ATONEMENT, Daily Devotion, Sunday, March 3, 2013

SUNDAY, MARCH 3, 2013

29 Days to Resurrection Sunday

Romans 3:25 “…a propitiation through faith in his blood…”

SCRIPTURE READING: ROMANS 3:19-27

19 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.

20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;

22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:

23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:

25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;

26 To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

27 Where is boasting then? It is excluded.

REFLECTION:  Every year, one day only—the Day of Atonement, the high priest of the Jewish Church would ceremonially cleanse himself, prayerfully seek after God, obediently sacrifice a lamb without blemish, carefully tie a rope around his ankle, worshipfully pass through the veil (an ornate curtain) that separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies (that inner chamber of the Jewish Temple), and fearfully approach the Ark of the Covenant , the one and only furnishing in the room.

In Exodus we read that this Ark was to be 5 feet long 3 feet wide and 3 feet tall.  It was to be plated with gold.  A golden cover was placed on the Ark.  Fastened to the cover were two carved, gold plated cherubim.  These angel-like beings faced each other.  Their large wings touched.  Between them was the shekhinah glory, the visible manifestation of God’s glory.

At the feet of the cherubim, on the cover of the Ark of the Covenant, there was a place called the “Mercy Seat.”  It was there that the High Priest reverently sprinkled the blood of the perfect sacrifice to atone for the sins of the people. 

Should the High Priest die, perhaps from natural causes, or because he touched the Ark, no one could enter the Holy Place to remove his body.  The rope tied around his ankle was used to pull him away from the ark and out of the Holy of Holies.

In the New Testament we learn that the Jesus Christ is not only our High Priest, but He also is our sacrifice.  He not only approaches God in our behalf, but He gave of his own blood, for our redemption.  “God hath set forth [Christ Jesus] to be a propitiation.” The word we translate “propitiation” is hilasteerion.  Literally this is “the mercy seat.”

Just as faith in the blood of the Old Testament sacrifices would atone for the sins of Israel, so faith in the blood of Jesus Christ now atones for the sins of “whosoever will.” 

What sins are forgiven and washed away by the blood?  “Sins that are past,” the Apostle explicitly teaches.  Not “past, present, and future,” as some erroneously report. 

And now what is become of the repentant man who believes in Christ, and Christ alone for salvation?  God declares him “just”—or holy.  But there is more.  God makes him “just”—or holy.  He is both “just’ and the “justifier.”  He now calls us “just” for one reason only: we have been “made just” or “justified,” through His blood.  PRAISE GOD FROM WHOM ALL BLESSINGS FLOW!

PRAYER:  Our Father in Heaven,  Once again we come before the Mercy Seat.  We thank you that,

“From every stormy wind that blows,
From every swelling tide of woes,

There is a calm, a sure retreat;

‘Tis found beneath the mercy seat.”

What a glorious day this is.  We live in the day of grace.  We live in a day of mercy.  We live in a day when the love of God has been so abundantly shown.  We pray that today the glory of your presence would indwell our hearts and shine through to a world that so desperately needs to see you.  May our lives be a benediction to all we touch with our example, our words, and our spirit.

In the strong name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.  “Our Father. &c.”