God Without Religion_ Can It Really Be This Simple_ - Andrew Farley [50]
Big deal! So what? We all know that Jesus only died once.
True. But not all Christians are on the same page about just how forgiven we are. If blood is the only way to be forgiven, and Jesus won’t shed his blood ever again, then we need to ask: How forgiven am I? And do I need to do anything to get any more forgiven?
On planet earth, we don’t normally work with a blood economy. The way it usually works is that I forgive you when you show up on my doorstep with tears in your eyes and an apology on your lips. I forgive you when you recognize your wrongdoing. I forgive you when you promise to do better. But that’s not God’s way. It never has been. Under the old or the new, it has never been an apology-based system. It’s always been about blood.
“If I’m a parent, I want my children to come to me and ask me for forgiveness. Then I’ll tell them I forgive them,” some might say. We assume there’s a parallel between our ways and God’s ways. I certainly understand the temptation to draw upon familiar analogies. And I agree that an apology-based system is what we see in human relationships such as parenting. But do you see the difference? Our human interactions don’t involve our perfect Son suffering and dying a bloody death to take away our sins once for all.
In short, we aren’t God. And our ways are not his ways.
The Takeaway
Imagine a Jewish man traveling home after the Day of Atonement. He’s just participated in the temple sacrifices. What relief! What gratefulness to God! Another 365 days of sins are covered.
The man gets home only to find his wife nagging him for being gone so long. In his frustration and anger, he lets one slip. He uses the Lord’s name in vain. Now it’s 365 more days before that sin will be taken care of. And he’s just getting started. An entire year of sinning will take place before he feels relief again. For thousands of years, this Jewish system of forgiveness was in force:
Moses said to Aaron, “Come to the altar and sacrifice your sin offering and your burnt offering and make atonement for yourself and the people; sacrifice the offering that is for the people and make atonement for them, as the Lord has commanded.” (Lev. 9:7)
Just as Moses instructed, the same sacrifices were offered, year after year, that could never really cleanse anyone:
The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. If it could, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. (Heb. 10:1–4)
Those sacrifices never took away sins; they only atoned for a year’s worth. And they were really just an annual reminder of sins (v. 3), since covering sins (atonement) is not enough. Sins must be taken away to be truly forgiven.
That’s what made John the Baptist’s words so special as he shouted, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). The new, perfect Lamb had come on the scene to take away sins, not merely cover them. “Atonement” is not a new covenant concept. The word in Greek for what Jesus accomplished is hilasterion, meaning “the gift that propitiates or satisfies completely.” The term “atonement” doesn’t appear even once in the New Testament to refer to what Jesus accomplished on Calvary. Jesus did more than atone for our sins. He gave us a gift in his death that took away our sins, satisfying God forever!
Of course, this meant the sacrificial system could stop. Any Jewish person who believed in Jesus could fold up shop in the temple. Why? “For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins” (Heb. 10:2). There’s no more