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We like to fit God into our own little box, picking and choosing
the scriptures we want to focus on, and often we make our own
interpretation of our chosen verses, without even knowing it.
But according to 2Pe
1:20, no scripture is open to private interpretation!
And a thorough
examination of a doctrine in the scriptures often reveals
something against our human viewpoint, against what we always
thought was true, or against what religion has taught us over
the years.
Isa 55:8-9
8 "For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways," declares the LORD.
9 "For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways
And My thoughts than your thoughts.
OUR thoughts are that
we must follow God’s commands if we want to go to heaven.
OUR thoughts are that
we must remain righteous, or God’s fury will take away our
salvation and send us to hell for eternity.
OUR thoughts are that
we must do the works of the Lord, and if we do not, then maybe
we really aren’t saved. Maybe we really aren’t a believer in
the Lord Jesus Christ.
But as we will see in
this pastor’s conference, we are SECURE BEYOND OUR THOUGHTS!
We are secure BEYOND
what WE thought was possible.
We are
safe and secure because of HIS thoughts, the thinking of a God
who went through the agony of sacrificing His own Son on an
altar called the Cross, so that whoever believes in Him shall
never perish, but has eternal life. Joh 3:16-18
The Doctrine of Propitiation
(Expiation)
Definition of
Propitiation:
The Godward side of
salvation whereby the Lord Jesus Christ satisfied the
integrity of God by means of His substitutionary spiritual death
on the cross as the payment for our sins. (Rom. 3:25
Heb. 2:17 1 John 2:2, 4:10).
When you see the word
propitiation, think of the word satisfaction.
PROPITIATION =
SATISFACTION
God’s perfect
Justice and Righteousness has been totally SATISFIED by the
perfect work and sacrifice of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Rom 3:21-26
Rom 3:21-26
21 But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been
manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22
even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for
all those who believe; for there is no distinction; 23 for all
have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being
justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption
which is in Christ Jesus; 25 whom God displayed publicly as a
propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to
demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God
He passed over the sins previously committed; 26 for the
demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time,
so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has
faith in Jesus.
NASU
Heb 2:17
17 Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all
things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high
priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation
for the sins of the people.
NASU
1 John 2:1-2
1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that
you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with
the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; 2 and He Himself is the
propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but
also for those of the whole world.
NASU
1Jn 4:10
10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us
and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
NASU
God the Father is
totally satisfied with us because our sins have already been
judged in the Person of Jesus Christ.
Exegesis::
examining the original languages of the Scriptures; Hebrew,
Greek, and Aramaic.
1.
Kaphar (verb): “To cover
sin, to make atonement for sin, to propitiate
2.
Kippur (noun) (singular),
Kippurim (in the plural): “atonement”
3.
Kapporeth (noun): “Mercy
seat, place of atonement”
4.
Hilaskomai (ilaskomai)
(verb): “To make propitiation for, to make satisfaction for”
5.
Hilasmos (ilasmoV)
(noun): “Propitiatory sacrifice, one who makes propitiation”
6.
Hileos (ilewV)
(adjective): “Propitious, merciful”
7.
Hilasterion (ilasthrion)
(adjective): “Place of propitiation, mercy seat”
This all started with
Codex 2 of the Mosaic Law in the OT.
The doctrine of
Propitiation was taught to Israel in the OT through the animal
blood sacrifices, which Christ fulfilled in the Great Power
Experiment of the Hypostatic Union!
Israel was taught
the doctrine of Propitiation through the Levitical offerings
found in Codex #2 of the Mosaic Law.
Let’s briefly review
the Codices given in the Mosaic Law, and their general
purposes.
A lot of religions
today misapply these parts of the Law to worshipping God in the
Church Age in which we live.
Codex #1: 10
Commandments
Contained the 10
commandments which defined freedom in terms of morality,
privacy, relationship with God, property, authority & right to
live with God.
They were for both
believer & unbeliever in the client nation of Israel.
The people of Israel
kept bothering God for a list of laws, so they could be like
other nations!
So God gave them laws
for their land, and this was designed for the prosperity of
their nation and it applied to unbelievers as well.
Codex # 2:
Spiritual Code
Contained the
spiritual heritage of Israel as a client nation to God. (the
client nation is a nation blessed by God because they spread His
Word)
It contained a
complete Christology & Soteriology. (it revealed details about
the Person of Christ and the doctrines of salvation)
It also required a
specialized priesthood (Levi & direct descendants of Aaron) to
perform certain spiritual rituals.
It was communicated in
prophetic form, ritual form & in the messages of both the
prophets & the priests.
Codex # 3:
Establishment Code
Contained the
principle of freedom through military victory, criminal law,
diet, health, sanitation, quarantine, free enterprise,
profit motivation.
