Harper’s magazine once carried a story about a woman with a good job who decided the only way to write a credible story about people living on the edge of poverty was to go there. She spent considerable time working a minimum wage job, living in the only place she could afford, and experiencing all that a poor person experiences. She didn’t steal or cheat to make things better for herself, but I’m sure she was tempted.
As I listen to political candidates who have more than enough personal income talk about what they will do for low-income people, I wonder if this woman ran for office would she wind up with the most votes?
Condolences and encouragement also come with more credibility from a person who has “been there” and knows what I am experiencing. Putting the shoe on the other foot, I hardly know what to say to someone whose loss or trauma is beyond the scope of my experiences. Shared experiences form bonds like nothing else can.
God knew this. When He devised a plan for our salvation, it had to include a mediator that had been there, One who knew what life is like for us who sin and are condemned by God because of it. This Savior must be able to relate to ordinary people who are tempted and who face the many other trials of living in this world. At the same time, He must not have any sin of His own lest He fall into the same condemnation as everyone else.
Toward the end of a passage that speaks of Jesus sharing in flesh and blood, Hebrews 2:17 says, “Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.”
Jesus had to be like us. He could not appear from heaven as a knight in shining armor with the power to slash sin out of our lives. He could not come as an angel or any other entity, for if He had done that, we would surely say, “But you don’t know what it is like to be a human. You have no idea how hard it is to resist all this temptation.”
Jesus was like us. Hebrews 4:15 says, “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” He knows exactly what we struggle with. The only difference is that He refused to give in, and it was that difference that qualified Him to stand in our place before God and take our punishment.
Propitiation is a seldom used word with a meaning that focuses on God rather than us or the action Jesus took to save us. This word is about “the removal of wrath by the offering of a gift,” which is not a popular thought even among theologians.
The trend today is that “God is love” and no one wants to consider His anger. However, the Bible says He is “angry with the wicked every day” (Psalm 7:11). While a “gentle and mild” Jesus is more popular, that same Jesus also stormed into the temple with a whip and turned over the tables of the money changers. God still hates sin.
Propitiation is about the atoning death of Jesus on the cross through which He paid the penalty demanded by God because of my sin, thus setting me free from sin and death. The word means “appeasement” and expresses the idea that Jesus died to pay the price for my sin, a price demanded by a holy God. Jesus was free of sin Himself, yet He took all my sins upon Himself and redeemed me from the penalty of death that my sins demanded.
As I think about it, Jesus came to be like me and experience all that I experience, temptations for sure, but also hunger, fatigue, loneliness, being misunderstood, and so on. He didn’t stop there; He also went beyond that to experience something that should happen to me — the wrath of God over my sin — but because He did that, I will never have to experience it.
After more than thirty-five years of knowing this truth, the reality of what Jesus has done for me still brings tears of joy to my eyes and deep gratitude to my heart.
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