In our effort to gain biblical understanding as to what a church based on and rooted in God's Word should look like, we are digging into Mathew 16:16-18. We saw in these verses that Jesus was proclaimed as '
the Christ', and that He was proclaimed as the '
Son of the Living God'. We also saw Jesus call the church
His church, and that
He is the one that will build it.
Here is a list of the four Truths we are looking at:
1. What does it mean that Jesus is the Christ?
2. What does it mean that Jesus is the Son of the living God?
3. What does it mean that this is Jesus' church?
4. What does it mean that Jesus is the one building the church?
We are systematically working our way through these Truths. To begin with, we looked at three things that make Jesus 'the Christ' - Christ meaning the Messiah, the Savior. Recognizing Jesus as 'the Christ' refers to the work that He accomplished as the Savior of our souls. The power of this work is proclaimed throughout the
Word of God, and can be described in this way: Jesus
redeemed and
reconciled us through His
atonement for our sins.
We have looked at our redemption and our reconciliation - both of which were made possible through Jesus Christ. Now, we will look at
how these things were made possible through Him, by the atonement for our sins. Without atonement, we would never be able to experience redemption or reconciliation, these rely on Jesus Christ's atoning work being sufficient!
It's clear that understanding and believing in spiritual redemption and reconciliation through Jesus Christ must be foundational doctrines of a church of God that recognizes Jesus as the Christ. The powerful, atoning work of Jesus also must be understood and held as doctrine, in order to truly acknowledge Jesus as the Christ.
------- Old Testament Shadow -------
The word 'atonement' is not used a lot in the New Testament, however we find it many times in the Old Testament. I would like to go the the Old Testament to gain an understanding of what is meant when the word atonement is used.
"Thus you shall do to Aaron and to his sons, according to all that I have commanded you. Through seven days shall you ordain them, and every day you shall offer a bull as a sin offering for atonement. Also you shall purify the altar, when you make atonement for it, and shall anoint it to consecrate it. Seven days you shall make atonement for the altar and consecrate it, and the altar shall be most holy. Whatever touches the altar shall become holy." Exodus 29:35-37
The following passage is from Leviticus 5:6-18:
The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less, than the half shekel, when you give the LORD's offering to make atonement for your lives. You shall take the atonement money from the people of Israel and shall give it for the service of the tent of meeting, that it may bring the people of Israel to remembrance before the LORD, so as to make atonement for your lives." Exodus 30:15,16
...he shall bring to the LORD as his compensation for the sin that he has committed, a female from the flock, a lamb or a goat, for a sin offering. And the priest shall make atonement for him for his sin. "But if he cannot afford a lamb, then he shall bring to the LORD as his compensation for the sin that he has committed two turtledoves or two pigeons, one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering.
He shall bring them to the priest, who shall offer first the one for the sin offering. He shall wring its head from its neck but shall not sever it completely, and he shall sprinkle some of the blood of the sin offering on the side of the altar, while the rest of the blood shall be drained out at the base of the altar; it is a sin offering.
Then he shall offer the second for a burnt offering according to the rule. And the priest shall make atonement for him for the sin that he has committed, and he shall be forgiven. "But if he cannot afford two turtledoves or two pigeons, then he shall bring as his offering for the sin that he has committed a tenth of an ephah of fine flour for a sin offering. He shall put no oil on it and shall put no frankincense on it, for it is a sin offering.
And he shall bring it to the priest, and the priest shall take a handful of it as its memorial portion and burn this on the altar, on the LORD's food offerings; it is a sin offering. Thus the priest shall make atonement for him for the sin which he has committed in any one of these things, and he shall be forgiven. And the remainder shall be for the priest, as in the grain offering."
The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, "If anyone commits a breach of faith and sins unintentionally in any of the holy things of the LORD, he shall bring to the LORD as his compensation, a ram without blemish out of the flock, valued in silver shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, for a guilt offering. He shall also make restitution for what he has done amiss in the holy thing and shall add a fifth to it and give it to the priest. And the priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering, and he shall be forgiven.
"If anyone sins, doing any of the things that by the LORD's commandments ought not to be done, though he did not know it, then realizes his guilt, he shall bear his iniquity. He shall bring to the priest a ram without blemish out of the flock, or its equivalent for a guilt offering, and the priest shall make atonement for him for the mistake that he made unintentionally, and he shall be forgiven.
The above passages from the Old Testament are a very small sampling of how much the idea of atonement is discussed, but I think they give us an better understanding of what is meant by atonement.
