Explaining Propitiation to Children

About a week ago I had to break up a scuffle between a couple of my kids. "You can not hit her," I told my son. "But she was mean to me and annoying me and it makes me so angry." "You're right," I told him. "Your sister was mean and annoying. You know that anger you feel? That's how God feels when we sin, even more so, because all sin and meanness is ultimately against God. But Jesus died so he could be the propitiation for our sin, so he would take God's wrath in our place. If you tell Jesus you are sorry for your sin and ask him to forgive you, God's anger about your sin falls on Jesus instead of you. Jesus really loves us to tell God to be angry with him instead of us.

The lights went on. His face softened as he realized the greatness of God's love for him, and the truth of propitiation.