Judgment - true or false?

Do you believe in Jesus? Then you believe in the judgment.  So many people turn away from thoughts of the judgment, but the truth is…there will be a judgment and you can turn from it if you want, but that won't stop it from happening.

Rev 14:7  Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his JUDGMENT is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.

Where else do we find the words about worshiping him that made heaven and earth?

Exo 20:8  Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Exo 20:9  Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
Exo 20:10  But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
Exo 20:11  For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

Something to consider, yes? If we can't worship the LORD now on the Sabbath, will we be able to worship Him in eternity, for eternity?

Right now before all human probation closes, before our Savior stands up and says it is done, we still have a chance to FEAR GOD, to GIVE GLORY to HIM, knowing that the hour of His judgment is going to happen, is happening. Right now we must WORSHIP Him that made heaven and earth, the sea and the fountains of waters.  RIGHT NOW!

God please help us! We are so horribly WEAK! We are so filled with our selfish, coveting flesh! Please cleanse us! Please take our filthy garments of unrighteousness from us and give us YOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS! We have no righteousness of our own! Please God please SAVE US. Teach us to WORSHIP YOU! Please, Lord, please!  All through the grace and mercy of our SAVIOR, the LORD JESUS CHRIST!  Amen!


******* Continuing our prophecy study--  Please GO back and read the study from the beginning to gain full understanding of where we are if you haven't been following this study daily.  Thank you :)  God bless you! *******

Judgment.

Dan 7:9  I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.
Dan 7:10  A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the JUDGMENT was set, and the books were opened.

Rev 14:7  Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his JUDGMENT is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.

Dan 8:14  And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.

Judgment was set.
The books were opened.
What books?

Psa 69:28  Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous.

Mal 3:16  ...and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name.

Php 4:3 ...whose names are in the book of life.

Rev 3:5  He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.

Rev 13:8  And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

Rev 17:8  ...whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.

Rev 20:12  And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

 Rev 20:15  And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

Rev 21:27  And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life.

Rev 22:19  And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

The book of life.
Books of judgment- books people will be judged out of.
Book of remembrance.

Record books, we all know what they are don't we?  Records are kept of transactions, of events. A diary is like a record book isn't it? A record is being made of events in a person's life. If we are going to be judged out of books they have to be books recording events of our lives.  They have to be records that affect our eternal life.  What sort of things do you imagine affect our eternal life? Sin. Salvation. Sin affects our eternal life, right? If there is proof of our sins- sins we have not sought and received forgiveness for- then we are guilty of that sin and the punishment of sin is …death.

Rom 6:23  For the wages of sin is death

Everyone left out of the book of life will find the record of their sins, a record of why their name was not written in the book of life.

Too many believe that everyone will be found in the book of life, everyone except the really bad sinning people. This draws us right back to these verses we've talked about many times--

Mat 7:21  Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Mat 7:22  Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
Mat 7:23  And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

Many people will be shocked when they realize their names are NOT written in the book of life. I pray I'm not one of them!

Workers of iniquity - are workers of sin, and at the same time many of these workers of sin believe they are working for the Lord. None will be left to wonder at their fate. A record is being made. Out of those books people will  be judged.  There will be a record that will explain why a person doesn't have their name in the book of life. Not one single person will be able to say they were judged wrongly, the proof will be right there.

We want our names in the book of life and they must be written there before our Savior returns. Everyone that will be saved will be saved BEFORE our Savior returns. Everyone that will be saved will have been judged worthy of salvation through Christ. This judgment is something we ALL face. This judgment is something that every single human being faces.

Truth-  Ecc 3:17  I said in mine heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked: for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.

Truth- Acts 17:31  Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.

We can't imagine the number of people that there are to judge. All the dead from Abel onwards, and then all the living, as well as the evil angels. Millions and millions, and milllions, billions and billions of people. While this number seems amazing high there is NO doubt that every single person will be judged no matter how many have ever, or will ever, live.

Rom 14:12  So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.

Every single one of us will give account of ourselves to God. No one escapes this, no one can escape it.

And there is an order to the judgment.  There is…

The righteous will judge the wicked, and the righteous must be judged as well- these are facts, Biblical facts.

1Co 6:2  Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
1Co 6:3  Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?

Rev 20:4  And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

Dan 7:21  I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them;
Dan 7:22  Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.

The saints shall judge the world.
Judgment was given unto them.
Judgment was given to the saints of the most High.

Obviously if the saints are to judge the wicked, even wicked angels,  at some point they have to already have been judged themselves and found worthy to be the saints of God, right? Right. The Bible says this very thing.

1Co 15:50  Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
1Co 15:51  Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
1Co 15:52  In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
1Co 15:53  For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

1Th 4:16  For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
1Th 4:17  Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

There is a first resurrection.
The dead in Christ shall rise first.

The Saints will judge the wicked, this is Biblical fact.

The Saints will be judged prior to their judging the wicked.

The Saints are changed to immortality when Christ comes but the wicked are not.

Those that are Christ's go with Him at His second coming so… by default that leaves who?  The wicked.

The dead in Christ and the living in Christ go with Him! They aren't left behind!

So many are caught up on this LEFT BEHIND nonsense, and yes, I'll call it nonsense because I believe it is nonsense. They've taken a figurative verse in the Bible and blown it up to give second chances to people that DO NOT exist! There is a judgment and by the time Christ comes it's all decided. The fact that we judge the wicked is if you really think about it- for our benefit. They've already been judged wicked and will never be saints. What happens when we are judging is we are given the opportunity to understand fully the course the wicked have taken to get them where they are. We are allowed to understand where they have not accepted Christ's righteousness, Christ's forgiveness and this makes sense!  God would NEVER ever allow any question as to why a person was not chosen as a saint, we will know. We will understand why the judging that deemed the wicked as such was done.

Enough for today, more tomorrow. We are discussing the judgment because before a full cleansing, a complete judging will take place.  Guilty, not Guilty- there are only TWO verdicts for all of us to choose from.  The sins of the not guilty will be placed upon the scapegoat, the sins of the guilty will remain upon them.

