Leon Morris outlines very effectively the critical word-pictures from the New Testament which surround the person and work of Christ. The words covenant, sacrifice, day of atonement, Passover, redemption, reconciliation, propitiation, and justification are treated in great detail, as the author makes an “attempt to rediscover what the first Christians had in mind when they used them. …..to bring out the meaning of the cross……there can be no doubt that for the New Testament writers as a whole it was the cross that was at the heart of the faith”. (The Atonement Page 12).

We see the sweeping themes of the Old Testament in Morris’ vocabulary study, as the first Jewish Christian writers reveal what God has done. Nowhere is this more pronounced than in the letter to the Hebrews, which is a rich revelation of how God has fulfilled the Old Testament Scriptures in the person of Christ. The replacement of the covenant of law with the new covenant of grace, and the superiority of that new covenant (Heb 7:22, 8:13). The replacement of the Levitical priesthood with the perfect Melchizedekian priesthood of Jesus (Heb 7:16, 24) . The finality of Jesus’ completely unblemished sacrifice as a replacement for the ineffective sacrifice of the blood of bulls (Heb 10:4). All these signs reveal the fulfillment of the atonement perfectly in the life and death of Jesus.

The methods, prophecies, and prefigurations from the Old Testament clearly point to the will of the Father in providing our salvation through the person and work of Jesus. The use of water, blood and cedar to purify, were united in the blood and water that Jesus shed on the wooden cross. The multiple prophecies which point to Christ (Gen 12:2, 49:10, Isa. 7:14, 40:3, 52:14, 53:5, Psalm 22) are all precisely fulfilled in Jesus. Further, the “ribbon of crimson” prefigured by the signal Rahab gave to the Israelites, and the Levitical sacrificial goats point clearly to Jesus central sacrifice.

Grudem expands the traditional cross-centered focus of the atonement to include “the work Christ did in his life and death to earn our salvation” (Systematic Theology page 568). He is referring to the specific benefits which accrue to us as a result of Christ’s person, His perfect life, as well as His death and resurrection.

First, Christ was fully God and fully man. This allowed Him the authority to represent God in initiating and accomplishing salvation, and representing mankind in payment of the punishment required. Second, Christ’s perfect human obedience during His lifetime was a fundamental part of making a perfect, unblemished, and acceptable substitutionary sacrifice, and earning us righteousness in God’s eyes. (Rom 5:17-19). As Adam’s guilt was imputed to us, so is Christ’s righteousness. Therefore, there is payment for sin (elimination of a negative) and the attribution of Christ’s righteousness to us (the addition of a positive benefit) which lasts forever as we become God’s adopted children.

In fact, Jesus’ perfect life on earth served to radically redefine righteousness. Jesus’ teaching, especially the Sermon on the Mount, rebuked the Pharisees who had led many first century Jews into a legalistic concept of righteousness. The Pharisees had missed the whole point of trusting God, and in sharp contrast to the trusting nature of the faith of OT saints like Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David, they had placed their trust in rules. They had eventually interpreted their rules in ways that promoted sins of the heart.

Dallas Willard explains how Jesus redefined righteousness (dikaiosune):

“In Matthew, chapter 5, Jesus works us through six situations in which the goodness that lives from the heart and through The Kingdom Among Us is contrasted with the old dikaiosune focused mainly on ‘doing the right thing’.” (Divine Conspiracy Page 146).

Jesus extends the definition of the 10 commandments from forbidding observable behavior (eg. No adultery) towards keeping our hearts and thoughts right (eg. No cultivation of lust). His life and authority as God made Him uniquely qualified to teach this, and His death and resurrection and gift of the Holy Spirit close the loop on our need and ability to trust Him to obey it.

Third, Jesus’ bodily resurrection confirmed that God’s wrath had ended, that Jesus had defeated death on our behalf, and that we would follow Him in that state. Fourth, His ascension to the Father’s right hand means that His priesthood continues and that He intercedes constantly for us, as further security for our salvation. He is a perfect and a uniquely qualified Savior. In fact, no other person could have done what he accomplished.

John Stott reinforces Jesus’ unique ability to be our Savior and Mediator in his commentary on 1 Tim 2:5-6:

“Here then is the double uniqueness of Jesus Christ, which qualifies Him to be the only mediator. First, there is the uniqueness of his divine-human person, and secondly the uniqueness of His substitutionary, redeeming death. The one mediator is the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as ransom. We must keep these three nouns together, the man, the ransom and the mediator……Theologically, they refer to the three great doctrines of salvation, namely the incarnation, the atonement, and the heavenly mediation.”( The Cross of Christ page 71).

It is also important to consider the roles played by Jesus and the Father in the atonement, to better understand the deep love of God the Father and Jesus towards us. First, the penalty was inflicted by the Father - He had the role of requiring the payment for the sins of mankind. Jesus voluntarily played the role of bearing that penalty. Grudem captures the thought well:

“ herein we see something of the amazing love of both God the Father and God the Son in redemption. Not only did Jesus know that He would bear the incredible pain on the cross, but God the Father also knew that He would have to inflict this pain on His own deeply loved Son" (Systematic Theology page 577).

So we see that all aspects of the atonement were designed to perfectly and uniquely satisfy God’s wrath and His Holy character. The next question relates to the timelessness of the Lord’s salvation, and specifically how this doctrine is applied within the Old Testament.