Leviticus 16:14-16 And he shall take of the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy seat eastward; and before the mercy seat shall he sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times. Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood within the vail, and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat: And he shall make an atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions in all their sins: and so shall he do for the tabernacle of the congregation, that remaineth among them in the midst of their uncleanness.

The shedding of the blood and covering of the mercy seat by the sprinkling seven times is a symbol of the reconciliation which we spoke about yesterday. There is however no justification, only atonement. This would happen year after year because the sacrifice of animals could not and never would justify man’s sin before God. Mercy however was attained.

Hebrews 10:9-12 Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;

By His resurrection Jesus Christ took away the first in order to establish the second.

Here again we find a new word, sanctified. Why do we replace one things for another? It is because the first one didn’t work. So why is sanctification so important that Christ had to die in order for this new covenant to be established?

Romans 4:25 Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.

While yesterday I spoke about restoration allow me to point out that before there can be restoration there has to be justification. Without justification we would all be restored to our sinful state and nothing would be gained by that.

If it never occurred to you, allow me to point out that if Christ had not risen from the grave none of us would be justified. At the cross Christ’s final words were it is finished. Do you understand what He meant? If justification had not come at the time of His death, then what was finished?

Romans 5:10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

Now we have a comparative term, reconciliation. Reconciled by His death and justified by His resurrection. Two terms, two conditions and a need for us to distinguish one from the other. Clarity is required.

The Hebrew word of reconcile is kaw-far’; a primitive root; to cover (specifically with bitumen) Bitumen is tar. The issue here is that God would no longer see our sins.

Justification in the Greek is dikaiosis which denotes “the act of pronouncing righteous, justification, acquittal;” its precise meaning is determined by that of the verb dikaioo, “to justify”.

Seeing that His death on the cross removes sin as the reason for God’s wrath, it is necessary for us to distinguish these two terms in terms of accusation and judgment. If our acquittal is based on His resurrection how do we move from reconciliation to justification since the two are separate in the view of God?

Romans 3:28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.

What was finished that day when Jesus said, “It is finished.”; was adherence to the law as a means of justification. God having put sin to death on the cross, now looks at the risen Christ as the only means of acquittal from those sins.