Yesterday while preparing for next Thursday's Bible study at our church on "Why Christ Died" I was looking through a Bible dictionary to get a better understanding of the word "propitiation" since 1 John 2:2 was one of the passages in our study.
I was so impressed by Easton's explanation of it and how well it fits with our "Character of God" message that I decided to share it this morning. Some ideas about the redemptive work of Christ present an angry Father who has a great itch to bring His wrath upon sinners. Further in this unbiblical idea the Son has to step between us and the angry Father to stop Him from destroying us by taking it all on Himself. Even worse, in some theologies such as Calvinism, the whole shebang (fall of man, sin, the Father's anger, the death of Christ, etc.) was all predestined.
In the BIBLICAL understanding of this, God the Father is just as much in love with humanity as Jesus. But humanity was steeped in sin, separate from God, and under Satan's control. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit longed for reconciliation so a pact was made for Jesus to sacrifice His life so that, through His death, men had a means by which he can be free from Satan's bondage and be reconciled to this God who loves them dearly. The propitiation provides a way for God to do this without Satan being able to accuse God of abusing His power to bring it about.
This is the meaning of Christ's propitiation - a loving God who is willing sacrifice all that is precious in order to have relationship with His Creatures.
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