Justice, Atonement, Righteousness

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Summary

Starting from Ephesians 2:8-10 – salvation by grace through faith, not of works, yet unto good works God prepared beforehand – the lecture builds a picture of who God is: God is just, God is righteous, God is holy, God is love, God is truth, God is life, and God is the Law, so that for Christians justice means the very expression of God’s being. It then turns to the promised Messiah, the Lord of Lords who comes to exercise justice and righteousness on the earth, and shows how the tabernacle – the altar, the bronze laver, the holy place, the holy of holies – and its sprinkled blood pictured the atonement that would satisfy that justice.

The lecture closes by pointing from the sacrificial system to Isaiah’s suffering servant, on whom the LORD laid the iniquity of us all, and to the Holy Spirit as the Helper who proceeds from the Father and reveals the truth about God to His people.

Essential truths

  1. Salvation is by grace through faith, not of works, so that no one may boast, yet it results in good works God prepared beforehand.
  2. God is just, righteous, holy, truth, and life – His justice is simply the expression of who He is.
  3. The tabernacle's sacrificial system, with its sprinkled blood, pictured the atonement that satisfies God's justice while making sinners righteous.
  4. The Holy Spirit, the Helper who proceeds from the Father, reveals the truth about God to His people.

Encouragement and challenge

Let the doctrines of God's justice and Christ's atonement deepen worship and confidence in Him, not remain merely intellectual.

Reference verses

  • Ephesians 2:8-10
  • Isaiah 53:6
  • Leviticus 16:14-15
  • John 15:26

About this sermon