Scanning Everything from the Mountain Peak of Propitiation (Part 1)

Scanning everything from the Mountain Peak of

Propitiation (Part I)

INTRODUCTION: Human history has many themes running through it. And, one of the major themes which unites history is: what does fallen man do with his fear—how does he seek to manage it and cope with it? Holy Scripture is filled with narrative history which infallibly records man’s response to his fear. In fact, the Word of God is a comprehensive divine testimony concerning man’s dilemma of fear due to sin. One of the first things we learn in the Word is that fear is man’s instinctive response to anticipated punishment. After sinning Adam hid because he was afraid. Fear was a new emotion he had never felt before prior to sin. It says in 1John 4:18 that “fear involves punishment.” In other words, fear is a response of apprehension and anxiety which says in effect that I am going to get what I deserve in some form of judgment, suffering, or condemnation.

Consider just how much this ‘knee jerk response’ of fear is due to our conscience telling us that transgression deserves punishment. In the account of Elijah and the widow, the widow, temporarily bereaved of her son, exclaims to the aged prophet, “What do I have to do with you, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my iniquity to remembrance, and to put my son to death!” (1 Kings 17:18). This is the human condition—as those born with original sin we carry a defiled accusing conscience which argues for our punishment. This is the story of the human race; man’s history is permeated by the theme of fear induced by real legal guilt before God. Fear makes some into trembling cowards and others into cruel bullies. Fear makes some defiant vicious fighters and others into compliant agreeable appeasers. Fear hardens some people groups into sects of rigidly enforced religious traditions born of superstition. Fear has led entire nations to go to war and to commit genocide. It is evident from both biblical and secular history that man’s fear due to sin, unchecked and unrelieved by salvation, can be a mighty force for misery and evil in the world.

Now, the reason why fear is hard-wired to guilt is because we are made in the image of a Holy God. The faculty of conscience means that God’s moral mark is upon us as the creatures of His hand created in His moral image. We are accountable to a righteous God. And He demands moral perfection from us even though as His creatures we are terribly fallen. This is a huge part of our dilemma: the fall into sin (recorded in the book of Genesis) did not remove the moral obligation to live holy lives before our Creator—something we are incapable of doing in ourselves. But the news gets even worse. Your conscience is but a tiny extension or annex of God’s ultimate courtroom—the courtroom we will appear in on judgment day.

Therefore the agitations of a troubled conscience are not merely ethical pangs from failing to keep our personal moral standard. No, the churnings of conscience are always in reference to real legal guilt before God stemming from our failure to keep His righteous requirements found in His holy laws.

Now man’s effort to silence the condemnations of conscience and its accompanying fears has been the story of human religion and philosophy since the beginning. Depending upon personality, upbringing, and a host of other factors, people unsuccessfully attempt to turn down the volume knob of conscience by carnal methods. Some seek to pile up good works in an attempt to offset their ethical failures. And some select a strict moral code filled with taboos as a kind of scorecard to quiet their conscience. Others walk around with a perpetual chip on the shoulder—just looking for a target of their hostility. Others hope to defuse the source of condemnation by seeking to appease the righteous Judge of all the earth by means of religion. From karma to penance and from candles to confession— manmade religion is an attempt to manage guilt and fear and protect ourselves from God. And others simply say, “Nobody is perfect, so why try to do the impossible, I’ll do whatever I wish, and treat my conscience as merely an invasive undesirable irritant.” Others seek to evade the agitations of conscience by escaping into work, luxury, entertainment, or hobbies and pastimes, or they try to drown their conscience alcohol and drugs.

It is painfully obvious to the true follower of Christ that all of these attempts to silence the conscience listed above will ultimately fail completely, and only exacerbate temporal and eternal misery. In his chapter on propitiation J. I. Packer notes that when we look at the spectacle of the cross of Christ, it gives us insights into “the final form of God’s judicial reaction to human sin” (J. I. Packer, Knowing God, p. 176). By this Packer means that by reflecting upon the dreadfulness of Christ’s death we see utter forsakenness by God—the kind which will take place forever in hell. We see loss of all wellbeing; the absence of any sense of God’s love and presence—we see loneliness; intense pain; horror; crushing suffering; darkness; abandonment; and no refuge in creation (Ibid, pp. 174-176).

