03.07. Benefits Secured by Atoning Blood.
7. - BENEFITS SECURED BY ATONING BLOOD.
(1) Atonement. The principal, because the basic, benefit of atoning blood is that it atones. Of it God said:“I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls [lives]:for it is the blood that maketh atonement by reason of the life,” with which it is all one (Leviticus 17:11). The Hebrew word translated “atonement” has the picture “to cover.” Thus the ark was covered with pitch (Genesis 6:14), where the same noun and verb are used as “atonement” and “atone.” That which is covered is hidden from sight, and true here is that saying “out of sight, out of mind.” The same thought is expressed by another word meaning to smear over, and so erase a record. It is used negatively and positively as a term of judgment:positively, “let their name be blotted out” (Psalms 109:13-14). In Nehemiah 4:5 :“let not their sin be blotted out” is parallel with another word meaning “to cover... cover not their iniquity.” This word for “to cover” has the picture of clothing which covers, and so conceals, the person of the wearer. It is therefore similar in meaning to the former word for “to cover,” to render unseen, and it is used in Isaiah 44:22 in connection with yet another picture of hiding from sight:“I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and as a cloud, thy sins:return unto Me, for I have redeemed thee.”
Thus there is a triple picture of the hiding of sin from sight, the pitch hid the wood of the ark, the substance smeared on the book hides the record of the offence, the cloud hides the earth from the view of one on the mountain top. By words and pictures God has taken pains to encourage the repentant and believing sinner to be assured that He removes the guilt which hinders fellowship and demands punishment. It is the atoning blood which effects this saving change of status Godward. The first of the words for “to cover” has an unique application. One form of it is used exclusively of the golden lid that covered the ark of the covenant in the Most Holy Place. It hid from sight the tables of the law which man had broken and which cried against him for vengeance. This covering is called “the mercy seat” (Exodus 25:17, and twenty six times later). In the Greek translation of the Old Testament (LXX), used by Christ and the apostles, this word is rendered by hilasteerion, which word is shown in the New Testament to point to “Christ Jesus, Whom God bath set forth to be a propitiation, through faith, in His blood” (Romans 3:24-25); and a cognate used in 1 John 1:2 says that “Jesus Christ, the Righteous, is the propitiation for our sins.” Therefore the true covering that really hides from view the outraged law of God is His Son, Whose divine nature was typified by the pure gold of which the lid of the ark was made. That the Hebrew word “to cover” is the equivalent of the Greek word “propitiate,” used in the Septuagint and the New Testament, shows that the truth of atonement is in the New Testament though the word is not.But though that golden covering sufficiently hid from sight the tables of the law, this did not by itself secure the sinful people from the judgment of God, for not gold but blood is that which shows that death, the full penalty of sin, has been executed and the broken law repaired.
Therefore that golden lid had to be sprinkled annually with the atoning blood that erased the record of the sins of the people and hid these from the sight of God as a thick cloud blots out the landscape, being proof visible that the sins had been expiated by equivalent penalty. The divinity of our Lord could not by itself save sinners, it being no equivalent whatever for the forfeited life of men. It was indispensable that He, being God, should become man so as to meet the whole legal demand of God that death must follow sin. Therefore, as the passage quoted from Romans 3:25 says, “God set Him forth to be a propitiation... in [the virtue of] His blood.”
Israel’s high priest could only stand safely in that holy place by virtue of the blood that covered the sins of the people. So Christ, having in grace assumed legal responsibility for our sins, was while bearing them debarred the presence of God and constrained to cry “Why hast Thou forsaken Me?” But His death discharged the penalty for both Him as well as us; His blood shed proved that the penalty has been met, and it is in the virtue of His own blood that He entered once for all into the holy place in heaven itself, having by death obtained a redemption of eternal validity and virtue (Hebrews 9:12). That precious blood covers for ever the sins of those who truly repent and unfeignedly believe.
Upon this their submission God puts His laws in their hearts as the rule of life and writes them in their minds as moral light and the instinct of duty. Of such He says, “their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more” (Hebrews 10:15-18). Blessed, indeed, is he whose transgression is forgiven, and whose sin is covered (Psalms 32:1), being hidden from the eye of God, as the body is hidden by clothing. Precious, indeed, is the atoning, covering blood of Christ, which only can hide ought from Omniscience and cause the Infinite Mind to forget.
ATONEMENT includes other features connected with salvation. (2) Propitiation. This word is not used in the English Old Testament to translate any Hebrew word connected with atonement. It is used in the New Testament to render certain Greek words with the same meaning, and these Greek words were used by the Seventy to translate Hebrew words.
Thus the truth expressed by the word “propitiation” is found everywhere in the Bible. This truth is that, on the ground of atoning sacrifice, the Holy One is propitiated, is warranted and enabled to take a favourable attitude to the culprit He must otherwise have rejected and punished. Our Lord described a tax-gatherer coming to the entrance of the temple, standing in humility some distance back, expressing contrition by smiting his breast, acknowledging his utter wickedness, and appealing for Divine mercy by crying, “God, be propitiated to me the sinner” (Luke 18:13). On the brazen altar before him, and between him and the holy God, there was consuming away in the fire of judgment the innocent victim which had died on his account, and the meaning of his prayer was, “0 God, out of regard to the death of my substitute be favourable to me!” The choice of the word “propitiated” showed that his prayer was intelligent. The appeal was granted because the lamb spoke to God of His Lamb Who would shortly die for the tax-gatherer’s sins, and Who would do so by express provision of God, for it was He Who sent Christ forth to be “a propitiation, through faith, by His blood” (Romans 3:25). Thus the Son of God “became a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people” (Hebrews 2:17). “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world,” and “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 2:2; 1 John 4:10). He is the divine reality typified bythe propitiatory, the mercy-seat, in the tabernacle and temple, where of old the atoning blood was sprinkled to secure the safety of Israel and the continued favour and presence of God. (3) Reconciliation. The tax-gatherer’s prayer “God, be propitiated to me” was an appeal for a change of attitude on the part of God. Propitiation brings reconcilisation. The Greek noun and verb (katallagee, katallasso), translated in the New Testament “reconciliation,” are not used in the Septuagint in connexion with atonement, but in the New Testament are very definitely so connected. The passages are: (1) Romans 5:10-11 :“For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be kept safe (Moule) in His life... through Whom we have now received the reconciliation.” (2) 2 Corinthians 5:18-19 :“But all things are of God, Who reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and gave unto us the ministry of reconciliation; to wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not reckoning unto them their trespasses, and having committed unto us the word of reconciliation.”
