Much Pain and Sorrow Beforehand
by
Keith Hunt
As I sit here at my Computer on the Feast day of Atonement,
in the year 2007, I meditate on the meaning of this Feast day. A
wonderful day with its love, mercy, and sacrifice, then again a
Feast day that has physical sorrow and pain attached to it.
I muse on the numbers - 2 for the Godhead - 7 for perfection
- the 0s make me think of eternity with no beginning and no
ending.
I add together 2 plus 7 = 9, the fruits of the Spirit. This
Feast day is in the 7th months of God's calendar, and on the 10th
day - 10 for the commandments of the Lord. So we have the Godhead
making perfection with His commandments and fruits of His Spirit.
The world will one day be His perfection where only righteousness
will abound - no sin - no Satan and his demons.
I am reminded of the perfect sacrifice our Lord and Savior
undertook so we humans may have eternal life. In the background I
have the Sons of the Pioneers singing right now the gospel toe-
tapper "You Must Come in at the Door." It is about the sheep fold
wall, the Kingdom of God being too high, too wide, too deep, and
so you must come in at the door - the door is Jesus the Christ.
He is the only way into the sheep-fold of God's Kingdom.
From before the world was, it was all planned out, the
second member of the Godhead would come to earth at the appointed
time, to rescue mankind from the penalty of sin. God the Father
knew that in creating mankind with human nature, sin they would
eventually commit, and so would all mankind, in one way or
another. Sin would be defined by the laws and commandments God
would set down for mankind to follow and to be well and happy (1
John 3:4). Righteousness is also defined by the commandments (see
Ps.119:172). The apostle Paul was inspired to say in the book of
Romans, that ALL have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
And the wages earned from sinning is DEATH (Romans 6:23).
But God so loved the world, the sinners in it, that He sent
His only begotten Son, that whoever believed in Him as the
at-one-ment Savior, should not perish but should have eternal
life (John 3:16).
To be the Savior of mankind, the Lord Jesus would have to
give His very life. He would have to come to earth as a human
person, be tempted in all points as we are, strive to remain so
close to the Father that He would not sin, not once, but live a
perfect life. Then, and only then, could he take all the sins of
all mankind upon Himself. He would have to be willing to die a
most horrible death, nailed to a wooden post or stake or cross.
The prophecy of Psalm 22 tells us it was a most horrific death.
He was willing to do it, the Father decided it could not be
done any other way. Sin needed an atonement - someone who could
pay the penalty for all sins - only a member of the very Godhead
could pay for the sum total of all sins ever done. Jesus was God
in the flesh, He was Immanuel - God with us. He was at one with
the Father all His physical life, and He was our at-one-ment -
our reconciliation with the Father. Without the sacrifice of
Christ we would have no hope, we would be as dead men. Without
the resurrection of Jesus by the power of God, to glory and
immortality once more, we could not be saved. We are saved by the
death and the resurrection life of Christ.
I think about all this on this special Feast day. I have
written in depth about all this, in many studies. There is
wonderful joy in this day and there is sorrow and pain in this
day. As we fast - no food no water - some of us have physical
discomfort, and certainly all of us get to appreciate, at the end
of the day, the physical food and drink our heavenly Father
provides us with. It all tastes really good after a day of
fasting.
This day also is extremely important in the plan of
salvation for human kind. It is the day that pictures the entire
earth at ONE with God. Satan will be chained up, for a thousand
years he will not be allowed to work his work of deception and
lies. The world and all nations upon it can them move into being
at one with God.
Yet, before all that can happen, IF the nations will NOT
REPENT of sin and turn to God, then sorrow and pain and death
must first come. So, I am reminded of the book of Revelation (and
all the prophetic books of the Bible) that lays out a future for
this earth before Jesus comes back, that is mind-blowing, just
very hard to really envision, so terrible and horrible it will
be.
We see in Revelation 6 the WHITE horse of RELIGIOUS
deception sweeping the earth, it is very much here already. Then
there is the RED horse - WARS and fighting among the inhabitants
of the earth. It is also here already as it has been for
centuries. There is then the BLACK horse - FAMINE and drought and
hardship for people to just simply have enough food to live. That
horse had been around for a while also. We then have the PALE
horse - PESTILENCE and plagues of all kinds - including the sword
and famine and wild animals going crazy. This fourth horse or
fourth seal of the scroll, is responsible for killing ONE FOURTH
of the peoples on the earth.
Such a plague HAS NEVER YET HAPPENED! It is YET to come. It
may be that by the time this fourth seal is opened the world
population could be 8 BILLION. If so, then this one horse alone
will take 2 BILLION in death!
After all these seals or horse have climaxed, the FIFTH seal
is opened - a GREAT killing of God's children will take place.
They will have to wait a spell before they can be revenged, but
they will be given white robes - they will, with all saints, be
dressed in the robes of white righteousness for the wedding of
the Lamb, when they will have the long awaited wedding ceremony
with their Lord and Savior and Bridegroom - Jesus the Christ
(Rev.19).
It is now time for the SIXTH seal to be opened. The mighty
heavens are shaken, the sun becomes black, the moon as blood, the
stars fall here and there, the heavens depart as a scroll. The
shaking of the heavens is like nothing man has ever seen. Then,
just before the GREAT DAY of the WRATH of God is to come, there
is the sealing of the servants of God, a protection given to
them, a supernatural seal of protection, from the things that are
yet to come. Also there are 12,000 persons sealed from the tribes
of Israel.
The Day of the Lord is at hand. So terrifying will be this
day or time, that a short silence is in heaven. It may just be
significant of a short time when all the heavens is holding its
breath so to speak, for now the CLIMAX of the universe, the
battle of sin and righteousness, the final fight between good and
bad is about to begin and to end.
The 7th seal is made up of SEVEN TRUMPETS! The FIRST trumpet
sounds - hail and fir - mingled with blood - a third part of the
trees burn up, and all green grass. What and how of all this is
not given to us in any detail, only enough to tell us the outcome
of the blowing of this trumpet. Certainly it is yet future,
certainly the earth has never experience a THIRD of its trees
being burnt up.
The SECOND trumpet sounds - the outcome is a THIRD part of
the sea becomes blood - a third part of the creatures in the sea,
died, and a third part of all the ships on the sea were
destroyed.
This again, has never happened in the history of the earth
and mankind. What exactly this trumpet is we are not told in any
detail. But it will happen! Your mind should be already getting a
little dizzy from what God says is yet to come on this earth
before mankind can be at one with Him.
The THIRD trumpet sounds - a star falls from heaven,
burning, it falls on a third part of the rivers and fountains of
water. Its name is WORMWOOD - a poison of some kind - it kills
many.
Nothing like this has ever been on this earth - it is yet to
take place.
The FOURTH angel sounded - a third part of the sun is
smitten - a third part of the moon - a third part of the stars -
so a third part of them was darkened. The day and night shone for
only two thirds - one third was darkness.
Exactly HOW and this will all unfold in the literal aspect,
is not revealed. It is enough for us to know it WILL happen as
God has written. Nothing like this has ever come on the earth.
Within the whole context of this passage in Revelation 8, all
these trumpet sounds and what is to take place when they do
sound, has YET to come to pass. The earth and its people have
NEVER experienced the totality of what these four trumpet
declare. As you meditate on just these trumpets (let alone what
has already in this prophecy of Revelation, taken place) it is
really impossible for the human mind to contemplate the horror of
it all. Surely there is sorrow and pain and death to yet come
before the world is at-one-ment with God.
There are STILL THREE trumpets to sound - called WOE, WOE,
WOE in verse 13 of chapter 8.
The FIRST WOE or 5th trumpet sounds in chapter 9. It is an
army that can TORMENT men for five months, not killing but
tormenting enough that people wish they were dead. This army
comes from the bottomless pit. The king over them is Satan (see
chap.12:3,9). This power is the end time power that has its
beginning way way back in time. Other studies of mine, give
details of Revelation 13 and the Beast. Here I will simply say it
is the LAST resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire, to arise (as
it is now doing so) in Europe. It is the power that will kill
many of God's people, that will establish the mighty RC church
over the western world. It will have a "beast" political man and
"the false prophet" of Revelation. This power will determine who
buys and sells - who lives and who dies - it will have its own
"christian" religion and those alive and those it reigns over
will have to follow its religion. It will have the power to
torment people for a specific time of 5 MONTHS during the period
known as the DAY OF THE LORD - the time of about ONE YEAR after
the heavenly signs appear, and leading up to the coming of
Christ.
The SIXTH angel sound (Rev.9:13) - they have been preparing
- an army mighty in population. This power comes from the east
side of the Euphrates river. It is the power of the EAST - China,
India, Japan, Russia. This army will kill a THIRD of mankind - a
third that is still left of earth up to this time. This power
will attack the mighty Roman religious power of Europe.
It is at this juncture in the day of God's wrath - the day
of the Lord - that Jesus said, if it was not shortened, NO FLESH
would remain alive on planet earth (Mat.24:21-22).
So wicked and deceived are the inhabitants of the earth by
this time, that with all the sorrow, suffering, pain, and death,
going on before them, the majority STILL will NOT REPENT!!
(Rev.9:20-21).
It is mind-numbing to contemplate the wickedness and utter
deception that Satan will rule with in those last days of this
age. God will send Elijah (a man coming in the power and spirit
of Elijah) to bring the restitution of spiritual knowledge and
truths of God as Jesus clearly said (Mat.17:9-13), John the
Baptist being the first time, for Christ's first advent. A man
will come and restore all things before the coming of Christ in
power and glory. And there will be TWO witnesses of God's truths
in the city of Jerusalem during the last three and one half years
of this age (Rev.11).
The word and truth of God will be proclaimed around the
world. The two witnesses in Jerusalem will have power to kill
their enemies right up to the very near end of the age. With all
that, the majority of people left on earth will NOT TURN TO
REPENTANCE and forsake their false and evil ways.
The THIRD WOE will come quickly after the second woe. The
SEVENTH angel will SOUND the SEVENTH TRUMPET! And the Kingdom of
God will now come to earth. The saints will be resurrected and
rewarded, and the time will come when God will destroy those who
are destroying the earth (Rev.11:14-19).
The SEVENTH trumpet will be comprised of SEVEN LAST PLAGUES
(Rev.16). Once more to blow your mind, there will be mighty signs
on earth and in heaven - grievous sore upon men - the sea
becoming blood, every living thing in the sea dies - rivers and
fountains of water become blood - the sun scorches men with fire
- darkness comes on the headquarters of the "beast." And still
for all this THE MAJORITY LEFT WILL NOT REPENT AND GIVE GOD
GLORY!
Then the SIXTH plague angel pours out his vial. The great
BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON - the "battle of that great day of God
Almighty" (verse 14) is to finally come and the "beast" man and
"false prophet" and their 10 nation army (Rev.17:12-14) from the
Europe nations will discover who the true God is.
Jesus will RETURN (Rev.19) and with him the saints who have
been resurrected or changed to glory, who have met Jesus in the
clouds, the air, and who now come down to the Mount of Olives
(Zech.14), and those who have been destroying the earth will be
themselves destroyed. Jesus will come and be KING and LORD over
all the earth. The "beast" man and the "false prophet" will be
cast into the lake of fire and the remnant "were slain of Him
that sat upon the horse" (Rev.19:11-21).
THE WORLD AND THOSE LEFT ALIVE WILL FINALLY BE AT ONE WITH GOD!
