Category: Substitutionary Atonement

Our Bodies As a Living Sacrifice Romans 12:1-2 Having come to the end of our series on substitutionary atonement, the question now is how should we respond to what we’ve learned? Of course, that should always be the question after studying the Bible. If we don’t apply its truth to our lives, all we’ve done is filled our heads with knowledge. But “the word of Read More

Jesus Christ’s Atoning Sacrifice Romans 3:21-26 Up until now, this series has covered only passages from the Hebrew Scriptures on the subject of substitutionary atonement. We have looked at how, from the very entrance of sin into the world, God had a plan to bring people back into a right relationship with Him. He gave His people many pictures of substitutionary atonement to foreshadow the Read More

Messiah’s Sacrifice Prophesied Isaiah 52:13-53:12 We have already seen in this series how from the very onset of sin, God had instilled in the hearts of His children the hope of a coming savior. Through prophecy and visual typology, He revealed that this savior would die bearing the sins of the world, defeating Satan and obtaining reconciliation for sinful people with their holy God. This Read More

The Sacrifice of Bulls and Goats Leviticus 1-7, 16 When I read Leviticus, I often find myself making faces. All the gory details about the animal sacrifices are, well, icky. (I can use that word since I have small children, right?) We are so far removed culturally from the Levitical sacrificial system that it almost seems barbaric. However, it was of critical importance under the Read More

The Sacrifice of the LORD’s Passover Exodus 12   The Passover in Exodus is one of the clearest pictures of substitutionary atonement in the Hebrew Scriptures, specifically of the substitutionary atonement provided for you and me through Messiah Yeshua on the cross. Please journey through this with me to see (or to be reminded of) how Jesus is our Passover Lamb. It is amazing! The Setting Read More

Image Courtesy of National Gallery of Art, Washington   The Sacrifice of Isaac Genesis 22:1-16 The Background Imagine this: After a lifetime of infertility, you receive a promise that your offspring will comprise a great nation. You might hope. Imagine waiting year after year for a child to fulfill the promise and year after year failing to conceive. You might doubt. Then, imagine twenty-four years Read More

Introduction: Substitutionary Atonement Substitutionary Atonement, a key theme in the Bible, involves three parties: the transgressor, the transgressed, and the substitute. The substitute (though innocent) takes the punishment that the transgressor (though guilty) deserves, in order to restore him to right standing before the transgressed. Here it is in biblical terms:  God is holy (Isaiah 6:3). “All have sinned and fall short of the glory Read More