The Call of the Bride
Walter Thomas Prideaux Wolston
Table of Contents
Foreword
The story of Abraham sending his servant to seek a bride for his loved son Isaac is one of the many beautiful illustrations in Scripture of the truth of the gospel, The servant, type of the Holy Spirit, was true to his errand of love, to bring home the bride, and “being in the way” the Lord led him.
When the question was put to Rebekah, “Wilt thou go with this man?”, she who had only heard and believed the report, had her mind made up, like one whose heart has been opened to receive the message of the love of Christ: “whom having not seen ye love...” (1 Peter 1:8). The simple answer of Rebekah was, “I will go.” May this be the ready response of the heart of the reader of this little book.
W.T.P.Wolston’s simple exposition of this precious portion of Scripture has rejoiced the hearts of many of the Lord’s people in the past. Souls have been quickened through the clear presentation of the claims of divine love pressed upon them, while many a careless one has been awakened to the urgency of deciding for Christ.
The Call of the Bride is reprinted from the original with the addition of several articles taken from three smaller volumes by W.T.P.W. — Streams from the Fountain of Life, Rest for the Weary, and Records of Grace.
For further information as to the author, the reader is referred to the foreword in recent reprints of some of W.T.P.W.’s other works, such as Simon Peter: His Life and Letters.
May God the Father who has sent the Holy Ghost down to this world to gather out of the nations a Bride for His beloved Son, continue to use this precious ministry of Christ to the eternal blessing of many in these closing days of grace.
The Bridegroom
“And the man came into the house: and he ungirded his camels, and gave straw and provender for the camels, and water to wash his feet, and the men’s feet that were with him. And there was set meat before him to eat: but he said, I will not cat, until I have told mine errand. And he said, Speak on. And he said, I am Abraham’s servant. And the Lord hath blessed my master greatly; and he is become great: and he hath given him flocks, and herds, and silver, and gold, and menservants, and maidservants, and camels, and asses. And Sarah my master’s wife bare a son to my master when she was old: and unto him hath he given all that he hath. And my master made me swear, saying, Thou shalt not take a wife to my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I dwell: but thou shalt go unto my father’s house, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto any son” (Gen. 24:32-38).
The twenty-fourth chapter of Genesis gives a most beautiful illustration of the gospel of God, now presented by the Holy Ghost to the guilty children of Adam. It is a pictorial representation of the time in which we live. In the bygone ages, Abraham desired for his son Isaac that which would be a joy and comfort to him; and at this present time, God does the same for His Son. He is seeking that which shall be the source of endless joy to His only, His well beloved, Son, Jesus. And what is that? A bride.
The Son’s Bride, with her jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment, is what I desire to call your attention to; and, beloved reader, rest assured this has not been left on record merely as a family transaction in the history of Abraham’s descendants, but because it is fraught with the deepest interest to us now, and is full of instruction and beautiful simile.
In the beginning of this chapter we see Abraham giving directions to Eliezer, his servant, to go to his country, and to his kindred, and take a wife from thence unto his son Isaac.
In Eliezer we have not only a ready and faithful, but also a prayerful, messenger; and need we wonder then that his mission from Hebron to the distant city of Nahor in Mesopotamia was so prosperous? No; we can but share, as it were, in the faithful messenger’s joy, as he recrosses the desert, taking with him to his master’s son the one who shall be so dear to his heart. And in these days there is One who has come from heaven’s far-off land on a similar errand — the Holy Ghost. He has come down to us. Angels have been passed by, and to man, fallen man, has been delivered the gospel message of peace; and from the family of Adam the Holy Ghost is gathering out those who shall form the Bride, and He is leading across the pathless desert of the world this Bride for the Son, to whom the Father has given “all things.” Safely is He leading her onward to that happy moment when she shall be presented — radiant with the jewels that have been given her by her long-expected Bridegroom, the Lord of all.
Have you ever thought that there is a living Man, seated on the throne of heaven, waiting and longing for the time when the Church, His Bride, shall be associated with Himself in glory, and when He shall share all the honor and dignity of that throne with the one for whom He died? So it is. “Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it,” and of Him individually the believer can say, “Who loved me, and gave Himself for me.” How happy and blessed are they who form an integral part of the Church! Reader, can you look forward with joy to the meeting of the Bride and Bridegroom? Can you picture the scene, and share by anticipation in the joy, when all heaven shall be in ecstasy, because “the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready”?
Twice in Scripture do we read of ecstatic joy amongst the heavenly hosts. First, at the birth of the Lord, we are told: “And suddenly there was with the angels a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” (Luke 2:13-14). And again at the marriage of the Lamb: “And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye His servants, and ye that fear Him, both small and great. And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints” (Rev. 19:5-8).
Do you wish to form part of the Bride here described? I do not now ask, Do you want salvation? or, Do you want to escape from hell? No; I ask now, Do you want what God calls you to? Do you desire to possess the honor He here offers you? Will you have the dignity and glory He puts at your disposal? Will you accept it, or refuse it? Which? Can you for a moment hesitate? Oh, better far spend eternity as the happy Bride of the Son of God, in the brightness of heaven’s glory, than spend it in the darkness of hell! Better far be bound to Jesus with the cords of love, than be bound in hell with the cords of your own sins! — for in one state or other must eternity be spent.
But let us return and look in detail at what is here written. The scene represented is in the distant country of Mesopotamia, and the servant is there telling a tale that will allure one to leave all that is dear to her in her native land, and go to be the bride of him whom she has never seen, but of whom she hears such wondrous tidings.
Eliezer’s mission is very simply and clearly told. He is a true and faithful servant; his sole desire is to serve his master. He says, “O Lord God of my master Abraham, I pray thee, send me good speed this day, and show kindness unto my master Abraham. Behold. I stand here by the well of water; and the daughters of the men of the city come out to draw water: And let it come to pass, that the damsel to whom I shall say, Let down thy pitcher. I pray thee, that I may drink; and she shall say, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also: let the same be she that thou hast appointed for thy servant Isaac; and thereby shall I know that thou hast showed kindness unto my master” (Gen. 24:12-14).
What a beautiful example this is to each servant of God! Would that we all were more prayerful, more dependent on God for the success of all we undertake in His service, then might we look for an equally blessed result. He prayed, nor had he long to wait for an answer; for we are told, “And it came to pass, before he had done speaking, that, behold, Rebekah came out, who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, with her pitcher upon her shoulder. And the damsel was very fair to look upon, a virgin, neither had any man known her; and she went down to the well, and filled her pitcher and came up.” Mark here the eagerness of the servant in his master’s work: “And the servant ran to meet her, and said, Let me, I pray thee, drink a little water of thy pitcher. And she said, Drink, my lord: and she hasted, and let down her pitcher upon her hand, and gave him drink. And when she had done giving him drink, she said, I will draw water for thy camels also, until they have done drinking” (Gen. 24:15-19).
Rebekah, type of the sinner, meets the messenger thus at the well. And does not God delight to meet you, dear soul? Yes. You think you have something to do, that you must get into a certain condition, before you can get into the presence of God; but you are mistaken. Rebekah, going just as she was to draw water, is met by Eliezer; and so, too, the sinner, just as he is, has presented to him, and must receive from God, His testimony to the Person of the Lord Jesus.
What does drawing water signify? It is the action of an unsatisfied soul, an expression of thirst. We have in the New Testament an account of one who came to draw water at Samaria’s well, and to whom the Lord said, “If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give Me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water. Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again. But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him, shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him, shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” The truth taught figuratively here is the necessity for you to have Christ now as your own, and to be satisfied with Him, for it is He alone who can satisfy the cravings of the needy soul. As Eliezer met Rebekah, so would the Lord meet you. “Let me, I pray thee, drink a little water of thy pitcher” is the first address of the seeker to the sought one.
So, in the John 4, when the blessed Lord would win the confidence of Samaria’s erring daughter, “Give me to drink” is the gracious word that began an interview which did not end till, convicted of her sin, and commanded by His grace, that revealed heaven’s best gift (Christ) to earth’s worst sinner (herself), she left His side only to bring others back with her to that sacred place of blessing, by the words, “Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?” Such, my reader, is the lovely way Divine Grace stoops to win man’s heart. It has won mine. Shall it not win yours also?
Having secured her attention, got into her company, and gone with her to her mother’s house, Eliezer begins to unfold his mission; and see his earnestness: “I will not eat till I have told mine errand.” And what doth he tell? “And he said, I am Abraham’s servant. And the Lord hath blessed my master greatly, and he is become great; and he hath given him flocks, and herds, and silver, and gold, and menservants, and maidservants, and camels, and asses. And Sarah, my master’s wife, bare a son to my master when she was old: and unto him hath he given all that he hath. And my master made me swear, saying ... Thou shalt go unto my father’s house, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son” (Gen. 24:34-38).
His first care, you see, is to unfold the tidings about this only-begotten son, that is, he presents distinctly, a PERSON enriched with all that the father’s love could give, and concerning whom he had purposes which deeply concerned one of those who, for the first time, heard of this would-be bridegroom, Isaac.
What a type of Christ! We must not forget, too, that in Genesis 22 we have in a wondrous figure the death and resurrection of Jesus, as of that scene it is written, “By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac; and he that had received the promises, offered up his only-begotten son,... accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure” (Heb. 11:17-19).
Thus it is not till Christ has died, risen again, and ascended into heavenly glory, that the Holy Ghost comes to seek the heart of the Bride for the absent one.
Before Isaac gets his possessions or his Bride, he is the risen heir; and thus is he a type of our Lord, who had first to die for His Church before He could have her with Him in glory. “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit” (John 12:24). How far the antitype exceeds the type I need not say. How wonderful it all is! and how blessedly true! What the restraining arm of God saved Isaac from, His own beloved Son had to endure. He hung on the cross, He died a shameful death, He descended into the grave, as the Church’s Representative; and, blessed be God, He rose again entitled to claim “His own” in virtue of His atoning death and blood-shedding.
What does the Holy Ghost reveal of that only-begotten Son of God? All that the Father hath is His: “Unto Him hath He given all that He hath.” The Man in the glory is the One to whom the Father has given everything. “The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into His hand” (John 3:35). He “also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:9-11).
Scripture abounds with testimony that all has been given to Jesus; but there was one thing yet in the mind of God, of deeper and greater value than all that had been given, a priceless gift in the sight of Jesus, and that was a “Bride” to be His helpmeet. How wonderful is the thought that the Son of God so loved that Bride as to come down to earth and give up His life in order to possess her! He loves the Church — loves her with so great a love that we are told He “for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame” — for her He left His Father’s home on high; for her He became a “Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;” was mocked and scourged, and at last crucified between two malefactors. But the fruit of all His sufferings is that He shall have a spotless Bride forever seated by His side in glory. All has been done to win her, and she shall be His. That was what sustained His heart while here on earth; that was what He looked onward to in the midst of all His untold, His unutterable agony. He was doing His Father’s will, was paying the costly price demanded by a righteous God to redeem those who are to form His Bride. Costly, indeed, was the ransom! Great, indeed, was His love. But it is joy to know He shall have full recompense for all His labor, all His sufferings; that His heart shall be fully gladdened, when He shall have the Church, His Bride, with Himself in glory.
“He and I in that bright glory
One deep joy shall share;
Mine, to be forever with Him,
His, that I am there.”
Oh, beloved reader, will you be there? God wants you to share this joy and love, and to rank with Him to whom He has given all things. But you say, “Can this be for me? Does God mean this for me?” My answer to this question is very simple. How did Rebekah know she was the one Eliezer wanted for Isaac? She could have no doubt on that point, for she stood by as the servant (see Gen. 24:42-52) detailed to Laban how he had prayed to the Lord that he might meet the “appointed” one at the well, and recognize her by this sign, that when he should ask water for himself alone, she should not only yield this request but volunteer water for the camels also. Now Rebekah knew that she had exactly corresponded to this wanted personage, having said and done thus to the letter, and therefore must be the one the servant was in quest of.
If you have any doubt whether you are the one Jesus wants, just tell me — Are you a sinner? “Yes.” Then listen: “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Tim. 1:15).
“Yes, but I do not know whether I am ‘appointed’ to be saved, or, in other words, if I am among the elect.” Very likely, and I did not know that the night I came to the Lord, but I knew something far more to the point, namely., that I was “lost.” Do you know and acknowledge that? “Yes, indeed I do,” you may reply. Very well, hear the Savior’s words, “The Son of man is come to seek, and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). Now what do you think? Are you the wanted one? You own you are a “sinner,” and further, a “lost” one, and God says it was for such Jesus came. How can you escape the conclusion that He wants you? It is impossible to do so. Whether you want Him and are willing to accept God’s wondrous salvation is the only open question. He offers it now to you, and it only remains with you to accept or reject His offered gift.
The exalted Son of God is patiently waiting till the last heart shall be won for Him. Say, shall your heart be won for Jesus? Shall the strong chains that bind you to the world and the slavery of Satan be broken even now by the tender accents of the Bridegroom’s loving voice, saying unto you, “Come unto me”? Can you look back on the dark scenes of Golgotha, and see all that He suffered there to win you to Himself, and yet refuse to give Him your heart’s affections? Surely not.
I ask you in God’s name, and as a herald from heaven’s far-off land, Will you come to Jesus? I take up the words of Rebekah’s friends, and say to you, “Wilt thou go?” Let yours be the heart that joyfully responds, “I will go.” Look at His beauty, He who is “the chief among ten thousand” and “altogether lovely,” and rejoice in the truth that you may be His. He lingers over you with deepest patience and strongest love; He is knocking at the door of your heart; oh, soul, open unto Him. He lures you with all the deep affection of His true heart of love; He would draw you to Himself. Again His accents fall upon your ear, calling you this day, and saying, “Come unto Me.”
Let your response be that of Rebekah’s when she unhesitatingly said, “I will go.” What decision there is expressed in these three words, “I will go!” and will you be less decided than she? Her vista was one of earthly joy, tarnished with earthly sorrows, and ending with death; but that which is now offered to you is perfect, unending, unclouded joy, and glory with Jesus in heaven. God, in grace and mercy, proposes to lift you from your present state of degradation, in which your sins have placed you, and deliver you from the eternal future of misery which awaits every unsaved soul. He invites you to association in all the love and glory of heaven, as the Bride of the Lord of all.
This, then, is the call which now by the gospel falls on every sinner’s ear. That which fits the sinner for the presence of God is provided also through the finished work of Jesus, and doubt, less typified by the “jewels of silver, jewels of gold, and raiment,” which Eliezer gave Rebekah, and of which I shall treat, with the Lord’s help, in future chapters.
The Bride's Jewels of Silver
“And the servant brought forth jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment, and gave them to Rebekah” (Gen. 24:53).
