DAY OF ATONEMENT - 2002

Fred Coulter - September 16, 2002

And greetings, brethren. This is the Day of Atonement, 2002. We know the Day of Atonement’s a very special day. And we know that it is a day of fasting, a day of affliction, a day that we come before God. And it’s one of those days which has a great and tremendous fulfillment in the plan of God. And it helps unlock some of the mysteries of what God is doing.

Now, let’s begin in Leviticus 23, as we always do. And we’re going to see how important this day is. We’ve come through Passover, Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, Trumpets, and now we’re at the Day of Atonement, which then is the fifth feast, as it were, counting the Passover as one. It’s very interesting. You have the holy days - two days of Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, and then you have Trumpets, which is number four. Then you have Atonement, which is number five, and number five is grace. And the greatest grace that we can possibly have, as we will see, is to be at-one with God. Which, if you take the word atonement and you break it down into three words you have at-one-ment. And that means at-one-ment with God, which would be the greatest grace of all, wouldn’t it? Yes, indeed. Now we’re going to learn some important things concerning the Day of Atonement today.

Let’s begin right here in Leviticus 23, and let’s pick it up here in verse 26. “And the LORD 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 unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls,…” (Lev. 23:26-27). Now to afflict your souls means that you are to fast. And to fast without water, and without food. And there’s a reason for it. And the reason is so that we understand that we are temporary, that we are physical, and that our lives depend on God, and the only way we can be at-one with God is to be a spirit being. And that’s the whole ultimate lesson of the Day of Atonement.

Now here in His instructions to the children of Israel He says, “…And offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD” (vs. 27). Now today we don’t offer offerings by fire. We do take up an offering on every one of the holy days. And as we have covered before, you know that it has to be from the heart, and you know that it has to be something that you desire to do, and it has to be the thing that is pleasing to God most of all is your attitude and your thoughts toward God in these kind of situations. So at this time we’ll go ahead and pause, and we’ll take up an offering.

(Pause)          

Now the Day of Atonement has special requirements that the other holy days do not have. On the other holy days whatever is necessary for fixing of the meal, whatever is necessary for participating in the feast, that work is allowed to be done. But the Day of Atonement is entirely different. Now here it says, verse 28, “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 LORD your God. For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people” (vs. 28-29). And we’ve seen this time and time again. The worst thing that can ever happen to a person is to be cut off from God. And “cut off from among your people”, that means cut off from God for the blessings that He gives to His people, see. And too many people have given up on the ways of God, the holy days of God. Matter of fact I just recently got a letter from a man saying that in the New Testament you don’t have to keep the holy days. You know, it’s the same kind of arguments that people use. “Well, God does not require tithing in the New Testament, you know, and it really doesn’t matter about the Sabbath.” And all of these things all come from self-serving, non-Biblical motives. Because when you read the scriptures, it’s very, very clear. And especially when we get to the last part here of the section concerning Atonement, God makes it absolutely clear that we are to keep His Sabbaths.

Now verse 30, “And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people.” Now God has many ways of destroying people. It doesn’t necessarily mean that He’s going to come down and instantly zap them. It means that He can do it in many different ways. And we’ve seen how God has done that too. And I think all we have to do is just witness the whole thing that we know of the Worldwide Church of God, and we just ask the question: has it been destroyed? Answer: yes. And what was one of the first things they decided that they didn’t need to do? Well, they didn’t need to put leaven out of their homes. Matter of fact, even some people say that Jesus ate leavened bread for the Passover. And it shows how many people are out there with all sorts of cockamamie ideas and doctrines, and yet they always have people to follow them and believe them. So it’s an incredible thing that people just do not read the Bible, believe the Bible, believe God, and do what He says. So it’s a very important thing to keep the Day of Atonement, wouldn’t you say, so that you’re not cut off from God and His people, and that you’re not destroyed from among the people of God? “Ye shall do no manner of work: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings” (vs. 30-31).

