[Ray Clore] There's an old saying that says, "Cleanliness is next to godliness." There's a lot of truth in that saying, most people wash their face and hands daily if possible. Many do a full-body wash, shower, or bath. Being physically clean helps slow or stop the spread of disease and provides a better-looking and better-smelling environment for us and those around us. We understand there is an analogy between physical and cleanness and spiritual sin or impurity. Sinful thoughts, words, actions lead to an unpleasant, dirty, and sick society and physical environment. In spite of our best efforts, our environment gets dirty. Our minds get filled with temptation, and sin and error creep into our lives. What to do? On the Day of Atonements, ancient Israel had what we can call a national reset day. On this day, long-term financial debts of all kinds were forgiven by analogy washed away.

Original owners and families went back to ancestral lands without the burden of debt, a physical economic reset to give people a new start in life. On this day, multiple atonements or coverings for sin were performed by the high priest to cleanse the high priest and his family, the priests, the people, the nation's formal worship, and the land. So, Israel could continue to be the covenant people of God even though they were imperfect and unclean. Today we will see that this day every 50 years was to usher in a structural economic reset for all of ancient Israel, called the Jubilee. We'll see seven great atonements were performed this day, every year. We will see that cleansing the oceans and the earth will occur in the end time before the whole world is cleansed of the influence of the devil after Jesus's return. But first, a reminder that our faith, our hope, our salvation rely upon the rock, Jesus Christ.

John 3:16-17 You know it, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”

We are reminded that God created this whole universe so that He could have children. It was created so that we could have life. And Jesus Christ came, and He gave a substitutionary sacrifice to cover our sins so that we could live. So, we see forgiveness, we see life, we see love from God so we can live. Let's go to 1 John now.

1 John 1:7-9 “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His son, cleanses us from all sin.” That substitutionary sacrifice that Jesus gave His life, it pays the penalty for our sins. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us, but if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

The title of the sermon today is A Day of Cleansing for the Nation, A Day of Cleansing for the Nation.

Anciently, after settling the land, individual Israelites could bring sacrifices to pay for their various sins and seek forgiveness. But on the Day of Atonements, no individual animal sacrifice was asked for or required from each family. Sacrifices were required for Aaron's family and on the national level. Individual Israelites were required to assemble the convocation and required to afflict their souls, as we'll see a little bit later, we just understood to mean fasting from food and water for 24 hours. Could this fasting, no food, no liquids for 24 hours be considered a form of individual sacrifice? I think probably many people viewed it as a sacrifice to not eat or drink for 24 hours. We know that fasting does a physical reset on the body, a cleansing of some toxins that get built up over time. Not working to prepare food or eat food three or more times a day does give us more time to focus on something else, God, a pause, a reset from daily habits, to think about our lives, our behavior, our mistakes, and to think about positive goals. For ancient Israel this day was like a reset button to get the whole nation physically back on track economically and its worship system back on track spiritually. Let's go to Leviticus 25. Leviticus 25. This was a day that many people looked forward to anciently, especially as the jubilee got closer and closer.

Leviticus 25:8-10 “And you shall count seven Sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven years, and the time of the seventh Sabbaths of years shall be to you 49 years. Then you shall cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound on the 10th day of the seventh month. On the Day of Atonements, you shall make the trumpet to sound throughout all your land, and you shall consecrate the 50th year and proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants.” I think many of you know that is what is on our Liberty Bell, "Proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants. “It should be a jubilee for you, and each of you shall return to his possession. Each of you shall return to his family.”

Leviticus 25:13 “In this year of Jubilee, each of you shall return to his possession.”

So, anciently, they were supposed to go back to the land that had been distributed after the conquest by lot and so they could go back to their ancestral land.

Leviticus 25:23 “The land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is mine.” All the land God says is His, “And you are strangers and sojourners with me, and all the land of your possessions, you shall grant redemption of the land.”

So, if someone had to sell their land because they were poor, if they were able to save money, they could buy the land back. That was always to be granted.

Leviticus 25:28 “But if he is not able to have it restored to himself, then what was sold shall remain in the hand of him who bought it until the year of Jubilee. And in the Jubilee, it shall be released, and he shall return to his possession.”

