“DEAR Reader, ―Have you ever stood upon the sea-shore, and gazed on the great ocean lashed by a furious storm? Have you observed the billows heaving, and the white foam curling on their crests? Have you listened to the howling of the wind, and looked at the thick, dark, massive clouds rolling through the heavens? Have you seen the forked lightning flashing across the sky, and heard the thunder pealing with terrific roar? Have you seen the proud oak, which had withstood the storms of half-a-century, torn from its bed, and laid prostrate on the ground and the lofty pine, which reared its head above the surrounding forest, swept from its place, and fall with a heavy crash beneath the terrible fury of the maddened elements? What were your feelings in such a scene? Did you look on calmly, or were you filled with awe? The deep, then, called unto the deep―the mighty elements were aroused from their slumber―the winds called unto the waters and unto the clouds, and the clouds awoke the sleeping thunder and sent forth the forked lightning.
Under the immediate guidance of the Holy Spirit, David uttered these words, “Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts” (Psalms 42:7); and they had special reference to David’s King the Lord Jesus Christ. Like Isaiah, David saw, through the vista of centuries, the terrible sufferings of our adorable Lord, when deep called unto deep at the noise of God’s waterspouts, when God, and man, and Satan bruised and wounded the holy Son of God. But why those deep unutterable sorrows? Why that shame and spitting? Why did He drink that bitter cup? Why was He forsaken of His God? Why was He brought into the dust of death?
Beloved reader, listen while I tell you; for your interest is at stake. That suffering the most dreadful ever endured on this earth, was for sinners; and you are a sinner—a child of Adam. Adam was made subject to God, and this subjection should be maintained by obedience. God gave him a command―he disobeyed that command, and hence the sentence of death passed upon him ― “In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” (Genesis 2:17.) You see, then, that death was the penalty due to sin, and nothing short of death could atone for sin. Works could not atone for sin―prayers could not atone for sin―nothing but death could meet the sentence. Bear this in mind; for it is most important that we should be clear on this point. It does not require a multitude of sins to condemn a soul to death―one sin is quite sufficient for that. Death should be given for one sin, as well as for millions of sins; for “whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” (James 2:10.) There are ten commandments in the law. Remember, Adam had only one given to him, and the sentence passed on him for its breach was eternal death. How, then, can you, who have times without number broken ten commandments, escape the dreadful penalty? Death! ―what is it? Have you ever considered? It is not alone the destruction of the body―nay, far more―it is the subjection of the soul in its utmost capacity to untold and eternal misery. Take a picture of misery here on earth. Look at the man who uses all his strength to procure means to satiate the demon of lust in his soul―see him tottering on the street―he who should bear the image of God stamped with Satan’s foul brand. Enter his house―wretched picture! ―his wife clothed with rags―his children crying for bread, and his hovel having in it all the features of his wretchedness. You say, “Poor man! I would not be in his position for untold wealth.” Can you sum up all the wretchedness of such cases on the face of the earth, and condense them into one picture, then you will have only a faint idea of the misery and pain of eternal death. Satan’s malignity only drew forth, from the inexhaustible spring of God’s eternal love and goodness, the mighty work of redemption, purposed before the world was called from the womb of night. With sin came “shame and confusion of face:” Adam fled from God, and sought to hide his nakedness by a paltry covering of fig-leaves. In his sin, in his helplessness, in his confusion, God sought him, and gave him the promise (“The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent’s head,”) which has been the rock to which thousands have since fled for refuge and comfort. He taught Adam in type how this should be accomplished; for God himself provided him with the skins of beasts with which to cover his nakedness instead of the fig-leaves, thereby, doubtless, teaching the necessity of shedding of blood―death for sin. Abel was taught the same lesson; for his sacrifice was more acceptable than Cain’s. Abel, by his sacrifice, confessed the necessity for atoning blood, and Hence the acceptability of his offering. The patriarchs were taught the same truth; and, in the case of Abraham, a grand feature of the promise was further shewn in type―when he was commanded by the Lord to take his “only son Isaac” (that son through whom he had expected the promised blessing to flow), and offer him up “for a burnt-offering” on Mount Moriah. Faithful man! in obedience to the command of his God, he went forth: his paternal affection was overcome by his strong desire to obey God; and while the would-be fatal knife was uplifted, and the innocent boy lay on the piled altar, and while Abraham’s bosom was convulsed with mingled feelings of obedience and paternal love, he is commanded to look around, and there, entangled in the thicket, he sees the substitute for Isaac’s life. The feature of the promise here set forth was substitutional death, or the death of one instead of another. Subsequently, another feature of this wonderful promise was declared in God’s direction to the Israelites in the wilderness. In the first chapter of Leviticus they are told that the offering must be voluntary: “And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt-offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him.” (Leviticus 1:4.) Here we have a wonderful truth shadowed forth, ― substitutional death cannot avail anything to the sinner without his acknowledgment of it, and trust in it.
