The Day of Atonement wp

Previously we described the application of the Blowing of Trumpets to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and to our riding with Him on the war horses of God. Now we will examine the events associated with the Day of Atonement, the sixth in the order of the seven Levitical feasts (Leviticus, Chapter 23).

The Day of Atonement is especially rich in symbolism, in terms of our redemption, because it is feast number six. Mankind was created in the image of God on the sixth day of creation. The Day of Atonement portrays the crowning work of God in redemption. Therefore it is placed just before the "rest of God."

The rest of God is typified by the seventh feast, the feast of Tabernacles, and signifies the full possession of our inheritance and our deliverance from all the enemies of God and man.

The Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur ) is celebrated on the tenth day of the seventh month. It was the only day of the year when the high priest of Israel was allowed into the Most Holy Place. The anointed priest went behind the veil and sprinkled blood upon and before the Mercy Seat to make an atonement for his own sins, and then for the sins of the nation of Israel.

The second act of the observance of Yom Kippur was the confessing of the sins of Israel and the laying of them on the "scapegoat." The scapegoat then was led away into the wilderness by a man appointed to that task.

The word atonement includes the concepts of covering over sin, of appeasing (propitiating) the wrath of God, of forgiveness, of annulment of debt, of remission (forgiveness) of sin, of reconciliation, and of healing. Every factor necessary for the complete reconciliation of a sinful human being to the holy Lord God of Israel is contained in the atonement made by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The term mercy falls short of describing all that is contained in the Divine atonement. We can have "mercy" on someone, and then let them go their way and ignore them. God’s atonement brings us from chaos of body, soul, and spirit all the way to change into the image of Christ and union with Him.

Surely this is more than merely the showing of mercy. This is reconciliation in the fullest significance and implications of the term. The Mercy Seat could be termed more correctly the Lid of Reconciliation. The Day of Atonement is the day of reconciliation. It is the moment when we are brought wholly into the Presence of Christ and God, and when judgment and deliverance are extended through the Church to the nations of the earth.

The Day of Atonement is described in the sixteenth chapter of the Book of Leviticus:

And the Lord said unto Moses, Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times into the holy place within the vail before the mercy seat, which is upon the ark; that he die not: for I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat. (Leviticus 16:2)

Aaron’s two sons had just been slain because they had offered incense in an improper manner before the Lord God. God now was impressing on Aaron that the sanctity of the Most Holy Place was not to be violated and that any person who dared to behave in a presumptuous manner in the Tabernacle would be slain.

God Himself was dwelling between the wings of the covering Cherubim of Glory.

And he shall take of the congregation of the children of Israel two kids of the goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering. And Aaron shall offer his bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make an atonement for himself, and for his house. (Leviticus 16:5,6)

Here is one of the major differences between the priesthood of Aaron and his and the priesthood of Christ. Aaron and his sons were required to offer bulls for their own sins. Christ never had to offer any sacrifice for His own sins because He was without sin. His sacrifice was offered for us.

Two goats: two dimensions of the atonement.

And he shall take the two goats, and present them before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the Lord, and the other lot for the scapegoat. (Leviticus 16:7,8)

There is an important concept revealed in the preceding passage. There were two goats, not just one goat. One goat was offered for a sin offering. It was the Lord’s goat. The other goat remained alive and was let go into the wilderness. It was the scapegoat. These two goats portray the two aspects of the atonement.

The first aspect occurred on the cross of Calvary, in which the sin offering was made and the guilt of sin was removed.

The second aspect of the Day of Atonement will take place at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The presence of sin will be removed from the Church, and finally from the whole world, just as the scapegoat was removed from the camp. "To them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation" Hebrews 9:28).

Christ is not satisfied with appeasing the wrath of God and forgiving sin. He will proceed to demolish the power of sin and to remove it from His Body—a process that already has commenced in the conquering saints.

At His glorious appearing, Christ will finish removing all aspects of sin from His Church and then will proceed to remove sin from the nations of saved peoples of the earth. His name is Jesus, not because He saves His people in their sins but because He saves His people from their sins.