Leviticus 25:39-42 “And if one of your brothers who dwells by you becomes poor and sells himself to you, you shall not compel him to serve as a slave. As a hired servant and a sojourner, he shall be with you and shall serve you until the year of Jubilee. Then he shall depart from you, he and his children with him, and shall return to his own family. He shall return to the possession of his fathers. For they're my servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. They shall not be sold as slaves.”

Leviticus 25:53-55 “If he is a hired servant, he shall be with him as a yearly hired servant, and he shall not rule with rigor over him in your sight. And if he is not redeemed in these years, he shall be released in the year of Jubilee, he and his children with him. For the children of Israel are servants of me. They are my servants,” God says, “whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.”

So, here we've skipped through several verses showing about how the jubilee was to be counted, how it was to be administered. The trumpet of freedom was sounded on the Day of Atonements. And again, I keep saying Day of Atonements because, in the text, it is in the plural form, Yom Ha-Kippurim. Normally, people called it Yom Kippur, or Day of Atonement. I'll just point out it's in the plural form in the Scripture or in the original text.

The trumpet proclaimed the Jubilee year when all those who were in debt were freed from debt, it was washed away. They could return to their ancestral land without the burden of debt. Even those who had sold themselves into hired servitude to pay off debts, they had to be freed in the Jubilee. Any remaining debt was forgiven. The nation was reminded this day that God owned all the land, and all the people were his servants whom He brought out of Egypt. So, the land was to be reunited with the families or the descendants of its original owners as directed by God after the conquest. Even the people were reunited with their owner and master and king, who was God in the freedom under law that He wants for all mankind.

So, we see that forgiveness was to be a central feature of God's economy in ancient Israel, and it certainly will be a central feature of the economy in the millennium, forgiveness. Such a periodic economic reset would help prevent a society from getting into permanent upper-and lower-class structures.

It's interesting, in the United States, approximately every 50 years we've had great economic problems, and that has helped level our society in the United States for over 200 years. The last great leveling was in the 1930s, and in the 1980s, we basically borrowed our way out of that coming recession or depression. And so we have see more and more instability in our society because we haven't had that national reset. Such a periodic economic reset would allow poor people a chance to get ahead and not be under crushing debts. It would reinforce social freedom and mobility for the majority and limit long-term oppression by a small group of people. So, we see God is wise in the system that He proposed branch in Israel and that I'm sure we'll see in the millennium. Now let's talk about seven great atonements. Let's go to Leviticus 23. Back a page. Leviticus 23, we'll read about the Day of Atonement, and we'll get to the plural atonements a bit later.

Leviticus 23:26-32 “And the Lord's spoke to Moses, saying, Also, on the 10th day of the seventh month shall be a Day of Atonement. It shall be a holy convocation for you. You shall afflict your souls and offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. You shall do no work on that same day, for it is the Day of Atonements.” Again, it's plural, Day of Atonements, in the Hebrew text, “To make atonement for you before the Lord your God. For any person who is not afflicted in soul on that same day shall be cut off from his people, and any person who does any work on that same day, that person I will destroy.” And again, that word is abad. I will separate out. It doesn't mean He will necessarily strike them dead with a lightning bolt, although He could, but He didn't. Abad means to count as lost. I will count as lost this person from among his people. “You shall do no manner of work. It should be a statute forever, throughout your generations and all your dwellings. It shall be to you as Sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall flick your souls on the ninth day of the month at evening, sundown, from evening to evening, you shall celebrate your Sabbath.”

We see some interesting things. As I said already in the text, it is Yom Ha-Kippurim, Day of Atonements, plural. At the end of verse 28, it says make atonement for you. The you is in the masculine, plural. So, it could mean the entire nation. Verses 29 and 30, they emphasize that if a person did not fast or did any work on that day, that person was cut off from the people, indicating they were cut off from the covenant relationship God had with the nation of Israel. So, this day is partially about keeping a covenant relationship with God. Very briefly, I'm gonna go to Acts 27. Acts 27, we see that the New Testament church of God also they kept these days, and the indication we have here in Acts 27 is by the apostle. Well, actually, it was written by Luke.

