Sin Shifting
Sin Shifter - Are You a Sin Shifter?
Pushing sins around- sweeping some under the rug, others into a corner, others still into a dustpan where they're dumped into a trash can.
Dirt pushed under a rug can work its way to the outer edges of the rug until it's visible once more. The rug could be turned over sending dirt flying everywhere. A little bit of a wind can take the dirt out of a corner spreading it every which way. Sin shifting is like trying to hide dirt rather than getting rid of it entirely, it's something people do to ease their conscience. Hide a bit of sin for awhile maybe turning the focus onto another sin for awhile. Of course shifting things around whether it's dirt or sin does nothing at all to get rid of them does it? You can shift dirt all around a floor and it's not going to make the dirt disppear. You could even spread the dirt so eveningly about it seems like hardly nothing spread out, rather than a big pile when all pushed together. Shift it anyway you like. Divide it into halves, quarters, eights, sixteenths go on, divide it into hundredths and you're still going to have just as much dirt as before. Sin is like that too. We can shuffle our sin about, shift it this way and that. We can let it dominate or be submissive but it's still there, still in our lives.
Sin no more.
What words! What amazing words!
Who said them? Jesus said them.
John {5:14} '...sin no more...'
John {8:11} '...go, and sin no more.'
Does it often feel like our very existence is sin itself? That we wake up in the morning and as we climb from our beds we are already sinning?
Sin we know is the transgression of the law. 1 John {3:4} Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
The law is-
Deut. {5:6} I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
{5:7} Thou shalt have none other gods before me.
{5:8} Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth:
{5:9} Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me
{5:10} And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.
{5:11} Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain: for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. {5:12} Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee.
{5:13} Six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work
{5:14} But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou.
{5:15} And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the LORD thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day.
{5:16} Honour thy father and thy mother, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee; that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
{5:17} Thou shalt not kill.
{5:18} Neither shalt thou commit adultery.
{5:19} Neither shalt thou steal.
{5:20} Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbour.
{5:21} Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbour’s wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbour’s house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or any thing that is thy neighbour’s.
{5:22} These words the LORD spake unto all your assembly in the mount out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice: and he added no more. And he wrote them in two tables of stone, and delivered them unto me.
The law is-
Mark {12:28} And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all?
{12:29} And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:
{12:30} And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
{12:31} And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
{12:32} And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he: {12:33} And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.
Perhaps we feel the weight of sin weighing upon us so heavily because God isn't first in our lives. We aren't loving God with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, all our strength. Maybe we love Him just a little bit, not entirely. Maybe we've giving most of our heart, our soul, our understanding, our strength to loving ourselves, putting ourselves first.
1 John {5:1} Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him.
{5:2} By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.
{5:3} For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
{5:4} For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
{5:5} Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?
1 John {4:7} Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
{4:8} He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
{4:9} In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
{4:10} Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
{4:11} Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
{4:12} No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.
{4:13} Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.
{4:14} And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.
{4:15} Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.
{4:16} And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
{4:17} Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. {4:18} There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
{4:19} We love him, because he first loved us.
{4:20} If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
{4:21} And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.
I say again- perhaps we feel the weight of sin weighing upon us so heavily because God isn't first in our lives. We aren't loving God with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, all our strength.
Shifting sin around will not get rid of sin.
Being told to go and 'sin no more' seems in impossible feat.
Are we alone in this belief? That it's impossible not to sin?
No.
Romans {7:7} What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.
{7:8} But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.
{7:9} For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.
{7:10} And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.
{7:11} For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.
{7:12} Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.
{7:13} Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.
{7:14} For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
{7:15} For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
{7:16} If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.
{7:17} Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
{7:18} For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
{7:19} For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
{7:20} Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
{7:21} I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
{7:22} For I delight in the law of God after the inward man
{7:23} But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
{7:24} O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
{7:25} I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
{8:1} There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
{8:2} For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
{8:3} For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh
{8:4} That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
{8:5} For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. {8:6} For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
{8:7} Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
{8:8} So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
{8:9} But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
{8:10} And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
{8:11} But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
{8:12} Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.
