November 22

"The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less, than the half-shekel, when they give the offering of the Lord, to make atonement for your souls."—Exodus 30:15 (R.V.).

My soul is forfeit. My soul needs to bring atonement money when it comes into the audience-chamber of the Lord. Without the peace-offering, it dare not venture before the Face of God.

But I read that once, when Jesus paid these temple dues, He paid them both for Himself and for Peter. He sent to the rulers of God's house not the half-shekel which the Law demanded, but a whole shekel. That take, He said, and give unto them for Me and for thee. It is a story full of comfort for my heart in its spiritual pennilessness. It is a parable of my salvation.

Jesus, who has no sin of His own to be cleansed away, has yet come, for me and for my redemption, into the position of one whose life is forfeit. As my Kinsman and Redeemer He pays the atonement money—pays it in the coin of heaven—the silver and gold of His true body and reasonable soul. But He does it for me as well as for Himself. There is such merit in Him, such completeness, such grace, that for His sake I am welcomed by the holy, holy, holy King.

In the Lord my Righteousness I have everything I need for my pardon. In the Lord my Sanctification I have everything I need for my holiness. In the Lord the Perfecter of my faith I have everything I need for my future. He undoes all the fetters. He opens all the doors. He remits all the debts.

Nothing—not even the temple half-shekel—in my hands I bring. I ask Jesus to pay the whole shekel for Him and for me.