Christ, the Propitiation - Part 2

Romans 3:25

Preached January 18, 2009, Grace Family Church of Americus

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Now, for the last question….. Was Christ's job as the Lamb of God finished, when He had made atonement for sins?
No. Is there more to the work of propitiation than the shedding of blood? Yes! There is another function of the One who would provide atonement, and without this function, even the shedding of precious, sinless blood would not redeem us from future sins. It is the same function that an OT priest was charged with. The priest was not only charged with approaching the throne of God with a sacrifice, but also with PRAYERS of INTERCESSION:

From John Owen's "The Death of Death in the Death of Christ":

To offer and to intercede, to sacrifice and to pray, are both acts of the same [priestly] office, and both required in him who is a priest; so that if he omit either of these, he cannot be a faithful priest for them: if either he doth not offer for them, or not intercede for the success of his [offering] on their behalf, he is wanting in the discharge of his office by him undertaken.  Both these we find conjoined (as before) in Jesus Christ: 1 John 2: 1-2, "If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the propitiation for our sins."

Friends, Jesus is BOTH the one who sacrificed in our place, but also, He is the One who intercedes for us!

Isaiah 53:11-12 (ESV)   Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.

 

See also the text of Romans 8:

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? (Romans 8:31-35, ESV)

The death, the propitiation, of Christ, is unbreakably tied to His intercession for us! You can be assured, friends, that if Christ died for you, then He ALWAYS stands to intercede for you. He purifies your consciences, and intercedes as your advocate before the Father, even now!

But if you have no assurance that you are Christ's….. and if it is true that your conscience has not been cleansed and therefore accuses you, if you are here today in such a state, and now know that you are in need for this redemption, and desire more than anything else to have Christ……then flee to Christ, and He shall be yours! Go to Him! Look unto Him, who has been raised up for the world to see, that Man of Sorrows whom God set forth, God, who so loved the world, that He gave His Only Begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life! Call upon the name of the LORD, and you shall be saved.