Scanning Everything from the Mountain Peak of Propitiation (Part 2)

Scanning everything from the Mountain Peak of

Propitiation (Part II)

INTRODUCTION: From the vantage point of this mountain top of propitiation, we may view the entire perspective of God’s self-revelation, the Bible. In Genesis, God met the sin of our first parents with the sacrifice of two lambs. This gracious act of God pointed to Christ’s ultimate work of atonement (Gen 3:15). Jesus spends three years preaching, training, healing—but He walks “eyes wide open” into betrayal, condemnation, crucifixion (Luke 9:22). The closer the disciples came to Him, the more enigmatic the announcement of His impending death became to them (Matt 16:21-22ff) (J. I. Packer, Knowing God, pp. 172-174).

The Gethsemene experience was the final foretaste of Christ’s wrath-bearing. He was permitted to look into the contents of that terrible cup of wrath. Christ trembled in the Garden because He understood as a man that He would be actually bearing God’s full judgment against human sin. He declared Himself forsaken at the cross (Matt 27:46). He obeyed to the point of the most dreadful death conceivable; a death under the wrath of Almighty God. Jesus believed in the necessity of His own death—this consciousness of what He was doing in laying down His life (Jn 10:11-18) is the very meaning of the Apostolic doctrine of propitiation. If you understand this, the entire movement of Scripture comes into focus—all becomes clear and plain at once (Is 53) (Ibid.).

Propitiation is the brilliant light of the gospel because it reveals and communicates the character of God, the heart of God, and the character of the sinner. All three of these must be addressed if a man is to be saved. The character of God concerns His holiness, righteousness, and justice. As Creator He has an absolute claim upon all of His creatures. His moral government is clearly seen in the Law written on the conscience of man. God’s holy nature requires that His trampled law be vindicated in the punishment of sinners. God’s wrath, His settled anger against sin, is His righteous and holy response to lawlessness. The heart of God is expressed in the Father’s gracious and loving plan to send His only begotten Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

God’s character does not allow Him to excuse sin or show leniency toward the sinner. If sinners are to be reconciled to God and freely forgiven and accepted by Him, there must be a perfect all-sufficient atonement that the Father recognizes. That atonement was accomplished by Christ in His substitutionary work on our behalf. The character of the sinner is also set forth in the gospel. For in the gospel we see what sin deserves. The cross is a monument to man’s ill desert under the moral government of God. The gospel sets forth the seriousness of our sin by showing us the infinite cost of its cure; for nothing can lift a man from depravity, enmity, rebellion, alienation, darkness, death, wrath, and hell but the transforming power of the gospel.

I. The five pillars of propitiation are the foundation of divine grace.

A. (Pillar One) Propitiation is required by God’s character

1. The way in which God saves must vindicate God’s justice. In the propitiation at Calvary, God’s wrath was poured out upon Christ in order to vindicate God’s justice, and to make possible His grace. He is “Just and the Justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Rom 3:26). The infinite wisdom of God is manifested in the cross (1 Cor 1:18-25). Christ is God’s wisdom—all treasures of God’s wisdom and knowledge are in Christ (in Christ’s Person and in Christ crucified). That God should plan man’s salvation, a salvation that magnifies God’s grace and at the same time, uphold and exalt all of God’s attributes is infinite wisdom.

The manner in which God has chosen to save rebellious sinners must uphold and vindicate God’s justice. In the propitiation at Calvary, God’s wrath was poured out upon Christ in order to vindicate God’s justice, and to make possible His grace. God’s intent is that He be known as, “Just and the Justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” To know Him as Savior is to know Him as just and justifier.

ILLUSTRATIONS: A Cossack leader passed a law that anyone caught stealing food would be beaten with 30 lashes on a bare back. When the hood was pulled off of the face of an elderly woman who had stolen food, it turned out to be the leader’s mother. The leader bared his back, sheltering her, then, he put his arms around his mother as he took the 30 stripes for her. This is justice and mercy in the same act. In a second example of justice upheld in mercy – a Roman governor passed a law that adultery should require that the male perpetrator have both eyes put out. When his own son was caught in the act, the governor had one of his own eyes put out and one of his son’s eyes put out In both of the above illustrations, the action of the substitute was 100% voluntary.

2. The divine legal basis for God forgiving sinners is propitiation (Rom 3:19-26). In the death of Christ justice is done against our sins so that the Father is “legally” free to pardon the believer. This is the basis for pardon to offenders. Redeeming love and retributive justice join hands at the cross of Christ; God shows Himself just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. By faith in Jesus is meant that the sinner takes and uses Christ exactly for the purpose that God gave Him—to be a propitiation for sin.

God’s righteousness and justice are demonstrated in Christ’s propitiatory work (Rom 3:26). The truth exalted in this demonstration of righteousness is that God is utterly just and righteous when He forgives the sin and guilt of believing men and women. God’s honor is linked to the fact that there must be a legal basis in the sight of God’s law for the forgiveness of sins. God must be known as just when He forgives. The divine legal basis for God extending forgiveness to sinners is propitiation (Rom 3:19-26). Christ was displayed publicly as an atoning sacrifice so that the legal basis for forgiveness might be made known. QUESTIONS FOR CONSIDERATION: What is it about God that requires propitiation for sin? What is it about God’s character that provides propitiation for sin? What is it about man (as the image of God) that eliminates every conceivable proposed solution to sin and guilt but a divinely planned propitiation?

B. (Pillar Two) Propitiation is initiated by God’s love

1. Propitiation is the heart of the gospel. The plan to give His only begotten Son to be a propitiation for sinners comes from the heart of God the Father (Jn 3:16; 1 Jn 4:9-10; Rom 5:8). God was in Christ, “reconciling the world to Himself” (2 Cor 5:19). Scripture affirms that God “displayed” His Son publicly as a PROPITIATION (Rom 3:25). This exhibiting or “placarding” of Christ crucified was, as we will see shortly in our lesson, for a most important purpose (Grk. Protithemai--to show publicly or openly). Scripture emphasizes the public nature of the crucifixion of Christ—it involved both Jew and Gentile. It did not happen in some lonesome corner of the world but at the crossroads of three continents (Acts 26:26).

In the truth of propitiation, the purpose of the cross is clearly unfolded. Propitiation is indispensable to the understanding of the gospel. Propitiation teaches us that the nature of Christ’s death on Calvary was that of an atoning sacrifice that satisfied the just wrath of God against sinners. Thus propitiation is the heart of the gospel—it reveals the heart of God who is jealous for His own holy honor and it reveals the heart of God who loves the world (Jn 3:16; 1 Jn 4:9-10) (D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, The Cross: the Vindication of God).

2. The Father sent the Son for the work of propitiation. Propitiation is the work of God Himself. This is the direct opposite of pagan religion which pictures the devotee as attempting to placate the offended deity by personal reformation, by offerings and by sacrifice. All false religion today obscures the knowledge of God like a black mist. The Triune God of the universe can only be known as the God who propitiates His own wrath (1 Jn 4:10). Sinners can make no contribution to this divine propitiation—they are not ‘in the loop’ so to speak. The tragedy of Romanism’s false hope is their misguided faith in the non-bloody sacrifice of the mass as a kind of ongoing propitiation offered by a priest. Any religion today which claims to have a priesthood recognized by God is but a refinement of pagan thinking. But why is that the case? The answer is that in true Christianity God propitiates His own wrath by His own actions (1 Jn 4:10). Sinners can make no contribution to this divine propitiation; they are not in the loop. One cannot by means of religion make God more propitious than He already is, thus any attempt to do so is tantamount to an attack on the cross-work of Christ and the gospel itself.

Propitiation is God’s initiative. The eternal Son turns the Father’s wrath which was against us into love. It’s absolutely sub-Christian to suggest that the work of Christ changed the Father’s mind. It’s nothing but crass polytheism to hold to the idea that the members of the Godhead have differing minds and thus lack utter harmony and unanimity in the work of man’s redemption. The message “God is love” is ONLY biblical when we preach propitiation as the heart of the gospel (Gal 3:13; 2 Cor 5:14, 21; Rom 4:24). Weak, feel good, sentimental gospels cannot penetrate the conscience of the sinner to give the knowledge of God. Only in the propitiation, which is the heart of the gospel, is the conscience of the sinner laid bare before God’s holy law and then cleansed of defilement (Heb 9:14).