The Lord is faithful and righteous, not only to forgive our sins but also to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The atonement made by Christ includes not only forgiveness but also deliverance. It is a complete and full reconciliation to all that God desires and to all that God Himself Is.

And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the Lord’s lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering. But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the Lord, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness. (Leviticus 16:9,10)

One goat was slain and one lived. Christ died but He rose again. We are baptized not only into His death but also into His resurrection.

Because Christ lives we shall be saved to the uttermost, meaning we shall be reconciled fully to the Father. There is part of our personality that must die on the cross of Christ. There is a new creation born in us that is alive forever. The Divine redemption includes not only forgiveness, as marvelous as that is, but also re-creation and absorption into the Divine Nature.

Every guilt, tendency, and effect of sin is being removed from us by the authority and power of the Divine Atonement that has been made by Christ. Shall we allow the Holy Spirit to work a perfect work of atonement in us?

The removal of the scapegoat signifies not only the complete reconciliation of the members of the Body of Christ to God but also the removal of the presence of sin from the earth. One of the principal missions of Christ—Head and Body—is the judgment and destruction of all sources and forms of sin in the earth. The planet on which we now are living will be purged of all sin.

Think of it! God will not destroy the present heavens and earth until He first demonstrates for one thousand years that He is able to rule in righteousness on this earth or in any other area that He chooses. God cannot be defeated.

After the Lord has demonstrated His power, wisdom, righteousness, and compassion with clarity, He will cast aside in disdain the material creation—the present heavens and the earth—and create a new heaven and a new earth.

God has made new creatures. He will not permit any element that has been sullied by sin and rebellion to continue in existence in the new heaven and the new earth.

The Lake of Fire will burn throughout eternity. Whoever wishes to do so at that time may go out and observe Satan, Antichrist, the False Prophet, and the souls of people who have rebelled against God.

And he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before the Lord, and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the vail: And he shall put the incense upon the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is upon the testimony, that he die not: (Leviticus 16:12,13)

The cloud of perfume that arose when the holy incense was poured on the hot coals of the censer was an important part of the observance of the Day of Atonement. The fragrance of the perfume was to "cover the mercy seat." This type was fulfilled when the holy prayers and praises of Jesus of Nazareth ascended to the Father, especially in Gethsemane and also during the time of His crucifixion.

The kingdom-wide fulfillment of the enveloping of the Mercy Seat by the holy perfume is described in Revelation, Chapter Eight. The incense, which is the fragrance of Christ, is mixed with the prayers of the saints. The whole is poured on the coals of the golden censer. The holy perfume ascends "up before God from the angel’s hand" (Revelation 8:4).

Then the trumpets of the Lord prepare to sound. There must be an increase in the prayer and praise that ascends from the members of the Body of Christ in our day before God will consent to give the signal for the trumpets to sound that announce the return to earth of the Lord Jesus.

Christ’s appearing: the day of reconciliation. Christ will appear as the complete fulfillment of the Day of Atonement, the day of reconciliation. The trumpets will announce the Millennial Jubilee, the time of the restoration of all things to their rightful owners.

Satan has stolen what belongs to Christ and His saints, but it all will be returned in the Jubilee. Can you believe the kingdom of darkness will be defeated and those who harm the earth will be destroyed? There is nothing anyone can do to prevent it. The Day of Atonement is coming—the day of reconciliation, the day of the completion of redemption.

Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubile to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land. And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family. (Leviticus 25:9,10)

The Day of Christ’s appearing is the fulfillment of the Day of Atonement—Yom Kippur of the Jews. He will appear "without sin unto salvation." The fullness of redemption is yet ahead of us, as the New Testament indicates. We Christians possess the Holy Spirit as the firstfruits and pledge of the Day of Redemption that is yet to come.

The Day of Christ will be the period of reconciliation, deriving its authority from the blood of the cross. The Church will be united with Christ, as expressed in the words: "The marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready."