The effect of the Word of God, when it for the first time really reaches the soul of a sinner, is to raise the question of fitness for the presence of God. Am I fit to go to God? is the query which the awakened soul will put to itself, and answer in the negative when the gospel call has aroused it to the invitation of God. Now the perfection of the gospel of God is this — that not only does it call the sinner to God, but shows the soul the way to come, and the ground of access to Him. In other words, it provides that which fits the guilty sinner to stand in God’s presence, cleansed, forgiven, and happy.
Further, before the soul is called on to decide for Christ, it has brought before it the tale of His work and its effects for all who believe God’s message about His beloved Son. This truth is strikingly illustrated in the verse at the head of this chapter. Having found the one whom he wishes to gain as a Bride for Isaac. Eliezer brings out the things which were at once the pledges of the reality of his message, and the answer to any question of poverty or unfitness to respond to his call by reason of the lack of these things. The jewels of silver, jewels of gold, and raiment, were suited to the glory of the sphere whence they came, and to which she was invited; and once accepted and worn by Rebekah, would make her personally suitable to the scene and home to which she was called. These gifts must have forever silenced her fears (if she had them) that she did not possess the attire and the ornaments that the Bride of such “a mighty man of wealth” should possess. Nay, more: she receives and possesses them ere she has to decide whether or not she will accept the call to be the Bride of Isaac.
Let all this have its application to you, dear reader. God wants you for His Son, and the Holy Ghost tells you, in the gospel, what Christ has done by His death to fit you for the presence of God.
But you may say, “God may be willing to receive me, but I am quite unfit to go to God. How can I, who am such a sinner, go to be with Jesus in glory?”
Let not the question of unfitness keep you back, for God does not invite you without putting before you the jewels and raiment that will fit you for His presence, and for the place He calls you to. It is He that fits you, bear that in mind; you cannot fit yourself. All your attempts to fit yourself will but end in your being clothed in filthy rags.
Rebekah has listened to the messenger, she has received the gifts; he has told her about his master’s son, of the wealth and honor of him who is sole heir of all his father’s possessions; he tells her also that he has come to seek a Bride for him, and Rebekah at length discovers that site is the one whom he seeks. She is asked to be the Bride of Isaac. Does the thought cross her mind of her fitness? or is the question asked, “Does he wish me?” We are not told so; but, trembling, doubting one, the heavenly Bridegroom wants thee. Art thou willing to go? Wake up, O sinner, to see that it is thee he wants. Rebekah may think of the riches and honor that shall be hers as the Bride of Isaac; but great as they were, they pale before the glory that shall be yours when in association with Christ in heaven.
We read in verse 53, that “the servant brought forth jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment, and gave them to Rebekah,” thus fitting her with the bridal raiment suited to the high station about to be hers. Reader, do you want that which will fit you to be the Bride of the Lamb? It is all ready for you, offered to you, as Rebekah’s was to her. Will you accept, as she did, “jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment”? How rich and how rare are these jewels! Let us look at them separately.
The jewel of silver is the first in order; and as we gaze on its beauty we see engraven upon it, in sparkling letters, REDEMPTION. Gold is the symbol of DIVINE RIGHTEOUSNESS, while RAIMENT tells of a suited covering. Thus you see the believer has three things: 1st, Redemption; 2nd, Righteousness; 3rd, Raiment; and they are all free gifts; you have not to purchase them; you are not to work for them. Eliezer gave to Rebekah, and she received.
The meaning of the Jewels of SILVER we learn in Exodus 30:12-16, where we read of silver in connection with making atonement, or giving a ransom for the soul, i.e., Redemption. “When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the LORD, when thou numberest them; that there be no plague among them, when thou numberest them. This they shall give, everyone that passeth among them that are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary [a shekel is twenty gerahs]: a half shekel shall be the offering of the LORD. Everyone that passeth among them that are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering unto the LORD. The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when they give an offering unto the LORD, to make an atonement for your souls. And thou shalt take the atonement money of the children of Israel, and shalt appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of the congregation; that it may be a memorial unto the children of Israel before the LORD to make an atonement for your souls.”
In Exodus we have the first mention of redemption, and in Revelation we have the last. It is found all through Scripture, till it culminates in that magnificent song of heaven: “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” (Rev. 5:9). The blood of Jesus is the believer’s redemption money — that is the jewel of silver He offers thee. Wilt thou accept it? Thou must either be redeemed or be eternally lost; and as it was of old, so is it now: “The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less. The same for the rich, the same for the poor, every one must have the same Savior, the same salvation through His sacrificial death, the same redemption price, and that is Christ. Christ from first to last, we owe all to Him. He alone is our Redeemer, our precious Jewel of Silver.
On turning to Exodus 38:25-27, we read: “And the silver of them that were numbered of the congregation was an hundred talents....And of the hundred talents of silver were cast the sockets of the sanctuary, and the sockets of the veil; a hundred sockets of the hundred talents, a talent for a socket.” The boards of the tabernacle (type of the believer) rested on the sockets of silver, or, in other words, had a foundation on redemption, and figuratively teach us that everything rests on atonement. Precious indeed in the sight of God is this fair Jewel of Silver; and shall we fail to value the heavenly gift?
How often is redemption brought before us in Scripture! Let us look at a few passages in the New Testament: and first in that epistle which gives the foundations of man’s relationship to God after he has sinned. I allude to Romans 3:23-25, where the Holy Ghost says, “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood.” Man’s sin is met by God’s grace, which provides a Redeemer, and a redemption based on the shed blood of that Redeemer. The sinner has only to believe in Jesus in order to enjoy present and eternal redemption from the consequences of sin that God must judge.
After man’s sin, and before God’s judgment of him and it, at the great white throne, Christ steps in, bears sin, and is made sin on the cross; sustains God’s judgment in respect thereof, fully satisfies all the claims of God’s righteous throne, makes propitiation, or atonement, and effects redemption for every poor sin-stained soul that trusts in Him. Mark, redemption and purchase are not the same. If I buy a slave, the slave is mine, and is still a slave. If I redeem a slave I take him out of the condition in which he was a slave, and the moment I redeem him, he is a slave no longer, but a free man through the redemption which I have effected — perhaps at a great cost to myself — but which he now rejoices in. Mere purchase would still leave his fetters on him, but redemption means their being forever knocked off and the man set free.
Now this is exactly what the gospel does: it delivers the sinner who believes from the righteous judgment of God — Christ having borne it — and from the present power of Satan — Christ having overcome him. What a blessed Redeemer! and what a redemption! Who would not have Him and it when both are to be gotten by faith?
Again: “But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption” (1 Cor. 1:30). How plainly it is stated here that Christ is made our redemption; but do you believe it? Are you willing to be redeemed?
Again: “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree” (Gal. 3:13). What more could He do for us? He has redeemed us “once for all.” Once is sufficient, for that once has satisfied the righteous claims of God.
We are redeemed by the blood of Christ, but, oh remember, divine judgment will inevitably overtake you if you are not sheltered by that precious blood. To be without the blood will be as certain judgment to you as it was to the Egyptians on the night of the Passover in Egypt: but yours will be eternal judgment.
Have you ever thought of the extent of the meaning of Redemption, and how it affects you? What does it mean? It means that you may be set free from the judgment due to you on account of sins. “The wages of sin is death.” Oh, sinner, will you not flee to the refuge from the wrath to come?
Then, in Ephesians 1:7 we read, “In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.” Here we have not only the redemption in the Beloved, but we have the forgiveness of sins, and it is according to the riches of His grace.
Again, as it were, does the heavenly Bridegroom open the casket and anew offer to you this precious jewel of silver. Do not undervalue it, it may not again be offered; do not refuse it, lest to the pangs of hell be added the bitter remorse, that redemption from its flames and torment had once been offered you, but you refused to be redeemed.
Again, in Colossians 1:14 we read, “In whom we have redemption through His blood,” and in Titus 2:14, “Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” What did He give? He gave Himself to redeem whom? All who will receive this silver jewel of redemption. Christ Himself is the half shekel of the sanctuary; yea, He is the sanctuary itself where all may find rest and salvation.
In Hebrews 9:12, we have it spoken of as an eternal redemption. “But Christ being come... neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood, He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained ETERNAL REDEMPTION for us.”
The Spirit of God also speaks of it as a present, known, precious, and perfect redemption; Christ was perfect, therefore His work was perfect. “Forasmuch 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: but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1:18). You see it is no mere hope of redemption that is offered to you, it is a blessed certainty, “Ye know.” Mark it well, beloved fellow believer: “Ye know” it, for the precious blood of the Son of God has been given to redeem you.
If you simply believe in Jesus, you are entitled to swell that song of heaven which rises to the ascended Lamb of God. “Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof; for Thou wast slain, and hart redeemed us to God by Thy blood” (Rev. 5:9).
What a note! “Redeemed to God!” If you believe in Jesus you are not only redeemed from judgment and the lake of fire forever, but “redeemed to God” NOW. I have not reached heaven yet, but I have reached God, every simple believer in Jesus can truly say. It was to effect this He died. “Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18).
Dear reader, do you believe these blessed truths of God? Let me urge you not to despise them. Your own eternal ruin — spirit, soul, and body, will be the sure result if you do. As the servant “gave” the “jewels of silver” to Rebekah, so do I bring to you the tidings of God’s gift to the world — His Son, a Redeemer, a Savior. Oh, be entreated to accept this blessed Savior now, and enjoy “redemption” as a present portion. The slave cannot redeem himself, nor can you. “None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him” (Psa. 49:7). If you cannot do it for your brother, much less can you for yourself. You must let another do it for you. The only One who could do it is Jesus. His work of redemption is finished. “He gave himself a ransom for all.” See the cost of our redemption. Himself! Can you refuse any longer to trust Him? Nay; trust Him simply; receive Him as your Redeemer — as your redemption — and then go on your way, not ashamed to wear the priceless and sparkling “jewel of silver” sovereign Grace has given you, always singing —
“My Redeemer! Oh, what beauties
In that lovely name appear;
None but Jesus, in His glories,
Shall the honored title wear.
My Redeemer,
Thou hast my salvation wrought.”
The Bride's Jewels of Gold
“And the servant brought forth jewels of silver, and Jewels of gold, and raiment, and gave them to Rebekah” (Gen. 24:53).
When the servant comes to call Rebekah, he brings out the things that fit her for the sphere to which she is called. We have seen the value of the “jewels of silver,” namely, redemption; now let us look at the “jewels of gold.”
Gold, in Scripture, is used as a symbol of Divine righteousness. As such, it occurs in many of the types of the Old Testament, specially in the articles in the Tabernacle and Temple, which are symbolic of God’s righteousness in government and judgment.
Take, for example, the Ark of the Covenant. “And they shall make an ark of shittim wood; two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof. And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold; within and with out shalt thou overlay it, and shalt make upon it a crown of gold round about.... And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee” (Ex. 25:10-11,16).
Now the Ark of the Covenant was the throne where God manifested Himself in righteousness, if any could, in righteousness, draw near to Him. God, who was to be approached, is holy — infinitely so; and holiness is a nature which delights in purity and repels evil; hence He sits on a throne, which judges in righteousness and with authority the evil that holiness abhors. Further, the law — the testimony of what God required of man — was in the ark, but thank God it was covered by the mercy — seat. Another has well said, “Suppose an ark with no mercy-seat. The law would then be uncovered; there would be nothing to hush its thunderings, nothing to arrest the execution of its righteous sentence. Could a nation of transgressors stand before it? Could a holy and righteous God meet sinners there? Could mercy reign, or grace shine forth from such an ark? Impossible! An uncovered ark might furnish a throne of judgment, but not a seat of mercy.”
But God knew this better than we, and hence we read: “And thou shalt make a mercy-seat of pure gold: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof. And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy-seat. And make one cherub on the one end, and the other cherub on the other end; even of the mercy-seat shall ye make the cherubims on the two ends thereof, and the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy-seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another; toward the mercy-seat shall the faces of the cherubims be. And thou shalt put the mercy-seat above upon the ark, and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee. And there I will meet with thee” (Ex. 25:17-22).
With the cherubim looking down on it, the mercy-seat thus formed the basis of the throne of God. Both were of gold — pure gold. Thus in the ark and its covering we seem to have a marvelous connection of human and Divine righteousness in the Lord Jesus. He was perfect in human obedience and love to His Father, and lived perfectly up to the responsibility of man according to God. But He also glorified God. All that God is was glorified by the Son of Man, and not only does the Son of Man go righteously into the glory of God, but by His going to the Father righteousness is proved; and we can go where He is, in virtue of Him and His work for us.
The shittim wood and the tables of the law are in the ark, but all is clothed with the gold — God’s own righteousness.
The cherubim, who always in Scripture are connected with the judicial power of God, or are the executors of the will of that power, are of gold also, and the direction of their faces is important. Inwards towards the mercy-seat. Why? Because they could thus see that which the moral nature of God demanded should be on the mercy seat, if man, a sinner, is to draw near to a holy God who hates and must judge sin. But what do they see on the mercy-seat? Blood. Yes, blood must be put upon the mercy-seat, as the witness of the work of atonement done for those who had failed in responsibility before God. The claims of His throne must and can only be met by blood — the sign of death having been undergone — and when the blood is sprinkled, the cherubim gaze upon it as expressive of the satisfaction of God in that which enables Him to permit the sinner to approach to Himself.
What a comfort to see thus that God’s claims in righteousness are met by the blood of atone, merit, and we draw nigh to a mercy seat sure of acceptance in righteousness!
We have the same truth taught by the use of gold in the New Testament. For example, turn to the hook of judgment, which the Revelation most emphatically is. There the Apostle John says: “I saw... in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a GOLDEN GIRDLE.” John had often seen Jesus, had often enjoyed sweet companionship with Him, had heard His life and peace-giving words, had lain his head on His loving bosom, knew Him well; but now when he sees Christ, he sees Him with a garment down to His feet, and he recognizes Him not. The garment down to the feet shows priestly discriminating judgment, the golden girdle Divine righteousness as displayed in Christ where He now is.
He threatens with judgment those who have departed from Him. Priestly discrimination and judgment are here brought out. It is no longer grace meeting man’s need, but judgment meeting him as he is.
That the “golden girdle” signifies Divine righteousness is clear from Isaiah 11:5, where the Spirit of God, speaking of the judicial dealings of Christ in righteousness with the earth, which usher in the millennium, says, “And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of His reins.”
Again, the Lord says to the Church of Laodicea, “Because thou sayest, I am rich ... and knowest not that thou art... poor... I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich” (Rev. 3:17-18). What a solemn call! And who is it to? To the professing Church, accounting itself rich without having Christ as the righteousness of the soul by faith.
