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Podcast
Difference Between Atonement And Passover
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Hi, I'm Dave DeWitt, and today I'd like to talk about the difference between the atonement
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and the Passover. Confusion over this has come to me in two questions. One, if Jesus
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is the atonement for our sins, why did he die on the Passover instead of on the Day
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of Atonement? And second, if Jesus atoned for our sins, why are animal sacrifices an
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atonement in the future millennial kingdom? I've been asked these questions several times,
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so I decided to look into it a bit. What I learned was quite interesting. Jesus died
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on the Passover and was called our Passover by the Apostle Paul, but Jesus never referred
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to himself as an atonement, nor did the apostles ever call Jesus an atonement. So the Passover
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is a type of Christ mentioned in the Bible. The atonement is not. The Passover, recorded
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in Exodus 12, is a spring festival beginning on the 15th day of Nisan, March or April,
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the night of a full moon after the northern vernal equinox. The word Passover occurs
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79 times in the Bible. It's in both the Old and New Testament, and it always refers
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to the Passover ceremony, except in 1 Corinthians 5, 7, where Paul writes, for Christ our Passover
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also has been sacrificed. The Passover procedure was on the 10th of the first month, and each
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one is to take a lamb for themselves, according to their father's household, a lamb for each
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household. It was to be an unblemished lamb a year old. They were to keep it until the
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14th day of the month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel was to kill
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it at twilight. Moreover, they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts
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and on the lintel of the house in which they eat. They shall eat the flesh that same night
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roasted with fire, and they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. The result
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was, God said, when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you
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to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt throughout your generations.
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Now, the Day of Atonement, Hebrew, Yom Kippur, Yom Kippur Day of Atonement, occurs once a
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year on the 10th day of Tishri, October 8. Unlike the word Passover, the word Atonement
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is used for various coverings of sin. It occurs 91 times, but it never occurs in the New Testament,
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so it never refers to the death of Christ. On the Day of Atonement, the people were to
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have a Sabbath of complete rest, and the high priest was to cleanse himself in the tabernacle,
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then sprinkle the blood of the bulls and the goats on the mercy seat of the Ark of the
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Covenant. Then a second goat, a scapegoat, was released into the wilderness. This procedure
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was to make atonement for the sins of the nation. The word Atonement, Yom Kippur,
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means to cover. It was for covering the sins of the nations for a year. The Atonement is
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about Israelites dealing with or covering their sin after the Passover delivered them from Egypt.
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The Passover was not about dealing with sin. It was about being passed over for judgment. The
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blood of the Lamb allowed them to escape the wrath of God. Why does the New Testament identify
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Jesus with the Passover, not the Atonement? I have seven suggestions. Number one, both the
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Passover and the death of Christ were accomplished by the blood of the Lamb. Jesus is called the Lamb
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of God, but Jesus was never called a scapegoat or any kind of goat. Number two, both the Passover
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and the death of Christ were once for all deliverance from bondage. But Hebrews 9, 12-26
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contrasts rather than compares Christ's once for all death in 9-12. With the day of Atonement,
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the day when the high priest enters the holy place year by year. The day of Atonement covered
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the sins of Israel, but it did not eliminate their sin because it's impossible for the blood of bulls
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and goats to take away sin, Hebrews 10, 4. Both the Passover and the death of Christ were remembered
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by a memorial of a one-day act that we should celebrate. So the Passover festival did not
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accomplish anything. It remembered what was completely accomplished by the blood of the Lamb.
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But the day of Atonement was not just a memorial. It actually covered the sins of Israel,
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but only as a covering and only for a year. Number four, both the Passover and the death
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of Christ required people to do something. Both required people to apply the blood of the Lamb
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by faith in the Word of God. But on the day of Atonement, the priest did everything,
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the people only had a Sabbath of complete rest. Five, both the Passover and the death of Christ
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called for action on the part of each individual person. Each family killed their own lamb and
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everyone ate of it just as salvation requires a person's personal individual decision. But the
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day of Atonement, only the high priest offered the sacrifice and it was for the nation of Israel.
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Since the church is not a nation and does not have clerical priests, it does not parallel the
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Atonement. At six, both the Passover and the death of Christ began a relationship with God.
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The Passover delivered them from Egypt into a new relationship with God, receiving Christ's
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death as payment for sin as salvation. It delivers us from sin and begins a new relationship with God.
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But an Atonement was about maintaining fellowship with God, not beginning a relationship with God.
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And seven, the Passover was not about the believers doing something about their sin.
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It was about deliverance by the blood of the Lamb. The sins of the Israelites were not the issue.
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When it came to applying Passover, some very good people and some very bad people
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were delivered from the death of the firstborn. The issue was not about how good or sinful they
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were. It was only about their having enough faith to apply the blood of the Lamb.
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The same is true of salvation. Indeed, Christ's death paid for sin,
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but that made salvation about faith in Christ, not trying to atone for our sin.
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If you are trying to get right with God by dealing with your sin, you'll never be saved.
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What sends an unbeliever to hell is a sin, but what keeps the unbeliever from going out of heaven
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has nothing to do with his sin. He goes to hell because he's a sinner. He does not go to heaven
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because he's not received Christ. Christ's death is a substitution,
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propitiation, reconciliation, and redemption. It was a once-for-all action. Atonement was not.
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You can call Christ's death on the cross a substitutionary atonement if you like,
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just because we're all used to doing that, but the Bible never does. Remember,
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animal sacrifices were only a substitutionary atonement. They were not once-for-all,
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and they did not pay for sin. Dying on the Passover, Jesus identified himself with the one
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who paid for our sin, allowing God to pass over us from judgment. The cross did not just cover
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our sin, it paid for it. So it's better to say that what the Apostle Paul said,
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Christ is our Passover, or what John said, the Lamb of God takes away the sin of the world.
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Millennial sacrifices are an atonement, not a propitiation. Ezekiel does not say that the
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sacrifices of the millennial kingdom satisfied God as a payment for sin. Ezekiel does not say
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they will be a substitution, propitiation, reconciliation, and redemption, or useful
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for justification. He says they're to make atonement, but an atonement is never an atonement
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or an eternal payment for sin. Christ's death on the cross was never called an atonement in the
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Bible. Christ's death was a substitution, propitiation, reconciliation, redemption.
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It was a once-for-all action. Atonement was not. Christ's death on the cross was not a
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substitutionary atonement. It was a substitutionary Passover. Jesus did not die
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on the day of atonement. He died on Passover. The day of atonement was about meeting the
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legal requirements of the Jewish theocracy once a year. Animal sacrifices were a substitutionary
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atonement, but they were temporary and legal, not propitiatory or redemptive.
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They were not once-for-all. They did not pay for sin. The cross did not just cover our sin,
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it paid for it. Well, as a conclusion, even though they're not eternally redemptive,
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animal sacrifices did foreshadow and will memorialize the sacrifice of Christ
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for the sins of the world. Animal sacrifices in the Millennial Kingdom will do what our
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communion service does, remembering the blood of the Lamb. They show us that without the shedding
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of blood, there's no forgiveness of sin. Well, thanks for listening. I realize it's been a
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difficult subject. In many cases, we have a lot of songs about the atonement of Christ
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and have had them for years, and there's a lot of detail here. If you are interested in more
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study on the subject and more references, check out two papers, one on the Passover
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and the atonement, and one on the sacrifices of the Millennial Kingdom, and they're available
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on our website, relationalconcepts.org.
