SUPPOSING, my friend, that I asked you the question, "Where is Christ to-day?” I should, of course, be told that He is not on earth. Quite so, but where is He? He is in heaven. Well, as professing Christians, we all accept that fact as part of our creed. But I fear that the full value of it is little known. True, the Lord Jesus Christ is not now here, He is now sitting as man in glory. The body prepared for Him, and in which he toiled, hungered, wept, suffered, and died, is now glorified in heaven. He is there as man, — more than man, for He is also “over all, God blessed forever." But yet that body now seated on the Father's throne in glory, was once marred, bruised, and crucified on earth. Lay hold of this blessed fact!
Do you not remember that, after His resurrection, when the disciples saw Him standing in their midst, they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed they had seen a spirit; but Jesus bade them behold His hands and feet; handle Him and see, for a spirit, said He, had not flesh and bones as He had. His body was material; He did eat before them; a mere spirit could never have done this. The thought of the actual resurrection of His body was beyond their credibility, until they beheld Him; just as, to this very day, the fact of it being glorified in heaven—not a spirit, but a body— is not really accredited. Yet what an immense comfort to the believer, and how many important truths attach to the fact of a glorified Man in heaven!
Well, then, He is seated there; and what is the significance of this? When a man comes home from his work in the field at the close of the day, and flings himself into his arm—chair, he implies, by that very act, that his toil is over. And so, when this blessed Workman had completed the work of redemption, He too sat down on high. Thus reads our text, “When he had by himself purged our sins, he sat down.”
Reader, the work is done! The Workman is seated; another touch need not, cannot, be added.
Expiation, full and complete, was effected by the work of the cross, and a foundation laid for eternal blessing.
Now, there are two words I want to press on your attention, and these are—"by himself" Do you notice that it was by Himself He made expiation for sin? It is not merely that He was the divine Instrument for the accomplishment of this work. He was indeed the Lamb appointed for the work of sacrifice, but these two words convey much more than this. They signify that so all-sufficient was the sacrifice of Himself, that nothing more need be added. No, my friends, there is not the necessity for the addition of one prayer, one tear, one act of merit; the glorious work stands absolutely complete, and the Workman is seated. "It is finished," was His shout of victory.
“But must I not weep and pray?” says some anxious soul. No, dear friend, Believe. All the tears you could shed, and all the prayers you could offer, could never alone for your sins; and that is the point before us now, “The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin." Its sufficiency is ample.
So witnesses the whole company of saints, from Abel to Saul of Tarsus.
"I stand upon His merit,
I know no other stand,
Not e'en where glory dwelleth
In Immanuel's land.”
"But must I not repent?" Well, “except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish,"—only repentance is not penance. I mean the idea is different. Penance is a work of merit, by virtue of which I deem myself more favorable to God, and possess myself of a claim upon Him. Repentance is a genuine acknowledgment of my total demerit, my desert of nothing but judgment, and my hope in nothing—in heaven or earth—but His sovereign mercy. Then, again, no one repents before he believes,—at least the two go together. When you begin to believe, you begin to repent. When did Paul repent? After he had seen Christ in heaven. What possible merit is there in the tears, prayers, or repentance of a poor sinner like you or me? But who can tell the infinite merit of “the precious blood of Christ "? There is not one sin it cannot cleanse, nor one sinner on earth it cannot save; “of whom I am chief," said the apostle Paul. The Spirit of God delights to magnify, and bear testimony to, the virtues of that blood; and never can a guilty soul trust therein without receiving forgiveness, peace, and glory.
“I ask no other argument,
I ask no other plea,
It is enough that Jesus died,
And that He died for me.”
Yes, quite enough! I appropriate, by faith, without works, the blessed results of His work for me. He died for me; all is settled. His death appears before God in all its eternal excellence, and I derive the fruit. Blessed Substitute " He once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.”
Oh, let the deep and blessed truth conveyed in these two words be grasped by your souls, —by Himself—BY HIMSELF! "When he had, by himself, made expiation for sin” (such is the more correct rendering), “he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high." And how worthy of that exalted place! How worthy of the crowns that sparkle on His brow!
Now, my friend, I am not preaching Christ incarnate, nor the Messiah of Israel, nor merely the dead Son of man, but I speak of a once dead, now risen, glorified Saviour. True, He was once incarnate,—He will yet claim and rule over Israel,— but we know Him as the despised and rejected Jesus, welcomed to highest heavenly glory. We know Him there, and all the associations of the Christian are with Him there. It was there He was seen by Saul of Tarsus; it was there He was seen by Stephen; it was there He was seen as the once slain Lamb by John. It is thence He will come again to call the church to meet Him in the air. What a Saviour!
But, though heaven has thus enthroned Him, what of earth? Is He honored here? Does every knee bow, and every tongue confess to His name? Is He enthroned in every heart? Ah, no! and hence the solemn question, " How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation? " Depend upon it, escape is utterly impossible; the neglecter will certainly be judged, and his judgment will be just as great as the salvation he has neglected. Sin, being infinite in demerit, demanded a sacrifice of infinite value. This was furnished by the death of the Son of God,—the holy, eternal, Son of the Father; and, seeing that nothing short of such a sacrifice could meet and expiate the guilt of sin, it follows that the punishment of sin is eternal. A limited debt may be met by a limited sum; but when the debt is unlimited, beyond creature-payment, the sacrifice, the atonement, must also be unlimited. God cannot look on sin. Absolute holiness holds it at infinite distance, and in everlasting abhorrence. Nothing can bridge the gulf but a sacrifice of perfect and absolute excellence. This is found, through grace, at the cross. God's love supplied what His justice demanded, and Jesus willingly laid down His life, took it again, rose, ascended, and still presents Himself as the sinner's Saviour.
Friend, will you cross by this wonderful Bridge? It has borne millions already, and it can bear millions more. None need fear “Blessed are all they that put their trust in him. "It is a" great salvation;" its neglect will involve a great damnation. May not one neglect. May all accept.
J. W. S.
“WHEN a strong man armed (Satan) keepeth his palace (this world), his goods (sinners) are in peace: but when a stronger than he (Jesus) shall come upon him, and overcome him (in the wilderness and on the cross), he taketh away from him all his armor wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils " (Luke 11:21, 2221When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace: 22But when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armor wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils. (Luke 11:21‑22)). How solemn to be Satan's goods!