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South Bay SDA Church

Phil Mills

The Day of Atonement

In both the Old and New Testament, the sanctuary and its services figure prominently in the Bible.

The book of Leviticus in the Old Testament and the book of Hebrews in the New Testament are devoted to this topic.

The Psalms are the words and poetry and song that were to be chanted by the choirs and priests and people in its worship.

Many chapters in Exodus are devoted to its construction, the Philistines capture of the ark, David's involvement with fundraising, details of temple construction by Solomon, its destruction by Nebuchadnezzar, its reconstruction by Ezra, all part of the history of the Bible.

The prophecies of Ezekiel and Daniel, Jesus' prophecies of its destruction, John's prophecies in Revelation, to name only a few of its references in the Bible this makes it amazing that it is seldom mentioned or understood by Christians today.

The Bible uses various descriptions to help us understand the importance and purpose of the Old Testament sanctuary service.

Paul tells us that the sanctuary priests are a copy in shadow of the heavenly things.

When our son Philip was young We bought him a plastic model engine to build.

We wanted him to know something about an engine.

He learned about combustion engines by building a little copy of an engine.

The sanctuary and its services are a little copy of the genuine, real, original worship center in heaven.

It's a miniature, a model, helping us picture and understand the heavens work for our salvation.

But Paul also compared the sanctuary services to a shadow.

As a physician, I've been exposed to lots of shadows.

They're helpful, but they require more than 1 view if you're going to see 3 dimensions.

To gain the message of the sanctuary, many views must be carefully considered.

Let's quickly review the sanctuary services.

There were daily or continuous services in the sanctuary.

These also included the weekly seventh-day Sabbath ceremonies and the monthly new moon ceremonies in addition there was the yearly closing service done on the day of atonement to understand the services we should quickly review the Jewish yearly worship calendar.

There were 3 spring festivals which included Passover, Feast of Unleavened Bread, and the Waving of the First Fruits.

These 3 first feasts occurred all together and lasted just about a week.

50 days later, at the end of the winter harvest, was Pentecost, a one-day feast.

In the fall, after the harvest, there were 3 feasts, beginning with the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and closing with the Feast of Tabernacles looking back on the wilderness wandering and looking forward to the dwelling in Jerusalem in New Jerusalem in heaven.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles.

This morning we're going to look at the Day of Atonement Yom Kippur, Yom-De-Kippur judgment.

The cleansing of the sanctuary and the investigative judgment is all part of the cleansing of the sanctuary.

But just before we begin this topic I need to make 1 more point, because some people get confused by this.

Jews preferred the shadow, the copy, and they rejected what it was a picture of, Christ and his work when he appeared.

Just as a blueprint points to the finished building, so the ceremonial service pointed forward to the finished product but was not the product itself.

After the building is complete, the blueprint is only useful to help us understand.

The law of ceremonies was made null and void by the crucifixion of Christ.

Those who believe we are still required to keep the feast do not comprehend the full purpose and meaning of the very feast they claim to keep.

Those who profess to keep the feast are inadvertently denying the real meaning and value of the ancient Jewish feast.

With this introduction, let's learn about the most sacred day of the Jewish calendar.

Coming at the very end of the Jewish calendar.

This represents the end of time just before Jesus coming.

This day determines whether a Jew's sins were forgiven and whether the Jew would be cut off from the people of Israel in the Old Testament type.

It determines in the reality who are God's people and who are not God's people.

Father in heaven, we are inadequate to talk about such solemn and important topics.

And I pray that your Holy Spirit will move in, capture our minds, let us give you our minds for you to capture.

And may we come away understanding a renewed vision of Jesus and his plan that includes our salvation in Christ's name we pray amen God begins his in instruction on this ceremony with a very solemn reminder and warning.

Now the Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the 2 sons of Aaron when they offered profane fire before the Lord and died.

If you are unable to see this, this is Luke 16, starting with verse 1.

And the Lord said to Moses, Tell Aaron your brother not to come at just any time into the holy place inside the veil before the mercy seat which is on the ark, lest he die.

For I will appear in the cloud above the mercy seat.

The book of Genesis covers 2, 300 years of history, the book of Exodus covers about 360 years of history, but the book of Leviticus covers 1 month of history.

But it's the important first month of the wilderness tabernacles operation.

Nadab and Abihu, the 2 oldest sons of Aaron, were ordained as priests and ministered in the sanctuary with Aaron their father, the high priest.

Within a few days of the sanctuary services being initiated, Nadab and Abihu came into the temple after drinking alcoholic wine.

Instead of lighting the incense with a holy fire started by God, these young men used a more convenient method of lighting the fire using their own kindling.

As a result, a fire blazed out from the holy of holies and consumed them.

Just as God did not accept Cain's offering, God did not accept this offering.

God is giving here a miniature of the second death when once again fire comes from the presence of God and devours the wicked.

Our society, our culture, our very worship in this culture and society is often rebellious and irreverent.

But God's presence is holy and true worship is reverent.

And in this end-time ceremony, the end-time worshipers were reminded of the importance of reverence.

This is particularly important for Seventh-day Adventists who are a kingdom of priests, a holy nation, and a peculiar people.

And it reminds us of the importance of temperance in all things and the avoidance of the wine at Babylon.

Now how do we offer profane or common fire instead of the sacred fire in our lives and in our worship?

In the second volume of Mind, Character, and Personality, page 557, we read, the truth of God has not been magnified in his believing people because they have not brought it into their personal experience.

Remember, Jesus was to come and magnify the law and make it honorable.

We are to be a magnifiers of God's principles and make them honorable.

How do they not bring this into their lives?

They conform to the world and to depend on it for their influence.

They allow the world to convert them and introduce the common fire to take the place of the sacred that they may, in their line of work, meet the world standard.

So if we are meeting the world standard in our line of work, whatever it is, we're offering Common fire.

So in place of carrying a godly influence wherever we go, we carry a common influence wherever we are.

Our churches can also offer common or profane fire.

Some ministers make the mistake of supposing that success depends on drawing a large congregation by outward display and then delivering the message of truth in a theatrical style.

But this is using common fire instead of the sacred fire of God's kindling.

We don't need drama, puppets, other forms of common fire in our worship of God.

God has given specific instruction on how we are to approach Him, and how and when we are to worship.

The sanctuary reminds us that God sets our calendar.

We don't worship based on our whims, our inclinations, our convenience.

Even the high priest was not to come into the Most Holy Place any time he desired.

He would go into the Holy Place Most Holy Place once a year.

At the end of the chapter, the specific day was identified, the most holy place was only to be entered in the seventh month on the tenth day of the month.

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The Day of Atonement

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