Feb 15
28
It was not the nails!
(J. C. Philpot)
“My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” Mark 15:34
It was not the nails driven through His hands and feet;
it was not the crown of thorns placed upon His brow;
it was not the stripes which mangled His back;
it was not the languor and faintness under which He
suffered—which caused the Lord to die.
It was not the mere bodily agony of the cross; it was
not the mere pain, though most acute and severe, of
the nails driven through His sacred hands and feet. It
was not the being stretched upon the cross six hours
that constituted the chief part of the Redeemer’s
suffering. But it was the almost intolerable load of
imputed sin—the imputed sins of millions. It was the
tremendous pouring of the wrath of God into His holy
soul; it was the hiding of His Father’s face, and the
very pangs of hell that there caught hold of Him.
Our suffering Savior drank the cup of the wrath of
God to the very dregs—when our vile, dreadful, and
horrible sins were laid upon Him!
“Yet we considered Him stricken by God, smitten
by Him, and afflicted.” Isaiah 53:4
“Yet it pleased the Lord to crush Him, and cause
Him to suffer, and though the Lord makes His
soul an offering for sin . . .” Isaiah 53:10
All true sanctification
(Octavius Winslow)
“Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us
from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar
people, zealous of good works.” Titus 2:14
There is no victory over the indwelling power of sin, and
there is no pardon for the guilt of sin, but as the soul deals
with the blood of Christ. The great end of our dear Lord’s
death was to destroy the works of the devil. Sin is the great
work of Satan. To overcome this, to break its power, subdue
its dominion, repair its ruins, and release from its condemnation,
the blessed Son of God suffered the ignominious death of the
cross. All that bitter agony which He endured, all that mental
suffering, the sorrow of His soul in the garden, the sufferings
of His body on the cross—all was for sin.
See, then, the close and beautiful connection between the death
of Christ—and the death of sin. All true sanctification comes
through the cross! Seek it there. The cross brought into your
soul by the eternal Spirit will be the death of your sins. Go to the
cross! Oh, go to the cross of Jesus! In simplicity of faith, go with
the strong corruption; go with the burden of guilt; go to the cross!
You will find nothing but love there, nothing but welcome there,
nothing but purity there. The precious blood of Jesus “cleanses us
from all sin.” And while you are kept low beneath the cross, your
enemy dares not approach you, sin shall not have dominion over
you, nor shall Satan, your accuser, condemn you!
Your filth will be washed away!
(J. C. Philpot, “The Clean Water Sprinkled” 1866)
O, what loathsome monsters of iniquity—how
polluted, filthy, and vile do we feel ourselves
to be—when the guilt of our sin is charged home
upon our conscience! Have you not sometimes
loathed yourselves on account of your abominations?
Has not the filth of your sin sometimes disgusted you;
the opening up of that horrible, that ever running
sewer, which you daily carry about with you?
We complain, and justly complain—of a reeking sewer
which runs through a street—or of a ditch filled with
everything disgusting. But do we feel as much—do
we complain as often—of the foul sewer which is
ever running in our soul—of the filthy ditch in our
own bosom?
As the sight of this open sewer meets our eyes—and
its stench enters our nostrils, it fills us with self-loathing
and self-abhorrence before the eyes of a holy God.
“Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you
will be clean. Your filth will be washed away!”
Ezekiel 36:25-26
Justice sheaths its avenging sword in His heart!
(Henry Law, “Gleanings from the Book of Life”)
“God made Him who had no sin to be sin
for us, so that in Him we might become
the righteousness of God.” 2 Cor. 5:21
It is a comforting thought, that the sins thus
removed from the guilty and transferred to the
guiltless, leave the real transgressor relieved
from the weight of evil.
Thus unrighteousness is removed.
Jesus thus laden with iniquities, endures
all that sin merits and the law denounces.
He approaches the altar of the Cross.
He there presents Himself the willing victim.
He there lays down His life, the all sufficient sacrifice.
He there sheds His blood, worthy to make atonement.
Wrath pours out on Him all its vials.
Justice sheaths its avenging sword in His heart!
The law pours on His head its total curse.
He endures to the uttermost all that justice required.
Where now are the believer’s sins?
That which is blotted out can no more be found.
None who are washed in His most precious blood
can be borne off to hell. Satan can offer no charge
against those on whom no sin is found.
Consider Jesus– Our Paymaster
“He was oppressed.” –Isa. 53:7
The Hebrew word here rendered “oppressed,” signifies to exact, or, to demand payment. It is so rendered in the following passage–“The creditor shall not EXACT of his neighbor, nor of his brother, in the year of release.” The word taskmaster comes from the same root; and as there is no noun prefixed to the original, the words may be fitly rendered–it was exacted of Him, demanded, required, and He was ‘afflicted,’ or, He answered. A truer view of the office and work of the Lord Jesus does not exist; nor is there a more gracious and comforting point of light in which a poor, sin-burdened, guilt-oppressed soul can study Him.
