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To atone for something means that we do what it takes to satisfy a debt or satisfy a wrong. For example – the criminal needs to atone for his crimes. He needs to do what it takes if he is going to be reconciled with society.

Atonement carries with it two basic concepts – wrong that has been done, and reconciliation or forgiveness.

So now, when we speak of “the atonement” – in a biblical sense – we are speaking of the work Jesus did to reconcile us to God, or the work Jesus did – on our behalf – to satisfy God, or the work Jesus did to gain our salvation.

In a broad sense Jesus’ sinless life, his death, his resurrection are all elements of the atonement because they are all necessary for Jesus is to be our substitute and we are to be reconciled to God. He needed to live a human life in order to be one of us – and a sinless life in order . He needed to die so he could absorb God’s judgment for my sin. He needed to rise from the dead to have complete victory over death.

1 Corinthians 15:3–4 – For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁴ that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures…

In a narrow sense we can understand Jesus’ death on the cross to be the atonement. It was on the cross that Jesus absorbed the wrath of God for my sin. It was on the cross where Jesus did the work that saved me.

Before Jesus came – in the Old Testament – we see the concept of the atonement over and over again.

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The Day of Atonement – described in Leviticus 23

The supreme sacrifice is to take place on the Day of Atonement. It falls on the tenth day of the seventh month, towards the end of September. On this day Aaron, the high priest, makes sacrifices for all the sins of all the people.

The high priest is not to come thoughtlessly or casually into God’s holy presence. He is to lay aside his ornate high-priestly robes, wash himself and dress in linen – the garment of an ordinary priest. It is a sign of humility and purity.

He is to select three animals for sacrifice. One is a bull, which he is to kill for his own sin and the sins of his family. The other animals are goats. He is to cast lots, so that God will decide which goat is to be killed and which is to be sent away into the desert. The goat that is to be killed is a sacrifice for the sins of the people. The goat that is sent away into the desert is the ‘scapegoat’, carrying off the people’s sins so that they are separated from them for ever.

Next the high priest comes out of the tent of meeting to sprinkle blood on the altar. This cleanses and consecrates it afresh for holy use. He also lays his hands on the scapegoat, to heap all the people’s sins on its head, and then banishes it to wander in the desert. Finally, he takes off his linen clothes, washes himself again and puts on his fine high-priestly robes. He completes the sacrifices by offering the bodies of the bull and the goat on the altar, burning them up completely, because they are sin offerings.

The Day of Atonement is to be kept every year. It is a day of rest, like the sabbath, and the people are to deny themselves. This means that they are to fast, to show their sorrow for their sins. It is the most solemn of festivals, and very different from the Feast of Tabernacles, when there is joyful dancing.

By the time of the New Testament the Day of Atonement has become known as ‘the Fast’ (Acts 27:9). Today we know the Day of Atonement by Yom Kippur, which strict Jews keep as one of the holiest days in the year.

For Christians, the Old Testament Day of Atonement was also an image of the day when the perfect and final sacrifice would be made for God’s people. Jesus is the fulfillment of the imagry that is heald in the Day of Atonement. Jesus went into the holy presence of God with his own blood – not needing to make sacrifice for his own sins, but offering his life for the sins of all people (Hebrews 9). Jesus is both the perfect high priest and the perfect sacrifice.¹

Hebrews 10:11–12 – And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God,

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The atonement is the work Jesus did – reconciliation is the result.

Romans 5:10-11 – For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Another word that closely connects to the atonement is propitiation. I’ve talked about propitiation before – it basically means “to absorb God’s wrath” or “to turn away God’s wrath” or “to satisfy God’s wrath”.

Romans 3:25 (NIV) – God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood… (propitiation – ESV)

Hebrews 2:17 (NIV) – For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. (propitiation – ESV)

1 John 4:10 (NIV) – This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. (propitiation – ESV)

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You need to know that at Mars Hill Church penal-substitionary atonement is absolutely central to all that we believe. I would go so far as to say it is at the crux, literally the cross, of what we believe. We do not believe that Jesus was just a decent, moral teacher or enlightened example. We believe he is God who lived the life we have not lived, who died the death we should have died, and who gives the gift that we cannot earn. That he is our penal-substitionary atonement: he died in our place for our sins. That’s why we love him so much. No one has done for us or could ever do for us what Jesus, God become a man, has accomplished at the cross.²

John 10:11 – I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

Mark 10:45 – “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Luke 22:19 – And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

Galatians 2:20 – I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

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Hallelujah – What a Savior

Man of Sorrows! what a name
For the Son of God, who came
Ruined sinners to reclaim.
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Bearing shame and scoffing rude,
In my place condemned He stood;
Sealed my pardon with His blood.
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Guilty, vile, and helpless we;
Spotless Lamb of God was He;
“Full atonement!” can it be?
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Lifted up was He to die;
“It is finished!” was His cry;
Now in Heav’n exalted high.
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

When He comes, our glorious King,
All His ransomed home to bring,
Then anew His song we’ll sing:
Hallelujah! What a Savior!