God loved the objects of His wrath so much that He sent the Son to spill His blood so that His blood would be the provision to remove divine wrath from all who would believe. It is the death of Christ that takes us from children of wrath to children of God’s good pleasure. In the finished work of Christ righteousness is bestowed apart from the Law. Propitiation manifests God’s own righteousness. It is God’s righteousness that caused Him to send His only begotten Son to propitiate His own wrath. The gospel tells us that our Creator became our Redeemer. Because man’s sin evokes God’s wrath, God’s perfect provision is propitiation. Out of wrath God brings peace. Only the blood of Christ can join divine mercy and justice—only the blood of the Lamb can bring mercy out of justice.

The basic biblical description of the work of redemption is that the saving death of Christ quenched God’s wrath by obliterating our sins from God’s sight. Because man’s sin evokes God’s wrath, God’s perfect provision is propitiation. Weak, ineffective “gospels” never reach down to this level of propitiation. When we share the gospel, we must make it plain that propitiation is God’s plan and God’s solution to man’s sin.

C. (Pillar Three) Propitiation is defined by substitution

1. God never forgives sins by means of leniency or indifference. When the gospel is preached, God’s way of putting sinners right with Himself is revealed and uncovered (Rom 1:16-17). The gospel reveals how God can be perfectly just when He forgives guilty ungodly sinners and declares them righteous for His Name’s sake. The gospel proclaims God’s legal basis for the forgiveness of sinners. The sacrifice of the Only Begotten Son of God was necessary in order for us to be forgiven. In order to receive forgiveness, we must understand and believe that forgiveness comes only through faith in Christ and His shed blood for sinners (1 Pet 2:24; 3:18; Heb 9:14).

Countless individuals who know something of the guilt of their sin stop short of faith in Christ and instead put their hope in religious works as if the basis of forgiveness is their religious faithfulness. Sadly they hope God will make some sort of exchange with them of effort and sincerity for salvation. God will not forgive on the basis of human works or religious exertion—only on the basis of Christ’s finished work upon the cross does He receive sinners. The gospel must be preached, for in the gospel, God’s way of putting sinners right with Himself is uncovered (Rom 1:16, 17). The gospel reveals how God can be perfectly just when He declares guilty sinners righteous in His sight (Rom 3:26). The gospel therefore proclaims God’s “legal basis” for the forgiveness of sinners.

2. When God forgives sins it is a judicial act. Is God’s absolute moral law upheld when He forgives believing sinners? Romans chapter three answers that question in the affirmative. God cannot forgive sin by a legislative act. When He forgives sin, it is not clemency, it is not leniency, it is not an unpaid pardon, it is not indifference toward sin; it is not a legislative act (of God making a new law). When God forgives sins, it must involve justice. Because God’s justice is immutable; it cannot be set aside when He forgives the ungodly. His moral law is upheld when He forgives and justifies believing sinners. This involves a judicial action.

God cannot be true to Himself by forgiving sin as a legislative act; nor even as an executive act. When He forgives sin, it is not clemency, it is not leniency, it is not an unpaid pardon; it is not indifference toward your sin. Forgiveness of sins is based upon satisfied justice—this is the very foundation of free mercy. Christ being displayed publicly as the propitiation is God’s intent to show the whole world the legal basis for the forgiveness of sins! We could accurately say that God only forgives what He pays for! This is the only way that God could remain righteous when He forgives wicked men. Under the moral government of God, Christ became officially guilty of the sins of the elect (Gal 3:13).

3. Christ’s death was a true penal substitution.

God’s wrath is His holy disposition against sin. Wrath is His righteous response to sin against His holy character. In pagan religions the worshipper was responsible to satisfy the offended deity. In the glorious gospel, Christ Himself is the satisfaction of God’s wrath on behalf of all those who will believe.

This is the principle of substitution; the Son of God being punished in our place (Rom 5:9; 1 Thess 1:9; Is 53). We must let this sink in—Christ was willing to be the curse of God for our sakes (Gal 3:10-13). The very first issue when considering atonement is this: the value of the atonement is not set by the guilty party; it is determined solely by the Judge— God Almighty who will judge the living and the dead. Tragically, there are millions of people around the world seeking to offset their wrongdoing by forms of penance and atonement NOT recognized by God (hot wax on the hands, stair-climbing on the knees, burning candles, religious rituals and ceremonies, repetitious prayers, social work, etc.). Thus, when seeking an answer to the question, “On what basis can God clear the record of a sinful rebel?” we will have to ask the question, “What is the nature of Christ’s death?” Was it primarily an example, or a merely a demonstration of dying love, or was it the very height of martyrdom, or some sort of sacrifice that won God’s love for the world? None of these answers is correct.

