H. Nunnerley
The death of Christ! Who can rightly set forth its virtues or define its all-embracing scope? In it, God’s love has been fully declared; by it, His nature glorified. Calvary is thus the center of the moral universe; it stands between two eternities; the outcome of purpose and counsel before the world began, its stupendous and far-reaching effects shall continue throughout eternal ages.
It is the burden of the Old Testament. Genesis to Malachi teem with references to it in type and shadow, sacrifice and offering, prophecy and psalm. The facts recorded in the New Testament confirm the predictions of the Old, and so perfectly answer to them in every detail, that atonement becomes interwoven with every part of Scripture.
Christ’s sacrificial work was foreshadowed in Abel’s firstling, the blood-sprinkled lintel and door-post in Egypt, and by every bullock, lamb, and ram offered in connection with the Mosaic ritual. Christ was prophetically announced as the Sin-bearer in Isaiah 53:66All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6), for God laid “upon Him the iniquity of us all”; as the Forsaken One of God in Psalm 22:11<<To the chief Musician upon Aijeleth Shahar, A Psalm of David.>> My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? (Psalm 22:1); and the Man against whom Jehovah’s sword awoke (Zech. 13:77Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones. (Zechariah 13:7)). These and many other scriptures point to His death as vicarious in its character.
He did die as a martyr at the hands of man, for by wicked hands they crucified and slew Him (Acts 2:2323Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: (Acts 2:23)); but this was not atonement, it only demonstrated the evil of man’s heart, his utter badness in the presence of perfect goodness in Christ.
The nails with which men pierced His hands and His feet, the thorny crown placed in derision on His brow, were wounds He received in the house of His friends; but these did not remove one sin.
Christ was not on the cross simply as the “result of the religious bigotry of an unenlightened age,” but by the “determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:2323Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: (Acts 2:23)). He was there to give effect to purposes of blessing in God’s heart before the world was. He became a Man in order to die. Having waived His supremacy as Ruler, He took a servant’s form, and constantly reminded His disciples, during His life, that He knew a death awaited Him, which would be of the nature and character of a sin offering. He expressly affirms that His object in coming into this world was to give His life as a ransom. — Mark 10:45.
Let us briefly consider two aspects of Christ’s death.
First — as meeting the claims of God in His holiness.
Second — as discovering the excellencies of Christ’s Person.
The first is typically set forth in Leviticus 16. The offerings on the great day of atonement were not for particular offenses as were the trespass offerings. The sacrifices on this day tell us in symbolic language that God’s rights take precedence over all others. The majesty of His being, the holiness of His nature, demanded that which should meet the claims of His throne.
God is the moral Ruler of the universe. He alone can fix and determine the penalty due to the infringement of His laws. In human things judges administer laws not according to the prisoner’s view, but as they affect the throne. The prisoner at the bar is amenable to His Majesty the King. A man in wronging his neighbor infringes a law on the Statute Book. That book fixes the penalty, not the wrongdoer, nor the man he has wronged.
God had fixed the penalty due to sin, and determined that which was needful to remove it righteously from before His eye. None but He could pronounce sin’s due, and none but One who was His equal could make a suited and sufficient atonement.
Alone, clad in pure linen, enveloped in a cloud of incense, beaten small, the high priest entered the holy of holies and carried the blood of the bullock, and the blood of the goat, and sprinkled it on and before the mercy-seat where God dwelt in thick darkness between the cherubim (Lev. 16:11-1711And Aaron shall bring the bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and shall make an atonement for himself, and for his house, and shall kill the bullock of the sin offering which is for himself: 12And he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before the Lord, and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the vail: 13And he shall put the incense upon the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is upon the testimony, that he die not: 14And he shall take of the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy seat eastward; and before the mercy seat shall he sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times. 15Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood within the vail, and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat: 16And he shall make an atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions in all their sins: and so shall he do for the tabernacle of the congregation, that remaineth among them in the midst of their uncleanness. 17And there shall be no man in the tabernacle of the congregation when he goeth in to make an atonement in the holy place, until he come out, and have made an atonement for himself, and for his household, and for all the congregation of Israel. (Leviticus 16:11‑17)). Striking figure of Christ, pure and spotless, offering Himself on Calvary’s Cross in the thick darkness.
Every blow which had previously fallen upon Him from the malice of Satan, or the wicked hands of men, only brought out the sweet fragrance of the sacred Person of the one and only absolutely holy and perfect Man. Pure in life; ‘perfect in death, in all His excellencies He offered Himself without spot to God. In those three hours of darkness on the cross He entered into the great question of sin as viewed by, and relating to God.
With unshod feet we here stand on holy ground. None shall ever know what passed between the holy Victim and the holy God, when, shrouded from the gaze of man, He suffered for sins. The true nature of sin, its heinousness in the sight of God, is alone expressed at the cross. Its true meaning and God’s abhorrence of it, no tongue can utter, no mind conceive. The unutterable agony of those three hours on Calvary, when from the anguished depths of His holy soul that bitter cry was heard, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” no creature mind could ever measure or comprehend.
