Pastor Teacher
Robert R. McLaughlin
Sunday April 19, 2015
2CO 5:14, For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died;
"The Purpose of the Seventy Sevens or the 490 years mentioned in DAN 9:24."
1. finish the transgression; 2. make an end of sin; 3. make atonement for iniquity; 4. bring in everlasting righteousness; 5. seal up vision and prophecy; 6. anoint the most holy place.
1. DAN 9:24, "to make an end of sin" which is a prophecy of our Lord dealing with the main problem of man\'s sin which is his sin of unbelief.
I wanted to deal with man\'s first major spiritual problem which is the problem of spiritual death and the only sin that can truly separate man from God forever and ever, and that is the sin of unbelief.
JOH 16:8-9, "And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin, and righteousness, and judgment; concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me;
2. "to finish the transgression" = not only the payment for all of our sins as well as dealing with the problem of the entire OSN, including even the good that the OSN produces, ISA 26:11; EZE 36:24-27; JER 31:31-34.
Sometimes these good things man produces are called "dead works;" HEB 6:1, 9:15.
HEB 6:1, Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,
Repentance from dead works means that they had already learned the difference between divine good and human good which resides in one phrase and command, "Be filled with the Spirit."
HEB 9:14, talks about being free from the bondage of performing human good = How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
3. The third prophecy our Lord would fulfill mentioned in verse 24 by the phrase "to make atonement for iniquity."
This third part of the prophecy deals with our Lord dealing with iniquity which is not only sin against God but sins and crimes against divine establishment principles as well.
The issue of what is called Theologically, The Atonement or the answer to the question "For whom did Christ die and why?"
They are the very doctrines that were dealt with in the great Reformation Period when the Church was rescued out of the darkness of religion, legalism and the influence of Roman Catholicism.
The Reformation Period basically refers to a time when the church was taught that revealing the Bible, not tradition, should be the sole source of spiritual authority.
ISA 29:13 This people draw near with their words and honor Me with their lip service, But they remove their hearts far from Me, And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote,
Rote = MAT 6:7 "And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition, as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words.
It was Martin Luther and the other reformers who became the first to skillfully use the power of the printing press to give their ideas to a world-wide audience.
At the time, there were no printing presses and the Bible was on scrolls and parchments during the early centuries of Christianity.
The printing press was not invented until 1436 by Johann Gutenberg.
There was a communications explosion, and suddenly lots of people began making some very poor and heretical translations of the
Bible and popularizing them throughout Christendom...and so the Church tried to stop this.
It begins with is the Hebrew noun kopher and the verb is kapher which means to make atonement; to make reconciliation; or to atone by offering a substitute.
The word also refers to the reconciliation of God with mankind through Jesus Christ.
It also connotes a satisfaction or reparation for a wrong or injury; or to make amends.
Atonement is the doctrine concerning the reconciliation of God to man accomplished through the life, suffering, and death of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Old Testament atonements offered by the high priest were temporary and a foreshadow of the real and final atonement made by TLJC.
This is why we are told that Jesus atoned for the sins of the world (1JO 2:2).
This atonement is received by faith (ROM 5:1).
Because man is a sinner (ROM 5:8), he cannot atone for himself.
It was the love of the Father that sent His Son, (1JO 4:10), in our place, (1PE 3:18), and for our sins; (1Pe 2:24).
Because of the atonement, our fellowship with God is restored (ROM 5:10).
JAM 2:10-11, For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. For He who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not commit murder." Now if you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.
Especially is the Greek comparative adverb malista which means most of all, or in a greater degree, referring to the distinction between believers and the entire human race.
Limited atonement = Jesus Christ only died for a certain segment of the human race, whereas the unlimited atonement says that He died for all and that because He died for all that makes Him the Savior of all, especially believers.
The verb "to be" translated is also vital to understand because it is a pres-act-ind of the verb eimi which means "He keeps on being."
ACT 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
"Savior" - Soter means God or Christ and it refers to everything that TLJC did on the cross.
Propitiation is the Godward side of salvation whereby the essence of God is satisfied with the salvation work of TLJC.
