All forgiveness is founded on the blessed work of the Lord Jesus. Without the work of Christ, a holy and just God (yea, a God of truth) must have held man to be what he really is—a guilty sinner, who must be judged according to his works. And we know beforehand from His word that there is none righteous, no, not one. The love of God, great as it is (so great that for us He did not spare His Son), could not say that sin was not sin, or that He was indifferent to good and evil; for He is not, and in His own nature cannot be. And if He judges, and makes man himself answer for what he has done, He must judge him righteously.
Besides, we are alienated from God in heart and mind, and so really lost already. It is not now meant finally, nor that we cannot be saved out of that state; but if we can, it is because Christ came to seek and to save that which was lost. If we come unrepentant and unbelieving before the judgment-seat of Christ, judgment will be according to our works, and therefore condemnation; for all have sinned.
But God is love: “God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” God in grace has thus anticipated that day of judgment. The same blessed Son of God, (who will as Son of man sit on the judgment-seat, and judge the quick and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom), has already, before that day, come as a Savior, and died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and “he that believeth on the Son of God shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be condemned.” The statement is plain enough and solemn enough without adding anything to it. They die in their sins, and are doubly guilty; they have not only sinned against His holiness, but despised His mercy.
Do we now really in heart believe in the Son of God, with a faith wrought in us by the Holy Ghost, and a conscience which feels the need of grace and forgiveness? For that is the great point—a faith which has wrought true repentance, that godly sorrow and sense that we have deserved to be condemned which make Christ and His grace and His work precious to us. We may have been all brought up to believe in the blessed Lord Jesus as a divine history; but that is very different from believing in Him as meeting the need of an awakened conscience.
But supposing I have this true faith in Him, then it behooves me to be able to say what He has done for me. “He died for our sins according to the scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:33For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; (1 Corinthians 15:3)); “He bore our sins in His own body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:2424Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. (1 Peter 2:24)); “He once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:1818For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: (1 Peter 3:18)).
So that here is our question: Supposing I have true heart-faith in Him (Christ having thus died for me), what is the efficacy of His death for me? I have a perfect and eternal forgiveness and redemption according to the glory of God. Those who neglect this great salvation are doubly guilty; but what is the value of His work for those who have really a part in it? “Be it known unto you, therefore, men [and] brethren, that through this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: and by Him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses” (Acts 13:38, 3938Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: 39And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. (Acts 13:38‑39)). “In Whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Eph. 1:77In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; (Ephesians 1:7)); “Who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: by Whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” (Rom. 4:25; 5:1, 225Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification. (Romans 4:25)
1Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: 2By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. (Romans 5:1‑2)). “By the obedience of One shall many be made righteous” (Rom. 5:1919For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. (Romans 5:19)). “Whom He justified, them He also glorified” (Rom. 8:3030Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. (Romans 8:30)). “By His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption” (Heb. 9:1212Neither 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 9:12)). And its effect is complete— “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” (ver. 14).
But is this valid forever?
We have seen that it is eternal redemption, that it purges the conscience from dead works, and gives peace with God; but scripture is more explicit. Christ is always at the right hand of God, and has presented His precious blood to God. It is always before His eyes; but scripture is very distinct on this point— “But This [Man], having offered one sacrifice for sins, forever sat down at the right hand of God.” He is not, like the Jewish priests, standing continually at the altar, offering sacrifices which could never take away sins (Heb. 10:1111And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: (Hebrews 10:11)); He sat down because, for redemption and forgiveness, He had done already the whole work; for (Heb. 10:1414For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. (Hebrews 10:14)) “by one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.” He sits there at the right hand of God till His enemies be made His footstool; then He will come to deal with them in judgment. But all is done for His friends (that is, true believers); and He has sat down, having finished the work, so that those who come by it have no more conscience of sins (ver. 2). “Blessed is the man to whom Jehovah will impute no sin.” “Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered” (Rom. 4:7, 87Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. 8Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. (Romans 4:7‑8)). And is it only some of them? No, that were useless. The Holy Ghost testifies of it clearly in the same Heb. 10 from which we have quoted, “And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more” (ver 17). And so plainly does He put it that He even declares “where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin” (ver. 18). So that, if all were not completely pardoned and effaced, there could be no remedy.
