God's Plan with Men Part 2

"That he might himself be just and the justifier of him that hath faith in Jesus."--Rom. 3:26.

"He was wounded for our transgressions; he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastis.e.m.e.nt of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All 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."--Is. 53:5, 6.

"Christ died for our sins."--1 Cor. 15:3.

"Our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins."--Gal. 1:3, 4.

"Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree."--1 Peter 2:24.

"Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous."--1 Peter 3:18.

"Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give His life a ransom for many."--Matt. 20:28.

"There is one mediator between G.o.d and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all."--1 Tim. 2:5, 6.

"Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us."--Gal. 3:13.

"Our Saviour Jesus Christ; who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity."--t.i.tus 2:13, 14.

"By which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all."--Heb. 10:10.

"For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified."--Heb. 10:14.

"Nor yet by the blood of goats and bulls, but through his own blood entered in once for all into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption."--Heb. 9:12.

"This is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many unto the remission of sins."--Matt. 26:28.

"And they sing a new song, saying, Worthy art thou to take the book and to open the seals thereof; for thou wast slain, and didst purchase unto G.o.d with thy blood men of every tribe and tongue and people and nation."--Rev. 5:9.

"Herein is love, not that we loved G.o.d, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins."--1 John 4:10.

"The Son of G.o.d who loved me, and gave himself up for me."--Gal.

2:20.

Reader, G.o.d's justice and love are both shown in the Saviour dying for our sins. Subst.i.tution is the _only way_ of salvation when justice and love are both considered. It was G.o.d's justice that made it necessary for Christ to die for our sins. "Even so _must_ the Son of man be lifted up,"--John 3:14;--"that he might himself be _just_ and the _justifier_ of him that hath faith in Jesus."--Rom. 3:26. And it was G.o.d's love that let Him die for our sins, "for G.o.d so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son."--John 3:16. What you, reader, ought to desire to know, is simply G.o.d's way. The Scriptures at the beginning of the chapter, if language can make anything plain, show clearly that the sinner's only escape from the just punishment of his sins lies in Jesus dying in his place to set him free from the just penalty due his sins; and they make it plain that this settles the _full_ penalty for _all sins_.

But the objection is raised and pressed with all the force of human ingenuity and scholarship, backed by the prestige of some occupying the highest positions in literary and theological inst.i.tutions, that it is morally wrong for the innocent to suffer the penalty of the guilty. With a zeal deserving a better cause, many who stand high as professed Christians and teachers join hands with the rankest, most blatant infidels, and press this, to them, unanswerable objection to Christ dying for our sins as our subst.i.tute. This friendship between infidelity and professed Christian teachers reminds one of another occasion when our Saviour was set at naught and two became friends with each other that very day (Luke 23:11, 12). Let us face this objection honestly and earnestly, for our eternal destiny turns on this one point. _Is it morally wrong for the innocent to bear the sins of the guilty?_ In the first place it is _not_ morally wrong, because G.o.d would not do morally wrong, and G.o.d _did_ let the innocent suffer the penalty of the guilty. The language of Scripture teaching that Jesus suffered the penalty of our sins for us is plain and simple, and all efforts to take from the Scripture language its simple, plain, natural meaning are pitiable, and if contempt were ever justifiable, would deserve the contempt of all honest men. Let the reader turn back and read the Scriptures at the head of this chapter and decide for himself as to their obvious, intended meaning.

Now, because G.o.d's word tells us plainly that G.o.d gave His only begotten Son, that He might be just, and thus the justifier of him who believes in Jesus, that Christ died for our sins, that He gave Himself for our sins, the just for the unjust,--it is right for the innocent to suffer the penalty of the guilty. To any honest, candid man, which is the correct way to reason? This thing is wrong; G.o.d did this thing; therefore, G.o.d did wrong? or, G.o.d does right; G.o.d did let Christ, the innocent, suffer and die for our sins, to _redeem_ from _all iniquity_; therefore it is right for the innocent to suffer the penalty of the guilty?

