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"He is the propitiation for our sins." 1 John 2:2.

It is quite impossible that any person with eternity before him should be called to consider a more important subject than that of the present paper -- the great propitiation made for us in the covenant of God. I desire, therefore, to speak of it under the deepest sense of my own responsibility, and with the earnest prayer for the guiding mind of the Holy Spirit, that so I may not only be kept from error, but enabled also to say that which may be of lasting service to those who are anxious for the great salvation that is in Christ Jesus. The propitiation made by Our Lord Jesus Christ lies at the foundation of the whole system of Christianity, so that a weakness there involves a weakness everywhere; and if there is any undermining of this great foundation fact, it is time that we should very seriously consider the words of the Psalmist, " If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?"


I. The full and complete satisfaction of the claims of the law.

By propitiation is meant the full and complete satisfaction of the claims of the law on the sinner by the infliction of the law's penalty on the Lord Jesus Christ as the sinner's substitute; and our first business will be to consider the principle in which the whole originates. This principle is, that the authority of law must be maintained by the lawgiver, and that when the law has been broken, the sentence of the law must be carried into effect. We all know in common life what utter confusion is sure to follow when the law is defied by (those who ought to obey, and allowed to lapse by those whose place it is to maintain it. If law is not maintained, it can only lead to anarchy. Thus the universal principle of law is that expressed in 2 Samuel 23:3, "He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God."

But if law is maintained, it will lead in many cases to a conflict between law and love. There must have been just such a conflict in the mind of Brutus when his sons were convicted of conspiracy against the republic. In that case said they must die, but love must have said, "Let them live." Law said, "' Condemn," and love must have said, " Have mercy." It is perfectly easy to understand the awful conflict which must have raged in the father's heart, and the terrible struggle when he ordered their execution.

We have a similar illustration of this conflict between law and love in the case of David. When Absalom had murdered his brother Amnon, he fled to Geshur, and there remained for three years in banishment. Then arose the conflict in David's mind between law and love. He was comforted concerning Amnon, and he loved Absalom, so that he longed to have him back again. "The soul of King David longed," or "was consumed," "to go forth unto Absalom." Love, therefore, would have restored him, but law forbade his restoration. David was king, and therefore responsible for the administration of law. He was bound to uphold the righteousness of his government, and not to allow it to be broken down through the tenderness of a father's heart. He was compelled, therefore, to keep Absalom in banishment at the very time that his own soul was consumed by the tender love he felt towards him.
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Now, cannot we believe in exactly the same conflict between law and love in the mind of a perfectly holy God? There is in Him a righteousness infinitely more righteous, and a love infinitely more tender, than was ever known-in man; and can any one be surprised either that His law cannot be set aside, or that His love yearns over the sinner even at the very time that He passes His own just sentence on the sin? People speak of the punishment of sin as if it were fierce, cruel, and vindictive; but it may be a stern necessity imposed on a tender heart by the righteous claims of a violated law. There is nothing vindictive in the judge when he passes sentence on a murderer, or in the Home Secretary when he signs the warrant for the execution. Both of them are simply maintaining the law; and this they are bound to do, however true their sorrow or tender their compassion. And why should it be thought a strange thing if there is the same combination of attributes in God? He is at the head of the whole universe. We know not how many worlds are under His control, and watching His government. There are, beyond all doubt, millions of millions of living beings dependent on His rule; and are presumptuous men to ascribe it to a want of love in Him if He does not allow His law to be played with at their pleasure? So far from its indicating any want of love, I can understand that the most unloving thing He could possibly do would be to give a loose rein to the violation of law. The tender compassion of a feeling heart might urge that no notice should be taken of transgression; but the imperative claim of a righteous and merciful government would absolutely require that the Judge of All should never make light of sin.