THE ONE THOUSAND YEARS REIGN WILL BEGIN. SATAN WILL BE CHAINED
UP. RIGHTEOUSNESS AND TRUTH WILL BECOME THE NORMAL WAY OF LIFE ON
EARTH.
NOW, FROM THE FEAST DAY OF ATONEMENT WE PROCEED TO THE SEVEN DAY
FEAST OF TABERNACLES!
.................
Written on the Feast day of Atonement, 2007
The Feast of Atonement #2More of the ceremonies in Jesus' day From the book "The Temple"
by
Alfred Edersheim
THE DAY OF ATONEMENT
Continuing:
The high-priest now faced the people, as, standing between his
substitute (at his right hand) and the head of the course on
ministry (on his left hand), he shook the urn, thrust his two
hands into it, and at the same time drew the two lots, laying one
on the head of each goat. Popularly it was deemed of good augury
if the right-hand lot had fallen 'for Jehovah.' The two goats,
however, must be altogether alike in look, size, and value;
indeed, 'so earnestly was it sought to carry out the idea that
these two formed parts of one and the same sacrifice, that it was
arranged they should, if possible, even be purchased at the same
time. The importance of this view will afterwards be explained.
The lot having designated each of the two goats the high-priest
tied a tongue-shaped piece of scarlet cloth to the horn of the
goat for Azazel -- the so-called 'scape-goat' -- and another
round the throat of the goat for Jehovah, which was to be slain.
The goat that was sent forth was now turned round towards the
people, and stood facing them, waiting, as it were till their
sins should be laid on him, and he would carry them forth into 'a
land not inhabited.' .... And, as if to add to the significance
of the rite, tradition has it that when the sacrifice was fully
accepted the scarlet mark which the scape-goat had borne became
white, to symbolize the gracious promise in Isa.1:18; but adds
that this miracle did not take place for forty years before the
destruction of the Temple!
With this presentation of the scape-goat before the people
commenced the third and most solemn part of the expiatory
services of the day.
The high-priest now once more returned towards the sanctuary, and
a second time laid his two hands on the bullock, which still
stood between the porch and the altar, to confess over him, not
only as before, his own and his household's sins, but also those
of the priesthood. The formula used was precisely the same as
before, with the addition of the words, 'the seed of Aaron, Thy
holy people,' both in the confession and in the petition for
atonement. Then the high-priest killed the bullock, caught up his
blood in a vessel, and gave it to an attendant to keep it
stirring, lest it should coagulate. Advancing to the altar of
burnt-offering, he next filled the censer with burning coals, and
then ranged a handful of frankincense in the dish destined to
hold it. Ordinarily, everything brought in actual ministry unto
God must be carried in the right hand-hence the incense in the
right and the censer in the left. But on this occasion, as the
censer for the Day of Atonement was larger and heavier than
usual, the high-priest was allowed to reverse the common order.
Every eye was strained towards the sanctuary as, slowly bearing
the censer and the incense, the figure of the white-robed
high-priest was seen to disappear within the Holy Place. After
that nothing further could be seen of his movements.
The curtain of the Most Holy Place was folded back, and the
high-priest stood alone and separated from all the people in the
awful gloom of the Holiest of All, only lit up by the red glow of
the coals - in the priest's censer. In the first Temple the ark
of God had stood there with the 'mercy-seat' overshadowing it;
above it, the visible presence of Jehovah in the cloud of the
Shechinah, and on either side the outspread wings of the
cherubim; and the high-priest had placed the censer between the
staves of the ark. But in the Temple of Herod there was neither
Shechinah nor ark - all was empty; and the high-priest rested his
censer on a large stone, called the 'foundation-stone.' He now
most carefully emptied the incense into his hand, and threw it on
the coals of the censer, as far from himself as possible, and so,
waited till the smoke had filled the Most Holy Place. Then,
retreating backwards, he prayed outside the veil as follows:
'May it please Thee, O Lord our God, and the God of our fathers,
that neither this day nor during this year any captivity come
upon us. Yet, if captivity befall us this day or this year, let
it be to a place where the law is cultivated. May it please Thee,
O Lord our God, and the God of our fathers, that want come not
upon us, either this day or this year. But if want visit us this
day or this year, let it be due to the liberality of our
charitable deeds. May it please Thee, O Lord our God, and the God
of our fathers, that this year may be a year of cheapness, of
fullness, of intercourse and trade; a year with abundance of
rain, of sunshine, and of dew; one in which Thy people Israel
shall not require assistance one from another. And listen not to
the prayers of those who are about to set out on a journey (Who
might pray against the fall of rain). And as to Thy people
Israel, may no enemy exalt himself against them. May it please
bee, O Lord our God, and the God of our fathers, that the houses
of the men of Saron may not become their graves' (This on account
of the situation of the valley, which was threatened either by
sudden floods or by dangerous landslips). The high-priest was not
to prolong this prayer, lest his protracted absence might fill
the people with fears for his safety.
While the incense was offering in the Most Holy Place the people
withdrew from proximity to it, and worshipped in silence. At last
the people saw the high-priest emerging from the sanctuary,
and they, knew that the service had been accepted. Rapidly he
took from the attendant, who had kept it stirring, the blood of
the bullock. Once more he entered into the Most Holy Place, and
sprinkled with his finger once upwards, towards where the
mercy-seat had been, and seven times downwards, counting as he
did so: 'Once' (upwards), 'once and once' (downwards), 'once and
twice' and so on to 'once and seven times,' always repeating the
word 'once,' which referred to the upwards sprinkling, so as to
prevent any mistake. Coming out from the Most Holy Place, the
high-priest now deposited the bowl with the blood before
the veil. Then he killed the goat set apart for Jehovah, and,
entering the Most Holy Place a third time, sprinkled as, before,
once upwards and seven times downwards, and again deposited the
bowl with the blood of the goat on a second golden stand before
the veil. Taking up the bowl with the bullock's blood, he next
sprinkled once upwards and seven times downwards towards the
veil, outside the Most Holy Place, and then did the same with the
blood of the goat. Finally, pouring the blood of the bullock into
the bowl which contained that of the goat, and again the mixture
of the two into that which had held the blood of the bullock, so
as thoroughly to commingle the two, he sprinkled each of the
horns of the altar of incense, and then, making a clear place on
the altar, seven times the top of the altar of incense. Thus he
had sprinkled forty-three times with the expiatory blood, taking
care that his own dress should never be spotted with the
sin-laden blood. What was left of the blood the high-priest
poured out on the west side of the base of the altar of
burnt-offering.
By these expiatory sprinklings the high-priest had cleansed the
sanctuary in all its parts from the defilement of the priesthood
and the worshippers. The Most Holy Place, the veil, the Holy
Place, the altar of incense, and the altar of burnt-offering were
now clean alike, so far as the priesthood and as the people were
concerned; and in their relationship to the sanctuary both
priests and worshippers were atoned for. So far as the law could
give it, there was now again free access for all; or, to put it
otherwise, the continuance of typical sacrificial communion with
God was once more restored and secured. Had it not been for these
services, it would have become impossible for priests and people
to offer sacrifices, and so to obtain the forgiveness of sins, or
to have fellowship with God. But the consciences were not yet
free from a sense of personal guilt and sin. That remained to be
done through the 'scape-goat.' All this seems clearly implied in
the distinctions made in Lev.16:33: 'And he shall make an
atonement for the holy sanctuary, and he shall make an atonement
for the tabernacle of the congregation, and for the altar, and he
shall make an atonement for the priests, and for all the people
of the congregation.'
Most solemn as the services had hitherto been, the worshippers
would chiefly think with awe of the high-priest going into the
immediate presence of God, coming out thence alive, and securing
for them by the blood the continuance of the Old Testament
privileges of sacrifices and of access unto God through them.
What now took place concerned them, if possible, even more
nearly. Their own personal guilt and sins were now to be removed
from them, and that in a symbolical rite, at one and the same
time the most mysterious and the most significant of all. All
this while the 'scape-goat,' with the 'scarlet-tongue,' telling
of the guilt it was to bear, had stood looking eastwards,
confronting the people, and waiting for the terrible load which-
it was to carry away 'unto a land not inhabited.' Laying both his
hands on the head of this goat, the high-priest now confessed and
pleaded: 'Ah, JEHOVAH! they have committed iniquity; they have
transgressed; they have sinned. Thy people, the house of Israel.
Oh, then, JEHOVAH! cover over (atone for), I intreat Thee, upon
their iniquities, their transgressions, and their sins, which
they have wickedly committed, transgressed, and sinned before
Thee - Thy people, the house of Israel. As it is written in the
law of Moses, Thy servant, saying: "For on that day shall it be
covered over (atoned) for you, to make you clean from all your
sins before JEHOVAH ye shall be cleansed."'
And while the prostrate multitude worshipped at the name of
Jehovah, the high-priest turned his face towards them as he
uttered the last words, 'Ye shall be cleansed!' as if to declare
to them the absolution and remission of their sins.
Then a strange scene would be witnessed. The priests led the
sin-burdened goat out through 'Solomon's Porch,' and, as
tradition has it, through the eastern gate, which opened upon the
Mount of Olives. Here an arched bridge spanned the intervening
valley, and over it they brought the goat to the Mount of Olives,
where one, specially appointed for the purpose, took him in
charge. Tradition enjoins that he should be a stranger, a
non-Israelite, as if to make still more striking the type of Him
who was delivered over by Israel unto the Gentiles! Scripture
tells us no more of the destiny of the goat that bore upon him
all the iniquities of the children of Israel, than that they
'shall send him away by the band of a fit man into the
wilderness,' and that 'he shall let go the goat in the
wilderness.' But tradition supplements this information.
The distance between Jerusalem and the beginning of 'the
wilderness' is computed at ninety stadia, making precisely ten
intervals, each half a Sabbath-day's journey from the other.
At the end of each of these intervals there was a station,
occupied by one or more persons, detailed for the purpose, who
offered refreshment to the man leading the goat, and then
accompanied him to the next station. By this arrangement two
results were secured: some trusted persons accompanied the goat
all along his journey, and yet none of them walked more than a
Sabbath-day's journey - that is, half a journey going and the
other half returning. At last they reached the edge of the
wilderness. Here they halted, viewing afar off, while the man led
forward the goat, tore off half the 'scarlet tongue,' and stuck
it on a projecting cliff; then, leading the animal backwards, he
pushed it over the projecting ledge of rock. There was a moment's
pause, and the man, now defiled by contact with the sin-bearer,
retraced his steps to the last of the ten stations, where he
spent the rest of the day and the night. But the arrival of the
goat in the wilderness was immediately telegraphed, by the waving
of flags, from station to station, till, a few minutes after its
occurrence, it was known in the Temple, and whispered from ear to
ear, that 'the goat had borne upon him all their iniquities into
a land not inhabited.'
What then was the meaning of a rite on which such momentous issue
depended ? Everything about it seems strange and mysterious - the
lot that designated it, and that 'to Azazel;' the fact,
that though the highest of all sin-offerings, it was neither
sacrificed nor its blood sprinkled in the Temple; and the
circumstance that it really was only part of a sacrifice - the
two goats together forming one sacrifice, one of them being
killed, and the other 'let go,' there being no other analogous
case of the kind except at the purification of a leper, when one
bird was killed and the other dipped in its blood, and let go
free. Thus these two sacrifices - one in the removal of
what symbolically represented sin, the other contracted guilt -
agreed in requiring two animals, of whom, one was killed, the
other 'let go.' This is not the place to discuss the various
views entertained of the import of the scape-goat......