By the grace of our God, by the grace and mercy of our Lord and Savior now and forever!  In His love, in His righteousness alone.
Amen.

Sinners and the Final Atonement

Sinners…

*******
Imagine…


A sinning anointed priest needs to atone for his sin. He goes to the local herd of bullocks and picks out a young, spotless bull. Taking the young bull he brings it to the temple right to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.  The priest doesn't open that door leading into the Holy Place but rather goes to the altar placed there before that door and it is there, right there before the LORD the priest must offer this young bull as a sacrifice to atone for His sin.


The priest lays his hand upon the young bull's head, but it's not a gentle caress to the hide upon this young animal's head. The priest leans very hard upon the sacrificial bullock placing all of his weight into that leaning and then…well then he kills the young bull.  The hot life blood of the dying animal spills into a catch basin near the altar.


With the young bull now dead the priest takes some of that blood and he brings it inside the Holy Place walking right up to the veil that separates the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place. Dipping his finger in the still warm blood he sprinkles it seven times before the veil- before the LORD.  


This priest is atoning for a sin HE committed. He then puts some of the blood upon the horns of the altar of incense there before the veil, before the LORD. After all that he carries that blood filled basin back to the altar of burnt offerings- an altar placed  before the door that led into the Holy Place- the Tabernacle of the congregation. Looking downwards at the bottom of the altar he pours the rest of the bullock's sacrificial blood out there.  Can you imagine it as a reality?


Imagine still--


The whole congregation of Israel sins through ignorance- they are guilty of breaking the commandments of God.  When the whole congregation realizes they've sinned, this sin of ignorance,  the whole congregation must choose a bullock to sacrifice and bring it before the Holy Place-the tabernacle of the congregation.  Then the elders of that congregation lay their hands upon this young bull's head.


Remember they aren't just touching the animal's head gently but they are -as a group of men- a group of elders leaning their full weight upon the head of this sacrificial bullock. Why are they doing this? They have to do this because it symbolizes the transference of their sin to the animal to be sacrifice and that transference isn't something to be taken in a lackadaisical manner.


Then the young bull is killed before the LORD.  After he's killed the anointed priest brings the bullock's spilt blood into the holy place- the tabernacle of the congregation. The priest then dips his finger into the blood and once again he completes the necessary ritual of sprinkling the blood before the veil, as well as putting it upon the horns of the altar of incense, and then he takes the blood back outside and pours it at the bottom of the altar of burnt offerings.  So similar to the earlier sacrificial ritual.


The priest is making an atonement for the congregation of Israel so they will be forgiven of their sin against the LORD.


Now imagine more--


A ruler sins a sin of ignorance against the commandments of the LORD. That ruler must bring a kid of the goats, a spotless male young goat. This ruler must lay his hands upon the head of the goat- yes, just as the others he must put his whole weight behind the touch.  Then the goat just as the other sacrifices noted - is killed.  Here's where things are changed up a bit- the priest takes the blood of the kid goat and with his finger he puts it on the altar of burnt offering, right there before the door to the tabernacle of the congregation-the Holy Place. Then he pours the blood out at the bottom of the altar just as the others. He didn't go into the first compartment- the tabernacle of the congregation.


Imagine now a little bit more--


There is a common person sinning through ignorance-guilty before the LORD. This common person must bring a female kid goat without any blemish and the process is begun- the laying of hands leaning, the killing, then the priest puts the blood on the horns of the altar of burnt offerings before pouring it out at the bottom of that same altar.  With this particular sacrificial offering the common person could bring a lamb as well but it must be a female without blemish. The priest is making an atonement for his sin and it will be forgiven him. Making an atonement for his sin of ignorance.  Forgiven of the sin committed in ignorance.


*******

Now we've imagined many of the sacrificial rituals required of God's people- required of the priests, required of the congregation as a whole, required of the individual throughout the year- rulers, common people.


Now let's imagine the Day of Atonement.


The High Priest brought a bullock for a sin offering for HIMSELF and HIS HOUSE.
The congregation of Israel brought two goats.  Those two goats had lots cast upon them - one would be chosen as a sin offering the other to be the scapegoat.


The High Priest brought the bullock he was to make an atonement with for himself and his house, and guess what? He did NOT put his hands upon the bullock. Clearly from all we learned previously the hands laying upon the animal to be sacrificed was a big deal.  So why wasn't the High Priest to lean upon this bullock as he had the other bullocks, and as other people had to? Clearly this wasn't going to be the exact same sort of ritual ceremony here.  This bullock was killed without the transference of sin to him, yet he was a sin offering- something to think about.


Coals were taken from the altar of burnt offerings, hot coals and these coals along with handfuls of sweet incense were brought into the Holy Place-within the veil- the Most Holy Place. The incense was then put on the hot coals from the altar of burnt offering before the LORD and a cloud of that incense rose up covering the mercy seat of the ark of the covenant.


Then the High Priest took the blood from the sacrificed bullock and he sprinkled it upon the mercy seat eastward, then before the mercy seat seven times.  Do you remember the other sacrificial blood being sprinkled seven times before the veil? Not on this special day.  This day it was brought WITHIN the veil.


After this the goat whose lot was to be the sin offering for the people was killed.  So we have the blood of the bullock for the High Priest and His entire household, now we have the blood of the goat which is for the people- the congregation of the people of Israel. This blood also was brought WITHIN the veil and the same ritual was completed as with the bullock blood.



The blood of these offerings is serving a dual purpose- remember we discussed it a few days ago. Why is the blood serving dual purpose?  Because it serves as a sacrifice for judged sins and for a cleansing.  The holy place and tabernacle of the congregation were unclean!  Why were they unclean? Because of the sins of the people of Israel.  All year long those sins were placed on the sanctuary, all year long those sins were put onto the animals which were then sacrifice before the LORD in the sanctuary. All that uncleanness, all that sin, was taken off the people and put onto the animals whose blood was then placed upon the sanctuary, placed before the LORD.  A judgment was made for every sin offering given. You cannot be guilty and forgiven unless you are judged guilty and in need of forgiveness, it all goes hand in hand.  There is a duality to the Sanctuary cleansing and this can never be forgotten.


