Series: The 7 Phases of the Atonement
Sermon: An Attempt to Restore
Pastor Rod Thompson
Midland SDA Church
July 7, 2018
From the book of Genesis to the book of Revelation the central message of the Bible is atonement. That is, God providing a way for mankind to be restored to a harmonious relationship with Him.
Why? The attacks of Satan were far greater than just getting Adam and Eve to sin against God, the warfare began in heaven and its focus is God’s sanctuary, throne and sovereignty. So in reality, the atonement is God’s way of reconciling more than just man, but the universe to Himself.
According to Johan Japp, ( A seminary student at Andrews University who wrote a dissertation called The study of atonement in Seventh-day Adventism - in 1994, the words atonement and reconciliation “are different words describing one and the same work of Christ.”
So the question is, how is God reconciling the world to Himself?
Most evangelical Christians believe that the atonement was completed at the cross, but as we look at the typical sanctuary service of the past, we should be able to see that “other aspects of the atonement are brought to light. Seventh-day Adventists would agree with the evangelical world that Christ’s atoning sacrifice was a one time, all sufficient sacrifice for sin, but we do not agree that the atonement was completed at the cross. Many Adventists believe that the daily sacrifices that were made by the priests and the repentant sinner, throughout the year, pointed forward to Christ’s substitutionary work as the Lamb of God and to His work as priest in the heavenly sanctuary.
This morning, I want to suggest to you that there are seven phases to the atonement.
So over the next several months I am going to preach a seven part series on the atonement and we will look at the seven different phases of the atonement.
The number seven is one of the most significant numbers of the Bible because it is the number of spiritual perfection. It is the number which is stamped on every work of God. We can observe the importance of this number in nature too. Be it physics, chemistry or music we can see they are all based on this number of God’s work. All music that is created is based on seven basic notes of music, the eight note is just a higher or lower octave. If light is passed through a prism then it splits into seven parts.
There are seven churches, seven spirits, seven stars, seven seals, seven trumpets, seven dooms, seven new things, seven personages, and so on.
On the seventh day the creation was complete. Thus the number seven represents completeness.
So the world was perfect on the seventh day. The word finished is also connected with the number seven. The word created is used seven times in connection with God’s work. The high priest sprinkled blood on the mercy seat seven times on the Day of Atonement; this denotes completeness in the redemptive works of God. The candlestick in the Holy place of Tabernacle had seven branches and this denotes the completeness in the light of God for man’s soul. The blessings of the Lord are promised to His people seven times in the Book of Revelation. Life operates in a cycle of sevens. Every seven years changes occur in our body. There are seven bones in our face, neck, ankle and there are seven holes in our head. The mystery of God is completed in the seventh vial of the seventh trumpet of the seventh seal. There are seven parables of Mathew. There are seven mysteries. The seven eternal things in Hebrews. And on and on it goes
The atonement is about more than just our sin, it is about proving that God is right in every aspect of His government, leadership and rule of the universe. It is a work that is required to vindicate both God and His people. This is a cosmic conflict that can only be settled when every aspect of the atonement process is complete. “The destiny of all nations, languages, and peoples – past, present, and future – is bound up with God’s triumphant consummation of all things … The successful accomplishment of the purpose of God from the throne room makes possible the eradication of sin and Satan and the establishment of the kingdom of God. Nothing else will.” So all seven of the phases of the atonement are essential for sin and death to be eradicated from the universe and for God to be restored to a position of trust by all.
Before time began, before the world was created, before man was made from the dust of the earth God already had a plan in place to deal with the sin problem, to reconcile man to Himself and to restore order to the universe.
Read Ephesian 1: 3-10
In this passage we see that in Him and through Him we have redemption, we have forgiveness of sins, we have the mystery of His will made known to us.
That’s really the first phase of the atonement. It there is going to be reconciliation with God, then God has to make it known to man how he can be redeemed, how he can be reconciled, how he can be restored to a relationship with God.
In the very beginning of time, at the creation of man, God laid out the rules for life and death.
Read Genesis 2: 15-17
God essentially said to Adam, obey me and you will live. But if you don’t you’re going to die. Can you imagine being Adam? Created on the 6th day, given dominion over everything, placed in a beautiful garden of paradise, having a woman created for you, the desire to do God’s will and keep His commandments already developed in you at your creation. And now you are told, you can eat anything you want – except from this tree. Of this tree you shall not eat.
At the same time there is a rebellion that has been warring in heaven and it is coming to a climax. Lucifer, the covering cherub, exalted himself above the very throne of God, corrupted by his beauty and a desire to be worshipped as God, he attacked the government and rule of God. The war in heaven ended because the arch enemy and those angels, that he had deceived, had been thrown out of heaven and cast down to the earth,
Revelation 12: 7-9 And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his Angel’s fought with the Dragan; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven an longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
but his rebellion against God was not to end there.