End of quotes from Alfred Edersheim's book "The Temple."
..............
The import of the "scape-goat" alive into a wilderness (the
throwing of the goat over a cliff was a Jewish addition, and
nowhere commanded in the Scriptures), is very significant. Of the
two goats ONLY ONE is "for the Lord" the other being a goat with
the sins of the collective people on its head and sent out into
the wilderness. This goat is NEVER said to be "for the Lord"
hence it CANNOT represent the Lord Jesus as some claim. The type
is really unmistakeable. This sent into the wilderness goat, must
represent Satan the Devil, who is the author of sin, who has in a
sense a part in every person who has lived and their sins. The
wilderness representing the time when Satan will be no longer
around any person, when he will be chained up from "people" to
influence them, a time when he will indeed be in a wilderness by
himself, a time when he will carry the sins of all humanity with
him into the wilderness, and be put away for 1,000 years from the
human race.
Then at that time (Revelation 20), the earth will have her
Sabbath rest in the Lord.
The goat was not killed in the original instructions of Lev.16,
and so Satan will live on through the 1,000 year period to be
allowed back from the wilderness yet one more time to deceive the
people of earth, as we read in Revelations 20.
With Satan in the wilderness of only himself and the demons with
him, the world can be brought from its affliction of sin and
death (which accumulates with all the plagues and destruction
foretold in the book of Revelation at the time of the end), and
be brought back to God and His Word and Way of life. The world
can then be AT ONE with God and His Son Christ Jesus.
What a glorious day that will be!!
Keith Hunt
TO BE CONTINUED
The Feast of Atonement #3The goat sent into the wilderness From the book "The Temple"
by
Alfred Edersheim D.D. Ph.D.
THE DAY OF ATONEMENT
Continuing from Edersheim's book "The Temple"
....This i not the place to discuss the various views entertained
of the import of the scape-goat. But it is destructive of one and
all of the received interpretations, that the sins of the people
were confessed not on the goat which was killed, but on that
which was 'let go the wilderness,' and that it was this goat -
not the other - which 'bore upon him all the iniquities' of the
people....
The blood sprinkled had effected this; but it had done no more,
and it could do no more, for it 'could not make him that did the
service perfect, as pertaining to conscience. (Heb.9:9). The
symbolical representation of perfecting was by the live goat,
which, laden with confessed sins of the people, carried them away
into 'the wilderness' to 'a land not inhabited' ....
Thus viewed, not only the text of Lev.16, but the language of
Heb.9 and 10, which chiefly refer to the Day of Atonement,
becomes plain. The 'blood,' both of the bullock and of the
goat which the high-priest carried 'once a year within 'the
sacred veil,' was 'offered for himself (including the priesthood)
and for the errors (or rather ignorances) of the people.' In the
language of Lev.16:20, it reconciled 'the Holy Pace, and the
tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar,' that is, as
already explained, it rendered on the part of priests and people
the continuance of sacrificial worship possible. But THIS LIVE
scape-goat 'let go' in the wilderness, over which, in the ex-
haustive language of Lev.16:21, the high-priest had confessed and
on which he had laid 'all the iniquities of the children of
Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins,' meant
something QUITE DIFFERENT....
After this it is comparatively of secondary importance to
discuss, so far as we can in these pages, the question of the
meaning of the term 'la-Azazel.' Both the interpretation which
makes it a designation of the goat itself (as 'scape-goat in our
Authorised Version), and that which would refer it to a certain
locality in the wilderness (Thus the book of Sifra paraphrases
it: 'rough place in the mountains') being, on many grounds,
wholly untenable, two other views remain, one of which regards
Azazel as a person, and denoting Satan; while the other would
render the term by 'complete removal.' .....
We may here at once state, that the later Jewish practice of
pushing the goat over a rocky precipice was undoubtedly an
innovation, in no wise sanctioned by the law of Moses, and not
even introduced at the time the Septuagint translation was made,
as its rendering of Lev.16:26 shows. The law simply ordained that
the goat, once arrived in 'the land not inhabited,' was to be
'let go' free, and the Jewish ordinance of having it pushed over
the rocks is signally characteristic of the Rabbinical perversion
of its spiritual type. The word Azazel, which only occurs in Lev.
16, is by universal consent derived from a root which means
'wholly to put aside,' or, 'wholly to go away,' Whether,
therefore, we render 'la-Azazel ' by 'for him who is wholly put
aside,' ... or 'put wholly aside or away,' the truth is still the
same, as pointing through the temporary and provisional removal
of sin by the goat 'let go' in 'the land not inhabited,' to the
final, real, and complete removal of sin ....
While the scape-goat was being led into the wilderness, the
high-priest proceeded to cut up the bullock and the goat with
whose blood he had previously 'made atonement,' put the 'inwards'
in a vessel which he committed to an attendant, and sent the
carcasses to be burnt 'outside the city,' in the place where the
Temple ashes were usually deposited. Then, according to
tradition, the high-priest, still wearing the linen garments,
went into the 'Court of the Women,' and read the passages of
Scripture bearing on the Day of Atonement, viz. Lev.16; 23:27-32;
also repeating by heart Numb.29:7-11. A series of prayers
accompanied this reading of the Scriptures.
The most interesting of these supplications may be thus summed up
:- Confession of sin with prayer for forgiveness, closing with
the words, 'Praise be to Thee, O Lord, Who in Thy mercy forgivest
the sins of Thy people Israel;' prayer for the permanence of the
Temple, and that the Divine Majesty might shine in it, closing
with - 'Praise be to Thee, O Lord, Who inhabitest Zion;' prayer
for the establishment and safety of Israel, and the continuance
of a king among them, closing - 'Thanks be to Thee, O Lord, Who
hast chosen Israel;' prayer for the priesthood, that all their
doings, but especially their sacred services, might be acceptable
unto God, and He be gracious unto them, closing with - 'Thanks be
to Thee, O Lord, Who hast sanctified the priesthood;' and,
finally (in the language of Maimonides), prayers, entreaties,
hymns, and petitions of the high-priest's own, closing with the
words: 'Give help, O Lord, to Thy people Israel, for Thy people
needeth help; thanks be unto Thee, O Lord, Who Hearest prayer.'
These prayers ended, the high-priest washed his hands and feet,
put off his 'linen,' and put on his 'golden vestments,' and once
more washed hands and feet before proceeding to the next minis-
try. He now appeared again before the people as the Lord's
anointed in the golden garments of the bride-chamber. Before he
offered the festive burnt-offerings of the day, he sacrificed
'one kid of the goats for a sin-offering,' probably with special
reference to these festive services, which, like everything else,
required atoning blood for their acceptance. The flesh of this
sin-offering was eaten at night by the priests within the
sanctuary. Next, he sacrificed the burnt-offerings for the people
and that for himself, and finally burned the 'inwards' of the
expiatory offerings, whose blood had formerly been sprinkled in
the Most Holy Place. This, properly speaking, finished the
services of the day.
But the high-priest had yet to offer the ordinary evening
sacrifice, after which he washed his hands and his feet, once
more put off his 'golden' and put on his 'linen garments,' and
again washed his hands and feet. This before entering the Most
Holy Place a fourth time on that day to fetch from it the censer
and incense-dish which he had left there. On his return he washed
once more hands and feet, put off his linen garments, which were
never to be used again, put on his golden vestments, washed hands
and feet, burnt the evening incense on the golden altar, lit the
lamps on the candlestick for the night, washed his hands and
feet, put on his ordinary layman's dress, and was escorted by the
people in procession to his own house in Jerusalem. The evening
closed with a feast.
If this ending of the Day of Atonement seems incongruous, the
Mishnah records something yet more strange in connection with the
day itself. It is said that on the afternoon of the 15th of Ab,
when the collection of wood for the sanctuary was completed, and
on that of the Day of Atonement, the maidens of Jerusalem went in
white garments, specially lent them for the purpose, so that rich
and poor might be on an equality, into the vineyards close to the
city, where they danced and sung. The following fragment of one
of their songs has been preserved:
'Around in circle gay, the Hebrew maidens see;
From them our happy youths their partners choose.
Remember! Beauty soon its charm must lose -
And seek to win a maid of fair degree.
When fading grace and beauty low are laid,
Then praise shall her who fears the Lord await;
God does bless her handiwork - and, in the gate,
"Her works do follow her," it shall be said.'
We will not here undertake the melancholy task of describing what
the modern synagogue has made the Day of Atonement, nor how it
observes the occasion chiefly in view of their gloomy thoughts,
that on that day man's fate for the year, if not his life or
death, is finally fixed. But even the Mishnah already contains
similar perverted notions of how the day should be kept, and what
may be expected from its right observance. Rigorous rest and
rigorous fasting are enjoined from sundown of one day to the
appearance of the first stars on the next. Neither food nor drink
of any kind may be tasted; a man may not even wash, nor anoint
himself, nor put on his sandals.
The sole exception made is in favour of the sick and of children,
who are only bound to the full fast - girls at the age of twelve
years and one day, and boys at that of thirteen years and one
day, though it is recommended to train them earlier to it. In
return for all this 'affliction' Israel may expect that death
along with the Day of Atonement will finally blot out all sins!
That is all - the Day of Atonement and our own death! Such are
Israel's highest hopes of expiation! It is unspeakably saddening
to follow this subject further through the minutiae of Rabbinical
ingenuity - how much exactly the Day of Atonement will do for a
man; what proportion of his sins it will remit, and what merely
suspend; how much is left over for after-chastisements, and how
much for final extinction at death. The law knows nothing of such
miserable petty misrepresentations of the free pardon of God. In
the expiatory sacrifices of the Day of Atonement every kind of
transgression, trespass, and sin is to be removed from the people
of God. Yet annually anew, and each time confessedly only
provisionally, not really and finally, till the gracious promises
should be fulfilled: I will forgive their iniquity, and I will
remember their sin no more.' Accordingly it is very marked, how
in the prophetic, or it may be symbolical, description of
Ezekiel's Temple all mention of the Day of Atonement is omitted
for Christ has come 'an high-priest of good things to come,' and
'entered in once into the Holy Place,' 'to put away sin by the
sacrifice of Himself.'
.............
End of quotes from Edersheim
The Day of Atonement is probably not mentioned as such in Ezekiel
because in those last chapter we see the 1,000 reign, Jesus the
Messiah has come, Satan the goat to be sent into the wilderness,
has indeed been sent, chained up, to work his deception no more
till the thousand years is completed (Rev.20).
The proofs for the second goat, the one sent into the wilderness,
being representative of Satan the Devil is:
First and mainly, only one goat is said to be chosen "for the
Lord" and that the live goat is never killed and its blood never
enters the Temple, and especially the Holy of Holies, behind the
curtain of the Temple. The goat for the Lord is killed and its
blood enters the throne room of God. That goat and its blood is
fully the Messiah's sacrifice for the sins of the whole community
- the whole world, as put in a collective manner on that day of
Atonement.
Secondly, the very fitting symbolism of the live goat having a
part in all sins committed by ALL the collective people, having
sins therefore justly placed on his head, and sent out alive, but
into a wilderness, where nothing but sin so to speak, can he have
for company. It is fitting that Satan be chained up with the
guilt of his part in all sins ever committed, and to dwell with
those sins for a thousand years. With no contact with the human
race for a thousand years, we can see how a daily torment will be
agonizing for the originator of sin - Lucifer, the light bringer
who became the bringer of darkness.
