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Duty of the Congregation on the Day of Atonement

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Oct 17, 1912

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 89, No. 42.

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Duty of the Congregation on the Day of Atonement

By Stephen Nelson Haskell

S. N. HASKELL
God expected his ancient people to serve him faithfully every day in the year, and he accepted their service; but on the day of atonement special requirements were enjoined upon them, and a failure to observe these would cut them off from the congregation of the Lord.
God has accepted the service of his people down through the ages; but during the antitypical day of atonement, when the investigative judgment is taking place in the heavenly sanctuary, God expects the antitypical congregation on earth to fulfil their part of the antitype just as faithfully as Christ, our High Priest, fulfils his part in the heavens. Anciently the congregation was not accepted as a whole; it was an individual work. Lev. 23:29, 30. So today each one answers for himself before God. We can not content ourselves by doing just as our fathers did, who passed away before the judgment opened in the courts of heaven.
God requires special service of his people now. Their cases are to be decided in heaven while they are still living, and Satan brings to bear upon them—a people who are weaker physically than any previous generation—all the wisdom he has gained in a six thousand years' warfare. Those who are accounted worthy in the investigative judgment will live for a time without a mediator. Their experience will be different from any other company that has ever lived upon the earth. God in his infinite mercy has enjoined special duties upon the last generation, that they might be more strongly fortified against the attacks of the enemy, and not be overthrown by his devices.
In the ancient service if an individual failed to observe the day of atonement as God directed, his sins were not confessed over the scapegoat by the high priest; but he was cut off from among the people of God. Lev. 23:28-30. The individual who, during the antitypicalday of atonement, the investigative judgment, thinks that Christ will plead his case while he himself is ignoring the work God has enjoined upon the antitypical congregation, will find at last that his name will be blotted out from the book of life. We are saved by faith in our High Priest, but faith without works is dead. James 2:17. If we have a living faith, we shall gladly do as the Lord directs.
Four things were required of each individual member of ancient Israel on the day of atonement, as follows:— 1. “It [the day of atonement] shall be an holy convocation unto you;” (2) “ye shall afflict your souls,” (3) and “offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord;” (4) “ye shall do no work in that same day.”
These were required for the twenty-four-hour period of the typical work of atonement, and were an “example and shadow” of the real work. That day was to be an holy convocation. The people were to assemble for religious worship. Paul gives the following exhortation to individuals who live in the days when the High Priest is soon to come forth from the heavenly sanctuary: “Having an High Priest over the house of God; let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience. . . . Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” Heb. 10:21-25. He who takes no pleasure in meeting to worship God with those of like faith, has an “evil conscience,” and has lost faith in the near coming of our High Priest from the heavenly sanctuary. There is a special blessing in worshiping with others. God promises that where even two or three are gathered in his name, he will meet with them. Matt. 18:19. This first requirement is a spiritual thermometer by which every Christian can test his spiritual condition. If Christians absent themselves from the worship of God because they take no pleasure in it, their spirituality is very low.
Each individual was to afflict his soul, search his heart, and put away every sin, spend much time in prayer, and abstain from food. Fasting was so forcefully impressed upon the minds of ancient Israel that even at the present day the Jews, although they have rejected Christ and many desecrate the Sabbath, always fast upon the tenth day of the seventh month.
The individual who realizes that the judgment is going on in the heavenly sanctuary, and that his name will surely be presented before that great tribunal, will search his heart and pray earnestly that God will accept him. We need to meditate often upon the work of our High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary, lest by having the mind filled with earthly thoughts, we, like the foolish virgins, find when too late that the door is shut, the work finished, and we have no part in it. In the typical service the congregation in the court listened for the tinkling of the golden bells on the robes of the high priest, and in that way followed him in his work. Our High Priest has given signs in the heavens and in the earth and among the nations to mark the progress of his work, and has said that when we see these signs fulfilled, we are to know that he is near, even at the door. Luke 21:25-33; Matt. 24:29-35, margin.
The antitypical day of atonement is a period of years. The type was twenty-four hours. A fast for one day was a complete control of the appetite, and a type of controlling the appetite during the antitypical period of years. God designs that his people shall be masters of their appetites, and shall keep their bodies under. 1 Cor. 9:27.
Satan would have people give loose reins to the appetite, letting it control them. In spite of the fact that an army of faithful workers are doing all in their power to withstand the flood of intemperance, Satan is working with such power that drunkenness and crime are increasing in the earth at an alarming rate. In 1844, when the investigative judgment opened in the heavens, generally speaking only men were slaves to tobacco; but now masses of children are being destroyed by it, while thousands of women are chained to the filthy habit. Wineries and breweries are increasing in the land, and intoxicating beverages are served in thousands of homes.
God calls upon his people to be masters of their appetites instead of slaves to appetite, that they may have clearer minds to comprehend divine truth and follow the work of their High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary. How few are willing to deny themselves the things their appetites crave, even when they know the claims of God!
