infuse - The Great Need for Atonement

The Great Need for Atonement
By Loren Chamberlain

From the time Adam and Eve ate the fruit of the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the Great need for the Holy Day of Atonement was necessary. The need for all mankind to receive atonement, “reconciliation” is paramount. The reason for this need is because the nature of man has become totally saturated with sin, and the guilt of that sin. For salvation the sinner who does not know God, must bridge the great gulf between himself and God, which is impossible for him to do. God Himself however, has provided a “new and living way.”

In the mind of the follower of Christ, Atonement is the act by which God and man are brought together in a personal relationship. The term “Atonement” is derived from Anglo Saxon words meaning, “making one,” hence “at-one-ment.” The great gulf and alienation that separates God and man needs to be overcome if humans are to know God and experience fellowship and Eternal Life with Him. As a term expressing relationship, Atonement is tied closely to such other Biblical terms as reconciliation and forgiveness.

According to Jeremiah, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). Isaiah also stated, “All we like sheep have gone astray” (Isaiah 53:6). The apostle Paul describes all men as “enemies of God” (Romans 5:10), as “hostile to God” (Romans 8:7), and “sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works” (Colossians 1:21).

We are the offspring of Adam and just like him. “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned” (Romans 5:12).

This sinfulness of man is a problem of great magnitude, and it is compounded by the holiness of God, who cannot look upon sin. “‘But,’ he said, ‘you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live’” (Exodus 33:20). While man is extremely sinful, God is awesomely holy and cannot look upon sin. Therefore, man can do nothing about this condition and dreads God. Man is lost and in a hopeless situation, standing under the awful judgment of God. Man by no means can justify himself, or merit God’s concern. Therefore, if man is to receive atonement it rests solely with God.

Yom Kippur

Yom Kippur was a most important day, falling on the tenth day of the month of Tishri according to the Hebrew calendar, corresponding to mid-September through mid-October.

On that day the High Priest entered the Holy of Holies of the tabernacle (or temple) to atone for the sins of all Israel. His purpose in this ritual was to accomplish reconciliation between the Israelites and God. In the New Testament the Day of Atonement was referred to as the “Fast” (Acts 27:9).

In Leviticus 23, the only chapter in the Bible where all of the Festival Days together are summarized, we find the proclaiming of a Day of Atonement.

The Seventh month of God’s sacred calendar in type, represents the Seven 1,000-year day of man’s time on earth. All those called out of the world and drawn to Jesus Christ are commanded to assemble on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 23:27). In the book of Numbers we find additional affirmation of this including the exact day on which we are to meet (Numbers 29:7). The Feast of Trumpets was observed on the first day of Tishri and on the tenth day of this same month The Day of Atonement was kept.

Jubilee

The Day of Atonement was selected by God as a time of emancipation and restoration “release”—a Day symbolizing release from bondage (Leviticus 25:1-9). After seven seventh years were reached, totaling 49 years, the fiftieth year was heralded by the Trumpet of Jubilee. This year was set aside as belonging to the Lord. The word “Jubilee” simply means a “Ram’s Horn.”

This was not just a year of release from labor, nor just a year of rest, but this year belonged to the Lord. By this, God expressed His Lordship over earth and all creation that should be acknowledged by all His people by their obedience to all His commands.

The Sabbath day expresses God’s right to order life, six days of work, one day of rest. And just as the Seventh year, linked in Deuteronomy 31:9-13 with the reading of His law, expressed His right to command obedience of His people, so the fiftieth year of Jubilee, expressed his ownership, of all people, land, and methods or means of production, and life itself.

During this year, those who had fallen on hard times were released from debts they were unable to pay. Those who, for lack of food and clothing, sold themselves into slavery and those who lost inherited land through poverty, were released from slavery and had their land restored to the family who owned it. This was a typical portrayal of man’s future Atonement—release from the death penalty earned (Romans 6:23) and from the slavery to sin (Romans 6:16; Romans 7:14).

The Fasting of the Church

Our sins and iniquities have separated us from God and have hidden His face from us, nor will he hear us (Isaiah 59:2). If we do not confess our sins, or if we harbor certain sins in our heart, it is like building a wall that separates us from God (Psalm 66:18). David asked God to cleanse him from secret faults and presumptuous sins (Psalms 19:12, 13).

