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  THE GREATEST THEME IN THE WORLD
  by F.E. Marsh
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Marsh's examination of Christ's atonement as the most comprehensive and
distinctive theological theme in the Bible, presenting the cross as the central
purpose of biblical revelation and the heart of the Christian message.

  Chapters: 11

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  TABLE OF CONTENTS
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    1. 000 - Introductory: Comprehensiveness of Christ's Atonement
    2. 01 - The Meang of Christ's Atonement
    3. 02 - The Scriptures and Christ's Atonement
    4. 03 - God and Christ's Atonement
    5. 04 - Sin and Christ's Atonement
    6. 05 - Christ and His Atonement
    7. 06 - The Holy Spirit and Christ's Atonement
    8. 07 - Satan and Christ's Atonement
    9. 08 - Holiness and Christ's Atonement
   10. 09 - Service and Christ's Atonement
   11. 10 - The Glory and Christ's Atonement

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  CHAPTER 1: 000 - INTRODUCTORY: COMPREHENSIVENESS OF CHRIST'S ATONEMENT
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INTRODUCTORY COMPREHENSIVENESS OF CHRIST’S ATONEMENT

Dr. Hugh McMillan says: “The Atonement of our Lord is the grandest and most
distinctive thing in the Bible for the sake of which, indeed, the Bible was
produced. Very superficial must be the study of the natural and human worlds,
that overlooks the vast concurrent testimony which they give to this vital
truth. In certain of its aspects, the Atonement is no unique doctrine, no
startling theme. The oldest fact of nature, the inmost fact of society, the
greatest fact of Christianity meet and are one on Calvary.”

I have no hesitation in saying, the Atonement is not only “the greatest fact of
Christianity,”

IT IS CHRISTIANITY - It is the supplier of all human need, - the answerer of all
human questions, - the minister to all human ills, - the joy of all human
sorrows, - the remover of all human guilt, and - the securer of all Divine
glory.

Dryden has aptly and happily expressed it when he said, “Look humbly upward, see
His will disclose, The forfeit first, and then the fine impose; A mulet thy
poverty could never pay, Had not eternal wisdom found the way, And with
celestial wealth supplied thy store; His justice makes the fine, His mercy quits
the score.

See God descending in the human frame, The offended suffering in the offender’s
name, All thy misdeeds to Him imputed see, And all His Righteousness devolved on
thee.”, In these studies on this theme of themes in the pages of Holy Writ, and
by the inner illumination of the HOLY SPIRIT, I trust we shall come to this
conclusion “CHRIST DID NOT DIE FOR NOTHING, NOR FOR SOMETHING MERELY, BUT FOR
EVERYTHING.”

1. CHRIST in His Atonement is the Sum of All Knowledge. The essence of Greek
philosophy was, “O, man know thyself.” The sum of the gospel is, “This is life
eternal, to know Thee, the only true God; and Jesus Christ, Whom Thou hast
sent.”

Why was He sent? CHRIST Himself answers the question - “I have glorified Thee on
the earth, I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do.”

Thus the sum of the gospel is, to know CHRIST in His accomplished work on the
cross, and, by knowing Him, to know GOD in the provision of His love, and the
saving of His grace. He who knows not the CHRIST of Calvary knows not GOD, and
he who does not thus know, knows not anything that is worth knowing.

Adolph Saphir says: “To know JESUS CHRIST, and Him crucified, is not the minimum
of knowledge, but the maximum of knowledge... it is not to know little, but to
know all; here is not a descent from a loftier region, but an elevation to the
highest sanctuary. In JESUS CHRIST and Him crucified all doctrines, all GOD’s
teachings, and man’s experiences culminate; and from JESUS CHRIST and Him
crucified all duties, all works, ALL MINISTRIES ARE TO CULMINATE AND TO BE
EVOLVED.

Here is the hidden and perfect wisdom of GOD.

- No doctrine is seen clearly and truly unless it leads to the cross; - no work
is God-pleasing, and no experience or attainment genuine and vital, unless it
has its source, root, and strength in the Cross; - no waiting for the Second
Advent is healthy and purifying unless it is called forth by the contemplation
of the Great GOD and Saviour, Who gave Himself for us, and redeemed us from all
iniquity.

O blessed concentration! Blessed simplicity of the gospel! From this centre,
from this Cross of JESUS CHRIST, as from the heart, are the issues of life.”

II. CHRIST in His Atonement is the Substantiation of all Prophecy.Take away the
theme of CHRIST’s substitutionary work from the Old Testament, and the whole of
it falls to the ground. See it there, and then it becomes a living body, through
which the Blood of Atonement is pulsating from the heart of GOD’s love all the
time.

Take one chapter, Isaiah 53:1-12, that Quarry where the gold of CHRIST’s
Atonement is predicted, proclaimed, and illustrated, and let us ponder seven
words, and couple with them seven New Testament words, and, as we do so, we
shall find that the Old Testament lies open in the New, as the New Testament is
hidden in the Old.

“HE HATH borne OUR GRIEFS”

“HE bare THE SIN OF MANY” (Isaiah 53:4, Isaiah 53:12).

“WHO HIS OWN SELF bare OUR SINS” (1 Peter 2:24). The thought in each of these
verses is, CHRIST bearing our sins up to the tree in order to bear them away, as
the sacrificial victim was led to the altar as a substitute, to be put to death.
Luther strongly put it when he says: “God laid upon Him our sins... saying, ’Be
Thou Peter the denier; Paul the persecutor, blasphemer, and cruel oppressor;
that sinner that ate the fruit in Paradise; that thief which hanged upon the
cross; and, briefly, be Thou the sinner who hath committed the sin of all.’’’

“Carried OUR SORROWS” (Isaiah 53:4). “LAMB OF GOD, WHICH taketh away THE SIN OF
THE WORLD” (John 1:29). The word “carried” is the same as “bear” in Isaiah 53:11
- “Bear their iniquities,” and means to bear a heavy burden. It is rendered “to
bear” in Genesis 49:15 in speaking of Issachar, and comparing him to a couching
ass - couching as, a strong ass between two burdens.

“Issachar is a strong ass couching down between two burdens: And he saw that
rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant; and bowed his shoulder to
bear, and became a servant unto tribute.”

What a striking illustration of CHRIST, with the burden of our sins upon Him,
and the burden of GOD’s wrath against them. The word which John uses means to
lift up a burden upon oneself, and then to carry it away.

“Wounded FOR OUR TRANSGRESSIONS” (Isaiah 53:5).

“HIM WHOM THEY Pierced” (John 19:37). The word “’Wounded” means to bore, to
torment (margin), and to slay. It might be paraphrased “He was pierced for our
transgressions.” The same word occurs in Psalms 109:22 -”My heart is ’Wounded
within me.’“

It is interesting to know that the same thought meets us in connection with the
meat offering. We read of “unleavened cakes” (Leviticus 2:4). Newberry renders
it “pierced cakes,” and in the margin of his Bible he has this note “Hebrew,
Chaloth, from Chahlal, to be pierced or wounded.” Chahlal is the word rendered
“’Wounded” in the above passages.The Arab oven was a large, broad vessel, in the
bottom of which sharp flints were set. The cake placed upon these flints became
indented, and was thus baked. It is difficult to imagine a type of suffering
more forcible than this. The Psalmist, in speaking of the wicked, says, “Thou
shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of Thy wrath” (Psalms 21:9). CHRIST,
because of our transgressions, was placed in the oven of GOD’s wrath, and felt
the flints of His judgment. He now bears the marks, in His marked hands and feet
and side, of that indenting work. “Bruised FOR OUR INIQUITIES”

“IT PLEASED THE LORD TO bruise HIM” (Isaiah 53:5, Isaiah 53:10).

“CHRIST HATH ONCE suffered FOR SINS” (1 Peter 3:18). The word “bruise” does not
convey all the intensity of the one used. “Crushed” is the more expressive word.
The following uses of the word illustrate this.

- The word is translated “to crush” in Lamentations 3:34, as when one is
trampled under foot; - “to break in pieces” in Psalms 72:4, and - “to beat in
pieces” in Isaiah 3:15, as when an image is completely smashed; - and it also
signifies to be “smitten” (Psalms 143:3), - “broken” (Psalms 89:10), - and “to
destroy” (Job 6:9), as when one is smitten to the ground, then broken, and
ground to powder.

CHRIST, to save us from the consequences of our iniquities, was ground in the
mills of GOD’s terrible wrath. No wonder it is said He suffered. He was sore
“vexed.” The word “suffered” is rendered “vexed” in Matthew 17:15, and. “felt”
in Acts 28:5. His sufferings were not imaginary nothings, but terrible and awful
realities. His were the pains, the brushings, that ours might be the blessings
and the pleasures.

“THE Chastisement OF OUR PEACE WAS UPON HIM” (Isaiah 53:5).

“MADE PEACE BY THE BLOOD OF HIS CROSS” (Colossians 1:20).

Here again the word “chastisement” does not convey all that is signified.
Alexander defines it as “punishment.” The word is often translated “correction”
in referring to a father punishing his children; hence, the “rod of correction”
and the “correction” of the stocks are essential in their discipline (Proverbs
7:22; Proverbs 22:15). The word is also rendered “Bond” in Job 12:18, “check” in
Job 20:3, and “Rebuker” in Hosea 5:2.

What a bond He was in, what a check of reproach He received, and what a Rebuker
of sin He found the Righteous GOD to be when He suffered on our account.
“Punishment!” Peace!

What two opposites. Punishment for Him. Peace for us.

Peace mean.to bind together, to make one. The word “peace” is translated “one”
in Acts 7:26.

We are made one with GOD’s blessing because CHRIST was made one with our
punishment.”By HIS stripes WE ARE HEALED” (Isaiah 53:5).

“BY WHOSE stripes YE WERE HEALED” (1 Peter 2:24). The word “stripes” means to
scar, and comes from a root which means to join, as Newberry says, “Scar,
Chaburah, from Chabar, to join.” The root word signifies to have fellowship
with, to couple together. It is rendered “coupled together” in speaking of the
curtains of the Tabernacle. (Exodus 22:3).

He was joined to our sin in having joined to Him the punishment that was due to
it; and we who believe in Him are now joined in His benefit, for, in His death
for us, we have died with Him.

We receive the wealth of His Atonement, since He has received the weals of our
desert.

“Laid ON HIM THE INIQUITY OF US ALL” (Isaiah 53:6).

“MADE HIM TO BE SIN FOR US” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

“He caused to meet upon Him” is Newberry’s more expressive reading. Alexander
says, “that conveyed by the Hebrew word is necessarily a violent word.” The use
of the word illustrates its forcible significance.

- It is used of a bear meeting a man - “a bear met him” (Amos 5:19), - of a
person assailing another to kill him - “he fell upon him that he died” (1 Kings
2:25), - of something which separates as when a cloud hides from view - “the
cloud that cometh betwixt” (Job 36:32). CHRIST was the One upon Whom the mass of
human guilt came as a wild beast to tear Him to His hurt and death, and our
iniquity was the great obscurer to cause Heaven’s face to be hidden from Him. He
was the personification of sin, and we who are His are now represented in all
the perfection of His Divine Humanity.

We might dwell upon other words in this wonderful Old Testament quarry, where
the gold of CHRIST’s Atonement is to be found, but the above, with their
practically corresponding New Testament statements, are sufficient to show how
the one is concealed in the other, and the other lies open in the one.

III. CHRIST’s Atonement is the Basis of all His Offices.

CHRIST’s official positions are generally summed up under Prophet, Priest, and
King. As we think of Him in this three-fold office, the Scripture-guided mind
naturally turns to the Gospels in thinking of Him as Prophet; to the Epistle to
the Hebrews in pondering His Priesthood; and to the Book of Revelation in
relation to His future glory as King.

CHRIST, AS THE PROPHET, was ever seeking to impress upon His disciples that He
had come into the world to die.

Instead of sweeping the starry heavens of CHRIST’s whole teaching, let us
concentrate our thought upon the pleiades of His testimony as found in John
10:1-42. The sum of His teaching is, He had come to give life to His sheep. How
was that life to be communicated? By His death: “I lay down My life,” is His
repeated statement (John 10:15, John 10:17-18). He does it voluntarily, although
He is acting under His Father’s direction (John 10:18), but He does it “for the
sheep.” The emphasis is on the preposition “for.” The preposition in John 10:11
and John 10:15 signifies “on behalf of.”

He makes a provision in His death, which meets the necessity of the sheep;
hence, He acts on their behalf as a shepherd does, who loses his life in
rescuing one of his flock. Thus we find from the teaching of CHRIST, His “death
is not an incident in His life, it is the aim of it. The laying down of His life
is not an accident in His career, it is a vocation; it is that in which the
Divine purpose of His life is revealed.”

CHRIST made an earnest effort to instill into the minds of His disciples that He
came into the world to die, but they failed to apprehend His teaching (Mark
8:31;Mark 9:31; Mark 10:32) until after His resurrection (Luke 24:25, Luke
24:44). There was only one who seemed to enter into the purpose of His life, and
that one was Mary of Bethany, She anointed Him for His burial (John 12:7); but
apart from her, CHRIST had to go to Heaven’s inhabitants to talk about His
decease which He should accomplish at Jerusalem (Luke 9:31).

CHRIST, AS THE PRIEST, did not enter upon His office as Priest until after His
death.

Although His offering of Himself was a priestly act, He did not act as a Priest,
but as an Offerer.

He offered Himself without spot to GOD. He had no right to act as a priest on
earth, not being of the tribe of Levi and of the house of Aaron (Hebrews 7:14,
Hebrews 8:4).

It is most important to apprehend the difference between CHRIST’s atonement and
priesthood.

- Atonement is a thing of death. Priesthood is a ministry of life.

- Atonement is finished. Priesthood is continuous.

- Atonement was accomplished on earth. Priesthood is carried on in Heaven.

- Atonement is for the sinner. Priesthood is for the saint. The main thing to
which attention is directed is, CHRIST did not enter into the Holy Place to
exercise His ministry by the blood of animals, but “by His own blood” (Hebrews
9:12). The force and significance of the sentence, “by His own blood,” is on the
preposition “dia,” rendered “by.” It means, “by means of”; that is, His right of
entry into the presence of GOD, to appear there as our Representative and
Priest, is found in His own Blood.

Saphir remarks, “When He entered into the Holy of Holies, it was by virtue of
the Blood which He had shed on the cross; it was not by virtue of His love and
grace, His priestly spirit and life on earth that He entered into the Heavenly
Sanctuary... His whole priestly office is based on His death on the cross.”

CHRIST, AS POTENTATE, will reign because of His death. The Book of the
Revelation is the Book of coming glory and judgment, and in that book we read
more about the slain Lamb than in any other book. The Lamb is mentioned
thirty-two times in the New Testament, and out of that number twenty-eight occur
in Revelation. The Book opens by describing a Lamb on the throne bearing the
marks of death. The Book describes a multitude washed in the Blood of the Lamb;
it speaks of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world; it represents a
band of overcomers through the Blood of the Lamb; and ends by saying the Lamb is
the Light of the New Jerusalem.

Dr. Denney says of CHRIST in Revelation, “Here the Lamb is represented as
Sovereign - the Object of all praise; as a Lamb which had been sacrificed - the
sentence means, ’with the throat cut’; as living and victorious - standing. It
has the character which sacrifice confers, but it is alive; it is not dead, but
it has the virtue of its death in it. It is on the ground of His death, and of
the redemption effected by it, that all praise is ascribed to the Lamb, and the
knowledge and control of all put into His hands.”

What is the one thing these facts proclaim? It is this, - All CHRIST had to say
pointed to the cross, as the sign-post points to the city.

- All GOD has to give emanates from the cross, as all light and warmth come from
the sun.

- All CHRIST is now doing is founded on the cross, as the building rests upon
the foundation; and - All that CHRIST will be as King is secured by the cross of
His atoning sacrifice. His cross secures His crown. His passion is the price of
His glory.

IV. CHRIST in His Atonement is the Sum of all Teaching.

Turn where we will in the Book we find the Spirit of GOD, like Moses pointing to
the brazen serpent, draws attention to the sacrifice of our Lord.

Let us take a bird’s-eye view of the Gospel of John, where we find a picture
gallery, in which this one fact is represented in many different ways.

- He is the Lamb of GOD, Who bears away the sin of the world because He bears
it.

- He is the mighty Hercules, Who takes the load of our iniquity, and annihilates
it in the sea of His atonement (John 1:29).

- He is the Way cast up from earth to Heaven, at the cost of His life, and now
the angels of GOD’s blessings descend to us; and by Him the angels of our
prayers and praises ascend to GOD (John 1:51).- He is the Destroyed Temple,
razed to the ground by the hands of wicked men, but out of which GOD creates a
spiritual and lasting temple that none can mar nor destroy (John 2:19).

CHRIST is the Uplifted One, of whom the uplifted serpent of brass in the
wilderness was but a type.

- He gives life by His death, and lifting up to those bowed down by sin (John
3:14).

- He gives His flesh for the life of the world (John 6:51-53). His flesh and
Blood are not only the removers of guilt, but the satisfiers of the heart.

- He is the Door by means of Whom (“By Me” means, by means of Me) we enter into
the pastures of His provision and peace (John 10:9).

- He, As the good Shepherd, gives Himself for us in death, that He may
communicate His life to us.

- He became identified with us in our sin, by His death, in time, that we might
be partakers of His life in its eternalness and energy (John 10:10, John 10:28).

- He is the One about Whom the HOLY SPIRIT made Caiaphas speak, when he said:
“It is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people” (John 11:50).
The necessity of His death for us is found in the lostness of our condition, for
if He died not for us, we perish for ever.

- He is the Corn of Wheat which must fall into the ground of our death, if we
are to live in the fruit of His life (John 12:24).

He comes to the hour of all hours in the world’s history, and into the trouble
and sorrow of all trouble and sorrow, when He exclaims: “Now is My soul
troubled,” &c. (John 12:27).

He knew it was the night of His anguish when Judas betrayed Him. It was not only
night in the physical universe, but in the moral and spiritual realm too, so He
entered into the night, to bring us into the light (John 13:30).

Even when He is in the light of GOD’s presence, praying His wonderful prayer,
the shadow of the cross flits across His path; hence, we hear Him saying: “For
their sakes I sanctify Myself” (John 17:19); and then we reach the climax when
He is fixed by the nails to the tree, and still the Spirit emphasizes and
explains that the pierced CHRIST is the One of Whom He had spoken at the first.
The Paschal Lamb which protected Israel in Egypt, and the Pierced One of the
Prophetic Psalm are one and the same. He had no other to teach, no other lesson
to give. The CHRIST of Calvary, the passion of the cross, is the sum of all He
has said. And we say, “No subject so glorious as He; No theme so affecting to
us.”

V. CHRIST in His Atonement is the Substance of all.

Preaching. The teaching of the Spirit in the Word about CHRIST’s atonement is to
be the substance of our preaching to the world.”The whole secret of Christianity
is contained in CHRIST’s death,” as Dr. Denney says; or perhaps we might say:
“The whole secret is in the CHRIST that died”; for, while we speak of the
atonement of CHRIST, it is more expressive to speak of CHRIST in His atonement.
The worker in the work, and not the work apart from the worker.

Dr. Saphir, in calling attention to Paul’s words, “I determined not to know any
thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2),
says: “He preaches CHRIST crucified; not the crucifixion. We do not preach the
death of CHRIST as a past event, but the Lord Himself, Who, having offered
Himself by the eternal Spirit, is now at the right hand of GOD, to dispense the
blessings which He has purchased with His own Blood. We do not go to the cross,
but to JESUS the Son of GOD, who, through death, entered the Heavenly Sanctuary.
From Him we receive the gifts of His grace. He Himself bestows the pardon, which
His atonement secured. All the blessings of the New Testament in His Blood are
sent by the Lord Himself, and they are doubly precious to us, because they come
from the exalted JESUS, the same Saviour Whose hands and feet were pierced on
the cross.” This is the sum and substance of all true preaching, and the right
standpoint from which to preach. When we look through the Acts of the Apostles,
we find the attitude of those who preach is, they point to the CHRIST on the
throne in resurrection power, Who was on the cross in substitutionary death.

Let us take one of the several words rendered “preach,” and trace it through the
Acts and see how this is brought out.

“The word ’preach’ occurs some 112 times in the New Testament - and means to
proclaim”; it is the accepted equivalent for six different Greek verbs.

Three of these are from a common root, which means to bear a message or bring
tidings. This statement covers about sixty cases. As to the other three Greek
words, one is used over fifty times, and means to publish or proclaim; another
six times, and means to say, speak or talk about. The other, which means to
dispute or reason, is the only one which suggests a formal discourse or argument
and this is only used twice.

Let us look at one of these words: the one which signifies to evangelize, to
proclaim glad tidings, and always the glad tidings about CHRIST.

“They ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ” (Acts 5:42).

“Went everywhere preaching the Word” (Acts 8:4).

“Preaching the things concerning the Kingdom” (Acts 8:12).

“Preached the gospel” (Acts 8:25).

“Preached unto him Jesus” (Acts 8:35).

“Preaching peace by Jesus Christ” (Acts 10:36).

“Preaching the Lord Jesus” (Acts 11:20).

“Declare unto you glad tidings” (Acts 13:32).

“Preached the gospel” (Acts 14:7).

“Preach unto you” (Acts 14:15).

“Preached the gospel” (Acts 14:21).”Preaching the Word of the Lord” (Acts
15:35).

“Preach the gospel unto them” (Acts 16:10).

“Preached Jesus and the resurrection” (Acts 17:18). If these passages are
prayerfully studied they will more or less revolve round a Person, an event, and
a purpose. The purpose is GOD’s design to bless man through CHRIST, as indicated
in the words and context of Acts 13:32, for, as the apostle says, the good
tidings which he declared had to do with “the promise which was made unto the
fathers”; hence, he proclaimed that “through this Man” forgiveness of sins was
obtained. The event was the death of CHRIST in its vicariousness; hence, when
the evangelist found the eunuch reading of CHRIST’s life being taken away, he
“preached unto him Jesus,” from the very Scripture he was reading (Acts 8:35);
and the Person, Who was the soul, the sum, and the substance of apostolic
testimony from first to last was CHRIST, for they “They ceased not to teach and
preach Jesus Christ” (Acts 5:42).

VI. CHRIST in His Atonement is the Center of all the Graces. The HOLY SPIRIT has
summarized the graces as faith, hope, and love.

- Faith looks back to the cross and sees CHRIST as the Sin-Bearer; - Love looks
up to the throne and sings, “He loved me and gave Himself for me”; and - Hope
looks on to the glory and sees the slain Lamb is the Light of it.

- Faith rests on, the foundation of CHRIST’s finished work; - Love is inspired
by the fire of Calvary; and - Hope is expectant of the pierced King.

- Faith’s testimony is, “His atoning Blood frees me from sin and rests me about
salvation”; - Love’s witness is, “He Who was on the cross is my love”; and -
Hope’s jubilant note is, “Through the cross to the light.”

“Faith goes up the stairs which love has made, and looks out of the window which
hope has opened.”

There are many passages of Holy Writ which might be taken to illustrate how
these three graces centralize and radiate from the cross as the light from the
sun, but I content myself with giving three - (Romans 3:25; 1 John 4:19; and
Titus 2:13-14).

FAITH’S FOUNDATION “Whom God hath set forth to be a Propitiation through faith
in His blood” (Romans 3:25).

GOD’s thought of grace, as well as our act of faith, centralizes and rests in
the atonement of CHRIST.

GOD sets Him forth as the Propitiation or Mercy Seat. The Mercy Seat was the
place where atonement was made, so we might read for propitiation “the price of
expiation.”The price is the Blood; expiation is the result, Godward; and
redemption is the result of our faith in the Expiator.

We must make much of Him, when we see the meaning of His death, as one has said,
“Looking upon the Crucified... you understand the joy with which, from age to
age, men have spoken of a death which is their life, of a cross which is their
crown and glory. You are in no mood to disparage the doctrine of the atoning
Blood; to place it in the background of your Christianity; to obscure the cross
behind even the roofs of Bethlehem.”

Faith can find no rest but in the cross of CHRIST’s atonement, even as Noah’s
dove could find no resting-place for her foot but in the ark, when Noah first
sent her out.

- The object of faith is CHRIST in the foundation of His atonement; - The ground
of faith is CHRIST in the assurance of His Word; - The growth of faith is
dependent upon CHRIST as its Root; - The atmosphere of faith is the love of
CHRIST; - The character of faith is moulded by Him Who is the Author and
Finisher of faith; - The food of faith is the CHRIST in His promises; and the
expression of faith is obedience to Him Who loved even to death. LOVE’S
INSPIRATION “We love him, because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19).

How did He love? The Son of GOD “Who loved us, and gave Himself for us”, even we
who had given ourselves up to sin. The holding power which enabled Him to give
Himself up to such a terrible death for us was His love. That love is the fire
that kindled our affection.

George Eliot says: “ ’Tis what I love determines how I love.” The believer loves
the “what” because of the “who.” The cross is precious because of the CHRIST.
That giving up makes our giving up easy. That sacrifice moves us to sacrifice.
That passion kindles a like flame.

Love is our life, The blood that courses through the heart, And vibrates in all.

HOPE’S CONCENTRATION “Looking for that blessed hope... Who gave Himself for us”
(Titus 2:13-14). The spring of hope flows from the Smitten Rock. The bright
outlook of hope is possible because of the eminence of Calvary’s Mount.
Longfellow says, “Thoughts of Him to-day have oft been borne inward upon me,
Wherefore I do not know, but strong is the feeling within me That once more I
shall see a face I have never forgotten.”We can never forget that face that was
marred for us. The gory clots of Gethsemane are the glory spots of our blessing.
The wound-prints are prophetic hints of glory tints. Our faith can never be
weak, our love small, nor our hope dim, as we know the CHRIST of Calvary, as
Saphir says, “JESUS CHRIST crucified. See here the foundation of our faith, the
source of our love, the spring of our hope.”

VII. CHRIST in His Atonement is the Medium of all Blessing.

There is one expression which is frequently used in describing the Lord JESUS as
the medium by Whom blessing comes to us, and that is, “THROUGH OUR LORD JESUS
CHRIST,” or an equivalent term. The preposition “dia” means more than “through,”
as by a channel, like a pipe being the medium by which the water in the cistern
flows to the tap; the word denotes, as found in connection with CHRIST, an
active agent, therefore the expression, “By means of,” better conveys the sense.

Dr. Bullinger, in his Greek Lexicon, says: “Dia, with genitive, through (as
proceeding from), through (by means of), marking the agency, or instrument, of
an action.”

It is impossible to turn to a tithe of the Scriptures where blessings are said
to come “through our Lord,” or by means of His death. Let us turn to Romans
5:1-21 and note seven blessings, “PEACE”

“Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1).

CHRIST is the Peace-maker, and we are, by our faith, the peace-takers. The
Shiloh waters of GOD’s peace flow from the stricken rock of Calvary, and we come
with the cup of our faith and slake our thirst as we partake of Him.

“ACCESS”

“By [through] Whom also we have had our access by faith into this grace wherein
we stand” (Romans 5:2) CHRIST wept into the distance and darkness of our
deserving and we are brought into the faultlessness of His perfection and the
fulness of His grace by means of His procuring death.

SALVATION

“We shall be saved from wrath through Him” (Romans 5:9).The wrath is
prospective, looming in the distance like an approaching storm about to break
upon the sinner to his confusion and condemnation, but by means of Him Who has
been condemned for us, we stand where no judgment can ever reach us.

RECONCILIATION “Reconciled to God by [through] the death of His Son” (Romans
5:10). To be reconciled means to have one’s feelings changed towards another.
CHRIST did not come to reconcile GOD to us, but GOD was in CHRIST reconciling us
to Himself. This change has been wrought by GOD in CHRIST. His love has
conquered our enmity.

JOY

“We also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by [through] Whom we have now
received the atonement” (Romans 5:11).

Spurgeon says: “There. is a sweet joy which comes to us through sorrow;”
especially is that true in the joy which is born of Calvary’s sorrow. Our Easter
is blithe with joy, because Calvary’s night was black with sorrow.

“LIFE”

“Reign in life by [through] One, Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:17). As natural life is
the union of spirit and body, so spiritual life is the union of the Lord and the
believer. Life is consciousness of being, so the believer can say, “I know Him
Whom I have believed.” This life of union comes through CHRIST’s death. The corn
of wheat having fallen into the ground and died, is no longer alone. The life to
which reference is made is comprehensive; it not only refers to present
blessing, but future glory.

“RIGHTEOUSNESS”

“... by the righteousness of one” (Romans 5:18).

Dr. Moule paraphrases Romans 5:18 : “Through one deed of righteousness.” What
deed? He comments: “It seems possible to explain the word here of the Lord’s
atoning act, satisfying the law for us, and of the accepting ’act and deed’ of
the Father, declaring Him accepted, and us in Him.”

It will be seen that everyone of these blessings centralizes in the death of
CHRIST, like the spokes of a wheel in the hub. All blessings, like the sun’s
beneficent rays, emanate from the sun of CHRIST’s atoning death. Dr. Saphir
aptly remarks: “CHRIST crucified by our sins brings to us GOD in the fullness of
love; brings us to GOD in the fullness of righteousness. As our life begins at
the cross, so, throughout our new life, CHRIST crucified is the centre of our
love and faith.”“The only thing I want,” said Bishop Hamilton in his dying
moments, “is to place my whole confidence more and more perfectly in the
precious Blood.”

We may well say, “The Blood of CHRIST is the only thing we want, for everything
is in Him Who shed it.” As illustrating how CHRIST in His atonement is
everything and does everything, ponder the following Bible Reading.

- It averts the judgment of GOD against sin, as the Blood of the paschal Lamb
did on the night of the Passover (Exodus 12:13; 1 Corinthians 5:7).

