The Means of Our Atonement
4) Jesus the Sacrificial Atoner for Our Sins on the Cross (Hebrews 10:10, Col. 2:14; 1 John 4:10)
And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (Hebrews 10:10)
14having canceled the debt ascribed to us in the decrees that stood against us. He took it away, nailing it to the cross! (Colossians 2:14)
10And love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. (1 John 4:10)
God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood-- to be received by faith. (Romans 3:25)
He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by His wounds you have been healed. (1 Peter 2:24)...For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit. (1 Peter 3:18)
God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
Substitutionary atonement is the most common Christian theological interpretation of the cross in Protestantism. While Anselm described it most cogently, others thing it is most unfair that the righteous should suffer for the unrighteous. The truth is, sacrifice is always unfair. Why should another sacrifice themselves for me? Why did my father work so hard for me to get an education? Why did my mother give her time unselfishly for my benefit? But when it comes to death and life- it becomes even more unfair. Grace is never deserved. Forgiveness always leaves someone paying a price that isn't fair- no one earns or deserves forgiveness.
When someone pays the fine for another- that is a type of subsitutionary atonement. When in Les Miserables the Bishop gives Jean Valjean the silverware he has stolen to keep him from getting arrested- that is substitutionary atonement. When Jean Valjean gives himself as a prisoner so another may escape death. The Prince switches places with the pauper that the pauper may be free.
Sergeant Travis Atkins was on patrol in 2007 in Iraq. He was talking to a man who pulled the pin on his suicide vest. Sergeant Atkins bear hugged the man- which meant his death, but shielded the blast from his comrades- taking the brunt of the explosion in his own body. He later received posthumously the medal of honor. He bore the pain, at risk to himself for the good of others. That is a Christ-like act.
The idea of substitutionary atonement is found in the words themselves- Someone substitutes themselves so that I might be "at one" with God. We find the concept in the Old Testament where a person gives a gift (of an animal) to atone for their sins. Their hands were symbolically placed on the animal as a way to say their sins were transferred onto the animal before it is killed. Isaiah 53 describes the suffering Messiah and our relationship to Him like this: "all we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to their own way. Yet the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all...(5) He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed."
Sin cannot be ignored as if it doesn't matter to a holy God. What we do (and what we believe) matters. The Bible says the wages of sin is death and judgment. Yet God found a way to pay our debt to justice. Christ's death is not just of another good man killed by people who are apathetic at best and wicked at worst. Rather He is "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (John the Baptist's words recorded in John 1). The Passover Lamb has to be slaughtered in order that the angel of death would "pass over" the house that has the lamb's blood on the doorpost. Jesus died on Passover week as a symbol of this sacrifice made for us.
Application: We should be grateful for the sacrifice of Jesus, and seek to sacrifice our time, ourselves for the good of others.
Prayer: Thank you for taking my place, Lord. Thank you that you took the wrath I deserved to free me for life.
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