In the ancient type, while Aaron ministered in the most holy place to cleanse the sanctuary the people assembled outside to share in the most solemn service of the year.So in this antitypical Day of Atonement,“ having an high priest over the house of God; let us draw near” (Hebrews 10:21, 22). By beholding Aaron’s ministry, we learn what Jesus is doing in heaven now. So by observing what the congregation did on that day, we can learn what duties God requires of His people in the final judgment hour.
“And this shall be a statute for ever unto you: that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, ye shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all…For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the Lord” (Leviticus 16:29, 30). Two things stand out in the experience of Israel on the Day of Atonement: first, they were to do no work, and second, they were to afflict their souls. Leviticus 23:27 repeats the instruction with additional details: “Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you.” Convocation means coming together, and just as Israel gathered at the sanctuary then, so today God invites us to “draw near.”
What was the purpose of this convocation? It was not for feasting but for fasting. “It shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made…unto the Lord” (Leviticus 23:27). Afflicting the soul and presenting the offering go together. Afflicting the soul means having humiliation over our sins, sensing our great need. Who is the offering that is accepted in our behalf? Christ, our righteousness. The deeper we go into the vale of humiliation, the more we must cling by faith to Christ’s righteousness. There will never come a time this side of Jesus’ appearing when we will feel so secure in ourselves that we can say, “The struggle is all over. I am saved and have nothing more to be concerned about.” All the way through, our hope and confidence rest in Jesus, for He makes the atonement. Remember the old gospel song?
“What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
What can make me pure within? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.”
Although we can’t make the atonement, we can gather at the sanctuary and share in the intercession of the priest. “And ye shall do no work in that same day: for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before the Lord your God. For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people. And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people” (verses 28-30). If they did not lay aside their ordinary work, come to the sanctuary, and afflict the soul, they were cut off. At the close of the Day of Atonement God had a clean sanctuary and a clean people, and those who did not share in cleaning up were cleaned out.
So will it be with the remnant church. God’s messenger saw the shaking, the sifting, and cried out, “Oh, that every lukewarm professor could realize the clean work that God is about to make among His professed people” (1T 190). “Chaff like a cloud will be borne away on the wind, even from places where we see only floors of rich wheat” (5T 81). We don’t have to be a part of that chaff. God desires to ripen us as wheat for His garner. What is the program to get us ready? While the high priest is in the most holy place making the final atonement and blotting out the sins of His people, Israel must gather at the sanctuary, bring an offering, afflict the soul, and lay aside everything that would hinder. In other words, you and I have just one business now—the one business that Jesus is engaged in—making an end of sins.
Someone may ask, “Is there really any difference between this and former times? Didn’t God always want His people to fully clean up and reach maturity of Christian character?” Indeed He wanted this! And some entered into the full experience. Notice this significant statement from Ellen G. White: “Some few in every generation from Adam resisted his [Satan’s] every artifice and stood forth as noble representatives of what it was in the power of man to do and to be—Christ working with human efforts, helping man in overcoming the power of Satan. Enoch and Elijah are the correct representatives of what the race might be through faith in Jesus Christ if they chose to be. Satan was greatly disturbed because these noble, holy men stood untainted amid the moral pollution surrounding them, perfected righteous characters, and were accounted worthy for translation to Heaven” (RH, March 3, 1874).
How could people attain perfection prior to Christ’s work in the most holy place? The same way they could get their sins forgiven before He died on the cross. For four thousand years men looked forward to the Redeemer’s coming. By faith they placed their sins on the lamb and received forgiveness. As they went on in the experience of sanctification, some developed mature characters, fully ripe for the harvest. The wonderful thing today is that God will have an entire church which will reflect Jesus’ image fully, and when He does, He can close the sanctuary and take us home.
Some of us remember when travel was largely by train. On a transcontinental journey, as mealtime approached, the steward would walk through the cars and announce, “First call to dinner.” The passenger could go to dinner, or he could stay in his seat. By and by the steward returned saying, “Second call to dinner.” Again, one could choose to remain in his seat or go to the dining car. But when the steward made his rounds the third time and warned, “Last call to dinner,” no choice was left if the passenger wished to eat.
Today God is giving the last call, for we are living in the antitypical Day of Atonement. In the days of Moses a person might be convicted of sin in the spring or summer and bring his offering. Or he might put it off till the next day or the next week. But when the Day of Atonement came, he knew that was the last call. Unless he shared in the final work of cleansing, he would be cut off. Because you and I will be cut off unless we share today in the work of our great High Priest in the most holy place, there is an urgency in our Lord’s appeal to put everything else aside, come to the sanctuary, “afflict the soul,” and “do no work.”
Perhaps we wonder about the expression “Do no work.” Someone might try to sweep it aside by insisting, “ at can’t mean that we are not to do any work since 1844.” But wait. That was the type. We live in the antitype. And which is more important, what Aaron did at Sinai or what Jesus is doing in heaven? Then do you think it might be even more important for us to come to the sanctuary than for Israel?
God had a strategy in all these arrangements. He wanted everybody at the sanctuary. If He hadn’t made the provisions He did, somebody would have excused himself with, “Really, I would like to go up to the sanctuary on the Day of Atonement, but I have my business to look after.” So the Lord said, “We will take care of that. No business today.” A farmer might comment, “I wish I could go, but it’s time for fall plowing, and the weather seems just right. I’m sorry, but I can’t attend.” But God said, “We will take care of that too. No plowing today.” Even cooking couldn’t excuse anyone, because the Lord said, “No eating today. It is a fast.” Everything that could possibly be put aside was put aside in order to make time for the main thing, the vital thing.
Just as the ancient Israelites made coming to the sanctuary the most important thing and put away every hindrance, so today we are to “seek…first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness” (Matthew 6:33). Jesus doesn’t mean that you and I must not perform any manual labor. In order to have clear minds, we must exercise, and the best exercise is found in useful work. Jesus spent more time in the carpenter shop and in the daily work of the home than in all His teaching and healing put together. He is the only human being who has had the opportunity to plan His life pattern before He was born. He and the Father sat down in the councils of eternity and arranged every detail. Is it not significant, then, that Jesus devoted the majority of His life span to physical toil? He laboured to help earn the family living, and it was hard work. And as you and I seek to be like Him, we will do well to behold Jesus in Nazareth as well as at Capernaum and Jerusalem.
The members of the remnant church have found many ways to make a living today. Sad to say, some of these activities are not helping them share in what Jesus is doing in the sanctuary. If the line of work you follow causes you to be sharp, competitive, and selfish, perhaps you should pray about making a change. If your daily work is not fitting you for the judgment, remember that the Israelites left their work on the Day of Atonement and came to the sanctuary. Don’t allow your work to infect you with the fever of speculation so that you will miss your destiny. “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36).
Another inspiring aspect to the expression “Do no work” on the Day of Atonement is that—as the glorious loud cry sounds all over this planet—some people will leave their ordinary vocations and put all their time, all their money, and all their effort into the finishing of the work. During the closing hour of human history the church will be more active than ever before. Indeed, we are witnessing the beginning of it even now. Christian men and women are becoming more intent on finishing God’s work than in piling up riches for consumption in the fires of the last day. God may call you to leave ordinary business and to spend the rest of your life giving God’s last message. Let the Holy Spirit lead you. R&R WDF
