XXXIII - 6(00)

“Watchman,

what of the night?”

"The hour has come, the hour is striking and striking at you,
the hour and the end!"          Eze. 7:6 (Moffatt)

THE FINAL

ATONEMENT

 -II-

Editor's Preface

With this issue of WWN, we close our "exploring" of the Scriptures which could reflect upon the doctrine commonly called, the Investigative Judgment. Even now, as we write, there comes to mind two other texts which speak of the judgment: 1) I Peter 4:17, "For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God:" and 2) Acts 17:31, "He hath appointed a day, in which He will judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom He hath ordained." There may be others which we have not included in the "exploration:” we hope not many. In the next issue, we shall begin drawing some conclusions based on this "exploration." It should be obvious from the consideration we have given to major references in regard to the judgment, that basic in the Biblical judgment doctrine is a controversy between Christ and Satan. In the services for the typical Day of Atonements, were the two goats, one for Jehovah, and the other for Azazel (Lev. 16:8). We noted the comment by Keil & Delitzsch that the wording of this verse requires "unconditionally that Azazel should be regarded as a personal being, in opposition to Jehovah." This controversy motif also appears in the prophecies of Daniel and the Revelation, and the judgment scenes there must include such an understanding if the nature of the pre-Advent judgment and the final judgment on sin and sinners is to be rightly understood. Then the controversy will be ended, and "one pulse of harmony and gladness" will beat through the vast creation, and all in "their unshadowed beauty" freed from the results and influence of sin, will "declare that God is love."

It is also evident from the texts of Scripture that there is a "set of books" and that there is "another book." In the "set" are not only names, but also "works." In the other, only "names." Perhaps in the final analysis, what Paul wrote to the Church at Corinth has deep significance. "But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: that, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord" (I Cor. 1:30-31).

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"Review,
then Review again, and
Review all that you've Reviewed"

The Final Atonement - 2

The prophecy of Daniel 7 - "the judgment was set" - and the expanded prophecy of Daniel 8 - "then shall the sanctuary be cleansed" - reflect the objectives of the typical Day of Atonement. The typical "Day of Atonements" involved both judgment and cleansing. In this second study on the Final Atonement, we shall continue our exploration by noting carefully some of the details of the prophecies of Daniel.

Since the focus of this part of our continued "exploration" will be centered on Daniel 7:9-14, we will but briefly cover the first eight verses of the seventh chapter. Once the identity of the symbol of the "lion" is established, we can move rapidly to the time of the judgment scene portrayed in these verses.

Jeremiah, contemporary in time with Daniel, pictures Babylon and its first king in the same descriptive language that Daniel sees in vision describing the first of four beasts to come from "the great sea." Daniel states "the first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings" (v.4). Jeremiah, warning of the coming judgment of Edom, declared:

Behold he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of the Jordon against the habitation of the strong. ... Behold he shall come up and fly as the eagle. (49:19, 22)

Then the prophet names him - "Concerning Kedar, and concerning the kingdoms of Hazor which Nebuchadnezzer, king of Babylon shall smite..." (V. 28) Archaeological excavation of the site of ancient Babylon has revealed that a lion with eagle's wings was the emblem of that Empire.

The prophecy then moves rapidly through the centuries of history. "And behold another beast, a second, like a bear" (v. 5) Medo-Persia followed Babylon. "After this" the prophet saw "another like a leopard" (v.6) to be followed by "a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly" (v. 7). Medo-Persia was succeeded in world dominion by Greece to be followed by Rome. The successive continuity is emphasized by the language used: "another," and "after this" used twice (verses 6 & 7). Then the fourth beast's activity is enlarged by successive symbolisms arising from the beast itself. First, there arises "ten horns," and from the midst of these, "another little horn" which had the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things" (v. 8).

