ATONEMENT IN CHRIST!

WHAT IS ATONEMENT?

Atonement is a process or a procedure of reconciling sinners back to God. Jesus the atonement redeemed us through His blood on the cross for the remission of sins. Atonement describes the process whereby God draws sinful men and women back to be “at one” with Himself. In the Old Testament this was carried out in an elaborate ceremony, practiced on what was called the Day of Atonement. “There shall be no man in the tabernacle of meeting when he goes in to make atonement in the Holy Place, until he comes out, that he may make atonement for himself, for his household, and for all the assembly of the Israel” (Lev. 16:17) The main feature of the ceremony, the shedding of blood, taught that atonement symbolizes the substitution of life for life. In this way, the Old Testament points forward to the atoning sacrifice of Christ on the cross for our sins. Our Lord entered heaven to present his blood before God, thus making us clean and acceptable; through faith in the blood of the great reconciler, we can be welcomed back home into the arms of our loving Father. Because of Jesus, the atoning Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, “And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, but not for ours only but also for the whole world” (1 Jn. 2:2), we are accepted as righteous, and we are declared not guilty.

ATONEMENT IN CHRIST

In Paul’s epistle to the Colosse he declared that God, “Has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins” (Colo. 1:13-14). As a preliminary to teaching the Colossian church about Christ Atonement, Paul uses two technical terms familiar to the Israelites but poorly understood at best by European Gentiles. The idea of redemption is to restore to oneself some property or possession that is temporarily under the control of others according to them. But it was God’s desire to redeem the human race from bondage to evil and enable it to serve Him in fellowship and love. In the Hebrew sacrificial system, individual sin could be forgiven by offering the lifeblood of an animal to a pure and holy God as a substitute for the sinner’s own life. The blood of goat that was brought into the Most Holy Place to make atonement for the sins of the people is prophetically of the blood of Jesus Christ, which He brought into the eternal Most Holy Place, “heaven itself” Christ offered Himself on Calvary as a sacrifice for human sin and His shed blood was accepted by God as a full, perfect, sufficient and satisfying atonement. Forgiveness occurs when the convicted sinner accepts Christ as Savior and pleads to be cleansed from all sin through Christ’s shed blood. Apostle Paul states to the Romans, Jesus  “Whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed” (Rom. 3:25).

THE CLEANSING BLOOD

In Paul’s epistle to the Hebrews he tells us that, “Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption” (Heb. 9:11-12). This verse draws a vivid between the Hebrew rituals of the Day of Atonement and the finality of Christ’s redeeming work on the cross. Once a year the Israelite high priest entered the Most Holy Place to make atonement for the uncleanness of the Israelites, having first followed an elaborate ritual emphasizing God’s holiness and the price that has to be paid if sin is to be forgiven.  The high priest atoned for himself and his family first, and after that for the Israelite nation. Christ the great High Priest was offered on Calvary the one sufficient and final sacrifice for sin, thereby making the entire Hebrew sacrificial system obsolete. Animal blood could not effect a permanent atonement for mankind, for only the blood of God’s Son could achieve this goal. In His substitutionary death Christ offered His lifeblood to the Father. This atoning work can never be repeated, and brings eternal redemption to humanity. God urges us through His prophet Isaiah thus; “Come now, and let us reason together,” says the Lord, though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red  like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isa. 1:18).

ATONEMENT ACCOMPLISHED BY CHRIST

1. Symbolized in Old Testament Sacrifices

·         The Passover Lamb:  “Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or the goats, now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel on the houses where they eat it; v11-13, “And thus you shall eat it; with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. So you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment; Iam the Lord. Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt” (Exo.12:5-7, 12-13). See also, “Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you are truly unleavened. For indeed Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us” (1 Cor. 5:7).

·         A Lamb that takes away sin: “He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not is mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth”( Isa. 53:7); “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and  said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! And looking at Jesus as He walked, he said, “Behold the Lamb of God!” (Jn. 1:29, 36); also, “Knowing that you were not redeemed  with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as a Lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Pet. 1:18-19)  see also, “And I looked and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into al the earth” (Rev. 5:6).

·         The day of Atonement: (Heb. 9:7-14, 23-28)

2. Fulfilled in the New Testament

·         Sacrifice of Christ atones for sin: “So Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, a part from sin, for salvation” (Heb. 9:28); “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 Jn. 4:10) other tied Scriptures, and already mentioned earlier as (Rom. 3:25; 1 Cor. 5:7; 1 Jn.2:2).

·         Christ present His blood to God: “Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption; how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (Heb. 9:12, 14).

3. The Result of Christ Atoning Blood

·         Our sins are forgiven: “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Eph. 1:7).

·         We are purified from sin: “But if we walk in light as He is in the light we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 Jn. 1:7).

·         We are freed from sin: “And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead and the ruler over the kings of the earth” (Rev. 1:5).

·         We are redeemed: (Rom.3:24-25; 1 Pet. 1:18).

·         We are saved: “Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath though Him” (Rom.5:9).

·         We are reconciled with God: “For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life” (Rom. 5:10); “For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross” (Col.1:20).

·         We are made holy: “Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate” (Heb. 13:12).

·         We are reconciled to other Christians: “For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near” (Eph. 2:14-17).

·         The power of the devil is destroyed: “ Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it” (Col. 2:15); “In as much then as the children has partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He Might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil” (Heb. 2:14).

 I thank You Precious Jesus for your Precious blood which You shed unto us on the cross to atone us from the blood of goats and sheep and You entered the Most Holy Place once and for all having obtained eternal redemption for us all.

“Grace to you and Favor from our God and Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen and Amen and Amen."