The Nature of the Atonement: Propitiation

"In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins".
1 John 4:10

This is another post, in my series of posts on the atonement of Jesus Christ. Here is the working definition, that I have created, for this series of posts, for what the atonement is. The atonement is; “God killed His perfect Son to save hate-filled rebels from the wrath they deserved from Him”. Today we are going to think about the wrath portion of the definition. We want to think deeply about how Jesus removes God's wrath from us.

First, when the Bible speaks about God's wrath, it is speaking about His righteous anger against sin. Sin is the cosmic problem humans have with God. As previous posts in this series discussed, sin, driven by the human sin nature, demands God's justice poured upon. This points to the Biblical truth that every sin demands the wrath of God against it. God has righteous anger towards sin. God has a perfect anger against sin. God has a loving anger for Himself when every single sin is done against Him. This means, God's wrath against every single sin done against Him, must be satisfied for God to remain perfect, loving, and holy.

Second, hell is the place that God's wrath against sin will be satisfied. God created hell to satisfy His demands towards the punishment of sin. God will cast every single being (both human and angel) into hell, so they can pay for the sin (and its wrath) done against a holy God. Hell then is the place, where God exist in all of His holy wrath, fury, and anger towards sin, for all eternity. The reality of hell is that every single person that is outside of Jesus, will spend eternity in Hell, in the very real presence of God, meeting the wrathful demands of God's holy justice for the sin they did against Him. Hell is a real place where the very real wrath of God exist and is the place where God's love will be absent. The wrath of God is very real and must be dealt with.

Third, in order for anyone to escape or be rescued from hell, the wrath of God against their sin, must be satisfied. This is where Jesus and the cross come into the plan of God. Jesus atonement was an act by the Savior, where He satisfied the demands of God against the sin of the elect (all those who believe in Jesus). As my definition of the atonement states, Jesus saved us from the wrath of God, in hell, by taking upon Himself the wrath of God for the sin of the elect. This is what propitiation means.

Propitiation defined in its simplest form is; Jesus satisfying the wrath of God towards the sin of those He substituted Himself for. This is a very intricately part of the atonement of Jesus. If Jesus was going to atone for sin, He had to pay the penalty for sin. If Jesus was going to save His people, He had to save them from something. The something that Jesus saves His people from, is the wrath of God. Propitiation is the saving act of Jesus in meeting the demands of God for sin and paying the penalty for sin by taking upon Himself the wrath of God. But to understand propitiation correctly four points need to be unpacked.

First, propitiation is an act Jesus does toward the Father. Jesus willingly, obediently, and sacrificially when to the cross, knowing that God's wrath had to be turned aside and satisfied. Because of Jesus love, first for His Father, and second for his sheep, He went to the cross and propitiated His Father. Propitiation is an act (in the salvation triangle) where Jesus does something to His Father and for His Father. Propitiation is all about the interchange between the Son and the Father on the cross.

This leads to the second point, in the truth that no human can ever propitiate God. God gives humans all eternity to pay for their sin, and they can't. No human can stand before God, pay for their own sin, and survive. So God sent the only being capable to withstand His wrath and not be extinguished. Stunningly it is God Himself (in Christ) appeasing His own wrath. Propitiation is all about God, inside His own triune nature, outside of humanity. Yes, Jesus had to be human (100% human in fact) to propitiate God. But Jesus also had to be God (100% God in fact) to propitiate God.

The third important point of propitiation, is the reality that this was the worst part of Jesus penal substitution on the cross. Yes, the nails were painful. Yes, the whips hurt. Yes, Jesus physically experienced pain and died on the cross. But God's wrath being poured upon Christ was 1000 times worse. When Christ proclaims, "my God, my God, why have you forsaken me", he was showcasing the spiritual anguish that was taking place on the cross. The trinity was in turmoil. God's perfect love was removed from His Son. Jesus Christ, on the cross, was experiencing hell while He was propitiating for the sin of the sheep. The propitiation of God's wrath was the most excruciating and painful part of Jesus atonement.

The last major point, in helping us understand propitiation is the understanding of it as a religious term. As we will see later in this series, redemption is a commercial term. Justification is a legal term. Propitiation though is a religious term. Propitiation is what drives our worship. It is a theological truth that must not be denied. It is the one act, we as humans had no part in and just watched take place. The center of the Christian religion is the atonement and one half of the atonement is the propitiation of Jesus towards the Father.

Propitiation is a term, idea, or picture we do not like to talk or think about. Sadly, this is why so many "Christians" reject the truth of propitiation. But propitiation is central to the very nature of the atonement. Based upon the work Christ did in turning away and turning aside God's wrath towards sin, God was now free to justify His people. We will either pay for our sin for all eternity in Hell or have Jesus pay for it on the cross. There is no middle ground. Our sin demands payment. Jesus paid our penalty on the cross. Let us rejoice and hold tightly to the truth of propitiation.