 Acts 27:9 It says “Now, when much time had been spent and sailing was now dangerous because the fast was already passed, Paul advised them, saying…”

And he gave a little speech. But the fast here is the Day of Atonement, and in the Mediterranean, when you get into the fall, that's when you start to have storms and rain and so forth. That's why they're saying that sailing was dangerous because the Day of Atonement had already been passed. So, we see that, you know, that they were still counting time, they were still referring to these days in the New Testament church of God.

All right. Now let's consider the ancient national worship of God. There were rituals prescribed daily, monthly, and other sacrifices to perform. What if someone made a mistake? What if the high priest forgot to do part of a ritual? Then what? Did that invalidate the sacrifice? What if the priest had become unclean by touching a dead body and didn't realize it or hadn't told anyone thought he could just continue doing his job? Did that invalidate everything he did while he was unclean? Even when the high priest made a mistake, should he die? Forgiveness through a substitutionary sacrifice is taught by this day, mercy is shown.

Matthew 9:13 Jesus said, "Go and learn what this means. I desire mercy and not sacrifice." You find that in Matthew 9:13.

So, let's go down to Leviticus 16, Leviticus 16, which talks about this Day of Atonement. The subject of chapter 15 was, "Various types of uncleanness," and we see that as we get into chapter 16:1.

Leviticus 16:1 It says, “The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron when they offered profane fire before the Lord and died.”

Aaron's two oldest sons had disrespected God and His worship. They died. New procedures were needed to ensure proper respect for God and that the official worship was periodically cleansed of unintentional or other sin. Coming into God's presence was and is very special. A great privilege and honor not given to just anyone. Before Jesus died, there was a veil that separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple. At Jesus's death, that veil was ripped in two, you see that in Mark 15:38, and Matthew 27:51. That ripping in two symbolically meant that humble repentant believers are now allowed to go to the very throne of God to present our petitions. What an honor. We must do that with respect. Anciently, the high priest, only the high priest could do this, go into the Holy of Holies and that once a year on the Day of Atonement.

We see that atoning, cleansing, and forgiveness, they all seem to be related ideas that we're discussing here today. Now verse 3, we see the first great atonement that was done this day, every year.

Leviticus 16:3-4 “Thus Aaron shall come into the holy place with the blood of a young bull as a sin offering and a ram as a burnt offering. He shall put the holy linen tunic and the linen trousers on his body. He shall be girded with the linen sash, and with the linen turban shall he be attired. These are holy garments. Therefore, he shall wash his body in water and put them on.”

We see here the priest, the high priest, that day, he put on simple white linen garments. They were symbolic of cleanness, of holiness, and good works. You know that Revelation 19:8, says that, "The garments of the saints, the linen garments, are symbolic of good works." And this was after he had washed his entire body, that was symbolizing baptism. So, we see a lot of symbolism here. Normally, the clothing of the high priest was intricately woven with many colors and bells and gold and jewels for glory and beauty. Why don't you just hold your place in Leviticus 16 and we'll return to Exodus 28. We'll just see that. Exodus 28:5-8, and then we'll just read a few verses here throughout the chapter.

Exodus 28:5-8 “These are the high priest's clothes. They shall take the gold, blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and the fine linen. They shall make the ephod of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen artistically worked. It shall have two shoulder straps joined at the two edges. They shall be joined together, and the intricately woven band of the ephod, which is on it, shall be of the same workmanship made of gold, blue, purple, scarlet thread, and fine woven linen.”

Exodus 28:31-40 “You shall make the robe of the ephod all blue. There shall be an opening for his head in the middle of it, it shall have a woven binding all around its opening, like the opening of a coat of male so it doesn't tear, and upon its hem, you shall make pomegranate.” So, blue, “purple, scarlet, all around its hem and bells of gold between them all around, a golden bell and a golden pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate upon the hem of the robe all around. And it shall be upon Aaron when he ministers and its sound will be heard when he goes into the holy place before the Lord and when he comes out that he may not die.” Verse 40, “For Aaron sons, you shall make tunics, you shall make sashes for them. You shall make hats for them for glory and beauty.”

So, we see that normally the clothing of the priest was colorful, it had jewels, it had bells. But today, it was simple and plain.

Leviticus 16:6 “Aaron shall offer the bull as a sinner offering, which is for himself, and make atonement for himself and for his family.”

