The Lord"s Coming.
by C. H. (Charles Henry) Mackintosh.
"G.o.d FOR US"
(ROMANS VIII. 31.)
How much is wrapped up in these few words, "G.o.d for us!" They form one of those marvelous chains of three links so frequently found in Scripture. We have "G.o.d" linked on to "us" by that precious little word "for." This secures every thing, for time and eternity. There is not a single thing within the entire range of a creature"s necessities that are not included in the brief but comprehensive sentence which forms the heading of this paper. If G.o.d be for us, then it follows, of necessity--blessed necessity--that neither our sins, nor our iniquities, nor our guilt, nor our ruined nature, nor Satan, nor the world, nor any other creature can possibly stand in the way of our present peace and our everlasting felicity and glory. G.o.d can dispose of all--has disposed of them, in such a way as to ill.u.s.trate His own glory, and magnify His holy name, throughout the wide universe, forever and ever. All praise and adoration be to the eternal Trinity!
It may be, however, that the reader feels disposed, at the very outset, to inquire how he is to know his place amongst the "us" of our precious thesis. This, truly, is a most momentous question. Our eternal weal or woe hangs upon the answer. How, then, are we to know that G.o.d is for us? In reply to this most weighty question, we shall seek, by G.o.d"s grace, to furnish the reader with five substantial proofs that G.o.d is for us, in all our need, our guilt, our misery, and our danger--for us, spite of all that we are, and all that we have done--for us, although there is no reason whatever, so far as we are concerned, why He should be for us, but every reason why He should be against us.
The first grand proof which we shall adduce is--
THE GIFT OF HIS SON.
"For G.o.d so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John iii. 16.)
Now, we are glad, for various reasons, to commence our series of proofs with these memorable words. In the first place, they meet a difficulty which may suggest itself to the mind of an anxious reader--a difficulty based upon the fact that the sentence culled from Rom. viii. 31 evidently applies primarily to believers, and only to such, as does the entire epistle and every one of the epistles.
But, blessed be G.o.d, no such difficulty can be started in reference to the all-embracing, and encouraging words of Him who spake as never man spake. When we have from the lips of our blessed Lord Himself, the eternal Son of G.o.d, such words as these, "G.o.d so loved _the world_,"
we have no ground whatever for questioning their application to each and all who come under the comprehensive word "world." Before any one can prove that the free love of G.o.d does not apply to him, he must first prove that he does not form a part of the world, but that he belongs to some other sphere of being. If indeed, our Lord had said, "G.o.d so loved a certain portion of the world," call it what you please, then verily it would be absolutely necessary to prove that we belong to that particular portion or cla.s.s, ere we could attempt to apply His words to ourselves. If He had said that G.o.d so loved the predestinated, the elect, or the called, then we must seek to know our place amongst the number of such, before we can take home to ourselves the precious a.s.surance of the love of G.o.d, as proved by the gift of His Son.
But our Lord used no such qualifying clause. He is addressing one who, from his earliest days, had been trained and accustomed to take a very limited view indeed of the favor and goodness of G.o.d. Nicodemus had been taught to consider that the rich tide of Jehovah"s goodness, loving-kindness, and tender mercy could only flow within the narrow inclosure of the Jewish system and the Jewish nation. The thought of its rolling forth to the wide wide world had never, we may safely a.s.sert, penetrated the mind of one trained amid the contracting influences of the legal system. Hence, therefore, it must have sounded pa.s.sing strange in his ear, to hear "a teacher come from G.o.d" giving utterance to the great fact that G.o.d loved not merely the Jewish nation, nor yet some special portion of the human race, but "the world." No doubt, such a statement would add not a little to the amazement felt by this master in Israel at being told that he himself, with all His religious advantages, needed to be born again in order to see or enter the kingdom of G.o.d.
Do we then deny or call in question the grand truth of predestination, election, or effectual calling? G.o.d forbid. We hold these things as amongst the fundamental principles of true Christianity. We believe in the eternal counsels and purposes of our G.o.d--His unsearchable decrees--His electing love--His sovereign mercy.
But do any or all of these things interfere, in the smallest degree, with the gracious activities of the divine nature, or the outgoings of G.o.d"s love towards a lost world? In no wise. G.o.d is love. That is His blessed nature, and this nature must express itself toward all. The mistake lies in supposing that because G.o.d has His purposes, His counsels, His decrees--because He is sovereign in His grace and mercy--because He has chosen from all eternity a people for His own praise and glory--because the names of the redeemed, all the redeemed, were written down in the book of the slain Lamb, before the foundation of the world--that therefore G.o.d cannot be said to love all mankind--to love the world--and, moreover that the glad tidings of G.o.d"s full and free salvation ought not to be proclaimed in the ears of every creature under heaven.
