God began to set forth Christ as the propitiation place at the time that darkness came over the whole land during His crucifixion, when He offered Himself as the unique sacrifice for sin, the reality of the sin offering (Luke 23:44; Heb. 9:26). Then on the third day God resurrected Him; this resurrection was also a part of the process of God’s setting forth of Christ. After the Lord’s resurrection, God received Christ into the heavens and placed Him at His right hand. This receiving and placing are also a part of the setting forth of Christ. God set forth Christ through the entire process of His crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, in which He sat down at the right hand of God. This setting forth makes Christ Himself the propitiation place. God placed Christ, set forth Christ, as the propitiation place from the time that Christ shed His blood to the time that He ascended to sit at the right hand of God.
In His ascension Christ is the propitiation place, the propitiation cover, for God to meet with us. In Hebrews 4:16 this place is called the throne of grace. The throne of grace is the cover of the Ark on which Christ sprinkled the blood He shed on the cross for our redemption. Because of the sprinkling of His redeeming blood, the cover of the Ark has become a propitiation cover, a place where God may contact us and where we may enjoy His grace in full.
A crucial phrase in Romans 3:25 is faith in His blood. The verse tells us that it is through faith in His blood that God set forth Christ as a propitiation place. The way to experience Christ as the propitiation place is by faith. We are justified through the redemption of Christ Jesus, that is, through faith in His blood. After offering Himself as the propitiatory sacrifice on the cross, Christ entered the heavenly Holy of Holies with His own blood and offered this blood before God, sprinkling it on the lid of the Ark, the propitiatory cover. For this reason, when we repented and believed in the Lord, we were put upon Christ as the propitiation place and had the deep sense that we were washed by the blood of Jesus Christ. Now whenever we meet with God upon Christ as the propitiation place, we have the sense deep within that we are washed by the blood of Christ. When we look at the redeeming blood on the propitiatory cover, our conscience is at peace. We know that Christ died for us and that the blood, the emblem of His death, has been sprinkled for us on the propitiatory cover to satisfy the requirements of God’s righteousness. This is the propitiatory cover in our experience through faith in His blood.
Through Christ as the propitiation and upon Him as the propitiatory cover, God has been altogether righteous in receiving repentant sinners to Himself. This is to show forth God’s righteousness. On the cross God judged Christ and put Him to death because He took our place as our Substitute. By dying as the propitiatory sacrifice, Christ made the full propitiation on the cross for our sins and fully satisfied the requirements of God’s righteousness. Now God not only can forgive us, but for the sake of His righteousness He must forgive us. By forgiving us God shows forth His righteousness. He makes a declaration to the universe that because He is righteous, He must forgive us of our sins. Because His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, was put to death by Him on the cross on our behalf, He is legally obligated to forgive us. If anyone believes in Christ, according to His righteousness God must be propitiated toward him, forgive him, and receive him.
If the Ark were without the propitiatory cover and a sinner were to come into the Holy of Holies to meet God, God would see the law of the Ten Commandments in the Ark. As a result, the sinner would be condemned, for he has broken the law of God. God would have no way to receive him. If God were to receive a sinner without the propitiatory cover with the blood sprinkled on it, He would make Himself unrighteous. Without the propitiatory cover, God has no way to forgive and receive repentant sinners. Thus, Christ came and died to be not only the sin offering and trespass offering for us, but also the sacrifice for our propitiation before God. God accepted the death of Christ as the propitiatory sacrifice, and God set forth Christ as the propitiation place, which covers the righteous requirement of the law. When we come to God upon Christ as the propitiation place, we and God see neither the requirements of His righteous law nor our sins; instead, we and God see only the redeeming blood on the propitiatory cover. Thus, there is no problem between us and God, and God must forgive us and receive us.
Now that we are upon Christ as the propitiation place, if God does not receive us, God will make Himself unrighteous. Therefore, we may tell God, “You are righteous. You must receive me. Christ, my Savior, died for my sins as my Substitute. He also died as a propitiatory sacrifice for my sins. You have accepted His death, have resurrected Him from among the dead, and have set Him forth as the propitiation place. Now I come to meet You on Christ as my propitiation place, where You must justify me and receive me. You are righteous if You receive me, but You are unrighteous if You do not receive me.” God’s receiving of us based upon Christ as the propitiation place shows forth that God is righteous (1 John 1:9). Through Christ as the propitiation between us and God and upon Christ as the propitiation place, the righteousness of God can be applied to us; that is, God gives us His own righteousness, which is Christ Himself. We receive Christ, who was our Substitute, as our righteousness. Therefore, God has justified us. Now we have both God’s righteousness and His justification. We are justified persons with Christ covering us as our righteousness. This is a great truth.
In summary, in this universe the Lord Jesus has been set forth as the propitiation place, and all sinners may come to meet God upon Him. Where are we today? We are on the propitiation place. We do have a position, a ground to meet with God, and God has the same ground to communicate with us. The law is under the propitiation cover, covered by the propitiating Christ. God’s glory is above us, yet it has no claim against us because we are upon Christ as the propitiation place. The law is under our feet, and the glory of God over our head is satisfied. The law has been silenced; it can no longer speak against us, but the glory of God can rejoice over us with satisfaction. Here we are justified. On Christ as this propitiation cover we are the same as God in His righteousness. God approves us and God justifies us. Here upon the propitiation cover we enjoy God’s full justification.