Alone went the high priest into the holy of holies when he carried the blood within the veil. No man with him (Verse 17). Outside, every Israelite and stranger was forbidden to work on that day. The entire work was wrought by one man. That man prefigured Christ. “Christ being come an high priest of good things to come... by His own blood entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption” (Heb. 9:11-1211But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; 12Neither 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. (Hebrews 9:11‑12)). Alone Christ made atonement, and none but He could make it. It is now complete, for His precious blood has been shed. The matchless worth of His Person imparted all the excellency to His work. His perfect knowledge of what sin is in God’s sight, and the fact that He is God’s equal and His fellow, enabled Christ to present to Him a sacrifice so perfect, so all-sufficing, that God has been glorified in every attribute of His being.
“None but He, in heaven or earth, could offer that which justice claimed.”
HE COULD. HE HAS.
Expiation has been made, God’s holy claims have been met; and satisfaction has been rendered, suitable to, and in accordance with, all that righteousness demanded.
Atonement is a work presented to God, glorifying Him and meeting His holiness. The blood shed on Calvary alone makes atonement. “Following Christ’s example,” “serving our fellow sinners,” “working in the slums,” is no part of atonement; the whole power of atonement is in the blood. “The life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar, to make an atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul” (Lev. 17:1111For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. (Leviticus 17:11)). It is not the blood coursing in the veins of a living man; even the pure, spotless, holy life of Christ did not make atonement. That life had to be given up in death, the blood had to be shed upon the altar as a propitiatory sacrifice. We cannot be too clear on this great truth, this cardinal aspect of the death of Christ. The perfection of His life and ways proved His suitability to offer Himself as a sacrifice of sweet savor, holy and without blemish; but the blood stands absolutely alone as meeting God’s claims, and vindicating His holiness. It does not help to make atonement, nor is it part of atonement, it is that which alone makes it. Atonement was not complete until Christ was actually dead.
The claims of God’s throne have been met, sin condemned, its sentence executed, and a righteous basis laid on which God can now make known His grace to the worthless, and salvation to the vilest. The cross is a witness to God’s holiness, a way by which His love and goodness can flow out. The Excellency and worth of the Sacrifice there effectuated is witnessed by the fact that the Purger of sins, the Maker of atonement, is seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high (Heb. 1:33Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; (Hebrews 1:3)).
In Christ’s death is seen righteousness against sin, for He suffered and was not spared, God’s majesty was there maintained, and a holy basis secured enabling Him to exercise forbearance toward this world (Rom. 3:2525Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; (Romans 3:25)).
But the death which secured God’s glory witnessed to Christ’s perfection. He not only “restored that which He took not away” (Psa. 69:44They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head: they that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty: then I restored that which I took not away. (Psalm 69:4)), but displayed Excellencies inherent in Himself. He gave Himself up that every attribute of God might be perfectly glorified and displayed; but how His own personal worth is discovered at every step! If we think of God, what devotedness to His glory! what obedience to His will 1 what self-sacrifice! for it was a voluntary act on His part, as evidenced in the words: “I have power to lay down My life, and I have power to take it again.”
No mere creature could thus command his own life. Christ laid down His life; it was not taken from Him (John 10:1818No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father. (John 10:18)). The loud cry testified that He did not die from exhaustion. Pilate marveled that death had taken place so soon; but the soldier’s spear brought forth its witness, for forthwith came there out blood and water. Voluntarily He yielded up His life.
Could a mere man do this? Impossible! Jesus became man in order to die, “was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death,” tasted death by the grace of God for men (Heb. 2:99But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. (Hebrews 2:9)), but never ceased to be the same Person He was before He became man, therefore could He will as none other. Thus the only Man who had power to lay down and take up His life, laid it down as a willing Victim; and, in the very act which brought such profound suffering could justify God, saying, even when forsaken, “Thou continuest holy” (Psa. 22:33But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. (Psalm 22:3)). Because death is the wages of sin, part of the judgment of God, He passed through it, and thus “finished” a work which saves men, glorifies God, defeats Satan, and expresses a love that passeth knowledge.
Behold then perfection! Personally, intrinsically, morally. How obedience to God shines out! How devotedness to His will! How love to poor guilty man! What purity, what holiness, what grace, what compassion, what goodness! How it bows our hearts, as gazing upon the holy Sufferer, we say with adoring hearts — “The Son of God who loved me, and gave Himself for me.” “Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
Other aspects of Christ’s death we shall (D.V.) consider in our next issue.
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Ebenezer
We feel something of the mind of Sir Francis Drake, who, after he had sailed round the world, was buffeted with a storm in the Thames. — “What,” said he, “have we sailed round the world safely and shall we be drowned in a ditch?” So do we say this day. Helped so long, and helped so often! God is our refuge and strength, and very present help in trouble. Why should we fear?
Stability
A mind on wheels knows no rest; it is as a rolling thing before the tempest. Struggle against the desire for novelty, or it will lead you astray, as the will-o’-the-wisp deceives the traveler. If you desire to be useful, if you long to honor God, if you wish to be happy, be established in the truth, and be not carried about by every wind of doctrine in these evil days.