Monday, December 12, 2022

“The Atoning Blood”! (Pt.2)

TextRomans 5:11: And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement:  / Hebrews 9:22: And “almost” all things are purged by blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission:  

In part one of the Atoning Blood we found that “atonement” or (at-one-ment) was from the root word katallage’, meaning to exchange; adjustment; restoration (back to divine favor); reconciliation.

Two things we touched on that the “atonement” did: (1) Removed God’s displeasures toward us:  (2) Removed our alienation from God.

So all we have to do is believe and accept all that the atoning blood did on that Cross.

·         St. John 3:17: God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.  Vs 18: He that believes on him is not condemned:  but he that believes not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name (character; authority) of the only begotten Son of God.

Mark 15 (33-41) [speaks of the death of Jesus]: 

·         Vs 37: And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost:  vs 39: And when the centurion, which stood over against him, saw that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God”.

 It states that Jesus gave up the ghost”.  Ghost in this verse is ekpne’o, meaning to expire.  This word meansto breathe out”; “to expire”; “soul” or “life”. This “ghost” that Jesus gave up or breathed out was not the “pneu’ma” which is the Holy Ghost, the eternal Spirit, wind, breath, of God.  What Jesus gave up was the soul (psuche’) aspect of Himself that had to experience dying without God and going through the judgment fire of God, but it (His soul) was not left in hell (hades’ – the unseen world of spirits)!   He had to go through what He went through so that our total man, heart, soul, mind, and body could be delivered from the tormenting and destructive works of the devil.

·         Acts 2:25: David spoke concerning him, “I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved”:

·         Vs 26: Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope:

·         Vs 27: Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither will thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.

People of God, get this:  If God did not allow “His own physical body”, which was the body of Jesus, to see corruption (diaphthora’) [decomposition and decay], how much more Him not allowing “His own spiritual body”, which we are (His Church), to not see corruption (decomposition and decay)? 

·         1 Peter 2:5: Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

Jesus came that we might have life (Zoe), and that we might have it more abundantly (John 10:10).  And this “life” (Zoe) is “life eternal” (quality) and “everlasting” (unending)!!

Back to the atoning blood”:

Blood was God’s only purchase price of redemption.  When man sinned, something happened to his blood.   Leviticus 17:11 states, “The life of the flesh is in the blood”.  Instead of incorruptible and therefore deathless blood, Adam’s blood was corrupted through sin and became subject to death.  To redeem this dead sinner, life must again be imparted.  The only remedy for death is “life”.  This life is in the blood, and so blood must be furnished which is sinless and incorruptible. 

Now none of Adam’s race could do this.  1 Corinthians 15:22a states, “For in Adam all die”.  Romans 3:23 says, “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.  There was only one who could furnish that blood, the virgin-born Son of God, with a human body, with sinless supernatural blood, implanted by the Holy Ghost.  Blood and a sinless body was the only price of redemption God could accept, without violating or breaching the integrity (honor; uprightness; completeness; oneness) of His holy nature.  Death can only be exiled, annihilated, dismissed, or expelled) by life.  Life is in the blood and without shedding of blood is no remission (Hebrews 9:22). A blood transfusion had to be performed and provided through Christ and that life giving blood is in us by the Spirit of the Living God! 

·         1 Corinthians 15:22b: Even so in Christ, shall all be made alive.

·         1 John 5:8: There are three that bear witness in earth (our physical bodies), the Spirit (pneu’ma God’s breath), the water (the Word), and the blood (the life giving source):  and these three agree in one.   

Hebrews 9:18: Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood. The new covenant was confirmed, approved; given official sanction to, by the blood of Christ.  Wherefore, as the death of a victim was necessary to endorse, approve or make covenants official.  (vs 19-22).

·         Hebrew 9:16: For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.

A testament (diathe’ke) [a disposition, a contract (a devisory will); covenant] could only be put in place by a testator [diatith’emai].  JESUS was our “Testator”, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8).

·          Hebrews 9:17: For a testament is of force after men are dead:  otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator lives.

Testament comes from the Latin “testes”, derived from the Ancient near Eastern custom of one man placing his hand under the other man’s thigh in making a solemn pledge, conveying not only the trust of the two parties, but also the pledge is binding on the “future generations” that will come from the seed of each man.  There are two instances:  Genesis 24:9 [Abraham and his eldest servant, when he went to get a wife for Isaac]:  [then two generations later, Jacob and Joseph] (Genesis 47:29).

