5. The required Atonement. The Lord God Almighty requires the blood of an unblemished lamb, a lamb without stain or blemish for the atonement of sin.

~The Lord God provided clear instructions for the atonement.   Read Exodus chapter 12.   See Additional Bible verses.

~ The Lord God gave a foreshadowing and details of the promised permanent atonement.  See Promised Messiah, Christ Messiah, Foretold Return, Heaven.

~ The Lord God Almighty provided the Lamb of God to take away the sins of the world.

Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about."… Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, "Father?" "Yes, my son?" Abraham replied. "The fire and wood are here," Isaac said, "but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" Abraham answered, "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." And the two of them went on together…. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied. "Do not lay a hand on the boy," he said. "Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son." Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, "On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided." The angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said, "I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me." Gen 22:2,7,8,10-18   For depth, read all of Genesis chapter 22. 

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! … When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, "Look, the Lamb of God!" John 1:29,36

Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. John 3:14-18; Num 21:9

1 - The atonement makes you no longer an enemy of God.            You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. James 4:4

"If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. John 15:18,19

2 - The atonement sets you free from the slavery to sin.        He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work. No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother. 1 John 3:8-10

3 - The atonement gives you an entirely new life.        but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." John 4:14     Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval." John 6:27         For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day." John 6:40         Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. John 6:54         Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. John 6:68         I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. John 10:28         Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. John 17:3         But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:22,23         And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 1 John 5:11         We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true--even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. 1 John 5:20

7. Will you take the Atonement for your own sins?   Sinner's prayer, Psalm 51

8. Consequences of your decision.  Will you go to Heaven or hell?  Will you lead a righteous life because you depend upon the Lord God for it, or a sinful life because you want to go it on your own.  The Lord God promises many blessings for those who trust and obey Him.  He created you for that purpose! 

DEFINITION

ATONEMENT - the act by which God restores a relationship of harmony and unity between Himself and human beings. The word can be broken into three parts which express this great truth in simple but profound terms: 'at-one-ment.' Through God's atoning grace and forgiveness, we are reinstated to a relationship of restored unity with God, in spite of our sin.

Human Need. Because of Adam's sin (Rom. 5:18; 1 Cor. 15:22) and our own personal sins (Col. 1:21), no person is worthy of relationship with a holy God (Eccl. 7:20; Rom. 3:23). Since we are helpless to correct this situation (Prov. 20:9) and can do nothing to hide our sin from God (Heb. 4:13), we all stand condemned by sin (Rom. 5:10). It is human nature (our sinfulness) and God's nature (His holy separateness from sin) which makes us 'enemies' (Rom. 5:10).

God's Gift: Atonement. God's gracious response to the helplessness of His chosen people, the nation of Israel, was to give them a means of reconciliation through Old Testament covenant Law. This came in the sacrificial system, where the death or 'blood' of the animal was accepted by God as a substitute for the death (Ezek. 18:20) which the sinner deserved: 'For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls' (Lev. 17:11).

The Law required that the sacrificial victims must be free from defect, and giving them always involved some cost to the sinner. But an animal's death did not automatically make a person or the people right with God in some simplistic or mechanical way. The separation between God and man because of sin was and is a dynamic and personal matter. God for His part personally gave the means of atonement in the sacrificial system; humans, for their part, personally were expected to (1) recognize the seriousness of their sin (Lev. 16:29-30); Mic. 6:6-8); and (2) identify themselves personally with the victim that substituted for them (Lev. 1:4). Thus, under the Old Testament, God Himself brought about atonement by graciously providing the appointed sacrifices. The priests represented Him in the atonement ritual, and the sinner received the benefits of being reconciled to God in forgiveness and harmony.

Although Old Testament believers were truly forgiven and received genuine atonement through animal sacrifice, the New Testament clearly states that during the Old Testament period God's justice was not served: 'For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins' (Heb. 10:4). Atonement was possible 'because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed' (Rom. 3:25). However, God's justice was served in the death of Jesus Christ as a substitute who '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. 9:12). 'And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant' (Heb. 9:15).

Our Response. The Lord Jesus came according to God's will (Acts 2:23; 1 Pet. 1:20) 'to give His life a ransom for many' (Mark 10:45), or 'for all' (1 Tim. 2:6). Though God 'laid on Him the iniquity of us all' (Is. 53:6; also 2 Cor. 5:21; Gal. 3:13), yet Christ 'has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God' (Eph. 5:2), so that those who believe in Him (Rom. 3:22) might receive atonement and 'be saved from [God's] wrath' (Rom. 5:9) through 'the precious blood of Christ' (1 Pet. 1:19).

No believer who truly understands the awesome holiness of God's nature or the justice of His wrath for sin, nor any who even slightly fathom the terrible helplessness and hopelessness of man due to our personal sins, can fail to be overwhelmed by the deep love of Jesus for each of us and the wonder of God's gracious gift of eternal atonement through Christ. Through Jesus His Son, God will present us 'faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy' (Jude 24)."

The preceding article is taken from Hayford's Bible Handbook, General Editor, Jack W. Hayford    Used by permission from Thomas Nelson, Inc. at www.thomasnelson.com.  Log onto www.nelsonreference.com to purchase Hayford's Bible Handbook by Jack W. Hayford.  Pastor Jack Hayford is of Living Way Ministries - www.livingway.org. 

~As for you, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will free your prisoners from the waterless pit.  Zech 9:11

Bring me to Atonement 4

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