Apart from the searching light of God’s Word, despite their accusing consciences, sinners have no idea of the danger they face from divine justice. Only by the Spirit’s convicting power will a person despair of the imagined ability of self-recovery. To discover that one is legally; morally; and spiritually dead in God’s sight is a function of the Spirit’s convicting work. The Holy Spirit’s power is needed to bring a man to a point in which he fears the terror of the Lord; grieves and sorrows over personal sin; desires real freedom from sin; AND, despairs of contributing to his own salvation. But this preparatory work by the Spirit is essential in order for a person to embrace Christ alone for salvation (Thomas Boston, The Beauties of Thomas Boston, Christian Focus Pub., 1979, pp. 589-590).

What central truth of God’s grace is most neglected today; or least understood principle of divine grace? Is it that God’s grace is sovereign? (Not in our Calvinistic circles.) Is it that grace instructs us in godly living (Titus 2)? What about the truth that God’s grace drives and empowers our sanctification? I believe that the answer to that question, “What is least understood today concerning God’s grace?” is as follows: That the outpouring of God’s grace to undeserving sinners must vindicate God’s justice. The propitiation accomplished by Christ was the vindication of divine justice. Therefore in this series of lessons on propitiation we will be looking intently at that all-encompassing truth that who God is—is ultimately known by how He saves sinners. Who God is can only be known by how He saves because in the work of redemption, God is exhibiting His character and attributes.

1. There can be no salvation apart from the knowledge of God (Jn 17:3). God’s power through the gospel is the means by which the saving knowledge of God is communicated to the heart of man. The gospel alone can remove the darkness; for God is only known by means of how He saves through Jesus Christ. The message of good news, of forgiveness through propitiation, brings us all the way to the glory of God in the face of Christ as our supreme satisfying treasure (John Piper, God is the Gospel, p.

166. The events of the gospel are meant to reveal the glory of God in Christ. The gospel believed bestows a supreme desire to be with God (Ibid, pp. 45, 61).

It is only possible to know God if one knows He has given His Son to be a propitiation for sin, AND, that the propitiation is the ground of your pardon (1 Jn 4:9-10; 2 Cor 4:6). By means of the cross, redeemed sinners are able to see the beauty of God’s holiness now. God’s plan of grace through the cross of Christ is the chief revealer of who He is.

We may describe it in the following manner: the infinite glory of God’s moral majesty is put on display in providing a hiding place in Christ from divine wrath. The gospel is a goldmine of divine glory—we cannot plumb its depths. The more we feed upon the gospel, the more convinced we become that God’s cause is our cause and our cause is God’s cause. His cause to bring eternal glory to His name has been joined to our cause—to make believers eternally happy by making us absolutely holy in Christ. This formula of mutuality (or shared cause) is the driving force behind godly living. For the joining of God’s glory and our good in the Person of Christ not only reveals the heart of God toward us, but it also reveals our purpose, identity, destiny, and future glory.

2. Propitiation helps begin to grasp the dimensions of God’s love. The love of Christ exceeds and passes all our knowledge (Eph 3). The Father’s plan of grace was born of His love. It is a plan in which the atoning work of Christ is at its very center. It is a plan in which God gives us Himself. It is a plan in which Christ brings us as near to God as is possible for a creature. Thus propitiation is the measure of God’s love and grace to us in Christ (Eph 5:25-27; 1 Jn 4:10).
3. Propitiation is the chief way in which God exhibits Christ to the eye of faith (Rom 5:6-11). All barriers to your fellowship and acceptance with God have been removed by propitiation. As such, God in Christ has removed all that disqualifies that believer from fellowship, love, and security in God as His beloved child (1 Jn 1:1-4). God is glorified; and you have fellowship with Him when you keep taking Christ for all the reasons God gave Him. You must know that these sin barriers have been removed by the work of Christ in order to be perfected in love.

Oh let this sink in—Christ was given by the Father for the most wicked things about you; for the most evil things you have done. But even more—sin-wearied transgressors need to know that the moral majesty of God is exalted when through Christ’s propitiation God forgives the most horrendous things about you. This is not grace and mercy through an eyedropper—it is a Niagara Falls of grace, oceans of unending grace. As Calvin said, the tearing of the flesh of Christ has opened up fountains of eternal grace. Through the cross of Christ, God has chosen to glorify Himself by removing every barrier which would have prevented Him from loving the unlovely.

