THE SOLUTION BY GOD
Intro:
1. In Eighteenth Century Europe fine writing paper remained a precious commodity because the raw material from which it was made– rags and linen – were in short supply. Then, in 1719, the French scientist, Rene-Antoine Reaumur, observed wasps making a fine paper from the wood fibers they had consumed and digested. This ultimately led to the wide-spread use of wood pulp to manufacture paper.
2. I suppose because man is created in the image of God, he is able to come up with many solutions to life’s many problems. But none of them compares with the solution that God uses to solve man’s sin problem.
3. Solution through the Deliverer.
I. REPRESENTATION.
Just as the first Adam was a representation of all those born the first time, so the last Adam was a representation of all who would be born-again.
As the first Adam built the barriers, the last Adam would tear them down.
As the first Adam failed by yielding to temptation, the last Adam succeeded in saying no to temptation (Mt. 4:1-11).
See, 1 Cor. 15:21-22/Rom. 5:17-19.
Hal Lindsey notes:
On several occasions in the New Testament, Jesus is referred to as the “second Adam.” It’s because as a man He perfectly fulfilled all the dreams and aspirations that God had originally had for the first Adam…The first man got mankind into all its trouble, but God sent another Man into the world and He undid it. In order to qualify as a true human being who could undo sin’s damage, Jesus did not use His divine power while He was on earth (Phil. 2:6-7). Jesus’ whole life was lived in total dependence upon the Father who worked through Him by the Holy Spirit who indwelt Him. That’s the exact way that God intended for all men to live.
We see this in the temptation by Satan in trying to get the Lord Jesus to depend upon His deity, which would have disqualified him as the second Adam. He said, “Turn those stones to bread” that would not have been a temptation to us because we could not do it! Nor would it be a temptation to our Lord in His humanity. It would take an act of God to turn stones into bread. Had Jesus done that by depending upon His deity it would have been like Adam taking of that tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Our Lord as a perfect man remained totally dependent upon His Father.
See John 5:19, 30; 7:16; 8:28.
The Son of God became the God/man. He had to be man in order to die (Heb. 2:9, 14; 9:12-15) and God in order to make that death effective (Mk. 2:7). He was from God (Jn. 6:38; 16:27-28; 17:5); and was God (Mt. 8:2-3; 9:1-8, 18; 14:33/ Mk. 2:5-12; 14:61-62/Jn. 1:1; 10:30; 20:26-29/etc).
The inventor of Velcro got his idea from the “gripping power” of cockleburs that clung to his clothing and his dog’s fur after a walk in the woods. He reduplicated the very hooks of the burs he observed in a magnifying glass.
But God reveals a greater genius when he revealed how a second Adam could undo all that the first Adam did.
II. INCARNATION.
A. No Beginning!
He began before He was born! The Son of God’s preexistent, He existed eternally as the Second Person of the Trinity. His physical birth was not His origin (Jn. 10:36; 17:5, 24).
The term Son of God has nothing to do with His birth but His eternal relationship with God the Father.
• The Son of God Existed at the time of creation and had a part in that creation (Col. 1:13-17/Heb. 1:2).
• The Son of God is Explained as being in the Father’s bosom (Jn. 1:18/1 Jn. 1:1-2).
• The Son of God Entered as being sent by the Father (Isa. 9:6/Jn. 3:16; 20:21/Rom. 8:32/Gal. 4:4/1 Jn. 4:10,14).
• The Son of God Exited this world and returned to the Father (Jn. 16:28; 17:5, 24).
John Walvoord notes:
The scriptural view of the Sonship of Christ as recognized in many of the great creeds of the church is that Christ was always the Son of God by eternal generation and that He took upon Himself humanity through generation of the Holy Spirit; the human birth was not in order to become a Son of God but because He was the Son of God.
Understanding Christian Theology:
Some Bible teachers have suggested that Jesus became the Son of God in His incarnation. In other words, He was not God’s Son in eternity past before He became incarnate. This view has several weaknesses. First, it ignores clear statements in the Scriptures about Jesus’ existence as the Son of God before the Incarnation. Galatians 4:4, for example, states that the Incarnation occurred “when the time had fully come,” implying that the “Actor” was waiting in the wings for the appropriate moment of His appearance. The verse continues, “God sent his Son.” The verb translated “sent” is coupled with a preposition that more literally could be translated “sent out from,” again implying that He was the Son of God before He was incarnated. The same exact form of that verb is used in verse 6, which says, “God sent the Spirit of his Son”; the Spirit obviously came from heaven. Other Scriptures also speak of God sending His Son (1 Jn. 4:9-10, 14), using a compound verb that literally could be translated “sent away from,” implying preexistence with God the Father. And dozens of times the Gospel of John records that God “sent” His Son from heaven. Not one verse in the Bible states that Jesus ever became God’s Son. He always was His Son, from all eternity.
