Jesus—Our Propitiation

Whom God hath set forth to be a PROPITIATION through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God” (Romans 3:25).   The word “propitiation” means “to appease one’s wrath.”   “Appeased” means “to make peace with.”  Humanity had sinned.  God was angered.  God’s Holiness demanded justice.   Humanity could not redeem themselves and was at enmity (hostility) with God.  Humanity had become the enemy of God.  Nevertheless, God expressed His love for humanity by coming down to the earth in the form of a man and laying down His own human life in sacrifice to pay for the sins of humanity.  Jesus died, was buried and rose again.  The blood atonement was made in Heaven.  The father’s anger was APPEASED by the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  God’s demand for justice had been completely satisfied by the atoning work of His Son, Jesus Christ.  Jesus had made peace with God possible again.  “ Therefore being justified by faith, we have PEACE WITH GOD through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1).  Christ had opened the door for all humanity to be at peace with God if they would only believe.  This is propitiation—Jesus has met the demands of the Father so humanity could be redeemed to God.  Eternal life is a free gift, paid for by Christ’s own blood.  Though the provision has been made for you by Christ and you have been invited by God to salvation, you are not saved until you reach out by faith and accept the gift of eternal life.  All you have to do is admit to God that you’re a hell-deserving sinner and then turn to Christ in faith, asking Him to forgive your sins and take you to Heaven when you die.  The choice is completely yours to make!  God will not make you believe on Christ when you have it in your own power to do so.  If you refuse to believe on Christ, then you are still in your sins and the wrath of God abideth on you.  “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” (John 3:36).   Though God’s demand for justice was met by Christ, you are willfully rejecting that provision if you reject Jesus Christ as your personal Savior.  By doing so, you are negating what Christ did for you; therefore, you are choosing to remain under the condemnation of God’s Law and under the wrath of God.   If you go to hell, you’ll have no one to blame but yourself! 

And he is the PROPITIATION for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (1st John 2:2).  What a wonderful truth, JESUS IS OUR PROPITIATION!   Again, It is Christ’s atoning work with the blood He shed that squares everything away with God concerning our sin debt.  Jesus met the Father’s requirements for justice, God’s wrath was appeased.  When someone has committed a crime and stands before a judge in a court of law, it is a matter of appeasing one’s wrath.  Someone has suffered!  The decision must be made to determine what the criminal must do or the sentence which must be served to appease the wrath of the judge.  Justice must be served!  When Cain killed Able, it was God who Cain had to contend with.  God was his judge!  Ultimately, God is the judge of every single human being.  We must all appear before God someday!  What is required to appease the wrath of the Divine Judge?  We just read the answer in 1st 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.”  Jesus is what is required.  This is why Christ came and did all that He did to atone for our grievous sins, to appease the wrath of the Divine Judge, God the Father. 

Notice from the Scripture we just read that Jesus is the “propitiation” of THE WHOLE WORLD.  All people of every nation may come to know the Lord as personal Savior.  God is no respecter of persons.  Jesus has made the provision for ALL PEOPLE to be saved and become the Children of God.  By the way, anyone who says that all people are the Children of God is a liar!  You are NOT a Child of God unless you have come to the feet of Jesus Christ as a hell-deserving sinner and have asked Him to forgive you of those sins.  This whole matter of salvation centers around your sins!  You have sinned and are under the condemnation of God’s Law until you repent of your unbelief and come to Christ for forgiveness and salvation.  Notice, I didn’t say “repent of your sins.”  You need only admit you’re a wicked sinner to be saved, it will take a lifetime for God to clean you up and conform you into His likeness.  Though you don’t have to give up your sins to be saved, you will experience godly sorrow over those sins in your life if you are sincere in your repentance.  Repentance is a “change of mind.”  Whereas you used to love sin and rationalize sin in an attempt to diminish the sinfulness of sin, you now feel godly sorrow over your sins and a sincere desire to clean up your life and do better.  You have to admit your sinful condition before you can even come to God for salvation.   The unbeliever living is the pleasures of sin will not do this.  This is what keeps them from becoming a Christian, sin won’t be as pleasurable anymore.  Look at John 3:20, “For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, LEST HIS DEEDS SHOULD BE REPROVED.”  The Christian man has the Holy Spirit dwelling in his heart.  He recognizes his sin and shortcomings and wants to do better; the unsaved man does what is right in his own eyes, he knows not the Lord.   Sadly, it is not uncommon to hear of Christians who have lower morals than of some unsaved people.  There are many wonderful unsaved people who are very friendly, loving and kind.  They are honest and good people, humanly speaking.   However, this does not merit them Heaven and they will go to hell if they don’t get saved.  This is the sad part about life, many good people fail to realize that all good people are still dirty, rotten sinners when compared to the Holy Word of God.   Earthly speaking, there are many good people around; Heavenly speaking, there are none righteous, no not one.  We must follow God’s Word, not our own reasoning! 

Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the PROPITIATION for our sins” (1st John 4:10).   God loved us (all of us) and sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to meet the demands which needed to be met in order that all people might be saved.  “For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have ALL MEN TO BE SAVED, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.  For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1st Timothy 2:3-5).  God wants ALL people to be saved.  Notice that Christ is the ONE MEDIATOR between God and humanity.  Do you know why it is Christ and only Christ?  Because Jesus is the only One Who met the demands of God.  Only Jesus was as a Lamb without spot, nor blemish (perfect).  Only Jesus was born of a virgin.  Only Jesus could have paid for our sins and praise God that He did!  This is why Jesus is our Mediator, because He is our propitiation.  He met the demands of God the Father so He is now the One and Only Mediator between God and Man.  If you want to be saved, go to Jesus.  Don’t go to the Pope or the priest, don’t go to religion or an experience, don’t go to the baptistery or to a confessional booth—Go to Jesus Christ and Him alone for salvation and forgiveness of sins.