TODAY’S VERSE:  

Romans 5:11 “And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.”

Have you ever heard the word atonement before? If so, do you know what it means? Atonement is defined as, “to make amends for a wrong against another”. In the case of God and people, sin is the “wrong” which must be atoned for to make it possible for people to have a relationship with God. See, sin is offensive to God; the price for sin is death and the life blood is required for forgiveness.  

Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death,…”

Hebrews 9:22 “Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.”

Does God demand that people be killed and drained of their blood for the forgiveness of sin? No! So, then, how is atonement made? Before Jesus Christ’s saving work on the cross, the Jews were instructed by God to offer the life and blood of animals as payment for sin. In the Old Testament books of Exodus and Leviticus God provided the Jews with guidelines for these atoning animal offerings.

You may be thinking how horrible this is… and it is. You may be thinking how unfair it is to the innocent animal… and it is. Since God is love (1 John 4:8) and is perfect (Psalm 18:30), though, there must be a reason right? God does not have to explain Himself to us EVER, but, in this case, He wanted us to understand that these horrible and unfair animal sacrifices were a visual aid of the horrible and unfair sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. He is even referred to as the Sacrificial Lamb in the Bible.

John 1:29 “The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

Jesus Christ is God, the Son; He is a human being, as well. So, God became a man and walked with us. He felt hunger and pain, was even tempted to sin, but never did!

Hebrews 4:15 “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.”

Even though He never sinned, He willingly bore the judgement for sin. This so His children might be saved from sin, their atonement accomplished through His blood and death!

You probably have many questions right now, like: How did God become a man? How did Jesus’ death atone for your sins? How are imperfect people given the opportunity to be saved from sin and live with God for all eternity? It all sounds impossible, right? Well, that is right because salvation IS impossible for people, but for God, nothing is impossible, so says our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Matthew 19:26 “But Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’”

Thank you, Jesus Christ, for becoming the Sacrificial Lamb who willingly made atonement for our sin!