It revealed the
importance in a nation of privacy, freedom, and sacredness of
property & life.
For both
believer & unbeliever! So don’t apply it to the spiritual
life. This was God revealing how to be a prosperous nation.
So the rituals of
Codex #2, the Spiritual Code, included structure of the
Tabernacle which later became the Temple, the delineation of the
Holy Days, the responsibilities of the Levitical priesthood, and
the significance of the Levitical offerings.
The Old
Testament had what we call the Ritual Plan of God; whereby God
used rituals to teach about the future coming of Christ and what
His Son would accomplish on the Cross.
The Ritual Plan of
God, which we are NOT under today, was designed to teach the
doctrines of Christology and Soteriology. (Christ and
Salvation)
There were 5
Levitical offerings authorized by the Mosaic Law (Lev. 1-6):
1.
The Burnt offering taught
propitiation with emphasis on the work of Christ (Lev
1)
2.
The Gift offering taught
propitiation but this bloodless offering portrayed the
perfect Person of Jesus Christ (Lev 2)!
3.
The Peace offering called for
the shedding of blood and taught the doctrine of
reconciliation (Lev 3).
4.
The Sin offering taught the
doctrine of Rebound (Confession) for unknown sins. (today
we have 1Jo 1:9)
5.
The Trespass offering taught
Rebound (Confession) of known sins.
The Burnt
Offering (Lev. 1):
The Hebrew word for
“burnt offering” is `ola.
It was first
presented as a “gift” to Yahweh (Lev 1:2, 10, 14).
Propitiation was
taught through the burnt offering in the OT.
Lev 1:1-4
1 Then the LORD called to Moses and spoke to him from the tent
of meeting, saying, 2 "Speak to the sons of Israel and say to
them, 'When any man of you brings an offering to the LORD, you
shall bring your offering of animals from the herd or the flock.
3 'If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall
offer it, a male without defect; he shall offer it at the
doorway of the tent of meeting, that he may be accepted before
the LORD. 4 'He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt
offering, that it may be accepted for him to make atonement
on his behalf
NASU
There is
propitiation: atonement satisfied the perfect righteous demands
of the Lord.
We are not told to
sacrifice animals in the Church Age because the all-sufficient
sacrifice has taken place in Jesus Christ, but the OT sacrifices
teach us what Christ would accomplish for us.
Lev 1:10
10 'But if his offering is from the flock, of the sheep or of
the goats, for a burnt offering, he shall offer it a male
without defect.
NASU
Lev 1:14
14 'But if his offering to the LORD is a burnt offering of
birds, then he shall bring his offering from the turtledoves or
from young pigeons.
NASU
By the way, why did
God have these sacrifices be so violent, as in the cutting of
throats and the wringing off of the head of the birds?
It was to show the
violence His Son would endure as the rejected One.
As we see, there are 3
categories the offerings could have come from: the herds, the
flocks, or the birds.
Each type of
animal emphasized some aspect of the doctrine of propitiation:
1.
The young bull “from the herd”
pictured Jesus Christ as a servant.
2.
The sheep or goat “from the flock”
pictured Christ as the qualified sin-bearer (Jn 1:29).
3.
The birds depicted Christ as the
resurrected God-Man.
Remember what John the
Baptist said upon his introduction to the Lord…
John 1:29
29 The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said,
"Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
NASU
The Bull:
The bull had to be
without blemish, depicting the impeccability of our Lord’s
Person (Lev. 1:3)!
The transfer of sins
from the sinner to the Sinless was performed SYMBOLICALLY in the
ritual when the offerer’s hand was placed on the bull’s head
(Lev 1:4).
The sins
of the man were IDENTIFIED with the animal, which was to be
slain on his behalf.
This all took place by
faith, the offerer believed that God would forgive his
sins if he followed these procedures.
And so today we live
by faith, believing in the promises of God, but God accomplished
all the work for us.
Lev 1:4 “And he
(sinner) shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering
(picturing the imputation of our sins to Christ), that it may
be accepted for him to make atonement (propitiation) on his
behalf.”
“To make
atonement” is the verb kaphar, “to cover sin, to
make atonement for sin, to make propitiation”, and it speaks of
the act of satisfying God.
The purpose of the
sacrifice was propitiation!
The “soothing
aroma” in Lev 1:9, which takes place after this sacrifice
when the bull is burned, speaks of God being “satisfied” with
the sacrifice.
It is a sweet smell to
the Lord; something that God accepts.
The offerings “from
the flock” also taught propitiation (Lev 1:10-13).
The goat emphasized
the sins the Messiah would bear on the Cross.
The sheep was a
picture of our Lord’s perfect, sinless humanity.