The word translated atonement means "to expiate (to extinguish incurred guilt), to cover, to pardon"
When we read these passages in the Old Testament that give instructions on sacrifices, in an attempt to have guilt for sin removed, to be pardoned from sin, we can see that dealing with sin is an absolute necessity in order for us to experience redemption and reconciliation. We also see that these sacrifices are commanded to be offered over and over, they are not a one time sacrifice for all sin.
Why sacrifices? Why so much blood? Hebrews 9:22 states:
Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.
--------- New Testament Fulfillment --------
With that in mind, let's move to the New Testament. Here, we don't see
the word 'atonement' near as often, but the idea is described in very,
very powerful ways that absolutely reveal Jesus as 'the Christ', the
Savior of our souls.
More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. Romans 5:11 - in the King James Version, reconciliation is translated atonement...very interesting!
---------- Propitiation --------
'Propitiation' is a word used in the New Testament when referring to 'an atoning victim' - meaning the one sacrificed for atonement...Jesus Christ.
whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.
Romans 3:25
He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
1 John 2:2
In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
1 John 4:10
It is clear, Jesus is the Christ, the One who went to the cross as the atoning sacrifice, the propitiation for our sins!
---------- Atonement Described ----------
Let's look at Scripture that relays the idea of atonement through description...which gives us a greater understanding of the depth and power of Christ's atoning work!
Beginning with two verses that give us great transition from the Old Testament sacrifice to the New Testament fulfillment:
For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled
persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of
the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Hebrews 9:13,14
And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, "Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
Mathew 26:27,28
Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. Acts 20:28
Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. Romans 5:9
For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. Colossians 1:19,20
knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. 1 Peter 1:18,19
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 1 John 1:7
and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood Revelation 1:5
And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation Revelation 5:9
I said to him, "Sir, you know." And he said to me, "These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
Revelation 7:14
And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. Revelation 12:11
Wow! How can we even begin to grasp the depth of Christ's atoning work! By His blood, He has purified our conscience, obtained us as His church (the body of Christ), ransomed us, justified and cleansed us from our sin, we are forgiven, brought us into a relationship of peace with God, and washed our robes white as snow!
Thank you Father, for offering Your Son as propitiation for our sin, thank you for His willingness to go to the cross and finish His atoning work, that we might be so blessed to enter into a relationship with You, the Holy God!
---------- The Power of the Blood --------
What made it possible for Jesus to atone for our sins by the shedding of His blood? Many Christians have been brutally murdered for their faith without any ability to atone for any sin. To understand the power of Christ's shed blood, we need to look at what His blood being shed encompassed. When Christ's blood was poured out for our sins, it not only meant a physical death was taking place, but that God's wrath for our sin was being poured out in totality on a perfectly innocent sacrifice.
I heard a sermon in which Paul Washer described the wrath that was poured out on Christ for our sin. Read through some Old Testament Scripture that describes what God will do to the nations that refuse Him as Lord...complete destruction in ways that seem almost unimaginable...this destruction is what Christ endured.
Yet, I don't think that was the worst of it. Christ, who had been in perfect fellowship with God the Father for eternity past, experienced for the first time spiritual separation from His Father. This had to be the most crushing thing that Jesus experienced. Imagine, as a child, looking at your father as he crushes you because of what someone else did...then watching as he turns his back and walks away from you. We deserved it, Christ took it. What love, what unconditional love!!
Because Jesus, the only perfectly innocent sacrifice, took on the full wrath of God, His sacrifice was sufficient, His atoning work was complete. Remember looking at Hebrews 9:22 earlier: Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.
Now, lets look at the verses that follow: Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Hebrews 9:23-26
As the Church of God, and as local churches that make up the Body of Christ, we absolutely must recognize Jesus as 'the Christ'. We absolutely must recognize the work that He accomplished as the Savior of our souls, and the power of His finished work as it redeemed and reconciled us through His atonement for our sins.
We dare not, as the church, attempt to 'make better' what we have just looked at in the Word of God - for that would be impossible and an abomination before a Jealous, Holy God. Yet we do it all the time as we try to be 'good enough' to earn God's favor. We are a proud people, we are bent on accomplishing something of worth in this life...so we do 'good things' and convince ourselves that God will recognize them as 'good' and we can feel better about our sinfulness...this is ugly!
Christ redeemed us and reconciled us through His atoning work....apart from anything we have done, are doing, or will do. We are called to rest from our labor of attempting to obtain God's favor, rest in trust and faith that the atoning work of Christ was enough!
