The following Scripture passages are offered to aid
beginning fellowships. The readings and commentary are offered as openings into
dialogue about the subject or concept. And the concept behind the readings for
Atonement or Yom Kipporim is the covering of righteousness.
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High Sabbath Readings
For services on Atonement, October 13, 2005
The person conducting the Sabbath service should
open services with two or three hymns, or psalms, followed by an opening prayer
acknowledging that two or three (or more) are gathered together in Christ
Jesus’ name, and inviting the Lord to be with them.
The person conducting the services should read or assign
to be read Leviticus chapter 23, verses 26 through 32, followed by Leviticus
chapter 16, and Numbers chapter 29, verses 7 through 11
Commentary: Since the greater Church has labeled the High Sabbaths
as “Jewish” days that New Testament Christians do not observe because Jesus
fulfilled them, the greater Church has never understood Grace as its “covering”
for its lawlessness or sin. Grace is usually defined as unmerited pardon for
sin. If properly understood, Grace would be defined as undeserved covering for
sin, with “covering” used as in a cloak or mantle that encloses the person,
thereby protecting, sheltering, but also disguising or concealing the person.
This cloak of Grace is Christ’s righteousness, which disciples are to put on as
a garment (Gal 3:27). Disciples,
hence, become the righteousness of Christ when observed from the heavenly
realm. But this garment of righteousness that covers disciples has been given
them for the purpose of each disciple as an immature son of God covering himself while he learns through practice to walk uprightly
before man and God. If the disciple uses Grace for any other reason, the
disciple will not be covered by his own obedience when revealed—and the
judgment of every disciple will be revealed when Christ Jesus returns (1 Cor
4:5). The Son of Man will be revealed when (or at the beginning of seven
endtime years of tribulation) Christ returns, and disciples as the body of
Christ form the body of the Son of Man. So the garment of Christ’s
righteousness is needed as covering while disciples wait for the midnight hour on this long night of watching
that began at Calvary. It is with this garment of Grace
that disciple gird their shoulders and loins while they roast the paschal Lamb
of God with fire [with their sins], and eat of this Lamb [take the sacraments].
Satan does not cover disciples’ sins, but is
ultimately responsible for them.
The Hebrew
linguistic icon, Kipporim,
that is usually translated into English as Atonement
[at-one-ment] is better translated as “coverings.”
Traditionally, Judaism has used the singular form of the icon, Kippur; hence, calendars identify this
High Sabbath as Yom Kippur. But this
Day [Yom] of Coverings [Kipporim] appears
in Scripture in its plural form. Two coverings—two goats covered the sins of Israel,
not one. Both goats were the sin offering, not one. Both goats together
represent the Lamb of God. One goat was sacrificed on the altar. Jesus was
sacrificed at Calvary. And the other goat was lead into
the wilderness by the hand of a fit man. Jesus was glorified and now sits at
the right hand of the Father, sits across the precipice of crossing dimensions
and having entered the heavenly realm. So as the natural nation of Israel
covered its sins by the death of one goat and by the Azazel goat symbolically bearing Israel’s
sin beyond a wilderness precipice, disciples have two coverings for sin. Again,
Jesus was sacrificed at Calvary for lawlessness in the
natural world, and He today bears the sins of disciples in the heavenly realm.
So contrary to the teaching of the splintered Churches of God, the Azazel goat doesn’t represent Satan. If
it did, then no disciple would ever experience the second death. Once saved, always saved would be a
truism.
What hasn’t
been well understood by the greater Church is that Jesus will give the sins
that He bears either back to the disciple or to Satan upon His return; He will
not be crucified again. He died at Calvary to create the
pathway by which human beings could cross dimensions. He died to reconcile
humanity to the Father. But He cannot die in the heavenly realm where He now
sits, for the presence of life and the absence of life cannot coexist in an
entity at the same moment. The heavenly realm is timeless; thus, the moment
exists without decay, without changing into the next moment. And the glorified
Jesus will not reenter His physical creation where one moment does become the
next moment and all die through the change of moments to be crucified again.
