AS I drove along to a neighboring town a short time since I came to a place where the river Ouse had overflowed its banks, and a vast expanse of flooded country was seen. It seemed strange to be driving along so near the water and yet quite dry, nor was I the least afraid of it touching me.
How was this? Because there was a high bank which had been made on the side of the road next the river to protect the road, and thus, though the water was so near me, I passed along quite safely.
I was not disturbed in the least at the sight of the water, for my safety lay in the bank which was between me and the water, and I had no doubt about it, it had stood many a flood before, and I had confidence in that bank, and in its power to keep back the great waters on the other side. I did not even stop to think whether the confidence which I had in the bank was the right kind of confidence. I simply drove along quietly and securely, enjoying the comforting knowledge that the bank between me and the water was all right, and thoroughly protected me.
Now how does this apply to the gospel? In 1 Tim. 2:5 we read, “There is one God, and one Mediator between God and man, the Man Christ Jesus.” Dear reader, if you are in your sins and yet unconverted, let me warn you that it will be an awful thing for you to be exposed to all the judgment of that “one God” against your sins with no Mediator between Him and you. There is a day coming most surely when the unbeliever will have to experience the terrible wrath of God against sin, and then he will look in vain for a bank to keep off the floods of great waters from rushing in and sinking him body and soul in hell!
No Mediator will be offered to him then, no one to stand between him and a holy God. Today, however, grace still reigns, and souls are fleeing for refuge and safety to Jesus, and for the one who thus flees God’s promise is true, “Surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him.” (Psa. 32:6).
But suppose you say, “I have come to Jesus some time back and sheltered my soul in Him, and yet I don’t always feel as if I were safe, I have often my doubts and fears.” This is sometimes the language of souls, but let me point out to you that when I was driving along that road it was the bank being between me and the waters that made me safe. Was it my feeling of confidence in the bank which made me safe? No, but simply the bank itself. So with the believer now, it is the blessed Mediator and His work on the cross that is my safety. It is not my feelings about that Mediator. My safety lies in the man Christ Jesus, having given Himself a Ransom for me, and God has accepted the Ransom.
It is He that delivers me from the wrath to come, and it is He who stands now between me and the weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, which I so richly deserved for my sins. Dear fellow-believer, can you now pass along from day to day quite certain that no judgment can ever reach you, because the work of Christ for you on that cross has availed before God to put away from His sight all your sins, and when the floods of great waters rush in upon the unconverted they never can reach you?
A. F. R.