The nature of Christ’s death was that of propitiation. This is intended to teach your redeemed conscience that divine pardon is based upon God’s justice at the cross. No wonder grace strengthens the heart (Heb 13:9). Think of the times when anxiety, depression, doubt, uncertainty, and fear get the upper hand. It is normally tied to our losing sight of heaven’s verdict at the cross. Peace and joy is a function of the labor of faith to have the verdict of heaven at Calvary to be the verdict in our conscience. This is how we ought to do the bookkeeping of our weary consciences. Each time we celebrate the Lord’s Table we are reviewing the Lord’s atoning accomplishment and our share and interest in His blood. All Christian fellowship flows from this as we will see in our final lesson on propitiation (part III).

In understanding what Christ accomplished on Calvary’s cross, God’s authoritative, infallible interpretation of what took place is the only thing that matters. Romans three makes it clear that Christ’s death was a true penal substitution. Penal substitution (Christ bearing our penalty) is the glory of the gospel! You cannot make God more propititious than He already is (in His nature). Forgiveness is not a reward for moral striving. Forgiveness is given to those who have been stripped of all righteousness and who then fall at the feet of Jesus in faith and submission. That is the Spirit’s work to prepare us for salvation by showing us our moral deformity and moral bankruptcy before God. But how many rest their soul’s welfare on something short of Christ—countless do so—how we need a constant diet of the gospel.

D. (Pillar Four) Propitiation was accomplished by Christ’s death

1. God’s broken law must be vindicated if sinners are to be restored. The trampling of His holy law must be fully addressed if sinners are to be cleared of guilt. God’s inviolate honor would be bruised if sinners were restored without divine justice being done. For God’s righteous character is codified in His Law. This broken law, despised by sinners, must be addressed head on, and vindicated if sinners are to be forgiven and restored to God. APPLICATION: I hope that you are grasping the fact that it is not as easy for God to forgive as one might think—in order for God to pour out oceans of grace, mercy, and forgiveness upon sinners, His infinite immutable justice must be fully satisfied.

2. Key in understanding propitiation is that it is a transaction between the Father and the Only Begotten Son of God on behalf of sinful man. Just before the Lord Jesus Christ gave up His spirit in death on the cross He uttered these words, “It is finished” (Grk. Tetelestai – [it is] paid in full--Jn 19:30). This same word, tetelestai, was written upon first century tax receipts that had been paid in full. How significant this is for our understanding of the nature of the atonement. Jesus paid and paid until the Father said “Enough! I am satisfied. My wrath against the sin of believers has been fully satisfied and placated.” God is now free to deal with believing sinners in temporal and eternal grace—without striking a blow to them in wrath—He is free to cleanse them; adopt them; make them heirs; and bring them from dust to glory. APPLICATION: We are frequently tempted to run somewhere other than to the atonement when we feel our guilt and failure. How significant this is for us who are frequently disturbed by the sense of our sinfulness and failure over against God’s law. How vital to our walk with God that we know precisely how satisfied the Father is with the finished work of the Son on Calvary on our behalf. We need often to think clearly through propitiation, the heart of the gospel, and its application to us. God’s Holy Spirit assists us in this—He points to the blood (John 16:14).

3. Propitiation pacified the wrath of God for all who believe. God’s wrath is not the caprice of pagan gods. His wrath is the expression of His holy Law: “You shall 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 all sin is lawlessness and it contradicts His holiness. 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. Propitiation teaches us that Christ by His sacrificial death pacified the wrath of God for all who believe. By Christ’s bloody death He abolished God’s anger against us. He ensured that God’s treatment of believers would be favorable and propitious; He quenched the divine wrath against us.

E. (Pillar Five) Propitiation is appropriated by faith in Christ

1. Faith is the transfer of reliance away from self to Christ. Faith is submission to God’s righteousness (Rom 10:1-4). Faith is the instrument by which propitiation is applied to us. By faith in Christ and His substitutionary death, we find full and free forgiveness in the cross. In the exercise of saving faith the believing sinner transfers all reliance away from self and self efforts. The believing sinner stakes all confidence of eternity with God the Person of Christ and His merits. Faith is not the ground of our salvation, the work of Christ on the cross is the very foundation of our salvation.