The disciple
who hears Jesus’ words and believes the One who sent Him passes from death to
life (John 5:24), but disciples are
not to be surprised when some for whom Jesus has born their sins are
resurrected to condemnation (v. 29).
These disciples will have had their sins returned to them because their
righteousness did not exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees (Matt 5:20), who were hypocrites (Matt chptr 23), having the law given through Moses (Deu 30:11),
but not keeping it (John 7:19).
Disciples who hear Jesus also hear and believe Moses (John 5:45-47 & Luke
16:31). But as the long awaited midnight hour approaches, far too many
disciples spurn Moses and erase the laws of God that have been written on their
hearts and minds. These laws of God are placed inside disciples through receipt
of the Holy Spirit. Thus, in erasing them disciples
commit blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.
Two coverings for sin. One natural, which returns every
disciple to the state of humanity, to the state in which the natural nation of Israel
dwelt prior to the giving of the law from atop Sinai—
The reader should read Romans chapter 5.
Commentary: Disciples who were not before the holy nation of God but
now are (1 Pet 2:9) have been justified by the shed blood of Jesus of Nazareth.
They have been returned to the state in which the natural nation of Israel
dwelt prior to the giving of the Law from atop Mt.
Sinai; they are not under the Law
but under Grace (Rom 6:14). And just
as sin was not counted where there is no law (Rom 5:13), sin is not counted in
the natural world against disciples, who collectively form the holy nation of
God that is inwardly circumcised but also has the law of sin and death dwelling
within its members (Rom 7:25). The Apostle Paul acknowledges that he didn’t
understand why sin and death remained within his flesh when he had died to sin
through Christ Jesus…his flesh hadn’t yet died. Thus, his flesh was at war with
the law of God that was in his mind. He did not realize that justification
returned the spiritually circumcised new man born into the fleshly tabernacle
of the crucified old creature to a spiritual state analogous to the natural
nation of Israel
in Egypt.
Spiritually circumcised sons of God dwelling in tabernacles of flesh become as
the physically circumcised nation dwelling in Egyptian houses was when in
bondage to Pharaoh. Therefore, the Lamb of God crucified at Calvary
returns disciples collectively and individually to the pre-midnight hours of
that long night of watching, of roasting the paschal lamb with fire, of eating
the lamb with feet shod and loins girded that Israel
spent in Egypt.
One long spiritual night or turning away from the
Light, one night that began when the Light left this world at Calvary, one
night that will not end until the Lord returns to fight on a day of battle
(Zech 14:3-4), until the kingdom of the world becomes the kingdom of the Most
High and of His Christ (Rev 11:15), until the Holy Spirit is poured out upon
all flesh (Joel 2:28), until the prince of this world is cast to earth (Rev
12:9-10)—this one long night of watching comes in the middle of the seventieth
prophesied week (Dan 9:24). Liberation of the spiritually circumcised nation
will occur when this long night of watching is darkest, when many have fallen
sleep, when thieves are about their mischief, when drunkards have passed out,
when those who love darkness celebrate their hauntings,
when the Church no longer believes it needs liberated from sin and death. This midnight hour is near. Disciples shall be saved
not by the blood of the Lamb of God, but by His life. His blood covers their
sins in spiritual Babylon, thereby
allowing the death angels to pass over the fleshly houses in which disciples
dwell. But disciples are saved by His life; for it is not enough to have
spiritual life in a corruptible body. Disciples are to put on incorruptibility,
thereby becoming as Jesus now is, this incorruptibility allowing them to also
cross dimensions and enter the heavenly realm, God’s rest, foreshadowed by the
Promised Land of Judea.
Again, the glorified Jesus as the high priest of
the spiritually circumcised nation of Israel
covers the sin of this holy nation in the heavenly realm, that far land across
a dimensional precipice. But He will not be crucified a second time; He will
not die in this heavenly realm for the lawlessness of disciples. Rather, He
will bear the sins of disciples until the revealing of their judgments. At this
time, He will give these individual sins of those disciples who heard and
believed, of those whose righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees to Satan,
to whom they properly belong: Satan. Or He will give these individual sins back
to the hypocrite, to the person who did not practice walking uprightly before
man and God, who loved the world more than the truth.
