We are at this moment between the cross and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We look back and remember that He died for our sins, we look up and know Him as our life, we look forward and hope for His coming to receive us unto Himself. Christ is therefore our peace, our life, and our hope.
Though all truth must be practical, yet nothing perhaps is more eminently practical than the death of Christ, as revealed in scripture, in its variety of ways, from Genesis to Revelation. It is by the death of the cross that we have the knowledge of remission of sins, the comfort of a purged conscience, and peace with God; and such consciousness of divine favor as enables us to rejoice in hope of the glory of God. It is reconciliation by the death of His Son which removes fear, and inspires us with confidence to live unto God. Being sanctified by the blood of Jesus, we are taught to walk through this scene as those who are set apart by God, and perfected forever by that one offering. It is by the blood of Jesus we have liberty at all times to enter into the holiest, and to abide there, because He has entered into heaven itself by His own blood. It is because our old man is crucified with Christ that we have deliverance from ourselves, and are set free from the dominion of sin, as well as from its guilt and power. This being so, how can it be otherwise (ban that we should have the sentence of death in ourselves? How can we put confidence in that which God has judicially set aside? Hence the apostle Paul, when alluding to a special trial connected with his ministerial experiences, speaks of being "pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life. But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead: who hath delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust he will yet deliver us." (2 Cor. 1:8-108For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life: 9But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead: 10Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us; (2 Corinthians 1:8‑10).)
While doubtless the apostle is here referring to a particular trial in connection with his service in the gospel, yet the principle is the same as to every child of God, that, because he has been judicially set aside in the cross of Christ as to his first Adam standing, he cannot now put confidence in that which God has thus judged. Taught also by the Spirit of God that in him, that is in his flesh dwelleth no good thing, and accepting gladly in faith the judgment of God as crucified with Christ, how can he but have the sentence of death in himself? If we have believed God as to the reality of the truth that we have now no standing before Him "in the flesh," but "in Christ Jesus/ who is risen and ascended, how can we but have "the sentence of death in ourselves"? Thus, having died with Christ, and being alive in Him risen, how can we have confidence in that which has thus been judicially set aside by God in the death of the cross?
In this way we are delivered from self-confidence. This form of false reliance was the cause of Peter's denial of Christ. He meant well no doubt, and was sincere, when he said, " I will lay down my life for thy sake;" but he did not know himself, he was trusting in himself, and had painfully to learn the folly of it, and its Christ-dishonoring result. It is perhaps one of the commonest causes of failure with us now. It is evident that some who have accepted the truth of being lost sinners, and have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior, have not accepted a further truth that " they that are in the flesh cannot please God," and therefore that " the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God;" and thus they have not so learned the death of the cross as to have the sentence of death in themselves, and therefore are not delivered from self-dependence and self-confidence. For the things of time and sense, no one questions the value of natural ability; but "the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God." To bring in, therefore, human competency, or self-confidence in divine things, is to deny the setting aside of man in the flesh in the crucifixion of the Son of God, to get away from new creation ground as alive in Christ risen, and as having power by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. Though few believers have been called to pass through such trials as the apostle Paul, yet all children of God are entitled to say we have the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead.
