Atonement 10/7/41/120

Dear Friends,

Today is the Day of Atonement which along with the Lord’s Supper are the two most Holy Days of the year even though the Lord’s Supper is not a Holy Day in its own right. It is however, the Second Sacrament of the church after Baptism.

On Sabbath we issued the message dealing with the sermon on Atonement (No. 138) and it is now the Sermon of the Week. Today we also look at the paper Azazel and Atonement dealing with the Azazel Goat in the Atonement sequence. The significance of the robing of the High Priest is also discussed (cf. Azazel and Atonement (No. 214)). Remember also the purpose of the Fast at Atonement which is discussed in Isaiah Chapter 58. Look at its purpose and see what is required of each of us in that fast.  We are to break the bonds of wickedness and break every yoke and to let the oppressed go free.

Isa.58 [1] "Cry aloud, spare not, lift up your voice like a trumpet;
declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins.
[2] Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the ordinance of their God;
they ask of me righteous judgments, they delight to draw near to God.
[3] `Why have we fasted, and thou seest it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and thou takest no knowledge of it?'
Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers.
[4] Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with wicked fist.
Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high.
[5] Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a man to humble himself?
Is it to bow down his head like a rush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?
Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the LORD?
[6] "Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness,
to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke? [7] Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
and bring the homeless poor into your house;when you see the naked, to cover him,
and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
[8] Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily;
your righteousness shall go before you, the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
[9] Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, Here I am.
"If you take away from the midst of you the yoke, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
[10] if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted,
then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday.
[11] And the LORD will guide you continually, and satisfy your desire with good things,
and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.
[12] And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in.
[13] "If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day,
and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the LORD honorable;
if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly;
[14] then you shall take delight in the LORD, and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth;
I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken."

Wade Cox
Coordinator General