August 28, 2005

Cawson St. Church of Christ

Hopewell, Virginia

Mural Worthey

 

Atonement Money

 

Introduction

 

   Atonement and reconciliation come from the same Greek word, katallage.  In the NT, it occurs in the following places: Rom. 5:11, Rom. 11:15, 2 Cor. 5:18, 19.

 

   “Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation (NIV) or atonement (KJV).”  (Rom. 5:11.)  Paul wrote that God had given to the apostles the ministry of reconciliation.  (2 Cor. 5:18, 19.)

 

   Perhaps, surprisingly, the word atonement occurs far more often in the OT.  We are familiar with the Day of Atonement, the blood atonement for sin, and the priests who offered the animals for atonement for Israel.  But one description in the OT that seems contradictory is atonement money.  We know that the blood of the sacrifices were shadows offered temporarily until Jesus was offered on the cross.  But why was atonement money given and what was done with it?  There is an interesting story in the OT about the tabernacle and atonement money.

 

OT Atonement Money

 

   The story of the atonement money is found in Exodus 30:11-16, Exodus 38:25-28, and Exodus 26:19-25.  When God was giving instructions to Moses about how to build the tabernacle and all the vessels of ministry to use in it, he told Moses how much atonement money to collect from Israel and what to do with it.

 

   Moses was told to take a census; he apparently counted them one by one as they crossed over from one side to the other.  Each person, from twenty years old upward, was to pay one half shekel (a small amount of money).  This money was taken as a ransom for his life.  The Lord saved them out of Egyptian bondage.  After paying the ransom, they could go about making their living and tending to their own affairs.  The Levites were not included in the atonement money because they would serve the nation and the Lord in divine service at the tabernacle.  The rich and the poor gave the same amount.  Moses was told to use the atonement money for the building of the Tent of Meeting.  That is what we know from Exodus 30.  Additional information is given in Exodus 38 and Exodus 26.

 

   The total number of Israelites counted in the census was 603,550 men, twenty years of age and older.  The total amount of money was 100 talents and 1775 shekels.  These numbers do not mean much to us today, but talents and shekels were weights in silver.  The 100 talents of silver were used to make 100 silver bases for the tabernacle, and the 1775 shekels were used to make hooks for the posts, to overlay the tops of the posts and make their bands.  So, the atonement money was used in the construction of the very significant Tent of Meeting where sacrificial offerings were made.  The tabernacle was made of two major parts, the holy and most holy place.  The atonement money provided both the foundation for the temporary tent and to hold up the curtains with silver rings.

 

   The exact pattern for building the tabernacle is given in Exodus 26.  The silver bases or sockets (KJV) are described in verses 19-25.  The 100 talents of silver were used to make 100 sockets are block bases to provide a level and secure foundation for the tabernacle.  Along the two long sides of the tent, 40 blocks were used on each side.  That would use up 80 of the blocks.  Sixteen blocks were placed alongside the back of the most holy place and the remaining four blocks were place along the separation between the most holy and holy place.  The tabernacle was 30 cubits long and 10 cubits wide.  The most holy place was a perfect cube, 10 cubits in length, width and height.  The holy place was 20 by 10 cubits.  Later, the temple was built using these same two divisions, but exactly twice as large.  (1 Kings 6:2, 60 cubits long by 20 cubits wide by 30 cubits high.)

 

   In regard to these shadows of atonement or reconciliation under the OT, the tabernacle was covered with the skin of animals dyed red, the foundation was made of atonement money (silver sockets or bases), and blood of animals was offered for their atonement for sin.

 

 

 

 

NT Atonement

 

   The New Testament responds clearly to the subject of our atonement and the means by which it is accomplished.

 

   “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver and gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.  He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.  Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him and so your faith and hope are in God.  Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.  For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.”  (1 Peter 1:18-23.)

 

   Just as the Jewish tabernacle was built upon shining silver sockets, the New Testament church is built upon the shining silver foundation of Jesus Christ.  The Tent of Meeting of the New Testament is covered with garments dyed red.  Jesus is the sure foundation upon which our hope is built.  What we do does not make up part of the atonement price.  Jesus paid it in its fullness.

 

   When we give under the New Testament, is this money to be understood as atonement money?  If not, then why do we give?  Peter was clear that our money that we give to the work of the Lord is not to be regarded as the means by which we are redeemed.  Jesus paid the ransom for us.

 

   “Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”  (Matt. 20:28, Mark 10:45.)  “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men—the testimony given in its proper time.”  (1 Tim. 2:5-6.)

