ATONEMENT
But how does the
Atonement enter our lives here and now? How is it actuated? How does it take root
in our souls? Insights are to be discovered in the root words of biblical Hebrew
which are translated as covenant.
To Cover
Atonement means to cover or
hide. It also carries the idea of washing or rubbing off, obliterating, or
taking away one’s guilt, which flows away in a stream. Hence the efficacy and appropriateness
of water baptism and washings. We are to die to the old man and become new.
To Pacify or Make
Propitiation
In verb form, kippur—“atonement”—means
to pacify or make propitiation. Anciently, one meaning was to dimmish the wrath
of the king, as if he would now turn away or hide his face from the known
transgressor. The word sacrament carries a related idea of saluting or
paying tribute to the monarch. So we are commanded to bring to the table of the
Lord and offering, that of a broken heart and a contrite spirit, in response to
his propitiation, and thus avail ourselves of the Spirit of Christ.
To Ransom
Atonement can mean ransom; that
is, to pledge oneself or one’s possessions on behalf of another. The ransomed
one is then delivered from imprisonment, or even from capital punishment. Hence
it is appropriate that there be covenant-requirements for the followers of
Christ, to serve in his image by sacrifice, and to bring our possessions to his
altar in consecration.
To Cleanse the
Sanctuary
Anciently, the high
priest, representing the whole house of Israel, entered the sanctuary of the
temple. This was once a year on Yom Kippur, the day of atonement. The record of
the uncleanness and transgressions of the people was believed to have
accumulated within the Holy of Holies. The high priest entered, spoke the
sacred name of God, and if repentance of the people was genuine and they
therefore had a “good inscription” in the Lord’s book of life, then both the
sanctuary and the people were cleansed. Otherwise, they and their temple would
be rejected.
The book of Hebrews
identifies this ancient rite with the role of Christ as our high priest. He
alone is fully worthy to enter the house of the Lord are extended to all the
Saints. In the temple, in a full-scale covenant relationship, the atonement of
Christ may be written, as it were, in our very flesh, as the prophet Jeremiah
prophesied: “But this [shall be] the covenant that I will make with the house
of Israel; after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward
parts, and write in their hearts, and will be their God, and they shall be my
people” (Jeremiah 31:33) (meaning the very center of us, our hearts).
All of these variations
on the meaning of atonement have one thing in common: the restoration or
reinstatement of a relationship that has been strained or broken.
(Truman G. Madsen, “The
Suffering Servant,” in The Redeemer: Reflections on the Life and Teachings
of Jesus the Christ [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2000], 232-34)
