Facing Grace in the Gospel – Atonement
You are the beginning.
You are the temple of God.
The Word is in you, and you hold out His glory.
His grace and truth are in you, O Temple. You, who bear the Light of the World His fullness is in you.
His grace is upon you to shine His light, so that His light may be seen by all who are in the house and bring glory to the Father who is in heaven.
He is in you. He is in the world through you O children of God, O jars of clay.
You are His treasure who believe in His name.
He has declared you. Shine, shine as one declared by God!
You are the Temple. Your veil is torn so that the mercies of God may pour out
Atonement is a rich word that has deep roots in the Old Testament. The process is two-fold; it removes sin from us and pours out God’s wrath against our sins.
In the Old Covenant there was a special day of atonement. On this day there were three main sacrifices. The first was for the High Priest, a bull was sacrificed for his sins to remove them so that he could perform the other sacrifices. This foreshadows the perfect obedience of Jesus as our great high priest.
Next the Priest would take two goats. The people would place their hands on these goats and confess their sins, and in doing this they believed that their sins were transferred to the animals. The first goat carrying the sins would be led to the wilderness never to be seen again. This represents that Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross removed our sin from us and it was placed on Him. In His death He removed our sin from us forever. The second goat would be sacrificed for the atonement of our sin. This signifies that Jesus would receive God’s wrath against our sin. And God’s wrath against sin would be satiated by the pouring out of His wrath on Jesus.
Finally, with these two sacrifices the High Priest and him only would be allowed behind the veil into the Holy of Holies to meet with God.
These two things; that our sin was removed from us, and that God’s wrath was poured out on Jesus, instead of us, provides a way for the wall of separation that formerly existed between God and those who trust in Jesus to no longer exist.
Atonement means that we are free to fellowship with God and this is the passion of His character that He loves us and desires to be in us. Luke 23:44-46 records,
“Now it was about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. Then the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in two. And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, “Father, into your hands I commit My spirit.”(NKJV) Having said this He breathed His last.” Also in Hebrews 10:19 -20 it says, “Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is His flesh.”
Because of the removal and forgiveness of sin through atonement we are able to be indwelt by the Holy Spirit through Jesus. As Ephesians 1:13-14 says,
“In Him you also trusted after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.”
So, by the Holy Spirit in us we present Christ to the world. That God is in us, is why Paul calls us the Temple of God in 2 Corinthians 6:16-18,
“What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God has said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore go out from their midst and be separate from them” says the Lord,” and touch no unclean thing then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you and you shall be sons and daughters to me,” says the Lord Almighty.”
And in Ephesians 2:22 Paul states,
“In Him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”
God’s spirit lives in us. The Holy Spirit leads us. He speaks to the world through us. By the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, we know that we are the children of God. Romans 8:14-17 says,
“For all who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs-heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him.
Jesus has said to us, “you are the light of the world”. In John 1:12-13 it says this,
“But to all who did receive Him who believed in His name, He gave the right to become the children of God, who were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”
He has chosen you and declared you. He has made atonement through His son Jesus Christ to bring you into close intimate fellowship with Him. You are a new creation, the treasure of God, to be His dwelling place!
O New Creation Rejoice!
The completeness of His forgiveness of us,
is manifested in His habitation of us!
For He has made atonement for us with His own blood!
