“Because there is wrath, beware less he take thee away with his stroke: then a great ransom cannot deliver thee.”―Job 36:18.
WHEN the Lord Jesus was upon earth He said, “The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for MANY” (Mark 10:45). In saying this He not only showed the love of His heart, but one purpose of His incarnation. Up to this point in man’s history on earth the solemn word of the Psalmist had been absolutely true, “None can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him” (Psa. 49:7). The vessel of Satan, and the servant of sin, man―every man―was a captive, and needed redemption. But none could redeem his brother, for he himself needed redemption. Nor could any give to God a ransom, for he, like all others, needed to be ransomed. In due time the Saviour appeared. Being Himself sinless, and hence free from the sentence of death and judgment, which lay upon man, He could, if He―would, become the ransom.
Blessed be His precious name forever, He was as good as His word, which we have already quoted. He died on the cross, bearing sins, made sin, sustaining the judgment of God, drinking the cup of His wrath to the very dregs, and exhausting the vials of God’s righteous indignation against man’s guilty condition and ways. In thus dying, He made atonement for sin before God, defeated Satan in his own domain―death―annulled it, broke the bonds of the tomb, rose victorious, and ascended in righteousness to the very throne of God, where as Man He now sits.
What follows on this? The Holy Ghost comes down to give His witness to God’s thoughts of the value of the atoning, redeeming, and ransoming death of Jesus. Hear His testimony. “There is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time” (1 Tim. 2:5, 6). What good news are these! Jesus had said He would give His life “a ransom for MANY.” The Holy Ghost here asserts that He “gave himself a ransom for ALL.”
Nor is this all. God is able now to say of the man who heeds His testimony, “Deliver him from going down to the pit; I have found a ransom” (Job 33:24).
Let me now ask you, my dear reader, Are you yet ransomed? If not, let me beseech you to at once believe the Gospel. Oh, let not the year of grace 1892 pass away, and leave you as it found you, in your sins, unsaved, and on your road to the pit. Heed the call of love, the voice of grace, the tender wooing’s of Jesus, the Saviour. Elihu’s counsel, which heads this paper, is very good. It is strikingly solemn, too. He says, “Because there is wrath, BEWARE lest he take thee away with his stroke; then a great ransom cannot deliver thee.” Why? Because it will be too late. Die as you are, and you miss life, eternal life, and will only taste wrath forever.
Let me ask you affectionately, Are you going yet once more to refuse a living, loving Saviour in glory? If so, you must be prepared to face the inevitable consequences―they are not bright—the pit, with the devil and his angels as your companions, and the wrath of God, as your portion. Oh, be wise in time, and then you will be able to take up the song of the delivered man in Job 33 Just hear what he says. “He singeth before men, and saith, I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it profited me not: ― “HE HATH REDEEMED MY soul from going into the pit, and my life shall behold the light” (Job 33:27, 28, Revised Version).
How blessed would it be if you too could similarly sing this triumphant note. It simply sounds out the value of the “great ransom.” That ransom still avails before God for any soul that will rest on Him who is both the Mediator and the Ransom. God grant that you, my dear reader, may simply confide in and then boldly confess the virtues of His dear Son. Then can you sing on earth, as surely as in glory, ― “HE HATH REDEEMED MY SOUL FROM GOING INTO THE PIT.”
W. T. P. W.