The Lord Jesus made propitiation for us, satisfying the requirements of God’s righteousness, holiness, and glory, and He appeased God for us; now we can come forward to God and be one with God.
In the Old Testament there was the type of expiation, in which there was the slaining of a goat and sprinkling of its blood before God and before man, in the Holy of Holies on the lid of the ark and on the bronze altar, for the expiation of God’s people.
This covered the sins of God’s people until the full propitiation took place.
In the New Testament we have Jesus Christ who was both the Lamb of God who took away the sin of the world (John 1:29), and the unique goat in God’s eyes to be slain and have His blood sprinkled for our propitiation.
Christ bore our sins in His body on the tree, on the cross; He was made the unique sinner in God’s eyes, and He put all our sins on Himself on the cross, being our Substitute to endure God’s judgment.
Then, as seen in the type of expiation in the Old Testament, He put all our sins on Satan, the reality of the goat for Azazel, and sent Satan away. Christ doesn’t bear our sins forever – He bears our sins to make redemption and propitiation for our sins, and then He sends these sins back to their source, which is Satan himself.
Through the cross the Lord Jesus has the qualification and the position to take sin away, and He also has the power, the strength, and the authority to send sin back to its source, Satan, who will bear it in the lake of fire for eternity. Hallelujah!
Christ became in the likeness of the flesh of sin and concerning sin, and He bore our sins, He condemned sin in the flesh, and He died for our sin. Then, through the power of His cross, He put sin on Satan and sent it away for Satan, the source of sin, to bear it for eternity. Thank You Lord Jesus!
Christ made propitiation for us – he conciliated us and God, making peace between us by removing the problem of sin, so that He may appease God on our behalf. We all are born in sin, and by default we sin, whether we want this or not, and whether we are true to ourselves to admit this or not.
Therefore, we need propitiation, that it, the problem of sin between us and God needs to be solved, so that we may come forward to God and He may come to us.
Christ came and paid the debt of our sins, shedding His blood for our propitiation, and He removed the problem of sin between us and God. He satisfied the demands of God and brought us into God’s presence. Thank You Lord Jesus!
Realising our need for Propitiation for God to be Merciful and Gracious to us
In Luke 18:9-14 the Lord told a parable concerning the prayer of a Pharisee and a tax collector. The two of them went up to the temple to pray, and the Pharisee prayed in this way, God, I thank You that I am not like the rest of men — extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all that I get.
This sounded more like a praising of himself than a prayer, and this many times is the prayer of those who trust in themselves that they are righteous, so they despise the rest.
But the tax collector, standing at a distance, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, God, be propitiated to me, the sinner!
The Lord’s word after this was very clear, the tax collector with such a prayer and attitude went home justified, but the Pharisee did not.
We need to humble ourselves before the Lord and realise our need for propitiation, our need for the Lord to come in and propitiate for us.
Just like the tax collector, we need to realise our sinfulness before God, realising that our sins offend God, and we need to ask God to be propitiated to us, that is, be appeased toward us by a propitiatory sacrifice for sins, that God might be merciful and gracious to us.
Propitiation is an aspect of Christ’s redemption. He came to redeem us back to Himself, and He paid a higher price to buy us back, even the price of His own blood. This sinless God-man paid the price of His own blood so that we may be brought back to God.
When Christ redeemed us, He solved any kind of issue between us and God by making propitiation for us.
May the Lord really shine on us and show us our sinful condition so that we may humble ourselves, believe into Him, and take Him as our propitiation and redemption, so that, based on His blood, we may come forward to God, be reconciled to God, enjoy God, and be one with God. We can also pray like the tax collector,
Lord, be propitiated to us, the sinners. We admit that in ourselves we are sinful, full of sins. We need You as our Redeemer, the One who makes propitiation for our sins. Oh Lord, be merciful and gracious to us. Cleanse us and wash us from our sins with Your precious and prevailing blood. Lord, in ourselves we are by nature sinful, so we need You with Your propitiation for us to come forward to God and enjoy Him in peace. Amen, Lord Jesus, we believe into You and in Your sacrifice on the cross, and we take Your blood!
Christ made Propitiation for us by Satisfying God’s Demands to make us One with God
Our Christ is a wonderful Person who did a wonderful work and had many wonderful accomplishments; in regards to redemption, Christ made propitiation for us, He is the propitiation sacrifice, and He is also the propitiation place.
