Day of Atonement = Pre-Advent Judgment

THE TABERNACLE Jesus is the true tabernacle. John 1:14 tells us that "the Word became flesh and dwelt [Gk. `3;_4;_1;_7;a2;`9;] among us," and the Greek translation of "tent of meeting" uses a slightly different form of this same term `3;_4;_1;_7;P52; _6;^5;`1;`4;`5;`1;P55;_9;`5; (Ex. 33:7). In other words, when Jesus became the God-man he "tabernacled" among us. (And of course Jesus spoke about "the temple of his body" [John 2:19, 21], and Paul taught that because we are united to the risen Messiah "we are the temple of the living God" [2 Cor. 6:16].) So the temple in Leviticus 16 represents Jesus and by extension all of us. The OT tabernacle was the temple (house) of God, and the light in the Most Holy represented God's presence in the sanctuary. (Lev 16:2) Even SDA literature admits that the Most Holy represented the place of God's own dwelling. But God does not dwell in temples made with hand today (Acts 17:24). First, he tabernacles in the temple of Jesus' body, which was body (temple) specially prepared without hands for God to inhabit. (Heb 10:5; John 1:1, 14) Secondly, by extension, because we believers are the body of Christ, God indwells the believers. We are now the temple of the living God. Thus, the sin of Israel being upon the OT sanctuary represents our sins being placed on Jesus, and the cleansing of that sanctuary represents Jesus after paying the price for our sins and being exalted by God, having removed that sin far away, not only from himself, but from all of us who are part of his body. His victory over sin has thus become our victory. This cleansing comes, not only at the cross, but every time we come to God in repentance. God promises to forgive, and remember our sins no more (Heb 8:12), in effect, removing sin from his sanctuary - us. If he doesn't remember them anymore as he says in Hebrews 8:12, they cannot be held against us in an 1844 judgment, otherwise God wasn't being sincere when he promised in Hebrews 8:12 "and their sin I will remember no more." Jesus" body is the curtain ripped in two that brings us to the holy presence of God: "Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh. . . ." (Heb. 10:19-20). (See also Matthew 27:51: "the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom." This means Jesus' body that was ripped open by the thons in his head, the nails in his hands and feet and spear in his side.) So the curtain in the OT tabernacle didn't represent another curtain in a literal building in heaven, but Jesus' body. This ought to say something to us about the relationship between type an antitype. Jesus is the great high priest over the house of God: ". . . and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water." (Heb. 10:21-22) Jesus is the full and final sacrifice: "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29). ". . . We have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. . . . Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins . . . By a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified." (Heb. 10:10, 12, 14) So Jesus has already fulfilled the meaning of the temple, the cleansing of the temple, the sacrifice of the goat, the scape goat, the curtain, the priest, all of it. All of Leviticus 16 met its reality in Jesus 2000 years ago, all of which took place without an investigative judgment. In fact, none of the references Hebrews 9 makes back to Leviticus 16 say anything at all about an investigative judgment. I reject the claim that Jesus did not fulfill the feast of tabernacles, also known as the festival of booths. Yes, I am not denying that many OT types can have additional fulfillments in the future; after all, though Jesus is Abraham's seed, so are his followers who came later, also fulfilling the role of Abraham's seed. (Gal 3:16, 29) But here is how Jesus initially fulfills the Feast of Tabernacles (Booths) TIME OF APPEARANCE: For one thing, since we know that Christ's ministry was 3-1/2 years, it would represent the specific month or time of the year the messiah must appear to begin his ministry. Why do we know this? Because the Passover festival in the spring celebrates the time of his sacrifice. It is six months apart from the Festival of Booths. The Passover Festival occurs during the first month of the year, the Festival of Booths the seventh month. So they bookend the 3-1/2 years of Jesus' ministry. Jesus thus begins his ministry during the Festival of Booths and ends it during Passover week. WHY BOOTHS OUTSIDE THE HOUSE? Obviously, the formal house would represent the temple, the formal worship arrangement for the Jews. Jesus being born in a booth, which is a makeshift shelter for the animals (the stable), confirms that he would not be part of the formal temple arrangement. That is, the Christ wouldn't say be the current high priest who becomes the messiah or anything. Instead, he would do his things off to the side, somewhat unofficially. Thus God would provide the messiah but would not incorporate him through the formal system. Indeed, Christ came out of Judah, not from the priestly tribe of Levi. The Gospels record that our Lord Jesus not only celebrated the festival, but He took traditional elements of the celebration and applied them to His own life and mission. We find this particularly in John 7 and 8 where Jesus uses two traditional symbols from the Feast of Tabernacles celebration, water and light, to help the people understand who He is and what He offers. The ceremony was to thank God for His bounty and to ask Him to provide rain for the crops in the coming year. Today, many people take water for granted. We simply turn the tap and voil"water! Not so in the Middle East during the first century. Water was often scarce. The people were very much aware of their dependence on God for the rains that were so vital for the preservation of life. No wonder the prophets came to see rain as a symbol of salvation and the work of God's Holy Spirit: I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean" (Ezekiel 36:25). No wonder then that Jesus stood in the Temple on this great day of the feast and cried out: If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water (John 7:37-38). The Apostle John commented on this speech in verse 39. But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. As the rain falls to nourish the crops, so the Holy Spirit falls upon those who have identified with Jesus in His death and resurrection. It is that Spirit that refreshes us, and causes us to grow in grace and in faith. It is that Spirit that allows us to experience Immanuel, God with us. Jesus' promise to give living water, prompted even greater discussion and debate during the last day of the festival of Sukkot. The leaders grew angry because the Temple guards refused their order to arrest Jesus. Even when one of their own, Nicodemus, came to Jesus' defense, they still dismissed His claims saying, "A prophet does not come out of Galilee" (verse 52). Apparently, those leaders had forgotten about Isaiah chapter 9: There will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past He humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future He will honor Galilee of the Gentiles, by the way of the sea, along the Jordan. The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; of those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned (Isaiah 9:1-2). And that brings us to the second Sukkot symbol that Jesus used to point to Himself as the fulfillment of Scripture. God had indeed promised that a great light would shine out of Galilee. Jesus reminded His critics of that powerful and prophetic claim, by claiming to be the Light. You see, at the end of the first day of the Feast, the Temple was gloriously illuminated. According to the Mishnah (part of the oral tradition of the rabbis), gigantic candelabras stood within the court of the women. Each of the four golden candelabras is said to have been 50 cubits high. A cubit is somewhere between 18 and 22 inches, so we're talking about candelabras that were about 75 feet tall! Each candelabra had four branches, and at the top of every branch there was a large bowl. Four young men bearing 10 gallon pitchers of oil would climb ladders to fill the four golden bowls on each candelabra. And then the oil in those bowls was ignited. Picture sixteen beautiful blazes leaping toward the sky from these golden lamps. Remember that the Temple was on a hill above the rest of the city, so the glorious glow was a sight for the entire city to see. In addition to the light, Levitical musicians played their harps, lyres, cymbals and trumpets to make joyful music to the Lord. What a glorious celebration! The light was to remind the people of how God's Shekinah glory had once filled His Temple. But in the person of Jesus, God's glory was once again present in that Temple. And He used that celebration to announce that very fact. He was teaching in the court of women just after the Feast, perhaps standing right next to those magnificent candelabras when He declared to all who were gathered there, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life (John 8:12). Many refused to have their own darkness exposed by that light. But there were those who were drawn to the light, whose hearts burned with the truth of Jesus. Yes, Jesus fulfilled it the feast of tabernacles