ATONEMENT

ATONEMENT

                “Now when these things had been thus prepared, the priests always went into the first part of the tabernacle performing the services. But into the second part  the  high priest went alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the people’s sins committed in ignorance; the Holy Spirit indicating this, that the way into the Holiest of All was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing. It was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience- concerned only with foods and drinks, various washings and fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of reformation.” Hebrews 9:6-10  

                I have often pondered over the meaning of this verse. What does it mean that the way into the Most Holy Place was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing? They talk about building the third temple in Jerusalem, but the count isn’t really right. Count them with me.

                There was the tabernacle of Moses. The temple of Solomon, the rebuilt temple later called Herod’s temple. It was the one standing when Jesus walked the earth. That is three temples or tabernacles right there and yet, there is actually one more that they aren’t counting.

                Once a year, the high priest would go into the Most Holy Place to atone for the sins of the people and for his own sins as well. He spent 7 days in isolation to maintain ritual holiness before the big event. Then He washed his body and put on special holy garments made of linen worn only in the Most Holy Place and nowhere else.  He went in within the veil with fear and trembling and the people outside held their breath in anticipation, hoping that God would clean their slate for another year.

                One scarlet cord was tied to the horn of the scape goat and one to the door of the temple   and it was said that when the sacrifice was done and the scape goat had been properly dispatched, the scarlet cord on the door of the temple would turn white indicating that the sacrifice had been accepted by God. Well this entire ceremony was prescribed by God, so why was the high priest concerned for his life when he went into the Most Holy Place on that one day of atonement?

                The truth is he didn’t belong there. He went in with blood to cover himself and the people, but it was the blood of animals and it could not really make him holy. The atonement wasn’t real, but only symbolic, and yet the presence of God in the Most Holy Place WAS real. If everything wasn’t done just right… if he had gone in to the Most Holy Place with strange fire as Nadab and Abihu had done, he would most certainly have died.

                This text is telling us then that the animal sacrifices and the other attending rituals were not adequate to actually cleanse his conscience. The offering of animal blood was only symbolic and provisional. The High Priest as a fallen son of Adam had no right being in there and yet God told him to go in there and as long as everything was done rightly, he would survive the day. He was serving as a pattern of good things to come.

                We know that the Shekinah glory and presence of God had departed from the temple in the days of Ezekiel. The Most Holy Place had been empty for years, but they went on with the rituals anyway. So when Jesus, the Son of God came into the world, He came bearing within Himself the Shekinah glory of God. He brought with Him the glory that had departed from the temple. HE WAS THE NEW TEMPLE, THE TEMPLE MADE WITHOUT HANDS. He came to restore the Shekinah glory, which by the way was the same source of life as was the Tree of Life. He is the temple that was left out of the count.

                Yeshua Himself brought back to earth the glory of the Tree of Life from which Adam and Even had been barred. He came bearing within Himself the Shekinah glory of God. And as He went through, in reality, all of the things that the priests and the High Priest had been doing for centuries as symbolic ritual came to an end because the real thing had arrived. The real sacrifice had been made.

                But Yeshua went back to heaven carrying all of that with Him. He brought it to earth, but He took it back to heaven and He went directly into the real Most Holy Place in heaven to sprinkle His own blood on the Mercy Seat and to atone for our sins as our new High Priest. But what good is that to us? He is up there and we are down here.

                This then is the significance of the soon following Day of Pentecost. Having once for all made atonement for us, He then sent His Shekinah glory down to us so that we too could become temples of the Holy Spirit. We too have become temples of the Holy Spirit. There is no need for a “Third” physical temple to be built in Jerusalem. IN reality it is a sign of rejection of the true temple which is Christ and also in ignorance of the fact that we as Christians have become temples of the Holy Spirit as well.

                But his rebuilding of the temple in our day is written in Bible prophecy. It will be built and the antichrist will commit the Abomination of desolation there and in this process, Israel will come to know the real Messiah and they will mourn for Him as for a long lost brother. Reconciliation waits.

                This is why it is so important to understand the true nature of man as a tri-part being. We are made up of spirit, soul and body. Our spirit was dead because of sin, but Jesus covered our sins with His blood and then he made our spirit alive by sending His Holy Spirit to dwell in our spirit… (Our Most Holy Place) so that we become temples of the Holy Spirit.

