The Gospel in One Word - Part 5

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Think on this today as we we ponder propitiation and the fact that our Creator has become our Redeemer. As we see the indispensable reality of propitiation.

This is why Jesus came. This is why He humbled Himself and took on flesh - ultimately to die in the place of sinners. We see this throughout the life of Jesus.

Jesus knew Himself to be the Messiah, the Christ. We see this in Mark 14:61-62 for one example. When asked if Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One, Jesus responded "I AM". Jesus clearly knew who He was and why He came.

Jesus knew the reason He came was ultimately to lay down His life as a ransom for many, see Mark 10:45. Jesus came knowing He was to die, long before this was known to anyone else for whom He came.

Look at the following passages in Mark: 8:31, 34-35; 9:9, 31; 10:33-34. In these passages Jesus predicted He would die and rise again even though the disciples didn't comprehend this.

In Mark 12:8; 14:18, 24 we see Jesus speaking to His death with great certainty and in Mark 14:21, 49 we see that Jesus' life and death were even predicted by the Scriptures.

When we couple all of these, and many more we could have looked at, with the horror or dread with which Jesus looked upon His death, as in the Garden of Gethsemane in Mark 14:32, we further see the idea of propitiation, the truth that Jesus came to take on the penalty and burden of sin for which He did not commit, all at the will of The Father, even to the horror of the death of a criminal via crucifixion. The innocent would die in the place of the guilty.

This is why Jesus came. This is why He trembled in the Garden. Because Jesus would be the one who would bear the judgment of the sin of the whole world. He would bear this in His death on a cross as a criminal. See Phil. 2:8. This was what guided Jesus' entire life.

We even see this prophesied centuries before the actual event in Isaiah 52:13-53:12. He would bear our griefs. He would be forsaken and despised in our place. He would be smitten and afflicted by God in our place. Pierced for our transgressions. Crushed for our iniquities. Scourged that we could be healed. The Lord laid our iniquities upon Him as our substitute.

And the Lord was pleased to do this, rendering Jesus as a guilt offering, see Is. 53:10. Ponder that for a moment. Pleased to do this. Because thru this satisfactory offering of Christ God could rightly justify the many, see Is. 53:11. 

I put this forward to help us see the truth of propitiation and how indispensable it is in rightly and fully grasping the gospel. Our Creator has become our Redeemer. Our Substitute. A satisfactory offering for sin and its debt and penalty so that God could be just and the justifier of those who have faith in Christ.

Any gospel presentation must communicate this truth if it is to be full and complete. See the beauty of this today and beyond. Marvel at this reality and truth.