The prophet Isaiah, looking down through the ages, refers to this state of things as follows: “In that day did the Lord God of hosts call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth: and behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine.” What a vivid picture of the present condition! God calls his people to afflict their souls, control their appetites, partake of food that will furnish good blood and a clear mind to discern spiritual truths; but instead of obeying, they engage in “eating flesh, and drinking wine.” The prophet gives the final result of this course: “It was revealed in mine ears by the Lord of hosts, Surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till ye die, saith the Lord of hosts.” Isa. 22:12-14.
The Saviour gave special warning against the evil of giving loose rein to the appetite in the period of time when the records of the lives were being examined, and individuals were accounted worthy or unworthy to stand before the Lord when he appears. “Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. . . . Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.” Luke 21:34-36. The Saviour warns against surfeiting—overeating, eating injurious food—and drunkenness. In other words, he designs that his people during the antitypical day of atonement shall take heed to both the quantity and the quality of food. One can becloud the mind and ruin the health by overeating of the best of food. The glutton and the drunkard are classed together: “Be not among wine-bibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh: for the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty.” Prov. 23:20, 21.
Our first parents failed on the test of appetite. Gen. 3:1-6. Where they failed, Christ triumphed (Matt. 4:3, 4); and it is possible for a Christian with the indwelling Christ in the heart to be a complete master of his appetite,—to abstain from all food that is injurious, however much the natural appetite may crave it, and not overeat of good food. The Saviour was tested upon appetite as he entered upon his earthly ministry, but from childhood he had been taught to control it.
In speaking of Jesus' childhood, Isaiah says, “Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good.” Isa. 7:14, 15. His manner of eating developed in him spiritual discernment to discern between good and evil. Many who have gone into drunkards' graves have eaten “butter and honey;” but Jesus ate them in a way to develop spiritual strength. He ate according to the Bible rule. We have three texts which give a rule for eating honey, and the same rule will apply to all food that is good. They read as follows: “My son, eat thou honey, because it is good.” Prov. 24:13. “Hast thou found honey? eat so much as is sufficient for thee.” Prov. 25:16. “It is not good to eat much honey.” Prov. 25:27. The individual who follows the above instruction, and eats none but good food, and only “so much as is sufficient,” will have good health and a clear mind. God wishes his people to enjoy good health, with souls free from condemnation. 3 John 2. Satan delights in beclouding the brain and destroying the health. All who will fulfil the antitype will be masters of their appetites, that they may prepare to meet the Saviour when he comes to the earth as King of kings and Lord of lords.
The third requirement enjoined upon the typical congregation on the day of atonement was to “offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord.” The offerings made by fire were consumed upon the altar. In the antitype we do not offer burnt offerings of bullocks and rams; but God expects us to fulfil the antitype of the offering consumed upon the altar. He desires that the “whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our LordJesus Christ” (1 Thess. 5:23), that the entire life of the Christian be laid upon the altar ready to be used as the Lord directs. None can do this who does not daily accept Christ as his sin-offering, and know what it is to be “accepted in the Beloved.”
The day of atonement was kept as a ceremonial sabbath by the ancient congregation. Lev. 23:31. All work was laid aside, and the entire thought given to seeking God and serving him. God's work was given the first thought during the entire day. That was the type. It does not mean that on the antitypical day of atonement no one should attend to personal business, for God never intended his people to be slothful in business. Rom. 12:11. He promises to bless them in temporal things if they fulfil the antitype by keeping his work and service first and temporal interests second. Matt. 6:31-33. This was beautifully taught by the Saviour's words: “Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with . . . cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.” Luke 21:34. Satan will entrap more well-meaning people in this snare than in any other of his many deceptions. He persuades good people that the daily cares of the household are so important that they have no time to study God's Word and pray, until, for lack of spiritual food and communion with God, they become so weak spiritually that they accept the doubts and unbelief Satan constantly presents. When the time comes that they think they have time to study their Bibles, they have lost all relish for God's Word.
God is testing the great antitypical congregation. Who will fulfil the antitype,—not forsaking the assembly of God's people, keeping a clear mind by a control of the appetite, and a pure heart by prayer and deep heart searching, laying his all upon God's altar to be used for his glory, never letting “cares of this life” crowd out God's work or a study of his Word? Over such the High Priest will say, “He that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.” Rev. 22:11.
Type Antitype
Lev. 23:27. “It [the day of atonement] shall be an holy convocation unto you.” Heb. 10:25. God's people should not forsake assembling together as the end draws near.
Lev. 23:27, 29. In the type all were to afflict the soul, spending the day in “prayer, fasting, and deep searching of heart.” Luke 21:34-36; Isa. 22:12-14. When the judgment is deciding who is worthy and who is unworthy, the admonition is, “Watch, . . . and pray always,” and avoid surfeiting and drunkenness.
Lev. 23:27. “Offer an offering made by fire,” an entire consecration. 1 Thess. 5:23; Rom. 12:1. The whole spirit and soul and body are to be fully consecrated to God.
Lev. 23:27, 30. All personal work was to be laid aside. Matt. 6:32, 33. The cares of this life are not to come in and crowd out God's work.