Understanding the Atonement*

The Feasts of the LORD give vital pointers of who the Messiah is, and how He comes, and they illustrate God's plan for creation. We just observed the Feast of Trumpets, or Rosh Hashanah, as it is also known, and in a few days, the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur will occur: "And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement (kipur/kapar - atonement, purge, expiation, redemption, reconciliation, forgive, propitiation, cover over, cleanse): it shall be a holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD. And ye shall do no work in that same day: for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before the LORD your God. For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people...it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath." (Lev. 23:26-32). The feasts are not just for the Jewish people, or for the time of the Old Testament only, but forever. The Hebrew pictographic letters that make up the word for atonement, kipur/kapar, have the meaning "to cover by the mouth of the Most High". The promise out of the mouth of God in Genesis was the seed of the woman to redeem. The atonement has come forth from the mouth of God, and has been fulfilled in Christ, and will be fulfilled again by Christ. The LORD established a testimony in Jacob, not for that generation only, but to tell their children, who in turn, would arise and tell the testimony to their children: "That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments: and might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not steadfast with God...they did flatter him (God) with their mouth, and they lied unto him with their tongues. For their heart was not right with him, neither were they steadfast in his covenant." (Ps. 78:5-8, 34-37). This psalm said that even so, God forgave them, and didn't destroy them because He remembered that they were mere flesh. However, they repeatedly provoked and grieved Him, turning their back to Him, and limiting the Holy One of Israel (v. 38-41). We limit God if we forget His repeated mercies to us, and again turn away from Him. Psalm 79 asks God not to remember our sins, because we have been brought low: "Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name: and deliver us, and purge away our sins, for thy name's sake." (v. 8-9). The word "purge away" in these verses is the word kapar, atonement. The psalmist asks the LORD to hear the sighing of the prisoner, and to preserve those who are appointed to die (v. 11). Jesus, our Atonement, after His death, descended into hell, and led the captives of death out, and ascended with them into heaven, fulfilling the psalmist's prophetic prayer, and the Word of God. The prophet Zechariah received a vision of the LORD in which the high priest, Joshua, standing before the Angel of the LORD, was cleansed and his filthy garments were changed into clean garments. Satan was resisting the cleansing of Joshua until the LORD rebuked him: "The LORD rebuke thee O Satan; even the LORD that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?" (Zech. 3:1-3). As Joshua's filthy garments were ordered to be taken away by the LORD, He said: "Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment." (v. 4). This reminds us of the pure, white linen of righteousness granted to the Bride to be worn for her marriage to the Lamb in Revelation 19. This was the charge that was given to Joshua at the time of his cleansing: "If thou wilt walk in my ways, and if thou wilt keep my charge, then thou shalt also judge my house, and shalt also keep my courts, and I will give thee places to walk among these that stand by." (v. 7). At the cleansing of Joshua, the LORD also prophesied of the One whom He would send, the Messiah: "...behold, I will bring forth my servant the BRANCH...and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day. In that day...shall ye call every man his neighbor, under the vine and under the fig tree." (v. 8-10). The atonement cleansing of Joshua the high priest also brought the promise to remove the iniquity of that land, the prophecy of the Messiah to come, and the Millennial Reign of the Messiah, Jesus. Who must be cleansed? Paul wrote: "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God", but we have been justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ, whom God sent to be "the propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God." (Rom. 3:22-26). Paul is describing the atonement, and it is not achieved through religion or our own efforts, but by faith in His atoning blood. There is a song that says "Nothing But the Blood of Jesus" can wash away our sins. Even when we were enemies of God, "we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life." (Rom. 5:7-10). Here is the reconciliation of the atonement, not with the blood of animals, or even the blood of a man, but by the blood of the Son of God. Because of this atonement by the Son's own blood, we are no longer to yield to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but "to yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace." (Rom. 6:11-14). After being freed from being servants to sin, we have become servants, even slaves to God, bearing fruit of holiness and the end being eternal life, rather than receiving the wages of sin, which is death (v. 22-23). We have been reconciled and saved by Jesus' life, the atoning blood, given for us. Therefore, we are no longer to be conformed to this world, but transformed by the renewing and washing of our minds in the Word of God, washed by the water, the blood, and the truth. Sin is still sin, although many churches have compromised this truth. We are to bring sin under His authority. The Book of Hebrews, in saying that Jesus Christ, our High Priest, entered into the perfect tabernacle in heaven, making atonement for us, obtaining eternal redemption for us, not by the blood of animals, but by His own blood, then asks, "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?". He then became also the mediator of the new testament by means of His death. (Heb. 9:11-15). This is the simplicity of the Gospel. It's not about going to church, but going to Christ in our hearts. It's not about the name on the door, but about the name on our hearts. In the third epistle of John, John wrote that he prayed that we would be prospered as our soul prospers, and that he has no greater joy than when he hears that his spiritual children are "walking in truth" (v. 1-4). This upcoming Feast of the LORD, the Day of Atonement, calls us to prosper in our souls, and walk in the truth of Christ's atonement for us. *Based on Dr. Kenneth E. Stevenson's 10/2/2022 message to the church. To contact us, submit a prayer request, give a praise report, or to support this ministry: P.O. Box 154221, Waco, TX, 76705 OR Everlastingcovenant@ymail.com. You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter, theshroudofturin.org, and END TIME SCHOOL, also on Facebook.

