In this message we shall cover more aspects of Christ’s work in His death.
First John 2:2 says that Christ is a propitiation concerning our sins, and 4:10 says that God sent His Son a propitiation concerning our sins. The Greek word for “propitiation” in these verses, hilasmos, means “that which propitiates,” that is, a propitiatory sacrifice. Hence, 1 John 2:2 and 4:10 indicate that the Lord Jesus is the propitiatory sacrifice for our sins. Christ offered Himself to God as a sacrifice for our sins (Heb. 9:28), not only for our redemption but also for God’s satisfaction. Through His vicarious death and in Him as our Substitute, God is satisfied and appeased. Hence, Christ is the propitiation between God and us.
Hebrews 2:17 reveals that Christ has made propitiation for our sins. Here the Greek word rendered “to make propitiation” is hilaskomai, which means to appease, to reconcile one by satisfying the other’s demands, that is, to propitiate. Hence, in Hebrews 2:17 the Lord Jesus makes propitiation for our sins to reconcile us to God by satisfying God’s righteous demands on us. Through His work on the cross Christ made propitiation for our sins. This means that He appeased God for us. By appeasing God’s righteousness and all His requirements on us, Christ has settled every problem between us and God.
John 1:29 speaks of Christ as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This means that Christ as the Lamb of God takes away sin from the human race. The phrase “of the world” in this verse actually means from mankind. Through Satan sin entered into man, for Satan injected sin, his poisonous nature, into the human race. But the Lamb of God has come to take away this sin from the world, from mankind.
Christ as the Lamb of God is the representation and fulfillment of all the offerings to accomplish God’s full redemption. Christ is the totality of all the offerings. He is not only the sin offering but also the trespass offering, the burnt offering, the meal offering, the peace offering, the wave offering, the heave offering, the free will offering, and the drink offering. With Christ as all the offerings we have God’s full salvation and full redemption. Through Christ as the Lamb of God representing all the offerings we may enter into God and participate in the divine life and nature (John 3:14-15; 2 Pet. 1:4). Because of Christ as the Lamb of God, we are well able, even enabled, to enter into God. We have full redemption in Christ, and thereby we are enabled to enter into God to enjoy all He is.
During the last three hours the Lord Jesus was on the cross, He bore the load of the sin of mankind. As the Lamb of God He took away the sin of mankind as a whole. A great deal of work was required to remove the sin of the world. The Lord did not simply command the sin to go away. On the contrary, while on the cross He worked to pay our debt, to appease God, and to remove sin. As He was working to take away the sin of the world, He was forsaken by God economically. The Lord as the Lamb of God did a great work in His death to take away the sin of mankind.
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