- It converts the one who believes in the Substitute, even as the Blood of
cleansing changed the position and condition of the cleansed leper (Leviticus
14:14).

- It inverts the position we once occupied in relation to the world, for instead
of being in it, we are now separated from it, even as GOD said to Pharaoh of
Israel: “I will put a division [redemption, margin] between thy people and My
people” (Exodus 8:23).

- The Blood inserts us into a New place, even as the Blood of the covenant
enabled Moses and the elders to draw nigh and see the GOD of Israel (Exodus
24:5-10).

- The Blood asserts that the blessings of pardon (Ephesians 1:7), peace
(Colossians 1:20), power (Revelation 12:11), purity (1 John 1:7), and paradise
are secured in Him (Revelation 7:14).

- The Blood exerts a powerful influence in its practical bearing, for it kills
sin (Romans 6:1-15), slays self (2 Corinthians 5:15), and overcomes pride (Php
2:5-8); and - The Blood of CHRIST subverts the powers of hell, which have been
conquered by His death, even as the Philistines were defeated when the
sacrificial lamb was offered up (1 Samuel 7:9-10; Hebrews 2:14; Colossians
2:15).

We might say a good deal more in a general way, but this introductory lecture
will suffice to show the importance and place of the atonement of CHRIST. If we
are right about His finished work, we shall be right everywhere. If we are wrong
here, we are wrong everywhere.


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  CHAPTER 2: 01 - THE MEANG OF CHRIST'S ATONEMENT
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CHAPTER ONE THE MEANING OF CHRIST’S ATONEMENT The Atonement as such, is only
mentioned once in the New Testament. “We have now received the Atonement”
(Romans 5:11), and here the word means reconciliation, and is so rendered in 2
Corinthians 5:18-19. The word “Atonement” is an Old Testament word, therefore it
is to the Old Testament we turn to find its meaning; for while we have the truth
of the Gospel in the New Testament, its roots are found in the Old Testament.

Every Bible student recognizes the importance of understanding the words of the
HOLY SPIRIT, for if we would know the mind of the Spirit, we must understand the
words of the Spirit.

“Words... which the Holy Ghost teacheth” (1 Corinthians 2:13) is what the Lord
says.

Words are the medium by which He communicates His thoughts, hence, the
importance of rightly apprehending the words He uses in His Word.

We read of the seven lamps in the Tabernacle, that they gave “light over against
the candlestick” (Numbers 8:2). The lamps not only lighted up the Holy Place,
but revealed the beauty of the lampstand too. So the light of the truth reveals
the truth of the light. The Spirit and the Word are inseparable. When men apart
from the Word try to understand the Word “Atonement,” they divide it into its
syllables and spell it at-one-ment, which signifies reconciliation, that is, to
make two parties at variance, one. This is a result of the Atonement, and not
the Atonement itself. Tyndale makes this mistake when he says, “Atonement - to
set at one.” A safe rule to follow is to find out the first time a word is used,
and invariably the context will explain its meaning. The Hebrew word “Caphar,” a
primary root, first occurs in Genesis 6:14, in speaking of the ark, when GOD
said to Noah, “Pitch it within and without with pitch.” Literally, it is “Thou
shaltcaphar it within and without with a copher.” Thus both the verb and the
noun are used. We might freely paraphrase the sentence, “Thou shalt atone the
ark within and without with an atonement.” At once the meaning is obvious,
namely, “Cover the ark with a covering.”

Thus the word Atonement means to cover.

Dr. A. A. Hodge, in his “Outlines of Theology,” has finely put it, he says, “The
Hebrew word caphar - to cover by an expiatory sacrifice... Its proper meaning is
to make moral and legal reparation for a fault or injury. In its Old Testament
and proper theological usage, it expresses not the reconciliation effected by
CHRIST, but the legal satisfaction which is the ground of that reconciliation.”

Atonement, therefore, expresses what CHRIST gave to GOD on our behalf, and
hence, He does not see us, as the Irish boy said - “GOD cannot see my sins
through the Blood of CHRIST.”

Girdlestone calls attention to the fact that the preposition which is used in
connection with atonement expresses a covering. He says, “The Hebrew
prepositions rendered by the word ’for’ in connection with the doctrine of
acceptance and atonement do not mean instead of, but because of, or on account
of. The preposition which means substitution is never used in connection with
the word caphar. To make an atonement for a sin is literally to cover over the
sin, the preposition being constantly used with verbs signifying to cover, e.g,
in Habbakuk 2:14 - “As the waters cover the sea.”

Let us call to mind a few Scriptures by way of illustration, where the word to
cover occurs. The Flood covering the mountains “All the high hills were covered”
(Genesis 7:19). The mountains were “covered” (Genesis 7:20). The flood of
CHRIST’s atoning death covers the mountains of our guilt. “Where sin abounded,
grace did much more abound.” Not a mountain of our sin can be seen. The
far-reachingness of His atonement covers all. The Red Sea covering the Egyptians
“The waters covered all the host” (Exodus 14:28).

“The depths have covered them” (Exodus 15:5). The sin which once gripped us and
pursued us, is annihilated as an active antagonizing force in the Red Sea of His
death. Sin is a dead thing to those who know they are crucified with CHRIST. The
Seraphs covering themselves “Six wings, with twain he covered his face, and with
twain he covered his feet” (Isaiah 6:2). The covering wings of His expiation
covers all the activities of our service. The covered face of our love can see
better, and the covered feet of our service run swifter, because we are in
CHRIST. The cloud of incense covering the mercy seat”Cloud of the incense may
cover” (Leviticus 16:13). The sweet perfume of CHRIST’s atonement makes the
golden perfection of all that relates to the Lord the more beautiful and bright.

Rebekah covering herself with her vail “Therefore she took a vail and covered
herself” (Genesis 24:65). The beauty of Rebekah’s graces needs to be hidden in
the presence of the Divine Isaac. We can look at Him better when covered with
the vail of His humiliating death.

GOD’s grace regarding Israel “Covered thy nakedness... Covered thee with silk”
(Ezekiel 16:8, Ezekiel 16:10). The covering with which He hides our sin and
shame is no common one, it is “silk.” Beautiful, costly, soft, and pure. The
best robe which covers us was woven in the loom of Calvary and purchased with
Heaven’s Blood. His atonement is our adornment.

GOD’s glory in the heavens “His glory covered the heavens” (Habakkuk 3:3). The
garnishing of our Heaven is glorious with the sun which was obliterated at the
cross, with the Star of Bethlehem, and the blue of GOD’s grace.

Remembering the association of this word, has it not a new meaning when we read
such passages as these?

“Blessed is the man whose sin. is covered” (Psalms 32:1).

“Thou hast covered all their sin” (Psalms 85:2).

“Love covereth all sin” (Proverbs 10:12).

Let us now return to the word “atonement,” and ponder some of its usages. The
verb is rendered “appease,” “pitch,” “pacified,” “purged,” “disannulled,” “put
off,” and “make an atonement.”

“PITCH” In order that the waters of judgment might be kept out of the ark, and
those who were inside might be protected, it was covered within and without with
pitch. “Pitch it within,” &c. (Genesis 6:14).

Newberry renders, “Pitch, to cover, to make atonement.”

Rotherham’s commentary has, “Cover within and without with pitch.” As there was.
a double covering for those in the ark, a covering of atonement without and a
covering within, so CHRIST covers us without from the judgment due to our sin by
His death, and covers our sin within. Thus CHRIST’s Atonement covers what we
are, and keeps from us what we deserve, for as the judgment of water fell upon
the pitch, so CHRIST endured what was due to us.

Spurgeon says, “CHRIST’s merit covers our demerit.”

“Cover” is the Old Testament word for expiation and propitiation, and we rejoice
in it, notwithstanding the opposition of philosophy, falsely so called. Yet let
no man wickedly say that ’imputed righteousness is a clean glove Which covers a
foul hand,’ for whom the Lord covers He cleanses.”

“APPEASE” (Genesis 32:20). When Jacob was about to meet his brother Esau, the
consciousness of how he had robbed him of his blessing and birthright filled
Jacob with dread. He, therefore, determined to appease his brother’s probable
anger with a present. The present was a costly one, and consisted of “two
hundred she goats, and twenty he goats, two hundred ewes, and twenty rams,
thirty milch camels, with their colts, forty kine, ten bulls, twenty she asses
and ten foals.”

We are not left in any doubt as to the intent of the present, for we read, “I
will appease him with the present that goeth before me, and afterward I will see
his face; peradventure he will accept of me. So went the present over before
him.” Rotherham comments upon the passage, “I must pacify him with the present
that goeth on before me, and after that I will see his face.” In a footnote on
the word “pacify” he remarks, “Lit, ’cover over his face.’’’ The thought in
Jacob’s heart was, I will put the present between my brother and myself, that it
may cover my offence, that his attention may be diverted from myself to the
gift-offering, thus his anger may be pacified.

CHRIST’s Atonement is that which has gone before us, which has given
satisfaction for us, and now we are completely covered by it, so GOD does not
see our past sins, nor the sinner who committed them.

* Dean Payne Smith says, “I will cover his face with the offering that goeth
before me. The covering of the face of the offended person, so that he could no
longer see the offense, became the usual legal word for atonement.”

“PACIFIED” (Ezekiel 16:63) The Lord in promising to bless those to whom Ezekiel
is speaking, says, it shall be “when I am pacified toward thee for all that thou
hast done.” Newberry explains, “Pacified on the ground of atonement.” Rotherham
comments, “I have accepted a propitiary-covering for thee as to all that thou
hast done.”

Many object to the thought that CHRIST gave to GOD His life to pacify Him,
because it suggests the heathenish conception that He had to give Him something
in order to bless us. But such a thought is foreign to the passage before us,
for GOD Himself is the Provider of the Atonement which gives Him satisfaction.
We must never forget that GOD is a righteous Ruler as well as a Holy Father, and
while He has a heart of love, He has also a hand of righteousness. He placates
His righteousness in the death of His Son, in smiting our sin and us in CHRIST’s
death, that He might provide for our salvation. The satisfaction CHRIST and GOD
have given to justice is the satisfaction that satisfies our hearts.

Hodge says, “The Atonement was the effect, not the cause of GOD’s love. It
satisfied His justice, and rendered the exercise of His love consistent with His
righteousness.”

GOD in CHRIST met a requirement of His own throne, that He might provide a
redemption consistent with His own nature. Therefore we rest “upon His justice”
for our salvation, as the Scotch body replied, when she was asked what she was
resting in for her soul’s salvation.

“PURGED”

“And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and
thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged” (Isaiah 6:7) “Thy sin is
purged,” was the assuring word of the Seraph to the prophet.

“Atoned for,” or “covered,” as Newberry renders it. Rotherham renders it, “This
hath touched thy lips, thus shall be taken away thine iniquity, and thy sin by
propitiation be covered.”

Mark the “this” and the “thus.” The “this” has reference to the live coal from
off the altar. What does that live coal signify? Fire which had fed upon the
sacrifice, which sacrifice had been accepted by GOD. The “thus” speaks of the
application of the accepted sacrifice to the man who had confessed his sin,
which took away his actual sin, and the propitiation covered the sinner.

Therefore the sinner is not seen, but the atonement; and the iniquity does not
exist, for it is “taken away,” or departed. The word “taken away” is translated
“depart” in Exodus 8:11, Exodus 8:29, in speaking of the removal of the frogs
and flies which plagued Egypt.

“DISANNULLED” (Isaiah 28:18) “Your covenant with death shall be disannulled,” or
“wiped out,” as Rotherham explains it. The reference is to the ancient method of
writing covenants. They were engraven on stones, and if a covenant was to be
annulled, the stone was smeared with a substance which completely obliterated
the words from view. Sin has cut itself into our nature, and written itself
large upon our being, the consequence is we are covenanted with death, but the
power which disannuls is the death of our Lord, which wipes out all the dread
and damning consequence of sin.The woundprints of the CHRIST of Calvary cover
the sin-prints of the engraving of hell.

Old Candace in Mrs. Stowe’s book aptly puts it when she is represented as
comforting another.

She says: “Just leave him in JESUS’ hands. Why, honey, dar’s devery print o’
denails in His hands now! Look right at JESUS. Don’t ask no questions, and don’t
go to no reasonin’s. Jest look at Him hangin’ dar, so sweet and patient on
decross. All dey could do couldn’t stop His lovin’

’em. He prayed for ’em with all debreath He had. Dar’s a GOD to love, a’n’t dar?
Candace loves Him, poor, ole, foolish, black, wicked Candace, and she knows He
loves her.”

“PUT OFF”

“... mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it off...”
(Isaiah 47:11) Here the Lord declares the Chaldeans will be unable to appease
the mischief which shall come upon them. No help they may summon, nor
enchantment they may perform, will shelter them from the punishment which will
surely overtake them. What an illustration this is of the sinner’s inability to
avert the punishment he deserves by any action of his own.

Toplady felt this when he sang “Could my zeal no respite know, Could my tears
for ever flow, All far sin could not atone; Thou must save, and Thou alone.”

Elihu proclaimed this fact to Job long ago. He said to him, “I have found a
Ransom” (Job 33:24). Newberry explains Ransom as, “Atonement”; for it is the
Hebrew word “copher.”

“Copher” is rendered “villages” in 1 Samuel 6:18. What is a village? a place
where people live.

Homes. Shelter. GOD Himself has provided a village, a shelter, a home in the
atonement of CHRIST. We cannot put off the punishment our sin deserves; but
since our Surety has smarted for us, GOD cannot put any punishment on us.

“MAKE AN ATONEMENT” This is how the verb “caphar” is translated again and again
in Leviticus 16:1-34. The word occurs sixteen times. Once it is rendered
“reconciling” (Leviticus 16:20).

Here again let me take the noun (“copher”) to illustrate the verb “caphar.”

Twice the word is translated “satisfaction” (Numbers 35:31-32), and twice
“camphire” (Song of Solomon 1:14; Song of Solomon 4:13).

There were certain offences under the law; for which an atonement could not be
given, such as murder. But here there is the same thought underlying, that
atonement is, as Girdlestone says, “the doing away with a charge against a
person by means of expiation, propitiation, or otherwise, so that the accused
may be received into the Divine favour, and be freed from the consequence of
wrongdoing. Pacification, propitiation, and such words are by no means adequate
for the purpose of conveying the doctrine of atonement. They savour too much of
heathenism and superstition, and lead to the supposition that man pacifies GOD
instead of teaching that GOD shelters man; but whatever word is used, the more
carefully Scripture is studied, so much the more will the unity, the beauty and
the grandeur of GOD’s way of mercy commend itself to the soul.”

Mark the words, “GOD shelters man,” for that is the significance of the word
“camphire” in the Song of Solomon. The women in the East had a habit of dyeing
their lips, hands and cheeks, making them of a saffron, reddish hue. In the
British Museum to-day may be seen a mummy’s hand so dyed, and with the
intimation that it is so coloured by the juice from the henna flower. The women,
by applying this stain, got a colouring which made them appear what they were
not. The thought is still present, as in every other instance, that “copher” and
“capher” mean to cover.

Mr. Spurgeon once said, “CHRIST is our Atonement and Adornment.” May I alter by
saying, “CHRIST’s Atonement is our Adornment.” The essential thing to emphasise
is, there is only one atonement for sin, and that is by means of death. The one
clear word which confirms this is, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood:
and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls:
for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul” (Leviticus 17:11).

Israel was prohibited from eating anything that had the blood in it, on two
grounds(1) Because the life was in it; (2) because it was the symbol of life
substituted for the life of the guilty in atoning sacrifice.

Girdlestone asks the important question, “How was atonement wrought? A spotless
victim had to be brought before. the Lord to take the place of sinful man. It’s
death, after the sins of the offerer had been laid upon its head, represented
the fact that the innocent must suffer for the guilty.

Then came the solemn mystery. The priest, GOD’s agent, must take the blood of
the victim and scatter it over GOD’s altar. This process set forth the truth
that GOD and death must be brought into contact through means of Him whom priest
and altar typified. The symbol was composite, or many-sided, and its various
aspects can only be realised and put together when they are regarded in the
light of CHRIST’s death upon the cross. It was not His life that made atonement,
but His death.” This lecture would not be complete if we did not consider a
relative word, because it has a correspondent in the New Testament.

I refer to the word - “mercy seat.” The Hebrew word “Capporeth” is derived from
“Caphar,” and is rendered “Mercy Seat” (Exodus 35:12; Exodus 34:35), or
“Propitiation.”

Dr. Bullinger says, ’The mercy seat is so called because of the expiation made
once a year on the great day of atonement.” The mercy seat was the lid of the
ark, and is a remarkable and suggestive type of CHRIST as the Propitiatory. It
is mentioned twenty-seven times.Briefly let us note its description, and, in a
sentence, denote its typical import.

Golden Mercy Seat. “Make a mercy seat of pure gold” (Exodus 25:17; Exodus 37:6).
Gold is typical of what is Divine. CHRIST is the God-natured, God-provided,
God-fitted mercy seat.

Cherubic Mercy Seat. “Make cherubim of gold... in the two ends of the mercy
seat” (Exodus 25:18; Exodus 37:7). Cherubim represent the administrators of
GOD’s righteousness. CHRIST meets GOD’s righteousness in dying for our sin, and
the redemption, which is ours in consequence, is justly given.

United Mercy Seat. “make one cherub on the one end, and the other cherub on the
other end” (Exodus 25:19; Exodus 37:8). CHRIST is the expression of GOD’s Holy
Love, His righteous mercy, and His pure grace. GOD’s attributes harmonize in the
CHRIST of Calvary.

Sheltered Mercy Seat. “the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high,
covering the mercy seat” (Exodus 25:20; Exodus 37:9). After CHRIST had gone
beneath the waters of Jordan as a sinner, in type answering for sin, the Spirit,
in Dove form, lighted upon Him; so CHRIST’s atoning sacrifice is guarded by
GOD’s righteousness.

Contemplated Mercy Seat. “Their faces shall look one to another; toward the
mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be” (Exodus 25:20; Exodus 37:9). The
high intelligences of Heaven not only find an object in CHRIST’s sacrifice which
commands their satisfaction, but one which demands their united contemplation.
Law Meeting Mercy Seat. “Thou shalt put the mercy seat above up an the ark; and
in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee” (Exodus 25:21;
Exodus 40:20). The mercy seat hid the law, and is typical of CHRIST, Who covers
the law’s claim and the law’s sentence for us, for He kept the law in every jot
and tittle, and redeems from its curse by dying the death it demanded from the
sinner.

Communing Mercy Seat. “There will I meet with thee and will commune with thee
from above the mercy seat” (Exodus 25:22; Exodus 30:6). GOD meets with us in
CHRIST, and we have fellowship with the Father in Him. The cleansing blood and
the living CHRIST maintain us in this fellowship.

Holy Mercy Seat. “Thou shalt put the mercy seat... in the most holy place”
(Exodus 26:34).

Holiness is the habitation of His throne. CHRIST is the living expression of the
holy GOD. He not only dwells in the holy place, but is the Holy One, Who makes
the place holy. Very significantly is it said in 1 Chronicles 28:11, that the
holy place is “the place of the mercy seat.”

God-manifesting Mercy Seat. “I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat”
(Leviticus 16:2). The only place where GOD is seen is in CHRIST. He is His
express image. He is the living expression of the Divine, and Divine in all His
expression.

Cloud-covered Mercy Seat. “Cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat”
(Leviticus 16:13). The cloud would obscure the Shekinah glory. Deity in its
Divine purity cannot be seen; but Deity in Divine humanity is “seen, heard and
handled,” as John declared.

Blood-sprinkled Mercy Seat. “Sprinkle the blood on the mercy seat, and before
the mercy seat... seven times” (Leviticus 16:14-15). The blood sprinkled once on
the mercy seat is typical of CHRIST giving Himself for us once for all, and the
blood sprinkled seven times before the mercy seat typifies the fact that by
means of His death He brings us into a perfect standing before GOD. He has met
GOD’s claim, and He meets our need. When we turn to the pages of the New
Testament, there are eight passages where propitiation is stated or indicated.
The corresponding Greek word to the Hebrew one is “hilasterion” and is rendered
“propitiation” in Romans 3:25, and “mercy seat” in Hebrews 9:5; it means an
Expiatory - a place or thing - an atoning victim. As one has said, “The mercy
seat is so called because of the expiation made once a year on the great day of
Atonement.”

“Hisasmos” is rendered “propitiation” in 1 John 2:2; 1 John 4:10; and signifies
an expiator.

“Hilaskomai” means to conciliate, to be propitious. It is rendered “Be merciful”
in Luke 18:13, and “make reconciliation” in Hebrews 2:17.

“Hileos” means propitious, be merciful, as averting same calamity. It is
rendered “be it far” in Matthew 16:22, and “merciful” in Hebrews 8:12.

Let us look at these passages in detail.

GOD and Propitiation “Whom God set forth to be a Propitiation” (Romans 3:25).

Professor Godet gives a concise comment an the whole topic. He says, “The word
’Propitiatory’ belongs to that host at Greek adjectives whose termination
signifies what serves to. The meaning, therefore, is: What serves to render
propitious favorable.” That which serves to make GOD act in righteous mercy
toward us, is because He has in His merciful righteousness acted for us in
CHRIST. He foreordained to act in mercy for us, that He might in righteousness
bless us.

Conybeare and Howson explain the passage thus, “For Him hath GOD set forth, in
His blood, to be a propitiatory sacrifice by means of faith, thereby to manifest
the righteousness of GOD.”

Scripture and Propitiation “The cherubims of glory overshadowing the mercyseat”
(Hebrews 9:5). The Speaker’s Commentary suggests that the meaning of mercy seat
here is a “propitiatory, or atonement,” and, in speaking of the mercy seat in
the tabernacle and its associations, adds, “It was the central point of the
Divine Presence and manifestations between GOD and the representative of the
people. So in CHRIST, is the full manifestation of GOD to man made, and in Him
rests... the true Shekinah... Among all instruments and symbols of atonement
this alone was called the propitiatory as being the most eminent. As on it was
made a general atonement for the children of Israel once a year; so CHRIST the
Lord takes away our sins.”The one scarlet thread that runs through the Old and
New Testaments, and binds both of them together is the blood of atonement. From
one end to the other rings out the truth, all approach to GOD, and all blessing
from Him, is on the ground of sacrifice.

Sins and Propitiation “He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours
only, but also for the whole world” (1 John 2:2).

Sins are here found in connection with two parties - “the sinner and the saint.”
GOD has made no provision for His people to sin, but if they do sin provision
has been made. The same propitiatory sacrifice is needed for them as for the
unsaved. There is only one ground upon which sins can be forgiven, and only One
Person Who is the ground, and He and it are the atonement of CHRIST. The sins of
a believer are more sinful than the sins of a sinner, and CHRIST in His
atonement is the Only One Who can answer for both. Love and Propitiation “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 4:10).

Sin deserves wrath. The wrath of GOD must feed upon us, or upon One instead of
us. Love’s provision is faith’s protection. GOD, in His love, gave CHRIST to be
our propitiation, and now He sees not us nor our sins, but Him. He, in the worth
of His sacrifice, makes us feel He is worth any sacrifice.

CHRIST and Propitiation “A merciful and faithful high priest... to make
reconciliation [propitiation] for the sins of the people” (Hebrews 2:17). The
Speaker’s Commentary says, “Only by atoning for sin could He restore man to his
proper relation to GOD.” The Old Testament opens with a flaming sword, brought
by man’s sin to keep him out of Paradise; and the last mention of a sword in the
Old Testament is when it awakes against GOD’s Fellow, and is sheathed in His
heart, to atone for sin, that man may be restored to a better Paradise (Genesis
3:24; Zechariah 13:7). Every believer can say”Now sleeps that sword for me.”

CHRIST has made reconciliation because He has been made sin. The hand of
CHRIST’s death has grasped the excalibur of GOD’s sword, and sunk it for ever
beneath the waters of oblivion, as far as the believer is concerned.

Sinner and Propitiation “God be merciful to me a sinner” (Luke 18:13).

Rotherham, in his commentary, gives it, “O GOD! be propitiated unto me, the
sinner.” He seems to say, “See the blood on the Propitiatory and be propitiated
towards me, because of Him Who has made propitiation for me.” The mercy of GOD
is GOD given, blood bought, faith taken and love enjoyed. The mercy of GOD is
from the GOD of mercy, and is justly given, since CHRIST has righteously died in
our stead.

Israel and Propitiation “I will be merciful to their unrighteousness” (Hebrews
8:12) Again, Rotherham, “Because propitious will I be as to their
unrighteousness.” There is no mercy for anyone apart from the CHRIST of Calvary.
When the eyes of Israel are opened they will look upon the pierced One. GOD’s
propitiousness flows from the propitiatory or CHRIST’s sacrifice.

Man and Propitiation When CHRIST told Peter He must die, Peter, in his mistaken
concern, said, “Be it far from Thee. Lord”; or, following our understanding of
the words “far from”; “GOD have mercy on Thee”; or, as Bullinger suggests, “GOD
be propitious, or favourable to Thee.”

Peter wanted CHRIST to be kept back from such a calamity as the cross, but that
would have been the calamity of all calamities for us, for if He had not died we
should have died forever. The calamity of condemnation is far from us, because
it was not far from - it came upon - Him. From all this it will be apprehended
what CHRIST is to GOD for us, and what He is from GOD to us.

What CHRIST is to GOD for us.

He has answered, and does answer, in every way for our sins; as Newton says,
“Atonement, or appeasement, is a work of the Lord JESUS directed towards GOD,
whereby by one oblation finished on the cross, He has satisfied forever (in
perpetuity) the claims of Divine government, and procured for all His believing
people, not only pardon, but acceptance, and rewardableness according to the
value of His own meritorious obedience, which has been presented to GOD, and
accepted by GOD for them.”

What CHRIST is from GOD to us.

“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; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he
might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus” (Romans
3:25-26) Romans 3:25-26, is one of the most comprehensive passages of the
gospel. The verses have been called “the marrow of theology”; another has said
of them, they are “the brief summary of Divine Wisdom”; and Calvin declares,
“That there is not probably in the whole Bible a passage which sets forth more
profoundly the righteousness of GOD in CHRIST.” Godet paraphrases the passage,
“Whom He hath established beforehand as the means of propitiation through faith
in His blood, for the demonstration of His righteousness on account of the
tolerance shown toward sins that were past, during the forbearance of GOD, for
the demonstration of His righteousness at the present time, that He might be
just, and the justifier of him who is of the faith of JESUS.” When Cowper’s eyes
lighted on this passage, while under deep conviction of sin, and in the throes
of despair, it brought him comfort, and was the means of his salvation. He had
contemplated suicide, and was profoundly agitated, walking up and down in his
room. At last he seated himself near the window, and took up a Bible. He says,
“The passage which met my eye was the 25th verse of the 3rd of Romans. On
reading it I immediately received power to believe. The rays of the Sun of
Righteousness fell on me in all their fullness; I saw the complete sufficiency
of the expiation which CHRIST had wrought for my pardon, and entire
justification. In an instant I believed, and received the peace of the gospel.”

“If,” he adds, “the arm of the Almighty had not supported me, I believe I should
have been overwhelmed with gratitude and joy; my eyes filled with tears;
transports choked my utterance. I could only look to Heaven in silent fear,
overflowing with love and wonder.”

`


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  CHAPTER 3: 02 - THE SCRIPTURES AND CHRIST'S ATONEMENT
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CHAPTER TWO THE SCRIPTURES AND CHRIST’S ATONEMENT

Francis Turretin speaks of the atonement as the chief part of our salvation, the
anchor of faith, the refuge of hope, the rule of charity, the true foundation of
the Christian religion, and the richest treasure of the Christian Church. He
further remarks, “So long as this doctrine is maintained in its integrity,
Christianity itself and the peace and blessedness of all who believe in CHRIST
are beyond the reach of danger; but if it is reflected, or any way impaired, the
whole structure of the Christian faith must sink into decay and ruin.”

He practically says the atonement of CHRIST is the Christian faith, and so it
is.

Remove the atonement from the Bible and we have, - a casket without the
treasure, - a body without the spirit, - a tree without a root, - a house
without the foundation, - a sky without the sun, - a check-book without the
balance at the bank, and - a gospel without the message In short, a bloodless
religion!

Dr. R. Wardlaw has said, “To the mind that can contrive to its own satisfaction
to strip the Bible of the doctrine of the atonement by vicarious suffering, it
might, in my apprehension, be safely pronounced impossible to convey a Divine
discovery at all; there being no terms conceivable which might not, by such a
mind, be explained away. Salvation is the lesson of the Bible; and it is
salvation by atonement, or substitutionary suffering.” When CHRIST appeared to
the two disciples on the way to Emmaus, and to the eleven in the upper room, He
showed to them from the Books of Moses, the Psalms, and the Prophets, that His
death was essential.On the heights and in the adjacent vicinity of
Nyack-on-Hudson there are a number of springs which may be continually tapped.
The springs are there, but they need to be tapped before their refreshingness
can be enjoyed. The same is true of the Bible - the springs of the truth of the
Word are there, but they have to be found to be known.

CHRIST has indicated where we may find some of the springs of the atonement, as
He intimated to the disciples, when He appeared to them in the upper room, and
expounded to them all the things concerning His death, which were written in
Moses, the Psalms, and the Prophets. I purpose to turn to one of these books, in
each of the sections mentioned.

I. The Book of Genesis We shall turn to the Book of Genesis for illustrations on
the first section. Genesis has been called the seed-plot of the Bible, and it is
so, for every truth in the Bible is found therein, either directly or
indirectly. The truth of CHRIST’s atoning work is typified and illustrated again
and again. THE SLEEPING MAN AND THE BUILDED WOMAN

While Adam slept his side was opened, and from what was taken out of him GOD
builded the woman. When Adam saw Eve he said, “This is now bone of my bone, and
flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman [Ishah, margin], because she was
taken out of Man [Ish, margin]” (Genesis 2:21-24).

