Atonement 2020

Wayne Matthews

September 28, 2020

Welcome, everybody, to this Day of Atonement for 2020 on the Roman calendar.

This day is the fifth annual Sabbath. It is called the Day of Atonement. Most people would understand this day because of the Jewish nation, and they would call it Yom Kippur.

This Holy Day is a day that God has set out in His plan of salvation. This Holy Day is a day of fasting because it is a sobering day, yet it is a day of celebration. This celebration, really, is a spiritual celebration.

The purpose of this sermon is to look at the spiritual meaning of the Day of Atonement. The title of this sermon is Atonement 2020.

Now, the title 2020 is given because this sermon is based on progressive truth. Because although we often go through the Leviticus 16, and we go through what the high priest does (which we’ll touch on today), but a lot of that, there’s aspects of that particular scripture that we just don’t understand because it hasn’t been revealed, all the meanings of every single component of the Day of Atonement.

We look forward to a further revelation from God about what this day pictures, in the sense of deeper understanding. Now, we have an overview of what this day means and we’re going to touch on that today.

So, progressive truth has been provided to God’s true Church. It doesn’t exist in the world and other people may keep this day (the Jewish nation in particular), and they may fast on this day, but really, they don’t understand the deep meaning of it. The reason is because it’s about Christ, and of course they reject that Christ was the Messiah.

This day is about a choice to be reconciled to the Great Creator Yahweh Elohim once a person is called to be reconciled. Now, the world hasn’t been called to be reconciled. We have. Part of the Body of Christ, the Church of God, we have been called by God, called out of this world to be reconciled to Him.

Now, to be reconciled has a great meaning, and we only have that opportunity to be reconciled because of a calling from God. Because God has to call us first to be reconciled to Him. A person cannot be reconciled to God unless they are called to be reconciled.

The Day of Atonement is about fasting, sin, repentance, prayer, forgiveness, and reconciliation, which is the end result, to be reconciled with God or to God, which is to be at one with Him. The word in the dictionary “atonement” means “to cover; to purge.” Now, we understand this is talking about sin. Cover. Purge. Reconciliation. Reconcile. Forgive.

We’re going to start by looking at Leviticus 23:26-32 because this is about the Day of Atonement and about this day of being at one with God, being reconciled to God. So, it is about reconciliation. When I went through what this day is about, because it’s about sin, because we’ve got to be reconciled to God, which is to be at one with God, which is to have the same mind of God. God doesn’t have sin. But we have sin, so we need to be reconciled. Our sins need to be covered. We need to be purged from sin. All of that, of course, forgiveness is involved. We have to be forgiven of our sin.

There is an interesting component as we go through this particular sermon – that sin can be forgiven by God, all sin can be forgiven by God—all sin can be forgiven by God if (there’s an “if”) there is genuine spiritual repentance.

It’s not about feeling sorry for one's self because we’ve made a mistake; this is about once God calls us and reveals to us that we do have sin, that our nature is based on sin, that we sin every single day. Well, it’s about sin. The Day of Atonement is about sin. It’s about the covering of sin, the ability to be forgiven if we are willing to repent.

The unpardonable sin, we understand, is the person commits an unpardonable sin when they refuse to repent. But God can forgive all sin if the person is willing to repent. We’ve been given the power to see our self through our calling. The Day of Atonement.

Leviticus 23:26—And the LORD (the Eternal) spoke to Moses saying, Also, the tenth day of this seventh month shall be the Day of Atonement. The word is plural. It would be Atonements. It shall be a holy convocation, which is a commanded assembly. Which is, a commanded assembly before God. We are to do this before God.

Now, we can be in our home, we can be together with two, can be together with fifty, can be together with a hundred. This year is a bit different. Most people will be, in the majority, probably by themselves or with one other person or a couple of others.

Well, this is that commanded assembly. We’re doing this before God. It’s not about a group of people all getting together and that’s the commanded assembly. It’s spiritual in nature and it is about assembling before God.

And how do we do that? Well, it’s in the mind, really. It’s the spirit of the matter, the spirit of the law, the spirit of why we’re doing what we’re doing. We’re afflicting our souls this day, which is afflicting our life this day, because we’re assembling before God, we’re coming before God, in the spirit of the matter. In our minds we can do this.

We fast (afflict ourselves) physically, but it’s spiritual. It’s about the motive of why we’re doing what we’re doing. We’re doing this because it’s a commanded assembly before God and we’re commanded to fast. That’s why we do it. Spiritual matter, not a physical one; partly physical, but it’s a spiritual intent.

It shall be a holy convocation, which is this commanded assembly before God, for you. You shall afflict your lives, which is accomplished by a total fast from food and drink, and offer an offering made by fire to the Eternal. We understand that points to sacrifice and that is about sacrificing ourselves.

Because, we sacrifice ourselves today in the sense we fast physically. Well, that’s a sacrifice. It's a choice we’ve had to make, and therefore, we’re willing to give up our desire. Our desire is to have food, to have a drink, to have something to eat to satisfy the self, the body. The desire that’s in there, we’d like to do that, but we deny our self. We deny our self, which is that sacrifice.

Verse 28—and you shall do no work on that same day, for it is the Day of Atonement to make an atonement for you before, which is in the presence, of the Eternal your God, the Eternal, your Elohim. So, we’re doing this before God, in the presence of God, because God sees us because God has extended His love to us and called us and given us the opportunity to be reconciled to Him.

Verse 29—For a person who is not afflicted... Now, this is someone who refuses to yield. Now, this is not saying that someone who doesn’t fast this day. Because there are people in the Body of Christ that do not fast totally on this day because of health reasons and other reasons that have been explained before in other sermons. So, just because a person has decided that it’s not wise to fast due to age or health, well, that’s not what this is saying, that they’re going to be cut off from God because they’re refusing to fast. No, they would willingly fast. They have done, probably, for years, but now it’s not wise to.

Well, a person who actually refuses, who has the capacity to fast, to afflict themselves by fasting without food and water for this period of a whole day of atonement, this person who refuses to yield themselves on this day, refuses to sacrifice on this day, on the same day shall be cut off from his people. They will no longer be in a relationship with God. They won’t be atoned to God. They won’t be reconciled to God or be reconciling to God because they’re refusing to repent, they’re refusing to afflict themselves, they’re refusing to obey God on this day. God will not dwell in that person until they repent.

Verse 30—And any person who does any work that same day, that person, I (God) will destroy from among his people. Now, people would look at that on a physical level but it’s actually something spiritual.

Verse 31—You shall do no manner of work. It shall be a statute, which is a command, forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. So, this is a command that we do because it’s spiritual in nature.

Verse 32—It shall be to you a Sabbath, which is an annual Sabbath, of rest. So, we stop this day and we rest. We afflict ourselves, we don’t have food and water, but we come before God and we approach God in prayer because this is a day about prayer as well. And you shall afflict your life, humble yourself by fasting, on the ninth day of the month at evening.