We are now included in this covenant or testament, not just the Jews.  They are no more God’s chosen people after the flesh, for we are all “one” now in Christ!  We that have accepted the Son, are God’s Israel (those ruling with and are a prince with Him in the earth), His chosen, and we are all over the world not just in the Middle East as some believe. 

·         Galatians 3:16: Now to Abraham and his SEED were the promises made.  He said not, and to seeds, as of many; but as of one, and to thy SEED, which is CHRIST!

·         Vs 27: For as many as have been baptized into Christ (not in water) have put on Christ.  Vs 28: There is neither Jew nor Greek (Gentile), there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female:  for you are all one in Christ Jesus.  Vs 29: And if you be CHRIST’S, then are you Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Acts 3:25: You are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, “And in thy seed shall all the kindred of the earth be blessed”:  

Hebrews 8:10: For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel (not in the middle east, but we Christ’s body are God’s Israel) after those days (when Jesus died on the cross and was resurrected), saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts:  and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:   10:16: This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, “I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them”.

 These verses right here tells us with God putting and writing His Word in our minds and in our hearts makes us become the living word of God, or the Word made flesh!  (1 John 4:17) As he is, so are we, in this world!

We have been appointed to this:  Luke 22:29: And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me. 

In the case of Hebrews 9:16-17, in relation to the “testator, this is in reference to the death of Christ who was charged to make the new covenant with man.  Since the victims (all have sinned and come short) involved were under the penalty of death for their sins, and since the covenant had to do with redemption of these victims from their sins by the death of a substitute, it was necessary for the one making the covenant to die in order to redeem those He volunteered to free from death:  Hebrews 9:16: For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.  Such a covenant could only be in force after the victim was dead and the covenant ratified (approved; made official) by such death (vs 17): For a testament is of force after men are dead:  otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator lives.  Vs 22: And “almost” (nearly) all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.   

Some things were ceremonially purged with water and fire and some with the ashes of a red heifer:  Numbers 19:2-10; 31:13-24.  [But all were first consecrated by blood].

In relation to being ceremonially purged: 

·         Hebrews 9:13: For if the blood of bulls and of goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies to the purifying of the flesh:  vs 14: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience (awareness; understanding; knowledge) from dead works to serve the living God?  [Meaning, having “OMNI-science” (God knowledge), knowing Truth by having Christ’s mind]!

Conscience:  con(an opposing reasoning; swindle or trick) – “science(a systemized knowledge derived from observation, study, of facts, principles, methods, skills and techniques).  Over the years the enemy has through many religious leaders used lies, philosophy, vain deceit, traditions of men, rudiments of the world, and have swindled and tricked us by giving us “con-science” (that which opposes “truth”), instead of “Omniscience” (God knowledge), the “truth” that will free us from the bondages of the devil.  Paul warned us about this in Colossians 2:8, when he said “Beware [take heed; behold; observe; discern], lest any man spoil (seduce; strip; rob) youthrough vain deceit, traditions of men, etcetera, of what’s rightfully yours through Christ.  But to avoid this we must do what Philippians 2:5-6 says, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God”.  Also:  2 Timothy 2:15: Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that need not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

We're still talking about "the atoning blood”:

·         Hebrews 10:4: For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. 

Paul shows that there can be no redemption but through the blood of Christ; and to prefigure this, the law could not grant any remission of sin without the blood of a victim. 

·         Hebrews 9:22: And almost all things are purged with blood; without shedding of blood is no remission. 

In relation to “the redemption price”, the tabernacle in the wilderness is the only building ever erected having a foundation made of “pure silver”.   “The foundation was made of “solid silver sockets”, which is a picture of Jesus Christ and of the believer who is “in Christ”. 

A “socket” in Webster is defined as a natural or artificial hollow into which something fits or in which something revolves; an electrical device receiving a plug or light bulb to make a connection.

Sockets is the Hebrew word e’den (eh’-den), meaning a basis (of a building, a column); foundations.  It goes to another root word adown (aw-done’) connotingstrength”; to rule; sovereign; controller (human or divine); Lord, lord, master, owner.  So theses “sockets” or “foundations” are in reference to people, the sons of God (male and female), that were ruling and reigning over the creation in the beginning.

·         Psalm 82:5: The foundations of the earth are out of course.