CHRIST slept a deeper and a more significant sleep than Adam - the sleep of His
atoning death. From His riven side the atoning Blood flowed, by means of which
the Church, His ransomed body, will be formed and united in a closer bond than
ever existed between our first parents. It is to this mystic oneness the HOLY
SPIRIT refers in Ephesians 5:21-23, when He calls attention to the union that
existed between Adam and Eve as typical of it. The sleeping man and the riven
side were the essential means for the production of the builded woman and the
presented bride. The sleeping man was necessary that the woman should be made,
and the living woman was necessary for his completement and helpmeet. She would
never have been had it not been for him, and he would not have been satisfied
had it not been for her (Genesis 2:1-25,Genesis 18:1-33, Genesis 23:1-20; 1
Corinthians 11:11-12). So with CHRIST and the Church. His sleep of death and
riven side of atonement make the redeemed all they are in Him, and yet we are
His fullness and completion, which make Him complete. We are not complete
without Him, and He is not complete without us, any more than the body is
perfect without the head, or the head complete without the body.

These spiritual facts are brought out in the Epistles to the Colossians and
Ephesians.In the former we are said to be “complete in Him” (Colossians 2:10),
and in the latter the Church is the “fullness of Him, that filleth all in all”
(Ephesians 1:23). THE SLAIN ANIMAL AND THE CLOTHED SINNERS Before Adam and Eve
left the garden of Eden, GOD clothed them in coats of skin (Genesis 3:21). Their
shame was hidden at the expense of another’s life. The spoils of death saved
them from being the spoils of an eternal death. The words “skins,” “coat,” and
“clothed” are full of typical meaning.

- The word “skins” comes from a root which means to flay, to make naked. CHRIST
was stripped that we might be clothed. He was put to shame that we might never
be put to shame (Hebrews 12:2; 1 Peter 2:24).

- The word “coats” is from a root word which means to hide, to cover; and - The
word “clothed” means to wrap around.

CHRIST hides those who cry, “Let me hide myself in Thee,” with the perfection of
Himself in His perfect work of atonement. He Who was wrapped in glory in the
past eternity, became unwrapped in time of His beauty and dignity, that He might
wrap up in His righteousness, acceptableness, and worth. THE OFFERING BROUGHT
AND THE SIN-OFFERING REJECTED (Genesis 4:3-7) Cain evidently came in his own way
to GOD (Jude 1:11) - The earth had been cursed because of man’s sin (Genesis
3:17). Cain brought of earth’s fruit to the Lord, and by so doing brought a
cursed offering.

Abel came in GOD’s way, and therefore met with His approbation (Hebrews 11:4).
He confessed, by bringing to GOD a slain animal, that he deserved to be slain
because of his sin. He who condemned himself was acquitted and accepted by GOD;
while the other, who thought he acquitted himself so well was condemned to his
confusion. The one thing which aggravated Cain’s offence. was, that when he
found he was not right he would not accept GOD’s way to be made right. GOD said
to him, “If thou doest not well sin lieth at the door.” At first sight it looks
as if sin, like a wild beast, was crouching before him ready to spring upon him,
but the better understanding, as Rotherham explains it, is “But if thou do not
right, at the entrance a sin-bearer is lying.” The very lamb, the sacrifice he
needed, was lying just outside his tent-door. The sin-bearer, the animal for
sacrifice, is rejected by Cain, and he is rejected by GOD in consequence.
Anything that evolves from the earth-curse of our humanity cannot be admissible
for salvation in any way, but CHRIST in His atoning death is admissible for
salvation alway. The spotless Sin-Offering brought by the sinner not only avails
for his pardon and acceptance, but makes him like the spotless victim, as
assured by GOD’s voice of love - “Thou art all fair, My love, there is no spot
in thee.” THE CONSTRUCTED ARK AND THE SHELTERED FAMILY (Genesis 6:14)

Before the ark could be constructed, the wood from which it was made had to be
cut down. The sheltering ark was made by the taking away of the life of the
living tree.

There are two passages where it was predicted that CHRIST would be “cut off.”
The first is in Isaiah 53:8 - “He was cut off out of the land of the living, for
the transgression of My people was He stricken.” The word “cut off” denotes
exclusion or division. It is rendered “divide” when Solomon directed that the
living child should be divided between the disputing mothers (1 Kings 3:25-26).
The second Scripture is Daniel 9:26, where we are told Messiah should be “cut
off.” The word means to be consumed, to be in want, and is rendered “feller” and
“cutteth” in Jeremiah 10:3, in calling attention to the cutting down of trees,
and the one who cut them down. The word is frequently employed in the Book of
Leviticus in expressing GOD’s judicial act in cutting off those who broke His
law (Leviticus 7:20, Leviticus 7:25, Leviticus 7:27, &c.).

CHRIST was cut off out of the land of the living, that we who had cut ourselves
off from GOD by our sin, might be brought into the land of the living. He is the
shelter for us from GOD’s judgment, because there was no shelter for Him from
it. He was excluded and separated from life, that we might be included and
sanctified in the life which is the “life indeed.” The exclusion and banishment
of the Cross were for Him, and the inclusion and the blessing of GOD’s throne
are for us. THE OFFERED SON AND THE PROVIDED SUBSTITUTE (Genesis 22:1-14) In
Isaac being bound and in figure being surrendered to death, we have a type of
CHRIST given over to our death (Hebrews 11:19).

GOD did not spare Himself, as He spared Abraham, from killing His Son. Isaac is
seen going with Abraham to be offered up, bearing the wood on his shoulder, and
with him and it are also associated the knife, the fire, and the binding upon
the altar. On the Cross of Calvary we behold CHRIST offering Himself on the
altar of His Deity, bearing the wood of our iniquity, the knife of justice
entering the soul of His humanity, consumed by the fire of GOD’s holy
requirement, and the cords of love binding Him, through it all, to the altar of
His voluntary sacrifice. In the ram offered up in the stead of Isaac we have a
type of GOD’s provision for us. The word rendered “stead of” (Genesis 22:13)
signifies, on behalf of. Dr. James Strong says, “Tachath means ’in lieu of,’
which is derived from Towach - to humble, depress.” The usage of “tachath”
suggests the thought of substitution, thus, - Seth is given “instead” of Abel
(Genesis 4:25); - the man who injured the eye of his slave, so that he lost the
use of it, had to let him go free “for his eye’s sake” (Exodus 21:26); - the
stones taken out of the leprous house were changed for others which were put “in
the Place” of them (Leviticus 14:42); and - David promised Amasa that he should
be captain “in the room” of Joab (2 Samuel 19:13). As we apply these
illustrations of the use of the word, in thinking of CHRIST as our Substitute,
we exclaim in the language of Diognetus, who lived in the First Century, “GOD
Himself gave up His Son as a Ransom for us; the Holy for the unholy; the Sinless
for the sinful; the Immortal for the mortal; for what but His righteousness
could cover our sins? O sweet change! O unsearchable work! O unexampled benefit,
that the wickedness of many should be covered by the One righteous, the
righteousness of One should justify many sinners!” THE ERECTED ALTARS AND THEIR
TEACHING The altar is symbolical of communion with the Lord on the ground of
sacrifice. Dr James Strong, in his Hebrew lexicon, in explaining the word
rendered altar, says, “Mizbeach, from Zabach, a primary root, to slaughter an
animal, usually in sacrifice.” Zabach is rendered in the margin of Genesis
31:54, “killed” and “offered” in Genesis 46:1.

“Altar” is mentioned thirteen times in the Book of Genesis, and in connection
with the following thoughts- Satisfaction to GOD (Genesis 8:20).

- Promise from Him (Genesis 12:7).

- Remembrance of Him (Genesis 12:8).

- Restoration in Him (Genesis 13:4).

- Fellowship with Him (Genesis 13:18).

- Obedience to Him (Genesis 22:9).

- Prayer to Him (Genesis 26:25).

- Claiming for Him (Genesis 33:20).

- Consecration to Him (Genesis 35:1, Genesis 35:3, Genesis 35:7).

All this emphasises and typifies that CHRIST in His atonement brings GOD to us
in blessing, and brings us to Him in fellowship. A bloodless altar brings a
curse upon the offerer, while a blood-atoning altar is the mystic power, which,
like the magic wand and the cave of legend, silvers everything with blessing.
THE SUFFERINGS AND THE GLORY OF JOSEPH The history of Joseph is briefly
summarized in Psalms 105:18-22. There is no man who stands out in such moral
beauty as Joseph in the whole of the sacred writings, and who is such a perfect
type of CHRIST. His career flashes out with typical references to CHRIST.

I only note two in connection with the words, “Whose feet they hurt with
fetters: he was laid in iron” (Psalms 105:18); and “He made him lord of his
house, and ruler of all his substance” (Psalms 105:21). The iron of suffering
entered into the soul of CHRIST before He entered into the sphere of supremacy.
The visit of His humiliation and the prison of His crucifixion were the preludes
to the position of honour. He suffered outside the camp as our Sin-Bearer, and
now we stand inside the vail with Him. He endured our prison-death, that we
might enjoy with Him His palace-life. Being in the exalted place, because He
passed through the expiating one, He now says, “I was dead and am alive for
evermore”; and we can say, too, “I was dead, and in CHRIST, I am alive for
evermore.”

II. The Atoning Saviour in. the Psalms.

There are three Psalms which are specially Calvary’s ones, namely, Psalms
22:1-31, Psalms 38:1-22, and Psalms 49:1-20.

Let us look at a few sentences in the first of these. The title of Psalms
22:1-31 is striking - “the hind of the morning or dawn.” Delitzsch remarks,
according to the traditional definition, it refers “to the early light preceding
the dawn of the morning, whose first rays are likened to the horns of the hind.”
It is not without meaning, too, that the lamb of the morning sacrifice was
offered up as the watchman cried out, “The first rays of the morning burst
forth.” The light of grace flashes forth from the darkness of the cross. The
hind that was stricken in death is the one who brings life to us. THE FORSAKEN
SURETY

“My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” (Psalms 22:1) He that standeth
Surety for another shall smart for it. Man had forsaken God, the Fountain of
Living Waters (Jeremiah 2:13), and he must answer for his sin, or another must
answer for him.

CHRIST came to us where we were, and answered for us in standing as our Surety.
He was forsaken by the Righteous GOD as He bore the penalty of our sin. The word
“forsaken” is rendered “left destitute” in Genesis 24:27; and “faileth” in
Psalms 38:10. These words might be read into the text, and as they are, they
give added emphasis to the fact that CHRIST was left alone, He was destitute of
help, Heaven failed Him, and GOD forsook Him. When Martin Luther was confronted
with this fact, he sat benumbed for a time, and exclaimed at last, “GOD forsaken
by GOD.”

- He was destitute of help that we might have salvation.

- He was failed in the hour of His extremity that GOD might never fail us in any
extremity.

- He was forsaken that the blood-bought promise might be ours - “I will never
leave thee nor forsake thee.”

- He was orphaned that we might be Fathered. ”THE LOWLY WORM” (Psalms 22:6) The
worm means a maggot. The word “tolaath” applies especially to the coccus, from
which the scarlet dye was obtained to dye the scarlet things of the tabernacle.
The death of the worm was necessary to get the dye.

There are two very significant occurrences of the word “scarlet.”

One is in Isaiah 1:18, where man’s sins are said to be “as scarlet,” and the
other is, when reference is made to the “scarlet” used in the different curtains
and vail of the tabernacle (Exodus 22:1).

CHRIST, in calling Himself “a Worm,” identifies Himself with the uncleanness of
man’s sin, and the heinousness of his iniquity; and the scarlet being associated
with the dwelling-place of the Lord, which was typical of CHRIST tabernacling
among us, suggests the thought that He became our sin that we might become GOD’s
sanctuary. The worm Jacob is no longer a worm but a son of GOD, because the Son
of GOD became as a worm. The scarlet dye of His blood makes us fit to become the
dwelling-place of GOD. CHRIST said, “I am... no Ish” (“Ish” is the word for man
of high degree, as “enosh” refers to man as a poor, frail, incurable creature).

He became so low that He repudiates the title to manhood in its highest form, to
which He alone was entitled.

Why? The reason is, He became lower than the lowest, that He might save the
vilest, and lift up to the highest dignity and blessedness. THE REPROACHED
REDEEMER

“A reproach of men” (Psalms 22:6) The word “reproach” comes from a root which
means to pull off, to strip, to expose to shame. The word is used in this sense
when GOD says to Israel, “Thy shame shall be seen” (Isaiah 47:3), and when the
wicked shall awake “to shame and everlasting contempt” (Daniel 12:2).

Why did CHRIST submit to the shame of the cross? The answer is given by CHRIST
Himself in another Psalm, where He says, “The zeal of Thine house hath eaten Me
up: and the reproaches of them that reproached Thee have fallen upon Me” (Psalms
69:9). The result is, as the reproach of Egypt was rolled away from Israel at
Gilgal (Joshua 5:9), so the reproach of sin has fallen upon Him on our account,
and there is now no reproach for us. It is rolled away from us, because it was
rolled over upon Him. He was shamed that we might not be put to shame.

“Bearing shame and scoffing rude,In my place condemned He stood.” THE WEAKENED
SAVIOUR

“I am poured out,” &c. (Psalms 22:14) The wise woman of Tekoah said that man in
the frailty of his humanity was like “water spilt on the ground” (2 Samuel
14:14); and when Belshazzar came face to face with the hand of judgment writing
his doom upon the wall, it is said, “the joints of his loins were loosed”
(Daniel 5:6).

“Without strength” (Romans 5:6) are the Spirit-inspired words which declare the
inability of man; and surely it is with Divine intent that the HOLY SPIRIT uses
the very same expression in describing the sufferings of CHRIST, when He says He
was “crucified through weakness” (2 Corinthians 13:4).

He has accomplished more in His weakness than others have done in the greatness
of their strength. His impotency in death has brought to us the omnipotence of
His life. THE WITHERED SUFFERER

“My strength is dried up like a potsherd” (Psalms 22:15) The intensity of His
suffering is more pronounced as He suffers on. One of the things which impresses
the student is, the very words which describe the sinfullness and helplessness
of the sinner are applied to the suffering Saviour. The word rendered “dried up”
(“Jabesh”) means to be confused, to be dried up like water in a brook, or to be
withered up like herbage.

It is rendered, - “withereth” in Psalms 90:6, in speaking of the frailty of man;
- “dried up,” in comparing Ephraim to a smitten tree (Hosea 9:16); - “dried up,”
in describing the effect of the judgment of GOD upon Jeroboam when his hand was
paralysed (1 Kings 13:4); and - when the Psalmist was made conscious of his sin,
he said, “My heart is smitten and withered like grass” (Psalms 102:4).

All this, when read in the light of Calvary, proclaims CHRIST’s utter
exhaustion, and reminds us of His cry, “I thirst.”

- He came into our frailty that we might have His vitality.

- He was like a smitten tree, that He might make us living trees, full of the
sap of His life.

- Death held Him in its paralyzing grip, that CHRIST might hold us in His
powerful grace; - He was like a dried-up brook, that He might be to us the Water
of Life; and - He cried, “I thirst,” that we might never cry for a drop of water
in hell to cool our parched tongue.I have only indicated the trend of this
substitutionary Psalm, but as the whole of it is pondered we are made conscious
that CHRIST is declaring the inmost heart of His experience. This Psalm reveals
CHRIST as the Sin-Offering, as the Fortieth Psalm unfolds Him as the
Burnt-Offering.

He suffers alone. None can help.

- In His forsaking we have our welcome.

- In His death He gives us His life.

- In His emptying we receive His fullness. III. The Atoning Saviour in the
Prophets.

There are many passages in the Prophets which are indicative and typical of
CHRIST’s death.

- Jeremiah in his sorrow (Lamentations 1:12), - Ezekiel’s sacrificial waters
(Ezekiel 47:1), - Jonah in the place of death (Jonah 2:6), - Hosea’s door of
hope (Hosea 2:15), - Joel’s Zion of deliverance (Joel 2:32), - Micah’s kinsman
Redeemer (Micah 4:10), - Nahum’s publisher of peace (Nahum 1:15), - Habakkuk’s
“bright beams out of his side” (Habakkuk 3:4, margin), - Zephaniah’s just Lord
(Zephaniah 3:5), - Haggai’s “Desire of all nations” (Haggai 2:7), - Zechariah’s
pierced Friend, and smitten Shepherd (Zechariah 13:6-7), and - Malachi’s
Messenger of the Covenant (Malachi 3:1).

I call attention to only one, namely, the Smitten Shepherd. THE SMITTEN SHEPHERD

“Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, and against the Man that is My Fellow,
saith the Lord of Hosts, smite the Shepherd” (Zechariah 13:7) Let us look at
CHRIST as the Smitten Shepherd. The word, to smite, occurs more than once in
connection with CHRIST.

CHRIST uses it in prophecy when He says, “I gave My back to the smiters” (Isaiah
1:6), and “I was wounded in the house of My friends” (Zechariah 13:6), and when
He was esteemed to be “smitten of God and afflicted” (Isaiah 53:4).

Frequently the word is used to designate GOD’s act of judgment. For instance,
when the Lord “smote the firstborn of Egypt” (Exodus 12:29), and when the angel
of the Lord smote the Syrians (Isaiah 37:36).

One has said, “Not to realize hell is not to prize the cross.” Those who realize
the hell of their sin’s deserving are quick to recognise the sufficiency and
suitability of the Saviour’s substitution. The sin-burdened soul knows he has
placed himself, by his sin, under the smiting of GOD’s wrath, but he is ready
also to appreciate the fact that CHRIST has been stricken on his behalf. His
smiting is our salvation.

While passing the World’s Fair at St. Louis, on the night train, in 1904, the
whole scene was one mass of magnificent electric light. As I was admiring the
flashing display of the lights on the Festal Hall, the lights upon it suddenly
changed to a deep crimson, which made everything seem warm with their hue. Amid
all the wonders of GOD’s creation, the works of His historic and providential
hand, land the certainty of the Festal Hall of His Word, there is one crimson
fact which illuminates the whole, and that is the atoning sacrifice of CHRIST’s
death.

Vinet has tersely put the whole issue so far as Christianity is concerned.

He says, “Deprived of the great fact of expiation, what, I ask, is Christianity?
For ordinary minds, an ordinary morality; for others, an abyss of
inconsistencies.” With the “great fact of expiation,” what does Christianity
proclaim?

- It proclaims the bow of GOD’s love in the dark cloud of sin, telling us that
judgment is past (Genesis 9:13; Revelation 4:3; Revelation 5:9); - it proclaims
the token of assurance in the dark night of wrath, which assures us that the
plague of indignation shall not come near us (Exodus 12:13; Romans 8:1-3); - it
proclaims that the ransom price of redemption has been paid for us, thus
counting us in GOD’s elect (Exodus 30:12-14; 1 Peter 1:18-19); - it proclaims
the solid foundation of atonement on which we rest, and with which we are
identified (Exodus 38:25-28; 1 Corinthians 3:11); - it proclaims the uplifted
serpent of life-bestowment, bringing life and health and the sun-rising of
expectant outlook (Numbers 21:8-9; John 3:14-15); - it proclaims the ashes of
the red-heifer of cleansing from defilement and restoration to fellowship
(Numbers 19:1-14; 1 John 1:7); and - it proclaims the consecrating ram of
holiness bringing us untold blessing, and qualifying us for GOD’s priestly
service (Leviticus 8:22-29; Hebrews 13:12). The supreme attraction, yea, the
attraction of GOD’s Word, is the One of Whom the late Charles Fox wrote, “Marred
more than any man’s, yet there is no place In this wide universe but gains new
grace, Richer and fuller, from that marred face.”


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 4: 03 - GOD AND CHRIST'S ATONEMENT
========================================================================

CHAPTER THREE GOD AND CHRIST’S ATONEMENT There are two ways by which the Niagara
Falls may be reached.

They may be reached from the Atlantic Ocean, by going up the St. Lawrence, past
the Thousand Islands, across Lake Ontario, up the Niagara river, past the
whirlpool, and through the rapids. The other way to reach the Falls is to start
from the Rocky Mountains, and go through the four lakes, Superior, Michigan,
Huron, and Erie, which are the feeders of the Falls. As we look at CHRIST in His
atonement, we may view Him from two standpoints.

We may view the ocean of GOD’s love as it touches us in our necessity, the St.
Lawrence of His grace, the thousand and more blessings the Lord bestows, the
lake of the calm peace with GOD, and the whirlpool and rapids of His power, and
we apprehend they all come to us from the pains of the Niagara of CHRIST’s
death. Or we may view the atoning death of CHRIST from GOD’s standpoint, and
start from the Rockies of GOD’s eternal purpose, and trace the wondrous path of
CHRIST’s obedience unto death as revealed in the four mighty lakes of the four
gospels, and see the mighty display of the deep of GOD’s love calling to the
deep of His righteousness as they crash and flow at the Niagara of CHRIST’s
death.

I purpose to call attention to CHRIST’s death from the latter standpoint, as the
display of GOD’s provision. The vastness of this section of the topic compels me
to confine myself to one section of GOD’s Word, namely, the Epistle to the
Romans.

I - GOD’S PURPOSE IN CHRIST’S DEATH “Whom God hath set forth to be a
propitiation through faith in His blood” (Romans 3:25). The words, “In His
Blood,” as Bishop Ellicott remarks, are to be associated with “Whom God hath set
forth to be a propitiation.” He renders the words, “Whom God hath set forth by
the shedding of His blood to be a propitiatory offering through faith.” And he
comments, “It was in the shedding of the blood that the essence of the atonement
exhibited upon the Cross consisted. No doubt other portions of the life of
CHRIST led up to this one, but this was the culminating act in it, viewed as an
atonement.”

GOD is here viewed as One Who is an Exhibitor, or the Cross is the culmination
of a specific purpose from which flashes out unmistakable truth, like the
flashing forth of an electric light in the lighthouse across the foaming waves.
The electricity which illuminated the lamp was there before the current was
switched on, but it was set forth by the switching on. The word “set forth”
signifies to set before one’s self, that is an inward purpose. The compound word
occurs in two other places.

Paul uses it when he writes to the saints at Rome, and says, “I purposed to come
to you” (Romans 1:13); and it is used of GOD’s loving purpose and will, when the
apostle says, He made known to us “the mystery of His will, according to His
good pleasure which he hath purposed in Himself” (Ephesians 1:9). The death of
CHRIST was the unfolding of the secret purpose of GOD.

Moule finely says, “Here is no fortuitous concourse, but the long-laid plan of
GOD. Behold its procuring cause, magnificent, tender, Divine, human, spiritual,
historic. It is the Beloved Son of the Father; no antagonist power from a region
alien to the blessed law and its Giver. The LawGiver is the Christ-Giver; He has
’set Him forth.’ He has provided in Him an expiation which does not persuade Him
to have mercy... but liberates His love along the line of a wonderfully
satisfied holiness.”

II - GOD’S COMMENDATION OF HIS LOVE IN CHRIST’S DEATH “God commendeth His love
towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

One has said of the word “commendeth,” it means “to place together; of persons
to introduce to one’s acquaintance and favourable notice, hence, to commend, to
represent as worthy.” The word is translated “stood with” in calling attention
to the fact that Moses and Elijah were with CHRIST on the Mount of
Transfiguration (Luke 9:32).

It is rendered “make” in recording what Paul said, when he declared he would
“make” himself a transgressor if he went back to the law after having accepted
the gospel (Galatians 2:18).

Very often the word is used in the sense of approving another in commending to
some one’s favourable notice (Romans 6:1-2; 2 Corinthians 7:11; 2 Corinthians
10:18). The sense in each case is one person being so identified with another
that they stand together, just as David assured Abiathar his life was safe as
long as he abode with him (1 Samuel 22:23). GOD associates Himself in His love
with the death of CHRIST for sinners, and the striking point of contrast is, man
may sacrifice himself for a good man, GOD sacrificed Himself for bad men,
“sinners.” The gospel is a glorious fact about an act.

- The act of CHRIST’s death commends the fact of GOD’s love.

- The arms of CHRIST’s Cross are the arms of Divine love.

- Some would have the Cross without the blood, that is Ritualism; - others have
a CHRIST without His Cross, that is Unitarianism; - we have CHRIST with His
Cross, that is redemption, for in Him and it we find GOD Himself.

III - GOD’S MISSION IN CHRIST’S DEATH “God sending His own Son in the likeness
of sinful flesh” (Romans 8:3).

Dr. Denney says, “It is the atonement which explains the incarnation. The
incarnation takes place in order that the sin of the world may be put away by
the offering of the body of JESUS

CHRIST. The obedience of the Incarnate One, like all obedience has moral value -
that is, it has a value for Himself; but its redemptive value, i. e, its value
for us belongs to it not simply as obedience, but as obedience to a will of GOD
which requires the Redeemer to take upon Himself in death, the responsibility of
the sin of the world.” The incarnation of CHRIST among us does not explain His
substitution for us, but His substitution for us explains His incarnation among
us, even as the coal from the pit explains the necessity of sinking the shaft.
As the shaft is the means to get at the coal, and thus demonstrates its purpose,
so the end of the incarnation, His substitutionary sacrifice, proves the
necessity of the means to that end, namely, that He should become a man to die
for men. As locating the origin of the provision which GOD Himself has made, the
word “sending” indicates not the object to which one is sent, but the sender who
commissions; thus the thought is, not sending to, but sending from - a letting
go.

There is a stronger word than “pempo,” namely, “apostello,” which signifies, not
merely a letting go, but to send forth one on a mission and fully equip him for
it; thus apostello implies the mission he has to fulfil, and the authority which
backs him.

Both words are used of CHRIST, especially in John’s Gospel.

“Pempo” occurs twenty-five times (John 4:34; John 5:23-24, John 5:30, John 5:37;
John 6:38-40; John 6:44; John 7:16, John 7:18, John 7:28, John 7:33; John 8:16,
John 8:18, John 8:26, John 8:29; John 9:4; John 12:44-45, John 12:49; John
13:20; John 14:24; John 15:21; John 16:5); and “apostello” occurs seventeen
times (John 3:17, John 3:34; John 5:36, John 5:28; John 6:29, John 6:57, John
7:29; John 8:42; John 10:36; John 11:42; John 17:3, John 17:8; John 17:18, John
17:21, John 17:23, John 17:25; John 20:21). The word in Romans 8:3 signifies
merely a letting go, but the word in John 3:17 signifies a fitting out for His
mission. So taken together, GOD sent Him, that is, let Him go, to. be condemned
for us, but He did not equip Him to condemn, but to save us.

IV - GOD DEALING WITH SIN IN CHRIST’S DEATH.

“By a sacrifice for sin condemned sin in the flesh” (Romans 8:3, margin). In a
general way, by the holiness of His nature, GOD must condemn sin; but the
statement before us says He condemned sin in a specific way, that is, He judged
CHRIST for us. The expression, “for sin,” takes us back to the Old Testament,
especially to the Book of Leviticus, where the words for “sin” and
“sin-offering,” which one the same, occur over seventy times. The words “for
sin” and “for a sin-offering” occur twenty-eight times. In one chapter, the
chapter of the sin-offering (Leviticus 4:1-35) the words occur nine times
(Leviticus 4:3, Leviticus 4:8, Leviticus 4:14, Leviticus 4:20, Leviticus 4:28,
Leviticus 4:32-33, Leviticus 4:35). The typical significance of sin and
sin-offering being one and the same, identifies the sin with the offering, and
the offering with the sin. CHRIST identified Himself with the believer’s sin,
and the believer is identified with CHRIST, Who gave Himself as an offering for
sin, so that in Him the believer has answered for his sin, and has been judged
for it.

Luther tersely put it - “He is my sin and I am His righteousness”; or, as Hooker
remarks, “We have no knowledge in the world but this, that man hath sinned and
GOD has suffered; that GOD made Himself the sin of men that men might be made
the righteousness of GOD.” The force and forcefullness of the word “condemned”
must not be overlooked.

It embraces the three thoughts, - a crime committed, - a verdict passed, and - a
punishment meted out.

Take two illustrations.

Noah’s act in building the ark is said to be not only a means of salvation to
his house, but that “by which he condemned the world” (Hebrews 11:7); and of
GOD’s act of judgment upon Sodom it is said to have been condemned with an
overthrow (2 Peter 2:6). In each case there is the sin which called forth the
sentence of judgment and the execution of the judgment in the subsequent
condemnation. In CHRIST’s unjust condemnation there are the same three things.

He is charged with the crime of blasphemy, and the consequence was “they all
condemned Him to be guilty of death” (Mark 14:64). As GOD condemned the old
world by the flood of judgment, and the cities of the plain by the baptism of
fire; so He condemned His Son for us. Can we not imagine an Israelite as he
stood watching the fire feeding upon the sin-offering till it was wholly
consumed, saying “There am I dying for my sin, bearing the wrath of GOD against
it?”

V - GOD NOT SPARING HIS SON FROM DEATH.

“He spared not His own Son” (Romans 8:32).

Some expressions of the Bible touch a chord which recall many incidents, such is
the expression “spared not,” it links our thought to Divine prohibition and
incident.

- The Lord’s injunction to Moses regarding the idolater was that he was not to
be spared from being put to death (Deuteronomy 13:6-9; Deuteronomy 29:20); - the
sin of Saul was that he dared to spare Agag and the goodly of the cattle, when
GOD told him to utterly destroy and not to spare (1 Samuel 15:3, 1 Samuel 15:9);
- the Lord did not spare the Egyptians from death when Pharaoh and his people
dared to oppose Him (Psalms 78:50); - He did not spare the angels from hell and
the chains of darkness when they rebelled against Him (2 Peter 2:4); - He did
not spare the antediluvians from judgment who were disobedient to His warning
voice (2 Peter 2:5); - the Lord did not spare the nation of Israel from being
cut off from blessing when in unbelief they forsook Him (Romans 11:21); and - He
did not spare Himself, although He had said a father always spares the son who
serves him (Malachi 3:17), from smiting His Son when He gave Him to be our
Substitute.

