“Mom, we were playing soccer outside and broke the neighbor’s window. He’s really angry.”

“Well, you can take away his anger and make up for what you did by paying to fix his window.”

“But the window is only cracked in one corner.”

“Honey, it doesn’t matter if it is only cracked or if it is shattered completely. The whole pane of glass has to be replaced.” What has to be done in order to repair the damage and make peace with the neighbor is called “propitiation.”

We have all broken something that is worth far more than a window. We have broken God’s law. God’s law demands perfect behavior, perfect speech, perfect thought and desire. We are far from that perfection. We sometimes look at the sins of others and think we are not so bad, but Scripture says, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). We are all guilty of breaking God’s law. “Whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:10). God is angry at sin, and something had to be done to pay for our sins and take away His anger.

Most of us would be able to afford to pay for a broken window which might cost a few dollars, but how do we pay for breaking God’s law? The value of God’s law is priceless. No amount of money or works can pay for the damage we have done in sinning. The cost of breaking the law is eternal death in hell. God’s Word declares, “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23) and “The soul that sins, it shall die” (Ezekiel 18:4). No one can pay for his own sin, nor can we pay for anyone else’s sin, as the Psalmist states, “No man can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for him—the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough—that he should live on forever and not see decay” (Psalm 49:7-9).

In Old Testament times God taught about propitiation when He commanded His people to make sacrifices of animals. These sacrifices were reminders of how serious sin is, but in themselves they never accomplished true payment for sin, as the Bible says, “It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Hebrews 10:4). These animal sacrifices were essentially reminders that someday God would send a Savior who would make a once-and-for-all payment for sin. He “offered for all time one sacrifice for sins” (Hebrews 10). Jesus is that Savior, for God’s Word declares, “He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but for the whole world” (1 John 2:2). Everything we owe for breaking God’s law has been paid by Jesus through His suffering and death on the cross.

To pay for our sins Jesus first lived a perfect life and then He became the perfect sacrifice when He suffered and died on the cross. Because Jesus is the propitiation for our sins, the damage that was done has been repaired. His resurrection is the proof that the payment has been made in full and accepted by the Father. In Christ, God’s anger over our sins is satisfied and we are reconciled to Him through faith in Jesus. Our breaking of God’s law is forgiven, and we have peace with God, as St. Paul states, “Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1) because He is the propitiation for our sins.

Not all the blood of beasts

On ancient altars slain

Could give the guilty conscience peace

Or wash away the stain.

But Christ, the heav’nly Lamb.

Takes all our sins away;

A sacrifice of nobler name

And richer blood than they. (ELH 305:1,2)

Timothy Erickson is an ELS Missionary to Chile and lives in Santiago, Chile.