DAY OF ATONEMENT - 2004

Fred Coulter - September 25, 2004

And greetings, brethren. Welcome to the Day of Atonement, 2004. And of course this is a very important holy day, and also we’re going to see that just as the Passover prepares those who are in the church for Unleavened Bread and Pentecost, so likewise Trumpets and Atonement prepares the world for what God is going to do as pictured by the Feast of Tabernacles and later the Last Great Day. So there’s quite a connection between the two of them. So we’re making our way through the holy days of God, the annual feasts of God. And of course as we have been learning all of the Bible is structured around the Sabbath, Passover and the holy days. And without those it’s impossible to understand the plan of God. And without that knowledge men go ahead and do their best in creating what they think is a plan of God, and the will of God. And in the various religions and denominations that are in the world, unfortunately they’re best intentions can never match the will of God.

Now let’s come to Leviticus 23, and we’ll pick it up here in the flow of the holy days. Verse 26 “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,…” Now you see, as we have learned these are the days of God. So God spoke to Moses, Moses then told the children of Israel. “…On the tenth day of this seventh month [which is today] there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls,…” And of course we know from Psalm 35:13 that that is without food. And in the case of Moses up on the mountain, it was without food and water for forty days. Now God doesn’t require that of us, but we are to fast this one day as a commanded feast in addition to other times during the year whenever it is necessary. “…And offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD.”

Now let’s come to Numbers 28 and 29 because this depicts all of the official offerings that were to be given throughout the whole year. And it starts out in Numbers 28 with the daily offering and then the Sabbath offering, and then the monthly offerings, and then the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And of course as we have noted concerning the Passover, at the temple or tabernacle there were no sacrifices required for that day. You can read that in Numbers 28:16.

But let’s come over here to Numbers 29. It comes from Unleavened Bread down to Pentecost and then there’s a break because it goes to Numbers 29. Now I don’t think in the Hebrew there is a break there. There very well may be, but it groups all of the commanded offerings at the temple; this was in addition to the individual offerings of burnt offerings and peace offerings and meal offerings that people would give.

Now here are the commandments for the Day of Atonement found in Numbers 29:7. “And ye shall have on the tenth day of this seventh month an holy convocation; and ye shall afflict your souls: ye shall not do any work therein: but ye shall offer a burnt offering unto the LORD for a sweet savour; one young bullock, one ram, and seven lambs of the first year; they shall be unto you without blemish: and their meat [meal] offering shall be of flour…” (Nu. 29:7-9). And it gives a description there. And then it explains concerning the goats for the sin offering, and so forth. And so whenever we come to the holy days, when we come before God on these special occasions, we do take up an offering. And an offering that we give to God is not measured in terms of dollars, though in a sense it is, in a physical way. But our offerings to God should be a measure of our love to God, our attitude toward God, and our willingness to serve Him and obey Him. And also our willingness to prove Him, as He says there in Malachi 4 that He says, “Now prove Me herewith, that you shall not have sufficiency in all things, whether you will or not” (Mal. 4:10, paraphrased). Because we will. And God also promises that. Many of the blessings of God that come from God are not counted in terms of monetary equivalency, or remuneration. The blessings of God include many, many, many different things: our life, our health, our protection, our family, our employment, the things that we are doing. And as we will see today, keeping us from the evil one. All of those are blessings that God gives. So in taking up the offering, we’ll pause in just a minute and take up the offering, but you do it according to the blessings that God has given you, and realize that on this Day of Atonement we are to be at-one with God.

(Pause)

Isn’t it a marvelous thing indeed, that that which men count the least or the most unimportant, are the very things that God uses to teach and reveal His will and purpose? Such is the case of the holy days being all listed together. And this is the only chapter in the whole Bible that has all the holy days listed together - and it’s in the Old Testament. A lot of people say, “Well, you know, we don’t need to keep this. It’s nailed to the cross”, and so forth. And all they are doing with that is cheating themselves out of the true knowledge of the plan of God. See, because it is true, anytime anyone thinks that they know better than God they’re going to get themselves in trouble. They’re going to cut themselves off from God. Now the Day of Atonement is a particular holy day, which emphasizes that.