Why did He not spare Him?

If we are to be spared He must not be spared. Sodom and Gomorrah would have been
spared for the sake of ten righteous men (Genesis 18:24, &c.), we are spared for
the sake of the One, Who was bruised by the Lord, and because His stroke fell on
Him (Isaiah 53:8, Isaiah 53:10).

VI - GOD GIVING UP CHRIST TO DEATH.

“Delivered Him up for us all” (Romans 8:32). When Henry Martin reached the
shores of India he made this entry in his journal - “I desire to burn out for my
GOD.” From whence did he get this flame of burning desire? It was from the
sacred fire of GOD’s heart of love as seen flaming on the Cross of CHRIST’s
passion.

One of the strongest words is used to describe GOD’s act of love when it says,
“He delivered up.” The Greek word means to give over into the hands of another.

- It is translated “gave up” and “gave over” in describing GOD’s act of giving
over to sin and its consequences, those who had previously given themselves over
to sin (Romans 1:24, Romans 1:26, Romans 1:28; Ephesians 4:19), and - the word
is also translated “given” and “gave” and “committed” in speaking of, CHRIST’s
act in giving Himself up to death an our account (Galatians 2:20; Ephesians 5:2,
Ephesians 5:25), and in His committing Himself to His Father (1 Peter 2:23).We
are not left in any doubt as to the reason of this giving up, for we are
distinctly told He “was delivered [up] for our trespasses” (Romans 4:25).

One of the most intense and soul-anguishing cries of the Bible is that of David
for Absalom “My son, my son Absalom! would God I had died for thee, O Absalom,
my son, my son!” (2 Samuel 18:33). From a very different cause it seems some
such feeling must have been in the heart of the Lord when He gave up the worthy
Son of His love for the worthless sons of men.

VII - GOD FOR US IN THE DEATH OF HIS SON.

There are seven wonderful questions brought out in Romans 8:31-35, which are
prefaced by one general question.

1. What shall we then say to these things?

2. If GOD be for us, who can be against us?

3. He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He
not with Him also freely give us all things?

4. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect?

5. It is God that justifieth.

6. Who is he that condemneth?

7. It is CHRIST that died, yea, rather, that is risen again, Who is even at the
right hand of God, Who also maketh intercession for us.

8. Who shall separate us from the love of CHRIST? It will be noted that points
five and seven make the Apostle give a definite statement. GOD, Who has declared
the believer righteous, will certainly not bring an accusation against us, and
CHRIST, Who died and is risen, will not condemn us, for He died and rose again
to free us from condemnation, and He also ’lives to’ meet any who would condemn
us. The death of CHRIST proclaims GOD’s gift of CHRIST to act for us, and He
gives to GOD what meets GOD’s righteous requirement, and CHRIST in turn meets
our need. Thus all CHRIST gave and did, are the giving, and the doing of GOD
Himself.

All this brings out the fact that the crowning act of Revelation is the mighty
act of GOD’s love in the death of His Son. “Herein is love,” is the comment of
the HOLY SPIRIT, “not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son
to be the Propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10).

Hatton, in Cruel London represents two of his characters standing at the door of
their dwellingplace on Christmas Day.

“Kerman went to the door. The snow had ceased to fall. The sun was getting up
behind them. A grey mist brooded aver the vast expanse of hill and dale. The sun
seemed to dwell upon it. A fogbow appeared in the sky; and beneath it the form
of a Cross.”’Come here, Decker, quick!’ cried Kerman.

“Decker hurried to the door.

“’What’s that?’ “’A phenomenon peculiar to mountainous countries. It is common
in the Arctic regions and in the Alps. In the Hartz they are specters. But I’ve
never seen the figure of a Cross before.’

“As he spake the phenomenon disappeared. Kerman looked anxiously at Decker -
’What’s the meaning of it?’

“’It’s an amen.’

“’Of what?’

“’That’ GOD will not desert us. It is Christmas Day. He sends us His great sign
manual, the Cross of CHRIST.’

“The face of the American lighted up, as he spake, with a sublime expression of
tenderness and hope.

“Kerman bent his head reverently.

“’Let us go in, Jack, and pray. Don’t let us be ashamed of our feelings; don’t
let us be afraid to speak to GOD in each other’s hearing. We shall want His aid
before long. Your shovel is no good against a tempest of wind.’’’ The incident
proclaims the inspiration and encouragement which the Cross of CHRIST brings, as
expressing the love of GOD for man. In the light of the Cross - every darkness
is dispelled, - every sin killed, - every question answered, - every foe
dispelled, - every fear quenched, - every hunger satisfied, - every hope met, -
every longing fulfilled, and - every promise kept.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 5: 04 - SIN AND CHRIST'S ATONEMENT
========================================================================

CHAPTER FOUR SIN AND CHRIST’S ATONEMENT

Low thoughts about sin will lead to lower thoughts about CHRIST’s sacrifice. He
who only sees a man suffering in a good cause in the CHRIST of Calvary fails to
understand the teaching of Scripture. The Spirit’s utterance is dear and
emphatic as to CHRIST’s death in relation to sin and sinners.

Let us put the whole subject in the form of questions.

1. For whom did CHRIST die?

CHRIST is said to have died for “sinners” and for the “ungodly,” and that GOD’s
“enemies” are reconciled to Him by the death of His Son (Romans 5:6, Romans 5:8,
Romans 5:10).

2. For what did He die?

“Our sins” - “He died for our sins according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians
15:3).

3. Why did CHRIST come into the world? To “put away sin by the sacrifice of
Himself” (Hebrews 9:26). “He was manifested to take away our sins” (1 John 3:5).

4. Did GOD have anything to do with that death for sin?

He made “His soul an offering for sin” (Isaiah 53:10). “He made Him to be sin
for us” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

“God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned
sin in the flesh” (Romans 8:3).5. Did CHRIST die willingly?

“He gave Himself for our sins” (Galatians 1:4).

6. What did He do with our sins?

“Bare the sins of many” (Isaiah 53:12). “Offered to bear the sins of many”
(Hebrews 9:28).

7. Where did He bear our sins?

“In His own body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24).

8. Is it necessary for Him to repeat the act?

“For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust” (1 Peter
3:18).

“he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever” Offering of the body of JESUS
CHRIST once for all (Hebrews 10:12).

9. Why did He die?

- To make an atonement for sin (Hebrews 1:3; Hebrews 2:17; John 2:2).

- To put away the hindrance of sin (Hebrews 9:26).

- To take away the guilt of sin (Romans 4:25).

- To cleanse from the pollution of sin (Revelation 1:5).

- To make us dead to sins (1 Peter 2:24).

- To constitute us righteous (Romans 5:19; 2 Corinthians 5:21).

- To deliver us from the world (Galatians 1:4).

- To separate us from self (2 Corinthians 5:14-15).

- To bring us to GOD (1 Peter 3:18).

I have only called attention to a few of the Scriptures where CHRIST’s death is
directly associated with sin. The one thing I want to emphasize is this, that
the very words which are used to describe man’s sin are found connected directly
or indirectly with CHRIST’s sacrifice for sin, showing His identification with
it, and His complete answer to GOD for it.

Let us look at some Old Testament words.

I - SIN The principal word for sin is to miss the mark. Of the left-handed
Benjaminites it is said’, they “could sling a stone at a hair-breadth and not
miss” (Judges 20:16). The word to “miss” is rendered sin again and again.

Saul, for instance, confesses, “I have sinned” (1 Samuel 15:24). He had deviated
from the express command of GOD to slay all that pertained to Amalek. He missed
his step and fell to his hurt.Girdlestone calls attention to the fact that the
same word is found in connection with the offerings for sin and the blessings
which accrue. “The Piel form, or intensive voice, of this verb is rendered as
follows, - to make reconciliation (2 Chronicles 29:24); - to bear loss (Genesis
31:39); - offered it for sin (Leviticus 9:15); - to cleanse from sin (Exodus
29:36); and - to purge or purify (Leviticus 8:15).” The sin offering is a type
of CHRIST as the One Who has borne the judgment of GOD against sin. All the
offering that was burnt outside the camp was utterly consumed (Leviticus
4:11-12). The sinner deserves to be consumed with the judgment of GOD because of
his sin. As the offerer watched the burning of the victim, he would say, “There
am I, and my sin being consumed in the offering offered in my stead.”

CHRIST has so identified Himself with our sin that He speaks of it as His own,
hence, in the prophetic word we hear Him saying, “There is no rest in My bones,
because of My sin” (Psalms 38:3). The rest, the peace, the health (see margin),
which come to us, are because there were no rest and peace for Him. “Because of
my sin, He died,” the believer says, and because He said “my sin,” in taking our
place, we shall not be called upon to answer for it again, for in Him it is
answered for already. The word for sin is rendered “bare the loss” in Genesis
31:39, when Jacob recounts to Laban what he had done in his service. “That which
was torn of beasts I brought not unto thee; I bare the loss of it... in the day
the drought consumed me, and the frost by night, and my Sleep departed from mine
eyes.” Sleepless, cold, and consumed Jacob said he was in Laban’s service, and
bore loss too. How much fuller and deeper these words describe what our Lord
endured for us. He was chilled by the affronts of man, scorched by the judgment
of GOD, and lost all the bliss of Heaven for the time being, to save us from the
bitterness of hell and to bring us into the blessedness of Heaven.

II - INIQUITY The Hebrew word “avah” means a distortion, as when a person’s body
is distorted because he is in pain, or a woman in travail. It is rendered “bowed
down” in Isaiah 21:3. It means also to pervert, as when one goes astray from the
right path, hence, it is rendered “perverted” in calling attention to Israel’s
forgetting the Lord (Jeremiah 3:21). Its full significance, as descriptive of
sin, is to do wrong or wickedly, hence, it corresponds to our word “wrong,”
namely, that which is wrung out of its course. (See the word rendered “done
wickedly” in 2 Samuel 24:17; “done perversely” in 1 Kings 8:47; “done amiss” in
2 Chronicles 6:37; and “committed iniquity” in Psalms 106:6).

CHRIST in the prophetic Psalm of His suffering says, “I am troubled” (Psalms
38:6). The word “troubled” or “bent” is the same as rendered “iniquity.” We had
bent ourselves by sin, and perverted the powers which GOD had entrusted to us
for His glory to our own use. CHRIST had to be bent in suffering for us before
we could be righted and brought back to the right path. Sin had overturned
everything (the word is rendered “overturn” in Ezekiel 21:27), and CHRIST came
into our ruin that He might turn us again, and make us to be as we were. Dr.
Maclaren explains the sentence, “I am twisted with pain,” and comments,
“Contorted in pain, bent down by weakness. burning with inward fever, diseased
in every tortured atom of flesh, He is utterly worn out and broken.” The
intensity of the Lord’s sufferings can only be measured by the holiness of GOD,
by the righteousness of the law, by the desert of sin, by the pangs of death, by
the woes of the lost, and by the pains of hell.

III - TRANSGRESSION Transgression is the passing over the boundary of GOD’s law.

Man in his self-will daring to “go beyond” (word rendered “go beyond” in Numbers
22:18) the prohibition of the Lord, hence, Saul “transgressed the commandment of
the Lord” (1 Samuel 15:24), and Israel “transgressed the covenant” (Hosea 6:7;
Hosea 8:1). The word, in a general way, means to pass over or to pass by, as a
lamp passing between two objects (Genesis 15:17); as a person passing over a
river (Deuteronomy 12:10); and as waves passing over an individual to his
submergence (Psalms 124:4-5).

CHRIST uses the word in this latter sense when He realizes the waves of GOD’s
wrath against sin are submerging Him, and as identified with our sins, says,
“Mine iniquities are gone over Mine head” (Psalms 38:4). Jonah passed over the
command of the Lord and had to bear the punishment of his disobedience, as he
says, “Thy waves passed over me” (Jonah 2:3); so we have transgressed GOD’s law,
and we deserve to be punished; but CHRIST, our Divine Jonah, has been plunged
beneath the waters of judgment on our behalf, and now we can bear our testimony
and say, “He hath made to meet upon Him the iniquity of us all.”

IV - REBELLION To sin is bad, to distort the right and make it wrong is worse,
to go beyond the Divine fiat is worst, but to add rebellion to these is worse
than the worst. GOD said to Israel, “I have nourished and brought up children,
and they have rebelled against Me” (Isaiah 1:2). When one has failed to do
right, done absolute wrong, broken the law, and then dares to stand with
clenched fist and defy the One against Whom the previous acts had been
committed, he deserves to be left for judgment. Did GOD thus leave the sinner?
No. Here is the wonder of the Gospel. Four times the word rendered “sin” and
“rebelled” is applied to CHRIST. It is translated in Isaiah 53:5, Isaiah 53:8,
Isaiah 53:12 - “Transgression” and “Transgressors.”

Here, again, we are impressed with CHRIST’s close identification with our sin,
for the literal meaning of the sentence, “wounded for our transgressions” is,
“He was the wounded One unto death because of our transgressions.” As Newton
says, literally, “from our transgressions. Our transgressions are here spoken of
as the source whence the sufferings spoken of flowed out to our Substitute.”This
oneness with us and our oneness with Him is further emphasized in the words,
“Numbered with the transgressors.”

I remember a brother in reading the words of Scripture descriptive of CHRIST
being crucified with the two thieves mistakenly read it as follows: “Where they
crucified Him, and two other malefactors with Him.” By adding the word “other”
the reader made ’CHRIST a malefactor. This could not be true personally, but it
was true representatively, for being “numbered with the transgressors” (Mark
15:28), He was treated as a thief (Mark 15:28).

Mark it does not say He was numbered with sinners, but with “transgressors,” [
68 ] namely, rebels. The full force is further brought out when it is known that
the word “malefactor” means a doer of some particular evil. The two thieves
suffered the just penalty of the law (Luke 23:41), because of some particular
crime. CHRIST identified Himself with the worst of characters that He might save
the worst of them. The arms of the atoning Saviour are found beneath the lowest.
His Blood is sufficient to cleanse the vilest, and it is efficient to all who
will receive Him.

V - UNFAITHFULNESS, OR TRESPASS The Hebrew word “ma’al” seems to indicate
faithlessness, treachery, and apostasy. It is rendered “trespass” about thirty
times. Parkhurst says of its meaning - “To straddle with the feet too much to
one side, and so decline towards it “ a declining or deflection from duty and
truth.” The word is rendered “falsehood” in Job 21:34. This word makes sin yet
blacker. It is employed to describe the sin of Achan (Joshua 7:1), for he was
unfaithful to his trust in taking to his own use what the Lord had consecrated
to Himself.

Under the law, if an Israelite sinned, committed a trespass against the Lord,
ignorantly, in the holy things (Leviticus 5:15-16), or if he trespassed against
the Lord in deceiving his neighbour (Leviticus 6:2-7), then he had to make
amends according to the Lord’s directions, but in each case there had to be a
trespass-offering, by means of which the priest had to “make an atonement” for
the offender, and then, when atonement was made, his trespass “shall be forgiven
him” (Leviticus 5:16; Leviticus 6:7). No atonement, no forgiveness.

While there is no direct statement about CHRIST dying for this sin, the typical
significance of the trespass offering:; and the priest making atonement by means
of it, are sufficient to emphasize the New Testament statement, “In Whom we
have. redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins [trespasses],
according to the riches of His grace” (Ephesians 1:7).

There is no more grievous sin than the five-fold apostasy mentioned in Hebrews
6:4-5, which culminates in “crucifying the Son of God afresh,” and “putting Him
to an open shame”; and yet right in the midst of the solemn words there is the
grace of GOD held out to the penitent. It is impossible to renew the unfaithful
ones, “So long as they are again crucifying unto themselves the Son of GOD”
(Rotherham’s footnote), but as soon as they repent they find they are forgiven
for the sake of Him Who made atonement for sin.

VI - OFFENCE, OR SINS OF OMISSION The one sentence which sums up the meaning of
the word “trespassed” (Leviticus 5:19), and which is rendered “offend” (Hosea
4:15), “found faulty” (Hosea 10:2), is, “Though he wist it not, yet is he
guilty” (Leviticus 5:17).

Ignorance does not free the offender from guilt. The word is rendered “trespass
offering” twenty-one times in the Book of Leviticus, and is translated “sin” in
speaking of CHRIST being made “an offering for sin” (Isaiah 53:10).

These words remind us of the New Testament sentence, “He hath made Him to be sin
for us” (2 Corinthians 5:21). We cannot understand the deep mystery of CHRIST
being made sin for us, but we accept its reality. Dr. Denney finely says, “It is
a counsel of despair to evade it. It is not the puzzle of the New Testament, but
the ultimate solution of all puzzles; it is not an irrational quantity that has
to be eliminated or explained away, but the keystone of the whole apostolic
thought. It is not a blank obscurity in revelation, a spot of impenetrable
blackness. It is the focus in which the reconciling love of GOD burns with the
purest and intensest flame; it is the foundation light of all day, the master
light of all seeing, in the Christian revelation.”

VII - BURDEN The Hebrew word “amal” gives the consequence of sin, rather than
its nature.

It is rendered “toil” in Genesis 41:51, “perverseness” in Numbers 23:21,
“sorrow” in Job 3:10, “wickedness” in Job 4:8, “trouble” in Job 5:7, “miserable”
in Job 16:2, “mischief” in Psalms 10:7, “pain” in Psalms 25:15, “labor” and
“travail” in Ecclesiastes 1:3; Ecclesiastes 2:10-11, Ecclesiastes 2:18-22,
Ecclesiastes 2:24; and “iniquity” in Habakkuk 1:13.

All this goes to show the toil and misery of sin; the pain it ministers to and
the sorrow it causes. The word is applied to CHRIST in speaking of “the travail
of His soul” (Isaiah 53:11).

Parkhurst says of the word, “Afflictive labour, toil, travail, weariness,
irksomeness, which one endures oneself. Also what occasions toil or irksomeness
to another, or, in our old English phrase, what irketh him.” When Joseph looked
upon his firstborn, he called him Manasseh (“forgetting”); “for God,” said he,
“hath made me forget all my toil.” He had been in the pit, and in the prison,
and had been hurt (Psalms 105:18), and misrepresented, but he forgot it all in
the comfort of his home life; so CHRIST shall see the fruit of the “travail of
His soul and be satisfied.”

Sin had caused us the travail and pain it always brings, and it brought CHRIST
into pain and anguish, before He could bring us out of it. But since He has been
into the place of sin’s consequence and burden, He can bring out from sin’s
condemnation and curse.


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  CHAPTER 6: 05 - CHRIST AND HIS ATONEMENT
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CHAPTER FIVE CHRIST AND HIS ATONEMENT

There were two large pillars at the entrance of the temple of Solomon, which
were named Jachin and Boaz. The meanings of these names are suggestive. Jachin
means “He will establish,” and Boaz, “In Him is strength.”

There are two great pillars of truth at the entrance of the temple of CHRIST’s
teaching about His death, the understanding of which will establish us in
salvation and sanctification, and give us strength in service, and these two
truths are, the necessity and the nature of His atoning death.

CHRIST’s Death: Its. Necessity.

Without going into the many-sidedness of the necessity of CHRIST’s death, such
as Justice demanded it (Ezekiel 18:4-9), Law required it (Galatians 3:13), Sin
called for it (Romans 4:25), Wrath is met by it (Romans 5:9), Holiness is upheld
by it (Romans 3:26), Mercy ministers because of it (Luke 24:46, Luke 24:37),
Wisdom is displayed by it, Power is communicated through it (1 Corinthians
1:24), and God is glorified by it (Ephesians 5:2), I refer to CHRIST’s own
teaching about the necessity of His death.

There are three passages of Scripture in which CHRIST distinctly and definitely
refers to the necessity of His death, and in these He is seen in the three
characters of the Baptized Sufferer, the Dying Corn of wheat, and the Uplifted
Saviour.

1. The Baptised Sufferer

“I have a baptism to be baptised with, and how am I straitened till it be
accomplished?” (Luke 12:50). Rotherham paraphrases the words, “But an immersion
have I to be immersed with, and how am I distressed till it be ended?” CHRIST’s
baptism on the Cross was symbolized by His baptism in Jordan. There are three
things we may ponder as we take the one event as an illustration of the other.
When was CHRIST baptised, where He was baptised, and who baptized Him.When was
CHRIST baptised? The skilled artist has no superfluous touches in his painting.
He is not only guided by the law of perspective, but by the law of unity; that
is, every touch has a relation to the picture as a whole. The same is true of
the HOLY SPIRIT as He depicts the Lord JESUS in His baptism. He says of Him,
“Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptised of Him”
(Matthew 3:13). That adverb of time “Then” is like a red life-buoy upon a sea
scene, it strikes the eye of meditation at once. What was John doing at the
time? Baptizing the people in Jordan upon the confession of their sins (Matthew
3:6). But CHRIST had no sins to confess, therefore, John was perfectly justified
in refusing to baptize Him.

While CHRIST had no sin personally to confess, He had sins representatively. In
one of the prophetic Psalms of His sufferings He speaks of “My sins,” “My
reproach,” and “My shame” Psalms 69:5, Psalms 69:19). Personally this could not
be true of Him, but representatively it was.:Rotherham’s commentary of Hebrews
1:3 gives the same thought; it reads, “When He made purification for Himself.”
As the Head of the Church He acted for His mystical body, in answering for the
sin of the members. As GOD the Son, in the intrinsic worth of His personality,
there was no need for Him to make purification, but as the Son of GOD, as the
representative of the sons of GOD, He acted for them, and thus in His action
they acted.

John’s objection was overruled by CHRIST’s word, “Suffer it to be so now, for
thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness.”

CHRIST in figure met the claim of righteousness in dying for the sinner, that
the believing sinner might have a claim to the righteousness which is by faith
in Himself. The HOLY SPIRIT has distinctly stated that CHRIST was “numbered with
the transgressors” (Isaiah 53:12; Luke 22:37), and may we not say as a
transgressor? Dr. Denney says, “It would not have been astonishing if JESUS had
come from Galilee to baptize along with John, if He had taken His stand by
John’s side confronting the people; the astonishing thing is, being what He was,
He came to be baptized and took His stand with the people. He identified Himself
with them. As far as baptism could express it, He made all that was theirs His.
It was a great act of loving communion with our misery.”

He was numbered with us in our misery, and we are now numbered with Him in His
merit. It is not without significance that the word “numbered,” which speaks of
CHRIST being identified with sinners, is the same as applied to believers by
GOD, when He reckons to them the worth of His Son. The word translated “reckon,”
“impute” and “counted” in Romans 4:1-25, which are one and the same in the
Greek, is applied to CHRIST being reckoned with the thieves as a thief in Mark
15:22; Luke 22:37. Who baptised CHRIST? John. John was the representative of the
majesty of GOD in law. He was the last of the prophets, who had to do with the
Old Dispensation, hence, CHRIST says of him, in contrast to those who are in the
Kingdom of Heaven, “He that is least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than
he” (Matthew 11:11): not greater in character, but greater in privilege.

CHRIST identifies Himself with John by saying of His baptism, “Thus it becometh
us to fulfill all righteousness.”

Here are two parties, each has a role to perform. John’s part is the part of
GOD’s Holy Law. The Law must inflict its penalty, or GOD’s attributes are
forfeited. JESUS’ part is ’to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself’ (Hebrews
9:26), to be “made sin for us” (2 Corinthians 5:21), to be made a curse
(Galatians 3:13), to once suffer for sins, the just for the unjust (1 Peter
3:18). “So, it be cometh us - thee and Me, each to bear His part.” Where did
John baptize JESUS? In Jordan. Gosse says of the river Jordan, “The river, like
so many things in Jehovah’s land, was a symbol of solemn, mystic significance.
Physically, it is a river absolutely unique in the whole world; cleft in the
very bowels of the whole earth; being, at its issue from the Lake of Galilee,
far below the sea level; and ever plunging lower and lower, by twenty-seven
distinct descents, till it empties into the Dead Sea, that horrid, yawning chasm
of salt and pitch, and desolation, whose surface is actually 1,300 feet below
the Mediterranean; the awful grave of those guilty cities, which are ’set forth
for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.’ Throughout the
Scripture this wondrous river of death stands as the type of penal death - of
death issuing in hell. Its very name is a parable, whether we accept the
etymology of the word, the ’downward plunger,’ or the other which means ’the
river of judgment’ - the older and perhaps the better one.”

CHRIST went beneath the waters of the downward plunger, this river of judgment.
The whelming of waters is a frequent figure of the punitive wrath of GOD.

One Hebrew word, which is frequently used, means to wash thoroughly, to drown,
to overflow, and is frequently used to denote a calamity, an overflowing
devastation (see Isaiah 8:8; Isaiah 10:22; Isaiah 18:2, Isaiah 28:15, Isaiah
28:17; Isaiah 30:28; Isaiah 43:2). It is used by CHRIST in Psalms 69:2, when He
says, “I am come into deep waters where the floods overflow Me.” The same word
as “overflow” is rendered “drown” in Song of Solomon 8:7, where we read of love
- “many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it.”

CHRIST was drowned beneath the waters of judgment for us, but those waters could
not drown His love for us, and now He assures us, because of what He has done
for us, the waters “shall not overflow us” (Isaiah 43:2).

2. The Dying Corn of Wheat.

“Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if
it die, it bringeth forth much fruit” (John 12:24). The association of the word
“except” in John’s Gospel lays down the rule - “A condition must be fulfilled
before the end can be attained.”

- GOD’s presence is a necessity to do His miracles - “Except God be with Him”
(John 3:2).

- The new birth is a qualification to enter into and see the Kingdom of GOD -
“Except a man be born again,” etc. (John 3:3).

- The bestowment of a -gift is a pre-requisite to its being received - “Except
it be given” (John 3:27).

- The sinner must be drawn before he can come - “Except the Father draw him”
(John 6:44).

- Eating is an essential to life - “Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man ye
have no life in you” (John 6:53).

- Union is necessary to fruit-bearing - “Except ye abide in the Vine” (John
15:4). - Death is necessary to life - “Except a corn of wheat,” etc. (John
12:24). As long as the seed corn remains unburied it abides alone. When it is
planted in the earth it seems to die, to be lost, but it begins to grow, and
by-and-bye it brings forth fruit, fifty, sixty, or a hundredfold; even so with
CHRIST. He would have been for ever alone had He not died for us, therefore, it
was a necessity that He should go into the blackness of our death, that we might
share the blessedness of His life. He went into the lostness of our desert, that
we might have the livingness of His grace.

3. The Uplifted Saviour.

CHRIST’s solemn and emphatic affirmation about His death was - “The Son of Man
must be lifted up” (John 3:14).

We hear CHRIST ringing the changes on the word “must.” From His first recorded
utterance till near His ascension He emphasizes the necessity of His mission. We
have only to ponder His use of the word “dei,” and as we do so, we behold CHRIST
under twelve different characters, 1. The Obedient Servant - “I must be about My
Father’s business” (Luke 2:49).

2. The Ardent Servant - “I must work the works of Him that sent Me” (John 9:4).

3. The Faithful Teacher - “The Son of Man must suffer” (Mark 8:31).

4. The Determined Walker - “I must walk to-day,” etc. (Luke 13:33).

5. The Expectant King - “But first must He suffer” (Luke 17:25).

6. The Passover Lamb - “The Passover must be killed” (Luke 22:7).

7. The Scripture Fulfiller - “This that is written must be accomplished” (Luke
22:37).

8. The Crucified CHRIST - “The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of
sinful men and be crucified” (Luke 24:7).

9. The Explaining Lord - “Ought not Christ to have suffered these things?” (Luke
24:26).

10. The Unfolding Teacher - “All things must needs be fulfilled” (Luke 24:44).

11. The Gospel Personified - “Thus it behoved” “Christ to suffer” (Luke 24:46).

12. The Uplifted Saviour - “The Son of Man must be lifted up” (John 3:14).

Bengel says upon this word “must” - “For this purpose He came down from Heaven.”
We must put it even stronger. He had to come if we were to be saved. His prayer
in the Garden of Gethsemane lends color to this statement. He cried - “If it be
possible, let this cup pass from Me”; and because it was an impossibility, He
drained the cup to the dregs and went on to the bitter end till He could say,
with satisfaction to Heaven and earth, and the defeat of hell - “It is
finished.”CHRIST’S DE’ATH: ITS NATURE There is no uncertain note in the teaching
of CHRIST as to the nature of His atonement.

He speaks of, - a momentous hour in His life’s history (John 12:27), - a great
gift He would bestow (John 6:51), - a substitutionary act He would perform
(Matthew 22:28), - an exceptional work He would accomplish (Luke 12:50), - a
unique love He would manifest (John 15:9, John 15:13), - a vital blessing He
would secure (John 12:24), and - an unsurpassed glory He would, and did, render
to His Father (John 17:4).

CHRIST’s atonement was vocative in its calling.

CHRIST again and again points to a crisis in His life’s history by referring to
a momentous hour into which He was to come. That hour was known and anticipated
by Him, as may be gathered by the repeated sentence - “His hour was not yet
come” (John 7:30; John 8:20). When this hour’s ominous shadow was creeping over
Him, then we have the further statement, “The hour is come” (John 12:23; John
13:1; John 17:1). The importance and intensity of that hour may be apprehended
in CHRIST’s interrogation to His Father about it when in heart’s anguish He
exclaimed, “Now is My soul troubled, and what shall I say? Father save me from
this hour?” (margin). “But for this cause came I unto this hour” (John 12:27).

