1 John 2:1-2 "The Propitiation for Our Sins"

Today, Wednesday July 07 “The Propitiation for Our Sins” 1 John 2:1-2 “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.” In these first two verses of chapter 2 we have two words that give us two great truths about our Lord Jesus Christ. First, Jesus is our Advocate! He is our lawyer who pleads our case before our Father who is in heaven. We should never willingly sin, disobey God or ever do anything that would violate His Holy nature or displease Him. But if we do, we can be assured that Jesus Christ is our mediator, speaking up on our behalf, representing us before a holy and just God. The second word is Propitiation! If you look this word up in the dictionary, you may get the wrong idea of its meaning. The dictionary tells us that "to propitiate" means "to appease someone who is angry." If you apply this to Christ, you get the horrible picture of an angry God, about to destroy the world, and a loving Savior giving Himself to appease the irate God—and this is not the Bible picture of salvation! Certainly God is angry at sin; after all, He is infinitely holy. But the Bible reassures us that "God so loved [not hated] the world" (John 3:16). No, the word "propitiation" does not mean the appeasing of an angry God. Rather, it means the satisfying of God's holy law. "God is light" (1 John 1:5) and, therefore, He cannot close His eyes to sin. But "God is love" (1 John 4:8) too and wants to save sinners. How, then, can a holy God uphold His own justice and still forgive sinners? The answer is in the sacrifice of Christ. At the cross, God in His holiness judged sin. God in His love offers Jesus Christ to the world as Savior. God was just in that He punished sin, but He is also loving in that He offers free forgiveness through what Jesus did at Calvary. Read and think about the following verses that reveal and describe this great truth: “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. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.” (Romans 3:23-25) “Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.”  (Hebrews 2:17-18) “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”  (1 John 4:10) Jesus is the Advocate for His children and that is because He is the Propitiation for the sins of the whole world! Today, you can claim these two great truths as a personal promise, and experience true forgiveness for all your sins! God bless!