Now verse 32 is a key verse. “It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even [ba erev, sunset ending the ninth day], from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath.” So this means that beginning the ninth day at sunset we start the Day of Atonement. That’s when we start fasting. And we are to observe it from even to even. Now it’s very interesting here the way that the Septuagint brings this out, as well as the Hebrew. This means, “you shall sabbathize your Sabbaths.” It uses the plural. So this is a summary of all the holy days of God, which are called Sabbaths. So if you keep the weekly Sabbath then you’re surely bound to keep the rest of the Sabbaths because they are Sabbaths, correct? It just is that they come at set times during the year. And the same thing goes with the argument for the calculated Hebrew Calendar. We’re going to have some good material on that, so just hang on. Just hang on and don’t be dismayed by people who try and tell you strange tales about the calendar.

So this Day of Atonement is an important day. Now why do we have the Day of Atonement to make at-one-ment, and why do we have the Passover? Now let’s go back to Exodus 12 and let’s see something here very important. I’ve mentioned this in the past, but I’m going to go ahead and go into it in a little bit more detail, so come back here to Exodus 12, and let’s understand something: the blessing of the firstborn. Now you see this also helps explain the whole situation as to when and how God is going to save the rest of the world. Now we know He’s not doing it now. But it begins right here with the Passover and the meaning of the Passover, so let’s come here to Exodus 12 and let’s begin here in verse 12. “For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn…” Now I want you to key in on the word “firstborn” because that has a lot to do with our relationship with God now, and the Day of Atonement, and the Day of Atonement in relationship to the rest of the world.

Now, when He executed His judgment He said here, verse 13, “And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.” Now then, the meaning of the Passover begins with the sparing of the firstborn, not leaving Egypt.

Leaving Egypt is the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Now let’s notice this in verse 26. “And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service? That ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the LORD’S passover, Who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when He smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses. And the people bowed the head and worshipped” (vs. 26-27). So He passed over all the firstborn.

Now let’s stop and think for a minute what would have happened if there was a house where there was not the blood, as in the case of the Egyptians. Let’s read it here in verse 29, “And it came to pass, that at midnight the LORD smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle.” That is, whatever were remaining. Now then, if there was no blood on the door-post, or on the lintels then the firstborn would die. The others would not. So this is a special day for those of the firstborn. And the firstborn then become a very particular thing to God under the Old Covenant, which then was a shadow of the things to come in the New Covenant. And we will see then, how that applies to the church, and then we will see how the Day of Atonement applied to Israel, and then we will see how that applies to the rest of the world.

Now, let’s come here to Exodus 13:2. “…Sanctify unto Me all the firstborn, whatsoever openeth the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and of beast: it is mine.” Now verse 12. It says when you’re in the land, verse 12, see “That thou shalt set apart unto the LORD all that openeth the matrix, and every firstling that cometh of a beast which thou hast; the males shall be the LORD’S. And every firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb; and if thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shalt break his neck: and all the firstborn of man among thy children shalt thou redeem” (Ex. 13:2, 12-13). So there is a tremendous emphasis that is put here, you see.

And then when the sons would ask, “Well what about this thing with the firstborn?”, you see. Verse 14, “And it shall be when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What is this? that thou shalt say unto him, By strength of hand the LORD brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage: and it came to pass, when Pharaoh would hardly let us go, that the LORD slew all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man, and the firstborn of beast: therefore I sacrifice to the LORD all that openeth the matrix, being males; but all the firstborn of my children I redeem” (vs. 14-15).

Now there is a great significance for us in the plan of God between the Passover and the Day of Atonement. So under the Old Covenant the Passover pictured the sparing of the firstborn. Now what happened with all the rest of the children of Israel? They were also blessed because the firstborn were spared, weren’t they? Even though the Passover itself did not apply to only but the firstborn. It applied to all the children of Israel in as much as they were to eat the Passover, that is correct. But the specific act of God of passing over the firstborn because of the blood is a very profound and most interesting thing in relationship to the New Covenant, as we will see a little later.

But let’s come here to Leviticus 16 now, and let’s see something very important concerning the Day of Atonement. Let’s look at these. Let’s see how important the Day of Atonement is. Now here in Leviticus 16, we’re going to go through it in quite detail, because this is a very important part in the symbolism of the offerings and everything is very important for us to understand.

Now let’s begin here right in verse 1. “And the LORD spake unto Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered before the LORD, and died; and the LORD 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, 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:…” (Lev. 16:1-3). Now here were the requirements for Aaron, because you see, as we’ve been studying in the book of Hebrews, that the priest also had to make offerings for himself because of his sins, and because of his weaknesses.

