Summary of Scripture Words.
Atonement, Sacrifice.

Atonement.

The use of the word Atonement in the biblical use must be very distinguished from the use in theology. In the use by theology it is used to cover the whole sacrificial and redemptive work of Christ. While in the Old Testament use it is a translation of the Hebrew word which have the meaning of cover, or covering, or even to cover. This is not therefore a translation of the Hebrew but a basic theological idea. The use in the Old Testament was to cover the sins of Isabel until the action of the cross, it did not "Take away"
Hebrews 10:3,4

"3 But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year.
4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins."

These were the sins which were done in the Old Testament times, they were "covered", God then had to pass over the "covered sins," but by God passing over their sins His righteousness was never clear of blame or shown to be right or justified until we get to the cross, when Jesus was set out as to satisfied the demands of a very Holy and Perfect God, propitiation. It was action of the cross which made the full and complete redemption, not the Levitical sacrifices. These allowed God to get on with a guilty people because the sacrifices typified the coming Cross, To the person making the offering, they were making the confession of their personal and very deserving death penalty and also an expression of their faith. Yet to God they were the "shadows" of things that were to come, the action of Christ at the cross being the actual reality.

"1 For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.
2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.
3 But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year.
4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
5 Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:
6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure."

Sacrifice

The death of an animal as a debt payment for the sins of a man or woman,
Hebrews 11:1-4

"1 For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.
2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.
3 But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year.
4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins."

The regular sacrifices were being offered during the New Testament times, this was because the final sacrifice of Jesus the Messiah had not yet happened. Jesus would have also made a sacrifice offering when he was placed in the temple at the age of twelve, plus any other visits he had made to the temple. Please note that until the temple was destroyed by the action of the Romans seventy years later, the sacrifices were still being offered in the temple.

In Acts 11 we have the story of Peter and his vision sent by God, the food which he was not to touch yet God said it was OK. When God now turned to the Gentiles with the message of Salvation. This shows that the sacrifices were now unnecessary, the "Old covenant" was ceased

"10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
11 And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.
13 In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away."

The worship in the Jewish Temple was unnecessary, after the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross any other sacrifice would be considered an abomination to God. It is interesting that God had to make sure they disappeared by using the Romans to destroy the temple in A.D.70