The fifth chapter of the book of Hebrews reveals the spirit of the Day of Atonement. However, looking back to Old Testament times, both the twenty-third and sixteenth chapters of Leviticus picture the Day of Atonement as having rather involved rituals that were to be followed. Today we are not interested in following the ritual; rather, we want to experience the reality of what the ritual foretold and symbolized.
In the Old Testament ritual on the Day of Atonement, the high priest’s purification took place first. He made sacrifices for himself; then he sacrificed a goat whose blood he carried into the Holy of Holies to be received as a total sin offering for the people. First he was cleansed and purified, and then he gave an offering for the sins of the people by the blood of a goat. A second goat was then destroyed in another way. All of the sins of the people were confessed over the head of that goat, and he was led out into the wilderness, never to come back. In the Old Testament ritual, the first goat represented Jesus Christ who shed His precious blood for the forgiveness of our sins. The second goat represented the image of the Lord Jesus Christ who takes away the sin of His people, who removes from them the sin nature forever.
The rituals of the Day of Atonement reveal to us that there has to be a perfect Priest in order to accomplish a perfect, irrevocable ministry for us, so that we continually stand in perfection before the Lord. It was very important for the people to realize the solemnity of the Day of Atonement. It was the most solemn of all the assemblies and observances of the Mosaic Law. In fact, the death penalty was imposed upon anyone who did not observe it with the greatest of reverence. Such a drastic dealing was required in order to convey the seriousness of the Day of Atonement.
The book of Hebrews tells about the priestly office of sacrificing in order to see the people delivered (Hebrews 5). Day after day and year after year, the priests continually offered up sacrifices that would bring the people before God. Nevertheless, this was only a type of something to come. The priesthood itself was not perfect; it only remained as a foreshadow. Although it did not have the substance of perfection, it portrayed the time that Christ would come as the perfect Priest to make the perfect sacrifice once and for all (Hebrews 10:10). In Hebrews 10:14 we read, For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.
For a long time, people have been hearing sermons about the forgiveness of sins. We know that when we sin we can go to the Lord, and He will forgive us if we repent and seek His face. Yet there is another aspect of this truth that we should be concerned about. Are we to be forgiven today and again tomorrow and again the next day? Why not be forgiven and completely cleansed today? We read this encouraging thought in the first Epistle of John. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I John 1:9. Forgiveness is one thing, but cleansing the very nature of unrighteousness is another. Seeking the Kingdom of God is not a matter of just seeking forgiveness. There has to be that seeking after total righteousness. Matthew 6:33a says, But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness.
The Old Testament sacrifice on the Day of Atonement showed that a person could not do anything to merit atonement. The cleansing came through faith in the sacrifice that was made. The people’s faith had to rely on the priest’s confession of their sins over the goat. The goat was then taken away for the removal of their sins. There was nothing else they could do about it. They could not do penance, extra labors, or works in order to merit favor with God. They could do nothing but believe that God’s provision for the total removal of their sins was effective. It was to be a living experience within their lives.
This is not an easy doctrine to believe. It automatically puts a believer in a very serious position. An example of that is found in the Methodist denomination, which originated under the Greek scholar, John Wesley. He discovered and preached from the Scriptures the fact that there could be a total eradication of the sin nature, that the believer could be perfected. He preached entire sanctification, that the entire spirit, soul, and body can be sanctified wholly. No revival in the history of the Reformation spread as rapidly. It moved like fire around the world because of those who attained that total sanctification experience. Although the first generation had the experience, the second generation had only a doctrine which was embarrassing because they did not have the experience. Consequently, the Methodist church turned from becoming the greatest move toward restoration to becoming the quickest move toward modernism and unbelief. No other move in the United States lost its purity so quickly. No other denomination has been as effective in teaching that the Bible is not the verbally inspired Word of God. They were the quickest to be drawn into the camps of modernism, of unbelief, and of textual criticism, which discredits the sacredness and inspiration of the Scriptures. They teach that the Scriptures are no more inspired by God than the writings of any great author, such as Shakespeare or Milton. When we see how far removed the present-day Methodist church is from the teachings with which it originated, we realize how serious and potentially dangerous the doctrine of total sanctification can be.
If you are going to walk with God in this end time, it will be a necessary part of your faith to believe that God can sanctify you wholly, so that your spirit, soul, and body may be preserved entire and blameless at the coming of the Lord (I Thessalonians 5:23). That is a big bite to chew. That is one doctrine of which you dare not say, “I believe it,” unless you expect to experience it.
