Herbert W Armstrong

   Does it seem to you that Satan the devil is always a little extra active prior to the various festivals? It seems particularly in the spring and in the fall that there are various things that are stirred up. It seems like I've noticed that, and I know as a fact that many of the brethren in the north area have noticed that, and I have an idea that many of you in the east and the west have also noticed that: that Satan manages to stir up problems in a special way prior to God's festivals. Because you know, just as God's festivals remind us of the plan of God, the purpose of God, and what God is doing on the face of this earth, I think they also remind Satan the devil. He knows what these days symbolize. He knows what they picture. And every year that comes around and commemorates those events just serves to drive him to be a little more in a rage at what God is doing.

   You know, last year, right before the feast of the fall festivals, in fact, it was interesting, it culminated right on the Day of Atonement. Various of our members — we have about six or seven men who are baptized in the various state prison system, and several of them I baptized, Mr. Neff baptized some prior to my coming into the area — and they were faced with a problem last year, of course, of being thrown in solitary confinement for two weeks if they were to keep God's holy days. And of course they had already determined that in their mind and their heart, and various ones of them had been placed in solitary confinement over a period of several years every time they would keep one of God's holy days. You know, be a little bit of an incentive to compromise, wouldn't it, when you get in a situation like that?

   But anyway, it came to a head last year at the time of the Day of Atonement. In fact, I remember that last year on the Day of Atonement I wound up making the announcements and solicited your prayers in that case because there was a situation pending and we did not know what was going to happen, whether some of our brethren were going to be spending the feast in solitary while we were going to be fellowshipping and eating and rejoicing. And when I returned home that afternoon, in fact, the phone rang and interrupted me while I was praying, and when I got up and answered the phone, it was the head chaplain of all of the prisons in the state of Texas, and he had been instructed by the director to call me and personally assure me that this would not happen, that it had gone all the way to the director, and you know, it was decided in favor of our men.

   And this year there were no problems at all in the prison system, and I guess this year Satan decided to stir up a little extra in the schools, and so we've encountered — I know many of you in the north have, I have an idea that some of the rest of you have as well — extra problems this year with the schools and various things that they've been wanting to do. So it seems like there's always something, and yet we need to understand that we're serving the living God, the God that is our deliverer, is our ruler, our king.

   You know, we look around the world and we see various things going on. And if you had the view of the world that the average Protestant does, which is the fact that God is trying to save the world right now... No, there are basically two main views in the Western world aside from the truth. The Western so-called Christian world among the — you have the Protestant perspective and the Catholic perspective. Neither one of them really understand what the kingdom of God is, and they don't understand the relationship of this present world called in the scripture "this present evil world." They don't understand the relationship of this world with God and with the kingdom of God.

   The Catholic approach was to view themselves, the Catholic Church, as the kingdom of God on earth. And they held sway during a virtually unchallenged sway for right at a thousand years. They had their millennium, their opportunity added if you want to look back at the — take the time between the imperial restoration of the Roman Empire, where the papacy began to rule and dominate there in Europe from 554 A.D., if you want to come from that time down till the time of the Protestant Reformation in the 1500s, you find almost exactly a thousand-year period, which is known in history, by the way, as the Dark Ages. Ought to give you a little bit of insight as to how much of the kingdom of God was established on earth during that time. That was their perspective on it.

   The Protestants, of course, have misinterpreted the scripture back in Luke, where Christ said to the Pharisees, "The kingdom of God is within you." And he was obviously not talking about the fact that the kingdom of God was inside of them and their carnal minds. Properly translated, it says "The kingdom of God is among you," referring to himself as that emissary of the kingdom. But they take that view: "The kingdom of God is within you," and so you have the various reform movements. You've got right now in politics, the so-called Committee for a Moral Majority, and they're going to go out and try to elect born-again candidates for various offices. And of course, you know, I don't think any of their born-again candidates have survived the hatpin test yet, you know, according to God's definition of born again, they're not. But that's neither here nor there.

   They don't understand that this is not God's world, and that God is not trying to save the world right now, and God is not trying to reform the world right now, as all of the great liberal reform movements of the 19th century that sprang out of the so-called Great Protestant Awakening and revival of the early 1800s and began to stir them up, and this attitude they had that the kingdom of God is here now — just a matter of enough good people doing enough good works to kind of bring it about.

   Well, brethren, that cannot happen. That is an impossibility for men of goodwill working together to bring the kingdom of God about here on the earth right now. And the reason why that is an impossibility has a lot to do with why you skipped your breakfast this morning. Has a lot to do with why you're sitting here in church services during the noon hour instead of observing our normal custom during the noon hour and feasting on physical food.

   Today I want us to examine more closely exactly what this day pictures. I want us to understand more fully exactly how great is our need as individuals, as a church, and as humanity — how great is our need for the fulfillment of this day.