Jesus’ own references to His relationship with God the Father prior to the Incarnation are also significant. In His high priestly prayer Jesus requested, “And now, Father, glorify me in Your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began” (Jn. 17:5). Later He prayed concerning the disciples, “They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me” (Jn. 17:8).
Another affirmation of Jesus’ eternal Sonship is His participation in creation. The writer to the Hebrews stated that through His Son, God “made the universe” (Heb. 1:2). The Son, whom the Father “loves” (Col. 1:13), “is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created…all things were created by him and for him (1:15-16).
The teaching that Jesus’ Sonship began at the Incarnation ignores and destroys the eternal relationship among the three Persons of the Trinity, whereas the Bible clearly teaches the eternal distinctions in the Trinity as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
See Rom. 1:3-4; 9:5/Phil. 2:5-11.
To deny the deity of Christ is cultic and contradicts the clear teaching of the Word of God. Oswald Sanders makes it clear:
If Jesus is not God, then there is no Christianity, and we who worship Him are nothing more than idolaters. Conversely, if He is God, those who say He was merely a good man, or even the best of men, are blasphemers. More serious still, if He is not God, then He is a blasphemer in the fullest sense of the word. If He is not God, He is not even good… The deity of Christ is the key doctrine of Scripture. Reject it, and the Bible becomes a confused jumble of words devoid of any unifying theme. Accept it, and the Bible becomes an intelligible and ordered revelation of God in the person of Jesus Christ. Christ is the center of Christianity, and the conception we form of Christianity is therefore the conception we have of Him.
This is not based on human reasoning but divine revelation, Louis Berkhof gives a good presentation of the evidence:
We find that Scripture (1) explicitly asserts the deity of the Son in such passages as John 1: 1; 20: 28; Romans 9: 5; Philippians 2: 6; Titus 2: 13; John 5: 20; (2) applies divine names to Him, Isaiah 9: 6; 40: 3; Jeremiah 23: 5, 6; Joel 2: 32 (comp. Acts 2: 21); 1 Timothy 3: 16; (3) ascribes to Him divine attributes, such as eternal existence, Isaiah 9: 6; John 1: 1, 2; Revelation 1: 8; 22: 13, omnipresence, Matthew 18: 20; 28: 20; John 3: 13, omniscience, John 2: 24, 25; 21: 17; Revelation 2: 23, omnipotence. Isaiah 9: 6; Philippians 3: 21; Revelation 1: 8, immutability, Hebrews 1: 10-12; 13: 8, and in general every attribute belonging to the Father, Colossians 2: 9; (4) speaks of Him as doing divine works, as creation, John 1: 3, 10; Colossians 1: 16; Hebrews 1: 2, 10, providence, Luke 10: 22; John 3: 35; 17: 2; Ephesians 1: 22; Colossians 1: 17; Hebrews 1: 3, the forgiveness of sins, Matthew 9: 2-7; Mark 2: 7-10; Colossians 3: 13, resurrection and judgment, Matthew 25: 31, 32; John 5: 19-29; Acts 10: 42; 17: 31; Philippians 3: 21; 2 Timothy 4: 1, the final dissolution and renewal of all things, Hebrews 1: 10-12; Philippians 3: 21; Revelation 21: 5, and (5) accords Him divine honour, John 5: 22, 23; 14: 1; 1 Corinthians 15: 19; 2 Corinthians 13: 13; Hebrews 1: 6; Matthew 28: 19.
Orville and Wilbur Wright developed the steering system for their airplane, the “Wright Flyer,” from watching seagulls flex and alter the shape of their wings. They called the system “wing warping.”
Old Orville and Wilbur demonstrated insight but what is that compared to the insight of God’s plan of salvation for man!
B. A Birth.
The Son of God became the God/Man. He was fully God and fully man in one person (Jn. 1:1,14).
He had to bypass the sin nature passed on by the man, for if He had had a sin nature He would have needed a savior Himself! This was accomplished by the virgin birth (Gen. 3:15; 12:3/Gal. 3:16/Mt. 1:18/Lu. 1:26-38/Jn. 1:14/1 Tim. 3:16/1 Jn. 4:2). The miracle was not in the birth but the conception. The Lord Jesus was born like anybody else.
While watching a cat take swipes at a chicken and coming up with just a paw full of feathers, Eli Whitney got the inspiration for the “Cotton Gin.” By replicating the “cat claws” on a tumbler.
Eli Whitney’s solution was wonderful, but it pales into insignificance when we think of God’s wise solution of becoming God/man. Who but God could think of such a plan!
C. A Blameless life.
He was born under the Law (Gal. 4:4) and obeyed it perfectly in word, thought, and deed (Heb. 4:15) thus fulfilled the law (Mt. 5:17/Rom. 10:17). And He lived this blameless life, as God intended man to live, by total dependency upon God.
