In the Old Covenant, the priests ate from most of the sacrifices, with the exception of the sin[-offering] and trespass[-offering]. This prefigures our living from Messiah’s sacrifice, deriving life from his sin[-offering] for our sakes. This is now also figured by the Lord’s Supper. But the deeper reality is that his self-sacrifice justified God in reversing the objective injustice of what was done to him precisely because of his perfect obedience in subjecting his just soul to such an outrage of indignity, dishonor, abuse, and mortification. His right broke through their wrong by the act of God’s Solomonic judgment simultaneously conquering evil and vindicating good…in one Wholesome Breath!
Therefore we very well can speak (pace Jürgen Moltmann) of “the resurrection of an expiatory offering” (The Crucified God: The Cross of Christ as the Foundation and Criticism of Christian Theology [Harper & Row, 1974] p. 183), provided that expiation is not regarded as including “propitiation,” i.e., a “paying off the Judge” (a bribe!). But the Old Testament does not reckon them as “propitiatory” either, so there is no contradiction or tension between the covenants.
The sacrifices of the Old Covenant also had, therefore, a resurrectionary outcome in the figurative shadow of their bestowing life on those who consumed them. And even the inedible sacrifices pictured a life-giving function within the nation of Israel that would have suffered death and destruction by disease, pestilence, and enemies had they not been faithfully performed…although the exact mechanism involved has often been mistakenly interpreted as “propitiating” God’s righteous indignation against their sins. No, no! These rites called down God’s graciousness, to be sure, but not because they staved off His wrath against sin. And when Israel thought otherwise, God even shattered their ritual practices—think of the Exile!—rather than allow them this illusion of “sacrificial, propitiatory protection” available for the mere mechanical performance. For they all prefigured the accomplishment of Messiah’s personal protective sacrifice, the exact mechanism of which was a subjection under the undeviating favor and well-pleased heart of his Father—a graciousness now shown us, in turn, for Messiah’s sake! [4/18/06; 11/22/25]
What we behold on an intimate viewing of Jesus’ crucifixion-and-resurrection are the two epicenters of salvation. In their juxtaposition is justification—for the Father’s actions, for the Son’s actions, and for human salvation from God’s threatened wrath against stubborn unrepentance. It’s all right there. What’s more, there’s eminent justification for the evil in the world, temporary and ultimately reversible as it is.
This is the secret hidden since the disruption of the world by sin. The exact circuitry of this decisive turning-point in the history of mankind was never before made known in such a concentrated manner until now. Here was an amplifying circuit achieved by a feedback loop secured in a firm covenant containing mutual promises between the Father and the Son from time immemorial. Here the sub-critical mass of human injustice was explosively thrust into xtreme proximity with the sub-critical mass of divine justice, yet safely within the protective shield and shelter of a single Mediator who, as both divine and human (besides being perfectly sinless while in principle mortal), could both suffer xtreme injustice (all the way through death and beyond, to the Unseen), but then enjoy xtreme vindication within moments, historically speaking. THE BLAST WAS COSMIC! THE BLINDING LIGHT HEALS OUR BLINDNESS! THE DEAFENING SOUND CURES OUR DEAFNESS! XTREME LIFE SPRANG FORTH AND DEATH WAS ANNIHILATED! [4/18/06; 11/22/25]
By raising Lazarus, Jesus overwhelmingly reversed Mary and Martha’s brief sorrow. Yet even Jesus wept only moments before this jubilant resurrection, effected by the Father, by the Hand of the Spirit, at His Son’s request. There is a time to weep and a time to joyfully dry our tears. [4/18/06; 11/22/25]
One would have thought that Paul Peter Waldenström’s superb (if gently devastating) treatments of the “wrath-of-God-against-Jesus” theme would have put it to rest in its well-deserved grave once and for all. Yet it came back to life again and buried him in obscurity instead. Why is that?
If the strange misrepresentations of Waldenström’s position in theological encyclopedias and dictionaries are indicative, it may be largely because he did not quite achieve resurrectionary closure to bring his basically correct understanding to the triumphant climax of a satisfying victory. But with the elapse of a century that milestone has been reached…and overreached! [4/18/06] So when’s the victory celebration? Where’s the party?
“THE GRACE OF GOD”
All my life, I have never quite understood “the grace of God” as it is formulaically known. It never really computed. It did not make sense. It always seemed like the highly processed byproduct or residue of lofty, arbitrarily selective calculations pertaining to a rather complicated manufacturing process using precise conversion units and high-heat, high-pressure molecular-exchange mechanisms. Once the theologianeers finished laboring over the arcane procedures, the product resembled something cranked from an assembly line, churned out of a factory. And after all that rigamarole, the thing still didn’t compute!
Not until every last joule of divine wrath was banished from the cross did the calculations really start to click in the core of my understanding. Ever so slowly, the ultimately simple and universal formula—the E=mc2 of theology—started to take shape in my mind. The inner mind of Messiah was unfolding in magnificent, wondrous, marvelous perfection at long last! The Father’s heart was peering through the evaporating mists of well-meaning but² obscure “words without knowledge” that long usage and speciously hallowed tradition had passed down as “Gospel truth.” The new computations, to the contrary, actually yield an answer that comports with real life. All the math works! [4/18/06; 11/22/25]
The Premial Atonement 