Let us look into the fifth chapter of Hebrews to see God’s provision for our perfection. For every high priest taken from among men is appointed on behalf of men in things pertaining to God, in order to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins; he can deal gently with the ignorant and misguided, since he himself also is beset with weakness; and because of it he is obligated to offer sacrifices for sins, as for the people, so also for himself. And no one takes the honor to himself, but receives it when he is called by God, even as Aaron was.
So also Christ did not glorify Himself so as to become a high priest, but He who said to Him, “Thou art My Son, today I have begotten Thee”; just as He says also in another passage, “Thou art a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” In the days of His flesh, when He (Christ) offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and who was heard because of His piety, although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered; and having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation. Hebrews 5:1–9.
What is being said in this Scripture? Even though Christ was born God incarnate, in flesh, as a human being without sin, yet He still had to reach perfection to open up the door for us to receive it. As this Scripture indicates, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. Did Christ have to learn obedience? Yes, in the perfect pattern of sonship He did. He had to open the door for us to learn obedience from the things which we suffer. Being perfect, did He still have to be made perfect? Yes, He had to be made perfect, because He had to open the door for us to be made perfect, just as He was.
If Christ attained perfection as a man, it means that He opened the door for all men to attain perfection. Christ overcame Satan in the wilderness so that we could overcome Satan in our wilderness. Do you understand why He endured so much? His death makes our forgiveness valid. Because He paid a price for sin, it means that the price for sin is paid for us. He attained perfection so that we could attain perfection. Whatever He did, He did on our behalf.
This passage of Scripture goes on to say that Christ was designated by God as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek. Concerning him we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for some one to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For every one who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. Hebrews 5:10–13. The babes receive the milk because they are not accustomed to the word of righteousness. Maybe you have never before heard this teaching of being perfect and righteous. It is not new teaching—it is just not milk. Those who would rather have milk cannot handle the word of perfection.
The writer of Hebrews continues: But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil. Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity (“perfection,” King James Version), not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of instruction about washings, and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And this we shall do, if God permits. Hebrews 5:14–6:3.
We are not to lay again and again and again the foundation of repentance from dead works. There ought to be one time when we repent until the entire sin nature is taken away. We are not under the old Law, where the priest had to make sacrifices every day. Our wonderful Christ once for all made one sacrifice for sins and sat down at the right hand of the Father, henceforth expecting until His enemies be made the footstool of His feet. He has perfected forever those who are sanctified (Hebrews 10:12–14).
These Scriptures indicate that Christ did not believe that He had to repeat the sacrifice. He does not have to come back and be crucified again. He did it one time, and that was enough for our perfection. Then do we have to keep coming back again and again and again for forgiveness? Do we have to keep repenting about repeatedly falling into the same traps? Or is it possible that we could come into an experience of maturity and perfection by the mercy of God through repentance? that once and for all we could reach the place where we would not have to lay that foundation over again? This is exactly what the Day of Atonement means for us in this day. God has opened up a truth that has new light and new meaning for the believer today. It is to be a great spiritual experience, similar to those of the other Old Testament annual festivals that have meaning for the Christian.
The Feast of Passover and Unleavened Bread have become an experience for Christians. Likewise, the Feast of Pentecost and the offering of the firstfruits have become an experience. All of those Old Testament feasts symbolically correspond to believers’ experiences in Christ. Many still call the baptism of the Holy Spirit the Pentecost experience, because it came on the day of Pentecost. Although they do not call their salvation experience the Passover experience, they relate to the Communion as an outgrowth of the Passover. However, the experience of being made perfect is not the same as the experience of being cleansed by the blood when someone is forgiven and cleansed of his sins. The spiritual Passover experience is not a perfect experience, because the believer still walks with a repetitious need rising within him until Christ saves him to the uttermost; and for that purpose, Christ intercedes continually (Hebrews 7:25).
Christ is concerned that you be saved to the uttermost. God’s intention and purpose in Christ Jesus was not that you would be continually defeated. It is possible to come into such a walk with God that you will not be defeated from time to time. The enemy may come against you and throw you into one pitfall after another in order to discredit this truth; but it is still the truth. You can come to the place where the job can be finished. Contend for it. This doctrine is referred to by various terms: entire sanctification, perfection, holiness, second or third work of grace. Whatever you call it, it amounts to one truth. If you are going to believe in the perfection that God can bring to you, that your entire spirit and soul and body can be sanctified wholly, then you will have to contend for it. Ask God to give it to you. Pray for it, knowing that you cannot do it by yourself. Although we can do nothing in ourselves, II Peter 1:4 tells us that God has given us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these we might become partakers of the divine nature and escape the corruption that is in the world through lust.