The blood of atonement

Whenever we consider the nothingness of man, his inadequacies, inabilities and his efforts in futility to defend or preserve himself like Job's despondent prayer, then we see God's dealing with sin in judgment (Job 13:20-28). Then also comes this realization that man is incapacitated without God! God becomes so indispensable to man and he has no alternative to Him. Truly all must seek God but only through Jesus Christ who is already given to man (Romans 15:12). And as Job further recounted his ordeal (Job 16:13-21) and trauma that he encountered; his friends charged him not to talk knowing that it is wisdom for him to be quiet (Job13:5) most especially when there is nothing meaningful to say (Job 15:11-13). But it was quite unknown to Job that God permitted the evil engineered by Satan against him. Satan's evil intention was actually approved, endorsed and granted by God in order to prove Job's heart and see if he would misbehave or fail in his character. The devil on the other hand wanted to condemn him before God, so he plotted his evil schemes against him and all that he had. Evil do occur as a result of sin (judgement for sins) or as trial of faith as in the case of Job and other several saints of God. God rebukes and judges sin as He hates partiality (Job 13:10-11, Deuteronomy 32:4). Consequently, He needed to remind the children of Israel that there will be no peace or blessing for them as long as they continue to follow the dictates of their heart. He also promised to unleash severe punishment, plagues, prolonged sicknesses and curses upon them if they fail to observe and keep His commandment (Deuteronomy 28:58-59, 61-62). And they will know and easily understand that the evils that happened to them was as a result of their sins (Deuteronomy 29:19-21, 24-25, 31:16-17b).

The account of rebellion and sins of the children of Israel that plays out in Numbers 16:31-35 is an eye opener and it's worth noting. In Numbers 16:1-3, Dathan, Korah and Abiram took 250 leaders, representatives, men of renown among the congregation and accused Moses and Aaron of overbearing and exalting themselves above the assembly of the Lord. They sinned by querying the audacity of Moses and Aaron his brother, so, Moses pleaded with the LORD for divine vindication, then judgment struck. The ground split apart under Korah, Dathan and Abiram; the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their household, and they perished from among the assembly. And a fire also came out from the Lord and consumed the 250 men who offered incense. The following day, the children of Israel gathered together and accused Moses of killing the people of  God-because of their brethren who died ( Numbers 16:41). Then, in verses 42-45, the cloud covered the tabernacle, and God told Moses to get away so that He may consume them in a moment, but Moses and Aaron fell on their faces and pleaded with God. It was very glaring that the people prompted the anger of God. Because Moses knew that God was poised for action against them, he asked Aaron to quickly take a censer, put fire in it from the altar and take it to the congregation to make atonement for them because the wrath has gone out from the Lord and the plague has started. So, Aaron, the priest made atonement for the people standing between the dead and the living until the plague stopped. It took the intervention of Moses and Aaron to stop the plague since atonement must be provided for every transgression (Psalm 65:3).

Bildad, one of the friends of Job in his admonition told him that God will not out rightly cast away the blameless but at the same time He will not uphold the evil doer (Job 8:20). Job in his response however revealed his unworthiness to query God but that he can only plead for His mercies (Job 9:2-4, 10-12b, 14-15). Even the rich king Solomon admits that riches do not profit in the day of wrath but it is only righteousness that delivers from death (Proverbs 11:4, 28). God will yet take responsibility for His people, for those who are truly His, and only those who serve Him will He be judged faithful to keep and help. The God of peace will bruise Satan under our feet shortly and ordain peace for us (Romans 16:20). And just like in the case of unsolved murder in Israel, the people must cry to God to provide atonement  for them. In Deuteronomy chapter 21 verse 8a "provide atonement for your people Israel, and atonement shall be provided on their behalf for the blood." God will not altogether give up on His people and that is why Moses needed to reveal His detailed ability so that the children of Israel could know what He is capable of "He will provide atonement for His land and His people" (Deuteronomy 32:43b). Therefore, regardless of our trauma, sorrow, anguish and pain; God will still be God. Moses acted wrongly in the time of distress and this was God's justifiable reason for disallowing him from entering into the promised land. And simply because of his fury God told him "because you did not hallow me in the midst of the children of Israel" (Deuteronomy 32:51).  Is God mindful of their plight, certainly, He was mindful of them and desire their relief, notwithstanding, He as God must be hallowed even in our unseemly circumstances.

