Trumpet Ministries The Day of Atonement
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The Day of Atonement is described in the sixteenth chapter of the Book of Leviticus. This was the one day of the year when the High Priest could go behind the Veil of the Tabernacle, or Temple, and sprinkle blood upon and before the Mercy Seat.
The main ceremony of the Day of Atonement involved two goats. One goat was slain and an atonement was made with its blood.
The second goat was also a goat of atonement, or reconciliation, but it was not slain. Rather the sins of Israel were confessed over this goat and it then was led away into the desert.
These two goats portray an extremely significant truth. It is that the Divine salvation includes not only the forgiveness of sins but also the removal of sins from us. I do not mean the removal of the guilt of our sins but of the sin itself—the body of sin of which the Apostle Paul speaks.
The Day of Atonement follows the feast of Pentecost. This means after we receive the Holy Spirit, God will begin to deal with us concerning worldliness, the lusts and passions of our sinful nature, and our self-will. We must be reconciled to God in these three areas before we can be considered to be in the moral image of Christ and in the rest of God's complete will.
As an experienced Christian you may find that the sins and rebellion of your personality are becoming obvious. You are not to ignore these leadings of the Spirit and claim God sees you only in Christ. This is not the approach indicated in the New Testament. There is no New Testament passage to my knowledge that informs us God sees us only in Christ; but there certainly are passages that teach the contrary.
There are only two ways in which a human being can live—in the life of his flesh, or in the Life of the Spirit of God. It is God's will that every human being walk in the Spirit of God rather than in the life of his or her flesh. As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
It is your job to walk in the Spirit of God each day. It is the Spirit's task to bring your sins to your attention. It is your responsibility then to cooperate with the Spirit as He enables you to put to death the sin or rebellion under scrutiny.
This process is an eternal judgment of sin. Once you confess your sin and turn away from it with the Lord's help, it never again will be mentioned to you. It is an eternal judgment.
But if you ignore the Spirit's warning and do not confess your sin, do not seek the Lord's help in turning away from it, you will be judged for your disobedience at the Judgment Seat of Christ. Do not let anyone deceive you. Just because you profess faith in the Lord Jesus Christ does not protect you from being revealed before the Judgment Seat of Christ. I know this is taught but it is error—a terribly destructive error at that!
All of us will appear at the Judgment Seat of Christ, just as the New Testament states. We will be judged concerning the good and the bad we have practiced in the body.
If we have been faithful to the Lord, patiently carrying our cross after Him, confessing and turning away from our sins when they are shown to us, and serving in all good works, then we shall receive, at the Judgment Seat, the good we have practiced as He has enabled us.
But if we have not been faithful to the Lord, have not patiently carried our cross after Him, have not confessed and turned away from our sins when they are shown to us, have lived to ourselves without giving of ourselves for the benefit of others, then we shall receive, at the Judgment Seat of Christ, the bad we have practiced. We shall be beaten with many lashes, or even thrown into the outer darkness, or into Hell itself.
Today there is tremendous deception concerning the Judgment Seat of Christ. But the truth is as I have stated it. The reader, if he may be of another opinion, should at least read once again the New Testament and see what it says about the negligent believer in Christ. After all, it is your future destiny I am concerned about. I am not nearly as interested in being correct in my doctrine as I am about the future welfare of the believers. Unless there is widespread, thorough repentance in the United States, a multitude of professing Christians, when they die, are not going to find themselves in a glorious mansion. Rather they will awake to find a frowning Christ—frowning because they have not been utterly faithful to that which has been given to them.
In America we have every material advantage and every spiritual advantage. Much of the world has neither. We are going to be held accountable, and "grace" will not excuse our conduct in that hour.
And truly, the great concern is not what we will face when we die but in the day when we are raised from the dead. Then all we are and have practiced will be revealed, and we shall be clothed in our own doings. This is what the Bible teaches.
Whether or not you believe this, you are going to face the consequences of your actions in the day of resurrection. The Lord did not come to change what you reap but what you are sowing; for it is certain each one of us is going to reap what he or she has sown. And grace will not intervene in that day.
But the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the LORD to be used for making atonement by sending it into the desert as a scapegoat. (Leviticus 16:10)
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (I John 1:9)
For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, (Romans 8:13)
Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. (Galatians 6:7,8)
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