Now let’s continue reading here in Leviticus 23:28, “And ye shall do no work in that same day:…” Now you see when we read this it makes it very clear. These are not hard to understand words. This is not some secret allegorical meaning that is contained in here. It’s very simple. “…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.” He’s still among them, but he’s cut off from them. Isn’t that interesting? Think about how many people today who used to be in the church of God. Whether they were converted or not, that’s in God’s hands. Only God knows. But how many people have been cut off from God and from among the people and from the church because they no longer keep the Day of Atonement? It’s an amazing thing when you think about it.

Look at it on the other hand this way: it is an amazing thing how much God reveals to us when we do keep these days year after year, after year, after year. And every year we learn more. And every year we understand more because that’s the way God has inspired and caused the Bible to be written. We’re reading the things which are inspired by the mind of God, though a man wrote it. Though Moses originally wrote these words down, and though they have been translated, the meaning of it is very clear.

Now let’s continue on, verse 30. “For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted [that is fast without food and water in that day, with the exception of some who are pregnant or childbirth, or medical situations like that] in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people. And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people.” Now how God is going to do that, you can just look out and see how God has intervened in different ones lives.

Now to emphasize it again He says in verse 31, “Ye shall do no manner of work: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.” Now then, how long does that mean? Well, if we are the descendants of the children of Israel physically, it’s binding upon us. And if we are the children of Israel spiritually because we, as Gentiles have been grafted into that tree, and then the branches drink of the sap that comes from the roots and is fed by the roots, then it means for us – in your generations, in your dwellings.

“It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest,…” Now all the holy days are called Sabbaths. And it’s strange that the Seventh Day Adventists really don’t understand that. Now they can keep the seventh day but how much do they lose because they don’t keep the holy days of God? So you see, there are the contradictions that come along here. “…And ye shall afflict your souls:…” Again He mentions it, so that’s three times.

Now also it gives us a definitive time of when the day begins and ends. “…In the ninth day of the month at even [Hebrew ba erev, meaning the sun has just dropped below the horizon. That beings the new day. Ba erev of the ninth ends the ninth day, so when the sun drops below the horizon you’re beginning the tenth day. “…From even unto even [from the even of the ninth to the even of the tenth], shall ye celebrate [observe] your sabbath” (Lev. 23:26-32). And it’s very interesting because in the Septuagint the Greek means, you shall sabbathize your Sabbath. Quite important, isn’t it? So there we have it.

Now let’s go to Exodus 31 and let’s see again how these things are binding upon us. Now every time God asks us to do something, why does He ask us to do it? Why does He command us to do it? 1) Because God is love; 2) God loves us; 3) God has called us; 4) God wants us to be in right standing with Him through Jesus Christ and the sacrifice for our sins, and having been justified from them. And He wants to bless us so that in doing the things that He commands us, He will bless us because He loves us, because He’s called us, because we are those that He has called to be in His family. So in order to prepare for that we need to have the education and understanding which comes from God through His word and through His Spirit, so we can learn to have the mind of Christ, and so when the resurrection takes place we will be able to work with Christ and do the things that He wants and help usher in the kingdom of God on the earth. So you see that’s why God commands these things.

Now here again in Exodus 31:12, “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak thou also unto the children of Israel [and we are the spiritual Israel of God], saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you.” And then you combine that with the New Testament where Jesus said, “Your Word is truth, sanctify them with Your Truth.” Now this is part of where it’s God’s Word, isn’t it? Yes, it is. So keeping the Sabbaths, and it’s plural therefore it includes all of them.

Now it mentions the seventh day Sabbath is the main one on which all of these are sanctified and it says you will keep it. It says, verse 15, work six days. Now verse 16 says, “Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It [that is the keeping of the sabbaths] is a sign between Me and the children of Israel for ever: [and to always remember that God is Creator] for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested, and was refreshed.” So that’s a tremendous thing that God has given here.

Now after He gave that commandment, verse 18, “And He gave unto Moses, when He had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God” (Ex. 32:12-18). You think about it for a just a minute. How dare a man take upon himself the prerogative to change the Word of God and to change what God has spoken, and to alter or reject what God had written with His own finger on those two tables of stone.

