The first thing for us to see, as believers, in order to our having peace is, that “He (Christ) was delivered for our offenses.” When we were considering chapter 3 we touched upon the twofold aspect of the death of Christ, propitiation and substitution, as typified on the great day of atonement (Lev. 16)—the blood on the mercy-seat for God’s eye, and the sins confessed over and borne by the scapegoat.
In chapter 3:25 we have the mercy-seat; the blood is shed, God is satisfied, and upon this ground the gospel can be freely proclaimed to every creature. In verses 23-25 it is substitution; that is, Christ actually taking the place of those who believe, and answering to God for their sins, “He was delivered for our offenses;” and in 1 Peter 2:2424Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. (1 Peter 2:24), “Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree.” Yes, precious truth! the Lord of glory left the throne, and, emptying Himself, took a servant’s form, and was made in the likeness of man; but that would not suffice. If we are to be saved, He must go to the cross, and take our sins upon Him. There is such a danger of the ear getting accustomed to certain well-known passages of God’s word, such as the above, that the sense is in measure lost. But let me ask, Have you in any little measure realized (as we all profess to believe) that the Lord Jesus really took your sins upon Him on the cross; not some of them, but all of them, made them His own? Have you ever pondered that verse in Psalm 40:1212For innumerable evils have compassed me about: mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head: therefore my heart faileth me. (Psalm 40:12), “Mine iniquities have taken hold upon Me?”
It is Christ that is speaking, as is unmistakably clear from verses 6-8, quoted in Hebrews 10:55Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: (Hebrews 10:5). How could that blessed One speak of “mine iniquities”? Had He any? No; they were our iniquities. He in grace took our sins upon Him on the cross, and what is the result? He is forsaken of God on account of them, drinking that cup of wrath to the very dregs, and bearing the judgment of God, which otherwise must have fallen on us; and after saying, “It is finished,” “bowed His head, and gave up the ghost.” Then “He was buried” in the “new sepulcher, wherein was never man yet laid,” thus showing the reality of His death. Now we see the One who took our sins upon Him lying in death on account of them. Whom had we offended? God. And who has to be satisfied about our sins? God. If Christ had been left in the grave, it would have shown that the work was insufficient to put away our sins; and that God, against whom we had sinned, was not satisfied with the work of our Substitute. But it was not so. God raised Him from the dead. What did that show? That He was satisfied with the work that was accomplished for our sins. The Lord, as we have seen, took our sins upon Him; and the same God, who gave Him in love, now raises Him from the dead—the eternal proof that He is satisfied, and that our sins are gone forever.
The death of Christ paid the mighty debt of sin; but God’s raising Him from the dead is God’s acknowledgment that the debt is paid. The resurrection of Christ is the proof to the believer that his sins are gone forever; for “He was raised again for our justification.” In 1 Corinthians 15:1717And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. (1 Corinthians 15:17) we find the converse, “If Christ be not raised, ye are yet in your sins.” It does not say, “If Christ has not died,” but, “If Christ be not raised, ye are yet in your sins.” But He is raised; then what is the blessed conclusion for believers to draw? Ye are not in your sins. Look up into the glory of God, dear trembling believer, and there see that blessed One, the Lord Jesus Christ, the risen, glorified man, at God’s right hand! He took your sins upon Him on the cross; but He has not got them on Him now. Where are they then? Gone forever. We believe in the God “that has raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead.” And if God has raised Him from the dead who took all our sins upon Him, that God can have nothing whatever against us, any more than He has against Christ Himself; for He “was raised again for our justification.” “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Chapter 5:1).
There are two things in this verse; first, we are justified by faith; and secondly, we have peace with God, the latter the result of the former. It is God Himself, as we have seen, who has come in, and in love given His Son for our sins, and has now raised Him from the dead, and has perfectly justified us who believe; and what is the blessed result? “We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” How blessed! And this peace with God belongs to every true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ; it is not confined to those only who are fathers in Christ, or to advanced Christians, but it is the common portion of all who are justified. It is so beautifully simple when we take Scripture as it stands. In Acts 13:3939And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. (Acts 13:39) we read, “All that believe are justified;” and in Romans 5, “Being justified, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Yes, blessed be His name, it is all through Him that we have this peace with God. Many are trying to find peace by looking in at themselves, or by waiting for some inward change or feeling. But, dear reader, you will never find peace that way; it is not God’s way; the ground of peace, and God’s way of getting peace, is found in these verses we have been considering (Chapter 4:23; 5:1). And what does the Holy Ghost occupy us with in this passage—our experiences or feelings? No; but with Christ, and God’s raising Him from the dead. He occupies us with an object outside of us altogether. We are justified who believe; and “being justified, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” We possess peace; for the expression, “peace with God,” does not simply mean that we are saved, but that we know that God has nothing to lay to our charge, and that we can be in His presence without fear. That is the first step, and till we know this peace with God there can be no growth in spiritual things or advance in truth.