 

   Even as the blood of bulls and goats could not take away sin (Hebrews 10:4), likewise the atonement money could not remove the transgressions of the nation of Israel.  These were only shadows of the real atonement which was to come in Jesus Christ.  Isaiah wrote, “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat!  Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.”  (Isaiah 55:1.)

 

Many Parts of the Shadow of Atonement

 

   The OT gives many reflections or shadows of our atonement by Jesus Christ.  One shadow is the Day of Atonement when the High Priest entered into the Most Holy Place once a year to make an offering for himself and for the sins of the nation of Israel.  When Jesus died, the old veil in the temple in Jerusalem ripped from the top to the bottom, signifying that the way into the most holy place of heaven has now been made possible by his death.  Jesus offered his own blood for our atonement.  No one else could enter into the Most Holy Place, except the high priest.  Now that Jesus has entered for us making our reconciliation with God, we can also enter into the presence of God.

 

   Another part of the overall picture of atonement is the half shekel that each male gave for a ransom for his life.  After giving the money, he was free.  The silver was melted to make bases or sockets for the foundation of the tabernacle.  We have been bought with a price; we did not and could not pay it.  Now we should glorify God in our body and in our spirit.  (1 Cor. 6:19-20.)

 

   Each year the Israelites killed the Passover lamb and put its blood on each side of the doorposts and over the top of the door.  The first Passover occurred in Egypt.  Those without the blood on their doorposts suffered the death of their firstborn cattle and sons.  The Israelites, who had the blood on their doorposts, lived.  There is not a record of a single Israelite son dying when the death-angel passed over.  “For Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed.”  (1 Cor. 5:7.)  The blood of Jesus Christ is on our doorposts by faith in Him.  (Rom. 3:25.)  We are members of his body which has been purchased by his blood.  (Acts 20:28.)  We partake of the Lord’s Supper which is a communion of his body and blood.  (1 Cor. 10:16.)  Baptism is an immersion into the death of our Lord.  (Rom. 6:3-4.)  We are washed from our sins in his blood.  (Acts 22:16, Rev. 1:5.)  The New Covenant has been sanctified and sealed by his blood.  (Heb. 9:15-18.)  Everything associated with our salvation in the New Testament is sanctified by the blood of Jesus Christ.  It is for this reason that you should be a part of the church of our Lord.  If you are not spiritually a part of the church, then you are not cleansed, sanctified, or reconciled by the blood.

Several Aspects of the Atonement

 

   The Bible uses many different ways to try to explain what happened on the cross.  The death of our Lord was for the purpose of reconciling men to God.  This is our atonement, our reconciliation.  It cannot be fully explained with one figure or one statement.  There is so much involved in that story.  It took the whole biblical story to present it fully.

 

   Ransom is one way in which it is explained.  This means that a payment, money was involved.  The atonement money of the OT which provided the foundation for the tabernacle foreshadowed the ransom that Jesus would pay.  Jesus did not pay for it with silver or gold, but with this precious blood.  (1 Peter 1:18-19.)  Jesus gave himself a ransom for all.

 

   Love was centrally involved.  God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son.  (John 3:16.)  God’s love compels us and moves us to respond to Him.  Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commandments.”  No one should ever deny the centrality of love in our redemption.  But on the other hand, we should be careful that we do not stop with just this one truth about Calvary.  Most of the classical theories of the atonement made the mistake of taking only one aspect of the atonement and making it the whole story.

 

   Substitution helps to describe the cross of Christ.  Peter wrote, “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.”  (1 Peter 3:18.)  “But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed.”  (Isaiah 53:5.)  “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. For it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangs on a tree.”  (Gal. 3:13.)  Jesus bore the curse of breaking the law in our place.  He bore the penalty for law breaking.  Therefore, penal-substitutionary atonement helps to explain what happened at Calvary.

 

   Imputing or reckoning sin and righteousness explains the atonement.  Jesus was “numbered with the transgressors.”  (Isaiah 53:12.)  Jesus was not a transgressor, but he was counted as one even as he hung near two such transgressors.  “God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”  (2 Cor. 5:21.)  Our faith in his blood is counted for righteousness.  (Rom. 3:22, Rom. 4:22-23.)

 

   Defeating the principalities and powers of Satan explains what Jesus accomplished on the cross.  “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the Devil.”  (1 John 3:8.)  “And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.”  (Col. 2:15.)  This reconciles us to God by defeating the one who is opposed to that reconciliation.  Satan is the deceiver of the whole world.  (Rev. 12:9.)  He had now been unmasked and chained.  The One who is in the believer is greater than he that is in the world.  (1 John 4:4.)