{8:13} For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify* the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
{8:14} For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
{8:15} For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
{8:16} The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God
{8:17} And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
*mortify (môr´te-fì´) verb
mortified, mortifying, mortifies verb, transitive
1. To cause to experience shame, humiliation, or wounded pride; humiliate.
2. To discipline (one's body and physical appetites) by self-denial or self-inflicted privation.
Excerpted from The American Heritage® Dictionary
If we rise up out of bed determined to live carnally we are taking on sin and all its evil.
If we rise up out of bed and determined to live after the Spirit we are trusting in Christ to forgive our sins.
We aren't just shifting our sins about putting on a light sin one day and a heavier, warmer sin the next day. We aren't shifting sin under the bed or the dresser, we are bringing our sins boldly into the light and that light is Jesus! The Light of the World, the forgiver of sin!
No, it's not at all simple or easy to choose to live Spiritually rather than carnally, but we must. Until we determine to walk a Spiritual walk we will forever be doomed to walk carnally. Our flesh is weak and if we look to our flesh for sinlessness we'll never find it there. We must look to the Spirit of Christ and walk after the Spirit, looking to Jesus.
Mortifying the deeds of the body-
Dictionary definition states that mortifying means to discipline one's body and physical appetites by self-denial or self-inflicted privation.
How many of us understand this mortifying business?
We are used to gratifying our desires, our wants, our lust, our appetites. We are not used mortifying anything, it's an alien concept to us. We live in a world that tells us gratifying our desires is our life-long goal. Having enough money, enough time, enough energy to gratify our desires is paramount or what the heck is life worth living for? If we can't satisfy our desires, our seemingly harmless desires then what's the point to it all? Really, what is the point of being alive if we can't get pleasure from living. If we can't push aside everything and do what we want to do, is there a point? We work hard so we deserve to give ourselves a break, right? We work hard to afford all that we want out of life. We work hard to get the nice car, that nice dress, those nice shoes, that nice expensive fish, new furniture, the big tv, the amazing laptop, the newest video game, the list is endless. We live without sacrifice, we live without knowing mortifying- and this isn't a temporary mortification demanded by circumstances. This mortification is that which you do when you don't have to do it, but rather choose to do it because you know, you realize that gratifying all your senses and desires is selfish and draws your mind back to yourself and only to yourself and away from God. We live carnally, and in living carnally how do we ever supposed to live spiritually? When circumstances demand that we no longer have the means to live carnally and we are forced to live spiritually it'll be too late then because we will be too busy mourning the carnal things we've had taken from us to care about anything spiritual. We'll look upon our losses as deprivations forced upon us against our wills and woe to us. Like Lot's wife we will turn back and long for that which has been taken from us, we'll have no choice but to do so because we have no real spiritual connection and things spiritual will seem wrong some how and be the enemy of us because they've taken our carnal desires away. When we're stripped of things carnal we will mourn, not celebrate. Mortifying- self-denial, self-inflicted privation. It's a choice to deny yourself.
Romans {8:12} Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.
{8:13} For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify* the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
If we live after our flesh we will die.
But if we THROUGH the SPIRIT deny ourselves, inflict privations upon ourselves, those deeds of the body the carnal desires we shall live!
Romans {8:5} For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. {8:6} For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
We have to ask ourselves which we are... are we carnally minded? Or are we spiritually minded?
People claim Jesus came and died for us, forgiving us and giving us eternal life and asked nothing of us. He asked a lot of us, He asked the hardest thing of all from us, the one thing that most will find impossible to do. Give up self.
He didn't ask us to do it on our own but through the Holy Spirit. By drawing ever closer to God it will be possible. But to think that you don't have to suffer a thing, that you don't have to deny yourself is a falsehood that will trap many. People have labeled self-sacrifice as works, saying we're working to get ourselves to heaven, we're trying to work out our own salvation. It's a perfect scheme of Satan and it works on many, many people. As long as people believe they don't have to mortify the deeds of the body, they're safe from a true Spiritual life. As long as we believe we are saved no matter what we do, Satan has us. He'll let us believe our strong delusions. He'll dance a little jig of happiness as we go about our lives satisfying our desires, our wants without once thinking that maybe, just maybe we really do need to deny ourselves something.
Yes, you could give up everything and live a life full of self-denial and it won't get you salvation.
You have to give up things and live a life full of self-denial in the SPIRIT, not seeking salvation by the acts, but seeking a closer connection to Christ. Choosing God first, not self.
You can deny yourself and still do it selfishly and that is what is meant by trying to work your way to salvation.
Ultimately it's the reason behind your actions that matters.
Jesus needs to matter most.
Not I, but Christ.
There is song called just that-
Not I, but Christ, be honored, loved, exalted;
Not I, but Christ, be seen be known, be heard;
Not I, but Christ, in every look and action,
Not I, but Christ, in every thought and word.
Not I, but Christ, to gently soothe in sorrow,
Not I, but Christ, to wipe the falling tear;
Not I, but Christ, to lift the weary burden,
Not I, but Christ, to hush away all fear.
Christ, only Christ! no idle words e’er falling,
Christ, only Christ; no needless bustling sound;
Christ, only Christ; no self important bearing;
Christ, only Christ; no trace of “I” be found.
Not I, but Christ, my every need supplying,
Not I, but Christ, my strength and health to be;
Not I, but Christ, for body, soul, and spirit,
Christ, only Christ, here and eternally.
By the Grace and Mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. May we come to Him and ask for forgiveness of our sins. May we stop shifting about our sins and lay them at the foot of the cross. May the light shine in the darkness of our lives revealing the sins we try to hide or ignore. May the grace of God shine on us, the mercy of Christ fill us, the blood of the Lamb cleanse us from all unrighteousness, now and forever.
Amen.
3/28/10
Continuing the study on Eternal Verities (Eternal Truths) -
May God bless us as we seek to understand more fully His will, His way, the truths that we need to know and believe as this world becomes more and more deceptive.
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1998 May -- XXXI -- 5(98) --ETERNAL VERITIES -- Part 5 -- THE ATONEMENT -- Part 1
THE ATONEMENT -- Part 1 -- Reduced to its simplest terms, the Atonement was stated by the Angel Gabriel in his announcement to Joseph regarding the name by which the son of Mary was to be called - "Thou shalt call His name JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins" (Matt. 1:21).
Sin had separated man from God (Isa. 59:1-2).
Isa 59:1 Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:
Isa 59:2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
Separation from sin restores at-one-ment with God. In a sense, "sin" is a compound word involving not only the acts, but the cause for the acts. Full at-one-ment cannot be realized until both of these two aspects of sin are abrogated.
The atonement is God's initiative.
The Gospel of Matthew indicates that the coming of Jesus was in fulfilment of the prophetic promise to Isaiah, that a virgin would conceive and bear a son whose name would be called "Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us" (1:23). God became us so that in Him by becoming us could be restored the lost oneness caused by sin. This means that Jesus is the sole source by which the atonement was and is to be accomplished. He restored in Himself the lost oneness with God, and by His mediation, He will return "His people" to their lost oneness with God.
Isa 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name
Mat 1:23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.
In Hebrews, Jesus is declared to be a "surety of a better covenant" (7:22).
Heb 7:22 by so much also hath Jesus become the surety of a better covenant (ASV)
In Hebrews, Jesus is declared to be a "surety of a better covenant" (7:22). The word translated "surety," egguoV, is used only this one time in the New Testament. However, in legal and other documents of the period the word appears frequently. Moulton & Milligan in their reference work, The Vocabulary of the Greek New Testament, cite various incidents of its use. For example - "The father consents to the marriage and is surety for the payment of the aforesaid dowry." Again - "I hold your surety until you pay me the value of the claims" (p.179). The surety of Jesus under this better covenant, "established upon better promises" (Heb 8:6), is His own word and accomplishment both as priest and sacrifice.
This unique word usage in Hebrews suggests another covenant and another surety. At Mount Sinai a covenant was confirmed with Israel on the promises of the people to perform it. At the command of God, Moses read to the whole congregation "the judgments" which God gave to him (Exodus 21:1 - 23:33). In this covenant, there was no provision for mercy. It was obey:live; disobey:die (23:20-21). After hearing read to them this book of the covenant, "All the people answered with one voice and said, All the words which the Lord hath said will we do" (24:3). It lasted less than forty days.
