What I mean by "Atonement" is the process that Christ went through in the garden of Gethsemane, his suffering on the cross, etc.
What do y'all think really happened there? what is the significance of it? I would appreciate y'alls opinions.
Part 1 --
The Scapegoat of the Atonement
Leviticus 16:
7 And he shall take the two goats, and present them before the LORD at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. 8 And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat. 9 And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the LORD'S lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering. 10 But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make an atonement with Him, and to let Him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness.
Matthew 4:
1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. 2 And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He was afterward an hungred.
3 And when the tempter came to Him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
4 But He answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
5 Then the devil taketh Him up into the holy city, and setteth Him on a pinnacle of the temple, 6 And saith unto Him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give His angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
7 Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
8 Again, the devil taketh Him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; 9 And saith unto Him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.
11 Then the devil leaveth Him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto Him.
In Leviticus 16, the goat means "a he-goat;
by analogy, a faun:--devil, goat, hairy, kid, rough, satyr."(Strong's)
And Scapegoat means the "goat of departure." (Strong's)
Matthew 4:10 "Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence (depart), Satan..."
Therefore, Genesis 3:15 has been fulfilled.
Jesus made Satan the scapegoat... which is only fair, since Satan's the one who brought about the fall of Adam and Eve.
Part 2 --
Redemption from the Death Penalty
Genesis 2:
17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
But even once the sin is removed, the man is still under the death sentence. And the only thing that took away that penalty is the blood and water shed by the Lamb of God.
John 19:
34 But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced His side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.
Deuteronomy 12:
23 Only be sure that thou eat not the blood: for the blood is the life; and thou mayest not eat the life with the flesh.
Jeremiah 2:
13 For My people have committed two evils; they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.
John 4:
14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
Matthew 4
4 But He answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
John 6:
58 This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever.
The Blood and water are redemption from the death sentence through the life of Jesus: Life, represented by His blood... and His water is life eternal. And His flesh is nothing less than the word of God that He taught you.
Part 3 -- is up to you
John 12:
48 He that rejecteth Me, and receiveth not My words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. 49 For I have not spoken of Myself; but the Father which sent Me, He gave Me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. 50 And I know that His commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto Me, so I speak.