Christ came with total authority and power to make an atonement for sin. No human effort added to the atonement. The atonement was a Divine act, perfect, worthy of God's love and majesty, completely able to remove the guilt of the most wicked individual.

However, unless the removal of the guilt is followed by the removal of the very presence of sin, God's purpose has not been achieved. The program of putting an end to sin has been aborted.

For two thousand years the Church of Jesus Christ has been aware of and has preached the Divine intervention, the atonement made on the cross of Calvary. Salvation now is viewed primarily as the forgiveness of sin. When the Bible speaks of God taking away sin the text is interpreted as taking away the guilt of sin. We scarcely can think otherwise, so deeply is this understanding ingrained in us.

But the two goats of the Day of Atonement reveal that God has determined to both forgive our sins through the blood atonement and then remove sin from the camp, in that the scapegoat was led away into the wilderness.

Christians have made efforts from time to time to deal with the problem of the presence of sin in the Christian, all the way from claiming that there is no sin in the Christian personality to looking for a sudden experience that will remove sin from us root and branch.

Many noble souls have wrestled fervently against sin. Some have reckoned themselves dead to sin. Others have performed penance in an attempt to satisfy God's standard of righteousness.

The Apostles of the Book of Acts demanded repentance as a condition for forgiveness. Repentance is an effort by the adamic nature to turn away from sin as much as possible. God always requires that we do the best we can to avoid sin and honors our attempts to do so.

This is not understood today. Whoever attempts to turn away from sin and exhorts others to do so is considered a "legalist." The frequent use of the term "legalists" to describe believers who are striving for righteousness is a sign of the apostasy of our times. It is true that a spirit of legalism is sometimes found in Christian churches and it does not produce good fruit. But the main problem in the Christian churches of America is not legalism but lawlessness.

The question is, does God have a program of removal of sin that will come with the same authority and power as is true of the forgiveness of sin?

The answer is, "Yes, He does." We have been sealed to the coming day of redemption, that is, the day when God will redeem His people, and finally the saved peoples of the earth, from the hand of the enemy.

There is an alpha of salvation and also an omega. The alpha is forgiveness. The omega is deliverance.

The Jews did not have to fight when they left Egypt. By the same token, we did not participate in the alpha of salvation.

The Jews did have to fight when they entered the land of promise. We shall have to fight in order to enter the omega of salvation. Does this make sense to you?

To be continued.