At the end of the ninth day when it hits the evening, it says, we would start this fast, from evening to evening, which is the whole day of the tenth, between sundown on the ninth day until sundown on the next day, which is the tenth. So, it’s a whole period of one whole day in God’s calendar and earlier it said very clearly what day it was on. It’s on the tenth day of the seventh month.

You shall keep your Sabbath, in other words, kept by fasting and resting. This fast that we’re afflicting ourselves is an act of humility before God. This is that sign that we’re willing to sacrifice. We’re willing to repent, we want to obey God, and we see ourselves. We want to be reconciled. That’s what we’re really saying. By fasting and afflicting ourselves on this day we are demonstrating we’re willing to be reconciled, we want to be reconciled to God. Because this is a day of reconciliation, to come to be at one with God, which is about a spiritual matter. It’s about the mind, the way we think.

This annual Sabbath, this Day of Atonement, pictures the entire process covered from Passover to the Feast of Trumpets. Now, this is all about a reconciliation, which is about the plan of mankind, about why we were born. Much of that process will have been fulfilled when Christ returns, and Satan has been removed from the presence of mankind for 1,100 years.

Now, what that’s really covering is the aspect of when we accept Passover and then go into the Days of Unleavened Bread, which is about sin and us repenting of sin, recognizing our sin, looking for sin within ourselves and getting rid of it, the leaven in our life. Well, that’s the process that we’re in that is about reconciling. We're reconciling until a point, and that point is about entering Elohim. We’re reconciled to God, then at some point we will enter the Family of God, which is an incredible thing. It’s a marvelous blessing to be offered that opportunity.

I’m only going to comment on Leviticus 16:1-34, and we won’t turn there today. But we would often go through this and people can do this at home or when you get some time, just to go over that. Now, that is the Levitical system that was established, and the Levites would fulfill certain functions. We understand about the physical high priest and what he did and what other priests did. They couldn’t enter into the holiest of holies at all. It was only the high priest once a year.

Well, all of that is all physical things. All these physical things about taking the azazel, the goats and all of those types of things, they’re all physically done, but they’re all pointing to something spiritual, which is the beauty of the Day of Atonement. People will look at it and it looks all physical. “Do you lot all have to go sacrificing goats?” and things like that. Well, no. The answer is no. We understand it’s all been changed and done away at the death of Joshua the Messiah.

To be atoned to God is what life is about. We’re being atoned. Because we’re born with sin and we have to be reconciled, we have to repent, we have to be forgiven of sin, and our sin can be covered through Passover.

This Day of Atonement in Leviticus 16 that is covered in great detail (and we don’t understand all the meaning of it), it’s about the high priest and what the high priest was to do. It was about the Levitical system, which is all physical, pointing to something spiritual, which is where we’re at. At this very point it’s all about something spiritual that we’re looking at.

The high priest physically represented Christ as our High Priest today. Because Christ is our High Priest. It’s a spiritual matter. He has entered the Family of God. Something we’re looking forward to. We understand because of Christ’s sacrifice for us (Passover) we now have direct access to God’s mercy seat, whereas the high priest used to go in and do certain things. You know, the veil being torn at Christ’s death and those things, we have access to God now. That’s really what it’s all about.

We have access to God now through prayer. We have access to the mercy seat now any time we choose. That’s the interesting part, I find. Anytime we choose. Because God has called us, and God will listen if we’re genuine and sincere in a spirit of repentance because God’s purpose and Christ’s purpose is to reconcile us to Him, to be at one with Him. That’s what they’re offering us. We have to choose, of course.

We understand that because of Christ’s sacrifice—the Passover—we have access to God. We can enter the holy place at any time. We can approach God at any time by the way of prayer. That’s a personal choice. We can do that sitting in the car. We can do that when we go for a walk. We can kneel down, we can stand up, we can pray in bed if that’s what a person chooses. So, we have access to God at any time we choose, and it’s something that we grow in where we realize that we need God all the time. We need God all the time in every component of our life. As we mature spiritually, we come to see that more and more and more, and that we by ourselves are nothing. We’re just simply nothing. We’re carnal.

We know that by sincere repentance sin will be forgiven by God. We know that our minds must be washed by the word of God. Our thinking must be transformed because we have a particular mindset, and that mind and that thinking has patterns in it and it’s prejudice by nature, it’s riddled with sin, it doesn’t obey God. But then God decides that it’s time to call a person, because of His will and purpose, and therefore, they can be reconciled to Him over a lifetime.

We understand that the second goat in Leviticus 16 represented Satan, and this day tells us what his end is. We know there is two parts to this. The Day of Atonement points to one aspect, which is Satan's removal at the return of Christ as King of kings. We understand that. Then, after the end of 1,100 years we know there is another period that this day points to, which is the destruction of sin, which means the destruction of Satan and his followers and all of mankind that refuses to repent. They aren’t reconciled to God. They’re not at one with God at all. That’s what this day is about.

We understand that Christ is our High Priest now and he is now with God the Father in heaven, and he is there for a purpose. That purpose is to finish a family of 144,000, the first from mankind. He was the first from mankind. Well, the first as a big group of 144,000 over 6,000 years to enter Elohim. So, really, they’re the second to enter Elohim.

We understand from scripture that no one goes to heaven, not even David. David didn’t go to heaven when he died. No one dies and goes to heaven, which is the belief within a so-called Christian belief system. We understand that Christ will return with the 144,000 to rule mankind and for the removal of sin, which is that reconciliation. Because mankind hasn’t been called to be reconciled. But during the 1,100 years, that’s what life is about. It’s about a reconciliation. It’s a whole period of time where they have to go through this whole process that we have entered.

Satan is the author of sin, and therefore, will be destroyed at the end of a period of time, the time of the second death of mankind. Sin will be destroyed and never exist again.

We're going to look at Hebrews 7:23. It is very exciting to go through Leviticus 16 and have a good look at the Day of Atonement and what the Levitical priesthood stood for and what the high priest did, and all the understanding we have to this present time. It is exciting to go through and it is very humbling to go through that in detail.

Well, in the book of Hebrews, through Hebrews 7, 8, and 9, it covers it in the sense of looking at it from a spiritual component, which is what we’re going to do today.

Hebrews 7:23—Also, there were many priests, which is the Levitical system, because they were prevented by death from continuing. In other words, it was all physical and they couldn’t be fulfilling their role because they would die. So, they would have a system where they would be allocated time to look after it. The high priest was the same, it was a certain role, and then, of course, couldn’t continue because he died. Whereas our High Priest is eternal now, and therefore, it’s a different system.

But he (Christ) because he continues forever, he has eternal life, has an unchangeable priesthood. So, this will not change. Whereas before, the high priest would live for a period of time and he would fulfill the role of going in once a year into the Holiest of Holies. Well, then he would die and someone else would have to do it. Well, that’s all changed. Now we have a High Priest that is going to be High Priest forever because he has unchangeable priesthood. That’s what he has.

Verse 25—Therefore, he, talking about Christ, is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through him. We have to approach God through Joshua the Messiah, since he always lives to make intercession for them. He lives (spirit life now) for the purpose of interceding for us. Because why? Because God is building a family through Joshua the Messiah.