Now we have to imagine the rest of this -


The High Priest after placing the blood in the Holy Place within the veil, and then after placing the blood in the congregation of the tabernacle without the veil, went out of that holy place and before the altar of burnt offerings.  Why? Because he had to make an atonement for the altar as well and this atonement wasn't made by using the blood of the bullock and the blood of the lamb in separate ceremonies as was done with the inside of the sanctuary, but both bloods were used TOGETHER- the blood was mingled and then put upon the horns of the altar of burnt offerings, then sprinkled seven times upon it- making an atonement for it, cleansing it, hallowing it from all the uncleanness that had been placed upon it.


Then ONLY after the Holy Place (Most Holy Place), the tabernacle of the congregation (Holy Place), and the altar of burnt offering were atoned for, only after all three of them were cleansed of all sin did the High Priest go to the live goat and guess what he did?  He put BOTH his hands upon the head of that live goat. Remember what we said about the laying on of hands to transfer sin? This wasn't any gentle love tap, no delicate pat upon the head, in earnest the High Priest's hands both lay upon the head of this goat and then the High Priest confessed onto this live goat ALL the INIQUITIES, all the sins of the children of Israel.   All that sin taken off the Sanctuary including the altar of burnt offerings were placed upon that goat left to live and not be sacrificed by blood sacrificed. All that sin was put upon that scapegoat who was led off into the wilderness to die but not by any hand, not to be sacrificed for atoning, but left to die bearing the weight of all that sin left,  to keep that sin upon it and to go off to be no more, forever gone, forever lost to the sight of all the children of God never, never to be seen again!


Only when this was all done did the High Priest go into the tabernacle of congregation- only then did he go into the holy place but NOT within the veil, and take off the holy garments he had to wear before entering within the veil.


Then he went into the Holy Place within the veil  and washed before he put on new garments. After he was clothed he went out of the Holy Place and the tabernacle of the congregation and to the altar of burnt offerings and there he offered the burnt offering of the people to make an atonement for HIMSELF and the PEOPLE.


Lev 16:30  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.
Lev 16:31  It shall be a sabbath of rest unto you, and ye shall afflict your souls, by a statute for ever.
Lev 16:32  And the priest, whom he shall anoint, and whom he shall consecrate to minister in the priest's office in his father's stead, shall make the atonement, and shall put on the linen clothes, even the holy garments:
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.
Lev 16:34  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.


Do you see how much is involved in the cleansing of the Sanctuary?


Dan 8:14  And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.


172 years ago the cleansing of the Sanctuary was begun.  The many, many years of sin placed upon the heavenly sanctuary through the sacrifice of our Lord and Savior would begin the process of being cleansed.


The High Priest and His House would be cleansed first. The Most Holy Place would be cleansed.

The People of the Congregation of Israel would be cleansed secondly. The Holy Place would be cleansed.

The Children of Israel would be cleansed thirdly. The Altar of Burnt offering would be cleansed.


Remember this-


ONLY after the Holy Place (Most Holy Place), the tabernacle of the congregation (Holy Place), and the altar of burnt offering  (Altar before the door to the Holy Place) were atoned for, only after ALL three of them were judged and cleansed of all sin did the High Priest go to the live goat.


Did people stop sinning during that yearly Day of Atonement? No, not all.


Lev 23:27  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, and offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD.
Lev 23:28  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.
Lev 23:29  For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people.
Lev 23:30  And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people.
Lev 23:31  Ye shall do no manner of work: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
Lev 23:32  It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath.


Whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted -  shall be cut off.
Whatsoever soul that doeth any work-  will be destroyed.


On that day…  those who don't recognize their need of a Savior will be cut off.
On that day…  those who rely on themselves for anything, forgetting to give all glory to our God, all worship to our King; those who believe they in anyway can save themselves will be destroyed.


We know for a fact there is a judgment in connection with the Day of Atonement, a judgment we will ALL face --- more on that tomorrow though, by the grace and will of our Lord.  May we gain more understanding as we are blessed with spiritual sight, all through His amazing, wondrous love.  There is nothing at all like the love of our God, nothing. All glory and honor to Him!  All praise! All worship to our King!   Blessed be His Name! Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior! Blessed be His Holy Name!


Amen!

Sin dirties the sanctuary, it must be cleansed.

The special day of Atonements needs a lot more study simply because it is something that is an example of the SANCTUARY CLEANSING. We know through our study so far that there would begin a HEAVENLY SANCTUARY CLEANSING in 1844. Once that cleansing is over all will have been either cleansed or forever deemed unclean and eventually be burned in the lake of fire promised to all those who are unrepentant. 

Hopefully as we continue this study we will see more truth in the details and gain all the enlightenment we need so we may comprehend what our Lord would have us know.

All by the grace and mercy of our Savior, Jesus Christ our Lord now and forever.  Amen.

******* Continuing our prophecy study--  Please GO back several days and read the study from the beginning to gain full understanding of where we are if you haven't been following this study daily.  Thank you :)  God bless you! *******

The phases of the High Priest's work on the Day of Atonements.

First, before we delve deeper into those various phases let's note the special garments the High Priest wore.

Lev 16:4 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.

Why the special clothing?

Why do we put special clothing on? We put special clothing on for special occasions. This was a very special occasion. Even today the Jewish people consider it their holiest day of the year.  The holiest day of the year. If this day was and is considered the holiest day for the Jewish people, honestly we have to believe without any doubt that this holiest of days with its intricate ceremonies and sacrifices has to reflect something amazingly important in the *bigger picture*. 

Back to special clothing.  This might be a minor detail but it's not so minor that it wasn't left unwritten.

Lev 16:4 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.

A holy linen coat

Holy breeches

Holy girdle

Holy mitre

Holy garments for High Priests.

Zec 3:1  And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him.

A vision of Joshua the high priest- standing before the angel of the LORD and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him.

Zec 3:2  And the LORD said unto Satan, The LORD rebuke thee, O Satan; even the LORD that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?

Zec 3:3  Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel.

The High Priest is clothed with FILTHY GARMENTS.