   Why do we have a Day of Atonement? What does the word atonement mean? The Jews call it Yom Kippur. You know, you hear that term used from time to time. The word "yom" is just the Hebrew word for day. "Kippur" means literally expiation — something which is covered or expiated. Now why would they observe a day that they would refer to, if you translate literally from the Hebrew, as a day of expiation?

   We use the English word atonement, the way it is translated in our English Bible. The word atonement comes from an old English word which is actually a compound of the three component parts of that word: atonement. "At-one-ment." That's literally where it comes from — a compound in Old English, meaning to be made at one. A reconciliation after enmity. That's what atonement means: a reconciliation after enmity.

   Now you don't need a reconciliation unless you've had an enmity, an estrangement. You don't need to be brought back into a close relationship, into a reconciliation.

   God tells us, let's notice back in Leviticus 23:26: "The Eternal spoke unto Moses, saying, 'Also on the tenth day of the seventh month there shall be a day of atonement.'" Now here we are on the tenth day of the seventh month of God's sacred calendar. Just a matter of nine days ago on a Thursday, we were gathered together, most of us either in Galveston or quite a sizable number up in Corrigan as well, and perhaps some of you were in other areas, and we were observing a day that God calls "a memorial of the blowing of trumpets." Now here we are nine days later observing a day that God calls the Day of Atonement.

   "It shall be a holy convocation" — a commanded assembly made holy by God — "and ye shall afflict your souls." Now that term means to fast. It is used that way in the scriptures. "Ye shall afflict your souls." It goes on and mentions "an offering made by fire unto the Eternal." We're going to see a little bit later why we do certain things on the Day of Atonement and we don't do others. "Ye shall do no work in that same day, for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before the Eternal your God. And whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people."

   So if you're out physically feasting on this day, if you're imbibing physical nourishment and you're not fasting on this day, God says you're cut off from among his people. God does not count you as one of his if you make that choice. "And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people. Ye shall do no manner of work: 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" — or from sunset to sunset. We're to observe God's high day, God's Sabbath, all of them, this particular day.

   So we see that God commands us to observe a day that is an annual Sabbath. We see that God commands us that we are to deprive ourselves of physical food and nourishment on this particular day. God commands us that we're to assemble before him in what he tells us is a holy convocation. And God tells us that this is a time to make an atonement. This is a time, a Day of Atonement or reconciliation.

   Why is there a need for a Day of Atonement? Why is there a need for reconciliation? Was mankind made to be cut off from God? Was mankind cut off from God needing to be brought into at-one-ment? If so, why? Why would God have put man away from him? Was man always at enmity with God and in need of reconciliation?

   Let's notice back in the book of Genesis 1:26. Let's notice what God said. God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, he said, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, subdue it: and have dominion." God went on and instructed them in terms of food that he had given them, things to eat.

   And verse 31 (Genesis 1:31): "And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day." So God finished the physical creation at the end of the sixth day, which would of course been Friday afternoon. And when God finished the physical creation, as God surveyed the world at the conclusion of the sixth day and the beginning of the first Sabbath, God surveyed everything that he had made and pronounced that it was very good. God did not look at man as being cut off from him.

   We see as we come through down in Genesis 2:15: "God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it." This is kind of backtracking and giving us the details of what occurred that Friday afternoon. "And the Eternal God commanded the man, saying, 'Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it: for in the day that you eat thereof you shall surely die.'" "You're as good as dead if you eat of the fruit of this tree, you're as good as dead."

   "And the Eternal God said, 'It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him'" — exactly fitting and compatible. "So out of the ground the Eternal God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and he brought them to Adam to see what he would call them: whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name." And Adam gave names to all the various animals, "and yet for Adam there was found not an help meet for him."

   You know, as Adam surveyed the animal world and as he named the various animals, it became apparent to Adam — you know, the animals were paired off. And yet Adam was lonely. God, I think, allowed this period of time to go by, wanted Adam to realize that he needed a companion to really make paradise, paradise. So Adam noticed that.

   "God then caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, he took out one of his ribs, and from the rib, made he a woman, and presented her to the man." And Adam said, "This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother" — God spoke these words. Made clear back in Matthew 19:5 when Christ quotes these words as being the words of God — "a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh." "And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed."

   Now here Adam and Eve were in the garden with God. God was dealing with them, talking with them, instructing them, instructing them in regards to marriage, instructing them in regards to all of the various things. God had commanded Adam regarding the tree of life, regarding the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We don't notice here an estrangement. We don't notice here an enmity between God and man. We notice a close communion that existed. We notice a fellowship between God and man. God instructing the man and his wife. The man and his wife listening to God and taking in what God said. Not a hostility, not an attitude of rebellion or resentment.

   Well, now we pick up the story a little bit later in Genesis chapter 3. We're not told exactly how much later, though there are certain indications. I certainly don't think that it was all that much longer, that "the serpent who was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Eternal God made, said unto the woman, 'Has God said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?'" "God put you here in a nice garden, he won't let you eat the fruit."