Nor is Christ suffering as our subst.i.tute the Great Exception, as some timid ones have granted. It is in line with _G.o.d's Plan with Men_; it is in line with the best and n.o.blest there is in man; and the opposite teaching, that it is wrong to let the innocent bear the penalty of the guilty, is not only wrong, but horrible and the extreme of heartlessness. Two men pa.s.sing along the street at night hear groaning in the gutter; striking a match, they see two men lying in the gutter with their faces all gashed and bleeding. In a drunken street fight they have almost killed each other. Who did the sinning? Those two men lying in the gutter; they deserve to suffer the penalty of their sinning. But these other two men join hands, pay for a physician, a nurse and the hospital bill. In principle that is the innocent paying the penalty of the guilty. To say that this is wrong would mean to condemn the community to pa.s.s by day after day and see those ghastly, festering wounds, those parched lips and bloodshot eyes, and to listen to those dying groans. And yet in principle that is exactly what those demand for this sinful, sin-injured human race, when they say that it is morally wrong for Jesus the Saviour to suffer the penalty of our sins. A son becomes a drunkard; his drunkenness and debauchery utterly wreck his health. Some night the father finds his drunken son down in the street, a helpless invalid. The son did the sinning; he deserves to suffer the penalty of his sins; but the father takes him to his home and cares for him and supports him. In principle that is the innocent bearing the penalty of the guilty. To say that this is morally wrong would be to condemn that father to pa.s.s by day after day and see his son suffering the just consequences of his sin, to see him slowly starving to death, to see him gasping in death, and not be allowed to come to the rescue. Yet when men object to Christ bearing the penalty of the sinner's sins they are, in principle, taking that stand; for in principle Jesus, dying for our sins, did what the father did with the son. A prominent woman in America was dying from lack of blood; back of it somewhere was violation of some law of G.o.d, some law of health. Her n.o.ble husband had the surgeon join their arteries, and every beat of his n.o.ble heart drove his well blood into the body of his dying wife, and he saved her life. These objectors praise that act; they see nothing morally wrong in it. Yet when Jesus, in principle, did the same thing for sinners in order to save them, these same men, with a haughty, scornful tone, say that it is morally wrong for the innocent to suffer in place of the guilty. "Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against G.o.d?"--Rom. 9:20. Had the objectors said that it was wrong to _force_ the innocent to suffer the penalty of the guilty, that would have been true, but Jesus was not forced.

Listen to Him, John 10:17, 18, "Therefore doth the Father love me, because I lay down my life that I may take it again. No one taketh it away from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again."

Nor is Christ dying for our sins, as taught by the Scriptures, a makeshift, but, rather, a real, full _redemption, ransom_. Just as a captain can honorably, honestly be given as a ransom for a number of private soldiers in an exchange of prisoners; just as a diamond can redeem a debt of many dollars; just as one man is allowed to pay another's debt; just as one man is allowed to pay another's fine in a courtroom; so our Lord and Saviour "gave himself for us, that he might _redeem_ us from _all iniquity_." All ill.u.s.trations of Deity fall short, but just as a man could ransom all the ants that crawl upon the earth, were they under moral law and had violated it; just as a man could, on account of the vast difference in the scale of being, suffer in his own body all that all the ants upon earth could suffer; so Jesus, Immanuel, G.o.d with us, redeemed us from "all iniquity." It was not merely the nails driven through His quivering flesh, nor the physical pangs, but "the Lord hath laid on him _the iniquity_ of us all." Hence, that awful cry, "My G.o.d, my G.o.d, why hast thou forsaken me?" He was in the sinner's place, suffering the sinner's penalty for sin. "He hath made him to be sin for us."--2 Cor. 6:21.

Instead of proudly cavilling and warping and trying to avoid the simple, plain meaning of G.o.d's word, should you not rather, reader, bow in reverence before such love, realize that it was for you, yes, _you_, and that through His suffering and in no other way, you may escape the just punishment of your sins and spend eternity in Heaven?

The world weeps over the story of the n.o.ble fireman who gave his life to rescue a little girl from a burning building, but it coldly scorns and proudly rejects salvation through the redemption of Jesus the Christ. Oh, the pride and wickedness of the human heart! Be not you, reader, of those who sit in the seat of the scornful, but the rather of those who at the last day will sing, Rev. 5:9, "Worthy art thou to take the book and to open the seals thereof; for thou wast slain, and didst purchase unto G.o.d with thy blood, men of every tribe and tongue and people and nation."

Let us consider carefully what it really means when we are told that "Christ died _for our sins_,"--1 Cor. 15:3, that He "gave himself _for our sins_,"--Gal. 1:4; that "his own self bare our sins in his own body upon the tree,"--1 Peter 2:24; that "Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous."--1 Peter 3:18. G.o.d's word explains it clearly: "That he might himself be _just_ and the _justifier_ of him that hath faith in Jesus."--Rom. 3:26. "_That he might be just._" Notice it carefully, "_That he might be just._" Take it in its full meaning, "That he might be just." A question: How _could_ G.o.d be _just_ and _justify_ any sinner apart from the fact that "Christ died for our sins," that "the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all"? Reader, no man, however learned, will ever answer that question. He may sneer; he may cavil; he may warp; he may try to confuse; but he will never come out in the open and answer that question. He may say that it is morally wrong for the innocent to bear the penalty of the guilty, but that objection is met and answered above in this chapter.