Now, then, we are brought face to face with the great difficulty that has called forth the Gospel, viz., this: In what way can the law be vindicated, and yet the sinner who has broken it be saved? There is a very remarkable passage in the words of the woman of Tekoah, when she went to David respecting the restoration of Absalom, in which she Said of God, God does not "respect any person: yet doth He devise means, that His banished be not expelled from Him" (2 Samuel 14:14). According to that statement, He shows no partiality; but yet without partiality He has contrived a plan by which the offender may be forgiven. What, then, is this plan? What the means which He has devised in order that His banished be not expelled? This plan is propitiation. It is none other than that proposed by Judah, when, having undertaken to be surety for Benjamin, he said to Joseph (Genesis 44:33), " Now therefore, I pray thee, let thy servant abide instead of the lad a bondman to my lord; and let the lad go up with his brethren." His proposal was, that there should be an act of substitution; that Benjamin, in whose sack the cup was found, should be free, and that he himself, against whom no charge was laid, should be bondman in his place. So, in His boundless grace and mercy, our righteous God gave the Son to be bondsman in our place, and the Son accepted the suretyship and suffered. Thus the law has been vindicated and the sin punished, while at the same time the love is satisfied and the sinner set free. This is what is meant by propitiation; this is the means which God has devised; and the effect of it, according to St. Paul (Romans 3:26), has been "To declare at this time His righteousness: that He might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." He is just, therefore, and not one jot or one tittle of the law is allowed to pass unfulfilled;' but He is still the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus, for every one that accepts the representation of that blessed Saviour is in Him perfectly safe.
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I am, of course, perfectly aware that there are those who reject this doctrine of substitution, and others who, while they accept it, see in it difficulties which they find it hard to explain, I am not about to study now either the reasons for rejection or the difficulties; but simply to point out that it is the one Divine plan which is taught throughout the Scriptures.

It was prefigured in type, as in all the sacrifices of the Levitical typical system; and preeminently in the type of the scapegoat (Leviticus 16:21), where it is said, "Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head 0f the goat;" in which case the defilement of the people's sin was so completely transferred to the scapegoat that the man who led the goat into the wilderness was defiled by the contact, and was required to wash his clothes and bathe his flesh in water before he was permitted to return into the camp.

It was predicted in prophecy, as, for example, by Isaiah when he said (Isaiah 53:6), "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all." I have met with the endeavour to explain away that passage, as if it meant that the iniquity of man reached its climax in the crucifixion; but such an abortive attempt is a conclusive proof that there is no real way of evading the clear testimony to the Divine imputation to the Sin-bearer of the sins of those who had gone astray after the way of their own hearts.

So it was taught by the Apostles.

By St. Paul when he said (Galatians 3:13)

"Christ hath redeemed us from: the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree."

By St. Peter when he said (1 Peter 3:18 ),

"Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God."

By St. John (1 John 4:10): " Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins."

And, above all, by the mysterious conduct of our Lord Himself as His death was drawing near, which, I do not hesitate to affirm, can be explained on no other supposition. There is no disputing the fact that the death of our blessed Saviour was not an example of a peaceful deathbed. There have been thousands of His people who have met their last hour in far greater peace than He did. They have been perfectly happy, resting peacefully in the arms of Him who loved them from eternity, while He was bowed down in mental agony. In the garden on the evening before His death He sweat, as it were, great drops of blood, and pleaded with God that if it were possible the cup might pass from Him; and even on the cross He gave utterance to the marvellous cry, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" You cannot explain the difference by the severity of His physical suffering, for many of the martyrs have suffered much more pain than He did. Nor can we for one moment suppose that He was forsaken in consequence of any fault in Himself or any unfaithfulness in God. The only possible explanation is, that there was a transfer of guilt; that, as our substitute, He took the place of the guilty, and was treated accordingly; that " He was wounded for our transgressions," and "bruised for our iniquities," that ', the chastisement of our peace was upon Him," and that "with His stripes we are healed." Thus, by that cry of His we are brought to the conclusion so well expressed by Hooker when he said, " I must take heed what I say; but the Apostle saith, ' God made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.' Such are we in the sight of God the Father, as is the very Son of God Himself. Let it be counted folly, or frenzy, or fury, whatsoever, it is our comfort and our wisdom; we care for no knowledge in the world but this, that man hath sinned, and God hath suffered; that God hath made Himself the son of man, and that men are made the righteousness of God."
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II. Three great concluding truths written on our memories and hearts.

This, then, being, the principle, there are three great concluding truths to be for ever written on our memories and hearts.