   Well, immediately the woman began to get on the defensive and she said, "Oh yeah, we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: Except for this one right here in the middle God , 'Don’t eat of it, don’t even tough it, lest ye die.'"

   "And the serpent said to Eve, 'Ye shall not surely die.'" Die? "Did God tell you you were going to die? Oh, listen. Now God did not give you the straight scoop. Listen to me and I'll set you straight. I'll tell you the way it really is. You see this tree over here, God told you not to eat of it. You know why God told you not to eat of it?" And of course here we get into the matter of the what and the why, as was brought out in the sermonette. See, it was not — Eve really did not need to know why. All she needed to know was what. God said, "Don't do it." But Satan said, "Listen, I'll tell you why, because God knows that if you eat of the fruit of that tree, you will be like God you’ll know everything God. Why, you'll be just like God if you eat the fruit of that tree. That's why God doesn't want you to have any. He's keeping it back for himself. He just didn't tell you about that. You know, why don't you go ahead, take a bite, find out? Now God told you, you would die. God didn't tell you that you were an immortal soul, that you can't die. Now listen, the only way you can find out, you need to perform an experiment. You need to just take a bite and see what happens. Looks good, doesn't it? Smells good.

   Well, you know, you know, the story goes on. They looked at it. Eve did. She saw that it looked good, smelled good. So she took a bite and I'm sure it tasted good. And there was Adam standing by like a cloud kind of meekly standing there, and he gave him, you know, held it up to him. He took a bite too. Now you can't exactly say that Eve was wearing the pants in the family because neither one of them were at this time, uh, but, uh, you know, if there had have been evidently Eve would have won. Because Adam was standing there and he really knew better. He knew he was not deceived in the same way she was. He wasn't as gullible as she was, but he just kind of stood there and went along with what she said.

   Well, the eyes of them both were open. All of a sudden they began to have their minds open, their eyes open to certain things, and one of the things that they became aware of was their nakedness. Now undoubtedly Satan had implanted in them the idea as he began to instruct them in terms of the immortality of the soul, which is the first lie that we have up here. You shall not surely die. Verse 4. The beginning of pagan dualism, the idea that the body is bad and you've got this this righteous immortal soul inside that's good. And so immediately they had a sense of shame, something God had not given.

   And we find that they went and hid. They made themselves aprons and then verse 8, they heard the voice of the Eternal God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. This would have been right in the evening. You know, just around sunset, time of dusk. As To this particular time, Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Eternal God among the trees of the garden.

   God called unto Adam and He said unto him, Where are you? And he said, I heard you walking in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself. Now, you know, here's a strange turn of events. You know, God just got through. He, he just created Adam a short time earlier. He'd been instructing Adam and Eve. They had no sense of shame. All of a sudden, Adam was embarrassed. Adam was ashamed. And he went and hid. You ever notice how when little kid does something that he shouldn't do. That his desire is to go and hide from his parents. He just, he doesn't want to face them. And you know, you go in there and, and, uh, you find them, you know, they they've uh hidden themselves away.

   All right, God asked Adam a question. He said, Who told you you were naked? You know who's the one that brought this subject up? You eat of the tree that I told you not to eat up my God knew what he had done. God simply wanted to see what Adam would say. You know, it's like your kid standing there and he's got chocolate cake smeared all over his face. And you look at him and you say, Son, did you get into the chocolate cake that mommy told you not to touch? And he stands there, you know, smeared all over half his face. No, ma'am, you know, didn't have any. And can't understand how you know that he's lying. Why did you ask him? You knew what the answer was. You asked him to see what he would say.

   Now God ask Adam, you know, he want to see what Adam was going to say. And Adam immediately did what most men do. He blamed his wife. Well, there's some people that think that's the reason God gave a man a wife, because you can't blame everything on the government. And so what you can't blame on the government, you can blame on your wife, and men were blaming their wives before they thought of the government. Uh, but you know, back I Samuel 8 brings out they blame the government too and God's not going to listen, and, uh, you know, God doesn't listen here either.

   So Adam blamed his wife. He said that woman that you gave me, you know, kind of putting a little of it off on God, uh, she gave it to me, you know, and and kind of held me down and, you know, crammed it in my mouth. Well, not literally, but you know, she, she gave it to me and well I, I took a little bite. But you know she's the one that gave it to me.

   So then God turns to the woman and he said, Now what is this? Have you eaten up the tree that I told you not to eat up? And the woman said, Well, the serpent, he beguiled me. This serpent here, he tricked me. God did not even ask the serpent. You know, he, he was not, he had heard all the excuses he cared to hear. He wasn't even gonna listen to what Satan had to say.

   Then God began to take action. And of course Adam and Eve brought themselves under a curse because of what they had done. And we notice. That in verse 23, the Eternal God sent them forth from the Garden of Eden to till the ground from whence it was taken, from whence he, Adam was taken. So he drove out the man. And he placed at the east of the Garden of Eden Carribe in his flaming sword which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life.

