Christ, the Atoning Sacrifice

April 13, 2025 Background Scripture: 1 John 2:1 - 6; 4:7 - 21 Lesson Passage: 1 John 2:1 – 6; 4:9 - 17 Jesus embodies everything that describes the right relationship between God and mankind. He is God's answer for whatever ails us. The apostles of Jesus declared this throughout their ministry. No doubt, their zeal for ministry was influenced by their belief that Jesus would return for them while they were still living. According to early church history, the author of this letter, the apostle John, outlived the rest. John would have known of their death while understanding their expectation about the timing of Jesus' return. The energy and zeal they had as Christians were emotionally sustainable because they did not expect to have to sustain for very long. On the other hand, what was John's experience as he aged and saw that he would likely die as the others had before Jesus' return? Something else is needed as one lives in this world for an indefinite amount of time with the possibility of Jesus not returning in one's lifetime. Why is something else needed? Because we don't always live as Christians should, Sometimes our minds wander, and we meditate on unholiness. We don't always feel connected with God's presence. Sometimes our prayers seem inadequate. In short, we don't sustain our energy and zeal as Christians. This is resolved when we know that Jesus does more than give us eternal life. Jesus resolves the issues that exist between a holy God and us on a continuous basis. Israel was given a ritual to use when they violated the holiness God required of them—whether it was an individual or the nation. That ritual is known as "atonement". They were taught the type of things, or manner of behavior, that violated God's standard of holiness and therefore caused them to become the enemy of God. When a violation occurred, they knew it disrupted the peace that should exist between God and them. Throughout the year, individuals brought atoning sacrifices to the priest to have the priest go before God with the blood of the sacrifice on their behalf. It is very likely some of the people avoided the embarrassment of doing that. Therefore, the nation was given a set time once a year to set aside a day for the atonement of the nation. The blood of the atoning sacrifice reconciled the people with God and restored God's peace. Christians don't follow the rituals of the Law. For Christians, Christ has fulfilled the Law. Whatever is included in the Law has been fulfilled by Christ. Unlike the apostles of Jesus, we live in a time when most of us don't expect Jesus to return in our lifetime. However, the Holy Spirit in us makes it evident when our spiritual bond with God is disturbed. We know when we have violated holiness and are no longer in communion with God. Anything we do at such a time becomes empty religion. John helps us with this in our lesson today. John wrote to Christians that we may not sin, but he quickly included, "And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ." Sin ruptures the peace between God and His children. Whenever the bond of peace between God and His children is disturbed, the solution is the same as it always has been, we need an atoning sacrifice. Jesus Christ is the atoning sacrifice for Christians. He is our Advocate with the Father. The One who suffered, bled, and died for our salvation pleads with the Father on our behalf. It is Jesus' advocacy that reconciles us with the Father. More than advocacy, Jesus also demonstrated how we ought to live as children of God. The epitome of His example is to love God and walk in love towards our fellow man. For us this is reactionary as we respond to God initiating love towards us. We love God because He first loved us. Also, God's love towards us inspires us to reflect love to our fellow man. Robert C. Hudson March 21, 2025