I’d like to start with the word break up;
AT-ONE-MENT (from 16th C English)
How does sinful man ever achieve oneness with God?
This was Jesus’ prayer, that we could be one with God.
John17:20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— 23 I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity.”
This topic has plagued the church for 2000 years.
Wiki defines it as:
In Christian theology, atonement refers to the forgiving or pardoning of sin through the death by crucifixion of Jesus Christ which made possible the reconciliation between God and creation. Within Christianity there are numerous technical theories for how such atonement might work.
In my own experience, there are two main approaches to understanding how the sacrifice of Christ can achieve the forgiveness of sins.
One is called the “substitutional” sacrifice of Christ.
The other is called the “representative” sacrifice of Christ.
Basically, the substitution approach claims that Jesus took all of our sins upon himself and suffered the death which we deserved as the punishment of our sins. He took our sins to the cross. We are absolved.
The representative approach says that Jesus’ death on the cross shows us the way. We must follow him to sacrifice our own lives and live for Christ.
I feel that both approaches can be illustrated on the day Jesus died. I don’t think they are mutually exclusive.
Two of the people in the story of Jesus crucifixion illustrate the two approaches to atonement.
When offered a choice between the life of Barabbas and the life of Jesus, the people chose Barabbas as the one to live. They asked for Barabbas.
Barabbas is a composite name. Bar is Aramaic for ‘son of’ and ‘abba’ is Aramaic for ‘father’. So, Barabbas means “son of a father” and he was a prisoner who was a robber and a man caught in an insurrection and he was in jail under penalty of death.
He represented every son of every father, every daughter of every mother. He was locked up and the only way out was his crucifixion. He had no escape. We are also sentenced to death. We can’t escape. Our very first sin brought our death sentence. We have been rebellious. Death is the fate of all humanity.
Then somebody came along and threw the jail gate open and said, “you’re free – someone else has died in your place”. And so, Barabbas walked out having had Jesus die for him. Jesus died for Barabbas’ sins.
The cross was reserved for a robber, a rebel and Jesus took the place of the sinner. He took the sins on himself. Pure substitution. Jesus was substituted for sinful Barabbas and took his sins to the cross.
So, what of Barabbas. I like to think that maybe he was about Jesus’ age, about 35. He walks out blinking in the sunlight, suddenly free. But what does he gain? Another 35 years or so – and then he will still die unless he comes to Christ.
Jesus died for our sins just as he died for Barabbas’s. We can imagine ourselves cowering in a corner like the disciples, or standing in the mocking crowd calling out “crucify him, crucify him”. Or standing in front of the cross calling out “if you are the son of God, come down and save yourself’. And Jesus’ answer: “Father, forgive them for they don’t know what they’re doing”. Jesus took our abuse on himself and in his last act achieved forgiveness for us and for every sinner.
BUT….
The other person who interacted with Jesus that day was the thief on the cross. He didn’t escape crucifixion; he was crucified with Jesus, and yet he was the one who was promised everlasting life, not Barabbas. Through absolute faith – he connected himself with Jesus’ sufferings – not escaping them.
He followed Jesus to the cross – not escaping it as Barabbas did.
Barabbas got maybe another 30 or 40 years but would have died just the same unless he came to Jesus as well. And the lesson is, yes, Jesus will die for us and carry our sins to the cross, but oddly enough we must pick up our cross daily and willingly go with him to be crucified ourselves.
The faith of the thief on the cross is illustrated in his statement “Remember Me, when you come into your Kingdom”. What astounding faith! Here was Jesus, being crucified like a slave, dying in agony and yet this man believed that somehow, he would rule in his Kingdom.
Some verses –
|
Substitution |
Representative |
|
Isaiah 53 4 Surely, he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 8 …. for the transgression of my people, he was punished. |
Matthew 16 24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it There was only one reason to take up your cross in the Roman world – the be crucified on it. We must lose our life to gain life.
. |
|
1 Peter 2 . 24 “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed. . |
1 Peter 2 21 To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. ….To the cross |
|
Galatians 3 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.” Hebrews 2 9 But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
.
|
Romans 6 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him…. 7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. |
|
1 Timothy 2 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time.
. |
Galatians 2 20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. |
Why did Jesus have to suffer such an horrific death?
Jesus died this type of death so that no one could say; “well, I’ve got it tougher than Jesus”.
Just imagine, if Jesus had lived into old age, and died in his sleep.
Every one of us, who suffer in this life, would be able to say; “well Jesus doesn’t know what I’m going through – he had it easy”.
But suffering the death on the cross leaves us saying; “it doesn’t matter what I am suffering – it is not nearly as bad as Jesus suffered, and he still clung on to the ‘joy that was set before him’.”
Two other approaches to the atonement are worth a mention.
Ransom. We are all held to ransom by sin and death. The only way out is to pay the ransom. Jesus paid that ransom, and the price was his blood on the cross. Matt 20:28, 1 Tim 2:6
Propitiation. A sacrifice to appease God. Not that God wanted to torture Jesus, but His wrath to us is appeased or turned away when we attach ourselves to the cross of Jesus. Romans 3:25, 1 John 2:2, 1 John 4:10 – all in KJV (new versions get it wrong).
Representative Atonement
Substitutional Atonement
THIS CROSS
Reserved for
A thief, a robber, and a rebel
Renewed 