How does the Old Testament tabernacle explain the word propitiation?
The tabernacle’s components—Holy of Holies, Ark of the Covenant, veil, showbread, lampstand, incense altar, brazen laver, brazen altar, sacrificial lamb, and surrounding fence—form the picture used to explain propitiation. First John 2:2 declares that Christ is our propitiation, connecting His advocacy and cleansing to that tabernacle framework.
Les explains that 1 John 2:2 goes beyond advocacy: not only is He our advocate, He is our propitiation. He reminds his audience that he had already dealt with this word, likely in Romans chapter 8, and asks if they remember how he explained it. He says everything that can be put together in the wilderness tabernacle—the Holy of Holies, the Ark of the Covenant, the veil, the Ark of Showbread, the candlestick holder, the altar of incense, the brazen laver where priests washed on their way in, the brazen altar, the sacrificial lamb, and the fence around it—was part of that explanation. That tabernacle walkthrough supplies the framework for understanding propitiation, tied to the assurance that believers are under the blood and cleansed when they sin.