Three Pictures In Atonement Series

Three Pictures In Atonement - Captain Moy Hernandez, Jr.

Leviticus 16:1-34

We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ has, by His suffering and death, made an atonement for the whole world so that whosoever will may be saved.

We wanted to make sure that as we continue our Sunday to Sunday study of God’s word that we do not neglect our sermon series on Salvation Army Doctrines that we began back in January of this year.

As you may recall in January we started with doctrine 1 which affirmed our belief that the scriptures of the Old and New Testament are given to us all by the inspiration of God.

In February we cover doctrine 2 and spoke about the only one and infinite God who is the creator of all things.

Then in the month of March we covered doctrine 3 concerning the trinity of God the father, including God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. And how they are the same but yet individually from one another.

After that in the month of April we covered doctrine 4 which speaks of Jesus divinity and humanity being joined in his very person, making him truly God and truly man!

Two months ago on mother’s day we spoke about our first parents in doctrine 5 and how it is that through them we have all become totally depraved and exposed to the wrath of God because of our sins.

Last month due in part to some scheduling issue we were not able to cover our 6th doctrine, but in an attempt to catch up today and next week we will be covering doctrines 6 and 7.

Now as we just mentioned doctrine five reminds us that we are lost and that we deserved every wrath that may come our way from God.

But yet in doctrine number 6 we learn that God has

chosen not to expose us to that thing which we all so deserved, but in His mercy his has sent His only son to make atonement for us all.

Doctrine 6 reads as followed: We believe that our lord Jesus Christ has by His suffering and death made atonement for the whole world, so that whosoever will may be saved.

But what is atonement? Atonement simply put is a payment, a provision that we cannot make for ourselves. In other words our destiny was perdition and eternity in hell, but yet Jesus through great SUFFERING and even a sacrificial DEATH paid our price.

The apostle John, wrote in his Gospel in John 3:16 - "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life".

And that same apostle in the book of revelation writes in Revelation 13:8 that, Christ the lamb of God "was slain from the creation of the world". In fact John 15:13 states that Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.

Before God even created the world, before He set the stars in place, Before He breathed the breath of life into the nostrils of man, God knew that mankind would fall, He knew that mankind would sin and rebel against Him and even then Jesus destiny as our atoning savior was set in motion.

Try to understand his amazing love towards us that even knowing this He carries on with our creation. God planned and God set in motion, the means for mankind’s redemption.

The scriptures are clear that the atonement for sin, the

payment for sin is death and can only be paid through the blood of a sacrificial lamb.

God’s plan would dramatically unfold throughout the years of human history, and at just the right time, at just the right moment in human history, God came and dwelt with man, to make atonement for, and to redeem fallen men. That is you and me!

Today, we are going to study, The Day of Atonement, which is described in detail for us in the 16th chapter of Leviticus; in the sincere hope that we will gain a clearer insight into this most valuable sixth doctrine of our Salvation Army Church.

In this chapter of Leviticus, God the master painter takes out the canvas, the paint, and the brush of His Word. And, as He skillfully blends the colors, which make up this masterpiece, the words of the 16th chapter come to

life on the canvas. As He dips His brush, for that last and final stroke of red, the heart of God is heavy, and a tear rolls down the cheek of the Almighty God, as the colors, as the shadows, and as the images on the canvas, tear at His heart bringing to his mind, the great suffering that His own Son would one day endure.