9995 God's Calendar - Day of Atonement and The Feast of Tabernacles

On the tenth day of the seventh month, the nation of Israel came to a standstill and the high priest was permitted to enter into the Holy of Holies and offer the blood of the sacrifice on the Day of Atonement. Leviticus 16:1 gives us the outline and the explanation of this particular event. And today I would like to look at three pictures in the Day of Atonement. We have pictured here the work of Jesus Christ, we have pictured the future cleansing of Israel, and we have pictured the future cleansing of the church. 

Now let me make it very clear that the basic interpretation of this passage, Leviticus 16:1, is to the nation of Israel, but there is a spiritual application for us as believers. All Scripture is profitable for us and we don’t want to spiritualize and make applications that aren't there, but neither do we want to miss the lessons that God has for us. Let’s begin now in Leviticus 16:1 looking at the work of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

First of all, this work in Leviticus 16:1 on the Day of Atonement was done by one person. The high priest. In Leviticus 16:2, Aaron the high priest was taken out to do this particular job. And in Leviticus 16:17, there shall be no man in the tabernacle of the congregation when he goeth in to make an atonement in the holy place. He had to do it alone. Now the only person that we have who can do this job for us is Jesus Christ. Just as the high priest laid aside his garments and put on the simple linen garments of a servant, so our Lord Jesus laid aside His garments of glory, came to this earth and became a servant to die for us. 

Now the difference, of course, is this: that the high priest had to offer sacrifices for himself, but Jesus did not have to offer any sacrifice for Himself because He was holy and harmless and sinless. Something else is true. The high priest offered the sacrifice of bulls and goats and other animals, but the Lord Jesus Christ offered Himself as a sacrifice. He didn't offer blood from bulls and goats because the blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sin. The work of the high priest on the Day of Atonement was the work of atonement. The word atonement means to cover. The blood covered the sins; it could not take it away. When Jesus died, He took away the sins of the world. 

When the priest was presented to do this job on the Day of Atonement, he was washed—a picture of sanctification. Sanctification simply means being set apart. Our Lord Jesus Christ sanctified Himself. John 17:19, He said, "And for their sakes I sanctify myself." Our Lord Jesus set Himself apart to do the one task that nobody else could do, namely the task of completing salvation for a sinful world. He alone could do it, He alone would do it, and He alone is our Savior today. And He did it alone. It was alone the Savior died, and He did it for you and for me. 

Now the important part of this Day of Atonement ceremony has to do with two goats. You’ll recall that there were two goats involved in this ceremony, and these goats were called a sin offering. Leviticus 16:5, "And he shall take of the congregation of the children of Israel two kids of the goats for a sin offering." Now the two were together. What was done with these two goats involved a sin offering. And you’ll notice that the first goat was slain. Leviticus 16:15, "Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood within the veil, and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat: and he shall make an atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions in all their sins." In other words, this goat was slain as a sin offering. Jesus died as a sin offering. In fact, when He died on the cross, He was made sin. Now He knew no sin, and He committed no sin, in Him was no sin, and yet He died as a sin offering. 

Now this pictures the work of Jesus Christ in His death. What about the second goat? Well, in Leviticus 16:20, "And when he hath finished atoning for the holy place, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar, he the high priest shall bring the live goat: and Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send it away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness: and the goat shall bear upon it all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness." 

The first goat was slain; the second goat, alive, was turned loose. It’s a picture of John 1:29, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." It’s a picture of Psalm 103:12, "As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us." Now these two goats picture to us the two aspects of our Lord’s work on the cross. He died for us; His blood takes away sin. He is alive today; He arose from the dead and He has taken away, carried away, the sins of the world. And it never has to be done again. 

It’s a beautiful picture of the work of Christ. Secondly, it’s a beautiful picture of the future cleansing of Israel. In Matthew 24:29-31, we read about this trumpet being blown and the angels of God gathering God’s people Israel back to the land. In Isaiah 27:12-13, you have the very same fact recorded. But I want you to turn to Zechariah, the second to the last book in the Old Testament. Zechariah 13:1, and we’ll notice in verse one: "In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness." Now in what day? In that future day when Jesus Christ shall return. 