Hal Lindsey notes:
“Jesus’ whole life was lived in total dependence upon the Father who worked through Him by the Holy Spirit who indwelt Him. That’s the exact way that God intended for all men to live. If Jesus had ever withstood one temptation or performed one miracle using His own divine power, He would not have been behaving as a true man and He would have disqualified Himself from being the Savior of men (Jn. 5:19,30).
Now we must hasten to say His perfect life was not enough to save anybody, He had to die for our sins. But without that perfect life He would not have been qualified to die for our sins.
A veteran logger, Joseph Buford Cox, got his idea for the C-shaped blades of the modern chain saw from observing beetle larva chomp away at wood with its C-shaped jaws.
Again, that turned out to be a very useful idea, but think and marvel at God’s idea of a Second Adam succeeding where the first one failed.
III. SUBSTITUTION.
Intro:
1. Bishop John Taylor Smith, former Chaplain General of the British Army, was once preaching in a large cathedral using John 3: 7 as his text, “Ye must be born again.” In order to drive it home, he said, “My dear people, do not substitute anything for the new birth. You may be a member of a church, even the great church of which I am a member, the historic Church of England, but church membership is not new birth, and ‘except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.’” The rector was sitting at his left. Pointing to him, he said, “You might be a clergyman like my friend the rector here and not be born again, and ‘except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.’” Then he pointed directly at the archdeacon in his stall and said, “You might even be an archdeacon like my friend in his stall and not be born again and ‘except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.’ You might even be a bishop, like myself, and not be born again and ‘except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.’”
A day or so later he received a letter from the archdeacon, in which he wrote: My dear Bishop: You have found me out. I have been a clergyman for over thirty years, but I had never known anything of the joy that Christians speak of. I never could understand it. Mine has been hard, legal service. I did not know what was the matter with me, but when you pointed directly to me and said, “You might even be an archdeacon and not be born again,” I realized in a moment what the trouble was. I had never known anything of the new birth.” He went on to say that he was wretched and miserable, had been unable to sleep all night, and begged for a conference, if the bishop could spare the time to talk with him. The next day they got together over the Word of God and after some hours, were both on their knees, the archdeacon taking his place before God as a poor, lost sinner and telling the Lord Jesus he would trust Him as his Saviour. From that time on everything was different.
2. There is no substitute for being born-again, and there is no being born-again without the substitutionary death of the Lord Jesus Christ.
3. The Substitutionary death of Christ alone can bring Satisfaction of God’s offended holy character.
Trans: The concept is simple to understand as Billy Graham shared in this illustration:
Billy Graham told the true story of driving too fast through a small town, a police officer pulled him over and directed him to the local justice of the peace. The judge asked how he pleaded and Graham said, “Guilty your honor.” He then said that will be $15 dollars, Billy reached for his wallet to get out the money. Then the judge recognized him and said, “Say, aren’t you Billy Graham, the evangelist?” Billy said, “Yes sir, I am” regretfully as he hopefully tucked his wallet back into his pocket.
The judge smiled and said, “That’ll be $15 dollars. But I tell you what I am going to do, I’m going to pay this fine for you.” The judge reached for his wallet took out $15 dollars and gave it to the clerk, saying, “You have been a blessing to our family.”
That is an example of substitution, we are guilty of breaking God’s law, but by contrast, we have not been a blessing but rebels who have caused much havoc. Yet God has chosen to justly pay for our sin debt.
A. Definition.
Charles Ryrie notes:
Substitutionary or vicarious atonement simply means that Christ suffered as a substitute for us, that is, instead of us, resulting in the advantage to us of paying for our sins. Man could atone for his sins personally only if he could suffer eternally the penalty that sin incurred. Man, of course, could never do this, so in His love and compassion, God stepped into a hopeless situation and provided a Vicar in Jesus Christ who did provide an eternal satisfaction for sin.
The Lord Jesus became our substitute and only the Lord Jesus Christ, the God/man, could qualify to be such a substitute.
I thought of rope! Yes, rope. Without it, we would never have built the pyramids, crossed the oceans or scaled Mount Everest. It has saved countless lives, pulled thousands from the angry seas and stopped the fall of many a mountain climber.
Rope had been around for a long time. And throughout its history - from the early Egyptians, through the Industrial Age, down to the present – rope has taken on the same basic pattern: fibers are twisted (clockwise) into yarns, yarns are twisted (counterclockwise) into strands, and strands (clockwise again) into rope. The best modern synthetic material is nylon, polypropylene, or Dacron. Far inferior - more easily obtainable material has also been used for rope. But a rope is only as good as the fibers that go into it.