The simple fact is that the two lines, though so perfectly distinct, are laid down with equal clearness, in the word of G.o.d; neither interferes, in the smallest degree, with the other, but both together go to make up the beauteous harmony of divine truth and to set forth the glorious unity of the divine nature.
Now, it is with the activities of the divine nature and the outgoings of divine love that the preacher of the gospel has specially to do. He is not to be cramped, crippled, or confined in his blessed work, by any reference to G.o.d"s secret decrees or purposes, though fully aware of the existence of such. His mission is to the world--the wide wide world. His theme is salvation--a salvation as full as the heart of G.o.d, as permanent as the throne of G.o.d--as free as the air--free to all without any exception, limitation, or condition whatsoever. The basis of his work is the atoning death of Christ which has removed all barriers out of the way, and opened up the floodgates in order that the mighty tide of divine love may roll forth, in all its fulness, richness and blessedness, to a lost and guilty world.
And here, we may add, lies the ground of man"s responsibility in reference to the gospel of G.o.d. If, indeed, it be true that G.o.d so loved the world as to give His only begotten Son--if "the righteousness of G.o.d is unto all" (Rom. iii. 22)--if it be G.o.d"s gracious will that "all should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Tim. ii. 4)--if He is "not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance" (2 Pet. iii. 9)--then verily is every man who hears this glorious gospel laid under the most solemn responsibility to believe it and be saved. No one can honestly and truthfully turn round and say, "I longed to be saved, but could not, because I was not one of the elect. I longed to flee from the wrath to come but was prevented by the insuperable barrier of the divine decree which irresistibly consigned me to an everlasting h.e.l.l."
There is not, within the covers of the volume of G.o.d, in the entire range of His dealings with His creatures, in the aspect of His character, or in the enactments of His moral government, the very faintest shadow of a foundation for such an objection. Every man is left without excuse. G.o.d can say to all who have rejected His gospel, "I would, but ye would not." There is absolutely no such thing as reprobation in the word of G.o.d, meaning thereby the consignment on G.o.d"s part, of any number of His creatures to everlasting d.a.m.nation.
Everlasting fire is prepared for the devil and his angels. (Matt.
xxv.) Men _will_ rush into it. "Vessels of wrath" are fitted, not by G.o.d, but by themselves, "to destruction." (Rom. ix.) Everyone who gets to heaven will have to thank G.o.d for it. Everyone who finds himself in h.e.l.l will have to blame himself for it.
Furthermore, we have ever to remember that the sinner has nothing to do with G.o.d"s unpublished decrees. What does he--what can he--know about such? Nothing whatever. But he has to do with G.o.d"s published love--His proffered mercy--His free salvation--His glorious gospel. We may fearlessly a.s.sert that so long as these glowing and glorious words shine in the record of G.o.d, "_Whosoever will_ let him take of the water of life _freely_," (Rev. xxii. 17) it is impossible for any son or daughter of Adam to say, "I longed to be saved, but could not. I thirsted for the living water, but could not reach it. The well was deep and I had nothing to draw with." Ah, no! such language will never be used, such an objection will never be urged by anyone in all the ranks of the lost. When men pa.s.s into eternity they will see with awful clearness what they now affect to think is so obscure and perplexing, namely, the perfect compatibility of G.o.d"s electing sovereign grace and the free offer of salvation to all--the fullest harmony between divine sovereignty and human responsibility.
We fondly trust the reader sees these things, even now. It is of the very last possible importance to maintain the balance of truth in the soul--to allow the beams of divine revelation to act, with full power, on the heart and conscience, unimpeded by the murky atmosphere of mere human theology. There is imminent danger in taking up a certain number of abstract truths and forming them into a system. We want the adjusting power of _all truth_. The growth and practical sanctification of the soul are promoted, not by some truth, but by _the_ truth, in all its fullness, as embodied in the person of Christ, and set forth by the eternal Spirit in the holy scriptures. We must get rid completely of all our own preconceived notions--all merely theological views and opinions--and come like a little child, to the feet of Jesus to be taught by His Spirit, from out His holy word. Thus only shall we find rest from conflicting dogmas. Thus shall all the heavy clouds and mists of human opinion be rolled away, and our enfranchised souls shall bask in the clear sunlight of a full divine revelation.
We shall now proceed with our proofs.
The second fact which we shall adduce to prove that G.o.d is for us will be found in
THE DEATH OF HIS SON.
And, for our present purpose, it is only necessary for us to take up one feature in the atoning death of Christ, but that one feature is a cardinal one. We refer to the marvellous fact set forth by the Holy Ghost in the prophet Isaiah, "It pleased Jehovah to bruise Him. He hath put Him to grief." (Chapter liii.)
