The Daily Word of Righteousness

The Christian and the Day of Atonement, #35

And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever. (Revelation 22:5)

Our progress toward absolute victory, toward absolute redemption, toward union with God through Christ, toward the doing of God's will on the earth as it is in Heaven, is as the light that shines more and more to the perfect day. Our service to Christ will continue throughout the ages of ages, world without end.

Passover is the beginning and Tabernacles is the ending of the plan of redemption. All redemption takes place through Christ and in Christ. Such is the "year" of redemption. Redemption is the bringing of us all the way from union with Satan to total, restful union with God through Christ.

The Blowing of Trumpets, the feast that begins the year that corresponds to the cycle of agriculture, portrays the beginning of our role as the servant of the Lord. Throughout eternity we shall be kings and priests of God through Christ. Only Christ will have dominion over us.

One of the major purposes of the working of God in us is to bring us to the place where only Christ has dominion over us. Many idols must be torn from our heart before we are ruled by Christ alone.

A new creation. As soon as we begin to confess our sins (Christian counterpart of the Day of Atonement) we notice that a transformation actually is taking place in our personality. It is not the same old hoping somehow, someday, God will do something about the imperfections of our nature. A difference in our personality is becoming evident to us and to those around us.

Gradually a reshaping of our deeds, words, motives, and imaginations occurs. We can observe the difference in ourselves. The Holy Spirit of God takes the blood of the cross into the depths of the deceit of our being, bringing the judgment of God on the evil nature that has roots and branches throughout the infinitely convoluted core of our personality.

We are astonished at the intricate maze of subtleties that can be uncovered in the "desperately wicked" heart of a believer. We realize in our spirit that this is the beginning of the Year of Jubilee for the earth. The Kingdom of God has come to the earth and it has begun in us.

It is not a new gospel, as we said before. The foundation of Christianity is the Rock, Christ, Jesus, and Him crucified and resurrected. The foundation has been laid well by the Christian ministry.

The experience of confessing sins under the direction of the Holy Spirit comes to us with the force of uplift of a "new year." Victory in spiritual warfare transforms our doctrines we have upheld so faithfully into the flesh and bone of reality.

To be continued.