All sin will be judged and removed from the earth. The Lamb and His Wife will then shepherd the earth with a rod of iron. There will be a peace imposed by Divine force that will endure for one thousand years. During the thousand-year Kingdom Age, the Israel of God and the nations of saved peoples of the earth will be reconciled to Christ and the Father (II Corinthians 5:19; Isaiah 2:2-4).

The third death and resurrection, in which we must deny ourselves and be raised by the power of Christ, is necessary if we are to inherit the fullness of fruitfulness and strength that will bless the nations of the earth during the thousand-year fulfillment of the Day of Atonement (the Kingdom Age).

Today, God is seeking saints who will be able to rule with Him and experience unbounded fruitfulness and dominion. In order for the Lord God of Heaven to give us the fullness of the fruitfulness and dominion promised to the victorious saints He first must make us weak, deprived of the strength that we possessed prior to this most severe of prunings.

To those whom God has made barren will be given the most extraordinary fruitfulness (Isaiah 54:1). To those whom God has made weak will be given the most extraordinary strength (II Corinthians 12:9).

The Divine fruitfulness and strength of the conquering saints will result in their being kings and priests of Christ throughout the Millennial Jubilee, and then on through eternity during the new heaven and earth reign of Christ. "Come, and let us return to the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us, he hath smitten, and he will bind us up" (Hosea 6:1).

And he shall take of the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy seat eastward; and before the mercy seat shall he sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times. 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 16:14,15)

During the Day of Atonement the atoning blood was sprinkled on the eastern side of the Mercy Seat, the side facing the land of promise. The blood of Christ looks forward to the day when the Church is married to Him in total, complete union, and the earth is free from sin, having been perfectly reconciled to God.

The blood was sprinkled seven times signifying that the blood will work a perfect work of reconciliation in us. As in the case of Naaman the Syrian, when we come up after the seventh "dip" we shall be healed. We shall be as a little child, ready to enter the Kingdom of God (II Kings 5:14).

We are being redeemed "to the uttermost." (Hebrews 7:25).

The redeeming blood of Christ keeps on working throughout all areas of redemption. Each of the Levitical feasts included the offering of animals. We overcome by the blood of the Lamb. We are reconciled to God by the blood of Christ. All through the working out of the phases of our redemption the blood keeps on making up the difference between our actual attainment in holiness and righteousness and the standard of righteous and holy conduct required by the Lord.

We noticed previously that the army that will invade the earth from Heaven will be led by the Commander in Chief who is "clothed with a robe dipped in blood." It is the blood of Christ that will make possible the union of the Church with Christ, and also the cleansing from sin of the nations of saved peoples of the earth.

The blood of bulls and goats was sprinkled on the east side of the Mercy Seat and before the Mercy Seat, no doubt indicating that some of the blood fell on the Ark of the Covenant and some on the ground in front of the Ark. This was the "reconciling" of the "holy place" (Leviticus 16:20).

In addition, blood was put on the horns of the Altar of Incense (Exodus 30:10). This was the reconciling of the "tabernacle of the congregation."

Finally, blood was sprinkled seven times on the "horns of the altar round about" (Leviticus 16:18). Scholars are not in agreement as to whether the "altar" of Leviticus 16:18 refers to the Altar of Incense or to the Altar of Burnt Offering that stood in the Courtyard of the Tabernacle. We have come to the conclusion that it refers to the Altar of Burnt Offering, and that this sprinkling with blood was the reconciling of the Courtyard and its Altar and Laver.

If we are correct, the three parts of the Tabernacle were reconciled: (1) the Most Holy Place, with the sprinkling of the blood on the Mercy Seat and before the Mercy Seat; (2) the Holy Place, with the putting of the blood on the horns of the Altar of Incense; and (3) the Courtyard, with the sevenfold sprinkling of the blood on the horns of the Altar of Burnt Offering.

The blood placed upon the Mercy Seat and before the Mercy Seat speaks of the work of reconciliation in the Holiest of all in Heaven. The Holiest of all in Heaven is the throne of the Father. Also, God has a Most Holy Place in the heart of each saint.