Those “foundations”, the sons of God (male and female) that God was plugged into were ruling and reigning over the creation with dominion, authority, and power, because they were plugged into God!

These “sockets and foundations” are in reference to us now, as well, the believers that are “plugged” into Christ and Christ is “plugged” into them,  2 Corinthians 5:17: Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature (creation):  old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.  Why, because through His shed blood, we are “the redeemed”! 

·         1 Corinthians 6:19-20: What?  Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which you have of God, and you are not your own?  You are bought with a price:  therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

So “Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy” (Psalm 107:2)!!!

Everything depends upon this foundation and the “silver foundation” speaks of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ on which our entire redemption depends and hangs.  This “silver” was furnished by the children of Israel who carried it out of the land of Egypt.  It was paid as a redemption tax, a tax upon all of the male adults in the congregation of Israel which every adult Israelite was to pay (Exodus 30:11-15).

This “silver” is called the “atonement money(the half shekel they had to pay) which was required of every single Israelite.  None were to not give or it meant death and cutting off from the assembly of Israel.

Silver in the bible speaks of “atonement”, and this atonement is always to be by blood.  That tabernacle God instructed Moses to build was actually “CHRIST”!  So the silver foundation upon which the tabernacle rested signified that it was built upon the atoning blood of a substitute.  On this foundation, the blood of atonement, the tabernacle of our redemption is also built which is the “blood of Christ”!

·         Matthew 27:3-4: Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood.  And said “What is that to us”?  See thou to that.  Vs 5: And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself.

SILVER points to the blood of Christ:  Leviticus 17:11: The life of the flesh is in the blood:  and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls:  for it is the blood that makes an atonement for the soul.

·         1 Corinthians 6:20: You are bought with a price: 

·         1 Peter 1:18-19: You were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold… but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

 [It’s precious because it is the blood of God Himself]!

·          Acts 20:28: Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.

It’s this “silver foundation” typifying the “blood of Christ” upon which all our hope is built:

The blood of Christ has given us “eternal redemption”:  Hebrews 10: 4: It is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins:  vs 11: and every priest stands daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins:  vs 12: But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God.

Jesus sitting on the right hand of God is not happening out somewhere in the sky.  It means that God has eternally established (settled; rooted) Jesus Christ in a position of power and authority in Him!

As Paul wrote, 1 Corinthians 3:11: For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which Jesus Christ!!

The Tabernacle that Moses built was CHRIST and it was founded on a “silver foundation”, representing the atonement money”.  This was a shadow of the price of redemption, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Every man had to bring his own half shekel (35 cents), rich and poor, an individual responsibility.  Salvation is also a personal, individual matter and can never be obtained based on anyone else, but only through Jesus the Christ.

There is a song by Edward Mote and William Bradbury:

My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ atoning blood and righteousness;

I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus name.

On Christ the solid Rock I stand - all other ground is sinking sand!

Briefly, isn’t it amazing how that the blood flowing in an unborn fetus’ arteries and veins is not from the mother but is produced within the body of the fetus.  The mother provides the fetus with all the nutrients it needs for development through the placenta, but yet God constructed it so that “no blood” passes from the mother to the child, because the blood comes from God Himself!!

Genesis 1:26: And God said, “Let us make man”!

Man here is the Hebrew root word adam (aw-dawm’), meaning ruddy (red color); to show blood (in the face).

Blood in Hebrew is dam (dawm), meaning, “blood”. 

So when God created and made “man” (aw-dawm’), He created and made “man” with His blood (God’s own blood) in him!  Before the fall of man, he (male and female) was living by the life of the innocent blood that was in him, but when the man (aw-dawm’), or the Adam race of people fell into corruption, their innocent blood became contaminated by sin and guilty bloodflowed through their veins which led to death.  They fell from that which was “divinity” back into that which was “humanity”!

·         Galatians 4:4: But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption (placing) of sons.

We the “sons of God” (the body of Christ) are the ones the creation is waiting for and not Jesus. Romans 8:19: For the earnest expectation of the creature (creation) waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.

But the wait is over for those that recognize who the “sons of God” are and are receiving the fullness of the Kingdom message, of having victory now!  1John 3:2: Beloved, NOW (present tense) are we the sons of God and it doth not yet appear what we shall be:  [It’s revealed now or made known now to those that will accept the truth]:  but we know that, when he shall appear [He is appearing in you and me, His body, now], we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.  [We see Him as he is when we look at one another]. 

