I just don’t understand. It said in the Old testament that was how they made their Atonement. God seemed to guarantee it. How can I reconcile this?
I think you are troubled by the semantics.
To
atone is to
make up for, to
make ammends, or
to make reparation.
We have to understand the covenant mentality of the Old Testament Jews. Covenant was everything to the Jews.
Covenants create family bonds, and God made a covenant only with the Israelites. Only the nation of Israel was part of God’s family by virtue of the covenant God made with Israel. God even calls the nation Israel “My chosen son.”
The covenant which God made with Isreal at Mt. Sinai was entered into freely by the nation of Israel.
So Moses went and summoned the elders of the people. When he set before them all that the LORD had ordered him to tell them, all the people answered together, “Everything the LORD has said, we will do.” Then Moses brought back to the LORD the response of the people. (Exodus 19:7-8)
The covenant which Israel freely entered into with God came with a blessing for being faithful, reward for obeying the rules, and a curse for being unfaithful and disobeying the rules.
**
See, I have today set before you life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the LORD, your God, which I am giving you today, loving the LORD, your God, and walking in his ways, and keeping his commandments, statutes and ordinances, you will live and grow numerous, and the LORD, your God, will bless you … If, however, your heart turns away and you do not obey, but are led astray and bow down to other gods and serve them, I tell you today that you will certainly perish; … I call heaven and earth today to witness against you: I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. ** (Deuteronomy 30:15-19)
In setting before Israel all the rules and regulations of the covenant, including the 613 commandments in Leviticus 17 through 22, Moses was defining sin. For a Jew under the covenant with God, sin was defined as obeying the covenant laws given to Israel by Moses. If one broke the law of Moses (as intepreted by the various Rabbis), then one was a sinner. If one obeyed the laws of Moses, then one was righteous. The Laws of Moses which were part of the covenant made with God were what defined sin.
When one transgressed the law of Moses and thereby violated the covenant - sinned - it brought a curse upon him. The sinner might have to be seperated from the community so that the curse did not fall on all the people. The covenant set before Israel said that the punishment for breaking the rules (sinning) was death. Every covenant came with both blessing and curse, and the curse for breaking the covenant with God was death. This is where sacrifice came in.
When an Israelite made a sin offering, the sinner and the priest would lay their hands on the animal and pray, transferring the sin of the sinner to the animal, and then the animal would be killed. In this way the sin was
expiated, or
atoned. Reparation was made, the sin was made up for, and the demands of the covenant for a death were fulfilled.
But the Israelites always fell back into grave sin, worshipping foreign Gods and marrying women from other nations, taking some of the spoils of battle for themselves and not destroying it totally as God commanded, and sending spies to see how strong the armies of their enemies were when God himself said that he will deliver the enemies into their hands. And so sacrificed had to be
repeated.
Christ’s sacrifice however, was “Once for all” and is not repeated.
Ever notice how at Mass, at the most dramatic moment, the priest holds up Jesus and says,
***Behold the Lamb of God. Behold him who takes away *
the sins of the world.
Ever notice that the priest says that Jesus takes away the sins of the world? He says, “Takes away.” Gone, never to return. Only the sacrifice of Jesus has the very real power to completely take away our sins, to make us truly Holy, to turn us into saints. The sacrifices of the old covenant do atone for sin. They fulfill the requirment that a death take place and make reparation for transgressing covenant. But the sacrifices do not have the power to completely take away sin and make us truly holy as the sacrifice of Jesus does.
The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, (John 1:29)
John the Baptists recognized Jesus as the one who’s sacrifice would have the power to make us truly holy. The author of Hebrews makes this all clear.
Every priest stands daily at his ministry, offering frequently those same sacrifices that can never take away sins. But this one offered one sacrifice for sins, and took his seat forever at the right hand of God; now he waits until his enemies are made his footstool. For by one offering he has made perfect forever those who are being consecrated. (Hebrews 10:11-14)
Be careful here about the words. Make sure you understand. Atonement for sins is required. All sin demands punishment and we have to atone for our sins, but that is not the same as sanctification, the power to actually take away sins, to make us perfect.
Catholicism believes that Jesus’ sacrifice has the power to sanctify, to make us perfect.
So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5:48)
Would Jesus command us to do something that was impossible, or does he give us the power to do what he commands? Catholics believes that Jesus can make us saints, and that he rose form the dead to prove it. But that’s not the same as atonement.
-Tim-
please pray for me.
, I’m fighting tooth and nail at this point lol.