Go back into Zechariah 12:9, "And it shall come to pass in that day," talking about that day when Jerusalem shall be attacked, the latter day just before the Lord shall come back, "that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn." And in the next four verses of that chapter, you find one word repeated over and over again: mourning. In other words, the Lord Jesus Christ shall return, Israel shall look upon Him whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for their sin, and as a result of this there shall be a time of cleansing and purification, and we read in Zechariah 13:1 that a fountain shall be opened for sin and for uncleanness. There will be a future regathering and a future cleansing of the nation of Israel. That is the basic interpretation of the Day of Atonement. 

However, there is an application to the church and that’s the third picture that we see here. You see, the church is not all that it ought to be. We read in Ephesians 5:1 that there are spots and wrinkles and defilement in the church. And yet one day the church is going to be perfect. Let me read that passage to you. "Husbands, love your wives," Ephesians 5:25, "even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish." 

Now we have to be honest and admit that we as Christians individually and the church collectively is far from glorious and far from being without spots and wrinkles and blemishes. Now the spots come from defilement on the outside, the wrinkles come from decay on the inside, the blemishes come from disease on the inside. And unfortunately, the bride of Jesus Christ, the church, is not as glorious as she ought to be, but one day she shall be glorious. When will this take place? It will take place after the judgment seat of Christ. You see, the Feast of Trumpets on the first day of the seventh month pictures the gathering together of God’s people. Israel is the basic interpretation, but the church is the application. The trumpet’s going to be sounding and we are going to be called up to be with the Lord. Then we’re going to have our "Day of Atonement," that is, we’re going to have to stand before the Lord, give an accounting of our lives and ministries, and that’s when the church is going to have all the wrinkles taken out and all the spots removed and all the blemishes taken care of and it’s going to be a glorious church to the glory of God. It’s going to be a wonderful day. I trust you’re looking forward to it. The future cleansing of Israel and the future cleansing of the church, and both of these are based on that once and for all work of Jesus Christ on the cross. 

The Feast of Tabernacles was the last of the seven events listed in Leviticus 23:1. Notice verse 39. "Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the Lord seven days: on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath. And ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days. And ye shall keep it a feast unto the Lord seven days in the year. It shall be a statute forever in your generations: ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month. Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths: that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God." 

The Feast of Tabernacles is the equivalent of the American or the Canadian Thanksgiving Day when the harvest has been brought in and people rejoiced at the goodness of the Lord. For seven days the Jewish people lived in booths reminding them of their pilgrim journey when they had been delivered from Egypt. Now there are some very practical lessons from this particular feast, and the first of them is rather obvious: God wants His people to have joy. Some people don’t believe that; they think that God is somewhat of a celestial spoilsport, that He sits in heaven trying to figure out ways to make people miserable. And of course, that simply isn't true. 

God wants His people to have joy. To begin with, He wants us to be able to look back and have joy. In verses 42 and 43 He reminds them that He had led the people out of Egypt, He had led them through the wilderness, He had been good to them. You know, it’s a good thing to sit down and remember the goodness of the Lord. Over and over again in the book of Deuteronomy we are told to remember. He said, "Now you remember, you were servants, slaves in bondage in the land of Egypt and God delivered you with a mighty hand and with great power." Over and over again Moses said, "Now when you move into the land of Canaan, when you live in houses you didn't build, when you drink from wells you didn't dig, when you eat from fields and trees that you didn't plant or cultivate, remember this: it’s God who has given this to you." 

The Feast of Tabernacles was a reminder to the Jewish people that everything they had came from God. Oh, we need this as a nation. We need this as churches. Some of you who have come along into a church and you’re the younger generation and you take all that for granted, you take that building for granted, but you should remember that people sacrificed and sweat and gave that that building might be there. You might take the ministry of your church for granted—don’t do it; somebody paid a price. Look back and be grateful for God’s past mercies. And then He wants God’s people to be grateful for the present blessings. Verse 39, "When ye have gathered in the fruit of the land." Now this would be the harvest, of course, that was coming from the land because of the goodness of God. 