1 Corinthians:12:12: For as the body is one, and hath many member, and all the members of that one body being many are one body:  so also is CHRIST!

Ephesians 5:30: We are members (limbs; parts) of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.

Jesus partook of human flesh without partaking of the effect of Adam’s blood.

·         Hebrews 2:14: Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise “took part” of the same.

There is a difference in being partakers of something and one that “took part” in something.

·         Vs 14a: For as much then as the children are “partakers” of flesh and blood:

Partakers, is from the root word koinone’o, meaning to share with others:  communicate; distribute;  “to fully have a share in”; “to have in common”.  Romans 3:23: All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

·         Vs 14b: He also himself likewise “took part” of the same.

Took and part are from the same root word metech’o, meaning to share or participate; take part (not all).

·         Philippians 2:7: But made himself of no reputation, and “took (lamban’o) [get hold of;  received] upon him” the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:  vs 8: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Though He (Jesus) took partin the same (putting on flesh as a man), yet He was without sin (He didn’t “partake” of sin)!  So how did He “take part in the same”?  By being “made sin” for us!

·         2 Corinthians 5:21: For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him!

·         Romans 8:3-4: For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:  that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Isaiah 7:14: Therefore the LORD himself shall give you a sign; behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel (with us (is) God).

When God created woman He made her so that no blood would be able to pass from her to the fetus, her offspring.  So God gave our “Redeemer”, Jesus Christ, a human body but sinless body with “innocent or not guilty blood” in it!

·         St. John 1:1: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God:  vs 14: And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us! 

Mary was the “flesh vessel” God used to bring Jesus here, but God put His own blood in Jesus by the Holy Ghost!

·         Luke 1:35: And the angel answered and said unto Mary, “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee:  therefore also that holy thing (log’os) [embodiment of God’s Word] which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God”.

The “Spirit” and the “blood” agree:  1 John 5:7: There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost:  and these three are one.  Vs 8: And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood:  and these three agree in one.

And His blood was “not guilty blood” or “INNOCENT BLOOD”!

·         Matthew 27:3-4: Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, “I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent (not guilty) blood”!

Jesus partook of human flesh without partaking of the effect of Adam’s “guilty blood”!

·         1 Corinthians 15:22: In Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.  Vs 45: The first man Adam was made a living soul:  the last Adam was made a quickening (make alive) spirit.  Vs 47: The first man is of the earth, earthy:  the second man is the Lord from heaven.

When people die their bodies are embalmed by injecting embalming fluid into the blood stream to push out the blood and push in embalming fluid to preserve that body from decay.  Embalm means to preserve.  After death the decay process begins with the decomposition of the blood.

Jesus was dead for three days and yet there was not any decomposition or corruption anywhere in His body!

·         Psalm 16:10: Thou will not leave my soul in hell; neither will thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption (destruction; decomposition; decay; alterations)!  (Acts 2:31).

·    John 20 [Jesus appears to His disciples and makes a blood deposit or transfusion into them]:

·         vs 21-22: Then said Jesus to them again, “Peace be unto you:  as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you”.  And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said unto them, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost”.   

Right then was the breathing in of the blood of God into those disciples as it happened to Adam in Genesis 2:7 when the LORD God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul!  The blood of God was breathed into Adam!  At Pentecost the blood of God was breathed into His people, given as a universal gift of life!

·         Acts 2:1-4: And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.  And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.  And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

That “sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind” was the very breath of God with His blood in it that was breathed into those in that upper room!  And as God’s people went forth from that point, preaching and teaching the Word of God, that was the very blood of God being breathed upon or into the hearers and it happened for thousands at Pentecost.  

·         Acts 2:41: Then they that gladly received his word were baptized; and the same day, there were added unto them about three thousand souls. 

The same thing is happening today as we (God’s people) (the sons of God) minister the Word of God to His people, God’s blood, is being transfused into them by His Spirit!

To receive God’s blood certainly isn’t drank from a glass, nor is a bucket of blood poured over our head but it’s received by the Spirit.  Jesus said in John 6:53: Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.  Vs 55: For my flesh is meat indeed and my blood is drink indeed.  Vs 56: He that eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, dwells in me, and I in him.  Vs 57: As the living Father hath sent me and I live by the Father:  so he that eats me, even he shall live by me.

·         1 Corinthian 12:13: For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.  Vs 14: For the body is not one member, but many!

