The Atonement of our Lord Jesus Christ

     The atonement had to be made because there were two estranged parties; that is, man is at enmity with God the Father.  It is meant for an act of reconciliation to bring us together through and in Jesus Christ our Lord and Redeemer.  We lack the power to atone for our own sins.  Every person needs atonement because every person has sinned.  The nature of God is to hate and punish sin; however, atonement would bring us together.  There is no fellowship between God and us if there is no atonement for sin.  We look back upon the Cross and through it we have fellowship with our Creator.  We cannot save ourselves by our works but the work of satisfaction was by Jesus at the Cross.  We are told that the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord.  There is sin in even our best actions and it cannot amend our sorry state.  There is no righteousness except the righteousness of His unified merit of His life and death alone.  It simply is impossible to atone for our own sins by so-called “merit of our own.”  It is the essence of hopelessness to confide in our own so-called “merit.”  Instead we have the gracious mercy and love of the merits of merits in the merit of Christ Jesus our Savior and Redeemer.  The atonement was an absolute necessity to make us right with God and it is the means by which we become right with Him; that is, His blood and righteousness.  It alone forms the basis or grounds of how we are right with our Creator.  The awesomeness of our Creator’s grace shines throughout the entire Divine Word.  The animal atonement in the land of Israel pictured the living Christ as a prophecy of the ultimate Messiah.  These sacrifices were “types” that told of something better; that is, that something better is Jesus Christ.  He is indeed greater and better then animal sacrifices.  The atonement of Jesus solely washed them from their sins but the animal sacrifices pointed towards Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice.  The blood of the “antitype” was Christ forgiving us through atonement of past, present and future sins.  The shed blood of Christ was a sacrifice for sin for His people.  The way Christ redeemed His people was through ransom to His Heavenly Father.   Christ did not pay the ransom to Satan, but Christ paid the ransom to the Father.  It means Christ is Victor.  The price of the Cross freed us from guilt, sin and slavery to Satan.  Through Christ God reconciled us to Himself.  The Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ propitiated our sins; that is, Christ appeased the wrath of God the Father.  He removed our sins from His sight as far as the east is from the west.  Christ endured the suffering at the Cross in our behalf.  Christ was our divine substitute and He paid for the list of spiritual crimes done by His people.  May God be praised for His awesome work of redemption this day!  Amen.