81. The Atonement

23 for ALL have SINNED and fall short of the glory of God,

24 and are JUSTIFIED by his GRACE as a GIFT, through the REDEMPTION that is in Christ Jesus,

25 whom God put forward as a PROPITIATION by his blood, to be received by FAITH.

(Romans 3:23-25, ESV)

This verse summaries what the Atonement is. Look into the words written in capital letters.

1. As we have established earlier, every person is a sinner and no man can be counted righteous.

2. The glory and standard of God is so high that even a single sin is a treason against His Holiness. We can do whatever we can in our capabilities to reconcile our sins with God's righteousness but alas it simply cannot be done. We fall short every time.

3. How are we justified before God then? By His GRACE wherein He Himself came into this world in the person of Jesus Christ to REDEEM His creation from the power of SIN! He took our SIN and died in the cross as a substitute. He took our condemnation and penalty on Himself leaving us righteous before God.

4. PROPITIATION: Propitiation means “averting the wrath of God by the offering of a gift.” It refers to the turning away of the wrath of God as the just judgment of our sin by God’s own provision of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross.

5. But note: This is a GIFT! A gift is something we receive for free. Salvation is free! Do we have to do something to receive this gift? For eg. do we need to climb pilgrim hills for our sins? NO! Gift is to be received without paying a price. Jesus paid the price.

6. How then do we receive this gift if not by our works? FAITH. We receive this free gift by believing and accepting Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, thereby imputing our sins on Him, making us sinless and blameless before the Holy God. We are saved then by faith alone through grace alone through Christ alone.

7. The cross is the place where God's PERFECT love, justice, righteousness, truth, forgiveness and mercy is satisfied and showcased.

8. This is the ATONEMENT, this is THE GOOD NEWS OF JESUS CHRIST!

AN ILLUSTRATION

1. Your dad is a high court judge.

2. He bought you a bike.

3. You hit a person with the bike, causing severe damage.

4. The court calls you in.

5. Your dad, the judge, finds you guilty and sentences you to pay a fine of ₹ 5,000.

6. Your dad, the judge, pays the debt or penalty on your behalf after the court scene is completed.

7. When questioned about why he had done so, the judge responded, "My job as a judge is to do justice, which I did, but here my son/daughter, whom I love, doesn't have the capacity to pay off the debt, so I paid his/her penalty on his/her behalf."

Now let's take a broader perspective: