Salvation not just for us but for the whole world
Each in his own order with God’s timing
While Feast of Trumpets illustrates the completion of our reconciliation with God, Atonement is the beginning of reconciliation for the rest of the world.
That is what this day is about: the Day of Atonement – the Beginning of Reconciliation for the World
Leviticus 23:26 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying:
Leviticus 23:27 “Also the tenth day of this seventh month shall be the 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.
Leviticus 23:28 And you shall do no work on that same day, for it is the Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before the LORD your God.
Leviticus 23:29 For any person who is not afflicted in soul on that same day shall be cut off from his people.
Leviticus 23:30 And any person who does any work on that same day, that person I will destroy from among his people.
Leviticus 23:31 You shall do no manner of work; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
Leviticus 23:32 It shall be to you a sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall afflict your souls; on the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening, you shall celebrate your sabbath.”
But there is still a major obstacle to reconciling with God that exists and the removal of it is one of the major themes of this day, the Day of Atonement.
Of course I am talking about THE ADVERSARY, SATAN THE DEVIL who is the primary cause of sin
It is through him that sin was introduced into the world and remains a part of it
Satan has been around for the entire existence of man from the Garden of Eden until now and will continue to be there until the end of man’s physical existence when he is loosed for a while at the end
From Genesis to Revelation he plays a prominent adversarial role in the life of all mankind
Yet we find that people today are for the most part woefully ignorant of who and what he is
Of course some believe that he doesn’t exist which is one of his greatest feats
A DECEIVED man does not KNOW he is deceived.
And because he is the arch-deceiver there are many in this state of not knowing they are deceived.
He is indeed very POWERFUL, CLEVER, and more SUBTLE than any being.
Lucifer – the Epitome of God’s Creations
Let’s begin by taking a brief historical look at who and what Satan is and the role he has, is and will play in the world
Let’s look at his beginning in Ezekiel 28, he did not start out as Satan.
He was the Epitome of God’s creations notice in :12
Ezekiel 28:12 “Son of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre, and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “You were the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom [he knew what was going on] and perfect in beauty.
Ezekiel 28:13 You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering: The sardius, topaz, and diamond, Beryl, onyx, and jasper, Sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes Was prepared for you on the day you were created.
Ezekiel 28:14 “You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones.
[trained in heaven before the very throne of God]
Ezekiel 28:15 You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, Till iniquity was found in you.[until you succumbed to self-delusion and prideful]
Ezekiel 28:16 “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 [his position and place he occupied as Lucifer], O covering cherub, From the midst of the fiery stones.
Ezekiel 28:17 “Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor; … [he took pride in what he had nothing to do with]
See this message on the subject: The Original Sin of Pride
Liar
One of the main tools in Satan’s arsenal is lying and plays a significant role in deceptions that he foists upon the world.
Let’s turn to his first recorded lie
… and we will continue the story in Isaiah 14
Where we see questions are asked in verse 12, How did this happen? What precipitated your fall?
Isaiah 14:12 “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations!
Isaiah 14:13 For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north;
Isaiah 14:14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’
The first lie was one that he told to himself : self-delusion
He was created by God and yet he convinced himself that the creation was greater than the creator, in other words he LIED to himself. Not only that but he believed his own lie. And that lie manifested itself as pride
He is the greatest being to fall for a lie. And to tell one too.
He participated in self-deception – he lied to himself before he started lying to everyone else
This is how Lucifer became Satan which means adversary and this is how everything started and has been the largest part of the problems we have own earth!
After this…
He Went to Work on the Angels
Revelation 12:3 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads.
Revelation 12:4 His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth….
I bring this up to show you the cunning and craftiness of Satan
Lied to the angels; got them to believe him and his way
This was no small feat
Revelation 5:11 Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, [maybe a reference to those that ministered to Him]
Hebrews 12:22 ….an innumerable company of angels, [innumerable to us any way]
2 Peter 2:11 … angels, who are greater in power and might,…[than us]
He swayed 1/3 of 100M + Millions or 1/3 of innumerable; suffice it to say a lot.
He had to be very convincing to at least get 1/3 of these powerful and intelligent beings to follow him.
Of course he did not stop there
His next target – humanity
In John 8 Christ calls Satan out for what he is:
John 8:44 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.
Lying
He is called a murderer not only because he inspires this action on a physical level, but because he would love to end our spiritual life and chances of eternal life. And here is a key – he accomplishes much of this by lying
Through his lies and distortion of the truth he leads us down the wrong path. He takes us away from the truth of God that leads to life eternal.
And he is in a great position to do it!
Satan’s current position
Throne – Ruler of this World
Revelation 2:13 “I know your works, and where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. And you hold fast to My name, and did not deny My faith even in the days in which Antipas was My faithful martyr, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.
Talking to the churches on earth and at the same time saying that not only does Satan live there but he has a throne.
Thrones are for rulers of kingdoms and we can see that indeed Satan rules on Earth
Luke 4:5 Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.
Luke 4:6 And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.
Luke 4:7 Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.”
Christ didn’t say that they weren’t his to give which would have easily exposed the flaw in the temptation. It was a temptation because they were his
Notice in a couple of scriptures that actually have Jesus Christ confirming the fact that they were under Satan’s rule
John 12:31 Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out.
John 14:30 I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me.
God of this World
Not only is he called the ruler of this world but 2 Corinthians takes it one step further and calls him the god
2 Corinthians 4:3 But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing,
2 Corinthians 4:4 whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.
This is why the world does not realize that there really are only two choices when it comes to who we worship.