Reader, are you a mere professor? or do you really possess Christ as your righteousness before God? If the former, you had better heed the call of Christ in glory to possess yourself of true and approved righteousness by buying it of Him. You must have to do with Him in order to get it.
Now in order to stand before God, man must have a righteousness suited to God. Do you think man has any righteousness? No; yet he must be righteous to stand before a righteous God. Man may say, “I will work it out, I will fit myself for the presence of God,” but when he stands before God he finds he has no righteousness: “We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags” (Isa. 64:6). Ah, why does man not take God’s word for truth, and seeing that he can have no righteousness of his own, accept what God has provided and so freely gives?
“There is none righteous, no, not one,” is written against man once, yea, thrice, by God (Psa. 14; Psa. 53; Rom. 3). Spite of this, many serious souls drop into the snare laid by Satan, and, “being ignorant of God’s righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God” (Rom. 10:3). Dear reader, are you one of this class? If so, may God use this paper to show you the utter folly of your course.
Now the essence of the gospel is this — that when man is utterly helpless and guilty, and can furnish no righteousness suited to God, so as to he able to stand before Him, then God comes out, and by the work of the Cross — the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus — confers on everyone who believes in Jesus divine righteousness, which enables the soul to stand before God in unclouded peace. When man has no righteousness for God, then God has righteousness for man.
This is the burden of Romans 3, to which I would direct my reader. Should you think that in order to stand before God there must be works on your part, how does verse 20 dispel such an illusion: “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight; for by the law is the knowledge of sin — not the blotting of it out. The law can recognize, detect and measure the sin, and then can only condemn the sinner; so that it is clear the law can afford no help, and confer no righteousness. Whence, then, is it found, if not in man’s own efforts to keep the law? The answer is plain. “But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ, unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:21-23). All have sinned, and come short of yielding what was due to God, and then, all being manifestly without righteousness, God manifests His righteousness to all, and confers it upon all that believe (not who work).
The aspect of this manifested righteousness is unto all, that is, it is universal; its application is to all that believe. Here is a limit: “All them that believe.” But why this limitation? Because “righteousness” is not by “works” now, but by faith on our side, even as it is of grace on God’s part, as it is written: “Being justified freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation (or mercy-seat) through faith in His blood, to declare at this time His righteousness: that He might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus” (Rom. 3:24-26). The righteousness of God is declared to be this, that He is just in justifying the one who believes in Jesus. This is no new doctrine, for “Abraham believed God, and it (his faith) was counted to him for righteousness”; and at a later day, David also (Psa. 32) “describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness with, out works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin” (Rom. 4:3,6-7).
Now the point of all this is, that it is God’s grace and not man’s good behavior which secures these blessings to the poor guilty one. Did you e’er ponder these words of the Spirit of God, dear self-righteousness worker? “Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness” (Rom. 4:4, 5). If I work for you at £1 per week, it is only right and fair you should pay when the work is done; this is debt; but if, when the work I should have done I fail to do, and then you come and give me £5, that would be grace. Just so does God act. Unable ourselves to do anything but sin, Christ has come in grace, and on the cross borne sins, and been made sin. The judgment due by God to sin has been sustained by Jesus, and He has glorified God about sin.
The proof of this is clear, for God “raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification” (Rom. 4:24-25). Then what now is this justifying righteousness of God? Simply, WHAT IS DUE TO CHRIST. Our due, and the due of sin, Christ took and sustained on the cross. The judgment that was due to us fell on Him. The moment He bare “the sins of many” (Heb. 9:28), God in righteousness forsook Him; hence His cry, “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” What is the answer to this cry? God raises Him from the dead, and then in righteousness accepts and connects with Christ every one who has faith in Him.
To make it plain. Christ took my place in death and judgment on the cross, and now I get Christ’s place before God, by faith in His blood. Is this right? Clearly so; it is due to Christ that if He took my portion to extricate me from it, I should share His portion, if, in grace, He be willing to share it with me. God, therefore, against whom I have sinned, is “just” in now justifying me, because Jesus has been delivered and condemned for my sin, and then raised by God in proof of His satisfaction and delight in Him and His work of redemption for me. I might go further, and say He would be unjust to Christ to condemn me for those very sins for which He condemned His Son. Nay, He is righteous, “faithful and just,” as John puts it, and shows His righteousness by justifying every soul that clings in faith to His beloved Son. He judges sin, and justifies the sinner who believes in Jesus. Thus is God’s righteousness declared.
How beautifully harmonious is every part of this wondrous way of possessing a righteousness suited to God, needed by man, provided by God, and possessed by the believer!
A threefold cord of righteousness now binds the believer to God, and the Scripture says, “A threefold cord is not quickly broken.” The various strands of this golden cord of righteousness are: (1) Grace; (2) Blood; (3) Faith.
1. God’s GRACE is the SOURCE of justification.
“Being justified freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:24).
2. Christ’s BLOOD is the MEANS of justification.
“Much more then, being now (not hoping to be by-and-by) justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him” (Rom. 5:9).
3. The soul’s FAITH is the PRINCIPLE of justification.
“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1).
Now if these be the true sayings of God, where have you room for “works”? Nowhere, at least in Romans. Someone will say, What about James? Does he not say, “Ye see then, how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only”? Yes, he says this, and it is most needed. But do not for a moment think that Paul and James clash. The truth is this. In Romans you are justified before God BY FAITH. and that only in James you are justified before men BY WORKS. God can see faith, men cannot, but they can see works. God must see both, and surely will see works when faith exists.
But there is more than this. Not only is the believer justified from all offenses by faith in the Lord Jesus, but “they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness, shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:17). The “gift of righteousness” is to be “received,” you notice — not earned, as many suppose. When received by faith, the possessor is assured he shall “reign in life.” This sweetly accords with the expression, “justification of life,” which flings a flood of light upon the present standing of the believer. “So then as it was by one offense toward all men to condemnation, so by one righteousness toward all men for justification of life. For as indeed by the disobedience of the one man the many have been constituted sinners; so also by the obedience of the one many will be constituted righteous” (Rom. 5:18-19 JND). In verse 18 we have the aspect of Adam’s path and Christ’s, given us in contrast. Adam’s involves “condemnation,” Christ’s “justification of life.” In verse 19 you have the effects. Adam’s disobedience constituted all his family “sinners.” Christ’s obedience unto death constitutes all who are His (and we are His by faith in His blood) righteous.
Then the moment I am linked with Christ by faith I see (1) that I am through His work justified from all the offenses and sins of my old life as a child of Adam, and (2) that I am the possessor of a new life, called in Romans 6:23, “eternal life,” and that I have “justification of life,” and hence shall “reign in life,” being constituted “righteous” by God Himself, in virtue of my association with Him who died and rose again, and is now at God’s right hand in glory.
We also read in 2 Corinthians 5, “He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.”
The truth therefore is, that Christ is the believer’s righteousness before God: and the believer is also made the witness as well as the subject of God’s righteousness, inasmuch as he is brought into the same place of nearness to God, in life and glory, as Christ Himself (viewed of course as the Man who died and rose again). The believer and Christ are viewed as one, and as Christ is the righteous One, all His are viewed as possessors of a righteousness in Him, which is suited to the glory of God where Christ now is. On the cross Christ identified Himself with us in our sin, shame, guilt, and death. By His atoning death all we had done and been was forever swept away from before God. Rising from the dead, the head of a new family, He associates with Himself in life, standing, and place Wore God in glory, all who trust Him, and whom therefore He calls His “brethren.”
In conclusion, I would only now ask you, beloved reader, have you yet accepted the “jewels of gold” the gospel messenger brings to you? Have you yet received the “gift of righteousness”? If not, I would urge you to delay taking so important a gift no longer. Come to Jesus as you are. Receive Him, and in receiving Him you will receive all and far more than I have written of, for all that God can give you in blessing is wrapped up in the Person of Christ, and once you receive Him you receive all. May you be able to see what another saw and wrote, namely:
“The risen Christ had ended
Righteousness of law:
God’s righteousness was something
Quite distinct. I saw.
That MAN above — whose dying
Closed the things of old —
WAS HEAD OF GOD’S CREATION,
Channel of the gold.
“That MAN was in the glory,
I in Him up there;
Before His God and Father;
I was thus brought near.
The Place I found was opened,
Where was wealth untold —
The MAN beginning all things,
In Himself the gold.
“I once was lost, a sinner
Under Satan sold,
And now I’m lost in glory,
In the source of gold.
‘Tis when God’s Christ in glory
We at last behold,
We learn, as with Rebekah,
He begins with GOLD.”
The Bride's Raiment
“And the servant brought forth jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment, and gave them to Rebekah” (Gen. 24:53).
We have looked at the “jewels of silver” and “jewels of gold”; now, I would desire to direct your attention to the “raiment.” But let me first say it is of no use hearing the gospel unless it produces an effect upon you, unless it shows you what you are, and what God is, and what He has done for you. Unless it turns you to the Lord for salvation, the effect of your hearing the gospel is but to add the weight of heavy responsibility to your already sin-burdened soul.
God is calling you in this hour of His grace to association with Christ in glory: He is offering you a place with Christ. Christ could not have a place down here because of the sin and wickedness of man, so God gives us a place with Christ in glory. He offers you a part or portion with Christ. Eliezer traveled from Canaan to Padan-Aram for a bride for Isaac: Christ is in glory, and the Holy Ghost came down from heaven at Pentecost, and from that time till now His constant effort has been, and is, to lead souls to yield themselves to Christ. There ever have been, and will be, hindrances and difficulties in the way; for Satan is ever busy in trying to keep you out of the blessings God has for you — the great blessing of being “one with Christ.” But what breaks down all opposition of Satan and the human heart is that God wants to bless you, Do you believe that God really wants, and is waiting to bless you?
Reader, do you possess that which fits you and gives you a true title to be in the presence of God? Have you the bright hope before you of this glory with Christ? Before you can stand in His presence you must have on suited raiment; the courtly Robe of Heaven must be yours — and that is Christ. God has provided it for you, and I, as the ambassador of God, now offer you in His Name, CHRIST, THE RAIMENT.
Oh, sinners, and all ye workers for salvation, better far barter your own self-made clothing, which is useless before God, and accept what He in His grace and mercy has provided for you; provided for you without money and without price. Your own raiment — in the way, I mean, of good works, almsgiving, or morality — may do well enough to clothe you in the sight of your fellow-sinners; but they are no covering in the sight of a God who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity; and, sinner, you must be clad suitably for God or be eternally lost.
There is a great difference between working for salvation and working from salvation; the first is your own futile attempts to clothe yourself; the latter is working because God has already clothed you and made you fit for His service.
The first covering or raiment we read of in Scripture is the fig-leaf “aprons” of Adam and Eve; and what avail were they when the guilty ones heard the voice of God, saying, “Where art thou?” They knew they were naked, and they tried to hide themselves from God. The miserable knowledge obtained by their sin had but taught them they were now unfit for the presence of God. You, whose life has been one long pathway of sin — sins of so deep a dye that you blush at their remembrance — mark, it was one sin only that made Adam unfit to stand before God. One sin drove the guilty ones from the Garden of Eden; one sin brought death into the world: what then about your numberless sins?
Can you brave the presence of a sin-hating God in nothing but your nakedness and burden of guilt? Adam and Eve hid themselves, for they could not stand in His presence in their nakedness. But oh, the love of God’s heart! No sooner was clothing needed than He in mercy and love provided it. “Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them” (Gen. 3:21). How different is their clothing now! Instead of an “apron” in which God has not put one stitch — the whole thing being paltry human effort — each is arrayed in a “coat” in which man has not put one stitch, for the Lord God made and conferred the suited garment. What grace! and what a lesson to workers for salvation now! And, sinner, Adam’s need was not greater then, than yours is at this present moment; and God is as willing now to clothe you as He was to clothe Adam and Eve.
But do you know your need? Oh, what can cover the nakedness of your guilty sin-stained soul? I do not address you as a poor sinner, but as a guilty sinner in need of clothing in order to fit you to stand before a sin-hating God. Doing your best will not do: it but discloses the sense of your guilt and need by arraying yourself in what you think will suit God; but it will not do. Your own clothing is filthy rags in the sight of God: you are but trying to hide behind your works, as Adam tried to hide himself from God behind the trees of the garden. But you, like he, shall be drawn from your hiding-place and obliged to own yourself to be naked and undone before God; obliged to own your own clothing to be valueless.
The Apostle Paul’s wonderful comment on this is found in 2 Corinthians 5:1-3: “For we know, that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven (if so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked). This last clause is very solemn. The apostle had fears that some in Corinth might be found like Adam — naked — when they were clothed, that is, when in resurrection. Though resurrection should bring soul and body together again, so that he called the person clothed, nevertheless he fears they may be found naked — in other words, Christless — not having that covering for the whole man which fits it for the presence of God. How awful to be a mere professor of Christ here — to have on a lovely garb of morality, so-called good works, and religiousness, so as to pass current as one of Christ’s people; to die, that is to be unclothed; to rise again, alas, not in the first but the second resurrection, that is, to be clothed, and then find yourself in the holy blaze of the great white throne a naked sinner, never having been washed from your sins in the blood of Christ, nor had Him as your clothing before God!
Are you clothed? have you Christ as your raiment? or do you think you will be accepted as you are?
Look at Matthew 22:11: “And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment. And he saith unto him, Friend, how earnest thou in hither, not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Then said the king to his servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” We have here a warning, as well as the truth of the end of this dispensation, for it is the guests here, not the bride; but the warning is for all who have not on raiment. “How earnest thou in hither not having a wedding garment?” The King gave him an opportunity of telling the reason why he had no wedding garment on; but what is the result? What was the consequence of this meeting between the King and his guest? The man was speechless. How earnest thou in thus? Was there no provision made for the guests? Was there no raiment for thee? Yes, there was the robing-chamber, and there were garments provided, as is the custom in the East, but the man neglected the provision made, and the result was the command, “Bind him hand and foot, and cast him into outer darkness.” Oh, soul, will you be warned ere it be too late? God would fit you for His presence; Christ is the garment, the royal raiment He has provided for you; therefore, “Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ.”
The man here described did not want a robe; he may have been one of the “good” mentioned in verse 10; his life may have been a blameless one; he may have been a dutiful son, or a kind husband and father, a useful member of society, one of whom his country was proud; then what need had he of a robe? The King would surely acknowledge him as he was; his deeds were sufficient to recommend him to his Sovereign, and so he passes in; but what is it to find? Ah, what indeed? His unworthiness; and that there is nothing left to be done but to bind him and cast him forth.