Now verse 3, “Thus [or that is, in this manner] shall Aaron come into the holy place: with a young bullock for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering. He shall put on the holy linen coat, and he shall have the linen breeches upon his flesh, and shall be girded with a linen girdle, and with the linen mitre shall he be attired: these are holy garments; therefore shall he wash his flesh in water, and so put them on” (vs. 3-4). Now that’s very interesting, isn’t it? What is called the righteousness of the saints? The holy garments.

Here, just hold your place and let’s come back here to Revelation 19 for a minute, and let’s see that this is a type of righteousness, and that we also when we come in the presence of God, are going to have to have this righteousness. Now here, Revelation 19:7, “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints” (Rev. 19:7-8). And so we’re admonished about having our garments clean, we are admonished about having ourselves ready, so just like…(let’s come back to Leviticus 16)…just like the high priest had to have on the holy linen garments, because this symbolized the righteousness of God, so do we have to have on the linen garments of the marriage ceremony when the wedding comes.

Now, here’s a very unusual ceremony. Verse 5, “And he shall take of the congregation of the children of Israel two kids of the goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering. And Aaron shall offer his bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make an atonement for himself, and for his house. And he shall take the two goats, and present them before the LORD at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation” (Lev. 16:5-7). Right in front, before you go into the altar of burnt offerings. Now this special ceremony was very unusual, and in none of the other sacrifices of anything that God commanded the children of Israel to do, do we have one like this.

Now let’s read it. “And he shall take the two goats, and present them before the LORD at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats;…” Now, lots are cast when it’s impossible for human beings to make the decision. God has to reveal which one of the goats is for Him, and which one was for Azazel. And this becomes very profound and has great meaning indeed. Now let’s read it. It says, “…one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat” (vs. 7-8). Which if you read in the margin is Azazel, and Azazel means “the one carried out into the wilderness.” And Azazel is another name for Satan the devil. Now why would God have lots cast between the LORD and Satan the devil? God knows the difference, but human beings don’t know the difference, do they?

Now what happened when the Serpent appeared to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden? They were not able to distinguish between Satan and his message, and God and His message. In other words, this way: no human being can correctly select the right God. God has to reveal it. Very profound. Very important. God has to reveal Himself to you in some manner or other, and generally it’s through the power of the Holy Spirit to begin to draw you to the Father, and through His word that you begin to understand it. And even then, look how many people through the centuries have studied the Bible, have read the Bible, commented on the Bible, written books about the Bible and don’t understand the Bible? And the reason is because no human being of himself can discern between the true God and the god of this world. Now there is no other, no other being in the whole Bible that is called the god of this world except Satan the devil. Now we know that back in 2 Corinthians 4:4. It says, “If our gospel be hid, it is hid from those whom the god of this world has blinded.” Now, the children of Israel… let’s ask the question concerning the children of Israel and why they needed to have this selection between God and Satan.

Now let’s come back here to 2 Corinthians 3. Just hold your place in Leviticus 16 because we’re going to come back there. Here’s a very important thing that we need to understand concerning the children of Israel and why God dealt with them in this manner on the Day of Atonement with this particular ceremony. And it shows a very profound thing. Now let’s pick it up here in 2 Corinthians 3:13. “And not as Moses, which put a veil over his face,…” Now what happened was this: when Moses first went up on top of Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments with God, from God, written on the table of stone, the children of Israel down below the mountain (because he was up there for forty days and forty nights) went to Aaron and said, “Up make us gods”, so then they made the golden calf and worshipped it. Moses came down. He was so angry that he broke the tables of the Ten Commandments. And after God got done punishing the people and things finally got set down, He told Moses, “You take two tablets and you come back up on Mount Sinai, and I will write the Ten Commandments again for you.” And he went up there again for the second forty days. And tradition has it that he came down off the mountain on the Day of Atonement and his face shined with glory because he was in the presence of God as a sign to the children of Israel that he was in the presence of God. And it was so bright that it scared the children of Israel. So Moses had to put a veil over his face. And this is what it’s talking about here in 2 Corinthians 3:13.

“…That the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished:…” That was the glory and also the Old Covenant. “…But their minds were blinded:…” Now then, just like Satan who blinds the minds, their minds were blinded. Now notice. “…The same veil untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which veil [that is, the blindness] is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart. Nevertheless when it [or that is, when they] shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away” (vs. 13-16).

