VICARIOUS ATONEMENT (1)
Introduction
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GOOD NEWS FROM THE REDEEMER
February 11, 2007 MESSAGE #671
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
An atonement is literally "a setting at one", to bring together in mutual agreement, with the added idea, in theology, of reconciliation through the vicarious suffering of one on behalf of another. (Our modern English word derives from the sixteenth-century "at onement". The word atonement appears in the Old Testament text almost 100 times, especially in connection with the annual Day of Atonement. This word does not appear in the New Testament, except in the KJV's rendering of Romans 5:11, where it is better translated "reconciliation", as in the NKJV. Many older theologians preferred the term "satisfaction of Christ" to "atonement of Christ". While both terms describe what Christ did in taking care of man's sin problem, the former better describes what He did in obtaining eternal life for the atoned.)
I. The necessity of the atonement lies in the fact that God must be satisfied.
1. The justice of God must be maintained (Nahum 1:2f – note both the positive and the negative aspect of His justice): "God is jealous, and the LORD avenges; the LORD avenges and is furious. The LORD will take vengeance on His adversaries, and He reserves wrath for His enemies [the positive aspect]; the LORD ... will not at all acquit the wicked [the negative aspect]."
2. The law of God must be fulfilled (Deuteronomy 27:26): "Cursed is the one who does not confirm all the words of this law."
3. The veracity of God must be honored (Numbers 23:19): "God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?" If God says "The soul who sins shall die" (Ezekiel 18:4 / 20), God's veracity must be honored in the death of the sinner.
II. The ground of the atonement is the good pleasure of God: it is the good pleasure of Him who says "I will do all My pleasure" (Isaiah 46:10) to save sinners through the sacrificial work of Christ their Substitute.
1. It is not in any good pleasure of man – for he by nature has no pleasure in such things.
2. Neither is it in anything in man in which God finds pleasure – for we all are by nature "like a vessel in which is no pleasure" (Hosea 8:8; cp. Romans 3:10-18).
3. Rather, it is in the pleasure of God alone (Colossians 1:19f; Isaiah 53:10f): "For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross"; "Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand. He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied."
4. And it was the good pleasure of Christ to be that sacrifice (Galatians 1:3f): "our Lord Jesus Christ ... gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father."
III. The moving cause of the atonement is the love and justice of God – not some mere arbitrariness in Him.
1. God's love provided a means of salvation for His people (John 3:16; 1 John 4:10): "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life"; "In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins."
2. God's justice provided a means of salvation that satisfied the demands of His law – "that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus" (Romans 3:26).
3. Christ wrought an atonement that both manifested God's love and satisfied His justice (Romans 3:24f): "being justified freely by His grace [manifesting His love] through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness [satisfying His justice], because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed."
IV. The atonement is objective in its direction – a satisfaction to the wronged party, not the offending party (Hebrews 5:1): "For every high priest taken from among men is appointed for men in things pertaining to God." There is indeed a subjective direction in the death of Christ – as in the well-beloved hymn by Isaac Watts (1707):
But the foremost purpose of the death of Christ was not to stir some subjective feeling in us, but rather to satisfy the demands of God.
V. The atonement is both expiatory and propitiatory: it both covers man's sin and turns away God's wrath.
1. The necessity of expiation and propitiation lies in the anger of God against sinners.
i. They are under His wrath (Romans 1:18; Ephesians 2:3): "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness"; "we all [even the quickened] ... were by nature children of wrath."
ii. They are under His curse (Jeremiah 17:5): "Thus says the LORD: 'Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the LORD.'"
iii. They are hated by Him (Psalm 5:4-6; 7:11; 11:5): "For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness, nor shall evil dwell with You. The boastful shall not stand in Your sight; You hate all workers of iniquity [not merely "works of iniquity"]. You shall destroy those who speak falsehood; the LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man"; "God is a just judge, and God is angry with the wicked every day"; "the wicked and the one who loves violence His soul hates."
iv. They are His enemies (Romans 5:9f) – as confessed by saints: "Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For ... we were enemies."
2. In expiation, God covers the sin of His people, even the sinful people themselves. (See the Hebrew word kaphar.) This was symbolized on the Old Covenant Day of Atonement, when the blood of the sacrifice was sprinkled on the mercy seat for Israel, as though interposed between God and sinner, in order to cover sin so that God would be appeased (Leviticus 16:14f).
3. In propitiation, God's wrath against the elect sinner is appeased because the sinner is covered by the blood of Christ – or better, covered by Christ Himself. (See the Greek words hilaskomai, hilasterion, hilasmos.) This was the desire of the tax collector opposite the Pharisee in the temple who prayed, "God, be merciful [Greek hilaskomai] to me a sinner!" – or, "God, be propitious to me, let your anger be appeased to me a sinner!" (Luke 18:13). Consider a few texts in which propitiation is set forth:
-- Hebrews 2:17: "Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation [Greek hilaskomai, the same word used by the tax collector in Luke 18:13] for the sins of the people."
-- Romans 3:25: Jesus Christ is the only one "whom God set forth as a propitiation [Greek hilasterion] by His blood". This same Greek word is translated "mercy seat" in Hebrews 9:5: Christ is the Mercy Seat of God's elect.
-- 1 John 2:2; 4:10: "And He Himself is the propitiation [Greek hilasmos] for our sins"; "In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation [Greek hilasmos] for our sins."
VI. The atonement is vicarious. That which is vicarious is "performed or suffered by one person as a substitute for another or to the benefit or advantage of another". This substitute is called a vicar (from the Latin vicarius / "substitute, deputy"), "a person deputed to perform the function of another". God the Father appointed Jesus Christ as a vicar to take man's place, and Christ as man's vicar atoned for man's sin and obtained an eternal redemption for man from God.
(To be continued)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~