APPLICATION: The God of the Bible is not a god who is detached, distant, implacable, unappeased, unmerciful, or unknowable. The God of the Bible cannot be mollified and softened by human works, by a shaman, or by Mary or priests or Saints, or by religious acts. God has planned our salvation from start to finish. He has given His only begotten Son. Christ’s sacrifice is the basis for all mercy poured out upon the believing and repenting sinner.

2. Saving faith is self-renouncing. There is a great need for repentance here regarding the centrality of propitiation. It is in our sin nature to distribute our soul’s security or “weight” over things that cannot save us. Your eternal destiny depends upon your willingness to turn away from all false atonements. You must cast yourself upon Christ alone—the God of the universe has provided a perfect atonement for sinners. Christ is the propitiation that provides the only secure refuge from God’s wrath. God is glorified when we take refuge in Him. On the last day, all false refuges will be exposed. They cannot save us more than a cardboard box could save us from a tsunami. The message of Christ’s finished work in propitiation is that your conscience will ultimately ONLY find rest in that which satisfies God Himself.

II. The implications of Christ’s work of propitiation:

A. The mediation, dispensing, and application of the infinite benefits of Christ’s work on

Calvary belong to the Holy Trinity, not to man! The application of Christ’s propitiatory work is by the power of the Holy Spirit (1 Pet 1:2; Titus 3:5-7). How dangerous for man through religion to try to control it, manage it, dispense it, harness it, sell it, mediate it, or market it! Judgment awaits those who have sought to usurp the role of the Holy Spirit in applying the saving benefits of propitiation through manmade religion. Christ is the High Priest who offered Himself once for all to God. Sinful man is not needed in this offering. Christ’s work of offering Himself is finished, complete, and all-sufficient.

B. The Christian life is built solely upon the foundation of Christ and Him crucified (1 Cor

3:11). Even ongoing forgiveness is based upon the all-sufficient, finished propitiation of Christ (1 Jn 2:2).

C. Propitiation reveals the destiny of those who reject the gospel. What a man sows, that will he

also reap (Gal 6:7). The moral law of God is fixed with an ineffable principle of cause and effect. We look at the cross to see the final form of God’s judicial reaction to human sin. The cross is a monument to what man deserves. It gives us chilling insights into hell. At the cross all sense of God’s favor and presence were gone—only pain, darkness, horror, crushing suffering (Rom 2:1-9).

D. Propitiation gives us insight into God’s gift of peace. Propitiation has changed our relationship

with God from hostility to friendship. Propitiation accomplishes the most radical change conceivable: from wrath to fullness of love; from condemnation to justification; from alienation to friendship with God. Propitiation sets up a whole new state of affairs—instead of God against us; it is God for us. His attributes are set to work for your eternal glory, good and eternal bliss. Propitiation is the source of all this change; from it flows forgiveness, acceptance, and peace with God (Jn 20:19). Christ gives us His own right-relatedness to the Father. He is our peace (Col 1:20; Eph 2:14).

E. Propitiation helps us begin to grasp the dimensions of God’s love. The love of Christ exceeds

and passes all our knowledge (Eph 3:14-21). The Father’s plan of grace was born of His love. It is a plan in which the atoning work of Christ is the very center. Christ brings us as near to God as is possible for a creature to be. Thus propitiation is the measure of God’s love in Christ (Eph 5:25-27). Christ’s love is like no earthly love. His is infinite, full, free, and unconditional. His love is not elicited by the goodness of the object; His love comes from His nature and the good pleasure of His own heart.

F. Propitiation sheds light upon our understanding of God’s glory. Christ enthroned is the

consummation of His fulfillment of the work the Father gave the Son to do (Is 53:12; Ps 2:6; Dan 7:13-14; Phil 2:9-11; Rev 5:12-14). God is glorified above every other possible means of glory in the work of Christ (Jn 13:31-32). The glory of God is seen in full panorama of God’s attributes displayed at Calvary: wisdom, power, love, justice, righteousness, wrath, holiness, truth. All these were disclosed at Calvary when Christ made propitiation for our sins. APPLICATION: You’ll only know the wonder of propitiation at a distance, in a theoretical way and not as a possessor of salvation UNLESS you have felt the weight of your sins. If you have felt the crushing weight of your sins, then you will see the glory of God in the propitiation. Only in heaven will the praise due to God for the propitiation reach its endless perfect expression – Rev 5:11-14; 7:9-10.

