Effectual Atonement

 

Effectual Atonement

 

Hebrews 6: 17

 

Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath:

 

All that the Father giveth me shall come to me: This word of Christ is unconditional in that  all that the Father giveth experientially in time, He had given by promise in eternity past, in the everlasting covenant of grace: it is written: “In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began” (Titus 1: 2; Galatians 3:18; Isaiah 59:21). “Which covenant he made with Abraham, and his oath unto Isaac; And confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant” (Psalm 105: 9-10). And He said: “Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth. The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek” (Psalm 110: 3-4).

 

 Our Lord Jesus Christ established everlasting righteousness by fulfilling the law of God (Matthew 5:17-18) through the offering of His perfectly spotless Humanity once (Hebrews 10:10). He put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself (Hebrews 9:26). He established everlasting righteousness, but not for himself (Daniel 9:26). The righteousness Christ Jesus established is: “the righteousness of God” (Romans 1:16-17) which justifies before God. And is the justifying righteousness of those to whom that righteousness is imputed. Those to whom that righteousness is imputed receive that righteousness by faith, which is the gift of God. The one offering of the body of Jesus Christ made effectual atonement for all the children of God, it reconciled God and elect sinners (Psalm 85:9-10).  This effectual atonement is the ground and foundation, upon which the promises of the everlasting covenant are be made. For it is written: “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you” (I Peter 1:18-20)

 

This Great High Priest brought in perfection for the covenant children of God: which the Sons of Aaron could never achieve by the law of Moses, as it is written: “If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron” (Hebrews 7:11)? It is stated further: “For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God” (Hebrews 7:19). And again: “But this man, (this Great High Priest: writer) after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified” (Hebrews 10: 12-14). These sanctified ones were set apart by name, in the everlasting covenant before time was called into being (Jude 1:1; I Corinthians 1:2; Hebrews 12:23).

 

“For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. And so, after he had patiently endured, (after Abraham endured: writer) he obtained the promise. For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec” (Hebrews 6: 13-20).

 Our Lord Jesus came into this world to give eternal life to as many as the Father had given Him in that everlasting covenant, as it is written: “As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him” (John 17:2). Those that were given by promise in the everlasting covenant are ordained unto eternal life, therefore they believe when the gospel is preached to them in the omnipotence of the Spirit of Christ, as it is written: “And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed” (Acts 13:48). And again it is written: “It is the spirit that quickeneth; (giveth life: writer) the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you they are spirit, and they are life” (John 6: 63). Our Lord Jesus Christ speaking of His people said: “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep” (John 10: 11). And He said again: “I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish” (John10:28). The Lord Jesus said to the pharisees: “ye believe not because ye are not of my sheep” (John10:26) they were not the sheep of Christ because the Father had not given them to Christ. Salvation is of the Lord in the Trinity of His most sacred Persons, the Father elected His own people in Jesus Christ, the Son redeemed all the Father chose, and the Spirit infallibly calls all whose names are “written in heaven” (Hebrews 12:23) to salvation in Jesus Christ.

 

But not all men are chosen to salvation. It is written: “Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts” (Hebrews 4:7). Those to whom the Holy Spirit is not given, will never hear, that is, their hard and impenitent heart will never be broken over their trespasses against God. They will continually treasure up wrath to themselves, as it is written: “But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God” (Romans 2:5). These will prove themselves unworthy of eternal life, for, men who are destitute of the Spirit will not be moved to repentance. History proves this to be true for it happened of old: “Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles” (Acts 13:46). The state of all men according to their fallen nature is the same, as declared by our Lord Jesus Christ “ye will not come to me that ye might have life” (John 5:40). The fallen nature of man has not changed over the past centuries and will not change until it is acted upon by the power of the Spirit of God, as it is written by the prophet: “Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein. Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken” (Jeremiah 6:16-17). In these impenitent sinners the word of God is effectual, for to them the “word of life” (Philippians 2:16; I John 1:1) is a “savor of death unto death” (II Corinthians 2:16). Their works (in rejecting Christ, John 12:48) prove them to be fit for perdition (Hebrews 10:39; II Peter 3: 7; Revelation 17:8), the seed of the serpent (Genesis 3:15), and “vessels of wrath fitted to destruction” (Romans 9:22).

 

But for those the Father elected to eternal life, the sure and certain ground of unconditional election, and predestination to conformation of the image of Christ, is the effectual atonement accomplished by the Son of God in His cross death. The object of God in election and predestination (that is, that which God sought to achieve in the act of electing a people, and predestinating them in Christ) is that: “the promise might be sure to all the seed”  He saith: “Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all” (Romans 4:16). The salvation of the elect is as sure and as certain, as it is sure and certain, that the ransom was paid by Christ Jesus through His cross death, and as sure and certain, as that the ransom was received for them of the Father, and as sure and as certain as that Jesus Christ is seated at the right hand of God even now. The promise of unalterable justification unto eternal life is secured to the seed of Christ by the blood shedding and death of Christ, which is a thing that all the devils of hell can never change.

 

The seed of Christ is the whole “remnant according to the election of grace” of all ages (Romans 11:5). Toward these persons whom He foreknew (or foreordained), the Holy Three In One moved in the perfect righteousness of character, and in the absolute Truth, and Holiness, that is innate in the Godhead. A ransom was found among themselves, it is written: “Then he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom (Job 33: 24). And He saith: “I have found David my servant; with my holy oil have I anointed him (Psalm 89: 20) Christ Jesus was set up in all the offices of Mediation of the everlasting covenant before the world was made (Proverbs 8:23). And He stood in the midst of the throne as a Lamb as it had been slain (Revelation 5: 6): slain from the foundation of the world (revelation 13:8). “Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities” (Isaiah 53: 10-11). He made His soul an offering for sin, and because of the travail of His soul, Divine justice is forever satisfied toward His seed.

 

God calls His elect (the seed of Christ) to eternal life, through the preaching of the gospel by one He has ordained to preach His gospel. These are anointed to preach the gospel by the Holy Ghost, and they are sent by Him to the elect in time. To the elect, the preacher is the mouth piece of the Holy Ghost, who is to the children of God, the interpreter of the covenant. As it is written: “If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to shew unto man his uprightness: then he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom” (Job 33: 24). The Ransom that was found is the blood shedding and death of the Son of God. This is the only sacrifice that could propitiate, satisfy, and bring the Holiness and Truth of God to rest toward sinners. Jesus Christ satisfied the righteousness of God, and at the same time brought in everlasting righteousness for those for whom He died. Christ Jesus ransomed all those given Him in the covenant of grace, He put away their sins and He justified them by His own blood. In time He sends the Holy Ghost to them to teach them of their inheritance in the covenant of the promise of God. The Holy Ghost convinces them of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment, (John 16:8) because they are the children of the covenant, as it is written in the prophets: “And all thy children shall be taught of the LORD; and great shall be the peace of thy children. In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near thee. Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by me: whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake. Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy. No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD” (Isaiah 54: 13-17).   

AJ Ison

  

See the writers Blog at www.hebrews915.bolgspot.com hear the true gospel of Jesus Christ preached at www.13thstbaptist.org web casting live at listed service times.