Western Christianity tends to have vague ideas about God and what He is doing in human history. It is common in the church today to find believers with a concept of grace that does not go much beyond sentimentality or even divine leniency. And as one pastor quipped, “It is remarkable how great our capacity is to forget the gospel of God’s grace.” Therefore in this lesson we will find our starting point with the purposes of God instead of the problems of man:

I. The righteousness of God is revealed in the grace of the gospel (Rom 1:16-17).

A. God’s righteousness is His commitment to His name.

Why do the redeemed love to exalt the righteousness of God—finding it so beautiful as to exult in it? Why do they magnify that attribute of God which terrifies sinners? Why are they so convinced that the world was created for the display of God’s moral majesty? Part of the key to that answer is in Paul’s opening declaration of the Gospel in Romans 1:16-17. The gospel is the revelation of God’s way of man’s right-standing with Him. And the gospel is the revelation of God’s righteousness.

So, rather than merely consisting of the moral quality of absolute righteousness (as of a precise measure locked in a vault), the righteousness of God is His commitment to His name (Ps 31:1-3). But in the gospel we see that this commitment to His Name is active; dynamic; redemptive. Thus, God in giving refuge to the sinner in Him self, is acting on behalf of His own name. The righteous deeds of God are done out of respect to His own glory and honor (Dan 9:7, 13-19; Is 48:9-11; Ez 36:18-23).

The most fundamental characteristic of divine righteousness is God’s unswerving

allegiance to always act for His own name’s sake. God’s faithfulness to His Name is

grounded in the display of His glory—a display which reveals His righteousness in our salvation (Is 46:13; 51:5, 7, 8; 43:25; 48:9-11; Ez 36; Ps 79:9). We seldom think of this connection between His Name and our salvation; but we ought to do so.

God’s righteousness is His unswerving commitment to preserve the honor of His name and display His glory. In light of this all-encompassing truth, man’s righteousness will be seen as radically God-centered (thus human righteousness is inseparable from the love and honor of God’s name, and esteeming His glory above all. A truly ‘righteous’ deed will therefore have God’s glory in view.

Our righteous deeds, as regarded by God, are a fitting expression of our complete allegiance to maintain the honor of God’s name and display His glory. Thus, “righteous” and “love Thy name”

are not exactly equivalent; but are closely related.

The righteous man esteems God a trustworthy refuge, and loves His name (Ps 34:21; 37:39; 64:10). We do righteousness out of love for God’s name, and that His name might be honored. The motive of the righteous man’s deeds is that he esteems God’s name. To know God is to fear God. If you fear God, you esteem His name (Mal 3:16-18).

The human righteousness of the redeemed is radically God-centered. (What a contrast this is to the self-righteousness of the cults and false religions of the world in which mastery of a moral code is touted. In all man-centered efforts at righteousness there is no pure motive to glorify God). God has accomplished His two-fold purpose in sending Christ: He has manifested and preserved his own righteousness, and yet, has justified the ungodly merely through faith.

B. (So we see that . . .) God always acts consistently with His love of His own glory.

The glorification of God and the salvation of His people are accomplished together. That’s the part that does not come easily to our understanding. (See Rom 3:23-26). God acts consistently with His love of His own glory, ONLY as He opposes all who disdain finding delight in His glory.

Prior to salvation, the sinner’s pride drives his refusal to have any sentiment for God’s glory. In his unbelief, the sinner opposes himself. Since the whole universe exists to manifest God’s glory, it is only rational for the creature to seek God’s glory by running to Christ for forgiveness. The very first act that glorifies God is faith in Christ. At the moment of forgiveness, the redeemed sinner begins truly worshipping for the first time in his life. Thus to love the way God saved you is to love God’s glory—for salvation in Christ is the revelation of God’s glory in the face of Christ (2 Cor 4:4-6). ADD PIPER HERE…….To have right-standing (justification) is to be right with God’s righteousness. As Thomas Chalmers of Scotland said, “The righteousness of God is that righteousness which His righteousness requires Him to require.”

Unbelief generates sin; it is a commitment to live independently of God, even though God is the source of all life, truth, blessing and, light. Unbelief has no remorse about falling short of the glory of God. The sin of unbelief takes the creature’s worship elsewhere—he worships and serves the creature and the creation (Rom 1:25). (Romans 3:23 – Sinners have forfeited the sight of God’s glory; they have failed to reflect God’s glory; and they fall short of living for God’s glory.)