Certain points of this prophecy must be kept in mind: 1) Daniel beholds this beast functioning through the "little horn" until it is slain, and its body given to the burning flame" (v. 11). 2) "The little horn" is never removed from this beast and speaks "great things" both before the judgment is set, and after it has convened. (vs. 8, 11). This facet of the prophecy - a mouth that speaks - is emphasized, and the words uttered are noted as "very great things" (v. 20).

A period of time is allotted to the "little horn" - "a time, and times and a dividing of time" (v. 25). This gives us two other important points to be derived from this prophecy: 1) The emphasis from Heaven's point of view on the things spoken by the little horn. It is after the judgment is set that the words of the little horn are perceived as "great" words. What is spoken during the period allotted are noted simply as "words against the most High." (The word "great" in the KJV is supplied) 2) By making application of the time revealed, 538 AD to 1798, the judgment scene follows that date. Thus the date arrived at in the prophecy of Daniel 8:14 - 1844 - coincides with the judgment, but also marks the time when "the great words" would begin to be spoken. It is after "the judgment was set" that Daniel "beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake" (v. 11).

In the explanation of the vision (See vs. 15-16), the judgment is introduced twice, and both times, the "little horn is involved. 1) This horn "made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most high" (vs. 21-22). The adjudication of the judgment is made in favor of the saints against the "little horn." 2) "The judgment shall sit, and they shall take away (the little horn's) domin-

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ion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end" (v. 26). Since the "little horn" ever exists in the "beast," the "end" would refer to the "beast" given to the burning flame" (v. 11). This indicates that in the judgment pictured in Daniel 7:9-10, at some point, the powers of earth are called to give an account of how they have related to the "saints of the most High." The prophecy indicates further, that the other beasts - the lion, bear and leopard, though their dominion was taken away, "their lives were prolonged for a season and time" (7:12). This suggests the judgment, that was set over which the Ancient of days presided, to be a corporate judgment.

It is after Daniel is given a picture of the beasts, to their final end, that he saw "one like the Son of man coming to the Ancient of days" to receive "dominion, and glory, and a kingdom" which would be "an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom (that) shall not be destroyed" (vs. 13-14). In the explanation of this part of the vision, Daniel is informed that the kingdom "shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High" (v. 27). In another revelation to Daniel, this "people" are defined as those who "shall be found written in the book" (12:1). This distinctly involves Michael who "standeth" for those whose names are recorded therein. Gesenius in his definition of this Hebrew word, gahmad, indicates that in this text, it means "to stand by or for; to succour." It is also used of those who minister "before the Lord" as either priests and Levites, as well as prophets. Thus a conclusion could be sustained that the ones whose names are found in the book, are the ones covered by the judgment committed to the Son because He is "the Son of man" (cmp. again Dan. 7:13 with John 5:22, 27).

Before considering the prophecy of Daniel 8, we shall list to date the "great words which the horn spake" after the judgment was set. In 1854, the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception was promulgated declaring that from the first moment of conception, Mary "was preserved free from every stain of original sin." In 1870, the dogma of papal infallibility declared that when the pope spoke ex cathedra, his utterances were infallible. Then in 1950, Pius XII proclaimed "the Corporal Assumption of the Virgin Mary" into heaven. Of importance for careful consideration is Heaven's differentiation between the blasphemous words spoken during the period of time allotted to the "little horn," and what was spoken after the judgment was set. Those after are denoted as "great" words.

We shall turn next to the prophecy which begins in Daniel 8, and is not concluded till Chapter 9. This prophecy brings into focus the second objective of the final atonement - the cleansing.

Given to Daniel in the third year of Belshazzar, as the kingdom of Babylon was waning, the symbolisms begin with Medo-Persia (8:20), and covers the same historical period as covered in Daniel 7. While continuity - one following the other - was emphasized in the vision of the beasts culminating in the judgment; geographical direction is a key indicator marking the vision as given in Daniel 8 leading to the pronouncement of the "cleansing of the sanctuary." "The Ram" pushed "westward, and northward, and southward" (8:4). The "he goat""came from the west" (8:5). This use of direction is a key in identifying the "little horn" as Rome - albeit Rome in both of its phases, pagan as well as papal.