Is it acceptable for the High Priest to stand before the angel of the LORD in filthy garments?

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

No.  It is NOT acceptable for the High Priest to be presented before the LORD and to keep filthy clothes on.  The filthy garments represents what? Our sinfulness.  Remember this verse-

 Isa 64:6  But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

OUR righteousness are as FILTHY RAGS.  We are clothed in filthy rags, we are made up of filthy rags. There is NOTHING we can to do with our own filthy rags. Just as in these figurative verses - Joshua the High Priest had to have his filthy garments taken from him.  We all can have our filthy garments taken from us by the Lord.

Zec 3:5  And I said, Let them set a fair mitre upon his head. So they set a fair mitre upon his head, and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the LORD stood by.

Clothed in garments of the LORD, by the LORD, now standing in a sinless state covered in the righteousness of Christ. The LORD said- 'I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee'  We are helpless as Joshua the High Priest who would NEVER have dreamed of presenting Himself to the Lord in filthy clothing. High Priests were given holy garments, and the High Priest entered the Most Holy Place to stand in the presence of God ONLY when he was clothed in holy garments. Those holy garments symbolized the need for purity before the Lord, a need for sinlessness before the Lord.

The High Priest washed and put on the holy garments on the Day of Atonements.

Christ our High Priest presented Himself as our Sacrifice, Christ our High Priest is clothed in all righteousness. Jesus Christ took upon Himself our sins as our Great Sacrificial Lamb. After He took upon Himself our sins He was sacrificed, His blood covering our filthy sinful state. Then our Savior rose having become the Great Sacrifice- sufficient to atone- sufficient enough blood to cover all our many, many sins. However a blood covered sin is NOT a sin that is gone, but a sin that is covered.  Just as the sins of the people of God were covered throughout the year through the sacrifices made - covered but not cleansed.  There was NOT a once a day cleansing of the sins from the Sanctuary.  There was NOT a once a week cleansing of sins from the Sanctuary. There was NOT a once a month cleansing of sins from the Sanctuary. There WAS a once a year cleansing of the sins from the Sanctuary.

Surely there would have to be a cleansing for all the sins of God's people throughout all time and this cleansing of their blood covered sins would have to be completed BEFORE Jesus returns to take His people, His bride with Him to heaven.

So we have a cleansing of blood covered sins and the end results of THIS cleansing of the Heavenly Sanctuary would be the end of all forgiven sins.  After this cleansing of the Heavenly Sanctuary is fully complete then there would be NO more forgiveness for any sins committed.  At that point in time all those who are God's will be living in a forgiven, sinless state, never to sin again. It has to be this way! It has to for sin to come to an end, for Christ to come again and take His people with Him. To take those who have a complete dependence upon Him for all their righteousness, His righteousness by faith being theirs.

People don't like to think about this, they want to imagine things going on the same day after day. But if things were to go on the same day after day then Christ would never return.  We know in our own limited life spans how much things change year after year. We live in an age of accelerated learning beyond that of any other age. The things we have created through technological advances, through scientific discoveries would be completely unimaginable to people 200 years ago. Just last night I was talking with a friend and he told me his nephew would be going to Afghanistan in a few days and his wife was expecting their baby in two weeks. Immediately a began to say how horrible it was that he had to leave right before the baby was to be born and be gone for seven months. Then as the conversation continued it went along this vein, at least he'll be able to see pictures of the baby, and have email contact and phone contact - all that stuff which was unimaginable to my friend when he was in the army back in the 70's. Then he went on to say how much easier life would have been in the army if he'd had access to all the communication technology we have today.  These reality checks of just how far we've come happen from time to time and it's simply amazing.  The point here being- we live in a time of change and change is something that HAS to take place if we want our Savior to return, if we are truly expecting Him to return. We cannot wallow in our comfort sins and feel alright because we can repent and seek forgiveness, it does not and has not ever worked that way. We cannot believe that sin will continue on endlessly in our lives, in our history for those who are truly God's if we want our Savior to take us to heaven.  People love to say Jesus is endlessly forgiving, but very few want to realize that there will be a point in time when that will end because all who will be saved will have been saved and those who would be saved will be living so closely to their Savior that He through the Holy Spirit will keep them spotless, sinless and they will remain sinless forever more even as Christ comes and gives them immortality, changing them into the beings we were meant to be fully united with Him.

Cleansing of the sanctuary. All sin cleansed.

The beginning of the cleansing was the year 1844 according to the prophecies of the Bible.  Now some people misunderstood this to mean there would be an instant ending, and instant cleansing, but WHY would there be an instant cleansing for something so complex in the example given to us on earth? Even Christ as our Sacrificial Lamb Offering wasn't instantaneous. Christ was not born and then instantly sacrificed. Christ did not live five years and then was sacrifice.  Our Sacrificial Lamb- Jesus Christ lived right up into adulthood and beyond, He had a ministry, He was anointed by God at His baptism, He gave His message of the gospel of the kingdom and went about healing people for 3 years! To think that the Cleansing of the Sanctuary should be instantaneous when nothing else has been is truly to be deceived.

So maybe if we study the earthly type we can get a better picture of what the heavenly sanctuary cleansing might be.

*******

Three times the High Priest enters the Most Holy Place on the Day of Atonement.

First-

To burn the incense.

Lev 16:12  And he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before the LORD, and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the vail:

Lev 16:13  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

Secondly-

After the incense is burned and a cloud of incense covered the mercy seat the High Priest brought in the blood of the bullock.

Lev 16:14  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.

He sprinkled this blood before the mercy seat seven times.

Thirdly-

The blood of the LORD'S goat which was killed as a sin offering for all the people was brought in and sprinkled upon and before the mercy seat.

Lev 16:15  Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood within the vail, and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat

*******

Lev 16:16  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: and so shall he do for the tabernacle of the congregation, that remaineth among them in the midst of their uncleanness.

An atonement is made for the holy place

BECAUSE of the uncleanness of the children of Israel

And BECAUSE of their transgressions in ALL their sins

An atonement for the tabernacle of the congregation is made

That remains among them- in the middle of their uncleanness.