In each case, the
animal had to be without blemish or spot, just as our Lord would
be (Lev 1:10 1Pe 1:18-19).
Israel was
commanded by Yahweh in the OT to observe 7 Feasts:
1)
Passover
2)
Unleavened Bread
3)
Firstfruits
4)
Pentecost
5)
Trumpets
6)
Atonement
7)
Tabernacles
Passover
14th of April 1441
B.C. (Ex. 12:1-4 Lev 23:5)
Christ is our
Passover (1Cor 5:7)
Spoke of the Cross
Unleavened
Bread
1st day of April.
Unleavened bread
portrayed Christ in Hypostatic Union for Jesus Christ is called
the “Bread of Life.”
During the
Passover, the father of the Jewish household would take the 3
loaves of the unleavened bread & place them in a special white
linen envelope containing 3 compartments.
The father removed the
middle loaf only from its compartment (Christ is the 2nd Person
of the Trinity).
The middle loaf
only would be broken and then wrapped in a separate piece of
white linen & hid it away or “buried” it somewhere (speaking of
Christ’s burial).
They would eat the
meal and after the meal was through, the father of the house
would now go and get the piece of bread which he hid. (speaking
of Christ’s resurrection)
Firstfruits
Occurred on the 1st
Sunday after the Passover.
It fell on the 3rd
day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread
(Lev 23:9-14)
This feast
portrayed the resurrection of Christ who is the 1st fruits.
Pentecost
1 day feast
Occurred on the 1st
week in June, exactly 50 days after the Passover (Lev 23:15-21)
It marked the summer
harvest in which many crops were available.
Fulfilled literally
by Christ: He was crucified on Passover, buried on Unleavened
Bread, raised on 1st Fruits, and God the Holy Spirit was sent
on Pentecost!
Trumpets
Represents the
Rapture of the Church & the termination of the 5th cycle of
discipline to Israel & the regathering of Israel (Lev 23:23).
The trumpet was a
signal for the field workers in Israel to come to the Temple,
and in the future the Jews will begin the journey back to the
Temple right after the Rapture of the Church, which could occur
any day now, as we obviously are living among the signs of the
last days.
Atonement
The day of
confession & will represent that TLJC is the Messiah!
(Lev 23:24-32 Zec
12:10, 13:1, 6.)
Represents
the 2nd Coming of Christ when He will come back to earth to rule
for 1000 years in the Millennial reign.
Tabernacles
- lasted 7 days, represents the Millennium.
The Lord will
establish His Tabernacle in Jerusalem during the Millennial
reign (Ezek 37:26-27).
Now the 6th
feast, the Day of Atonement was the most solemn of these great
feasts. (Lev 16:26-32)
From the Hebrew
Yom Kippur.
This was the only day
in which anyone was ever permitted to enter the Holy of Holies
in the Tabernacle, or in the Temple!
The Ritual on
the Day of Atonement:
Only the high
priest was permitted to enter the Tabernacle or Temple, and then
only after he had brought an offering on behalf on his own sins
(Lev 16:13).
Sacrifices
were required on the Day of Atonement:
A young bull (Lev
16:6): For the sins of the high priest.
2 goats (Lev
16:7-10, 15-16): For the sins of the people.
The high priest
sacrificed the bull on the brass altar as a sin offering for
himself (Lev 16:11).
The blood represented
Christ’s spiritual death on the Cross.
The blood was
collected in a basin and carried past the huge curtain into the
Holy of Holies.
He then sprinkled it
on the mercy seat (kapporet).
The mercy
seat was the golden lid that fit over the top of the Ark of the
Covenant, which contain the emblems of Israel’s sin.
The Ark of the
Covenant was overlaid with gold and stood in the Holy of
Holies.
The acacia wood of the
box spoke of Christ’s humanity.
The gold spoke of His
deity.
Together these
materials represented Christ in Hypostatic Union or His
uniqueness as the God-Man.
On each end of the
mercy seat stood the golden figure of a cherub angel.
One represented God’s
righteousness and the other His justice.
Righteousness and justice looked down on sin (the emblems in the
Ark) and condemned it.
Once a year, the
blood of the young bull was sprinkled on top of the mercy seat,
COVERING THE SIN!
The animal blood only
covered the sins, while Christ’s substitutionary spiritual death
made the payment for mans’ sins.
When Righteousness and
Justice looked down, they saw the completed work of Christ
covering the sins of the high priest.
Then the high priest
sacrificed 1 of the goats as an offering for the people.
The live goat was
sent off into the wilderness after Aaron had laid both of his
hands on its head thus transferring the iniquities of the people
to the goat (Lev 16:20-22).
And then the goat ran
off into the wilderness and was never seen again! A reminder
that God no longer remembers our sins and inquities!
