Speaking parenthetically, let me begin by saying that I am growing more uncomfortable with the word “Easter.”
I used to think that people who objected to the name “Easter” were merely being alarmists. I don’t feel that way anymore. I
don’t have the desire to give a full history of the term Easter, but it
seems more and more clear that its origins come from the pagan goddess
Ishtar (which is usually translated “Easter”) who gave birth to a
promised child Tammuz. It appears that early
Christians borrowed the term from this pagan festival that occurred at
the same time of year as the Passover and Resurrection Day. So from now on, I am challenging myself to speak only of Resurrection Day rather than “Easter.”
The key to understanding Good Friday is to understand the concepts of propitiation and redemption. These two spiritual concepts are essentials to understanding the complexity of the Father’s wondrous salvation process. Until we appreciate both concepts, Good Friday and its significance in the salvation process are nothing but a veiled shadow.
Propitiation is a word that many modern bibles have wiped out. The apparent reason is that modern thinkers don’t like the concept of an angry God who exacts wrath upon sinners. The word propitiation means the removal of wrath by the offering of a sacrifice. In a world of political correctness, the concept of a wrathful God is not palatable to many. The masses today want a grandfather-like God who winks at sin and says, “That’s just boys and girls being boys and girls.”
The Hebrew word kipper (atonement) underscores the understanding of God’s wrath toward sin. Yom
Kippur (Day of Atonement) was the most holy day of the year when,
according to Leviticus 16, the Priest would take two goats and then cast
lots to see which would become the scapegoat and which would become the
sacrifice. One of the goats was then chosen as the sacrifice and it was slaughtered. Leviticus 16:15 makes clear that the slaughter was for the peoples’ sins. After
the first goat was slaughtered, the Priest would then place both hands
on the head of the other goat, confess over it all the sins of the
people of Israel and all their transgressions, and then send the goat
into the wilderness.
Both goats became a propitiation for the wrath of God against the sins of Israel. I’m sure most animal lovers would say the first goat was the greater propitiation! The
first goat symbolized that the ultimate consequence of sin before God
is death and the scapegoat symbolized that sin causes an eternal
separation from God. Why would God demand such an annual ritual?
I
believe the answer lies in the fact that if I ever witnessed this in
person, being an animal lover, I don’t think I’d ever look upon my sin
or its consequences in the same way. I’d be confronted with two realities. The first is the sheer horror that my sin demands such a wrathful response from God. We live in a world of denial that negates the vileness of sin in the eyes of a Holy God. The second reality would be the utter amazement that an innocent animal took God’s wrath for me. So
by annually practicing this ceremony during Yom Kippur, the people were
given a graphic reminder of God’s zero tolerance policy toward sin.
Now to the New Testament mind, hopefully it is obvious that Jesus is our sacrifice for atonement- our propitiation. Romans 3:25 says, “God presented him as a propitiation, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished.” Notice the reason for our Lord being a propitiation . . . “He did this to demonstrate his justice.” A just God must render His justice against sin.
I believe Jesus is also the New Testament fulfillment of the scapegoat. Just
as the scapegoat was banished into the wilderness by the Priest, so too
Jesus was banished from the presence of His Father while hanging on the
Cross. When Jesus uttered those heart-wrenching
words, “My God, My God, why has Thou forsaken me,” He was experiencing
the brunt of the Father’s banishment. One
question that I’m curious to ask our Lord is, “What caused you the most
agony: the hanging on the Cross or being banished from your Father’s
presence?” I’m quite certain He will say it was the latter.
While
propitiation exposes us to God’s wrath against sin, redemption exposes
the lengths to which God reaches out to us who have gone astray. Redemption is defined by Easton’s Bible Dictionary as the purchase back of something that had been lost, by the payment of a ransom.[1] There is a key difference between redemption and any normal purchase. When one purchases something, one is normally buying something that one does not already own. Here’s a silly analogy. Suppose you bought a pair of shoes at Macy’s and then some time later visited the store again. At some point a clerk from the store looked at you and said you need to pay for those shoes again if you want to keep them. You would reply, “I paid for these two weeks ago.” The
clerk would then respond, “Maybe so, but if you want to walk out of
this store with those shoes, you must pay for them again!” If you decided to pay for those shoes again, you have just ransomed your shoes. Thus, we must understand the concept of ransom before we fully comprehend redemption
When
we look at redemption through theological terms it becomes astounding
what God the Father has done for us through Jesus His Son. The first
reality: we first belonged to God. As created beings, we belong to our Creator. However, our sin drove us away from God and we were delivered to the domain of darkness as Colossians calls it. When we were transferred into the domain of darkness, we still weren’t autonomous beings. We were under the authority of the evil one.
The second reality: God purchased us back. Colossians
1:13-14 says, “For He (the Father) rescued us from the domain of
darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom
we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” Imagine
this . . . even though I once belonged to God and walked away from Him
through my sin, God reached out to me again to purchase me back. This
truth is vividly displayed in the Old Testament by the prophet Hosea
being instructed by God to go buy back his wife Gomer who had left him
and gone into prostitution.
The third reality: what was the price that was ransomed for us? Of course the answer is Jesus’ blood was the ransom price. But let’s make this hit home . . . what is the price you would take in exchange of your son or daughter being sacrificed? It’s
pretty clear that most parents would not have any amount that they
would say, “OK, if you pay me x, then you can sacrifice my child.” Thus, the child’s blood is priceless. Therefore, how much more priceless does this make the blood of the Son of God? It’s countless!
So
as we come to Good Friday, let us reflect on two concepts of God’s
overwhelming love toward us and the Son’s inconceivable obedience. Jesus is our propitiation. He is the One upon whom God spent His wrath for my sin- the innocent Son of God brutalized and killed for my transgressions. The
image of Jesus being brutalized by the soldiers and ultimately
crucified should cause me to “tremble, tremble, tremble” as the beloved
hymn says. It’s only when we tremble that we can be sure we understand propitiation. If we don’t tremble, I’m not sure we understand propitiation.
Jesus is also our redemption. Even
though we had deserted God, He courted us back to Him through the
Gospel and paid the amazing price to ransom us- the blood of His Son. Today in the news there is a story of an American ship captain who was taken hostage by Somalian pirates. These Somalian pirates are demanding a ransom for the life of the captain. In our case, God bought us back again with the highest price in the universe- the blood of Jesus.
As
I began, I said that it’s only in understanding propitiation and
redemption that we have a clearer picture of Good Friday and its role in
salvation. It’s one thing to know that Jesus
died on the cross for my sin . . . but it’s a deeper understanding when
we grasp the depth of propitiation and redemption.
[1]Easton, M.G.: Easton's Bible Dictionary. Oak Harbor, WA : Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1996, c1897
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