The natural man’s life direction is idolatrous – he opposes God’s Person. The sinner refuses to prize Him and live with reverential regard for His holy Name and character. He won’t live for the glory of God. Self will, presumption, pride, rebellion, and lawlessness in the sight of heaven are the result of idolatrous self-determination.

To be wrongly “adjusted” to God’s Person, purposes, character, claims, and precepts, is to be careening toward damnation. Each descendant of Adam must be either destroyed, or reconciled to God through Jesus Christ; there is nothing in between. All human strategies of self-protection from God are ultimately at war with the glory and knowledge of God, and the righteousness of God’s Name. What is required to be able to delight in God’s righteousness? God is exalting His righteousness by giving it away to sinners through faith, through the imputation of righteousness in Christ. He is exalting His righteousness by providing a hiding place for sinners. He is exalting His righteousness by forgiving sinners in such as way that His righteousness is magnified and put on display. God only favors those who take refuge in Him.

To be right with God is to take refuge in Christ by receiving the righteousness of Christ by faith. Therefore the love for God’s Name means loving the way in which He gives sinful man right-standing with Him self. ONLY God’s way of man’s right-standing with Him exalts His Name. He is perfecting believing sinners by giving them His righteousness first, up front. Grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus is God’s preemptive strike so that salvation will be all of grace (Rom 4:5). God is exceedingly jealous about who gets credit for the sinner’s salvation (1 Cor 1:26-31). And we saw why a few minutes ago—salvation through the gospel of grace is the revelation of God’s righteousness. By means of the cross redeemed sinners are able to see the beauty of God’s holiness now. They have begun already to consecrate and dedicate their lives to the glory of God’s Name.

C. Only in Christ are believing sinners ‘rightly adjusted’ to God’s righteousness.

Everything short of true salvation in Christ is but a thinly veiled attempt to protect oneself from God. Only in Christ can sinners know God. Only in Christ are they safe. Only in Christ do they find all qualification necessary to live in God’s eternal kingdom. True religion is inseparable from the capacity to delight in God. To delight in God is to be sensible of the truth, beauty, and reality of the things of God.

What is required to be able to delight in God? Not only to know that God forgives sinners who believe and repent—but HOW God legally can forgive a sinner. God forgives by means of propitiation. The only way to be able to take delight in the God of righteousness is to be right with the God of righteousness. To be right with God is to submit to the absolute divine righteousness of God which is freely imputed to sinners in Christ (Rom 10:1-4). Thus to be right with Him is to take refuge in Him by receiving the righteousness of Christ by faith.

Therefore the love for God’s Name is inseparable from loving the way in which He gives sinful man right-standing with Himself. ONLY God’s way of man’s right-standing exalts His Name. All human strategies of self-protection from God are ultimately at war with the glory and righteousness of God’s Name.

II. The bad news part of the gospel reveals the great need for a perfect propitiation

A. Defining propitiation

Understanding Propitiation: Because Christ is both Savior and Judge, He stands at the end of the road for each and every person (Rev 1:7; Heb 9:26-28; Acts 17:30-31). A constant theme of Scripture is that God is good to those who trust Him, and terrible to those who don’t (unbelief is not an error in judgment; it is consummate, heart-hardened rebellion against God – Heb 3-4).

Only Christ can save from the wrath to come—the admonition is let us fear! Be in awe (Heb 2:3; 4:1; 12:28-29) (J. I. Packer, pp. 131, 135).

Propitiation defined: It is an atoning sacrifice that satisfies the wrath of God on behalf of those for whom it is made. Propitiation teaches us that Christ’s death pacified the wrath of God on behalf of all who believe. By Christ’s bloody death, God abolished God’s anger against all who would believe and repent. He ensured that God’s treatment of believers would be favorable and propitious. He quenched the divine wrath that was against His people.

It is impossible for man to make an adequate atonement for his sins that God will accept (Ps 49:5-9). Oh how important it is to know where to find a perfect atonement for your sins.

B. God’s holy character demands that He punish all sin. God’s wrath is His righteousness reacting to unrighteousness.

This is shown in His retributive justice. The wrath of God is personal, potent, comprehensive, and eternal (2:5-12). God’s wrath is not the caprice of pagan gods. His wrath is the expression of His holy law (be holy for I am holy – 1 Pet 1:16). God’s own righteousness is expressed in His acts of judgment, reward, and retribution. “Justice and vengeance are Mine—I will repay says the Lord” (Rom 12:19; Heb 10:30).

