Chapter 37
"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
Gospel preachers speak frequently about the satisfaction of
Christ, declaring that he has both made satisfaction for the sins of his people
and that he shall forever be satisfied with the results of his finished work.
Be sure you understand this. It is crucial to the gospel. Indeed, this matter
of Christ making satisfaction and of Christ being satisfied is the gospel.
The Lord Jesus
Christ satisfied the law and justice of God for his people when he suffered and
died as our substitute upon the cursed tree. By obeying all the precepts of
God’s holy law as a man, he fulfilled it as our Representative and brought in
everlasting righteousness for us. By dying under the curse of the law, bearing
our sins, bearing its penalty to the full extremity of divine justice, dying as
our Substitute under the wrath of God, our all-glorious Christ satisfied the
wrath and justice of God for us.
Thus the Lamb of
God put away the sins of God’s elect by the sacrifice of himself. He has
forever secured for his people complete, total immunity from all the evil
consequences of their sins. He has secured the eternal salvation of God’s elect
by his satisfaction, making it impossible for God in justice to impute their
sins to them.
Having
satisfied he law and justice of God for us, we are assured that our great
Redeemer shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. He will see his
people, every one of them saved: justified, sanctified, and glorified. Not one
ransomed sinner shall perish under the wrath of God. This is the good news we
declare in the gospel (Isa. 40:1-2).
Briefly stated,
that is the doctrine of Christ’s Satisfaction. This matter of satisfaction is
set before us in Holy Scripture as propitiation, atonement, and reconciliation.
The word “propitiation” is used three times in the New
Testament. In all three places we are told that Christ is our propitiation. The
very same Greek word translated “propitiation” in the New Testament is
translated “mercy seat” in the Greek version of Exodus 25:21 and in Hebrews
9:5.
The mercy seat,
which covered the ark of the covenant and covered God’s broken law, upon which
the cherubim were fixed, upon which they constantly looked, was the place where
the atonement blood of the paschal lamb was sprinkled. The mercy seat was the
seat of divine majesty where God promised to meet his people in mercy. To the
mercy seat men were bidden to look, in the hope of obtaining mercy from and
communion with God through the blood of God’s appointed sacrifice (typifying
and pointing to the blood of Christ), just as we are bidden to come to the
throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of
need, because there Christ has sprinkled his blood.
The publican
mentioned by our Lord in Luke’s Gospel had a glimpse of Christ as the one
represented in the mercy seat. He cried, “God
be merciful (propitious) to me the sinner.” He sought mercy
through the propitiatory sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah. Let’s
look at those places in Scripture where this word propitiation is used in
reference to our Lord Jesus Christ.
The first place where the word
“propitiation” is used this way is found in Romans 3:25. -- "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."
The
Lord Jesus Christ was set forth by God the Father to be our propitiation. He is the one who has made
propitiation for us, the one in whom propitiation is found, the one for whose
sake God is propitious to sinners, and the one who is himself our Propitiation.
Christ is our Mercy Seat. He alone is the place where God meets with sinners,
receives us, and blesses us. He is the one by whom justice has been appeased.
He is the one who is our Peace. He is the propitiatory Sacrifice for our sins.
Just as God in the Old Testament types smelled the sweet savor of the typical,
legal sacrifices, and was ceremonially content with them, so Christ’s precious
blood is a sweet selling savor to him.
“His sacrifice
was an offering of a sweet smelling savour to the Father. He was well pleased
with it. It gave him content and satisfaction, because his justice was appeased
by it, and the demands of his law were answered. Yea, it was magnified and made
honorable.” (John Gill)
How has
God the Father set forth his dear Son as our Mediator to be the propitiation
for our sins? Obviously, Paul does not suggest that the Son was compelled to be
subservient to the Father. Not at all. This thing was agreed upon by both the
Father and the Son. The Son was just as willing to be our Propitiation as the
Father is willing to receive his propitiatory sacrifice. Yet, the Holy Spirit
here tells us that it was God the Father who set forth his Son to be a
propitiation. How has he done so?
Christ was set forth to be the propitiation
for our sins in the eternal purposes and decrees of God. He is the Lamb
of God who, verily, was foreordained before the foundation of the world to be
slain as the ransom price and propitiatory sacrifice for his people. His
sufferings and death as such were according to the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God (1 Pet. 1:19; Acts 2:23; 4:28).
God set
forth his Son to be our Propitiation in all the promises, prophecies, and
pictures of the Old Testament Scriptures. He is the Seed of the woman promised to
Adam and Eve in the Garden, who must come to crush the serpent’s head. He is
the paschal lamb, the brazen serpent, the morning and evening sacrifice, and
the promised Substitute of whom the prophets wrote.
In the
fulness of time, the Son of God was set forth as our Propitiation in human
flesh. He was actually made of a woman, made under the law, that he might
redeem his people who were under the law.