*******

More on all this tomorrow, by the grace of God… remember we're taking it slow. 

Please Lord open our hearts, open our minds to Your truth and nothing but Your truth!

Through Your love!

Amen.

Why Create a Heavenly Sanctuary?

******* Continuing our prophecy study--  Please GO back several days and read the study from the beginning to gain full understanding of where we are if you haven't been following this study daily.  Thank you :)  God bless you! *******

Day of Atonements

An atonement for the holy sanctuary.
An atonement for the tabernacle of the congregation.
An atonement for the altar.
An atonement for the priests and all the people of the congregation.

Dual aspect-  a day of judgment and a day of atoning.

Let's look at Hebrews, a New Testament book that talks about our High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary.  We've already discussed the need of a heavenly sanctuary- a purposeful need- not a façade. God does not use facades. God does not erect meaningless edifices. God does not and has never had mankind build meaningless things. Every single altar God directed to be built was for a purpose. The Sanctuary God directed to be built was for a purpose. Everything in the Sanctuary had a purpose. Never did God direct that something be built without purpose. The ark was built for a purpose and that purpose was to preserve mankind. The Sanctuary was built for a purpose and that was built after what was SEEN in heaven. Just as the earthly Sanctuary was built for a purpose, the Heavenly Sanctuary existed for a purpose.  The Heavenly Sanctuary wasn't created to 'house God's presence' exclusively any more than the earthly Sanctuary was created for that sole purpose.  Read this…

Solomon praying-

1Ki 8:26  And now, O God of Israel, let thy word, I pray thee, be verified, which thou spakest unto thy servant David my father.
1Ki 8:27  But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?
1Ki 8:28  Yet have thou respect unto the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplication, O LORD my God, to hearken unto the cry and to the prayer, which thy servant prayeth before thee to day:
1Ki 8:29  That thine eyes may be open toward this house night and day, even toward the place of which thou hast said, My name shall be there: that thou mayest hearken unto the prayer which thy servant shall make toward this place.

But will God indeed dwell on the earth?
Behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee.

Such amazing words!

Why then create a heavenly sanctuary? It was all part of the entire plan of salvation that we can barely grasp in our finite, sin-filled states.

So many people let their thinking stop at the Cross, many others extend that a little bit to the Resurrection beyond the Cross, and still others allow themselves to think about the Ascension after the Resurrection beyond the Cross, but MOST people stop there at the Ascension. They've planted the risen Savior there on a throne and have kept Him there immobile in fact to never move again until He returns.   They've made the Savior a figurehead placing Him on a pedestal and in doing so they've stopped thinking about what might be entailed in a continued work.  Yet truthfully in the example given to us of the earthly sanctuary it took a priest to make the sacrifice after the person confessed their sins onto that sacrifice, then after the sacrifice was killed an atonement was made. Then, as we are studying, once a year there was one day for special atonements.  Why do we find it easy to imagine Jesus as our Sacrifice, yet harder to understand Jesus as our High Priest, acting as our High Priest?

Let's go to the book of Hebrews now and read a bit…

Heb 8:1  Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens;
Heb 8:2  A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.

We have a High Priest in Heaven.
A MINISTER of the SANCTUARY and the TRUE TABERNACLE, which the LORD PITCHED and NOT MAN.

Minister-- Greek Definition
leitourgos
li-toorg-os'
From a derivative of G2992 and G2041; a public servant, that is, a functionary in the Temple or Gospel, or (generally) a worshipper (of God) or benefactor (of man): - minister (-ed).

A functionary in the Temple.
A public servant.

Our Great High Priest, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ risen from the dead was resurrected to life and after a brief period of time upon earth left to minister in the heavenly sanctuary!

Daniel tells us that after 2300 days (years) the sanctuary shall be cleansed, in 1844 the cleansing began.

This is a heavenly sanctuary cleansing beyond a doubt because in 1844 the earthly sanctuary was non-existent and without an earthly sanctuary to cleanse it truly could mean only one thing- our Heavenly High Priest began a new phase of His ministering in the Heavenly Sanctuary bringing mankind one step still closer to the end of all sin, to the destruction of this earth as we know it and the ushering in of the amazing new world, the new life in Christ.

Remember the dream of Nebuchadnezzar in the beginning of the book of Daniel- the overall picture? Remember the ultimate defeat of all earthly kingdoms and the ushering in of the kingdom of God? It WILL happen.

It has been predicted and everything that is predicted will come to pass and SO MUCH of it already has come to pass. We cannot doubt that we are living in the end of the end so to speak. We cannot for one moment believe that things predicted will NOT come to pass. These weren't conditional prophecies.  These are concrete prophecies and they will happen- every single one of them.

Over the last 27 prophecy studies we've been able to piece things together brilliantly with history and prophecy. We studied our way through to a prophecy that spans 2300 years! We can understand that Christ our High Priest is ministering in the Heavenly Sanctuary and we know when that ministry is completed He will come for us.

As we studied the earthly day of atonement we know there are different phases throughout that day which needed to be accomplished. As it was on earth- it is in heaven.  We'll talk more about that tomorrow by the grace of our God.

We need His everlasting love and guidance, His forgiveness, His righteousness all that stems from His love towards us. This is a desperate need, a very desperate need. May we be blessed with the gifts of the Holy Spirit, able to see and understand His will, able to watch and pray as He would have us do as we look for His return.

In His amazing love!

Amen.

Sin and the Sanctuary

******* Continuing our prophecy study--  Please GO back several days and read the study from the beginning to gain full understanding of where we are if you haven't been following this study daily.  Thank you :)  God bless you! *******

The Sanctuary Cleansing.

Once a year there was a sanctuary cleansing- this fact is indisputable.  The sanctuary was where ALL the sacrifices were made. Sacrifices were made because people knew they sinned.

I've been thinking about sin and all this quite a bit and something in all my research has stuck out at me.

The atoning aspect of qorbanot  (((sacrifice))))  is limited.

For the most part, qorbanot  (((sacrifice)))) only expiate UNINTENTIONAL sins, that is, sins committed because a person forgot that this thing was a sin.