While Moses was on Mount Sinai receiving from God the Ten Commandments engraved in stone, as well as instructions for the building of the sanctuary, the congregation of Israel pressed Aaron to make the golden calf god of the Egyptians, and worship it as the one who had brought them forth from Egypt (Ex. 32:1-7). Coming down from the mount and seeing the naked revelry of the people before the golden calf, Moses sensed the enormity and significance of the rebellion. Israel was a lost cause. Into the breach, Moses stepped. Admitting the magnitude of their sin, he pled with God - "Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now, if Thou wilt forgive their sin--; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of Thy book which Thou hast written" (Ex. 32:31-32). To the pleadings of Moses, God responded - "Write thou these words: for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel" (Ex. 34:27). Moses became the "surety," a mediator of this covenant which could be called a "type" covenant. Under it the sanctuary was erected and functioned. It prefigured Jesus, the "surety" of a better covenant.
It is this understanding of the covenant with Israel, which makes more meaningful the appearance of Moses on the Mount of Transfiguration. The record in Luke reads that as Jesus prayed in a mountain, even as Moses had so prayed, "behold there talked with Him two men, which were Moses and Elias (Elijah)." These "spake" to Him "of His decease (exodoV) which He should accomplish at Jerusalem" (9:28-31). Jesus provided the "way out" - the meaning of the word, "exodos" - beginning in Jerusalem, thus He became the surety, a mediator of a better covenant. The "exodos" from Egypt was not complete until Israel was secured in the Land of Promise. Our "exodos" will not be complete until we stand on the Sea of Glass before the Throne of God. Before that Throne now stands the Lamb as it had been slain, the "Surety" of the better covenant (Rev. 5:6). The entire at-one-ment is in Him and through Him.
All of this leads to another important concept in regard to the atonement. In the Old Testament the word, "atonement" is used for both the objective achieved in the daily ritual as well as the special service on the Day of Atonement. There is a dual atonement. In Leviticus 4, in each instance where the KJV uses the word, "atonement" (verses 20, 26, 31, 35), the Hebrew verb, kipher, is used. Likewise, the same word is found in Leviticus 16 (verses 16,17,18,24,32,33). In Leviticus 16, the infinitive form, kapher, is also used (verses 17,20,30,33,34). In Leviticus 23, the noun form in the plural, kiphurim, is used as well as the infinitive. This data is cited so as to relate the use of the word to the New Testament as well as to consider how it is translated in the Septuagint (LXX), the Bible of the Apostolic Church.
The word, atonement, as found in Leviticus 4 & 16 (KJV), is translated in the LXX by the Greek word, exilaskomai, or exilaskomai, and in Leviticus 23 by exilasomoV, a noun in the singular for the Hebrew plural. These words do not appear in the Greek New Testament. However, a similar word is used. Two times the word 'ilaskomai (hilaskomai), a verb, is used. In Luke 18:13 it is translated, "merciful,"and in Heb. 2:17 as "reconciliation." The noun form, 'ilasmoV (hilasmos) is used twice in John 2:2; 4:10, and is translated, "propitiation." Another word from the same root is used two times - 'ilasthrion (hilasteron). In Romans 3:25 without the article It is translated, "propitiation," and with the article in Hebrews 9:5 as "the mercy seat."
You may ask why these words from the same root are given different translations; why, not always as "atonement"? The Greek word in the OT for atonement has the prepositional prefix, ek (ex before vowels) which effects its meaning. For example, the Greek word, ballw means, "I throw," but ekballw means, "I cast out."
What Is all of this telling us? Consider the following factors carefully:
1) As noted above, the LXX was the "Bible" of the Apostolic Church. It was the Apostles who contributed to the Church, the New Testament.
2) Every scripture quoted in the book of Hebrews was from the LXX, not the Hebrew text.
3) Nowhere in the New Testament are the words used which are used in the LXX for the "atonement" in either describing the daily services as outlined in Leviticus 4, or in the outline of the yearly service as found in Leviticus 16.