This lesson then of such deep practical moment, presented to us in the death of the cross, teaches us to have no confidence in the flesh, but to deny self, and confide in Another; and this too not only on great occasions, as we say, but as the constant rule of our lives. This has always been the way of faith, though not known so clearly and fully before the coming of the Holy Spirit consequent upon the accomplished redemption of our Lord Jesus Christ. We read that Abraham "considered not his own body now dead, when be was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb; he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief: but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; and being fully persuaded that what God had promised he was able also to perform." (Rom. iv. 19-21.) He relied upon the power of God, and not on himself. He judged God faithful who had promised; and therefore he was honored of God. Again, when offering up Isaac, we are told that he reckoned only on God, "accounting that God was able to raise him up from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure." Whether then the path of a child of God be rough or smooth, painful or pleasant; whether the matter in hand be great or small, his privilege is to connect God with all according to His word, and act in faith about all for His glory. By the death of the cross then we are taught that we have the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead. The death and resurrection of Christ are thus to be constantly before our souls. In His death, we learn not only the divine estimate of our thorough good-for-nothingness as belonging to the first Adam, but we also see the manifestation of divine, perfect love; for even when we were yet sinners Christ died for us. We see the depths of grace meeting us in our worst and lowest estate and loving us perfectly. Jesus said to the Father, "I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it; that the love wherewith thou hast loved me, may be in them, and I in them." (John 17:2626And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them. (John 17:26).) Thus the love of the Father to the Son is the measure of His love to us. In the resurrection of the Lord Jesus from among the dead we see the greatness of His power which is to usward. The apostle prayed that the Ephesians saints might know what is the exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, which he wrought in Christ when " he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places." &c. (Eph. 1:19, 2019And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, 20Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, (Ephesians 1:19‑20).) Thus the two things to comfort our souls under all circumstances, are, that the Fathers love to us is perfect, that it cannot be more and never will be less, and that the power of God that works for us and in us is the power which raised Christ from among the dead. We cannot therefore he in circumstances beyond the circle of divine love, or where divine power cannot reach us. Having then the sentence of death in ourselves, only casts us upon that which is infinitely higher and better, even to trust in God who raiseth the dead.
It is then when studying the death of the cross, that we learn to have a proper estimate of ourselves and of other matters, according to the mind of God. There we see the history of the first man—man in the flesh—closed. It tells us that when last of all God sent His Son, saying, They will reverence my Son, men proved themselves to be so incorrigibly bad, that they said, " This is the heir, come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance. And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard and slew him." But it also tells us of the aboundings of divine grace in not only judicially setting aside the old man, and taking away sins, but also in Him risen and ascended giving us eternal life, creating us anew in Him, making us to stand in Him in divine favor, and enabling us by the gift of the Holy Ghost to rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
The practical effect of "the death of the cross" seemed to have had constant power on the apostle. Hence we find him again saying, "Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body." (2 Cor. 4:1010Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. (2 Corinthians 4:10).) If the sentence of death within, leading saints not to trust in themselves, but in God which raiseth the dead, characterized their state, their testimony was, that, while in a mortal body, and passing through this sin-stricken scene, they willingly took the place of rejection, by identifying themselves with Him whom the world despised, hated, and cruelly put to death. This they felt to be their true position, and this, not sometimes, but always—"always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus;" never forgetting that He was once here, but is not here now. Every day we have sorrowfully to feel that we are in a world where He was, and is not, and where He is still hated and despised. We may sometimes find a widow who makes us feel the sorrowful and lonely character of her path, without her alluding to it, for her ways and spirit show that her heart constantly thinks of one who was her all, who was here, but is not now. We once heard of a son who could not return to the family mansion of the estate he inherited, because his father had been murdered in it. But these illustrations fail to set forth the experience of those who are bearing about in their body the dying of Jesus. While one part of our testimony is waiting for God's Son from heaven with girded loins and trimmed lamps, and faithfully occupying the place of service till He come, it certainly must be founded, not only on the knowledge of accomplished redemption, but in the consciousness of being identified with Him whom men cast out and crucified.
This is the place, not for unfaithfully sharing the world's pleasures, but for bearing the dying of Jesus about in our body. In the glory we shall be with Him, and like Him, and be where there is no more sorrow nor death; not so here, where divine judgment is coining because men showed hatred to Jesus for His love. It is this identification with Christ in rejection which is so sweet to Him, and which brings us into suffering, loss, and the place of reproach. Would that we knew it better. It may be a line of truth which is much lost sight of. When really adopted, it must lead us into a path of holy separation with Him. How can the death of Jesus, when known in power in our souls, lead us otherwise than in the path of identification with Him in His rejection? If He suffered "without the gate," how can the way of faith in this evil time be otherwise than going forth "unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach"? May He strengthen us for this!