The blood sprinkled before the Mercy Seat reminds us that the way to the throne of God must be sanctified as well as the throne itself. It is not sufficient that we attain our goal in God. We must attain that goal according to God’s rules or we are disqualified.

Christ is the Way as well as the Truth and the Life. The most holy Presence of God is found first in the Lord Jesus Christ. The way to reconciliation to God was opened up for all people when Jesus offered His blood upon and before the Mercy Seat in Heaven.

Next, the blood placed on the horns of the Altar of Incense portrays the sanctifying of the prayer and praise that ascend to God from the Church. The blood of Christ makes our prayers holy and acceptable.

Perfect holiness is being developed in the hearts of the fervent disciples of the Lord Jesus. The work of Christ in the Church will not cease until the Church is perfect—a complete counterpart of the Lord Jesus Christ in every way. The reconciling of this "holy place" is made possible by the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus. Otherwise, our worship, supplication, and service would not be acceptable before the throne of the Almighty in Heaven.

Finally the sprinkling of the blood on the horns of the Altar of Burnt Offering reveals to us that the purpose of God is to fill the earth with the worship of Himself.

The world to be reconciled to God.

But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord. (Numbers 14:21)

We learn from the above verse that God, being provoked by the unbelief of Israel in the wilderness, swore by Himself that He would fill the whole earth with His Glory. The filling of the earth with the Glory and praise of God appears many times throughout the Old Testament, as various prophets gave voice to the burden of the Word of the Lord. This particularly is true of the Psalms.

Let all the earth fear the Lord: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. (Psalms 33:8)

Be still, and know I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. (Psalms 46:10)

God reigneth over the heathen: God sitteth upon the throne of his holiness. (Psalms 47:8)

According to thy name, O God, so is thy praise unto the ends of the earth: thy right hand is full of righteousness. (Psalms 48:10)

The Sixty-seventh Psalm is devoted to the coming rule of God throughout the earth. This rule will be accomplished during the day of reconciliation, as administered through the Lord Jesus Christ and the Body of Christ.

God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us; Selah. That thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations. Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee. O let the nations be glad and sing for joy: for thou shalt judge the people righteously, and govern the nations upon earth. Selah. Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee. Then shall the earth yield her increase; and God, even our own God, shall bless us. God shall bless us; and all the ends of the earth shall fear him. (Psalms 67:1-7)

It is abundantly clear in the Scripture that God will bless the earth through Christ—Head and Body. First, the blood and Spirit of Christ will work redemption in the Church until the Church itself has been reconciled to God in deed, in word, and in thought.

Then, through the Church, God will reconcile the earth to Himself. This is the kingdom-wide fulfillment of the Day of Atonement. The reconciliation will have been completed by the end of the thousand-year Kingdom Age. After that, the final judgment will take place as the nations rebel, the Divine fire falls, the universe disappears with a terrific noise, and the white throne of judgment appears.

The fruit of the program of reconciliation will be carried over into the new heaven and earth reign of Christ. Christ then will behold the fruit of the travail of His soul and will be satisfied. The work that has been accomplished will prosper in God’s hand forever, age without end.

The enormous fruit and strength gained by the members of the Body of Christ as the result of the work of Divine reconciliation will proceed from and is dependent on the willingness of each member of the Body to deny himself and die the death that the Holy Spirit directs for him or her as an individual.

God’s way is to bring forth life from death. Christ Himself is our example, divesting Himself of His Divine Glory and going to the cross. Because of His willingness to die the death that the Father required, Christ has been given all authority and all power in Heaven and on the earth.

Now it is our turn. Will we believe Christ and be willing to "fall into the ground and die"? Are we willing to lose our life? Are we willing to love not our life to the death?

To save one’s life is to lose it. If we lose our life for Christ’s sake and the Gospel’s, exceedingly great fruitfulness and strength will proceed from us.