So let’s come back here to Leviticus 16 and let’s understand something very important. Even the high priest could not discern which goat was for God and represented Christ, and which goat was for Azazel and represented Satan. And we’re going to see a little bit later on that there were some profound things to happen on the Day of Atonement during the forty years between the crucifixion of Christ and the destruction of Jerusalem, which happened on the Day of Atonement, and which happened in the casting of lots. So this is why God has to make the determination.

Now let’s come back to Leviticus 16:9. “And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the LORD’S lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering.” Very profound and important, and remember that, because when you have an offering made for a sin offering for sin, then that covered the sin and that’s what atonement means - kippur. And that’s why it’s called in Hebrew, yom kippur, that which covers.

“But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat [that is, for Azazel], shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make an atonement with him [or, upon him],…” (vs. 10). See, because you can never have complete atonement and forgiveness of sin unless you remove the author of sin. And that’s what this whole ceremony is all about. To show the children of Israel that unless you remove the one who’s the author of sin, you can never truly overcome sin. And you can never have a society without sin. Now we’ll see that a little later on. Very important things that we need to know and understand concerning the Day of Atonement. Now there are some people who mistakenly say that both of these goats represent Christ. Well, that is not the case. We’ll see that a little later on.

Now verse 11, “And Aaron shall bring the bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and shall make an atonement for himself, and for his house, and shall kill the bullock of the sin offering which is for himself: and he shall take a censer full of [incense] burning coals of fire from off the altar before the LORD, and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the veil: and he shall put the incense upon the fire before the LORD, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is upon the testimony, that he die not:…” (vs. 11-13). See, because no man, except Moses could see God in the holy sanctuary and live. So therefore the holy of holies was completely unilluminated. As a matter of fact, it was absolutely pitch black and dark in there. So when the high priest went in there, whether it was the tabernacle, or whether it was later at the temple, he could barely see. And as a matter of fact, the Jews later had the practice of tying a rope around the midriff of the high priest when he went behind the veil, because when the veil was put back in place it was absolutely pitch dark in there. And they put the rope on him, that if he died, then they could pull him out, because no one else was to go in the holy of holies. That shows you the extreme caution that they took in this thing. So it was really quite a situation here.

Now once he got in to the mercy seat, this is the only time that blood was sprinkled on the mercy seat. Otherwise, when there was a sin offering, and the sin offering was offered at the altar of burnt offerings, the blood was to be sprinkled on the altar of burnt offerings. But now, once a year he goes on the Day of Atonement, and this is sprinkled on the mercy seat.

Now notice verse 14. “And he shall take of the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy seat eastward; and before the mercy seat shall he sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times.” Showing complete atonement. “Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people…” In other words he was to go in and do that for himself and then come back out. When he came back out he was to kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the people. Now isn’t it interesting…here we have the people of Israel, now we had on Passover the firstborn, correct? Yes. Now on Atonement we have the rest of the people. “…And bring his blood within the veil, and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat:…” (vs. 14-15). He was to do that. That was the sin offering. And offered right in the holy of holies means that, you can know for sure that their sins were forgiven and they were justified to the temple according to the ritual of God concerning the Day of Atonement, on the Day of Atonement.

Now let’s read on. “And he shall make an atonement for the holy place [that’s everything to do with the temple], because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions in all their sins:…” Now when you have all your sins covered, do you need another method of forgiveness? No. But when you have all your sins covered, does that mean that you will sin no more? Absolutely not, because this was done every year, correct? And even the same with us. We know that because we have the law of sin and death within us that we’re still going to sin. That’s why we live under the grace of God, and as long as we repent we have forgiveness through Christ, and the blood of the New Covenant, don’t we? And that will become very important here in just a minute, as we will see. Now continuing, “…and so shall he do for the tabernacle of the congregation, that remaineth among them in the midst of their uncleanness. And there shall be no man [enter into] in the tabernacle… when he goeth in to make an atonement in the holy place, until he come out, and have made an atonement for himself, and for his household, and for all the congregation of Israel” (vs. 16-17). So the Day of Atonement was a time of complete atoning, or complete covering of the sins and transgressions of all the children of Israel, and the priest, and the priesthood.

