Communion Message 
(The table of propitiation) 
March 4-5, 2000 
Pastor Donald Sheley 

For I have received from the Lord that which I also delivered unto you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, "Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me." In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes. Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 

There are many great words that are associated with our Christian faith, such as redemption. Redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus Christ, we often sing about it. There is the word of reconciliation. One of my favorites, where through the precious gift of Christ's life on the cross we've been reconciled to God. The enmity is gone, fellowship has started. We speak of the word of sanctification and glorification, but the word that I'd like to share with you today is an ancient word that very seldom do we hear used, and only infrequently in the Scriptures. It's the word propitiation, propitiation. 

Paul writes in Romans 3:25, whom God put forward as a propitiation, available to faith, in virtue, of His blood. John picks it up in his letters and he writes, and if anyone sins we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the whole world. Later on in his short letter of five chapters he comes back to the subject again and this is what he says, in this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins. 

Question? What's the definition of propitiation? Well the theological dictionary says this; propitiation, it's a sacrifice that bears the wrath of God against sin and thereby turns God's wrath into divine favor. That's why Paul and John say Jesus Christ is that propitiation. He is that sacrifice that bore sin's penalty for us. Maybe a simple illustration taken from the Old Testament text when God gave the instructions to Adam and Eve, He said now you can enjoy the garden, but you can't partake of that tree. Because if you do, you'll die. It's an act of violation against God's will. Don't take of that tree. You and I know the story. Adam and Eve participated, and at that moment when God came down they were out hiding. God said why are you hiding? They admitted their sin. God had every right in the world to wipe out the human race. They'd sinned. God told them not to. But there was a propitiation, for out in the garden God chose a sacrifice that would bear the wrath against sin so that Adam and Eve's life could be saved, and that animal was slain as the propitiation. It bore the wrath of God, sin, it died so that Adam and Eve could live. That's why in the Gospels, in the epistles, Scriptures tell us if anyone sins we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins. 

I want you to think of the table today as the table of propitiation. For herein is represented the sacrifice of Christ. He tells us so in the bread and in the cup. Christ bore the penalty, the pain, the agony, dying for us as the propitiation so that God's mercy and His love and grace can flow to us freely. Thus we come to the table knowing that sin's penalty has been paid. Jesus Christ has absorbed the wrath of sin so that you and I could live eternally. Propitiation, a sacrifice that bears the wrath of God against sin and thereby turns God's wrath into divine favor. 

Let's kneel together, shall we? In our limited minds dear Jesus we try to grasp these great theological truths, but it isn't very long until we realize we're dealing in dimensions that are eternal. And Your ways are so much different than our ways, and Your thoughts are so much higher than our thoughts. So there is a point to which we come where we must by faith except Your word, to realize Lord Jesus that there on that cross 2000 years ago You absorbed, You bore the wrath and the penalty of our sin. You became our propitiation so that we might live. That's amazing. It's almost too much for our minds to handle. But when we have come to You and we have sought Your forgiveness, it's a theological word that becomes a very real experience to us. And although we cannot explain it, we do know this, when we seek Your forgiveness, Your favor flows to us and Your grace is unending. Thank you Jesus. Let's take the bread together, shall we? And then the cup. 

Lord Jesus many times as I kneel here with my family and my friends for this very sacred moment, my mind by faith is transferred into the heavenlies. And Your word tells us that when life is finished and You waft us as believers into Your eternal presence, one of the great events of heaven will be the great marriage supper of the Lamb. We will sit in the banquet hall of eternity with all the Saints of the ages, and with You dear Jesus. And then, only then, will we understand the majesty and the glory and the awesomeness of this supper that we've had with You. Thank you Jesus, and everybody said, amen. Let's stand and greet one another, shall we?