   So here in this evening, Uh, this evening period, God expelled Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. Mankind all of a sudden was cut off from God, expelled out of the presence of God. Man hid from God. You know, man says today, why does God hide himself? Man hid from God first. Man was expelled. Man was separated from God. Reason of course very plainly put, Isaiah tells us and Isaiah 59:2, your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his faith from you that he will not hear.

   What separates us from God? Sin separates us from God.

   The Jews have an interesting tradition in regard to the timing here. Uh, they hold that the first Sabbath of creation. Was the first day of the 7th month, the first of Tishri, the day that centuries later came to be known as the Feast of Trumpets. Now I think it's very apparent that God did begin the year in the fall, logical time to begin it, you know, where, where the trees were loaded with ripe fruit and, uh, uh, Adam had something to eat, you know, if God had started the year in the spring originally, uh, then, uh, Adam wouldn't have had anything to eat buds and blossoms. Uh, so obviously the fall is the time. That's why the civil year is reckoned by the Jews even to this time. The civil year is reckoned from the fall. We find in Exodus chapter 12 where God made a change and he told Moses from now on this month, this spring month of Niceson will be reckoned to you at the beginning of month. That's for the sacred calendar, but this would have undoubtedly been the fall season.

   The Jews have as a tradition that the first Sabbath of creation was the first day of Tishri. It's interesting. We don't know exactly how long uh it was till Satan came into the garden, whether it was a day or a week, uh, but if it were a week later or if. God did instruct Adam and Eve for that week that they were there in the garden. And would have instructed them on the Sabbath, the following Sabbath, uh, you know, first Sabbath would have been the 1st day of Tishri. The next Sabbath would have been the 8th. Then that Sunday, uh, which would have been the 9th of Tishri, would have been the day that Satan would have appeared and would have beguiled Adam and Eve. And then we know here that Adam and Eve were expelled from the garden in the evening, which would then have been that Sunday evening, which would have been the beginning. According to that reckoning of the 10th day. Of the 7th month.

   I think it's rather interesting. It's not something we can necessarily prove from the Bible one way or the other. It is a matter of tradition, but I think it would be very interesting if God did not choose the date. Of man's original Estrangement from Him, man's original being expelled and cut off and sent away from God. As the date that he was to initiate centuries later as a day of atonement. The day that man was separated from God to eventually become the day that man will be able to be reunited with God.

   We see here that man became cut off from God. God did not create man in a cut off state. Man became that way.

   When we look at the condition of mankind today, we don't look at a world that is in harmony with God. We don't look at a world that is in communion with God. We look at a situation as We're instructed in I John 2:15. Our instruction is love, not the world. Neither are the things that are of the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, and isn't that what Satan appealed to, to Adam and Eve? The lust of the flesh. Look, it'll taste good. The lust of the eyes, it looks good. The pride of life, you'll be just like God. Isn't that what Adam, isn't that what, what Satan appealed to?

   All that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the word. And the world passes away. And the lust thereof, but he that does the will of God abides forever.

   So the love of God and the love of the world are two different things. The world is cut off from God. The world is going opposite. To the way of God. It is not in harmony with God. We're told back in I John 5:19, we know that we are of God. And we also know the whole world lies in wickedness. The new English version translates it, The whole world is under the rule of the wicked one. The whole world is under the rule of the wicked one. The whole world lies in wickedness. This world is cut off from God. This world is going away contrary to the law of God. This world is going away that is characterized by the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.

   If you look at the jockeying for power and position. The various candidates running for election at this time. If you look at the various individuals, the various nations jockeying for power and position, what do you see? You see the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes. A covetous attitude. The pride of life. Great swelling vanity.

   God tells us why. Back in Revelation chapter 12 and verse 9. Talking about that great dragon, that old serpent, called the devil and Satan, which deceives the whole world. And he started off by deceiving Eve. And he's gone on. She was the mother of all living, and he deceived the whole world. We're reading, of course, in Revelation 12:9 of how he's gonna be cast back down to the earth and his wrath is great because he knows he has but a short time.

   We see here that Satan, the devil, the reason the world is cut off from God, the reason the world is in enmity with God. It's because Satan the devil has deceived the whole world. Of course that's where his role comes in. Because Satan, the devil led the original rebellion. His way is the way of rebellion. Way of rebellion against God.

   God did not create a devil. God created a great Cherub. By the name of Lucifer, which means light bringer. God says in Isaiah 14:12, how are you falling from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning. How are you cut down to the ground which did weaken the nations? What happened, Lucifer? You said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the most high. I Will take God's place.

   God brings out parallel account back to Ezekiel 28. Where he describes here in verse 12 (Ezekiel 2812) of this being summed up. Sealed up the psalm full of wisdom, perfect in beauty. We'd been in Eden, the garden of God. Who had had various his covering was every precious stone. The workmanship of his tobras and pipes were prepared in in him in the day that he was created, created being. It is the anointed Cherub that covers. He was upon the holy mountain of God. He walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. He was perfect in all his ways until iniquity, until lawlessness was found in him.

