Rebound Revisited, part 17. 1Jo 1:9-2:2; Rom 3:25; Psa 50:7-15; Psa 51; Isa 1:11-20.

Class Outline:

Title: Rebound Revisited, part 17. 1JO 1:9-2:2; ROM 3:25; PSA 50:7-15; Psa 51; ISA 1:11-20.

 

This epistle was written to refute Gnosticism.

 

1JO 2:1 My little children [believers under John’s ministry], I am writing these things to you that you may not sin [walk in darkness]. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate [Comforter] with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous;

 

1JO 2:2 and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.

 

 “propitiation” - i`lasmo,j [hilasmos] = atoning sacrifice, propitiation, expiation, or sin offering. It is the satisfaction of the Father’s justice concerning sin.

 

The only other place this noun is used is by John in 1JO 4:10.

 

Jesus Christ and His work are the only solutions to the sin problem. Through Him God is merciful and if we don’t come to recognize that in our lifetime then we are easily replaced as Elijah and Moses were. God doesn’t need us or for us to give anything to Him. We need God and for Him to give everything to us.

Satan has successfully turned this around in the form of religion, hence the reason for 1Jo 1 and the dire warnings throughout the scripture to rely on God’s grace alone.

 

It is significant to note that ancient Greek speaking people who were heavily involved in the worship of false gods knew this word well [hilaskomai - verb].

 

Ancient Greek pagan religion understood hilasmos [propitiation] to mean “to please the gods, to obtain their favor and goodwill, by cultic acts and ritual offerings.”  [Complete Biblical Library]

 

Implied was the idea that this was achieved by means of cultic acts and ritual offerings. The pagans also saw the deep knowledge of sin within themselves and sought to appease the god’s displeasure or wrath. Man attempted to avert the seemingly capricious and arbitrary punishment of the gods through their offerings. This was a common thread in all false religions and still exists today. It is a perversion of God’s call for animal sacrifice, which occurred as early as Cain and Able, as what was to represent the one true sacrifice in Christ.

 

All false doctrines are not originated, but they are perversions of truths communicated by God to His people in all dispensations.

 

The abundance of liberal scholars will refute this and state assuredly that pagan religions were first and then monotheism as practiced by Abraham for instance came later. Their only basis is a limited archeological record and not revelation from the Scripture. Even though modern archeology constantly disproves old theories they are sure that they currently have all the facts. It’s bad science, bad history, and bias opinion, which isn’t worth spit compared to divine revelation. These are representatives of the KOD, and I’m sure most of them don’t even know it.

 

With each dispensation there is a new batch of false doctrines as God’s policy changes new perversions are propagandized.

 

Cain and Able - animal sacrifice is perverted into murder and pagan sacrifice in which man earns the favor of demons; this became so wicked that the flood was demanded.

 

The covenant with Noah provided tremendous prosperity which was perverted into the humanism and socialism of the Tower of Babel.

 

The covenant with Abraham was perverted with a false covenant with Ishmael and the birth of the Arab Israeli conflict and more false gods and idol worship.

 

The covenant with Moses was perverted into legalism and a loss of the meaning of the Mosaic Law as if it was a source of righteousness. It was apparent from the golden calf that Israel had already been infected with idol worship. The false gods and idol worship haunted Israel for 1500 years.

 

When the Messiah emerged on the scene Israeli nationalism had reached its peak and many of the people imagined Herod of all people to be the savior of Israel. This is a perversion of the king of the Jews doctrine. They had lost the understanding of the suffering Savior of the first Advent clearly prophesized in the OT (Isa 53) and wanted the crown and not the cross. This is a perversion of prophecy. Religiosity of Judaism had also reached its peak which is a maximum perversion of the Mosaic Law.

 

And with the coming of the CA we see the emergence of Judiazers, Gnosticism, which continued to evolve into the denial of the deity of Christ, monasticism, Catholicism [universal church under the control of a central bureaucracy], liberalism, covenant theology, Baptists, Anabaptists, etc. as well as numerous cults which are all perversions of NT mystery doctrine.

 

Every time God introduces policy changes to His people at the change of dispensations, satan quickly perverts them and so all false doctrine are not originated, but adapted from the truth.

 

Therefore Christianity is not a stroke of luck out of a thousand options [we finally got is right by trial and error]; it is the truth from which all others are perversions.

 

In Greek pagan religions the false doctrine to pervert God’s beautiful representation of atonement or propitiation was that the false gods demanded personal acts of sacrifice as well as offerings in order to appease their wrath. As it was, so it is now, all false religion is a corruption of the one truth emanating from God and revealed supernaturally to man.

 

The Bible proclaims that God Himself takes the initiative in atoning for man’s sins.

 

This truth is in stark contrast to the Greek and pagan concepts.