The example of an English manufacturer of rope graphically illustrates this idea. The man lived in the early days of the Industrial age. His arduous work and attention to detail earned him the reputation for producing the finest and strongest rope in the world. But the man began to pay more attention to profit than to quality. He sought out cheaper materials for fibers and substituted the inferior for the superior. He amassed a fortune in the process and managed to keep his reputation unstained. Then one day, as fate would have it, while sailing the Atlantic to America, a tempest-driven wave washed the man overboard. The sailors scrambled to rescue him. They tossed him a rope which he managed to grasp. But as the sailors pulled him through the buffeting waves the rope suddenly snapped. The man drifted hopelessly away from the ship to his destiny. Upon inspection the seamen observed that the rope was not only new – it was the famous rope made by the very man they had sought to rescue. He had died a victim of his own inferior rope.
There is no substitute for Jesus Christ! Man has foolishly tried to substitute His death with works, human goodness, religion, self-righteousness, the list seems endless. But if we reject His death for our sins, at our death the rope will snap and we will break hell wide open!
6 Yes, remember your Creator now while you are young—before the silver cord of life snaps and the gold bowl is broken; before the pitcher is broken at the fountain and the wheel is broken at the cistern; Ecclesiastes 12:6 (TLB)
B. Dissension.
Some object to this concept:
1. It makes God unjust since He condemns His sinless son in our place.
The answer is that the son voluntarily took our place (Jn. 10:17-18). Also, in one sense God the Father Himself was actually involved since the Lord Jesus is God/Man and there is one God.
2. It makes the innocent suffer for the guilty.
The answer is that is absolutely true! Since it was clearly God’s purpose the objection is foolish since all of God’s plans and purposes are always infinitely wise and just (1 Pet. 3:18).
3. A person cannot be responsible for sin unless he personally commits sin.
The obvious answer is – since when! Every time we drop bombs anywhere, innocent people die. A simple off-side penalty by one player penalizes the entire team. It is not odd nor wrong for our Lord to die for our sins on the cross.
The truth is that God willingly became God/Man in order to die in our place. He was not like King Erra-Imitti:
In the early second millennium BC (1847 BC), King Erra-Imitti of Mesopotamia, chose his gardener, Enlil-Bani, to be king for a day. But this was no kind gesture. The King chose him to be his substitute during the Mesopotamian celebration of the New Year – the day on which the king was supposed to be sacrificed to the gods. The Mesopotamians believed that on the New Year, the gods would decide each person’s fate for the coming year. To please them, the Mesopotamians would offer their king as a sacrifice. King Erra-Imitti had no intention of becoming such a sacrifice, so he selected his gardener to take his place. But something went amiss. As the poor gardener-king nervously sat on the throne before his celebrating “subjects,” with his gallows in full view, a servant dashed into the court, announcing that King ErraImitti had suddenly died. Immediately, the humble gardener was proclaimed king and he went on to successfully reign for the next 24 years, from 1847-1823 BC.
We have to keep in mind the whole story, our Lord actually died on the cross, but then rose from the dead and will return to reign right here on planet earth.
C. Demonstration.
1. The Old Testament.
Actually, the concept of an innocent substitute dying in behalf of another is well established in the animal sacrifices, which all pointed to Christ [Book of Hebrews].
• One lamb for one Person. This was established right after Adam and Eve sinned (Gen. 3:21). We see this principle with Cain and Abel (Gen. 4:4/Job/ etc.).
• One lamb in the Passover. The Passover demonstrates the principle of one lamb for a family when they were told to put the blood on the doorposts which caused the death angel to pass over that family (Ex. 12:3-14).
• One lamb for People of Israel. That is seen in the Day of Atonement, where a lamb is brought into the Holy of Holies by the High Priest to atone for Israel’s sin for that year.
• One lamb for the Planet. That is exactly what the Lord Jesus did on that cross. He died in our place! Jn. 1:29; 18:14/Heb. 10:5-10.
In his book (2017) (Re)union, Bruxy Cavey writes:
The Victoria Cross is Canada's highest military honor, similar to the Medal of Honor in the United States. These medals are awarded for personal acts of valor above and beyond the call of duty. Of the thousands awarded to date, more citations have been bestowed for falling on grenades to save comrades than any other single act.
The first Victoria Cross of World War II was awarded to Company Sergeant-Major John Robert Osborn. The sergeant-major and his men were cut off from their battalion and under heavy attack. When the enemy came close enough, the Canadian soldiers were subjected to a concentrated barrage of grenades. Several times Osborn protected his men by picking up live grenades and throwing them back, but eventually one fell in just the wrong position to pick up in time. With only a split second to decide, Osborn shouted a warning and threw himself on top of the grenade. It exploded, killing him instantly. The rest of his company survived that battle because of Osborn's selfless other-centeredness.
The Lord Jesus died on the cross not for His friends but for vile sinful enemies, in our place, so we might be saved.