This permits but a simple conclusion. The concept of "atonement" as emphasized in Adventism was not spelled out In the New Testament. Does this nullify the position of Adventism? No! This fact has both an upside and downside.
First the upside: This means that in the book of Hebrews, which quotes solely from the LXX, the use of the words used for "atonement" in the LXX were purposely avoided, thus telling the reader, the material presented was not to be understood as speaking of the antitypical Day of Atonement. That "day" was approaching (Heb. 10:25). Jesus had not entered upon His ascension into the ministry depicted by the typical Day of Atonement. Rather, He is presented as a "surety of a better covenant," "as a Son over His own house," and as a priest-king sitting on "the throne of grace" (Heb. 3:5-6; 4:14-16).
Now the downside: The New Testament does not give the basis for the final atonement which is one of the fundamental pillars of Adventism.
Where does that leave us? To put it very plainly; It leaves us with a theology based on the typology of the wilderness sanctuary services and related to the book of Daniel as it focuses on the closing events of time. This gives significance to the fact that the book of Daniel was set aside - sealed - for the time of the end. Does this diminish in any way the centrality of the Sacrifice of the cross? No, it merely relates the sacrifice of Christ to the dual aspect of the Atonement, the daily service - forgiveness - and the yearly service - cleansing.
Even in the New Testament where the word "atonement" is used once in the KJV (Rom. 5:11), the Greek word is katallagh, meaning "reconciliation," and so translated where the word is used elsewhere in the NT. While it is true that a concept of at-one-ment is embodied in the word reconciliation, it is a reconciliation of "enemies" to God (Rom. 5:10), not the coming to God of an errant child confessing his sin seeking to be again at-one-ment with his Father. Reconciliation is outside the covenant relationship. It brings us into that accord. The atonements were for those already in a covenant relationship with God. It must ever be recognized that the sanctuary type was set up and functioned under the covenant which God made with Moses and with Israel, with Moses as the mediator.
Paul in Romans 5:10-11, is emphasizing who the Reconciler is - "Christ by whom we have received the atonement" (KJV) - "the reconciliation." He also blends two concepts - the death and resurrection of Jesus. We are "reconciled to God by the death of His Son," but having been reconciled, "we shall be saved by His life" who "is able to save to the uttermost all who come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them" (Heb. 7:25). This "saving work" is stated in the context of Christ as "a surety of a better covenant" and as having "an unchangeable priesthood." (See Heb. 7:22, 24)
The covenant concept is an essential concept for us to understand in relationship to the atonement. In the Old Testament, those who accepted the God of Israel as their God are described as taking "hold of My covenant" (Isa. 56:4, 6). The promise to them was that their "sacrifices shall be accepted upon My altar" (ver. 7). In the New Testament there is a "new" Israel. Paul describes the Ephesians as at one time being "Gentiles" and "aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, and having no hope, and without God in the world" (2:11,12). But a "naturalisation" took place. He wrote - "Now in Christ Jesus ye who were sometimes far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ" (ver. 13).
Observe - "in Christ Jesus" there is a new Israel. All that come unto God by Him - for no man cometh to the Father except by Him - are extended hope and the promises of the new covenant. He is the Surety, having accomplished a new exodoV at Jerusalem by the cross. To the foot of the cross - "the highest place to which man can attain" - all must come to receive "the blood of sprinkling" (See Ex. 24:8), and thus come under the covenant of which Christ is both the surety and mediator. These are members of "the general assembly and church of the firstborn" whose names are written in the Lamb's "book of life." To these belong the "atonements" under the covenant (Heb. 12:22-24).
In the Old Testament references describing the services of the sanctuary, the word, "atonement" is used to describe the work done solely by the officiating priest. In Leviticus 4, outlining the sin offerings, the emphasis is that after the offering of the sacrifice brought by the confessor, "the priest shall make an atonement for him" (Lev. 4:26). Again, in the outline of the services on the Day of Atonement, the statement is made - "For on that day shall the [high] priest make an atonement for you" (Lev. 16:30). Further, it is emphasized that "there shall be no man in the tabernacle of the congregation when [the high priest] goeth in to make an atonement in the [most] holy" (16:17). The high priest alone accomplished the final atonement. In both instances it was accomplished for a people under the covenant God made with Moses and with Israel. Keep in mind that Jesus was to save His people from their sins.