CHRIST felt He could not pray, “Father save Me from this hour,” for that hour
was the goal of His life. He was called to this hour of woe that we might know
the. hour of welcome, salvation, and life to which He refers in John 5:25. His
star of desting was the death of Calvary. He fulfilled the plan of the Father in
going to the place of sacrifice.

CHRIST’s atonement was vicarious in its act.

CHRIST leaves us in no uncertainty about His death being vicarious. He says,
“The Son of Man came... to give His life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28).
Without going into the usage of the preposition “anti,” rendered “for,” it is
sufficient to remark its meaning is “instead of.”

“In His death everything was made His, that sin had made ours - everything in
sin except its sinfullness.” He put His death in all its value over against our
sin in all its evil and condemnation. CHRIST’s atonement was voluntary in its
gift.

There was no compulsion laid upon Him, other than the impulsion of His own heart
of love.

Love compels by its impelling. There is no power which moves so mightily as love
in the force of its intensity. The HOLY SPIRIT loves to ring the bells of His
voluntary love.The following Scripture sentences in which are the words “gave”
and “give” illustrate the ministry of the Spirit in this direction:What did He
give Himself for? “He gave Himself for our sins” (Galatians 1:4).

Why did He give Himself? “Who loved me and gave Himself for me?” (Galatians
2:20).

What did He give in giving Himself? “Who gave Himself a ransom for all?” (1
Timothy 2:6). Who was it Who gave Himself? “Christ loved the Church and gave
Himself for it” (Ephesians 5:25).

What was the intent He had in.giving Himself? “He gave Himself that He might
redeem us from all iniquity” (Titus 2:14). The answers to the questions are
found in the emphasized words in the Scripture sentence.

Besides the above words of the Spirit embodying the voluntary act of CHRIST in
His death, CHRIST Himself emphasized the same. He says, “The Son of Man came to
give His life” (Matthew 20:28). “The bread that I will give is My flesh” (John
6:51); “The Good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep” (John 10:11). His
willingness to act for us brings out the intrinsic worth of His action.

CHRIST’s atonement was valuable in its completion. The thought of failure never
entered into the calculation of CHRIST. The conclusion to which He had come was
the inclusion of all the Father had given Him to do, hence, His dying triumphant
cry was, “It is finished.” That word “finished” means to complete, to fulfill,
to perfect.

It is rendered “gone over” in Matthew 10:23; “pay” in Matthew 17:24; “performed”
in Luke 2:39; “accomplished” in Luke 12:50; Luke 18:31; Luke 22:37; John 19:28;
“fulfil” in James 2:8; “filled up” in Revelation 15:1; “expired” in Revelation
20:7; and “finished” in Revelation 10:7.

If we embody these words in CHRIST’s work we begin to apprehend something of its
greatness and completeness.

- He has “gone over” all the will of GOD on our behalf (Hebrews 10:12); - He has
paid all the tribute asked by GOD in His righteousness (1 Peter 1:18-19; Exodus
30:11-16); - He has “performed” all the Father gave Him to do (John 17:4); - He
has “accomplished” all the prophecies predicted about Him (Luke 24:44); - He has
“fulfilled” all the law of GOD in its double requirement of obedience and death.
His obedience shows His perfection, and in His death He answers for the
disobedient (Php 2:8; Galatians 3:13); - He has “filled up” all the havoc made
by sin in the believer’s life (Romans 5:17-21); - He has “expired” in death on
account of sin (2 Corinthians 5:21); and - He “finished” every detail of the
work which GOD set Him to perform (John 19:28-30).What he undertook He
consummated. In creation we behold the perfection of His skillful hand, but in
redemption we see the production of His loving heart. “I Know that,whatsoever
God doeth, it shall be for ever, nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken
from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him” (Ecclesiastes 3:14).

CHRIST’s atonement is vital in its application.

CHRIST’s last act before He suffered was the institution of the Lord’s Supper.
As He took the cup, He said, “This cup is the new testament in my blood, which
is shed for you” (Luke 22:20). The word “ekchuno” means “poured out.” “Chuno”
comes from “cheo,” which means to pour, and “ek” means out of, hence, the
compound word which signifies to pour out. “Ekchuno” is rendered “spilled” in
speaking of the new wine bursting the old skins, into which it had been placed
(Luke 5:37); “gushed out” in calling attention to what happened. to Judas when
he committed suicide, and his “bowels gushed out” (Acts 1:18); and it is given
“poured out” in referring to the HOLY SPIRIT being given to the. Gentiles (Acts
10:45).

CHRIST’s life was spilled, poured out, shed on our behalf. There were no half
measures, but an absolute dying out. To “pour out” is a term which is frequently
used in the Old Testament in connection with the offerings (Exodus 29:12;
Leviticus 4:7, Leviticus 4:18, Leviticus 4:25, Leviticus 4:30; Leviticus 8:15;
Leviticus 17:13). The blood poured out, and all of it, is typical of CHRIST Who
poured out His soul unto death on our behalf. His life-giving is our
life-bringing. The poured out life of His paschal offering has secured for us
the Pentecostal blessing of the Spirit’s abundant life. As the dead body of the
man, which touched the dead body of Elisha, rose and revived and stood upon its
feet (2 Kings 3:21); so contact with the CHRIST in His death brings life to us
who were dead in sins. His death for sin saves us from the death of sin, and
makes us dead to sin (1 Peter 2:24).

CHRIST’s atonement is voiceful in its manifestation. As the Pleiades are said to
be the hub of the universe, so CHRIST’s word as to the love of GOD to the world
is the center of revelation.

John 3:16 is the, - Gospel in solution, - grace in its essence, - truth in its
concrete, - mercy in its ministry, - love in its source, - power in its
attractibility, and- the heart of revelation.

All GOD has to say and give are expressed by the Living Word in the beauty of
His peerless life, and the provision of His sacrificial death. Verily, His death
speaketh better things than that of Abel’s for his blood cried for swift and
executed condemnation upon the murderer, but CHRIST’s Blood proclaims just
clearance from sin for the sinner. CHRIST is aptly called “The Word,” for He
tells out in all He became, was, is, has done, is doing, and will do, what GOD
is.

“Sorrow, sin and desolation, These Thy claim to me.

Love that won me full salvation, This my claim to Thee.”

CHRIST’s atonement is voluminous in its glory.

One of the last statements of CHRIST to His Father was, “I have glorified Thee
on the earth and finished the work Thou gavest Me to do” (John 17:4).

Man had not only sinned, but he had come short of the glory of GOD. CHRIST
answered for both, for He was not only the Sin-offering bearing the judgment due
to sin, but He was the Burnt-offering, bringing glory to GOD by the sweet savour
of His perfect obedience unto death. The glory of GOD’s handiwork is seen in
creation, but the splendor of His heart-work is unveiled at the Cross. The glory
of GOD’s grace, the glory of His truth, the glory of His love, the glory of His
wisdom, the glory of His riches, the glory of His compassion, and the glory of
His worth, are all unfolded and enhanced in the glory which CHRIST made known,
“the glory of the Only-Begotten, full of grace and truth.”


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  CHAPTER 7: 06 - THE HOLY SPIRIT AND CHRIST'S ATONEMENT
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CHAPTER SIX THE HOLY SPIRIT AND CHRIST’S ATONEMENT

There is one book in the Bible where the HOLY SPIRIT is not mentioned by name,
and that book is Leviticus. He is like the auctioneer that Dr. A. A. Bonar used
to speak about, who was describing the beauty of an oil painting while he was
hidden behind it. The Spirit is the unseen author in the book of Leviticus, like
the life in the blood which makes it a life-giving fluid (Leviticus 17:11), for
while He is unseen He is none the less there, as He unfolds to us the essential
and blessed truth of atonement.

There are two things to which attention is called in thinking of the HOLY
SPIRIT’s testimony in reference to CHRIST’s atoning sacrifice, and these are the
Greek prepositions used in connection with it, and the qualifying expressions
which are applied to CHRIST’s Blood.

I. The Prepositions and the Atonement.

There are seven prepositions found in association with CHRIST’s death for sin,
and these are “Peri,” “Huper,” “Anti,” “Dia,” “Eis,” “En,” “Sun,” and these are
classified under the following words, Proclamation, Provision, Substitution,
Mediation, Intention, Permanence and Identification.

PROCLAMATION

Peri. With the genitive, “Peri” signifies action around an object, hence, to
speak or hear about, or of a thing or person. It is used in connection with
CHRIST when He referred to the HOLY SPIRIT as, “this spake He of (Peri) the
Spirit (John 7:39), and is translated concerning (Peri) when reference is made
to the people murmuring about CHRIST (John 7:12, John 7:32). This preposition is
used in connection with CHRIST and His atonement in the following passages. The
Covenant-Obtainer - “My blood which is shed for (peri) many” (Matthew 22:28;
Mark 14:24).The Cleansing-Giver - “Go shew thyself to the priest, and offer for
(peri) thy cleansing” (Luke 5:14). The Scripture-Fulfiller - “He expounded unto
them in all the Scriptures the things concerning (peri) Himself” (Luke 24:27).
“All things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in
the prophets, and in the psalms concerning (peri) Me” (Luke 24:44). The
Condemned Sufferer - “God sending His Own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh,
and for (peri) sin, condemned sin in the flesh” (Romans 8:3). The
Satisfying-Atoner - “As for (peri) the people, so also for (peri) Himself, to
offer for (huper) sins” (Hebrews 5:3). The Willing Victim - “In burnt offerings
and sacrifices for (peri) sin, Thou hast had no pleasure” (Hebrews 10:6). The
Sufficient Saviour - “Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering
for (peri) sin” (Hebrews 10:18). The Sin-Consumer - “For the bodies of those
beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for (peri)
sin, are burned without the camp” (Hebrews 13:11). The Blessing-Bringer -
“Christ also hath once suffered for (peri) sins, the Just for the unjust, that
He might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18). The Propitiation-Obtainer - “He is the
propitiation for (peri) our sins” (1 John 2:2; 1 John 4:10).

There are two thoughts throbbing through these Scriptures, namely: CHRIST’s
action concerning sin in dying for it, and the Spirit’s testimony concerning Him
in His death, either directly or by typical reference.

PROVISION

Huper. With the genitive, huper means one object bending over another for its
protection, hence, to favor, care, benefit, and act for the sake of another. A
mother bird bending over her young, in protecting them from danger, illustrates
the meaning of the word. The Spirit uses the preposition in speaking of the
Spirit’s “intercession for (huper) us” (Romans 8:26), of CHRIST’s “intercession
for (huper) us” (Romans 8:34), of GOD being “for (huper) us” (Romans 8:31), and
of believers having a “care one for (huper) another” (1 Corinthians 12:25). As
applied to CHRIST’s death the main thought is, the provision which is made on
behalf of fallen humanity, in His atoning sacrifice, so that men may be saved
from the consequence of sin.

Huper occurs over thirty times in this provisional sense, and underneath there
is the underlying thought of substitution, hence, the word is rendered in
Philemon 1:13 “in stead” where Paul speaks to Philemon of Onesimus and says,
“Whom I would have retained with me, that in thy stead (huper) he might have
ministered unto me in the bonds of the gospel.” The Gracious Giver - “This is My
body which is given for (huper) you” (Luke 22:19). The Sufficient Atoner - “My
blood which is shed for (huper) you” (Luke 22:20). The Divine Supplier - “My
flesh, which I will give for (huper) the life of the world” (John 6:51). The
Good Shepherd - “The Good Shepherd giveth His life for (huper) the sheep” (John
10:11). The Faithful Actor - “I lay down My life for (huper) the sheep” (John
10:15). The Proclaimed Substitute - “One man should die for (huper) the people”
(John 11:50). The Specified Saviour - “Jesus should die for (huper) that nation”
(John 11:51). The Universal Provider - “Not for (huper) that nation only” (John
11:52). The Consecrated Lord - “For (huper) their sakes I sanctify Myself” (John
17:19). The Announced Intervener - “Expedient that one man should die for
(huper) the people” (John 18:14). The Strong Deliverer - “Christ died for
(huper) the ungodly” (Romans 5:6). The Dying CHRIST - “Christ died for (huper)
us” (Romans 5:8). The Delivered Son - “Delivered Him up for (huper) us all”
(Romans 8:32). The Sacrificed Passover - “Christ our Passover is sacrificed for
(huper) us” (1 Corinthians 5:7). The Remembered Sufferer - “My body which is
broken for (huper) you” (1 Corinthians 11:24). The Sin-Bearer - “Christ died for
(huper) our sins” (1 Corinthians 15:31). The Holy Kinsman - “One died for
(huper) then were all dead” (2 Corinthians 5:14). The Glorious Purposer - “He
died for (huper) all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto
themselves” (2 Corinthians 5:15). The Emphatic Emphasizer - “But unto Him Who
died for (huper) them, and rose again” (2 Corinthians 5:15). The Sin Offering -
“Made Him to be sin for (huper) us” (2 Corinthians 5:21). The Trespass Offering
- “Who gave Himself for (huper) our sins” (Galatians 1:4). The Surrendered Lover
- “Gave Himself for (huper) me” (Galatians 2:20). The Curse Receiver - “Made a
curse for (huper) us” (Galatians 3:13). The Burnt Offering - “Given Himself for
(huper) us” (Ephesians 5:2). The Church Sanctifier - “Loved the Church, and gave
Himself for (huper) it” (Ephesians 5:25). The Glory Obtainer - “Who died for
(huper) us” (1 Thessalonians 5:10). The Unique Ransomer - “Who gave Himself a
ransom for (huper) all” (1 Timothy 2:6). The Practical Redeemer - “Who gave
Himself for (huper) us” (Titus 2:14). The Death Taster - “Taste death for
(huper) every man” (Hebrews 2:9). The Typical Priest - “Ordained for (huper)
men.” “Offer... sacrifices for (huper) sins.” “To offer for (huper) sins”
(Hebrews 5:1, Hebrews 5:3). The Perfect Offerer - “Offered one sacrifice for
(huper) sins” (Hebrews 10:12). The Perfect Example - “Christ also suffered for
(huper) us” (1 Peter 2:21). The Introducer to GOD - “Suffered for (huper) sins,
the Just for (huper) the unjust to bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18). The Sin
Conqueror - “As Christ hath suffered for (huper) us in the flesh” (1 Peter 4:1).
The Love Inspirer - “Because He laid down His life for (huper) us, and we ought
to lay down our lives for (huper) the brethren” (1 John 3:16).

SUBSTITUTION

“Anti” signifies one thing over against another, one thing in the place of
another, or something given in exchange for something else. In a popular sense
the word “instead” illustrates its meaning.

It is used in the following senses.

- One reigning in the stead of another “Archelaus reigned in the room (anti) of
his father Herod” (Matthew 2:22); - an equivalent given for a loss - “An eye for
(anti) an eye, and a tooth for (anti) a tooth” (Matthew 5:38); - the payment of
a claim - “Give unto them for (anti) Me and thee” (Matthew 17:27); - something
given in the place of something else - “Will he for (anti) a fish give him a
serpent?” (Luke 11:11); - a given thing taking the place of another - “Grace for
(anti) grace” (John 1:16); - something which is not to be given in the place of
what is given - “Recompense to no man evil for (anti) evil” (Romans 12:17; 1
Thessalonians 5:15; 1 Peter 3:9); a woman’s long hair is in the place of a
covering, “her hair is given for (anti) a covering” (1 Corinthians 11:15); -
when a man takes a wife and leaves his parents - “for (anti) this cause shall a
man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife” (Ephesians
5:31); - when one sets aside one thing for another, hence, CHRIST “for (anti)
the joy that was set before Him endured the cross” (Hebrews 12:2); - the same
thought is expressed when Esau sold his birthright “for (anti) one morsel of
meat” (Hebrews 12:16); - and when the believer is exhorted to put the will of
GOD in the place of his own “for (anti) ye ought to say if the Lord will” (James
4:15). “Anti” is used by CHRIST when He said the purpose of His death was, to
“give His life a ransom for (anti) many” (Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45).

“Anti” is found in combination with “Lutron” (which means loosing money) and is
rendered “Ransom” in 1 Timothy 2:6. “Anti-lutron” therefore means a ransom paid
instead of others having to pay it. Man was the slave of Satan, sold under sin.
He was unable to ransom himself, because absolute obedience. is due to GOD,
therefore no act of ours can satisfy for the least offence. Leviticus 25:48,
allowed one sold captive to be redeemed by one of his brethren. The Son of GOD
therefore became man that He might redeem us, “Anti-Lutron” implies not merely
ransom, but a substituted or an equivalent ransom ~ the “anti” implying
vicarious substitution.

MEDIATION

Dia. With the genitive “Dia” signifies, by means of, a procuring cause which
brings something to someone else. It is of frequent occurrence in connection
with CHRIST and His death. We shall note some of the blessings which flow from
His death, as illustrating the meaning of the preposition.

Salvation - “Through (dia) Him might be saved” (John 3:17; John 10:9).

Life - “Live by (dia) Me” (John 6:57).

Purchased - “Church of God which He hath purchased with (dia) His own blood”
(Acts 20:28).

Approach - “No man cometh unto the Father but by (dia) Me” (John 14:6).

Redemption - “In whom we have redemption through (dia) His blood” (Ephesians
1:7).

Reconciliation - “Reconciled to God by (dia) the death of His Son” (Romans
5:10).

Righteousness - “So by (dia) the obedience of one shall many be made righteous”
(Romans 5:19).

Victory - “I thank God through (dia) Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 7:25; Romans
8:37; 1 Corinthians 15:57).

Resurrection - “By (dia) Man came also the resurrection of the dead” (1
Corinthians 15:21).

Adoption - “Predestinated us unto the adoption of children by (dia) Jesus
Christ” (Ephesians 1:5).

Access - “Through (dia) Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father”
(Ephesians 2:18).

Peace - “Made. peace through (dia) the blood of His cross” (Colossians 1:20).

Atonement - “By (dia) Himself purged our sins” (Hebrews 1:3).

Deliverance. - “Through (dia) death He might destroy him that hath the power of
death” (Hebrews 2:14).

Sanctification - “Through (dia) the offering of the body of Jesus Christ”
(Hebrews 10:10); “Sanctify the people with (dia) His own blood” (Hebrews 13:12).

INTENTION

“Eis” is a preposition governing the accusative, with the primary idea of motion
into any place or thing. Hebrews 9:24, gives a good illustration of its meaning
- “Christ is not entered into (eis) the holy place made with hands... but into
(eis) Heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.” A person
approaching unto a place in order to enter into it expresses the full meaning of
eis. As applied to CHRIST’s death there are two thoughts, namely: CHRIST
approaching the place of His death and entering into all its suffering, and the
benefit into which He now brings us in consequence. The purpose of CHRIST’s
death - “He appeared to (eis) put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself” (Hebrews
9:26). The meaning of CHRIST’s death - “Christ was once offered to (eis) bear
the sins of many” (Hebrews 9:28). The reconciliation by CHRIST’s death - “To
reconcile all things unto (eis) Himself” (Colossians 1:20). The identity with
CHRIST’s death - “With Him by baptism into (eis) death” (Romans 6:3-4). The
moulding of CHRIST’s death - “That form of doctrine whereto (Literally, (unto,’
(eis’) ye were delivered” (Romans 6:17, margin). The claim of CHRIST’s death -
“We are the Lord’s: for to this end (eis) Christ both died and lived again, that
He might be Lord, etc. (Romans 14:9). The remembrance of CHRIST’s death - “This
do in (eis, Lit. unto) remembrance of Me” (1 Corinthians 11:24).

PERMANENCE

“En” occurs between two and three thousand times in the New Testament. The
preposition, governing the dative, signifies one object resting in another,
hence believers are said to be “in (en) Christ” as resting in Him (Ephesians
1:4) for life (2 Timothy 1:1), redemption (Ephesians 1:7), acceptance (Ephesians
1:6), nearness (Ephesians 2:14), liberty (Romans 8:1), union (1 Corinthians
12:5), and sanctification (1 Corinthians 1:2). As found in association with
CHRIST’s Blood, “en” speaks of the permanence of the blessings which are found
therein and secured thereby. Justification in CHRIST’s Blood - “Much more then
being justified by (en) His blood” (Romans 5:9).

Nearness in CHRIST’s Blood - “Now in (en) Christ Jesus ye... are made nigh by
(en) the blood of Christ” (Ephesians 2:13).

Entrance in CHRIST’s Blood - “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into
the holiest by (en) the blood of Jesus” (Hebrews 10:19).

Perfection in CHRIST’s Blood - “Through (en) the blood of the everlasting
covenant” (Hebrews 13:20).

Redemption in CHRIST’s Blood - “Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by
(en) Thy blood” (Revelation 5:9).

Beauty in CHRIST’s Blood - “Made them white in (en) the blood of the. Lamb”
(Revelation 7:14).

Consecrated in CHRIST’s Blood - “This cup is the New Testament in (en) My blood”
(1 Corinthians 11:25).

IDENTIFICATION

“Sun” - governing only the dative and speaks of intimate association,
co-operation, oneness, and union. It is generally rendered “with,” hence,
believers are said to be “quickened with Christ” (Colossians 2:13), our “life is
hid with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3), and when He comes back for us, we
shall “live together with Him” (1 Thessalonians 5:10), “appear with Him in
glory” (Colossians 3:4), and shall be “for ever with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians
4:17). Believers are also said to be “dead with (sun) Christ” in His death
(Romans 6:8; Colossians 2:20), even as the two thieves were “crucified with
(sun) Him” (Matthew 27:38).

“Sun” is also found in combination with another word, “Sustouroo,” which means
to be impaled on a cross in company with others; hence is rendered “crucified
with” in referring to the thieves who were crucified with CHRIST (Matthew 27:44;
Mark 15:22; John 19:32), and also in speaking of the old man of the sinful
habits it is said to be “Crucified with” CHRIST (Romans 6:6) and the “I” of the
self life, as Paul says, “I am crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:20).

II. The qualifying expressions which are applied to the Blood of CHRIST. The one
expression which is prominent in the New Testament about the Blood of CHRIST is,
“without shedding of blood is no remission” (Hebrews 9:22). This is the inspired
statement of the Spirit. By sin we had forfeited everything. By the giving of
the life of the Son of GOD He more than regains what we had lost. The shedding
of Blood always presupposes the giving up of the life of CHRIST on our behalf.
the Lord said long ago, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have
given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is
the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul” (Leviticus 17:11).

There are a number of different expressions associated with CHRIST’s Blood.

“The blood of the Covenant” (Luke 22:20; Hebrews 10:29), speaks of the
abrogation of the old covenant in all its sacrifices, and the institution of the
new covenant with all its blessings.

CHRIST has signed and sealed the covenant with His own precious Blood.

“The Blood of Jesus” proclaims the perfection of the human life of the Man of
men, who gave Himself for the sons of men and has thus obtained for us the right
of entrance where He is (Hebrews 10:19). The Blood of GOD (Acts 20:28). The
Church of GOD is said to have been purchased with His own Blood.. therefore the
coin which has acquired the assembly of the redeemed is Divine.

“The blood of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:2. When the names of JESUS CHRIST come in
the order, “JESUS CHRIST,” the starting point is from the JESUS who lived and
died to the CHRIST who is seated and glorified. The cradle of His incarnation
must culminate in the throne of His acceptance via the Cross of His expiation.
The Blood of CHRIST JESUS. “Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth to be a
propitiation through faith in His blood” (Romans 3:24-25). When the names CHRIST
JESUS follow in the order, “Christ Jesus,” the starting point is from the seat
of His acceptance at the right hand of His Father to the manger of His
humiliation, via the Calvary of His atonement. Where He is, what He did, and
what He became are the sheet anchors which hold us to the eternal Rock of Ages.

“The blood of Jesus Christ His Son” (1 John 1:7). The emphasis in this sentence
is on “His Son.” The worth of His work in its permanent value must be computed
by the worth of Himself. The place which the Son has obtained by His
propitiation on the Cross is the place of fellowship which He retains for the
sons on the same ground.

“The blood of Christ” (Hebrews 9:14). “CHRIST” speaks of the anointed of GOD. He
was qualified by the HOLY SPIRIT to answer for our sins, and now He is the
Anointer to give us the HOLY SPIRIT that our sins may never master us.

“The blood of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 11:27). The title of CHRIST as Lord
reminds us of His proprietary right over us, and our responsibility to Him is to
recognize whose we are and whom we serve, hence, to remember His death in an
unworthy manner proclaims our want of loyalty to Him. The Blood of the Beloved.
“Accepted in the Beloved” (Ephesians 1:6-7). CHRIST as the Beloved is the
special object of GOD’s affection, therefore to be blessed through His Blood
means that we, too, are honoured subjects of His grace.”The precious blood of
Christ” (1 Peter 1:19). Rarity, speciality, worth and value are suggested by the
word “precious,” and especially the last, for His Blood is invaluable and beyond
all estimation.

“The blood of His cross” (Colossians 1:20). The Cross in Scripture is always
associated with suffering. He died the worst kind of death for the worst kind of
people, and now He can make them the best kind of saints and lift them up to the
highest place in glory.

“The blood of sprinkling” (Hebrews 12:24). As there was a difference in the
blood poured out and the blood sprinkled, in the Levitical economy, so there is
a difference between the death of CHRIST for us and the application of that
death to us. The former speaks of salvation provided, and the latter of
salvation received.* The Blood of the everlasting covenant (Hebrews 13:20). The
emphasis here is on the adjective, “aionios,” for the blessings which the Blood
of CHRIST secures are eternal.

“The blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 7:14; Revelation 12:11). The book of the
Revelation is the only book which speaks of “the blood of the Lamb,” and it is
not without meaning that it should be thus spoken of in the book of the last
things, for the kingly CHRIST of the coming glory is seen in all the fresh value
of His atoning sacrifice, hence, He is represented as a little Lamb newly slain.

CHRIST frequently emphasized the necessity of the shedding of His life’s Blood
and the consequent outcome of blessing in the words “My blood” (Matthew 22:28;
Mark 14:24; Luke 22:20; John 6:54-56; 1 Corinthians 11:25); and the HOLY SPIRIT
frequently draws attention to the benefits of CHRIST’s atonement by using the
words “His own blood” and “His blood” (Acts 20:28; Romans 3:25; Romans 5:9;
Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:14; Hebrews 9:12; Hebrews 13:12; Revelation 1:5;
Revelation 5:9). * ’The difference between salvation provided in the death of
CHRIST, and the acceptance of the provision made is very well illustrated in the
following incident. In 1829 or 1830, George W. Wilson, in Pennsylvania, was
sentenced to be hanged, by a United States Court in Philadelphia, for robbing
the mails and murder. Andrew Jackson, as President of the United States,
pardoned him, but Wilson refused the pardon and insisted that it was not a
pardon unless he accepted it. That was a point in law never before raised in the
U. S. of A. The Attorney General said the law was silent on the point. The
President was urged to call upon the Supreme Court to decide the point at once,
as the Sheriff must know whether to hang Wilson or not. Chief Justice John
Marshall, one of the ablest lawyers, gave the following decision: “A pardon is a
paper, the value of which depends upon its acceptance by the person implicated.
It is hardly to be supposed that one under sentence of death, would refuse to
accept a pardon, but if it is refused, it is no pardon. George Wilson must be
hanged.” And he was hanged. Who is responsible for his death? No one but the man
himself. The law said he must die. The President stepped in between him and the
law, but the man refused the pardon. Indirectly, the Supreme Court of the U.’S
decided that the truth of the atonement of CHRIST, in making provision for the
salvation of the whole world, is only beneficial to those who receive Him as
their own personal Saviour. The righteousness of GOD is unto all in its offer,
but it is upon them that believe in its benefit (Romans 3:22).


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  CHAPTER 8: 07 - SATAN AND CHRIST'S ATONEMENT
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CHAPTER SEVEN SATAN AND CHRIST’S ATONEMENT The atonement of CHRIST affects
Heaven, earth, and hell.

Heaven is satisfied with the atonement of CHRIST. Ample provision is made for
earth’s sin in it, and hell is defeated by it.

There is one expression, which is frequently used in the Epistle to the Hebrews,
and that is, “The blood of bulls and goats.” Whenever this expression is used,
the reference is to the offering on the great day of atonement. The blood of the
bullock was offered to the Lord in making an atonement for Aaron and his house,
and the two goats are associated in making an atonement for the sins of the
people. Only one of the goats was killed, and the other goat was to be for
Azazel [as tradition has it], states in Leviticus 16:10, for the scapegoat.

Many theories have been advanced as to what is meant by Azazel, the consensus of
opinion being that it has a reference to Satan. Some of the fathers even went so
far as to say that CHRIST in His death met a certain claim of the evil one. But
he, being a usurper, there was no claim to be met; still, since he had gained
power over man through sin, that power had to be annulled, and this could only
be done by CHRIST’s sacrificial death.

1. The Head bruised. The prophetic statement given by the Lord to Adam in the
garden was that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent’s head (Genesis
3:15). It is masculine and not neuter. Many have thought that a reference is
made to this declaration in Psalms 40:7, and the Septuagint Version of the verse
lends colour to it, “In the first roll, at the head of the beginning of the
book, it is written of Me, to do Thy will, My God.” The completeness of CHRIST’s
victory over the evil one is indicated in the word “bruise.”

Parkhurst, in his Hebrew lexicon, says upon this verb, “It means ’to cover,’
’overwhelm,’ as with a tempest or darkness.” Job 9:17 - “Who will overwhelm me
with a tempest.” Psalms 139:11 “Surely the darkness will cover me.” This latter
text, compared with the context, appears to me to fix the meaning of the verb,
and, therefore, according to the common reading, I am obliged to understand it
in the same sense in the only remaining passage where it occurs, namely, Genesis
3:15, which, in this view, will contain an allusion to that outer darkness to
which Satan should finally be condemned, as well as to that darkness of death
and the grave to which the mortal part of the promised Seed should be reduced,
when the power of darkness prevailed against Him (Luke 22:53).