6 For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
7 For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die.
8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:6-8
We were helpless to save ourselves, totally without God, sinners, and enemies of God. Notice we were not righteous, a righteous man does what is right. He loans you $10 dollars and you have to pay him back $10 dollars; a good man will give you $10 dollars and you don’t have to pay him back. But a sinner may knock you on the head, and steal all your money from your wallet. The Lord Jesus did not die for us when we were righteous or good but sinners!
2. The New Testament.
• Anti – for, a preposition which means “in place of” (Mk. 10:45). In Understanding Christian theology:
“The Greek preposition translated “for” denotes substitution. The stronger of these is anti, “in place of.” We see this in the word “Antichrist,” who, as a counterfeit, will present himself in place of or instead of Christ. The meaning “in place of” is seen in Matthew 2:22 (“Archelaus was reigning over Judea instead of his father Herod”)…and Matthew 20:28 (“Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many”).
• Huper – a preposition which means “on behalf of” (2 Cor. 5:21/1 Pet. 3:18). Again from Understanding Christian Theology:
The other preposition is hyper, whose basic idea is “on behalf of” or “for the benefit of.”…In 2 Cor. 5:14-15 Paul plays on the double sense of hyper. Christ’s death is first “in our place” but it is then “on our behalf” or “for our sake.”…The meaning of “in place of” can be seen in Hebrews 2:9 (Jesus tasted “death for [hyper] everyone.” In 2 Cor. 5:21 (“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him”) and 1 Timothy 2:5-6 (“Christ Jesus…gave Himself a ransom for all”). Hyper may carry either meaning “on behalf of” or “in place of” or perhaps both.
The only sin that Jesus ever knew was ours; and the only righteousness we will ever know is His.
Years ago in the war between France and Germany, a summons went out to Germans residing in England to take their place with the troops at Paris. At that time, a man was walking along the streets of London, when he met a German friend. Surprised to see him there, he asked why he was not in France.
“His answer was “Oh, I am dead! His friend replied, “Dead! What do you mean?”
He explained, “My name was called among others and I thought I should have to leave England; but I had no wish to do so and I set to work to find some way by which I might escape. The command was stringent, so that it was impossible to evade it, but at length I found a substitute, willing for a sum of money to take my place. I gladly paid the sum, and am thankful that I was free to remain in England. My substitute, however, had not had many days with the German army when a French shell burst close to where he was standing and he was killed. He was there for me, his death was counted as mine, so in the eyes of the law, I am dead, and the German nation has no further claim upon me.”
Of course, we did not provide the substitute, God did, and it cost us nothing. He died our death!
Con:
1. So we have one of the most wonderful words in Substitution – it is the only basis for God’s Satisfaction of His holy character.
2. The problem is many have feel-good substitutions that won’t work.
James Schlatter was a chemist with the pharmaceutical company G. D. Searle. In 1965 he was feverishly working on an anti-ulcer drug aspartame. But fate had a different path for Schlatter’s anti-ulcer drug. One day after handling the drug with his bare hands, he licked his fingers to grab a piece of paper. A powerfully sweet taste remained on his tongue! His anti-ulcer drug was super-sweet – and it had no bitter aftertaste! Could it serve a better purpose as a no calorie sugar substitute? He made his discovery known to the heads of G. D. Searle and, after further testing, they decided to market the drug as a sugar substitute instead of an anti-ulcer drug. Aspartame never made it as an ulcer-fighting drug. But it did go on to sweeten hundreds of foods and millions of lives. Today the drug is marketed under the brand name NutraSweet and is used to sweeten about 1,200 different food products.
We have many sugary substitutes today – good works, church membership, fame and fortune, money, and the list seems endless. But the only one who can be your substitute is the Lord Jesus Christ.
IV. SATISFACTION.
Intro:
1. Africannews.com recently reported on a Ugandan man, the late Charles Obong, who decreed in his will that $55,000 should be buried with him in his coffin. What was Mr. Obong’s reasoning? The 52-year-old public official wanted the money with him so he could use it to appease God on judgment day.
2. The only one who can appease and satisfy the offended character of God is God Himself.
3. We have come to Satisfaction, as we saw, it is based on Substitution, the substitutionary death of the Lord Jesus Christ.
A. God’s Wrath.
This is important because without God’s wrath there would be no need to satisfy His offended character. That is why, the Devil, tries so hard to get people to believe that God is only love and thus bypass the concept that God is light as well. But the Bible is our authority.
1. God’s wrath is used 585 times in the Old Testament.
2. God’s wrath is also used in the New Testament as well (Jn. 3:36/Rom. 1:18; 9:22/Eph. 5:6/Col. 3:6/ 2 Thess. 1:8-9).
Tony Evans:
God’s wrath is not an easy subject to talk about. But it’s as integral to His nature as any of His other perfections. If I failed to teach about it, I would be doing my readers a great disservice. Any discussion of God’s character that does not include His characteristic called wrath is an incomplete study. Worse yet, it may even be an errant study of God, because one of the inescapable truths about our great God is that He is a God of wrath. In fact, the Bible has more to say about God’s wrath than it does about His love.
