BAPTISM OF FIRE-THE FEAST DAY OF ATONEMENT

BAPTISM OF FIRE (THE FEAST DAY OF ATONEMENT)

Sunday, May 6, 2012, The Year of Our Lord

Pastor Carolyn Sissom

The Feast Day of Atonement was the most solemn of the Jewish Feast Days.  It was the day of national and sanctuary cleansing.  I feel confident that it is not an accident that in our study of the Seven Feasts, the teaching on the Day of Atonement follows so closely to the Christian National Day of Prayer.  Over 40,000 Christian leaders in the United States held over 40,000 gatherings of repentance and prayer throughout this nation on Thursday, May 4, 2012, The Year of Our Lord.

The Bible background for this feast is Lev. 16; 23: 27-32; Num. 29: 7-11; Heb. 8-10.

The Feast Day of Atonement was fulfilled historically in Jesus Christ.  He is the High Priest who atoned for man, the Scapegoat and Lord’s goat who put away sin, sickness, poverty, and death.  The feast will be fulfilled experientially in His Body, the church.  There is no doubt that He made a full and complete Atonement, and there is also no doubt that the Church has never yet fully appropriated and received all that His Atonement has provided.  We are presently tasting of this Feast.

The Feast Day of Atonement applied to the Christian reveals our progressive walk in Christ as we experience the baptism of fire.

Mt. 3:12 “I (John) do indeed baptize you with water unto repentance; but he that comes after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear; he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire.”

Mt. 20:22-23:  “Jesus answered and said, ‘You know not what you ask, Are you able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?’  They say unto him, ‘We are able’.  And Jesus said unto them, ‘You shall drink indeed of my cup and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with…’”

Lev. 23: 27-32:  “On the tenth day of the seventh month, there shall be a day of atonement; it shall be a holy convocation unto you; and you shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord…”

For Israel, this Day of Holy convocation was a day of fasting (Acts 27:9).  This was a day of the affliction of the soul (intellect, emotions, will).  This was a time of mourning, humiliation, repentance, purification, cleansing and intercession.  Israel as a nation afflicted her soul; only the High Priest entered the Most Holy Place with the blood.  Again, we can parallel this with our Christian National Day of Prayer.  (Lev. 23:31) “…it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.”  

Like the Christian Holy Days of Christmas, Thanksgiving and Easter, the National Day of Prayer has become a national observance by a joint resolution of Congress and signed into law by President Truman in 1952.  In 1988, the law was amended and signed by President Reagan, designating the National Day of Prayer as the first Thursday in May.

“To those of the Christian faith, this set apart day stands as a call to us to humbly come before God, seeking the guidance for our leaders and His grace upon us as a people.” (Paraphrased from the website of National Day of Prayer)   Jesus is our High Priest and entered in once and for all for us.  Heb. 6:20:  “Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entered into that within the veil; the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made a high priest forever after the order of Melchisedec.”

 For the Overcomer this is the experiential putting away of sin and carnality.  The Jewish Feast Day of Atonement took place on the tenth day of the 7^th month.  Ten is the number of testing, trial, law and order, and responsibility.  The time between the Feast of Trumpets and Atonement is a time of sifting.  Your “bills” are due the 1^st of the month.  You have 10 days to “pay” them (or God will cut off your light and water).  These were days of spiritual preparation for the Israelites.  For the Christian it is a journey.  As I look back over the season in my life where I experienced the baptism of fire, it was 7 years in duration. 

The journey of the Christian was and is that we received forgiveness of sins at our Passover experience with Christ as our Savior.  Then was a time of separation and the beginning of our walk with God in holiness, sincerity, and truth (Unleavened bread); Then we began to arise to walk in newness of life, knowing Him in the power of His resurrection (firstfruits);  Then we are filled with the Holy Spirit, and endued with power from on high.  This is a time of faith, miracles, Gifts of the Holy Spirit operating in our lives, great joy, and great victory. Then we hear the call to come to maturity within the rent veil (Trumpets); next comes the baptism of fire as our souls are afflicted and we learn as overcomers how to walk in the Spirit.

  Everything that is burned off of us is wood, hay and stubble.  All that is left after this baptism is that which is of the Lord.  After this purifying, we will receive the full adoption and the redemption of our bodies, becoming a tabernacle for all the fullness of God.

I can testify that this was my journey and is my journey.  Like all the other Feast Days, The Day of Atonement is no longer a date on a Jewish calendar, but a spiritual experience with the Lord on this Christian journey.  I went through the Baptism of Fire beginning in 1982 and passed through the fire by approximately 1989.  It was only the mercy of God that pulled me through.   I was a slow learner.  I am sure there is a faster way through.

Those saints, who will submit to this “cup” and be baptized with this baptism, will become fire carriers.  Heb. 1:7:  “And of the angels he said, ‘who makes his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.”