Deuteronomy 16:13 has a notice about this that I think is rather interesting. "Thou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles seven days, after that thou hast gathered in thy corn and thy wine: and thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates." That’s quite a crowd. "Seven days shalt thou keep a solemn feast unto the Lord thy God in the place which the Lord shall choose: because the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thine increase, and in all the works of thine hands, therefore thou shalt surely rejoice." There’s kind of a mixture there of solemn rejoicing. We are solemn because we realize it’s all the grace of God. We rejoice because it’s the goodness of God. Oh, how good He is to us. God wants His people to have joy. Enjoy what God has given to you and employ it for His glory and for the good of others. Don’t forget the widow and don’t forget the fatherless and don’t forget the needy. 

Secondly, God wants His people to have joy and joy always follows cleansing. First the Day of Atonement, then the Feast of Tabernacles. Nothing will rob you of joy like sin. In Psalm 51:1, David said, "Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation," because sin always robs us of the joy of our salvation. But joy always follows cleansing. First the Day of Atonement, sin was taken care of, and then they entered into joy. This was true of the prodigal son. He was out in the world, he was out living with the pigs, he was in rebellion against his father, he was miserable. Miserable. And then he said, "I’m going home," and he went home and the father received him and there was great joy. They began to be joyful at this feast. First the cleansing and then the joy. First sin has to be taken care of and then there is happiness. 

God wants His people to have joy, joy follows cleansing, there’s a third lesson we should learn: joy leads to sacrifice. It’s rather interesting to note that during the Feast of Tabernacles, 199 different animals were sacrificed. Numbers 29:1 gives you the details on this. You know, when you’re joyfully thankful to God, sacrifice is no problem. God says to us, "Look, I’ve been so good to you. Now you share. You share with me and you share with the fatherless and you share with the widows." Some of you are probably in churches that are having building programs or special missionary programs and there’s a need for money, and the economy being what it is, sometimes money is rather hard to come by. Remember this: joy always leads to sacrifice. When we’re happy in the Lord, when we’re rejoicing in His goodness, it’s no problem at all to write that check or reach in the purse or billfold and get that bill and share it with the missionary or share it with the building program or with some ministry that is blessing you from the word. 

God wants His people to have joy, joy follows cleansing, joy always leads to sacrifice, there’s a fourth lesson: the greatest joy is yet to come. I have pointed out that the seven feasts of the Lord are really a prophetic history. It begins with Passover, the death of Christ. The Feast of Unleavened Bread, cleansing of our lives. The Feast of Firstfruits, the resurrection of the Lord. Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit. Now what lies in the future? The Feast of Trumpets, the gathering together of God’s people. God’s earthly people Israel and God’s heavenly people the church. Then the Day of Atonement, when Israel shall be cleansed of her sin, she shall look upon the Lord Jesus and repent and a nation shall be born in a day. 

Then Israel is going to enter into her kingdom. We believe that there is a future for Israel. We believe the Bible teaches that one day Jesus Christ shall reign and there shall be a kingdom here on earth. I’m reading from Zechariah 14:4, "And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east." Verse 9, "And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one." Verse 16, "And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles." 

The Feast of Tabernacles is a picture of that future kingdom when Jesus shall reign where’er the sun doth its successive journeys run. The Feast of Tabernacles will be a time of great rejoicing. God will deliver nature from the bondage of sin. When you and I will be entering into the glory of the Lord, when the kingdom is established. Now don’t fix your heart on the joys of this world—they don’t last. And don’t get discouraged because you’re going through some difficulty—it won't last. Psalm 30:5, "Weeping may endure for the night, but joy cometh in the morning." The best is yet to come. Our Lord Jesus is going to come, one day He shall establish His kingdom and we shall have rejoicing and remembering and worshipping and praising forever in the presence of the Lord. God wants His people to have joy. Joy always follows cleansing. Joy leads to sacrifice. And the greatest joy is yet to come. Have you trusted Christ as your Savior? Have you entered into the joy of the Lord?