Once saved,
always saved is a lie! Salvation can be lost. For every disciple prior to
the beginning of the seven endtime years of tribulation is
as a circumcised Israelite was in Egypt.
No sin was counted against them, but all died because of the trespass of one
man. Likewise, disciples with life in the heavenly realm through receipt of the
Holy Spirit today have no sin counted against them, but all sin, and all will die
because of the trespass of an anointed cherub, the ruler of this world, in whom
iniquity was found unless disciples’ lawlessness in this heavenly realm is
covered by the cloak of Jesus’ righteousness. Disciples’ transgressions of the
Laws of God that are not presently being counted against disciples, an
important concept to remember, still require being covered by death. The wages
of sin is death, regardless of whether this sin is in the natural world or in
the heavenly realm. The price for sin in the natural world was paid at Calvary,
but no price has yet been paid for sin in the heavenly realm by humanity’s
reckoning of time. The sins of the children of God in this realm are presently
covered, not paid-for. But Atonement, on the 10th day of the seventh
month—corresponding to the selection of the Passover lamb on the 10th
day of the first month [“seven” representing God’s rest, heaven]—represents
when the one who will pay for the sins of Israel
in the heavenly realm is selected. This person will, again, be either the
born-from-above disciple who didn’t believe the Father, or the anointed cherub
in whom iniquity was found (Ezek 28:15). Atonement/Kipporim
represents the judgment that will occur prior to the wedding supper.
Fallen angels as sons of God who sinned have been
cast into outer darkness—into a death chamber, into time—where they await
judgment by glorified saints. [A son of God is a spirit being who has no parent
but God the Father. Disciples are born from above, and nurtured by the Church,
the last Eve. But the Church does not give birth to disciples; thus, disciples,
like angels, have no parent but the Father. And as fallen angels are presently
confined in darkness or time, disciples in fleshly bodies are also confined
within time.]
As review, on the 10th day of the first
month, the Passover lamb was selected and penned; the children of the nation
that left Egypt
crossed the Jordan
and entered Judea; and Jesus entered Jerusalem.
On the 10th day of the second month, Noah entered the Ark—Noah
was selected in his generation, as were the pairs of animals that entered with
him. On the 10th day of the third month, Moses entered the cloud
hovering atop Sinai—Moses was selected in his generation. Therefore, disciples
should not be surprised when, on the 10th day of the seventh month,
the one who bears sins in the heavenly realm is also selected, with the one
selected paying with his life. The selected Passover lamb was innocent of sin;
Jesus was innocent. But the anointed cherub in whom iniquity was found is not
innocent. Nor will be disciples, regardless of whether resurrected to life or
to condemnation. But by faith those disciples resurrected to life loved
righteousness enough to crucify their old natures, or better, break the legs of
the crucified old man that each of them once were. These new creations,
born-from-above as sons of God that dwell in the fleshly tabernacles of a
crucified old man, are as were the children of the nation that left Egyptian
bondage. These new creations, not any crucified old man, will enter God’s rest
as the reality of the uncircumcised nation that crossed the Jordan
under Joshua. And by figuratively breaking the legs of their crucified old
natures, these new creations will have selected the prince of this present
world to pay for their transgressions. They will, then, enter God’s rest on the
seventh day of Unleavened Bread, a day analogous in the texture of Scripture to
the great Last Day.
Two dimensions, two worlds, one natural, one
spiritual. And what is flesh and blood in this natural world cannot enter the
heavenly realm—the bodies or tabernacles in which born anew sons of God
presently dwell cannot enter heaven. These sons of God must receive a glorious
or incorruptible body (a body of primal energy) before they can cross dimensions.
The texture of Scripture adds that in the natural
world there were two grain harvests of Judean hillsides, the early barley
harvest and the later wheat harvest, each watered by its own rains, each
watering analogous to receiving the Holy Spirit. There are also two spiritual
harvests, the early harvest when Christ Jesus returns after the third day of a
spiritual creation week foreshadowed by the physical creation week, and the
latter main harvest during the great White Throne Judgment, when all who have
ever lived and who have not previously been born of Spirit will be resurrected.