Professor of Christianity, have you been converted? Have you on the garment that fits you to stand before God? If you were to die this night, would you be naked in the presence of God? I beseech you to ask yourself the solemn question, and to rest not till you have truthfully answered it: Have I been born again? have I fled to Jesus? have I found Him? have I Him as my covering, my raiment? Can you say, Yes? If not, oh, precious soul, beware; be warned: thou halt detailed before thee in these verses an event in thine own history, the moment when before God thou must stand, and find the clothing of morality to be of no avail. You find you are not in Christ, therefore you are still in your sins; you hear the question asked you, “Friend, how earnest thou in hither?” and thou, thou shalt be speechless. Oh, what a moment when thou discoverest the true state of thy precious but eternally lost soul. No excuse hast thou to offer; thou shalt be speechless. No extenuation can be offered by thee. It is too late; thou standest before the King, then forced to be a Judge, and the awful silence is broken by the command, “Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into utter darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Oh, be warned! What is God’s command now? It is “Clothe him;” clothe him with the raiment I have provided for his need; but if you reject His provision, then it will be “Bind him.” What a contrast! Clothe him with Christ, put upon him the “best robe;” and “Bind him” with the cords of his sin, and “cast him into outer darkness.”
Oh, ye unsaved souls, wake up to the reality of your perilous position! Why does the Spirit so often warn you? Why does He so often bring your own case, as it were, before you? Why? why? Is it not because God always warns before He judges? Is it not that He gives the unsaved soul often the opportunity of escape, though, alas, he heeds it not? Yes, He is a God of mercy Now, though one day He will be a God of judgment to those who scorn and reject His proffered mercy. God warns, but man goes on, and on, and heeds it not. We have but to look around us in order to see the truth of this.
What are those agonized accents from yonder bed of death? It is an unsaved soul finding out with his latest breath that he has scorned the offer of salvation, that he has left unheeded all the warnings of a gracious God, till it is too late!
Oh, what must it be to be swept into eternity without one ray of hope! Care ye to die thus?
Come to Jesus. “Come, for all things are now ready.” The silver is for thee, the gold for thee, the raiment for thee. “Put ye on Christ.” Eliezer brought raiment to Rebekah and she received the gift — I bring you Christ, will you receive Him?
In Luke 15 we again find mention of raiment: “Bring forth the best robe and put it on him.” Had it been left to man to choose the raiment, he might have been content to robe himself with the garments that holy angels wear; but God gives more befitting raiment to the Bride of the spotless Lamb of God. She shall be arrayed in the best — the glorious robe of the “King of kings.”
You know the beautiful story of the prodigal son here given; but have you observed, it was not till “he began to be in want,” that he thought of his father’s home, and the joy and abundance there. Want is the discovery the soul makes when in the far country, away from the Father’s house. But the last thing man does is to turn to God for help; he will try all other expedients first, ere he goes to the only Source of help and succor.
The prodigal, like too many in the present day, goes and joins himself to a citizen of that country. And who is that citizen? Satan! And oh how successful he is in providing for the wants, the lusts, of sinners! He does his utmost to keep you away from the Father’s house of plenty; and how often he is successful, tool he gilds over the husks to make them fair to the eye; but when the sinner eats of them he finds out they are bitter to the taste, they are unsatisfying, they are but husks; and yet such is the morbidness of his appetite, he fain would fill his belly with them.
The prodigal is brought to a sense of his need before he says, “I will arise and go to my father.” Ah, he has found out that he is helpless and in need of food and raiment, and he comes just as he is; in his rags and poverty he comes, and is he refused? Na! He is first welcomed, and then clad.
Many try to clothe themselves before they go to God; they have found out their need of God, but they think that before going to Him they must better themselves; but man must come just as he is, and be beholden to God for all. Come as you are; it is thus God delights to receive you.
“I have sinned,” said the prodigal. Have you known the moment when you found that you have sinned, found that you were undone, and lost, and naked; when you have gone down before God with the words, “Father, I have sinned”? I call this the grandest moment of a sinner’s experience on earth, when he gets before God, and finds out — what? That the One whom he has offended and sinned against, and whom he thought was against him, is for him, is waiting in grace to receive him, is on his side.
“I have sinned.” It must be individual confession; it will not do to rest satisfied with, “We have sinned.” No; you must get alone with God, and forgetting all else in the deep penitence of your soul, own to Him, “I have sinned.” Sooner or later the awakened soul passes through this searching conscience-work, this conviction of sin, ere it is clothed and is at peace. This precedes the clothing in the case of the prodigal before us.
“I have sinned, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.” Ah, this is the man God clothes. I urge you to consider your own individual case; it is of paramount importance, this humbling yourself before God. The plowshare of conviction must go deep down in the soil — the deeper the furrow the surer is the seed to be safe, and the brighter the prospect of a harvest of golden grain. What is the result of the prodigal’s confession? It is the command to “Bring forth the best robe and put it on him.” Oh, what love! “Bring forth the best robe.” Prodigal, will you have Christ? He is the Best Robe. “Put it on him.” He was not even asked to put it on himself, it was put on him; all was done for him, he did nothing but receive his father’s gift of love. And your case is the same: God has done all; He provides the raiment, and, “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.” The first Adam, who was unfit for the presence of God, has ended his history in the death of Christ, and in the second Adam the believer is gloriously complete.
The claims of God have all been met, and after the darkness of Calvary, the bright rainbow of God’s acceptance shines forth to man; the Corn of Wheat fell into the ground so that in resurrection He might be enabled to say, “I go to My Father, and to your Father.” What blessedness it is to be “found in Christ!” “accepted in the Beloved!” Again, I say unto you, “Put ye on Christ;” stand in that which God gives you, and have peace; throw away the fig-leaves, and God will clothe you with Christ. Precious raiment! Sinner, come to God as thou art, and hear Him say to thee, “Take away the filthy garments from him... Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment” (Zech. 3:4),
It has been said there are two steps to be taken, “Out of self into Christ, and out of Christ into glory;” but it seems to me there is but one step needed. Will you take it? It is, “Out of self into Christ,” to abide there forever in all the fullness of His perfection.
What a place! To stand before God “accepted in the Beloved,” the One who is the joy of God’s heart! What have you done to merit this? Nothing; but Christ has done all. “That ye have put off, concerning the former conversation, the old man, which is corrupt, according to the deceitful lusts... and that ye have put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness’. (Eph. 4:22-24), is the truth of the new position in Christ. “Put off” and “Put on.” It is the blessed substitution of Christ for self, the result of that work when “He who knew no sin was made sin for us.”
If you are wise you will not slight, but gladly receive, the instruction of the Lord Jesus, who says, “I counsel thee to buy of me ... white raiment that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear” (Rev. 3:18).
See how He wants to clothe you with that which alone can make you suitable to God. “White raiment!” How different from the repulsive “filthy rags” of “our righteousnesses.” You would not admit one clothed in “filthy rags” to your house and table, and will God? No. Then away with all that springs from or savors of self, and array yourself in all the perfection of Christ, and His work for sinners.
The Raiment, then, that is offered to you, is Christ, and having Him you have redemption, and righteousness, and peace. Christ is all, and I have that which fits me to be His Bride when I possess the jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and the raiment. It is Christ, Christ, Christ — all Christ; Christ from first to last, Christ for time, and Christ for eternity; “For of Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things: to whom be glory forever. Amen.”
Once again I ask, “Wilt thou go?” — go across the desert to Him? Oh, the joy of knowing that God has forgotten my sins, and given me liberty to forget myself, and let my thoughts be all given to my glorious Bridegroom! “Wilt thou go?” Would that I could hear you say, “I will go.” God can hear you say it wherever you are. Oh give Him the joy of listening to thy whispered “I will go.”
Decide for Christ; you have heard all about Him who is the silver, and the gold, and the raiment. He has been offered to you freely, and shown to be the only way you can be acceptable to God, and fitted to be the Bride of Jesus. Will you accept the gifts? Will you have Christ?
“Wilt thou go?” is God’s challenge to your heart. Can you refuse? Will you not come to Jesus?
God presents Christ to you now as an object of faith. Rebekah did not see Isaac until the journey across the desert was accomplished, but he came to meet her when the desert sand was left behind; he came to meet her when she had reached the green fields of Canaan.
“I shall see Him in His beauty,
He Himself His Bride will meet;
I shall be with Him forever,
In companionship complete.”
Oh, Christless soul, can you risk spending a joyless, hopeless, loveless eternity, without Jesus? I charge you by the joys of heaven, to which God invites you, and by the horrors of hell, of which He warns you, “Be ye reconciled to God” — “Put on Christ.”
You have but to decide, and honestly say from your heart, “I will go,” and He will receive you and welcome you and fill your heart with joy and love. Oh, come to Jesus! Accept the gifts offered to you in God’s well-beloved Son; accept the silver, the gold, and the raiment, and know that thou art fit to be the Bride’ of that Son, “to whom the Father hath given all things.” Let yours be the joyful words: “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God: for He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels” (Isa. 61:10).
The Bride's Decision
“And the servant brought forth jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment, and gave them to Rebekah: he gave also to her brother and to her mother precious things. And they did eat and drink, he and the men that were with him, and tarried all night; and they rose up in the morning, and he said, Send me away unto my master. And her brother and her mother said, Let the damsel abide with us a few days, at the least ten; after that she shall go. And he said unto them, Hinder me not, seeing the Lord hath prospered my way; send me away that I may go to my master. And they said, We will call the damsel, and inquire at her mouth. And they called Rebekah, and said unto her, Wilt thou go with this man? And she said, I will go. And they sent away Rebekah their sister, and her nurse, and Abraham’s servant, and his men. And they blessed Rebekah, and said unto her, Thou art our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them, And Rebekah arose, and her damsels, and they rode upon the camels, and followed the man: and the servant took Rebekah, and went his way. And Isaac came from the way of the well Lahai-roi; for he dwelt in the south country. And Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the eventide: and he lifted up his eyes, and saw, and, behold, the camels were coming. And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she lighted off the camel. For she had said unto the servant, What man is this that walketh in the field to meet us? And the servant had said, It is my master: therefore she took a vail, and covered herself. And the servant told Isaac all things that he had done. And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her: and Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death” (Gen. 24:53-67).
We have, in previous pages, been looking at this chapter, and seeing how simply and sweetly the gospel is therein foreshadowed and illustrated; and now, in referring to it once more, I avow, most distinctly, my object is not to unfold the gospel in its doctrinal view, but to get your soul. my reader, if possible, brought to a distinct point before Christ.
The Lord help me to pen, and you to peruse, this paper as if indeed it were the last occasion on which I could appeal to you, or you have the opportunity of receiving Christ.
I find, then, here one question: the person most interested gets one simple question put to her, to which she must make, on her own responsibility, one answer — Yes or No.
The narrative is very simple, the type equally beautiful, the application heart-winning. The Father of the Lord Jesus Christ offers to give you eternal glory in association with His Son. Consequent upon the death, resurrection and ascension of His Son — which are the proofs of God’s love on the one hand, in giving that Son to die, and His righteousness on the other, in raising and glorifying Him as man, in token of His delight and satisfaction in the work He has accomplished for sinners — there has come from heaven a divine messenger, the herald of a divine message, and it falls now on your ear. It is this: God wants to have you for His Son, He does not come and press upon you that you want His Son; that possibly may not be the case consciously, for many do not care to have Christ, as they are not aware of their lost and needy condition as sinners. When people really want anything they cast about till they get it, but if they are indifferent they are passive.
It is perfectly true you want a Savior; but salvation is not the thought here. God here proposes to you to share the glories of His beloved Son. Do you not see to what glories and dignities you are invited? Instead of being left to die in your sins, and then pass unpardoned and unblessed into outer darkness, to be the miserable companion of the devil and his angels (Matt. 25:41), God wants you to enter into relationship with Christ now, by faith in His name, and then be the sharer of His joys through the endless cycles of eternity’s blissful day.
This is the message Eliezer brings. He comes from Canaan, where Isaac abides. The father sends his servant to the far-off land to get one, if he could, to cross the desert to be the Bride to the unseen and unknown Bridegroom. Three things are necessary if you are going to be a sharer of the glory of Christ — redemption, righteousness, and raiment; but “jewels of silver,” “jewels of gold,” and “raiment,” the very articles which typify these three things, the servant brings out and offers to Rebekah. Silver is the type of redemption: the only way the soul can draw near to God is on the ground of redemption. I need righteousness, and gold is the symbol of Divine righteousness. “Raiment” speaks for itself, and these three things I must have.
Christ is your raiment, if you will have Him as such, and all else.
I address you as a messenger from God. “Bold ground,” you say. Yes, but no more bold than blessed. In the name of my Master I come, and want to win you for Christ. I want to win you for Christ as you read this paper. O unsaved man, unsaved woman! my message is this — I want you, I want you for Christ. God wants you for Christ.
“Oh, but I am such a sinner!” True, that is quite true. “I cannot, as I am, draw near to God.” False. The veil is rent, the blood is shed and sprinkled before God, the new and living way exists, and you are bidden to come to God just as you are.
Nevertheless, mark, Eliezer does not say, “Wilt thou go?” before he gives Rebekah the jewels and the raiment. If it be the question of what will fit me for the Father’s house, could anything be better than what He sends? The gospel tells you that Christ came into the world, and it tells you, too, what He has done. The law tells me what I ought to do, and smites me because I have not done it. Law tells me of myself; the gospel tells — me what Christ is, and what He has done.
Are you going to have Christ? You have often heard about Jesus, but are you on your way to Him? I want this to be the moment of your betrothal.
What I want now is decision. Redemption is accomplished, the blood has been shed, and the claims of God have all been met by the cross. That which the sinner needs has been wrought out for him by Jesus; and now it is for you to accept the gospel message, for you in the truthful integrity of your soul to say, “Come what may, I am going to be Christ’s.” You may have some time to wait ere you see the Lord Jesus face to face; the desert may be long in crossing, but one sight of Him will more than make up for all the toil or trouble of the way.
Rebekah hears the message one day and starts the next. Many have put off coming to Christ for ten days and have spent them in hell. I beseech you to come now to Jesus.
Notice here how that arch-enemy of present blessing — procrastination — appears.
The servant “rose” and said, “Send me away unto my master.” Her relations reply, “Let the damsel abide with us a few days, at the least ten; after that she shall go.” They want the moment of decision deferred, and you want that too, don’t you? “Some day,” you say, “but not just now.” You want to defer it. This is the plausible voice of the devil. If you are not turned to the Lord, your back is towards Him; you are still in your sins, and they will bring you to judgment. Ten days are most insidious. Felix was a man of ten days. “Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee.” Ah, poor Felix, when will his convenient season come? He never had a more convenient season. Oh, turn now to Jesus! Oh, ye halters, who are not yet decided for Christ, take Felix as a warning!