 

In the OT, those who put their trust in Him demonstrated their trust by performing the sacrifices and offerings which God outlined in His covenant with them.

 

This sacrificial system modeled the supreme sacrifice, which was fully realized in the sacrifice of Christ. The mercy seat on the top of the ark of the covenant is referred to as the hilasterion, which is the adjective of our present word. Therefore, propitiation and mercy become synonymous.

 

Propitiation and mercy are synonymous:

 

HEB 9:5

And above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat [hilasterion - propitiation];

 

ROM 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

 

ROM 3:24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;

 

ROM 3:25 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation [hilasterion = mercy seat] in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed;

 

In the OT motifs of atonement are often expressed with the verb kaphar or kippur; cf. [compare] yom kippur, Day of Atonement. Kippur comes from an Aramaic word that means “to erase, wash, or cleanse away.”

 

Another similar word is the Arabic word kafara which means to cover or to hide, and undoubtedly there is a connection here since that is exactly what the mercy seat did. It covered the articles within the ark which represented sin, rejection of God’s provision, and rejection of God’s ordained authority.

 

He is faithful and righteous in order to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

 

What did we see to be the cleansing agent used by Moses?

 

HEB 9:19 For when every commandment had been spoken by Moses to all the people according to the Law, he took the blood of the calves and the goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people,

 

HEB 9:20 saying, "This is the blood of the covenant which God commanded you."

 

HEB 9:21 And in the same way he sprinkled both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry with the blood.

 

HEB 9:22 And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

 

All believers are the beneficiaries of atonement, which is cleansing of all sin, which is propitiation.

 

Yet in Israel, the ritual alone was not enough, there was supposed to be a change of heart from hardness and arrogance to humility and grace, and the same is true in the CA. These truths are to change and soften your heart, as it states in ROM 12:2…

 

These doctrines are designed to transform the believers thinking:

ROM 12:2

And do not be conformed to this world [passive imperative], but be transformed [passive imperative] by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove [dokimazo] what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

 

Passive means receiving even though it is a command. The command is to not receive the false doctrines of the world and to receive the truths of the word.

These verbs are in the same tense voice and mood as the verbs in EPH 5:18 - be not drunk [passive imperative] with wine but be filled [passive imperative] with the Spirit.

 

Don’t receive the fully influencing power of excess alcohol but rather the fully influencing power of the HS. And the HS can only work with truth. It’s judge, acknowledge, stop and then think the truth and the Spirit assists or influences or leads you into that truth and as such you are fully influenced by Him. If there is not doctrine in your soul to begin with then He cannot influence you fully. He will convict you of your need for a sound diet of the word of God but to fully influence a believer for the production of divine good and for proving the perfect will of God He needs your soul to be filled with doctrine. He can lead you to doctrine but He can’t make you drink.

 

Therefore a rebound ritual, if it is that in the believer’s soul, isn’t enough either. The whole process of grace and the grace transfer from thinking darkness to thinking light is for a change of mind so that we may prove the purity of God’s personality.

 

Any tendency in Israel to secure the grace of God by means of the sacrificial system alone was completely rejected. The sacrifices themselves meant nothing if the reality behind them was unknown or not believed.

 

Witnessing an innocent animal wail and die because of a person’s sin was to show the coming work of the Messiah and to also cause Israel to become humble and to repent from rebellion against God.

 

Saul was commanded to utterly destroy the Amalekites and everything they owned, but he kept the best livestock and the choicest things and justifying himself by sacrificing them to the Lord.

 

1SA 15:22

And Samuel said,

“Has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices

As in obeying the voice of the Lord?

Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,

And to heed than the fat of rams.”

 

PSA 50:7 "Hear, O My people, and I will speak;

O Israel, I will testify against you;

I am God, your God.

 

PSA 50:8 "I do not reprove you for your sacrifices,

And your burnt offerings are continually before Me.

 

PSA 50:9 "I shall take no young bull out of your house,

Nor male goats out of your folds.

 

PSA 50:10 "For every beast of the forest is Mine,

The cattle on a thousand hills.

 

PSA 50:11 "I know every bird of the mountains,

And everything that moves in the field is Mine.

 

PSA 50:12 "If I were hungry, I would not tell you [I still wouldn’t need you];

For the world is Mine, and all it contains.

 

We cannot give anything to God that He did not first give to us. God desires a humble and ready heart that is useful to the Master.

 

PSA 50:13 "Shall I eat the flesh of bulls,

Or drink the blood of male goats?

 

PSA 50:14 "Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving,

And pay your vows to the Most High;

 

Every time we recover from dark thinking we should be thankful that we can do so in grace and endlessly.

 

PSA 50:15 And call upon Me in the day of trouble;

I shall rescue you, and you will honor Me."