It is in this phase of the vision, that "the daily" (tamid) is introduced (8:9-12). Further, this is but one of three factors which is connected with the pronouncement of the 2300 days of Daniel 8:14. Daniel hears a question asked - "How long the vision, the daily, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot?" (v. 13 with all supplied words omitted) The answer given is "Unto two thousand and three hundred days, then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." The "vision" (chazon) is the vision in its entirety which culminates in the time of the cleansing of the sanctuary. The "daily," if understood in the context of the cleansing of the sanctuary, would refer not only to the typical services as outlined in Numbers 28 & 29, where the word tamid is used seventeen times and translated either "daily" or "continual;" but also to the reality of the antitypical ministry of Jesus Christ who ever liveth to make intercession for us. The "transgression of desolation" or the "abomination of desolation" (Mat. 24:15) is "the little horn" in both of its phases, the papal reaching in time to and beyond the culminating date for the beginning of the cleansing of the sanctuary, thus paralleling the "little horn" in its relationship to the judgment of Daniel 7.

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It is of more than merely passing interest what A. T. Jones wrote in comment on the "little horn" in reference to "the daily:”

In Daniel 8:11-13; 11:31; and 12:11, it will be noticed that the word, "sacrifice" is in every case supplied. And it is wholly supplied; for in its place in the original there is no word at all. In the original the only word that stands in this place, is the word, tamid, that is here translated "daily:" and in these places the expression "daily" does not refer to the daily sacrifice any more than it refers to the whole daily ministry or continual service of the sanctuary, of which the sacrifice was only a part. The word tamid in itself signifies, "continuous or continual," "constant,""stable,""sure,""constantly," "evermore." Only such words as these express the thought of the original word, which in the text under consideration, is translated "daily." In Numbers 28 and 29 alone, the word is used seventeen times, referring to the continual service of the sanctuary.

And it is this continual service of Christ, the true High Priest, "who continueth ever," and "who is consecrated forevermore" in "an unchangeable priesthood"- it is this continual service of our great High Priest, which the man of sin, the Papacy, has taken away. It is the sanctuary and the true tabernacle in which this true High Priest exercises His continual ministry that has been cast down by the "transgression of desolation." It is this ministry and this sanctuary that the "man of sin" has taken away from the church and shut away from the world, and has cast down to the ground and stamped upon; and in place of which it has set up itself "the abomination that maketh desolate." What former Rome did physically to the visible or earthly sanctuary, which was "the figure of the true" (Dan. 9:26, 27; Matt. 24:15), that the latter Rome has done spiritually to the invisible or heavenly sanctuary that is itself the true." Dan. 11:31; 12:11; 8:11, 13. ( The Consecrated Way, pp.99-100)

In the previous issue of WWN, we discussed the word translated "cleansed" in the KJV of Daniel 8:14, which in the Massoretic (Hebrew) text is nisdaq meaning "justified," as well as noting the word used in the LXX, καθαρισθησεται and the Vulgate, mundabitur, both of which translate, "shall be cleansed." (See pp. 4, 5). We shall, therefore, pass to the next problem which confronts the student of the book of Daniel, the connection between chapters 8 & 9.

Chapter 8 closes with no explanation as when to begin the 2300 "evening-mornings." Gabriel merely tells Daniel, "The vision of the evening and the morning which was told is true: wherefore shut thou up the vision; for it shall be for many days" (8:26). Actually, there is a chronological time break of about eleven years between the two chapters. The first suggestion of a direct connection between the two chapters is to be found in Daniel's comment. While praying for light on the prophecy of Jeremiah regarding Jerusalem, he says:

And while I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplications before the Lord my God for the holy mountain of my God; yea, while I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation. (9:20-21)

The previous "vision" was the vision of the ram, he-goat, and little horn. The only unexplained part of that vision was the 2300 days. The first thing that Gabriel tells Daniel is that he is "now come forth to give (him) skill and understanding ... therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision" (9:22-23). Immediately, Gabriel outlines a prophetic time sequence (vs. 24-27).