Satan seemed to overwhelm CHRIST when he focussed all the powers of darkness
upon Him at the Cross. But he was only bruising the heel of CHRIST. CHRIST by
means of that very death has overwhelmed the power of darkness, and covered it
with eternal confusion. Satan has bruised the heel of CHRIST, but CHRIST has
fetched him such a blow on the head that he will never get over it.

II. The Spoiler spoiled.

“He shall divide the spoil with the strong,” or, as Lowth paraphrases it, “He
shall take the spoil from the strong.” And we are given the reason why He shall
accomplish this, “because He hath poured out His soul unto death” (Isaiah
53:12).

Satan was the strong man armed that kept his goods in peace till CHRIST the
Stronger overcame him, taking his armour from him. and dividing his spoils (Luke
11:21-22). The Old Testament opens with the temptation of the first Adam, and
the New Testament opens with the temptation of the last Adam. But what a
contrast! In the former we behold defeat and ruin, but in the latter victory and
redemption. In both temptations we see that Satan uses three weapons: the lust
of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.

Lust of the flesh”Tree was good for food” (Genesis 3:6).

“Command that these stones be made bread” (Matthew 4:3).

Lust of the eyes”Pleasant to the eyes” (Genesis 3:6).

“Showed Him all the kingdoms” (Luke 4:5).

Pride of life”Desired to make one wise” (Genesis 3:6).

“Cast Thyself down” (Matthew 4:6).

Eve met the temptations with her own words, but CHRIST met Satan’s suggestions
with the Word of GOD. Our first parents were alone in the garden of Eden when
beguiled by the evil one, but our Saviour, ere He went into the wilderness, had
passed through the waters of death, and had received the anointing of the
Spirit’s power. The secret of His victory in the wilderness is found in that He
had first died in the waters of Jordan.

III. The Powers stripped.

“Having spoiled principalities and powers He made a show of them openly,
triumphing over them in it” (Colossians 2:15), that is, the Cross. The thought
that is suggested is that CHRIST’s victory over the powers of evil was by means
of the Cross.

Here the thought seems to be that of the powers and forces of evil gathering
around CHRIST, but He puts them off from Himself, as a man would put off a
garment which impedes his action. The word “spoiled” is used in Colossians 3:9,
and is there rendered “have put off”; while a cognate noun is found in
Colossians 2:11, and is translated “the putting off.” It means either having put
off from oneself, or having stripped others for oneself. Liddle and Scott say
that the expression is used in relation to one who puts off his clothes for
combat. CHRIST stripped the principalities, as one might be stripped of his
clothes.

Dr Maclaren remarks, “We see the whole process before our eyes - the victor
stripping his prisoners of their clothes, of arms and ornaments and dress, then
parading them as his captives, and then dragging them at the wheels of his
triumphal car.” The powers of hell are degraded and humiliated by the death of
CHRIST. They thought they degraded and humiliated Him when they fixed Him to
Calvary’s Cross, but He transfixed and degraded them in that very degradation.
He stooped to conquer, and He conquered by means of His stoop.

IV. Death’s Authority overthrown.

“Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also
Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him
that had the power of death, that is, the devil” (Hebrews 2:14).

There are two thoughts among others which are suggested by these words.

First, the power Satan had.

He is described as having the power of death. Satan evidently had great dominion
and strength before CHRIST’s death. The Greek word “kratos” suggests this. It is
rendered “dominion” in 1 Peter 4:11; 1 Peter 5:11; Jude 1:25; and Revelation 1:6
in ascribing dominion to GOD. It is rendered “strength” in Luke 1:51, and
“power” in Ephesians 1:19 and Ephesians 6:10, in speaking of the power of GOD’s
might. This very word being associated with Satan, at once suggests the
greatness of his domain and might.The second thought is that: CHRIST has taken
away this power by means of His death. The word “destroyed” is translated
“loosed” (Romans 7:2), “done away” (1 Corinthians 13:10), “put down” (1
Corinthians 15:24), “ceased” (Galatians 5:11), and “abolished” (2 Timothy 1:10).
Each of these words might be read instead of “destroyed,” and may be employed by
way of illustration in showing how completely CHRIST has conquered.

- CHRIST has loosed the spirits of the Old Testament saints from the dominion of
Satan.

- He has done away with the crippling power of hell.

- He has put away the greatness of the authority he once exercised.

- He has put down the authority of evil. He has made to cease that which
prevailed before He died, and - He has abolished the power of death by means of
His own death, so that CHRIST stands before us and says, “I am He that liveth,
and was dead, and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of
hell and of death” (Revelation 1:18). “A fisherman, when he casts his angle into
the river, doth not throw his hook in bare, naked, and uncovered, for then he
knows the fish will never bite, and, therefore, he hides the hook within a worm,
or some other bait, and so, the fish, biting at the worm, is caught by the hook.
Thus CHRIST, coming to perform the great work of our redemption, did cover and
hide His Godhead within the worm of His human nature. The grand water serpent,
Leviathan, the devil, thinking to swallow the worm of His humanity, was caught
by the hook of His Divinity. The hook stuck in his jaws, and tore him very sore.
By thinking to destroy CHRIST, he destroyed his own kingdom, and lost his own
power forever.”

What does CHRIST’s victory mean to us?

We have to do with a conquered foe. CHRIST’s conquest is a pledge of our
victory. Let us by faith remember that He has delivered us from the power of
darkness that we might walk in the light (Colossians 1:13); He was manifested to
destroy the works of the devil, therefore, let us allow the Spirit of GOD to
fully accomplish that purpose in us (1 John 3:8); GOD’s command is, Resist the
devil, and he will flee from you, and flee he will if we resist him with the
truth (1 Peter 5:9). He charges us to have on the whole armour that we may stand
against the contending forces of evil (Ephesians 6:10-18). He assures us that
Satan shall be bruised under our feet (Romans 16:20); and as we keep in the
power of His death, we shall have victory, like those we read of in the Word,
who overcame him because of the Blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of
their testimony (Revelation 12:11).


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  CHAPTER 9: 08 - HOLINESS AND CHRIST'S ATONEMENT
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CHAPTER EIGHT HOLINESS AND CHRIST’S ATONEMENT The atonement of CHRIST was not
only an expiation for sin, but a triumph over it.

CHRIST answered for sin that we should cease to answer to it. His death for sin
is the death of sin. His passion for us quenches the passion of sin. The outward
crucifixion of CHRIST which procures the benefit of pardon is the inward power
which gives us to experience the inward crucifixion of self.

Sir Noel Paton’s picture, Death the Gate of Life, has a meaning other than in
the mind of the artist. A weary knight, wounded in his conflict with evil, has
passed through the valley of the shadow of death, and is represented as kneeling
in deep humility at the entrance of light and life.

He has put off his helmet with the Crest of falcon wings and peacock feathers -
emblems of worldly ambition and pride. The belt and sword which are cast aside,
and the armour which is falling off, indicate the renunciation of his own
strength. The overblown hemlock, rank weeds, and withered branches on this side
of the veil speak of sin’s deadly poison, and of disappointed hopes, while the
white lilies and wild roses on the other side tell of the purity and joy which
blossom there. The permanence of the life he is entering is indicated by a dear
and steadfast star which shines in the sky, while the waning moon on the horizon
typifies the mutability of the life he is leaving behind. The death of CHRIST is
the gate of the spiritual life. No one lives to purpose who does not know the
purport of that death.

- The lowliness of the Cross is the death of pride and the life of humility; -
The separation of the Cross means the severance from sin, and sanctification to
the Lord; - The manifestation of the Cross is the unfolding of love and the
inspiration of all love; - The passion of the Cross quenches the passion of evil
desire, and impassionates with a holy fire of devotion; - The Blood of the Cross
cleanses from the pollution of sin and the pleasures of iniquity; the world’s
adof murder in crucifying CHRIST, removes the believer from the company of the
world’s fellowship; and- The death of the Cross is the death to everything not
in the will of GOD.

There are certain words, Calvary words, which have a new meaning begotten within
them because of their association with the CHRIST of Calvary

CRUCIFIXION

There are four things which are said to be crucified in the crucifixion of
CHRIST, namely, the old man, self, the flesh, and the world. The Old Man.
“Knowing this our old man is crucified with Him” (Romans 6:6). The compound word
rendered “crucified with” means co-Crucifixion. To crucify means to impale on a
stake, and co-crucifixion means to be crucified in company with others, as when
the thieves were crucified with CHRIST. “The old man,” which was crucified with
CHRIST, is the sum total of the old self life, as made up by sin. ’The man of
old is the old man in the totality of sin. When the Gibeonites came to Joshua,
they came with “old sacks, old wine skins, old clothes, and old clouted shoes,
and dry and mouldy bread.” Professedly the old things with the old past of their
lives. The whole lot of old rubbish should [ 105 ] have been burnt, and they
themselves killed, but they caught Joshua napping, and got past him by their
craft. Our Joshua was not caught napping; the whole of our old habits formed in
sin were condemned on the Cross, and died there the death they deserved, and
they are therefore no longer dominating us, for His death ended their existence.

Self Crucified. “I am crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:20). Here, again, it
is co-crucifixion. If a dead leaf stalk is examined it will be found that the
old channel is silted by a barrier invisible to the naked eye. On last year’s
leaf the plant has shut the door, condemning it to decay, and soon, without
further effort, the stalk loosens, the winds play around it, and it falls away.
The Cross of CHRIST shuts off the life of self, and is a barrier which stands
between us and it, as we reckon we have died with Him. The title of a sermon
read “Self crucifixion: the secret of a spiritual life.” No, that is the blunder
which many are making, it is not self crucifixion, but crucifixion with CHRIST.
It is not putting ourselves to death, but believing we are put to death in the
death of CHRIST. The one is useless trying, and the other is unfailing triumph.
The Flesh Crucified. “They that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the
affections and lusts thereof” (Galatians 5:24). The flesh denotes the principle
of life in man which is alienated from GOD, incurably and unmendably bad, of the
Blood of CHRIST brings us nigh to GOD, so this death kills that which caused us
to go away from Him. The way to overcome the flesh and its works is to die with
CHRIST to the flesh which works. The World Crucified. “The world is crucified
unto Me, and I unto the world” (Galatians 6:14). The world, generally speaking
is ”Whatever passes as a cloud between, The mental eye of faith and things
unseen, Causing that brighter world to disappear, Or seem less lovely or its
hope less dear, That is our world, our idol, though it bear Affections impress,
or devotions air.” To the world, and all that is in it, we are crucified.

We read of, - the debarring wisdom of the world (1 Corinthians 1:21), - the evil
character of the world (Galatians 1:4), - the course of the world (Ephesians
2:2), - the dominating darkness of the world (Ephesians 6:12), - the opposition
of the friendship of the world (James 4:4), - the deadening power of the
corruption in the world (2 Peter 1:4), - the contamination of the pollutions of
the world (2 Peter 2:20), and - the trinity of the things of the world (1 John
2:15). To all of these we are crucified, and they are to be to us as dead
things, and then we shall be as a dead thing to the world. If we see the world
on the Cross, the world will see us on the Cross.

Professor Upham asks the question, “What is it to be inwardly crucified? It is
to have no desire, no purpose, no aim, but such as comes by Divine inspiration,
or is attended by the Divine approbation. To be inwardly crucified, it is to
cease to love Mammon in order that we may love GOD, to have no eye for the
world’s possessions, no ear for the world’s applause, no tongue for the world’s
envious or useless conversation, no terror for the world’s opposition. To be
inwardly crucified is to be, among the things of the world a stranger and a
pilgrim; separate from what is evil, sympathizing with what is good, but never
with idolatrous attachment; seeing GOD in all things, and all things in GOD. To
be inwardly crucified is, in the language of Tauler, to cease entirely from the
life of self, to abandon equally what we see and what we possess, our power, our
knowledge, our affections; so that the soul in regard to any action originating
in itself is without life, without action, and without power, and receives its
life, its action, and its power from GOD alone.”

DEATH CHRIST’s death for sin is our death to it.

There are many things to which we are dead in that death.

- We are dead to sin’s penalty (Romans 6:7), - We are dead to sin’s power
(Romans 6:2), - We are dead to sin’s presence (Romans 6:7), - We are dead to
sin’s practice (1 Peter 2:21), - We are dead to the law (Galatians 2:19; Romans
7:4),- We are dead to self (2 Corinthians 5:15), and - We are dead to the world
(Galatians 2:20); and He died that we should live to Him (2 Corinthians 5:15),
and ultimately live with Him (2 Timothy 2:12). When Clerk Maxwell, the
scientist, was asked what he thought was the greatest discovery of the
nineteenth century, he replied that the greatest discovery that he knew of was
that “the Gramm machine is reversible.” The Gramm machine is for the producing
of electricity; and it had been discovered that both power develops electricity,
and electricity develops power; and that is what he meant when he referred to
the fact that the machine is reversible. As powers develops electricity, and
electricity power; so the death of CHRIST for us generates power over the cause
of death - sin; and that victory over sin makes us appreciate more than ever His
death for sin.

PASSION

CHRIST showed Himself alive after His passion (Acts 1:3). The word “passion”
signifies intense suffering. It is translated “vexed” in Matthew 17:15; and
“felt” in Acts 28:5. The word is used to denote the sufferings of CHRIST on our
account twenty times (Matthew 16:21; Matthew 17:12; Mark 8:31; Mark 9:12; Luke
9:22; Luke 17:25; Luke 22:15; Luke 24:26, Luke 24:46; Acts 3:18; Acts 17:3;
Hebrews 2:9; Hebrews 5:8; Hebrews 9:26; Hebrews 13:12; 1 Peter 2:21; 1 Peter
2:23; 1 Peter 3:18; 1 Peter 4:1).

We too are called to suffer for Him, since He has suffered for us.

- We are called, as Paul was, to suffer at the hands of the world for His sake
(Acts 9:16; Php 1:29; 1 Thessalonians 2:14; 2 Thessalonians 1:5; 2 Timothy
1:12).

- We are called to suffer wrongfully and thus follow in the steps of CHRIST (1
Peter 2:19-21); not threatening our enemies (1 Peter 2:23); and yet further, -
We are also called to suffer for righteousness sake and well doing (1 Peter
3:14, 1 Peter 3:17); and in it all to commit ourselves in well doing to GOD (1
Peter 4:19), remembering that suffering leads to the glory (1 Peter 5:10). The
suffering we may receive from men is nothing in comparison to the suffering of
soul which the saint experiences on behalf of men. The sufferings of CHRIST make
us feel with the CHRIST of the sufferings (1 Peter 4:1). To arm ourselves with
the same mind of CHRIST in suffering, we must know the sufferings of the mind
which suffered.

Henry Martin knew something of this when he said “I desire to burn out for my
GOD.”

James Hannington had the same spirit when, in the face of tremendous opposition,
he exclaimed, “I refuse to be disappointed; I will only praise.”“David Brainerd,
burned with the same fire. He wrote in his journal: ’I think my soul was never
drawn out in intercession for others as it has been this night; I hardly ever so
longed to live to GOD, and to be altogether devoted to Him; I wanted to wear out
my life for Him. I wrestled for the ingathering of souls, for multitudes of poor
souls. I was in such an agony from sun half-an-hour high, till near dark, that I
was all over sweat; but, oh! my dear Lord did sweat Blood for such poor souls: I
longed for more compassion.’“

SACRIFICE CHRIST’s sacrifice is alone and unique. He gave Himself “a sacrifice
to God” (Ephesians 5:2). That sacrifice ascended, like the burnt offering, as a
sweet savour to GOD. It brought satisfaction and delight to Him. CHRIST was
daily His delight before He came to earth; but on the earth, when He gave
Himself up to death “for us,” GOD received a pleasure He had not received
before.

We are now called, as the Holy Priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices (1
Peter 2:5).

Some of those sacrifices are, - the humble sacrifice of a broken heart (Psalms
51:17), - the heart’s sacrifice of adoring praise (Hebrews 13:15), - the helpful
sacrifice of doing good to others (Hebrews 13:16; Php 4:18), - the holy
sacrifice of fellowship with others (Php 2:17), and - the living sacrifice of a
wholly yielded body (Romans 12:1).

Froude says of sacrifice, “In common things the law of sacrifice takes the form
of positive duty. The law of Christian sacrifice goes beyond ’positive duty,’ it
spends itself, at its own cost out of love to Him Who spent Himself out for us.
The Apostle uses two expressions which exemplify what kind of sacrifice is
ignited by the flames of Calvary’s sacrifice. He says, “I will gladly spend and
be spent” (2 Corinthians 12:15).

“Spend” means to incur cost, to expend, to consume. The word is used to denote
the bankruptcy of the prodigal and the diseased woman: the one spending his all
in riotous living, and the other in paying doctors to rid her of her malady
(Luke 15:14; Mark 5:26). The word is rendered “Consume” in James 4:3, and
“charges” in Acts 21:24.

“Spent” means to be exhausted. It is the same as the previous word, with the
added preposition “ek” -” ekdapanao.” We might paraphrase the apostle’s
sentence, “I would gladly spend all I have, and be spent out in doing it.” The
seal of the London Missionary Society is an ox standing between an altar and a
plough, with the words, “Ready for either.” Sacrifice or service. The Calvary
moved man sacrifices himself in serving. “The Church is Christian, as it is a
continuous organ of the passion of CHRIST.” “We can never heal the needs we do
not feel. Tearless hearts can never be heralds of the Passion. We must pity if
we would redeem.”

We must perfect, by our passion and sacrifice, the sacrifice and passion of our
Lord. The dying of our Lord in His members is to be constantly effected by the
indwelling Spirit.

“DELIVERED”

“He was delivered for our offences” (Romans 4:25). Men that have “hazarded”
their lives (Acts 15:26). Here is another blood-drenched word. The word
translated “hazarded” and “delivered” signifies to be absolutely given over.
There is more than risk suggested, another word would be abandoned. It is used
to denote wicked men given over by GOD to the sins to which they had given
themselves. When we give ourselves up, like the Lord, to Obedience unto death,
we are effective servants as He proved to be. An old proverb says, “We cannot
have omelet without breaking eggs.” We cannot get anything whole without
something being broken. The aroma which filled the house of Martha came from the
broken box of spikenard and gave pleasure to the contemplating Sufferer.

Judas spoke of “waste” because he was “a son of waste” (the word “waste” and
“perdition” are one and the same in the Greek - John 17:12; Matthew 22:8). When
we give up our lives to Him Who gave Himself for us, we give to some purpose.
The apostle speaks of the “form of doctrine which was delivered unto you”
(Romans 6:17). The word “delivered” is the same as occurs in Romans 4:25 and
Acts 15:26. Rotherham comments on the passage, “Ye become obedient out of the
heart into the mould of teaching into which ye were delivered”; or as Moule, “To
which ye were handed over.” The truth of the death of CHRIST is likened to a
mould into which believers had abandoned themselves like molten metal, to be
formed. We often speak of holding truth, but the true way is to let the truth
hold us. To be held by the truth of CHRIST’s death is to be fashioned like to
Him Who gave Himself up for us, which means we give ourselves over in obedience
to the will of GOD even as He did.

“LIFTED UP”

CHRIST spoke of His death as a lifting up (John 3:14; John 8:28; John 12:32,
John 12:34). The word “lifted up” is also associated with the spiritual life. It
is rendered “exalted” in calling attention to the action of the Father in
exalting CHRIST to His own right hand (Acts 2:33; Acts 5:31), and the Lord
promises He will “lift up” (James 4:10) and “exalt” those who take the place of
humility.

CHRIST took the lowest place in death, and He now occupies, in consequence, the
highest position in glory.

He stooped and conquered.Those who seek the highest place get the lowest, while
those who seek the lowest position are sooner or later given the highest one.
The highest form of holiness is humility. Lowliness is the base of every virtue,
and where it is not found holiness does not exist.

One thing of passing interest, in CHRIST’s reference to the uplifted serpent in
the wilderness is the word translated “pole” in Numbers 21:8-9; it is the same
as rendered “Nissi” in speaking of the Lord our Banner (Exodus 17:15, margin).
The word is frequently rendered “banner” (Psalms 9:4; Isaiah 13:2), and “ensign”
(Isaiah 5:26; Isaiah 11:10, Isaiah 11:12; Isaiah 18:3). The word means a sign or
a signal. The author of Wisdom (Wis 16:6) says, “A sign or signal of present
salvation to the Israelites from the poison of the fiery serpents, and of the
spiritual salvation from that old serpent, through Him Who was lifted upon the
Cross.” ’The lifting up of CHRIST is GOD’s sign of assurance that He will lift
us up into all He has for us. Fellowship with the CHRIST in the lowliness of His
death, is GOD’s assurance that we shall have the livingness of His life. The
deeper we sink into His death, the higher we rise into His life.

“MANIFESTED.”

CHRIST in His death was the manifestation of the love and purpose of GOD (1 John
4:9); hence we read, “He was manifested” to put away sin (Hebrews 9:26), and to
destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8). As He was the manifestation of GOD
in all He did, so we are to manifest we belong to Him by not sinning (1 John
3:10), by diligent heed to the things which He enjoins (1 Timothy 4:16), and by
letting our blamelessness and harmlessness be seen by the world (Php 2:15). As
CHRIST was the revelation of the Father in all He did and said, so we are to be
the manifestation of CHRIST in all we do and say. Shakespeare says”To thy own
self be true; And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be
false to any man.”

I prefer to say”To the Lord’s death be true; And it must follow, as the night
the day, Thou canst not then be false in anything.”

Loyal-heartedness to His love will make us loving-hearted to our fellows. We
love Him faithfully, as we serve others heartedly.

“BOUGHT”

“Bought with a price” is the Spirit’s word as He reminds us to Whom we belong,
and the price which CHRIST paid for us (1 Corinthians 6:20; 1 Corinthians
7:23).The price which He paid was His own Blood as the Elders affirm (Revelation
5:9), and the answer to that price is our Blood if needs be (1 John 3:16). In
the days of slavery an aged Negro was put up for sale. A gentleman asked him,
“My man, to whom do you belong?”

He answered, “My flesh, and bones, and blood belong to old Massa Carl, but my
spirit am a freeborn child of GOD, bought by the precious Blood of CHRIST.” Not
only our spirit, but spirit, soul, and body belong to Him Who purchased us. The
price He paid for us is above all price.

“What is the price of that picture?” said a lady to an artist’s widow.

“That last work of my husband is beyond all price.” The price. CHRIST paid for
us cannot be priced, neither can we be bought by sin, the world, the flesh, and
the devil, if we price ourselves at the price He paid. We were precious to Him
so He paid His precious Blood for us. And if we estimate ourselves at His price,
no price can buy us from Him.

“CONSTRAINETH”

CHRIST in contemplating the fiery baptism of GOD’s judgment against sin, with
which He was to be immersed, said, “How am I straightened till it be
accomplished?” (Luke 12:50). The word “sunecho,” rendered “straightened,” means
to compress, to hold together.

It is used in speaking, - of a person “taken” with a sickness (Matthew 4:24;
Luke 4:38), - of one who is in the “throng” of a multitude (Luke 8:45), - of a
man “held” forcibly by others (Luke 22:63), and - of one in a “strait” between
two things, who does not know which one to choose (Php 1:23). The word is
further found in connection with Paul, once when he was “pressed in spirit”
(Acts 18:5), and when he said, “The love of Christ constraineth us” (2
Corinthians 5:14). CHRIST was pressed, thronged, impelled by the mighty love He
had for us, hence, He went through the pressure of the winepress of GOD’s
judgment against our sin, and it is that fact of His love which holds us as in a
master grip, and with which we grip Him and others.

There is a legend of an artist, who had in his picture a marvellous red tint. No
other had learned the secret, and it died with him. After his death a red wound
was discovered near his heart, and the secret of the wonderful color in his
paintings was revealed. It was his heart’s blood which gave his work the
peculiar tint. The old legend tells a deep spiritual truth. Only heart’s blood
can give the hand of labor the needed touch of sympathy. Labor without love
fades away like the cloud of mist before the sun, but love’s labor is always in
favor. The warmth of love makes the hand of work of sterling worth.

“REDEEM” The practical purpose of CHRIST’s redemptive work is, “that He might
redeem us from all iniquity.” The word “lutroo,” translated “redeem” in Titus
2:14, means to ransom, and comes from “lutron,” which means a redemptive price
by means of which anything is loosened from bondage, and “lutron” comes from the
primary verb “luo,” which means to loosen, to dissolve, melt, put-off. “Luo” is
rendered “melt” and “dissolved” in 2 Peter 3:10-11; “unloose” in Mark 1:7; “put
off” in Acts 7:33; “broken up” in Acts 13:43; and “destroy” in 1 John 3:8.

CHRIST died to break the power of sin, to destroy the works of the devil, to put
off from us the old habits, and to dissolve the iniquity which once held us in
its sway and way.

“Iniquity” is that from which CHRIST redeems. There are two words rendered
“iniquity.”

One signifies unrighteousness, that is, anything which is not straight. It is
translated “iniquity” and “unrighteousness” in 2 Timothy 2:19 and 1 John 1:9.
The other word which is used in the sentence we are considering, means
lawlessness, the violation of law, and indicates man’s self-will in opposition
to GOD’s will. We read of “the mystery of iniquity” in 2 Thessalonians 2:7. The
essence of sin is self-will, the essence of holiness is doing GOD’s will. To
delight in GOD’s will is to know GOD will delight in us. CHRIST died for us in
carrying out GOD’s will in our salvation, and the outcome is, we die to our
will, and let Him work in us according to His good pleasure (Php 2:13).

“SANCTIFY”

CHRIST in His prayer for His disciples prays, “For their sakes I sanctify
myself” (John 17:19).

CHRIST consecrated Himself in the consecration of His Father’s will that He
might consecrate us to the Father.

“For their sakes” implies the sacrifice of Himself, and that sacrifice was that
believers might be sanctified in the truth.

He gave Himself for the Church that He might sanctify and cleanse it, and He
suffered without the gate that He might sanctify the people with His own Blood
(Ephesians 5:26; Hebrews 13:12). The iron ore is put into the furnace that the
slag may be separated from the useable and useful metal. CHRIST was the holy
fuel Who was consumed in the furnace of GOD’s holy purpose, that He might
separate the refuse of every unclean thing from us, and separate us, in the
qualification of the HOLY SPIRIT, to the Lord, that we might be useable to Him
and useful to others for Him.

Separation to the Holy One is to find the holiness, the love, the joy, the
grace, the power, the truth, of the Holy One, and for the Holy One, to be
separated to us.

”PERFECTED” The goal of CHRIST’s life was His death.

One step short of that end would have meant failure to Him, but He knew He would
be “perfected” (Luke 13:32), that He would “finish” the work allotted to Him
(John 4:34), and He was not disappointed in His faith, hence, He joyfully
exclaims His work finished, “It is finished” (John 17:4; John 19:30). As a
matter of grace, He has “perfected’ for ever “those who are sanctified” (Hebrews
10:14).

Now He desires that we should have, - a perfect understanding in spiritual
things - a mature faith (1 Corinthians 14:20), - a perfect standing in the will
of GOD (Colossians 4:12), - a perfect stature in the Divine Life. (Php 3:15;
Hebrews 5:14; James 1:4), - a perfect mastery aver the tongue (James 3:2), - a
perfect faith by corresponding work (James 2:22), - a perfect keeping of GOD’s
Word by our obedience (1 John 2:4-5), and - a perfect love to GOD by loving each
other (1 John 4:12).

“Teleioo” and “teleios,” which are rendered “perfect” and “finished” in the
above scriptures, signify completeness, reaching a goal, answering to a given
end. CHRIST did that for us when He died an our account. All things that were
written of Him were accomplished (John 19:28), for He accomplished all the
things which were written. All He commands us to do in His Word is possible, for
He lives, since He died to carry out in us all He asks from us. He lives to
purpose, when He lives in us to carry out His purpose.

“POURED OUT”

“He poured out His soul unto death” (Isaiah 53:12) is the expressive declaration
which reveals how much CHRIST gave in dying for us. The term, “poured out,”
means, to demolish, to be destitute, to. empty, to be made bare. It is rendered
“emptied” in speaking of Rebekah emptying the water out of her pitcher (Genesis
24:20.), and “rase” (margin, “make bare”) in describing the razing of a building
to its foundation (Psalms 137:7). CHRIST emptied Himself out for us that He
might enrich us with the water of life; and He was razed to the ground that we
might be found in the beautiful temple of His holiness. The apostle, in writing
to the Church at Philippi, says “If I be offered [poured forth, margin], upon
the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy” (Php 2:17); and to his son,
Timothy, he says, as he contemplates his death, “I am now ready to be offered
[poured out as a drink offering]” (2 Timothy 4:6). The reference is to the drink
offering (Exodus 29:40-41). The Greeks of old delighted to. relate how
Phidippides, having achieved great success in the great battle at Marathon, ran
into Athens, and recounted the event, and closed his oration by exclaiming,
“Rejoice ye, as we rejoice,” and fell down dead. He out of love of country could
do this, how much more should we be willing, out of love to CHRIST, to pour
ourselves out for Him Who poured Himself out for us.

“THE PRINT OF THE NAILS”

“The print of the nails” (John 20:25). The word translated “print” suggests a
die, a stamp, or scar, and thus by analogy denotes a resemblance to that which
made the impression. It is the word used in speaking of a sample, a figure. It
is rendered “figure” in Romans 5:14, “pattern” in Hebrews 8:5, and “examples” in
1 Corinthians 10:6, 1 Corinthians 10:11. The nails’ print proclaims the nails of
our sin which made the print. The same word frequently occurs in connection with
the believer being an example of the power and blessing of the Gospel. See Php
3:17; 1 Thessalonians 1:7; 2 Thessalonians 3:9; 1 Timothy 4:12; Titus 2:7; 1
Peter 5:3, where the words “pattern” and “ensample” are the same. The HOLY
SPIRIT also. uses the word in Romans 6:17, where it is given “form” in calling
attention to the “form of doctrine” to which the saints had been given up.