The dominant problem in the world is sin. It stains every life, disturbs every relationship, fixes itself on every baby, rules the heart of every worldling (John MacArthur). It makes us susceptible to disease, suffering, war, death, and ultimately hell. Sin is incurable from the human side (Jer 13:23).

Sin brings us under the control of Satan. It brings misery. It makes us children of wrath who are enslaved to sin under the lordship of the evil one (Eph 2:1-3). Sin renders us unable to love God and to please God (Rom 8:5-8).

Sin is lawlessness according to 1 John 3:4. It is the violation of God’s immutable law. Scripture describes sin as lawlessness, transgression, moral stumbling, enslavement to lusts and passions, pollution, rebellion. Sin produces a moral debt to God which ignites the fires of hell (Rev 21:8). Sin racks up a debt of moral obligation to God that ignites the fires of hell (Matt 18:23-34).

The N.T. definition of sin is not error, imperfection, or mistakes; the definition is rebellion, defiance, lawlessness (a failure to conform to God’s law), and estrangement – sin incurs guilt before the Creator. Sin is the source of everything wrong with our lives. Propitiation is the N.T. source of deliverance (forgiveness of sin by means of propitiation is the N.T. answer to victory over personal sin). Sin cannot be conquered until it is forgiven.

God is holy and will therefore judge all sin.

All sin is against God first and foremost (Ps 51:4). Unforgiven sin exposes the soul to unquenchable divine wrath – God will not acquit the guilty (Ex 23:7). Sinners go through life accumulating sin. God has told us that there is a strict principle operating of moral cause and effect (Gal 6:7, 8).

Scripture warns that unrepentant souls are “storing up wrath for the day of wrath” (Rom 2:5, 6ff). Those who do not repent and come to God for forgiveness will have God’s eternal wrath released upon them. We must reject out of hand the idea that wrath is unworthy of God (J. I. Packer, p. 136).

God is determined to not leave the guilty unpunished (Ps 7:11). He is angry with the wicked everyday. God regards it to be an abomination to justify the wicked (Prov 17:15; 24:24).

C. God’s punishment of sin will be absolutely comprehensive.

Every violation of God’s law will be punished. Judgment will extend to the thoughts, motives, and secrets of the heart (Rom 2:16; Heb 4:12). Divine judgment will extend to every careless word spoken (Matt 12:36, 37). Those who hope to have their severity of judgment offset by their efforts at law-keeping will be horrified to discover that they have offset none of their condemnation (Gal 3:10-13; James 2:10; Rom 3:19, 20). When we see the wicked prosper in this life, we forget at times that they are hanging by a thread over the mouth of hell (Ps 37; 73; Job 21).

D. God’s wrath is His righteousness reacting to unrighteousness.

Remember, God’s wrath is His righteousness reacting against unrighteousness. This is shown in His retributive justice. Jesus shields us from retributive justice by becoming our representative substitute in obedience to the Father. He receives the wages of our sin in our place.

The wrath of God is personal, potent, comprehensive, and eternal. The bloodletting of the Son of God was the direct manifestation of the Father’s love toward us BECAUSE it was the averting of God’s wrath toward us (J. I. Packer, p. 165). God’s wrath is not the caprice of pagan gods. His wrath is the expression of His holy Law (“be holy for I am holy”– 1 Pet 1:16). God’s own righteousness is expressed in His acts of judgment and reward and retribution. Justice and vengeance are Mine – I will repay says the Lord (Rom 12:19; Heb 10:30). His wrath is His holy revulsion against sin – because sin is lawlessness and it contradicts His holiness (therefore never countenance thoughts which suggest that wrath is somehow unworthy of God).

III. God’s grace is supported by the Pillar of Propitiation

A. Because sin is man’s greatest problem; forgiveness is man’s greatest need.

God has already sworn that He will punish every transgression. Yet the glorious news of the gospel of Jesus Christ is that God desires to forgive sins and to bury them in the deepest sea of His forgetfulness (Is 43:25). Your personal relationship with God begins when you receive forgiveness in Christ. This glorious gift of forgiveness becomes the basis of your relationship with God (Eph 1:7:2:8, 9; 1 Jn 1:9; 2:2). But in order to receive God’s forgiveness in Christ, we must recognize the depth and seriousness of our sinfulness. You must be willing to depart from your sin and surrender to Christ as Lord (Titus 2:14-3:6).