Now, dear reader, bear in mind these three grand features of God’s promise to Adam (“The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent’s head”). The first was the way in which the promise should be fulfilled-by death. The second―that this death should be substitutional; and the third―that this substitutional death must be received by the sinner as his ground of justification before God. “When the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.” (Galatians 4:4, 5.) After four thousand years the promise was fulfilled. Christ, the Son of God, appeared on this earth, and undertook to die for us. The Jews despised Him, because He condemned the glory of a perishing world; for, instead of entering it with all the pomp and grandeur attendant on royalty,” He had not where to lay His head.” Within the vail of His flesh the divinity existed, and shone out in His righteous life and actions; but His goodness made man’s vileness more perceptible, and hence the self-righteous Pharisee, the proud Scribe, and the crafty lawyer combined to destroy Him. But as Satan in the first instance, by his malignant craft ignorantly unfolded God’s eternal purpose, so now his agents were again developing the grandest and most astonishing of all God’s purposes. The Lord Jesus knew all He had to suffer; He has counted the cost, and was prepared to pay the price for the redemption of man. He knew all the sorrow He must pass through; and for the joy set before Him in bringing many sons to glory, He despised the shame, enduring the cross. He was crucified in weakness; and so, when the sorrows of the cross were approaching, when the prince of the power of the air was gathering his hostile forces to meet Him, and when the thought of God’s absence from Him (while He should endure the curse on the cross) forced themselves upon and pressed out of Him the great drops of blood, at the same time wringing from His heart in the depth of His agony the bitter cry,” Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt” (Matthew 26:39), then the storm to which David alluded was already lowering, and the horizon growing black, and the waterspouts descending. The final moment came―Christ was alone. Those who loved Him in life (a few weak followers) now forsook Him ― “of the people there was none with me.” Man, whom He came to save, became His executioner: “And they crucified Him, and parted His garments,” &e. (Matthew 27:35.) Devils scoffed at Him, and thought that then they should completely succeed in overthrowing every chance of man’s escape. Their hatred and malignity, like a burning flood of boiling lava long pent-up, burst with all its fury upon His head; but―bitterest stroke of all―God, His Father, His guide, His fellow, His friend, could no longer gaze upon Him while the sword of justice was being bathed in His blood, and hence the heartrending cry―that cry which found an echo in the cold rocks―that cry which called to the very heavens to cloud themselves with a pall of darkness― “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46.) David’s prophetic words were, then, literally fulfilled― “Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts.” Mocked by man, scoffed at by devils, and forsaken by the Almighty, He bore the terrible judgment for sin. The battle was over; Satan gloried in the victory he seemed to have gained; the Jews exultingly rejoiced; everything seemed quiet for a time. After the storm a great calm set in. On the third day men were astonished at hearing of the resurrection of that man whom they had crucified. Then the truth was fully known to Satan; his revenge, his hatred, his malignity rolled back upon himself. Yes, dear reader, David’s words were literally fulfilled― “All thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.” (Psalms 42:7.) He met the waves and the billows; “the Rock of Ages” breasted them; they dashed against Him with all their force, and passed over Him, and hence the triumphant cry of the Spirit, “He led captivity captive,” &c. He, “through death, destroyed him who had the power of death, that is, the devil.” (Hebrews 2:14.) CHRIST IS RISEN, having procured salvation for sinners, even for the vilest of the vile, the most wretched, the most unhappy that come to Him. “Him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out.” (John 6:37.) The devil, twice foiled by God’s great wisdom and power, is now putting forth all his craft to pervert the full, free gospel of God: he would make man believe that God is a God of hatred, instead of a God of love, and that to appease that wrath, and succeed in obtaining salvation, it is necessary to render unto Him penance, prayers, tears, love, obedience, or some such thing; whereas, the good news is that the Seed of the woman has bruised the serpent’s head; and God has shown to the world by the death of His Son the way in which this has been accomplished. That death of Christ must be substitutional, and, in order to be so for you, it is only necessary that you should at once renounce every plea for justification, and trust in the One who died. “He that believeth HATH everlasting life.” (John 6:47,) Before you lay down this paper, let me ask you, Have you taken Christ for your Saviour? If not, the deep will again call unto the deep, when thousands of Christ-rejecters shall, in wild dismay, call upon the rocks and upon the mountains to hide them from the wrath of the Lamb (Revelation 6:16); and then there can be no hope of such ever shouting the cry of triumph. The wrath of God shall continually be on the lost throughout the countless ages of eternity. R. M.