We are currently in the middle of the Fall Feasts of the LORD. We have completed the Feast of Trumpets, the following nine days of awe, during which we examine ourselves and repent of our sins in preparation for the day of Atonement (Lev. 23:27-32), which we have also just completed.
On the day of Atonement, under the old covenant, the high priest would enter the Holy of Holies of the tabernacle and sprinkle the blood of bulls and goats on the mercy seat atop the Ark of the Covenant. This sprinkling of blood would cleanse himself, his family, the sanctuary and its vessels, and the people, sanctifying the flesh (Heb. 9:13). This cleansing, however, had to be repeated yearly, being able to cleanse the flesh temporarily only. While this, in itself was of significant spiritual importance, The Feast of Atonement, being a temporary and partial remedy, was a mere example and shadow of the eternal atonement yet to come:
"...priests that offer gifts according to the law: who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished by God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith He, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount." Heb. 8:4b-5 (see also Ex. 25:40)
During this feast, the tabernacle into which the old covenant priest entered and temporarily cleansed with animal blood, was only a shadow of a heavenly tabernacle:
"It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these (animal blood); but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us." Heb. 9:23-24
Even the blood applied yearly under the old covenant to the mercy seat during this feast that could cleanse only the flesh, was a shadow prophesying the eternal one-time atonement by the blood of the Son of God made in the heavenly tabernacle, that cleansed the conscience (mind, soul, inner man), not just the flesh, of man:
"...but now once in the end of the world (age) hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself...Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit, offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?...For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins...For by one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified." Heb. 9:26b,12-14,10:4,14
The priest, himself, in the old covenant, was only a shadow of the eternal Priest, Jesus, who would make the offering for all of us. Jesus, our High Priest, was not a priest made from the law and commandments as the earthly, or shadow priests were, but by the power of an endless life (Heb. 7:16). While the shadow priests must end their service because of death, His unchangeable priesthood continues forever (Heb. 7:23-24).
The LORD gave us a prophetic picture of this eternal Priest to come through the miraculous incarnation of an eternal king-priest in the old covenant, Melchisedec (meaning the king of righteousness):
"(For those (earthly or shadow) priests were made without an oath; but this with an oath made by Him that said unto Him, "The LORD sware and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec." Heb. 7:21, (Ps. 110:4, Gen. 14:18, Heb. 7:1-3)
Not only was the eternal priesthood of Christ to extend forever into the future, but it began in the eternal past as He is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world (Heb. 4:3, Rev. 13:8). This eternal priesthood accomplished the thorough work of salvation and sanctification only hinted at in the shadow Feast of Atonement, allowing us to be written in the Book of Life:
"Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost (completely, perfectly, utterly, entirely, to the end, to the last) that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them...now hath He obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also He is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises."
Heb. 7:25, 8:6
Being those who have been cleansed, saved, and sanctified through the fulfillment of this shadow Day of Atonement, the knowledge of all these things should manifest in us:
"Having... boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,...Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water, let us hold fast the profession of our hope without wavering..." Heb. 10:19, 22-23
This knowledge of the eternal, one-time, completed atonement offering by our High Priest, Jesus, also comes with a sobering consideration:
"...if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins...He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: Of how mush sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of Grace?...The Lord shall judge His people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of God."
Heb. 10:26, 28-31 (excerpt)
The fulfillment of this "shadow feast" does not give us a free pass, or eternal permission, to rebelliously, and wilfully, continue to sin. The blood of Jesus, sprinkled for us upon the mercy seat in the heavenly tabernacle should not be despised in this manner by the very people who have the knowledge of the miraculous deliverance accomplished by our eternal High Priest of the atonement. Instead, let this truth be a part of us, and manifested through us.
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