The Day of Atonement
The coming thousand years of redemption will be a jubilee of deliverance and glory for the Israel of God as well as for the nations of saved peoples of the earth, as God reveals His Glory through His Temple. The term "Israel of God" refers to those persons whom God has called out from the world under the old covenant and the new covenant. It has a secondary, significant reference to those who are Jews by race because of human birth (Romans 2:28,29; Galatians 6:15,16).
The fact that the trumpet of Jubilee was sounded on the Day of Atonement is worthy of note. The Day of Atonement (Leviticus, Chapter 16) was the only day of the Hebrew year during which the high priest was instructed to pass beyond the veil that hung in front of the Most Holy Place. The blood of a young bull and of a goat was sprinkled upon and before the Mercy Seat, the young bull being offered for Aaron and his household, and the goat for the sins of the people.
Then the sins of the children of Israel were placed, by the laying on of Aaron’s hands, on the head of a live goat and that goat was led out of the camp. Here is a picture of I John 1:9: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
During the Day of Atonement, God performs two services for us: first, He forgives our sins (the blood of the slain goat sprinkled upon and before the Mercy Seat); second, He cleanses us from all unrighteousness (the sins placed on the living goat and carried out of the camp). God through Christ both forgives and delivers us.
The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ was shed on Calvary for our sins. His blood was sprinkled upon and before the Mercy Seat in Heaven and also on our heart. As we confess our sins, after we have become a Christian, our sins are carried away from us so we do not continue committing them.
After our sins have been forgiven and removed from us, we then are eligible for all the blessings of the Jubilee. Deliverance is appointed for us. It is with the greatest rejoicing and praise that we glorify God in the returning of our birthright as God’s children. Little by little we are enabled by the Holy Spirit to fight our way into the land of promise and to begin to recover the spiritual life that was lost in the Garden of Eden.
The redemption that is drawing near has to do especially with the restoring to us of immortality. Adam and Eve had access to the Tree of Life. If they had eaten of it they would still be alive on the earth to the present hour. When they sinned, spiritual life withdrew from their bodies. They "died" the moment they sinned, as God warned they would, although their physical bodies did not manifest the death for nearly a thousand years.
Christ "hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel" (II Timothy 1:10). We who are Christians have been sealed to the Day of Redemption that soon is to come. In that day eternal life will be restored to our bodies. We will be immortal on the earth.
Even though we are Christians our bodies are "dead because of sin." We are dragging around a "body of death." Christ was offered as a sacrifice to God for the forgiveness of our sins. Having been forgiven we now are looking for His glorious appearing. When He appears, He will raise our mortal bodies from the dead without sin unto salvation (Hebrews 9:28). The Millennial Jubilee will commence with the restoration to life of the victorious saints.
The door is open now to "whoever will." Those who set their heart and mind to the task of conquering in Christ can fight their way into the riches of the Kingdom of God. Even though the remainder of the Church may be slow to realize their opportunities in Christ, any person who will seek Christ with his whole heart can forge ahead in God and begin to eat the old corn of the land.
When the thousand-year Kingdom Age comes, and the Head and Body of Christ appear in glory, the blessings of the Day of Atonement will be applied to the whole earth, particularly to the Lord’s people. During that Day, as Paul teaches us, the Lord will restore the nation of Israel to His favour. "All Israel shall be saved" (Romans 11:26). A multitude of people who are Jewish by physical birth will be brought into the one Seed, Christ, thereby becoming heirs of the promises of God.
In Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek. Any man, woman, boy or girl who receives Christ as Saviour and Lord becomes a part of the Israel that will rule with God throughout the thousand-year Kingdom Age and the new heaven and earth reign of Christ.
God will "make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles" (Romans 9:23,24).
The full blessings of the Day of Atonement will be applied to all Israel during the thousand-year Kingdom Age. The sins of the Lord’s people will be forgiven and their bondages broken. This is the promise of God to His people in the Day when He shall take away their sins.
What a day of release is at hand! The authority and power of the blood of the cross shall deliver all the people of God.
The guilt of sin was removed on the cross. The power of sin will be broken as the army of God, the victorious remnant of saints, goes forth in the full anointing of the Holy Spirit. This is the coming of the Kingdom of God into the earth.
No other kingdom can withstand the coming of the Kingdom of God. As soon as Christ has His saints ready to appear with Him, every other personality and force will move before their advance. The saints will come with Christ at their head to cleanse and deliver the peoples of the earth.
This will be the greatest period of rejoicing imaginable. The appearing of Christ with His army will usher in the Day of Jubilee for the earth. All the cleansing and delivering will be founded on the work of atonement accomplished on Calvary.
When the Lord Jesus comes to set up His Kingdom on the earth, "He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied" (Isaiah 53:11).