These statements make evident that (a) God is the Reconciler; (b) Christ is He Who effects the reconciliation; (c) It is by His death that He effected this; (d) The scope of the reconciliation is universal, cosmical (kosmon katallassown); (e) The gospel is the proclamation and appeal of this reconciliation; (f) The individual must personally avail himself of it by responding to the changed attitude in God made possible by the death of Christ. The meaning of the Greek word is certain. In 1 Corinthians 7:11 it is directed that a Christian woman living away from her husband is to remain unmarried “or else be reconciled to her husband.” A change of heart is indicated in the Septuagint at Jeremiah 48:39 :“how has he changed! How has Moab turned his back!” - the former bold, courageous spirit has given place to fright and flight. The Greek word is the equivalent of the Latin permutatis (English “permutation”), which included a change of sentiment, an altered attitude of one person to another. Similarly God and man are changed in heart toward each other by the mediatorial action and death of the Son of God.
Apprehension by man of such divine love and grace by God changes his distrust to confidence, his enmity to love, his rebellion to obedience. And on God’s part, the satisfaction rendered to His law by Christ on behalf of man removes the just displeasure and holy rejection of the sinner which was the inevitable reaction of the Holy One against his sin.
Such change in man is easy to grasp but some refuse to admit of such a change in God, for they stress that He is ever well-disposed toward man and loves the sinner in spite of the sin which He hates. It is certain that the Greek word can include such a change in God. It is used four times in the Greek of the Apocrypha in 2Ma 1:5 :“May God be at one with you v. 20:The great Lord being reconciled 7:33:“He shall be at one again with His servants” 8:29; “They besought the merciful Lord to be reconciled with His servants.” Nor was such a change in God a new conception or limited to Hebrew, Greek, or Latin thought. In early Egyptian times a suppliant, Mes-em-Neter, turned in heart from false gods and prayed thus to the God of Right and Truth:Behold, the god hath shame of me, but let my faults be washed away and let them fall upon both hands of the god of Right and Truth. Do away utterly with the transgression which is in me, together with [my] wickedness and sinfulness, O god of Right and Truth. May this god be at peace with me! Do away utterly with the obstacles which are between thee and me... grant thou that I may bring to thee the offerings which will make peace [between thee and men] whereon thou livest, and that I also may live thereon. Be thou at peace with me and do away utterly with all the shame of me which thou hast in thy heart because of me.*
[* See The Book of the Dead, trans. Budge, 32.], This remarkable prayer descends from within a measurable period after the Flood. It shows how there lingered among men recollections of the true God, His character and demands. The suppliant was aware of his own wickedness and sinfulness and that these were obstacles to fellowship with God; but he knew that there were sacrifices which could remove these, and create peace between God and men. He knew also that the God of Truth was ashamed of him the sinner, and he longed that this shame on his account might be removed from the heart of God; yet this could be effected by the act of God alone.
Thus did this suppliant of ancient times in a vile heathen land know well that there must be induced a change in God toward himself, the sinner, and that offerings were requisite which could remove utterly his wickedness and transgressions. How parallel is this to the statement concerning Jehovah that, as He contemplated the corruption and violence of men before the Flood, He changed His mind as to having created man and was grieved in heart (Genesis 6:5-6). This was a change of heart indeed from the day when He had seen that everything He had made was very good, and it was a change which resulted in the destruction of the unrepentant race. The seeming mystery is resolved by the statement “if ye call on Him as Father” remember that “without respect of persons He judgeth according to each man’s work” (1 Peter 1:17). God is both father and judge. In the highest relationship He is the heavenly Father of those who have been born again of His Spirit upon faith in His Son:in the creatorial sense He is the father, the cause of existence, of all spirits (Hebrews 12:9 : Ecclesiastes 12:7). This includes all orders of beings, heavenly as well as earthly, for from Him “every fatherhood in heaven and on earth is named” (Ephesians 3:15), which fact Paul kept in mind when approaching Him in prayer.
Now in the former sense God, the Father of all, loves with Divine affection all souls that He has made; it is His nature to do so. On the other hand, as the Ruler and Judge of all, and for the well-being of all, “God is a righteous judge, yea, a God that hath indignation every day” (Psalms 7:1-17
We must indeed keep in mind R. B. Girdlestone’s words, “When we speak of Christ reconciling His Father to us (see the second article of the Church of England) we are not to picture up an angry judge being propitiated by a benevolent Son - this would be an entire misrepresentation of the Christian Faith. Rather we should regard the Son as sent by the Father to die for the sins of the world, in order that He might remove the bar which hindered the free action of Divine love on the heart of man.” (Old Testament Synony.MS, 217.) Therefore Griffith Thomas rightly says, “There is practical unanimity among scholars that reconciliation in St. Paul means a change of relation on God’s part towards man, something done by God for man, which has modified what would otherwise have been His attitude to the sinner. Thus, reconciliation is much more than a change of feeling on man’s part towards God, and must imply first of all a change of relation in God towards man. It is this that the Article [No. II] was intended to express by the phrase, “To reconcile His Father to us.” If it should be said that such a change in God is unthinkable, it may be answered that even in forgiveness, if we are to understand it aright, there must be some change of attitude, for God cannot possibly be in the same attitude before as after forgiveness (The Principles of Theology, 53).