He won’t even bring
them up anymore because they have disappeared with the goat.
The “scapegoat”
represents that aspect of Christ’s work that puts away our sins
(Jn 1:29), to no longer be seen again!
The goat that was
slain is that aspect of Christ's death that satisfies or
vindicates the holiness and righteousness of God that is
demanded in the Law. (PROPITIATION)
Aaron took the goat’s
blood and entered into the Holy of Holies a second time to
sprinkle the blood on the mercy seat.
This time the
spiritual death of Christ on the cross was dramatized as
covering the sins of all the people.
God does not
remember our sins for they were put away and paid for by our
Lord’s spiritual death (Ps 103:12)!
Ps 103:12
12 As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
NASU
The Lord died
spiritually on the Cross (separation from God the Father seen in
the Father forsaking His son on the Cross).
THAT is why we will
never be separated from the Father again, because HE was
separated from the Father for us, having taken the full judgment
for our sins upon Himself.
The
fulfillment of the Old Testament ritual in Christ:
TLJC entered the
real Holy of Holies and not the one built with human hands (Acts
7:48, 17:24, Heb 8:1-3).
Acts 17:24-25
24 " The God who made the world and all things in it, since He
is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with
hands; 25 nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed
anything
NASU
Our Lord did not
have to offer a sacrifice for Himself as the Levitical high
priest had to for himself, for He was without sin, IMPECCABLE
(Heb 8).
Instead, TLJC offered
Himself up ONCE as a sacrifice to pay for the sins of all
mankind (Heb 8, 9:28a).
He entered heaven one
time and sat down at the right hand of God the Father (Heb
10:12).
Christ has obtained a
much greater ministry than Aaron (Heb 8:6).
The Aaronic
priesthood was a mere shadow of Christ’s Royal Priesthood (Heb
8:1-6).
The Tabernacle made on
earth which was made with human hands was just a picture of the
real one in heaven.
The animal blood
sacrifices were shadows or copies of the true sacrifice that was
to take place on Calvary when our Lord died spiritually for our
sins (Heb 9:23-26).
Our Lord’s
sacrifice on the Cross fulfilled completely the Mosaic
sacrifices!
His spiritual death
paid for or covered our sins permanently, as the blood on the
mercy seat covered the sins of Israel temporarily (Heb 9:12-14,
10:4).
The animal sacrifices
in the OT pictured the future sacrifice of Christ.
They were merely
shadows of Christ’s work on the cross (Heb 10:1).
The phrase in Rom
3:25, “sins previously committed,” teaches that the sins
committed in the OT were not paid for by the animal sacrifices,
but with our Lord’s sacrifice on the Cross at Calvary.
The rituals
performed in the OT were not the reality!
The reality or the
sacrifice that propitiated God was the sacrifice of His Son on
the Cross, and NOT THE ANIMAL SACRIFICES (Heb 10:4-14)!
Heb 10:4-14
4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take
away sins. 5 Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says,
"SACRIFICE AND OFFERING YOU HAVE NOT DESIRED,
BUT A BODY YOU HAVE PREPARED FOR ME;
6 IN WHOLE BURNT OFFERINGS AND SACRIFICES FOR SIN YOU
HAVE TAKEN NO PLEASURE.
7 "THEN I SAID, 'BEHOLD, I HAVE COME
(IN THE SCROLL OF THE BOOK IT IS WRITTEN OF ME)
TO DO YOUR WILL, O GOD.'"
8 After saying above, "SACRIFICES AND OFFERINGS AND WHOLE BURNT
OFFERINGS AND SACRIFICES FOR SIN YOU HAVE NOT DESIRED,
NOR HAVE YOU TAKEN PLEASURE in them" (which are offered
according to the Law), 9 then He said, "BEHOLD, I HAVE COME TO
DO YOUR WILL." He takes away the first in order to establish the
second. 10 By this will we have been sanctified through the
offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
11 Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after
time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; 12 but
He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, SAT DOWN
AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD, 13 waiting from that time onward UNTIL
HIS ENEMIES BE MADE A FOOTSTOOL FOR HIS FEET. 14 For by one
offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.
NASU
Ritual without reality
is meaningless!
The animal
sacrifices were merely teaching aids to communicate the
doctrines of propitiation, redemption & reconciliation to those
who lived in OT dispensations!
Just as water baptism
was a merely a teaching aid to communicate the baptism of the
Holy Spirit which occurs at the moment of faith in Christ.
Christ’s spiritual
death satisfied the righteousness of God, not the animal
sacrifices!
The
Acceptable Sacrifice:
Propitiation is
directed towards God, or it is said to be GODWARD.
Propitiation means
“satisfaction.”
