ATONEMENT FOR HUMANITY ONLY THROUGH JESUSCHRIST, PART 1.

My view is that because of Man’s fall, he needed to be saved from this condition of sinfulness. And because of his sinful nature he cannot atone or forgive his own or other human’s sins! “Since this is true, it follows that the atonement, to accomplish for humanity what needed to be done, had to be made by someone else on humanity’s behalf.”1 So this is where Jesus, God incarnate, enters the world who came to show God’s heart and who died on the cross, shedding His blood because “His death is of sufficient value to atone for the entire human race.”2

His atoning death is to be seen against the background of the Old Testament sacrificial system. Here it shows priests sprinkling people with the blood of animals, on a yearly basis, in order to forgive a person’s sins! The animal was the sacrifice that was offered as a substitute for the sinner, and it had to be spotless and without blemish. “ For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life.” (Leviticus 17:11).

So Jesus would be the spotless ,unblemished Lamb: “ Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1: 29); or “For Christ, Our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed.” ( 1Corinthians 5: 7). Jesus, the perfect Lamb, who shed His blood to blot out humanity’s sins! There is no need for another, or more than once, to shed blood! Jesus’ blood shed once in history atones for the sins of Man throughout all generations!“

In Isaiah 53, the connection between the Old Testament sacrifices and Christ’s death is revealed through prophecy. Isaiah “ has described the Person of the Messiah and indicated the nature and extent of the iniquity of sinners, “3 and in Isaiah 53:6 he refers to Christ’s sacrifice as “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned his own way ; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”

THANKING YOU FOR YOUR SACRIFIC
“Under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.” (Hebrews 9: 22).

NOTES
1Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology,(Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2006),821.
2Ibid., 822.
3Ibid., 823.