ROMANS 3:25
A PROPITIATION After hundreds, even thousands of years of not punishing human sin but covering it over with the blood of atonement, God now acts to make possible the cleansing of all guilt permanently. He is legally and righteously able to justify us freely by His grace by means of the redeeming work of Christ. The sacrifice of Christ on the cross did not just cover over sin temporarily as the sacrifices of the Old Testament did, but as the propitiation for our sins, the just holy wrath of God has now been satisfied by the death of His Son, and the blood He shed to deal once and forever with sin.
It is not just that God is merciful and accepts people at the mercy-seat, but the blood has been shed on behalf of sinners, and God can be propitious toward us because of the proof of sin's price being paid once and for all. It never has to be done again. Christ entered into the presence of God with His own blood and we come into God's presence as those who are accepted because He died for me. The righteousness of God is not compromised in any way. All those years of the past when God did forebear to carry out judgment, there were the sacrifices made that pointed the sinners of the past to the coming Redeemer who would turn the wrath of God aside. His death on the cross was for the remission, the passing over, of sins done from Adam to the cross. Adam and Eve had the skin coats of sinless animals whose blood was shed that Adam and Eve could live. Abel also brought his sacrifice at the appointed time. Down through the generations and in all cultures and nations, people have been trying to propitiate for their own sins in their own way. But the fact is, "without the shedding of blood there is no remission."
God left sin unpunished in the past because He knew that "in the fullness of time" He was going to send His Son to put away sin "by the sacrifice of Himself." There was no animal sacrifice that could put away sin. That could only cover it. No human being could put away our sins because "death has passed upon all men, for all have sinned." So God has demonstrated His righteousness in regard to all sin - past, present and future - when Christ Jesus provided the needed redemption. He could do this because of His perfection as a man. He was one of our own kind and yet perfectly sinless. God could look upon Him with favor and satisfaction that here was One who could deal with God's justice on account of sin. The Righteous, Holy God had to be just, so needed the perfections of the Lord Jesus Christ to be a substitute for the sins of the past. He is also the propitiation (turning aside righteous wrath and judgment) for us today.
Where could they go, what could they do to survive the wrath of God? By His grace God made it possible for sin to be covered by the shedding of innocent blood. So, for many generations the season would come, and blood would be on the mercy-seat Temporarily because of that innocent blood, it was possible for God and man to meet.
Into the unfolding pages of history, a singular unique Person came, Conceived by the Spirit, born of a woman, the messenger said "Jesus" was His name God sent Him forth, this was no mere accident, the "fullness of the time" had come. The Righteous, Holy God our Father, to be the Savior of the world sent His Son.
No longer are thousands of animals needed to make an atonement for sin. The One the Father sent shed His precious blood that we might have salvation through Him. The perfections of His Person, the completeness of His work, satisfied God's every righteous claim. Now once and for ever God's justice is satisfied, propitiation is made on behalf of all men.
Our sins are remitted the same as those of old, who were wanting to be accepted by God. The blood of goats on the Day of Atonement has been replaced by Christ's precious blood. The Lamb of God has come who beareth away the sin of this ungodly world. And the banner of love over the lost race of man has now been graciously unfurled.
God graciously held back the punishment we all deserved until the cross-work was done. Remission of sin has been paid for so now forgiveness is offered to everyone. Those who personally accept the Savior come into the good of propitiation. And the result that extends now to everyone is the offer of God's salvation.
"I thank Thee God and Father, for making it possible for Thee to look upon this sinner and still accept me. Thy righteous wrath has not been overlooked but the blood of Christ has been shed for me. I thank Thee for dealing with my sins righteously, so no charge can ever be laid against me. I rest and rejoice in this fact and thank Thee gratefully in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen."