When a defendant in a courtroom is on trial, they have a lawyer to speak for them on their behalf. The lawyer is the one who appeals to the judge and asks for mercy for their client.
In baseball, under an important situation with the winning run on base, a player might be pinch hit for (to change out a player for another) and that batter will hit in the other players place. Or they could pinch run for a player on base, and exchange one player for a faster one. They do the job for the other person.
That is what Jesus does for us. When we come before the Father, Jesus pleads for us on our behalf. He pleads to the Father to forgive us our sins. He is the propitiation for our sins.
“My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for our’s only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” 1 John 2:1-2
The word “propitiation” means “the act of gaining or regaining the favor or goodwill of somene or something; to appease.”
When someone sinned in the Old Testament, the act of giving a sacrifice to God only covered the sin, not take it away. Now that we are in the New Testament, we have the abililty to have our sins taken and washed away through Jesus. He is our propitiation, the one who goes to plead for us.
Imagine it like this. A young child goes over to a friends house to play for the day. While playing baseball outside, they accidentally bread a window on the house. Now the dad of the child’s friend might be upset, but then the dad of the child who broke the window pays for the damages. That is being an advocate, or propitiation. The dad could make his child pay for the window himself, but instead he takes that burden upon himself and takes care of that debt.
We are all sinners. We all have made mistakes towards others and towards God the Father. But instead of punishing us immediately, God gives us the opportunity to be forgiven through His Son.
“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;” Romans 3:23-25
Could you take responsibility for the actions of someone else, and do what it takes to make things right? Jesus’ love towards us is so great that He gave His life so that we could be forgiven. His love is so incredible, that He would even bother to offer us the chance to be forgiven. The world is full of sin, full of people who continue to reject Jesus as their Savior, who continue to live in sin and wickedness. Yet Jesus died for those people, and extends His hand to all those who will take it.
Take Christ’s hand, call upon His name, and He will be the propitiation for you.
In Christ,
Andrew
Teufer Lake King James Bible Church 