Romans 5:11 And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.
The atonement is the reconciliation made by Jesus Christ our Lord in His death, burial and resurrection. When we think of salvation, we must begin where salvation begins and that is with the love of God. Salvation doesn’t begin at a revival meeting nor at the end of a church service. It began with the love of God. John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. It was God the Father who first loved. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the reconciliation began with the love of the Father toward wretched sinners. There could have been no other way.
Christ came to redeem those that the Father had loved (John 17:23-24) and chosen. That was the purpose of Christ’s coming to this Earth. But why did he have to come? What was the point? The choosing of individuals unto salvation doesn’t reconcile them, for God is holy and just and sin must be dealt with. We are born sinners, guilty and separated from God. That sin must be dealt with because God cannot let the sinner go free. He cannot allow sin to go unpunished.
Imagine that you were robbed of all your earthly possessions and a thief stole your information and drained your retirement savings down to nothing. They catch the criminal and haul him into court and the judge looks at him and says “Never mind, you can go free. You have done more good in your life than evil.” Why, you’d be furious! You would rightly say that it was unjust. You would demand justice for the crime. God is just. God would not be a good judge if He let crimes slide. Sin is far worse because sins are crimes against the eternal, holy God. His justice and His holiness demand that sin be punished. If you are banking on God letting you slide because you have done good, you are banking on God to go against His holy nature.
How can any be saved? There must be a sacrifice to atone for sin so that there can be reconciliation between a guilty sinner and holy God. And it can only be a sacrifice that God approves that will be sufficient for the crimes. God tells us that it must be a blood sacrifice. The Bible is a bloody book. Rivers of blood were shed in the offering of animal sacrifices in the Old Testament, but it was never able to remove the stain of sin. But Christ came and offered Himself. He did not offer the blood of other animals, but His own precious blood (Heb 9:24-28). There is no other sacrifice that is sufficient to reconcile the sinner to God, and His blood can make the vilest sinner clean.
The Atonement
