Big Theological Words Explained; Part 1 - 'Propitiation' - Romans 3:21-26
February 4, 2010
Propitiation (actually a LEGAL term) is a central work of JesusChrist on the cross, by which He fulfills the wrath of God, and satisfies Him Who would otherwise be offended by our sin and would demand that we pay the penalty for it.
Although we are not always aware of it, the truth is that sin is an extremely offensive thing to the Holy God. Not only is God unable to have sin exist in His presence, but He is morally obliged to ultimately destroy both sin and sinners! Everyone goes out of their way to stress God’s love for us as being personal. But no one wants to think of His wrath as personal.
To believe that God can somehow simply “overlook” or “forget about” our sin, is to grossly underestimate His holiness, and His moral perfection. God simply CANNOT tolerate sin. The Bible is absolutely clear that the only satisfactory price for sin is the death of the sinner. Even God’s forgiveness cannot just “ignore” sin. Sin must be dealt with before a holy and righteous God.
How, then, does God remain consistent in His character allowing once sinful, now forgiven, humans to come into His presence without themselves paying the only satisfactory penalty for their sin?
Christ’s death, in our place, allows God’s forgiveness to remain consistent with his flawless character and to therefore be able pardon and even bless the repentant sinner. (1 John 4:10)
Jesus Christ on the cross paid the price for all sins of all people, after which forgiveness is separately then provided personally to those who repent of their sins and accept Him as Lord and Saviour. (1 John 2:2)
The Holy God then, in view of the Cross, is declared righteous in being able to forgive sins, since the propitiation through Christ’s death appeases God’s wrath, and leaves His holiness and perfection intact.
The words of that great song, “In Christ Alone” say it well…
Till on that cross as Jesus died, The wrath of God was satisfied;
For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live.
I hate junk mail! I detest going to my mailbox and finding it stuffed with useless and unwanted paper. It irritates me and fills my recycling box. And I never ask for any of it!
I have found a solution!
There is an Internet site that allows you to download this little sign to put in (or on) your mailbox. It instructs Canada Post to NOT place junk mail in your mailbox. IT WORKS!! Really!
There is a lot of “junk mail” that gets dumped in our HEADS, too! Unsolicited information and enticements for unwanted and undesirable “products”. It can make us crazy trying to sort through it to see if there’s anything worthwhile – usually there isn’t. We’re bombarded with a continuous stream of sight and sound, all of which is designed to fill our minds with SOMETHING… desire to buy, urge to have, motivation to do.
It can also plant other things… anxiety, fear, envy (and a host of other unwanted feelings and thoughts).
We Need To Be Cautious About What We
Allow Into Our Heads!
Let me give you an example… a lot of Christians are being heavily influenced in their thinking (and even their theology) by allowing a piece of present-day junk mail into their minds.
The recently-released movie “2012” draws attention to the long-standing so-called Mayan prediction that the world will end on December 21, 2012. Ignoring the fact that literally thousands of similar “prophesied” doomsday dates have come (and gone), and despite the words of Scripture (Mark 13:32) even some Christians are buying into the stir and hubbub, and even the panic. Sorry… my mind has enough TRUE STUFF to keep it occupied without opening it to nonsense and rubbish.
Thanksgiving commemorates a feast held in 1621 by the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Native Americans in Massachusetts. This Psalm of thanks was given before the meal. History records that "their youngest son said grace".
Praise the Lord.
I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart, in the company of the upright, in the congregation.
Great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who have pleasure in them.
Full of honour and majesty is his work, and his righteousness endures for ever.
He has caused his wonderful works to be remembered; the Lord is gracious and merciful.
He provides food for those who fear him; he is ever mindful of his covenant.
He has shown his people the power of his works, in giving them the heritage of the nations.
The works of his hands are faithful and just; all his precepts are trustworthy,
they are established for ever and ever, to be performed with faithfulness and uprightness.
He sent redemption to his people; he has commanded his covenant for ever. Holy and terrible is his name!
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all those who practice it. His praise endures for ever!
It has rained a lot this past week, even causing some flooding in areas of the city, and in more than a few basements. It got me to thinking (again) about floods.
Interestingly, the word “baptized” means to be “flooded” or “overwhelmed”… and in a GOOD way!
A. Overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit
Often we feel overwhelmed and even crushed by our circumstances. Wouldn’t it be nice to be “under-whelmed” once in awhile, or even just “whelmed”?
We need something, actually Someone (The Holy Spirit) to “overwhelm our overwhelmings” (Read Isaiah 59:19-21 – When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord fights for us!)
OK then, Stay Overwhelmed!