By nature all are God’s debtors, owing Him supreme love, perfect holiness, entire obedience, and unreserved service–yes, our whole being, body, soul, and spirit. To meet this great debt, we are–by nature, in consequence of the fall, morally and utterly unable–bankrupt of all righteousness and strength, having “nothing to pay.” No will, no heart, no might–in a word, there being in us no good thing. O my soul! ponder this your state by nature–owing an infinite debt to God, with no possible way of discharging a single fraction of the claim, deserving to be cast into the prison of eternal punishment until you have paid the uttermost farthing.
But consider Jesus as the Church’s great PAYMASTER and SURETY. Jesus, in eternity, entered into a bond, signed with His own hand, and afterwards sealed with His own blood, to free us from all this great debt. In fulfillment of that covenant engagement, in the fullness of time He was born of a woman, made under the law, and by His perfect obedience and atoning death, He gave full satisfaction to the Divine government, and so Law and Justice exacted from Him the obligation He had undertaken to meet. And now was fulfilled His own prophecy concerning Himself–“Then I restored that which I took not away.” Jesus restored the glory of God, of which He had not robbed Him. He satisfied Divine justice, which He had never injured. He fulfilled a Law He had never broken, and so restored to it a righteousness He had never taken away. And He made satisfaction for sins He had never committed; and so, “He restored that which He took not away.”
Sin is a debt–Jesus paid it when He bore our sins in His own body on the tree. Obedience is a debt–Jesus paid it when, by the obedience of One, many were made righteous. Death is a debt–Jesus paid it when He bowed His head on the cross and gave up the spirit. And when thus we behold Him dragged into the court of human justice, and sentenced to a felon’s death–and when we follow Him to the garden of His sorrow, sweating great drops of blood, and thence to Calvary, and see Him nailed to the accursed tree–suffering, bleeding, dying–what do we behold but the exacting from Him the full payment of the bond for the honoring of which He had entered into an eternal suretyship on His people’s behalf?
What life and liberty are bound up in these words–“I forgave you all that great debt!” Believing soul, the debtor’s prison is no longer your abode. The bond is cancelled, and God, the Creditor, fully satisfied with the Atonement of His beloved Son, has given a full discharge both to Him and to us, in that He raised Him from the dead. No longer, then, look at your sins, unworthiness, nothingness, and poverty; but look to Jesus, and, looking constantly by faith at Him, walk in the holy, happy liberty of one all whose debt is cancelled, and for whom there is now no condemnation. Is Jesus your Paymaster, O my soul? Then He has equally engaged to provide for your temporal needs, to deliver you out of all your difficulties, and to enable you to meet all your worldly engagements. Surely He who has paid your greater debt to God, will help you honorably to pay your lesser debt to man. Octavius Winslow
A union which will last forever!
(John MacDuff, “The Christian’s Pathway” 1858″)
“My Beloved is mine — and I am His!” Song of Songs 2:14
This is the language of the Christian in the book of Canticles. How great is the blessedness involved in such an assurance! My beloved Jesus is mine . . .
in the dignity of His person;
in the suitability of His offices;
in the immensity of His love;
in the efficacy of His atonement;
in the riches of His abounding grace!
His righteousness is mine — to justify me,
His Spirit is mine — to sanctify me,
His power is mine — to defend me,
His wisdom is mine — to guide me, and
His Heaven is mine — to receive me!
And what does Christ say to the believer in return?
“I am yours — and all that I have is yours! I have boundless and unsearchable riches — and those riches are for you! I have happiness to bestow, such as the mind in its largest grasp has never been able to conceive — and that happiness is for you! I have crowns and scepters at My disposal — and all those honors are for you! Yes, to him who overcomes, I will grant to sit with Me on My glorious throne!”
The Christian’s exaltation and bliss is not a matter of doubtful disputation. And what makes it so certain? It is the blessed truth that the union which exists between him and Christ — is an indissoluble union! All other relations, however close and endearing, must be broken. That union of husband and wife; and soul and body — has no power to resist the assault of death, the great destroyer.
All earthly ties must then be severed. But death, which breaks every other bond — only strengthens the bond between the Christian and Christ! Death, which quenches every other love — only kindles that of the believer for Jesus, into a purer and intenser flame! Death, which snatches every other object from our grasp — only brings us to the full enjoyment of Him, who is the fountain of life, the great center and source of all blessedness.
Christian, rejoice in your union with Jesus!
The changes of time cannot touch it!
The storms of life cannot injure it!
The sword of persecution cannot sever it!
The damps of death cannot affect it!
The malice of hell cannot move it!
It is a union which will last forever! It follows, therefore, that you, if a partaker of it — will be rich forever, safe forever, dignified forever, and blessed forever!