G. The Lord Jesus Christ is High Priest and Mediator of the propitiation He accomplished:

Hebrews 5:5-10–He is the source of eternal salvation to those who obey Him.

Hebrews 7:25-28–Jesus holds His priesthood permanently; He is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through Him. He is perfectly suited to our needs–infinitely superior to all fallible human priests.

Hebrews 8:6-13–Christ is High Priest and is Mediator of the new covenant.

Hebrews 9:11-15–Christ as High Priest entered the perfect tabernacle to offer His own blood. He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. Christ’s blood will cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

Hebrews 9:24-28–Christ entered the holy place, heaven, to appear in the presence of God for us. He represents believers as High Priest. He was offered ONCE, to bear the sins of many.

Hebrews 10:5-9–The Father prepared a body for Christ to “sacrifice” once for all. God’s will was for Christ to offer Himself to the Father as a sacrifice for us.

Hebrews 10:10-18–By Christ’s once for all sacrifice, believing sinners have been set apart to God, once for all.

Hebrews 10:19-23–Confident access to God is only through the once for all finished work of Christ.

Hebrews 13:10-16–Christ was offered once for all that He might sanctify us. He suffered outside the gate. We must identify with Him, bearing His reproach. Since Christ’s work is finished, the only sacrifice that remains to be offered by “believer priests” is the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving (1 Pet 2:5, 9-10).

CONCLUSION: Only Christ’s work of propitiation can reverse our affinity for darkness and estrangement from God. In an unbeliever, personal lusts become the standard for behavior. Distance from God through ignorance of God is the sinner’s false ‘Magna Charta’ (or charter of liberty). Sin, as the lowest common denominator, drags a man’s entire worldview into its self-destructive perspective. There can be no salvation apart from the knowledge of God (Jn 17:3). The exercise of God’s power is necessary for a person to be saved. The gospel is the means by which the knowledge of God is communicated to the heart of man. The gospel, through the Spirit’s power, is the message that effectively penetrates the darkness of the human heart. The gospel of Jesus Christ is filled with the wisdom of God. For the gospel, concentrated as it is, gives the sinner exactly what he needs to know God in a saving manner.

The gospel alone can remove the darkness; for God is only known by means of how He saves through Jesus Christ. How He saves is the revelation of who He is; it is the knowledge of God. So wonderful is the gospel message that one believing look at Christ melts the heart and scatters the darkness therein. The gospel from then on gives the sinner the reasons necessary to consent to be loved by Christ; to be forgiven by Him and freely accepted by the Father through Him.

The gospel also sets forth the reasons why the believing sinner is to repent of all sin; God has judged sin in the divine Substitute. The believer has been transferred to a new kingdom, a new sphere, a new realm with a new Master. God hates sin; sin is against God; against His righteous nature. Sin belongs in the realm of shame, corruption, and death—the believer must make a clean break from the old realm (Rom 6).

Once this gospel light penetrates the soul, the believing sinner is transfixed with the message of Christ’s love. Christ’s sacrificial love makes an indelible impression upon the heart of the new believer. He is constrained by Christ’s love (2 Cor 5:14-15; Phil 3; Gal 2:20). The sinner is amazed – he is nearly baffled that God should choose him, and that God should choose to make the salvation of sinners the primary revealer of the Godhead.

The more the grateful believer feeds upon the gospel, the more he sees that all of redemptive history is moving toward its final consummation. His heart is captivated with the hope that just as he desires to be with Christ, Christ desires to be with him eternally. Now his whole life is a preparation for heaven; for the revealing of the sons of God (Rom 8:18-25).

The gospel is a goldmine of divine glory—we cannot plumb its depths. The more we feed upon the gospel, the more we become convinced that God’s cause (to glorify Himself in our redemption) is our cause, and our cause is God’s cause (to glorify Him as our blessed Redeemer). This formula of mutuality (or the shared cause) is the driving force behind grace-driven sanctification. 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, destiny, and future glory.