Within the text itself, there is another connecting link. Two different Hebrew words are used for vision." In verse 21, the word is chazon, "the vision at the beginning;" while in verse 23, the word is mar 'eh, "consider the vision." This word differentiation connects the 2300 days with the explanation given by Gabriel to Daniel in chapter 9. As chapter eight closes, Daniel is told that "the vision (mar 'eh) of the evening and the morning ... is true; wherefore shut thou up the vision (chazon)." Then Daniel became sick and "fainted," but afterwards, upon recovery confesses, "I was astonished at the vision (mar'eh), but none understood it" (8:26-27). Gabriel returns to complete the explanation of the mar'eh, and thus fulfil his commission - "Gabriel make this man to understand the vision (mar'eh)" (8:16).

With the explanation given by Gabriel, the 2300 days of Daniel 8:14, span the time from the going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem (Ezra 6:14) in BC 457 to 1844, the time designated by the prophecy for the time of the cleansing of the sanctuary to begin. In Daniel 7,

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the "judgment was set" after the period of time allotted to the "little horn" (7:25) which closed In 1798, and prior to "the great words" (7:11) which the horn spoke, beginning in 1854. Thus the connecting link between "the judgment" in Daniel 7 and the "cleansing of the sanctuary" in Daniel 8, is established.

(For a more comprehensive study of the 2300 days prophecy, you may obtain the audio cassette - "The Certainty of Our Faith." For a more involved analysis of the problems involved In the study of Daniel 8:14, the tape - "1844 Re-Examined" - should be enlightening. Both studies have diagram helps and may be obtained through the Foundation office.)

(The tapes are no longer available for purchase on this site, you may however find them to listen to under Sermons of Wm. H. Grotheer - Streaming Audio)

Let us next consider the actual services performed by the high priest on the typical day of atonement as we continue our "exploration" to find a possible explanation of Daniel 7:9-10 which harmonizes with all the findings we have discovered thus far in the two "reviews" of the Final Atonement. However, we need to retain in our minds two aspects of the character of God which must remain inviolate - His justice, and His omniscience. No final explanation dare impugn either.

Leviticus 16 contains the outline of the services of the typical Day of Atonements. First certain designations need to be defined. In the KJV, the word "holy" ("place" being supplied) refers to the second apartment of the sanctuary - "within the vail before the mercy seat" (16:2). The "tabernacle of the congregation" is the phrase used for the first apartment (16:16). "The altar that is before the Lord" (16:18) is the Altar of Burnt Offering in the Court. All were to be ceremonially cleansed as the result of the services performed during the year involving "the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar" (16:20).

On this day, the high priest was to provide "a young bullock for a sin offering" (16:3). This was the same kind of offering that was to be provided by the high priest during the year should he "sin so as to bring guilt on the people" (Lev. 4:3 ARV). There was one distinct difference between these two offerings. During the year, If such a sin should occur, the offending high priest was to "lay his hand upon the bullock's head" In confession (4:4). Not so in the services of the Day of Atonement. No hand of confession was so laid; the blood was used to cleanse the Altar of Burnt Offering "from the uncleanness of the children of Israel" (16:19), after having been presented before the Lord in the "holy" (16:14).

Twice the text indicates that the bullock was for "himself, and for his house" (16:6, 11). In this typical service, the high priest was a type of the great High Priest who was to come, who "of necessity" had to "have somewhat also to offer" (Heb. 8:3). In the typical there is the added dimension, "and for his house." It is not just a happenstance that, in the book of Hebrews, after the eternal Deity and common humanity of Jesus Christ are confirmed, Paul asks that we "consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession" (3:1). He begins this consideration by presenting Jesus Christ first "as a son over His own house, whose house are we" (3:6). Christ's sacrifice, from this perspective, was for those whose names were to be placed in the Lamb's Book of Life (Rev. 3:5). These are prophetically pictured in contrast to those who "worship" the beast who makes "war with the saints," and overcomes them (Rev. 13:7-8). This is the same language used in Daniel 7:21-22 in connection with the judgment given to the saints against the little horn. Thus any explanation involving the Judgment scene of Daniel 7:9-10, must include the factor of "the Son of man" (Dan. 7:13) "as a son over His own house."

