After the judge hears all of the testimony from the prosecutor, who has accused you of every thing you've done since birth; there is no doubt about it, you are guilty. You cry out in your own defense---throwing yourself on the mercy of the court. You begin to tell of all the good you've done in your life. You begin to recount all of the things you have done for others. As you speak you realize, your good far outweighs your bad. As you remember your own goodness, you begin to believe you have a real chance of walking away from this horrible ordeal. Now imagine the same judge sentencing you to death, saying to you that your good works are not suitable payment for your crimes. He states that your crimes have incurred a debt; and that the debt is only satisfied with blood.
You are lead to the place of execution. The tools are ready, the people are gathered, and you are lead to what you believe is the last seat you will ever sit on. The guard calls for the prisoner to be brought out and you stand ready to face your punishment. Just then a door opens and the judge walks over to the place of execution and offers himself as a substitute for you. As his blood covers the place of execution, the doors open and you are freed. His blood has satisfied your debt.
What you have just read is my terrible attempt at describing the principle of atonement. Atonement is reconciliation between a debt and a debtor. It does not have to be money, or material things. When you mess up at home, men, you may have to offer an atonement of flowers, or some extra duties around the house. It is a payment.
As Christians, we should be able to talk about the atonement because it is critical to our faith and it is the thing that makes us unique among the other world religions. Basically the atonement works like this:
1. God creates the world and everything in it.
2. God makes rules (start with the 10 commandments) for man.
3. Man breaks rules.
4. God, being a just judge, must punish man for breaking rules.
5. God sets up a system for man to atone for sin through blood sacrifice.
6. Man cannot stop breaking rules.
7. God loves man so much that God comes to earth in the flesh and sheds his holy blood as a perfect sacrifice that will cover every sin.
8. God says all man has to do is believe in Jesus (the God-man) and repent of his sins and the blood sacrifice can be applied to those who do.
9. The blood allows the believers to escape the judgement and spend eternity in heaven.
So the blood is the ultimate atonement for our sins. The beauty in the atonement and what separates Christians from other religions is that we do not have to depend on our good works to get us into heaven. The work that needs to be done for us to be in paradise for eternity was accomplished at Calvary. It is finished. Every other religion has to do with man getting into heaven based on his own good works, or their own following of the path God has made for them.
Thank God for Jesus! Thank God that the blood shed was an acceptable atonement for our sins. Thank God we don't have to worry about if our good outweighs our bad. Thank God for the atonement.
Disclaimer: this post is in no way a comprehensive view of the work at Calvary. Jesus accomplished a number of things at Calvary, the atonement is only one of many.