                This then is the meaning of the new birth. Adam was created as a son of God. The Shekinah glory of God was in his spirit. When he traitored his life to Satan, the Shekinah glory departed and Adam became a son of Satan as did everyone after him. So god called Abraham out of Satan’s kingdom and made a special nation out of his seed so that God could make a demonstration of His plan of salvation.

                The temple services were not salvation in themselves, but rather physical pictures of what salvation must be. So when Yeshua came as the fulfillment of all of those physical pictures, He became the true tabernacle, the living reality and He in turn sent this Shekinah glory down to all who would receive Him by faith. Adam was a son of God, but his sin made him and everyone born after him a child of this world a child of Satan who became the god of this world.

                As such we were lost and without hope in the world and Jesus told the Pharisees that they were children of their father the devil. What a horrible thing to say to His chosen people who were trying their best to keep the Law. What did Jesus mean by such a slanderous statement? He was telling us that as children of this present world system we are all citizens of this fallen domain. We lost our authority as sons and became victims of a cruel tyrant who hates God and hates humanity. We are all sons of Satan until we receive the Son of God and are born again into His kingdom.

                Friends, there is only one way out of this dark prison planet and that is to receive Yeshua as our Messiah, our High Priest, our Savior and King. When we do, He sends His Shekinah glory into our hearts and we become sons and daughters of God… literally bearing His spiritual DNA.

                Hebrews 2:10, 11 says: “For it is fitting for Him for whom are all things and through whom are all things in bringing many sons to glory to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings. For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren.”

                Romans 8:14 says: “For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.”

                But in that statement there is a certain amount of tension, for though we are sons of God through Jesus Christ Romans 8 goes on to say: “For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.”

                Well, if we are already sons of God through Jesus Christ what is all of creation waiting for?

                The truth is our salvation is a three stage event. When we come to Jesus and accept His sacrifice on our behalf, we are justified. This corresponds to the outer court of the temple. Then as we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word, partaking of His blood and body and walking in truth and having our prayers mixed with the incense of the Holy Spirit before the veil, we are sanctified. So sanctification is the second part of this three part process. And just like justification, sanctification is equally vital to our salvation. Hebrews 12:14 says to: “Pursue peace with all men and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.”

                This is where false grace is so dangerous. People love to talk about justification, but they don’t like sanctification. We are called to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. We must come out of the world and live only for Jesus. The cross means death to the carnal driven self and a new life in Christ whereby we live by the spirit and not by the flesh. We can’t skip this part of the salvation package.

                So what is it that all of creation is anxiously waiting for? They are eagerly waiting for our glorification, when this mortal will put on immortality and then we will be full- fledged sons of God, fully reflecting the image of our Brother Jesus Christ and fully manifested as the sons of God. It has always been God’s plan from the beginning in bringing many sons to glory.

                No one else in all of creation could have brought this great salvation about, so God Himself came, born of a woman, He became the tabernacle made without hands. As such, He became the prototype of the new man. He modeled the new man for us and then He went back to heaven and sent His Holy Spirit down to dwell in our hearts so that we could follow His example and to live by His Spirit.

                Jesus went directly back to heaven after He had died and risen again and there He entered the Most Holy Place as our faithful High Priest, not after the order of the Levitical Priesthood that ministered with the blood of animals, but after the order of Melchizedek, in which the Law is now written in our hearts rather than on tables of stone. The life of Christ is manifesting in us as we walk by the spirit and not by the flesh. We are the sons and daughters of God in the making,  for whom all of creation eagerly awaits. And we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses… all those who died and went on before us not having received the promise “Because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they should not be made perfect.

                God has reserved something special for His Remnant people and therefore we cannot ignore the message of Revelation 7:9-17.

                John saw a huge multitude in heaven that no man could number dressed in white robes and the angel explained to John that “these are the ones who come out of the great tribulation and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”

                About this the angel told Daniel: “Many will be purged, purified and refined; but the wicked will act wickedly and none of the wicked will understand, but those who have insight will understand.” Dan. 12:10.

                Are you prepared to be among those who understand if we have to go through some stuff?  Like Yeshua in the garden of Gethsemane we must be willing to say, “Not my will but Thine be done.” The rapture will come when it comes, but for now, we are being purified and refined. We will go through whatever our Lord deems necessary for us to go through in order to become the glorified sons of God. And we will overcome by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony.

                We don’t just go to the altar and get saved and then go out and do our own thing. We are in a process. We are in training. We are learning to live by His Spirit. It is a process and a training in which Yeshua is bringing many sons to glory.