Chapter 2
Atonement for Sin
Since the fall of mankind in the Garden of Eden, sin has separated man from God. God is a Holy God and He cannot dwell with sin. We saw how God killed an animal to cloth Adam and Eve to hide their nakedness in Genesis 3:21 “Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them.” This can be seen as the first blood atonement for sin. From as early as Cain and Abel did we see sacrificial atonement which is a sacrificial burnt offering unto the Lord. This was usually unblemished lambs or goats but would eventually be bullocks, oxen and even doves. You can read in Genesis 4:
3 “And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. 4 And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering:”
The text does not say that it was for atonement for sin, but it can be understood that it may have been in worship and trust in God. One can see these burnt sacrifices continue as one moves forward to Abraham whom also sacrificed to God. Abraham is first seen building an alter unto the Lord in Genesis 12:
7 “And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him.”
From what can be learned from Abraham and his relationship with God, he was righteous in God’s eyes because of his belief in God.
Genesis 15: 1”After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. 2 And Abram said, Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? 3 And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir. 4 And, behold, the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. 5 And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. 6 And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness.”
Here we see how God never changes. God in both the Old Testament as well as the New Testament declares a man righteous upon that man’s belief in Him or trust in Him. You will see an additional sacrificial offering in Genesis 22. The offering in Genesis 22 was to be an offering of Abraham’s promised son Isaac. This event marked a sign of the sacrificial atonement for mankind that God was to do in the future. For God the Father was to sacrifice His only begotten son as a sin atonement for all of mankind. I thank God for choosing Abraham for this test. For if Abraham had failed, would have God gone forward with His plan? Knowing God is true to His word, we can rest assured that he would have kept His promise to us from Genesis 3:15.
Genesis 22: 9 “And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. 10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. 11 And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. 12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.”
A very interesting sacrificial offering happened in Exodus 18. Here we have Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, offering a burnt sacrifice to God showing his praise and belief in Him. Jethro, the priest of Median, had heard everything that God had done exiling Israel out of Egypt and he became a believer right there. This burnt sacrifice done by Jethro was done before God had given the law to Moses as well as the atonement requirements. Jethro was a gentile and he believed.
Genesis 18: 10 “And Jethro said, Blessed be the Lord, who hath delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of Pharaoh, who hath delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. 11 Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods: for in the thing wherein they dealt proudly he was above them. 12 And Jethro, Moses' father in law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God: and Aaron came, and all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moses' father in law before God.”
Up to this point, it seems that only the true believer in God sacrifices to God in worship and belief. God didn’t expect burnt offerings for any selfish reason as if He had to be worshipped. He had a deeper purpose for these burnt offerings or “blood sacrifices”. The ground work in the beginning laid the habitual sacrificial blood atonement for the future. Israel was brought out of Egypt led by Moses through the total dependency on the power of God to get them out. Israel had grown to, many believe, over a million people and had lived four generations in a pagan culture worshipping the gods of Egypt. God showed them signs that only a real God could perform.
1. Water into blood: Exodus 7:14–25
2. Frogs: Ex. 7:25–8:11
3. Lice: Ex. 8:16–19
4. Flies: Ex. 8:20–32
5. Deceased livestock: Ex. 9:1–7
6. Boils: Ex. 9:8–12
7. Hail Storm of fire: Ex. 9:13–35
8. Locusts: Ex. 10:1–20
9. Darkness: Ex. 10:21–29
10. Death of firstborn: Ex. 11:1–12:36
Now the tenth of the plagues that actually caused the Pharaoh to give in and let Moses free the Jews was the “death of the first born”. This plague was significant and meaningful. God did not want them to forget this one even if they forgot all of the others. God commanded Moses to have the Jews to kill a lamb and brush its blood on the outside door posts and lintel.
Exodus 12: 21 “Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them, Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the Passover. 22 And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning. 23 For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the Lord will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you. 24 And ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons forever.”
Notice how God proclaims this “kill the Passover” in verse 21. They call it the Passover even before the event happened. This obviously is later called the Feast of Passover which is the first of the seven annual Feasts of the Lord. Death passes over their house if their door posts and lintels are covered by the “blood of the lamb”. How symbolic can God be? God has now made two symbolic sacrificial (Isaac and Passover) atonements to Israel reflecting His future redemption for mankind.
Up until the time of Moses, sin was not well known as being written laws to abide in. Mankind had a conscience that told them what was right and wrong. Paul the Apostle makes reference to this in Romans chapter 2.