Understanding the Root and Not the Symptoms*

Passover is twenty days away, and eight days later, is Resurrection Sunday. Seldom are these two important days so close together. The divine congruence of these two holy days this year, should cause the Church to prepare themselves in a special way. These days should bring to mind the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, and His resurrection from the dead. Much of what we see in the world today is very concerning. However, we need to understand that those things we are seeing are the symptoms of a much deeper root problem. That root problem is sin, and it applies to us all: "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good. God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God. Every one of them is gone back, they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one."(Ps. 53:1-3). Sin is not someone else's problem, but everyone's problem. The sin nature of man passed from Adam like a gene. If we deny it, we are not dealing with reality, we are only dealing with the symptoms. How deeply is sin imbedded in our nature? The prophet Jeremiah wrote: "Thus saith the LORD; cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD...Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters...her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who shall know it." (Jer. 17:5-9). Many in the Church have been trusting in politicians to cure the ills of society rather than the LORD. Many trust in pharmaceuticals to heal us of the latest deadly outbreak. We should keep in mind that the Greek word for sorcerer is pharmakeus. Our hearts convince us that our hope is in man rather than God. Our hearts deceivingly convince us that there is hope in self-help, rather than God. Scripture explains the division between heart and Spirit, and the respective results from each. "This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh...these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, forniction, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like...they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance,: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit..." (Gal. 5:15-25). Jesus came under criticism because He did not keep the traditions of men that had become more important to the people than the Word of God. However, the traditions of men would not keep them clean and undefiled. Jesus quoted Isaiah: "This people honoreth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." (Mk. 7:5-9). Jesus continued, "Hearken unto me every one of you, and understand: There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man..." (v. 14-15). Even His own disciples did not understand this principle, and asked for an explanation. Jesus was surprised that they couldn't understand. He then explained, "That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: all these evil things come from within, and defile the man." (Mk. 7:20-23). As we read above in Jeremiah, Jesus said that it is from the evils of our own hearts that we are defiled. We often look at the outward appearance in judging whether we and others are righteous. However, Paul wrote that the outward appearance has no importance in the Spirit. The Jews valued physical circumcision as signifying their covenant with God. Paul said, however, "For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God." (Rom. 2:28-29). Paul went on to say that whether Jew or Gentile, all are under sin (Rom. 3:9). "As it is written", Paul said quoting the Psalm we read above, "There is none righteous, no not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God...There is none that doeth good, no, not one...There is no fear of God before their eyes." (v. 10-18). People who don't fear God will do anything. They will latch onto a lie, like Darwinism, as an excuse not to believe. However, this condition is not without remedy! Paul wrote, "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God...that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." (v. 23-26). 1 John 1:8 says, "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." He then writes that if we walk in the light, as God IS light, with no darkness in Him, the blood of His Son, Jesus, will cleanse us of all sin (v. 7). If we confess our sins to Him, "he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (v.9). For Jesus "is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world." (1 Jn. 2:2). That word used by both Paul and John regarding Jesus as the "propitiation", refers to the sprinkling of the atoning blood of the sacrifice by the high priest on the mercy seat of God. Passover is coming soon. Resurrection Sunday follows immediately after. As the Bride, we need to make ourselves ready. We need to deal with the root of the problem, and not just the outward symptoms. And the root of the problem is found within each of our own hearts. *Based upon Dr. Kenneth E. Stevenson's 3/7/21 message to the Church. To contact: Everlastingcovenant@ymail.com or P.O. Box 154221 You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter, and endtimesschool.com