The high priest, as we have stated, reconciled to the Lord the Most Holy Place, the Tabernacle of the Congregation, and the Altar of Burnt Offering. The threefold application of blood reveals to us that the blood of the Lamb will purify the Kingdom of God, commencing in the Presence of God in Heaven and proceeding downward through the hearts of the saints and out through the earth until the heavens and earth have been reconciled to the Father.

It was therefore necessary 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)

All the iniquities of the children of Israel were put on the head of the living goat and it was led away into the wilderness. All their transgressions were born away to "a land not inhabited." Here is one of the clearest pictures in the Scripture of the fact that our sins are not only forgiven through Christ but also removed from us by the Lord.

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: And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness. (Leviticus 16:21,22)

Christ did not come from Heaven only to forgive those of earth who would accept His forgiveness. He came to do that but also to remove from the believers all the tendencies and effects of sin,—and finally to judge and destroy all sin from the earth.

The Book of I John deals with sin in the Christian discipleship.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (I John 1:9)

Here are the two aspects of the atonement—the forgiveness and the cleansing, the dead goat and the living goat.

There are two major historical works indicated here: (1) Calvary, which has to do with the forgiving of the guilt of sin and the destroying of the authority of the devil over mankind; and (2) the next appearing of the avenging Christ, which has to do with the cleansing of the Church and the world from all unrighteousness.

We have spoken, during our discussion of the second death and resurrection, of the deliverance of the Christian from the guilt and power of sin. In the third death and resurrection, that which we have termed conquest, the Christian is to endure the self-denial necessary to bring the blessings of forgiveness and deliverance to other people.

The third area of redemption will not have been completed until the world has been reconciled to God.

We are not teaching that all people ultimately will be saved. There will be some who will not receive Christ as Savior and Lord. These will enter everlasting torment in which there can be no redemption forever.

We have stated before that redemption is past, present, and future. Past redemption has to do with the forgiveness of our sins on the cross of Calvary. Present redemption has to do with accepting the atonement and with washing the robes of our conduct and making them white in the blood of the Lamb.

Future redemption has to do with receiving our glorified bodies and with the judgment and removal of sin from the earth. Future redemption will commence with the appearing of the Lord Jesus from Heaven, although the authority and power of judgment and deliverance are being issued now to a warlike remnant, a firstfruits of the Church. All these acts of redemption are the spiritual fulfillment of Yom Kippur, the most sacred day of the Jewish year, the Day of Atonement.

The next coming of Christ will bring to those who look for Him a redemption free from every trace of the guilt, tendencies, and effects of sin.

If we would be prepared for such a glorious, sin-free salvation, we must be in the process of purifying ourselves now. Our time of preparation is described in the following verse:

And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. (I John 3:3)

Another important area of fulfillment of the Day of Atonement is that of the end-time redemption of the Jewish people. The reconciliation of the Jews with their Christ will take place during the dark days of the rule of Antichrist. The Body of Christ will be the instrument the Lord will employ to restore Christ to His own racial family, the Jews.

Asenath, the Egyptian bride of Joseph, is a type of the Wife of the Lamb—she who is being drawn out from all races today, even from the Jewish race. The Bride will be part of Christ, just as Asenath was part of Joseph, when He reveals Himself to the nation of Israel.

In order for us to understand how salvation can come suddenly to a group of people, such as the Jews, we first must realize Christ possesses and can exercise the authority and power to forgive, cleanse, and deliver any person whom He will. Our salvation is not by our works but by the grace and election of the Lord. We do not choose Him, He chooses us.

Notice how the Lord can forgive sin at His pleasure:

And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy; Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee. (Matthew 9:2)

And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven. (Luke 7:48)

Christ reaches down and saves those whom the Father has given to Him. Of course, when He speaks to us we must obey. If we do not obey we run the risk of being among those who are rebels against the Lord and who will be consumed by the fire of eternal judgment.

The concept that Christ can reach down and deliver whom He will is important to our understanding if we are to grasp the whole plan of God. We witness the sovereignty of Christ exercised in the case of Lot, who was delivered from Sodom at the last minute. In this instance, as so often is true, another human being (Abraham) was involved in the exercise of God’s sovereign delivering actions.