Upon the passage quoted above from 2 Corinthians 5:18, Alford wrote, “Observe, that the reconciliation spoken of in this and the next verse, is that of God to us, absolutely and objectively, through His Son:that whereby He can complacently behold and endure a sinful world, and receive all who come to Him by Christ. This, the subjective reconciliation - of men to God - follows as a matter of exhortation”, ver. 2o. On Romans 5:10 Moule says, “When we were hostile to His claims, and as such subject to the hostility of His Law, WE WERE RECONCILED TO OUR GOD THROUGH THE DEATH OF His SON (God coming to judicial peace with us, and we brought to submissive peace with Him); [and in a Note he adds], Katallassein, Katallagee. It is sometimes held that these words denote “reconciliation” in the sense of man’s laying aside his distrust, reluctance, resistance towards God, not of God’s laying aside His holy displeasure against man... But Katallagee (and its verb) is as a fact used in the Greek of the Apocrypha in connexions where the thought is just that of the clemency of a king, induced to pardon. [Two of the passages cited above from 2 Maccabees are given]... And there is no place in the New Testament where the meaning, conciliation of an offended party, would not well suit katallassesthai, etc. The present passage (Romans 5:10-11) would be practically meaningless otherwise. The whole thought is of divine mercy, providing a way for accepting grace.” (Expositor’s Bible, Romans, 138, 141.)The passages in 2 Maccabees support Moule’s statement that the Greek words can carry the thought of God being reconciled to the sinner. His remark that this is implied in Romans 5:11 seems just; for reconciliation is not presented in this verse as something wrought in man but as something that man “receives,” as a benefit offered for faith to accept. In the preceding verse the other aspect may be in view:“we were reconciled to God,” though this can mean that we, His enemies, were made acceptable to God “through the death of His Son.”
Upon the Greek words katallagee, etc, H. P. Liddon wrote that they must be taken passively, not merely or chiefly actively The reconciliation is accomplished, not only in the hearts of men, but in the Heart of God. Men are reconciled with God in Christ, in such sense, that God, seeing them in union with His Beloved and Perfect Son, abandons His just wrath which their sins have kindled, and admits them to His favour and blessing. This, the constant faith of the Church, was scientifically worked out by S.
Anselm of Canterbury in his Cur Deus Homo [Why was God made Man?], [The conclusion of Anselm’s demonstration is given in his chap. 20.
So, the mercy of God, which whilst we were considering God’s justice and man’s sin, seemed to you to vanish away, we now find to be so great and so perfectly consonant with justice as that neither greater nor juster could be conceived of. For what can be understood as being more merciful than that God the Father should say to the sinner who was condemned to eternal torments, and who had nothing wherewith to redeem himself Take My Only-Begotten Son, and offer Him for thyself”; and the Son Himself [should say]:“Take Me, and redeem thyself?” But they do, as it were, speak thus when they call and draw us to the Christian faith. And what can be more just than that he [God the Father], to whom is given [by the Son] a payment greater than all that is owing to him, should, if this be given in payment of what is wrong, remit the whole debt?], Liddon adds, Now although it is true that the essential nature of God is unchangeable Love, yet the living action of God’s love in the human world has been hindered and impeded by sin. In reality God’s Love is identical with His Righteousness. But sin has produced an apparent antithesis between these Attributes. Although God eternally and unchangeably loves the world, His actual relation to it is one of opposition, because the Unity of His Attributes is disturbed and the action of His Love adextra [to that which is outside His own being], is restrained by sins. The orgee tou Theou [wrath of God] is an expression which implies, that in virtue of the Eternal necessities of His being, God’s relation of Love to the human world is unsatisfied, owing to the agency of sin, since sin contradicts His essential nature. It is not then His unchangeable Character, but His relation (produced by sin) to the world of men, that is really affected by the katallagee [reconciliation]. No mere man could affect that relation by his personal conduct. Jesus Christ, the Eternal Son of God, Who also as the Pattern or Ideal Man represented the whole human race, could, and did, by the consummate expression of His obedience on the Cross, establish a new relation between the active manifestation of the Love of God and all those who by faith are associated with His own supreme self-sacrifice. (Explanatory Analysis of St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, 101, 102.) Blessed indeed is he who knows from his own joy in God that he has been reconciled to Him by the death of His Son; happy is the man who can exultingly sing Wesley’s ecstatic lines My God is reconciled, His pardoning voice I hear;He owns me for His child, I can no longer fear; With confidence I now draw nigh, And Father, Abba, Father! cry. A further element in salvation is described by the term (4) Forgiveness. The old covenant repeated often the guarantee of God to the offender that, upon the appointed sacrifice having been offered, and its blood sprinkled, “the priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be forgiven” (Leviticus 4:20; Leviticus 4:26; etc.). Under the new covenant, written for the assurance of the believer, it stands that “in the Beloved we have our redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His [God’s] grace.” (Ephesians 1:7). Now the criminal whom the king pardons is not executed. But the atoning blood of Christ secures more than pardon, even (5) Justification. “We are justified freely by God’s grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth to be a propitiation, through faith, in His blood,” in order that God “might Himself be righteous, and the Declarer righteous of him that hath faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:24-26). A judge may declare that the man before him was justified in law in doing the deed in question, that is, that in doing it he acted within his legal right and is righteous before the law. But the judge cannot declare a man righteous who has broken the law, riot until he shall have rendered full satisfaction to the law by meeting its full penalty for his trespass. Thus a bankrupt may secure discharge from further proceedings to recover debts, but the record that he failed to meet his liabilities stands against him and his character is thereby impaired before the law. He is let off payment because he has no resources that can be passed to his creditors, but the law does not justify him for having failed to pay twenty shillings in the pound. But should he later pay the debts in full, with interest, the court record against him is withdrawn, the former failure is cancelled, and thenceforth he is regarded by the law as a righteous man, as if he had not before failed. And this will be the case just as completely should another have provided the payment in full. Thus the adverse record is “blotted out,” and the former default is no more remembered officially. This is justification; the acquiring by the bankrupt of a new and perfect standing in law. Plainly it is more than simple forgiveness. A debt may be forgiven, and the creditor suffer the loss; but this does not put the debtor upon the same morally satisfactory footing as if either he had never defaulted or that he or a mediator or surety for him, had satisfied the creditor by payment in full. The sacrifices offered under the law of Moses could not provide for the sinner more than forgiveness. They did not in themselves adequately compensate the Divine law that had been infringed, and moreover the more heinous crimes were not within the range of that sacrificial system. Only the blood of the Son of God could meet fully the claims of God; but He having died, the glorious proclamation could be made, “Be it known unto you therefore, brethren, that through this man is proclaimed unto you remission of sins:and by Him every one that believeth is justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses” (Acts 13:38-39). Against one that the law has declared righteous no proceedings can lie. (6) Remission. The text last quoted speaks of remission of sins. The force of the word is seen in the commercial phrase “to make a remittance,” to send something away to another person and place. On the day of the annual atonement in Israel, the live goat, to which ceremonially the sins of the people were transferred, was sent away from the camp into the wilderness, and “the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities into a solitary place” (Leviticus 16:21-22). Thus, in the fulfilmentof the type, did the holy Sin-bearer go out into the darkness of being forsaken by His God and take away our sins into that solitude. “Apart from shedding of blood there is no remission” (Hebrews 9:22), but in Christ “we have redemption through His blood, the remission [same word] of our trespasses” (Ephesians 1:7); for He is “the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29), because He “put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself” (Hebrews 9:26).
