Substitutionary Atonement

 God created a way for our sins to be forgiven even before He created people. He knew that we would sin, and He knew the wages of sin is death. Therefore, it was very important that we have a way of being made right with Him after we sinned. In the Old Covenant the process was to bring a perfect male animal to the priest at the Tabernacle or Temple. Then, the priest would sacrifice the animal according to God's commands, and God would accept the death of the animal on behalf of the person making the sacrifice for their sins. (Leviticus 1:4) We refer to this as "substitutionary atonement." This is absolutely necessary, because we can't do anything to take away our own sins. The Lord wanted people to see the seriousness of sin, so they had to put their hand on the animal as it died in their place to bring atonement. That means to be made "at-one" with God again. Every sacrifice in the Old Covenant pointed to the one sacrifice that would atone for all sins.

Today, we see the seriousness of sin, because the only way for our sins to be forgiven was by the death of the Only-Begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ. His precious blood was the only payment for sins, and He gave it freely, so His death was substituted for us, so we did not have to die and spend eternity in Hell. We can have the atonement applied to our lives, when we turn from our sins and put our trust in Jesus alone for our salvation. Then, God gives us the gift of salvation and makes us at one with Him. It is all dependent of Jesus and his perfect, sinless sacrifice being substituted for us. That is how much Jesus loves us, and that is why we should love Him back with all of our heart. He deserves all of our trust in everything we do, so we can bring Him the honor and glory due His name because of His sacrifice.

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Tomorrow, I intend to read Leviticus 3-5.