1 Peter 5:6:  “Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.”

Jesus cleansed the temple twice during his earthly ministry at the beginning and at the end of His ministry.   (John 2 and Matt. 21)  We can compare the cleansings of Passover (Salvation) and Atonement (Baptism of fire).  Mal 3:  “…the Lord whom you seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom you delight in; behold, he shall come…who may abide the day of his coming? And who shall stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap.”

There is an outward washing (baptism) with water, and there is an inward purging by fire.  God cleansed the temple at the beginning of this age (the ministry of Jesus), and will cleanse His church at the end of this age.

Leviticus 16 details this Feast which is fulfilled in Jesus and His Church:

1. 16: 1-2---    The Lord will appear in the Cloud on this day.
2. Verse 4 --- The High Priest washed and put on the linen garments of righteousness.  He laid aside the garments of glory and beauty. (Phil. 2: 1-11)
3. Verses 3-11-There were many sacrifices and offerings:

(a)   Burnt Offering---young bullock, a ram, seven lambs.

(b)   Meal Offering---appropriate to each of blood sacrifices.

(c)    Sin Offering---a kid of the goats.

(d)   Daily Sacrifice---Burn, Meal and Drink Offerings

4. Verses 12-13---The Golden Censer ministry:  Jesus Christ was the “censer” from heaven who contained the fiery light and life of the Father.  Christians have been called to worship God in Spirit and in Truth.  God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts whereby we might become true worshippers.  We are not to offer “strange fire” unto the Lord as did King Uzziah when he invaded the priestly office.  Only those truly born of the Spirit can worship in Spirit.  All others are leprous in their foreheads.  The Church, His body is to be a “censer full of burning coals,” a people alive with the fire of His Spirit.  We have been baptized with the Holy Ghost and fire.  The word for censer” in Hebrews 9:4 is actually “the altar of incense,” which was moved within the veil on the Day of Atonement.  Likewise, our prayer, praise, and worship will move into the Most Holy Place, the realm of maturity and completeness.
5. Verse 14--- Verses 3-14 detail the Atonement for Aaron and for his household.  The seven-times sprinkling reveal the complete and perfect Atonement of Jesus.  The seven-times sprinkling was before the Mercy Seat.  There was also a once-for-all sprinkling with his finger upon the mercy-seat Eastward.  This speaks of the once-for all sacrifice of Jesus Christ. (Heb. 8-10) Heb. 9:12:  “Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.”
6. Verse 15 – The Lord’s goat for the sin offering was Atonement for the people (applied as the blood in verse 14).
7. Verse 16---This was the Atonement for the Sanctuary. (Jn. 2; Mt. 21)
8. Verse 17---Aaron alone makes the Atonement (Heb. 9:7).
9. Verse 18-19---This is the cleansing of the Altar of Incense (worship, praise and prayer). (Psa. 19:14)
10. Verse 20-22---Jesus is the Scape-goat.
11. Verse 23-28---Aaron then entered the Holy Place, washed himself, and changed his garments.  The bodies of the Sin Offerings were burned without the camp. (Heb. 12:29; 13: 10-13)
12. Verse 29-34—The chapter closes with the anointed High priest who was to minister in his Father’s stead and the principle of the Atonement being a statute forever.

There were two goats chosen for the Day of Atonement:

1. The goat for Jehovah---The Lord’s goat. (16: 8-9)
2. The goat for Azahel---The Scape-goat (16:10)

In a basic application, Jesus was both goats.  The Lord’s goat died to reconcile (Heb. 9: 1-14; 13: 11-13).  The Scape-goat lived to reconcile.  Jesus died for our sins and carried them away.

The Hebrew word for “Scape-Goat” is “Azahel” and means “the goat of departure; banish, remove, for entire removal.”  The word has also been interpreted as “the evil one” (pointing to satan).  The goat for Azahel was thus the goat to subdue the Evil One.

In a deeper application, the Lord’s goat speaks of those overcomers who walk beyond the veil and pour out their life (blood) in the Presence of God for the healing of the nation.  Those who refuse this dimension of sacrifice will go to the wilderness with the woman of Rev. 12, and the elements will break him.  You can pay him now, or you can pay Him later.

We can again apply this to those saints who pray and intercede for the healing of this nation, Israel and the nations of the world.  Perhaps I will go so far as to say that through the Baptism of Fire comes the governmental anointing to pray and intercede for the healing of the nation.

Rev. 22:2:  “And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the lamb.  In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month; and the leaves of the tress were for the healing of the nations.”

In this Feast, someone entered into that which was within the veil (Heb. 6: 19-20).  On the Day of Atonement of the Old Covenant, Aaron went beyond the veil with both hands full of incense.  There is a ministry of praise (taking hold of God with the left hand) and prayer (taking hold of man with the right hand).  This describes the Melchisedec order of ministry, the fullness of ministry to God and man (from the Most Holy Place).

The Jubilee Trumpet blew on the 10^th day of the 7^th month in the 50^th year.  We will save that for a future teaching.

Nest week, we will finish our study with Feast of Tabernacles.

Pastor Carolyn Sissom

Eastgate Ministries, Inc.

www.eastgateministries.com