Before Satan is chained and the world is at one with God, it
would seem (because there is not much hope for the world to
REPENT of its sins and rejection of the Lord and His word) all
the prophecies of the book of Revelation will come to pass, and
the people of earth will experience the GREATEST time of trouble
that they will have ever experienced, and such a time of
tribulation will never be the like again on earth. All this
foretold in the many prophecies of the Bible, and explained in
detail on this Website.
Part of the affliction that God's children feel on this special
day of fasting, the feast day of atonement, on the 10th day of
the 7th month in the Jewish calendar, is the sober reflections of
what the people of this earth will have to go through to bring
them to REPENTANCE, and into a mindset where they will be willing
to have God rule them.
This feast day is NOT so much a personal repentance feast as is
the Passover and days of Unleavened Bread, BUT as a time to FEEL
for the world at large and its sins, and how the world at large
needs to be at-one with the Eternal, and how it one day will be,
but what will lead up to that time of at-one-ment with God, will
be truly horrific.
Judaism and the so-called "days of Awe" (from Trumpets to
Atonement), 10 days of "repentance" was borrowed from the
Babylonians, when in their 70 year captivity in the 500 B.C.
time. The ancient heathen had a same period of time in the fall
of the year, a time of moaning and groaning. This custom the Jews
brought with them from Babylon and hence still observe this ten
day period. The time for God's children to have an extended
period of intra-spection is before and leading up to the Passover
service on the 14th day of Nisan (first month in Jewish calendar)
and on into the feast of Unleavened Bread. It is not at the time
from Trumpets to Atonement. The fall feasts of God are to
basically a JOYOUS period, for what those feasts proclaim in the
plan of salvation by God for mankind. There is a sober tone to
them of course. The Day of Trumpets and Jesus' return carries
with it some grave news for many people on earth. So then the
Feast of Atonement has an affliction part, but BOTH feasts carry
the main theme of the GOOD that lies ahead for the world.
Rejoicing in the GOOD should be the main theme of the fall
festivals of the Lord.
From Trumpets to Atonement should NOT be observed and practiced
as the orthodox Jews of today practice that period of time.
The feast of Atonement will come to pass.
For one thousand years the world will be AT ONE with the Creator,
the sacrifice of Jesus, and His office of High Priest, and His
blood to cover all sins, will shine forth as never before. The
sending of Satan and his deceptions into the nothingness of the
wilderness, away from the people of God, will accomplish the
prophecies that state the earth will be filled with the knowledge
of God as the waters cover the sea-beds.
God speed that day and age!!
For the revealed details of the age to come, see the studies on
the Feast of Tabernacles.
Keith Hunt
Fasting on the Feast of Atonement?Should we? FASTING ON ATONEMENT - IS IT REQUIRED?
AN OLD STUDY BY THE CHURCH OF GOD, INTERNATIONAL
TYLER, TEXAS, USA
This writing and study was by the late Garner Ted Armstrong, a
once famous TV evangelist. It is a well done study, and does show
you he had a very fine writing style - Keith Hunt
The world in which you and I live is a God-rejecting, God-
defying world. It is a world of hundreds of "religions," yet a
world of chaos, violence, disease and war.
Paradoxically, some of those nations whose religions
permeate all facets of life seem to be among the most
impoverished, millions of their citizens living in squalor beyond
comprehension. Some humans still worship cows, just as rebellious
Israel made a golden calf in Sinai, believing, from their
experience in Egypt, that God looked like a cow.
The world is not "at one" with God. It does not acknowledge
the one true God, nor His Son who died for the sins of all
mankind, Jesus Christ. In the so-called "Christian" world,
millions profess the name of Jesus Christ, yet refuse to follow
His example, or to do what He plainly commanded. "Why call ye me,
'Lord, Lord,'" cried Jesus, "and do not the things which I say?"
(Luke 6:46).
"In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the
commandments of men" (Matthew 15:9). Millions profess to worship
Jesus Christ. They call Him "Lord," and claim to have "accepted"
Him as their Savior. Yet, they refuse to obey Him! They will not
follow His example. Peter wrote, "...Christ also suffered for us,
leaving us an example, that ye should follow His steps: Who did
no sin [He kept His Father's laws perfectly], neither was guile
found in His mouth" (I Peter 2:21,22).
Paul described our world as being filled with those who are
"...Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers,
incontinent, fierce, despisers of those who are good, traitors,
heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
having a form of Godliness [man-made religions; religious creeds,
rituals, ceremonies], but denying the power thereof' (2 Timothy
3:3-5).
Mankind does not accept God as RULER. They refuse to
surrender to God in abject repentance for sin, which is the
transgression of God's perfect law (I John 3:4).
The nations of this world are far from being "at one" with
God. Instead, they are in opposition! This is Satan's world, not
God's.
The governments of this world are neither of God's choice,
nor of His design. God is not the Author of this world's commerce
and industry, of its science or education, of its institutions or
its religions.
Can anyone doubt this?
This world's governments are not capable of bringing peace
and prosperity to their citizens. Instead, the teeming billions
of human beings in all their hundreds of countries are in the
grip of poverty, squalor, disease, malnutrition. Chaos,
confusion, anarchy, rampant crime reign supreme.
Your news tells you of massacres - wholesale murder all over
the world. In Brazil, lustful would-be gold miners brutally
massacred virtually an entire tribe of "stone-age" Indian -
covetous of their land, and corrupt police "death squads"
massacred unarmed civilians, including children, in a slum in Rio
De Janiero. In former Yugoslavia, socalled "Christians," either
Roman Catholics or Greek Orthodox, slaughter Muslims. In Lebanon,
Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Libya, and many other Arab
countries, more than a dozen Arab terrorist groups of varying
sizes continually plot the overthrow of their own governments, or
plot how to launch terrorist attacks against Israelis and
Americans all over the world. As the PLO and Israel search for
peace and Palestinian autonomy, rival Palestinian terrorist
groups murder. riot. and threaten assassinations. Israel launches
attacks into Lebanon in what amounts to full-scale war in
retaliation for the most recent wave of terrorist murders of its
citizens. If these events fade quickly in the past by the time
you read this booklet, rest assured they will be replaced by
equally vicious crimes.
Look at your own local news, no matter where you live.
Continually, you read of violence, mayhem, drugs, child abuse,
kidnappings, robbery and murder. Today, many European tourists
are becoming fearful of visiting Florida because of vicious
murders there; youths targeting tourists because they believe
they are carrying large amounts of money. The murderers are
usually teen-agers, out on parole. One had a list of arrests
several pages long.
Earlier, I had wanted to visit our brethren in the
Philippines during 1993. However, because of several kidnappings
of Americans by communist terrorist groups, I was advised against
going. From Britain, where Mr. Ronald Dart described hearing an
IRA bomb exploding nearby, to Germany, where "skinheads" in a
Neo-Nazi group are murdering Turks and other foreigners, it is
the same. Violence and murder reign. Chaos and confusion prevail.
There is no fear of God in our lands, no respect for human rights
and decency, and no remorse.
Suddenly, following the end of the cold war, the whole world
seems to have erupted in a satanic frenzy of ethnic and racial
hatreds, in political strife and confusion, in economic duress.
As if to match this turbulence among nations, world-wide weather
has been convulsing in violent cataclysms. Destructive hurricanes
have smashed into south Florida, Bangladesh, the Philippines,
Japan, and other countries. Massive earthquakes have taken
terrible tolls in life and property from San Francisco to
northern Japan. Record-breaking floods have cost countless
billions in America's heartland. Drought grips part of America,
while massive floods soak other parts.
Need I go on? All you need do is to watch morning news on
CNN, or one of the other news stations.
What is going on? Will we look back some day and surmise
that the prophesied GREAT TRIBULATION (Matthew 24:21,22) really
began to gradually come upon us in the mid 1990s?
Are we living in the time prophesied in God's Word when "...the
devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he
knoweth that he hath but a short time" (Revelation 12:12)?
(THIS STUDY BEING OLD, WAS SOME OUT OF TOUCH WITH THINKING THE
GREAT TRIBULATION COULD POSSIBLY BEING COMING IN THE MID-1990 -
IT WAS ALSO OUT OF TOUCH WITH THE PROPHECIES AND WHAT STILL HAD
TO COME, OR THEY WOULD HAVE KNOWN IT WAS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN IN
THE MID-1990S - Keith Hunt)
Satan is the "God" of This World
God says Satan the devil is that arch-demon who "deceiveth
the whole world" (Revelation 12:9). That deception began with the
beginning of human history, in the Garden of Eden, and the first
lie, spoken to our first parents.
God had said Adam and Eve would suffer the penalty of death
if they disobeyed God, and partook of the fruit of the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil. Satan said, in effect, "God knows
better than that. Why, that fruit is to be desired to make you
wise like He is. You will not surely die." (See Genesis 3:4,5).
He hinted that man has an "immortal soul," that there is
something eternal within man. This is a lie. Write for our free
booklet "Do You Have An Immortal Soul?" Also request, "Why You
Were Born."
(STUDIES ON THOSE SUBJECTS ARE ON THIS WEBSITE - Keith Hunt)
The Bible is replete with examples of how Satan has
continually conducted his campaign of attempting to overthrow
God. Study Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14, which give insights into
Satan's earliest origins, his expulsion from heaven to this
earth. Also, write immediately for our free booklets entitled,
"The Shocking Truth About Satanism" and "Satan's Greatest
Deception."
From the beginning, Satan has appeared at the most crucial
moments in man's history. He was present in Eden, to deceive our
first parents through Eve, bringing about original sin. He was
allowed to appear before God to chide Him about Job (Job. 2:1-7).
He was present at the birth of Christ to inspire Herod to kill
thousands of innocent children (Matthew 2:16). He was present to
tempt Jesus Christ shortly after His baptism (Matthew 4:1-11). He
entered personally into Judas Iscariot to betray Christ to be
murdered (John 13:27). He continually attempted to influence
Peter, and it was only through Christ's own prayers his hand was
stayed (Luke 22:31,32).
Peter wrote, "Be sober [notice! Combating Satan requires
sobriety; solemnity, not rejoicing], be vigilant; because your
adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking
whom he may devour:
"Whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same
afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the
world" (I Peter 5:8,9). Satan is described as "the god of this
world." Listen! "But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that
are lost: in whom the god of this world [this age, this time,
this society] hath blinded the minds of them which believe not,
lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, Who is the image
of God, should shine unto them" (2 Corinthians 4:3,4).
He is also the "prince of the power of the air" (Ephesians
2:2). God actually allowed Satan limited power over the weather
in the case of Job, when Satan caused a tornado to destroy Job's
house and family.
From Genesis to Revelation, Satan the devil appears
continually as the "accuser of the brethren," as the "adversary,"
as a "roaring lion." as "the tempter," as a "serpent," or
whispering enchanter, as a rebel against God, as a dragon. He is
called Abaddon, and Apollyon in the Greek.
Throughout the seasonal pattern of God's plan as revealed in
His annual holy days, Satan's evil dimension is noted.
In the typology of the Passover, for example, Pharaoh is a
type of Satan, while Egypt is a type of sin, under Satan's
domain. The name of the wilderness (a type of trial and testing
during the Christian life) was "Sin." Leaven, which is not to be
eaten for seven days during the Days of Unleavened Bread, is a
type of sin, of which Satan is the author. He is the first sinner
in the history of the creation.
Satan, the present evil world ruler, has held sway over the
minds and hearts of men for thousands of years. Here and there,
God has called a few men and women to receive the gift of
repentance. He has opened the minds of a few rare individuals who
have chosen to obey God; to surrender to God in heartbroken
repentance, be baptized, and receive God's Holy Spirit.
