ARTICLES
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Jesus and the Mercy Seat, Jubilee, and Atonement by Aaron Goerner
This article explores Christ’s atoning work in terms of Leviticus 16, Leviticus 25, and Romans 3:21-26. Here I note the connection between Paul’s use of hilasterion in Romans 3:25 and the mercy seat (hilasterion) in Leviticus 16. The mercy seat was the place where God’s justice was satisfied, sin was pardoned, and His people were accepted as righteous through the blood of the covenant. The mercy seat was the place, in the Old Covenant, where God most clearly demonstrated that He was both just and the justifier of the unjust (Romans 3:26). Jesus is our mercy seat because He has perfectly kept the requirement of the Law for our righteousness and has shed His blood for our unrighteousness.
Jesus is also our Jubilee. Every 7×7 years after propitiation and the removal of sin was accomplished, Jubilee was proclaimed throughout the land. One of the ways Jesus announced His ministry was in terms of Jubilee (Luke 4:18-19, 21). What I emphasize is that our view of the atonement must focus on both Jesus’ death and life.
This has important applications which are developed further in the papers below.
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Jesus, Atonement, and Sabbath by Aaron Goerner
The purpose of this article is to take a closer look at the foundation of Christ’s work in terms of sabbath. Both the Day of Atonement and the Year of Jubilee were sabbaths.
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Jesus, Poverty, and the Gospel by Aaron Goerner
This article explores the sabbatarian theme of poverty in light of atonement and Jubilee. Developed from the first two papers, I argue here that a faulty view of the atonement will lead to a faulty view of material poverty and wealth. It is of great importance to define the “poor” of Luke 4:18 in terms of Isaiah where the good news is preached to the afflicted/humble/`anav (Isaiah 61:1).
First and foremost, affliction/humbling/`anah was the contrition all God’s people (materially rich and poor) were to express on the Day of Atonement for their transgression, sin, and iniquity (Leviticus 16:29,31; Isaiah 58:3,5,10).
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Atonement, Peace, Christianity, and Islam by Aaron Goerner
The purpose of this article is to look at how understanding the atonement from the perspective of Christ’s life and death is necessary for our proclamation of the Gospel to Muslims. For the last few years I have been sharing the Gospel with Muslims from around the world. It was from these interactions that I
realized my apologetic with Muslims focused much upon the death of Jesus but to the neglect of His life.
Explaining God’s justice in light of Christ’s death AND life has the following advantage: while Muslims deny the death of Jesus on the cross – they believe in the Virgin Birth (Qur’an 3:45-51; 19:16-26), the miracles of Jesus (cf. Qur’an 3:49; 5:109-110; 61:6), and His sinlessness can also be inferred from the Qur’an.
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