Atonement, part 1

<p>In order to view atonement from an authoritative biblical stance, it made sense to me to consider it by identifying the following categories:</p><ul><li>How was atonement represented in Israel’s past (the Old Testament, or Tanakh)</li><li>How did Yeshua view his role in that worldview</li></ul><p>This whole ritual on the Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur is a vivid illustration of themes that would have been commonly understood within that culture and that are continually built on in later biblical stories.</p><p>God has ordained that the the symbolic aspect of animal sacrifice in the process of atonement is that its blood is substituted <i>in a representative way</i> for the life of the one presenting the sacrifice. The one offering the sacrifice is essentially saying to God, “My life is now intertwined with the life of this creature which is provided completely to you.” While the offerer continues to live, they have had to provide something of great value to them as a substitute for their own life. This then would become the deterrent to future sin because of the high cost of sacrificing a perfectly good animal which would have had great value to an agrarian family, especially one that was perfectly healthy as it had to be provided without blemish.</p><p>As the primary indicator of atonement, I think it’s most important to see how Yeshua himself viewed his role and mission as it applies to this concept. These include the themes of the Good Shepherd, the Ransom, and as the institution of a new blood covenant.</p><p>The new covenant was not about a new set of instructions; it was about <i>a new location for the existing instructions</i>: on the heart instead of on pieces of stone in a box.</p><p>Jeremiah 31:31-33  – “Look, the days are coming” ​– ​this is Yahweh’s declaration ​– ​”when I will make <strong>a new covenant</strong> with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. This one will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors on the day I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of