The righteousness of
God DEMANDED that our sins be judged!
Christ received the
imputation of our sins in order that He might be judged by the
justice of God, so we would not have to be judged!
This
fulfilled the principle: “what the righteousness of God demands,
the justice of God executes.”
Righteousness demands
righteousness!
There is only one
Person who was qualified to perform the act of propitiating or
satisfying the Father!
“Jesus Christ the
righteous!” (1Jo 2:1)
He alone possessed the
righteousness needed to be the Perfect Sacrifice for our sins!
Jesus Christ is
both undiminished deity and true humanity in one Person
forever! (The Hypostatic Union)
As God, He is
perfectly righteous!
As true humanity, He
was impeccable or was without sin!
He possessed the
same Perfect Integrity and Character that the Father possessed;
therefore, He was able to perform the necessary sacrifice, which
would satisfy the justice of God!
“Jesus Christ
the righteous” alone was able to meet the righteous
demands of God’s Integrity!
There are several
passages which teach that the Father was satisfied with His
Son.
The Lord Jesus
Christ was “well pleasing” to the Father because
He was impeccable in His humanity, and therefore, the Perfect
Sacrifice! (Matt 3:16-17, 17:1-5)
God the Father was
“satisfied” with Christ’s propitiatory sacrifice because He was
impeccable!
The Father was
testifying that Jesus Christ in His humanity was perfectly
righteous!
God has never said He
was “well pleased” with any human being except the Lord Jesus
Christ!
In fact, Rom 3:10
says, “There is none righteous, not even one!”
God the Father is only
pleased or satisfied with 1 Man, the Lord Jesus Christ.
“I am well
pleased” in both Matt 3:17 & 17:5 is the Greek verb
eudokeo.
Eudokeo when
used of persons or things means “to be well pleasing or
acceptable, to be satisfied with, to approve of, to take
pleasure in, to have delight in.”
This verb, when used
in relation to Christ, speaks of the Father’s satisfaction with
the perfect humanity of our Lord!
Therefore, the
humanity of Christ is able to perform the ACT of propitiating
the Father!
Our Lord was perfectly
qualified to satisfy the justice of God the Father because He
was impeccable!
Because our Lord
was a truly “righteous” Person, He was therefore able to perform
a “righteous” ACTION!
In order to satisfy
God’s perfect righteous demands, one must be perfectly righteous
himself!
Christ’s righteousness
was equal to the Father’s!
The humanity of Christ
was well pleasing to the Father!
The Father is
satisfied with both the humanity of Christ and His propitiatory
SACRIFICE!
The Purpose
of the Incarnation:
Hebrews 2:17,
“Therefore, He (TLJC) had to be made like His brethren in all
things (reference to the necessity of the Incarnation), that He
might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things
pertaining to God, TO MAKE PROPITIATION for the sins of the
people.”
“To make
propitiation” is a purpose clause in the Greek:
Eis to plus
the infinitive of hilaskomai
(ilaskomai),
“to make propitiation for.”
This is a common Greek
idiom used to express a design or purpose.
The preposition
eis refers to a “goal in time.”
It introduces a
“purpose” and when used in this manner should be translated,“
for the purpose of.”
To hilaskesthai
is an articular infinitive in the Greek, or an
infinitive with the definite article in front of it.
An
articular infinitive is used to express a purpose.
The goal in time or
the purpose of the Incarnation was to propitiate or satisfy the
righteous demands of God the Father!
The
Incarnation made propitiation possible!
The Doctrine of the
Incarnation is the period of time (33 ½ years) in which the 2nd
Person of the Trinity, God the Son, lived on earth in
Hypostatic Union (Heb 2:14a).
If God the Son did not
become true humanity then salvation would not be possible (Heb
10:5b)!
For only humanity can
die and not deity!
Therefore, it was
imperative that God the Son became a human being so that He
could make the sacrifice that would propitiate the Father’s
justice! (Kinsman-Redeemer)
Our Lord became true
humanity in order that He might receive the imputation of our
sins and be judged for them and thereby satisfy the
righteousness of God.
The Integrity
of God:
Grace and mercy can
now be extended to us on the basis of God’s Justice being
satisfied.
Remember, God isn’t
gracious to us because He forgot our sins or swept them under
the rug.
No, they
were imputed to Christ on the Cross and judged!
This means that no one
gets away with sin because Christ was judged for every sin
committed by the human race - past, present & future!
God always deals with
us according to His own Integrity!
This means that He
deals with us according to Who and What He is and What He has
done, not who and what we are or what we do!
Our point of
contact with God is always His Integrity, which is made up of
His attributes of righteousness and justice!
The Lord Jesus Christ
received the imputation of our sins in order to propitiate or
satisfy the Father’s righteous demands that our sins be judged!
