# Synodical Conference Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1928_S13
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

of the Ev. Luth. Synodical Conference of North America. 1928. 13

all your sins shall ye be cleansed before the LORD." To what extent these
sacrifices had atoning power we shall discuss later; but so much is clear: when
these sacrifices were offered, then God was reconciled, and the Lord God
forgave the people, or the individual Israelite, his transgression.

Reconciliation of God, that is also the great work of Jesus as our High Priest.
Scripture says so expressly. Thus it says in Heb. 2:17: "Wherefore in all
things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a
merciful and faithful High Priest before God, to reconcile the sin of the
people." "To reconcile the sin of the people." That sounds strange. Sin surely
does not need to be reconciled. And that is not the meaning of this saying
either. To reconcile sin means as much as to atone for sin, to make
satisfaction for it, so that God forgives it. Quite similarly it says in
Heb. 9:26: "At the end of the world hath he appeared once, by the sacrifice of
himself to put away sin. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but
after this the judgment, so Christ was once offered to take away the sins of
many." A sacrifice he was to offer, it says here. And the purpose of it was to
put away sin, to take away the sin of many. The picture of Jesus as our High
Priest now becomes clear. He offers God a sacrifice like the priest under the
Old Covenant, and by this sacrifice he reconciles God, who is angry because of
sin. This sacrifice, to be sure, lies in the past. It is not happening now, nor
will it first take place. Christ has been sacrificed, says the Epistle to the
Hebrews. "It is finished!" so it rang out 1900 years ago on Golgotha; the
great work is done, we can look back on it and take comfort in it.

Holy Scripture presents the same truth also under the picture of the mediation
between God and men that Christ undertakes. Paul writes in 1 Tim. 2:5, 6:
"There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
who gave himself for all for redemption, [that] such should be preached in its
time." [The German reads "das" where "daß" would be expected.] The world had
sinned and in consequence lay under the wrath of God. If this wrath was not to
hurl it into eternal ruin, something had to happen. Someone had to mediate
between the offender and the offended. When here on earth someone has offended
an acquaintance or friend, a third person will intervene and try to bring about
a reconciliation. Jesus stepped between God and men, whom sin had estranged,
and brought about a reconciliation by making God gracious toward men.

Christ brought about reconciliation; that is also the sense of the precious
passage 2 Cor. 5:18: "But all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to
himself by Jesus Christ and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation."
It says there, to be sure: "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto
himself." The work of reconciliation is ascribed to God. But it also says
expressly that God did it through Jesus Christ. That is the incomprehensible
wonder of love that we see before us in the work of Jesus. God is offended by
us, and he is angry with us; and behold, he himself, the offended one, now
makes arrangements for the reconciliation between him and the world to be
brought about! He sends his Son. He becomes the mediator. He becomes the High
Priest who steps between God and sinful mankind, who, to use an Old Testament
picture, comes running with the incense when the plague rages, and by his
sacrifice stills the wrath of God and checks the plague.