the angels to the shepherds of Bethlehem appears to be a cruel mockery of the prisoners of the earth.
The foulest of sins, famine, frantic unrest, nervousness, fear—all ravage the inhabitants of the earth in this hour. Where is He who is our Redeemer? Look up, children of the Highest. The fullness of the atonement made by Christ is yet to come. Lift up your heads and walk as sons of God. Your redemption is drawing near.
Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. (Hebrews 9:12)
Christ on the cross shed His blood to make an atonement for our sins before the Throne of God. The High Priest of God, Christ, has entered beyond the veil and sprinkled the blood of the new covenant before the Mercy Seat in Heaven. The price of eternal redemption already has been paid. What remains for the Church, and for the nations of the saved of the world, is the "redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory."
And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. (Hebrews 9:15)
The above passage is a summary of the Gospel. Christ’s death was for the purpose of redeeming what was in bondage under the old covenant so each person whom God calls may regain the lost inheritance. We gather from this verse that the Year of Jubilee is one of the major Old Testament types of the Gospel of Christ.