This is the first great atonement. Dropping down to verses 1-10, are a sort of summary portion, but then starting in verse 11, it goes back and it gives more details about the activities of the day. So, down in verse 11 more details.

Leviticus 16:11-13 “Aaron shall bring the bull of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make atonement for himself and for his house. He shall kill the bull as a sin offering, which is for himself. Then he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from the altar before the Lord and his hands full of sweet incense beaten fine and bring it inside the veil. He shall put the incense on the fire before the Lord that the cloud of incense may cover the mercy seat that is on the testimony lest he die.”

So, several things here, several things here. First, we see the sacrifice of the bull was for paying the sins for the high priest and his family. We see that he brings in incense beaten fine, and you know that's symbolic of our prayers.

Revelation 5:8 Says, "The prayers of the saints are like incense."

And we're supposed to pray in detail, not just a big hunk of, you know, incense, but you beat it fine. And then he makes a cloud of incense over the mercy seat. It says over the testimony. The testimony were the two tablets of stone, which had the 10 commandments written with the finger of God. So, he does that, and he puts that there, lest he die. This shows us that prayer saves us from death. We go to God with respect in prayer and saves from death.

Leviticus 16:14 “He shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the mercy seat on the east side. Before the mercy seat, he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times.”

So is to be a complete cleansing. The ancient high priest was an analogy of Jesus Christ. The ancient high priest had to become purified before he could kill the goat, sin offering. Christ was without sin and so did not need to offer a bull for himself to pay for any sin on his part.

Let's go back to Hebrews 7.

Hebrews 7:26 “For such a high priest was fitting for us who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens, who does not need daily as those high priest to offer up sacrifices first for his own sins and then for the peoples. For this, He did once for all when He offered up himself.”

So, we see Jesus Christ had the right to enter the Holy of Holies without a sacrifice for himself, but He did enter with a sacrifice, the sacrifice of himself, the perfect sin offering. We see this in Hebrews 9:11.

Hebrews 9:11-14 “But Christ came as High Priest of good things to come with the greater, more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood, He entered the most holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God.”

The blood of Christ cleanses our consciences from dead works, sin and all its manifestations. Our conscience, our habits, our thoughts, our ways, our words, we need to be cleansed because, even with our best efforts, sin is like a barnacle, sort of grabs onto you, sort of hangs onto you, you need to sort of cut it off, wash it off from time to time. And we can't do that ourselves, but Jesus Christ's sacrifice can and does. We know that Jesus, our high priest, He entered the spiritual Holy of Holies after He was crucified and after He was resurrected on the Wave Omer offering day, during the days of unleavened bread. And that's when officially our sins were forgiven, when He presented His sacrifice to God the Father in heaven.

Let's go back to Deuteronomy now. So, it's the sacrifice of Christ that pays the penalty, that cleanses us from sin. Deuteronomy 23. In Deuteronomy 23, we see that God walked among the people, Yahweh God, the one who became Jesus, walked among the people.

Deuteronomy 23:14 It says, “For the Lord your God, He walks in the midst of your camp to deliver you and to give your enemies over to you. Therefore, your camp shall be holy that He may see no unclean thing among you and turn away from you.”

So, Jesus walked among the people back then. Does Jesus walk among the people today? Yes, He does. Let's go to Revelation 1. Revelation 1, I will start in verse 12.

Revelation 1:12-14 John's writing here, he said, “Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned, I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the seven lampstands, one like the son of man, clothed with the garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band. His head and His hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes were like a flame of fire.”

Let's drop down to verse 20, “The mystery.” And this is Jesus Christ who was walking among the lampstands, and he's explaining these things.

Revelation 1:20  “The mystery of the seven stars, which you saw in my right hand,” Jesus says, “and the seven golden lampstands. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches and the seven lampstands, which you saw are the seven churches.” Continuing on in Chapter 2.

Revelation 2:1 "To the angel of the church of Ephesus write, 'These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands.'"

Jesus walks in the midst of His church today, He still walks among His people today. We see from these verses that ancient Israel's camp and land had to be holy. Every year, a cleansing was prescribed. The two-goat ceremony accomplished the ritual cleansing of the priests, the people, and the land. Our cleansing is due to the continuous repentance and confession of sins. So, our sins will be covered by the blood of Christ. We need that continuous confession and repentance so that God will continue to walk among us. Let's go back to Leviticus 16.