The more we consider it, the plainer it is. Christ is the Judge. But if now I can say by faith, He loves me and washed me from my sins in His own blood, how can He, when I stand before the judgment-seat, impute to me the sins He Himself bore away? He would be denying the value of His own work, which is impossible.
Again, if we are believers, we are then raised in glory (1 Cor. 15:4343It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: (1 Corinthians 15:43)); nay, Christ shall Himself come to present us to Himself, “Who shall change our body of humiliation that it may be fashioned like unto His body of glory.” If Christ comes to fetch us, and puts us in glory, where is the place for raising any question then about our sins? And this is clearly said in John 5:2424Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. (John 5:24): “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth Him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation [judgment], but is passed from death unto life.”
Is it because God is indifferent to the sins? Impossible! But, He having given His Son for us, Christ has borne them already, and cannot impute them to those who believe in Him and in the Father Who sent Him in love. We know that the Lord says, “If ye do not believe that I am He, ye shall die in your sins” (John 8:2424I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins. (John 8:24)). But if we believe in Him, we have the forgiveness of our sins (not of some, to be condemned for the rest). “Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more,” because “by one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.” And we possess the blessedness of this word, “Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man to whom Jehovah will not impute sin.” Hence repentance and remission of sins were to be preached in Jesus' name. The Christian has a new life from Christ, and this will show itself in his walk. He is born of the Spirit; and the faith in Christ by which he has forgiveness makes Christ everything to him, (as it is written in Col. 3, “Christ is all, and in all” —the “everything,” that is, of our hearts); and He is our life. But I now confine myself to redemption and forgiveness.
There is, then, a forgiveness identified with redemption and the abiding value of Christ's blood, so that our sins are none of them imputed to us: God remembers them no more. We have part in this through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, and the door by which we enter is repentance toward God, which faith in the word of Christ always produces. We have our eyes opened, we are turned from darkness to light—from the power of Satan unto God, and we receive remission of our sins and an inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith that is in Jesus (Acts 26:1818To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. (Acts 26:18)).
Under the Old Testament, among the Jews this full forgiveness was not known. They got a kind of absolution for each sin they committed; they were shut out from entering into the holiest by the veil, which hung before the place where God revealed Himself. Thus in Heb. 9 it is written, “The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing.” But, when the real work (of which all these things were figures) was accomplished in the death of the Savior, we learn that the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom (Matt. 27:5151And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; (Matthew 27:51)). And we are exhorted (Heb. 10:1919Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, (Hebrews 10:19)), in virtue of the work of Christ and the remission of our sins (ver. 17,18), having “boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which He hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, His flesh,” to “draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience.” That one work done once for all, never to be repeated and effectual to give peace to the conscience, is the ground on which we have eternal redemption, and full forgiveness (so that God remembers our sins and iniquities no more); an entrance into God's presence; and a part in the everlasting inheritance of God's children in glory.
This great difference in the state of believers before and after the death of the blessed Lord is celebrated by Zacharias at the birth of John the Baptist, Christ's forerunner:— “To give knowledge of salvation unto His people, by the remission of their sins” (Luke 1:7777To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins, (Luke 1:77)). So the repentant thief went straight into paradise with Christ; so to the repentant woman in the city that was a sinner the Lord said, not only, “Thy sins are forgiven thee,” but “Thy faith hath saved thee” (Luke 7:48-5048And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven. 49And they that sat at meat with him began to say within themselves, Who is this that forgiveth sins also? 50And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace. (Luke 7:48‑50)).
There is then for faith a present but eternal forgiveness, founded on Christ's bearing our sins in a work which can never be repeated, its value never diminished, nor anything added to it. God has proved His value of its worth in setting Him Who did it at His right hand in the glory, where He was with Him as Son of God before the world was. “Without shedding of blood there is no remission.” This cannot be repeated. “Christ is not entered into holy places made with hands, which are figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: nor yet to offer Himself often... otherwise He must often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the consummation of the ages He hath appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time apart from sin unto salvation.” Those whose sins were put away the first time He comes to take into glory; as to them He will have no more to do with sin, which He was made for them the first time. J. N. D.