Atonement: The Wrath of God Pacified & Man Reconciled to God

Impending doom. This is in store for children of wrath, and we were all born as such (Ephesians 2:3). God's wrath is coming, and has in part been poured out (Romans 1:18). Those who practice sin are storing up for themselves wrath to come (Romans 2:5), which will be revealed in fullness at the judgment of God (Romans 2:5, 12:19; Revelation 14:10, 15:1, 16:1, 18:3; 19:15).

If we do not understand this, we will never ask, “Is there a way to flee the coming judgment?” This question must be posed. And when it has been asked, the unbelievably good answer is: “God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ” (I Thessalonians 5:9).

How can such salvation be gotten? We know that we are deserving of wrath, and that God must serve justice. When Jesus came to earth, He died on a cross because He took upon Himself all our guilt and sin, being made a curse in our place (Galatians 3:13). God's design was to set the wrath upon Jesus that was to come to us (Psalm 22:1, Isaiah 53:4, Isaiah 53:10). He did not pour out all His wrath upon Christ (otherwise all men would be delivered from God's wrath), but only that portion of judgment which was to come to those who believe in Him. For belief alone cannot save us: our sin and its consequences must be dealt with, and He did indeed remove these, reconciling us to God.

To reconcile means to call back into union. We were at enmity with God (Romans 5:10), but the work of Christ upon the cross removed all that brought us condemnation. In His death, He restored that which was lost through the fall (Colossians 1:20-21), giving us the robe of His perfect righteousness in exchange for our sin and condemnation which He wore on the cross. Having therefore deleted all existence of our sin, God has no reason to punish us. He sees in us the Life of His Son; therefore, we have been translated from His foes into the children of God (I John 3:1).

“In the heavenly tabernacle behind the veil, the blood of Christ was sprinkled and accepted to the full satisfaction of the Father for the sins of His covenant children (Hebrews 6:19,10:24,13:20). Therefore, the guilt of God’s elect is forever removed from heaven’s court docket and the sovereign verdict now reads, 'Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.' (Hebrews 10:17)” – O.B. Mink, Atonement Sufficiency Examined.