If we examine the value of the death of Christ, what do we find attached to it in Scripture?
Do I need redemption? We have redemption through His blood, an eternal redemption; for, “neither 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.”
Do I need forgiveness? That redemption which I have through His blood is the forgiveness of sins—yea, “without shedding of blood is no remission.”
Do I need peace? He has made peace, “through the blood of His cross.”
Do I need reconciliation with God? Though we were sinners, yet now hath He reconciled us by, “the body of His flesh through death, to present us holy, and unblameable, and unreproveable in God’s sight.” “When we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son.”
Do I desire to be dead to sin, and have the flesh crucified with its affections and lusts? “I am crucified with Christ.” “Knowing this that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed;” “for in that He died, He died unto sin once, and that He liveth, He liveth unto God.” This is my deliverance also from the charge and burden of the law which has dominion over a man as long as he lives.
Do I feel the need of propitiation? Christ is set forth as “a propitiation through faith in His blood.”
The need of justification? I am, “justified by His blood.”
Would I have a part with Christ, He must die; for, “except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.”
Unto what am I baptized, as the public expression of my faith? “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death?” For what has broken down the middle wall of partition and let in the Gentiles, slaying the enmity and reconciling Jew and Gentile in one body to God? The Cross.
How have I boldness to enter into the holiest? “By the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He has consecrated for us through the veil , that is to say, His flesh;” for until that was rent the Holy Ghost signified by it that the way into the holiest was not yet made manifest.
How was Christ made the attractive point for all? “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.”
In the power of what was the Great Shepherd of the sheep brought again from the dead? “Through the blood of the everlasting covenant.”
How was the curse of the law taken away from those who were under it? By Christ’s being made a curse for them, as it is written, “Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.”
How are we washed from our sins? He has, “loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood,” for, “The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”
How can I be delivered from the world? It is by the cross, “by which the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.”
How does the love of Christ constrain me toward men in the thought of the terror of the Lord? Because I thus judge, “that if One died for all, then were all dead: and that He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him who died for them and rose again.” Hence the apostle knew no man after the flesh—no, not even Christ. All was a new creation.
If I would live in divine power, it is, “always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus may be manifested in my mortal body.”
If He would institute a special remembrance to call Him to mind, it was a broken body and a shed blood.
Who is it that is found on the throne? “A Lamb as it had been slain.”
All was in love no doubt, but do I want to learn it? Hereby we know it that He laid down His life for us, and that even of God, in that, “He loved us and gave His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
It is to the sprinkling of that precious blood of Christ that we are sanctified, and to obedience; and through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once (contrasted with the many Jewish sacrifices) sanctified and perfected for ever, so that there is no more offering for sin; for having offered one sacrifice for sins He set down forever at the right hand of God. “Nor yet that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with the blood of others; for then must He often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world bath He 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 without sin unto salvation.”
Do I desire, therefore, my conscience purged? It is through the blood of Christ, “who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God.” For it is by means of death that there is the redemption of the transgressions which were under the first covenant, and in that view He became the Mediator. Indeed, a testament could have no force while the testator liveth.
Do I seek the destruction of the power of Satan? It is, “through death that He destroyed (the power of) him that had the power of death.”
Would He sanctify even the Jewish people to Himself? It must be by His blood, suffering, rejected, “without the gate.” No remission for us—no privileges of the new covenant for us, nor establishing of it with them, without His blood—redemption is not without it! The living sinner as such cannot be presented to God, nor a living Christ offer that by which the sinner must draw nigh. The veil remains unrent, the conscience unpurged, the propitiation unaccomplished. God forbore with the Old Testament saints, and has shown His righteousness in doing so now—a righteousness now declared in that propitiatory set forth through faith in Christ’s blood. It is alleged, indeed, that He came to do God’s will in taking the place of the sacrifices, and that His obedience during life is available in expiation; but we read, “By the which will we are sanctified, through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”
It is alleged that His living obedience had the same legal character as His death. Is it the same thing, then, to obey the law with unfeigned heart, so as to be perfectly acceptable to God personally, and to bear its curse for others under the wrath and judgment of God? Is it possible for Christians, who know what the need of their own souls as sinners is, can use such reasoning?
J. N. D.
(Extracted from the “Bible Treasury,” September 1, 1858; p. 131-132.)