Physical fasting provides insights to a parallel spiritual process of cleansing and removal of sin. Our High Priest commands us to let go to lighten our burden.

The prospect of atonement and salvation is available to everybody, but only those called by the Father—not by an evangelical altar call—are eligible.

Man's estrangement from God is wholly man's fault. Atonement denotes the way harmony is achieved, making the entire world at one or reconciled with God.

The cleansing of Joshua's filthy robes in Zechariah 3 is a future application of the cleansing in Leviticus 16, when Jesus Christ cleanses Israel in the future.

Repentance is something we must do with our God-given free moral agency. Reconciliation is an ongoing process that enables us to draw closer to what God is.

God's solution to mankind's separation was sending a second Adam, Jesus Christ, to make reconciliation possible. Fasting shows our dependence on God.

The Day of Atonement, when God commands us to afflict our souls, is a day of self-evaluation and repentance to seek unity with Him and our brethren.

We must remember what we were and how far God has brought us out of that place, pulled out of the muck and brought into His glory.

Hebrews 9 and 10 clarify the Atonement ritual of Leviticus 16. The author makes no mention of Satan, but says that Jesus bears our sins like the azazel goat.

While the church of God has long taught that the azazel goat of Leviticus 16 represents Satan, this traditional view has no biblical support.

Christ's propitiatory sacrifice satisfied both the law and God's holiness, allowing Him to extend mercy to believing, repentant sinners.

God employs a winnowing process in selecting those who will enter the Millennium. The process includes punishment for Israel's failure to serve as priests.

Some say the scapegoat (azazel) prefigures the Devil, others say it has been fulfilled by Jesus. Tradition teaches one thing; Scripture reveals another.

While there is a handful of common starting places for understanding the azazel, none of them has multiple witnesses of Scripture. We must begin elsewhere.

The first goat is a blood sacrifice to cleanse the altar. The second goat—the 'azazel' or 'complete removal'—is led away and freed (not bound by a chain).

Jesus' perfect offering of Himself for us fulfilled the sin offering of Leviticus 4. Our acceptance of His offering for atonement puts us under obligation.

On the Day of Atonement, the live goat bears the sins of the nation. Many think this represents Satan as the source of sin, yet Scripture reveals the truth.

All that we have has come from others, especially God. The Day of Atonement points out how needy and dependent on God we are; fasting shows our frailty.

When we do something against the law or our own conscience, guilt is triggered, and we suffer, not just a gut-wrenching emotion, but also a descent into sin.

One goat had to die for cleansing; the other goat had to remain alive for bearing the sins away. Jesus fulfilled both roles. Satan's binding atones for nothing.

The Day of Atonement is not fulfilled with the binding of Satan. Rather, there are numerous prophecies of God atoning for the sins of physical Israel.

Before anyone can have fellowship before God, the obstacle of sin must be eliminated, which is a permanent barrier between us and God.

'Justification' is a theological term that many do not understand, thinking that it is a complex point of doctrine. But it is not as difficult as it may seem.

Moral failure compounds when self-loathing sabotages happiness. Only atonement can turn this depression around, providing the comfort of mental and spiritual health.

The sin offering was for sin in general deals with our evil nature, while the trespass offering deals with the fruits of that nature.

God the Father does not take the minimization of His Son's sacrifice lightly, as some Protestant theologians imply with their cheap grace doctrine.

Though Satan influences, the choices an individual make are totally his own, even for those without God's Spirit. We sin when we are drawn away by our own desires.

Only those who have fellowship with God can have any hope, understanding, peace, or rest. The world remains under the sway of Satan, unable to live righteously.

Being poor in spirit is a foundational spiritual state for qualifying for God's Kingdom. Poor in spirit describes being acutely aware of one's dependency.

Reconciliation is the product of a sacrifice to pacify the wrath of an offended person. We must imitate Christ in His approach toward hostility from others.

The blood of Christ, a propitiation or appeasing force, the only means to satisfy God's pure sense of justice, is a testimony of God's intense love for us.

Fasting puts us in a proper humble and contrite frame of mind, allowing God to respond to us, freeing us from our burdens and guiding us into His Kingdom.

Human nature has a perverse drive to take risks, pushing the envelope, taking unwise chances, foolishly gambling away the future. Foolishness is sin.

Jesus taught that fasting is an internal, spiritual good work, done in the inner self. Any other kind of fasting has little or no spiritual value.

The meaning of Romans 3:31 is plain unless one believes that grace abolishes God's law. Justification by faith is based on the law's true purpose.

Christ admonishes His people to prepare for difficult times by cultivating a close relationship with their Savior. Apart from Christ, we can do nothing.