3) Sacrifice as Propitiation

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Propitiation is one of those ancient words which is no longer commonly used. It can be understood as getting back in favour with someone or making peace with them after you had made them angry. This verse from Romans is a good place to begin:

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1)

We have wronged God through our sin but through Jesus have been reconciled in relationship – peace has been restored. So, it was sin that caused God to be angry or, to use another word, it was sin that aroused the wrath of God. Again, from Romans:

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness (Romans 1:18)

Is God angry at sin or at people? Well, it is both really, since sin is written into our behaviour; or as we might say, written on our hearts.

Judge

Whenever the wrath or anger of God is mentioned in these modern times, we seem to be expected to justify it, but it was certainly never a problem to ancient people. Some may have naively interpreted things such as thunder as expressions of God’s anger, but the truth that God’s anger would be aroused by wicked behaviour was an accepted view. Also in ancient times, especially where there was a belief in many gods, divine anger was viewed by some people as being unpredictable, even irritable. It was this belief which led to the offering of sacrifices in order to soothe divine anger or, to use the technical word, to propitiate it. This is why the bible reveals that the One Creator God is different. His wrath is entirely predictable and is the consequence of sin and wickedness both towards His commandments and towards other people. It helps if we look upon God’s wrath as being judicial wrath. Judges in a court listen to arguments and make considered decisions. Where guilt is confirmed from the evidence, then they deliver an appropriate judgment. For instance, the process has been reported in this way: “in his sentence, the accused felt the full wrath of the law!” The judge was not ranting, or out of control or being vindictive: he was passing the necessary verdict.

The main reason why people are uneasy about God’s anger in the bible is because of how the love of God is sometimes taught. In some people’s thinking, if God is a God of love He would never get angry at people. Well, that view has even meant some people suggesting that the God revealed in the Old Testament who is often angry, is not the same one as in the New Testament. This belief is a recognised heresy called Marcionism after a man who lived in the 2^nd century AD. I have even heard that belief expressed by a teacher in the Church of England. God’s love is not in conflict with His justice. He cannot ignore sin and wickedness. It seems strange that modern people, who get angry about all kinds of things which they see as injustice, want to restrict God’s emotions; they only want to believe in a God who expresses sentimental love.

Lamb

Returning to the Old Testament sacrifices, we can see how they are part of the process of appeasing God’s wrath. They are to be offered in faith and from hearts which wilfully turned away from wickedness. Once God’s wrath has been satisfied, then those who are repenting from their sin and wickedness can receive expiation for their sins. You will recall that to expiate means to remove defilements in order to make holy. This is how Hebrews puts this transaction:

Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. For by one sacrifice he has made perfect for ever those who are being made holy. (Hebrews 10:11-14)

The whole point of sacrifice is to get to the place of ‘being made holy’. All sacrifices before the one Jesus made on the cross were not able to reach that goal. Jesus was himself the ultimate sacrifice which took away both the anger of God and the power of sin.

You will remember that Jesus was described as the Lamb of God. This had a specific meaning which Paul refers to in this way:

For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. (1 Corinthians 5:7)

This statement comes in the middle of letter in which Paul is explaining that sin cannot be tolerated amongst God’s people. The Passover lamb was sacrificed in Egypt on the night God’s people escaped from slavery. Here is a summary:

slaughter the Passover lamb. Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the door-frame.
(Exodus 12:21-22)

The blood of the lamb on the door frame was a sign. This is what it meant:

When the Lord goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the top and sides of the door-frame and will pass over that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down. (Exodus 12:23)

The destroyer was the one who brought the wrath of God on the Egyptians for refusing to allow God’s people to be free. The action of putting blood on the door-frame was carried out in faith since the people believed that God’s judgment really would fall on every house. This action turned aside the anger and judgment of God: it was a propitiation. There is no indication that this sacrifice was for the sin of those who made it. However, the people were to eat the lamb and not leave any of it. This is important when we come to look at the variety of sacrifices which were commanded later on.

death

The bible makes it clear that Jesus was the sacrifice which turned away the anger of God. John wrote this:

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 2:1-2)

This sums up the whole purpose in Jesus dying: it is God’s will that we ‘may not sin’. However, before this can happen, Jesus had to sacrifice Himself to remove God’s anger because of our sin. But even more grace is demonstrated here since His sacrifice makes it possible for the whole world to be free from the wrath of God against sin. It makes the way for all who will believe in the gospel to come to Him for forgiveness. This is how Paul summarised this transaction:

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. (Romans 3:23-25)

When we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, or Holy Communion, in eating bread and drinking wine, we are remembering Christ’s death. It is a celebration because God’s wrath, which was once set against us, has now been set aside – it has been propitiated! We are celebrating because we are now at peace with God; we are no longer enemies under His judgment but children whose motivation in life is to be holy as Jesus is holy. With this knowledge, we can now make the next step on the journey of understanding sacrifice.