The Atonement - Part 2

Last time, we defined atonement and talked about its cause. Then I stopped at a question:

"Was there any other way for God to save human beings than by sending his own beloved Son to die in our place?"

Good question. It deserves answering.


Consequent Absolute Necessity

     Before answering this question, it is important to realize that it was not necessary for God to save any people at all. Ever think about that? When we appreciate that "God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgement" (2 Peter 2:4), then we realize that God could also have easily chosen with perfect justice to have left us in that same position. He could have chosen to save no one.

      In this sense, the atonement was not absolutely necessary. But once God, in His love, decided to save some human beings, then many passages in Scipture indicate that there was no other way for God to do this than through the death of His own beloved Son. Hence the subtitle "Consequent Absolute Necessity", as a "consequence" of God's decision to save some human beings, the atonement was absolutely necessary.

     So, let's observe Jesus' words to two disciples on the road to Emmaus (this was after the resurrection). They were sad that Jesus had died, but his response was,

"O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?" (Luke 24:25-26).

    
     Jesus understood that God's plan of redemption made it necessary for the Messiah to die for the sins of his people. How about the writer of Hebrews? What did he think?

"He had to be made like his brethren in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and  faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people"  (Hebrews 2:17).

     The author of Hebrews also argues that since "it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins" (Heb. 10:4), a better sacrifice is required (Heb. 9:23). Only the death of Christ, his blood, would be able to really take away sins (Heb. 9:25-26).

     There really was no other way for God to save us than for Christ to die in our place.

     So Christ lived a perfect life and died as a propitiation for our sins. What does that mean for us? OK, we are forgiven. What does the mean?
     And even more so, what needs as sinners, besides forgiveness of sins, did the atonement meet? Some of those questions will be answered on the next and last post on "The Atonement"...