Romans 2: 14 “For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:
15 Which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)”
As one reads the Old Testament and other books like the Book of Jasher, one can see mankind was very wicked and let themselves be driven by their fleshly desires and evil demonic influences of Satan. Satan, his fallen angels and the demons that roamed the earth, brought in many religions to confuse mankind and give them false security in the worship of false gods. God needed to preserve a people whom would believe in Him and trust in His promises. God needed the nation of Israel to be set apart, separate from the other nations whom were very wicked and worshiped false gods under demonic influences. This would be the only way that He could bring in the messiah and have His plan for redemption accepted. No pagan nation would ever accept a messiah if they had no sense of what sin was and that it is an offense to the one true living God. With the constant attacks by the adversary to stop the messiah from being born, God was able to bring Israel through and to realize that they needed a messiah. God brought Israel out of Egypt and brought them to Mt. Sinai to teach them His laws and commandments.
Once Moses and Israel were led by God to Mt. Sinai, God then commanded Moses to come to Him into the mountain. God made a covenant with Israel to be His Holy nation as an example to the world.
Exodus 19: 3 And Moses went up unto God, and the Lord called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel; 4 Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself. 5 Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: 6 And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.
On this day in the 3rd month on the 3rd day, God brought Moses to Him to give to Israel His laws. God gave His Ten Commandments to Moses in the mountain to bring down to the people of Israel. He actually was bringing the law to the world. The law that was given to the world, brings our inequities to our realization. Romans 7:9 “For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.” The law was not given to save us from God’s wrath, it was to help us to realize that we needed a savior.
Exodus 19: 18 “And Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. 19 And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice. 20 And the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mount: and the Lord called Moses up to the top of the mount; and Moses went up.”
Moses went up on Mt. Sinai and He brought the Ten Commandments down. This day changed the world and how mankind would view how wretched he really is. Mankind would now have a standard; a measuring rod to compare to. The law showed mankind how desperately wicked his heart is. Through man’s failures, the law revealed how impossible it is to uphold this law in order to be right with such a Holy and righteous God.
Exodus 20: 3 “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
6 And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
7 Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
8 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
10 But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.
12 Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
13 Thou shalt not kill.
14 Thou shalt not commit adultery.
15 Thou shalt not steal.
16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor's.”
In bringing the law, God also gave Israel requirements on how to perform the sacrifices for their atonement. This atonement was done in repetition and was in no way a permanent atonement. As soon as someone was atoned for, he would sin within the hour in most cases and be guilty once again. God would see into their hearts to know if they really did believe and trust in Him. Just as Abraham was counted righteous for his belief in God, so would the children of Israel through their obedience and trust in God.
If you read Leviticus 1-7, God revealed His requirements on what formalities were to be taken as the priests performed the sacrifices. There were different types of offerings which required different formalities to be performed. These offerings were burnt offerings, meat offerings, peace offerings, sin (through ignorance) offerings, waive offerings and trespass offerings. Each offering had a different ritual to be performed exactly as the Lord had required. God made a big deal out of this training on the offering to be made unto Him. He made an appearance unto the people after Aaron and His sons performed the first offerings.
Leviticus 9: 1“And it came to pass on the eighth day, that Moses called Aaron and his sons, and the elders of Israel; 2 And he said unto Aaron, Take thee a young calf for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering, without blemish, and offer them before the Lord. 3 And unto the children of Israel thou shalt speak, saying, Take ye a kid of the goats for a sin offering; and a calf and a lamb, both of the first year, without blemish, for a burnt offering; 4 Also a bullock and a ram for peace offerings, to sacrifice before the Lord; and a meat offering mingled with oil: for today the Lord will appear unto you. 5 And they brought that which Moses commanded before the tabernacle of the congregation: and all the congregation drew near and stood before the Lord. 6 And Moses said, This is the thing which the Lord commanded that ye should do: and the glory of the Lord shall appear unto you.”
The excitement of the sacrifice unto the Lord was in the air as they anticipated the appearance of the glory of God. In obedience to what God had commanded, they performed the offerings as God specified, and God kept His promise. How amazing it would be to have the glory of the Lord appear to us. I would shout and fall on my face just like the people of Israel did!
Leviticus 9: 22 “And Aaron lifted up his hand toward the people, and blessed them, and came down from offering of the sin offering, and the burnt offering, and peace offerings. 23 And Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of the congregation, and came out, and blessed the people: and the glory of the Lord appeared unto all the people. 24 And there came a fire out from before the Lord, and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering and the fat: which when all the people saw, they shouted, and fell on their faces.”