These opening statements are for insight value, not for shaming or indicting purposes. The typical American Christian below retirement age likely will not relate to basic concepts understood in the Old and New Testament worlds. In fact, many adults in the early 21st century will not relate to concepts commonly understood by their grandparents or great-grandparents in the first half of the 20th century.
Most Americans do not relate to the words "blood atonement." Too few American Christians relate to that concept. The primary concept of "sacrifice" in the New Testament world and the primary concept of "sacrifice" in today's American society are distinctly different. The primary first century concept focused on worship, and involved blood and death. In today's American society, the primary concept focuses on being deprived of something needed or desired. In the first century, "sacrifice" first produced religious images. Today, in our society, "sacrifice" does not first produce religious images.
The religious act of sacrifice occurred frequently in the first century. It occurred on important personal occasions, important public occasions, and important political occasions. People frequently saw [made] religious sacrifices. Sacrificial rites were common, important elements in Jewish worship and in idolatry's worship.
Many sacrifices involved blood atonement. Evil (wrongdoing) occurred in the worshipper's life. That evil offended God. In the blood of atonement, the worshipper acknowledged [took responsibility for] his evil, or the nation's evil. By offering atoning blood, the worshipper [with the proper motivations] expressed regret for the evil and turned from it instead of justifying it.
To many people of today, that is a barbaric concept. To the Christian of today, that is an essential concept. One of today's reasons for transforming Christianity into a meaningless procedure, one of today's reasons for Christians feeling insecure in their salvation is found in this fact: we have too little understanding of what God did for us in Jesus' death.
As in the previous lesson, one lesson can only introduce the concept of atonement. An in-depth study of atonement includes studying sacrifice, blood, and Jesus as God's lamb. It also includes studying relationships between atonement, redemption, propitiation, and reconciliation.
Our Creator God is the source of life. His physical creation is founded on life. The highest form of life God created was human life. Evil, through deception, separated life from its Creator. Evil's deception produced much more than separation. It produced alienation. God could no longer associate with human life as He intended at creation.
Life no longer existed in its created form. Evil's contamination made human life repulsive to God. Only death could release contaminated life from evil and produce reconciliation with God.
This is a basic principle of forgiveness: there can be no forgiveness without the shedding of blood (Hebrews 9:22; also see Leviticus 17:11).
Hebrews 9 and 10 contrasts the Jewish system of animal sacrifices with Jesus' sacrifice. Hebrews 9:1-10 speaks of the Mosaical sacrificial system. It refers to Israel's daily sacrificial system (Hebrews 9:6) and to Israel's day of atonement (Hebrews 9:7; Leviticus 16). There was an insurmountable weakness in animal sacrifices: animal sacrifices could not free the worshiper's conscience from an awareness of guilt.
God perfectly addressed the weakness in Israel's animal sacrificial system in Jesus' death. The resurrected Jesus took his blood into God's Own sanctuary one time for everyone. At that time he obtained eternal redemption for those who trust his sacrifice (Hebrews 9:12). Jesus' blood produced a decisively different result. It perfectly addressed the weakness of Israel's animal sacrifices. His blood can cleanse a believer's conscience thereby freeing the believer to serve the living God (Hebrews 9:14).
Hebrews 10:1-14 gives tribute to God's unique accomplishments in Jesus' blood. (1) Israel's sacrificial system was merely a "shadow" of the reality to come (verse 1). (2) Animal sacrifices reminded those worshippers of their evil failures. Israel's day of atonement was a continual reminder of their guilt. Instead of cleansing consciences, those sacrifices reminded Israelites of their guilt (verse 2). (3) Animal blood could not resolve their conscience problem (verse 4). (4) What animal blood could not do, Jesus' blood did. The sacrifice of his body sanctifies anyone who places his or her confidence in Jesus' sacrifice. One offering produced sanctification [the liberation of the conscience] "once for all" (verse 10). (5) By a one time offering of himself, Jesus "perfected for all time those who are sanctified" (verse 14).
Paul affirmed the power and sufficiency of Jesus' blood in Ephesians 1:7,8 [Jesus' blood assures our redemption, our forgiveness of sins, by lavishing God's grace upon us] and Colossians 1:20 [through Jesus' blood, God does two things: (a) He reconciles all things to Himself and (b) He makes peace with the reconciled.]
For life contaminated by evil to be reconciled to God, there must be a death. Liberation from evil occurs only if a death occurs. The death that made reconciliation to God and liberation from evil possible was Jesus' death.
This should provide some in-depth insight into immersion (Romans 6:3-7). Paul wrote a letter to Christians in Rome. Their immersion into Christ was immersion into Christ's death. Christians live daily life differently because they have "newness of life." Life contaminated by evil was destroyed. That destroyed life was buried. Union with Christ's death liberates a believer to live the new life (now!). The power comes from Jesus' resurrrection. The objective of immersion into Christ is to end slavery to sin by producing death to sin and acquiring freedom [or acquittal].
The atonement of Jesus' blood makes this possible. Confidence in "my" salvation never rests in what we did or do, but in what God did in Jesus' death and continues to do in our lives.
Discussion questions:
Link to Teacher's Guide
Lesson 6