Perhaps you think you will turn to the Lord when you reach your deathbed. Delusive hope, for you may never have one. I heard lately of a procrastinator whose constant reply to earnest Christian friends, when they spoke to him of his soul’s salvation, and urged him to come to Christ, “I am sure that God is so merciful, that if I turn to Him, even on a deathbed, He will hear my prayer and save me, so I shall wait till then.” Though repeatedly warned, this was his refuge, and so on he went, till he came, not to his deathbed, but, as was his wont, into the hunting-field. While the hounds were in full cry after the quarry, his horse leaped a hedge, on the further side of which were lying some sheep. Disturbed and frightened by the sudden apparition of the horse, the timid creatures fled in all directions. Their scampering off alarmed the usually sure-footed steed, who fell, flinging his rider. Three words burst from the lips of the falling man — not “God have mercy!” but, addressing the sheep, “Devil take ye!” They were his last words, for he broke his neck and died on the spot. Reader, be sure of it, procrastination is the thief of souls, as well as of time, and I quite agree with Rowland Hill, who termed it “The recruiting-officer of hell.”
God may never give you the opportunity of repentance on a deathbed. Now is the only time you can be sure of finding Christ.
Sinner, I warn you, these are facts, stern facts, “But what do you want me to do?” you may reply. I want you to yield yourself to Christ just now. I want you to make sure of eternity, and not put off, even until tomorrow (which never comes), the momentous matter of getting really hold of the salvation of God.
Ye young ones, I appeal to you. It is vain to say “Let me die the death of the righteous.” If you are going to die the death of the righteous you must live the life of the righteous. It is vain to suppose you can get Christ when you like: you must get Him when you may, and that is just now.
And her brother and her mother said, Let the damsel abide with us a few days, at the least ten; after that she shall go” (ver. 55). Such was the procrastinating speech of that day, and how solemnly is it echoed by many a soul nowadays — Do you say, “I will decide for Christ in a few days at the least: at most, ten? Ten days hence! Oh, no! It must be now if you want to be with Christ in glory; if you want to be with that rapturous throng around the Savior; if you want to join the chorus, “Worthy is the Lamb.”
What does God say? now. Jesus will have you now. I earnestly implore you not to delay. I lay no claim to being a prophet when I say you may never have another gospel message and another day of grace in which to be saved. Really, my dear reader, you can have no idea of the joy of being Christ’s or you would not delay a single hour in turning to Him, receiving the pardon of your sins, the salvation of your soul, and the sweet heart-thrilling assurance that He is yours and you are His. Do you know that Jesus loves you and wants you, wants to claim you as His? “Jesus... having loved his own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end.” Oh, to be His own loved one — His very own! Nothing changes that love of His. Jesus wants to have you numbered among His own, His very own.
Will you yield? Let not Satan deceive you with a few days hence, ten days. Now is the time.
Well, what is the servant’s answer to be — “Send me away, for I have failed?” Oh, say, must I go and tell my Lord I have failed — failed to win your heart for Him? Shall it be so? Oh no, no; give me the joy of saying to my Lord, “This heart is Thine.”
What was Rebekah’s answer when her relations said to her, “Wilt thou go with this man?” She said, “I will go.” No one else can decide for you. You have a soul, its eternal welfare depends on your answer. You have a soul to be saved or lost. Oh, will you let any one, anything, come in between the Lord and your soul? Decide, decide now.
Jesus wants you, Jesus is waiting for you. Oh, let nothing hinder you from coming to Him. “We will call the damsel, and inquire at her mouth,” was the word then; it is you that are concerned now. Wilt thou go? dear soul, wilt thou go? Oh, say, “I will go!” Yes, have Christ, be Christ’s! Shall He be thine? What say you? “Wilt thou go?” The Holy Ghost puts the question to you, it is not my question. God’s question is, “Wilt thou go?” Wilt thou go to meet Christ and be His? Give me thine answer; oh, let there be no more delays. How can you tell you will have time to decide tomorrow? Tomorrow is God’s, not yours. “Today, if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts.” Let there be no more procrastination. God lingers over you; again and again He lets you hear these words, “Wilt thou go?” “Wilt thou go?” “I will go,” says faith, “I will go,” says the decided heart, “I will go,” says the earnest one.
“I will go;” this is the calm, quiet resolution of the soul that wakes up to see the glory that is offered, and the grace that offers it.
What is the absolute alternative if Christ is not received? The dreary darkness of an eternal night, in which the only light is that shed by the lurid flame that is never quenched, the only companions sinners and devils as wretched as yourself, and the only occupation vain regrets over the folly and unbelief that have landed you in a spot beyond the reach of the hand of God Himself.
All depends on yielding yourself, or not, to Jesus, If the language of your soul is “I will go,” you will thank God for all eternity.
Would you like all to be saved but yourself? Would you like all to be included and you excluded from that blessed number who surround the Lord Jesus in unfading glory? Surely not. Then halt no longer, but give a decided answer to the query which again I put — nay, which God in His sovereign grace once more puts to thee.
Soul, “wilt thou go?” Thou canst hardly say no, when to remain is to be eternally lost. What is thine answer? “Ten days hence.” Beware, the clemency of God will not last forever. Ten days hence and the door of heaven may he closed forever against thee, and in vain shall thy piteous cry be, “Open unto me.” But, thank God, there is yet another answer thou canst give, “I will go.” Let it be thine.
Rebekah had never seen Isaac when she decided to go to him, but she believed the report that Eliezer gave. And think you not that as they journeyed across the desert many a question was asked concerning the one to whom she was going? And would not her heart grow warmer and warmer towards him as she heard his praise? And shall it not be so with you? The Holy Ghost, we are told, “Will take of the things of Christ and reveal them unto you.” Oh, listen to Him, let no trumpet-sound of earth deaden His voice. He would tell you of God’s well-beloved Son. Oh, learn of Him, of all His gentleness, love, and grace, and of His glory, too; and as each beauty bursts upon your admiring gaze know that He may be thine, and if thine, then shall the jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and the raiment become more precious to thee because they are His gifts.
Did Rebekah stop the camels to pick up the agates of the desert? I trow not; and wilt thou linger by the way to gather the withering pleasures of a death-doomed world?
Oh, no! Haste thee on to the joy, the satisfying and endless joy that is to be possessed only at thine Isaac’s side. Be unfettered, be but a sojourner and pilgrim here; heaven is thy home, speed thee on to it. And what shall the meeting be when thou shalt see Him face to face? Wonderful as was the story you listened to by the way, yet your astonished soul in wonder shall exclaim, “The half had not been told.”
There are three things the Lord has done for us. He loved us, He gave Himself for us, and He has washed us from our sins. Why has He done these? “That He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish.” What a glorious Bride shall the Church be in that day when “the marriage of the Lamb has come!”
Rebekah goes, she commits herself to the guardianship of Eliezer, and at eventide she sees Isaac coming; and what is that but a simple type of the meeting with our Lord? Isaac was comforted when he received his Bride; and have we not read of Jesus, “Who for the joy... set before him endured the cross, despising the shame”? His joy will be full when He has His Bride in glory with Him. And is that blessed hour near? The last step of the journey may be indeed most near; this night it may be that “He that shall come will come.” He is coming. Three times in Revelation 22 He says, “I come quickly.” Are you ready? “Wilt thou go?” “I will go,” is the only answer suited to such a call of grace. And now, in conclusion, I would say, Let all know you are Christ’s. Confess Christ. Own Him.
“The Father, from eternity,
Chose us, O Jesus Christ, in Thee,
In Thee, His well-beloved;
And we, as given to Thee — Thy Bride —
In Thee, Lord Jesus, do confide:
Thy love remains unmoved.
From Thee daily
Strength receiving — to Thee cleaving,
Blessed Jesus!
May we all show forth Thy praises.
“Before the world we’d make our boast,
That Thou, in whom is all our trust,
Art Lord of life and glory:
And soon Thou’lt bring us to that place
Where we shall see Thee face to face,
And, glorified, adore Thee.
Amen! — Be then
Praise and blessing, never ceasing,
To Thee given,
Here, and when we come to heaven.”
Remember Lot's Wife
The 32nd verse of Luke 17, “Remember Lot’s wife,” is the Lord’s solemn comment on Genesis 19; and there is something weirdly strange about this word of the Lord.
“Remember Lot’s wife.” What about Lot’s wife? She stands the everlasting witness of the folly of not obeying the word of the Lord, the folly of a sort of middle path, when God’s Word has declared what is coming on the scene. Lot’s wife is the picture of many souls: they would like to be saved, but they have not reached the point of safety, have not reached the spot where there is safety. The Lord says to such, “Remember Lot’s wife.” Did she not want to be saved? Yes. Did she not wish to escape destruction? Yes. Did she not make a show of escaping it? Yes. Did she escape it? No! “Remember Lot’s wife.” She might have been saved, but she was not saved, and yet she was not overtaken by the judgment of the cities; not one drop of that liquid fire fell on Lot’s wife: no, she was cut off, but not by the judgment which fell on the cities.
There are two points, I believe, come out about Lot’s wife: she was unbelieving and she was disobedient; and, dear unsaved reader, is not this what you are? Have you believed God? Have you obeyed the gospel? You know you have not “Remember Lot’s wife.”
Because of her indifference, because of her coldheartedness, she was turned into a pillar of salt. She was a hypocrite, she appeared to leave the city, she appeared to be going to the mountain, but her heart was in the city; she did not really believe in the judgment corning; she said in her heart, “I see no sign of judgment coming; I will look back and see if what those men said is true:” she looks back, and is turned into a pillar of salt.
Did the judgment come? Yes! Lot’s sons and the cities of the plain were all destroyed. God is not mocked! And the Lord says that “As it was in the days of Lot, so shall it be when the Son of Man is revealed.” This is not the Lord’s coming into the air for His people, but His coming with them to the earth for the premillennial judgments.
The last act of the world towards Christ was to nail Him on a cross between two malefactors. The last the world saw of Christ was dead between two thieves! Did they not see Him when He rose from the dead? No! Did they not see Him in resurrection? No! Have they seen Him in glory? No! Faith has; but the world saw Him last on the cross, to which, with wicked hands, they had nailed Him; it will see Him next, in the day of which Luke 17, speaks, when He comes again in judgment, when He puts His hand to His strange work of judgment.
Do you know, my friend, there is judgment coming? The world is like a murderer between the passing of his sentence and the execution of it; and what is that? A condemned felon, only waiting the moment when, on the scaffold, that red handed murderer shall expiate his crime. The world is like that. Its condition is fixed. But what comes in between the sentence and its execution? A way of escape! You who have not taken that way of escape, “Remember Lot’s wife.” She was one who knew there was a way of escape and did not take it! The angels dragged her even out of Sodom, but that did not save her from the judgment of God. She was dragged out of Sodom, but she never reached the mountain. Halfway will not do; there is no safety halfway, either for Lot’s wife or for you.
We bring the message of judgment, judgment coming, but before it falls there is a way of escape for you, if you will take it; for judgment is coming, surely coming.
You may say, “I do not think I shall live to see the world judged.” Very likely not, because the Lord may do with you as He did with Lot’s wife, cut you down, before the judgment comes. The Lord does not say, “Remember Sodom,” but “Remember Lot’s wife,” the woman who might have been saved but for her own awful folly, and was very nearly being saved, but — she was not saved! Cut down by God’s hand in judgment, because she did not believe the message. How solemn is the word, “Remember Lot’s wife.”
Did she not hope to be saved? Yes! Did she not expect to reach a happy place with her husband and daughters? Yes! Did she reach it? No! She was cut down, because there was no faith, either in the judgment coming, or in the way of escape.
We read in Genesis 19:12, “And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? Son-in-law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place.” Are you the only one of your family? Have you any still unsaved? “Bring them out,” says God; “get them but of the world, break the fatal spell that binds them to the world of the dead, loose the chain that holds them, bring them out to Jesus.” He wants your faith to pierce the clouds, wing its way to the very throne of Crud, and there leave your loved ones at the feet of Jesus.
The evangelist’s desire is to drag you out of the world to Christ.
“Out of the world?” you say. Yes, right out, for if your heart is out of the world you are morally outside the scene.
A Christian brought to know Christ, having the joy of the Lord’s love in the heart, is entirely outside the present scene, or if occupied with it, is only so in order to get souls out of it.
How do I get my heart out of the world? I get a glimpse of Christ, I see Him, before the day of the execution of the coming judgment, doing a work for me, whereby I can escape from the coming judgment, and then going back to the glory; my heart gets attracted to Him there, where He is, and drawn completely away from the world. Home, then, is the place where He is who has won my heart, and this scene becomes a wilderness to me, because He is not in it. Before God judges He always warns; and have not you, my friend, had many a warning note falling on your ear? Look at the grace of God in this chapter. The angels find their way to Sodom, they are, if I may so speak, evangelists to the house of Lot, and while declaring what is coming on the scene, they point out a place of safety.
And what has God done! Before the day of judgment falls on the world, His own Son has stepped in, and done a work on the cross, whereby the sinner may escape.
There is a way of escape, and God works, and the Holy Ghost works, and His servants work, to try to get you on the road that leads to a place of safety.
The very fact of God’s sending a Savior is the irrefragable proof that man needed salvation, and how shall we escape if we make light of Christ, if we “neglect so great salvation?”
Have you not heard the message often, and yet you are unconverted? I would fain, like the angels, lay “hold upon your hand,” and bring you forth, for you are, like Lot, a lingerer still. You do not deny that judgment is coming, and yet you linger. What has seized you, to be any longer careless about your soul? Put the Bible in the fire, and I could understand your conduct; but tell me you read the Word of God, tell me you believe Scripture — believe the tale of the blood-shedding and death of the Son of God — tell me you believe the tale of the day of judgment coming, and I cannot understand you. Oh, wake up, wake up, be no longer careless! If you merely say you believe Scripture, you are in the world and of the world, depend upon it the world knows very well who belongs to it, and God knows. God knew that Lot did not belong to that defiled scene — Sodom, and “delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked.”
The angels said to Lot, “Up, get you out;” and to you, unsaved soul, I say, “Up, get you out.” Men talk of the progress of the world. Where is the progress? “Oh,” you say, “look at science.” Yes, I grant it. “And look at the inventions, the improvements.” I grant it, but are children more dutiful? Are servants more faithful? Are masters and mistresses more considerate and careful? Are husbands more tender? Are wives more prudent? No! no! The world is making great progress, but to what? I will tell you. To judgment! To judgment! Did not Sodom progress? Yes! and all of a sudden it was judged; and “As it was in the days of Lot, thus shall it be in the day that the Son of Man is revealed.” Then, in fancied security, they reared their heads proudly aloft, and defied God, and so they do now. But the judgment came then, and it will surely come on this scene in which you are.