There is power, power, miracle or wonder working power, in the “atoning blood” of the LAMB!!!  It reaches to the highest mountain, and flows to the lowest valley:  it’s the blood that gives you and me strength from day to day, and it will never lose its power!!!

Everything we need, is in the ATONING BLOOD of the LAMB!!  Receive of it today!!!

Pastor Gracie Perry

Monday, November 21, 2022

“The Atoning Blood”! (Pt.1)

Text:  Romans 5:11: And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement:  [and] Hebrews 9:22: And “almost” all things are purged by blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.

Romans (Shows Christ our Righteousness):  Hebrews (our Intercessor):  

Atonement in the Greek is katallage’meaning to exchangeadjustment (change so as to fit; regulate); restoration to (the divine) favor: reconciliation.

What Katallage’ or the “atonement “does is:

Removes God's displeasure toward us:

·         2 Corinthians 5:19: To wit (know), that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.

Reconciling is the root word katalas’so, meaning to change mutually or exchange.  In other words Jesus became who we are so that we could become who He is!

·         St. John 1:1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  Vs 14: And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.

·         2 Corinthians 5:21For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

·         Philippians 2:7But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:  vs 8And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Now because of what He did on the cross, the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.  For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:  that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Romans 8:2-4).

In reality, we are spiritual beings having a natural experience.  We are now, members of His body, of his flesh, and of his bones (Ephesians 5:30).  We are His body in the earth of which He is the Head (Colossians 1:18). 

Jesus could not be “CHRIST” without us!  That was the Man Jesus on the cross, but when He got up out of the grave, He was a many-membered body called Christ!

·         1 Corinthians 12:12: For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body:  SO ALSO IS CHRIST!

·         Galatians 3:27As many of you as have been baptized (not in water but) into CHRIST have put on CHRIST.  Vs 28: There is neither Jew nor Greek (Gentile), there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female:  for you are all one in CHRIST JESUS!

As he is, so are we, in this world (1 John 4:17).

Jesus moved us from darkness of error and brought us into His marvelous light of truth delivering us from the bondages of vain deceit and traditions of men put on us over the years by the Pharaoh’s of religious order.  Jesus said, “You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32).  God has delivered us from misery, destruction, ignorance, sorrow, wickedness and obscurity, and brought us into His marvelous light.  His marvelous light being the “illumination” of God’s mind reaching and penetrating our mind by the Holy Ghost or the “Spirit of Truth”, making clear, explaining, informing us by revelation who He is in us and who we are in Him! 

Know assuredly, that this Great God we serve is not out beyond the blue but He resides on the inside of us!  Colossians 1:12Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:  vs 13Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated (methis’temi) [transferred] us into the kingdom of his dear Son.

The "atonement" removed our alienation (estrangement) from God:

·         Romans 11:15For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life (Zoe) from the dead? 

·          2 Corinthians 5:20: Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us:  we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled (restored back) to God.

·          Ephesians 2:12: That at that time you were without Christ, being aliens (foreigners; strangers) from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:  vs 13: But now in Christ Jesus you who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.

Christ restored the creation back to God by paying the ransom in full:  [This atonement, makes man “at- one” with God].

·         2 Corinthians 5:18-19: And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; to wit (know), that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.

Reconciliation stresses the process (method; procedure; course), and atonement (at-one-ment) stresses the end result (conclusion; outcome) of the process.

·         1John 2:2: And he is the propitiation for our sins:  and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

·          1John 4:10: Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation  (atonement; an expiator) for our sins.

·         Hebrews 9:22: And “almost” all things are purged by blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. 

The ark that Noah was instructed to build was a picture of the atonement”, which means to cover.  It was designed to keep out the waters of judgment to make Noah and those within the ark safe.

·         Genesis 6:14Make thee an Ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.

Pitch is the Hebrew word ko’pher, meaning a cover.  It goes to another root word kaphar’, meaning to cover; to expiate or condone, to placate or cancel:  atonement; reconciliation; forgive; purge away; pacify; merciful; cleansed. 

So the blood of the atonement in the Old Testament as shed in the tabernacle services only held back the judgment of God until the blood of God’s perfect Lamb could be shed, and then the atonement would cease, and reconciliation would result.  So under the old covenant there was no full propitiation or reconciliation, but merely a covering and passing over of sin, until the time when the blood of Christ should put away sin, and man and God could be reconciled.

