I want to take you on a journey that will prepare your heart for Easter. Today, we're going to tackle a powerful theological concept that lies at the very core of our Christian faith: Atonement.
"Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous." - Romans 5:18-19 (ESV)
What Is Atonement? Breaking Down the Heart of the Gospel
Have you ever stopped to consider what the word "atonement" actually means? It's not a term we typically use in everyday conversation, but it's a word that beautifully captures God's plan for humanity. The word itself tells us its meaning: at-one-ment. It describes the state of being brought back together, made one again, when you have been separate.
I remember when , my wife (then girlfriend) Amy was in Bible school in the Philippines back in 1999. She left, and I missed her terribly. I flew all the way to the Philippines, and when I saw her waiting at my gate, it was like music started playing and everything moved in slow motion. That moment of reunionthat's a glimpse of what atonement feels like. Now imagine that feeling, but between us and God, on an infinitely more profound level.
How Sin Created Our Distance from God
To understand atonement, we must first understand what separated us from God. In the Garden of Eden, God gave a simple command: "Don't eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil." Satan twisted God's words, just as he still does today, making Adam and Eve question what God really meant.
God had warned them clearly: "You must not eat from the tree... for when you eat of it you will surely die" (Genesis 2:17). But they disobeyed, and something profound happened. Genesis 3:7 tells us "the eyes of both of them were opened and they realized they were naked." For the first time, they felt the need to hide from God. Like children with chocolate on their faces denying they ate cookies, they tried to cover up their sin.
Isaiah 59:2 explains the consequence perfectly: "But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear." This separation is the core problem that atonement addresses.
But here's something powerful that we often overlook. Genesis 3:21 says, "The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them." This was the last thing God did before Adam and Eve were sent away from the garden. The first death in history wasn't a punishment, it was a covering. God killed an animal to cover their nakedness, foreshadowing that He would make provision for our sin, but it would not be without cost.
Our Spiritual Bankruptcy Before God
When we talk about our relationship with God, there are four critical truths we must understand:
1. Man Owes a Great Debt to God
You might say, "I don't have any debt. I've watched Dave Ramsey, so I'm good." But spiritually speaking, we're all born into debt. Just as an American infant today inherits about $106,000 of national debt, we inherit a spiritual debt that we had no part in creating but must somehow address.
Romans 3:23 tells us that "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." Romans 5:19 states that "by one man's disobedience many were made sinners." Isaiah 53:6 puts it beautifully: "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all."
And if you think you're the exception, 1 John 1:8 has something to say about that: "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." And verse 10 adds, "If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us."
No matter how well-put-together you appear, no matter how you've figured out how to adjust the rules and work things out to your benefit, we are all lost in our sin without Jesus stepping in on our behalf.
2. Man Must Pay His Debt
Romans 6:23 says, "The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus." A wage is something you earn. If you're working for sin, it means sin is your boss, and what you're earning is death.
God has set before us two options: either your job is sin, and the only payment you can receive is death, or you accept the gift of God, which is eternal life through Jesus Christ. Who in their right mind would choose a wage of death over a gift of eternal life?
God cannot simply overlook the debt we owe. Imagine if those responsible for 9/11 were brought before a judge who said, "You know what? You guys look like you made a mistake, but I'm going to let you off the hook." That would be an awful judge – that would be injustice. In the same way, our God is just. He's a God of love, but He's also a God of justice.
Psalm 45:6-7 tells us, "Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever; a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom. You love righteousness and hate wickedness." His eyes are too pure to look on evil, as Habakkuk 1:13 states: "Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong." God must judge sin because of who He is – perfectly holy and perfectly just.
3. Man Cannot Pay the Debt
Now, I'm not saying there aren't good people out there. I meet many people who don't know Jesus who are incredibly kind – sometimes even kinder than I am! But the goodness that we consider good in human terms is not the kind of good that God requires. The kind of good God is looking for is His own goodness that can only come through Jesus.
Isaiah 64:6-7 states it clearly: "All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away." There's nothing we can do to earn our way to Him.
