The Atonement of Jesus — TogetherTuesday Post
Last night, during our TogetherTuesday gathering with the youth, we spoke about The Atonement of Jesus. You might be wondering, what exactly is the Atonement of Jesus? It is the work Christ did in His life and death to earn our salvation. We were asked if it was necessary for Christ to die. There are two Scriptures that point out that God is love and just. They are found in John 3:16 and Romans 3:25-26. By reading these two verses, it was pointed out that great was the wages of sin, so great was the cost. Sin brought death and separation, but Jesus brought life and restoration. God, in his love, decided to save us. Atonement was not absolutely necessary but because of the decision to save us, atonement was the ONLY way and the only way for God to save us was for Christ to die in our place.
This is good stuff, right?
We learned of Jesus’ Atonement in 4 different aspects: Physical Pain & Death, Pain of Bearing Sin, Abandonment, and Bearing God’s Wrath.
First, physical pain and death. The Crucifixion is considered one of the most horrific death one person goes through. One endures excruciating pain in this process and this goes to the worst of criminals. Yet our Lord and Savior, innocent and blameless, endured such moment and died for our salvation. We read it in Isaiah 53:3-6 and Matthew 26:38.
Second, the pain of bearing sin. Can you imagine the weight of shame, guilt, and everything that sin brings on all of humanity? This same weight was brought onto a perfect, spotless, and sinless human. All of our sin was poured out fully upon Jesus. We read it in Isaiah 53:6; 12 and in Hebrews 9:28.
Third, abandonment. Whew! Have you ever felt abandoned or experienced it at some point in your life? Jesus did as well. We read in Matthew 26, in the Garden of Gethsemane, how Jesus had told his 3 closest disciples to remain close and keep watch yet they fled when Jesus got arrested. We also read later in Matthew 26 how Peter denied Jesus and abandoned him! In the next chapter, Matthew 27:46, we see the biggest abandonment of all. God the Father abandoning his beloved and only Son because of his great love for us, humanity; and Jesus faced the weight of the guilt of millions of sins alone.
Lastly, bearing the wrath of God. God poured out on Jesus the fury of his wrath when Jesus became sin. Another way to look at this is Jesus became the object of the intense hatred of sin and vengeance against sin, which God had patiently stored up since the beginning of the world. Jesus endured that too!
We learned a word called “Propitiation”, which means a sacrifice that bears God’s wrath to the end and in so doing changes God’s wrath towards us into favor. We read that in Romans 5:9. God had not simply forgiven the sins of previous generations and forgot about it, no. He had forgiven sins with sacrifices and offerings and had stored up his righteous anger against those sins. However, at the cross, the fury of all that wrath against sin was unleashed against own Son.
We all left our gathering with questions that we had discussed about. This lesson had changed the way we see Jesus’ death and we trusted that God sent Jesus and that He was enough to bear the weight of the sin of the world. Is Jesus enough for you? Is what He’s done enough for you to change your life and follow Him?
In Christ’s Love, Tatiana Orozco
Speaker: Daniel Orozco
Thank you for sharing with the rest of us! God bless the time in His word. May it take root in fertile hearts!