Sometimes an estate owner knows that his tenants are unable to pay their rent and he decides to bear the loss himself. He therefore “remits” all or part of what is due. He suffers loss and they escape payment. Thus did God in Christ suffer for our sins and these are remitted. By faith in God’s announcement of this remission we receive assurance of salvation, for the messenger of the Lord is sent “to give knowledge of salvation unto His people in the remission of their sins” (Luke 1:77).
Another vast benefit secured by atoning blood is (7) Redemption. An Israelite might mortgage his house, land, or crops, but the law gave a right of redemption. Or he might even have dedicated a field unto Jehovah, but right of redemption was granted. Or he might have mortgaged his liberty and labour, and become a bondservant. In some cases his nearest kinsman was required by law to redeem him. The regulations are found in chaps. 25. and 27. of Leviticus, and the proceedings as to redeeming land are shown in the pleasant history of Naomi and Ruth. The relative who thus intervened was known as the goel, the kinsman-redeemer, and was a forerunner of Him Who became man that He might redeem men. The essence of all such transactions, ancient and modern, is that a person or article was under some control, had passed under bondage to another, and the redeemer released him or it from that control, and restored freedom. And further, this liberation could be effected only by payment of an adequate price. The chief New Testament word for this transaction (lutroo) meant originally to release captives, taken in war or by robbers, by means of a ransom, and then to manumit a slave. Thus did Christ, having by incarnation become our kinsman, act as our Kinsman-Redeemer, and “give His life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28 : Mark 10:45). No less price could redeem our forfeited life; no more could be demanded. Man is in a threefold bondage:(a) to his sins, which enslave him; (b) to the law of God that condemns him for his sins; (c) to death, their penalty. From this bondage Christ sets free the believer in Him. (a) Titus 2:13-14 :“our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ; Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity,” that is, from the iniquities themselves, not only from the consequences. This is the point of the first statement regarding Him found in the New Testament, “thou shalt call His name JESUS; for He is the one that shall save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:18). (b) Galatians 3:13 speaks of the curse of the law pronounced upon all who break its precepts, even the sentence of death:but “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law having become a curse for us; for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.” Through sin each man was fallen under this dread condemnation of the law of God, but Christ in wondrous grace and condescension, consented to be “born under law, that He might redeem them that were under law” (Galatians 4:4-5). There is here no article; simply “under law”; not “the law,” as if meaning the Mosaic law; Christ was “born under law, that He might redeem them that were under law;” and ver. 8 shows that the passage is directed to Gentiles, idolators, not only to Jews:“ye were in bondage to them that by nature are no gods.” All men are liable to the law of God that death is the penalty of sin. (c) A different word for redeem is used here exagorazo. It carries two thoughts; (1) the publicity of the transaction, for the root agorazo meant to buy in open market (agora, market place); and (2) the completeness of the purchase, for the prefix exgives the emphasis of our phrase “I bought him out, I acquired all his holding in the Company;” and therefore the sacrifice made by Christ sets the believer wholly free from the grip of the outraged law by completely satisfying its demand on the sinner. This verb is found elsewhere in the New Testament at Ephesians 5:16 : Colossians 4:5, “redeeming the time.” At whatever cost of care and sacrifice the believer, being himself redeemed completely from sin and doom, is himself to redeem completely every minute from being mis-spent and wasted. He is to buy up every opportunity to do the will of God. This leads us to notice a fourth sphere and aspect of redemption. (d) 1 Peter 1:18 :“ye were redeemed (lutroo) not with corruptible things, with silver, or gold, from your vain manner of life, handed down from your fathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, even the blood of Christ.” Men everywhere have thought it natural and sufficient to live as did their forbears. Nor is there virtue in change for its own sake. But the Christian is under a sacred and imperious obligation to remember that man’s ways are not God’s ways (Isaiah 55:8-9); that nothing that originates in the world’s system of life is of God (1 John 2:16); so that to follow the way our fathers took is surely to miss the way of God. And this is a “vain manner of life” - it produces no true satisfaction now and its vanity will be fully evident when the world passes away and sinners have only to say My days are in the yellow leaf, The flowers and fruits of life are gone The worm, the canker, and the grief Are mine alone. (Byron). To save us from this lamentable fate the Son of God shed His precious blood. He bought us out of that wretched enslaved condition that we should live worthily for Him and eternity. The redeemed slave who continues in bondage is false to himself and his Redeemer.
Thus in redemption there are bondage, purchase, and freedom, and naturally the chief emphasis is on the last. It was by no means the thought of God that the blood of the passover lamb should merely deliver from the Destroyer yet leave the delivered still slaves in Egypt. His message ran:“I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey” (Exodus 3:8). At the time, this last sentence was a proverbial phrase for abundant fruitfulness, the exact and full opposite of a desert. It is upon the goal, rather than upon the price and process of redemption that Scripture enlarges. The infinite cost is indeed declared - the precious blood of Christ; but the stress falls upon the full outcome of the redemption.