Our blessed Lord might have come into this world of sin and sorrow. He might have become a man. He might have been baptized in the Jordan--anointed by the Holy Ghost--tempted of Satan in the wilderness. He might have gone about doing good. He might have lived and labored, wept and prayed, and, at the close, gone back to heaven again, thus leaving us involved in deeper gloom than ever. He might, like the priest or the Levite, in the parable, have come and looked upon us in our wounds and misery, pa.s.sed by on the other side and returned alone to the place from whence He came.
And what if He had? what, reader, but the flames of an everlasting h.e.l.l for thee and me? For, be it well remembered, that all the living labors of the Son of G.o.d--His amazing ministry--His days of toil and His nights of prayer--His tears, His sighs, His groans--the whole of His life-work, from the manger up to, but short of, the cross, could not have blotted out one speck of guilt from a human conscience.
"Without shedding of blood is no remission." No doubt, the eternal Son had to become a man that He might die; but incarnation could not cancel guilt. Indeed, the life of Christ, as a man on this earth, only proved the human race more guilty still. "If I had not come and spoken to them, they had not had sin." The light that shone in His blessed ways only revealed the moral darkness of man--of Israel--of the world.
Hence, therefore, had He merely come and lived and labored here for three-and-thirty years, and gone back to heaven, our guilt and moral darkness would have been fully proved but no atonement made. "It is the blood that maketh atonement for the soul." "Without shedding of blood is no remission," (Heb. ix. 22.)
This is a grand foundation-truth of Christianity, and must be constantly affirmed, and tenaciously held. There is immense moral power in it. If it be true that all the life-labors of the Son of G.o.d--His tears, His prayers, His groans, His sighs--if all these things put together could not cancel one single speck of guilt; then, indeed, may we not lawfully inquire what possible value can there be in our works--our tears--our prayers--our religious services--our ordinances, sacraments and ceremonies--the whole range of religious activity and moral reform? Can such things avail to cancel our sins and give us a righteousness before G.o.d? The thought is perfectly monstrous. If any or all of these things could avail, then why the sacrificial, atoning death of Christ? Why that ineffable and inestimable sacrifice, if aught else would have done?
But, it will perhaps be said that, although none of these things could avail _without_ the death of Christ, yet they must be added to it. For what? To make that peerless death--that precious blood--that priceless sacrifice of full avail? Is that it? Shall the rubbish of human doings, human righteousness, be flung into the scale to make the sacrifice of Christ of full avail in the judgment of G.o.d? The bare thought is positive and absolute blasphemy.
But are there not to be good works? Yes, verily; but what are they?
Are they the pious doings, the religious efforts, the moral activities of unregenerate, unconverted, unbelieving nature? Nay. What then? What are the Christian"s good works? They are _life-works_, not dead works.
They are the precious fruits of life possessed--the life of Christ in the true believer. There is not anything beneath the canopy of heaven which G.o.d can accept as a good work save the fruit of the grace of Christ in the believer. The very feeblest expression of the life of Christ, in the daily history of a Christian, is fragrant and precious to G.o.d. But the most splendid and gigantic labors of an unbeliever are, in G.o.d"s account, but "dead works."
All this, however, is a digression from our main line, to which we must now return.
We have said that, for our present purpose, we shall merely refer to one special point in the death of Christ, and that is the fact that it pleased Jehovah to bruise Him. Herein lies the striking and soul-subduing proof that G.o.d is for us. "He spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all." He not merely _gave_ Him but _bruised_ Him, and that for us. That spotless, holy, perfect One--the only perfect Man that ever trod this earth--the One who ever did the things which pleased His Father--whose whole life from the manger to the tree was one continued sweet odor ascending to the throne and to the heart of G.o.d--whose every movement, every word, every look, every thought was well-pleasing to G.o.d--whose one grand object, from first to last, was to glorify G.o.d and finish His work--this blessed One was delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of G.o.d--was nailed to the cursed tree, and there endured the righteous wrath of a sin-hating G.o.d; and all this because G.o.d was for us--even _us_.
What marvellous and matchless grace is here! The Just One bruised for the unjust--the sinless, spotless, holy Jesus, bruised by the hand of Infinite Justice in order that guilty rebels might be saved; and not only saved but brought into the position and relationship of sons--sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty--heirs of G.o.d and joint-heirs with Christ.