God is making mankind, those that He’s called to it, atoned, be atoned, have our sins covered, to be reconciled to Him so that we can be changed just like Christ to a spirit being.

Well, we understand that Christ’s sacrifice was for the purpose of covering sin. Verse 26—For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, innocent, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher, that’s higher in authority than the heavens. Because God appointed him to this.

Who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, because it’s been done, first for his own sins, and then for the peoples. For this he did once for all, when he offered himself up. He offered himself, he’s Passover.

Verse 28—For the law, the Levitical system of sacrifices appoints as high priest men, humans, who have weaknesses; but the word (the logos) of the oath, which came after the law, appoints the Son (Christ), who has been perfected forever. So, really, it’s simply saying there’s a change that’s taken place. Once we had a priesthood of physical things going on, but it was all pointing to the spiritual. They never knew that. We do. But now it's Christ that has been appointed as High Priest, and therefore, he has been perfected forever. Well, we have that same opportunity – to be reconciled to God – which is what this day is about, the firstfruits of God, the 144,000, after Trumpets have been fulfilled—which is this 7 Trumpets. In other words, there’s a change that’s going to take place at the return of Joshua the Messiah— they are now fully atoned. They’re reconciled to God.

Well, that’s our purpose in life. It’s to be reconciled to God so that we at some point in time will be changed. It’s very exciting. Because once they are changed, they are now in Elohim. They have achieved the purpose of the creation of mankind. The entire process revealed through Passover, Unleavened Bread, and Pentecost, and then to Trumpets shows how the firstfruits were able to be born into the God Family, becoming part of the Kingdom of God. Although the complete process will have been accomplished in the 144,000, billions remain who are yet to be atoned, reconciled to God.

This is the exciting part about this day because this Day of Atonement is about a reconciliation. So, man is created with sin dwelling in him. He has a natural carnal mind with the three things of those desires, “lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life,” which we all have. So, every human has that. Well, some have been called by God to be reconciled.

This Day of Atonement means so much to us because we’ve been called to be reconciled. This Day of Atonement should mean so much to us! The world knows nothing about a day of atonement other than possibly fasting for some reason, which they don’t understand. The fasting is for a spiritual purpose; it has a spiritual motive.

Every human being must still go through the same process (which we’ve entered), as those called in the first 6,000 years who are among the 144,000. Well, we’ve entered that process. Whether we’re part of the 144,000 or not we have entered that process. If we have repented, genuinely, if we have started keeping the seventh-day Sabbath, if we are tithing faithfully, if we have been immersed (baptized), and we’ve had hands laid on us by a true minister of God and we receive God’s holy spirit, we now have the power from God to be reconciled, to be at one with God, to have our sins forgiven and covered forever, which is what baptism did. But from that point on we still could continue this process of reconciliation. Because at baptism sins may be fully covered, but we’ve still got sin in our minds continuous all our life. I can testify to that. Sin just dwells in the mind.

The Day of Atonement pictures the entire process of this reconciliation. Everyone must come into unity and oneness with God to become at one with Him. That’s the exciting part of the Day of Atonement.

Once Christ returns and Satan and the demons are removed from mankind for 1,100 years, well, it’s during that time that mankind (during that thousand years), mankind will be given that opportunity to be at one with God, to be reconciled to God.

The Day of Atonement pictures the removal of Satan and his demons from mankind. Then at the end of it we can see at the end of 1,100 years we know that the reconciliation process will have been completed. We have the Millennium, we have the Last Great Day where mankind has been given an opportunity through a calling, going through that process to be reconciled to God, to be at one with God. Those that are reconciled to God and are at one with God, and that’s their desire because of ongoing repentance, will be changed to spirit through resurrections.

But there’s another group that have refused to be reconciled. They’re not at one with God and they will be destroyed. It’s called the second death. We realize that Satan and his demons will also be destroyed because they are not interested in any form of reconciliation. None. Because their minds are set at doing evil, at not being at one with God; in actual fact, being in rebellion against God and fighting and resisting God and the truth. That's their purpose in their minds.

Now, if you wanted to spend the time you could go through Isaiah 14:12-14 or Ezekiel 28:12-17 to look at how Satan existed and where he’s ended up and his mindset.

The book of Hebrews reveals that the angelic realm was created for the purpose of ministering. Their real purpose was to minister to the physical lives that eventually would enter Elohim, you know, those people that were reconciled to God and changed to spirit. So, they were to serve in the sense of serve God for the purpose of helping mankind to be reconciled, to help us to enter Elohim, which they weren’t.

Well, we understand what Satan did. Satan didn’t agree with God’s plans and purpose for the physical creation. He just simply didn’t agree to it. He rebelled against God and nearly a third of the angels, the angelic realm, rebelled with him.

Now, they did that for the sense of could be envy or whatever it is, but sin entered their minds and they then were set against God. They couldn’t be reconciled. They can’t be reconciled to God. They can’t be at one with God because they don’t want it. Because as we talked about before, the idea of all of this is about genuine repentance. That’s the secret to all of this. People can conform to things, but this is about genuine, sincere repentance to see ourselves as we are.

Satan loathes God’s plan to create beings that with time would become greater than him. Satan rebelled against God and rebellion is sin.

Now, we understand in the Body of Christ (the world doesn’t understand), but “the wages of sin is death.” What a person gets paid for sin is death, the death penalty. But mankind doesn’t think that. They think they have an immortal soul and that when they die they’re going to go to heaven and some sort of spirit leaves them and they’ve still got their consciousness of who they were and they then drift around, and obviously, end up in heaven, or too bad if you end up in the place they call hell where you’re tortured forever. Which doesn’t make a lot of sense, but that’s what they believe and that’s what they’re taught.

You might hear lambs yelling out in the background. We’ve gone through the lambing season here so it’s just lambs yelling out, and during this recording they seem to be very active at the moment.

So, at the end of the 1,100 years this Day of Atonement will have no more meaning, when Satan and the demons are once again removed this time for all time, for all eternity. So, the reconciliation will have been completed. Mankind will have been reconciled, those that have repented genuinely, sincerely, and accepted the Passover sacrifice of Joshua the Messiah, they will be reconciled by this ongoing repentance of who they are.

The Day of Atonement pictures a time when Satan and his demons will have no part in God’s future plans and the purpose of life continuing. Instead, this annual Sabbath wonderfully pictures this world becoming fully atoned to God.

I think that’s an incredible statement. This Day of Atonement pictures that whole process of a reconciliation of mankind to God. The end result after 7,100 years is a reconciliation that is complete. A person will have either reconciled to God, to be at one with God and changed, or not. And if not, they will be destroyed. Well, the Day of Atonement is about this reconciliation. We understand that.

Now, I wanted to look at a particular account that is in the book of 2 Samuel 12. It’s the story that is written for us. Now, often people will read this story about David and Bathsheba and look at David negatively and look at Bathsheba negatively, and the things that David did. But the reality, the reality is we are all worse than this. It’s hard for a human mind to accept this. We are worse than this.

