LESSON 4
FOUNDATIONAL TRUTH
ATONEMENT “ Atonement means making amends, blotting out the offense, and giving sat- isfaction for wrong done; thus reconciling to oneself the alienated other and restoring the disrupted relationship.” 11 According to the Bible, no person can atone for his or her sins, but every single person needs atonement. “When God brought Israel out of Egypt, he set up as part of the covenant relationship a system of sacrifices that had at its heart the shedding and of- fering of the blood of unflawed animals.” to make atonement for the people (Lev. 17:11). 12 “These sacrifices were typical (that is, as types , they pointed forward to something else). Though sins were in fact “left . . . unpunished” (Rom. 3:25) when sacrifices were faithfully offered, what actually blotted them out was not the animals’ blood (Heb. 10:11) but the blood of the antitype , the sinless Son of God, Jesus Christ, whose death on the cross atoned for all sins that were remitted before the event as well as sins committed after it (Rom. 3:25– 26; 4:3–8; Heb. 9:11–15). . . . As a perfect sacrifice for sin (Rom. 8:3, Eph. 5:2; 1 Pet. 1:18–19), Christ’s death was our redemption, . . . God’s act of reconcil- ing us to himself overcoming his own hostility to us that our sins provoked (Rom. 5:10; 2 Cor. 5:18–19; Col. 1:20–22).” 13 Hebrews 2:17 says, “Therefore he [Jesus] had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.”
“The Cross propitiated God (i.e., quenched his wrath against us by expiating our sins and so removing them from his sight).” 14
6. The altar of sacrifice was the only means by which Israel could approach God. Look up some of the scriptures in the Foundational Truth for Atonement above or read the passage below. What did the altar of sacrifice foreshad- ow for the Christian? And through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him. — Colossians 1:20–22
11 J. I. Packer. Concise Theology, https://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/sdg/Packer,%20J.I.%20-%20Sacrifice.pdf
12 Ibid. 13 Ibid. 14 Ibid.
Ezra 3:1–4:24 | 43
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