Teaching Students About the Atonement

Students today are presented with various forms of “justice.” The focus on trying to fix what is broken in the world feeds into discussions of inequality, reform, and even human rights violations. The current understanding of how people can make up for their actions is widely-debated, but do our students understand what it means for deeds to be “atoned for?” It’s important for youth workers to help them understand this because it is a core component of the gospel. Understanding sin, redemption, and the justice of God is foundational to our relationship with God, and we can help students grasp these ideas by teaching them about atonement. There are five elements of atonement we see in Leviticus 16 that can help us to teach our students the importance of this foundational truth of the gospel story. 

Punishment

Lev. 16 describes the Day of Atonement, a once-a-year sacrifice on behalf of the entire nation of Israel. Like the rest of the Law of Moses, a key factor in the sacrificial offering  was the shedding of blood for the forgiveness of sins (vs. 6, 11, 15). An animal that was “without blemish” would be slaughtered, and its blood would be utilized in the ritual. God is holy, which means He is perfect in every possible way. This also means He is perfectly righteous. Nothing may enter His presence that is unrighteous or impure (such as sinful humans or a less-than-perfect sacrifice). As a symbol of this, blood must be spilled for the sins of humanity to be covered in God’s sight. Sin brings a punishment, and that is death. The blood is payment for that price of death. Sinners can only enter into God’s presence through the shedding of blood. 

Mediation

Not only were there specific rules about the sacrifices, but there were rules about who could offer them. On the Day of Atonement, the High Priest was the only one allowed to go into the presence of God (The Most Holy Place) to offer the sacrifices. He would need to be pure himself by offering atonement for himself and his family before he could enter. He would then wear the prescribed ceremonial robes, linens, and a turban that carried the names of the 12 tribes of Israel, representing the people before God (vs. 3-4). He was the mediator between God and His people, bringing them together through His work in the atonement rituals.

Substitution

Yet even though humans are the ones that sin, God provides an animal substitute. Through the sacrifice of an animal, the priest was able to make atonement for himself, his family, and the people. The price of sin is death, but because God desires for humans to not experience that death, He provided a temporary solution in the form of an animal. The people’s sins would be represented, without them being the ones to incur the punishment. In fact, The High Priest would sprinkle blood in front of himself, lining the path to the Ark of the Covenant where God’s Presence hovered (vs. 15-19). No human could defile the Most Holy Place, so blood would act as a buffer, maintaining the purity of the room as humanity was welcomed in.

Guilt

In addition to the shedding of animal blood, there was also another practice that was symbolic for atonement purposes: the transferring of guilt. Once the High Priest had offered the sacrifices in the Most Holy Place, he would come out from God’s presence, and He would place his hands on a live goat, symbolically transferring the guilt of the people to the animal, then sending it out of the camp, never to return (vs. 20-21). This was a picture of the fact that the people’s sins had been paid for, but also that the guilt of their prior sins was removed from them as well.

Cleanliness

The last principle we see is the idea of cleanliness. First, the priest needed to wash himself before donning the holy garments, symbolizing his purity before the Lord. If He ignored this and walked in, he would die (vs. 2). No sinful human could withstand the holiness of God without first becoming pure. Second, when the High Priest would exit the Most Holy Place and finish the sacrifices, he would remove the blood-stained clothing, wash himself, and dress again (vs. 23-24). This was symbolic both of the current state of those who had received the atonement and a reminder of the promises of God. Their sins had been dealt with, and they could move forward in confidence as God’s holy and forgiven people. 

Christ and the Day of Atonement

The Old Testament points toward Christ. Every element of the Day of Atonement points us to Christ. Without a proper understanding of this, we will miss the significance of Christ’s work -  how He is the fulfillment of Lev. 16, the true atonement.

First, Christ’s work paid the price for sin. He “became sin” (2 Cor. 5:21) in order that our sins would be covered and our debt paid. He bore our sins in His body on the cross (1 Pet. 2:24).

Second, Christ comes as our perfect substitute. He “became flesh” (John 1:14), so that He would identify with us as a man, stand in our place, and accomplish the atoning sacrifice we never could. He is the Lamb of God who takes our place and our punishment. As the fully human and holy Son of God, he does what the animal substitutes never could: he identifies with humans without any of their weaknesses. 

Third, Christ is our great High Priest (Heb. 4:14). He not only comes as a man to take our place; He is both the sacrifice and the one who offers it. He is fully God and man, which means that instead of a temporary sacrifice that someone who had to be cleaned first would offer, Christ is the eternal sacrifice who is already perfect. 

Fourth, Jesus removes our guilt from us. Not only has Jesus offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice, but He secured an eternal solution to the problem of guilt by purchasing the freedom we needed. He presented in the presence of God the eternal human sacrifice for the redemption of man, then He applies it to those who believe through the sending of the Holy Spirit, who takes what Christ has accomplished and seals us with it. Now our sin is not just forgiven, but eternally removed from our account. Even when we sin, we do not bear the eternal guilt like we once did. 

Lastly, the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7). We have been transformed into new creations, whose past does not haunt them and whose future is secured (2 Cor. 5:17). Christ’s work has set us free from the Law of the Old Testament, not because it is irrelevant, but because He is the better version. As we seek to teach our students about this, may we always draw them back to the goodness of God in Christ: the perfect solution to our recurring problem.

This might seem overwhelming to attempt. After all, Leviticus isn’t exactly a go-to passage for a gospel presentation. But the Day of Atonement gives us a meaningful picture to communicate an idea we already know: that somehow, Jesus’s blood covers us. As you teach this subject, don’t panic and try to make every connection in one lesson. And don’t feel like a failure because a student doesn’t instantly see the significance. Focus on who it points to (Jesus) and help them grow in confidence that their sin really has been atoned for through his death and resurrection.