Thus our Saviour Jesus Christ redeemed us from all iniquity (the past life) in order that a present effect may flow out, even that He may “purify unto Himself a people for His own possession, zealous of good works” (Titus 3:14). And Peter teaches that our redemption by the blood of God’s Lamb demands that we shall gird up the loins of our mind, be sober, and “set your hope perfectly [undividedly] on the favour that is being brought unto you [the divine process is already in movement] at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:13). Present holiness is the pathway to future glory, which they shall reach who press through the wilderness to Canaan.
Moses was sent by God to Israel to be their ruler and redeemer (lutrotees). They who submittedto him as ruler, by obeying his directions and following his lead, were delivered and liberated. The redemption which brings first the forgiveness of transgressions is with a view to the day of redemption, and demands that we shall not grieve the blessed Spirit Whose indwelling is the seal of God’s proprietory rights with a view to redemption. Thus redemption is a past fact as to the matter of purchase, but also a future hope as to full development (Ephesians 1:7; Ephesians 1:14; Ephesians 4:30). It may be that Paul meant to recall to the Ephesians the custom at their port that a merchant or builder could buy timber, paying the price that freed it from the ownership of the vendor and himself acquiring that right; whereupon he sealed each plank with his seal, and in due time he or his agent upon producing the seal could remove the timber. The payment of the purchase price was vital, but the object of the buyer was personal possession and use.
Similarly in Romans 3:24, redemption is connected with our justification, but chap. 8:18-25 looks on to the goal, when the body also shall be emancipated from present frailty and pain, and in heavenly liberty and glory shall be a house suitable to the sons of God. Of this sublime consummation the indwelling Spirit of God is firstfruits and gives foretastes, but we still groan, waiting for and expecting our “adoption, the redemption of our body.” Thus Christ Jesus is made unto us from God wisdom on all the chief necessities of our case, and the means of fulfilment of all the great and gracious desires of God; He is our righteousness before God, our justification; He is our sanctification, in present liberty from the tyranny of sin; and He is our redemption, the Fulfiller to the utmost of God’s purpose that men of faith shall be glorified (1 Corinthians 1:30). For Christ is “the Mediator of a new covenant, that a death having taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covenant, they that have been called may receive the promise of eternal inheritance” (Hebrews 9:15). The purchase price of this glorious programme and prospect was His own blood, and as this effected a redemption that is eternal (Hebrews 9:12), He rests for ever from that work, but carries out and develops its results unto their full completion. The pathway to this lies through many tribulations (Acts 14:22), and we must suffer with Him if we would be glorified with Him (Romans 8:17); but when, as this age draws to its end, these sufferings for His sake reach their greatest intensity, then may we “look up” hopefully, and “lift up our heads” with joy and confidence, for then will our redemption have drawn nigh (Luke 21:28). This mighty scheme, proposed by Divine love, devised by Divine wisdom, based upon Divine sacrifice, will be consummated by Divine power. Its climax will be the glorifying of the church of God with the Son of God in His proper heavenly realm; but there is included a repentance, recovery, and re-establishment of Israel in their land and honour as God’s chosen people for the earth. For this “redemption of Jerusalem” the pious in Israel were looking and of it they spake often one to another (Luke 1:68; Luke 2:38; Luke 24:21), as the prophets had done before them. Nor shall only the church, Israel, and other nations benefit, but the whole creation shall at last “be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory [a liberty proportionate to the glory] of the sons of God” (Romans 8:19-21). For, as before shown, the redeeming virtue of the blood of Christ has no limits, except in those who reject its saving grace and refuse to be reconciled to God. For that grace constrains but does not compel (Luke 24:23 contrast R.V. and A.V.). (8) Sanctification. Genesis 2:3 states that “God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it.” Exodus 13:2 tells that God said “Sanctify unto Me all the firstborn.” In the Hebrew “hallow” and “sanctify” are the same word, as in the A.V. The force of the word is seen in Leviticus 26:1-46, which refers to the sanctifying unto the Lord a house (14), or land (16), that is, it was devoted to the service of God and could not be used for a secular purpose while so devoted. Conversely, no one could voluntarily so devote the firstling of a beast or the tithe of his produce because these were already, by statute, the Lord’s property. The meaning therefore is that the person or thing sanctified was set apart from common use to be devoted to God, it ceased to be common,profane, secular and became sacred.
It is to be observed that this primary meaning of the term is irrespective of the inherent quality of the object sanctified. The firstborn child or animal might prove healthy or weakly, the produce of the consecrated field might be rich or poor, but the law of the consecration read “He shall not alter it or change it, a good for a bad or a bad for a good” (vers. 10, 33), under penalty that both should be deemed sanctified. The Hebrew word and its cognates come some 260 times. In the Greek Old Testament they are represented by Greek words of the same primary meaning, and which are used in the New Testament in the same sense. In the setting apart unto God for sacred use something that had before been common the atoning blood took a primary place. It is written of the altar of burnt offering that “Moses took the blood, and put it upon the horns of the altar round about with his finger, and purified the altar, and sanctified it, to make atonement for it” (Leviticus 16:15); and of the person of the priest likewise we read in the same chapter that “Moses took of the anointing oil, and of the blood which was upon the altar, and sprinkled it upon Aaron, upon his garments, and upon his sons, and upon his son’s garments with him, and sanctified Aaron, his garments, and his sons, and his son’s garments with him” (ver. 30).
Thus the spot where in grace the Holy One met the guilty with pardoning mercy was sanctified for the purpose by the blood that atoned for guilt. The cross of Christ would not have become the meeting place in peace for God and man had not the Redeemer there atoned for sin by the blood He shed to cover sin. Therefore it is said that “Jesus sanctified the people by His own blood” and that “we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews 13:12; Hebrews 10:10). He who has accepted the atoning blood of Christ is to remember that, not only has he thereby received pardon for his sins, but he has thereby consented to regard himself henceforth as set apart unto God as a vessel dedicated wholly to sacred use, as it is written, “Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31, and see Colossians 3:17).
