How Far Did Christ Atonement Reach
The priestly work of Christ, in which He offered Himself up as a sacrifice for our sins and reconciled us to God, is commonly called the atonement; the Bible calls it the doctrine of the atonement for all who will be redeemed. That doctrine is at the very heart of what is taught in the Word of God.The obedience and death of Christ on behalf of sinners is the ground of redemption.
The atonement of Christ reaches out to the whole world, Jews and Gentiles. His atonement reaches from Adam to the end of the ages; Sin and death entered into this world through Adam, but in Christ all shall be made alive (1 Corinthians 15:2) “Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.”
In the old sacrificial system, the high priests from the Levites had to make animal sacrifices on each Day of Atonement. In (Hebrews 9:6-7) “Now when these things had been thus prepared, the priests always went into the first part of the tabernacle, performing the services. But into the second part the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the people’s sins committed in ignorance..;” Christ is the atonement for mankind’s sins and he had to only do it once for all ages, not like the Priest who had to offer animal sacrifices once a year. Jesus only had to die once, because His atonement had an eternal effect, which reached out to all mankind’s sins through all the ages. He shed his own blood, secured eternal redemption once and for all, where sacrifice of animals had limited effect (Hebrews 10:5-18).
Christ work of atonement reaches out to all sinners so that they could live in Him, who died and rose for them, and not in themselves(2 Corinthians 5:15). "and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again." Since salvation was purchased for us by the suffering and death of Christ and since that suffering and death is symbolized by the blood, it is but natural that both the Old and the New Testament should mention the blood. There are many who have tried to gain salvation by other methods, by church membership, good resolutions, good works, etc., only to find that such methods invariably end with no success. The New Testament writers continually declare that the effectiveness of Christ's work is to be attributed to His death, His blood, His cross and through receiving His atonement personally for ourselves.
In the 13th chapter of Hebrews the writer likens Christ death to sin offering of the Old Testament. Christ died to sanctify people from their sins through his blood. He died and extended his atonement to save sinners of the world. Jesus suffered, died on an old rugged cross, for all guilty sinners. (John 1:9) “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Jesus was able to extend his atonement to everyone, because in Him there was no sin. He was the only perfect divine and human sacrafice that has or will ever walk this earth, so therefore He could bring atonement to the world for all the sins of every person, and extend salvation to all mankind through his death , burial and resurrection. (1 John 2:2) “My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
Christ suffered for all sinners and paid the price for all sinners which was death (Romans 6:23) “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
In conclusion Christ atonement extends through the ages from Adam to all sinners in the world. Christ paid for all sins of mankind, He took the sinners place of punishment, and reached out to the whole world to redeem mankind. God’s grace, love and salvation through his atonement gives sinners the privilege to receive Jesus Christ as their personal Savior by grace through faith. (Ephesians 2:8) “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:”
Christ made it possible for sinners to be justified to God through his atonement. As stated previously, in the Old Testament sacrificial system, animals had to be sacrificed on the Day of Atonement. However in the dispensation of grace, Christ died one time, once for all for Jews and Gentiles. Even though Christ has made this atonement possible, and extended it to all sinners, sinners must accept it, believe in Christ, repent of their sins, and invite Jesus Christ to come in their heart. The sad thing is that Christ has extended his atonement to all sinners, but not all have or will accept Him and become justified to God and experience this atonement. He suffered for all sinners, paid for the punishment for all sinners of all ages, so sinners could be justified with God, and receives the wonderful free gift of eternal life. However, Christ warned that many would reject Him. Many still go on rejecting Him, but thank God for those that receive the Savior. Those that do receive Christ, and realize that Christ’s atonement has reached out to them, will receive the joy of the Lord (Romans 5:11) “And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.”
Bro Larry
