What is the Significance of the Day of Atonement
By Charles Post
December 15, 2017
These 2 unacceptable character flaws are the first 2 listed in Revelation 21:8, which is a categorized list of those who will partake of the lake which burns with fire and brimstone. The present day world is full of fearful and unbelieving people who do not believe in God. Are these going to be condemned to the lake of fire when they are resurrected from the dead? Some will, but I believe they’ll be a minority. I will write out the whole scripture and we’ll look at some other unacceptable character traits that are a ticket to the lake of fire. First though, verse 7 states that those who overcome will inherit all things and God Almighty himself shall be their God and they’ll be his sons. Vs.8, “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolators, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” The second death is final!
It should be obvious that God will not tolerate fear and unbelief, and considers the 2 to be just as bad as the others on the list. How can this be? Some people are afraid of their own shadow, due to incidents or circumstances in their lives causing them to need to fear that these things could happen to them again! For instance, an abused child will always fear that he might be abused again. They grow up fearing others because of their childhood experiences of having been abused. I’ve known a few who never outgrew their fears! How could our loving, merciful, all knowing Heavenly Father condemn someone who never outgrew their fears? We know that he can not and will not condemn any person for their flaws, unless the person fails to overcome those unacceptable character flaws or traits.
In order to answer these questions, we will have to define the words, “fearful” and “unbelieving”. Fearful is, Strong’s Greek #1169, deilos, from deos, (dread), timid; i. e. (by implication), faithless:- – fearful. Next, unbelieving is Strong’s Greek # 571, apistos, from 1 (as a negative particle), and # 4103 (actively” dis- believing, i. e. Without Christian faith, (specially a heathen), : passively, un- trustworthy, (person) or incredible (thing) :- – that believeth not, faithless, in- credible thing, infidel, unbeliever (ing). It seems obvious to me that King James authorized a comma between fearful and unbelieving, thus making it seem to be 2 different character flaws. It is a 2 word condition that boils down to be those who lack faith! Faith is belief, and God Almighty demands that we believe in him! If we have faith, we’ll fear nothing! Many scriptures will prove this to be so.
The 21st chapter of Revelation describes the new heaven and new earth, with the holy city, New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven, vs.3, “And I heard a great voice saying, Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.” The verses we used preceding this describe who won’t be dwelling with God. I had never thought about it before, but twice in the last 2 or 3 months, I have heard or read that this has to be after the 7th 1,000 year period, because God won’t dwell in the presence of sin. We know this to be true, because God the Father forsook our savior when he took on all of mankind’s sin, Matthew 27:46 & Mark 15:34. In light of this, all of mankind up to this point hasn’t had the opportunity for salvation. Verse 27 shows that only they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life will be able to enter into the holy city.
Let’s look at an Old Testament physical covenant story that is similar to what is seen by John in the vision depicting our future, if we live up to God’s expectations in the spiritual covenant. Only those who overcome will be inheritors of God the Father’s Kingdom. Numbers 13 & 14, is the story of the twelve Israelite spies who had gone into the land of Canaan to search it out for Israel’s inheritance. There was one man for each of the 12 tribes. Their search lasted for forty days and upon their return, all twelve spies agreed that it was a good land, a land that flowed with milk and honey! However, 10 of the 12 spies stated that the enemies they’d encounter would be too strong for them! This negative lack of faith spread amongst almost all of the congregation of Israel and they began to murmur and complain against Moses and Aaron, and next they’re accusing God of bringing them out of Egypt to be slaughtered! In verses 6 – 8 of chapter 14, Joshua and Caleb are highly upset and suggest that “If the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us”. Only those 2 out of 12 had the faith and did truly believe that they could expect God to give their enemies over to them if he delighted in them! Later on in this story, you’ll see that God took delight in only those 2 men out of all of that generation of Israelites! All of the rest were denied entering into the promised land because they were fearful and unbelieving! I believe that the same thing can be said about those who won’t inherit the Kingdom. This is an almost unbelievable thing, due to the fact that all of that first generation witnessed countless miracles that did show them that God was with them! They witnessed a daily miracle when every morning except for the Sabbath, there was a fresh supply of manna to feed them! Seeing is believing, yet, 10 of the 12 spies didn’t trust that God could take care of them after seeing Egypt destroyed and Pharaoh and his army drowned in the Red Sea, that was miraculously parted for the Israelites to cross!
How could so many people witnessing these miracles not have Faith? That is certainly hard to understand, but the bible has many accounts of people lacking in faith, beginning with Adam and Eve. I intend to write an article, some day, on the fact that the whole history of mankind is one of rejecting our Creator. Fearful and unbelieving is also a rejection of God the Father and our Savior’s sacrifice for us. We here and now haven’t witnessed many, if any miracles such as our forefathers had. I can think back on a few instances where I should have been killed, but by a miracle from God, I wasn’t. I have friends and brothers in Christ who have shared stories of miraculous interventions in their and other’s lives. My experiences have shown me beyond any and all doubt that God has been with me! “What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?” Romans 8:31 The Israelites were told this same thing in Numbers 14:9. The psalmist says much the same in Psalm 118:6, “The Lord is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?” Peter and the other apostles stated, “We ought to obey God rather than men”, Acts 5:29. This chapter is an account of the early New Testament church and the persecution that came from the Sadducees, who became highly indignant with the growing number of believers after witnessing many signs and wonders, (multitudes of both men and women), verses 12 through 17. The apostles were thrown into the common prison, (vs.18), and miraculously, an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out! They went on to speak and teach in the temple, because they “feared not”, and they were “believers”!