Henry Morris writes:
The wrath of God is a conception which cannot be eradicated from the [Bible] without irreparable loss. It is not the monopoly of one or two writers, but pervades the entire corpus so that there is no important section of which it can be said, “Here the wrath of God is unknown!” The ubiquity of the concept must be stressed, because of the tendency in some circles today to over look it or explain it away. Sin is not just a mere peccadillo which a kindly, benevolent God will regard as no consequence. On the contrary, the God of the Old Testament is One who loves righteousness (Psa. 33:5; 48:10, etc.), and whose attitude to unrighteousness can be described as hatred…Modern men find a difficulty with this aspect of the [Biblical] teaching, in part at least because they have so well learned that God is love. But it is important to notice that this was a truth known and valued by men of Old Testament times, and they apparently did not find it insuperably difficult to combine ideas that God loved them and that He hated all that is evil and would punish it severely.
Can you imagine how it felt to live in the shadow of an executioner – especially one as terrifying as the Halifax Gibbet? The Halifax Gibbet, heights of Halifax, England, is considered to be the first guillotine. From 1541 to 1650, the Lord of the Manor in Halifax used it execute anyone who stole goods in the value of a mere 13 ½ pence or was found in possession of such stolen goods or confessed to stealing them. Guards would bind the poor thief hand and foot, place his neck beneath the blade of this monster that towered fifteen feet high, drop the crossbeam, and cut off his head. But the Lord of the Manor was not the least secretive about using the Gibbet. He placed it conspicuously in the center of the city, so that everyone would live in its shadow - always reminded of the penalty for stealing.
The truth is that Fallen humanity lives under the shadow of God’s wrath, and all it takes is being born in Adam, one sin, to offend God’s holy character and cause His just wrath to be upon us.
B. God-ward Remedy…Propitiation.
1. First, the Direction of propitiation.
It is Satisfaction that is Godward.
Propitiation is something God does for Himself.
None say it better than Watchman Nee:
“God overlooks what we have done, because He sees the blood. The blood is therefore not primarily for us but for God. If I want to understand the value of the blood, I must accept God’s valuation of it… in Exodus 12: 13 the shedding of the blood of the Passover lamb in Egypt for Israel’s redemption… The blood was put on the lintel and on the doorposts… God said, “When I see the blood, I will pass over you.” Here we have another illustration of the fact that the blood was not meant to be presented to man but to God, for the blood was put on the lintel and on the doorposts where those feasting inside the house would not see it.”
He also points out:
“On the Day of Atonement the blood was taken from the sin offering and brought into the Most Holy Place and there sprinkled before the Lord seven times… the Lord commanded that no man should enter the tabernacle itself except the high priest. It was he alone who took the blood and, going into the Most Holy Place, sprinkled it there to make atonement before the Lord. Why? Because the high priest was a type of the Lord Jesus in His redemptive work (Heb. 9: 11– 12)… Moreover, connected with his going in there was but one act, namely, the presenting of the blood to God as something He had accepted, something in which He could find satisfaction. It was a transaction between the high priest and God in the sanctuary, away from the eyes of the men who were to benefit by it…The blood is first for God to see. We then have to accept God’s valuation of the blood is first for God to see. We then have to accept God’s valuation of it. In doing so we shall find our salvation. If instead we try to come to a valuation by way of our feelings, we get nothing; we remain in darkness. No, it is a matter of faith in God’s Word. We have to believe that the blood is precious to God because He says it is so (1 Pet. 1: 18– 19)… The blood has satisfied God; it must satisfy us also.”
The mountains west of Camp Zama, Japan, are magnificent. From the hilltops of Zama you can see Mount Oyama. It rises to 4,107 feet above sea level.
There is, however, one downside to Mount Oyama, it blocks our view of something much greater - Mount Fuji. Mount Fuji is far bigger than Mount Oyama. In fact, at 12,388 feet tall, Mount Oyama, which is only 1/ 3 the size, is much closer and blocks my view of Mount Fuji.
Mount Oyama is like our sin, it is a huge mountain but it is nothing compared to Mount Calvary, which is like Mount Fuji. The problem is we allow our sins to block the view of the blood! God never does this, and if we believe God we can by our eyes of faith see Mt. Calvary is bigger than our mountain of sin. See Rom. 5:20, keep in mind that our sin is finite while God’s grace is infinite.
2. Next, a working Definition of propitiation.
Propitiation is “turn away wrath by the satisfaction of violated justice.”