Lift Him UP pp 20
When Adam and Eve were placed in the beautiful garden they had everything for their happiness which they could desire. But God chose, in His all-wise arrangements, to test their loyalty before they could be rendered eternally secure. They were to have His favor, and He was to converse with them and they with Him. Yet He did not place evil out of their reach. Satan was permitted to tempt them. If they endured the trial they were to be in perpetual favor with God and the heavenly angels. . . . It was decided in heaven's council for angels to visit Eden and warn Adam that he was in danger from the foe. Two angels sped on their way to visit our first parents. . . . They told Adam and Eve that God would not compel them to obey--that He had not removed from them power to go contrary to His will; that they were moral agents, free to obey or disobey. . . . They told them that Satan purposed to do them harm, and it was necessary for them to be guarded, for they might come in contact with the fallen foe; but he could not harm them while they yielded obedience to God's command, for, if necessary, every angel from heaven would come to their help rather than that he should in any way do them harm. . . . The angels charged them to closely follow the instructions God had given them in reference to the tree of knowledge, for in perfect obedience they were safe, and this fallen foe could then have no power to deceive them. God would not permit Satan to follow the holy pair with continual temptations. He could have access to them only at the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
The Story of Redemption, pp. 24-31)
Adam and Eve assured the angels that they should never transgress the express command of God, for it was their highest pleasure to do His will. The angels united with Adam and Eve in holy strains of harmonious music, and as their songs pealed forth from blissful Eden, Satan heard the sound of their strains of joyful adoration to the Father and Son. And as Satan heard it his envy, hatred, and malignity increased, and he expressed his anxiety to his followers to incite them (Adam and Eve) to disobedience and at once bring down the wrath of God upon them and change their songs of praise to hatred and curses to their Maker.
Well, you know the story don’t you? But let’s read it anyway.
Read Genesis 3: 1-7
In spite of their insistence to the angels that they would not be tempted, they were
Adventist Home pp 114
God's Instruction to Eve.--Eve was told of the sorrow and pain that must henceforth be her portion. And the Lord said, "Thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee." In the creation, God had made her the equal of Adam. Had they remained obedient to God--in harmony with His great law of love--they would ever have been in harmony with each other; but sin had brought discord, and now their union could be maintained and harmony preserved only by submission on the part of the one or the other. Eve had been the first in transgression; and she had fallen into temptation by separating from her companion, contrary to the divine direction.
This seems to indicate that God had warned them not to separate. They were to remain together
Ecclesiastes 4: 9-12 Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up. Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; but how can one be warm alone? Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
Satan had continued his attack against God, on the earth, when he brought doubt into the mind of the woman as to the goodness and intentions of God, causing her and the man to join in Satan’s rebellion.
But I want you to notice that Immediately God was there to question their actions and bring hope, to man, of atonement that would be provided. Instead of bringing immediate death to man “He offered forgiveness and healing.”
He told the enemy in Genesis 3:14, “because you have done this… I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed, He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.”
Here we see that the promise had been made of a redeemer, the one who would bring reconciliation with God. This is the first phase of the atonement. Man is shown the way forward. This is how you can recover from the mistake that has been made.
And Adam and Eve understood what God what was doing. Notice
Genesis 4:1 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, “I have acquired a man from the Lord.”
The original Hebrew text reads literally, “I have gotten a man, the Lord.” When Eve held her first born son in her arms she remembered the promise of God and entertained the hope that he was to be the promised deliverer, naming him “gotten.”
Desire of Ages pp 31
The Saviour's coming was foretold in Eden. When Adam and Eve first heard the promise, they looked for its speedy fulfillment. They joyfully welcomed their first-born son, hoping that he might be the Deliverer.
God further showed man how his redemption and restoration to a relationship with Himself would be brought about. He instituted the sacrificial system by which man could have his sins covered.
The sons of Adam both brought their offering to God, but only the blood sacrifice of Abel was accepted. Only through the death of the innocent animal could sin be accounted for. The penalty for disobedience demanded death. Either the man pays for his own sin or a substitute must be found. By transferring his sin to the innocent animal and slaying the animal in his stead, the sins of man could be covered.
The promise though “dim and shadowy in its outline,” foretold as the seed of the woman, was to completely restore the lost dominion and glory of man. Therefore sin must be more than covered, it must be eradicated forever.
So, God continued His revelation of reconciliation to Noah, Abraham and then Moses. The consummation of His revelation was in the giving of the Covenant, Commandments, and the Sanctuary Service.
God told Moses in
Exodus 25:8-9, “And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. According to all that I show you, that is the pattern of the tabernacle and all its furnishings, just so you shall make it.”
In other words, the sanctuary and all its services were patterned after the true tabernacle in the heavens. God had intended that all these things would point forward to something better. “By means of sacrifices and priestly ministrations God promised and revealed the divine method of redemption that was to come in and through Jesus Christ.”
And so the first phase of the atonement has been completed. God has shown man how he can be redeemed. How he can be restored, how the atonement will be accomplished.
Brothers and sisters do you understand that God has shown us the way? He has made known to us how we can be made one with Him once again.
Is that the desire of your heart? Do you want to be one with God?
Let’s pray.