Hall gives the best interpretation of this thought - “Seest thou thy Saviour
hanging on the Cross?

All hang there with Him, as a knight or burgess of Parliament voices his whole
borough or country. The members take the same lot as the head. Every believer is
a limb of that body; therefore, how can he but die with Him and in Him? That
real union, then, which is betwixt CHRIST and us, makes the Cross or any passion
of CHRIST’s ours; so the thorns pierced our heads, the scourges blooded our
backs, the nails wounded our hands and feet, and the spear gored our sides and
hearts; by virtue whereof we receive justification from our sins, and true
mortification of our corruptions. Every believer, therefore, is dead already for
his sins in his Saviour; he need not fear that he shall die again.”


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  CHAPTER 10: 09 - SERVICE AND CHRIST'S ATONEMENT
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CHAPTER NINE SERVICE AND CHRIST’S ATONEMENT When the apostle Paul speaks of
himself as a “servant of Jesus Christ” (Romans 1:1; Titus 1:1), he uses the
Greek word doulos, which means “bondman,” and is so rendered in Revelation 6:15.
The word comes from a root which means to bind, hence, signifies one who is in
subjection to another; a slave, one who belongs to another. Believers in CHRIST
are His slaves, for He has purchased them by His own Blood, hence they are not
their own. What was the secret underlying Paul’s devotion to CHRIST and his
endeavor to please GOD and not men? He himself answers the question, for he
says, “If I yet pleased men I should not be the servant of Jesus Christ”
(Galatians 1:10).

He recognized he was not his own, and therefore he could not do as he liked. The
same thought is seen in Paul’s prohibitive utterance, when he says to Timothy,
“The servant of the Lord must not strive” (2 Timothy 2:24). Why? Because he has
no right. His lips belongs to another, and to that Other he is responsible not
to wrangle, but to be gentle. It is this fact of His death which makes us say
with Dora Greenwell, “living, dying, let me bring, My strength, my solace from
this spring; That He who lives to be my King, Once died to be my Saviour.” Both
in CHRIST’s teaching and in the Spirit’s ministry, believers are reminded they
are the Lord’s servants and His property, as the Apostle tersely says, “Whose I
am and whom I serve” (Acts 27:23).

I. Recognition of the Lord, the basis of service.

“Ye serve the Lord Christ!” (Colossians 3:24) is the practical word of the
Apostle as he charges the servants to do all they do heartily, “as unto the
Lord.” To be influenced by the Lord as He directs in the word of His grace, is
to have an influence for the Lord which is unmistakable in its blessing.Among
the knotty questions, which the Lord gave Job for his consideration was, “Canst
thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades?” (Job 38:31). To bind, or limit, the
influence exerted by the cluster of stars known as the Pleiades is an
impossibility. The same thing is true of the gracious influence which emanates
from the Cross.

Men in their ignorance imagined at one time the earth was the center of the
universe; then they thought the sun was, but bye-and-bye they discovered that
the sun was moving round one of the stars in the cluster known as the Pleiades.
“Vast as the distance is which separates our sun from his central group - a
distance which is thirty-four million times greater than the distance between
the sun and our earth - yet so tremendous is the force exerted by Alycone that
it draws our system irresistibly around it at the rate of 422,000 miles a day,
in an orbit which it will take many years to complete.”

One other thing about the Pleiades, is the meaning of the word. The Chaldaic
word “chimah,” literally means “a hinge, pivot, or axle,” which moves round and
moves other bodies along with it. Astronomers who knew nothing about the meaning
of the word, by a series of independent calculations, have found out that the
Pleiades is the axle round which the solar system revolves. As the Pleiades
influences the planetary system so the Lord JESUS in His wondrous death upon the
Cross, influences the believer in Himself. This may be seen in many ways, but I
call attention to an incident in the life of John. When CHRIST appeared to John
in Patmos, He made known to him by the revelation which was given to Him, that
He was to “shew unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass;” and
those servants are likened to “seven stars” which He holds in His hand. Before
He explains the mystery of the seven stars, He speaks of Himself, as the “one
who was dead,” and who is “alive forevermore.” The pierced One of Calvary holds
His servants in His pierced hand, as He uses them in His service. As they feel
the pressure of that dented hand, they are moved as the apostle was to devoted
service, when he said, “The love of Christ constraineth me.”

II. Yieldingness to the Lord, the consecration of service.

“To whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey his servants ye are” (Romans
6:16). In CHRIST’s prayer for His people, He prays: “For their sakes I sanctify
myself, that they also might be sanctified in the truth” (John 17:19). The word
“sanctify” cannot mean to purify when applied to CHRIST, for He had no
defilement to remove. The reference is to CHRIST’s consecration of Himself in
willing obedience to GOD in death, on our behalf; and not only so, but He gave
Himself over to death on our account, that we might in turn be consecrated to
Himself, and that He might communicate Himself to us; as Godet says, “The
sanctification of every believer is nothing else than the communication which
JESUS makes to him of His own sanctified person.”There are two things which are
worthy of our special consideration, and these are the Consecrator, and the
element of consecration. As to the latter CHRIST prays we may be sanctified “in
the truth.” Godet points out that there is no article in the Greek, and makes it
read “in truth,” that is, in a true way, in contrast to the Pharisaical
pretensions and Levitical ceremonialism. But it seems to me that while this may
be implied, there is a great deal more in the words.

We must read them in the light of what goes before. Does not the “also” suggest
an association? As CHRIST sanctified Himself to death, so in that fact of His
death for us, we should live and move, for as another has said: “Christianity
stands rooted in the divine act of reparation and retrieval. We are saved not of
ourselves, but by the work of another. And our salvation consists in a continual
union with Him who is the abiding Refuge and Healer and Restorer of His people.
The Scriptures speak to us in many figures of that inward health and vitality
which we recover in Him, who alone hath life in Himself, and who quickeneth whom
He will.

Mark the, words “our salvation consists in a continual union with Him,” that is,
I take it, the writer means the secret magnetic force of the Christian life is
found in union with Him who gave Himself over to death for us. The thought in
this case is not being delivered from the guilt of sin, nor being kept from its
defilement, but it is in being lifted into a higher sphere altogether, namely,
as CHRIST hallowed Himself in holy consecration to GOD for our benefit; so there
should burn on the altar of our life, the holy fire of His passion, which shall
inflame us in whole-hearted devotion to the will and service of GOD. This
thought lifts us away from the low conception of the merely negative aspect of
holiness, namely, separation from that which defiles, into the positive realm of
whole-hearted consecration to GOD. In that realm, - our spiritual comforts do
not concern us, - our soul’s salvation does not trouble us, - our spiritual
progress does not occupy us, - our work does not annoy us, - our religious
interests do not worry us, - our brethren do not affront us, and - our
difficulties do not depress us. Our one attraction is the One who loved us and
gave Himself for us, and we are so taken up with Him in holy activity in the
will of GOD, that we exclaim with Rutherford, “Oh, to be a thousand fathoms deep
in His love!

He, He Himself is more excellent than Heaven;for Heaven is but a creature, and
He is something more than a creature.” The other point is with reference to the
Consecrator.

We cannot say in the sense in which CHRIST could, “I sanctify myself.” There is
only one place in the whole of the New Testament where the Greek word hagiazo is
used in relation to the believer, as suggesting he is the sanctifier, and that
is in 1 Peter 3:15, where he is exhorted to sanctify CHRIST as Lord in his
heart, and there the thought is the recognition of the Lord as the dominant
power, who is to regulate the life of the believer. In every other case where
the Sanctifier is spoken of it is either the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit,
or the Word of GOD. The following Scriptures from the epistles will suffice to
emphasise this fact, “Sanctified by God the Father” (Jude 1:1).

“Christ loved the Church, that He might sanctify it” (Ephesians 5:26).
“Sanctified in Christ Jesus” (1 Corinthians 1:2).

“By the which will we are sanctified” (Hebrews 10:10).

“Sanctify the people with His own blood” (Hebrews 13:12).

“Sanctified by the Word of God” (1 Timothy 4:5).

“Sanctified by the Holy Ghost” (Romans 15:16).

“The God of peace sanctify you” (1 Thessalonians 5:23).

Too many of GOD’s children in their honest endeavor to be consecrated in this
higher sense of the word, miss their purpose by their endeavoring. They need to
learn the music and the meaning of what Frances Ridley Havergal says, “Church of
GOD, beloved and chosen, Church of GOD, for whom CHRIST died, Claim thy gifts
and praise the Giver!

“Ye are washed and sanctified!”

Sanctified by GOD the Father, And by JESUS CHRIST His Son, And by GOD the HOLY
SPIRIT, Holy, holy Three in One.

“By His will He sanctifieth, By the Spirit’s power within; By the loving hand
that chasteneth, Fruits of righteousness to win; By His truth, and by His
promise, By His Word, His Gift unpriced, By His Blood, and by our union, With
the risen life of CHRIST.

“Holiness by faith in JESUS,Not by effort of thine own, Sin’s dominion crushed
and broken, By the power of grace alone; GOD’s own holiness within thee, His own
beauty on thy brow, This shall be thy pilgrim brightness, This thy blessed
portion now.

“He will sanctify thee wholly; Body, spirit, soul shall be, Blameless till thy
Saviour’s coming, In His glorious majesty, He hath perfected for ever Those whom
He hath sanctified; Spotless, glorious and holy Is the Church, His chosen
Bride.” A consecrated believer is never man-made, nor self-made, he is always a
God-made one.

One of Disraeli’s admirers, in speaking of him to Mr. Bright, said, “You ought
to give him credit for what he has accomplished, as he is a self-made man.”

“I know he is,” retorted Mr. Bright, and “he adores his maker.” A believer is
never a self-made man in the divine life, he must be God-made to be at all.

Chalmers recognized this, when he spoke of the “expulsive power of a new
affection.” But Chalmers only touches half the truth, when he speaks of
expulsion; what we want is, an inclusive and conclusive reign of a new
inhabitant, for it is only as the Lord Himself dominates and directs every part
of our nature, that we are truly consecrated by His consecrating personality to
Himself.

III. Carefulness before the Lord, the order of service.

One of the highest appellations applied to Moses is, that he was “the servant of
God” (Revelation 15:3). The careful student of nature, and the prayerful student
of GOD’s Word, are both impressed with one fact, namely, that GOD is the GOD of
Order.

“Order is Heaven’s first law.”

One illustration from His works, and one statement from His Word will
demonstrate this truth. The leaves on the trees are arranged in such a way as to
suit the nature and circumstances of each of them; for instance, if we go into
an orchard and examine a young apple or cherry tree, we shall find that the
leaves are arranged round the stem spirally in series of fives, the fifth leaf,
or bud, standing directly above the first. Why is it? The leaves being evenly
distributed around the stem give each a fair chance to get the light and air
which are requisite for its growth and symmetry. Thus we find, not only “the
heavens themselves,” but the products of the earth “Observe degree, priority,
and place, Insisture, course, proportion, season, form, Office and custom in all
line of order.” When we turn to the pages of Holy Writ we find the same
carefulness - “See that thou make all things according to the pattern shown thee
in the mount,” is the Lord’s direction to Moses, regarding the tabernacle.
Nothing was left to the ingenuity of his brain, nor the concept of his thought,
nor the freak of his imagination, but everything was to be “according to the
pattern.” The Apostle Paul recognizes the same thing with regard to CHRIST’s
death and resurrection.

There were many witnesses to the fact of CHRIST’s resurrection, but Paul lays
emphasis on it by saying it was “according to the Scriptures,” for, as Godet
points out, “The regimen ’according to the Scriptures,’ has its importance; the
divine testimony of the Scriptures is designedly placed above all the apostolic
testimonies which are about to follow. The Scriptures had said the event would
happen; the witnesses declare it has happened” (1 Corinthians 15:1, etc.).

Another thing of importance to observe, is the prominence given to any stated
truth. When Paul speaks of the death and resurrection of CHRIST, and uses the
words “first of all” (1 Corinthians 15:3), he not only means first in the sense
of coming first, but first in importance, as Godet remarks, “We need not give
the word ’first’ the temporal meaning; it is the fundamental importance of those
one or two points which Paul wishes to characterise by the term.” The soldiers
in a royal procession come first in the order of the march, but the king is the
first one as the personage of importance. That is the sense in which we must
ever view CHRIST’s death and resurrection. They can never take a secondary
place. They must always be foremost and first. We call attention to CHRIST’s
death, to the fact, that “Christ died for our sins.” This must ever be first in
importance, because it is the most important truth of all. All truth is of
importance, but there are certain truths which have a relative importance, and
there are others which have an essential importance, even as the hub of the
wheel is of essential importance to the wheel, because of the position it
occupies, while the spokes are of importance because of their relative
connection with the hub. The servant of the Lord, ever treasures in his heart
with jealous care, the truth of the Lord’s death, for it is that death which has
given him a gospel to preach, hence, he has a sacred trust to guard, as the
Apostle indicates when he says, “The glorious gospel of the blessed God which
was committed to my trust.” (1 Timothy 1:11).

IV. Resting in the Lord, the confidence of service.

CHRIST says “the servant is not greater than his Lord” (John 15:20). CHRIST’s
greatness is seen in His lowliness. He always rested in the will of GOD, while
about His work, and was empowered in the Spirit, as a result. The same holds
good to us as we are in the place of lowly dependence on CHRIST. We need have no
concern about our comforts, if we are occupied in His business. The temple of
Solomon was built on the place of sacrifice. When the Lord told Abraham to take
his son Isaac, He told him to “go into the land of Moriah, and offer him there
for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains” (Genesis 22:2); and it was in
the same place Solomon erected the temple, for we read, “Solomon began to build
the house of the Lord at Jerusalem in Mount Moriah,’“ and it is not without
significance that we further read, “where the Lord appeared unto David his
father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshing-floor of Oman, the
Jebusite” (2 Chronicles 3:1).

It was in that place David offered peace and burnt offerings upon the altar
which he erected, and the Lord accepted his offerings, as was evidenced in the
fire from Heaven which fell upon them, and the devastating plague being stayed.

Reading these facts in the light of the New Testament, we can see their typical
import, for as the temple was built on the place of Sacrifice, which had been
consecrated by the substitutionary ram offered up in the stead of Isaac, and as
the averting sacrifice upon which the fire of judgment fell, stayed the avenging
stroke of the Lord upon Israel; so CHRIST’s death in all its glorious
sufficiency, is the basis upon which the believer rests for his soul’s
salvation; the plan which shapes him as a holy temple for the Lord’s occupancy;
and the source of all service. The Greek preposition epi when it occurs with the
dative implies a resting in, and a conjunction with, a thing or person. Its use
will illustrate this.

It is used in speaking of, - a person lying “in” a bed, - people sitting “upon”
the grass, - one stone resting “upon” another, - CHRIST sitting “upon” an ass, -
acting “at” CHRIST’s direction, - CHRIST resting “on” a well, - a stone lying
“upon” a tomb’s entrance, and - of persons being saved from drowning by floating
“on” boards (Mark 2:4; Mark 6:39; Mark 13:2; Mark 11:7; Luke 5:5; John 4:6; John
11:38; Acts 27:44). The meaning of the word is thus aptly illustrated by its
use. This very preposition is used again and again in speaking of the believer’s
trust in the Lord.

- Thus Mary confesses she rejoices “in” GOD, her Saviour” (Luke 1:47); - Peter
declares that “through faith in” the “name” of JESUS brought wholeness to the
lame man (Acts 3:16); - Isaiah proclaims CHRIST as the One “in” whom the
Gentiles shall trust to their blessing (Romans 15:12); - Paul makes known the
basis of the Church in speaking of it as resting “upon the foundation of the
apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the Chief Corner Stone”
(Ephesians 2:20); - those who “believe on” CHRIST obtain everlasting life (1
Timothy 1:16); and - whoso “believeth on Him shall not be confounded” (1 Peter
2:6).

These Scriptures prove beyond all question, to faith, that CHRIST in His
finished work is the only resting place for the soul’s salvation, and the only
basis of peace, yea, the starting point and the stopping place of all things in
the divine life.

Suppose we weave the above illustrative Scriptures into the fact of CHRIST’s
death as the resting place of the believer’s faith and service.

- He is the bed of rest, where we can lie to our heart’s ease; - He is the place
of supply where we can feed to our heart’s content; - He is the upholder in the
place of GOD’s building; - He is the sustainer as we journey in life’s way, - He
is the sure success in the carrying out of His direction; - He is the heart’s
refresher when thirsty in GOD’s work; - He is the hider of death’s corruption
and the life of our heart’s love; and - He is the sure place in which to rest,
when we are occupied about His business.

V. Looking to the Lord, the attractibility of service.

CHRIST to benefit us “took the form of a servant,” namely, a slave (Php 2:7).

He took seven downward steps in serving us, and GOD caused Him to have seven
corresponding steps of exaltation, as will be seen in the following contrast
(Php 2:6-11), 1. “Made Himself of no reputation.”

2. “Took upon Him the form of a servant.”

3. “Made in the likeness of men.”

4. “Being found in fashion as a man.”

5. “He humbled Himself.”

6. “Became obedient unto death.”

7. “The Death of the cross.”

1. “God hath highly exalted Him.”

2. “Given Him a name above every name.”

3. “At the Name of Jesus every knee should bow.”

4. Heaven acknowledges Him - “Things in Heaven.”

5. All earth owns Him “Things in earth.”

6. Hell submits to Him “Things under the earth.”

7. “Every tongue” confesses He “is Lord to the glory of God the Father.”CHRIST
is the Perfect Pattern of lowly service, and we are exhorted to let the mind
that was in Him to be in us (Php 2:5). How can we obtain that mind? By looking
to Him, that He may be the mind to think, and act, in and through us.

Thomson in addressing nature, which perhaps is an ambiguous way of speaking to
GOD, says, “O, Nature, Enrich me with the knowledge of thy works; Snatch me to
Heaven.” The thought in the poet’s mind evidently is this, heaven’s truths are
found in earth’s secrets.

We cannot find GOD by searching in the haunts of nature, but having found Him in
CHRIST, we may find illustrations of His grace and love in all His works, for as
Young reminds us, “The course of nature is the art of GOD.” The common daisy on
the roadside has a voice to us, if we will but listen. We have to say to it, as
Wordsworth did long since, “Bright flower! whose home is everywhere.

Bold in maternal Nature’s care, And all the long year through, the heir, Of joy
or sorrow.

Methinks that there abides in thee Some concord with humanity, Given to no other
flower I see The forest through! One thing about the daisy is its responsiveness
to the sun and to no other light. In the evening hour the daisy closes its
petals around its heart. The lamp-lighter lights the gas lamps, and the gas
light plays upon the daisy in its bed of green, but it opens not. The moon rises
and pours her silvery rays upon the humble flower of earth, and floods all
around with her beautiful sheen; but there is no response an the part of her
whose “cheek is tipped with a blush.” The moon sets and one by one the stars
shine out from the canopy of Heaven, but still there is no response on the part
of her, who is of “silver crest and golden eye.” The morning light comes, and
the warm touch of the sun’s beams kisses the flower of “snawie bosom sunward
spread,” and immediately, as Burns says, “thou lifts thine unassuming head.” The
sunlight did what no other light could do. Why? “Because the daisy found in the
sunshine the stimulus of its vital action - the food which it assimilated,” and
by means of which it was able to grow the bright colors which adorned it, and
made it what it was. The light! of the sun was its life.

What is true of the daisy in the natural world is infinitely more so in the
spiritual realm of grace.The one object which attracts the saint is the CHRIST
of Calvary.

- In the darkness of His Cross we find the light of Heaven.

- In the bitterness of His woe we receive the joy of His salvation.

- In the poverty of His humiliation we discover the riches of His love.

CHRIST’s death is, - the death of sin, - the begeter of love, - the stimulus to
faith, - the gladness of hope, - the ardor of zeal, - the inspirer in service,
and - the fervor of testimony, which makes us say, “My Beloved is white and
ruddy.”

White in His spotless character, and ruddy in His all-glorious death. Then with
new buoyancy and increased zest, we exclaim, “This is my Beloved, and this is my
Friend.”

“Whom have I in Heaven but Thee, and there is none an earth I desire beside
Thee.”

“Looking unto Jesus.. who endured the Cross” (Hebrews 12:2) is the attitude of
the believer’s life, in order to discover His attractiveness. CHRIST is the one
attraction of the child of GOD, but He does not became this by a mere casual
glance. There must be intensity of gaze. This is not only implied by the verb
used, but also by the preposition. The meaning of the word translated “unto”
shares its meaning with “into.”

It is so given in speaking of the angels who desired to “look into” the things
relating to CHRIST’s sufferings and glory which were penned by the HOLY SPIRIT
in the sacred writings (1 Peter 1:12). The same thought is found in James 1:25,
where we are exhorted to look “into the perfect law of liberty!” So that the
sentence might with equal force, yea, carry the meaning, “Looking into Jesus.”
Not merely “at” JESUS as the astronomer looks at a star by means of a telescope,
but looking “into”

Him as the scientist looks into the organism of an insect by means of a powerful
microscope, which enables him to see every particle of its being.

VI. Acting from the Lord, the power of service. When we act at His bidding we
are sure of His blessings. “If I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of
Christ” Galatians 1:10), affirms the apostle. He knew the Lord and the Lord knew
His servant. The centurion was a man under authority, and therefore he could say
to his servant, “do this, and he doeth it” (Matthew 8:9). Being a man under
authority he had authority. The same holds good in the service of CHRIST, when
we act from Him in obedience to, His bidding, we may be assured we shall have
the power of His presence to command others. It was the CHRIST who had died on
Calvary, who had authority to command His disciples to go and preach the Gospel,
and that authority had been “given unto” Him because He had previously carried
out the command of the Father to die for the sheep. (Compare Matthew 28:18-19,
and John 10:18, remembering the word “power,” in each Scriptures signifies
authority, and not strength, namely, the right to act.) The consciousness of the
Lord’s presence and commission have ever made His servants faithful and
fearless. The disciples at Pentecost were conscious of the CHRIST of Calvary,
risen from the dead, hence, they feared not the face of men. The marred face of
the Saviour made the fearless faces of His servants. Bloody Nero could not burn
out the fires ignited by the Cross; the cruel Inquisition could not daunt those
who knew the Sufferer of Calvary; the Diet of Worms could not deter the faithful
Martin Luther, for the thesis of the Gospel of Blood, was more powerful than the
Pope’s bull; the devoted Covenanters of Scotland were hunted from house and
home, and found shelter in the mists of the mountains, for they knew the “Hind
of the morning” who was hunted by the wolves of hell and nestled to His bleeding
side; the fires of Oxford burned the bodies of Ridley and Latimer, but those
fires only brought them into fellowship with CHRIST and His sufferings; and the
saintly Samuel Rutherford immured in Aberdeen prison found the “durance vile” a
means of communion with His Lord, as he said, “Welcome, welcome Cross of CHRIST,
if CHRIST be with it!”

VII. Love to CHRIST, the spring of service.

“By love serve one another” (Galatians 5:13). The word “serve” signifies to
serve as a slave. Not to serve slavishly, that is, in a way which indicates the
service is irksome, but serve as a slave because impelled by love, for as the
word for servant indicates the bondage of a slave, so when applied to a child of
GOD it speaks of loving devotion. This is the spirit of Him, who came not to be
ministered unto, but to minister and to give His life as a ransom for many.

There is a beautiful illustration of this in the Old Testament in the case of
the slave who was freed in the year of jubilee, and who would not accept his
freedom because he loved his master so well. When he thus declared himself, the
master took his servant, and with an awl bored his ear and transfixed him to the
doorpost, and he was declared to be his servant forever (Exodus 21:1-6). The
bored ear was a declaration of love, and a seal of accepted service, and the man
being fixed for the moment to the doorpost, proclaimed his consecration to the
master of the house, and the absolute right of the master over the servant. The
pierced ear was a mark of his love. There is an undoubted reference to this
ordinance when CHRIST in speaking of Himself in relation to His sacrificial
work, says, “Mine ear hast Thou opened” (Psalms 40:6). The word “opened,” as the
margin indicates, means “digged,” and as Newberry says, “digged, or bored,
cahrithah from cahrah, to dig. The word is rendered “digged” in speaking of
Isaac’s servants who “digged a well” (Genesis 26:25); “bought,” when the Lord
speaks of buying a woman (Hosea 3:2); “prepared” and “make a banquet” in the
sense of preparing a feast (2 Kings 6:23; Job 41:6); and the word is translated
“pierce,” where the Spirit in the prophetic word foretells the piercing of the
hands and feet of CHRIST (Psalms 22:16). The HOLY SPIRIT takes the passage of
Psalms 40:6, and directly applies it to CHRIST’s incarnation, service, and
substitutionary work, and makes Him say, “A body hast Thou prepared me” (Hebrews
10:6). The context shows, the body was prepared to be a sacrificial victim.
CHRIST’s loving service and devoted consecration to the will of GOD are
indicated in His saying, as He Himself says, “The Lord God hath opened mine ear!
and I was not rebellious” Isaiah 1:5).

CHRIST’s devotion even to the death, in love for us, is the inspiring cause of
our devotion to Him. No hardship is too great, no trial is too severe, no
suffering is too intense, no task is too difficult, no load is too great, no
cross is too heavy, and no loss is too large, when viewed in the light of the
loss He sustained, the Cross He carried, the load He bore, the task He
undertook, the suffering He endured, and the hardship which weighted Him, when
“In my place condemned He stood.”

James Chalmers recognised this, when he proclaimed after long years of
difficulty and hardship, his unalterable choice, in the following words, “I
recall the twenty-one years, give me back all its experience, give me its
shipwrecks, give me its standings in the face of death, give it me surrounded
with savages and dubs, give it me back again with spears flying about me, with
the club knocking me to the ground - give it me back, and I will still be a
missionary!”

VIII. Equipment by the Lord, the supply of service. When the Lord called His
servants together, He gave to each of His servants a pound, that they might
trade in His absence, and said, “Occupy till I come.” (Luke 19:13-15). The
servant who gained ten pounds by his faithful trading recognized that the
capital which was given him was the cause of his gain, as John Trapp quaintly
makes him say, “Lord, Thy pound and not my pains hath gained ten pounds.” The
pound evidently represents the Gospel, with which every servant is responsible
to trade, since the Lord has entrusted it to us. The apostle frequently refers
to what had been entrusted to him and others (2 Corinthians 5:19; 1 Timothy
6:20; 2 Timothy 1:12), and that Gospel is not only seed for the sower, but bread
for the eater (Isaiah 55:10-11; 2 Timothy 2:6), hence, CHRIST’s death is the
medium of the Divine supply, for His flesh and Blood are “meat indeed” (John
6:53-56).

Ignatius recognised this when He said, “I have no delight in corruptible food,
nor in the pleasures of this life. I desire the Bread of GOD, the Heavenly
Bread, the Bread of Life, which is the flesh of JESUS CHRIST, the Son of GOD;
and I desire the Drink of GOD, namely, His Blood, which is incorruptible love
and eternal life.” As it was from the smitten rock in the wilderness the water
gushed forth to meet the need of famished Israel; so it is from the smitten
CHRIST the blessing of divine grace flows to us.

“Thou shalt smite the rock” (Exodus 17:6), was the direction which the Lord gave
to Moses.

We refer to the direction because the word “nakah” rendered “smite)” is found in
connection with CHRIST as the Smitten One. The following instances where the
word is found will be of suggestive interest, - “They persecuted Him, whom Thou
hast smitten” (Psalms 69:26).

- “Smite the Shepherd” (Zechariah 13:7).

- “I gave My back to the smiters” (Isaiah 50:6).

- “My heart is smitten” (Psalms 102:4).

- “I was wounded” (Zechariah 13:6).

- “Smitten of God” (Isaiah 53:4).

CHRIST was smitten on our account, that we might not be smitten for our sins.

Now the promise comes to us in consequence, “The sun shall not smite thee”
(Psalms 121:6). Right through the Scriptures we find the same sequence of
thought.

He is smitten, then we are sheltered.

- The ascending smoke of Noah’s sacrifice brings forth the promise that the Lord
will not again destroy the earth with water (Genesis 8:21).

- The blood of the paschal Lamb protecting Israel in Egypt, is followed by
Israel’s deliverance from Egypt (Exodus 12:23, Exodus 12:51).

- The tree cut down sweetens the bitter water of Marah, then the Israelites
drink to their refreshment and rest (Exodus 15:26).

- The uplifted serpent in the wilderness brings life to the looking Israelite,
then Israel can pitch their tents towards the sun-rising (Numbers 21:9-11).

- The corn of wheat falls into the ground and dies, then there follows the “much
fruit” of blessing (John 12:24).

- The foundation is laid, then the building is erected (1 Corinthians 3:11-12);
and - the Lamb must be slain for us, before we can have the glory with Him, for
it was after He said, “I have finished the work,” that He prayed, “I will that
they whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me, where I am that they may behold My
glory.”Pentecost follows the Passover, and it is because of the Passover of
CHRIST’s death that there is the Pentecost of the Spirit’s power and presence.
The dying words of Adolphe Monad sum up the whole truth in its relative
importance, he said, “All in Christ, by the HOLY SPIRIT, for the glory of GOD.
All else is nothing.”

“By the HOLY SPIRIT,” for He it is who convinces of sin, imparts the new life,
enables us to trust in CHRIST, unites us to Him, leads by His word, inspires by
His praying, inflames by His love, effectually works by His power, strengthens
by His grace, sanctifies by His truth, preserves by His power, and keeps us for
the Lord’s glory.