Now let’s continue on right here in verse 18, Leviticus 16. “And he shall go out unto the altar that is before the LORD [that is, the altar of burnt offering], and make an atonement for it; and shall take of the blood of the bullock, and of the blood of the goat, and put it upon the horns of the altar round about.” Now on the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles you’ll be able to see what those were: the altar, and the horns, and so forth. “And he shall sprinkle of the blood upon it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it, and hallow it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel. And when he hath made an end of reconciling the holy place, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat:…” (vs. 18-20). Now here is the only, as we could say, sacrifice…but it wasn’t a sacrifice because it wasn’t sacrificed…but one that could have been sacrificed but wasn’t. And there’s a reason for it, to show a great symbolism, not only to the children of Israel, but also for us.

Let’s read it here. Verse 21, “And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel,…” Now why do that when they’ve already been forgiven? Well, let’s understand something. Let’s ask the question: who is the author of sin? Satan the devil is the author of sin because he is sinning from the beginning. And he’s a liar from the beginning. But people cannot distinguish between Satan the devil and the true God. And even, like with Adam and Eve when they were there and had access to God, even though they had access to God they still couldn’t make the right decision, and they sinned, didn’t they? Why? Let’s ask a question: was there sin in the Garden of Eden before the Serpent came? No, there wasn’t. Was there sin in the Garden of Eden when Satan was allowed in? Yes. So this lesson is to teach the children of Israel and us, and we will see has yet to be fulfilled, that the author of sin must be removed, until you can have a world and society without sin.

Now here’s what he was to do. In all, he was to confess “…all their transgressions, in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat,…” Because after all who is the author of sin, and who made people sin? Satan the devil. That’s why in this world, as long as Satan is around you can never, never, ever, ever have a sinless society. You must always deal with sin. Here’s what he was to do with this goat. “…And shall send himaway by the hand of a fit man [as we will see that’s the type of an angel] into the wilderness:…” Now some people say this wilderness is heaven. Well of course not. The wilderness is symbolic of where demons and Satan live. And he’s returned back to where he should be.

“And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness. And Aaron shall come into the tabernacle of the congregation, and shall put off the linen garments, which he put on when he went into the holy place, and shall leave them there: and he shall wash his flesh with water in the holy place, and put on his garments, and come forth, and offer his burnt offering, and the burnt offering of the people,…” And a burnt offering then, is an offering much like you would say a peace offering. That now that you’ve had your sins forgiven, now here’s the burnt offering, and with the burnt offering the one who offers shares in eating it as well as a part goes to the priest, which then symbolizes God eating of the offering. “…And make an atonement for himself, and for the people. And the fat of the sin offering shall he burn upon the altar. And he that let go the goat for the scapegoat shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward come into the camp” (vs. 22-26).

“And the bullock for the sin offering, and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the holy place, shall one carry forth without the camp [that is outside the camp]; and they shall burn in the fire their skins, and their flesh, and their dung” (vs. 27). Now that place where they burnt them was called the Miphkad Altar. So we have the temple here, and you come out the east gate and you go east across the Kiddron Valley (there was a bridge that went over there), and up to the Mount of Olives. And right at the Mount of Olives was the Miphkad Altar where all the carcasses and skin, and everything for sin offerings were burned, and then the ashes were pushed down a conduit into the valley of Hinnom. Now it is right next to this place where Christ was crucified. So some very profound things. Just like Paul said back in Hebrews 13, “Let us go without the camp [outside the camp]”, because all these physical rituals in the temple are not going to cause spiritual cleansing. They’re just for the flesh. “Let us go outside the camp to Him Who was crucified out there”, that is Jesus Christ, and His sacrifice, and His atonement.

Now let’s continue on here. Verse 28, “And he that burneth them shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp. And this shall be a statute for ever unto you: that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, ye shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all, whether it be one of your own country, or a stranger that sojourneth among you: for on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the LORD. It shall be a sabbath of rest unto you, and ye shall afflict your souls, by a statute for ever” (vs. 28-31). And that’s really a tremendous thing brethren, when we understand it. This is also a type of Christ going on the wave sheaf offering day to be accepted as the sacrifice for all the sins of all mankind, but we’re going to see that that sacrifice has not been applied to all mankind yet, just like the Passover was not applied to all Israel, only the firstborn.