IN this short passage we have seven precious truths.
1. “GOD OUR SAVIOUR.”―Blessed title!
What a wondrous fullness! Our God is a Saviour-God! Genesis to Revelation witness to this truth. Type, shadow, figure, promise, in the Old Testament; and the revelation of His love in the gift of His Son in the New, ―bear an imperishable testimony to the blessed fact that our God is a Saviour-God.
Do people read their Bibles? Strange that so many look upon God as an arbitrary Judge, with such precious words before their eyes as the above, “God our Saviour.” Alas, how thoroughly has Satan blinded men to His true character! God an arbitrary Judge! when He has said that judgment is His strange work (Isa. 28:2121For the Lord shall rise up as in mount Perazim, he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act. (Isaiah 28:21)); that He is not willing that any should perish (2 Peter 3:99The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9)); that He is a Saviour-God, who will have all men to be saved (1 Tim. 2:3, 43For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; 4Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. (1 Timothy 2:3‑4)); and that He has no pleasure in the death of a sinner (Ezek. 18:23-3223Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord God: and not that he should return from his ways, and live? 24But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die. 25Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. Hear now, O house of Israel; Is not my way equal? are not your ways unequal? 26When a righteous man turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and dieth in them; for his iniquity that he hath done shall he die. 27Again, when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive. 28Because he considereth, and turneth away from all his transgressions that he hath committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die. 29Yet saith the house of Israel, The way of the Lord is not equal. O house of Israel, are not my ways equal? are not your ways unequal? 30Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord God. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin. 31Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel? 32For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye. (Ezekiel 18:23‑32)). True that, for His own glory, He must judge the impenitent and unbelieving, but the desire of His heart of love is that His house may be filled (Luke 14:2323And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. (Luke 14:23)). Think of what follows.
2. “WHO WILL HAVE ALL MEN TO BE SAVED.”―Precious soul-encouraging words! Sin is here. Man’s heart is full of it; and all are lost. But God our Saviour wants all to be saved. No question of the privileged Jew here. God’s salvation is for all, —every tribe, tongue, people, nation under the sun. High, low, rich, poor, young, old, all are included. Sinners of few or many sins, God will have all. This does not mean that He will exercise His absolute will, and force men to be saved, but that His will is for the blessing of all; that He wishes all to share the great salvation that He has provided. This is the desire of the loving heart of a Saviour-God. But men are responsible beings, not mere machines; and the sad thing is, that God wants us to be saved, but we don’t want to be. Perhaps someone says in his heart, “Oh, I can’t believe that, I should think all want to be.” There is not a natural heart upon earth, friend, that does not love darkness better than light, earth better than heaven, and self-better than God. If men could be saved their own way, and have this world and the next too, doubtless many would like it. But to be saved in God’s way, and, through faith in that which is unseen and eternal, to let go that which is visible and temporal, is far from the compass of the heart without God. Yet notwithstanding man’s inimical and rebellious state against Him, God our Saviour is Love, and will have all to be saved. And not only saved, for we read,
3. “AND TO COME UNTO THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUTH.”―Here is something more. Many speak of salvation as though it embraced everything, calling it the truth. It is part of the truth, no doubt, and a very precious and important part for poor sinners. It is a grand thing when a guilty lost one gets his soul saved. Eternal praise is due to Him who saves him from an everlasting hell, to spend an eternity of bliss with Himself in glory. But God is very rich, and the blessings He prepares are many. We are very apt to curtail what He has revealed, but it is a false humility that asks God to stay His bountiful hand, and true wisdom to accept all that He so graciously gives. We must not, then, be satisfied with salvation, blessed as that is, for God wants us also to come to a knowledge of the truth. It is impossible here to unfold all that the truth embraces. Paul, who wrote these words, goes on to say in verse 7, that he is a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity, and in his teachings you will find a very extensive and important range. In Colossians 1. he treats of his two ministries, the gospel and the church. If you are saved, you will find it very profitable to search into both.
4. “FOR THERE IS ONE GOD.”―It was especially needful to establish souls in that day in this all-important fact, for the Jews had refused Him in the Person of Christ, and the Gentiles worshipped many false gods. The condition of millions today is the same, and in enlightened Christendom men have fallen into gross superstitions on all hands. Masses of people either bow down before graven images, and worship the creature instead of the Creator, or falsify the true character of the only true God. He is Light and He is Love; the Holy One, Omniscient, Omnipotent, Omnipresent; the Creator, and the Saviour-God. His ways are perfect. Infinite wisdom shines out in all. Unsullied holiness, infinite love, perfect righteousness, matchless grace, unwearying patience, characterize the gospel, and witness that God is One, and a Saviour-God. God who created, the Lord God in Eden, the God of glory, Jehovah, the Most High, Emmanuel, the God of all grace, are all One and the same God.