This surely is grace--rich, free, sovereign grace--grace abounding to the very chief of sinners--grace reigning, through righteousness, unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ. Who would not trust this grace? Who can look at the cross, and doubt that G.o.d is for the sinner--for any sinner--for him--for the reader of these lines? Who would not confide in that love that shines in the cross? Who can look at the cross and not see that G.o.d willeth not the death of any sinner? Why did He not allow us to perish in our guilt--to descend into that everlasting h.e.l.l which we so richly deserved because of our sins? Why give His Only-begotten Son? Why bruise Him on that shameful cross? Why hide His face from the only perfect Man that ever lived--that Man His own Eternal Son? Why all this, reader? Surely it was because G.o.d is for us, spite of all our guilt and sinful rebellion. Yes, blessed be His Name, He is for the poor self-destroyed, h.e.l.l-deserving sinner, be he who or what he may; and each one whose eye scans these lines is now entreated to come and confide in the love that gave Jesus from the bosom and bruised Him on the cross.
Oh! beloved reader, do come, just now. Delay not! Waver not! Reason not! Listen not to Satan! Listen not to the suggestions and imaginings of your own heart; but listen to that word which a.s.sures you that G.o.d is for you, and to that love which shines forth in the gift and the death of His Son.
In pursuing what we may truly call the golden chain of evidence in proof that G.o.d is for us, we have dwelt upon the two precious facts of the gift and the death of His Son. We have traveled from the bosom to the cross, along that mysterious and marvelous path which is marked by the footprints of divine and everlasting love. We have seen the blessed One not only giving His only begotten Son from His bosom, but actually bruising Him for us--making His spotless soul an offering for sin--bringing Him down into the dust of death--making Him to be sin for us--judging Him in our stead--thus affording the most unanswerable evidence of the fact that He is for us, that His heart is toward us, that He earnestly desires our salvation, seeing that He hath not withheld His Son, His only Son from us, but delivered Him up for us all.
We shall now proceed to our third proof, which is furnished by
THE RAISING OF HIS SON.
And in speaking of the glorious fact of resurrection, we must confine ourselves to the one point therein, namely, the proof which it furnishes of G.o.d"s being friendly to us. A pa.s.sage or two of Scripture will suffice to unfold and establish this special point.
In Romans iv., the inspired apostle introduces G.o.d to our hearts as the One who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He is speaking of Abraham who, He tells us, "against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah"s womb. He staggered not at the promise of G.o.d through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to G.o.d; and being fully persuaded that what He had promised, He was able also to perform. And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him; but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on Him that"--what? That gave His Son? Nay. That bruised His Son upon the cross? Nay. What then? "That raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead"--the very same "who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification."
Anxious reader, weigh this great fact. What was it that brought the precious Saviour to the cross? What brought Him down to the dust of death? Was it not our offences? Truly so. "He was delivered for our offences." He was nailed to the cursed tree for us. He represented us on the cross. He was our Subst.i.tute, in all the full value and deep significance of that word. He took our place and was treated, in every respect, as we deserve to be treated. The hand of infinite justice dealt with our sins--all our sins, at the cross. Jesus made Himself responsible for all our offences, our iniquities, our transgressions, our liabilities, all that was or ever could be against us; He--blessed be His peerless and adorable name!--made Himself answerable for all, and died in our stead, under the full weight of our sins. He died, the just for the unjust.
Where is He now? The heart bounds with ineffable joy and holy triumph at the thought of the answer. Where is the blessed One who hung on yonder cross, and lay in yonder tomb? He is at the right hand of G.o.d, crowned with glory and honor. Who set Him there? Who put the crown upon His blessed brow? G.o.d Himself. The One who gave Him, and the One who bruised Him is the One who raised Him, and it is in Him we are to believe if we are to be counted righteous. This is the special point before the apostle"s mind. Righteousness shall be imputed to us if we believe on G.o.d as the One who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.
Mark the vital link. Seize the all-important connection. The selfsame One who hung upon the cross, charged with all our offences, is now on the throne without them. How did He get there? Was it in virtue of His eternal G.o.dhead? No: for on that ground He was always there. He was G.o.d over all blessed forever. Was it in virtue of His eternal Sonship? Nay; for He was ever there on that ground also.[1] Therefore, it could, in no wise, meet our need as guilty sinners, charged with innumerable offences, to be told that the eternal Son of the Father had taken His seat at the right hand of the majesty in the heavens, inasmuch as that place ever belonged to Him--yea, the very deepest and tenderest place in the bosom of the Father.
[1] We rejoice in every opportunity for the setting forth of Christ"s eternal Sonship. We hold it to be an integral and essentially necessary part of the Christian faith.
But, further, we may inquire, was it as the spotless, sinless, perfect Man that our adorable Lord took His seat on the throne? Nay; as such, He could, at any moment, between the manger and the cross, have taken His place there.