The Crux of the Faith*

Last week, we discussed the Lord's command to Peter, based on the Peter's expressed love for Christ, to "Feed My sheep". In the condition in which the Church finds itself today, do we know how the feed the sheep? As in the natural, babies in the faith need to start out with the "milk" of the Word, the basic fundamentals of the Christian faith, and as they mature, they can be fed the "meat" of the Word, those things that take us deeper and higher in the knowledge of God. The first of the basics is found in Romans 3, "...for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one...Destruction and misery are in their ways: and the way of peace have they not known: There is no fear of God before their eyes. But now, the righteousness of God...is manifested... Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;" (v. 9-25). The use of the word, "propitiation" refers to the sprinkling of the blood, in this case Christ's own blood, upon the mercy seat of God for the remission of the sin that all of us have. We do not come to this gift of righteousness through any religious works or good deeds, but by faith, not even by our own faith, that we would take crdit for it, but we come by the faith of the Son of God. And we believe in the power of His blood to cleanse us of sin by that same faith, the faith of the Son. John the Baptist declared upon seeing Jesus, "Behold the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world." It is the lamb's blood, on Passover, applied to the doorposts and lintels of their houses, that delivered God's people from the angel of death in the last plague of Egypt. Having received this saving faith of the Son of God in order to accept the gift of righteousness given to us by the Father, having our sins wiped away by the blood of Christ, what is our continuing understanding to be and teach to others? Romans 6 says, "...Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?...like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so, we should also walk in newness of life...our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth, we should not serve sin...Let no sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof...For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace...Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness...For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (v. 1-23). Having been delivered from our sins, and its consequence, death, we are not to continue in sin. We have died and been raised with Christ. The dead no longer are the servants of sin. Having received the gift of the righteousness of God in Christ, and the newness of His resurrection life, we are not to continue in unrighteousness. In Isaiah 52 and 53, the prophet writes to us of the severe suffering of the Servant of God, who did not suffer this rejection and torture because of His own sin, but for the sins of others. His blood would sprinkle (NAZAH) all nations, and kings who did not see this event as it happened, still "would see" and considered it. As Paul would also write later in Romans, Isaiah saw the condition of those for whom this servant died: "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all....he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter..." (Isa. 53:7-8). And, "...he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed...by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities...he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors." (v. 5, 11-12). Jesus interceded for us in His work on the cross. He continues to make intercession for all. Paul writes, "...God our Saviour...Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time." (1 Tim. 2:3-6). God desires that none should perish, but that all should come to repentance, and to that salvation, righteousness, and everlasting life that He has provided through Jesus Christ, His Servant, and beloved Son. These things are the basic fundamentals of the faith of Christ, which we are to know for ourselves in order to be transformed, and in order to teach others. *This is based on the 10/18/20 message of Dr. Stevenson to the Church. To contact Dr. Stevenson and the ministry, write to PO Box 154221, Waco, TX 76705. By email: everlastingcovenant@ymail.com