What Does Atonement Mean?
Before you start reading this blog post, take a moment and first listen to one of my all-time personal favorite worship songs: Beautiful Scandalous Night by Sixpence None the Richer. This will give you a moment to prepare your heart for what comes next and might bring you to appreciate such a song in a whole new way as one of the keywords found in this song is better understood.
In the song, the lyrics to the chorus are,
At the wonderful tragic mysterious tree
On that beautiful scandalous night, you and me
Were atoned by His blood and forever washed white
On that beautiful scandalous night.
The word “Atoned” is found in this song and a deeper understanding of this word will not only allow you to experience this worship song on a different level but also come to know just how deep, far, wide, and known God’s love for you really is. “Atonement” is defined in the English dictionary as reparation for a wrong one has done. Another way this can be defined, since the actual definition also contains a word in it, “reparation,” that needs defining, is the action of repairing something that has been wronged or broken.
In Christian thought, according to the Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible, atonement is defined as the act by which God and man are brought together in personal relationship. The term is derived from Anglo-Saxon words meaning “making at one,” hence “at-one-ment.” It presupposes a separation or alienation that needs to be overcome if human beings are to know God and have fellowship with him. In scripture, words like reconciliation or forgiveness are sometimes used in substitution depending on the translation to refer to the concept of atonement.
As we look to combine both understood definitions of atonement a few things become clear. First, atonement requires action. Second, you and I broke something that needs repairing or restoring. Third, God has already put action on display to repair, restore, and redeem that which was once lost or broken.
The book of Romans helps us see God’s plan of action (atonement) through his son Jesus Christ.
Romans 3:23-25 says,
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness,
Romans 5:6-8 says,
You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:9-11 says,
Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, while 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 boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
Finally, Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
The narrative we see play out in Romans 3-6 is the beautiful scandal that we sing about when we worship by singing “Beautiful Scandalous Night.”
All of us, you and I included, rejected God (sin) and therefore “broke-up” with God by choosing to no longer be in right relationship with Him. (Rom 3:23-25)
Even though you and I chose to not love God, God still chose to love us. He demonstrated this unconditional love by sending Jesus Christ. (Rom 5:6-8)
When Jesus died on the cross when His blood was shed, it paid the price of sin which was death. A death you and I chose and rightly deserved. You and I were helpless to our situation and could do nothing to change it, but God could, and God did through his son Jesus Christ.
This atonement, this repairing, restoring, redeeming, is a gift – a good gift from God. There is no action required on our end. There is nothing we can do to add or take away from what Jesus did on the cross – atonement. All we can do is receive it by believing in Jesus – who He is and what He did for us – to redeem and restore those who were broken and lost.
By His blood, we were forever washed white.
This happens, to some degree, to people today in different ways. But regardless of how or when it happens, we all typically respond the same way, we gladly accept and receive the kind action. On a small scale, after a night out of fine dining, you run up a high tab or debt that soon the waiter or waitress will come to collect. But when he or she shows up, they inform you that someone has already paid your bill. If this has ever happened to you, what emotions or natural response does it provoke? What if the scale was raised?
Now, you made a series of poor decisions that have placed you in a courtroom awaiting the verdict. You know you are guilty of the crimes committed and the punishment is life in prison or even death. The judge walks in, the hammer smacks the table, he yells, “I have found you guilty!” As you begin to process what just took place, the judge then pauses and tells you that while he was making his decision, a stranger approached his chamber and offered to take your place. The punishment that you deserve and have been found guilty of will fall on this person’s shoulders and you are now free to go.
So, today, how do you respond to that which God has done for you, demonstrated in and through his son Jesus Christ? According to scripture, there are only two ways we can respond. We can either choose to receive this gift from God or reject it.
To receive it, Romans 10:9-13 says,
If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
My hope and prayer are that you would choose to receive the gift of Jesus Christ in your heart and begin to get to know who God is, to be in right relationship with God, the way you were created and designed.
