Does Christ become our propitiation by His life and miracles?
No. Christ does not become our propitiation by His life or His miraculous works. Scripture says He becomes the propitiation through faith in His blood. His three years of exemplary miracle working are not the basis; rather, faith in His blood declares God's righteousness for the remission of sins.
Les explains that "propitiation" is a great big word that people often stumble over, but it is not that kind of word. It is probably the most inclusive one word in the whole New Testament. Christ is our propitiation, and He becomes your propitiation and mine by faith—through faith in His blood. Les emphasizes that it is not His life, not His three years of exemplary miracle working and so forth, but He can only become the propitiation through faith in His blood. Through that faith in His blood, He can declare His righteousness, not ours, for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God. Les then points to verse 26: to declare at this time His righteousness, that He, Christ, might be just—fair—and the justifier of him that believeth. Les stresses that believing is faith, and faith is believing.
Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;