IT is a most solemn consideration, that the greater part of the human race gives Christ no glory for His atonement. The heathen offer sacrifices—for there lies in the human heart the knowledge that sin needs propitiation—but Satan has introduced himself, and has excluded God from the hearts of the heathen; "The things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils." (1 Cor. 10:2020But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils. (1 Corinthians 10:20))
The Jew maintains sacrifice, informal and feeble, for without priesthood, altar, and temple the law of Moses cannot be obeyed; but the Jew in sacrificing to God does, by a solemn religious act, announce to Jehovah his rejection of the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ, the Lord.
And in a large part of Christendom, alas, an altar is reared, and priests perform a sacrifice. An altar for sacrifice is a solemn religious denial of the truth that Christ has “put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself" (Heb. 9:2626For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. (Hebrews 9:26)), and a total insensibility to the benefits which God says are ours through the atonement of His Son.
Of some of these benefits we will speak, but first would ask the reader to consider the atonement of Christ in relation to God. Under the law, there were sin offerings adapted to the special need of the offerer; there were offerings also, great and small, to be made by the offerer according to his ability; which things present the sacrifice of Christ from the side of the sense of our need, or of our realization of its value.
There was also the sacrifice made on the great Day of Atonement, when the blood of the victim was taken into the Holiest of All, and was sprinkled upon the mercy seat there, upon the throne, as it were, where God dwelt in the midst of a sinful people. Here was a transaction on behalf of all the sins of all Israel for a whole year, and made in the secret of the divine presence for the eye of God alone. Into the Holiest of All the high priest entered, shrouded in a cloud of incense; he was alone with God, and God accepted the blood of the victim, and forgave, nationally speaking, the sins of the people.
It is of the utmost importance for us to bear in mind what God has actually done by the atonement of Christ, and what His thoughts now are both respecting the atonement and its results. The sin of the Jew in rejecting Christ, and, therefore, His atonement, and the sin of the Christian in rearing an altar to God for the purpose of attaining the forgiveness of sins, will then be better realized.
God has made peace through the blood of Christ's 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).) He has abundantly satisfied Himself in His infinite justice by the blood of Christ given on the cross of Calvary. Mark how God limits the occasion of this mighty work to the cross thus allowing no escape for such as now build an altar for sacrifice to Him. God sets forth His Son a propitiation through faith in His blood (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)), to declare His righteousness in the forgiveness of sins. God addresses the hearts of men, who seek the pardon of their sins, to Jesus, who is the mercy seat for us. There is none other mercy seat, and no other blood than that which was given on the cross, whereby we can be saved.
Now, whatever our thoughts, or faith, God thus sets forth for man's blessing, His perfect satisfaction in the blood of His beloved Son.
The sacrifice on the altar has been made, and by virtue of that accomplished work, God Himself declares the way of pardon for sinful man. Here is no matter for opinion, or for tradition; we are in the presence of the great work of God on account of sin, and in the presence of His declaration respecting that work.
‘We turn now to some of the benefits accruing to the people of God by virtue of the sacrifice of Christ.
A purged conscience is one on which the Spirit of God lays considerable emphasis. The blood of beasts sanctified the Jew of old to the purifying of the flesh, but the blood of Christ purges the conscience from dead works to serve the living God (Heb. 9:1414How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (Hebrews 9:14)). The worshipper once purged has no more conscience of sins (see ch. 10:2)-he is cleansed, and therefore is not constantly exercised to bring a fresh sacrifice to God for his cleansing. He can, through grace, serve his God without fear, fully conscious that his sins are remitted by virtue of the blood of Christ. This is a wondrous state for a human being to occupy, and to occupy now on this earth but it is part of Christianity, and is won for us by the precious blood of Christ. Our consciences are emphatically our own—no one can delegate the state of his conscience to another; we know what we are; yet such is the gracious efficacy of Christ's blood, that our consciences are purged!
Following this, we may enter into the Christian privilege of having holy boldness in the presence of the holy God. God has granted His people this marvelous grace: we have “boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus" (Heb. 10:1919Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, (Hebrews 10:19)). A purged conscience is ours, though in the full knowledge that God is acquainted with all our ways and thoughts. Liberty to draw near to God is ours, yet in the full knowledge that God is absolutely holy! What privileges are these!
God has taken great care to tell us in varied ways that we are at full liberty to draw near to Himself ; He has taught us that by the death of Jesus we are brought to God (1 Peter 3:1818For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: (1 Peter 3:18)), that we are made nigh by His blood (Eph. 2:1313But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. (Ephesians 2:13)), that we have access to the Father (ver. 18). He has assured us of this gracious reality in such a way that we cannot show any good cause for doubting His word. There are some things in the Bible “hard to be understood," but on our privilege of nearness to our God and Father the Scriptures are plain and simple. And why is this? Because God would have His people honor the atonement of His Son by their practical faith, by rejoicing in God in holy nearness to Him.
In the nearness to God which is proper to Christianity, God Himself is no longer hidden, as of old, in darkness; on the contrary, He has come forth in His light. He is fully revealed in His holiness, and more, human sin is fully manifested before God. But His love with us is such that we may have boldness in the Day of Judgment (1 John 4:1717Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. (1 John 4:17)). His love has cast out our fear, and His love is read in the death of His Son. "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins " (ver. 10).
KEY- TO ENIGMA
SCRIPTURE ENIGMA.
1. The place to which a son, obedient, went,
Strictly on matrimonial errand bent.
2. A prophet he, who wrote in days of old,
By whom the acts of many a king were told.
3. Mountainous land, rugged, barren, drear,
Where dwelt an ancient race for many a year.
4. Who, covetous, with lying lips deceived,
But soon a dire punishment received?
5. Flatter'd by one undutiful and vain,
And at the end, most treacherously slain.
6. Sorrow to Israel, peace in Judah's day,
Foretold by her—now give her name, I pray.
INITIALS:
The lofty summit of a mountain range
Where once a patriarch, with longing eye,
View'd the fair land whose soil he might not tread,
And there, with sight and strength unchang'd, did die.
FINALS:
Though with an aching heart, yet strong in faith,
Seeing God's power the very dead to raise,
Behold an aged sire. Mention the place
Where soon his grief was turn'd to grateful praise.
H. J. R.