   And he became lifted up, became filled with pride and vanity and rebelled against the government of God and the laws of God. And of course the destruction that took place as a result of that rebellion, you know the story of the fact is we pick up the story in Genesis chapter 1, the 1st 2 or 3 verses, how God created the heavens and the earth. The earth became a formless, it became chaotic, it became void of life. Now God then intervened after the rebellion of Satan and began to restore the face of the earth.

   Well, of course, Satan didn't lose any time after God had restored the face of the earth in a week and placed mankind in the garden, then Satan didn't waste any time. He very quickly came to the garden and God allowed it. He came to the garden and he was peddling his lies and mankind believed his lies, and they've been believing those lies ever since. Satan came between man and God. He introduced sin. Man chose the way of sin. And sin cuts us off from God. Satan holds swaying. He deceives the whole world.

   How does Satan control the world? You ever thought about that? How does Satan maintain his dominant position? In deceiving the world, why is it so necessary that Satan the devil be put away? Why is it such an impossibility? That the Protestant concept of men of goodwill working together somehow bringing about the kingdom of God on earth. Why is that such an impossibility?

   Let's notice a few things. Let's not something that is revealed to us back in the book of Job 32 and verse 8. We need to understand a little bit of man, who man is and how man uh how man's mind works to understand why. Satan, the devil exercises such dominance and why men of goodwill working together on their own cannot solve the problems.

   Job 32:8 says, there is a spirit in man. So human beings have a human spirit. This is brought out back in II Corinthians or I Corinthians chapter 2. I Corinthians 2:11. What man knows the things of a man except the spirit of man which is in it. Even so, the things of God knows no man but or the spirit of God.

   You know, you can't go out and teach an animal the things of human beings. Mr. Armstrong used the example. You can't teach algebra to a cow, you know, the old cow just stands there kind of chewing, chewing her cud and looks at you like, you know, what's wrong with you? Only the cow's not really thinking that cow's not really thinking anything. Cows just doing, doing the things that cows were made to do.

   So what man can understand the things of a man except for the spirit of man which is in him. There's something that imparts to the human brain the power of human intellect. And in the same way, no man can understand the things of God except for the spirit of God, you know, no more than you can go out and explain algebra or arithmetic to a cow. Or a monkey or a porpoise or anything else in terms of really expounding on the human level, there is a difference. Even though the brains physically are very similar, there are many similarities in the way they work. You take some of the higher mammals, and their brains are more complex, very similar physically to the brain of a human being, and yet there is a vast gulf between the human mind and the animal brain.

   You can't go out and you try to expound somebody out on the street corner, the truth of God, and you show them some of the most simple and basic scriptures in the Bible, and if God is not working with them through His Spirit, they cannot understand it. You can't understand the things of God except for the spirit of God. You can't understand the things of man except for the spirit of man.

   Now notice what it says in verse 12, where it talks about the spirit of God in verse 11 and in verse 12. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God that we may know the things that are freely given to us of God. Here we're told of two different spirits. The Spirit of God contrasted to the spirit of the world. Now actually we've seen 3 spirits. We've seen the spirit in man, which every human being has, and then we've seen an influence that is able to deal with that spirit in man, either the spirit of God or the spirit of the world.

   Now let's understand a little bit about the spirit of man. The spirit of man is not. Some type of an immortal soul, it is not conscious of and by itself we see. In Ecclesiastes 12:7, where it talks about death, it says, then shall the dust return to the earth that it was, and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it. So the spirit returns to God at death. Does that mean that there's a consciousness apart from? Uh, this current life, there's a consciousness after death, will know the scripture is very plain on that. Ecclesiastes 9:5, for the living know that they shall die. You know that's something all living human beings know. We know that we shall die, but the dead know not anything. Neither have they any more reward for the memory of them is forgotten, you know, they, they're not conscious. They're not able to reap the rewards of you know the things that we do, the happiness, the joys, all of the things, there is no more. There's no memory. There's no consciousness. They don't know anything. They're asleep. So the spirit of man is not uh some type of uh of uh consciousness apart from the the, the man apart from the human being, but there is a spirit essence there and it is something that God can work with through his spirit or it is something that there is what is called a spirit of the world.

   Now let's know a little bit. Back in Romans chapter 8 verse 7, let's notice something here. Romans 8:7. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. Now where does the carnal mind come from? Well, the normal physical mind that most people have, it is not subject to the law of God. It is enmity against God, not subject to God's law, neither indeed can be. Is that the way God created Adam and Eve? Did God created Adam and Eve a mind that was enmity and hostility against him? A mind that was not subject to his law that could not be? You know, if that had been the case, then God would have been the one that separated man from Him by having given man a mind that was diametrically opposed to God. You know, then God would bear the responsibility for separating man from God. That's not the mind God gave to man.

