The Bible teaches that
Christ did not die as a helpless victim, a noble martyr, a political
revolutionary or merely as a perfect example, but as a sacrifice for sin. By
His sacrifice He has made atonement.
The word atonement basically means a sufficient payment.
i. To whom is atonement made?
Christ’s sacrifice was made
to God. God’s righteousness demands that sin be punished (Habakkuk 1:13; Romans
2:1-16). He cannot set aside His law or lower His righteous standard (Psalm 36:6;
89:14). The righteousness of God leaves us with no hope of being accepted by
God based on our own goodness: “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall
no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin”
(Romans 3:20).
The only way God can forgive
sinners is if the demands of His righteousness are satisfied. This is why
Christ died. When He was on the cross He was not only suffering the pains of
crucifixion, He was suffering for sin from the hand of God.
But he was wounded for our transgressions, he
was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and
with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have
turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of
us all... Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief. (Isaiah
53:5-6, 10)
He was taking the punishment
our sins deserved and making the payment God’s justice demanded. This is atonement
– an offering to God that satisfies His justice (Romans 3:21-26).
God desired to show grace to
the guilty. He could not do it at the expense of justice, but He did it at the expense of Jesus. This brings us to our second question.
ii.By
whom is atonement made?
Because God is infinitely
sin-hating, sin is infinitely offensive to Him and carries with it an infinite
penalty. This means that no finite creature can ever pay the price for sin
(Psalm 49:7-8). That is why those who are never saved will be lost forever
(Matthew 25:46).
Only an infinite person
could pay an infinite penalty, and that is why God sent His Son.
Herein is love, not that we loved God, but
that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation [atoning sacrifice]
for our sins. (1 John 4:10)
Atonement was not by God
punishing some innocent third party. It was God Himself, in the person of the
Son, taking the punishment due to His sinful creatures.
By giving Himself into the
hands of God to experience God’s wrath against sin, the Lord Jesus Christ paid
the price we could never pay. He said “It is finished” (John 19:30). As proof
of God’s satisfaction He raised His Son from the dead.
The sacrifice of Christ
expresses God’s inflexible righteousness and also His infinite love, for He
“spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all” (Romans 8:32).
For God so loved the world, that he gave his
only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life. (John 3:16)
iii. For whom is atonement made?
The sacrifice the Lord Jesus
made at Calvary is infinite in its value and also unlimited in its
availability.
And he is the propitiation for our sins: and
not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 2:2)
Salvation has been provided
for all without exception, but it is only those who put their trust in Christ
for salvation who have the value of His sacrifice applied to them. We are “justified
by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom
God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith”
(Romans 3:24-25, ESV).
Only in the gospel do we
find “a just God and a Saviour” (Isaiah 45:21), and it is because of the
atoning sacrifice of Christ. God’s justice demands the condemnation of all
without Christ as Saviour, but His justice demands the salvation of all with
Christ as Saviour.
