Limited Atonement
Part 3
Today we are going to study on propitiation. Many of you have
come across this word, and this word has enormous value to atonement. Now in
simple terms what does it means? It means to appease, meaning to pacify, to
make quiet, to make still, to calm a persons anger. We see this word appearing
in the New Testament three times.
Ro
1Jo 2:2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for
ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
1Jo 4:10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he
loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
First let us look at Romans
Romans 3:9 says, Jews and Gentiles, they are all under sin.
Romans
Ro
Ro 3:12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together
become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
Then we see from Romans 3:13 to 18, the depravity of man
because of sin.
Rom 3:19 says that the whole world is guilty before God.
Rom 3:20 says that on one is going to be justified before
God.
Ro 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of
God;
We do not see a good picture here; we see the result of sin
here. We see all are guilty before God, and we are all under condemnation
waiting to be punished by that everlasting punishment.
Then we see it is not man who intervenes as man in his
hopeless condition cannot intervene but God intervenes. It is only by the grace
of God that he intervened.
Ro 3:24 Being justified freely by his grace through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
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.
We know the meaning of the word propitiation, to pacify to
make calm, still or to soothe a person. Also we know the person who made the
propitiation is Christ. If you have been following this study, you will be able
to answer the next question. Whom did Christ pacify?
It is the Father. Why? God is angry with the sinner.
Anger of God.
We know when men get angry most often it leads to sin. Also,
there is a righteous anger. If I see my child violating the rules of the house,
I will be angry and will discipline my child. This is a righteous anger. When
Jesus was angry with the people who made the house of God to a market, he made
a whip and chased them, this was a righteous anger, and we know that Jesus did
not sin. In the same way, God is pure and holy without sin and his anger is a
holy, righteous anger.
Anger in God has to do with the sinners as he is sin is
displeasing to him.
Nu 11:1 And when the people complained, it displeased the
LORD: and the LORD heard it; and his anger was kindled; and the fire of the
LORD burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of
the camp.
2Sa 11:27 And when the mourning was past, David sent and fetched
her to his house, and she became his wife, and bare him a son. But the thing
that David had done displeased the LORD.
Isa 59:15 Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from
evil maketh himself a prey: and the LORD saw it, and it displeased him that
there was no judgment.
All sin is displeasing to God; he cannot take any pleasure
in it, nor look upon it with delight; it is so contrary to his nature.
Therefore, God is angry at the wicked everyday. (Psalm 7:11) Why? Because they
are daily sinning against him. The man who is not born again or the man who is
in unregenerate state cannot please God as he is not a new person in Christ, he
is living in sin daily and God is angry. The heat of his anger is called the
wrath of God. This is the fury and the fierceness of his anger. We see his
wrath in the flood of Noahs days, Sodom and Gomorrah, and other places in the
Bible.
Isa 30:30 And the LORD shall cause his glorious voice to be
heard, and shall shew the lighting down of his arm, with the indignation of his
anger, and with the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering, and tempest,
and hailstones.
Isa 42:25 Therefore he hath poured upon him the fury of his
anger, and the strength of battle: and it hath set him on fire round about, yet
he knew not; and it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart.
All are ungodly, unrighteous and under sin. They are all
under the wrath of God.
Ro 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against
all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in
unrighteousness;
2Th 1:8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know
not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:
9 Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from
the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.
We need to realize even the elect were under sin and under the wrath of God.
Eph 2:3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times
past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind;
and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. (Note the
distinction)
Ro 5:9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we
shall be saved from wrath through him.
10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God
by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his
life.
1Th 5:9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to
obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
Christ came to appease, pacify the justice of God. So there
will be peace and calm between God and his people. Christ came as the mediator,
he stood between the justice of God and his people, became a mediator between
God and man to bring reconciliation and peace. That is why he is our of peace.
Lu 19:38 Saying, Blessed be the King that cometh in the name
of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest.
Joh 14:27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you:
not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled,
neither let it be afraid.
A good illustration is when Jesus and disciples were in the
boat, there was a great storm, and the disciples were frantic and scared to
death thinking all are going to die, while the Lord is fast asleep in the midst
of the storm. During the storm, the sea was raging with fury and anger.
However, the mediator was calm, he came to do the will of the Father and he
fulfilled all the demands that was required by the Father. When the disciples
came awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish?
39 And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the
sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.
This is exactly what our mediator did. He brought peace
between God and man. The offering of Christ was a sweet smelling savor to the
Father. He was well pleased with him. The justice of God was appeased and the
demands of the law were answered. In Rom., 3:25 and Heb. 9:5
("mercy-seat") the Greek word hilasterion is used. It is the word
employed in Ex. 25:17.