   You know, you read back in Genesis 1:31, we read it just a little early, a little bit earlier. That the Lord God beheld, you know, at the end of the 6th day, the Lord God beheld everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. When God got through making Adam and Eve, God looked at what he made and he said, behold, it is very good. God did not see a carnal minded hostile individual that hated God, that hated God's law, that was not subject to God's law, could not be, would not be. Well, God didn't see that kind of an attitude. That God didn't see a converted mind either. God saw something that was kind of neutral. But there was no hostility there. It was receptive. It was just not, you know, really molded one way or the other, but there was a receptivity there. There was not a hostility, an enmity. You know the things of God could be explained and could be taken in.

   So God did not create man estranged from Him. Let's notice back in Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians 2:2. Let's pick it up in verse one. You, has he quickened who were dead and trespasses in sin, you know, spiritually we were dead because of our sins. Now we've been made alive spiritually, wherein in times past you walked according to the course of this world. All of us did. We went the way of the world. We thought like the world. We acted like the world. We were participating in the things of the world. You walked according to the course of this world, according to the princes of the power of the air. The spirit that now works in the children of disobedience.

   So here we find that Satan is described. As the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that works in the children of disobedience. So there's a spirit. That deals with the minds of hostile of carnal minded human beings, a spirit that works. And the children of disobedience that is called back in earlier in I Corinthians that is called the spirit of the world.

   Now Satan is called the prince of the power of the air. It's something that in a sense broadcasts out. It's taken in like you breathe in air. It permeates the atmosphere. That's why Mr. Armstrong used the analogy that Satan broadcasts. On a carnal rebellious wavelength. And when we began to think like that, we're tuning in his broadcast and we're taking in. Of the spirit of the world.

   John chapter 8 verse 44 makes plain some of the responsibility that exists there. John 8:44. Jesus spoke to certain ones. And he said, you are of your father, the devil, so the devil has children. You are of talking here to these carnal minded individuals. You are of your father, the devil, and the lust of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth, because there's no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own, for he's a liar and the father of it. Satan invented lies.

   So Satan, the devil. Controls the word through his spirit The spirit that works in the children of disobedience, the spirit of the world. That is broadcast out from the mind of Satan, that influences the course of human events that works and the children of disobedience, that serves to magnify, that serves to continually stir up and exacerbate all of the problems of the world. That's why men of goodwill, quote unquote, cannot work together and achieve world peace on their own because there is a spirit. That is the spirit of the world. Is broadcasting a carnal minded, rebellious enmity. Against the law of God is not subject to that law, nor can be. And the world takes that in. And because of that, the world is separated from God, and the world is traveling in a different direction. The world is not at one with God. The world is estranged from God. God is a stranger to the world, the true God, the God of the Bible. is an absolute stranger. To the people of the world and his ways are strange to them.

   Now as for mankind, we have our responsibility. We you know, Satan did not Satan enticed us into sand, but we went that way and we didn't have to tie our arms behind her back. And force us into it. Adam and Eve had certain alternatives given. They chose that way. Eve was deceived, but she had certainly certain responsibility. Adam did. All of us have. You know, so we have a responsibility that Christ paid our penalty.

   We're told in Romans 5:1, therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Coming on down in verse 8 (Romans 5:8). God commends His love toward us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more than being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. Not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have received the atonement.

   So we're made, we're brought into a relationship where we can be, our sins can be atoned for, we can be uh in a position of being reconciled to God of, of being atoned. For by the shed blood of Jesus Christ. We're told in Romans 6:11. Likewise reckon you also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

   So through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the penalty of sin that we have incurred because the wages of sin is death. Sin is the transgression of God's law, we've gone that way. That penalty has been paid. When we repent of the sins that we've committed, we turn away from them. We believe the promises of God and lay hold on them.

   But what, what of justice, you know, that's mercy. We bring ourselves under judgment. When we come before God and confess our sins and beseech God for His forgiveness. God gives us mercy. Where does judgment come in? You know, when we fast on the Day of Atonement, we're not doing penance. We're not trying to make God feel sorry for us, you know, God looks down and he says, boy, you know, so and so, he's really feeling miserable. He's really hungry. I guess I ought to feel sorry for him kind of let up on him a little bit. That's not why God has us fast.

   We fast, we afflict our souls in order to examine ourselves. In order to get our minds more on God. Tell you it's a time to be introspective, a time to begin to look at ourselves to understand more fully. In what ways we are personally separated from God. You know Jesus Christ has paid the penalty for us, yet we're still living in the world, and we still take in sometimes with the spirit of the world.

   As we fast on this day, as we in effect reject the things that are physical. And are saying to God that we place more value on the things that are spiritual than we do on the things that are physical. And we began to examine ourselves and to see what it is in our lives that personally separates us from God and keeps us from being as close to God as we need to be, to draw near to God, looking forward to the time that we can truly be at one with God.

   If we do that, you know, on this Day of Atonement. Yet we can do that, and the sacrifice of Christ has been paid to make an atonement for us, but what about the responsibility of Satan, the devil? You know, as long as Satan and Evil is around, there's going to be trouble stirred up. You know God is ready to be merciful to us. God is a God of mercy, but God is also a God of justice and a God of judgment.

