TRAVELLING in the Midland counties of England, I found myself, on a certain occasion, alone in the railway carriage with an elderly gentleman.
He proved to be a Unitarian, ―that is, one who disbelieves in the deity of the blessed Lord Jesus. We had nothing in common, save the mercies of a common and most gracious God. But whilst I, through sovereign grace, had found rest of conscience, and peace of heart before God, in the atoning death of His Son, this man, like the party which he represented, saw nothing in Christ but a very good man, and nothing in His death but a seal, placed by Himself, on His devotedness. His Christ was merely a model, —a pattern for others, but nothing more.
“The Word was God,” “The Word was made flesh,” “Before Abraham was, I am,” “The glory which I had with thee before the world was,” “God manifest in the flesh,” “God blessed forever,” “This is the true God, and eternal life;” or again, “The Son of man must be lifted up,” “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone,” “Without the shedding of blood there is no remission;”―and many other passages, demonstrating the necessity for the death of Jesus, as the ground of salvation, were repudiated by this poor man.
Neither His person on the one hand, nor His work on the other, were accepted by him. He “wrested the Scriptures to his own destruction,” and perverted their plain and solemn object.
Our “Immanuel”― “Jesus!” Thrice blessed One. “God with us,” in wonderful grace. “Jehovah― Saviour,” in infinite love. Sweet combination! Ah! we know Thy grace, who for our sakes becamest poor, that we through Thy poverty might be rich. We love to look at Thee creating all things, sustaining all things, effecting expiation by Thy death, rising from the dead, taking a place at the right hand of God, coming again for Thy people, reigning where now Thou art rejected, sitting as Judge on the great white throne, folding up these heavens and this earth, and building the new creation on the solid basis of Thy blood.
A man He was! yes, but what mere man could do all, or any of these things?
Nay, nay; man He was, but God as well, ― “Immanuel.” Have you considered these things, dear reader? Believe me, “All men shall honor the Son, as they honor the Father.” As He said, “I and my Father are one.” Again, “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.” “The only Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.” Distinct in person from the Father, yet equal as to deity.
I ask, have you, professing Christianity as you doubtless do, seriously thought upon the personal glory of the “Man Christ Jesus” as “God manifest in the flesh,” and have you bowed before Him in worship and praise? Your eternal destiny depends upon your correct appreciation of Him. “If ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins,” was His solemn declaration to the unbelieving Jews of His day. Take care that the same sentence be not yours.
Presently there entered the carriage another passenger, somewhat younger. On hearing the nature of our conversation, he at once took part.
“Do you, an intelligent man, in this nineteenth century,” said he to me, “really believe that Jesus was raised from the dead?” His accent indicated a Jew, and his countenance betrayed signs of hatred against the name he had just mentioned. I calmly replied,—that the resurrection of Christ was the ground of my hope and joy; that His blood procured my pardon; His resurrection secured my salvation forever. “It is all a fable,” said he, and passionately sunk back in his seat. Another enemy of Christ, thought I. The first denied the glory of His person, and the value of His death; the second denied the truth of His resurrection. Neither knew Him.
All a fable! Could this man have read the long chapter (1 Cor. 15) devoted by the Spirit of God to the subject of resurrection? Impossible!” “Ah! but that chapter is all about the resurrection of men-saints.” Just so, but it is based on that of Christ. In fact, we have seven distinct witnesses to His resurrection. We read that, “He rose again the third day: ―
1. According to the Scriptures.
2. That He was seen of Cephas.
3. Then of the twelve.
4. Of about five hundred brethren at once.
5. After that He was seen of James.
6. Then of all the apostles.
7. Last of all He was seen of one also,” said the Apostle Paul.
What an array of evidence, and how satisfactory to all but those who won’t believe!
Let the incarnation of Jesus be an established fact, that He was the Messiah of Israel, and the Son of God. And, further, establish His resurrection, and you place the Christian beyond his sins, ―beyond judgment for them; and you put in his mouth the grand triumphant challenge, “Oh death, where is thy sting? oh grave, where is thy victory?” Death’s sting is gone, and the grave is shorn of its victory!
Yes, we worship a risen Saviour; nay, One who is glorified on high. We know Him there. We look for Him thence. We will spend eternity with Him in the glories of the Father’s house. All this is certified to us by the fact of His resurrection. Hence we wait in patience His return, and suffer with Him in His present rejection till that day. He loves us with an everlasting love, and to Him we owe our all.
But, turning from the Unitarian and the Jew,― who, although so different in their creeds, yet agreed, like Herod and Pilate of old, in their common hatred of Jesus, ―let me again ask you, my readers, “What think ye of Christ?” Everything hinges on your answer to this question. “If ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.”
Do you believe that He is the Son of God, the eternal Son of the Father? And do you trust in the alone but all-sufficient sacrifice of Himself? Do you? “Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite to the Spirit of grace?” (Heb. 10:29.)
Unbelieving reader, let these two words be deeply engraven on your memory, “sorer punishment.” God intends to vindicate His honor, whom now you in your folly contemn; but He first tells you of the consequences of your wickedness. The greatest of all sin is, the rejection of Christ.
The rather, as besought in Psa. 2, “Kiss the Son lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little.” And mark the precious result, “Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.”
J. W. S.