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Introduction
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By the propitiation provided
by Christ there are a number
of truths brought into
focus: |
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a) |
The Holy perfection of God
in propitiation: |
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i) |
God is perfection
personified and anything
less than perfection will
never satisfy Him. Since it
is He who was offended and
His Son rejected, hated and
killed, what could be
provided to perfectly
satisfy God’s righteousness? |
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b) |
In the trespass offering the
offender had to not only
make up the damage done, but
a fifth part must be added,
so in what way could the
damage done by man in
depriving God of His glory
be restored to Him again and
God “better” off than
before? God can never be
better off but the magnitude
of His abilities are made
more abundant. |
It is dreadful beyond words or
illustration to grasp the solemnity
of the biblical statements such as,
“under condemnation”, “perish”,
“Hell”, “everlasting condemnation”,
etc. As we are living in the midst
of the Corona infection, thousands
are making time and earnestly
seeking to get the vaccine. It is a
just-in-case attitude, yet when it
comes to eternity and the assurance
of Heaven or Hell for eternity and
never knowing when their time on
earth will end, this is treated as
“big deal”, “sometime when I am
dying”. How foolish!
What Were The Qualifications of The
Propitiator?
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1) |
He had to provide a work
which satisfied God the
Judge |
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2) |
He had to provide a work
that was satisfying to
Himself |
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3) |
He had to provide a work
that was satisfactory to the
Holy Spirit |
God is exceedingly particular in
everything and unless He is
perfectly satisfied, there
is
no such blessing as
salvation. There are some things
which, when deprived of, can never
be restored or any recompense fully
satisfying. Illustration: I
had a beautiful
all chrome racing bicycle
which was stolen. Had the person
come to me and
offered an old rusted single geared
bike to make up for it, that
would never have satisfied me. If
he had even offered the same sort of
bicycle with the same gears and
chrome, I would be glad to get that
but it would never fully satisfy.
The stolen one was precious to me
for I had saved for a long time to
get it. Changing from a bike to one
of my children, if a drunk driver
killed one of them, what could he
offer that would satisfy me?
Nothing.
Propitiation
can only be secured by divine
persons for only God knows the depth
of sins and depravity in each of our
lives. He also knows the loftiness
of His moral character for He is
holy, and the moral sufficiency and
excellency of the sacrifice of
Christ in expiation and
propitiation.
God was slighted and belittled. His
gloriousness was degraded, His laws
were ignored, His statutes
belittled, His Son rejected and
killed, His gospel spurned. What
sort of a sacrifice would be
sufficient to meet such
needs, not only for one individual,
but for every human being?
The proprietary work of Christ must
be more than sufficient for my needs
and more than sufficient to satisfy
the justice of God removing the
wrath of God. If God had just
restored the individual to the
Adamic situation presinning, would
that have been good enough? If
Christ restored to God the loyalty Adam took away from God and that of His
descendants,
would that have been enough?
Question:
If Christ had simply given back to
God the deserved glory He was due,
would that have been enough?
According to the
trespass
offering in Leviticus 5:16 the
guilty one had to add a fifth more,
in other words, the offended had to
be better off than before. If this
is so, how could God be better off
after man sinned. We cannot use how
the word (propitiation) was used
among the Greek for their concept of
God was in error. Being pagans they
saw the gods as angry, and for good
fortune they had to be appeased by
the gifts and devotions of their
followers. In sharp contrast we see
the kindness and mercy of God
exhibited in propitiation in that
God, through Christ, propitiated His
justice and character. Sinful man
cannot please the Holy God. He was
a failure at keeping the law which
only condemned him. God was the one
who was despised, hated, rebelled
against, and He alone knew the
fullness
and multiplicity of man’s wickedness
and transgressions, and no one else
other than He could provide
propitiation, which He did through
the Lord.
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Because of the full justice
of God
by the work of Christ
righteously fulfilled, God
can now:
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a) |
Forgive the sinner
(Eph. 1:7; Col.
1:14) |
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b) |
Put the individual under a
new Headship with its
multiple blessings (Rom.
5:12-19) |
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c) |
Provide
reconciliation
(Rom. 5:10) |
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d) |
Make us children of God (1
Jn. 3:2). (John never uses
the Greek word for sons when
speaking of the saints,
“Son” is a term he uses
exclusively for the Lord) |
The chronological developing
of salvation and the
expiatory work of the Lord
is the foundation for
propitiation which proffers
humanity redemption,
justification,
reconciliation, liberation,
peace, acceptance,
forgiveness and
approachability etc.
Blessed with such, we have
approachability and
acceptability before the
Almighty.
The Words God Uses:
In two verses, Romans 5:10
and 2 Corinthians 5:18, the
English word
“reconciliation” and
“reconciled” is used to
translate the Greek word, “Katallassō”.
The Greek word “Katallagē”
is used in Romans 5:11 and 2
Corinthians 5:19. |
The Questions To Be Consider:
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1) |
What is meant by
propitiation? |
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a) |
The justice of God was
perfectly and fully
satisfied by the expiatory
sufferings of the Lord. The
result is God’s justice was
satisfied. Not a charge can
be laid against the child of
God (Rom. 8:33; 2 Cor.
5:19). |
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2) |
How was it provided? |
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a) |
By the Lord being made a
curse for us (Gal. 3:13). |
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b) |
By the Lord becoming our sin
offering suffering outside
the camp (Heb. 13:11, 13). |
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c) |
By the Lord having viewed as
me with all my sin and
executing His judgment on
Christ instead of me.
Putting on Him the iniquity
of us all (Isa. 53:6). |
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d) |
The Lord endured the
chastisement due to me, the
stripes I ought to have
endured for all eternity (Isa.
53:5). |
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e) |
He was an outcast: |
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i) |
Rejected by His own nation (Jn.
1:11) |
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ii |
Rejected by His own city
(Matt. 23:37) |
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iii) |
Rejected by the religious
leaders (Matt. 27:12) |
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iv) |
He was despised and was not
held in any esteem (Isa.
53:3) |
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3) |
What were his
qualifications? |
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a) |
In His entire life He
glorified
God in every
aspect of life, in every
role of life (Jn. 17:4) |
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b) |
In providing propitiation,
the Lord in
His vicarious
sufferings must please God: |
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i) |
In why He suffered (1 Pet.
3:18) |
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ii |
In His attitude in the
sufferings (Isa. 53:7) |
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iii) |
Fulfil the responsibility
God committed to Him,
fulfill the work given Him
to do
without wavering
irrespective of the reproach
He endured: |
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1) |
Before the cross (Psa.
69:12; Matt. 26:67;
27:28-31) |
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2) |
By men when on the cross
(Matt. 27:40) |
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3) |
By men after He suffered and
died (Matt. 27:63) |
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