AMONGST the readers of this magazine are some with mind and conscience ill at ease. They are not indifferent to the things of eternity; if they were, a certain amount of carnal ease and pleasure might at least be theirs. On the contrary, they cannot and dare not dispel these things from their minds, and yet the very mention of that great and glorious name, GOD, torments them. They cannot face the thought of meeting Him. Are you one of these people?
Perhaps you are. Now would it not be well for us to inquire what may be the reason of this painful state of things. We shall not have far to go to find the answer-your view of God is wrong, because a distorted one.
The other day perhaps you passed a railway bookstall and there caught your eye a picture of some well known public man. How strange it looked! Quite recognizable it is true, for the artist had caught his characteristic features and expression, but with one or two members of his body distorted till they were out of all proportion with the rest. It was not a picture after all. It was a caricature.
Now in your mind's eye, does God Himself stand before you as He really is, or have you some one or more of His wondrous features or attributes so prominent and out of all proportion to the rest that you have no true picture before you at all? If so, no wonder you are afraid!
In your case, maybe, it works out in this way: You are a sinner, and you know it. Sin has its just deserts, and you fear them. God is holy and inflexibly righteous; and in spite of the specious theorizing of some sentimentalists, who insist on shutting their eyes to everything except His goodness and mercy, you cannot but feel it to be true. Putting these things together, you conclude that your sin puts God into the position of Judge, and hence you think of Him as a great and holy Being of awful majesty and grandeur, sitting upon a judgment throne. And you are not wrong in doing so, as the Scriptures themselves show.
When God came down as Law-giver on Mount Sinai, in fire and tempest, it is recorded that, “so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, ' I exceedingly fear and quake.' “(Heb. 12:21.)
“It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." (Heb. 10:31.)
Again, in the vision of the judgment of the dead in Rev. 20, it is said: "I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there Was found no place for them" (verse 11).
All this shows that sin truly is no trifle, but an awful reality, putting its withering blight upon everything it touches, and leading God Himself to take up the position of
The Judge of all (Heb. 12:23).
But while impressed with this, have you noticed another feature equally prominent, and which is the very pith and marrow of the gospel? The Bible, which presents Him to us as the Judge of all, also speaks of Him as
The Justifier of the ungodly (Rom. 4:5).
If you have not carefully considered this you have no true picture of God before you.
But what do these words mean? Let us take an illustration which may help.
Let us suppose a crowded court. The jury empaneled. The judge, grave, impartial, on the bench. The prisoner youthful and pale in the dock. He stands his trial on a serious charge, and is convicted by the jury; without hesitation they bring in the verdict, "Guilty!” Then the judge speaks; he addresses a few searching words to the prisoner, and pronounces sentence—a term of imprisonment or a heavy fine.
The youth looks crushed: it is his first offense. With bowed head and tearful eye he stands, every moment expecting to be led away to the gloomy cells.
But no! There is a pause. A consultation is proceeding on the bench. The judge takes up his pen, produces a book from his pocket, and writes. Another pause; then, looking up, he quietly says, “Prisoner! the law has no further claim upon you. Your fine is paid. You are free.”
What has happened? This: the judge, having discovered that he is the only son and support of a widowed mother, who in early years served long and faithfully in his family, has himself intervened as his deliverer, and by writing his check for the amount of the fine has paid the prisoner's penalty. Could any settlement of the case be more sure or satisfactory than that? Impossible!
But the illustration falls far short of the reality. No illustration can unfold the full meaning of those wonderful words, "Him that justifieth the ungodly." Still it may serve its purpose, for the very God, whom our sins have put in the place of Judge, has Himself become the Justifier by intervening on our behalf. This puts Him in a new light, does it not?
How did He do it? By Christ, and by Christ alone. In the death and resurrection of Jesus the penalty was taken up and met in such a way as to satisfy the highest claims of eternal justice, and silence every accusing voice forever.
But is justification open to anybody? It is, for Scripture says, "justifieth the ungodly," and that without reserve of any kind. So then, if you are ungodly, justification may be yours. Pride, of course, may hinder you from taking the place of an ungodly sinner, and hence from getting the blessing. It need not, and should not, for ungodly you are. Have the honesty to own it.
But is there nothing required of an ungodly sinner if he would be justified? Yes, one thing, that he should believe in Jesus. God asks but the unreserved confidence of your soul in His Son. It says, "that He might be just, and the Justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." (Rom. 3:26.)
Put, then, these two things together:
1. He justifies the ungodly.
2. He is the Justifier of the one who believes in Jesus.
The first shows us what He can do as a result of Christ's work on the cross; the second what He actually does do as the result of our faith. Rest assured, then, that ungodly though you may be, if in repentance and self-Judgment you do but believe in Jesus, you are in God's sight a justified person. And, lastly, remember that “It is God that justifieth." (Rom. 8:33)
So that, as in our illustration, it is the Judge who has become the Justifier. What solid rest of soul this gives! Who, then, can pick out one flaw in our justification? If anyone could do so the Judge Himself would, but He has become our Justifier Then we are justified indeed, and every accusing voice is silenced forever.
This is the God who stands before you as a Savior to-day? Why should you fear Him? Why not confide in Him? How happy you then would be!
“Acquaint now thyself with Him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.”
(Job 22:21.) F. B. H.