FASTING

Numerous scriptures show us the act of fasting is indicative of “sorrow because of sin”:

Ezra 10:4
Deuteronomy 9:8, 9, 18

The Biblical example indicates that spiritual fasting is to be accomplished by not drinking water or eating food:

Exodus 34:28
Esther 4:16
Acts 9:9

There is a very important part for the Whole Church to perform on the Day of Atonement. Notice we are commanded to abstain from food, meaning to “fast” which includes no eating or drinking. We are not to do any work at all. This will continue forever in all our dwellings (Leviticus 23:29-32).

Romans 8:17 reminds us, if we expect to be glorified with Christ, we must also suffer with Him.

Jesus suffered great affliction for us (Isaiah 53:4, 7). On the Day of Atonement we can be one with Him by submitting ourselves to the affliction of fasting. The same Hebrew word, “anah,” used in verse 4 is the same word used for fasting, “afflicting the soul.”

Mercy Seat

The whole position of humanity was altered in its relationship to God, by the Atoning death of Christ for the world’s sin. Whether a man accepts this marvelous blessing or not, makes no difference because no one is beyond the hope of forgiveness (1 John 2:2). Jesus Christ is our “propitiation” delivering us from the wrath of God. The Hebrew word for which “mercy seat” is the translation is technically best rendered as “propitiatory,” a term signifying the removal of wrath. We see the significance of this found in the ceremony performed on the Day of Atonement when the blood was sprinkled by the High Priest on the mercy seat to make atonement for the sins of the people of Israel.

The mercy seat “propitiation” looks forward to Jesus who is termed by Paul (Romans 3:25) the “means of propitiation” through faith in His blood for all who have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. This Greek term translated propitiation is the same Greek word used in the Septuagint and (Hebrews 9:5) to translate the Hebrew word for mercy seat in the Old Testament.

You will find in the New Testament references to expiation have to do with the sacrifice of Christ for human sin. Both expiation and propitiation are a part of God’s atoning work.

Christ’s sacrifice both propitiates (turns away) the wrath of God and expiates (covers) human sin.

God's Wrath and Grace

The Wrath of God is a metaphor for God’s displeasure with human beings and action. It will help to look at the wrath of God in relation to His forbearance, love and readiness to forgive.

First, God is patient. He has already given nearly 6,000 years to man to come to repentance. The Hebrew word for patient is related to the word for wrath, and means “length of wrath,” that is, God does not quickly become angry. He is long-suffering (Exodus 34:6).

Secondly, He is full of compassion and love. He is always faithful to His children (Exodus 34:7). Thirdly, He is always ready to forgive those who sin against Him when they atone for and are cleansed from their sins, (verses 6 & 7).

In the New Testament we see God’s Wrath in contrast to His grace, love and forbearance (Matthew 3:7; Luke 21:23; John 3:36; Romans 1:18; Ephesians 5:6; Revelation 14:10).

Those who do not have faith in Christ remain in their sins and fall under the Wrath of God. Those who believe in Him are delivered from God’s wrath (Ephesians 2:3; 1 Thessalonians 1:10). However, the faithful are reminded that it is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of an angry God (Hebrews 10:31). God the Father and Jesus Christ are a “consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:29).

We have already studied the good news that Jesus has come to deliver us from the Wrath of God (Romans 5:9). Those who have been delivered are Reconciled with God and have received the Atonement (Romans 5:10, 11). They are no longer under condemnation (Romans 8:1).

Throughout the year as the seasons arrive bringing God’s Holy Days, we are constantly reminded of God’s intentions for the salvation of all humanity and the restitution and restoring of all things on earth, including the beauty and vibrancy of the whole universe.

Atonement for mankind will not be complete without the binding of the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan binding him for a thousand years. Satan the Devil will be bound and put into the bottomless pit at the second coming of Jesus Christ, when He establishes The Kingdom of God on Earth (Revelation 20:1-3). However, at the end of the Millennium Satan will be released, from his imprisonment and will immediately set about to deceive the nations on earth at that time. This time Satan will be cast into the Lake of Fire, where the beast and the false prophet had been cast at the beginning of the Millennium (Revelation 20:7-10). Satan will no more trouble mankind. Now the way is clear for the fullness of Atonement to take place. God the Father Himself will come to Tabernacle and dwell with men (Revelation 21:3).