B. Flooded by the Blood of Jesus
Pray for the cleansing, conquering Blood of Jesus to cover you and those you love. I am not talking about Salvation. I am talking about those times of Spiritual Battle. Christ has COMPLETED the Work on the Cross. His work is a finished work. We simply ask that His Finished work would be appropriated for our particular conflicts…
Clearly, we as humans are tremendously limited in our perspective on life. It is the direct consequence of our fallen and restricted human nature and our corporeal existence. We tend to view most of what we see through the lens of our earthly frame, and measure many of our values accordingly.As a consequence, we have many attitudes towards LIFE itself that are heavily skewed by that limited perspective.Now understand; it is not that we do wrong to value and enjoy life. The Bible itself speaks a great deal about the many ways we can make our human lives better, more enjoyable, and certainly more pleasing to God. Jesus DID come to “give us life, and that more abundantly”! (John 10:10) But the true measure of life, for the Christian, is NOT confined to the relatively few years we eke out on this planet… we are creatures, born of God’s Spirit through Jesus Christ, that have a component of ETERNAL LIFE… Eternal Life that works not only in our present beings, but in our “forever” beings.When we pray, we probably most often pray for needs that are related to our “temporary” state – that which is bound to this life on earth. “Temporary” literally means “for a time”. In fact, when we pray for healing (and indeed we SHOULD!) we must remember that even the most dramatic and miraculous healing of our bodies is still just “temporary” – for THIS time. Even after a healing, we are subject to ongoing deterioration and maybe even other illnesses… we continue to die, in fact.HOWEVER… our bodies, when ultimately translated into God’s presence will be made PERFECT (and will stay that way!). We will be most-certainly healed of ALL our ailments!
So… in a very real sense, when we are taken into God’s presence, we are HEALED! We do well to understand, then, that death for the Christian is NOT defeat – it is ultimate victory!
At the very beginning of the Christian church, there were a handful of men who had the passion and the vision to get the whole thing off the ground. They were the pioneers of our faith; the Bible calls them “apostles”, and we read all about the amazing ways God used them in the New Testament book of Acts. One of these men was Paul. In order for Paul to do what he did (starting churches all around the world), he had to plan – I mean, it’s not like they had Travelocity.com back in those days! But Paul also had to be open to things not going according to his plan.
Take a look at these verses in Acts chapter 16...
Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas.
Even though Paul and his friends wanted to do something good by taking the story of Jesus into Asia, and later into Mysia, the Spirit of Jesus stopped them. We’re not sure why they were stopped, but we do know that to Paul, Jesus was more important that his plan. Because of this, Paul altered his plan and went a different way. Because of this change in plans, Paul ended up starting the church in Philippi, many people met Jesus, and now we have the book of Philippians: a wonderful letter of joy and encouragement.
How will YOU respond when God changes your plans? Hopefully, like Paul, you’ll make the most of it and eagerly anticipate what God has planned!
A couple of weeks ago, I was doing some personal reading that included Psalm 145. Ever since then I keep coming back to this beautiful psalm of praise. The part that really struck a chord with me was verses 15-16…
“The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food at the proper time. You open up your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing.”
The way in which God satisfies our desires, if we let Him, is something that has been going through in my head since then. Partly, I think in response to the way in which He has so clearly led Wendy and me in the last year-and-a-half or so, and I think in a wider scale, in contemplation of looking to God to continue to lead and guide in the life of Evangel.
Alongside this notion of ‘satisfied desires’ is the phrase ‘at the proper time’. God works in His time not ours. Simple enough to say it, but it can be very difficult to understand and accept when circumstances are swirling about and the future might be unclear. It is something I am still learning about.
Are you allowing God to satisfy your desires? True satisfaction ONLY comes from what God does in our lives.
Are your desires in line with His desires? His Word promises that we will receive the desires of our hearts ONLY when those desires are appropriate to His will.
Are you frustrated because He seems to be ‘holding back’? Remember, God acts ‘at the proper time’… and His timing is NEVER wrong! He knows what we will be asking of Him, even before we do! He sees down the path of our lives well-before we ever get there! He knows what we need, what we want, and when it’s best to open the storehouses of heaven upon us!
Well, this is the Civic Holiday weekend (whatever that is!). I spent some time this week trying to find out exactly what the Civic Holiday is all about. Turns out, it is simply a holiday declared by the Ontario government, slated to fall on the first Monday of August...and, for no apparent reason.
It commemorates nothing - however, in Toronto it has been named Lord Simcoe Day, in Ottawa it is Colonel By Day, in Burlington it is Joseph Brant Day, Founders Day in Brantford, James Cockburn Day in Cobourg, John Galt Day in Guelph, and McLaughlin Day here in Oshawa (bet you didn't know THAT!).
Seems like, even though it is a holiday with nothing to commemorate, we still feel the need to attach some meaning or significance to it! So...many communities have added some meaning to it by naming it after a local historical figure. Looks like we humans really do like to stick names and labels on unusual days or events (and people). I guess we're bent that way.
So...this unusual character in history, known locally as Jesus - just who was/is He? He asked His followers that question one day. And he got a variety of answers; none of which seemed appropriate or sufficient, until Peter Blurted out the world-changing truth, "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God!"
It is this truth that attaches full meaning and significance to Jesus. As "The Christ" (Messiah, Anointed One, Saviour, Deliverer), and as the Son of God, Jesus is perfectly positioned to be the answer to every human problem and dilemma. This title is attached to Jesus 572 times in the Bible. Must be important!
Today is The Lord's Day. There is no doubt at all about whom it commemorates, nor about His significance in the affairs of men!
