What is propitiation?
Propitiation is the complete fulfillment of the tabernacle picture, especially the Day of Atonement, accomplished by Christ at the cross through His shed blood, death, burial, and resurrection. God set Him forth as propitiation when we place faith in His blood for remission of sins, because Scripture demands shed blood.
Les teaches that everything in the tabernacle spoke of Christ, and when you take the whole picture and put it together, that is propitiation. He says Greek scholars might not agree totally, but this is basically what propitiation is about: everything pictured in the tabernacle on the Day of Atonement, Christ accomplished on the cross with His shed blood, death, burial, and resurrection, all on our behalf. Les then points back to Romans 3:25, where God set Him forth to be a propitiation when we place our faith in His blood. He notes that in a sophisticated day people do not like to talk about sacrificial blood, but we cannot ignore Scripture's demands that God has demanded shed blood for the remission of sin and we cannot abrogate or go against it. So He is made a propitiation when we place our faith in His blood, for the remission of sins that are past and through the forbearance of God, to declare His righteousness.