Sermon Tone Analysis

The Atonement Of Christ:

His Fulfillment In Our Lives

Seth Dombach

Genesis through Joshua, OOT508

Dr. Richard L. Pratt, Jr.

June 25, 2007

Table of Contents

Title Page....................................................................................................i

Table of Contents..........................................................................................ii

Introduction and Thesis....................................................................................1

Meaning in Atonement....................................................................................1

Need for Atonement.......................................................................................2

Historical Background surrounding Atonement........................................................3

Accomplishment of Atonement in Christ...............................................................5

Application of Atonement.................................................................................9

Works Cited.................................................................................................12

The Atonement Of Christ:

His Fulfillment In Our Lives

Atonement is a deeply theological word with relevance and application to the life of every person on earth.

I would like to explain the meaning in atonement, the need for atonement, the historical background surrounding atonement, and the fulfillment of atonement through Jesus Christ, once for all.

From these, it will become evident that the application of atonement must infuse our everyday lives as Christians with grace and thankfulness.

Meaning of Atonement

To start with, in explaining the meaning of the word atonement we need to understand that there are two main Hebrew words used in the Old Testament.

The first is kaphar.

This word is used in the verb form meaning "to cover or make reconciliation".

The second word used in the Old Testament is kippurim.

This is the noun form meaning "the condition which results when one makes amends or to atone with."

This word also means "the Day of Atonement" and therefore it is easy to see how the Israelites came up with the term for the Day of Atonement celebration, Yom Kippur.

Most uses of the word atonement in the Old Testament involve the theological meaning of "covering over", often with the blood of a sacrifice to atone for some sin (Baker 2326).

In the New Testament, there are also two Greek words used for atonement.

Vine's Dictionary gives us the definition of each.

The first word is hilasmos, meaning "propitiation".

Both I John 2:2 and 4:10 use this particular word, "signifying that He Himself, through the expiatory sacrifice of His death, is the personal means by whom God shows mercy to the sinner who believes on Christ as the One thus provided" (494).

The second word is hilasterion, meaning "mercy seat"; which is the covering of the Ark of the Covenant.

Both of these words "describe the means (in and through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, in his death on the cross by the shedding of His blood in His vicarious sacrifice for sin) by which God shows mercy to sinners" (44).

By merely looking at these definitions from the Old and New Testaments, we see that there is both a sin and a sacrifice that must be dealt with.

To state the basic meaning of the word, atonement is the process of restoring a relationship that was lost.

The question remains, what relationship was lost and what is the atoning price for restoring it?

Need for Atonement

The relationship that Scripture is focused on is that of the relationship between God and man.

In Genesis, God gave this command to Adam "but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die" (New King James Bible, Genesis 2:17).

Adam does eat of the tree and the result is spiritual death and separation from God's intended relationship with man.

Adam's decision did not just affect him, but it affects every person proceeding from Adam's line, in effect, each person born on this earth.

Paul states it this way in Romans 5:12, "Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned".

So as we are all born into this world, we automatically inherit death because of sin.

But God was to have mercy on sinners and made a way to restore this broken and lost relationship.

He wanted to be 'at one' with man once again.

This is His greatest desire.

The way that God had made to atone for sins came at a great price; it could only come through the shedding of blood.

Why blood?

Leviticus 17:11 says, "For life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the alter to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul".

Blood is where the life of a being is; without blood, you will die.

If you were to come upon someone who was cut up badly and you saw that there was blood all over, you would automatically assume the worst.

Most of us are aware that a person needs all of their blood to function.

The first thing that happens to a person with a significant loss of blood is that their muscular motion quickly ceases.

Then, respiration is suspended and the heart pauses from its normal action.

Any outward sign no longer manifests life and death soon becomes inevitable.

In the same way that a loss of blood could produce death, so could a gain of blood restore life.

As you inject blood back into a person with loss of blood, you are able to see life returning to the victim.

They begin to start to breath again and move around.

The heart begins its normal functions and in most cases, the person recovers completely (Jurik, "Barnes").

An example of this happened to me the other day while I was watching my 10-month-old son, Isaiah.

I left the room for one moment and I heard him begin to scream.

I rushed back into the room to find his little hand covered in blood.

I tried to find where the cut was so that I could put pressure on it to stop the bleeding.

It ended up that the cut was not too bad, but seeing my son with that much blood all over, I felt an urgency to help him that was different from other instances, such as when he slightly bumps his head.

We know that life is in the blood and we know that if you loose too much of it, you will die.

To restore our relationship with God, there needs to be the shedding of blood, because that is where the life is.

How, though, are we to go about this shedding of blood, that our sins might be atoned for?

Hebrews 9:22 declares, "And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no remission".

Historical Background for Atonement

The book of Leviticus speaks on many offerings to be given up to God.

Leviticus chapter 16 speaks specifically of the sin sacrifice given to God by the high priest for the people.

The special instructions given to make atonement in this chapter include how the high priest could only go once a year past the veil to the holy of holies to offer blood.

The high priest was also to wear holy garments that were purely white and only to be worn on this occasion.

Then, the high priest was to take two kid goats from the people for the sin offering and a ram for the burnt offering.

Before the high priest was to perform these sacrifices on behalf of the people, he was to offer a bull as a sin offering to make atonement for himself and his household.

Once this was completed, the high priest took the two kid goats and cast lots on them before God.

Whichever goat the lot fell on was to be the goat that would be the sin offering to the land, for the people.

Then, he would sprinkle the blood of this goat on the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant and on the horns of the alter in the courtyard.

The high priest would then take the second goat, leaving it alive, and placing both of his hands on its head, would confess over it all the iniquities of the people.

He would send the goat to an uninhabited land and release it into the wilderness.

This Day of Atonement was to be an everlasting statute for the high priest to perform once a year on behalf of the people's sin.

Leviticus 16:30-31 says, "For on that day the priest shall make atonement for you, to cleanse you, that you may be clean from all your sins before the Lord.

It is a Sabbath of solemn rest for you and you shall afflict your souls.

It is a statute forever".

From this passage of Scripture concerning the Day of Atonement, we see that God dictates the way He is to be approached.

The special procedures that God outlines for the Israelites on the Day of Atonement gives us a clear picture of the role of the high priest and the role of the people.

The people needed a mediator, the high priest, to go before God on their behalf to perform these special sacrifices.

The people could do nothing on behalf of their own atonement.

Since God is holy and desires holy lives for His people, this was to be the condition for the acceptance of the removal of their sin.

This passage shows that their removal of sin happened in such a way that it was never seen or brought up again.

It is easy to see the extra ordinary power of blood in Israelite thinking.

As the life of a man, which belongs to God, the blood must be returned to God by this symbolic sacrifice.

Here it is seen as affecting ransom; the life of the sacrificial animal substitutes for that of the sacrificer and the people (Linden).

The Day of Atonement is still the most celebrated time of the year for the Jewish people.

But why has it happened that they do not celebrate this day in the way that God commanded in Leviticus 16?

The reason why the Jews do not perform this ceremony is because they chose not to follow God and He took it away from them.

Micah 3:4 says, "Then they will cry to the Lord, but He will not hear them; He will even hide His face from them at that time.

Because they have been evil in their deeds".