Perhaps at this point of study, we should recapitulate the salient factors revealed in the typical services of atonement:
1) The Old Testament sanctuary services prefigured two atonements; one that occurred daily at the Altar in the court, and one yearly that involved the whole of the sanctuary and court, starting in the Most Holy place, and concluded at the Altar in the court (Leviticus 4 & 16).
2) The plural form is used to describe the yearly atonement. Twice in Leviticus 23:27-28, the plural form, kiphurim, is used - "it is a day of atonements." However, the LXX uses the singular, exilasomoV, to translate the Hebrew plural, indicating that in the judgment of the translators, they perceived the Hebrew use of the plural to indicate the majestic plural. In others words, the yearly day of atonement was primary in importance, the objective to which the daily atonements focused.
3) Salvation history in the New Testament was not the time of the Atonement of Atonements; thus in the New Testament, the words used in the LXX referring to the Day of Atonement, as well as the daily service, were avoided.
4) The Gospel message was the gathering of a New Israel into a covenant relationship with God through Jesus Christ, the Surety and Mediator of such a covenant.
While the daily sacrifices in the court at the Brazen Altar prefigured the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, yet Christ was offered without the gate as the Saviour of all who would accept Him. The inscription placed on the Cross was written in three languages; the language of the professed people of God, and in the two world languages of the day, Greek and Latin (John 19:20). It is at the Cross that two objectives meet: 1) the atonement of forgiveness; and 2) the ministry of reconciliation. Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, speaks of the ministry of reconciliation (II Cor. 5:18-20), while John is speaking to those who have been reconciled that they sin not, but "if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous" (I John 2:1).
This later factor - the continual (daily) atonement - is too often overlooked in the study of the typical sin offerings. All - the high priest, the whole congregation, the ruler, and the common people, the four categories covered in Leviticus 4 - were in covenant relationship with God via the mediator, Moses (Ex. 34:27). When in that covenant relationship, they became conscious of a separating sin, they came with the offering prescribed; confessed, and the officiating priest made atonement for them, and it was forgiven them. Christ, as the Surety of a better covenant, "ever liveth to make intercession for" us (Heb. 7:23,25), who have been reconciled to God, when we stumble and fall.
The gospel message of the New Testament seeks to bring all to the foot of the cross, to the brazen altar of the court. The New Testament message is: "Be ye reconciled to God" (II Cor. 5:20), and "If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father" (I John 2:1). The New Testament does not go far beyond this point. Only hints of the coming Atonement of Atonements are given.
To the believer is given the "earnest (arrabwna) of the Spirit" (II Cor. 1:22; 5:5), in other words, the pledge of what is to come. "We through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith" (Gal. 5:5). [ Is it not of significance, that the message of 1888 has come during the time of the final atonement?] Although "as many as are led by the Spirit of God ... are the sons of God" (Rom. 8:14), yet "the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God" (ver. 19, NKJV). To those of New Testament times this expectation was perceived as "the day approaching" (Heb. 10:25). (For significance of "the day," see M. L. Andreasen, The Sanctuary Service, p. 170] To be Concluded
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This is a lot to take in, it really is. We need to read and re-read it to digest it full. Being made ONE with God through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, God with us, Immanuel, is what it is all about. Jesus, God took on flesh to make us one with God again because sin separates us from Him. This oneness that was forfieted in the garden with sin's entrance to humanity has to be restored and Jesus will restore us to that oneness. Sin will be gone one day, our connection with God restored fully and I hope and pray we are all there to be made at-one with God, we can't begin to imagine what it will all be like.
By the grace and mercy of our Lord may we find forgiveness and claim Christ's righteousness as our own, accepting all that Christ has done for us to restore us to God the Father, to Him, God the Son, through God the Holy Spirit now and forever.
Amen.
3/28/11