Is Universal Atonement True? (5)

Let us consider two more arguments against a death of Christ for all, head for head.

(13) Ephesians 1:3 teaches that we have been blessed "with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ." These blessings come to us "according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world" (4). That is, we receive all these blessings according to our eternal election (4) and predestination (5). Ephesians 1 enumerates some of our spiritual blessings: holiness (4), adoption (5), acceptance (6), redemption (7), the forgiveness of sins (7), the knowledge of God's will (9), the sealing of the Holy Spirit (13) and an eternal inheritance (11,14). Not only are we blessed according to our election (4, 5) but all the elect have "all spiritual blessings" (3). On the other hand, the fact that the reprobates are not blessed with any of these spiritual blessings is also according to the eternal "purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will" (11).

Now remember, one of the spiritual blessings is "redemption through his blood" (7). Thus Christ's redemption and blood shedding are instances of those spiritual blessings, which come to us “according as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world" (4). Therefore Christ redeemed, shed His blood and died for the elect and not for the reprobate. Thus the elect are forgiven (7), adopted (5), accepted (6), made holy (4) and sealed with the Spirit (13) for their eternal inheritance (11, 14) on the basis of Christ's atoning death. The reprobate do not receive any of the spiritual blessings of Christ's death, for He did not die for them.

(14) Another point not often considered in this connection involves the OT sacrifices which were types of Christ's death. If Christ died for the sins of everybody then one would expect this to be reflected in the sacrificial system. Leviticus 1-7, the central passage on the Mosaic sacrifices, speaks of the burnt offering, the meal offering, the peace offering, the sin offering and the trespass offering. Always these sacrifices are particular, for Israel, the church (Lev. 1:2; 4:13; 7:36, 38), and nowhere do we read of a universal atonement, an offering for every individual Jew and Gentile.

Similarly, on the Day of Atonement, the high priest made atonement for the Israelites not the Moabites or the Jebusites (Lev. 16:16, 17, 19, 21, 34). Moreover, the high priest bore "the names of [the twelve tribes of] the children of Israel" --and not the names of the children of Esau--on the breastplate "upon his heart, when he [went] in unto the holy place," speaking of His representative and intercessory work for them (Ex. 28:29).

Lest it be said that the OT sacrifices speak of an atonement for every member of the nation of Israel, we recall that fact that "they are not all Israel, which are of Israel" (Rom. 9:6) and that the true Israelite is not one circumcised in the flesh but one circumcised in the spirit (Rum. 2:28-29). Christ died for the true Israel and the OT types point to His redemption of the spiritual "Israel of God (Gal. 6:16).