Christ as Redeemer
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Key Verse: “Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.” Selected Scripture: |
THE ARRANGEMENT THAT existed between our Heavenly Father and the nation of Israel required that the priests offer Atonement Day sacrifices. The account tells us that a young bullock was taken for a sin offering; it was killed, and the blood of it was taken into the Most Holy of the Tabernacle. There Aaron, the High Priest, sprinkled the blood on and before the Mercy Seat seven times. In addition to this, Aaron selected “two kid goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering.”—Lev. 16:3-19
These sacrifices were an important part of the covenant relationship between God and his people; however, they could not actually cleanse them from the curse of Adamic sin and death. The yearly repetition was necessary to maintain the cleansing of the people and their covenant with God. Although these offerings possessed no real merit, their purpose was to shadow “good things to come.”—Heb. 9:11
In the Old Testament, the word atonement is the English word used to translate the Hebrew words which mean cover, coverings, or to cover. The Levitical offerings ‘covered’ the sins of Israel until, and in anticipation of, the cross. Again, they did not take away those sins, “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.” (Heb. 10:4) These were used to serve as a type, or picture, of the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus who was “set forth to be a propitiation” for the sins of the world. (Rom. 3:25) The only begotten Son of God was able to make the actual satisfaction, or covering, of justice for Adamic sin. His blood became the basis for the forgiveness of our sins—made peace for us, opened the way to reconciliation, and transferred us back to sonship in God’s family.
We realize that the sacrifice that the antitypical High Priest presents are then of a superior nature to those that for centuries were offered in the Tabernacle services. The sacrifice of bulls and goats as mentioned in our theme text pointed to the blood, to the life, of Jesus Christ. Redemption under the Law could be made only by an equivalent value, and when sin was involved only blood could atone, or justify. To pay the price for Adam and his race, he “gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.”—I Tim. 2:6
So we see that he first had to redeem mankind through the sacrifice of himself, and then, applying it to the satisfaction of justice, he could undertake the uplifting and blessing of all. Our Lord Jesus then entered into the Most Holy—‘by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place’—representing heaven itself, from which our great High Priest comes forth with promised blessings of restitution. “Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: … So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” (Heb. 9:24,28) He gives the opportunity for all to have the human rights and privileges to which he had a right to, and to live on a restored, perfect earth forever. “Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end.”—Isa. 9:7