But those who have answered God's call are in a tiny,
insignificant minority. Never did God's Word prophesy that the
church Jesus built (Matthew 16:18) would become a large, visible,
politically active, wealthy religious organization which would be
a part of this world; involved in various community, county,
state, or national causes; trying to make this evil world a
better place!
Nor would Christ's church attempt to win the favor of those
lost in Satan's world. "Woe be unto you when men speak well of
you," He warned. Never would God's church seek approval from the
world, or from its religious organizations. Never would it
compromise God's truth in order to win favor with man and their
worldly churches and organizations. Never would it compromise
God's Word in order to avoid persecution!
Jesus said, "Fear not, little flock, it is my Father's
pleasure to give you the kingdom." Everywhere in prophecy, the
true church is described as a persecuted few; a small, scattered,
weak church, consisting of those individuals who "have not denied
[Christ's] name," and who "...keep the commandments of God, and
have the testimony of Jesus Christ" (Revelation 3:8; 12:17).
God is Not Intervening in This World Today
This world is completely opposed to God. Its governments,
institutions, societies and its religions are not of God, but
are, instead, influenced by Satan.
Do you fully realize what you have been reading? Do you know
that advancing this very truth nearly resulted in Christ's murder
at the very beginning of His public ministry? Satan's religious
leaders were VIOLENTLY OUTRAGED when Jesus told them this obvious
truth, and immediately attempted to murder Him!
Notice it, in your own Bible.
Jesus Christ was invited to read from the scroll of Isaiah
in the synagogue in Nazareth, where He had spent His youth.
"...and, as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the
sabbath day, and stood up for to read.
"And there was delivered unto Him the book of the prophet Esaias.
And when He had opened the book [scroll], He found the place
where it was written:
"'The Spirit of the LORD is upon me, because He hath anointed me
to preach the gospel to the poor; He hath sent me to heal the
brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and
recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are
bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.'
"And He closed the book, and He gave again to the minister, and
sat down.
"And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were
fastened on Him.
"And He began to say unto them, 'This day is this scripture
fulfilled in your ears.'
"And all bare Him witness [listened intently], and wondered at
the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. And they
said, 'Is not this Joseph's son?'" (Luke 4:16-22).
Put yourself into the picture. Try to understand what was
happening here. The Pharisees ("Apartists," or "Separatists") and
the Sadducees (a more "liberal" religious sect, which had charge
of the temple in Jerusalem) were the "spiritual" leaders. Their
proud history stretched back to the days of the Maccabees-to the
time just following the Jewish return from Babylonian captivity
during the time of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Zerubbabel, and the
rebuilding of the temple.
To the Pharisees, just as in the case of millions of
Americans, Britons, Australians, South Africans, and Canadians,
they lived in "God's country." Theirs was the "true religion,"
they thought. Whatever God was doing, lie was doing it there!
Just like many an American "evangelist," they no doubt claimed,
"God is moving mightily among us just now!" They pointed to acts
of charity, or demons cast out, or real or imagined healings, and
spoke of how "God is working miracles" here among us! Their proud
history was all GOD-CENTERED, so far as they were concerned. From
their clothing styles to their fastings; from their almsgivings
and tithing to their many meetings and special "love feasts" for
the poor - they were involved deeply in doing God's work, so far
as they were concerned. They were "God's people" doing "God's
will," and having "God's authority."
It was the pagan world around them that was in darkness.
They dwelt in the light! They were the "chosen ones," dwelling in
"God's country." All around was Gentile heathenism. In their
synagogues, and in their streets; in their private meetings and
public assemblies; in their banquets and feasts, and in their
temple was GOD, and HIS TRUE RELIGION! They were GOD'S OWN
MINISTERS!
Or so they believed.
But here was Jesus Christ, saying to them He had been sent
to preach the gospel to the "poor." He had been sent to "heal the
brokenhearted" who were right there, seated in that synagogue,
under the "spiritual" leadership of those rabbis, in that city,
Nazareth, on that day! He had been sent to set spiritual captives
free--captives who were seated there, in that synagogue, in that
city, right then!
He had been sent to give the spiritually blind the ability
to see; to set at liberty those who were being "bruised," and
exploited! He boldly proclaimed that this prophecy was being
fulfilled right there and then in that synagogue.
Immediately, the Jewish leaders were furious!
This was preposterous to them! "Spiritual captives" THERE,
in their own synagogue? Ridiculous! Were they not the spiritual
leaders of their docile, obedient congregation? How dare this
young upstart say such outrageous things? He might as well have
accused them of being under Satan's influence, deceiving their
people, placing grievous burdens upon them, exploiting them!
As is always the case, when a carnal human mind is confronted
with the Word of God, which is sharp, like a two-edged sword, and
which cuts and stings when it is wielded; when the carnal mind
refuses to look into that spiritual looking glass and repent, it
instead resorts of personal denigration, personal attack!
They scathingly said, "Wait a minute! Isn't this just a local
boy? Isn't this old Joseph's son?"
This ridiculous charge bears studious contemplation. As
Christ Himself said, a prophet has no honor in his own country,
or among his own kin. Familiarity breeds contempt. This is a
Satanic emotion, not a Godly one.
The greatest respect, the greatest love displayed in all the
universe, is the love between God the Father and Christ the Son
of God. No contempt here, in spite of countless billions of years
through endless eternity of familiarity.
But the carnal mind, influenced by Satan, is a mind of
vanity, jealousy, lust and greed. It is a mind which is also
afflicted with a sizable case of inferiority.
Those who accuse, "He is one of us," as if such a statement
discredits a person, do not realize how they are indicting
themselves with their ridiculous accusations.
Many years ago, I read some cheap religious tracts which
accused my father, Herbert W. Armstrong, of having been "one of
us," meaning the denomination which published the tract. To these
vain, accusative religious bigots, the worst thing they could say
about my father was that he had supposedly once been one of their
own number. He never was. He had never darkened the door of one
of their churches, to my certain knowledge. He had never met with
their ministry, never attended a single one of their meetings.
These religious zealots, in their eagerness to attack and
ridicule, were either deliberately lying, or simply didn't know
what they were saying. Think about it. What was it about them
which was so discrediting, so evil, so utterly contemptuous, that
association with them automatically discredited anyone who had
once fellowshipped with them?
Human nature seems to say, "If I know him, he can't be
anybody worthwhile, or important." What is unsaid is, "If I know
him, since I am of no worth or importance, he must really be a
no-account."
The Pharisees likewise didn't understand what they were
accusing. To them, it would have been impossible for anyone of
any importance to have come from their town of Nazareth. They
didn't realize their accusations were actually directed at
themselves; that they were saying, "We can't be of any importance
or account."
Their anger deepened to murderous rage when Jesus said, "Ye
will surely say unto me this proverb: 'Physician, heal thyself:
Whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy
country,'
"And He said, 'Verily I say unto you, no prophet is accepted in
his own country.
"But I tell you of a truth, [note this well] many widows were in
Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three
years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the
land; but unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a
city of Sidon [this was in modern-day Lebanon, a city then
populated by Gentiles, not Jews], unto a woman that was a widow.
"And many lepers were in Israel in the days of Eliseus [Elisha]
the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman, the
Syrian" (Luke 4:23-27).
Do you understand what Jesus was saying?
He was telling them that God was not working among the
nation of Israel or Judah to heal, or to perform miracles, during
the powerful ministry of witness and warning of Elijah or Elisha!
Instead, God did not intervene in the case of destitute widows,
or those starving due to drought sent as a national punishment.
He intervened only in the case of the Gentile widow in Sidon, and
a Syrian king!
This was historically true, and they knew it!
Yet, because it stung them and plainly showed how God had
rejected their forefathers because of their sins, they were
outraged! Jesus used these examples to back up His bold statement
that, at last, God had sent His Son to release spiritual captives
right there, in Nazareth - that God had not been working there
previously!
Jesus was shattering all their carefully-arranged
hierarchical pomp and religious pretense! He was plainly telling
them God has not been among you! He has not been working here
until NOW, THIS DAY, THROUGH ME!"
Notice: "And all they in the synagogue, when they heard
these things, were filled with wrath.
"And rose up, and thrust Him out of the city, and led Him unto
the brow of the hill whereupon their city was built, that they
might cast Him down headlong.
"But He, passing through the midst of them went His way,
"And came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them
on the Sabbath days" (Luke 4:28-31).
Imagine this! From the middle of a religious service on the
Sabbath day to a raging, hate-filled mob in only moments of time,
this group of venomous, pompous, vain, self-righteous religious
bigots sought to do murder, with no hearing, no trial, no appeal!
They were rendered so insanely furious with the indictment Jesus
Christ had hurled at them they wanted to kill Him right then and
there!
Jesus Christ looked very average. No doubt, in the melee,
some of His disciples managed to gather around Him. He could have
pulled his hooded cloak around him, and, as those in the front
ranks milled about, pushing and shoving, shouting, throwing dust
in the air, and falling down, He made good his escape, not being
recognized in the confusion.
Fascinating piece of history, isn't it?
Ironically, there are thousands of professing "Christian"
ministers who would be rendered just as furiously angry TODAY if
a true servant of God told them plainly that GOD HAS NOT BEEN
WORKING AMONG YOU!
To be told this is not God's world seems so strange to so
many! To be informed that this is a world under the sway of Satan
seems preposterous!
Yet, this is precisely what your Bible says!
The nations are deceived! Millions, who profess Christ,
refuse to surrender to Him, refuse to obey Him! Christ said, "Why
call ye me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not the things which I say?"
(Luke 6:46).
He said, "Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you,
saying, 'This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and
honoreth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.
"But IN VAIN THEY DO WORSHIP ME, teaching for doctrines the
commandments of men" (Matthew 15:7-9).
Paul wrote, "This know also, that in the last days perilous
times shall come.
"For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters,
proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers,
incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors,
heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
"Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from
such turn away" (2 Timothy 3:1-5).
Obviously, there are those who are involved in a "form of
godliness," in "organized religion," but who possess all the evil
attributes of Satan so thoroughly described in the preceding
verses!
Strangely, one sees more of the abominable, hateful, Satanic
attitudes of vengeance and hedonism among "religious"
organizations than in the public at large!
This is not God's world! It is AT ODDS with God, contrary to
God, in rebellion against God.
It is a world lost in a Babylon of religious, political and
ethnic hatred and confusion!
God says, "Come out of her [spiritual Babylon!], my people,
that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of
her plagues" (Revelation 18:4).
Now, perhaps we can see more clearly WHY God revealed to His
people Israel all the important typology of the somber, holy Day
of Atonement. "Atonement" means "at-one-ment." It pictures the
human condition, under Satan's influence, as being lost in sin;
being in opposition to God, desperately needing reconciliation
and forgiveness. More, it pictures the ultimate cause of sin, the
first sinner, and the "father of liars," being put away to never
more influence mankind!
Rejection and Betrayal
Have you ever experienced rejection from someone you loved?
Have you ever been deserted by dear friends? Have you experienced
the trauma of divorce, or abandonment? As I write, it is now more
than fifteen long years since I was completely rejected and
abandoned by some I counted among the very closest friends I ever
had. Friends with whom I shared hundreds of thousands of miles of
travel, hundreds of dinners, hunting expeditions, fishing, sports
- countless hours of close contact. Furthermore, some of these
former "friends" were ordained into the ministry! Not only dear
friends, but my own human father! (For a complete understanding,
write immediately for our free booklet, "The Origin and History
of the Church of God, International").
