A Day of At-one-ment

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

God declared to ancient Israel that one day in their year was of superlative importance: "the day of atonement." That one day was of life-or-death significance, for it prefigured the final Day of Judgment. If any Israelite had failed to observe the day of atonement as the Lord had said, he was "cut off," expelled, forever.

But of course, all this was "typical," not antitypical. In other words, it was a sandbox children's "story" that was designed to carry their minds forward to the grand finale of human history. According to the time prophecy of Daniel 8 and 9, we have now been living in the great, antitypical, solemn, cosmic Day of Atonement for no less than 166 years!

What did it mean for the Israelites to "afflict [their] souls" on that "ceremonial sabbath," to do no work (close their shops, no money-making, etc.), on that day? On that one day only of the year they were required to fast! It was to be a day on earth like that final "day" when we all "appear before the judgment seat of Christ" (2 Cor. 5:10). The answer is simple: on that one day in the year, they were to be at-one-with God, to think as He thinks, to feel as He feels, to look upon life and upon the world and upon the universe, as He looks. In other words, to be reconciled to, and with, Him.

This Day of Atonement is for the whole world! Paul says, "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 2:5). That's it: to welcome the "mind" of Christ, the mind of God, to think as He thinks, to feel as He feels.

The ultimate finale will be "the marriage of the Lamb" when His "wife hath made herself ready" (Rev. 19:7, 8). No, it's not a day of terror but of love-union. Christ invites His people on this Day of Atonement to "sit with Me on My throne, even as I also overcame ..." (3:21), in other words, share with Him executive authority in bringing to a successful close the great controversy between Christ and Satan. "Atonement"? A Day of At-one-ment is what brings a wedding to its consummation, then two lovers become one--forever.

To become "one" with the Son of God is to feel toward the oppressed of the earth as He feels toward them, to share His heart burden, to "help" Him bear His burden! It's to grow up, out of our child-mind status.

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: April 14, 2006.
Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.
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