   Back in Leviticus chapter 16 there was an interesting ritual that God commanded for the priesthood to follow on this particular Day of Atonement. We're going to Skim over some of these things that we're running a little bit late, but you're not gonna be late for lunch anyway. What else do you have to do this afternoon? You know, you're not, you're not in a hurry to get the Lubies before the line closes, so. Nevertheless, I'll try not to hold you too long.

   We find in Leviticus chapter 16 where God spoke to Moses and and uh uh gave instructions here to Aaron. Told him that he was not to come into the holy place anytime he chose because this symbolized God's throne, uh, that, uh, he was not to come into the holy of holies just any old time, but that he was there was only one time a year that he was to come in there. And he begins to give instruction that when Aaron was to come into the holy place, he was to offer a young bullet for a sin offering, a ram for a burn offering. He was to put on a special holy linen coat. uh, he was to, uh, wash himself with water, and he was to put it on, put on these special garments that were to allow him to come into the presence of God, pure white linen symbolize the righteousness of the saints.

   And this was to be done and then verse 5 (Leviticus 16:5), Aaron was to take the congregation of the children of Israel two kids of the goats for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering, and he was to offer the bullock of the sin offering which is for himself and make an atonement for himself and his house. So because Aaron was a sinner, Aaron had to atone for himself. So before Aaron could come in before God representing the people as the high priest, Aaron offered a sin offering for himself. He offered a bullock.

   Then he took the two kids, the two goats, looked identical. And he presented them before the Eternal at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and he cast lots upon the two goats. And ah one lot for theEeternal, the other lot for Azazel. Now the King James translates it as scapegoat, which is very I think very unfortunate translation, uh, it gives scapegoat is, uh, gives the connotation of someone who is unfairly had the blame put on him. And the Hebrew word here is a proper name, Azazel. We're going to see a little later who this Azazel is.

   So he was to cast one lot. The one goat was then to be for God. The other, the other goat was to be for Azazel, and he was to bring the goat upon which the Eternals lot fell and offer him for sin offering. And the goat on which the lot fell to be Azazel shall be presented alive before the Eternal. To make an atonement with him. So it is through this goat, this goat that stood for his Azazel, that an atonement is going to be made. And this goat that stood for Azazel is to let him go for Azazel or representing Azazel into the wilderness.

   Now Aaron is then goes and gives details. Aaron is to bring the bullet and they offer it for himself and then he special way that he used to go in and to offer, uh, this, uh, incense, uh, before God, which of course the fine incense represents the prayers of the saints. And then he makes atonement for himself going through showing that by the shedding of the blood of this bullet of the penalty of sins, which is death, verse 15, then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the people after he's atoned for himself and he takes this goat that was to be God's. And he takes it and he kills it and he brings the blood in within the veil to do with the blood as he did with the blood of the bullock and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat and before the mercy seat and to make an atonement.

   Nobody is to uh be there, be inside there when he goes in and he goes in, uh, goes out to the altar that is before the Lord to make an atonement. And then verse 20, when he's made an end of reconciling the holy place, the tabernacle, the congregation, the altar, he shall bring the live goat. He lays both of his hands upon the head of the live goat and confesses over this live goat. Now there were two goats. One was for God. The one that was for God was slain, the blood was taken in to the holy of holies, which symbolize the throne of God. It was taken in by Aaron the high priest before the throne of God. This was to make an atonement for the congregation. Then the live goat, the one that was stood for his Azazel, was left out there. Then Aaron comes back after he's finished doing that, and he lays hands on this live goat and confesses over this goat all of the iniquities of the children of Israel and all their transgressions and all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him send this goat away by the hand of a fit man. Into the wilderness, and the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited, and he shall let the goat go in the wilderness.

   Now as we come on down, we find that this is made plain in verse 29 that this is to be done on the Day of Atonement, and it goes on, I won't read through the rest of the chapter, but this was basically the symbolism that took place. Aaron sacrificed the bullock, made atonement for himself, took the two goats, casts lots, sacrificed one, as a sin offering for the people, took the other, laid hands on it, confessed the sins on this goat, and sent that goat out into the wilderness into an uninhabited desolate area by the hands of a fit man, and, and the goat was turned loose out there in the wilderness.

   Now why did they do that? What did all that symbolize? We, we don't do that. You don't see any bulls and goats parading around up here today. You know, sometimes people wonder, well, why do we keep some of these days, and yet we don't offer burnt offerings. Well, it's made plain in Hebrews 9:24. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hand. The holy place that Aaron entered into was a was a physical holy place. It was made with hands. Christ has not entered into the holy places made with hands which are the figures of the truth, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.