We should be able to see a big difference between this account and the one we used of our ancient forefathers of the Old Testament covenant. Both of the groups witnessed many miracles, yet there were very few believers in the first group, and multitudes in the second! What do you suppose could’ve made such a difference ? I think you all know the answer. The New testament account comes right after the receiving of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, (Acts 2:1-4). Just as they’re “all with one accord, in one place”, on the day of Pentecost, (2:1), they were still with one accord there in Solomon’s porch, (5:12), and had witnessed many more miracles. “One Accord” means one mind, or like-minded. There were miraculous healings, and unclean spirits cast out during this spectacular event. This all came about because of one simple fact, they all were believers! It should also be noted, that they had foreknowledge of this through the inspired words of the Prophets!
Those of the Old Covenant didn’t have written instructions or prophesies, they had Moses as their prophet and intercessor between them and the one who freed them from captivity in Egypt, it should have been enough, but apparently not. So where does this leave us, today, who have both accounts and multiple witnesses?
We here, near the end, should be the strongest of the believers, and for that reason, we should not fear or disbelieve any of these inspired words we have read concerning our future! Add to this the fact that only those whom God himself has drawn to Christ our Savior, can be without fear and unbelief, John 6:44 & 65. One more scripture fits in with this theme, and is Paul’s use of different words that say the same as what Christ inspired John to write in the 1st scripture used, Revelation 21:8.
We see in, Romans 1:18, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness.” I would have to conclude that God Almighty considers fear and unbelief just cause for his wrath to be used against those he has drawn to our Savior! Reading the rest of Romans chapter 1, vs. 19 shows that God has shown them the truth, vs. 20, so that they are without excuse, and the rest of the chapter lists much the same things as were revealed to John. Those “who hold the truth” should believe that every word of God is his inspired written instructions for life and life everlasting, because it has been purified 7 times, Psalm 12:6. We had better believe this! Those who don’t, are destined to go into the lake that burns with fire and brimstone. That is, those who have or hold the truth. Knowing that God the Father is the only one who can bring us to this, we should know also that those same must have God’s holy spirit or they really can’t be holders of the truth.
Luke 12:32, “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.” It will be God’s good pleasure to give most of mankind his kingdom. Sadly, we know that some won’t be recipients of this great gift. They will face God’s wrath, because they were “fearful and unbelieving”, even though God has given them the truth. Okay, I would like to wrap this up, by using a few more scriptures and show how this is really a continuation of what I’m learning by what I am experiencing in my life. Life is for learning, and if we do learn from our experiences, we will move forward to learn more. By defining the 2 words, fearful and unbelieving, we can define both as being a lack of faith. Many more scriptures could be used concerning faith, such as, “without faith, it is impossible to please him”, Hebrews 11:6. The same verse says that those that come to God, must have the belief that he is, (God). Again, we can define faith as belief and trust. Believe in and trust in God. If we do so, we need not fear anything other than God himself.
That fear, there, is a deep respect and awe of the mightiest being of all! I stated in the 2nd and 3rd sentences of this article that I didn’t believe that God would hold it against every one who is fearful and unbelieving. I still don’t! It will be only those who have known the truth.
The two opposing accounts that showed vast differences in the amount of believers in the Old Covenant versus the New, have shown that receiving the Holy Spirit was what made the difference! There weren’t many Old Covenant recipients of God’s Holy Spirit. I believe those fearful unbelievers will have another chance after they are resurrected, as well as the rest of mankind. New Covenant recipients are a different story, we have no excuse for being fearful and unbelieving! God has shown us the truth, and we have his written book of instructions! Sadly, there will be some who will be fearful and unbelieving, and will perish in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, along with sorcerers, murderers, and all liars. Still, we do know that God is not a loser, and I and others think that most will wake up after going into the tribulation and realize that this fleeting physical life wasn’t worth the effort they put into pursuing the wrong things. Certain scriptures will come to the forefront of their minds and cause them to forsake their physical life in order to gain eternal life. We believe these are some of the souls that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus Christ, Revelation 20:4, as John had revealed to him and also us!
I and a few others who talk often amongst ourselves, believe that is why we’ve read, “Many are called, but few are chosen”. Many scriptures show God’s intent to have his one tenth remnant as a tithe to be his witnesses. I’ll list enough of those to substantiate this claim, Leviticus 27:32, Amos 5:3, Ezekiel 5:1-3, and Luke 17:17-18. As for witnesses, there are 3 prophetic verses in Isaiah stating that “Ye are my witnesses” which was the title of the last article I wrote, Isaiah 43:10 & 12, and 44:8. Not all of the called out will be the faithful gathered remnant who witness to the world that “God is God”. It most likely will be 1/10th of the called that are chosen. Just as we read of Elijah lamenting that he alone stood opposed to the idol worship going on in Israel, God let him know that there were 7,000 who didn’t bow their knees to the false god, Baal. Most of the scriptures used above have admonitions to “fear not”, in the scriptures before or after. Ten O. T. scriptures admonish us to “Be of good courage”, which says the same as fear not. I’ll use one, Psalm 27:14, “ Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.” This leads to 3 scriptures that apply to me and the situation I face.
Isaiah 49:25, “I will contend with him that contend with thee”. Luke 18:7, “And shall not God avenge his own elect which cry day and night unto him”. 1Peter 5:7, “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you”. These 3 verses tell me that if I have faith in God and fear nothing, he will avenge me of my enemies! If we obey him and fear not, he tells us that our enemies will be his enemies, and our adversaries will be his adversaries, Exekiel 23:22!
Charles Post