Truly, the life of all flesh is in the blood, and it has been given upon the altar to make atonement for the souls of men, for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul (Leviticus 17:11, Hebrews 9:19-22). To atone means to set right, even out, restore, remedy,  amend, redress, make up for, or make amend for sins for which there is need for shedding of blood. However, the only recognized blood of atonement in the new testament is the sinless blood of Jesus which is needed to remove all sin stains (Hebrews 9:13-14, Zechariah 9:11, Ephesians 2:13, 1 Peter 1:19-20, 1 John 2:2). It is in fact the blood of our redemption (Ephesians 1:7, Titus 2:14, Colossians 1:20, Hebrews 12:24, Revelation 1:5). And it is only the blood of Jesus that gives permanent cure for sins since the blood of the bulls and goats under the old covenant cannot completely and permanently remove sin and its penalty (Leviticus 16:3-30, Hebrews 9:7, 10:3-4, 11-12, 1 Peter 3:18). Already, there had been prophesises concerning it (John 11:50, Zechariah 13:1), and when Jesus came, He validated it when He commemorated it at the Lord's supper (Matthew 26:26-28, 1 Corinthians 11:23-25). The blood of Jesus apart from the fact that it atoning for us, also fights, covers, shields and protect us from evil. Better still, the blood of Jesus is efficacious enough to deal with any problem man faces be it physical, mental, spiritual and so on. The blood stands in the gap and wades off all evil. It is indeed a sure defence as it preserves and delivers from destruction (Exodus 12:13, Zechariah 9:11-12). However, under the Levitical priesthood, a yearly sacrifice of animals must be made for sin removal "And Aaron shall make atonement upon its horn once a year with the blood of the sin offering of atonement" (Exodus 30:10). The children of Israel were mandated to carry out a continuous yearly offering of blood of animals for sacrifice for their sins and also at any other time they sinned (Leviticus 4:1-35, 5:1-13) but Jesus blood was offered once and for all (Hebrew 9:28).

God knows about our plight being fully aware of everything going on and He has the way out. The bible affirms that He knows about minute details of all events and activities either initiated by Him or caused by man or orchestrated by Satan as in the case of Job (Amos 3:6, Proverbs 24:12, Isaiah 45:7). And though Satan busy himself with his ministry of to and fro, back and forth as he restlessly wreak havoc, causing chaos, evil and calamity all over the world and troubling it (Job 1:7, 2:2), yet, God is in absolute control of everything, His power never diminishes. God is mindful of His people and He desires their wellness but only on one condition will He intervene in their affairs and give respite to their souls (Psalm 94:14-15). The condition is that men must seek to obey and fear God (Deuteronomy 5:9-10, 6:24-25). When there is deliberate desire to forsake sins, and return to God as Prophet Hosea encouraged the children of Israel to return to God in Hosea 6:1-3 "that though He has torn, He will heal and though He has stricken, He will bind up together again."  God will continuously contend with the ungodly who fails to repent of their evil ways, and judgment of sins will be the only thing that will turn away His anger (Colossians 3:25). And just like Balaam who desired to die the death of the righteous and have his latter end like the righteous (Numbers 23:10b), had this as a mere wish because he did not die the death of the righteous neither was his end like that of the righteous (Numbers 31:16, 18, Joshua 13:22). When evil persist, assuredly there will be judgment and destruction, but when men repent; mercy, forgiveness and restoration will follow.