No atonement is needed for violations committed under duress or through lack of knowledge, and for the most part, qorbanot (((sacrifice))))  cannot atone for a malicious, deliberate sin.

In addition, qorbanot have no expiating effect unless the person making the offering sincerely repents his or her actions before making the offering, and makes restitution to any person who was harmed by the violation.

Pasted from <http://www.jewfaq.org/qorbanot.htm>

The Bible clearly speaks of only being able to offer sacrifices for the sins of ignorance. Meaning I couldn't go out and steal something knowingly and then go offer a sacrifice for that sin and expect forgiveness. God would NEVER have set up a system that allowed for the acceptance of sinning in any way. Unlike us humans who often find ways around the justice system, there is no getting around God's justice system.

So reading this and thinking about the sins I've committed knowingly does it mean I can never find forgiveness for them? No. It means I've placed myself in a position of grave danger because whenever we sin intentionally we run the risk of becoming heart hardened to sin and in becoming that way we don't feel our need of seeking forgiveness with TRUE repentance. God forgives as He peers into the hearts of man and seeing the heart of a man He knows whether or not that is a heart that has a love of things sinful, a love of things that would keep that person from being One with God in His love.

Is it any wonder at all whatsoever that we read verses like this one-

Psa 51:10  Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

Or like this-

Rom 7:15  For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.

Rom 7:16  If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.

Rom 7:17  Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

Rom 7:18  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.

Rom 7:19  For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.

Rom 7:20  Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

Rom 7:21  I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.

Rom 7:22  For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:

Rom 7:23  But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

Rom 7:24  O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

Rom 7:25  I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

*******

There were no sacrifices offered for intentional sin, but there were sacrifices offered for sins that were committed unintentionally, with no forethought.  We know what that's all about. We commit those types of sins all the time, don't we?  We think back and go, oh, darn I should have… or oh, darn I shouldn't have done this or that.  We have these types of sin in our lives. When we recognize those sins we tend to not really blame ourselves because it's the fault of a memory, or situational and we instead blame those things taking the blame off ourselves. God doesn't and never wanted us to just shift the blame off ourselves as if we hadn't committed the sin. God wanted, and wants us, to recognize sin in our lives and to ask for forgiveness for our sins not hide our sins. God wants us to recognize the things that separate us from Him. God wants this because only when we recognize what keeps us from Him can we get rid of that thing and stop being separated from Him. This is why a sacrificial system was so necessary. Man separated himself from God and man has been trying to fix that ever since and God made a way for this to be possible.

God had to make the way, man is the one who separated himself and had no right to even think he could make a way to fix that. God alone as our Creator was the only one who could fix the gap sin had made between man and God, the gap man had allowed to be formed.

Because the penalty of sinning was death and man knew this before they ever sinned that first time, by death alone could this gap be filled.

The first animals were sacrificed because man sinned and divested themselves of the covering of God's glorious clothing of light that had been surrounding them.  To cover themselves - symbolic of covering sin- animals were sacrificed right there in the garden of Eden, right there where they'd first sinned. The sacrifices were made and man's nakedness was covered.  Sacrifices continued from then on and after Moses God gave mankind a formalized system of sacrifices. This formalized system included a once a year cleansing of the sanctuary.  The sanctuary being the place where the sacrifices would be made, the place where God would meet with mankind. All the sins that were confessed upon the animals and all the blood that was spilled to symbolically cover the sin and bridge that gap between man and God, all of that was placed there on the sanctuary.  Once a year the sanctuary needed to be cleansed from all blood covered sins placed upon it. During this once a year cleansing as we noted in yesterday's study, there was introduced a NEW element- the scapegoat. This goat wasn't killed. A sacrifice was not made with this goat. However, the goat carried ALL the sins that had been placed on that sanctuary throughout the entire year. Those sins were symbolically put upon that goat and then that goat was taken away out of the sanctuary and out of the entire city, out far, far away into the wilderness where it was left never ever to find it's way back to the sanctuary, or to God's people, never. It was left to perish in the wilderness with all those sins upon it.  Symbolically that goat had taken all those blood covered sins upon it and they were taken away from the sanctuary, the sanctuary was left cleansed for that brief period of time.  Why brief period of time? Because that symbolic gesture was just that- a symbol and not the actual. And because it was not the actual ridding of sin once and for all, the need for continued sacrifice, the need for continued covering of sin, the need for the constant -if figurative- repairing of the breach between man and God would go on.  All this would go on until our Savior became our Sacrifice.  Once our Savior became our Sacrifice HE would continue with this.

Daniel's prophecy of 2300 years  and then shall the sanctuary be cleansed was given for a purpose and with a study of the earthly sanctuary cleansing we can garner a better understanding- by the grace of our God through the Holy Spirit's guidance.

*******

Leviticus 23

Lev 23:27  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, and offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD.

Lev 23:28  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.

This verse from the KJV is deceptive because in the Hebrew language the word 'atonement' is a plural word--

kippûr

kip-poor'

From H3722; expiation (only in plural): - atonement.

A day of ATONEMENT(S).

It makes sense because when you read about it all you can instantly see there is more than one atonement.

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.

An atonement for the holy sanctuary.

An atonement for the tabernacle of the congregation.

An atonement for the altar.

An atonement for the priests and all the people of the congregation.

Clearly more than one atonement.

We have to note something else of importance. How were the people to relate to this day? There were other major feasts and on those days this command was given-- Lev. 23:8,21,25,35,36)

Lev 23:8  But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD seven days: in the seventh day is an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.

Lev 23:21  And ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day, that it may be an holy convocation unto you: ye shall do no servile work therein: it shall be a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.

Lev 23:25  Ye shall do no servile work therein: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD.

Lev 23:35  On the first day shall be an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.

Lev 23:36  Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: on the eighth day shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: it is a solemn assembly; and ye shall do no servile work therein.

Servile work is occupational work.

However on the Day of Atonements there was a different command--

Lev 23:28  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.

The same command as on the Sabbath.

Lev 23:3  Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.

This is an important thing to note. The importance placed upon this special day.

