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
Atonement Day in ancient Israel was a big deal! No day in the Jewish calendar was so special as Yom Kippur as the nation celebrated the safe emergence of the high priest from the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle after he had entered to apply blood to the ark’s mercy seat. For another year, the sins of the people were covered. A year later, on the tenth day of the seventh month, the same ceremony occurred, and the year after that, and so on. There was no end to the sacrifices, including the many other sacrifices and offerings laid out in the Levitical code. The parade of innocent lambs and bullocks to the altar was continuous, and the Israelites accepted that as part of what God required of them. That is why today’s text comes as a great shock to them. It tells us that the never-ending cycle of sacrifices has been broken by a Sacrifice that satisfies God’s requirements forever! Calvary has rendered Yom Kippur obsolete.
Old Testament lambs died and were consumed on the altar. They never came back. But when we look to Calvary, we see that the Lamb of God, Who was put to death in the flesh, is now quickened by the spirit, living in the power of an endless life. Old Testament lambs had no power of resurrection, because they could not defeat death. So they had to be repeated over and over. But the sufferings of Christ must occur only once. Old Testament lambs may have been innocent, but they were not just. Only the Lamb of God, the Just, could die for the unjust and forever satisfy God’s holy justice.
Our text reminds us of the great purpose of Christ’s suffering and sacrifice: to bring us to God. The dread with which the high priest entered the Holy of Holies was matched by the apprehension of the people as they awaited his return. They could never know for certain if God would be satisfied, or if their relationship with God would be restored for another year. Not so with the sufferings of Christ for sins! We are reminded of God’s satisfaction with His sufferings in Isaiah 53:11: ‘He shall see of the travail of His soul and shall be satisfied’. The fall of our first parents in Eden created such a vast chasm between mankind and God that it took the infinite sufferings of the Son of God to bridge and to bring us to God. The term ‘bring us to God’ is not just a vague term of generality; it is a very real term describing a very real, very precious, and eternal relationship. As soon as you and I accepted what God has already accepted as the atonement for our sins, we were brought to God.
The Lord Jesus has brought us to God through His sufferings. Nothing that you or I could ever do will change that forever. – Jim MacIntosh