Now let’s continue on with the Day of Atonement. Let’s see when sin entered into the world, because sin and the removal of sin has everything to do with the Day of Atonement. And we’re going to see that just the removal of sin alone without the removal of Satan the devil is not sufficient. By the time we get all the way through the holy days, we’re going to understand that Satan, the author of sin, must be removed and dealt with forever. That’s all of God’s plan.

Now we know the account here in Genesis 3, of how God told them “You shall not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for in the day that you eat thereof you shall surely die.” And of course Satan came in, and God wanted to test them. Would they obey His voice or not? Would they keep His commandments or not? Would they eat of the tree of life, and would they not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? See, God had to do that because in giving free moral agency, God did not make us robots. And if you give free moral agency you have to give free moral agency so that a person can choose one way or the other. Now just like He told the children of Israel in Deuteronomy 30, “I command you to choose life that you may live.” So likewise He commanded Adam and Eve not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because He loved them, He created them, and His plan was to come forth from them. But He had to know – did they really love Him; did they really believe Him; were they willing to do what God had said?

So, you know the story. The serpent came and said to the woman, “Is it really true that God said you can’t eat of any of the fruit of the trees in the garden?” Bringing up a preposterous proposition because he knew that was not so. And so Eve had to correct him and say, “No, we can eat of the fruit of all the trees except the one that’s in the midst of the garden. God said, ‘You shall not eat of it neither shall you touch it lest you die.’ ” And of course Satan always wants to get you on his side. And he makes sin appear as if it’s not sin. So he said, “You shall not surely die.” And isn’t that the way it is in the world today? Don’t people want to live in their sins and yet receive the blessings for obedience? But it doesn’t mix. It’s not that way. And then he accuses God. Anyone who accuses God, especially of what God has done, then you’ll never, never, never understand the Word of God. What you need to do is admit that you don’t understand and ask God for understanding, and He will give it as you study His Word, and as you pray, and as you live according to God’s will. But Satan lied. He’s the father of lies, he did not stand in the truth and there’s no truth in him. So when he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own because he’s the father of it.

So Satan said, “You shall not surely die, for God knows in the day that you eat thereof your eyes will be opened [the exact opposite happened – their eyes were closed], and you shall be as gods.” No, they weren’t as gods. Isn’t it interesting here – “be as gods”? Does Satan consider himself to be a god? But of course. So he’s saying, “You’ll be like me.” Not the true God. But the only way that they would become “as god” is if some of the qualities of god would be: 1) they took upon themselves to judge God - instead of accepting and believing in faith what God had told them and commanded them; 2) to judge for themselves (by exercising their free moral agency incorrectly) what they would determine to be right and wrong. And that’s the whole story of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. So you know they took it. It appealed to the senses. Why didn’t Eve say, “Well, God told us no. We’re not going to. We believe God, we love Him, we’re not going to do it.” End of the story. They didn’t do that. I did a tape years ago called “What would the world have been like if Adam and Eve had not sinned?” Well, it would have been a different world indeed. So if you want that tape you can write for it. However, please understand this: they did sin, and we are the end result of the progeny of mankind from Adam and Eve, and we still sin.

So it appealed to her senses, it was good for food, pleasant to the eyes, a tree to be desired to make one wise, and she took of the fruit, she ate of it, she gave it to her husband and he ate it. The eyes of both of them were opened – not to spiritual reality, but to sin and evil. Whenever Satan says, “Your eyes shall be opened”, they will be – to evil and wretchedness, and sin. Not opened to understand the plan of God. Only God can do that, only through Christ.

So, their eyes were opened, they were both naked, and you know what happened. God came and judged them, and in sentencing and judging them He started right out with the serpent. Let’s come back up to verse 11 after Adam and Eve hid themselves. Of course God knew where they were all the time. Someone wrote and said, “Well, it’s kind of dumb of God to walk through the garden and say “Adam, where are you?” You see, that kind of attitude is never going to understand the Bible. He knew where he was, but He wanted Adam to respond to Him. So Adam said, “I hid myself when I heard Your voice because I was naked.”

Now verse 11, “And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? And the man said, The woman…”, of course he didn’t want to say, “Yeah, I did it.” He pointed immediately to the woman and said, “The woman You gave me. God, it’s Your fault, You gave me this woman.” “Well boy, when I gave her to you, hey, that was the greatest thing there ever was, wasn’t it? And now you’re accusing her.”

