Topical Studies
What the Bible says about
Atoning Blood of Christ
(From Forerunner Commentary)
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Exodus 12:5-7
When the Israelites did this, it marked their first actual involvement in what God was doing other than giving mental assent to His works. In the analogy to New Testament theology, this act is tantamount to accepting the blood of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and it symbolizes the protection from death through forgiveness God Himself supplied. Repentance is not symbolized in this analogy until Israel left Egypt. But does Egypt represent sin? Only indirectly. Egypt represents the place of our bondage, the location in which we commit our sins. In the analogy, sin is something we leave behind when we accept the blood of Jesus Christ. What did Israel leave behind in Egypt that represents sin? Remember that each Israelite who came out of Egypt represented over 400 years of Israel living in Egypt. Though they were slaves there, they lived in the area that Pharaoh describes in Genesis 47:6 as being the best land in Egypt. We know from Exodus 12 that they had houses because God told them to remain in their houses overnight. Those homes had furnishings, and just like any other family that has lived in one place for a long time, they had generations of family heirlooms. They were not wealthy, but they had all the trappings of home. They had family "treasures" that belonged to great-grandma or great-grandpa and been handed down to the generation of the exodus. Now they were about to leave. If we were in that situation, what would we take, and what would we leave behind? We have hundreds of possessions: houses, automobiles, furniture, pots and pans, pictures, mementos, figurines, knick-knacks, clothing—all kinds of things. What the children of Israel left behind—it does not matter what it was—represented sin. When we accept the blood of Jesus Christ and repent, we choose at that point to leave things behind that will hold us back on our journey to the Kingdom of God. They literally took with them only what they could carry. Some of them may have had some carts, but even so, they could take only a fraction of what they possessed. They did not do any sacrificing in the wilderness because they even had too few animals to sacrifice. What they left behind, all their excess baggage, represents sin. In Hebrews 12:1, Paul says to get rid of "the sin which so easily ensnares us" so that one can run the race—and that is what these people did. They left behind anything that would hold them back from reaching the Promised Land, their "sins."
John W. Ritenbaugh
Unleavened Bread and Pentecost
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Isaiah 64:6-7
The truth of the matter is found in the context, which extends into the next book, Jeremiah. The writings of the prophet Jeremiah, who began his ministry many years after Isaiah finished his, follow Isaiah's because of chronology. From Isaiah's time to Jeremiah's, there was no break (with the exception of King Josiah) in the downward slide of the people of Judah. A significant portion of Jeremiah chronicles the endless and increasingly perverse sins of the nation. The following book, Lamentations, the sequel to Jeremiah, is a series of dirges, some in acrostic form, written as if it were liturgy for a national funeral. The introduction to Lamentations in the Septuagint (a Greek translation of the Old Testament) depicts Jeremiah sitting and weeping over God's recent destruction of Jerusalem due to the sins of her citizens. Thus, he is known in some circles as the Weeping Prophet. The "righteousness"—if it can be called that—found in the nation of Judah was, in God's sight, as filthy rags. This is the context of Isaiah 64:6-7. That being said, describing a true Christian's righteousness as filthy rags ignores an enormous amount of instruction throughout the Bible that requires God's people to be holy. Notice, for instance, how the apostle Paul describes Christ's view of His church: Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. (Ephesians 5:25-27) If we are not individually holy, we will not "see the Lord," Paul warns in Hebrews 12:14. Of course, our human nature taints our feeble efforts at righteousness, which are thus unacceptable to God. But when we are converted and justified, the righteousness of Jesus Christ becomes our righteousness by His blood covering our sins and Him dwelling in us through His Spirit (Isaiah 54:17; Romans 8:10; I Corinthians 1:30; II Corinthians 5:21; Ephesians 4:23-24; Philippians 1:11; 3:9; Hebrews 8:14; 10:10, 19-22). So Isaiah 64:6-7 should not be taken out of context to apply to converted Christians. The prophet uses the phrase "our righteousnesses are like filthy rags" to describe the horrid depths of sin committed by the people of his day, when they should have known better.
Mike Fuhrer
Always Check the Context
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Matthew 18:21-27
This servant owed the king 10,000 talents—an immense and practically uncollectible amount, likely in the millions of dollars or beyond in today's value—which we might liken to the enormous and unpayable debt that we, as servants before our eternal King, have accrued. Whenever we sin, even after we are converted, we come under the death penalty until we repent. Upon our repentance, we receive forgiveness through the blood of Jesus Christ, and the death penalty is removed. The atoning blood of Christ is a very precious commodity—capable of paying for all the sins of humanity. Such forgiveness is the reason we need to find and maintain the proper perspective regarding the enormous price continuously being paid—the colossal debt being forgiven—on our behalf.
Austin Del Castillo
The Prisoner
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Hebrews 2:17
Hilaskomai (Strong's #2433) is a verb translated as “be merciful” in Luke 18:13 and “to make propitiation for” in Hebrews 2:17. A gracious and merciful judge must, by definition, be willing to be gracious or to be made gracious. From before the foundation of the world, God the Father and the Word, who would become Jesus Christ, painstakingly prepared and executed a perfect plan that allows for both the demands of the law and the Father's holiness to be satisfied. Jesus Christ's propitiatory sacrifice became the payment for all of mankind's sins. This perfect plan allows God the Father to display His grace (Psalm 86:15; 145:8-9) and to be mercifully reconciled (hilaskomai) to His repentant creation (Ephesians 2:4-5)—but only through the blood of His only begotten Son (John 3:16).
Martin G. Collins
What Is Propitiation? (Part Two)
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