It is God's will that every human being be reconciled to God by the removal from him or her of the things that offend God. The believers who are willing to be purged of their lawlessness will be reconciled to God and saved to eternal life in the new world.

Any individual who refuses to let go of his sins will be cast into the Lake of Fire along with Satan and his angels. As we have stated, there must first be the removal of sin from the members of the Kingdom. After that, each person who clings to his sin will be removed from the Kingdom of God.

As is true of the spiritual fulfillments of each of the other six feasts, there is a personal fulfillment of the Day of Atonement in the individual believer, and then there will be a kingdom-wide fulfillment of the Day of Atonement over the whole earth.

The kingdom-wide fulfillment of the Day of Atonement is the thousand-year reign of Christ and His ruling priests and judges that may be referred to as the "Kingdom Age" (Millennium).

The kingdom-wide fulfillment of the feast of Tabernacles is the new heaven and earth reign of Christ.

During the thousand-year Kingdom Age, all Israel, all the elect of God whether Jewish or Gentile by race, will be reconciled to God in their personality and behavior. The kingdom-wide reconciliation is made up of the reconciliation to God of each individual member of the Kingdom. The Body of Christ can only be as perfect as the least perfect member. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link.

Each person must work out his own hopes and fears and beliefs, his travail of faith in God and obedience to God, through Christ. The name Israel means "he struggles with God."

We think the personal fulfillment of the Day of Atonement has begun already. Now—today—the work of judgment is taking place.

To a certain extent, at least, the judgment of God has been exercised among God's people since the days in which Peter declared: "The time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God:... " (I Peter 4:17). However it appears that now there is an unprecedented emphasis on the coming of King Jesus to begin the work of reconciling mankind to God by removing spiritual darkness from the believers.

It seems evident that God's plan is to begin the work of reconciliation, of judgment and deliverance, with a small fraction, a Gideon's army, taken from the ranks of the elect. This purified remnant then will work with God in the deliverance of all Israel, including all the elect Jews and Gentiles.

The Redeemer, Christ and His firstfruits, will come out of the heavenly Zion and all Israel will be saved: that is to say, the presence of sin will be removed from all God's people.

To be continued.