Robert McGee notes:
Propitiation means that the wrath of someone who has been unjustly wronged has been satisfied. It is an act that soothes hostility and satisfies the need for vengeance. Providing His only begotten Son as the propitiation for our sin was the greatest possible demonstration of God’s love for man. To understand God’s wondrous provision of propitiation, it is helpful to remember what He has endured from mankind. From Adam and Eve’s sin in the Garden of Eden to the obvious depravity we see in our world today, human history is the story of greed, hatred, lust, and pride— evidence of man’s wanton rebellion against the God of love and peace. If not done with a desire to glorify Him, even our good deeds are like filthy garments to God (Isa. 64:6). Our sin deserves the righteous wrath of God.
God was under no obligation to do this! When the angels rebelled every single one of them will end up in the lake of fire. God could have turned this very planet into hell, after Adam sinned, if He wanted to.
Michael Douglas in a movie Falling Down, portrays a man who has lost his family and job. He goes off the deep end striking out at those whom He believes are the cause of the world’s injustices. In the end he takes his own life. The problem was that man was, himself, just as unjust as the world he lashed out against.
But God really is just, and could have released His eternal wrath against all humanity but in His love, found a just way, to save all who would believe.
C. God’s World.
God’s world is a holy world and thus He must find a way to justly deal with man’s sin.
Hermon Hoeksema gives us the concept:
First, is it not possible for God to excuse the sinner? God cannot excuse the sinner, or sin, because God is righteous. If God is to pardon sin, there must be a basis upon which that pardon can rest… Propitiation is that which appeases. Propitiation presupposes sin and that God is wrathful because of that sin. There is something that appeases this wrath of God. God’s wrath is not some passing passion. God’s wrath is the constant expression of his holy and righteous will with respect to the sinner. Therefore, God’s wrath cannot be appeased except by the bearing of that wrath. God’s wrath must be poured out. God cannot deny himself. His wrath is as constant as God is. It must be poured out. A propitiatory sacrifice is a sacrifice in which one is intentionally, from the principle of love, set forth to receive the wrath of God. If one loves God, loves God’s wrath, loves to have God pour out that wrath upon him, and is able to bear that wrath to the full, this is propitiation. This the sinner cannot perform. It is impossible for the sinner to bring propitiation. It is impossible for the sinner to bear that wrath of God to the end. There is no end… God set forth Christ to be a propitiation. This indicates, for one thing, that God propitiates himself. We don’t. We don’t appease God. God provides for himself a sacrifice… He justifies the ungodly. He does this. God justifies the ungodly. To justify the ungodly without propitiation is unrighteous… Christ is the propitiation for sin. He bears indeed the sins of his people [and of the world, 1 Jn. 2:2]. Because Christ is indeed a propitiation, the cross is the demonstration of the righteousness of God as he justifies the ungodly.
25 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness…Romans 3:25
D. God’s Word.
He did this to satisfy His Holy Character but God wants people to know this. When God saved those who believed in the Old Testament, it looked as if He did it without any righteous basis for it. God wants to make sure people tie the animal sacrifices to Christ’s death.
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.
Romans 3:25-26
That word propitiation is hilasterion in the Greek [hih lahss TAY ree ahn]. The only other place this term occurs in the NT is Heb 9: 5, which says:
5 and above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat; but of these things we cannot now speak in detail. Hebrews 9:5
In the Greek OT, the word is used for the lid of the ark of the covenant (traditionally called “the mercy seat”; see Ex 25: 17-22; Lv 16: 2,13-15).
Another related word, hilasmos, atoning sacrifice, occurs twice in the NT (1 Jn 2: 2; 4: 10). This word family refers to the turning away of God’s wrath against sin by means of a sacrifice. The main ideas of this word group are mercy and satisfactory sacrifice for sin. The innermost part of the tabernacle was the place where mercy was found, but only through the proper sacrifice. Similarly, Jesus’ death is the only place one can find mercy. God’s wrath against sin was turned away by Christ’s atoning sacrifice… On the Day of Atonement, the high priest would sprinkle blood over the ark to atone for the nation. By this rite sins were deemed expiated or wiped away. Moreover God’s wrath was averted or propitiated. But human sins could not literally be atoned for by the death of animals (Heb. 10:4). Thus Jesus came to accomplish what no priest slaying an animal could ever hope to accomplish: full satisfaction of God’s requirements for atonement. God presented his Son as an atoning sacrifice. By means of Jesus’ blood— his sacrificial death— God’s holy wrath against sin was appeased, and the sins of those who place their faith in Christ are taken away.
We know all these things only because God’s Word has revealed them. As one notes:
It is established, then, that God cannot excuse sin. Would it not be possible for God to establish a basis of justification for his people? Suppose that God had provided a basis of justification that satisfied his own conscience, but that he had not published it. Then sin would have been propitiated, and the basis for righteousness would have been established, but we would not know anything about it. But now All the world must say that God is righteous.
