“‘This shall be a permanent statute for you: in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall humble your souls and not do any work, whether the native, or the alien who sojourns among you; for it is on this day that atonement shall be made for you to cleanse you; you will be clean from all your sins before the LORD. It is to be a sabbath of solemn rest for you, that you may humble your souls; it is a permanent statute. So the priest who is anointed and ordained to serve as priest in his father’s place shall make atonement: he shall thus put on the linen garments, the holy garments, and make atonement for the holy sanctuary, and he shall make atonement for the tent of meeting and for the altar. He shall also make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the assembly. Now you shall have this as a permanent statute, to make atonement for the sons of Israel for all their sins once every year.’ And just as the LORD had commanded Moses, so he did.”
If the Old Covenant sacrifices foreshadowed the New Covenant atonement of Calvary, and if those Old Covenant sacrifices were made indiscriminately “for all the people of the assembly,” that is, “atonement for the son’s Israel” in general, then how do Calvinists say that the New Covenant atonement was not also made indiscriminately for all people? (Likewise, the atonement at Numbers 21:6-9 was also made indiscriminately available to all who were bitten.)
What do Calvinists believe?
The Old Testament sacrifices were offered only for those who believe, rather than being offered for all Israel.
Our reply:
The benefits were certainly only for those who believe, but that does not change the fact that the Levitical sacrifices were provided for all Israel, and in the case of Yom Kippur, the “Day of Atonement,” it included every soul within the borders of Israel, both native and alien, so that all for whom it is offered may benefit from it, if it is received by faith, since it is only efficacious through faith.
Dave Hunt: “…the Levitical sacrifices were for all Israelites, though most rebelled. That only those who believed were saved does not mean salvation was only offered to them.”668
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668 Debating Calvinism (Sisters, Oregon: Multnomah Publishers, Inc., 2004), 384.
[This post has been excerpted with permission from Richard Coords, Calvinism Answered Verse by Verse and Subject by Subject, © 2024.]