   So Jesus Christ entered into heaven into the before the throne of God. Just as Aaron entered into the holy place, Jesus Christ entered into heaven before the throne of God. And not nor yet that he should offer himself often as the high priest entered into the holy place every year with the blood of others. You know, every year the high priest came in uh to the holy place and reenacted this ritual. Jesus Christ doesn't go in before the throne of God every year. For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world, but now once in the end of the age, has he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. As it is appointed unto all men wants to die, but after this the judgment, so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many and upon and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

   So it goes through and it explains. That coming on in chapter 10. Verse 3 (Hebrews 10:3), and those sacrifices, there's a remembrance again made of sins every year. It's not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. Well, Jesus Christ offered one sacrifice for sins forever.

   So what Aaron was enacting simply pictured something. Aaron had to offer a bullock for himself because he was a sinner, Jesus Christ was sinless. Jesus Christ offered himself for the sins of the world, presented himself before God to make an atonement.

   What about the other goat? What about the goat for Azazel? The goat over whom the sins of the people were confessed, you know, the, the goat that was for the people symbolized Jesus Christ. It was sacrificed, and then the high priest symbolized the resurrected Christ who came before God, presenting the blood of the sacrifice.

   What about the other goat? The goat for Azazel. What is Jesus Christ going to have done when he comes back? Revelation 19 we read of Jesus Christ's return. Which symbolized by is the culmination of events which are symbolized by the Feast of Trumpets. Now we come to the very next event that is going to take place, recorded in Revelation chapter 20. And We come also to the very next holy day, the day we're here on today.

   Day of Atonement, notice what happens after Christ comes back. Revelation 20:1 and I saw an angel come down from heaven having the key of the great abyss, and a great chain in his hand, and he laid hold on that dragon. That old serpent which is the devil and Satan and bound him 1000 years. And cast him into the bottomless pit, cast him into the great abyss. And shut him up and set a seal on him that he should deceive the nations no more. Till the 1000 years be fulfilled and after that he must be loose for a little season.

   Every human being is going to have a chance. Satan is loose for a little season at the end of the 1000 years, the last generation has the alternatives presented to them, and he's put back away cast into the lake of fire brimstone, recorded in verse 10.

   But notice here what's Christ going to do when he gets back? What is Christ going to do to usher in the millennium? It's not enough for simply men of goodwill working together. The kingdom of God is not just something that exists within the hearts of men. Peace on earth cannot be produced. By human beings just simply trying to do the best they can and somehow this produces the millennium. Before the millennium can come to pass, even with Jesus Christ on the earth, before the millennium can come to pass, Satan the devil. He is going to have hands laid on him. The instigator of sin. And he is going to be put away.

   Now if you want to know where he's going to be put. I think you can read it in Revelation 18:2. He cried mightily with a strong voice saying, Babylon the greatest fallen has fallen, and he has become the habitation of demons and the whole of every foul spirit and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. Great city Babylon. Modern Babylon Rome. There's going to be a war take place and nuclear exchange are simply going to be a hole in the ground. What is today called by some as the eternal city is going to later be known as the infernal city because that's what it's gonna be, it's just gonna be a big smoking hole in the ground.

   God is going to take every foul spirit and he's going to close them up. He's gonna put them there. He's going to confine them there. And not allow them to come out. It's just going to be left as a desolate wilderness right there, and they're going to be confined to that great big hole in the ground, that great abyss. There won't be anything, but uh, unclean birds and, you know, vultures and things like that and, and just the, the unclean animals even during the millennium that'll be around there for that 1000 years they're going to be there.

   That is Azazel. The instigator of all of the sins of man. The one whom the justice of God demands must bear a penalty. He's going to be sent away into the wilderness, into this area here by the hands of a fit man, by a great angel. God is going to send for the task. He's going to be bound there. He's going to be put away. And it is only when Satan, the devil, the instigator of sin, Azazel. It is only when he is put away. That man begin to be at one with God.

   Brethren, there is a great spiritual war going on right now. An event which either has already happened or if not happened already certainly is going to happen in the immediate future is what we have read of back a little earlier in Revelation 12:9, of Satan, the devil being cast down on the earth, knowing that he has but a short time, and I think very possibly that's already happened. And he's going to make war with the saints and to stir up trouble.

   There's a great spiritual war going on right now. We're living in a crucial time. We're living in the, in the last times of this age, the last years, the last generation of this age, standing at the threshold of a new age. At a very crucial time in the history of man. And we need to realize, brethren, of whom the real enemy is, Satan the devil. The deceiver of the world, the spirit that works in the children of disobedience. The spirit of the world we need to realize who he is, that he's real and that he seeks to destroy us. That he is the real enemy.

   And yet we also need to understand what's going to happen to him. And we need to call on the only sure source of help and power and strength we have to resist the devil. So that he will flee from us. And as we draw near to God and as we examine ourselves today as we're fasting. And examine our lives and see the things that individually have come between us and God to separate us. We have this opportunity on this day. To examine our sins. To look forward to the time. When the originator of sin. The Father of sin. Will be bound up and put away. And finally, the whole world can be brought Into At-one-ment with God.