The bloodletting of the Son of God was the direct manifestation of the Father’s love toward us because it was the averting of God’s wrath toward believers. Jesus shields us from retributive justice by becoming our representative substitute in obedience to the Father. He receives the wages of our sins in our place. Those who come to God for forgiveness understand that they are sinners who deserve God’s wrath. They understand that God grants forgiveness and that they must confess their sins to God (Luke 18:13).

B. God’s Holy Spirit prepares the sinner to see his need of forgiveness and to see God’s willingness to forgive (John 16:8-11). In essence those who come to God for forgiveness understand that they deserve God’s wrath. Thus the quarrel between the sinner and God ends when two verdicts are believed: one, God’s testimony about the sinner’s condition and dilemma, and two, God’s finished work on behalf of sinners at Calvary. Sinners truly convicted of their sin understand that God grants forgiveness and that they must confess their sins to God (Luke 18:13).

God’s Spirit brings us to the conviction that we desperately need forgiveness. The Spirit produces both the conviction of our sinfulness and guilt (and its eternal consequences), and the reality that you need to ask God for forgiveness and that He is willing to hear and forgive you (Is 55:6-11).

In the cross of Christ, God works contrary (the opposite, sub contrario) to His reasoned attributes of strength; authority; and life—instead the cross has weakness; victimhood; and death. God takes His stand on earth within human crooked desperateness (Paul Zahl, A Short Systematic Theology, Eerdmans, 2000, pp. 28, 33, 36).

By God’s self-disclosure in creation and law alone we cannot know the reality of His merciful nature. Without faith perceiving Christ as He is offered in the gospel, one cannot know God’s attitude toward men nor can one know the basis for pardon and acceptance.

Saving faith is that salvific moment when we are delivered from guilt, fear, and condemnation through the redemption that is in Christ—in that moment, the power of God in the gospel delivers us from the necessity of self-justification. Through the Spirit’s call we abandon our commitment to self-justification and rely on Christ alone to commend us to God.

God as our object of worship is hidden until we see His merciful heart exposed in Christ. Those who try to worship God without a faith encounter with Christ cannot be confident of His love and mercy— they are still under wrath and darkness (Edward H. Schroeder, “Using Luther's Concept of Deus absconditus for Christian Mission to Muslims,” www.crossings.org, p. 4).

The hidden unapproachable God is our common experience as humans. No person is ‘caught up’ on his or her debt to God even for a day much less a lifetime. The grace gift of forgiveness covers our failed obligation and transgression (Ibid, p. 5).

This leads Sanneh to speak of “God’s unfathomable compassion, what in my language we call his ‘numbing’ capacity to take on our suffering.” Thus there is “intimacy [which] rests on a genuine reciprocity. If we can go on from there . . . the gap narrows considerably between that and the biblical account of Jesus Christ as the divine breakthrough in human form” (Lamin Sanneh, “Muhammed, Prophet of Islam, and Jesus Christ, Image of God: A Personal Testimony” International Bulletin of Missionary Research, Oct. 1984, in Edward H. Schoeder, p. 8).

“The clearest expression of this inner Reason is the gospel affirmation that although the Word was God, ‘it became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.’ . . . Finally, the wraps are taken off and God deals with us outside the veils. God is in the picture now.” [He cites Jeremiah 31 new covenant, and Hebrews 1 & 2 “many ways of old in which God spoke, but now....”] “By adopting for himself the full logical consequences of the moral significance of human existence, God achieved a stupendous breakthrough in Jesus Christ” (Ibid, p. 9).

“God, who normally delegates his authority to the prophets, is committed to the logic of that delegation by being willing to express himself in one such prophet [Jesus] who, by virtue of that special relationship, must henceforth be described by the strong language of filiation [Son of God]. Rather than rendering him immune to the tragedy of human disobedience, such a prophet is in fact the supreme subject and victim of its consequences. ‘It pleased the Lord to bruise him.’ No proximity to the human condition is more poignant than that. It is too lifelike to be mistaken for what it is, a full-blooded encapsulation of the original divine intention. God through him would know our plight & feel our sorrow. Jesus is God in full engagement. Put to grief in the unspeakable agony of human sinfulness, Jesus is the definitive measure of God’s ‘numbing’ capacity to take on our suffering” (Ibid, p. 10).