And James 2:10 reminds us of God's standard: "For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it." Have you ever lied, stolen, cheated, lusted, envied, been greedy, felt hatred, or held unforgiveness? If you've done just one, you're guilty of all, and you will pay.
That's the problem with the gospel message. Nobody likes to hear that "the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life" because we want to say, "I did that!" But salvation doesn't work that way.
Around the world, people try to pay their debt through punishment and suffering. In India, there's a ceremony called the kavadi where people torture themselves, piercing their bodies and hanging heavy objects from themselves, trying to atone for their guilt. As one text says, "The greater the pain, the greater the god-earned merit." In the Philippines, some people are actually crucified on Good Friday in San Fernando, thinking they can pay off their guilt through suffering. One man there said, "After being nailed to the cross, I feel so refreshed, like all my sins are washed away."
But no matter how much you try to pay, you cannot pay this debt. It's a death that can only be paid by one: Jesus, the only one holy enough to please God.
4. In Order for the Debt to Be Paid, God Must Become a Man
This is the power of the incarnation – God becoming flesh to do for us what we could never do for ourselves. The cross is the most unique place in the world because it's where the love of God meets the justice of God. It's the perfect representation of God's love and His justice coming together, with Jesus as the centerpiece of it all.
John 10:11 says, "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep." Jesus came to be our substitute, just like the ram caught in the thicket that Abraham offered instead of Isaac (Genesis 22:13). Jesus carried the weight of our sin, as Isaiah 53:4-6 prophesied: "Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed."
In Revelation 5:2-4, John describes a vision where no one in heaven or earth was found worthy to open a sealed scroll. John "wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy." Only Jesus, the Lamb who looked as if he had been slain, was worthy. He alone had the moral resources to pay our debt.
How Jesus Paid Our Debt in Full
Let me share a story that illustrates the heart of atonement. Robert Coleman writes about a little girl who had an extremely rare disease. The only person known to have survived this disease was her brother. Doctors determined that a blood transfusion from her brother was her only hope.
They asked the little boy, "Johnny, your sister is very sick with what you had. You're the only person known to have survived. Would you give her your blood?" After a moment of silence, the boy agreed.
As they began the transfusion, the doctors noticed the boy was overwhelmed, his lip quivering. When asked what was wrong, the boy looked up and said, "Doctor, how long will it be until I die?"
In that moment, the doctors realized that when they asked Johnny if he would give his blood for his sister, he thought it meant giving his life for her. He had agreed to die for her.
That's what Jesus did for us. We have a disease called sin in our blood, and there's only one person who has the cure in His blood – Jesus. When it came time for someone to pay our debt, Jesus stepped up and said, "I'll do it. I'll do it for all humanity because I love them."
Embracing Your At-One-Ment with God
If you're living distant from God, feeling like you have to earn His love, trapped in guilt and shame, hear this: God wants you to have confidence that He has made you at one with Him again through His Son Jesus.
Romans 5:8-11 says, "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation."
You can go from death to life. You can receive the gift of eternal life today. Will you receive it?
Remembering What It Cost
It's like when you take your kids to an amusement park. You've paid hundreds of dollars for tickets, you've done all this work to get them there, and then they start complaining: "I'm hot. I don't want to stand in line. This is boring." And you want to say, "Shut up! I paid $350 for a single day park pass for you, and you have eight brothers and sisters. You'll enjoy this! Smile for the camera – this is for Instagram!"
The kids don't know the value; they don't know what it cost to get them into the park. In the same way, as believers, we sometimes forget the price that was paid so that we could live the life we live for God. Be reminded of the value, the cost of what was paid so that we could get to where we are.
Don't take for granted the gift that's been given to you. When we stand before God and He demands payment for sin, the debt that must be paid, if you've got Jesus covering you, He will say, "Your sins are taken away. The payment is justified in my Son Christ."
This is atonement. This is being at one with God again. The cost was great, but the reward is eternal.
I hope this message about atonement prepares your heart for Easter. My prayer is that this celebration will draw you closer to Jesus than you've ever been before.