Now, a person might say, “Well, I’ve never committed adultery like that.” Well, yes you have. Yes, I have. We all have. Because we understand the spirit of the matter. This is not about a physical thing. So, this account of David’s sin and the process that he goes through is about the Day of Atonement, really, because it’s about a reconciliation with God once sin enters our minds.

So, we, like David and Bathsheba, have the very same nature. “Lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.” We have those. Well, they had them. All of mankind has had it and all of mankind is going to have it until they’re fully reconciled to God and into Elohim. The only one who hasn’t had these three major problems, which are—it's much deeper than that, of course—is Joshua the Messiah, because he was the Word of God made flesh.

I’ll give you the background of going into 2 Samuel 12, or you might be turned there. I’ll give you the background. Joab was sent to destroy the people of Ammon because the army of David. David remained in Jerusalem. So, all the army is gone, Joab is gone, and David’s there. From the roof he saw Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, bathing. Now, the important part there is “the wife of Uriah,” because Bathsheba had already made a commitment to somebody else. So, her mind is involved in this as much as David’s mind is involved in this.

Then David saw her bathing on the top there, and of course, you think, when you go through the story you think it’s just something that’s physical, and ah, yes, there and that, it all happens quickly. No, this all takes a little bit of time. The interesting thing is it’s about the mind. Because David’s mind is obviously gone into a place, in a location that is against God’s law.

David would have known that this woman was a married woman, and therefore, the mind is not supposed to go there and wander off and then the sin is committed in the mind first. The physical act is something else that takes place after the mind has already done it. There’s a desire, the lust that is in the mind, these desires that are in the mind.

Then, of course, David sleeps with her and she becomes pregnant. Now, this all takes a little bit of time. It’s not like just an instant thing and it’s in a couple of seconds thing. This all takes time and it takes the mind to have gone to a certain location. Bathsheba’s mind and David’s mind have gone into a location that is against God. They’re rebelling against God’s command about this particular situation.

Here we have now she’s pregnant. She knows she’s pregnant. She must be going through a lot of things in her mind about, “Oh, I’m pregnant! How am I going to tell my husband about this?” Because, remember, He’s off with Joab. Uriah, he’s off with Joab fighting a war against Ammon.

So, there’s a lot going on in the mind and then David’s going to find out about this, so he says, “Well, what am I going to do? She’s a married woman. I’m the king. She’s pregnant. It’s my child because Uriah was away fighting. It’s going to be obvious. Everyone is going to know about it, so I best cover it up.”

This is all going on in the mind, and it’s over a period of time. So, it’s not as if it’s a snap of the fingers, like that. David then sets out to cover up the matter.

Now, while we’re going through this is that we’re looking to David and Bathsheba, but really, the reason for going through this on the Day of Atonement is it’s exactly what we do in our life when it comes to sin. Because we all have sinned. “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”  All of us have sinned and all of us have had a mindset that is wrong. Whether it’s adultery or whether it’s idolatry, no matter what it is, we all have sin, there is sin involved in our minds.

We might look negatively down here – we should be looking now at ourselves. What is the sin we’re covering up? What is the sin we’re refusing to deal with? There is one somewhere that we know of and yet we do it all the time. Well, so, we’re the shame. We’re worse in lots of ways because we know. We’ve been called and we see very clearly about this.

Well, David in this moment of time, in this period of time is obviously not following God’s law.  David set out to cover up the matter by saying to Uriah (2 Samuel 11), “Go down to your house, go down there...” Because he’d come back from the battle and David said, “Well, I’m going to send Uriah down to Bathsheba, and if he sleeps there overnight and then he goes off to war... Because he slept with her, therefore, the child must be his and it’s not mine.

Well, he was hoping that Bathsheba and Uriah would get together and cover up this pregnancy and it would look like it was Uriah’s child. “But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house.” So, David did this more than once, where he’s trying to get Uriah to do something but it’s backfiring on him.

Well, we understand that God has a purpose in David’s life. David’s life history and the many times that he sinned, he repented. That’s the secret. This is the Day of Atonement covered. The many times we sin, we should repent like David did – genuine, sincerely, heartfelt, never do this again type repentance. Because we really got to learn to hate it.

But, of course, Uriah, the first time he slept at the king’s house, and I think the next time, if I remember rightly, he slept with the troops and he didn’t go back to Bathsheba. David’s in a bit of a dilemma here and you can imagine his mind, thinking, “Oh, this is not going to plan. This is not good.”

Then David wrote the letter because then Joab is going to go back and fight and Uriah is going back with him, so David thinks, “Well, I’ve still got to cover this up somehow. I’ve got to hide this sin. I’ve got to hide this sin.” He would have been thinking mainly, “Hide this sin from the people.” But really, sin is against God. Sin is not against the people. Sin is against God. “I’ve got to hide this.” But he’s thinking more probably along the lines of, “Well, I’m the king and Bathsheba’s pregnant, and what are the people going to say? What is everyone going to say?” So, he needs to cover it up.

Then David wrote a letter to Joab telling him to set Uriah in the forefront of the fierce battle and then retreat from Uriah, that he might be killed. You just think, “That’s just horrendous stuff!”

Well, our sin is horrendous stuff. The things we think, the things we do is horrendous, knowing that we know the truth, that we have God’s holy spirit and that we’re supposed to be fighting sin. Yet we’ll tolerate sin, we allow sin, we don’t, you know, we do some stupid things because we have human nature. Well, that’s the whole purpose of it all, is to fight against it.

Well, we might think, oh, this is pretty bad. This is pretty horrendous to do that. Well, any sin that we do is horrendous, horrendous before God. We know the great Creator. We know the atonement process. We understand our calling. How horrendous is it to continue to sin and to try to cover it up as if it’s all normal? It’s horrendous.

After a period of the fact that Uriah was actually killed, which happened, he got killed in war, and after a period of mourning by Bathsheba, because she had lost her husband (she was pregnant, lost her husband), then David married her.

We’re going to pick up this story in 2 Samuel 12:1—Then the Eternal sent Nathan, who was a prophet, to David. He came to him and said to him, There were two men in one city; one rich, and the other poor. So, there is a very great distinction here just to burn this particular action that David had committed, to burn it in his brain. Because he was rich. He was a rich person because he was king. So one is rich, one is poor. David would have been listening to this story thinking, well, there is a rich man and there’s a poor man.

The rich man was exceeding with many flocks and herds. He was wealthy, had lots of lambs and ewes and he had cattle. He would have had everything. He’s got a big herd of cattle. He’s a wealthy man.

But the poor man... So, the difference between the two is extreme here. But the poor man had nothing, except one little ewe lamb. Now, this, the value of this, having lambs here you understand it. If a male is born, their life is short because they’re a male. But the value of a little ewe lamb is great. It’s a female; it’s great because it breeds. It can breed six or seven times and have twins each time or even more. So, it’s great value. Whereas the boys, you don’t need lots of rams, so they become a wether and they’re used for meat.

So, the lifespan of this is long, it’s very valuable. This is a little ewe lamb is very, very valuable, so highly valuable to this poor person. It means something to them.

...which he had bought and nourished. And it grew up together with him, and with his children. So, this is a pet, really. It ate of his own food, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and it was like a daughter to him. This is something that is of great value to this person. David would be hearing this story thinking it on the physical level.

And a traveler came to the rich man. So, someone turns up to the rich man, who refused to take of his own flock. Now, he’s got all this wealth, he’s got all these lambs that he could have taken, but no, no, he doesn’t do that. ...and from his own herd, he didn’t do that, to prepare one for the wayfaring man who had come to him. But he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.

Now, when you look at that you think, “Well, that’s extreme! That’s just so selfish! You’ve got all this wealth and yet you won’t take one of your lambs. This guy has only got one poor little ewe lamb and you take that!” The reaction that you would have as a human, “This is not right! I’m going to do something about this. Let’s sort this person out! Let’s do something!”

Verse 5—So, David’s anger was greatly aroused against the man. It’d be, you know, like furious. It’s like a person would, if you look at it on a physical level, remembering that we’re looking at this on a spiritual level, he was furious and said to Nathan, As the Eternal lives, the man who has done this shall surely die! So, David was prepared to say, “Well, that’s it. Take that wealthy man and let’s kill him because he deserves death. That is so evil to do that to that poor man with that little ewe lamb! He deserves death!” Because the wages of sin is death. “That’s just bad!”

Well, we remember that, what we have earned, the wages, what we deserve is death. Because we’ve done exactly this, we have deserved death. We have done some horrendous things before God.

Verse 6—and he shall restore fourfold for the lamb because he did this thing and because he had no pity. He didn’t show any mercy, he didn’t show any mercy at all.

Then Nathan said to David, You are the man. This would have been a massive impact on a person’s mind, because David would have carried all this in his mind, the fact that he’s slept with Bathsheba, Bathsheba’s got pregnant, had a child and then he’s married her, had a child. So, all this, it’s in the mind. It doesn’t just disappear. It would have been there because at this point he hadn’t repented of it.

“You are the man.” Well, brethren, we’re the same. We are the person that has done exactly this before God in our minds. If we haven’t committed the physical act (some may have), but if we haven’t, it’s happened in the mind because we let our minds wander and we’re driven by the “lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.” Pride is ugly. Pride is just as bad as all this as far as when you look at it. Physically, this is bad. No, what we do is bad. This is what the Day of Atonement is about because it’s about the covering of sin, how sin is covered.

Thus says the Eternal God of Israel, I anointed you king over Israel... It was God that did it. God raised up David. ...and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. So, it was God. God called us. God has raised us up and given us something. We have the blessing of carrying the name of God. Millions, billions of people don’t. But we do.

So, for us today, “I,” talking about God, “called you” or “awakened you.” I remember the exact day that I realized that I was being awakened. But I have never forgotten it. I remember the phone call that I made. I know the day and time almost, not quite the time, but the day I rang the minister and told him that “two can’t walk together unless they agree.” That was my reasoning because I read the first book. I remember that.

Well, David would have remembered all that he had done because of this story, and then he realized, “Bang. This is you; this is me!”

God says to us, “I delivered you from the power of Satan.” Because that’s what’s happening. This atoning process has started with us, not with all the other billions of people, just with a few of us. But it’s started. Well, we should remember that, “I’m in the process of being atoned to God, to be at one with God. It’s up to me whether I want to finish the journey. I’ve got to make choices by repenting of my sin.”

Verse 8, this is God speaking, I gave you’re your master’s house, and your master’s wife into your keeping, and gave you, because this is all coming from God. The things that we have on a physical level and the spiritual level have all come from God. God has given it all to us. But we forget. That’s the issue. David forgot God for a period of time. Well, we do the same. We forget who we are, that we are so blessed to have been called. We have so much.

...and gave you the house of Israel and Judah; and if that had been too little, I (God) also would have given you more. Now, how humbling would that be when you realize that you’ve sinned and all the things that you’ve done. Not just one thing, all the things that you’ve done, and there’s God saying, “Well, if you’d just come to Me, I would have given you more. I would have given you everything. I’ve done all this for you so far and I was willing to give all of this to you.”

Well, it’s the same for us. This is what God has done for us. God has called us out of the world and given us the gift of His holy spirit – and God will continue to work with us. He’s given us the atoning sacrifice of Joshua the Messiah, Christ, He has given us a promise of life, He has given us an understanding of 57 Truths, and if there was more, “I would give you more if you ask.”

If we asked for the gift of repentance, God will give it. If we ask for things that God desires to give us, which is His holy spirit, which is His nature, the way He is, the way He thinks, if we ask, ask for faith, if we ask for these things God says, ask for humility, I will give it. I want to give it to you. But if you don’t ask, why would God give it. Why should He? We have to really want these things.

Well, this is what the Day of Atonement is about. This is about this sacrificing of our self because our sins can be covered through atonement. It’s a process that we’ve entered into.

God has said, “I also would have given you much more.” For us, “I have given you the truth.” “I have given you the truth,” so to this period in time, “This is what I’ve given to you. And how are you treating it? I have placed you in the Church, the Body of Christ. I have given you My love. I’ve given you My spirit. I’ve given you these things, and if there was more, I would give you more, if you ask.” “I have given you a Passover sacrifice to cover sin, to begin the process of being at one with God.” God’s given all this. God’s done all this. “I have given you the potential to enter a spirit life that lasts forever.” God’s desire is to give if... if we are obedient.

God’s desire is there. That’s not going to change. Receiving is based on something. God desires to give it, and that desire won’t change, but it’s about how we respond to what God wants to give. God wants to give us so much, brethren. We underestimate the Almighty God. We really do.

We just as physical human beings just don’t fully understand the glory of God and the power of God and how great God really is as the Creator and His plan of salvation. It should be burned in our brain, the plan of salvation, and that we’re in this plan of salvation. We’re well going into the plan of salvation, well into it, because we’re being atoned to God. We’re being atoned. It’s a process. Well, we’re well into it.

We’re well into it when you consider nearly 6,000 years has nearly passed and there’s not a lot of time left really for man to be reconciled. But it will happen. There will be a lot that will choose God, that will repent, and will seek to obey God, and will ask God, and will be thankful for all that God has done.

This is what David’s issue was here, was not only that, but there’s an aspect there of being a little bit unthankful, because if he had remembered all of these things that God had done for David he would have probably acted differently.

Well, we’re the same. We’re worse because we really have something on a spiritual level that we often forget what God is doing for us and with us now, that’s going to happen and be given to others later on; it’s our time now.

So, this Day of Atonement should really mean something to us and it’s about being thankful for what God has done, this reconciliation process that’s got to take place and is taking place in our life, and that we should go over our thinking just to see where we stand with God, before God. and if nothing else happens on this day of fasting is that we go before God in thanks for the process of salvation, the reconciliation that’s taking place, to be really thankful that we’ve been called at this time to go through this process. God has given us much. God has given us the potential to enter into a spirit life that lasts forever. God’s desire is to give.