But, +R cannot have fellowship with sinfulness so TLJC was judged for our sins and He satisfied the righteousness of God the Father who represented the perfect righteousness of the entire Trinity.
Then there is the separation that has been dealt with through TLJC.
1. The problem with sin, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, ROM 6:23.
2. The problem concerning the penalty of sin which is spiritual death which our Lord took care of an atoned for in MAT 27:46.
3. The problem of our birth, we are born spiritually dead and physically alive, this was atoned for - removed by the doctrine of regeneration.
4. Man\'s righteousness is unable to meet the demands of +R - removed by the doctrine of justification and imputation.
5. Our Position in Adam was a problem because in Adam all die, 1CO 15:22 - handled by our new position in Christ, or the doctrine of positional truth through the baptism of the Spirit.
6. The problem of sin is removed by the doctrine of redemption i.e., unlimited atonement.
7. The penalty of sin is removed by the doctrine of expiation, the satisfying of the holiness of God.
We can\'t get there (i.e., to God) by religion, works or deeds, but TLJC solved these problems because He is truly the only Savior.
A doctrine that has divided many believers and may I say one that is vital for the glorification of TLJC and for the magnification of God\'s justice and +R.
"Whosoever believes" over 45 times "whosoever" is mentioned in the N.T.
"All men" introduces the concept of the unlimited atonement so let\'s stop here and take a look at the Doctrine of the Unlimited Atonement."
Lev 16 - there were three things in the tabernacle which were used to illustrate eternal salvation and unlimited atonement.
There was a copy of the Tables of the Law or the Ten Commandments and they were put in a box and that box was called the ark of the covenant.
It was made of Acacia wood and then it was gold plated. The wood spoke of the humanity of Christ and the gold spoke of His deity.
Along with the copy of the Mosaic Law there was also Aaron\'s rod that budded and a Pot of Manna.
Mosaic Law = sin being a violation of divine standards. Aaron\'s rod = rejecting God\'s authority. Pot of manna = failure to utilize logistical grace as the individual was kept alive in order to have an opportunity for salvation.
Most of you are familiar with the Mosaic Law and how the Jews made a golden calf when Moses was on the top of Mount Sinai receiving the ten commandments from God.
Those commandments were put in the ark as a sign of the rebellion and sins of the Jewish people.
The Lord told Moses to put some of the manna inside of the ark because it simply spoke of Israel\'s rejection of the food that God gave them in the wilderness which was angel food or food from heaven.
The Jews rejected the authority God gave His man Moses and rebelled and therefore Aarons rod was placed inside the ark as a symbol of their rejection of authority.
A rod was a symbol of authority, because shepherds would use a rod to guide and correct the sheep, PSA 23:4b Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me.
As a shepherd, Moses had a rod in his hand when tending sheep in the wilderness (EXO 4:2); this rod later became known as the rod of
God - a symbol of the authority God gave to Moses (EXO 4:20).
This same rod demonstrated Moses’ authority in action, by miraculously becoming a serpent, and then becoming a rod again and was used to bring about the 10 plagues on Egypt.
Vs 5, - the rod of the man whom I choose will sprout or blossom = the blossoming of dead wood spoke of miraculous fruitfulness being present when godly authority and leadership is being practiced.
Even though the Lord said in verse 5, I will rid Myself of their grumblings and murmurings.
Vs 6-7, God gave them tests and the tests would vindicate Aaron as God’s priestly leader. God gave - Acts 1:3, many infallible proofs, to demonstrate His approval of Aaron’s leadership.
Vs 10, that Aaron\'s rod was be kept as a sign against the rebels: The rod of Aaron was to be kept as a museum piece, to remind the children of Israel that God had chosen a priesthood, and nothing would change that.
The phrase to bring Aaron’s rod back before the Testimony means that Aaron’s rod was to be kept in the ark of the covenant, as another example of Israel’s failure and rebellion.
When God looked down from heaven into the ark, He saw emblems of Israel’s sin: The tablets of the Law they broke, the manna they complained about, and Aaron’s rod that they rebelled against.
In the spiritual realm, this was all covered paid for and fulfilled when our Lord fulfilled the third prophecy mentioned in DAN 9:24......"to make atonement for iniquity."