And God the
Father’s integrity demands that He set us free and accept us
into His kingdom. It would be against His own integrity to
judge the same sins more that once. (the law of double
jeopardy)
The Mercy
Seat: Rom 3:25, Heb 9:5
Romans 3:25,
“Whom (TLJC) God (the Father) displayed publicly as a
PROPITIATION in His blood (Christ’s saving work which speaks of
Redemption, Propitiation & Reconciliation) through faith (you
benefit from Christ’s saving work upon believing in Him for
salvation). This was to demonstrate His (the Father’s)
righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over
the sins previously committed (the Father knew in His
omniscience that He would send His Son to die for the sins
committed in the OT).”
“Propitiation”
is the word hilasterion (ilasthrion),
“the place of propitiation, the mercy seat" (Heb 9:5),
i.e. the lid of the Ark of the Covenant!
The lid of the ark was
sprinkled with atoning blood on the Day of Atonement (Lev
16:14).
This represented
that the righteous sentence of the law had been executed,
changing a place of judgment into a place of mercy (Heb 9:11-15
"throne of grace," Heb 4:14-16 place of communion, Ex
25:21-22).
Ex 25:17-22
17 "You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold, two and a half
cubits long and one and a half cubits wide. 18 "You shall make
two cherubim of gold, make them of hammered work at the two ends
of the mercy seat. 19 "Make one cherub at one end and one cherub
at the other end; you shall make the cherubim of one piece with
the mercy seat at its two ends. 20 " The cherubim shall have
their wings spread upward, covering the mercy seat with their
wings and facing one another; the faces of the cherubim are to
be turned toward the mercy seat. 21 " You shall put the mercy
seat on top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the
testimony which I will give to you. 22 " There I will meet with
you; and from above the mercy seat, from between the two
cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony, I will speak
to you about all that I will give you in commandment for the
sons of Israel.
NASU
Heb 9:11-15
11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things
to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect
tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this
creation; 12 and not through the blood of goats and calves, but
through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all,
having obtained eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats
and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have
been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, 14 how
much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal
Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your
conscience from dead works to serve the living God? 15 For this
reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a
death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions
that were committed under the first covenant, those who have
been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.
NASU
We have been set
free; free to have a relationship with our perfect God forever!
Heb 4:16
Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of
grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in
time of need.
Both, Exodus 25:21-22
and Hebrews 4:14-16 & 9:11-15 emphasize the PLACE WHERE WE
ARE TO MEET WITH GOD!
The only way we can
“draw near to God” (Heb 4:14-16) and “meet” with God (Ex
25:21-22) is through the Person of Jesus Christ - He is our
mercy seat!
We have rights that we
do not deserve and we do not fully understand!
We are secure
beyond our thoughts! Because we have already been purchased,
and we are already HIS, and now we have the right and privilege
of approaching God with confidence.
All because He is the
Mediator between God and man (1Tim 2:5).
And He has been
successful in satisfying God the Father’s righteous demands.
Hilasterion
is used by the apostle Paul as a technical term and represents
the PERSON of our Lord Jesus Christ!
It speaks of the
“place” or “site” that we can meet with God and have communion
with Him, which is through the Person of His Son
Jesus Christ!
So Paul uses
hilasterion with a very definite purpose in mind!
He wishes to emphasize
the “place”or the “site” of propitiation where we can meet or
have communion with God.
Our Lord’s
propitiatory sacrifice changes the hilasterion from a
place of judgment to a “throne of grace” or a place where mercy
can be extended to man!
Man has incurred the
wrath of God because of his sin nature and sinful acts.
In order for God's
wrath to be averted His justice must first be satisfied.
This was done at the
cross by that aspect of Christ’s work which is called
propitiation.
It was Christ's
atoning work on the cross which allows God's grace to be
extended to us.
This means there is
nothing you or I can do to satisfy God!
Propitiation
excludes human works and human power!
God can do nothing for
us unless His justice has first been satisfied.
We ourselves cannot
satisfy God's justice, only God can satisfy His own justice.
Therefore, in order to
satisfy His own justice, God became a man in the person of Jesus
Christ.
Propitiation
as it relates to the Angelic Conflict:
The Angelic
Conflict speaks of the invisible war going on around us between
God and His elect angels and Satan and the fallen angels.
We are here on this
earth with the opportunity to be witnesses for God in the
heavenly trial against Satan.
We are here to help
God solve the Angelic Conflict! And we have the privilege to
live for Him and defend His love towards His creatures.
Jesus Christ was
“publicly displayed” by God the Father as the Sacrifice for
our sins in order to demonstrate His justice (Rom 3:25).