The blood of the Old Testament atonement deferred (delayed; suspended; postponed) the judgment temporarily until the coming of Christ, and then the judgment was fully paid, and for this reason the sacrifices in the tabernacle were never finished.  They were to be repeated day after day and year after year.  The blood of the animal sacrifices merely pointed to the blood of reconciliation and propitiation of the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ

·         Romans 3:25Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation (atonement; expiator) through faith in his blood, for the remission (par’esis) [toleration] (pari’emi) [to send; to let by] of sins that are passed through the forbearance (anoche’) [tolerance; holding back; delay] of God.

On the basis of the blood of the sacrifices in the tabernacle, God was able to forebear the sins of the Old Testament believer, but propitiation was not made and sins not actually put away until the blood of Christ was shed.  This is also the reason why saints of the Old Testament, were kept in Sheol, and in the New Testament Hades, which is the unseen world of spirits; the grave until the Cross.  For until sin had been paid for, and reconciliation made, God remained behind the veil. The blood atonement of the Old Testament then, merely covered sin, while the blood of Jesus under the new covenant took away sin and reconciled man back to God.

·         Matthew 27:50-53Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.  And behold, the vail of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; and the graves were opened; and many bodies of saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves (hades) after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.

·         1 Peter 3:18-19Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:  by which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison.

Those spirits in prison were those that had fallen asleep and were in the unseen world” (sheol or hades).  In that prison (phulake’), they were guarded, isolated, and preserved, until Jesus died on the cross, shed His blood, and rose from the dead (or until the renting of the vail).  The renting of the vail was Jesus' flesh hanging and dying on the cross (Hebrews 10:20).  Then they were able to move from behind that vail and move into the “holy city”, the “new Jerusalem”, not merely the one over in the Middle East, but the one that has come down from God out of heaven that John saw in Revelation 21:2, that comprises us in this natural realm and those in that unseen world that's now one body! 

·         Revelation 21:2: I John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

So for those that think that they have to sail off “up yonder” to get to the city, it won’t be there when they get there, because it’s already here, because we the church are “the city”!

·         Isaiah 60:14: The sons of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet; and they shall call thee, “the city of the LORD, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel”.

·         Isaiah 62:12And they shall call them, “the holy people, the redeemed of the LORD:  and thou shalt be called, sought out, a city not forsaken:”!

·         Hebrews 12:22But you are come (present tenseunto mount Sion and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem and to an innumerable company of angels:  vs 23: To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,  vs 24And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaks better things than that of Abel. 

Back to those that were in the “spirit prison”:

That’s why in Luke 24:13-35 the two disciples on the road to Emmaus were talking to Jesus and didn’t know that it was Him because He had taken on the bodies of those that had come from behind the vail.  But after they had reached their destination and He sat and broke bread with them, it was then that they knew it was Him by what He did in the breaking of the bread!  John 20:11-17 Mary sees Him after His resurrection and supposes Him to be the gardener.  But when He spoke to her, she recognized Him by what He said!  He’s still appearing in His people today and many don’t know who He is, because the majority of Christendom is waiting for Him to appear in the sky, but He is already here dwelling in and appearing in us His people!   Greater is He that is IN you, than he that is in the world (1John 4:4).

Remember, Matthew 27:50-53Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.  And behold, the vail of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; and the graves were opened; and many bodies of saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.

That which kept those in the “unseen world” and us in this “natural world” separated from God was the “vail” that hung in the tabernacle, typifying “Jesus’ flesh”.  Once Jesus died on the Cross that was the renting (tearing; removingof the vail (Jesus’ flesh body), then that placed God and man in the same room!  We are all “ONE” now by the Spirit!  1 Corinthians 12:13For by one Spirit (not water) are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit

·         Ephesians 2:14-15For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace.

The “two” here in this verse is not just “Jew and Gentile” being made one, but it includes those of us that are in this “natural realm” and those in the “spirit realm”, all being made “ONE”!  They are right here where we are, not off beyond the cumulus and stratus clouds, but right here.  And we are all in one place in the throne room with the Father and the Son, by the Holy Ghost!!

·         Hebrews 12:1We are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses! 

This is what the “ATONING BLOOD” has done for us!

·         1 Corinthians 6:17: He that is joined unto the Lord is ONE SPIRIT!

·         Hebrews 9:22: Without the shedding of blood is no remission.

Jesus is the mediator of the new covenant and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel (Hebrews 12:24).

Abel’s blood cried for vengeance, but Jesus’ blood said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:24)!