But that judgment is not what I press so now. Lot’s wife never saw the judgment; she was cut off, but not by Sodom’s judgment; and you, halting, unbelieving sinner, “Remember Lot’s wife.”
Lot’s sons-in-law did not believe the word about coming judgment; they seemed to say, “If you are going to leave the city — give up the world — we are not;” and they remained, and tasted the judgment they courted.
“Up, get you out of this place, for the Lord will destroy this city,” says Lot. But what thought the sons-in-law? They thought he was a fool, and was playing the fool for their amusement: he seemed to them as one that mocked. It was not they who mocked him, but “he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons-in-law.” The very idea of their city being overthrown was ridiculous, for Sodom had never been more busy, never more prosperous; the sun was shining, and there was no sign of coming judgment. They refused the message that told them of the way of escape, and perished in its overthrow. It was sheer unbelief, and many a time has not the preacher seemed to you as one that mocked? But search the Scriptures, and see if these things are true or no.
I am not mocking you, I am warning you, delivering my own soul too, and if you sink into the lake of fire — you will, if you do not come to Christ — you can never say in its depths that you were not warned. Oh, flee to Jesus, flee to the mountain, “escape for thy life!”
Perhaps you say, “I would rather stay where I am.” Very well, but you can never say you were not warned. Do you say, “Christians are not consistent”? I own it; but are God’s words true? It will be no consolation to you by and by, that you did not believe because Christians were not consistent.
Arise! flee for thy life, flee to the Lord now, lest thou mayest never have another opportunity.
“Oh, but,” you say, “you do not expect the Lord so soon, do you?” I do expect Him every moment, and I will tell you what, if He comes tonight, tomorrow you will believe. “Believe what?” Believe the devil’s gospel, for the devil has a gospel. Oh, yes, you may yet be a believer, but you will believe a lie. “God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie” (2 Thess. 2).
I have no doubt part of the devil’s gospel to you will be, “You are all right.” Satan will say, “You are getting on all right now you have got rid of these troublers.”
The troublers are taken up to meet Christ, and the world will go on just as before, but no more troubled by these preachers. Sons and daughters no more troubled by converted parents, brothers no more troubled by converted sisters. No! the troublers are gone, the fools, the madmen in your eyes, are all gone; and you are left to enjoy a Satanic, balmy calm, untroubled by anything about your soul — till. till one day the bubble of fancied security bursts, and swift destruction falls, and there is no escape.
Oh, arise! flee now! now while you may. Have you lingered long? Delay no banger. The Lord would lay His hand on you and bring you forth. Can you linger still? You that have hesitated — have not decided — have not been in earnest about your soul hitherto, oh hesitate not, linger not, lest you taste judgment, before the day of judgment. “Remember Lot’s wife,” lest the mercy of God be too long disregarded, and He show no longer mercy but judgment.
Thank God you are still in life, still here where the gospel is preached; if you had died yesterday you would have been in hell! You that are undecided, impressed about the truth, half-decided, but not quite, oh, “Remember Lot’s wife.” Will you refuse the Lord’s hand, that would touch you, and drag you now to Jesus?
Look! the angels drag them outside the city, but outside the city is not safety, out of the world is not safety, to have broken with old habits is not safety, to make good resolutions is not safety; you must get to the mountain — get to Christ.
The mountain, I take it, is the same place where Abraham had communion with God; the mountain, I believe, typifies Christ — Christ the only place of safety, Christ God’s salvation, Christ risen from the dead, Christ the sinner’s friend. Hear God’s exhortation to you, O soul — “Escape for thy life.” Hear also God’s warning word to the unsaved soul, “Remember Lot’s wife.” Who bids thee he warned by her — take warning by her solemn end? The Lord! They are His own words.
She started on the road, but she never reached the mountain. Nothing can save your soul but Christ; anxiety will not save you, desire to be saved will not save you. She got out of the city, but she never got salvation. She turned round to see if there was any truth in what she had heard, and if she might not yet get hack to Sodom, and she stands the witness of the righteous judgment of God on a soul that was not real, was not true, did not with her heart believe the message; and tell me, shall it be with you, Christ and the mountain-top, and safety, or judgment on the plain, eternal judgment? Do you say, “I will think about it, I will think over what you say”? Then to you I again say, “Remember Lot’s wife,” one that turned aside when God said, “Escape to the mountain.”
Reach Christ you must; it is not how near have you got, but have you got to Him? I do not know how near she was to Zoar; she might have been just outside the gates, and her husband going in, but she never went in; never, never.
And I do not know where you are: you may be but two inches from Christ, but let me tell you, if you are but one hair’s-breadth from Christ, that hair’s-breadth will ensure your eternal damnation; you and Lot’s wife will be in the same case, eternal monuments of the righteous judgment of God on your own outrageous folly — you might have tasted salvation:, but you did not.
God lingers over you, calls you, would drag you forth, points you to the mountain top, points you to Christ; “Stay not,” He says, “do not halt or hesitate, there is no place of safety, peace, or security, till you have got to that spot, the risen Christ in glory.”
You say, “Did not Lot get to Zoar?” Yes, and he got safety there, but he did not get tranquility; he had security, but he had not peace, he had doubts and fears in Zoar, so, soon, he went to the mountain.
Going into Zoar is like people who desire to be saved, but who want a little hit of the world too. “Is it not a little one?” says Lot, i.e., he is half-hearted. Must I make a clean cut? he says.
It is a sorrowful thing to be in Zoar. Zoar is a kind of ditch, into which the devil likes people to fall, who really are converted. He likes them to take a bit of the world with them. “It does not do,” he tells them, “to he too true, too out-and-out for Christ.”
O, my friend, escape for thy life and flee to the mountain; never rest till you reach Christ. Look not behind, “Remember Lot’s wife.” Smoking corpses, a burning city, and ashes throughout all the plain, were the only things that remained to speak of the utter folly of disbelieving the warning of God. I said the only things, but there was yet another. Had a traveler drawn near to Sodom that day, a strange sight would have met his eye — a pillar of salt! Charred? No! Blackened? No! No sign of that fiery judgment had touched the Pillar of Salt. No! It stood the witness of the folly of going halfway, of being half persuaded, almost decided, but only almost. “Remember Lot’s wife.”
What turned her back? Love of the city she had left. Oh, whoever you are, decide for Christ now! Supposing the Lord were to shut the door tonight, where would you be? You, who think you would like to be a Christian some day, think it is a good thing to be a Christian — mean to be one some day — to you, I say, “Remember Lot’s wife.”
Ye halters, ye undecided, ye who know the claims of the world, think of her, on her way to salvation but never reaching it — having her back for a moment turned on the world, but turning round again. Let me beseech you, decide now: the way is open, the Lord calls thee, the evangelist beseeches thee, God urges thee, the Church would welcome thee; turn round, own your sin, confess your guilt, acknowledge your danger. Come to Jesus!
He will receive you, pardon you, you shall know now His salvation, know security and tranquility likewise. There remains but one thing for you to do, get to Christ, reach Christ, believe on Christ.
How couldst thou bear, through the long, the mothingless night of eternity, to be the counter, part of Lot’s wife? And what is that? A person who was lost within sight of salvation, who went down to the pit passing by the open door of heaven on the road. Oh, do not risk such a fate! Come now — turn now!
May this lead you who are unsaved, so to remember Lot’s wife, that you shall never be like her. If I remember her I will take good care never to be like her. The Lord give you to hear God’s word to you, and to believe on His Son.
And for us who are Christians, if there is. but one day more before the return of our Lord, may we know what it is to do as these angels, to seek to drag those whom we know out of the world, and to draw them to Christ.
Unsaved reader, wouldst thou “remember Lot’s wife”?
“Then linger not in all the plain,
Flee for thy life, the mountain gain!
Look not behind, make no delay!
Oh! speed thee, speed thee on thy way!
Haste, traveler, haste!”
If thou slightest the warning of that Pillar of Salt thy future is thus solemnly pictured:
“‘Almost persuaded,’ harvest is past!
‘Almost persuaded; doom comes at last!
‘Almost’ cannot avail;
‘Almost’ is but to fail;
Sad, sad, that bitter wail —
‘Almost,’ but lost!”
Barabbas or Jesus?
Luke 23
The Spirit of God has said elsewhere that “the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor. 1:18). “But,” you ask, “how am I to be saved?” By believing on the Son of God. Salvation is yours through what He has done; through nothing that you could ever do. What could man do? What did man do? Listen to God’s tale of what he did. Scripture faithfully tells what man is — man’s state — what man has become when he can treat the Son of God thus:
“The whole multitude of them arose, and led Him Jesus to Pilate.” They accuse Him, they set Him at naught, they mock Him, they array Him in a gorgeous robe, they rail on Him, they crucify Him. Pilate could find no fault in Jesus, but they cry, “Crucify Him! crucify Him!” and they take Him to Calvary, the place of a skull, and Scripture says, “There they crucified Him.” Whom? Him, the Son of God. The world thought the only treatment Jesus was worthy of was to be crucified in a graveyard between two malefactors! That tells what man is; and it tells what God is also. Could He have delivered Himself? Certainly. Would He deliver Himself? No. What did He do? Did He accuse them? No; no upbraiding, no accusing word is heard. “He was oppressed, and He was afflicted; yet he opened not Hhis mouth: He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth.”
That cross which tells the bitter hatred and enmity of man to God, is the only means whereby God can save man. Yes, it needed that slain Lamb, it needed that spotless Victim on the cross, ere God in righteousness could save man.
But let us turn to Scripture, and see there what man did to the One who had “done nothing amiss.” I say it solemnly, the world lies before God this day charged with the murder, the cruel murder, of His Son. I grant there was love in His heart, but that does not excuse man. Scripture brings out plainly what man does, what man is. His thoughts and his treatment of the blessed Son of God show what he is. You cannot deny it, you cannot get out of it, you cannot escape it man would burn the Bible if he could, because it is the record of what he has done. You say, “Oh! that is not us, we did not live in those days, we did not cry, ‘Crucify Him.’” You blush for your forefathers? Nay, rather blush for yourselves, ye who are not Christ’s; for they who are not for Him are against Him. If you are not Christ’s, you side with those who cried, “Crucify Him!” Oh, what a blot on the world’s history — they slew the Son of God!
What think you is the moral and spiritual state of that world which can refuse the threefold testimony then given to Jesus, the Man of Sorrows? Pilate says, “I find no fault in Him:” the thief says, “This man has done nothing amiss;” the centurion says, “Certainly this was a righteous man.” But He is crucified!
What is the effect of reading this? Is it not thoroughly to persuade you that the world treated Christ shamefully? But I ask you the question, Have you sided with the world or not? Are you still in the world and of it? or are you among those who are His? There are only the two classes — those who have fled to Jesus, and those who have not. Are you for Him or against Him? Do you side with Him, or are you of those who cry, “Crucify Him!” I ask you again, are you His? Does the world take cognizance of you that you are a Christian? Have you confessed Christ? Does your class-mate or your fellow-worker know you are Christ’s?
“But,” you ask, “what is it to be a Christian?” A Christian is one who knows and loves Christ; who follows Him and owns Him as Lord. You say, “I profess to be a Christian.” Ah, that won’t do, there is nothing so despicable as mere profession. Beloved reader! eternity will bring everything into full light, and if there is a thing that will ensure eternal damnation, it is the empty lip profession without the possession of Christ now.
I appeal to you — Have you been converted? By conversion, I mean converted to something and from something: converted to Christ and from the world. He who is converted changes ground, changes states; he is off the ground and state of condemnation. Are you a Christian? The day of the Lord will bring out who are on the Lord’s side and who are not; the veil will be drawn down, and you will be discovered, you who are mere empty professors. I beseech of you, shun unreality; let there be real, genuine work; go down before God and own your sin, your unworthiness, your weakness, and He will save you — save you this very moment.
You are either for or against Christ. Are you for Him? One thing is certain, if you are for Him, you must take your stand for the despised, the rejected, the world hated, the thong bound Savior. Are you for Him, or do you side with the world? Where are you? Can you say, Christ for me? Thank God, I can say it, Christ for me. Can you say, I have seen Him in all His beauty, His perfection, His lowly grace, His gentleness and love? Can you say that, to you, Bethlehem, Calvary, and Bethany are sacred spots? Bethlehem, where He was born; Calvary, where He suffered for me and in my stead; and Bethany, whence He ascended, are dear, but dearer far than they is Christ Himself. What think you of Christ? Do you love Him? Is He your Savior? Is He the object of your heart’s desire and love?
They crucified Him! You weep as you hear of His sufferings and His sorrow; but I would have you rather weep for the sins that caused His suffering; I like when the plowshare of conviction goes deep down in a soul, and when it gets broken down and is in tears for its sin, Whitfield used to put this question to awakened souls, “If God cast you into hell forever, would He be right in so doing?” If they answered Yes, he was satisfied they had a right sense of sin, and God’s judgment thereof.
The perfection of Christ is brought out in His sufferings; as the sugarcane has to be bruised before we can have its sweetness, and the fragrant plant rudely shaken ere it yields its perfume, so the more we see Christ subjected to, all the more strongly His perfection is manifest; the more He passes through, the more is His intrinsic worth fully known. He was bound, blindfolded, set at naught, and mocked. He is asked, “Art thou the King of the Jews?” He answers, “Thou sayest it.” Pilate finds no fault in Him, but “they were the more fierce.” Pilate wishes to be quit of Him, he has heard of all He has done, how He had healed the sick, raised the dead, made the blind to see, the lame to walk, the dumb to speak, and he does not wish to be responsible for this Man’s death, so he sends Him to Herod.
This strange Person is brought to Herod, and the cry is, “He is a King.” Herod was glad to see Jesus: “He was desirous to see Him of a long season, because he had heard many things of Him; and he hoped to have seen some miracle done by Him.” He wished to see the One who could raise the dead, cleanse the leper, and give sight to the blind; but there was no sense of need in Herod’s soul, he knew not that it was better far to see the Savior Himself, than to see any miracle performed by Him. He sees Jesus, he questions Him, but mark the dignity of the Lord: He answers the usurper nothing. Jesus answered Pilate, because in him He recognized the deputed power of God, even though that power was misused.
And now mark what follows: “Herod, with his men of war, set Him at naught.” Have you? Tell me, have you not? Herod made light of Christ, and, dear soul, have you not made light of Him, too? If you have never come to Him and believed in Him, you and Herod are the same, you have both equally “set Him at naught.” “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on Him.” Did Herod believe on the Son of God? No. Do you? If you do not, you are on the same ground as Herod.
