THERE can be no doubt, in the mind of the Christian who observes the signs of the times, that the current of religious thought in Christendom runs adversely to the glory of the atoning sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. On the one hand, the mercifulness of God is lifted up in order to diminish in the hearts of many the righteousness of God, and thus many believe that, since God is merciful, men will be brought into endless bliss apart from the atoning efficacy of Christ’s death; on the other hand it is taught that Christ’s sacrifice of Himself once offered, needs supplementing by the constant repetition of the offering of Christ in the sacrament, and thus the glory of Christ’s sacrificial work is dimmed in the souls of multitudes, who look for salvation to the benefits of the sacrament, rather than to the value of Christ’s own offering of Himself once for all.
The energies, therefore, of all true ark faithful Christian men should be directed, in season and out of season, to the great end of magnifying Christ’s atoning work. Not to magnify His work is not to magnify Him who wrought the work. Not to magnify Christ’s work is not to magnify God the Father who sent Him to do the work. Not to magnify His work is to play into the hands of tin enemy. There can be no neutrality in this great issue―to be neutral is to be indifferent, to be indifferent is to side with the enemy.
From the earliest days of fallen man’s history, God shows to us how He regarded sacrifice and substitution for man. At the beginning of that history, God made coats of skins for our first parents, and clothed them; thus they were attired in the beauty of the victim that had died on their account. For God took the skin of the dead animal, and therefrom wrought the garments with which He clad man, who felt the shame of his nakedness, and who had hid from Him. The offering by Abel of the lamb to Jehovah, by faith, stands as the first witness of fallen man’s acceptable approach to God. “By faith Abel offered unto God” (Heb. 11:44By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh. (Hebrews 11:4)) ―by faith in God’s word, given to him respecting sacrifice. Such were the first teachings of God to man; and our being clothed in the excellence of Him who died for us, and Himself being the Lamb of God, is the teaching required for the last days in which we live. God has but one way of salvation for man, whether in the days of Abel, or whether in this nineteenth century, and God’s one way of salvation is through the death of His Son.
“Christ crucified” was a stumbling-block to the religious Jews, the apostle Paul tells us (1 Cor. 1:2323But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; (1 Corinthians 1:23)), and no less is Christ crucified a stumbling-block to the religious people of a great part of Christendom. They want more, much more, than Christ crucified for salvation; they want, as did the Jews, their ordinances, their ritual, their works. But in Christ, and Him crucified, is alone salvation. “Christ crucified” was foolishness to the wise Greeks, the apostle tells us. It was no honor or glory to these men of mental power that salvation should be found in a crucified Saviour! No, it was contemptible. But alone in the One who was crucified is salvation to be found. And in Christ crucified is divine wisdom, and divine power, and divine glory. It is no light thing to run counter to God’s wisdom, power, and glory, as do all those who make light of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Is it Himself in His glory in reference to sin of whom God speaks? How shall peace be established in which He can rest? These are the divine words, “Having made peace through the blood of His cross.” (Col. 1:2020And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. (Colossians 1:20).)
Does God proclaim to man His justice, and yet Himself the Justifier of sinful men! On what basis shall this be built? God has set forth a mercy-seat through faith in Christ’s blood to declare His divine righteousness in reference to the forgiveness of sins. (See Rom. 3:2525Whom 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; (Romans 3:25).)
Shall the believer inquire, “How is it that I am brought near to God―I who once was so far off from Him?” Thus does God by His Spirit answer, “Ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.” (Eph. 2:1313But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. (Ephesians 2:13).)
But let us lift up ourselves above the earth, and soar in thought into heaven itself. What is the burden of its songs― “Lo, in the midst of the throne...stood a Lamb as it had been slain...And they sung a new song, saying Thou art worthy for Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood” (chs. 5:6, 9). Let us inquire, as to the singers there, what it was that made their robes so white even in the very glory of God; whence came the marvelous purity in which they stood before the very throne of God? The answer is, “These are they which...have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple; and He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them” (ch. 7:14, 15).
It will be a very poor thing when in eternity to have to say, “I lived in the great nineteenth century, and, according to the then fashion, did not believe in the value of thy blood of God’s Son, and am now forever and forever barred out from heaven and its songs.”