THESE words were uttered by a man fast dying of consumption. He was a watch-maker, living in the town of N—.
I found him lying in bed, and could see at the first glance his clays were numbered. He knew himself to be a sinner, but thought he could be saved by praying. Of God's holiness and hatred of sin he seemed to know nothing. I pressed this much on him, viz., the absolute need of Christ's death on the cross to enable God to save any one.
I then went on to speak of the sins he had committed, and asked how he was going to escape the punishment he deserved? As he could not tell, I proceeded to tell him the glad tidings of the grace of God.
To illustrate my meaning, I said, "Suppose a child deserved a whipping, and another child took the whipping instead of the guilty one, would it be fair to punish the one afterward who deserved the whipping?” “No," he said," it would not.”
"Well, now," I said, "listen to this," and turning to Isaiah 53:5, I read, " He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.' And now, since God has punished Jesus for your sins, would it be fair of Him to punish you?”
An emphatic No was his reply, and then he burst out, “That is very strange, I never heard that before.”
He then asked me to read the passage again, and to mark it and others in his Bible, constantly saying while I did so, "It is very strange." Just then his sister came into the room, and he immediately began to tell her the blessed gospel he had just learned for himself.
After speaking to him of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and of how God had thus set His seal of approval on His work, I left him, promising to call on the morrow. Next day I found him bright; he said he had been reading the texts, and that my way of it was very strange; he had never heard it like that before, but that it was very true.
As I expected soon to leave the town, I said good-bye to him forever on earth, for in less than a month after he fell asleep in Jesus, rejoicing that Jesus had borne his sins, as his substitute, on the cross, and seeking to press the glad tidings of the substitute he had found on all who came near him.
Dear reader, do you know anything of Jesus as your substitute? Can you say he bore your sins on His own body on the tree, and that He was wounded for your transgressions? If you can, you are free; for God is just, and it would be unjust of Him to punish you for your sins, after having punished the Lord Jesus for them. On the other hand, if Christ has not borne your sins on the cross, you cannot be saved; for He will never die again, and without shedding of blood there is no remission. Again I ask you, Was He your substitute? M.