In verse 12 we read: “And the same day Pilate and Herod were made friends together.” That day they were made friends over the determined slaughter of the Son of God! Dreadful thought! Pilate is glad to make friends with the king; but, oh! what an unholy compact. Those two newly made friends will find themselves side by side through a long, endless eternity. And where? Oh, soul! Spend not your eternity with those who murdered the Son of God. You will if you do not believe on Him: if you are not brought to Him you will surely spend your eternity with His foes. A long dark eternity without the Lord! — is that your choice?
“I find no fault in him.” Oh, why did Pilate not act on this? We are told he tries to release Him, but the cry of the multitude is no! Pilate wishes to set Him free, but he does not wish to lose the world’s favor. And you, are you not afraid of this, too? Afraid of losing the world’s favor! Beware, rather, that you lose not your own soul. Pilate, willing to release Jesus, spake again to them, but they cried, “Crucify him! crucify him!”
Barabbas or Jesus? becomes now the question. They cried out all at once, “Away with this man, and release unto us Barabbas!” Pilate is defeated; they choose Barabbas. In a moment “they were instant with loud voices requiring He might be crucified.” And mark what follows: “And the voices of them and of the chief priests prevailed.”
Jesus or Barabbas? This was the question which divided them. Surely some will be found for Jesus. Not one! I fancy I hear you say, “I would, had I been there.” Well, show yourself on His side now. Side with Jesus, and let the world know, too, that you have done so.
The cross that should have been for Barabbas was used for Jesus! There was plenty of wood to have made Jesus a cross, but He who had done nothing amiss was crucified on that cross which should have been for Barabbas, the murderer! Plenty of wood to make a cross! Ah, yes; the fear of that made poor Peter deny his Lord. And does not the fear of the cross, the ridicule, and the taunt of the world, make you deny Jesus too?
Barabbas’ friends must side with him, and Jesus’ friends must side with Jesus; but there was not one for Jesus. Yes, it was really so; not one for Jesus, the Son of God. In a moment they cry, “Crucify Him! Release Barabbas!” They have indeed divided — divided to a man, and all, all are for Barabbas, the murderer, and not one for the Man in whom they could find no fault.
Do you assent to this? No! Then let there be this day from you the confession that you are Christ’s, that you are on the Lord’s side.
The world may do what it likes with Jesus, He is “delivered to their will;” man does what he will with the Son of God; Christ allows man to do his worst to Him: they scourge Him and crown Him with thorns. He says, “Do your utmost, do your worst, I shall not complain; and when you have done your worst to Me, then I shall do My best for you.” When they had nailed Him to the cross, He dies for them. He died in their stead, He dies as a victim to meet the claims of a righteous God. He bears the judgment that ought to have been theirs. He drinks the hitter cup of wrath, that they might not have to drink it. He says, “Father, forgive them.” Oh, what love! No love like His. I would that you knew Jesus, my Jesus. Oh! confide in Him, trust Him, love Him.
“Unmoved by Satan’s subtle wiles,
Or suffering, shame, and loss,
His path, uncheered by earthly smiles,
Led only to the cross.”
In verses 27-31 we are told that “there followed him a great company of people, and of women, which also bewailed and lamented Him. But Jesus turning unto them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children; for, behold, the days are coming in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck. Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us; for if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?”
Do tears fall from your eyes for Him? Weep for yourselves. What does He mean? He means there will come a day when there will be the world’s prayer-meeting! “Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us!” They are in sore need, but what is it they want? It is a place of refuge, of security, a shelter. “The great day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?” (Rev. 6:15-17). The world is frightened, and betakes itself to prayer, but it is too late. Oh, beloved one, you can find a shelter from that wrath now in the bosom of Jesus; not in the mountains and the hills, but in Jesus — Jesus who died on Calvary.
The last the world saw of Jesus was with a crown of thorns upon His head; the next it shall see of Him will be when He is crowned in glory with many crowns.
But, “if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?” Christ was the green tree; the unsaved soul is the lifeless, leafless, fruitless, dry tree. I saw a man the other day with an ax in his hand laid at the root of a tree. It was winter-time, and the tree looked much like the others around: they were all leafless, and there was nothing outwardly to denote any difference, nor to make the passer-by doubt that when spring-time came it would, like the others, burst forth into leaf; but it had been tapped, and found hollow; a cumberer of the ground it was cut down ready for the burning! Are you this tree?
Christ was the green tree in all His dependence on God, in all His beauty and perfection. He was a green tree going to judgment, going to be cut down in the midst of beauty and verdure. What, then, will overtake you, you unsaved soul, you who are a dry tree? “If they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?” Cannot you see your own case? You have not forgiveness, you have not pardon. Oh, what shall be done in the dry? See it cast into the fire. Look at the rich man of whom we read in Luke 16. In a moment cut down, and being in a torment, he lifts up his eyes and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom, and he cries, “Have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame.” A dry tree ready for the burning! But, thanks be to God, because the green tree suffered, many a dry one will escape.
If man has done these things to the Son of God, if He gets this treatment from man’s hand, what, think you, will the treatment be that man will receive from God’s hand in a day of righteous retribution? If you are among the doomed, you will remember that you once heard of a way of escape, but you would not receive it. Oh, unsaved soul, come to Jesus, come now!
We go to the cross, and see Jesus forsaken and in darkness, but the darkness is only from the sixth hour to the ninth; it passes away from Him; but oh, unsaved, lost soul, there will be no ninth hour for you; no passing away of the darkness for you, it will be forever.
“Away with Him!” was the world’s prayer; His was, “Father, forgive them.” They revile Him and say, “Come down from the cross; if thou be King of the Jews, save Thyself.” He says, No; I will not come down, I will not save Myself, I will die for you. Oh, what love! Is not this love indeed? He dies, but He does more than that: when He is risen He tells His disciples to begin at Jerusalem, the place where He had been put to death, and to the very people who had cried, “Crucify Him! crucify Him!” He bids them preach the forgiveness of sins through Him — Jesus. And now I write as an ambassador from Him to proclaim to you the forgiveness of your sins, and salvation through the finished work of Jesus on the cross. Will you believe in Him? Will you accept salvation?
As you drop this paper, are you on the world’s side, or Christ’s? Barabbas or Jesus?
A Rent Veil, a Risen Savior, a Redeemed Sinner
What the gospel does for a soul that receives it, is to bring it to God, not merely to bring a man to heaven when he dies, but to bring him to God now, to enjoy God now, before he gets to heaven. “Christ suffered for sins once, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.” Now that is the very last place where you who are unconverted would like to be brought. You do not want to be brought to God, and I will tell you why; because you are afraid of God. The unconverted man is always afraid of God; he does not want to get into His presence; and why? Because he knows very well that there are some questions God will raise with him, and he is not prepared to answer them. God must raise the question of sin with every soul. It is a question that has to be answered between every soul and God, and the man that does not know Christ cannot happily answer it in God’s presence.
Now, there are three things that mark Christianity — a rent veil, a risen Savior, and a redeemed sinner. In Hebrews 10:19-20, we read: “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which He hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, His flesh.” Here the Spirit of God gives us what the veil was a type of. If we turn to the Old Testament we shall get what this veil was, and what it was used for. It had a twofold use, it shut man out, and it shut God in — man could not go in to God, and God could not come out to man.
If we look at the description of the tabernacle, we shall see it was an oblong tent divided into two parts, the holy place, and the most holy. The whole mass of the people might come no farther than the brazen altar in the court of the tabernacle, on which the sacrifices were offered — type of the death of Christ in atonement for sin. Beyond this the people dared not go. The priests, the sons of Aaron, might go farther, having first washed at the laver which stood between the altar and the door of the tent. They went inside the first covering into the holy place, to perform the service of the tabernacle, but the veil shut them out from the most holy place. Within that veil they might never go; what was there, their eyes might never look upon.
Inside that veil was the ark of the covenant, containing the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant, and over it the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercy seat; each cherubim looking towards the mercy-seat. But besides this, what else was there? The presence of God! God dwelt there between the cherubims, and into that presence they could not go, and if He came out, it could only be in judgment. Oh, the solitariness of those long years wherein God dwelt alone! One only day, once in a year, might man approach God. Once in the year the high priest might go inside that veil, shrouded by the incense, and with the blood of atonement in his hand, and every other man was shut out.
Christ, as man, walked this wilderness path without sin, and that is what no other man ever did. In life, then, the life of Christ, there is no approach for a sinner to God. By His death only can you approach God.
Let us look for a moment at what that wondrous veil was made of. If you turn to Ex. 26:31, you have it: “And thou shalt make a veil of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen of cunning work; with cherubims shall it be made.”
Now what is the blue? The blue is the well-known symbol of what is heavenly. And was not Christ heavenly? Where did He come from? From heaven! He could say while walking this earth, “The Son of man which is in heaven.” He is “the second man, the Lord from heaven.” He came from heaven, down to this earth, and everything about Him was heavenly. There you get the blue, the heavenly character of Christ, as the God-man, God manifest in the flesh.
What is the purple, then? Well, purple is the imperial color, and what is He? King of kings, and Lord of lords. He whose right it is to reign shall yet be displayed in this character to the whole universe of God. In bitter mockery they clothed Him in purple in the day of His shame and agony, but He is King of kings and Lord of lords, and the wide universe of God will yet own His sway. There never has been an earthly king or potentate whose kingdom has not been taken away from him; death has come in and robbed him of all his glory, but this King, after a long and glorious reign over the wide earth during a thousand years gives up His kingdom to the Father, that God may be all in all. Death comes and takes it from every other. This One goes through death first — wears no crown in life down here, but the crown of thorns they gave Him in cruel mockery — rises up out of earth, and thereby acquires the right to be set as Son of man, God’s King, over all creation.
Then there comes the scarlet. “Oh,” you say, “scarlet means suffering.” Not always. Scarlet is the Jewish royal color, for not only is He to be king over the whole earth, but in very special manner He is “King of the Jews,” and as purple was Gentile color, so scarlet was the Jewish emblem of royalty. They put over His cross, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews,” and they wrote it in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin, that all peoples and tongues might read the inscription. It really did describe who He was, and what their guilt was, for He was King of the Jews, and they had crucified, in scorn and hatred and unbelief, their king.
Next, you have the fine twined linen of cunning work, figurative, I believe, of His only nature as man; that which all could see and recognize and underneath the veiled Godhead. Perfectly righteous, perfectly holy, perfectly pure, as man, and with all the glory of the Godhead shining through. The cunning work is emblematic of the way God devised by which He was legally Joseph’s son, and thus heir to the throne — the Jewish law esteeming Mary as Joseph’s wife after espousal — really the son of Mary, as it is written, “a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son,” while actually as to His nature the Son of God — yea God Himself become a man. Amazing mystery of Divine wisdom and love!
“With cherubims shall it be made.” Cherubims symbolize the governmental dealings of God; and is not “the government upon His shoulder?” Has not God committed all judgment to Him?
We first read of the cherubims in Genesis 3:24: “So He drove out the man; and He placed at the east of the garden of Eden cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.” Here, as the executive of God in judgment, they appear looking outward toward man in his sin. Secondly, in Exodus 25:18-20, we get; “And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy-seat of the mercy-seat shall ye make the cherubims on the two ends thereof, and their faces shall look one to another; toward the mercy-seat shall the faces of the cherubims be.”
Here, in type, they gaze inward on to the bloodstained mercy-seat, which we know from Romans 2:25 means Christ — having finished a work which enables God righteously to save guilty man. Thirdly, we have seen them in the veil, that is, connected with Christ personally. What does John 5:22 mean? “For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son.” Again (vs. 27), “and hath given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of man.” And again, God “hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world in righteousness, by that man whom He hath ordained; whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead” (Acts 17:31). And, who shall judge the quick (or living) and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom,” but our Lord Jesus Christ? (2 Tim. 4:1).
It is, then, clear that Christ both judges and executes judgment on the ungodly. How then, sinner, can you escape it? The rent veil is the silent, the eloquent answer. He who is the Judge, after your sin, but before the day of His judgment thereof, steps in and Himself sustains the judgment, that He may deliver you from it. What amazing love!
The veil was to be hung upon four pillars of shittim wood. “What is the shittim wood?” you say. Well, I believe the shittim wood speaks of His humanity. He took a human form that He might be able to die. But the shittim wood was overlaid with gold. Gold, in Scripture, represents Divine righteousness. The hooks, likewise, were of gold, and the sockets were of silver. Now silver is typical of redemption. You will notice the sockets of the tabernacle were made of the half shekels of silver that were paid by the people as redemption money — “every man a ransom for his soul” (See Ex. 30:12; 38:25-28). Everything is based on redemption.
Since the fall, man cannot meet God save on the ground of redemption. But how is this redemption accomplished?
Jesus dies, and by His death opens the way of life for you, for me. Read carefully the tale the 27th of Matthew records. Look at it; look at the scorn, the enmity, the mockery, the hatred He passed through. “Oh,” you say, “but did not God comfort Him in that terrible hour, did not God sustain His soul?” I believe from the third hour to the sixth hour, that is from nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified Him, until twelve o’clock, that God did stand by Him, did sustain His soul, did manifest to Him His perfect, infinite delight in Him. I believe that never was He so the delight of the Father’s heart as in that hour, when, scorned by the world, and forsaken by His own, He hung there between heaven and earth.
But see what happens! At the sixth hour — that is, twelve o’clock, noon — darkness, like a pall, falls over the whole land. What is it? What is this strange eclipse at noonday? Is it God in judgment coming forth to execute vengeance on men — on sinners for their treatment of this Holy One, His beloved Son? Is God about to pour forth His judgment on their guilty heads? Well might they think so. No doubt they did. Well might they believe it was swift and just retribution coming for their murder of Him, of whom even the thief dying by His side could say, “This man hath done nothing amiss;” whom Pilate declared to be a “just person,” in whom he could find no fault; who even their own guilty hearts and consciences must have known was unworthy thus to die.
But was it God’s judgment on a guilty world? No! It was something greater far, deeper far. It was not God dealing with sinful man, but God dealing with His own Son, God dealing with Christ, because of man’s sin, that He had taken upon Him. In that terrible hour, when darkness veiled the land, there was another far greater eclipse, a perfect eclipse between God and that One who hung there, even His own beloved Son, bearing sin. God hid His face from Him then. When all had forsaken Him, as He says, “Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, then, at that very time, God forsook Him too!
And those three hours of darkness, those three hours of total eclipse between God and the One on the cross, rolled on, and then at the ninth hour, three o’clock in the afternoon, comes that great, that terrible cry from Him, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken Me?” Ah, He forsook Jesus in that hour, that He might never forsake you and me. There was darkness for Him that there might be only light for us. He bore the judgment that we might go free.