“…She gave me of the tree, and I did eat. And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat [I was tricked into it]. And the LORD God said unto the serpent,…” So He began to meet out the punishment. Even if you are tricked into it, even if you are deceived into it, you still have a penalty to pay because sin is sin and the wages of sin is death. And that’s what God told them about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

So He said to the serpent, “Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: and I will put enmity between thee [the serpent] and the woman, and between thy seed [that is all the physical serpents and the demons] and her seed [Who was to be the Christ];…” So right at the first sin God revealed there had to be a redeemer who had to overcome the power of sin and Satan. And that’s what this day pictures. “…It [that is the seed] shall bruise thy [the serpent’s] head, and thou shalt bruise his heel [a prophecy of the crucifixion that it would take the death of God to pay for the sins of mankind].”

And then the woman - she had her punishment. “…He said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children;…” And because the women bring forth the children and when the children do wrong as they’re growing up and the different things that happen, they have sorrow and grief and look at how it is in the world today, and look at how women suffer because of the very nature that their offspring have. And just imagine the sorrow that was there when Cain killed Abel. So it’s not just the pain of the child labor alone.

And He says, “…And thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened [listened] unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return” (Gen. 3:1-19, paraphrased). And that’s the fate of all human beings. No one has escaped death except Jesus Christ. No means that man or Satan have devised to try and trick man into thinking that he has an immortal soul and he’s going to live forever, causes any life to be at all because life comes from God, life comes from love, life does not come from sin, life does not come from death. Now let’s see how it affected the whole world. So you see, it says that Eve was deceived, but Adam sinned.

Now let’s come to the New Testament, Romans 5, and see what happened to the world when Adam and Eve sinned. Because it was quite a thing. The sentence that God gave them was the sentence of death within their members. And also as Paul wrote of later, to have along with that the law of sin – the corrupted human nature which naturally sins.

Now here in Romans 5 Paul explains it very clearly. Let’s begin in verse 12 because here’s where it brings us to Christ and His sacrifice for us on the Passover day, and then likewise when we come to the Day of Atonement then we will see this is when God is going to make that sacrifice of Christ available on a universal basis to everyone in the world – but not until the meaning of the Day of Atonement has been fulfilled, which we can summarize in this way: You can never be at-one with God as long as you have a sinful nature, and as long as you are in the flesh you can never be totally at-one with God. That cannot happen until there is first the process of conversion, and then enduring to the end, and then the resurrection, and then being born into the family of God. Then and only then can we be at-one with God. But it is sin that separated all mankind. And we know that Satan is the author or sin.

Now Romans 5:12 (FV), “Therefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and by means of sin came death;…” The sentence of death was passed on and we all inherit it. The scientists know that there is a death gene in us, and it activates upon certain things that happen. But even if we have a good long physical life and live a long time, the death gene still activates and we die. “…And by means of sin came death; and in this way, death passed into all mankind; and it is for this reason that all have sinned.” Because you see, with a nature of death there is no way that human beings can avoid sin, because it is a more imperfect product because of that (the nature of death) than what God originally created Adam and Eve to be, which is another whole different story. So the Day of Atonement pictures when God is going to open the way for all.

Now let’s come here to II Corinthians 4, and we’re going to see that Satan the devil is called the god of this world. And of course as we have seen, Satan likes to come in and twist and turn the Word of God, and he has many willing agents to do it. He has many willing people who desire to do this – and they think they are doing the will of God, but they’re not. So he says here, II Corinthians 4:1, “Therefore, having this ministry, according as we have received mercy, we are not fainthearted. For we have personally renounced the hidden things of dishonest gain [now, that has to be], not walking in cunning craftiness [not having another agenda secretly below doing the will of God], nor handling the Word of God deceitfully;…” And that’s what all the false apostles have done. And as we have been seeing in “Lies From The Pulpit” they handle the Word of God deceitfully. “…But by manifestation of the truth, we are commending ourselves to every man’s conscience before God. But if our gospel is hidden, it is hidden to those who are perishing; in whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of those who do not believe,…” Because Satan the devil is deceiving the whole world (Revelation 12:9), and he has all of his agents out there doing it. The powers, the principalities, the demons, those in government, education, and everything. This whole world is in the grips of a diabolical deception that comes from Satan the devil. Yes, there is a little good here, and a little good there, but we’re going to see that the evil is going to triumph temporarily. But the Day of Atonement pictures when God is fully triumphant. Because not only must you get rid of sin on an individual basis, which God does through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and His mercy, forgiveness, and justification, but you also must get rid of the author of sin who is called the god of this world.

