August 18 – God Made Jesus to be a Propitiation by His Blood

Hope for Today: A Daily Devotion from Reasons for Hope*Jesus

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“Whom God set forth to be a propitiation by His blood, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed.” Romans 3:25

God has set forth the propitiation. From all eternity He proposed Christ to be the Mercy-seat. The spring of all is from the Father, who is Love.

God proposed, revealed, and made Christ known to Adam, to Abraham, to the prophets. He proposed the mercy-seat as an object of faith in all the sacrifices that were types of Christ. This mercy-seat is clearly and fully set forth in the gospel dispensation. In this plan the righteousness of God is declared, while He vindicates the honor of His perfections and laws and maintains the authority of His government by punishing the offenses of rebel subjects in the sufferings of the Surety, who was made an offering for sin, “that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

Where shall I, a poor sinner, conscious of guilt and apprehensive of wrath, flee for refuge? Where shall I find it? Where — but in Christ’s atonement? While others have recourse to refuges of lies and would establish a righteousness of their own, in the Lord my Righteousness I find rest and safety; having fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before me.

In Christ, my Hope, I shall have strong consolation. He has God set forth to be a propitiation for sinners such as I. My soul, look to Jesus as God’s mercy-seat. Expect to meet Him there and enjoy sweet and soul-refreshing communion with Him.

Devotion by Karl Heinrich von Bogatzky (1690—1774)