The great White Throne Judgment occurs in the “light” or hot portion of the
sixth day of the spiritual creation week, occurs after Satan has been loosed
for a short while, the dark or “twisting away” portion of this sixth day. [The
fourth day is the wedding feast, the creation of the greater light, and the
establishment of Christ’s reign over the earth, the lesser light that rules the
darkness. The fifth day becomes Christ’s thousand-year reign before Satan is
loosed for a short while, three and a half years. The seventh day features the
coming of the new Jerusalem, the new heaven and the
new earth, and God the Father dwelling here.]
The above distills to the realization that the holy
spiritual nation—created when the glorified Jesus breathed on ten of His
disciples and said, Receive the Holy
Spirit (John 20:22)—began in the long spiritual night of watching
foreshadowed by the night of watching when death angels passed throughout
Egypt. The midnight hour of this night will see disciples liberated from the
law of sin and death that presently dwells in their flesh—liberation will come
through empowerment [or being filled] by the Holy Spirit, the state
foreshadowed by what happened on that day of Pentecost following Calvary. And
with the empowerment of the Church, the Son of Man will be revealed. No longer
will a covering for sin be needed. Disciples who have cleaned the inside of the
cup will be clean all over. But disciples who have not used the covering of
Grace to practice walking uprightly before the Father and the Son will rebel
against God, and will commit blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. They will
spiritually die, for they will have slain themselves through their hypocrisy.
Thus, what’s seen is that the High Sabbaths are integrally linked, with their
relevance to the New Covenant revealed by Jesus of Nazareth being the Passover
Lamb of God, a Lamb appropriate to the size of the household of the Father, a
Lamb penned in Jerusalem on the 10th
of the first month. Two goats represented the sin offering of Israel:
Jesus represents both of these goats. And Grace, the covering of Christ’s
righteousness that disciples put on as they would put on a garment, cannot be
properly understood apart from seeing its application to the natural nation
through the Azazel goat.
Again, Grace is not open-ended pardon from sin. It
is the undeserved covering for sin in the heavenly realm that allows the Holy
Spirit to be given to chosen human beings before long demonstrated obedience
occurs. Grace allows a human being to change, to grow spiritually as a child
grows physically. Grace allows the end of the spiritual growth process to
determine the process’s outcome. Without Grace, the first transgression of the
law of God in the spiritual realm would be fatal to the newly born son of God.
Hence, life in this dimension would not be given until the Father and Son were
nearly certain that their new creation would live by the laws and statutes of
the Most High.
The reader should read Hebrews chapters 5 through 10.
Commentary: Disciples cannot “see” into the heavenly realm to
either observe themselves, or observe what the
glorified Jesus as their high priest does for them. Therefore, the model that
allows disciples to see into the heavenly realm as through a dark glass is
having the circumcised nation of Israel
serve as a copy and shadow of the spiritually holy nation. And the high priest
of the circumcised nation did those things in this physical world that Jesus
does in the spiritual dimension, understanding of course that Jesus is the
reality of all of the sacrifices made for the covering of lawlessness in this
natural world. He is the reality of the
daily. So no other sacrifice is again needed—until the Millennium, when He
will no longer cover the sins of human beings. Animal sacrifice will, then,
return.
Disciples must decide whether they love God more
than they love this world. It is easy to profess love for Christ Jesus, but
demonstrating love through obedience is more difficult. And one of the
occasions when every Israelite, natural and spiritual, has the chance to show
the Father and Son that he [or she] loves God more than the person’s own flesh
is through fasting—no food and no water—on the day that symbolically represents
judgment. It is a small thing that is being asked of disciples, considering
that Jesus as the disciple’s high priest spiritually covers the transgression
of the disciple in the heavenly realm.
The person conducting the Sabbath service should
close services with two hymns, or psalms, followed by a prayer asking God’s
dismissal.
* * * * *
"Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version,
copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used
by permission. All rights reserved."