But sin has put men at a distance from Him, and His infinite holiness forbids the entrance of sin in His presence. Hence the need of a mediator, and the precious words which follow.
5. “AND ONE MEDIATOR BETWEEN GOD AND MEN, THE MAN CHRIST JESUS.”―One God, and one Mediator. Man in his blindness and unbelief has proposed many, the Virgin, saints, &c. But God says one. And not between men and God, but between God and men. It was God Himself that provided a Mediator; God that sent Him into the world. Man far from God through sin, had totally lost his way. But God, in perfect love, gave His Son, a Mediator, one to come in between, to bring him to Himself. And this blessed Mediator was a man, “the man Christ Jesus.” The Son of God became the Son of man. He came into the midst of men, Himself a man in every sense of the term (sin apart), a perfect holy man, the man Christ Jesus, who can enter into our case most fully and perfectly. Wondrous mystery! God manifest in flesh (1 Tim. 3:1616And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. (1 Timothy 3:16)), the babe of Bethlehem, the Mighty God, the Son of Man who came to seek and to save that which was lost (Luke 19:1010For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. (Luke 19:10))! How blessed to know that there is a Mediator! Without Him all are eternally lost. But His life on the earth will not put sin away. The Mediator must die. Hence, we read: ―
6. “WHO GAVE HIMSELF A RANSOM FOR ALL.”―Blessed Lord Jesus! Who gave Himself. Yes, our God is a Saviour-God. Naught else could glorify God, and save sinners, but the death of Christ. God was dishonored through sin, and man guilty and utterly lost. But Jesus gave Himself, the lamb without blemish and without spot (1 Peter 1:1919But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: (1 Peter 1:19)). The ransom price to free the slaves of sin and Satan, was Jesus’ precious blood. “Without the shedding of blood is no remission.” But the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanseth us from all sin (1 John 1:77But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John 1:7)). Christ’s propitiation was sufficient. God forsook His Son on Calvary as the sin-bearer. Jesus finished the work (John 19:3030When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. (John 19:30)). God is glorified. No other offering is needed. Your best works are mixed with sin. One work only was needed. One Person only could do that work. The work is the work of redemption. The redeemer is Christ. Who gave Himself. The infinite claims of the infinite God were infinitely satisfied by the infinite sacrifice of the infinite Son, the man Christ Jesus, “who gave himself a ransom for all.” Yes, FOR ALL! Our Saviour-God wanted all to be saved, and so He provided a ransom for all. Blessed, joyful news, the ransom price is paid. We are not redeemed with silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot (1 Peter 1:18, 1918Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; 19But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: (1 Peter 1:18‑19)). The Son of Man gave His life a ransom not only for many (Matt. 20:2828Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. (Matthew 20:28)), but “for all.” And now that the price is paid, the work done, God Wants everybody everywhere to know it, and to believe it. Hence we also read:
7. To BE TESTIFIED IN DUE TIME. ― For nearly nineteen centuries of grace, the testimony has gone out, the joyful news of salvation for the guilty and the lost. God raised Christ from the dead, and gave Him glory, and sent down the Holy Ghost, and in due time (or, as it may be read, in its own times) the testimony was sounded out in all countries (Col. 1:2323If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister; (Colossians 1:23)). Still from the glory the joyful sound is heard. Still the Holy Ghost, through thousands of tongues and pens, as well as through the written Word of God direct, points perishing sinners to a Saviour in glory, the man Christ Jesus, the Son of God, the mediator, the ransom. Reader, WHAT THINK YOU OF CHRIST?
We oft read in histories of kings and nobles taken prisoner in wars, and of a ransom demanded for their release. What would men think of a king, who was prisoner in a foreign land, and who hears the joyful news that the king whom he had made war against, has accepted the ransom furnished of his nation for his release, and yet refuses to believe it? His prison door is open; he may go free and return to his kingdom if he will, but he neglects the message, despises the messengers, and refuses the permit of the conqueror to depart. The whole world would think that he must be mad. No such case ever was.
But how about the sinner, who has rebelled and sinned against God? How about the captive of Satan, who hears the joyful tidings that God Himself has given His Son, and that He has paid the ransom price, and yet neglects so great salvation, despises the heralds of it, and refuses the grace of a Saviour-God! This is madness indeed! How shall such escape the just judgment of a holy God?
Reader, once again, what think ye of the one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all? Have you trusted Him? This very paper is a witness to the truth of His Person and work. We testify in due time to the Saviour of sinners, and if you neglect the testimony, it will turn to your eternal confusion and condemnation at that day. May God in His boundless grace break you down, and give you to believe on Him, that you may have the joy and certainty now, that you are ransomed forever by His most precious blood. E. H. C.