God set Christ as the propitiation place; he is the propitiation sacrifice, but He’s also a place, a realm, a divine and mystical realm into which we can enter. In Christ we can meet with God, fellowship with God, and have no fear, no guilt, no shame, and no condemnation!
Hallelujah, there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, the propitiation place (Rom. 8:3)!
Christ is the One who accomplishes propitiation for our sins, He is the sacrifice which is offered for our propitiation, and He is also a place of propitiation.
The propitiation place is typified in Exo. 25:17 by the lid of the Ark in the Holy of Holies; this lid was above the Ten Commandments (the testimony) and under the observing of the two cherubim on top of the ark.
Underneath this lid there was the law exposing the sinfulness of the people and condemning them, and above the lid there were the cherubim representing God’s glory and observing every action of the people. Here, under the requirements of God’s holiness, righteousness, and glory, God wants to meet with His people.
The exposing and condemning law signifies the requirements of God’s holiness and righteousness according to the law; the observing cherubim signify the requirements of God’s glory according to the expression of God.
Unless these requirements are fully fulfilled and God is satisfied, sinners have no way to contact God and God cannot communicate with them.
But praise the Lord, the lid of the Ark was sprinkled with the blood, and the sins were covered on the day of Expiation, so God’s people could come to God and fellowship with Him!
In the New Testament we can clearly see that Christ came to fulfill all the requirements of God’s righteousness, holiness, and glory, and He sprinkled His blood on the lid of the ark to remove our sins; God looks at the blood and He is satisfied, and we look at the blood and are at peace with God.
We all have a big problem with God: our sins. We are indebted to Him, for sin brings in death and separation from God, and we are full of sins.
But praise the Lord for the Lord Jesus Christ who came to satisfy God’s requirements and pay our debt; He offered Himself as the propitiatory sacrifice on the cross to solve our problems with God and bring us back to God.
God didn’t leave us in sin; He first gave some ordinances concerning the type of expiation, and then Christ came to make propitiation for our sins and solve our problems with God. Christ made propitiation for us to make us one with God. Hallelujah!
Sin separated us from God, causing us to not be able to come to Him and fellowship with Him; sin keeps us from God, making it impossible for us to have direct fellowship with Him. Because of our sins, we cannot have God’s presence and God cannot come to us.
Therefore, we need Christ to come in and appease God by making propitiation for us on the cross. Christ accomplished propitiation for us on the cross, appeasing God’s demands through His living and sacrifice, and He satisfied God’s righteous demands on us (Heb. 2:17).
On the cross Christ offered Himself as the propitiatory sacrifice for our sins to solve our problems with God (1 John 2:2; 4:10), and He brought us back to God, making us one with God.
The Lord Jesus made propitiation for our sins, thereby satisfying the demand of God’s righteousness and appeasing the relationship between God and us, so that God may be peacefully gracious to us.
Now this place – the presence of God, the mercy seat, the expiation cover, the lid of the ark – is no longer a place where we’re condemned and exposed, but a place where we can meet with God in Christ, based on His propitiation and redemption.
We can come forward to the throne of grace, being sprinkled with the Lord’s blood, and He will give us grace in peace.
Thank You Lord Jesus for making propitiation for our sins by satisfying the demand of God’s righteousness and thus appeasing the relationship between God and us. Hallelujah, we now have peace toward God through the blood of Jesus Christ, and God may be peacefully gracious to us. Thank You Lord Jesus for solving the problem of sin through Your death on the cross, thus solving our problems with God. Lord, we come forward to the throne of grace to receive mercy and grace for timely help. We come forward to You, God, to be one with You, based on the propitiation made by Christ on the cross!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Mark Raabe for this week, and portions from, The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 3025-3026 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Leviticus (2), week 6, The Expiation.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Propitiation made by the blood, / Jesus’ redemption bought us for God! / No condemnation, justification! / We have peace toward God! (Hymns #1131)
# Arise, my soul, arise! / Shake off thy guilty fears; / The bleeding Sacrifice / In my behalf appears. / Before the throne my Surety stands; / My name is written on His hands. (Hymns #300)
# Thou art the Way to God, / Thy blood our ransom paid; / In Thee we face our Judge / And Maker unafraid. / Before the Throne absolved we stand: / Thy love has met Thy law’s demand. (Hymns #192)
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