Our
Lord Jesus is still set forth to be the Propitiation for our sins, and shall be
until time shall be no more in the gospel. In the Book of God, by the servants
of God, and by the Spirit of God, as the gospel is preached Christ is set forth
before men as the propitiation, the only and effectual propitiation, for sin.
We see the same thing in 1 John
4:9-10. -- "In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because
that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through
him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his
Son to be the propitiation for our sins." Because of his great love
for his people, God the Father sent his darling Son into the world to be the
propitiation for our sins by offering up his soul and body as a sacrifice to
divine justice to make atonement for us.
As propitiation, or appeasement, is one aspect of Christ’s satisfaction, a second aspect of it is atonement. The word “atonement” is frequently used in the Old Testament in connection with the typical sacrifices of the law and the ceremonial (typical) expiation of sin (Lev. 1:4; 4:20, 26, 31, 35; 5:6, 10, 13, 16, 18; 16:6, 10, 11, 16-18, 27, 30, 32-34; 17:11).
The basic meaning of the word “atonement” is “to cover." As the ark Noah built for the saving of his house was covered with pitch, as the blood sprinkled on the mercy-seat covered God’s broken law beneath it, as the blood sprinkled on the door posts and lentils is every chosen family in Egypt, so the Lord Jesus Christ, by his sacrifice, the antitype of these, is a covering to his people, from the curses of the law we have broken, -- from the wrath of God we deserved, -- and from avenging justice of the holy Lord God to which our sins exposed us.
However, the
word “atonement” is only used one time in the New Testament. We find it only in
Romans 5:11. -- "And not only so, but we also joy in God through our
Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement."
This atonement
was made for us by Christ our Surety, Head, and Representative. The knowledge,
blessing, and benefit of it, the application of it comes to us by the Spirit of
God, who takes the blood, righteousness, and sacrifice of Christ and applies it
to chosen, redeemed sinners, shows us our interest in the atonement, and causes
us to receive the effect of it by trusting Christ. The effect of it is joy,
peace, and comfort in the knowledge of redemption accomplished.
The word
translated “atonement” in the King James Version means and might be
better translated "reconciliation. " It is translated that way at
times. The Hebrew word for “atonement” is also translated, in some places,
"reconcile," or “reconciliation” (Lev. 6:30). The fact is, atonement
and reconciliation for sin is essentially the same thing. Both imply a
satisfaction made and accepted by God for sin. The word “atonement”
means “at one with.” Believers are brought to be at one with God by the
sin-atoning blood of Christ. As soon as we believe on the Son of God, we are at
one with God, because God has reconciled us to himself by the death of Christ
for us.
The third aspect of Christ’s satisfaction is
reconciliation. "And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to
himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation"
(2 Cor. 5:18). Ours is a ministry of reconciliation. We proclaim reconciliation
accomplished and seek to persuade sinners, who are by nature haters of God, to
be reconciled to him, bowing to and trusting his dear Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ.
Reconciliation
began with God himself, not with us. "All things are of God,"
in nature, providence, and grace, "Who hath reconciled us to himself by
Jesus Christ". Reconciliation began in the thoughts of his heart,
which were thoughts of peace. It was brought up in the council chambers of
eternity, and settled in the covenant of grace and peace before the world
began. It was executed and accomplished by Christ, by his death, by the blood
of his cross (Rom. 5:10; Eph. 2:16; Col. 1:20-22).
The ransom price
of Christ’s precious blood was paid to God, against whom all sin is committed,
whose law we have broken, and whose justice we have offended. The ransom price
was paid to the Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy (Rom. 5:10; Eph.
2:16). Christ’s blood was shed to make reconciliation for sin, to make
atonement for it (Dan. 9:24; Heb 2:17). Christ died to reconcile men and women
to God, who are by nature sinners, “children of wrath,” and enemies in
their minds to God (Rom. 5:10; Eph. 2:1-4; Col. 1:21).
All who have
been reconciled to God by the sin-atoning death of his Son shall, at God’s
appointed time, be reconciled to him in their hearts by the power and grace of
his Holy Spirit (2 Cor. 5:17-21). Reconciliation
has been made for sinners by the death of Christ. The way is open for sinners
to come near unto God and come with full assurance of faith. The way is Christ,
-- His Propitiation, -- and His Atonement. God Almighty sends his servants with
the Word of reconciliation to persuade sinners to be reconciled to him. The
motive by which God urges sinners to be reconciled to him is redemption
accomplished and the blessed promise of all things new in Christ.
Propitiation is
the appeasement of God’s wrath by the blood of Christ. Atonement is union made
between God and sinners meeting at the Mercy Seat (“the throne of grace”
– Hebrews 4:16), where Christ’s blood covers our sins. Reconciliation is the
reuniting of God and his elect in the person of his dear Son, both looking to
the blood of atonement.