The majority of professed Christians in the world do not understand the significance of the above verse, due to a wrong understanding of the atonement, and it is my prayer that you will seriously and prayerfully study this page and subject to find out the truth, so that instead of your name being blotted out of the book of life, your sins may be blotted out.
The popular teaching within the churches today says the atonement was finished at the cross and that Christ completed His atoning work for us at Calvary. Those who believe the atonement was finished at the cross, totally ignore the important shadows and types that were setup in Old Testament times, which were to be literally fulfilled in Christ.
I will show you on this page that it was impossible for the atonement to be finished at the cross. And yes, I will deal with the famous words "it is FINISHED" and also what Paul said further down the page.
What does it mean if something is a "shadow"? If you follow a shadow, will it just disappear? No. A shadow is cast by a real object and if you follow that shadow, you will come to the reality. This is what the Old Testament types and shadows were for. They were to bring us to the reality that is in Christ. They were to teach the Jews and us what Christ was going to fulfill. And this is the important point to remember. Christ was to actually fulfill the types and shadows in the Old Testament. Why do you think the Old Testament finished with the command from God to "Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded him." (Malachi 4:4)? Because the types and shadows in the law of Moses teaches us beautiful truths about what Christ was to fulfill. Let's look at the types and shadows concerning sin and making atonement for sin:
SIN OFFERING - Leviticus 4:27-35; Leviticus 4:13-20; Numbers 15:27:28
Let's just think about this for a moment. We can clearly see above what was to happen when a person, or the whole congregation sinned. And remember, the whole congregation bore the sin of one person as shown in Joshua 7, regarding Achan and also Numbers 15:24. Now, was the above 'shadow' and 'type' to be fulfilled in Christ? Yes, no doubt. But let us look at what was involved. The sinner had to offer and slay an 'innocent' animal 'without blemish'. This clearly pointed to the fulfillment in Christ, our perfect 'lamb without blemish' who was slain for us on the cross at Calvary. Now my question is, did it end there? Was that "job done" Did slaying the animal 'make atonement' for the sinner? No. As you can clearly see from the 'shadow' and 'type' in Leviticus and Numbers above, a priest was appointed to then take the blood, transferring the sin to the sanctuary to 'make atonement' for the sinner. The sinner did not receive atonement from just the slaying of the innocent animal. The sinner received final atonement through the WORK of the priest - 'THE PRIEST shall MAKE ATONEMENT."
Do you see this? Remember, a shadow HAS to meet it's REALITY, it does not just disappear. And how many realities are in this picture? 1-Sacrifice offering, 2-Priest to make atonement. There are TWO realities to be fulfilled from the 'shadows' and 'types'. Christ was not just to fulfill the role of sacrifice offering. He was also to fulfill the role of High Priest to make atonement for us.
Leviticus 4:16-17
So the sin offering was made, which pointed to Christ on the cross, but there is something else that happened AFTER the sin was made, which we can see above. The priest was to 'mediate' for that person or congregation, taking the blood into the sanctuary to make atonement for the people. So those who stop at the cross and say Christ's work of atonement was complete are missing the important part the priest played in the 'type', which was also to meet iit's reality in Christ.
So those who believe the atonement was finished at the cross need to ask themselves some serious questions:
1 - The atonement was made by the priest. Who was the appointed priest at Calvary?
2 - The atonement was made in the sanctuary by the priest. Calvary was not the sanctuary.
Now Paul confirms what I am saying on this page without question in the book of Hebrews, chapters 8 and 9. Let us carefully examine what Paul says in the following verses in Hebrews:
Hebrews 8:1-4
Look at what Paul said regarding Jesus being our High Priest. If he were on earth, He COULD NOT be our priest. This means Jesus could NOT be our priest at the same time as when He was our sacrifice on earth. The role of High Priest had to come AFTER His resurrection and ascension to heaven, because as you can also see from Hebrews above, Jesus was to be a "minister of the sanctuary" in heaven, "of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man." So Jesus was to become our High Priest after His sacrifice and return to heaven. But to do what? To fulfill the 'shadow' and 'type' as given in the old covenant - to make atonement for us. Look at Hebrews 9:
Hebrews 9:6-26
As you can see clearly above, Christ entered into the heavenly sanctuary, the TRUE tabernacle of which the earthly was a copy, there to fulfill the role of High Priest, of which the earthly priest was a 'type' of Christ mediating for the people to make atonement for them and their sins with blood. This role Christ could NOT fulfill while on earth. His role on earth was the role of 'offering' and 'sacrifice'. Only AFTER this was accomplished was Christ then able to BECOME our Mediator (1 Timothy 2:5) and make atonement for our sins.
Are I am saying that the sacrifice of Christ on the cross was not the atonement? No. What I am saying, as the Bible clearly lays out, is that Calvary was the BEGINNING of the atonement. The offering of the spotless animal in the Old Testament 'type' was the beginning of the atonement. But it was the priest who completed that atonement for sinners. Jesus dying on the cross was the beginning of His atoning work. Now He is in heaven as our High Priest FINISHING the atonement.
Look at what it says in the last verse of Hebrews 9:26 above. What does it mean where it says "in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin"? To 'put away sin' means to 'cleanse' to 'make clean', 'reconcile', 'purify', 'sanctify' - to ATONE, to make us 'at-one-ment' with God. So clearly, the atonement did not finish at the cross, it began at the cross. And Jesus is now making final atonement for us in the heavenly sanctuary as our High Priest and Mediator before the Father.
TeddyBug, the reason moonlight cites you for name calling is because you scream like a banshee when you receive just a small amount of the kinda name calling you’ve been handing out.
Besides that, you claim you don’t call anyone names who hasn’t called you names (another one of your favorite lies). YET you, like a good hypocrite, call moonlight all kinds of names even though she has never called you a single name. Why don’t you cite a single name she’s called you and I will apologize!