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  CHAPTER 11: 10 - THE GLORY AND CHRIST'S ATONEMENT
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CHAPTER TEN THE GLORY AND CHRIST’S ATONEMENT What is glory? The excellence of
anything in display. The pearl in the oyster shell is none the less a pearl in
the depths of the sea, but its excellence is not seen till it is set in the
ring. The glory of Solomon’s kingly splendour and the magnificence of his
surroundings took all the spirit out of the Queen of Sheba (2 Chronicles 9:4),
but the glory of the common lily of the East outshines the splendour of his
retinue and regality (Matthew 6:28-29).

- The glory of GOD’s handiwork shews forth the excellence of GOD’s artistic
skill (Psalms 19:1); - The glory of His law proclaims the excellence of His
righteousness (2 Corinthians 3:9); - The glory of His holiness unfolds the
excellence of His nature (John 12:41); - The glory of His grace declares the
favour of His love (Ephesians 1:6, Ephesians 1:12, Ephesians 1:14); - The glory
of His work speaks of the excellence of His power (John 2:11; John 11:40); - The
glory of His gospel reveals the light of the knowledge of God in the face of
JESUS CHRIST (2 Corinthians 4:6); and - The glory of His Heaven is the slain
Lamb of Calvary (Revelation 21:11, Revelation 21:23). The bliss and the
blessedness of the future state are secured by the Blood of the Lamb. The Lamb,
as such, in the livingness of His death, is said to be the light of the New
Jerusalem.

We are told “the glory of God did lighten it,” and then the explanatory sentence
follows, “And the Lamb is the light thereof” (Revelation 21:23). The association
of Calvary’s Blood with Heaven’s bliss proclaims one fact, namely, that the
CHRIST of the glory has secured the glory of the CHRIST, because of the
substitutionary act of His blood-shedding on the Cross. This is emphasized by
the connection between the Blood and the glory as revealed in the Book of the
Revelation.

There are four references to the Blood in that Book, and in three out of the
four the Blood is connected with the glory. The words speak for themselves.

“Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood and made
us kings and priests unto God” (Revelation 1:5-6). Loved, loosed, and lifted,
are the thoughts embodied in these words.

- “Loved”: the word is in the present tense. His love is like the sun, constant
in its shining, healing in its warmth, and powerful in its influence.

- “Loosed”: The word “washed” is from the same word as “loosed”. The Greek
“louo” signifies to clear or to cleanse. The Blood of CHRIST clears the
conscience from the penalty of sin and the heart from the pollution of sin, even
as the cleansed garment is freed from the dirt which soiled it.

- “Lifted”: “Made us kings and priests,” for He has made us a kingdom of
priests. The thought embodied expresses more than the present priesthood of
believers. It points on to their reign with CHRIST, for as He will sit as a
Priest-King on His throne (Zechariah 6:13), so they will be royal also in their
priestly kingship and their kingly priesthood. The song of the living creatures
and the four and twenty elders is peculiar and “new,” for whether we take the
song to refer to themselves or to the company “out of every kindred,” the
thought is, the redeemed ones are in the glory of the Lamb, because they have
been redeemed to GOD by His blood” (Revelation 5:9). The same thought is
expressed in Revelation 7:14, where the saved host out of the Great Tribulation
are said to stand before the throne of GOD and of the Lamb, because they “washed
their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” The above Scriptures
are sufficient to prove the right to the glory is secured by the night of the
Cross (Revelation 22:14).

Let us look at a few points in particular to prove the truth in general.

I. A TYPICAL FORECAST On the Great Day of Atonement there was a five-fold
atonement made.

First atonement was made by the priest, for himself and his home; second, for
the people; third, for the holy place; fourth, for the tabernacle; and fifth,
for the altar (Leviticus 16:6, Leviticus 16:15-18).

First, the priest, making an atonement for himself and his house is typical of
CHRIST in His identification with His own, standing with them in the desert of
their sin, giving to GOD satisfaction on their behalf, and covering them in the
merit of His person and work.There is no doubt a reference to this in the words,
“We see Jesus... for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor: that
He by the grace of God should taste death for every man. For it became Him, for
whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto
glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings”
(Hebrews 2:9-10). The death of the Son was essential to bring the sons into the
divinity of the glory. But since He has gone into the woe of our death, we shall
surely enter into the welcome of His glory.

Second. The high priest made atonement for the nation; that is, for the nation
of Israel.

There is one nation that is the special object of GOD’s regard. That nation is
not reckoned among the nations (Numbers 23:9), and is specially called His
“peculiar treasure” (Exodus 19:5).

There are special promises given to Israel, and these promises relate to Abraham
regarding the land (Genesis 17:4-8), and to David in connection with the throne
(2 Samuel 7:12). But these promises centralize in the CHRIST, the promised Seed
(Genesis 12:3, Genesis 12:7; Galatians 3:16), the Babe of Bethlehem (Luke
1:32-33), the Lord of Calvary. He came to “redeem them who were under the law”
(Galatians 4:5), that they who were under the law might know their sins were
atoned for by His Blood, for His death is retrospective in its benefit as well
as prospective in its blessing, hence the word declares that GOD hath set Him
forth “faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of
sins that are past” (Romans 3:25). The same one who died for Israel is the One
who is coming to Israel with blessing. When the nation looks upon Him, they
behold Him as the Pierced One, as we read in Zechariah 12:10. “They shall look
upon Me whom they have pierced,” and in the Book of the Revelation the same
thought is emphasized when CHRIST is described in His coming glory - “Behold He
cometh with clouds and every eye shall see Him, and them also which pierced Him”
(Revelation 1:7).

- Israel’s restoration to Palestine (Jeremiah 32:37-42), - the reoccupancy of
David’s throne (Ezekiel 37:24), - the redivision of the land (Ezekiel 48:1-35),
- the reunion of Judah and Israel (Ezekiel 37:15-21), - the glory of Jerusalem
(Isaiah 1:26: Zechariah 8:1-23), - the salvation of Israel (Ezekiel 36:23-29),
and - the glory of GOD as the center of His earthly glory (Ezekiel 43:1-7), are
all secured by the CHRIST of Calvary. The crowning proof of this is the
reintroduction of the sacrifices in the millennium, but they will be, as the
Lord’s Supper is with us, commemorative of the death of CHRIST, instead of being
typical (Ezekiel 46:4-7, Ezekiel 46:11-15). Third. Atonement had to be made for
the holy place (Leviticus 16:16). The holy place is typical of the heavens. Even
the Heaven of GOD’s presence could only be entered by means of CHRIST’s Blood
(Hebrews 9:12), but the Heaven of the heavenly places, having been polluted by
the presence of the evil one, must be cleansed by the Blood, and having been
cleansed by the casting down of Satan, the redeemed will be caught up to meet
CHRIST in the air (Revelation 12:9-12; 1 Thessalonians 4:17).

Fourth. Atonement was made for the tabernacle (Leviticus 16:16). The tabernacle
is associated with the earth, hence, CHRIST, tabernacled in human flesh. The
earth cursed by sin has been sanctified by the Blood of its Creator being shed
upon it. There is a good time coming when the curse will be removed from the
earth. “Instead of the thorn shall come up the myrtle tree; and it shall be to
the LORD for a Name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off” (Isaiah
55:13). Besides this, the desert places of the earth shall become productive, as
we read in Isaiah 35:1, “The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for
them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose.” Yea, “the earth
shall yield her increase” (Psalms 67:6).

Instead of bad seasons and unprofitable crops, there shall be abundance and
prosperity. As Dr. A. J. Gordon says, “Earth will then lay off her soiled
week-day garb and put on her Sabbath dress, and, with her singing robes about
her, take up again that anthem which was heard when the sons of GOD shouted for
joy. The beauty of holiness and the eternal harmony of redemption must be
displayed where the dishonor of sin has been most visible. Therefore this globe
which has so long served for fallen man, will now serve for man upraised; yea,
more, as Anselm says: ’The whole earth, which carried in its lap the body of the
Lord, will be a paradise.’ “Fifth. Atonement was made for the altar (Leviticus
16:18). This was the altar of the burnt offering, where the animals were slain,
and its being sprinkled with the blood may be typical of the association between
the animal creation and the blessing it shall have because of redemption. GOD
sent the Lord JESUS in suffering once, but He is going to send Him back again,
that He may fulfil the prophecy which speaks of the restitution of all things
(Amos 9:11-15). The restitution is guaranteed by CHRIST’s death, for He died “to
reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether they be things in earth or
things in Heaven” (Colossians 1:20). The present condition of creation is most
graphically described in Romans 8:22 - “The whole creation groaneth and
travaileth in pain together until now.”

We have only to listen with attentive ears to find that a deep-drawn sigh is
continually going up to the Lord from the animal creation, as Goethe says,
“Often have I had the sensation as if Nature, in wailing sadness, entreated
something of me, so that not to understand what she longed for cut me to the
heart.” But besides the sighing, there is the expectation of the animal
creation, yea, of all creation. “For the earnest expectation of the creation
waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God” (Romans 8:19). The attitude of
creation is most expressive, as Godet says, “A sculptor of any imagination and
genius might carve a statue of Hope from it.” The picture is this: “Nature, an
unwilling slave to vanity and corruption, stands, impatient of her bonds, with
uplifted head, scanning with longing eyes the distant point of the horizon from
which she looks for help, her hands outstretched to grasp and welcome the
redemption into freedom and perfection which she yearns for and confidently
expects.”

II. A PROPHETIC STATEMENT In looking at many Old Testament prophecies, they are
like the Alps of the Bernese Oberland they seem to be a mass of mountain range
in the distance; but when the tourist stands on the top of the Faulhorn, or goes
over the Wengen Alp, or looks at the panoramic view at Murren, he sees many more
peaks; so as we study the Old Testament prophecies relating to CHRIST, in the
distance they seem to be the mountain peak of one event, but when we come
nearer, in the course of time, we discover there is more than one peak. There is
the black peak of His death and there is the snow-capped peak of His glory. This
is brought out in that descriptive and detailed chapter of the sufferings of
CHRIST - Isaiah 53:1-12. In that portion of Holy Writ there is the emphatic note
of coming glory. The Spirit has specially emphasized this in the “He shalls” of
Isaiah 52:14; Isaiah 53:1-12. The association will be marked if we note the
following complete sentences, “Visage marred”... “He shall sprinkle many
nations” (Isaiah 52:14). The sprinkling of many nations evidently refers to the
benefit which CHRIST shall confer upon them because of His death, for the word
“sprinkle” means to “besprinkle in expiation,” as Aaron on the day of atonement
sprinkled the blood on and before the mercy seat in making an atonement for the
sins of the people. The visage marred Man becomes the Benefactor to the nations
of the earth.

“It pleased the LORD to bruise Him”... “He shall see His seed” (Isaiah 53:10).
His bruising meant a great deal to Him, as well as to the Lord and us. Because
of that bruising He shall see His seed, born and brought in, educated and
brought up, supported and brought through and glorified and brought home.

“Thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin”... “He shall prolong His day”
(Isaiah 53:10).

Seemingly cut off by an untimely death, He shall have a prolonged honour
conferred upon Him. As He was made sin for others, so His prolonged glory shall
be shared by the redeemed.

“He shall bear their iniquities... He shall see of the travail of His soul and
shall be satisfied” (Isaiah 53:11).

He travailed in pain when the load of our guilt was pressing Him sore, and He
shall surely be satisfied with the result of His anguish, even as the mother is
satisfied with the child which cost her the throes of suffering.

“Because He hath poured out His soul unto death... He shall take the spoil from
the strong” (Isaiah 53:12). This declares CHRIST’s victory over the power of
evil. He did not, and will not, “share the spoil with the strong,” but He has
taken the spoil from the strong, and He will continue going forth to conquer,
till the hosts of hell are completely overthrown and the great enemy is
consigned to the lake of fire. His sufferings were a necessity for our salvation
and also for His glory and ours, as He Himself said, “Ought not Christ to have
suffered and to enter into His glory.”

III. A DOUBLE EVENT

“And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment; so
Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for
Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation” (Hebrews
9:27-28). The forcefulness of these words is found in the pivot words “as” and
“so.” The common and deserved lot of humanity is death because of sin and after
death the judgment, but CHRIST has died the death and borne the judgment for the
believer, so that he is looking for neither death nor judgment, but the coming
of the LORD.

Indirectly there is a reference to the high priest making atonement for the
people on the great day of atonement, and then coming out in his robes of glory
and beauty to bless them. The past event of CHRIST’s being offered for sins and
the promise of His future coming are intimately connected.

- They are the Alpha and Omega of the Gospel; - They are the foundation and roof
of truth; - They are the starting-point and terminus of revelation; - They are
the base and topstone of GOD’s purpose; - They are the cause and effect of
love’s provision; - They are the earnest and full payment of eternal life; and -
They are the ground and outcome of grace, for what is grace but glory in the
bud, and what is glory but grace in its fullness.

IV. A TRIPLE BLESSING

GOD in the wisdom and love of His grace has made CHRIST to be to us
“Righteousness, and Sanctification, and Redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30).

“Righteousness” is associated with CHRIST’s work on the Cross, when He by one
righteous act fully met all the claims of GOD’s law (Romans 5:18), and now
believers are reckoned righteous (Romans 4:3-10, Romans 4:24) in Him who is the
Righteousness of GOD (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Righteousness is conformity to GOD’s claim as the Righteous One. As there were
two ways by which the Israelite could conform to GOD’s law, namely, by perfect
obedience to it, or by dying for his disobedience, so CHRIST as our
Representative has proved by His perfect obedience to GOD His intrinsic
perfection, and by dying for us, His complete answer for sin’s condemnation.

“Sanctification” is conformity to GOD’s nature, for He is holy. The word
“sanctification” is rendered “holiness” in Romans 6:22, in the sentence, “Your
fruit unto holiness.” Holiness in a general sense means that which is set apart
from a common to a sacred use, hence, believers are “sanctified in Christ Jesus”
(1 Corinthians 1:2), as being set apart to GOD in their identification with Him.
CHRIST is also set apart to us in GOD’s act of reckoning grace. Therefore the
Holiness of CHRIST is reckoned to us and speaks of what He is to us in the
livingness of His Divine personality as our Representative at GOD’s right hand.
As the words “HOLINESS TO THE LORD” were upon the mitre of the high priest, that
the children of Israel might always be accepted before the LORD (Exodus
28:36-38), so CHRIST ever lives for us (Hebrews 7:25).

What He is for us, is imputed to us for our benefit, and what He can be in us,
is imparted to us for our blessing.

“Redemption” is prospective in its application, for it forecasts the time when
salvation will be consummated in the perfection of the glorified body. As the
vine is composed of three principal parts - root, branches, and fruit - so
redemption is threefold.

- There is deliverance from the curse and condemnation of sin through faith in
Him, who died for us (Ephesians 1:7); - There is release from the iniquity and
self-will of sin, and separation to holiness of life and labour through
fellowship with CHRIST in the power of the Spirit (Titus 2:14); and - There will
be freedom from the presence of sin and likeness to CHRIST’s glorified body,
when He returns, hence, “we are waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our
body” (Romans 8:23). This threefold redemption may be illustrated in the
following simple way, A balloon is a thing which is made in a pear shape by
sewing a number of pieces of silk together, which, when finished, is inflated,
and when ready to ascend is released from the ropes which keep it down to earth.
CHRIST by His work on the Cross has made us what we are, even as the skilled
mechanic makes the balloon; CHRIST fills us by His Spirit and thus occupies the
sphere of our being, even as the gas fills the balloon, and thus makes the
pieces of combined silk what they were not before; and CHRIST when He comes
again will release us from the earth condition of a body humiliated by sin, and
cause us to rise to the realm of the glorified state, even as the balloon soars
above the earth when released.

- CHRIST as our “Righteousness” secures our redemption; - CHRIST as our
“Holiness” endows us with all the blessings of redemption, and - CHRIST as our
“Redemption” consummates our salvation. The first takes us back to the smitten
rock of Calvary, the second takes us up to the throne of grace and acceptance,
and the third ushers us into the holiest of His glorious presence.The first
makes faith sing, “The past is all answered for”; the second causes love to say,
“The present is all provided for”; and the third thrills hope with expectant
joy, for she says, “The future is all secured.” The first proclaims the Good
Shepherd dying, the second announces the Great Shepherd living, and the third
says, “The Chief Shepherd is coming.”

V. A COMFORTING WORD The saints at Thessalonica were haunted with the fear that
their loved ones who had fallen asleep in CHRIST would be left behind when He
came in His kingdom and glory, therefore the HOLY SPIRIT assures them through
Paul that death does not sever their oneness with the Lord, and lays it down as
an article of faith that “if,” or since, “we believe that Jesus died and rose
again, even so them also who sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him” (1
Thessalonians 4:14). The emphasis undoubtedly is on the sentences, “Jesus died
and rose again” and “In Jesus.” The last sentence is the preposition dia, which,
when it occurs with the genitive, signifies an active agent, as the meaning of
the word, “By means of JESUS.” The sentence may be punctuated as follows: “Them
also who sleep, by means of JESUS will God bring with Him.”

Thus the sleeping ones do not sleep by means of JESUS, although this is true,
but GOD will bring them in the coming glory of our LORD, by means of the Man who
died for them. The activity of His power in raising them from among the dead is
secured by His passive and active work on the Cross and in resurrection. The
facts of CHRIST’s death and resurrection secure a place “with Him” in His glory.

- His death for us is GOD’s guarantee that we shall be with Him.

- His resurrection is the pledge of the resurrection of the sleeping ones.

- His act of power in raising the saints from the dead will surely make the
reunion of the sleeping and the living an absolute fact.

“Caught up together” to meet Him, and thus to be forever “with the Lord,” are
secured in His word of promise, “them that sleep in [by means of] Jesus will God
bring with Him.” The two “with Hims” are identical. but what comes between them
illustrates the “by means of JESUS,” for His activity is demonstrated by the
expressions, the “coming of the Lord,” “the Lord Himself shall descend,” “the
dead in Christ” rising, and the being “caught up to meet the Lord in the air.”

VI. A REPRESENTATIVE SCENE

“We made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were
eyewitnesses of His majesty... when we were with Him in the holy mount” (2 Peter
1:16-18). The transfiguration scene was a picture of CHRIST’s coming and power.
The two men who were transfigured with CHRIST were typical characters Moses a
type of those who will be raised from the dead, and Elijah a type of those who
will be taken away without dying. The topic of the two glorified men with the
glorified CHRIST was, “His decease which He should accomplish at Jerusalem”
(Luke 9:31). His “decease” was His exodus in death on the Cross, and not without
significance is it that the glory scene should be identified with His “decease,”
for His exodus in death means for us the entrance into the glory.

VII. A CLUSTER OF STARS There are a number of star words which shine out in the
firmament of GOD’s prophetic word.

Among the many are the following: “Appointed,” “Place,” “At Home,” “Fashioned,”
“Eternal Life,” “Incorruptibility,” “Earnest,” “Reward,”* and “Right.”

“Appointed” to the glory of His fellowship: “God hath not appointed us to wrath,
but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether
we watch or sleep we should live together with Him” (1 Thessalonians 5:9-10).
The word “appointed” means to set in a place, - as when a candle is “put under a
bushel” (Matthew 5:15), - as when a body is “laid in a tomb” (Mark 6:29), - as
when wine is “set forth” before a company (John 2:10), - as when one is
“ordained” for a given purpose (John 15:16), and - as when a person is “set” in
an office (1 Corinthians 12:18, 1 Corinthians 12:28). The one thing to which GOD
has not appointed His own is to wrath; the one blessing which He assures us we
shall obtain is “salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ”; the one reason He gives
for this is, because CHRIST “died for us”; the one pledge is all of grace,
therefore it applies to all, whether they “watch or sleep”; and the one end He
has in view is, “We shall live together with Him.”

* For the fourteen rewards to the believer see my “Christian Worker’s
Equipment,” under the heading “The Worker’s Reward.”

“Place” in the glory of His Fathers mansions.

CHRIST’s word of promise is, “I go to prepare a Place for you, and if I go and
prepare a Place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself” (John
14:2-3). He has gone to prepare a place, but when He comes back He will not
receive us to the place, but to Himself. It is not a cold place to which He
brings us, but to His warm presence. A stately palace without the bridegroom
would be a poor place for the bride’s warm heart. The man she loves makes any
place a palace.

It is not without suggestion the way the word “place” occurs or its equivalent.

- There was “no room” for Him in the inn when He was born (Luke 2:7), but there
was a “Place” called Calvary where they crucified Him (Luke 23:33).The “Place of
a skull” (John 19:17) was the place to which He went for us, and now as a result
He has gone to “prepare a place” in the glory. The word “bowed” which is used to
describe CHRIST’s act in dying “He bowed His head and gave up His spirit” (John
19:30) is rendered “lay” in describing His poverty, “The Son of Man hath not
where to lay His head” (Matthew 8:20). The only place He had to lay His head was
on the Cross. He was placeless that He might place us. His place outside the
camp has placed us inside the palace.

“At Home” in the glory of His presence. The words “at home” and “be present” in
2 Corinthians 5:6, 2 Corinthians 5:8-9, are the same. The Greek word means to be
at home. As long as we are “at home” in the body we are absent from the LORD,
but when we are absent from the body we shall be “at home” with the Lord. He was
once at home in the presence of the glory of His Father’s presence, but being
commissioned by Him to come and put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself
(Hebrews 9:26), He left the home of His glory, that He might bring us into the
glory of His home.

He states this in His comprehensive prayer in the Upper Room, where we find a
sevenfold glory expressed.

1. The Father glorified by the Son - “Glorify Thy Son, that thy Son may also
glorify Thee” (John 17:1). The glory of the Only Begotten was that He ever
expressed the Brightness of GOD’s glory, in all He was in His holiness.

2. The Cross expressed glory - “I have glorified Thee on the earth” (John 17:4).
The work to which He consecrated Himself (John 17:19) was the work of redemption
in dying for human guilt. The throne of GOD is illuminated by the light of
Calvary.

3. The pre-incarnation glory - “The glory I had with Thee before the world was”
(John 17:5).

What that glory was we have some faint idea from Isaiah’s vision (Isaiah
6:11-13; John 12:49).

4. The believer bringing glory to CHRIST - “I am glorified in them” (John
17:10). His glory is great in our salvation. To the name of Wilberforce a glory
will ever be given because he was the emancipator of the slaves, but a higher
glory is bestowed upon Him who has redeemed us to GOD by His Blood.

5. The glory given to CHRIST - “The glory which Thou gavest Me” (John 17:22).
That glory seems to be indicated by the oneness which CHRIST received for the
redeemed in associating them with Himself and making them one with the Father as
His children. He has a glory as the First-Begotten which He did not have as the
Only-Begotten. As the head of a new race the Head is glorified by the race.

6. CHRIST’s glory - “My glory” (John 17:24). CHRIST has a personal glory which
is distinct from His acquired glory. The glory of His personal worth. Both His
personal and acquired glory are objects of our admiration and worship.

7. Believers’ glory with CHRIST - “The glory which Thou gavest Me I have given
them” (John 17:22). As when a prince marries a poor maiden and gives her his
name and position and thus lifts her out of her former position, so CHRIST in
making us one with Himself has given us His name and position, but that position
could never have been ours if He had not first come into our death and darkness.
Believers when they fall asleep now are at home with the LORD, but in a larger
sense they shall be at home when He comes for His own.

“Fashioned” like to His body of glory proclaims our correspondence to Him, for
the word “fashioned” means like in form; that is, “to be conformed to the image
of His Son” (Php 3:21; Romans 8:29). He was once made in the likeness of sinful
flesh, yea, “made sin for us,” and we are to be made like to Him, for when we
shall see Him, we shall be like Him.

“His name shall be in their foreheads,” which means, He will look at us and see
Himself.

“I have just seen your facsimile,” said a friend one day to me, referring to my
youngest son, whom he had just passed in the street. The LORD shall see His
complete reproduction and resemblance in the redeemed upon whom He shall look in
the day of His glory.

Men in the scientific world talk a good deal about correspondence to type. There
shall be perfect correspondence to CHRIST by the redeemed, for we shall not only
be with Him, but like Him.

“Eternal Life” in its fullness has its consummation in the glory. “When Christ
who is our Life shall be appear, then shall we also appear with Him in the
glory” (Colossians 3:4). CHRIST said the purpose of His first coming was that we
might have life, that life we should never have had except He had died as the
Corn of Wheat. The whole chain of eternal life was forged in the fires of
Calvary, and now the cable is fastened to the anchor within the vail. The
strength and comprehensiveness of this may be gauged by the following connecting
links in the cable of grace.

- The death of CHRIST is its basis, as to the ground of its bestowment (John
3:14-15); - The keeping of CHRIST is its security, as to the certainty of its
enjoyment (John 10:28); - The Word of GOD is its assurance, as to the validity
of its endowment (John 5:24; 1 John 5:13); - The Spirit of CHRIST is its power,
as to the strength of its empowerment (John 4:14); - The love of GOD is its
evidence, as to the sphere of its environment (1 John 3:15); - The holiness of
GOD is its reproduction, as to the effect of its accomplishment (Romans 6:22); -
Faith in CHRIST is the receiver, as to the partaking of its blessing (John 3:16,
John 3:36; John 6:47); - Feeding upon CHRIST is its secret, as to the means of
its fellowship (John 6:54); - Union with CHRIST is the explanation of its
meaning, as to knowing its nature (John 17:3); - CHRIST Himself is its
Embodiment, as to the fullness of its worth (1 John 5:20); - GOD the Father is
its Author, as to the cause of its gift (Romans 6:22; 1 John 5:11) and - The
glory of GOD is its consummation, as to the place of its fulfilment (Jude 1:21).

“Incorruptibility” in a life of immortality is the character of the glory. The
Gospel is threefold in its message.

- It is a Gospel of grace as expressed in the love of GOD in giving CHRIST for
us (John 3:16); - It is a Gospel of power, as promised by CHRIST in the
enduement of the Spirit, for holiness of heart and life and usefullness in
service (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:8); and - It is a Gospel of glory (2 Corinthians
4:4), opening up a vista of life and immortality, hence we find the Apostle
Paul, in speaking of the Gospel, begins in the fifteenth chapter of First
Corinthians by saying, “Christ died for our sins,” and ends in declaring the
“mortal shall put on immortality.”

Immortality proclaims a state of incorruptible bliss and holiness in an
incorruptible body (1 Corinthians 15:54). Adam was not immortal, for if he had
been he could never have fallen.

Believers are not yet immortal. CHRIST is the only One who has immortality (1
Timothy 6:16).

Life and immortality have been brought to light through the gospel (2 Timothy
1:10), and these shall be known experimentally when our LORD returns; then this
mortal shall put on immortality, and the corruptible shall be superseded by the
incorruptible.

“Earnest.” The Spirit as the Earnest is GOD’s Pledge of the glory.

One of the seven “In whoms” of Ephesians is, “In Whom, ye were sealed with the
Holy Spirit of promise, who is the Earnest of our inheritance, until the
redemption of the purchased possession” (Ephesians 1:13-14). The purchase price
of the final deliverance is the Cross, and the Earnest of it is the Spirit. As
the fruit which the spies brought from the land of Canaan was the pledge of what
was there (Numbers 13:23-26), so the Spirit is GOD’s guarantee that we shall be
in the glory, as He Himself assures us by the Spirit - “He that hath wrought us
for the selfsame thing is God who also hath given unto us the Earnest of the
Spirit” (2 Corinthians 5:5).

“Right.” The right to the Tree of Life and the entry to the New Jerusalem is in
the Blood of CHRIST’s atoning death.

“Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree
of life, and may enter in through the gates into the City” (Revelation 22:14,
R.V.). The details of the glory of that city I have indicated in my little book
“What Is Heaven?”

Seiss, in the following quotation, gives an idea of its dimensions: “The Golden
City for which the Church of the first-born is taught to look as its eternal
home, is 1500 miles square; for 12,000 stadia make 1500 miles. John saw it
measured, and this was the measure of it, just as wide as it is long, and just
as high as it is wide; for the ’length and the breadth and the height of it are
equal.’ Here would be streets over streets, and stories over stories, up, up,
up, to the height of 1500 miles, and each street 1500 miles long. Thus the city
is a solid cube of golden constructions, 1500 miles every way. The base of it
would stretch from furthest Maine to furthest Florida, and from the shore of the
Atlantic to Colorado. It would cover all Britain, Ireland, France, Spain, Italy,
Germany, Austria, Prussia, European Turkey and half of European Russia taken
together. Great was the City of Nineveh, so great that Jonah had only begun to
enter it after a day’s journey. How long, then, would it take a man to explore
this city of gold, whose every street is one-fifth the length of the diameter of
the earth, and the number of whose main avenues, though a mile above each other,
and a mile apart, would not be less than eight millions.” With such a Saviour
for our possession, and with such a prospect before us, it makes us cry out with
saintly Rutherford, “I have not a balance to weigh the worth of my Lord JESUS.
Heaven, ten heavens would not be the beam of a balance to weigh Him in. Oh, if
that Fair One would take the mask off His fair face, that I might see Him. A
kiss of Him through His mask is half a Heaven. O day, dawn, O time, run fast, O
Bridegroom, post, post fast that we may meet! O heavens cleave in two that that
bright face and head may set itself through the clouds.”

Meantime till He comes- "Cling to the Crucified! His death is life to thee Life
for eternity. His pains thy pardon seal;His stripes thy bruises heal, His Cross
proclaims thy peace, Bids every sorrow cease. His Blood is all to thee, It
purges thee from sin It sets thy spirit free, It keeps the conscience clean
Cling to the Crucified!

Cling to the Crucified! His a heart of love, Full as the hearts above; Its
depths of sympathy Are all awake for thee; His countenance is light, Even to the
darkest night. That love shall never changeThat light shall ne’er grow dim;

Charge thou thy faithless heart To find its all in Him.

Cling to the Crucified!"


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Source: https://sermonindex.net/books/marsh-f-e-the-greatest-theme-in-the-world/
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