“The Atoning Sacrifice for Our Sins”
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ. Amen. Our text is the last verse of today’s Epistle Reading from the second
chapter of 1st John: “He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for
ours, but also for the sins of the whole world.” You won’t find the word “atone”—A-T-O-N-E—in the King James Version of
the Bible. That’s because in 1611, when the King James Version was
translated into English, “atone” as we know it hadn’t yet become a word.
They were still using the original spelling of this English word, which was
actually two words: A-T (space) O-N-E—“At one.” That’s actually what the
English word “atone” originally meant: to be “at one,” to take some action which
brings two parties together, making them “at one” with each other. That is what Jesus Christ has done for you: “He is the atoning
sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for the sins of the
whole world.” Because of our sin, we were separated from God. As Isaiah says,
“Your iniquities have separated you from your God . . . For your hands are
stained with blood and your fingers with guilt. Your lips have spoken lies
and your tongue mutters wicked things . . . Your deeds are evil deeds . .
. Your thoughts are evil thoughts.” Because of our sin, we deserve to be separated from God for all
eternity, separated from God in hell. “Depart from me, you evildoers, into
the eternal fire.” On the trip Terese and I took to Germany last summer to visit sites
related to Martin Luther, another really interesting thing to see was the former
Berlin Wall. Out of the hundreds of miles that once totally separated the
city there’s only about a mile remaining, left standing as a memorial. In Ephesians, St. Paul says about Jesus: “He himself is our peace, who
has . . . destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility.” Like the
historic breaking down of that physical barrier separating a city, Jesus Christ
has broken down the barrier separating you from God, the spiritual barrier of
sin. In 2nd Corinthians, St. Paul explains how Jesus reconciled you, made
you “at one” with your heavenly Father: “God was in Christ reconciling the
world unto himself, not counting men’s sins against them.” Because Jesus
paid for your sins with his life and death, you are forgiven; God does not count
your sins against you. Because Jesus rose from the dead, you are
justified, made right in the sight of God. “He is the atoning sacrifice
for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for the sins of the whole world.” St. Paul says in Romans, “God presented him as a sacrifice of
atonement, through faith in his blood.” Trust in the saving power of
Jesus’ blood for your forgiveness and salvation. Through Jesus’ blood and
merit, you are at peace with God. The sacrifice of Jesus atones for your
sins, the sacrifice of Jesus makes you “at one” with God. St. Paul puts it so beautifully in Colossians: “For God was pleased to
have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile all things unto
himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through
his blood, shed on the cross.” That’s the Good News of Easter: God is not
angry with you; you are at peace with God through your Lord Jesus Christ.
“He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for
the sins of the whole world.” What does it mean to “atone”? To take some action which brings
two parties together, making them “at one” with each other. That is what
Jesus Christ has done for you, by his atoning sacrifice, reconciling you to God,
making you “at one” with your heavenly Father. Return to Top | Return to Sermons | Home | Email Church Office
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