Once more, He cries with a loud voice, “It is finished,” and gives up His spirit. “No man taketh it from me, I lay it down of Myself.”
And at that same moment God rends the veil, cherubims and all. He who should execute judgment on man, has in grace sustained and borne it for man; the price has been paid, redemption has been accomplished, and God is able now to come out in grace to man, in spite of his guilt, because of what Christ has done, and man may go in to God through a “new and living way.” Beautiful word, a living way. I like that word! How a living way? Because it is not a dead Savior that I am presenting to you now, but a risen and a living Savior. He “ever liveth to make intercession for us.” He has gone into the grave and come up out of it, having abolished death, and destroyed him who had the power thereof. The third day the tomb was empty, the Savior had risen. That open grave, that risen Savior, are the proof that the sins for which He suffered are forever gone.
And what about the redeemed sinner? Well, I need not say much about him — Christ has every, thing to do with his redemption, He has brought him to God, as I said at the beginning, and the sinner, or rather he is the believer now, thus brought to God, has nothing to do but to “joy in God,” and to wait quietly for the return of the Lord to take him to be with Himself, delighting in the meantime in every little hit of sweet service he can render Him while he stays here.
As a redeemed sinner I have nothing to do but to rejoice in the One who has redeemed me. “But what about your sins?” you ask. Well, I will tell you: God has talked to Christ about my sins, that He might talk to me about Christ.
During those three hours of darkness God dealt with the Lord Jesus about my sins, that He might be able to speak to me only of Jesus.
“But what about the judgment-seat: are you not afraid of that?” No. If I were to stand there and hear every one of my sins brought up, I should only say, “Lord, remember — Lord, remember.” Remember what? “Not me, but Christ. Remember He died for me. I am unworthy, but He died for me. His blood was shed for me.”
Have you ever noticed one thing lacking in the vessels of the tabernacle? There is no seat there found. And why, think you? I will tell you. Because the priest’s work was never done. “Offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: but this man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins, forever sat down on the right hand of God. There is no repetition of His offering, there can be none. Whatever your sins are, His offering, once offered, is a full discharge for all. “Offered one sacrifice for sins.” For whose sins? For sins. But for whose? For sins. It does not say for whose, nor for how many, and if I had the whole sins of a nation on my shoulders this moment I should not care, with my eye on this word of the living God, for the next moment I might know that I am without a single one, free to go in boldly into God’s presence because He died for sins, and therefore He died for my sins. That veil was rent: rent, too, from the top to the bottom. Why from the top to the bottom? Because man had no hand in it. If man had rent that veil, it would only have been to bring out swift destruction on himself. God Himself opened the way of access thus for the very vilest sinner into the holiest of all.
God will never enter into judgment with one who simply trusts in Christ. Those who believe on Him will be with Him, and like Him, before that judgment-seat is set. John 5:28 says, “The hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment.”
“And does not that all take place at once?” No; more than a thousand years roll between the first part of that verse and the second. The Lord takes two days to empty the graves and to raise the dead. Could He not do it all at once? No; impossible! He comes first to fetch His own. He Himself descends into the air, and there is the sound of the trumpet and the voice of words, His own voice, and part of the graves are emptied, the tombs are opened, and their occupants come forth. Where do they go? They go up with their Lord, to be forever in His own bright presence. “They that have done good unto the resurrection of life,” that is, of that eternal life which they possessed, because He gave it to them when they were still down here. That light that He lit in their hearts never went out, that life He gave never was extinguished, once lighted. God never intended that that light should go out. “I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.”
“They that have done good,” then, i.e. all who have Christ, go up to be with Him, and the rest of the dead remain in their graves, and more than a thousand years roll by, and then there comes another opening of the graves, another resurrection of the dead, and they stand, small and great, before the great white throne; to be judged out of those things written in the books, according to their works. “They that have done evil unto the resurrection of judgment.” They stand there clothed in their sins, to be judged. Which of these two resurrections are you, my friend, going to have part in? Are you going to stand before Him in your sins then, or do you know what it is now to have boldness to enter into the holiest, through that new and living way, which He hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, His flesh?
Do you know what it is to “draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith?” And let me tell you “full assurance of faith” does not mean a very great amount of faith, but that which simply clings to Christ, and trusts in His atoning blood as its only ground of access there to worship within the veil.
“Where do you worship?” one asked me, some weeks since. “Oh,” I answered, “I am very High Church; I worship inside the veil, in the holiest; and that is in heaven itself. I know of nowhere else where I can worship. If I worship the Lord Jesus, I must worship Him where He is.” If you look on to Hebrews 13 you will find something else combined with being “inside the veil,” and that is, “outside the camp.” Nov, people oftentimes do not like this, they do not like the reproach outside the camp; but depend upon it, the two go very much together, and if I am not prepared for the reproach of being outside the camp with a rejected Christ. I shall not know much of the joy of being inside the veil. These two truths are like the two blades of a pair of scissors — one is very little use without the other — to have one blade alone is no good at all, but when you have both joined together, how good and how useful. There is nothing so cutting as these two blades together — “inside the veil” and “outside the camp.” People like to get inside the veil, but depend upon it they do not remain there long unless they know something of what it is to be outside the camp too. That is why one hears so often of loss of joy: loss of peace, too, oftentimes. People want to mix up being inside the veil with God and being in the world too, and they cannot; they want one blade of the scissors without the other.
The Lord give us to hold fast the profession of our hope without wavering, provoking unto love and good works, that is, being so true to the Lord ourselves, that we may be helpers of each other till the day of His coming again!
“In the grave they could not find Him,
He had told them so before:
Justice could no longer hind Him,
Mourner, let your fears he o’er;
‘He is risen!’
Jesus lives for evermore.
‘Peace unto you!’ this His greeting,
Word of Him that cannot lie,
From the heart that bore our judgment,
Heart of love that cannot die.
‘Peace unto you!’
Still He speaketh from on high.
‘It is finished!’ ‘He is risen.’
Ye who these blest words receive,
Peace in Him is now your portion,
Peace eternal He will give,
‘Peace unto you!’
All who on His name believe.”
Christ's Three Appearings
“And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation” (Heb. 9:27-28).
“Herein is love with us made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17).
The verse in 1 John 4 brings out most distinctly and clearly what the new place is that the believer has before God. It is this: Christ’s place. “As he is, so are we in this world.” In the most marvelous way does the Holy Ghost condense the present position of the believer, to the joy of our hearts — we who are Christ’s. But some may say, “Impossible! Does the gospel unfold to a poor guilty sinner on earth a standing before God in the perfection of Christ?” Yes. “How can this be?” The passage in Hebrews 9 tells you how; you have there the grand foundation on which this blessed truth is built — “Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many.” The effect of the once-offered sacrifice of Himself to put away sin — the fruit of the corn of wheat which fell into the ground and died, so that it might not abide alone — is, that of the children of God it can be truly said: “As He is, so are we.” And mark, it is not, “so we shall be,” but, “so are we in this world.” How wonderful is this word of the Holy Spirit! Truly man could never have penned it of himself.
Look at Christ in all His love and grace while here on earth. Look at Him in all His perfection now in glory, and then consider for a moment this most wonderful passage: “Herein is love with us (God’s love, not ours) made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as He is, so are we in this world.” But let us look for a little at what was first required in order to bring about this grand result. In Hebrews 9 it is all beautifully unfolded. “Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us. Nor yet that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; for then must He often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: so Christ was once offered to hear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation.”
There are three periods in the history of Christ brought before us in these verses. In verse 24, He does appear; verse 26, “He has appeared;” and in verse 28, “He shall appear.” I will take them up briefly in their chronological order; and may the Holy Spirit lead you, my beloved reader, to search more fully into these wondrous truths, the outlines of which I now present to you.
1. His Past Appearing.
“Now once in the end of the world hath He appeared, to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.”
Why was this needed? The following verse tells us: “As it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many.” As it belonged to man to die and be judged, so Christ was offered up in death, and bore God’s wrath and judgment in man’s stead.
I can understand the “as” and “so” in John 4:17 when I have grasped the mercy of the “as” and “so” of Hebrews 9:27-28. As I was a ruined, guilty sinner, only fit to be judged and condemned to death, so Christ went down into death for me; He suffered that I might never suffer; He bore my judgment and the wrath of an offended God, which was my due; He completed the work of my salvation; He has done all that is needed to bring me to Himself in glory; and now the Holy Spirit can give out this grand truth to the believer, to say with joyful boldness, that in the sight of God, “As He (God’s Son) is, so are we in this world.”
Oh, beloved fellow-believer, what is this? What is the force of these words, “As He is, so are we”? It is not merely substitution, grand as that work is, but it is transmutation — the taking of us into identity and association with Himself.
“He has appeared” to do a work we never could have done. In all the counsels of God one thing alone was found that could save ruined man; and in His great love for us, the Lord Himself came down to perform the work. As we deserved, so He received; He bore the judgment of God upon sin, so that there is now no condemnation to them who believe. Now “we may have boldness in the day of judgment.” Well may the Holy Spirit preface this wondrous truth with these words: “Herein is love with us made perfect.” Yes, this indeed was love, perfect love on His part; love sufficiently perfect to cast out all our fear. “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear.”
“No man of greater love can boast
Than for his friend to die.
Thou for Thine enemies wast slain!
What love with Thine can vie?”
This is the Friend the believer has — the Friend and Savior, God wishes you to have. Will you not have Him? See what He has done for you. “He was once offered to bear the sins of many.” You may be one of the many whom Christ died to save. God is now beseeching you to be one of the blessed number. Oh! refuse Him not; for if you will not have this Christ now, while He is willing and waiting to receive you, it will be this same Christ and Lord, to whom all judgment is given, who when this long day of grace is over, will say unto you: “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire.” And you shall then be one of the many — ah! how many — to whom the words will apply: “These shall go away into everlasting punishment.” With which will you have to do — God in grace, or God in judgment?
Jesus wants you to know Himself in grace, to know Him now. He is seeking you, yearning for you, waiting to receive you with outstretched arms of welcome. Oh, come to His loving embrace. You must either come to those outstretched arms of love and mercy, or sink forever beneath His uplifted arm of judgment. Can you for a moment delay in your decision? Which shall it be, God or Mammon? Is there aught on earth that can lure you from His arms? — aught that can blindly lure you on to death? Jesus is calling you to come to Him. “Come unto Me” are His words to you. Oh, come and taste the blessedness of belonging to Him, of being loved by Him, of having Him as the “friend that sticketh closer than a brother.”
2. His Present Appearing.
In Hebrews 9:24 we read, that Christ has gone into heaven, “Now to appear in the presence of God for us.”
While telling you of the first blessed truth, “He has appeared,” I made no restriction. I tell it to you, my reader; I would it were told to ALL. But now I have to confine myself to the BELIEVER when I say, “in the presence of God for us.” But my prayer is, that He may stand as the Representative of all who may read these pages, and of thousands more.
Believers in the Lord, Christ represents you in the presence of God, and soon there will be the lovely sequel which verse 28 gives: “Unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” But again, I would turn to all, and say, Look at Jesus there in the glory of heaven itself; gaze on Him by faith at God’s right hand, and remember that place may be yours. Earnestly I would entreat you not to let haunting memory have the task of echoing in your ear, through an endless eternity, “That place might have been yours.”
Who is the One who stands in the presence of God for us? It is Christ, the same Christ who was here on earth, and who died on Calvary’s cross, He is the only one who can represent us there, and He does it. Michael the Archangel would fail to do it. Angels know not the extent of our need; but Christ is there. Dwell on the thought, REPRESENTATIVE OF HIS PEOPLE. Oh, how much it includes! Christ is there in the presence of His Father-God, not only to represent you, but also as your Advocate and High Priest. As Aaron the high priest bore the names of the twelve tribes of Israel on his shoulders and breast, so that they might be presented to the Lord Jehovah; so Christ bears our names on His bosom before His Father’s throne — your name and mine graven on His heart! Amazing thought! Yes, our names indelibly carved there with the graving-tool of love. The love and power of Christ combined hear us before God continually.
What a place of security the believer in Jesus has! How could he have a doubt or fear as long as he looks at Christ in glory? and knows from God’s Word that “as He is, so are we.” Look at Christ and His finished work, and believe on Him, and the question of salvation and security is settled. I see in Him the One who has espoused my cause — the One who has so merged me in Himself, that God, while looking upon me, sees me in Jesus — He sees me in “Jesus only.”
3. His Future Appearing.
“Unto them that look for Him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” The first time Jesus appeared, it was to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. He bared His bosom to Jehovah’s wrath, and the uplifted sword of justice fell on Him. The storm cloud of wrath burst upon His head; but the second time He shall appear, it shall be without sin unto salvation.
The question of sin was all settled the first time; and now He has to do with salvation alone. Has not this a voice for you, O careless one? You who are not looking for Him; you to whom it would not be glad tidings were you told, “The Bridegroom cometh;” pause, I beseech you, and consider your situation. You, as an unbeliever, are going on to meet two things — DEATH AND JUDGMENT. The believer also is going to meet two things, but oh! how different are they — CHRIST and GLORY. Death and judgment are behind him, not before; he looks back to the cross, and knows that for him they were ended there. He is on the other side of judgment; and now the bright prospect before him, and for which he looks, is the time when the Lord shall again appear unto salvation, i.e., the deliverance of the body from this evil world.
The manner of His future appearing is two-fold — first, as the Bridegroom He will come into the air only, and catch up His Bride, that is, those who are His own. First Thessalonians 4 and 1 Corinthians 15 describe this moment. “The dead in Christ” are raised, and those alive on earth changed, and both are caught up together to the Lord, and thus are with the Lord forever. What a bright hope for the believer, instead of looking for death!
Later on the Lord will appear manifestly in glory to the world, as Son of Man. Then His saints will all be with Him. His second advent thus has the two stages. Into the air when His saints go to Him, and on to the Mount of Olives when His saints all come with Him.
The first Adam brought death into this world by sin; but for the believer, the death of the last Adam has put away sin, and delivered him from death and judgment.
To you who care not to look for Him, I would give this solemn warning: “If thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.” “Because I have called, and ye refused: I have stretched out My hand, and no man regarded; but ye have set at naught all My counsel, and would none of My reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon Me, but I will not answer. They shall seek Me early, but they shall not find Me. For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord.” “When they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, and they shall not escape.”
But unto you, who look for Him, are these blessed words written: “They shall see His face.” Delight yourselves therefore in the Lord; be ye ever on the watch-towers looking for His appearing the second time without sin unto salvation. Wait patiently for Him though He should tarry. “He that shall come will come.” Meanwhile, beloved Christians, let us rejoice in the blessed truth that “as He is, so are we in this world.”
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