Let us at this point recapitulate the same prophetic picture found in both Daniel and Revelation. Observe the parallels:

I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them. (Dan. 7:21) ------- And it was given unto him (first beast) to make war with the saints, and to overcome them. (Rev. 13:7)

Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High: and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom. (Dan. 7:22) ------- And all that dwell on the earth shall worship (the first beast) whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb ... (Rev. 13:8)

In Daniel, "the books were opened" (7:10), but when Michael stands up, "the great prince which

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standeth for the children of thy people," those whose names are in another book are delivered (12:1). Further, when "one like the Son of man" came to receive His kingdom (7:1-14), the explanation states that the kingdom "shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High" (7:27). All is prefigured in a single type of the Day of Atonement - the high priest shall "make an atonement for himself and his house" Christ, "one like the Son of man," made atonement for His house whose house are we if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end" (Heb. 3:6).

In Revelation, the picture is given of the final judgment before the Ancient of days, the judgment of "the great white throne." Again the same contrast between books is made. "The books were opened and another book was opened which is the book of life." However, the "dead" or the eternally lost ones, are judged out of the books "according to their works" (20:11-12). No High Priest made an atonement for them.

Next in Leviticus 16, the special dress of the high priest for the services of the day is described. He is to be clothed in "holy garments" of linen from his head to the ankles. Commenting on the significance of the "linen" garments, Keil & Delitzsch note that:

(It) was in baddim ("linen") that the angel of Jehovah was clothed (Ezek ix. 2, 3,11, x. 2, 6, 7, and Dan. x. 5, xii. 6, 7), whose whole appearance, as described in Dan. x. 6, resembled the appearance of the glory of Jehovah, which Ezekiel saw in the vision of the four cherubim (chap. 1), and was almost exactly like the glory of Jesus Christ, which John saw in Revelation (chap. 1.13-15). The white material, therefore, of the dress Aaron wore, when performing the highest act of expiation under the Old Testament, was a symbolic shadowing forth of the holiness and glory of the perfect Mediator between God and man, who, being the radiation of the glory of God and the image of His nature, effected by Himself the perfect cleansing of our sin, and who as the true High Priest, being holy, innocent, unspotted, and separate from sinners, entered once by His own blood into the holy place not made with hands, namely, into heaven itself, to appear before the face of God for us, and obtain everlasting redemption. (Commentary on the Old Testament, Vol.1, p. 397)

The import of Keil & Delitzsch's comment that the "linen" garment relates the vision of Ezekiel 9 to the typical services of the Day of Atonement, enlarges our perception of what Christ's work as High Priest involves in the final atonement. Further, the placing of a "mark" by "the angel clothed in linen" (v.4) is in contradistinction to the mark of the beast placed on those who join in war against God.

The next act of the typical services of the Day of Atonement was the selection of the Lord's goat by lot of the two goats taken from the congregation (Lev. 16:5, 7-9). While the bullock offered by Aaron was provided by himself, the Lord's goat was provided by the congregation. This casts light on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Not only did He willingly give Himself for those who became "His house," but He became one with fallen men presenting Himself as "an offering for sin" Isa. 53:10.

Three times on the Day of Atonement Aaron entered the most holy place. First, with his hands full of incense and carrying a "censer full of burning coals" which he placed before the Ark. Then having poured the incense upon the burning coals a cloud of incense arose enveloping the Ark. (16:12-13) Secondly, he brought the blood of the bullock and sprinkled it with his finger seven times upon and before the mercy seat. The final entry was with the blood of the Lord's goat. The text reads:

Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood within the vail, and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat. And he shall make an atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions in all their sins. (16:15-16)

Two things are involved in this atonement:1) the record of the acts of sin; and 2) the cause of the sins, "the uncleanness of the children of Israel." This last factor was not completed until the atonement at the Altar.