Leviticus 16:7-10

 “So, after Aaron…” He offered the sacrifice for himself. Again, he had to because he was a human being and he needed forgiveness of sin. Of course, Jesus didn't need to offer anything. Aaron is a type of Jesus Christ, the high priest. "After that," verse 7, "Aaron or the high priest shall take the two goats and present them before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats, one for the Lord, and one's not for the Lord or for the Azazel, translated as scapegoat. And Aaron shall bring the goat in which the Lord's lot fell and offered as a sin offering. But the goat in which the lot fell to be the Azazel shall be presented alive before the Lord, to make atonement upon it, and to let it go as the Azazel into the wilderness."

Two goats, lots were cast because one was for the Lord, the other was not for the Lord. We know Satan is a master of disguise. You can read about that in 2 Corinthians 11:14. And can appear as an angel of light. Without God's help, how could humans tell the difference? Our first parents were deceived by Satan. They believe the devil and not God. Humanity has been suffering ever since. The goat on whom the Lord's lot fell was sacrificed for the sins of the people and the priests. And this was part of the process of returning the people to their owner who was God. The goat for Azazel is held while other things are done first before it's brought in to accomplish the land atonement. Let's continue. We'll be reading now in Leviticus 16:15, we'll be seeing the second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth, great atonements accomplished this day on the Day of Atonement anciently.

Leviticus 16:15 “Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering, which is for the people, and bring its blood inside the veil, do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat and before the mercy seat. So he shall make atonement for the holy place so that..."

The first atonement is for the people. And if you just look at the summary verse at the end of the Chapter in verse 33, I believe it is.

Leviticus 16:33 “Then he shall make atonement for the holy sanctuary. He shall make atonement for the tabernacle of meeting and the altar, make atonement for the priests and for the people of the assembly.”

So, he's making this atonement for the priest, the Levitical priest which had to offer sacrifices during the year, and he's making the atonement for the people. So, this is the first great atonement, or shall I say the second and the third, which is the people and the priests.

Leviticus 16:16 “So, he shall make atonement for the holy place," that's the next great atonement, “because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions, for all their sins.”

So, this is the next great atonement, the sanctuary, the mercy seat because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel. And then continuing on. "And so shall he do for the tabernacle of meeting which remains among them in the midst of their uncleanness." So, again, he's talking a lot about uncleanness. It's to be forgiven, sins washed away, covered. So, that's the fifth great atonement, covering the sins. It cleanses the tabernacle of meeting.

Leviticus 16:17 “There should be no man in the tabernacle of meeting when he goes in to make atonement in the holy place until he comes out.”

And you can go to...that sort of think about Jesus Christ is going to heaven. And in Luke 19, He goes to heaven to receive a kingdom, and He's there and then he comes back. Why don't we just go ahead and turn to Isaiah 63. We can hold our finger there in Leviticus 16, but compare Isaiah 63, what we know about Jesus going to heaven.

Isaiah 63:1-6 “Who is this who comes from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? This one who's glorious in his apparel, traveling in the greatness of his strength? I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.” So, it gives us an indication this might be the one who became Jesus Christ. “Why is your apparel red and your garments like one who treads in the winepress? I have trodden the winepress alone and from the peoples, no one was with me. I have trodden them in my anger and trampled them in my fury. Their blood has sprinkled upon my garments. I have stained all my robes. For the day of vengeance is in my heart and the year of my redeemed has come. I looked but there was no one to help and I wondered that there was no one to uphold.” Jesus was the one. He went to heaven. He alone paid the penalty for our sins. “There was no one to uphold. Therefore, my own right arm brought salvation for me, my own fury, it sustained me. I have trodden down the peoples in my anger, made them drunk in my fury, and brought them down their strength through the earth.”

When Jesus returns after having received the kingdom from God the Father in heaven, when He comes out of the Holy of Holies in heaven and comes to earth, yes, there will be vengeance, there will be judgment, there'll be justice. Jesus is going to bring that to this earth. Let's go back to Leviticus 16. Leviticus 16, and I'll pick up the wording there in verse 16.

