The work of Jesus on the Cross stands out in its divine and solitary grandeur as the only way of salvation from the judgment of God. In man's thoughts, good works, human righteousness and religiousness count for a great deal; but in God's estimation, as a means of salvation they stand for nothing. God has provided only one way whereby we can be saved: through faith in. Christ, whose blood has atoned for sin.
This note sounds throughout the entire New Testament. It is recorded in the history of that blessed God-Man who took the sinner's place at the cross. The Old Testament abounds with prophecies, shadows and symbols of the same glorious Person, the promised Deliverer and Savior of men. It could not do otherwise; for, in the counsels of God from everlasting, the redemption of the sinner was to be by blood— the blood, or life, of the Son of God. It is not singular, therefore, that in God's communications to men all through the Old Testament history He should continually point forward by type and figure to the coming of the One in whose wonderful work on the cross God Himself should rest, and the sinner find salvation.
As early as Gen. 3 we find Him teaching that only through death could a naked sinner be clothed, for He clothed fallen Adam and his wife with skins from animals. In chapter 4 we see Abel appropriating God's way. He sought a way of approach to God, found it, and was accepted through the blood shedding of a sinless substitute. "Without shedding of blood is no remission." Heb. 9:2222And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. (Hebrews 9:22). That is the statement of God's Word.
The great question, therefore, before each individual soul is: "Amos 1 sheltered beneath the blood of Christ?" Reader, be honest with yourself. Ask yourself the question as in the presence of God; and rest not till you can say with the poet:
"Conscience now no more condemns me,
For His own most precious blood
Once for all has washed and cleansed me—
Cleansed me in the eyes of God.”
"I am the door: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved.”