Here’s a good rule of thumb to go by in order to understand how blood atonement works in Scripture.
Burn the following statement into your brain:
…ONLY INNOCENT BLOOD CAN ATONE FOR SIN.
There are a lot of Bible teachers out there who teach that during Bible times when a murderer was executed for his crime, his death served as the just and righteous atonement for the life he took.
That is NOT true.
The blood of a guilty person can NEVER atone.
Now some of you might think I’m contradicting what I said yesterday when I said that the price a criminal would have to pay for committing a capital crime would be his life.
When I said that I meant that the blood of GUILTY is required by the Lord as reparation.
Remember…
…”For the wages of sin is death…“
A murderer paying the price for the life he took ain’t the same thing as atonement.
Why do I say that?
For two reasons.
FIRST, only the blood of the innocent can atone for crimes that HASHEM has decided can be atoned for and thus would allow the guilty person to live.
SECOND, repentance is the other essential ingredient needed for the atoning sacrifice to even have any effect.
The formula goes like this:
Repentance + Atoning Agent = Forgiveness
A murderer can be be executed for the many lives he took and still remain unrepentant.
In fact, we see this very thing happening all the time.
Do you really think all ten of the Nazi military leaders who were hanged after the Nuremberg trials repented for the horrible sins they committed against the Lord’s chosen people during WWII?
I highly doubt it.
The same goes for the Japanese war criminals.
In fact, there’s still a major shrine in Tokyo (called YASUKUNI JINJA) that still honors the dead of those who were classified as war criminals by the rest of the world.
Even to this day, to the rage of the neighboring countries (China and Korea) where unspeakable horrors and atrocities were committed, prominent Japanese leaders still visit this shrine to pay homage to the war criminals.
My point is the act of a criminal being executed for his murdering does NOT constitute atonement for what he did.
Recall from our studies in Leviticus that when a worshipper placed his hands on the sacrificial animal (called SEMICHAH) before it was killed, this symbolized a transfer of guilt from the worshipper to the animal.
Afterwards, when the animal’s blood was spilled, it served as a SUBSTITUTE for the required payment to the Lord AND…
…the spilled blood of the innocent animal ATONED for the guilty party if the sinner was REPENTANT.
The Levitical sacrificial system wasn’t an automatic forgiveness vending machine.
Again, minus repentance your sacrifice meant nothing to the Lord.
“Whoever conceals their sins
does not prosper,
but the one who confesses
and renounces them finds mercy.”
-Proverbs 28:13
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.”
-Matthew 3:8
“Repent, then,
and turn to God,
so that your sins may be wiped out,
that times of refreshing
may come from the Lord.”
-Acts 3:19
From that time on,
Yeshua began proclaiming,
“Repent of your sins and turn back to God,
for the Kingdom of Heaven is near!”
-Matthew 4:17
“For John came to you to
show you the way of righteousness,
and you did not believe him,
but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did.
And even after you saw this,
you did not repent and believe him.”
-Matthew 21:32
“So watch yourselves.
“If your brother or sister
sins against you,
rebuke them;
and if they repent,
forgive them.
-Luke 17:3
He told them,
“This is what is written:
The Messiah will suffer and rise
from the dead on the third day,
and repentance for the forgiveness of sins
will be preached in his name to all nations,
beginning at Jerusalem.
You are witnesses of these things.
-Luke 24:46-48
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