(1) The Divine propitiation is complete. The whole, and every part, is completed for ever. In the typical sacrifices there were two parts in each typical propitiation -- the death of the substitute, and the offering, or presentation, of the blood before one of the altars, or the mercy seat. The atonement was not completed by the death alone, but it was necessary that the death should be followed up by the presentation of the blood.

Now, in the Divine propitiation both parts have been completed. The one sacrifice has been once offered, and the whole is finished; The blood was shed on Calvary, and sprinkled or presented, when "by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us." Some people speak of a continued offering of the one finished sacrifice, but this is contrary to Scripture, for if there were a continuation of the offering, there must be a repetition of the death, as we read Hebrews 9:25-26," Nor yet that He should offer Himself often; as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others. For then must He often have suffered since the foundation of the world" The death and the offering were two parts of the one transaction, and the whole of that transaction was complete when He rose from the dead, and was accepted as the beloved Son completely free from the killing guilt of imputed sin. The burden was then gone, our representative was free, having " made there," and made there completely, "by the one oblation of Himself once offered," not merely once put to death, "a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world."

(2) The Divine propitiation is final. If there were the possibility off any repetition, there is no room left for it. We sometimes hear of what is called "the sacrifice of the Mass." If by that were meant simply the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving from loving hearts full of thankfulness for their acceptance through .the finished atonement, we might dislike the phrase, although we could not object to the doctrine. But when it is taught that the Lord's Supper is a propitiatory sacrifice for the sins of the living and the dead, with our whole soul we protest against it as contrary to Scripture, and as a virtual denial of the perfection of the Divine propitiation. Do we not; read (Hebrews 10:18 ), ".Where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin"? If, therefore, remission is granted according to the covenant of God, if we are enjoying His promise, " their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more," and if, according to Hebrews 10: 14, "by one offering He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified," what place is there for any further propitiatory offering of any kind whatever? Who can whiten that which is already white as snow? Who can perfect that which God Himself has already perfected?

Who can, by any means whatever, either repeat, or continue, or perpetuate an offering which God Himself has pronounced to be once for all, as in the words (Hebrews 10:12), " But this man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God"?
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(3) And this brings me to my last point -- The Divine propitiation is sufficient. By this I mean that it is so complete and perfect in the covenant of God that those who are saved by it are made partakers of a complete reconciliation. There are many persons who appear to be satisfied with what I may call a partial reconciliation. They hope they are not in the position of an altogether unforgiven sinner, but still they dare not accept the position of one whose every sin has been blotted out, and to whom there is no barrier in the way of a full, free, unfettered enjoyment of the love of God. They are not unlike Absalom when he returned from Geshur and remained three years at Jerusalem without being permitted to see his father's face. In his case there was only a partial restoration. David could not see his Way to a complete relaxation of law, for nothing had been done to satisfy it; so he adopted a compromise which satisfied neither love nor law. He allowed Absalom to return to Jerusalem, but did not allow him to see his face. Now the position of Absalom when he returned to Jerusalem was very much that of a multitude of those who have not practically received the blessed truth of a complete, final, and sufficient propitiation. They are not as he was when in Geshur, for they are in the midst of religious life as he was in Jerusalem, but they are not fully restored, they have not seen the face of the King, and their Father has not kissed them. The result is, that their religion is one of little more than anxiety, and they begin to think that it was almost better with them when they were altogether in the world. But this is not the result of an all-sufficient Divine propitiation. There is nothing Of this half-and-half character in our Heavenly Father's provision for us. " His love unknown has broken every barrier down." When our blessed Saviour took on Himself the burden of our sin, He took the whole; and when He paid the price, He paid the whole. He did not leave His work half done. So the whole is taken out of the way, being nailed to His cross, and there is no barrier left between the restored sinner and the Father in heaven. The veil of separation has been rent from the top to the bottom, and, as the curse of all sin has been completely, and for ever, borne, it is the privilege of every soul that is in Christ Jesus to approach the mercy-seat of our most holy God with the same peaceful, loving, filial trust that he would have felt if he had never known sin. Thus it is that we may realize the words of St. John, " Because, as He is, so are we in this world."