After the presentation of the blood of the Lord's goat in the second apartment, the next step was to cleanse "the tabernacle of the congregation" (16:16b). The instruction that had been given in placing of the Altar of Incense "before the vail that is by the ark of the testimony" (Ex. 30:6), reads: "Aaron shall make an atonement upon the horns of it once in a year with the blood of the sin offering of

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atonements" (30:10). A third step followed. After the cleansing of the second apartment, "the holy", and the first apartment, "the tabernacle," the high priest was "to go out unto the altar that is before the Lord, and make an atonement for it" (16:18).

At this point, something occurred that dare not be overlooked. The blood of the bullock that had been provided by the high priest was ministered in the second apartment, as well as the blood of the Lord's goat. The blood of the Lord's goat, designated as "the sin offering of atonements," was applied to the Altar of Incense in the tabernacle, but in the cleansing of the Altar of Burnt Offering, where throughout the year the individual confession had been recorded, the two bloods are mingled so as to "cleanse it, and hallow it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel" (16:19) Here in the final act of the atonement for Israel, the "uncleanness" is ceremonially removed. The accomplishment demanded the blood of both the bullock and the Lord's goat. The record of the acts of sin had been cared for by the atonement of the blood of the Lord's goat in the "holy," but not until the cleansing of the Altar in the Court, was the uncleanness, the cause of the acts of sin, taken away by the application of both the blood of the bullock and the Lord's goat. As indicated by Zechariah, "the counsel of peace was between the Two of Them" (6:13, Heb.).

In the reality of the antitype, there is only one blood, the blood of Christ that not only cleanses from all unrighteousness (I John 1:9), but takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). However, He not only "offered Himself" (Heb. 9:14), but He was also God's "offering for sin" (Isa. 53:10), both prefigured in the "bullock" and the "Lord's goat."

After the atonement is completed, the other goat, in the KJV called, "the scapegoat" (Lev. 16:8), is brought before the high priest (16:20-21). He places both of his hands upon the head of the goat, and confesses "over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness" (16:21). The Hebrew word for "scapegoat" is "Azazel." Some comments found in Keil & Delitzsch in regard to Azazel are not only of interest; but also cast light on the judgment scene as portrayed in Daniel 7:9-10, and Revelation 20:

The words, one lot for Jehovah and one for Azazel, require unconditionally that Azazel should be regarded as a personal being in opposition to Jehovah. (op. cit., p. 398)

Israel had also been brought by its sin into a distinct relation to Azazel, the head of the evil spirits; and it was necessary that this should be brought to an end, if reconciliation with God was to be perfectly secured. This complete deliverance from sin and its author was symbolized in the leading away of the goat, which had been laden with sins, into the desert. This goat was to take back the sins, which God had forgiven to His congregation, into the desert to Azazel, the father of all sin, on the one hand as proof that his evil influences upon men would be of no avail in the case of those who received expiation from God, and on the other hand as proof to the congregation also that those who were laden with sin could not remain in the kingdom of God, but would be banished to the abode of evil spirits, unless they were redeemed therefrom. This last point, it is true, is not expressly mentioned in the text; but it is evident from the fate which necessarily awaited the goat, when driven into the wilderness in the "land cut off." It would be sure to perish out there in the desert, that is to say, suffer just what a sinner would have to endure if his sins remained upon him. ... There is not the slightest idea of presenting a sacrifice to Azazel. The goat was a sin-offering, only so far as it was laden with the sins of the people to carry them away into the desert ... (ibid., pp.404-405)

To Be Concluded

"Thy way, 0 God, is in the sanctuary: who is so great a God as our God?" (Ps. 77:13)