Verse 9, God asks now, Why have you despised the commandment of the Eternal? So, this is Nathan saying to him, Why have you despised the commandment of the Eternal, to do evil in His sight? Now, when we stop and think about that we can say, “Well, oh, yes David...” Well, what about us?

Because why have we despised the commandment because of our lusts, and have done evil in His sight because of our thinking, what we think, the way we think about others, the lack of love or the lack of prayer, the lot of lack of a lot of things that we just let go? We should be ashamed that after all this that God has given us, and yet we stand here in pride. Because that’s what really is driving a lot of it.

What’s really being said here is, You have killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword. You have taken to you his wife and have killed Uriah (him) with the sword of the people of Ammon. So, it’s a big cover-up going on. “You’ve covered all this sin up.” That’s what you have done.

Well, we’re the same. We have done all these things and trying to cover it up. No, it’s time to repent.

Now, therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me. Now, that word “despised” is “no regard,” which is showing a contempt for God, we’ve disesteemed God.

Now, that’s so important for us on a spiritual level. David has done this because he wasn’t thinking clearly and he has despised God, he’s disesteemed God because he hasn’t put God first. So, we, brethren, in our life, have to put God first.

When we sin, we’re raising something else up above – that's any sin, any sin – when we choose to sin through our nature because of choice, whatever, just laziness, habit, whatever it may be, we sin in the mind first, that’s where it starts, we sin, we are showing a disregard to God. We’ve raised up something else before God. We’ve broken the first commandment, really. We’ve raised up an idol. We’re disesteeming God. We haven’t put God first. It’s the first and second commandment.

...and taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife. So, when we choose sin, we show contempt to God. Now, that might sound strong, “It’s... Oh, oh, oh... I don’t show contempt for God.” Well, God says that we’re raising something else up. By our nature we are showing disesteem, disrespect, and disregard for God’s word, what He has said we are to do.

Well, this is about the Day of Atonement. It’s a beautiful thing because this is where we’re at. This is who we are. We are walking sin. We sin because it’s in the mind. It’s a spiritual matter.

Verse 11—Thus says the Eternal, Behold, I will raise up your adversary against you from your own house, and I will take your wives from before your eyes, and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun.

Verse 12—For you did it secretly. Now, this is what happens. We’d say, “Ah, yeah, David did that.” Well, every single one of us, me included, every single one of us does sin secretly. It’s in the mind. No one sees a lot of it. No one sees it. There are aspects that might be seen.

For example, somebody not tithing is rebelling against God and has done exactly what David has done. Because they're failing to tithe, they’re stealing from God. This was David stealing something. He stole another man’s wife. Well, we’re the same. We’re stealing from God. Is that worse? I think so. A lot worse. That is shocking! To steal from the Creator of the universe?

When we break the Sabbath and don’t keep the Sabbath what are we doing? We’re doing something secret. We’re doing it in our mind. “No one will know. It’s just me doing this.” No, God knows. It’s incredible how we think. Well, because we do sin secretly, it’s in our thinking, and it’s every single day. It’s every single day.

Verse 12—For you did it secretly, but I (God) will do this thing before all Israel, before the sun. In other words, everyone is going to know. Because, remember going back, David was trying to cover it all up and keep it all secret. “Oh, Uriah... Oh, get him killed! And Bathsheba’s pregnant! I’ve got to do all these things to cover it all up so no one will know.” Well, God’s saying, “You did it all secretly. You're trying to plan it all in your head. No one would know other than probably Joab.” Hey, this is reality. We all do it secretly.

Sin is spiritual, not physical, and there is a result, there is an impact. So, every sin, there’s an impact. It’s the way we think about a matter, our prejudices, etcetera, they’re all done in secret in the mind. But there is an impact and it can come out in a behavior if and unless it’s repented of.

Verse 13. Which is, this is about atonement. So, David said to Nathan, I have sinned against the Eternal. Because that’s where sin is. It’s against Yahweh Elohim. It’s His law. He is perfect. His thinking is perfect. We sin against God. We despise Him when we sin. We’re showing contempt to Him when we sin, therefore, we have to repent. This is what it takes. It’s about admitting that we are wrong, and that God is right.

So, David said to Nathan, I have sinned against the Eternal. That’s every one of us! Now, this is the reconciliation process. This is the beginning of it. The sin, now it’s, “I have sinned. I am wrong.” That’s how the reconciliation can begin. It’s called genuine repentance. Which, there is a sorrow in that because we’ve done something we really shouldn’t have done and we know it, and it was so stupid to have done it.

And Nathan said to David, The Eternal has also put away your sin and you shall not die. Isn’t that incredible? The Passover sacrifice of Joshua the Messiah is applied. This is going back to God forgiving David. Well, our sins can be forgiven IF we do what David said, “I have sinned.” We admit it to God. It’s in the mind. It’s not a physical thing, per se, it’s in the mind whether we sin or not, most of the time.

The Eternal has put away your sin; you shall not die. Now, “the wages of sin is death.” That’s what we’ve earned. Well, this is about the reconciliation process being fulfilled. Passover, atonement is the covering of sin based on repentance.

There is no covering of sin for a person who will not repent. They can’t be forgiven because they don’t want to be forgiven.

Verse 14—However, because by this deed you have put great occasion to the enemies of the Eternal to blaspheme... Now, this is something that we need to be careful of with our words and our actions, that people one day would turn around and say, “Ah, I remember you.” Because they’ll remember everything. Because that’s how humans are. They remember things.

We have to ensure that we’re not blaspheming God’s name by our words, our actions, and in another way, by our thoughts, the way we think. We think things aren’t seen. Things are seen. Because the way we think does come out in actions. It comes out in words, the way we behave.

Well, we have to be very careful. We carry God’s name. We belong to God. We’re begotten sons of God. We belong to the Church of God—PKG. You know, we belong there. We’ve been placed there into the Body of Christ. People don’t understand a lot of those terms. We do. Well, we have to be very careful that we’re not blaspheming God by our actions.

The child... So, because of this, it’s going to be obvious. It says, However, because your deed has given great occasion for blaspheme. People would have known David as the king and they would be blaspheming, “Oh, that’s his God. Look what he did, what he’s doing.” Well, it’s a blaspheme.

The child also who was born to you will surely die. So, this is a difficult thing for David to process. Thinking, “Whoa, I’ve got a child from Bathsheba that was conceived out of a real wedding, wedlock. It was another man’s wife and she’s become pregnant, the child is born, and now God is saying the child is going to die.” Now, people read this and think, “That’s not fair! The child is going to pay a price for David.”

Well, remember, physical things that happen were about the spiritual meaning. This is not about David and Bathsheba and a child dying. This is about us and the way that we have. There’s a penalty for sin. “The wages of sin is death.” There’s a penalty for all sin. Whether it’s in the mind or whether it’s obvious, doesn’t matter, if we go against God’s command, there’s a penalty to be paid.

So, this child is going to die. Remembering, there is a resurrection and this child will be resurrected during the hundred years and will be brought up in the truth. What a blessing, to be brought up in the truth and have that potential. Knowing who his mother and father were and all that type of thing, it’s going to be rather exciting for that child.