To this very moment, I have never received a letter or a
telephone call from them.
If you have been divorced, you know how horribly painful
such an experience truly is, most especially if you were the one
who was rejected. Your Father in Heaven, and Jesus Christ of
Nazareth, know the feelings of rejection and betrayal!
In the very beginning of our physical universe, the divine
creating Family, Elohim, (which we refer to as "God") created a
fabulously beautiful, perfect universe, a perfect world. Millions
do not know that there is a completely misleading mistranslation
in the second verse of Genesis 1.
Notice: "In the beginning God [Elohim, a plural noun]
created the heaven and the earth.
"And the earth was without form, and void: and darkness was upon
the face of the deep" (Genesis 1:1,2). As you read the remainder
of the chapter, you are left with the impression that God created
the world in blackness, with tossing waves completely covering
the land surface; that all was chaotic, and in confusion.
The Hebrew words for "without form, and void" are tohu and bohu.
Here is what Dr.Bullinger says in his notes on Genesis 1:2:
"Without form = waste. Heb. tohu va bohu. Fig. Paronomasia. Ap.
6. Not created tohu (Isa. 45:18), but became tohu (Gen. 1:2. 2
Pet. 3:5,6). "An enemy hath done this" (Matt. 13:25,28,39. Cp. 1
Cor. 14:33). See Ap. 8"
Isaiah 45:18 plainly says, "For thus saith the Eternal that
created the heavens; God Himself that formed the earth and made
it; He hath established it, He created it not in vain [Heb.
tohu], He formed it to be inhabited: 'I am the Eternal.'"
The Companion Bible note on this phrase: "In vain=tohu. The
same word as in Gen. 1.2 ("without form"). Therefore it must have
become tohu: which is exactly what Gen. 1:2 declares.
Now, How did God's original, beautiful, flawlessly PERFECT
creation become a chaotic scene of death and destruction; of
stygian blackness covering a raging sea; of continents submerged
beneath the water?
To read of the original condition of earth, turn to Ezekiel
28:12, where the "king of Tyrus" is used as a type of Satan, the
devil (see Bullinger's marginal notes, or any commentary):
"...thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in
beauty. Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious
stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the
beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and
the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets [drums]
and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast
created.
"Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth: and I have set thee
so: thou was upon the holy mountain of God: thou hast walked up
and down in the midst of the stones of fire.
"Thou was perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast
created, till iniquity [sin; lawlessness) was found in thee.
"By the multitude of thy merchandise [your trafficking, or going
about from here to there; your "busyness," which means
"calumniator, or slanderer," as one who slanders and gossips in a
moral sense] they [these many occasions of sin] have filled the
midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I
will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will
destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of
fire.
"Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast
corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness [splendor]..."
(Ezekiel 28:12-17). Lucifer was breathtakingly beautiful. His
name meant "Shining Star of the Dawn," or "Lightbringer." This
description of Lucifer's original condition bears very careful
inspection; careful meditation.
For comparison, and a few additional details, notice
Isaiah's description: "How art thou fallen from heaven, O
Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground,
which didst weaken the nations!
"For thou hast said in thine heart, 'I will ascend into heaven, I
will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon
the mount of the congregation, in the sides [recesses] of the
north:
"'I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like
the MOST HIGH [Hebrew: Elyon, which is from El, and Elohim, as
the "Possessor of heaven and earth.")'" (Isaiah 14:12-14).
Here was a splendid, bright, shining, beautiful creature, an
archangel, whose very name connoted his shining countenance. He
was given command of this earth. He walked up and down in a land
called "Eden" which existed perhaps billions of years ago, not
the "Eden" of the recreation of earth long after its destruction,
but the original "holy mountain of God," probably located
somewhere in what is today the "Middle East." This was a land of
fabulous jewels; sparkling emeralds, topaz, diamonds, were
everywhere about. Gold was common.
We are not told how long Lucifer ruled over the earth, nor
how much power God allowed him during that period. One thousand
years is to God like only one day to you and me. How long did God
enjoy the beauty, the charm, the magnetism, the friendship,
loyalty, and easy-going camaraderie of Lucifer?
God says he was a perfect creature in all aspects. Could not
God have enjoyed His association with Lucifer, originally?
We are told, however, that Lucifer began "merchandising." That
is, he began to talk to the countless angels under his control,
and perhaps to others who were under Gabriel or Michael. He began
to allow jealousy of God's supreme position of authority to eat
on him. He began to see God in an unfavorable comparison with
himself.
His reasoning is extant in billions of humans. "I am better
than you are," reason many. Vanity consumed Lucifer. Like most
vain people, he suffered from a deep-seated inferiority complex,
for he knew, deep within himself, that he was inferior to God;
that God was more powerful. As Lucifer contemplated all that God
controlled, envy and covetousness crept in. Lucifer began to
become dissatisfied with his fabulously beautiful portion of
God's realm. Now, the jewels and gold seemed commonplace. The
earth, down here under the clouds, was truly "mundane."
He began to exacerbate the situation, continually gossiping,
talking, excusing and justifying himself, dropping innuendoes and
hints that God was somehow not fair. The more he engaged in this
"trafficking," the more corrupt he became, morally and
spiritually.
Finally, he betrayed God, and, taking his angels (all of
whom had been completely subverted by his charm, and his
charismatic personality), he attempted to attack God on His
throne and overthrow Him! He attempted the very first palace coup
in all the history of the universe.
We cannot even begin to imagine the titanic struggle that
took place. It was the original, primeval, "star wars" that
ensued; planets and stars collided, were hurled out of their
orbits. The earth's surface was wrecked, utterly destroyed.
Today, when we gaze into space, we can see the results of this
titanic struggle for control of the universe. The lifeless,
pock-marked hulks that are the moon, or Mars and many other
planets with their ugly, misshapen moons; the poisonous Venusian
atmosphere; billions of meteorites, which are just so much space
debris from explosions; all present mute testimony to us of vast
events in the ancient past which caused all this wreckage.
Evolutionists speak of their pet theory about the "big
bang," as if it were a mindless act of "nature," which was the
original creation. It was not. The debris they see is the result
of the destruction of an earlier, perfect creation.
Did Lucifer's betrayal and attack upon God affect God's
attitude at all? God is love, according to His Word. He is
gentle, kind, good, giving, merciful, longsuffering, and
forgiving. Since God's very nature is love, and since God desires
man's love in return, was it not painful and deeply disappointing
to God to see the most beautiful creature of His handiwork,
Lucifer, turn into a vicious, hating, lying, spiteful rebel,
trying to overthrow his own Creator?
Do you see? The very first estrangement, the first time
there was OPPOSITION, the first time there was betrayal,
rejection, and war against God came perhaps billions of years
before Adam!
The Rejection and Betrayal of Christ
Jesus Christ was the Son of God. He was God in the flesh,
the original "Spokesman" of the Godhead, who did the creating!
"In the beginning was the Word [Greek: Logos, meaning
"Spokesman"], and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
"The same was in the beginning with God.
"All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything
made that was made.
"In Him was life; and the life was the light of men.
"And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness
comprehendeth it not.
"There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
"The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that
all men through him might believe.
"He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that
Light.
"That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh
into the world.
"He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the
world knew Him not.
"He came unto His own, and His own received Him not..." (John
1:1-11).
Here is irrefutable proof that the One who became our
Savior, the Member of the Godhead who was born Jesus of Nazareth,
is the Divine Member of the Godhead who did the creating! He is
the One who said, "Let US make man in OUR image" (Genesis 2:26),
who dealt with Abraham, who parted the Red Sea, who gave Moses
the law at Sinai.
Notice that He was with God, the Father, and yet "was God."
Our English word "God" is often taken to mean "God, the Father,"
though it actually comes from any number of divine titles, and
must be understood from the original languages, such as Hebrew,
Aramaic, and Greek. Jesus Christ plainly spoke of His "Father" in
heaven. He said He had come to reveal the Father. He prayed to
His Father, talked to Him, and said He spoke not of and by
Himself, but that "The Father hath given me a commandment; what I
should say and what I should speak."
Those who espouse the nonsensical "Jesus Only" theory
ignorantly deny dozens of plain scriptures which proves the
duality of the Divine Family.
Notice that the Creator, now in the human form of Jesus
Christ of Nazareth, "came unto His OWN." He was born into the
Jewish race.
Paul wrote, "For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of
Juda; of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood"
(Hebrews 7:12). The Samaritan woman at Jacob's well asked, "How
is it that thou, being a Jew, asked drink of me, which am a woman
of Samaria? (for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans)"
(John 4:9).
In both Matthew's and Luke's genealogies, Jesus' legal human
ancestry is plainly traced back to His eponymous ancestor, Judah,
whose name "Judahite," or "Yehudi," became shortened to "Jew."
Those antisemitic bigots who refuse to accept Jesus Christ's
Jewish ancestry show themselves to be exactly what they are -
racist, hate-filled, prejudiced, arrogant, and completely
ignorant of the Scriptures.
Christ came unto His own people, His own race, His own
tribe! He was to say, on various occasions, "A prophet hath no
honor in His own country, or among His own kin."
Notice Isaiah's inspired prophecy: "For He shall grow up
before Him [Jehovah is implied] as a tender plant, and as a root
out of dry ground: He hash no form nor comeliness: and when we
shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him.
"He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and
acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from Him;
He was despised and we esteemed Him not" (Isaiah 53:2,3).
Jesus Christ knew rejection. Though He was perfect, though
He preached love and forgiveness, He was hated by the Jewish
religious leaders, rejected by His own family and near kindred.
Satan, the original traitor, appeared immediately at Jesus'
birth, and, through Herod's pogrom against thousands of innocent
little babies, sought to destroy Him. Satan appeared to Jesus at
His testing in the wilderness, during a forty day fast,
attempting to overthrow His faith; attempting to charm, enchant,
persuade, influence - trying his best to get Christ to worship
Satan.
Christ passed each grueling test, finally commanding the
devil to leave, and then, exhausted, received succor from angels
(Matthew 4:11). All during Christ's ministry, Satan was present.
He attempted to deceive Peter (Luke 22:31). He did deceive,
heavily influence, and finally enter personally into Judas
Iscariot. Satan, through Judas, continually attempted to
influence the other disciples against Christ, just as Lucifer had
originally become corrupted by his "trafficking," or his
"merchandising" - talking, accusing, influencing, justifying,
attempting to persuade other beings against God and His authority
(see John 12:4 with Mark 14:5 and Matthew 26:8,9).
Finally, Satan entered into Judas at the last supper (John
13:27) and betrayed Christ to the Sanhedrin, leading to His
murder.
Satan, the great traitor toward God, was continually present
at every great and momentous event concerning God's plan of
redemption and salvation, attempting to wreck God's works; derail
the plan of salvation.
Notice that Christ was a "man of sorrows and acquainted with
grief." Do you know what it is to have beloved friends, even
close family members, "hide their faces" from you, cut you off,
refuse to see you, or even talk, or write? I do. If you have, you
know there is no physical pain which is equal to this decades
-long mental and emotional pain of rejection - knowing others
despise you!
The estrangement of this world against God is a total
alienation. It is complete.
As they rejected Christ, so did the world reject His
disciples, as He prophesied: "They shall put you out of the
synagogues; yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will
think that he doeth God a service.
