The Atonement
Hebrews 9:22 for without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin
In other words; without the clearing the Name of God; or without showing the severity of sin, there can be no giving up the punishment (the crime being a defilement of God's character which His law reveals).
The Atonement incorporates the concepts of:
1. Propitiation; satisfaction of God by vindication
2. Forgiveness of the offender
3. Reconciliation between God and the offender
The sacrifice of the atonement must be of equal severity as to the offence of the crime committed, which is death; the punishment must fit the crime for it to give the sinner the understanding of what he actually did. For, if the sacrifice was meager, the sinner would get the impression that his offence was nothing and the forgiveness wasn't much of a loss to the One who foregives. With this impression, the sinner wouldn't think that repentance was very important to continue on with.
The only one able to atone for the damage that is done to God's Name must be equally great, not only in worth but in all aspects to Him whom we offended (not just deemed as valuable as mankind is); this is because anything else would not be equivalent to Who He is enough show the true value of what has been ruined, which is His image (we, being made in His image & likeness & as we sin, we it defile that image of & He takes it personally). The one who makes atonement cannot be a mere mortal, for then he would only be able to atone for just one man (flesh for flesh and skin for skin Gen 9:5-6, Exodus 21:12-14, Lev 24:17, Numbers 35:31, Deut 19:11-12). Furthermore, He must be eternal so that He may atone for all & throughout history (Hebrews 7:3, 9:14). Therefore, it is God Himself in the likeness of "sinful flesh" who must make atonement (Roman 8:3, Philip 2:7-8); for Jesus is the only one who has met all the necessary criteria to satisfy the Father in redeeming His image from us who perverted it.
It must also be known that there is no possible way that anyone to have a substitute for punishment of a crime such as murder in a moral government judicial system as we have in society; For example, a father could never take a son's place in his execution for murder. And a King could never let a law breaker go free as in the case of Daniel and the lion's den. However, Jesus did die so that we don't have to. He died so that God won't have to enforce the law in justice by punishment of the guilty. Jesus could do this because sin is only against God personally and not against a moral governmental judicial system. And He could also do this because He isn't taking our place in judgment but only dying as an example or symbol of our judgment. Jesus freely laid His life down to show the magnitude of our offence; and as we look at Him, we see it.
Representational Atonement (not Substitutional) is instead of justice; it serves the same purpose as justice so that God can truly forgive us. The difference between the atonement and justice is that justice condemns the sinner while the atonement pardons/forgiveness the sinner. With justice, the sinner still receives judgment even though he repents. With the atonement, the sinner receives pardon/forgiveness only IF he repents. In the same way that justice clears the Name of God of what we have done; the atonement does the same.
Christ did not die "in our place as us", but He died as a symbol of our judgment; He died so we don’t have to. Just as the bronze serpent on the pole which Moses lifted up in the wilderness (Numbers 21:4–9), when we look upon Jesus as Israel looked upon that serpent we acknowledge the death which He suffered as what we deserve because we are worthy of such judgment; condemning ourselves before God, it is as we are justifying God in His judgment concerning us. God enforced His law with the atonement without the need for justice.
John 3:14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up.
Looking upon the serpent in the wilderness is actually admitting one’s own sin, confessing to be worthy of & accepting the just punishment. To look upon Jesus is equivalent.
I know that some people will be gasping right now because I claimed that. “Christ did not die "in our place as us", but He died as a symbol of our judgment”; so, t I will try to explain further.
With justice, no one can replace the criminal in his judgment. Only the criminal must receive the penalty for his crime. There can be no substitute, otherwise it is not true justice. However, in order to do the same thing as justice; letting the sinner go free without the justice of judgment, Jesus can be a symbol of our judgment by choosing to die and by His death show us the magnitude of our offence. Jesus may freely lay His life down to show us the true loss in His forgiveness (forgiveness is costly). For without the sinner comprehending the loss which God is taking in forgiving us, the sinner will not see the need of repentance. And with repentance, God may expect that the sinner will not sin again to malign His character.
With the atonement, God sent his Son to be the propitiation (His satisfaction) for our sins; in other words, God sent Jesus reconcile us to Himself on account of our sins against Him by faith in His blood (Rom 3:25). God sent His Son as a sacrifice so that all who put their faith in/on Him might be justified as we have reckoned ourselves to be worthy of being in Jesus' place on the cross (our just judgment). We are to reckon ourselves in HIS position as to be united with him in the likeness of His death so that we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection (Roman 6:5). God is satisfied with the result of the atonement in that the defilement of His image/character is cleared.
Now we must understand how God can be satisfied in forgiving those who has broken His Holy Law without receiving justice for Himself; without the guilty being actually sentenced and punished. As I will show later on what punishment, law enforcement, justice, and sin is, we must know that God is required to address these issues; He cannot just “sweep them under the carpet”. God must clear His name without letting the sinner off the hook. How can God totally forgive sinners?
Atonement satisfies God by the sinner repenting; as the sinner agrees to the judgment that is due to him, it vindicates God's Name. When the sinner sees the extremity of his crime and sees the extent to which God went in order to forgive; when the sinner knows the true worth of God, he will not have the mind to return to his sin. This satisfies God as the same as justice would but without the judgment of sin so that He may forgive those who put their faith in/on what Jesus has said & done. This is all because God has mercy on those that He created. HE forgives those who acknowledge their sin and acknowledge themselves worthy of the death which Christ suffered. God will only forgive on the bases of the sinner being changed by repentance and a new life all together. Just so God does not have people whom He forgives to take it lightly and stay just as wicked as before being forgiven as we read in Matthew 18:28-30, God uses His law of death on the account of sin to implement the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.
Atonement proves the true worth of God and His character while forgiving the offender of the crime against Him. Atonement satisfies God instead of justice because the one being atoned for must change in order for him to be forgiven. He must first meet the set conditions in order for the atonement to be applied for the forgiveness; these requirements (or “set conditions”) are faith in what Christ has said & done and repentance to prove the faith to be real and genuine. This proves that the one being atoned for understands the true value of the one who is forgiving and that he cannot take this whole thing lightly.
If one refuses to acknowledge the true value and worth of God and refuses to meet the set conditions in order to be forgiven; if he takes lightly all that God has said and done to forgive, he cannot be forgiven. (Matthew 18:23-35, John 15:8)
The atonement is an influence on one’s heart/soul. The selfless, loving sacrifice on our account is to break the heart of the sinner and cause him to acknowledge his sin and the judgment of his sin. A revelation of the suffering of Christ should break and subdue ones heart and bring him to complete surrender to God. The atonement should so affect our hearts that we turn from our disobedience in humble, sincere, and deep repentance, repenting out of a motive of love, remorse, and sincerity (1 John. 4:19). God is drawing all men to Himself through the atonement (John. 12:32), and it is His loving kindness which draws us (Jer.31:3; Rom. 2:4). The Atonement transforms and liberates through reciprocation, when men obey the gospel of Jesus Christ from the heart because God was loving them all along, from the beginning.