If God won the War, Why isn't It Over?
The Final Judgment
in Symbol and Reality
The Jewish calendar of temple celebrations was a chronological symbol of the history of the atonement. Every twelve months it retold the full story of God's work to eradicate sin from the universe. The daily sacrifices were intended to revela to the sinner the great provision made for his own personal salvation. Building on that same theme, the annual calendar took in the cosmic scope of the atonement plan.
Each spring, Israel gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. This feast looked back to their deliverance from Egypt and forward to the sacrifice of the Messiah as their true passover Lamb. As such, it typified the beginnings of the Christian era. This was reinforced by the offering of the firstfruits several days later -- a promise of the harvest which the gospel would surely produce.
Fifty days later, the Feast of Pentecost marked the time of rejoycing for the abundant harvest. Its New Testament 'fulfillment' in the ourpouring of the Holy Spirit (1) illustrated its anticipation of the final maturing of the harvest in the end of time.
But it is the fall celebrations, coming at the end of the liturgical calendar, which are of most interest to us at this point in the study. They began with the solemn blowing of trumpets, stirring the throughts of the people toward the finality involved in these symbols. The fall series of feasts ended with the Feast of Tabernacles, a joyous festival recalling the first permanent dwelling of God's people in Canaan after many years of wanderings. What better symbol of the permanent heavenly homes to be enjoyed by the redeemed! Pilgrims on earth, but not forever!
Between the blowing of the trumptes and the Feast of Tabernacles came a one-day ceremony recognized as the most solemn of the year -- the Day of Atonement. The entire camp of Israel prepared for this day with unusual searching of heart. (2) They recognized it as dealing with sin in some very final way. Notice these cluse to its meaning:
Its position in the liturgical calendar -- following the warning tones of the trumpets, yet preceding the final rejoicing of being at home at last -- identifies it as a final act in dealing with sin.
The use of two goats, each dealt with in an entirely different way, prefigures a final showdown between the two great protagonists in the cosmic controversy. The Hebrew word for scapegoat, Azazel, was commonly understood to denote an evil one.
In marked contrast to the way virtually every other animal was dealth with in the sanctuary, the scapegoat was not sacrificed. Instead, it was carried away from civilization, never to return. (3) Clearly, the people understood this to be a promise that the time would come when sin would be more than forgiven; it would be removed forever from the universe.
But remember: God has always had but one way to remove sin -- only one method to eradicate sin from the universe. He does not strong-arm Satan out of reach, for power is not the issue. He does not command Satan into silence, for authority is not the issue. Rather He exposes Satan for the fraud that he is and fully reveals the more than adequate basis for trust in Himself, for truth is the issue!
The Day of Atonement is a promise that the time will come when Jesus -- in His role as High Priest -- will step forth from the supreme court of heaven and, in the presence of the entire universe, declare what the evidence has overwhelmingly shown: Satan is the father of all lies, there is not one tiny reason to distrust God, and the vote of the jury is unanimous. Every decision which God has made -- about Satan, the redeemed, even the lost -- has been fair beyond question. This is how sin is removed from the universe.
Throughtout the year, as individual worshpers have brought their sin offerings to the altar, the priest has carried a portion of the blood inot the sanctuary, sprinkling it before the veil. This represents the fact that, though he as accepted the Sacrifice to be made on his behalf and is thus forgiven, some aspect of the sin problem remains to be solved. It doesn't mean (as some have suggested) that the Father is uncertain about accepting the Son';s sacrifice as ade1quate to secure forgiveness. Rather, by accepting that blood into His most holy place, the Father is saying that He will assume accountability to see to it that Satan is ultimately shown to be the cause of that sin.
Repeated by Daniel
This same fina;-judgment motif is repeated in the prophecies of Daniel 7 and 8, which is connected to leviticus 16 by far more than just the word cleansed (Daniel *:14, ), as some have suggested. The similarities between the Daniel and Leveticus accounts are striking:
Daniel and Moses are each telling the same story, but from a different persepctive. Daniel sets the final judgment in the flow of secualr history -- the rise and fall of earhly nations and the setting up of an eternal kingdom. Moses, on the other hand, is speaking in the context of God's covenant people, with a special emphasis on their involvement and on the spiritual issues necessary to the setting of the great controversy.
Even though William Miller and the other advent preachers of the 1840s were alerted to the connection between Leveticus 16 and Daniel 7 and 8, because of the word cleansed in Daniel 8:14, (compared to its frequent use in Leviticus, they apparently felt comfortable in making the connection between the two final-judgment accounts because of the larger context.
So when the timing of this grand event became vital to know, they felt free to use the 2300-day prophecy of Daniel 8 and nail it down in history. And so should we!
Daniel recognized in the little-horn power of Daniel 8:9-14 the same archenemy who had been assaulting Christ and His people in Chapter 7 and whose reign was sure to end at the time of judgment. So when Daniel sees that same power surface again in chapter 8 -- this time destroying great truths of redemption as revelaed in the sanctuary -- he is deeply distressed! Daniel understood the meaning of the sanctuary services. He recognized the saving truths revealed about God and His atonement work, and nothing could trouble him more than to see 'truth cast down to the ground.'(11)
A sympathetic angel stnading nearby cried out on Daniel's behalf, How much longer will all this go on? When will truth -- as revelaed in the sanctuary -- again emerge victorious? And the firm promise came back, "For two thousand three huyndred evenings and mornings; then the Holy Place shall emerge victorious."(12)
This prophecy was fulfilled in 1844. (13) We see this as the time when God began to bring the world to final confrontation with truth so that the great controversy could be ended and Christ Jesus could receive His kingdome. It is not a time when Jesus and the FAther go into hiding inorder to make up their minds about who to save -- and we have been waiting ever since for Them to finish Their deciding! Rather it is a time when the angelic forces are calling the world to "fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come"(14) -- and God has been waiting ever since for a people who will carry that message to the world with such convincing power that the earth will be lightened with its glory.(15)
Only in this context can we speak meaningfully about a 'delay' in Christ's coming. This does not mean that Jesus' timing has been faulty, but rather that the essential conditions have not yet been met. It means that, as a people, we must be less concerned about the nearness of His coming thatn we are bout the world knowing the One who is coming! For He can only have a people who "have loved his appearing"(16) when He has a people who intelligently love, and properly represnt, Him who shall appear.
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1. Acts 2:1-4, 14
2 Leviticus 16:32; 23:27-29
3. v. 20-23
4. Leviticus 23:28-31
5. Daniel 7:10
6. v. 25
7. Leviticus 16:20-22
8. Daniel 7:22, 26, 27
9. v. 22, 27. note in Leviticus 23:26-33 that the day of atonement come immediately fefore the Feast of tabernacles.
10. Daniel 8:17
11. v. 12
12. v. 14
13. see book
14. Revelation 14:7,
15. Revelation 18:1-4
16. 2 Timothy 4:8