This wasn't done in a
closet nor is it a fairy tale but a historical fact that Jesus
of Nazareth died on a Roman cross two thousand years ago.
God's righteousness
has been “publicly displayed” at the cross before
angels and men.
Our Lord defeated
Satan at the Cross and this was seen by the elect and fallen
angels!
The Cross was our
Lord’s strategic victory over Satan and the kingdom of darkness.
It was the nail in the
coffin of Satan, proving beyond a doubt the Love and Justice of
God.
Col 2:15
15 “When He (GTF) had disarmed the rulers and authorities,
He (GTF) made a PUBLIC DISPLAY OF THEM (Satan & the fallen
angels), having triumphed over them through Him (Christ).”
“He made a
public display” is the Greek verb deigmatizo (deigmatizw):
“to make an example of, to expose, to make public, to exhibit.”
It has a negative
connotation of “disgracing someone, of making public what
someone would like to keep secret, or of making an example of
someone.”
In eternity past,
Satan challenged the Integrity of God (His justice &
righteousness) for sentencing him with the fallen angels to the
Lake of Fire.
But God’s Justice
demands that He judge sin! God cannot even look upon sin! And
Satan and the fallen angels refused to come back to God when He
offered them forgiveness.
And then Satan
challenged God’s Integrity by saying that He didn’t love His
creatures. But the Cross proved Satan wrong! Jn 3:16-17,
15:13.
Jn 3:16-17
16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten
Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have
eternal life. 17 "For God did not send the Son into the world
to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through
Him.
NASU
As Jesus said later in
His ministry in Jn 15:13
13 "Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his
life for his friends.
NASU
God does love His
creatures, even creatures like ourselves who are totally
unworthy.
He proved it by the
ultimate sacrifice; giving up His own life for the sake of His
creatures.
Now sin is no
longer the issue. The Son is the issue. As Jesus said, “what
do you think of the Christ?”
And He did all the
work for us so we could be qualified to be recipients of His
grace!
The Cross proved
that God is the GREATEST LOVER in the universe since He loves
sinners such as ourselves!
God the Father
vindicated Himself at the Cross through Christ’s sacrifice!
God the Father made
“an example” out of Satan and the fallen angels through Christ
on the Cross!
God the Father
defeated Satan & the fallen angels at the Cross through Christ’s
propitiatory sacrifice!
The Cross proved that
God was righteous for sending Satan and the fallen angels to the
Lake of Fire.
In fact they chose to
go there, because with their free will they refused to believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, and so it is
with members of the human race.
People that refuse
to believe in Christ are saying they do not want to be with God,
and God will not violate their free will, but He will put them
in the only place that His presence does not shine, the lake of
fire.
The Cross proved that
God does not compromise His Integrity but that He does indeed
judge sin!
His Integrity says
that He has to!
The Cross proved
before the whole universe that God has perfect Integrity!
It should not be
questioned by angels nor men!
Especially men, since
they are beneficiaries of His Integrity!
The
Propitiatory Sacrifice:
1 Jn 2:2, “And
He Himself (TLJC) is the PROPITIATION for our (personal) sins;
and not for ours only (believers), but also for those of the
WHOLE WORLD (unlimited atonement).”
1.
God’s Integrity is emphasized!
2.
Only a “Righteous” Person can
satisfy the justice of a “Righteous” God!
3.
Only a “Righteous” Person can
produce a “righteous” act!
4.
God’s Integrity is the world’s point
of contact with Him, not His love!
5.
The sins of the world are no longer
an issue with God because His justice has been satisfied by a
“Righteous” Person’s action (propitiatory sacrifice)!
6.
The propitiatory sacrifice of Christ
is the basis for the strategic victory over Satan in the Angelic
Conflict!
7.
The propitiatory sacrifice of Christ
resolves the problem of the demands of God’s righteousness &
justice!
8.
Christ’s propitiatory sacrifice was
accomplished by Him and Him alone, thus, excluding all human
works or power!
The
Motivation behind the Atonement:
1Jn 4:10, “In
this is impersonal unconditional love, not that we loved God,
but that He impersonally unconditionally loved us (with emphasis
on His own Integrity) and sent His Son to be the propitiation (hilasmos,
“propitiatory sacrfice”) for our sins.”
1.
Christ’s propitiatory sacrifice was
an act of justice!
2.
Not an act of love!
3.
1Jn 4:10 brings into view God’s love
for all of humanity!
4.
God’s love CANNOT save anyone
though!
5.
God’s impersonal unconditional love
for the world was the MOTIVATION for sending His Son to the
Cross as the propitiatory sacrifice which took away the sins of
the world!
God’s
Impersonal Unconditional Love for all mankind: AGAPE
LOVE
1.
God’s love for the world is not an
emotional feeling!
2.