But in verse 2 we have something more; not only have we peace with God as regards our sins, but “we have access by faith into this grace (favor) wherein we stand.” As there were two parts in verse 1, so are there in this clause. First, we stand in favor; second, we have access by faith into it. We ever stand, as Christians, in the unclouded favor of God: this is our portion. It does not enter here into what this place is, or how we are there; it simply states the fact. If it were asked, “What is this favor in which we stand?” the answer would be, in one word — Christ; for Christ is gone back to God as the risen Man, having glorified Him on the earth, and finished the work that was given Him to do; and now He is before God, in the most perfect acceptance and favor, and we, as believers, are brought into the same place — “My Father, your Father; My God, your God” (John 20:1717Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God. (John 20:17)). His place is ours. But all this is only implied in verse 2: “This favor in which we stand.” It is well for us to remember this: that if we are Christians at all, we always stand in the perfect favor of God; and God never hides His face from a true believer, because He never hides His face from Christ; and we are accepted in Him.
But there is more. Not only do we stand in favor, but we have access by faith into it; that is, by faith we enter now into what is our unchanging standing before God in Christ. We have not to wait to get to glory to enjoy it, but we enter into it now by faith. We are justified, and we have peace with God; we stand in favor, and have access into it. This is what we possess now. But although we have all these blessings, we have still these bodies of humiliation, we still bear the “image of the earthy,” and are in the wilderness, encompassed with infirmity and failure on every hand; still there is something bright before—the glory of God, and we rejoice in hope of that; we possess all the rest that we have been speaking of now, but the glory is a hope, because we have not got it yet — “For what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?” (Rom. 8:2424For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? (Romans 8:24)). It is not a hope in the sense of there being any uncertainty about it; but when Scripture speaks of anything in the future that we do not yet possess, it is called a hope. We do not hope to be justified, for we are justified; but we hope for the glory, because we have not got it yet. And not only are we going to be in glory, but the thought of that bright glory of God, which is to be our eternal home, where we shall be like Christ, makes us rejoice in the midst of suffering and infirmity here. Do you, dear reader, rejoice in hope of the glory of God? Is the glory such a bright reality to your soul, that it makes you rejoice even now? Once we had come short of the glory of God (chap. 3:23); but now we can rejoice in hope of that same glory; we have been made fit to be there, through the work of our Lord Jesus Christ.
But there is more — “we glory in tribulations also.” We are in the wilderness, surrounded by trials and difficulties, and in early days persecution too; but now we can even glory in them. What a wonderful man a Christian is! An unconverted man might endure tribulations, and even be patient under them; but he could not glory in them. How is it then that Christians can? “Knowing that tribulation worketh patience.” Trials which come, subdue our will, and are used of God to make us patient, and cast us on God, and bring us more into His presence, and by that means we gain experience, both in what God is and what we are; and if that is the case, we can glory in them, and this experience makes the hope of glory all the brighter and more real. And this hope is not a false hope, or one we have need to be ashamed of, because, although we are in trials, and men might say, “How can God love you, and let you be in such trouble?” His love is “shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost,” which is given to every believer; we have a sense of the perfect love of our God toward us. Even here the Spirit of God does not lead us to look in at ourselves, but points out the greatest expressions of the love of God that could be: “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly” (vs. 6); “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us” (1 John 3:1616Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. (1 John 3:16)). Let us look for a moment at the order in which the various truths are brought out in these five verses of this chapter; for it is God’s order, and therefore must be instructive to us. Many have the thought that they must have this or that experience, or look within and see certain fruits of the Spirit, in order to have peace with God, and put the knowledge of justification and peace at the end of the Christian course, and a something which is to be attained to, and that it is only some very spiritual Christians that arrive at this state of assurance.
But that is not God’s order, In these verses the first thing is, we are justified; that is the starting-point. Then, being justified, the result is, “We have peace with God.” But a person may have got to know that they are justified from their sins, and then get into trouble about their state, and the sinful nature that dwells in them. Thus the next truth that they learn is their standing in Christ; they enter by faith into this place of favor in which we stand, and then rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Now they are in a condition to walk through the wilderness, and we get patience and experience spoken of; but mark, experience is put after peace, and not before. In verse 5 we have the Holy Ghost, which dwells in the body of every believer, and it is remarkable that here is the first mention of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, connecting it with having peace with God; for it is only “after having believed the gospel of your salvation” that we are “sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise” (Eph. 1:1313In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, (Ephesians 1:13)).
It is beautiful to see that after peace is known, and there has been the learning of patience and experience, gained perhaps by years of the wilderness journey, that the Holy Ghost leads back to the first simple truths of the gospel, as they are called, in order to give us a sense of the love of God; and thus it ever is, as we grow in grace, and get experience in the things of God, the so-called simple foundation truths become the deepest and most wonderful. It is always a bad sign to hear saints say, “Oh, it is only the gospel, we have got beyond that!” Can we ever, shall we ever, throughout eternity, get beyond the truths of the gospel? Shall we ever know the depths of the meaning of such a verse as John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16), “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son”? Never!
F. K.