Verse 15—Then Nathan departed to his house. And the Eternal struck the child that Uriah’s wife bore to David (which is Bathsheba), bore to David and it became ill.

Now there is another impact going on in the mind of David. He’s doing something that now he’s turning to God, which is what he should have done in the beginning. He’s turning to God more fully. Which is the same as us. We should turn to God more fully, recognizing our sins and what we’re really like. Let’s turn to God more fully and understand that God is almighty and God’s purpose for mankind, for you and me, is for the purpose of reconciliation – from this point to that point – for the purpose of one day entering Elohim.

This story about David, Bathsheba, and the child, is for our benefit. Now, we can take from it about this process of reconciliation that’s going to take place and the way we should view things, which is to view them in a spiritual way.

So now the child’s become ill. Verse 16—David, therefore, pleaded with God for the child; and David fasted, and went in, and lay all night on the ground. Now, David is reacting. What’s he done? He’s turned to God. He’s decided he would fast. What’s the purpose of fasting? It’s not about just going without food and drink for a 24-hour period. The purpose of fasting is repentance, to look at self, to have a good look at self to see where we are not reconciled to God, we’re not atoned to God, we’re not at one with God.

Well, David’s now fasted. He’s gone in and he’s laying down and he’s pleading with God about the child being ill.

So, the elders of his house, those around him, arose, and went to him to raise him up from the ground. But he would not. David says, “No, leave me here.” Nor did he eat food with them. So, David is now fasting and he’s praying to God, He’s afflicting himself for the purpose of repentance, realizing of his sin that is, but he’s also asking God for something. He asks God for something, which is to heal the child.

Verse 18—Then on the seventh day it came to pass that the child died. So, the child dies. Now, when a child dies, today's world, people will say all sorts of things and they’ll have them up as baby angels and all sorts of weird things. But the child has died. David would have known the child was dead. That’s it. It’s finished. There is no use asking God any further about the health of the child; the child is dead. It’s over. It’s finished. David is happy to move forward because he understands something about a resurrection. He understands something about the greatness of God as well. So, he understands these things. Others around him don’t.

And the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead. And they said, Indeed, while the child was alive, we spoke to him, and he would not deed our voice. Because they were saying, “Well, come on. Come and have something to eat and drink.” Whereas David was saying, “No, I’m sacrificing myself to God, because I’m asking something of God, and whatever God’s will is, it’s God’s will.” David knew that. How can we tell him that the child is dead? He may do us some harm. In other words, he might react and go, “Wow, the child is dead!” Well, that wasn’t David. David was spiritual in his thinking. He had God’s holy spirit, and therefore, he viewed things differently just like we do. Just like we do.

We view the death of somebody differently than the world would view the death of somebody. Well, we should because God’s will and purpose is done for all mankind, all mankind. It’s God’s plan of salvation, it’s not ours. It’s not what we think. It’s what God thinks.

Man has brought destruction on himself because of his sin. Just like David’s brought a destruction because of sin, because of what he did, well, we’re the same. We’re exactly the same. We deserve the death penalty because we’ve chosen sin.

Verse 19—When David saw that his servants were whispering David perceived that the child was dead. Therefore, David said to his servants, Is the child dead? And they said to him, He is dead.

Verse 20—So David rose from the ground, washed and anointed himself, and changed his clothes. Because he’d been fasting and praying to God for this period of time. And he went into the house of the Lord and worshipped.

Now, when you go into God, you thank God. You thank God for His great mercy. We thank God for lots of things. But we’re thankful and we worship God. He is the Great Creator. He knows what’s best for all of us.

Then he went into his own house, and when he requested, they set food before him and he ate.

Verse 21—Then his servants said to him, What is this that you have done? Which is a question, “Well, what are you doing? You wouldn’t eat before; the child was alive. Now the child is dead, and you should really be mourning him and you should be fasting, but you’re eating. You’re just going on.” They didn’t understand it.

You fasted and wept for seven days for the child while he was alive. But when the child died you arose and ate food. Which is totally contrary to what most people would do. Well, David was a man of God. We understand that. Therefore, we are people of God, we’re men and women of God, so we will do things differently than others.

And he said, While the child was alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, Who can tell whether the Eternal will be gracious to me, that the child may live? So, he didn’t know what God’s decision would be, and therefore, he prayed and he fasted and asked God to intervene. But in the end, he would have said, “Your will be done.” “I don’t know what God’s will is. Maybe God will allow the child to live. Maybe he will die. I can only ask. I can only humble myself before God and put it all in God’s hands because this is God’s creation, this is God’s plan of salvation, this is God’s purpose for mankind.” This is about atonement, about a process. God was working with David. God was working with David in the atoning process.

Verse 23—But now he is dead, the child is dead, why should I fast? What would be the point of fasting now that the child is dead? Prior to that, he’d repented, he’d fasted, he’s asking something of God. Which, in other words, while things are the way they are God can still be approached about this. But once the child is dead, the child is dead. Can you bring him back again? No, because it’s God’s will and purpose. We have no power. We’re powerless. It’s God’s will. There’s a purpose behind this happening.

Shall I go to him? Shall I die? Be the same. Just die? But he shall not return to me. “It’s over.” The child was dead. “I need to get on with my life.”

We’re the same. Once we repent, brethren, we need to get on with our life. We need to acknowledge our sin and repent before God, ask that forgiveness and it will be given. Very confident of that. “What?” You say, “How?” It will be given. If there is genuine repentance, God’s word has clearly said, “I will forgive you.” God doesn’t remember it all. It’s forgiven and we move forward because we are being atoned. This Day of Atonement, we are being atoned to God. Not to others, but to God. That’s what we’re being atoned to.

God will forgive. That’s a promise. God says He will forgive if we are genuine in our repentance, if we’re fighting in the mind to not do it again, to battle against the prejudices, to battle against the lusts that we have.

Let’s seek God while we are alive. Let’s ask God for the gift of His holy spirit. Let’s approach Him every chance we can to ask for support, for encouragement, for strength to go through these things. Then God says He will give it.

If it’s spiritual and we are His children, the scripture talks about, you know, if an earthly father would, you know, do all these things and sacrifice for a child, you know, to have them be benefitted, how much more would God the Father, the Creator?

He created us for a purpose, an atoning process, a process of salvation. This day pictures that atoning process all based on the things that we covered. It is about sin. It is about repentance. It is about prayer. It is about forgiveness. It is about reconciliation so that at one point in time we can be saved, we can be changed to spirit.

Hebrews 9:6. Now, this is referring back to Leviticus, the priesthood, which was physical pointing to the spiritual. They wouldn’t have known it. They would have just simply gone through the ritual that was set up because God had a plan and purpose for the salvation of mankind which was all based on Passover 31 A.D.

Hebrews 9:6—Now, when these things, the physical things, had thus been prepared, the priests always went into the first part of the tabernacle. So, there were rituals to be carried out, there was service to be carried out. They could do that, and they could go into the first part of the Tabernacle. They went into the Holy Place to perform daily functions performing the services.