Here it is necessary to recall what has just been mentioned, that this setting apart unto God does not depend upon the personal condition of the one thus sanctified. At his consecration as priest Aaron was not altered in actual character by that solemn ceremony. He was the same man, still “compassed with infirmity” (Hebrews 5:2); but he had been set apart entirely for God, which very fact must itself have conduced to greater watchfulness over his heart and conduct, in order that he might walk worthily of his high and priestly calling. For he bore upon his forehead a golden plate inscribed “Holy [set apart] to Jehovah” (Exodus 28:36). The believer is not to wait until he feels some marked change in his nature before dedicating himself unto God; he is to accept the searching and ennobling fact that, by having accepted atonement by the blood of Christ, he has already been set apart to God to do His holy will.
Himself, his garments, his surroundings are to be regarded in detail as sacred, as belonging to God. It is in this sense that all believers are called “saints,” dedicated ones. Of this sense of the word “sanctify” the highest and quite unique example is that of the Son of God. He said of Himself that the Father had sanctified Him and sent Him into the world, and added, “Sanctify them in Thy truth... And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth” (John 10:36; John 17:17; John 17:19). It was clearly no question of His personal character being purified, for He was inherently without sin or imperfection. The sense is that the Father had set apart the Son for a definite service on earth and the Son had correspondingly set Himself apart to render that service. The thought is that of consecration anddedication, and He prayed that the truth He had taught His disciples might work effectually unto their dedication of themselves to God and His service.
There is yet more. Atoning blood is the basis of and preparation for the anointing oil. When the backslidden leper in Israel had been pardoned and healed his renewed fellowship with God, His people, and his family was secured by ceremonial cleansing. In this three elements were employed, blood, oil, and water. Blood and water commingled were sprinkled upon him. The part played by the water we shall notice later. The blood was put upon his ear, hand, and foot, to signify that his mind, work, and walk were now dedicated to God:the ear to fill the mind with thoughts of God, the hand to serve Him in every act, the feet to walk in His ways. But what son of Adam can assure such undivided devotion to God? The oil was then put where the blood already was, to signify that the grace of the Holy Spirit of God would be available to make actual what the blood had made possible (Leviticus 14:1-57). The same ceremony formed part of the consecration of the priest, oil being put upon the blood and poured upon the head (Leviticus 16:1-34). A national fulfilment of this type awaits Israel in the day when they shall repent of their national backsliding from God, with its culminating wickedness in the murder of their Messiah, for thereupon God will sprinkle upon them “clean water” (Leviticus 14:1-57: Numbers 19:1-22), that is, water by which the blood will be applied, the Spirit bringing home to the conscience the saving virtue of the death of Christ; and then will God put within them His Spirit, Who will cause them to listen to God’s commandments with an understanding mind and ready heart, so that by the Spirit’s strength they will do the will of God, and will walk gladly in His ways (Ezekiel 36:24-27). But a present fulfilment is available already for such as repent of their sin, abandon it, and accept the cleansing of the conscience, so having the heart sprinkled from a consciousness of evil because of appreciating and appropriating the atoning virtue of the blood of Christ. Pentecost follows Calvary; the Spirit is granted to the believer who devotes himself unreservedly to Him Whose blood has redeemed him from all iniquity. This was the attitude of heart of the hundred and twenty upon whom the Spirit was poured on the day of Pentecost; and ever since then God has given the Spirit to them that obey Him (Acts 5:32). Such show that they have been anointed with the Spirit by witnessing for Christ, talking of Him with the tongue and displaying Him in their spirit and ways.
Thus is there not only sanctification by the blood of Christ but a further “sanctification of the Spirit” (1 Peter 1:2). He it is Who so presents Christ to the heart that the obedient find every spiritual need met, every godly desire satisfied in Him; with the consequence that in the power of the heavenly anointing the dedication to Him which is demanded by the atoning blood is rendered out of love and gratitude. The oil was put only where blood had first been put. Pentecost did not precede Calvary, could not do so. No one can receive the Spirit who has not first received Christ as Redeemer by His blood. But by the indwelling Spirit of holiness the believer can fulfil the just demand of God “Ye shall be holy, for I am holy,” a call given four times to Israel in the book of Leviticus (Leviticus 11:44-45; Leviticus 19:2; Leviticus 20:7, Leviticus 20:26), and repeated to Christians in 1 Peter 1:15-16. The atoning blood is the basis of holiness, of a life fully consecrated to God, and the Spirit, typified by oil, is its power. (9) Access. This subject is now resumed. The dignity of the king, as superior to all his subjects, has caused it to be regarded as a special honour to have access to his person, especially on State occasions. From the book of Esther we know that in Persia it was at risk of death that one should approach the king’s throne in the inner court of the palace without having been first invited(Esther 4:11). So far did this seclusion rule in that Persian empire that there were only seven princes who had almost unrestricted right of access to the sovereign, they “saw the king’s face and sat first in the kingdom” (Esther 1:14). From Herodotus we learn that the original seven of these acquired this honour by special devotion to his cause. They had risked all to drive an usurper from the throne and secure it for the true heir. The same principle of seclusion ruled in Israel in relation to entering the inner sanctuary of the tabernacle where God was present in a ray of glory. As before noted, even the consecrated high priest was forbidden to enter more than once a year, on the day of atonement (Leviticus 16:2). The high and heavy veil screened that Presence from all beholders, “the Holy Spirit this signifying, that the way into the holy places hath not yet been made manifest, while the first tabernacle is yet standing” (Hebrews 9:6-8). “The holy places,” not here only the most holy place, because while the priests and Levites could enter daily the courts, and the priests the outer room of the sanctuary, the rest of the people, being the vast majority of the nation, were forbidden even this measure of approach to God. It was under penalty of death that any one of them ventured to draw near to God (Numbers 1:51; Numbers 3:10 :etc.). Even Levites forfeited their lives when they presumed to act as priests (Numbers 16:1-50), and later the king himself was stricken with fatal sickness when he entered the holy place to offer incense, a priestly act (2 Chronicles 26:1-23).
How striking is the difference revealed in the New Testament. The people of God of this age are exhorted to “draw near with boldness unto the throne,” to find it a “throne of grace,” where they can obtain mercy as to failures and grace to help as may be, needed (Hebrews 4:16). Of this mighty change the rending of the veil of the temple at the death of Christ was the public notice, the Holy Spirit signifying thus that from that hour the way into the holy places is made manifest, is thrown open to every believer.
