Thursday, October 9, 2008

Propitiation


In our culture the wrath of God is either diminished and non-existent or taken to the extreme of God hating us and showing no love. The Biblical view of God's wrath is scary, but through Jesus we have hope.
Jesus was a (hold on to your seats for the big theological word of the day................)------ PROPITIATION for us. So for people like me that just saw that fly way over their heads. This is the definition given by http://www.theopedia.com/ for propitiation.
Propitiation is the work of Jesus Christ on the cross by which He appeases the wrath of God who would otherwise be offended by our sin and demand that we pay the penalty for it.
He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
1 John 2:2
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
We have greatly offended a Holy God, the Creator of the Earth, YHWH, the Almighty, a Perfect God, we have sinned and rebelled against this God that has blessed us with life. We have enough audacity to spit in His face and tell Him that we know better than He does, that we can take care of ourselves and that we are king. No, false, wrong, incorrect. We basically are the worst of the worst. We deserve death, to be crushed and God could do this to us, but instead of demolishing us with a flick of his pinky, He sent His Son to die for us, to lay down His life, to take upon Himself the full wrath of a Holy God. He took the punishment for us, He pleaded guilty in court, He took the rap for our misconduct.
What a wonderful Savior we have in Jesus! How awesome is it that we have a God that would send His Son to take the punishment for our sins? (Correct Answer: Amazingly Awesome)
In light of this TRIPP: Turn your eyes to Jesus, Recognize the seriousness of sin and turn from it, Inspect God's word thoroughly to know more deeply the God over all creation, Praise God for His provision of a substitute, Preach the Gospel to anyone and everyone that has ears to hear