We can observe the ability of Christ to reach down and save from darkness in the incident of Saul on the road to Damascus. Saul was forgiven and commissioned to be an apostle before he had had much time to examine the alternatives. We are not saved by works of righteousness we have done, as Paul understood and taught so clearly, but according to the purpose and calling of God.

Paul describes how God in the end-time, after leaving them in blindness to His salvation for so many hundreds of years, will reach down and redeem the people who are Jewish by natural birth. This is a very important fulfillment of the Day of Atonement. It is a sovereign act of reconciliation.

For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. (Romans 11:25-27)

Do you see the sovereignty of Christ in the preceding passage? The Deliverer shall come and He shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. There are no "ifs" involved here. He shall take away their sins.

And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment. (Zechariah 3:4)

Christ always retains the power to redeem, to give eternal life, to as many as God has given Him. He saves whom He will, when He will, by the means He chooses. The faith to believe in Christ is the gift of God to us. The desire to repent is the gift of God to us. The thirst for righteousness is the gift of God to us.

Often Christ invites people to share with Him in prayer and in other forms of service as He goes about saving those whom He has chosen.

We have seen that in the end-time Christ will demolish all the works of the kingdom of darkness. He will crush Satan under the feet of the Church.

The most important issue now is that the members of the Body of Christ wash their robes and make them white in the blood of the Lamb. We Christians must confess our sins and receive the Divine pardon and cleansing, as expressed in I John 1:9.

Next, the members of the Body of Christ must submit to the death of self-denial. After we, by the blood of the Lamb, the Word of God, the Holy Spirit, and the fiery trials we must undergo, gain some measure of victory over the world, a further reconciliation to God is yet needed. We must become perfectly and completely reconciled to the will of God. Our will must become one with His will.

Those who ride with Christ in the Day of the Lord must be clothed in the sparkling white linen of righteous conduct. Also, the army of saints are living dead-men. They have been crucified with Christ and now Christ is living in them.

When Abraham climbed Mount Moriah with Isaac at his side he was a living dead-man, a living sacrifice.

The hundred-year-old patriarch walked with firm step having a steady hand on his staff. His path was straight as an arrow toward the stone altar on which he was to slay his only son. Two thousand years later, Abraham’s Redeemer, the Lord Jesus, went straight as an arrow toward Gethsemane and the cross of Calvary, Himself a living dead-man.

Abraham’s heart was an iron weight in his breast. He was dead while he walked. Life, hope, joy, purpose, reason for living, were gone. The Word of God moved the faithful Abraham toward the mountain of sacrifice.

This is the kind of person who will ride with Christ in the Day of the Lord. Each, without exception, will have had his personal Mount Moriah. Each will be able to keep on moving under no other power and direction than the will and Word of God.

Christ and the members of His army cannot be slain because they have died already. Now they are moved by the will and Word of God. The Word of God is indestructible, the greatest power in the universe.

The redemption of mankind requires two principal actions. First, there must be a full payment of the debt associated with the bondage. The full payment of mankind’s debt was made when the blood of Christ was shed on the cross (I John 2:2).

Second, there must be an exercise of force sufficient to destroy the enemy who, being a thief and a murderer, will not recognize the payment of the debt but will insist on keeping his victims in slavery to himself.

The payment of the debt took place two thousand years ago. The exercise of the power of the Holy Spirit in the deliverance from slavery is taking place now in the conquering saints—those who "through the Spirit do mortify [put to death] the deeds of the body.

Deliverance requires the exercise of superior force. There is relentless warfare taking place on in the spirit realm at the present time.

Christ’s blood is sufficient, not only for the reconciliation of the Church but also for the salvation of the world, if people will receive His mercy and grace.

And he is the propitiation [appeasement] for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. (I John 2:2)

The sins of the Body of Christ are being removed now as we work with the Holy Spirit in confession, repentance, and resisting the devil. At the coming of Christ the removal of sin will extend to all God’s people, including the weaker members of the Church, the nation of Israel, and the nations of saved peoples of the earth.

It is important to keep in mind that by "weaker members of the Church" we are not referring to careless, lukewarm Christians. We mean, rather, those who, for one reason or another, did not have the opportunity to become strong in the Lord. Lukewarm, careless Christian will have their part in outer darkness.

The nations of the earth will be subjected to the righteous, vigorous discipline of the rule of a rod of iron. Whoever attempts to rebel against Christ will be judged immediately. The laws of the Kingdom of God will be obeyed throughout the earth.

God will not be mocked. The whole earth shall be filled with His Glory according to His Word.

How wonderful it would be if Christ would appear and establish His rule today! But first, the fullness of Divine Life must be developed in the saints. Also, sin must come to full expression in the earth (Genesis 15:16). Then Jesus will appear and the fulfillment of the Day of Atonement will take place.

Christ is the High Priest of God. When the time comes to reconcile the whole earth to God, the Lord Jesus will be revealed as the long-awaited Christ—the Anointed Deliverer.

The "mystery" of the Gospel is that Christ is in the Church. The Church is an integral part of Christ.

The Christian Church is the Body of Christ. When the Head, the Lord Jesus appears, then the Body of Christ will be joined eternally to the Head. This is the marriage of the Lamb. The Head and the Body are the fullness of the "Servant of the Lord" of whom Isaiah spoke. The Servant of the Lord is God’s Covenant with mankind, God’s instrument of reconciliation.

When Christ appears in and with His Body, and the nation of Israel is reconciled to its rightful King, the Lord Jesus, then the Glory of God will come upon all Israel.

Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee. (Isaiah 60:5)

All the ends of the earth will turn to God, who will be dwelling in Zion (Christ—Head and Body) and whose glory will be seen on Israel, the chosen nation.

The fullness of reconciling glory is portrayed in the Book of Ezekiel:

And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed; and every thing shall live whither the river cometh. (Ezekiel 47:9)

The "waters" are the "living water" that flows from the heart of the saint. When the saints have been made one in Christ the individual streams of living water will flow together to make the River of Life seen by Ezekiel.

The River of Life will flow to the ends of the earth as the saints go everywhere, bringing to the peoples of the earth the Presence and the ways of the God of Heaven.

"Thou hast kept the good wine until now." The coming to the earth of the fullness of God’s Spirit is yet ahead. The earth-wide revival of which the prophets spoke will occur at the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ with His saints. This supreme revival of the Spirit will result in deliverance for all who will receive the rule of the Lord Jesus, but in destruction on every person who defies Christ.

The era of worldwide deliverance is the kingdom-wide fulfillment of the Year of Jubilee (Leviticus, Chapter 25). It is the Millennial Jubilee.

The Day of Atonement occurs on the tenth day of the seventh month of the religious, ceremonial year, the year that begins with the month in which the Passover is celebrated.

The feast of Tabernacles takes place on the fifteenth through the twenty-second day of the same month (seven days of Tabernacles, and then the designated eighth day).

The work of reconciliation associated with the Day of Atonement is the necessary preparation for the eternal dwelling of Christ and the Father in us, that is associated with the feast of Tabernacles.

The Millennial Jubilee, the kingdom-wide fulfillment of the Day of Atonement, is the necessary forerunner of the new heaven and earth reign of Christ. The new heaven and earth reign of Christ is the kingdom-wide fulfillment of the feast of Tabernacles.

We use the expression "kingdom-wide fulfillment" to distinguish the broad, historical fulfillment from the individual fulfillment that takes place in the personality of the conquering saint.

The stupendous acts of redemption that will take place in the future on a worldwide scale are developing today in the lives of the conquering saints—those who are forsaking their own desires and following the Lamb wherever He goes.

The feast of Tabernacles typifies the rest of God, as God dwells in and with His people. Such rest and abiding is impossible until there has been reconciliation. This is why there must be a Day of Atonement before there can be a feast of Tabernacles, whether we are speaking of one individual, all Israel, or the whole world.

The Day of Atonement is the act of uniting the Bridegroom and the Bride.

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