Satisfied

I read in Romans this morning:

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith (3:23-25a).

It seems a shame to me that “propitiation” is such an awkward, hard-sounding word, because it has such a wonderful meaning. Satisfied.

God had a proper and incinerating anger against my sin. And Jesus stepped forward and chose to absorb all that wrath in my place. There are no remnants of judgment left for those who trust in Jesus—God’s required punishment has been totally satisfied. That is propitiation.

And what’s more—God goes beyond absolving our guilt and actually puts on us the righteousness of Jesus (what an exchange), meaning that we may receive His favor and pleasure and all the sweet promises of our own hearts finding satisfaction in Him.

Double satisfaction. Amazing.