God did not personally love the
world!
3.
There is nothing in sinful humanity
that God could love personally!
4.
We are totally obnoxious to God!
5.
We are sinners!
6.
We have sin natures and we commit
acts of sin!
7.
God’s Integrity will not allow Him
to have fellowship with sinners!
8.
God’s Integrity will not allow Him
to come in contact with sin!
9.
God’s love for us is based upon His
own character & integrity!
10.
Love is an attribute of God’s (1Jn
4:8)!
11.
God loves the world with an
IMPERSONAL love!
12.
GTF didn’t send His Son to the Cross
because there was anything great about us!
13.
In fact, God says that there isn’t
one righteous person on the earth (Rom 3:10)!
14.
God’s impersonal unconditional love
MOTIVATED Him to send His Son as the propitiatory sacrifice for
the sins of the whole world!
Personal love
vs. Impersonal love: PHILEO
vs. AGAPE
1.
When we say “I love you!”, that is
PERSONAL LOVE!
2.
“I” is the subject and “you” is the
object of “I’s” love!
3.
Personal love says that there is
something about YOU that I love!
4.
Personal love depends upon an
object!
5.
Impersonal love does not depend upon
the object!
6.
Impersonal love says, “I love you”
but you have NOTHING TO DO WITH MY LOVE!
7.
Impersonal love depends upon the
honor and integrity of the one who loves!
8.
Personal love depends on the
attractiveness and response of the one who is loved!
9.
Personal love requires intimacy!
10.
Impersonal love does not!
11.
Personal love is conditional!
12.
Impersonal love is unconditional
because it does not require a response or an attractive object!
13.
Personal love is designed for a
certain few!
14.
Impersonal love is designed to
benefit the human race!
15.
Personal love is discriminating!
16.
Impersonal love is
non-discriminating!
17.
Personal love produces problems!
18.
Impersonal love is a problem solver!
19.
Impersonal love is stable!
20.
Personal love is unstable!
21.
Personal love demands the
attractiveness in the object!
22.
Impersonal love demands integrity in
the subject!
The whole world is
impersonally unconditionally loved by God, regardless of His
being accepted by the world. Joh 3:16
This is agape love,
based on the integrity and virtue of God, not on the worthiness
or beauty of mankind.
Objects of
God’s Personal Love:
1.
Our sins went to Christ on the cross
& His righteousness went to us at the moment of personal faith
in Christ! 2Cor 5:21
2 Cor 5:21
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that
we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
NASU
2.
We then become objects of God’s
PERSONAL love at salvation!
3.
Why? Because we now possess His
perfect righteousness!
4.
God loves His own righteousness!
Now there is
something good in us that perfect God can love! His own
righteousness!!!
5.
God can give us His righteousness
when we believe in Christ because Christ has SATISFIED the
Father’s righteousness!
6.
God loves us because of who and what
HE is!
7.
Because of the provisions HE has
made!
8.
Because on the Cross HIS justice
fulfilled the demands of HIS righteousness!
9.
This is grace!
Grace:
1.
We are all saved by God’s grace,
through faith, and not by our works so no man can boast. Eph
2:8-9, Rom 11:6
2.
We will always be under grace even
after salvation!
3.
We are always under grace whether
objects of God’s impersonal love or objects of His personal
love.
4.
Grace is God’s policy towards
mankind, and only those who refuse to believe in His Son will
not enjoy God’s grace, because they refuse the free gifts of
God. Rom 6:23b
Peace with
God:
1.
Only an individual’s VOLITION stops
them from becoming objects of God’s personal love!
2.
The whole world is the object of
God’s IMPERSONAL UNCONDITIONAL LOVE!
3.
God used this type of love in
sending His Son to be the propitiatory sacrifice for the whole
world!
4.
The world could not be RECONCILED to
God if Jesus Christ did not first SATISFY the justice of God!
5.
Christ’s propitiatory sacrifice made
peace with God!
6.
We are no longer at war with God
because of sin, now that Christ has performed the necessary
propitiatory sacrifice!
7.
We can now be reconciled to God
because Christ satisfied the justice of God!
Propitiation goes
beyond man’s thoughts. Man thinks he must earn the favor of God
to be saved.
But God’s thoughts
are that this is impossible.
Only a perfect
sacrifice can please a perfect God.
And God’s
ways are that HE will do the work for His creatures.
Jn 6:28-29
28 Therefore they said to Him, "What shall we do, so that we
may work the works of God?" 29 Jesus answered and said to them,
"This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has
sent."
NASU
He will create a way
to salvation and HE will be the Savior of His people.
He did all the work
(on the Cross) and He deserves all the credit!
This goes against the
ways and thoughts of man!!!
And that is a good
sign to know we are on the right track!
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