Sat, Jul 4th - 4:34PM

IF YOU ARE NOT WITH ME YOU ARE AGAINST ME

SPIRITUAL WARFARE

THE HIGH PRIEST AND THE LIVE SCAPEGOAT

As we can see saints (G40 hagios) the high priest still has more work to do.

Lev 16:20 And when he hath made an end of reconciling the holy place, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat:21 And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him 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 him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness: 22And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.

It is extremely important to understand, holy brethren, that the slain animals indeed made an atonement for the high priest, and then the holy people. God allowed these animals to die so that the holy nation of Israel would not have to die for their own sins. Now God accepts these sacrifices, but God only allows a live goat to remove or take away the sins of the nation. Obviously the sacrifice could not be both dead and alive at the same time, hence the need for one of the goats to be kept alive. THE ONCE A YEAR ATONEMENT WAS RIGOROUS, METICULOUS DOWN TO THE MINUTUTE DETAILS. NOTE THE STEPS IT TAKES TO DO AND COMPLETE THE YEARLY ATONEMENT. Brethren,  we cannot but shudder with holy reverence and fear as we see how under the Law, God's almighty hand holds the entire nation by the neck. 

I suppose some might ask, how in the world did the high priest know he put all the sins of the people on the head of the live scapegoat? Sadly this was all too easy, for the nation had broken every single law of the Mosaic covenant!!! Not one of them ever kept the whole law.  Although, truly some kept some of the Law, that was never good enough, it was either all or none.

The high priest was privy to the sins of the priesthood and  the sins of the people, since they all had to confess and  offer a sacrifice to escape the punishment of the law.

The high priest also knew all the sins of the people for which no sacrifice could be made, as well as the sins the people did in ignorance. God also directly punished the unrepentant sinner publicly. Absolutely no sin could go undetected under the law.

Jer 23:24Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD.

As time goes on we see more and more abounding sins, depravity, and degeneracy of Israel and the Levitical priesthood. Here are but a few:

THE SIN OF UNBELIEF/ NO TRUST IN GOD

They believed neither the miracles nor in God who performed them in their behalf.

 Ps. 78: 12 Marvellous things did he in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.

 Psalm 78:32 For all this they sinned still, and believed not for his wondrous works.

Neh 9: 14 In the daytime he led them by a cloud, and at night by a pillar of fire.  15 He split open the rocks in the wilderness to give them plenty of water, as though gushing from a spring. 16 Streams poured from the rock, flowing like a river! 17 Yet they kept on with their rebellion, sinning against the God who is above all gods.

 THE SINS OF MURDER/IDOLATRY

 They burned their kids alive in sacrifice to their idols (devils).

 Ps. 106:37 Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils, 38 And shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan: and the land was polluted with blood.

THE SINS OF KILLING THE PROPHETS

Neh 9:26 Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against thee, and cast thy law behind their backs, and slew thy prophets which testified against them to turn them to thee, and they wrought great provocations.

THE SIN OF REBELLION AGAINST GOD

 Neh. 9:34 Neither have our kings, our princes, our priests, nor our fathers, kept thy law, nor hearkened unto thy commandments and thy testimonies, wherewith thou didst testify against them.

They were never steadfast in the covenant of the Law as God commanded. God shows us over and over their pattern of sin against Him which He punishes every time, yet forgives knowing that they will nevertheless sin again and again against Him.

Psa 78:37 For their heart was not right with him, neither were they stedfast in his covenant.

THE LEVITICAL SINS OF GREED /CORRUPTION

 Eze 34 And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 2 Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God unto the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks? 3 Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: but ye feed not the flock.

Malachi 1:10 Who is there even among you that would shut the doors for nought? neither do ye kindle fire on mine altar for nought. I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of hosts, neither will I accept an offering at your hand.

 Mal. 2:7 For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. 8 But ye are departed out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble at the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the Lord of hosts.

We can see here how the people became just merchandise to the Levitical priesthood who cared nothing for the flock. In other words they loved money more than the flock of God. We cannot fail to see how their bad example of leadership also lead the people astray.

 THE SIN OF ROBBERY

 Mal. 3:8 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.9 Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.

It is clear that despite the numerous atonements made for the nation over time, the Law could never give the people an enduring righteousness. For the purpose of the Law is to show the depravity, degeneracy, and utter sinfulness of mankind, who is helpless and unable to save himself, and utterly devoid of righteousness of and in himself.

The Christian who wears the helmet of salvation through Jesus Christ understands surely God loves the nation of Israel and will deliver them in time. However we are not to make idols of them as the standard for righteousness. This is especially important seeing that the Holy Spirit was given limited to a certain few and not the people as a whole. Later on, God willing, I hope to address what happens to those ignorantly and in vain attempting to make an amalgam of the Law with Grace in detail.

When will the once a year atonement be done, and how long will it take? The plain truth is ain’t nothing ever over UNTIL GOD SAYS IT’S OVER.

love

serola