Two principal facts contribute jointly to this marvellous change and mighty privilege:the Mediator and His precious blood. Jesus stated an unchanging and universal fact when He said:“I am the way; no one cometh unto the Father but through Me” (John 14:6). No one can have access to the sovereign of England at a court function unless provided with an invitation issued by the Lord Chamberlain of the Household. This official might say, “I am the way; no one comes unto the Queen but through me.”
Moreover, even the high priest in Israel durst not enter the Presence of God unless he took with him the blood that removed the guilt that debarred man access to God; without atoning blood he would have died there, paying the penalty of sin. “Christ also suffered for sins once, the Righteous One for the unrighteous ones, that He might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18); not only that He might bring out to us the pardon of God, but that He might take us in to God. “Being therefore justified by faith let us have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ; through Whom also we have had our access into this state of favour wherein we stand before God” (Romans 5:1-2), and “have boldness to enter into the holy places in [the virtue of] the [atoning] blood of Jesus” (Hebrews 10:19-22). The veil is rent; Lo! Jesus stands Before the throne of grace, While clouds of incense from His hands Fill all that glorious place. His precious blood He sprinkles there, Before, and on the throne; And His own wounds in heaven declare His work on earth is done.Within the holiest of all, Cleansed by His precious blood, Before Thy throne Thy children fall, And worship Thee, our God.
Boldly our heart and voice we raise, His name, His blood, our plea; Assured our prayers and songs of praise Ascend by Him to Thee. (J. G. Deck) Blessed is he who can thus sing, not merely as recital of privilege, but out of real heart experience of the presence of God. It was one who, though a king, could not act as priest, who envied that honour and exclaimed Blessed is the man whom Thou choosest, and causest to approach, That he may dwell in Thy courts. (David, Psalms 65:4).
David could only visit the great public court:priests could dwell before God. It is possible that prayer may be only like the sending of a petition to the king, instead of talking with him in his very presence. “Let us draw near;” let us learn how to realize this as a genuine experience of the spirit. Being asked if he knew the way to heaven a plain man replied, “I lives there!” (10) Victory. And when this becomes fact, what then? Then, of course, the spiritual anticipation and counterpart of pearly gates and golden streets and golden harps! Then peace like a river and joy like a fountain, because, “The Father’s face in radiant grace Shines now in light on me.”
Yes, and of this we might and ought to know much more. We ought to be able to sing with ecstasy And oh, to know this place is mine!
Though yet by faith, in measure small, To breathe its air, to sip its wine, To dwell where God is all in all- This, this is LIFE, before the throne, And all is death save this alone.
Yet this is only one aspect of being seated with Christ in heavenly places. The same epistle that early lifts us there, closes by dwelling upon the dread fact that in those same heavenly places we wrestle against wicked spirits (Ephesians 2:6; Ephesians 6:12); and he who most abides there in Christ knows most of this conflict. In Egypt Israel did no fighting:they were slaves. During forty years in the desert they fought only two battles with outside foes:in the one they conquered by faith and prayer in the other self-confidence brought defeat (Exodus 17:8-15 Numbers 14:39-45). In those years their own fleshly lusts were their entanglement. The devil does not need to bother much about Christians who live after the flesh. But as soon as Israel crossed the Jordan (typical of our passingout of the flesh into life in the Spirit), on those uplands of Canaan they must needs fight for their promised land and dispossess by force the giants and others who disputed possession. Ours is no sham fight, no mimic warfare. The Greek word palee, translated “wrestling” in Ephesians 6:12, pictures antagonists locked in deadly embrace, swaying hither and thither as each strives to throw or kill the other. This is its only place in the New Testament, which lends strength and vividness to the passage. I must defeat Satan or be defeated. To say that every believer is a conqueror is false and foolish, a help to being defeated. Nor is this warfare located only in the inner man of the Christian; it has also the character of legal proceedings in Court, the Court of heaven. It is the throne to which we draw near. In Bible times the king sat thereupon as the supreme judge. It was the final Court of appeal (1 Kings 2:12; 1 Kings 3:16). From very early times we see this High Court of heaven in action (Job 1:1; Job 1:2. 2 Chronicles 18:18-22: Daniel 4:4; Daniel 7:9-10; Daniel 7:26 : Luke 22:31-32). This situation continues on till the close of this age, for Revelation 12:7-12 tells of the casting of Satan out of that heavenly realm, until when he continues as the Accuser of God’s people, even as he was of Job. This casting down is to be a little before Christ establishes His kingdom on earth. Of this continuing reality few believers are aware, or few teachers either. It means that Satan, the Adversary of God’s church (Luke 28:1-8 : 1 Peter 5:8-10), is the ProsecutorGeneral of the universe, and either invents calumnies, as he did against Job, or bases charges on the sins of believers. If he carries the day in that Court, then, as Peter and the other disciples found, the Christian is left to him to be disciplined, as corn is tossed in a sieve. The end intended and permitted by God is the removing of the chaff, but the tossing will be severe (Amos 9:8-10).
How urgent therefore is the question of how the attack of the Prosecutor is to be defeated and the character cleared before that Judge and Court. A main object of Satan in tempting the believer into sin is to stop his mouth, to prevent him witnessing of Christ and his salvation. The battle on earth is therefore mainly that the Christian shall so live that he shall be able consistently to talk of Christ and invite Satan’s slaves to secure their liberty from his thraldom and doom; as it is written:“they overcame him... because of the word of their testimony,” in giving which they were prepared even to die, “they loved not their life even unto death” (Revelation 12:11). But how are they, or their Advocate before that Court on high (1 John 2:2 : Luke 22:32 : Hebrews 4:14), to defeat the Accuser’s plea that the failures of Christians ought to be punished. In that Court they must rely solely upon the argument that the due penalty of their sins as believers has been already met by the death of their Substitute:“they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 12:11). The Lord’s words to Peter, “Satan obtained you by asking” (Luke 22:31, mgn.), represent a technical legal word (exaiteo) meaning to demand that a culprit be punished. If a Court orders that a certain sum be paid by a given date and it be not paid, a demand can be made that the defaulter be punished for having disobeyed the Court. The answer in law would be to show that the order had been obeyed and the sum paid. This would be an equally valid answer irrespective of who had made the payment, the debtor or a surety.