Something else to note--  There was a ceremonial cleansing for the people from all their sins.  Lev. 16:30 '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.'

Also there was a judgment taking place- Lev 23:29  For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people. 

Judgment. How it was determined that a person wasn't afflicting their soul isn't mentioned though- but obviously a judgment had to be made- a judging had to be done to make a determination.  This was a BIG judgment too because the person would be CUT OFF from among his people.

This day of  Atonements was a day of judging as well- a dual aspect to this very special day.

Read these verses-

Dan 7:10  A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.

Dan 8:14  And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.

Rev 14:7  Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.

Rev 14:12  Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

Dual aspects.  

This study isn't going to be over quickly, we're going to take it slow and hopefully get into a lot of different aspects of God's word concerning all this.  By the grace of God we will find understanding as He would have us understand as we watch and pray for the return of our Savior.

All through His love!

Amen. 

The Sanctuary is Being Cleansed.

Sanctuary Cleansing.

Sins heaped upon the temple day after day, until once a year a full cleansing takes place ridding the Sanctuary of ALL those accumulated sins. 

The was reality and it typified a FINAL cleansing. We are learning about this  Sanctuary cleansing in prophecy and may God give us all the enlightenment we need! All through HIS love!

******* Continuing our prophecy study--  Please GO back several days and read the study from the beginning to gain full understanding of where we are if you haven't been following this study daily.  Thank you :)  God bless you! *******

Dan 8:14  And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.    (KJV)

Lexicon--

be cleansed

tsadaq (tsaw-dak')

to be (causatively, make) right (in a moral or forensic sense) -- cleanse, clear self, (be, do) just(-ice, -ify, -ify self), (be turn to) righteous(-ness).

Pasted from <http://scripturetext.com/daniel/8-14.htm>

Made right.

Be justified.

Be turned to righteous.

Shall be cleansed.

On an earthly level there had been set up a very special day to cleanse all the people and the sanctuary. One day out of a year God's people were to afflict their souls while the High Priest went about a very lengthy, very involved, very thorough cleansing ritual that when all was said and done- all the people and all the sins they'd committed throughout the entire year would be cleansed from the sanctuary.

Remember this…

'Goat for Azazel The Kohen Gadol left the Haichal and walked to the east side of the Azarah (Israelite courtyard). Near the Nikanor Gate, he leaned his hands (Semikha) on the goat “for Azazel” and confessed the sins of the entire people of Israel. The people prostrated themselves when he pronounced the Tetragrammaton. While he made a general confession, individuals in the crowd at the Temple would confess privately. The Kohen Gadol then sent the goat off “to the wilderness.”'

Pasted from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yom_Kippur>

Let's read it directly from our Bibles-

Lev 16:5  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.

Lev 16:6  And Aaron shall offer his bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make an atonement for himself, and for his house.

Lev 16:7  And he shall take the two goats, and present them before the LORD at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

Lev 16:8  And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat.

Lev 16:9  And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the LORD'S lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering.

Lev 16:10  But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness.

First the High Priest had to offer a sin offering from himself - making an atonement for himself and his house.

Then there were two goats.  Lots were cast upon them.  One lot for the LORD's goat and one for the scapegoat.

The LORD's goat was offered for a sin offering.

The scapegoat was sent into the wilderness alive.

Sin offerings, the daily offerings for the people of Israel involved a sacrifice, the shedding of blood. Where there is no shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

Heb 9:22  And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission

Mat 26:28  For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

Yet here we have a scapegoat offered for an atonement. A scapegoat that would be left to live. A scapegoat that would be led out into the wilderness far, far away never to return. And that living sacrifice symbolized what exactly?  He was offered for an atonement, yet his blood wasn't shed. He was led into the wilderness to wander but not required to be killed according to scripture.

Lev 16:10  But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness.

Presented alive before the LORD.

Presented alive to make an atonement WITH HIM.

To let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness.

Not sacrificed.  The whole entire sacrificial service performed daily revolved around daily sin offerings. The lambs would be killed. The lambs would be sacrificed. Never was a sin offering made without the offering being sacrificed. A live offering was not allowed to live- the live offering was sacrificed. And all this sacrificing symbolized the fact that sin causes death. 

Gen 2:17  But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

In the day of disobedience to God's command death would enter. Flesh that had been made to be incorruptible, immortal, was now subject to death- cut off from its source of sustenance- the Tree of Life given by God. 

Death entered with sin.  And death could only be conquered by the death of the Innocent Lamb of God. Symbolically man was taught this through the sacrificial system. Man offered animal sacrifices- innocent animals were killed after the sin was symbolic transferred to them. God's people knew that every day as sin offerings were brought to the temple they were seeking the forgiveness of God.  The hope was one day all sin would be done away with and God's people would be fully restored to Him. This would only occur through the greatest sacrifice of all. Jesus Christ.

The day of atonement had a LORD's goat and another goat - an escape goat, a scapegoat, ‛ăzâ'zêl. 

The LORD's goat would be offered as a sin offering- killed, it would die for the sins of all the people.

The other goat would be offered as an atonement and taken out into the wilderness no longer to ever be a part of God's people. That goat would go off, left to live and die of its own accord, but NEVER be reconciled to God's people.  There is a STARK contrast between the two goats. 

Why the wilderness?

Zep 2:13  And he will stretch out his hand against the north, and destroy Assyria; and will make Nineveh a desolation, and dry like a wilderness.

Mal 1:2  I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob,

Mal 1:3  And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.

Amo 2:10  Also I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and led you forty years through the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite.

Led THROUGH the wilderness, not LED to and left in the wilderness, but let THROUGH.

Hos 2:3  Lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst.

Make her as a wilderness- dry, waterless- death inducing.

Eze 20:21  Notwithstanding the children rebelled against me: they walked not in my statutes, neither kept my judgments to do them, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; they polluted my sabbaths: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the wilderness.

The wilderness is NOT symbolic of God's love but rather being brought THROUGH the wilderness is symbolic of God's love. Having the wilderness changed into something life sustaining reveals God's love. Being condemned to the wilderness forever was a death sentence.  The wilderness did not symbolize God.  It did symbolize a testing ground, even Jesus went into the wilderness.

