Message Three

The Propitiation Place

Scripture Reading: Rom. 3:24-25; Heb. 2:17; 9:5; 1 John 2:2; 4:10

1. Through the entire process of crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, God has set forth Christ as the propitiation place—Rom. 3:24-25; Acts 2:24, 32-36; Heb. 9:5:
   1. In the Old Testament the propitiation place, the lid of the Ark as a type, was hidden in the Holy of Holies—Exo. 25:17-22.
   2. In the New Testament Christ as the reality of the propitiation place is openly set forth before all men—Rom. 3:24-25.
2. Propitiation is to conciliate two parties and make them one—Heb. 2:17:
   1. Propitiation is to appease the situation between us and God and to reconcile us to God by satisfying His righteous demands—Rom. 3:25; 1 John 2:2.
   2. This is to solve the problem between us and God—our sins—that kept us away from God’s presence and hindered God from coming to us—4:10.
3. As sinners, we needed propitiation to appease our situation with God and to satisfy His demands—Rom. 3:23; Luke 18:13-14:
   1. Propitiation involves two parties, one of whom has wronged the other, has become indebted to the other, and must act to satisfy the demands of the other.
   2. The tax collector in Luke 18:9-14 is an illustration of the need of propitiation:
      1. “Standing at a distance, [he] would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, God, be propitiated to me, the sinner!” (v. 13); this implies the need of a Redeemer and also the need of propitiation.
      2. Realizing how his sinfulness offended God, the tax collector asked God to be propitiated, to be appeased toward him by a propitiatory sacrifice for sins, that God might be merciful and gracious to him—vv. 13-14.
4. Christ is the One who makes propitiation to God for us, He is the propitiatory sacrifice, and He is also the propitiation place where God can meet with His redeemed people—Heb. 2:17; 9:5; 1 John 2:2; 4:10; Exo. 25:17; Rom. 3:25:
   1. Hilaskomai means “to propitiate,” that is, “to appease,” to reconcile two parties by satisfying the demand of one upon the other—Heb. 2:17:
      1. On the cross Christ propitiated for us and brought us back to God.
      2. The Lord Jesus made propitiation for our sins, thereby satisfying the demand of God’s righteousness and appeasing the relationship between God and us, so that God may be peacefully gracious to us.
   2. Hilasmos means “that which propitiates,” that is, a propitiatory sacrifice—1 John 2:2; 4:10:
      1. Christ Himself is the propitiation for our sins, the sacrifice for our propitiation before God.
      2. Christ offered Himself to God as a sacrifice for our sins, not only for our redemption but also for satisfying God’s demands—Heb. 9:28.
   3. Hilasterion denotes the place where propitiation is made—Rom. 3:25; Heb. 9:5:
      1. The propitiatory cover signifies Christ as the place where God speaks to His people in grace.
      2. The propitiatory cover equals the throne of grace, where we may receive mercy and find grace—4:16.
   4. The propitiatory cover is needed by both God and us for the Ark of the Testimony to become our experience and enjoyment—Exo. 25:22.
5. The propitiatory cover, the propitiation place, signifies that Christ is the shining of the divine glory and that God meets with us and speaks with us in this glory—Heb. 9:5; 1:3; Exo. 25:17-22:
   1. The cherubim on the propitiatory cover are related to God’s glory and signify His glory—Heb. 9:5:
      1. The cherubim indicate that Christ expresses God’s glory, that God’s glory shines out from Him—1:3; Exo. 25:18-20.
      2. For God to meet with His people and speak to them from between the cherubim means that He meets with us and speaks to us in the midst of His glory; this glory is the shining of Christ—Num. 7:89; 2 Cor. 4:4, 6.
   2. As typified by the propitiatory cover, the lid of the Ark, Christ is the shining and redeeming One as the place where the righteous, holy, and glorious God can meet with fallen sinners—Rom. 3:25:
      1. The Christ who dwells in our spirit is the One portrayed by the Ark with the propitiatory cover—v. 25; 8:10; Col. 1:27; 1 Cor. 6:17.
      2. The cherubim on the propitiatory cover signify Christ’s shining in His divinity, and the blood sprinkled on the propitiatory cover signifies His humanity for redeeming; as God, Christ shines in His divinity, and as man, Christ accomplished redemption in His humanity, signified by the blood—Heb. 1:3; Lev. 16:14-15.
      3. Because of Christ’s divinity and humanity, we and God can meet together in the shining and redeeming Christ—Exo. 25:22.
   3. Because of the blood of redemption, we can now have fellowship with the righteous God in the glory of Christ—Lev. 16:14-15; Heb. 10:19; Rev. 22:14:
      1. The way to experience Christ as the propitiation place is through faith in His blood—Rom. 3:25.
      2. The effectiveness of the blood of the sacrifices is not mainly at the altar in the outer court but at the Ark in the Holy of Holies—Lev. 16:14-15.
      3. Because the blood has been sprinkled on the propitiatory cover and because God’s standing is on the blood, He can meet with us in the midst of His shining glory—Exo. 25:22.
      4. When God comes to us and speaks to us in the glory of Christ, He does not see the requirements of His righteous law, and He does not see our sins; instead, He sees the redeeming blood on the propitiatory cover.
      5. Whenever we meet with God in glory, we have the sense deep within our spirit that we are washed by the blood; this is the propitiation place in our experience—1 John 1:7; Rev. 1:5; 7:13-14.
   4. Christ as the propitiatory cover is the place where we are infused with God, hear His voice, learn the desire of His heart, and receive vision, revelation, and instruction for our daily life—Num. 7:89; 2 Cor. 3:18.