The word mercy seat is the same word as propitiation.
Ex 25:17 And thou shalt make a mercy seat of pure gold: two
cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the
breadth thereof.
kapporeth kap-po-reth. Hebrew word. (Mercy seat)
Mercy seat, place of atonement
·
The golden plate of propitiation on which the High Priest sprinkled the
seat 7 times on the Day of Atonement symbolically reconciling Jehovah and His
chosen people
·
The slab of gold on top of the ark of the covenant which measured 2.5 by
1.5 cubits; on it and part of it were the two golden cherubim facing each other
whose outstretched wings came together above and constituted the throne of God
The exact Greek word is hilasterion hil-as-tay-ree-on. You
will find this in Heb. 9:5
Heb 9:5 And over it the cherubims of glory shadowing the
mercyseat; of which we cannot now speak particularly.
The mercy seat is the cover of the ark of the covenant which
is in the Holy of Holies. On the day of atonement it was sprinkled with blood
so Gods anger towards his peoples sin would be appeased.
Another great illustration is when the tax collector
exhibited the propitiation of God in the temple when he cried out, God be
merciful to me a sinner! The word merciful is propitious.
Also the word atonement, though often used in the Old
Testament, of typical sacrifices, making satisfaction of sin; as in #Le 1:4
4:20,26,31,35 5:6,10,13,16,18 16:6,10,11,16-18,27,30,32-34 #Le 17:11 where the
word kaphar
kaw-far is used, which signifies to "cover"; and
Christ, is a covering to his people, from the curses of the law they have
brokenfrom the wrath of God they have deserved. It is once used in the New
Testament, #Ro 5:11.
Ro 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. (katallage
kat-al-lag-ay- The word means here atonement or reconciliation)
This Hebrew word kaphar in a proper sense signifies reconciliation.
As this same word, kaphar is translated as reconciliation.
Le 6:30 And no sin offering, whereof any of the blood is
brought into the tabernacle of the congregation to reconcile (kaphar) withal
in the holy place, shall be eaten: it shall be burnt in the fire.
As our subject today is particular atonement or limited
atonement, was this propitiation applied to everybody or only for the church.
1Jo 2:2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for
ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
The question comes when it says very clearly that he is the
propitiation not only for our sins, but also for the sins of the whole world.
The author apostle John is a Jew. According to the Jewish mind, there were only
two groups of people. The Jew and the Gentile. The world here is the Jew and
the Gentile.
Atonement is made only to the church.
Le 10:17 Wherefore have ye not eaten the sin offering in the
holy place, seeing it is most holy, and God hath given it you to bear the
iniquity of the congregation, to make atonement for them before the LORD?
The lamb that was slain, and the ransom price that was paid,
the sufferings and the death of Christ was done according to the determinate counsel
of God, and it was determined before the world began, and it is applied not
only to the Jewish believers but also for the Gentile believers.
1Jo 4:10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he
loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
Here we see clearly that cause of propitiation was because
of his love for us, us are the Jewish believers and the Gentile believers. We
did not love him first but God loved us first. However, without grace we cannot
believe in Christ. This grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the world
began. (2 Tim 1:9)
1Pe 1:19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb
without blemish and without spot:
20 Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the
world, but was manifest in these last times for you.
Ac 2:22 Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of
Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs,
which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know:
23 Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and
slain.
Ac 4:27 For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom
thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the
people of Israel, were gathered together,
28 For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined
before to be done.
The seed of the woman that should bruise the serpents head
was prophesized in Gen 3:15 and Jesus came from the seed of the woman, the
messiah and he came to destroy t he works of the enemy.
For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he
might destroy the works of the devil. (1 John 3:8)
In the fullness of time, the second person of the Trinity
left his heavenly throne, came down to earth in human nature to take away sin,
and even abolished it, by the propitiatory sacrifice of himself, He was the sin
bearing sin atoning Savior who satisfied the law and the justice of God and
made peace by the blood of his cross, and reconciled us back to the Father.
This is the good news; it is the gospel of God, the gospel of Christ, the
gospel of grace and the gospel of peace. It was a mystery before when it was
first prophesized in Genesis 3:15 and now this mystery was manifested in Christ.
Ro 1:1 Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an
apostle, separated unto the gospel of God.
Ro 15:19 Through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of
the Spirit of God; so that from Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum, I
have fully preached the gospel of Christ.
Ac 20:24 But none of these things move me, neither count I
my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the
ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel
of the grace of God.
Ro 10:15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as
it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel
of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
Eph 6:19 And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that
I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel.