There are three great symbols of Judaism. They show the pattern of our salvation.

The Altar of sacrifice reveals that God's justice can be satisfied only by the shedding of blood.

The Lampstand speaks of the Spirit of God. It is God's will that every saved person in the creation live in the Spirit of God rather than in the lusts and appetites of the flesh.

The Booth in which an Israelite lived and still lives for one week out of each year points toward the ultimate intention of God—that mankind, beginning with His Israel, be His dwelling place. Once God has brought the entire creation into subjection to the Lord Jesus Christ, then Christ Himself shall be in subjection to God. Thus God shall be All in all, meaning He will be dwelling in every saved member of mankind.

The twentieth century has been the century of Pentecost. The twenty-first century will witness numerous saints being brought through the remaining three feasts of the Lord—the Blowing of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and, ultimately, the feast of Tabernacles.

Today the emphasis is on spiritual warfare. The trumpet of the Lord is sounding in the Christian churches, wherever the believers are seeking His face. Christ is standing before our hearts asking for admittance. He wants to drive His enemies from us. He wants to prepare us for war in the spirit realm, for we are being prepared to return with Christ and drive wickedness from the earth.

Then follows the spiritual fulfillment of the Day of Atonement, the Day of Reconciliation, the period when everything in us is brought before Christ for judgment.

Perhaps the reader of these words is experiencing at the present time the Day of Atonement and is wondering what is taking place. Sins that we thought were taken care of many years ago are surfacing. It seems as though we are being taken through a dark tunnel and we do not understand what appears to be the anger of God directed toward us.

Cheer up! This is part of the normal Christian experience. You are being prepared for the dwelling of the Father and the Son in you.

God will deal with the worldliness in your personality, the love for and trust in the world that you may have. Whoever would love the world spirit is the enemy of God. Are you a worldly person? God may bring you very low in order to free you from this bondage, to prepare you to reign with Him in your body.

God will deal with the lusts and passions of your flesh and soul. Are there sins you cannot gain victory over? Keep on telling God about them. Renounce and denounce these sins. Never confess defeat. It is God's will that you be free from all spiritual bondage. Whoever commits sin is the slave of that sin. God will not dwell in a sinful house. He will help you purify yourself in preparation for His coming.

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure. (I John 3:1-3—NIV)

To be continued.