Atonement

1 · Icebreaker · 7 min

Open the room

Have you ever paid for something someone else broke, or taken a consequence that belonged to somebody else? Did you tell them?

Leader. Substitution, briefly. Not the book’s question about covering up your own mistake. Say that passing is allowed, especially the first few weeks.

2 · The word · 8 min

See it, then say it

Definition, from the book

Atonement is the once-for-all work of Christ in His life and sacrificial death in which He, as our substitute, bore the penalty of sin, satisfied God’s wrath, fulfilled the demands of divine justice, and reconciled sinners to God, securing redemption for all who believe.

In the original language

Hebrew kapar — to cover, to purge, to make atonement.

Memory verse · 1 Peter 2:24

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

Together, open the flashcard for Atonement. Say the word, the definition, and the verse once. Then put the phone away.

3 · Open the Bible · 15 min

Exodus 12:5–7, 12–13

Isaiah 1:18 was their reflection text. The Passover is the lamb in story form, and it matches the drawing without repeating the devotion.

Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight. Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.

Have two readers if you can. Bibles open. The excerpt is only here so a forgotten Bible does not stop the night.

From the passage

1. 1.What kind of lamb does God require, and what does the blood actually do on that night?Core

   Leader. Without blemish. The blood is a sign God sees, and He passes over. The lamb dies. The household lives. A symbol without a death would not have done this.

2. 2.God says, “When I see the blood.” Whose obedience is the shelter — the family’s feelings, or the lamb’s blood applied?

   Leader. They had to put it on the door. The saving thing God sees is the blood, not the impressiveness of the people indoors.

4 · Around the room · 20 min

A conversation this chapter did not assign

1. 3.Hebrews 10:4 and 14: animal blood cannot take away sins, and Jesus’ one offering perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. What could the old lambs do, and what could they never do?Core

   Leader. They taught, covered for a time, and pointed. They could not finish. Christ does not repeat Passover. He fulfills it.

2. 4.1 Peter 2:24 holds two purposes together: He bore our sins, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. Which half do we quote more often, and what happens when we drop the other?

   Leader. Only the bearing: no new life. Only the living: no forgiveness. Atonement is both pardon and a new direction.

3. 5.Where do we still try to “cover” our own sin — image, excuses, religious busyness — instead of standing under the blood God sees?

   Leader. Covering yourself is the opposite of atonement. You hide the door. He covers the people.

5 · Say it · 5 min

In one sentence

Atonement is Jesus, our substitute, covering sin by His sacrifice so we can be brought back to God.

Ask for two volunteers, not the whole circle. They may look at the sentence, then try it without looking. Clumsy and true is the goal.

6 · Pray · 8 min

Leave silence between these

1. Thank the Lamb who was slain.
2. Confess one way you try to cover yourself.
3. Ask to live to righteousness this week for a reason: His wounds, not your reputation.