And here is what he does: “…Blinded the minds of those who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, Who is the image of God, should shine unto them” (II Corinthians 4:1-4, FV), to have the knowledge of God in truth and understanding. See, any time anyone rejects any part of the Word of God, they are rejecting God in degree. And as we have learned from the Days of Unleavened Bread, a little leaven leavens the whole lump. So a little sin breeds more sin.

Now let’s come back to Leviticus 16 and let’s see in the ceremony on the Day of Atonement that God commanded the children of Israel to do, that here He pictures one of the strangest offerings that we find in the entire Bible. And it’s only on this one day – on the Day of Atonement.

This was to be done at the tabernacle of the temple. The priest was to go through his ritual – bathe himself and dress himself with the holy garments. And the thing concerning the Day of Atonement is this: this is the only day in the entire year that the high priest could go in to the holy of holies. Once a year. And he had to give the offerings for himself, and so forth, as Paul said not without blood. Now I want you to compare that to the blessing that God has given to those who He has called, and who have the Holy Spirit now, that we have the ability through prayer to come in to the very presence of God anytime we desire. Quite a different thing, isn’t it? Yes, indeed.

And so through this there is the offering of the two rams. Leviticus 16:7, “And he shall take the two goats, and present them before the LORD at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.” Now that’s not even before the altar, nor the tabernacle of the congregation. That’s right up past the altar of burnt offerings, right up where you go into the temple itself. And there he was to perform a special ceremony. This is not done on any, any other sacrifice that is done, because these two goats were to be as identical as possible. And there was a special ritual that was done by the priest to show which of these two goats was the true sin sacrifice of God.

And so he cast lots. “…One lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat.” And the Hebrew there is Azazel, which is another name for Satan the devil. Before Satan fell he was the cherub that covered, and he comes to this world saying, “I am God.” And the world can’t distinguish the difference between the true Christ and the false christ; between the true God and the false god. So this is symbolized by these two goats, where then God would have to select the one which was the true sin offering. Then the one that was the true sin offering, he was told after he went in and cleansed the ark and everything, verse 15, “Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people, and bring it’s blood within the vail, and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat: and he shall make an atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions in all their sins:…” Now here was one sacrifice that was given to represent the forgiveness, or the atonement of all the sins of the children of Israel. And once they have been atoned for they have been atoned, so the live goat is another proposition. And it’s interesting that the ceremony took place at the temple, but the live goat was never sacrificed. Because the live goat is symbolic of Satan the devil, who’s the god of this world, who is the author of sin. Because as soon as Satan was let into the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve sinned. And as we are going to see when we come to the final conclusion of the Feast of Tabernacles where God yet has another mission for Satan to do, that unless the author of sin is removed, sin will occur again. And that’s the whole lesson we have within our bodies with the law of sin and death, and overcoming, and things like this.

Now then when he has done that, then we come down here to verse 20. “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: 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,…” Because you see, all of the sins that people do as instigated by Satan the devil, and of course since he’s the author of sin all sin comes back to him. So therefore, having their sins forgiven, now God goes to the one who has caused them, Satan the devil, and puts it upon his head that he bears his own sin. There is no atonement for Satan the devil.

“…Putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness: and the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.” Now the wilderness is a very important part of this whole thing, as we will see. And very important in relationship to Satan the devil.

Then the fit man, as we will see a little later, is a type of an angel who binds Satan the devil. He would come back and wash himself. The priest would wash and cleanse himself. Now notice verse 29. “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.” And then it says here, verse 34, “And this shall be an everlasting statute unto you, to make an atonement for the children of Israel for all their sins once a year. And he did as the LORD commanded Moses” (Lev. 16:7, 15-16, 20-22, 29-31, 34). Now we’re going to see in just a little bit, the significance of the wilderness and what that has to do with removing Satan the devil that Jesus Christ will do, and to atone for our sins.