Mat 4:1  Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.

The wilderness is NOT symbolic of good.

Psa 107:4  They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way; they found no city to dwell in.

Psa 107:5  Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them.

Wilderness wandering is NOT a good thing by any reckoning.   So here we have a goat that is used to make an atonement- making an atonement meant making a sacrifice, a blood sacrifice, a death sacrifice, and yet another aspect to making an atonement was what?

You couldn't make an atonement if you didn't confess and repent of your sins. When sin offerings were made, when daily sacrifices were offered they were made and offered with the intention of a sin being forgiven, a confessed sin. Once the sin was confessed and repented of and a sacrifice was slain for that sin it was forgiven. We are only forgiven by the sacrifice that our Savior made for us. If we don't confess and repent we are not forgiven of Jesus any more than a person was forgiven of their sins when an animal sacrifice was made if they didn't confess their sin putting it onto that animal. 

They were symbolically putting their sin on that animal and that animal would then die for them so they could live in a forgiven state, an atonement was made by that sacrifice. When we offer a living sacrifice we are doing so with our Savior as our Sacrifice and He did not live, He was NOT symbolic of the goat led off to the wilderness.

Our Savior died, He was sacrificed for us and then He rose to life again and He was NEVER led off to the wilderness, banished there to be seen no more, not ever. The goat wasn't being taken to the wilderness temporarily, but permanently. The goat wasn't being sent off as a testing period to see if it could survive the wilderness onslaughts. The goat was once and for all, forever led to the wilderness to go and perish, to die in the wilderness, left without any resources for survival. A goat brought up and tended to by people. A goat given water and food so it could live was now taken to the wilderness to fend for itself. And lest people believe any animal could be taken to the wilderness and some how manage to survive by instinct alone, that's a fallacy. An abandoned animal does NOT always find a way to survive and it sickens me to think about it but…it's true.  This goat…

' But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness. '

…this goat was presented before the LORD to make an atonement with him --  yet where was the atonement? There was no sacrifice as there was with the sin offering. Where was the atonement? Was it made?  It was to make an atonement with. The sins were confessed upon this goat and then it was sent off into the wilderness.  What was being symbolized here? That sins live on? That sins that were placed over the year upon the temple- sins that were confessed to God, sins that had been covered in the blood of sacrifice, were being CLEANSED from the sanctuary, but truly if those sins for all the entire year for all the people were being cleansed by just another sacrifice aren't they being placed right back on the sanctuary? 

So that they aren't being placed right back on the sanctuary they have been placed on this wilderness appointed goat so that symbolically the goat is taking the sins away and EVERYTHING, everyone is pure in that moment. The sanctuary is pure in that moment as all sin is taken away.

When in our beliefs, in the word of God, is sin taken away completely from everyone to no more rise again?

Rev 20:14  And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

Rev 20:15  And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

Death- the result of sin is gone forever and ever and ever, never more to be. Sin is gone. The world is freed from sin and all its results. The devil is destroyed, burned up, gone forever to be no more. All the sins that ever existed from the moment sin entered the world by the father of lies is once and for all - gone.  All those sins that stem from the father of sin, all those sins that resulted from Satan are wiped out. Sinners, sin, the father of sin all of it is gone and forever more, for eternity, for a time without end there will never be sin again- it's gone.  That sin hasn't been covered up by blood, but that sin has been destroyed. There is no more a need for another sacrifice, the sacrifices made were sufficient and the blood covered sins put upon Satan so that the world can be cleansed and made perfect, were all destroyed- gone forever.

That goat that was sent out into the wilderness to disappear forever, that goat had no sacrifice made for it as it carried symbolically the sins of all God's people.  It was left to carry those sins off into the wilderness and perish there.  The sanctuary was cleansed and it was cleansed through a day long process, not by one act. The cleansing took time. And as we are told in Daniel 8:14- 2300 days (years) then shall the sanctuary be cleansed… then shall that process of cleansing begin.  It didn't say 2300 years and then the sanctuary is cleansed.  It's -SHALL the sanctuary BE - denoting action to be taken- cleansed. The final cleansing of sin was being made. The process by which sin will once and for all be taken away was under way. This cleansing process was not being done on earth in an earthly sanctuary but where did the temple stand? In heaven. The temple that we would NO longer need ONLY when the earth is made new and new Jerusalem comes down from heaven to earth. Until that happens that temple is there to serve a purpose- it is NEEDED.  If something is needed then it is serving a purpose beyond mere show. The heavenly temple was not a mere symbolic place to gaze upon and think of Jesus there with His Father.  The temple would NO longer be needed one day.  There had to be a reason it would be needed up until that point, to think otherwise would be to believe that God is just a show man putting on a fancy show and my God is not like that at all!  My God came up with a plan of salvation and that plan was enacted. That plan included an earthly sanctuary based upon the heavenly sanctuary. When the earthly sanctuary was no longer in effect the heavenly sanctuary became the place we were to look to. In that heavenly sanctuary our Savior has ascended from earth and for a purpose.  If all were accomplished- then there would have been NO need for earth to continue on with sin ruling under Satan, but it did continue because all hadn't been finished, that temple in heaven was still needed for a purpose. 

Daniel was told that His vision would be closed for a long, long time- but that it would be opened. It's been opened for those who are not too blind to see, for those not caught up in the deception of Satan. 

In 1844 the cleansing began and when that cleansing is finished, when sin is no more, when death, hell, and Satan are destroyed never to be again, that is when our new life begins without any need for a temple whatsoever!

We are told to watch and pray.  We are watching and we are praying. We know that God sees the long view and offers us glimpses into that view.  Will we be alive when it is finished? Only God knows. But we, as with all that are His, understand that being prepared for Him whether or not we are privileged with that blessing- that gift of immortality without tasting the first death- is a must.  That a life spent with our gaze heavenward is the life we are called to.

By His amazing grace and love!

More tomorrow on that once a year cleansing of the sanctuary, and by the Lord's grace and through the Holy Spirit's enlightenment may we see His plan for us more clearly.

Amen!