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 exchange; adjustment (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 1:1: 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.
· 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.
· Philippians 2:7: But made himself of no reputation,
and took 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.
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 3:27: As 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 1:12: Giving thanks unto the
Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the
saints in light: vs 13: Who 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 11:15: For 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 6:14: Make 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 3:25: Whom 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 27:50-53: Jesus, 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 3:18-19: Christ 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 62:12: And they shall call them,
“the holy people, the redeemed of the LORD: and thou shalt be
called, sought out, a city not forsaken:”!
· Hebrews 12:22: But you are come (present
tense) unto 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 24: And 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 27:50-53: Jesus,
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; removing) of 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 12:13: For 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 2:14-15: For 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 12:1: We 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 5:18: And all things are of God,
who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ.
· Vs 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.
· 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 17:4: I have glorified thee on the
earth: I have finished the work which thou gave me to
do.
FINISHED, in this verse is teleio’o, meaning 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 3:2: Beloved, 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
4:17: As 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 19:30: When 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 19:30, tele’o, means 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 4:11: And
he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some,
pastors and teachers; vs 12: For the perfecting of the
saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: vs
13: Till 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 5:10: But 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 19:30: When 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 12:31: Now is the judgment of this
world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out, vs
32: And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto
me.
· Colossians 2:14: Blotting 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 15: And
having spoiled principalities and powers he made a show of them openly, triumphing
over them in it.
· 1 John 3:8b: For 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 9:11-12: But 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