Atonement or Redemption?

A little important theology today. I've noticed from time to time that there is a little confusion about the idea of atonement. In the Old Testament, "atonement" refers to the covering of sins by, for example, an animal sacrifice. Because of this, we tend to think of our sins under the New Covenant as being "covered". Nothing could be further from the truth.

Merely "covering" a sin meant that the sin was not taken away, that it was almost literally "swept under the rug" to be dealt with in the future. This meant two things:

1. The sin still had to be dealt with.

Hebrews 10:4 says, "For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins." So it was only "covered" for a time. Only when the New Covenant in the blood of Jesus Christ was enacted by the Cross, were these "covered" sins of the Old Testament saints finally dealt with, retroactively, being "taken away" by their Messiah, Who took those sins upon Himself, exchanging it for His righteousness.

2. The sacrificial "covering" had to be repeated over and over (literally ad nauseum, if you can imagine rivers of blood from the sacrifices).

Only the past sins of Old Testament saints were "covered" by blood sacrifices. So there was no end to the rivers of blood. Over and over and over, as new sins were committed, the sacrifices had to be repeated.

But praise God, when the final Sacrifice was made by the Lamb of God on the cross, all the sins (past, present and future) of all the Saints of all time were "taken away", replaced by the righteousness of God, Who will "remember their sins no more", Hebrews 8:12.

In Theology this is called the "Substitutionary Atonement", and there's where the confusion comes in. "Atonement" here is, I believe, a bad choice of word, since it's not a "covering" as in the Old Testament. Thank God, He has taken away our sins "once for all" (Hebrews 7:27; 9:12; 10:10; 1Peter 3:18)!

That means your sins are forgiven. All of them. Past, present, and future, if you are a born-again child of God. No need for condemnation or questioning God's love for you, or wondering if your sins will ever be "uncovered". They can't be, because they never were "covered", they were taken away! Redemption, not atonement.

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Our New Internet Radio Program

A blessed opportunity has come our way. Starting today, I will be doing a weekly 15-minute Internet radio program called "Grace For Life". It will broadcast once a week on Grace Walk Radio (www.gracewalk.org).

[Note: Gracewalk Radio has since been discontinued by Gracewalk Ministries, but archives to my broadcasts are still available at http://www.graceforlife.com/radio.html]

As of this writing, it will be on Tuesdays, but I found out that one of the unique things about Internet radio is that it's almost impossible to set a fixed time of day for a pre-recorded program. So we are archiving the programs on this Grace For Life web site at www.graceforlife.com/radio.html "for your listening convenience" :)

Take a listen, and come on back.

We appreciate your prayers for the new radio program, and for this web site. Thanks!

Listen to "Grace For Life" Radio Program.

What Is A Christ-Centered Life?

Here's a quote from John Reisinger's fine series on Ecclesiastes, from www.soundofgrace.com :

"One of the tragic mistakes that people commit is to think that alcohol, drugs, and pornography have produced the wicked society in which we currently live. It is actually the other way around. Our society has produced those things as essential means to kill the pain of an empty and futile life. If our culture, believing as it does, did not have drugs, booze and unbridled sex as distractions, it would finally find suicide the only acceptable option."

Wow. Seeing Solomon try to find the right "thing" to center his life around can't help but make a Christian thirsty to have a Christ-centered life. But what does that mean?

As important as it is to "preach Christ", there is more to being Christ-centered.

No matter how much we learn about Christ from His Word;
no matter how many verses we memorize;
no matter how diligently we "study to show ourselves approved, workmen who don't need to be ashamed, cutting straight the Word";
no matter how much we "preach Christ and Him crucified";
no matter how heartily we "serve" Him...
we will still have missed it...if we don't

--spend time with Jesus,
--commune with Him,
--walk with Him,
--talk with Him,
--bask in His presence,
--gaze on Him
--enjoy Him,
--accept His acceptance of us,
--love Him as our Beloved, and
--believe the incredible truth that we are His Beloved.

Then we are along the road to being Christ-centered.

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Man, Movement, or Monument?

Here's a terrific slice of an article from an online friend, Joe Terrell. In addition to being Pastor of Grace Community Church, Rock Valley, Iowa, Joe is a blessed hymn writer. Here's the article slice:

"Preaching Christ will deliver us from becoming a mere religious movement. Someone once said that all organizations go through three stages: "The Man (who founded it), the Movement (an organization that carries on under the momentum the man generated), and the Monument (a dead organization which may bear the name of the founder but has little or no connection to him or his vision.)

"The only thing that preserves the church from such a fate is that 'the Man,' (in this case, the Man, Christ Jesus) is continually revealing Himself from generation to generation. This revelation is accomplished through the preaching of Christ. When Christ is preached, the Spirit of God takes those things of Christ, shows them to His elect and a new generation is joined to Christ.

"When Christ is preached, we are never dependant on the momentum of one generation to carry the work of the gospel into the next generation. When Christ is preached, every generation is a brand new work, full of the vitality and energy of the Man who founds it, the Lord Jesus Christ." -- by Joe Terrell, www.rvgrace.com

Thought you'd enjoy that.

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