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The Daily Word of Righteousness
The Day of Atonement, #7
When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning. (Isaiah 4:4)
We have mentioned that the removal of the presence of sin will take place on the earth in the last days, and that the process of deliverance, of redemption, will proceed as a judgment on the presence of sin in our personality.
We who are abiding in the Lord Jesus will continue in our state of freedom from condemnation while the Divine judgment falls on the sin that binds us and to which we do not give consent.
Malachi told of the coming of the Lord to cleanse His people by the fires of judgment:
But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap: And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. (Malachi 3:2,3)
John the Baptist spoke of the spirit of burning and judgment that will purify God's people:
. . . he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. (Matthew 3:11,12)
The Apostle Peter described the fiery trial of suffering that will come as judgment on the house of God, and then on those who are not obeying the Gospel:
For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? (I Peter 4:17)
Peter teaches us that suffering is one means God uses to remove the presence of sin from us:
. . . for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God. ( I Peter 4:1,2)
The concept of "atonement" is that of reconciliation. The redemption that is in Christ includes the moving of an individual from the person and works of Satan to the Person and works of God. It is the Divine program of reconciliation to God, acting on behalf of a ruined, imprisoned mankind.
The concept of the Day of Atonement, of Reconciliation, is that of the removing of the tares from the wheat.
The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; (Matthew 13:41)
First, the things that offend God are removed. After that, those who continue in the practice of lawlessness are removed from the Kingdom. This also is part of the working of the Day of Atonement.
So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, (Matthew 13:49)
To be continued.