There is no other possible way of overcoming the Accuser than to plead the blood of Christ; but this plea, when presented by the repentant believer, and endorsed by the heavenly Advocate, cannot fail. But it must be remembered that this plea cannot be urged or accepted so long as the sin remains unrepented, unforsaken, unconfessed. Our Advocate is not there to enable us to continue in any sin, but to deliver us from the Accuser if we walk in the light of God’s will. This has been shown in section 3. above on 1 John 1:6-7. On this condition victory is assured through the blood of the Lamb. (2) A Kingdom of Priests. Deliverance from the Destroyer by the blood of the Passover lambopened the door for Israel to enter upon the life of freedom marked by faith and obedience. God could now go on to train them for the purposes which He had in mind for the sons of Abraham His friend. One of the earliest of these purposes to be made known, and the highest of them, was declared in these words:“Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians,” which shows that with Me nothing is impossible; “and I bare you on eagles wings,” showing My love, and strength, and care; “and brought you unto Myself,” so that I should have one people of the earth as My possession from among the apostate nations of the world. “Now therefore, if ye will obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be Mine own possession from among all peoples:for all the earth is Mine.” Thus this first great promise to persons already redeemed was prefaced by a condition, and its fulfilment demanded their obedience and faithfulness. This was not under the law of Sinai, for it preceded that event. It did not in the least alter their past redemption and deliverance from both the Destroyer and Pharaoh, but it did affect their future, which was “ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:4-6).
“A kingdom” - that is, a governing body, as it was said of a queen, “thou art come to the kingdom” (Esther 4:14), and of a king, “Darius the Mede received the kingdom” (Daniel 5:31). But these rulers were to be also a body of priests, thus royal priests. This was not a new idea. It was the general practice of the nations that the king should be the chief priest of his people. Melchizedek was a fairly recent instance from the time of their father Abraham. It was therefore the grand privilege of Israel to be a royal nation to rule all the earth for God, and a priestly people to instruct the rest of mankind in His law, to minister to them His grace, and to lead them in His worship. Thus should they serve the promise made to their first father that in him all the families of the earth should be blessed (Genesis 12:3). This would be the restoration of the Divine purpose in the creation of Adam, for he also had been appointed to rule the earth for God, but had broken down. But beyond this lay the nobler thought, that this programme would bring Israel into close association with the Son of God, Who Himself, from the beginning of creation, had been its appointed Sovereign and the Priest through Whom God held relations with all His creatures, heavenly and earthly. A Royal Priest, combining both offices in one Person, is the ideal to which God works, and which He will restore in heaven and on earth. For though Israel failed at that time in obedience, and the dignity offered has never been realized, yet it shall find fulfilment in the day of their national repentance and recovery. For the prophet saw and declared Israel’s national supremacy, saying, “the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish,” and their priesthood, saying, “ye shall be named priests of Jehovah; men shall call you ministers of our God.” But this can be fulfilled only when that also shall be true of them which the same prophet said, “My people also shall be all righteous” (Isaiah 60:12; Isaiah 60:21; Isaiah 61:6).
Yet even so, this will fulfil the plan of God for the earth only. But He has said that He has put all things under man’s feet (Psalms 8:6). Truly, as it is said in Hebrews 2:8, we “see not yet all things subjected to him,” man, although in His purpose God has “left nothing that is not subject to him” (man:ver. 7). But we do see the promise receiving fulfilment in one man, the man Jesus, already on the throne of God. And God is now working by His Spirit through the truth to “bring many sons unto glory” (ver. 10), to share the glory and authority and royal priesthood of His Divine Priest King. And this shall include authority over the heavens as well as the earth, for “know ye not that the saints shall judge the world?... Know ye not that we shall judge angels?” (1 Corinthians 6:2-3). For the church as for Israel the realization of this supreme dignity and service is conditional, for it is “if so be that we suffer with Him that we may be also glorified with Him” (Romans 8:17), and “if we endure we shall also reign with Him,” and obtain, not only salvation, but “salvation with eternal glory” (2 Timothy 2:10-13). As the salvation of Israel from temporal death in Egypt was not affected by their failure to reach God’s later ideal for them, so neither is our salvation from eternal death affected by failure to attain to God’s higher ideal for us. And the reason is this, that salvation issecured by faith, and is granted on the ground that life answers to life, death for death; and the deliverance thus effected is irreversible in law. It is atoning blood that rescues completely from doom, and so it is the door that opens into the way of life, with its noble possibilities. Therefore this royal priesthood is connected with redemption, as it is written, “Unto Him that loveth us, and loosed us from our sins in His blood; and He made us to be a kingdom, priests unto His God and Father; to Him be the glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen!” (Revelation 1:5-6).
Every royal priest in that heavenly company will declare “I stand upon His merit, I know no other stand, Not e’en where glory dwelleth, In Immanuel’s land.” And the four and twenty Elders, the present royal priests, who will then give up their crowns, when the Conqueror and His fellow-conquerors shall take the throne (Revelation 3:21), will endorse that declaration and will say to Him, “Worthy art Thou to take the book, and to open the seals thereof:for Thou wast slain and didst purchase unto God with Thy blood men of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation, and madest them to be unto our God a kingdom and priests; and they reign upon the earth” (Revelation 5:9-10).
Thus the atoning blood of God’s Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, is the eternal basis of all God’s gracious work with a sinner, from its commencement in salvation from doom to its crown and completion in the glory of heaven. Rightly do we sing, Precious, precious blood of Jesus, Shed on Calvary; Shed for rebels, shed for sinners, Shed for me.
Precious blood that hath redeemed us, All the price is paid; Perfect pardon now is offered, Peace is made.
Precious blood! by this we conquer In the fiercest fight, Sin and Satan overcoming By its might.
Precious blood, whose full atonement Makes us nigh to God!
Precious blood, our song of glory, Praise and laud! (F. R. Havergal).