Jesus as Propitiation
Christology • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 29:28
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· 284 viewsWhat does it mean to say that Jesus is the "propitiation"? Could anyone else be our propitiation?
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Sin is an Offense Against God
Sin is an Offense Against God
God as the Creator has the right to command His Creation. Since the beginning, God has implemented rules to follow.
Genesis 2:16-17
And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
While man obeyed the law of God, there was peace and fellowship between the Creation and the Creator.
But, when man went against the law of God, sin entered the world. Sin, by definition, is going against the law of God.
1 John 3:4
Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
The wages of sin is death, which means a separation.
Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
When sin entered the world, death entered the world.
Romans 5:12
Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
Sin makes us unholy and imperfect. By being so, we are not allowed to remain in God’s presence.
Isaiah 59:1-2
Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; Neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:
But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, And your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
Sin is the breaking of God’s law and going against the righteous commands of the Creator. It creates a rift and separation between us. It robs God of the Creation He loves.
The parable of the Prodigal Son paints the picture of what happens when we sin against God.
Luke 15:11-13
And he said, A certain man had two sons:
And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living.
And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.
Is this what the father wanted, to be apart from his son and to see him go away from the family and make poor choices detrimental to himself? Of course not.
Does God want to be apart from us and see us go away from His family and make poor choices detrimental to ourselves? Of course not.
What the father really wanted was for the son to come home and rejoin the family. But, until the son made the decision to repent, there would continue to be a rift and separation.
Luke 15:21-24
And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.
But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:
And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry:
For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.
Offending God Deserves and Incurs Wrath
Offending God Deserves and Incurs Wrath
The prodigal son really may have hurt his father when he said he wanted his part of the inheritance and wanted to leave. The father did not want him to go out and waste his life, but he respected his freewill and decision.
When we sin we have a rift between us and God. We are separated by sin from the Holy presence of God. We have turned our back on the Creator who made us and loved us.
The offenses we do against God incurs wrath from Him.
Jeremiah 44:8
In that ye provoke me unto wrath with the works of your hands, burning incense unto other gods in the land of Egypt, whither ye be gone to dwell, that ye might cut yourselves off, and that ye might be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth?
This is not the work of an arbitrary act. The wrath of God is upon us because we have brought it upon ourselves. God established the law and the penalty, we broke the law, and therefore we now deserve the penalty.
Ezekiel 22:31
Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord God.
The same stipulation applies to us today. Jesus was the peace offering that God offered to man to bridge the rift and create peace between God and man.
Luke 2:11-14
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, Good will toward men.
Belief in Jesus as the Son of God leads to everlasting life, but disbelief and rejecting the peace offering of Jesus leaves us in the same lost position, in the same rift between us and God, and in the same position deserving of wrath.
John 3:36
Revelation 14:9-11
He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
Jesus as Propitiation Appeases the Wrath and Allows for Peace
Jesus as Propitiation Appeases the Wrath and Allows for Peace
The only solution for the appeasement of the wrath of God is the propitiation of Jesus.
Scripture states that Jesus is the propitiation for our sins.
1 John 2:2
And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
A propitiation might be described as an appeasement sacrifice. It is meant to appease or to reduce the anger of deity.
I think of an old movie where a tribe believes a volcano is a god. When the volcano starts to thunder and smoke, the tribe takes a sacrifice of food or humans to the volcano. By throwing them in the volcano they believe they will appease the anger of the god and escape the volcanic eruption of his wrath.
Since we had a rift between God and man, and we incurred and deserved God’s wrath, we needed a propitiation, an appeasement sacrifice.
God lost a perfect man that He created. With our sin we were no longer perfect and could not restore to God what He had lost.
God loved us enough to desire us to be able to return to Him. That’s why He sent the Son to live as a perfect man that could be offered as a propitiation sacrifice.
Hebrews 4:15
For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
1 John 4:10
Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
With the sacrifice of Jesus, the wrath of God is appeased.
Isaiah 53:5-11
But he was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: The chastisement of our peace was upon him; And with his stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned every one to his own way; And the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, Yet he opened not his mouth: He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, So he openeth not his mouth.
He was taken from prison and from judgment: And who shall declare his generation? For he was cut off out of the land of the living: For the transgression of my people was he stricken.
And he made his grave with the wicked, And with the rich in his death; Because he had done no violence, Neither was any deceit in his mouth.
Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, He shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; For he shall bear their iniquities.
Notice that there was no sin in Him. But, with His stripes we are healed. He is a sin offering to God. When God sees the travail of Jesus’ soul, God will be satisfied.
God loved us enough to not only offer us a chance at peace, but paid the price for it that we could not pay.
It is now up to us to choose whether or not to accept that peace offering on our behalf. If we want peace with God, we need to accept that peace offering of Jesus by following the conditions God has made for its acceptance.
It took God’s grace to offer us the gift of Jesus in the first place to make salvation possible.
Then it takes belief in Jesus on our part to be justified by God.
It takes faith in God and His word to become one who has accepted the sacrifice of Jesus on your behalf.
Where does faith come from?
Romans 10:17
So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
If you believe who Jesus is and have faith that what He says will lead to salvation, and you want salvation, then you will believe the words and obey them.