Leviticus 16:16-19 “So, he shall make atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, because of their transgressions, for all their sins. And so shall He do for the tabernacle of meeting which remains among them in the midst of their uncleanness. There should be no man in the tabernacle of meeting when he goes in to make atonement in the holy place until he comes out that he may make atonement for himself, for his household, for all the assembly of Israel. And he shall go out to the altar that is before the Lord to make atonement for it." So, that's also one of the great atonements, the sixth great atonement for the altar, make atonement for it. "Shall take some of the blood of the bull and some of the blood of the goat and put it on the horns of the altar all around. Shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his fingers seven times, a complete cleansing, and consecrate it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel."

So, we've seen six great atonements so far. First for Aaron and his family. Then the second and third was for the people and the priests. The fourth was for the sanctuary, the mercy seat. The fifth was for the tabernacle of meeting, the sixth was for the altar. And now in verse 10, the seventh atonement.

Leviticus 16:10 “But the goat in which the lot fell to be the Azazel shall be presented alive before the Lord, to make atonement upon it, and to let it go as the Azazel into the wilderness.”

So, the Azazel goat is presented alive before the Lord. This word Azazel is a word used in Leviticus 16, and I don't believe it's used anywhere else outside of this Chapter. There is an extra-biblical source, the Book of Enoch, whereas Azazel is depicted as an evil spirit. The structure of the sentence in Leviticus 16:8 is that the second goat is a different entity from the first.

Leviticus 16:20-22 “And when he has made an end of atoning for the holy place, the tabernacle of meeting, the altar.” So, this, the atoning is ended for those items, “He shall bring the live goat and Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel and all their transgressions concerning all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat and shall send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a suitable man. The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to an uninhabited land and he shall release the goat in the wilderness.”

So, we see here the high priest lays both hands on the live goat. Scriptures strongly indicate that the priest is to lay only one hand on an animal sacrifices, most likely the right hand. But here both hands. Laying on of hands could also be used to identify a guilty party. You see that in Leviticus 24:13-14. So, the Azazel goat was not killed and has two hands lay on it. It doesn't seem to be a sacrifice in the classic sense. We know also that the Day of Atonements is a day of returning things, land, and people, to their original owner. Let's go to John 8. John 8. John 8, Jesus is talking here.

John 8:44 Jesus says, “You are of your father, the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.”

We can almost say that the devil is the original owner of lying and murdering of sin. So, if that is the case, we see in this Azazel goat sin is symbolically being put back on the head of its first owner when the high priest confesses all the sins of the nation on the head of that goat. Let's go back to Ezekiel 28. Ezekiel 28:15. Here's a description of the one who became the devil.

Ezekiel 28:14-16 Says, "He was the anointed cherub who covers." God did not create a devil, He created a bright Archangel. "Hillel, you were on the holy mountain of God. You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones." Verse 15, "You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, until lawlessness, iniquity was found in you. By the abundance of your trading, you became filled with violence within, and you sinned. Therefore, I cast you as a profane thing out of the mountain of God and I destroyed you, O covering cherub."

Now, did He kill the covering cherub at that point? The word is abad, again, that means count as lost. It can in other context means kill, destroyed, completely do away with. But in this context, clearly, Hillel wasn't destroyed. He became Satan, the devil, but he was counted as lost and so therefore he was thrown out of the nation of God. Mountain can be a nation. He was thrown out of the government of God. He was thrown out of the area where God was in charge. "I counted you as lost, O covering cherub, from the midst of the fiery stones."

So, who destroyed, or who shall we say brought to nothing or loosed the power of the devil? Well, Jesus did. Jesus did. Let's go to 1 John 3.

1 John 3:8 “He whose sins or who practices sin is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning.” So father of sin it seems. “For this purpose, the son of God was manifested that He might destroy the works of the devil.”

Again, that word in Greek means to undo or loosen or release or untie or break, break the works of the devil. Unloosen them, release them. That's why Jesus came among other reasons, was to break the power of the devil, put it away so it wouldn't hurt people. We saw in the sermonette, but I'll go back there, Matthew 4. Matthew 4, "Jesus after His baptism went into the wilderness," and again, the wilderness, anciently, some people thought that was the abode of evil spirits. Jesus, if that's indeed the case, Jesus went to confront the devil on his own turf.

Matthew 4:1 “Jesus was led up by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.”

So, that's where Jesus went. And you know the temptations, dropping down to verse 9, devil tried the very best thing he could say.

Matthew 4:9-11 He says, “‘All these things, all these kingdoms of the world, all their glory, I'll give to you if you fall down and worship me.’ Jesus said, ‘Away with you, Satan, for it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve.’ Then the devil left Him and behold, angels came and ministered to him.’”

Jesus defeated Satan, broke his power, told it to leave, and it did, and it did. Back in Leviticus 16. And many of these things were analogies, shadows in a way that give people some understanding, and then things are being fulfilled in the New Testament.

Leviticus 16:21-22 “So, after the end of atoning for the holy place, the tabernacle of meeting, and the altar,” the live goat, the Azazel comes in. Verse 21, “Aaron lays both his hands on the head of the goat, confesses over it all the inequities of the children of Israel, all their transgressions concerning all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat.” So, again, it's a day of going back to original owners. “He shall send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a suitable man. The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to an uninhabited land. He shall release the goat in the wilderness.”

The Azazel goat was led away by the hand of a suitable man to a solitary land. Here we see sins were symbolically were taken out of the inhabited land and into the uninhabited land. The uncleanness was being removed. God walked among the people. The land, the camp had to be holy. So, this was a cleansing every year so that God would continue to walk among His people, that the land to be cleansed and the uncleanness removed. Just as Azazel was sent away, Satan will be bound for a thousand years and restrained from tempting people to sin. Sent to the bottomless pit where no people are. The Azazel goat seems to be the only type of Satan in this regard in all the Old Testament. Let's go to Revelation 20.

Revelation 20:1-3 “I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him so that he should deceive the nations no more until a thousand years were finished.”

Satan and the demons will be removed after Jesus's return. We see in Revelation 19, heaven was open and Christ returns with the armies of heaven. But after Jesus returns, but before the millennium begins, there will be a cleansing of the earth from that source of spiritual uncleanness. It is interesting to note that during the seven last bowl plagues, which comprise the seventh and last trumpet, the oceans and the land will also undergo a cleansing process. Let's go to Revelation 16:3. Again, remember this is the seventh trumpet, but it's the second bowl plague during that seventh trumpet.

Revelation 16:3 “The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea and became blood as a dead man. And every living creature in the sea died.”

So, all of the creatures, all living things in the sea died so that they go down and God's gonna have to recreate life in the sea. It's gonna be pure and a right ecosystem that's gonna be balanced. So, that's the cleansing of the oceans. And we see in verse 8.

Revelation 16:8 “Then the fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun and power was given to him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has power with these plagues. And they did not repent and give Him glory.”

It's interesting, if the sun's heat is raised to the point that it scorches people, scorches the earth, and mankind, that great heat will probably include more ultraviolet radiation. A bit of speculation I'm making, but it's going to have the effect of killing lots of bacteria and viruses in the land, cleansing it from many pests. So we see in these bowl plagues a cleansing of the oceans and of the earth, both physical and spiritual, before the start of the millennium, when Jesus will be walking among His people and rule from Jerusalem.

So let's summarize. The Day of Atonement or Day of Atonements provided ancient Israel the opportunity for a complete economic reset every 50 years during the Jubilee, when debts were canceled and people returned to ancestral lands for a new start. We saw seven great atonements performed every year on this day to cleanse the high priest, the Levitical priesthood, the people, and the official worship of God of Israel, and also cleansing of the land.

Yahweh walked among His people back then, so the camp and the land had to be clean. Jesus walks today among His people, so we also must be clean. The land in which we live will also one day be cleansed. There will be a cleansing of the oceans and the earth before the devil, and the demons will be cast out of the earth and to the bottomless pit, where they cannot affect people for a thousand years.

So in conclusion, this day allows each of us the chance for a personal reset, a chance to pause from our usual work and all the activities associated with eating and drinking, a chance to focus on the spiritual, to focus on God, and how we can be better Christians. We rely on our high priest and savior, Jesus Christ, for His sacrifice, for our cleansing from all sin. Let us continue to humble ourselves before our merciful God and Father in repentance, faith, and love. And let us all look forward to the glorious day when the devil and the demons will be thrown into the bottomless pit and the world will be at peace.