But into the second part, the last third, the Holiest Of All, the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the people’s sin committed in ignorance.

Verse 8—The holy spirit indicating, which is “revealed this.” So, it’s been revealed. We understand it. God’s holy spirit has revealed to us the Day of Atonement, the physical things but now the spiritual, what it’s really all about. It’s about this atoning process, about access to God through prayer. ...that the way... Now, mankind did not have access to God’s throne at this point. ...the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing. It was symbolic. It was a type for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices were offered, which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to conscience. Sin could not be forgiven because the blood of bulls and goats would not forgive sin.

We, brethren, have this great opportunity that we can go before God in repentance and be forgiven of sin because we have a High Priest who doesn’t go in every year. He’s there for always. He’s there now representing us because he has sacrificed once for all.

Verse 10—concerning only with foods and drinks, various washings, and fleshly ordinances, which is rituals that picture the future. That’s what it was about. ...imposed until the time of reformation, which is a correction, which we understand when that took place. It was about Christ.

But Christ came as High Priest for the good things to come, by the greater and more perfect tabernacle. Spiritual – the Church. ...not made with hands. So, what is happening is not something that’s done by man, it’s God that does it in the mind. ...that is, not of this creation. It’s a spiritual building.

God can dwell in us and build a temple from mankind over 7,100 years and it’s all spiritual. Mankind can’t do what God is doing, but God can do it. So, we can be built as a spiritual temple IF we are willing to yield to the atoning process, which the Day of Atonement pictures.

Verse 12—not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood he, talking about Christ, entered the Most Holy Place once for all having obtained eternal redemption. How? By a resurrection. The same thing that we look forward to, which is a resurrection.

We have been offered the same resurrection from physical to spirit, from mortal to immortal. We have been offered the same change as Joshua the Messiah. The same change! From physical to spiritual. We look forward to that.

We are begotten sons of God not yet born because God has made this so. Mankind is going to be given this opportunity in the future because of the Day of Atonement. This atoning process is going to cover for mankind over this 1,100 years that is soon ahead of us.

Verse 13—For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, which was all physical, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who by the eternal spirit, which is God’s spirit, offered himself without spot, without blemish, to God... Well, that’s what we have to do, brethren. We’ve got to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice to God.

Now, we have spot. But the beauty of the Day of Atonement shows you that there is a process and that sin can be purged, sin can be covered if we’re willing to repent.

...without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works, from sin. We’re to cleanse our conscience from sin, cleanse our minds, our thinking from sin. How do we do that? By repentance. God will forgive if it’s genuine. ...to serve the living God.

We must be forgiven of sin and have our minds transformed to think differently by the power of God’s holy spirit. That’s the process.

Verse 15—And for this reason he is the mediator of the new covenant, which we’re in, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. It’s just so beautiful when you look at this whole process.

Brethren, we should be just so excited and humbled to the fact that we know what’s happening in this world. We know what’s happening to us, that we have started a process of atonement. The Day of Atonement, we’ve started the process and it’s going to end. The atoning will end on the very last day when billions will be entering Elohim. After a period of 7,100 years the atoning process will be finished. It started and many have achieved it. Soon, 144,000 will have achieved that and it will all begin. We look forward to that time.

Well, we’ll work towards a conclusion here. We’ll finish off in Hebrews 9:24. Verse 24—For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true. So, it’s not a physical tabernacle or physical temple. ...but into the heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us. Christ is our High Priest.

Not that he should offer himself often, as the high priest enters the Holy Place (Most Holy Place) every year on the Day of Atonement, this day, with the blood of another, of a goat.

Verse 26—He then would have had to offer (suffer) often since the foundation of the world; but now once at the end of the ages he has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. We know this. Sin has been covered for us if we’re willing to repent and if we’re willing to obey God. Genuine obedience. Genuine repentance. God will forgive and our sins can be covered, and we can move forward. Just like David. Just move forward; don’t have to look back. It’s over; sin has been covered. It’s over. Let’s keep going, battling until the end.

Verse 27—And as it is appointed (reserved) for men to die once, but after this the judgment. So, there is a resurrection. People are going to die. There’s going to be a resurrection, and there’s going to be a second life. We understand that is the Last Great Day, the hundred years.

So Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many; to those who eagerly wait for him he will appear a second time. Well, we look forward to that. You know, that’s in our prayers, that we look forward to the return of Joshua the Messiah, the King of kings to this earth, to rule, to govern. Because this world at the moment is such a mess. Mankind has made a mess. It’s just, how do you say, people are insane, things that are happening, and selfishness is being brought to the front.

There are things happening in various countries, something happening here in Australia as well, where people are disregarding instructions and their selfishness is just so highlighted. People now are really seeing what selfishness is. They’re starting to see on a physical level selfishness. “Ah, that’s really selfish!” They’re still looking outward instead of inward, but they’re looking outward to see selfishness. One day with the gift of God’s holy spirit they’ll be able to look at themselves and say, “Ah, that’s me. I’m selfish.” It’s all in the mind.

So, Christ will appear a second time, apart from sin. It’s a different purpose. First time was to come for the point of enabling us to be atoned to God. So, it’s going to be apart from that. The second time is to rule as King of kings and with authority. There’ll be one government, one government. There’s going to be one of things. It’s going to be so exciting. It’s an enormous, exciting time of what we’re going into.

The government of God. Our minds, we think we understand it all. Well, the reality is we don’t because it is a spiritual matter and it is an incredible thing, a change that takes place, once God’s spirit starts to govern this earth through Christ and the 144,000.

He has appeared the first time for salvation, the second time, apart from sin for salvation. The salvation started when Christ first appeared as our Passover, and that atoning process goes right through to the end. Salvation is based on repentance and the choice to obey God’s word, the truth.

This day is a day of fasting because it is a sobering day, yet a day of celebration. That celebration is a spiritual celebration. The glory goes to God for providing such a day and a process of atonement, a reconciliation.

The Day of Atonement is about fasting, sin, repentance, prayer, forgiveness, and reconciliation. Everyone must come into unity and oneness with God to become at one with Him. Being reconciled to God the Father by the blood of Joshua the Christ begins with Passover.

The Day of Atonement also pictures the removal of Satan and his demons from the presence of mankind during the 1,100 years of Christ’s rule. Then their removal, Satan and his demon's removal, from the very presence of the Family of God forever. They’ll have no existence, and there will be the Family of God and an angelic realm and angelic beings that are in unity with God. They follow God.

This day is about a choice to be reconciled. This day is about a choice to be reconciled. Because God offers us the opportunity to be reconciled once we’re called, and He’s provided the process of reconciliation, which is all about what we talked about before, which is about fasting, because that is humbling one's self, denying self, about sin, about repentance, about prayer and forgiveness. When that happens, we are then reconciled with God. So, this whole process.

But we are called to have a choice because we can choose not to be reconciled. It is a personal choice in the end. So, this day is about a choice to be reconciled to the Great Creator Yahweh Elohim once a person is called to be reconciled.