The Jesus Institute Forum

Covenant atonement-covering in the Hebrew Scriptures

The foundational basis of forgiveness (in the NT also)

Lee F Greer III
Loma Linda, California
© 2003

YAHWEH's love and eternal suzerainty Covenant with Israel (see Appendix 1) was the foundation of the Levitical atonement-covering provided for Israel. This atonement-covering was in turn the basis for the justification (or forgiveness) of the penitent sinner and congregation (Lev. 1-17). Israel's corporate life as a renewed and prosperous Covenant people was based on the objective, imputed atonement-covering provided in the Levitical sanctuary before God and His holy Covenant.

This central relationship occupied by YAHWEH's Covenant was illustrated by the concentric arrangement of Israel's encampment during the wilderness wandering:

The atonement-covering was a perpetual process throughout the year associated with this 7-fold concentric associated with the Levitical sanctuary and culminating on the 10th day of the 7th month, the Day of Atonement when the high priest penetrated with the blood of the atonement-covering into the Holy of Holies where the presence of God's glory was manifest upon the Mercy-Seat of the Ark containing the Covenant.

Covenant terms associated with the Levitical atonement-covering (as per Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible and its associated Hebrew lexicon numbers):

A forensic verdict of forgiveness and acquittal in the Levitic Covenant sanctuary was the type which finds its fullness and fulfillment in the antitype with Christ. This is the foundation for the eschatological NT (Jubilee Day of Atonement) proclamation of the Gospel of Justification by faith alone in a righteousness imputed for the sake of Christ our Proxy (Rom. 3-4; 8:31-33; Hebrews, and Rev. 4-5; 12; etc.), i.e., Justification by faith alone in the doing and dying of Christ reckoned ours in the heavenly courts above in the person of Jesus Christ. Justification by faith is realized eschatology, awaiting the consummation. Here is the astounding wonder that "a righteousness that resides with a Person in heaven should justify me, a sinner, on earth." (John Bunyan)!

References

Greer L. 2002. "Atonement and the Revelation: Levitic Covenant underpinnings." The Jesus Institute Forum: http://www.jesusinstituteforum.org/LevCovRev.html.

Kline MG. 1963. Treaty of the great king – The covenant structure of Deuteronomy: Studies and commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

Appendix 1. Elements of the ancient Near Eastern suzerainty covenant-treaty form (3000-1500 BCE)

The suzerain covenant-treaty form commonly utilized in the Hebrew Scriptures and also echoed at times in the Greek NT (Greer, 2002; adapted from Kline, 1963):

These elements are reflected in the earliest poetic and codified sections of the Hebrew Scriptures, especially in the Levitic Covenant, and were revisited in the later prophetic writings. The NT writers in the proclamation of the Gospel alluded to the same.

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