Guest Column by Tom Walker
They are to bring to the priest as a guilt offering a ram from the flock, one without defect and of the proper value. In this way the priest will make atonement for them for the wrong they have committed unintentionally, and they will be forgiven. (Leviticus 5:18)
Atonement is a critically important concept in the Bible. It involves the reconciliation of God and man so they may be friends again. The wrongs that man does separate him from God; and man’s punishment when he will be judged before God is death. Removing those wrongs involve sacrifice so man may be forgiven.
The sacrifice is our substitute. Instead of man dying, the sacrifice does. It bears our punishment for us. The wrongs (or sins) that would cause man to die at Judgment are instead transferred to the innocent sacrifice and it dies.
Man could choose not to offer a sacrifice, but that means there will be no atonement for his wrongs. Therefore, before the judgment seat of God, man would own his sins – he would be responsible for them – so he will have to pay (bear) the punishment for them by dying forever, which we know as the “second death.”
But God is a merciful God, and he provides a way to remove the sins on man so at the time of judgment man may live and not die forever. So, God provided man a sacrificial system so man could transfer his sins to the sacrifice, and the sacrifice dies instead of him. Hopefully, man would reflect upon the seriousness of seeing his innocent sacrifice, which carries his sins, die. The sacrifice is expensive out of one’s pocketbook, expensive emotionally to watch, and expensive as one must offer the best, the unblemished, before God. It is tragic for the sacrifice, and man should be reflective his sins caused that tragedy, yet man should also be thankful God allowed that sacrifice to be his substitute to bear his death, and that is ATONEMENT.
The Old Testament sacrificial system foreshadowed what was to come. What came? Instead of man, it was God himself who then offered a sacrifice for man – on our behalf – to bear our sins. God offered a sacrifice that was infinitely more expensive than any pocketbook could ever buy, it was by far the best in the universe, and it was by far an emotionally wrenching moment for God to watch – for it was HIS SON who died to take our place in death. Jesus is our ATONEMENT.
God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. (Romans 3:25a)
And,
For this reason, he [Jesus] had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. (Hebrews 2:17)
And,
The next day John [the Baptist] saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29)
And,
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)
And this, my friends, is behind why Jesus died on the cross – the reason behind EASTER.
Tom Walker holds an MA and an MDiv from Abilene Christian University. Most recently he has served several years as a hospice chaplain. He can be reached at caddoraccoon@gmail.com