So the atonement of Christ is regarded by the advanced “Christians” of our day as a doctrine beneath their dignity, and the divine word, “Ye are bought with a price” (1 Cor. 6:2020For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. (1 Corinthians 6:20)), is looked upon by them as inconsistent with their ideas of what the Almighty ought to be! This is advanced indeed! We were once galloping over the sands when our horse “advanced” into a quicksand, and plunged us in up to his girths: we escaped with our life; but this mad haste of unbelief will engulf man, spirit, soul and body, into eternal ruin.
One of songs of heaven sets its sweetest music to these words, “Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood” (Rev. 5:99And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; (Revelation 5:9)). His redemption, His bringing men to God by His blood, shall make all heaven echo with His praise. None shall sing in that company who are not brought to God by the blood of Jesus; none shall play upon the harps in the glory save the redeemed, and since Satan would, if he could, bar men from entering the pearly gates, no wonder he drags them on earth from the sight of Christ crucified.
In the Book of the Revelation, our Lord Jesus is spoken of twenty-eight times (7 by 4) as the Lamb—little lamb—as if to teach us that in the glory of God Jesus shall be owned and magnified as the once suffering sacrifice on earth in all perfection and completeness. God has shown us the glory of the Lamb—that little lamb—upon the throne, yet man in his pride would now dishonor God and discredit the work of His Son by casting slurs and scorns upon His atoning work.
Another glimpse of a company of the redeemed is given to us in the book of Revelation: it is a white-robed throng. How did they come to tread the sacred courts, and to stand before the throne? Sinners they were once on earth, what then is it that fits them for such a holy place? They “have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Rev. 7:1414And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. (Revelation 7:14))!
Again a vision of overcomers is seen in heaven, of men who were martyred for “they loved not their lives unto death,” but by what power is the victor’s crown theirs?—“they overcame him [the enemy] by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony.” The Bible is the testimony and the Bible testifies from beginning to end of the blood of the Lamb. Men must choose whether they will have the dreams of proud dust and ashes or the atonement of Christ for their hope and stay.