Jesus did this all for us to make atonement and reconciliation to bring us back to our Heavenly Father!!

·         2 Corinthians 5:18And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ.

·         Vs 21For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

·         Hebrews 9:11: But Christ being come a high priest of good (beneficial) [useful; helpful advantageous] things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building,

·         Vs 12: 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 (lu’trosis [ransoming; deliverance]) for us.

God knew that only one could do a complete work and this was “God Himself”:

·         Isaiah 7:14: Therefore the LORD himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel (with us (is) God).

·         Matthew 1:21: And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

·         Vs 23: Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.  [He’s not out beyond the blue]!

·         John 17:4I have glorified thee on the earth:  I have finished the work which thou gave me to do. 

FINISHED,  in this verse is teleio’omeaning to complete, accomplish or (fig) consummate (complete; conclude; achieve); make perfect; fulfilled; consecrate.

Jesus doesn’t have to come back and do anything because He has completed the work.  He’s already here by the Spirit and He lives inside of us! It’s up to us now, the church, His body in the earth, to do the work!  So the creation in actuality is not “waiting” for Jesus to come, truly the creation is  waiting for “us” the sons of God to stand up and get busy about our Father’s business! 

·         Romans 8:19: For the earnest expectation of the creature (creation) waits for the manifestation (unveiling; appearing) of the sons of God. 

The “sons of God are now manifested (unveiled; appearing)" in the earth!  1John 3:2Beloved, NOW are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be:  but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is!  He is appearing (present tense) in us His people right now and we by revelation “see Him as He is”, because we know that when we see one another we are looking at Him:  Ephesians 5:30:  We are members of his body; of his flesh, and of his bones!  1John 4:17As he is, so are we, in this world! 

Back to:  John 17:4, when Jesus said It is finished”, He was saying to His Father, “I have teleio’o, completed, accomplished, consummated, made perfect, fulfilled and consecrated all that you sent me to do”!

·         John 19:30When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, “It is finished”:  and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.

FINISHED here in this verse is a little different from “finished” in John 17:4.  Here in John 19:30tele’omeans to end, complete; execute, conclude, discharge (a debt); make an end; terminate or carry out to the full / (tel’os) to set out for a definite point or goal aimed at as a limit.

The difference between these two words “finished” is:   in John 19:30“finished” (tele’o) and (tel’os) signifies “to fulfill” and in John 17:4“finished” (teleio’o) means “to make perfect”!

John 17:4, when Jesus said “I have glorified thee on the earth; I have finished the work you sent me to do”:  finished or teleio’o, He was saying that He had “perfected the work He was sent to “make perfect” which was

He has given us:

·         Perfect peace:  Isaiah 26:3: Thou will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee:  because he trusts in thee:  John 14:27: Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you:  not as the world gives, give I unto you.  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

·         Divine health:  Isaiah 53:5: 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!  (1 Peter 2:24)

·         Eternal life:  John 10:10: The thief cometh not but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy:  I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly:  Romans 8:2: For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

He has equipped us with:

·         His power:  Luke 10:19: I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy:  and nothing shall by any means hurt you.  (Acts 1:8)

·         Five fold ministry:  Ephesians 4:11And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachersvs 12For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:  vs 13Till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

·         His armor:  Romans 13:12: He has given us the (armor of light):   and 2 Corinthians 6:7 the (armor of righteousness”which is needed for the other pieces of armor in Ephesians 6:10-18 [to fit and work properly](vs 14) Loins girt about with truth and the breastplate of righteousness:   (vs 15) Feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace:  (vs 16) The shield of faith:   (vs 17) The helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God  (vs 18) Praying always, with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.

·         1 Peter 5:10But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that you have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.

John 19:30When Jesus said“It is finished” (discharged the debt; terminated; made an end): and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.  He was saying, He had destroyed the works of the devil!

·         John 12:31Now is the judgment of this world:  now shall the prince of this world be cast out, vs 32And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.

·         Colossians 2:14Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;  vs 15And having spoiled principalities and powers he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.

·         1 John 3:8bFor this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

When Jesus’ blood, fell into the earth, He paid the earth off and cancelled the debt of sin, death, hell, and the grave!

·         Hebrews 9:11-12But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; 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 (deliverance) for us.

·         Vs 22: And without shedding of blood, is no remission.

Let the “ATONING BLOOD” be applied to your life today!

Pastor Gracie Perry