We begin to move from the concept of God's righteous wrath upon man to the turning away of this wrath from man. This concept is described by the single word “propitiation” which means to appease or pacify wrath specifically the wrath of God. There are a four parts associated with propitiation 1) an offence to be taken away, 2) a person offended, 3) an offender, and 4) a means of taking away the offence.
The offence is the unrighteous or sinfulness all men whereby all displease the Holy God and are in open rebellion against the Lord. The open rebellion and offence is against the triune God of the universe. We are all held accountable to God's standard of justice, and we are all guilty before God in need of pardon and propitiation. Man apart from Christ stands guilty before God and will be judged accordingly.
In order to propitiate the offence, there must be a means of atoning. God has provided the propitiation in the blood of Jesus Christ for those who would receive him by faith. Jesus made propitiation by blood so that sinners may be justified by faith, and this is the central tenet of our religion. We must continue to understand the way of propitiation in light of the love and mercy God has for his people. The mercy seat on the Ark of the Covenant is a picture of propitiation prefiguring the work of Christ; the mercy seat which rested above the tablets of the law in the Ark was the place where God would turn aside his wrath upon his people. However, the blood of bulls was unable to make perfect propitiation, but Christ is able to satisfy the perfect justice and propitiate the wrath of God once and for all time for the Lord's people.
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Nathan Eshelman holds a Master of Divinity degree from Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, MI, as well as a Doctor of Ministry degree from Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Pittsburgh, PA. He serves as clerk of the Pacific Coast Presbytery (RPCNA),...