Either we worship the true God or not. Satan doesn’t care too much if it is any of the other false religions or none at all…just as long as it is not the true one.
I’ve heard it said before that Buddha, Islam, Shinto, Catholicism, etc all worship the same God, just call him different names. They are right! They just don’t worship the One True God because they have been blinded by the god of this age, Satan the devil.
Trying to Derail the Plan of God
In this position as ruler of this world, his goal, his ultimate aim, is to thwart God’s plan of salvation for mankind
So as you can imagine, he started as soon as he could, and that was with the first man and woman, Adam and Eve
Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more cunning [as we are coming to see] than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”
Genesis 3:2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden;
Genesis 3:3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”
Genesis 3:4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. [a lie]
Genesis 3:5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” [appeals to her vanity]
Genesis 3:6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.
In doing this Satan was able to affect the relationship that Adam and Eve could have had with God. Instead they had to leave the garden of Eden and be subjugated to a different way of life … one that would take them away from God.
This same Satan has continued in the same vein with all of Mankind and is trying to do the same thing to us today
1 Peter 5:6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time,
1 Peter 5:7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.
1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. [if we are not careful]
1 Peter 5:9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.
How would you act if you knew there was a lion on the loose
Would you be running, racing out his vicinity as quickly as possible at the front of the pack or would you lolligag at the back of the pack not being vigilant.
Who is going to be easier pickings for a merciless adversary? Is it the one that is not awake and on guard?
The world for the most part does not have the necessary tools to resist Satan and because of that he has caught them and they cannot escape by themselves.
2 Timothy 2:26 and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.
This is the current condition of mankind as we were alluding to a few minutes ago. Most, if not all, are blissfully unaware that are being held captive
Because of this we are complicit in doing Satan’s will. He will deceive them into believing what:
[holy days, law, evolution, marriage, homosexuality, lying about everything that he can ]
More or less Satan’s goal is to turn everything of God upside down and for everyone to believe black is white.
He has not given up on trying to derail Gods plan, no matter how futile it may seem.
Here is another example of how powerful Satan is. We saw that he convinced 1/3 of the angels so perhaps this shouldn’t be a surprise. But I find it difficult to understand.
Revelation 20:7 Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison
Revelation 20:8 and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea.
How after 1,000 yrs of Godly education, having God’s spirit, living a peaceful and harmonious life and seeing the fruits of God’s Way AND telling them that this was going to happen as prophesied…How does this happen?
So when we read scriptures like:
1 John 5:19 We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.
Revelation 12:9 So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; ….
Do we fully realize and comprehend the power of Satan in the world today?
Main way for Satan to manipulate people is by affecting attitudes.
Ephesians 2:1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,
Ephesians 2:2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,
Ephesians 2:3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
This is the way that we used to be, and it is the one that Satan takes advantage of.
He broadcasts on a wavelength our nature can tune into – not of the five senses
He broadcasts in attitudes that we turn into actions:
Often this starts with small degrees and grows little by little until it is out of hand
James 1:14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.
James 1:15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.
James 4:1 Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members?
James 4:2 You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask.
Look at the world around us now – Satan is having a field day, look at the works of the flesh Galatians 5:19-21
Are we starting see how he can effectively do this?
Do we see how incredibly powerful he is and how the world doesn’t stand a chance?
This brings us to a meaning of the day of Atonement and that is the putting away of Satan and his influence from mankind so that the rest of mankind can become reconciled to God
Old Testament ceremonies on the Day of Atonement (rich with meaning)
Leviticus 16:21 Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, 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.
Leviticus 16:22 The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to an uninhabited land; and he shall release the goat in the wilderness.
Fulfilled:
Revelation 20:1 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
Revelation 20:2 He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years;
Revelation 20:3 and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive [they will not be able to do anything that we have been talking about] the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while.
Do we now see why Christ will bind Satan for a 1,000 years when he returns?
With Satan in the picture peace and God’s way of life are much harder to come by.
After the Great Tribulation, Day of the Lord and the return of Christ [Trumpets] those who were fighting Christ will be gone
Now After Atonement – Satan will be gone and the plan of God can move forward AND:
The rest of humanity can be at one with God.
Satan is an impediment to reconciliation
1 John 3:6-12 shows us that if we are sinning we are doing Satan’s bidding
1 John 3:6 Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.
1 John 3:7 Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous.
1 John 3:8 He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested [this is why He had to come], that He might destroy the works of the devil.
1 John 3:9 Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.
1 John 3:10 In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God [is of Satan], nor is he who does not love his brother.
1 John 3:11 For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another,
1 John 3:12 not as Cain who was of the wicked one [it was Satan inspired] and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s righteous.
Sin and God do not and cannot co-exist. With the devil out of the equation the plan of reconciliation and salvation can go ahead more smoothly.
Atonement – is the next step for the world in their march away from sin towards God
It relates to all peoples who have survived the horrors of global war. They will then be able, and willing, to accept Christ’s sacrifice.
The day of Atonement is about being one with God (or at-one-ment;1. Agreement; concord; reconciliation, after enmity or controversy.
For all mankind
1 John 2:1 My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
1 John 2:2 And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.
1 John 2:3 Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.
1 John 2:4 He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
The beginning of the movement away from sin is aided by the putting away of Satan thereby allowing finally for a reconciliation of the rest of mankind to God