“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep” (John 10:11).
The purpose of the Atonement is the actual and certain salvation of those whom God has chosen. It is not the establishment of the possibility that all men might be saved. Christ’s work is more certain than this. If the Atonement only allowed for the possibility that men might be saved, it is conceivable that Christ could have died for nothing, for it certainly would be possible that no one would receive Christ by faith.
It is important for Christians to understand that Christ did not die for everyone, but that He died only for those given to Him by the Father. Jesus Himself said that He laid down His life for the sheep, not for the goats and the sheep, but for the sheep alone (John 10:11, 15). Christ died for the church (Acts 20:28; Eph. 5:25–27), for those given to Him by the Father, for the elect (Rom. 8:32–35). This is the language of Scripture. If the purpose of the Atonement were to save every person, then every person would be saved, for the secret will of God is not thwarted—His plans are never frustrated.
Christ’s intercessory work and His sacrificial work are two sides of one coin—they cannot be separated. For whom Christ intercedes, He died; for whom Christ died, He intercedes. Christ made it very clear that He does not pray for all men, but that He prays only for those given to Him by the Father (John 17:9). And part of His ongoing intercessory work is applying the benefits of redemption to those for whom He died. The prayers of the Son are always heard by the Father, and His intercessory work never fails. Those for whom Christ prays certainly will be saved, and the only people Christ prays for are those for whom He died.
This has an Old Testament counterpart because the incense could only be burned on the sacrificial altar, thus inseparably connecting the prayers of the priests (intercession), represented by the incense, to the sacrifice on the altar.
If Jesus Christ died for the purpose of saving every individual, then every individual certainly would be saved. We then would have to believe in absolute universalism, which is the doctrine that every person actually is saved. Of course, this is unbiblical. We are left, therefore, with the biblical doctrine that Christ died only for those chosen by God.
Read Matthew 1:21, Galatians 1:3–4, Colossians 1:21–22, Titus 2:14; 3:5–6, Hebrews 9:12, and 1 Peter 3:18. According to these passages, did the death of Christ only make it possible for sinners to come to faith and repentance, or did it make the salvation of some certain? Praise God today for making salvation not a possibility, but a certainty.
