The Father is the very source, the initiator, because the Son came out from Him (John 7:29; 16:27b). In John 16:27 the Lord Jesus said, “You have loved Me and have believed that I came out from God.” It does not only say that I came from Him, but that I came out from Him. The Son came out of a source, and that source was the Father. So the Father is the source, and He is the initiator. He is even the initiation, the origination. The entire universe was initiated in this initiation, who is a divine Person.
This source, this initiator, sent the Son (John 5:24, 30, 36-38; 13:20; 14:24). There are two Greek words used for the English word sent, one of which means to be sent with a special commission. This indicates that the source, the Father, sent the Son as an envoy with a special commission. The Son was sent by the Father with a particular commission to do three main categories of things.
First of all, the Father sent the Son to take away sin, to condemn sin. And in order to do this, according to 2 Corinthians 5:21, the Son, who knew no sin, even became sin. Actually, He became only the likeness of the flesh of sin. He did not have the sinful nature. This is clearly illustrated by the brass serpent in John 3:14. The brass serpent did bear the form and appearance and likeness of a real serpent, but it did not have the poisonous nature of the serpent.
Romans 8:3 says that the law was impossible in that it was weak through the flesh, so God sent His Son in the likeness of the flesh of sin. This is just like the brass serpent being in the likeness of a poisonous serpent. The Son was sent in the likeness of the flesh of sin to condemn sin. Sin has been condemned. Sin is something which is in the universe among the human race, but it has been condemned. The divine government has condemned sin. You don’t need to be bothered by sin. When the law became a failure, God sent His Son in the likeness of the flesh of sin to condemn sin. This is the meaning of John 1:29: “Behold, the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world!” Sin in this verse is in the singular number, and the world here means mankind. The Son of God was sent by the Father to accomplish such a commission, that is, to solve the problem of sin, to take away sin, to condemn sin through His death on the cross.
Not only do we have sin in our nature, but we also have a lot of sins in our conduct. So God sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins (1 John 4:10). He has condemned sin in our nature; He has become the propitiation to deal with all our sins, offenses, and trespasses. Every sin, every offense, and every trespass makes a problem between us and God. So between us and God there is a lot of turmoil. But the dear Son of God died on the cross for our sins and became the propitiation to calm down every turmoil. To propitiate simply means to make peace. You have a problem with God, and you have no way to make peace, but the Son of God became the propitiation to appease God and calm every turmoil between you and God. So He has condemned sin and calmed down the turmoil caused by our sins. Now we have peace with God.
The Son of God was also sent by the Father to impart life into us (1 John 4:9). In his one Gospel, John uses three illustrations concerning the death of Christ: the Lamb of God (1:29), the brass serpent (3:14), and a grain of wheat (12:24). The Lamb of God and the brass serpent are for dealing with sin and our sinful nature, but the grain of wheat is for life imparting. The grain of wheat dies in order to produce many grains. It dies to impart its life into many grains. The Son has been sent by the Father with such a threefold commission: to take away our sin, to propitiate concerning our sins, and then to impart the divine life into all His believers that they may be born of God.