"And these things will they do unto you, because they have not
known the Father, nor me" (John 16:2,3).
Now do you understand how complete, how total is the
spiritual darkness and Satanic confusion that grips this world -
yes, including the world of religion?
There is need for the world and the very solar system itself
to be restored to a condition of being "AT ONE" WITH GOD!
Because the process of alienation has been so painful, the
holy day which pictures the reconciliation and final removal of
all the sources of hostility, rejection, and hatred also features
something painful: an "affliction" of our lives, through fasting!
A "Feast" of Fasting
Now, let's come to understand the symbolism and typology of
the somber Day of Atonement.
"And the Eternal spake unto Moses, saying, 'Also on the tenth day
of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall
be an holy convocation [a commanded assembly] unto you; and ye
shall afflict your souls ... and ye shall do no work in that same
day: for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you
before the Eternal your God.
"For whatsoever soul [person] it be that shall not be afflicted
in that same day, he shall be cut off from among His people"
(Leviticus 23:2729).
That "afflicting your souls" means fasting; abstaining from
food and water during that entire twenty-four hour day, is
crystal clear from the Scriptures.
For example, fasting for the wrong reasons is depicted by
the prophet Isaiah: "'Wherefore have we fasted?' say they, 'and
Thou seest not? Wherefore have we afflicted our soul and Thou
takest no knowledge?' Behold, in the day of your fast ye find
pleasure, and exact all your labors.
"Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the
fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make
your voice to be heard on high..." (Isaiah 58:2-4).
Fasting for the wrong reason is merely going hungry. Christ
showed how the spiritually proud Pharisees did this: "Moreover
when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance:
for they disfigure [contort; twist] their faces, that they may
appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, they have their
reward.
"But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head [wash and comb
your hair-this is not a "spiritual" ritual, but instructions to
appear properly groomed], and wash thine face; that thou appear
not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and
thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly"
(Matthew 6:16-18).
Fasting means completely abstaining from food and drink for
the period of the fast. Notice how the Assyrian king of ancient
Nineveh, at the warning from Jonah, proclaimed a fast: "...and he
arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered
him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
"And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh
by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, 'Let neither
man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not
feed, nor drink water:.
"'But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry
mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil
way, and from the violence that is in their hands.
"'Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from
His fierce anger, that we perish not?'
"And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way;
and God repented of the evil, that He had said that He would do
unto them; and He did it not" (Jonah 3:6-10).
Notice it was not the fasting which moved God to change His
mind. The fasting moved the people of Nineveh to change THEIR
EVIL WAYS. It was the fact that they repented, that they turned
from their evil way of life, from violence and crime, that moved
God.
Fasting is not for the purpose of "getting God's attention."
It is, instead, for getting our attention on God.
Fasting is temporary rejection of, and control over, our
human, physical appetites. Hunger is a powerful feeling.
Millions of people, especially in the Western world of
affluence, are terribly overweight. Millions are accustomed to
satisfying every whim of appetite; greasy, fat-laden, poor
quality quick foods; candies, ice cream, desserts. Millions
"snack" at the first little twinge of hunger, devouring
grease-laden potato chips, Fritos, "snacks" of all kinds, laden
with chemicals, artificial flavorings and colorings, sodium and
salt. Go to any good book store, and purchase a good book on
nutrition, and learn of the incredibly debilitating eating and
drinking habits of millions of our people. Then, you will come to
understand much more about such terrible diseases as cancer,
heart disease, emphysema, diabetes, and so many more, and why it
is that "health care" is such a major economic and political
issue in our time!
Millions are eating themselves to death without realizing
it! Millions never allow themselves to experience hunger, while,
in the "third world," hundreds of thousands are dying of
starvation.
The Christian life of overcoming is one of controlling our
physical appetites! Solomon wrote, "Be not among winebibbers
[excessive drinkers]; among riotous eaters of flesh [selfish,
gluttonous eaters]:
"For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty"
(Proverbs 23:20,21).
Jesus Christ said "...when ye fast" not, "if" ye fast. When the
disciples of John, the Baptist, complained about Jesus' disciples
ignoring weekly, ritualistic "fasts" like those of the Pharisees,
they asked, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy
disciples fast not?
"And Jesus said unto them, 'Can the children of the bridechamber
mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will
come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then
shall they fast'" (Matthew 9:14,15).
He was referring to his being killed, resurrected, and
assumed into heaven, saying after His departure His true
disciples would fast.
Fasting, controlling the human physical appetites, and
drawing close to God in prayer is part of the Christian life. Are
there those who fast only one day in the year? Probably.
Strangely, there are those "spiritual liberals" who like to
deceive themselves into rationalizing away the requirement to
fast on the Day of Atonement! Others, completely captive to their
own stomachs and physical appetites, like to argue that they can
"fast" but merely drink water during the Day of Atonement.
Such people are plainly carnal, "of the flesh," concerned
with physical, fleshly appetites! To them, it is "unfair" that
they should go as much as a single day of their lives without
food and water! They want to "argue" and "reason" their way
around God's commands, allowing their stomachs to rule their
minds, instead of the other way around. Like Esau, many are
willing to miss out on the Kingdom of God for a mess of pottage!
But God says that those who do not fast shall be cut off from
God, and His people!
No so-called "Christian" can argue that Jesus did not enjoin
fasting upon His church! The Bible is replete with examples.
Christ chided His disciples on one occasion when they attempted
to cast out a demon, and could not. Christ told them that "this
kind cometh not out, but by prayer and fasting!" (Matthew 17:21).
Since every converted member of God's church is commanded to fast
from time to time, WHAT BETTER DAY TO DO IT--TOGETHER, AS A
CHURCH--THAN ON THE HOLY DAY OF ATONEMENT?
Luke, the historian, notes how the "fast," which is the Day
of Atonement, was so prominent in their seasonal reckoning that
it was commonly used as the point in the Autumn when the winter
storms would begin in the Mediterranean.
He wrote, "Now when much time was spent, and when sailing
was now dangerous, because the fast was already past, Paul
admonished them..." (Acts 27:9). The Companion Bible accompanying
note says, "i.e., the tenth day of the seventh month, the day of
Atonement, about Oct. 1."
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance explains the Greek word used
for "fast," which is "nesteia," to mean, "abstinence (from lack
of food or voluntary and religious); spec. the fast of the Day of
Atonement."
Luke wrote between 59 and 61 A.D., or about thirty years
after the resurrection of Christ! Everything that had supposedly
been "nailed to the cross" had disappeared thirty years before.
Yet, here was Luke, one of Christ's close confidants and a writer
of the account detailing the events in the life of Paul, the
apostle to the Gentiles, and casually using one of God's annual
holy days as an important point in the seasons!
Notice how God's prophet Joel said the time would come when,
during the Great Tribulation, just before the terrible Day of the
Lord, the leaders of the nation should call fasts for His people:
"Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders
and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the Eternal
your God, and cry unto the Eternal,
"Alas for the day! for the day of the Eternal is at hand, and as
a destruction from the ALMIGHTY [El Shaddai] shall it come..."
(Joel 1:14,15). In the next chapter, Joel wrote, "Therefore also
now, saith the Eternal, turn ye even to me with all your heart,
and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning:
"And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the
Eternal your God: for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger,
and of great kindness, and repenteth Him of the evil.
"Who knoweth if He will return and repent, and leave a blessing
behind Him; even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the
Eternal your God?
"Blow the trumpet in 'Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn
assembly..." (Joel 2:12-15).
Since God's Word commands us not to "forsake the assembling
of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting
one another: and so much the more as ye see the day approaching,"
(Hebrews 10:25), it behooves God's church to obey God in
observing His holy days; to obey Him in fasting and prayers, as
He commands, on the solemn, meaningful, somber, most holy DAY OF
ATONEMENT.
Notice carefully how God has arranged His holy days so they
reveal, progressively, His great PLAN of redemption and
salvation.
The Day of Atonement falls between the Feast of Trumpets and
the Feast of Tabernacles. Just as the book of Revelation reveals,
Satan is bound and hurled away from the earth after the Second
Coming of Christ (which Trumpets foreshadows), and before the
beginning of Christ's 1,000 year reign, foreshadowed by the Feast
of Tabernacles. For a complete understanding of God's annual holy
days, and what they picture for us today, write or call
immediately for our booklets, "God's Seasonal Plan," and
"Christian Holy Days."
(ALL THE PLAN OF SALVATION THROUGH GOD'S HOLY DAY FESTIVALS, CAN
BE FOUND ON THIS WEBSITE - Keith Hunt)
Very briefly, the Passover depicts the first step in the
plan of redemption; the slaying of the lamb pictures Christ's
sacrifice and our acceptance of it. The Feast of Unleavened Bread
pictures Christ becoming part of us, through the indwelling
presence of the Holy Spirit. Christ said He was that "Bread of
Life" that was come down from heaven, and said, "He that eateth
of me shall never die." Not only does eating unleavened bread
show we are partaking of a sinless life, but the unleavened bread
pictures Christ.
Next comes Pentecost, or the "Feast of Weeks," or "Feast of
the Firstfruits." The word pentecost is from the Greek, which
merely means "fiftieth." God told His Levites to count from the
morrow after the Sabbath during the Days of Unleavened Bread
seven weeks (seven meaning perfection, completion). On the morrow
after the seventh Sabbath was the "Feast of Sabbaths," or
"Firstfruits."
On this day, Christ sent the Holy Spirit upon His apostles
(Acts 2). This is the "birthday" of the church - the first time
in all history when God made His Holy Spirit available, freely,
to all who would repent. Christ is the FIRST of the "firstfruits"
of mankind. He is called "...the Firstborn among many brethren,"
and "...the Firstfruits of them that slept" (Romans 8:29; I
Corinthians 15:20). This important holy day shows the incredible
truth we have been discussing previously; how only a very rare,
tiny minority are being called now; that God is NOT TRYING TO
"SAVE" THIS WORLD NOW; that only a small firstfruits for God's
kingdom has been converted, and called into God's true church.
Next comes The Feast of Trumpets, which pictures the
announcement from heaven of God's intervention in human affairs.
Not only does it look forward to the great final trumpet (Matthew
24:31; I Corinthians 15:50-52; Revelation 11:15), but it
represents all of God's continual witness and warning down
through the centuries. Isaiah said, "Cry aloud, spare not, lift
up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their
transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins" (Isaiah 58:1).
The ultimate meaning of the Feast of Trumpets is the Second
Coming of Jesus Christ to this earth, after God has caused the
Gospel of the Kingdom of God, which is the good news of Christ's
soon coming to RULE this world, to be preached among all nations.
The method of mass communication used in ancient Israel was the
trumpet call, or the blowing on the horn of a ram, called the
"shofar." There were various sounds for the calling of
assemblies, for marching orders, for the announcement of holy
days, and for warning of approaching enemies.
God promised He would not leave this world without a
witness; that the world would be warned of impending punishments
for sin; of disease, economic collapse, and war. Throughout
history God has sent His special messengers; first, the prophets,
then Jesus Christ. Then His apostles, and finally His church, to
blow the trumpet of witness and warning, as watchmen (Ezekiel 33)
to inform people of what is to come!
Eventually, the whole world will hear the blast of the
trumpet of God (Matthew 24:31), announcing Christ's return.
But when Christ comes back to this earth, the world will not
immediately accept Him. Peace will not immediately prevail.
Instead, Christ will administer, personally, the immediate
punishment for sin upon the "beast" and "false prophet," and then
God will send a powerful angel to hurl Satan away from this earth
and BIND him for one thousand years so he can no longer influence
mankind.