So, we come to the bottom line as Charles Ryrie observes:
Because Christ had died, God is satisfied. Therefore, we should not ask anyone to try to do anything to satisfy Him. This would mean trying to appease someone who is already appeased, which is totally unnecessary. Therefore our message to men today should not suggest in any way that they can please God by doing something, but only that they should be satisfied with the sacrifice of Christ which completely satisfied the wrath of God.
Edward Roy ran a lowly business—Jiffy Johns of Pompano Beach, Florida. Five hundred portable toilets for rent. Band concerts, construction sites, church picnics, outdoor gatherings of any size could rent his product. But there was one big problem – what to do with all of that sewage! If he paid someone to haul it off it would have eaten up all his profits. In his search for a solution, he found a solar-heating process that turned sewage into fertilizer. Then came a masterstroke of marketing: instead of trying to sell the technology directly to local Florida communities, his company expanded and began to operate three $3 million plants itself. Under this new arrangement, the company would treat sewage for a fee and convert it into fertilizer, which was, in turn, sold for a substantial profit.
His solution was to turn waste into wealth! God has done something similar. God took our sinful sewage, without compromising His Holiness, and satisfied His offended character.
As we have seen, propitiation which is based on Christ’s substitutionary death, removes the barrier of the Standard of Deity (Rom. 3:24-26/5:8-9).
Let’s briefly look at this:
1. Exclusion of righteousness by the Law. See, Rom. 3:21-23.
a. Righteousness is not received by keeping the Law. 21a See Rom. 4:13-15.
21 But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested…
b. Recognized by O.T. revelation.
being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets – this concept was nothing new!
c. Requirement fulfilled by Christ.
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,
2. Explanation of how to get righteous. Rom. 3:24-26
a. Justification. 24
24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus – later.
b. Propitiation. 25
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…
c. Obligation.
the one who has faith in Jesus - later
3. Expectation of imputed righteousness. Rom. 3:27-31
a. Eliminates Pride. 27-28
27 Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. 28 For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.
b. Equalizes all People. 29-30
29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, 30 since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one – not only of Jew and Gentiles but of Black and White, or Republican and Democrat, etc.
c. Establishes the Purpose of the Law.
31 Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law.
To understand the purpose of the Law we need to go to Rom. 7:7-25
• The law Expresses God’s Standard (Rom. 7:1, 12/Psa. 19:7; 119:142).
7 What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be!
• The law Exposes Sin (Rom. 3:20).
On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, "YOU SHALL NOT COVET."
• The law Excites the Sin nature (Rom. 5:20).
8 But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead. 9 I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died; 10 and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me; 11 for sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. 12 So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. 13 Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful.
• The law Exhausts all self-effort (to either save or sanctify).
14 For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. 15 For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. 16 But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. 17 So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. 19 For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. 20 But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. 21 I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. 22 For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, 23 but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?
• The law brings us to Exercise faith in the Savior (afterwards, our sanctifier) (Gal. 3:24).
25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!
The ultimate purpose of the law was then to bring us to Christ.
We will get to justification, but for now, we are focusing our attention on propitiation.
Leon Morris comments:
Redemption is substitutionary, for it means that Christ paid the price that we could not pay, paid it in our stead, and we go free. Justification interprets our salvation judicially, and as the New Testament sees it Christ took our legal liability, took it in our stead. Reconciliation means the making of people to be at one by the taking away of the cause of hostility. In this case, the cause is sin, and Christ removed that cause for us. We could not deal with sin. He could and did, and did it in such a way that it is reckoned to us. Propitiation points us to the removal of the divine wrath, and Christ has done this by bearing the wrath for us. It was our sin which drew it down; it was He who bore it…. Was there a price to be paid? He paid it. Was there a victory to be won? He won it. Was there a penalty to be borne? He bore it. Was there a judgment to be faced? He faced it.
Con:
1. Solution through a Deliverer.
We have seen the Situation; the Separation, and now the Solution in: A Representation; Incarnation; Substitution; and now Satisfaction.
2. God through the Lord Jesus will turn sinful waste into spiritual wealth to all who will receive it and now has satisfied His offended holy character removing the most difficult barrier between God and man. It is not removed when we believe but is now an accomplished fact!
3. My wife has problems with her sciatic nerve and we have read that walking is good for her. So I bought her a cane with a light on it. If we walk around our property, we begin walking right under a street light, it is so bright that her little light on her cane appears not to even be on! She, while under that bright light, ignores her little cane light as she is totally satisfied with the big light.
As we walk through this life, we have a choice, we can trust God’s light, which is totally satisfied with Christ’s death or we can focus on our little light, still trying to satisfy God’s offended character with what we do. Take your choice: His light or yours; His blood or your behavior; that God is satisfied through Christ or trying to satisfy Him through something you do.
Johnny A Palmer Jr.
