The Day of Atonement..
With regard to our transformation from Adam to Christ, let us look more closely at the Day of Atonement, found in the sixteenth chapter of the Book of Leviticus.
Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood within the vail, and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat: (Leviticus 16:15)
The sprinkling of the blood of the slain goat upon and before the Mercy Seat portrays the sprinkling of Christ’s blood before the Altar of God in Heaven for the forgiveness of our sins. The forgiveness of our sins authorizes us to begin the process of transformation that results in the forming of the Kingdom of God in us.
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)
And now we come to the scapegoat.
And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness: (Leviticus 16:21)
The confession of sins and laying them on the head of the living goat, and the sending away of the living goat into the wilderness, show clearly that our redemption includes the removal of sin from our personality.
The feasts of the Lord are always proclaimed "in their seasons."
These are the feasts of the Lord, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons. (Leviticus 23:4)
We believe that this is the season for the Day of Atonement, that it has begun now for the Church of Christ, and that it will extend throughout the thousand-year Kingdom Age.
The closer we are to the Lord today the more we shall experience the dealings of the Holy Spirit as He begins to lead us in warfare against the worldliness, lust, and self-will in our personality.
It is our conviction that only those who have cooperated fully with the Holy Spirit in the removal of sin from their personality are eligible to be raised as part of the royal priesthood when the Lord appears.
Why is this? It is because those who are raised when the Lord appears will be raised from the dead and then be glorified by being clothed with a body from Heaven. They will have a body like the Lord Jesus. They will then be able to enter the Paradise of God in a body of flesh and bone, just as is true of the Lord Jesus.
No human being can ever be raised from the dead and clothed with a body like that of the Lord Jesus while there is worldliness, lust, and rebellion in his or her personality. Only those who overcome, through Christ, the world, Satan, and their self-will are authorized to eat of the tree of life that is in the midst of the Paradise of God (Revelation 2:7). The cherubim are still guarding the tree!
There is massive theological confusion concerning the role of Divine grace. No person ever will receive a glorified body on the basis of forgiveness. The purpose of grace is to enable us to press forward to the resurrection. If we rely on grace to forgive us without undergoing the process of personal transformation, then no glorified body has been created before God’s throne. We will be found naked in the day of resurrection.
We gain entrance to the Holy of Holies when we receive the Lord Jesus so that God can hear our prayers. This is the wonderful grace of God to us. But in no manner can any individual enter the Kingdom of God by forgiveness.
Paradise, yes; but not the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is the doing of God’s will in the earth as it is in Heaven.
Hopefully the reader will search the Scriptures to see if we are accurate and not wait until he or she dies and discover when it is too late that it is as we have stated.
It may be true that many pastors and teachers know the strictness of God’s salvation but do not preach and teach the truth. They are afraid they will lose their followers. This being the case, we urge you to not rely blindly on your spiritual leader to tell you the truth concerning your salvation. Put the apostles to the test (Revelation 2:2)!
We always should obey the elders of our church and do all we can to assist them. God has not called us to instruct the elders! But our salvation is our individual responsibility and we are required by the Lord to determine from the Scriptures what God has said about our salvation.
Let us repeat what we have stated. The Day of Atonement has begun now and the praying saints will discover that the Holy Spirit is pointing out their sins and helping them to confess them and be delivered from them. Such confession and deliverance makes possible the growth of Christ in us.