Notice one of the very first acts to be accomplished by
Jesus Christ when He returns to this earth in power and glory:
"And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse; and lie that
sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness
He doth judge and make war.
"His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on His head were many
crowns; and He had a name written, that no man knew, but lie
himself.
"And He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and His name
is called The Word of God.
"And the armies which were in heaven followed Him upon white
horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
"And out of His mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it He should
smite the nations: and He shall RULE them with a rod of iron [see
Revelation 2:26]: and He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness
and wrath of Almighty God.
"And He hath on His vesture and on His thigh a name written, KING
OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS ... and I saw the beast [the coming
military leader of the "beast power," a ten-nation combine which
will fight Christ at His coming (see Revelation 17:12-14)], and
the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to
make war against Him that sat on the horse, and against His army.
"And the beast was taken [captured; arrested], and with him the
false prophet [see 2 Thessalonians 2:3-10 with Revelation
13:11-18] that wrought miracles before him, with which he had
deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them
that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake
of fire burning with brimstone.
"And the remnant were slain with the sword of Him that sat upon
the horse, which sword proceeded out of His mouth: and all the
fowls were filled with their flesh.
"And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the
bottomless pit [abyss, a metaphor for "the blackness of darkness
forever" (Jude 13)] and a great chain in his hand.
"And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the
Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years.
"And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, that he
should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years
should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little
season" (Revelation 19:11-21; 20:1-3).
Men divided the manuscripts into chapters. The original
scrolls had no such divisions. Here, the thought flow continues,
uninterrupted, from the Second Coming of Christ to the binding of
Satan.
First, then, Christ administers the death penalty--death by
fire to the vicious, mass-murderers, the beast and his religious
cohort, the false prophet. The very next event is the binding of
Satan, and removal of him from the earth into some far off "black
hole" in the universe pictured as an "abyss," where he is to
remain alive, yet completely powerless to influence the world,
for the entire millennial reign of Christ with His saints.
With this information in mind, turn to and study Leviticus,
the 16th chapter, and come to understand the interesting
typology.
Types and Shadows of Things to Come
Only once each year was the high priest to come into the
"holy of holies" inside the tabernacle (later, the temple). Read
carefully through Hebrews 8 and 9 for a fuller understanding.
"And the Eternal said unto Moses, 'Speak unto Aaron thy brother,
that he come not at all times into the holy place within the veil
before the mercy seat [a type of the throne of God], which is
upon the ark; that he die not: for I will appear in the cloud
upon the mercy seat.
"Thus shall Aaron come into the holy place: with a young bullock
for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering" (Leviticus
16:2,3). Verse six explains that the young bullock for a sin
offering is for Aaron and his family to make an "atonement" for
himself and them. The ram for the burnt offering was on behalf of
the congregation of Israel (verse 15). "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
for his house. And he shall take the two goats, and present them
before the Eternal at the door of the tabernacle of the
congregation.
"And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats: one lot for the
Eternal, and the other lot for the scapegoat" (Leviticus 16:6-8).
Notice that the first lot is "FOR THE ETERNAL." It follows that
the second lot, the goat which is called an "azazel" in Hebrew,
falsely translated "scapegoat" into the English, is NOT FOR THE
ETERNAL, but for some other representation.
Hastings says, "The living goat was then brought near; and
the high priest, having placed both hands upon its head,
confessed over it all the sins and offences of the Israelites;
after which the goat was led away by a man standing in readiness,
into the wilderness for 'Azazel,' that it might bear the
iniquities to a land 'cut off,' i.e., to one remote from human
habitations, from which there was no chance of its bringing back
its burden of guilt" (Dictionary of the Bible, James Hastings,
Vol.1, p.199).
Here, the sins are not forgiven, not expiated by the
shedding of blood, but instead are still alive, the guilt still
remaining upon the head of the live goat, which is led by a man
specially selected for the task into a remote wilderness, from
which it will never return.
This is a perfect type of what you read in Revelation
20:1-3: "And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key
of the bottomless pit [metaphor for an "abyss," or an empty void,
without human habitation] and a great chain in his hand.
"And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the
Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
"And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a
seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more..."
When does the binding of Satan occur?
Immediately after the Second Coming of Christ and following
Christ having thrown the beast and false prophet into a lake of
fire!
Note this sequence of events well! Satan is bound after
Christ's coming, which is pictured by the Feast of Trumpets, yet
before the beginning of the Millennium, which is foreshadowed, in
part, by the Feast of Tabernacles. Which holy day comes between
Trumpets and Tabernacles? The Day of Atonement. The forgiveness
of sin requires the shedding of blood. "...without shedding of
blood there is no remission" (Hebrews 9:22). The Passover lamb,
the daily and special sacrifices; the slaying of the bullock for
Aaron and his family, and the slaying of the goat "for the
Eternal" all picture CHRIST'S SHED BLOOD for the sins of mankind.
But the second goat, the "Azazel," is NOT FOR THE ETERNAL,
but is for the purpose of remaining alive to bear the sins and
guilt of Israel far, far away into a distant, uninhabited
wilderness.
This does not picture forgiveness of sin, for no blood is
shed. Therefore, the theory that the live goat, or "Azazel,"
which is sent into a desolate, uninhabited wilderness pictures
"forgiveness of sins" is utterly impossible. Instead, it pictures
how Satan, who will remain alive for eternity, will be burdened
with memories of his iniquities and sins for ever and ever.
Think of it! Laying upon the head of the live goat, like virulent
bacteria and viruses, all the sins of the world, the goat is sent
into a remote, desolate wilderness. The wilderness, or "Arabah"
was always used as a type of sin.
While God will forgive and forget our sins, Satan the Devil
has no capacity for remorse or forgiveness and will NEVER FORGET.
He will remain alive, REMEMBERING!
Therefore, though God, our Creator, completely forgives and
forgets your sins and mine, our "partner in sin," the original
sinner, the one who influenced us to sin, will remain alive,
continually remembering! He will be alone. There will be no light
to see. There will be no companionship. He will remain alone with
his torturous thoughts, his bitter memories, for all eternity.
Many of the major religious beliefs of this world have been
subtly implanted by Satan - doctrines that picture him, his state
of being, and his future, rather than the plan of God. Satan has
deceived the world into believing God is part of a great
spiritual triumvirate, while Satan, himself, is one of only three
archangels mentioned in the Bible. The Divine Family of God
consists of Father and Son. DUALITY is seen throughout nature:
two magnetic poles, two sexes; man has two eyes, two hands, two
arms, two feet, two ears, two legs. There is the "first man Adam"
and the "second man Adam" (referring to our first parent and our
spiritual Savior - I Corinthians 15:45-49). The Bible has the Old
Testament and the New Testament. There is the physical and the
spiritual. Everywhere, God has placed duality throughout
creation. Electricity has a positive and a negative charge, and
there are many other examples in the physical creation to
illustrate duality. Yet, millions believe in the false doctrine
that God consists of a "Trinity" of Persons. Write for our
booklet on "Who, What, is God?"
(THE TRUTH ON THAT SUBJECT IS ALSO ON THIS WEBSITE - Keith Hunt)
Satan has also deceived mankind into believing man has an
"immortal soul." But Satan has been created as an immortal
spirit, who will live forever. Satan has convinced mankind that
sin is punished by eternal punishing, not eternal punishment.
Yet, Satan will be punished for all eternity in the "blackness of
darkness forever" (Jude 13).
Thus, the live goat, with all the sins of Israel laid upon
him, represents Satan, remaining alive, with the bitter memories
of his betrayal, his rebellion, his unceasing sins.
Betrayal, Estrangement,
and Atonement
Previously, I asked if you had ever been rejected, perhaps
divorced - whether you had ever been despised by someone you
loved. Now, think of that person. How painful would it be if,
even at this late state, a complete reconciliation could occur?
It is much easier to ask forgiveness than it is to give it! The
penitent one is emotionally moved; ashamed, disgusted with
himself. When true repentance occurs, it is a natural desire to
ask to be forgiven, to shed the painful feelings of guilt that
weigh like a terrible burden on the mind.
The one who is wronged, however, experiences far different
feelings. Because it is so difficult to forgive; much more
difficult than to ask for forgiveness, Jesus instructed His
disciples about forgiveness. Peter had asked, "Lord, how oft
shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? 'Till seven
times'?
"Jesus saith unto him, 'I say not unto thee, until seven times:
but, until seventy times seven" (Matthew 18:21,22). Then Christ
instructed them about the parable of the unjust servant, who,
when forgiven a huge debt, turned about and had a man who owed
him but little thrown into jail.
The landowner who had originally forgiven his servant the
large debt heard of it, had him arrested, and thrown into prison.
Jesus said, "So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto
you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother
their trespasses" (Matthew 18:35).
Continually, Jesus Christ stressed forgiveness as a part of
the character of a Christian! Why? Because it is contrary to
human nature to forgive! Instead, the one wronged is prone to
demand far more display of contrition; far more restitution than
the repentant one is able to give.
How many times have we heard the terms, "I will never
forgive him for that"? Or, "That is absolutely unforgivable"?
Jesus said, "...if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly
Father will also forgive you:
"But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your
Father forgive your trespasses" (Matthew 6:14,15).
It is part of God's nature to be a FORGIVING God. He had
said, "For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their
sins and iniquities will I remember no more" (Hebrews 8:12).
As we have seen, God was betrayed by one of the most
beautiful creatures in all the universe, Lucifer, who became
twisted and perverted into the embodiment of hatred, spite,
contempt, bitterness, sin and evil!
Does God have no feelings? Did not this grieve our Heavenly
Father, and the "Logos," or the One who became our Savior? Of
course it did! Did it not grieve Christ to see all His disciples
forsake Him as He suffered on the stake? God commands us:
"...grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto
the day of redemption" (Ephesians 4:30).
It is because both parties feel affliction when a
reconciliation occurs; because BOTH parties have been grieved -
especially the one who was wronged - that removing the wrong,
assuaging the guilt, becoming "at-ONE" again is so painful!
Joyous at the end, the process of repentance, and being forgiven
is painful while it occurs.
Perhaps now we can see, as never before, why our Heavenly
Father commands us "...ye shall afflict your souls" during the
somber Day of At-One-Ment!
David cried out, "Before I was afflicted I went astray: But
now have I kept thy word" (Psalm 119:67).
When we abstain from food and drink from sunset to sunset
during the holy Day of Atonement, we should not think about how
pitiful we are, how hungry we are, how we desire food! This
defeats the purpose of Atonement.
Rather, we should get our minds off physical things, and
think only of spiritual things. We should think, again, of how
much God has suffered for mankind! How God was betrayed by
Lucifer; how Satan destroyed the original creation; how Satan
deceived our first parents; how he attacked Job; how he
influenced Herod to kill thousands of innocent babies; how he
tempted Christ; how he influenced Judas to betray Christ; and how
he is our adversary, "accusing" us before God, day and night!
We should realize that we have had an evil partner in sin! We
should soberly contemplate how GREAT is God's mercy toward us,
that He should say He will "remove our sins from us as far as the
East is removed from the West," realizing how Satan, laden with
his share of our guilt, will be hurled into the "blackness of
darkness for all eternity"!
Only when all this is accomplished will this world, under
the righteous reign of Jesus Christ, become once again truly "at
one" with God! How fervently we should pray, "Thy Kingdom
Come..."
..........................
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