Let us face a trilemma; three, and only three plans, were possible for G.o.d with man:--

First, To have been just with man, without any love or mercy; hence, for every sinner to have suffered the just penalty for his sins, without any redemption. That would have meant h.e.l.l for every responsible human being, without any Heaven at all.

Second, To have been all mercy and all love and no justice. That would have meant no moral laws; for why have moral laws, if there would be no penalty, no justice? That would have meant a premium on crime. That would have meant the debased, the debauched, the immoral, the drunken, the fiend, on a level with the chaste, the pure, the upright, the true. That would have meant unbridled rein to pa.s.sion and l.u.s.t and every other evil inclination, and no penalty following. That would have meant h.e.l.l in trying to get rid of h.e.l.l.

Third, There was left but one other possible plan, to be just and at the same time extend love to the sinners. In the nature of the case, real redemption, without any makeshift, was the only way this _could_ be done. "Even so _must_ the Son of man be lifted up,"--John 3:14; "that he himself might be _just_ and the _justifier_ of him that hath faith in Jesus,"--Rom. 3:26; "G.o.d so _loved_ the world that he gave his only begotten Son,"--John 3:16; "Herein is love, not that we loved G.o.d, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be _the propitiation for our sins_."--1 John 4:10.

This leads to another question: How can G.o.d be _just_ and _not_ justify "him that hath faith in Jesus"? Again men may quibble and warp, and ridicule, but no one will ever answer the question. And the reason why this question will never be answered leads to another question:

From how many of his sins is the one "that hath faith in Jesus"

_justified_? We have now gotten to the very centre of the whole problem of salvation. Let us give it most careful consideration.

In not one of the Scriptures cited at the head of this chapter is there one word that limits the number of sins for which Christ died, or from which the believer is justified. That of itself is sufficient warrant for us to conclude that Christ died for _all_ of the sins of the believer, that when He "gave himself for our sins" (Gal. 1:4), it included _all_ of our sins, and that the believer is justified from _all_ of his sins. One man promises another that he will pay his debts. That of itself means all of his debts, unless the one making the promise was simply juggling with words. While this of itself would be sufficient, G.o.d in His word has made it positive and absolute as to how many of the believer's sins were laid on Christ ("the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all."--Is. 53:6); for how many of our sins Christ gave Himself ("Who gave himself for our sins."--Gal. 1:4); for how many of our sins Christ died (1 Cor. 15:3); from how many of his sins the believer is _justified_, ("that he might himself be _just_ and the _justifier_ of him that hath faith in Jesus."--Rom.

3:26). In Lev. 16:21, 22, G.o.d gives us a picture, foreshadowing the Saviour, of laying the sins on the subst.i.tute: "And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him _all_ the iniquity of the children of Israel, and _all_ their transgressions, even _all_ their sins; and he shall put them upon the head of the goat and shall send him away by the hand of a man that is in readiness into the wilderness: And the goat shall bear upon him _all_ their iniquities." "Behold the Lamb of G.o.d that taketh [or beareth] away the sins of the world."--John 1:29. _But how many_ of our sins? Let G.o.d's word answer: t.i.tus 2:13, 14, "Our Saviour Jesus Christ; who gave himself for us, that he might _redeem_ us from _all iniquity_." Look at it again, reader; grasp its full meaning; let it be impressed indelibly upon your soul: "Our Saviour Jesus Christ; who gave himself for us, that he might _redeem_ us from _all_ iniquity."

Then as certainly as the believer is redeemed by Him, he is redeemed from _all_ iniquity; and as certainly as he is redeemed from all iniquity, that certainly the believer is going to Heaven, for there is nothing left that can cause him to be lost. Hence G.o.d, through Paul, has told us "By him every one that believeth is _justified_ from _all_ things."--Acts 13:39.

If our Saviour Jesus Christ gave Himself for us that he might _redeem_ us from _all_ iniquity (t.i.tus 2:13, 14), how can G.o.d be _just_ and _not_ justify every one that believes from _all_ things (Acts 13:39)?

And if the believer is _justified_ from _all_ things (Acts 13:39), he is certain to go to Heaven. This is _G.o.d's plan_; this is G.o.d's will; "by the which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ _once for all_."--Heb. 10:10. "_For by one_ offering he hath _perfected forever_ them that are sanctified."--Heb.

10:14. "Nor yet by the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood entered in _once for all_ into the holy place, having obtained _eternal redemption_."--Heb. 9:12. Hence Jesus said, "Verily, 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 pa.s.sed from death to life."--John 5:24.

While thus is manifested G.o.d's justice, and the _only_ way that G.o.d _could_ be "just and the justifier of him that hath faith in Jesus"

(Rom. 3:26), for Jesus Himself said it ("Even so _must_ the Son of man be lifted up."--John 3:14); let the reader not forget that it equally manifests G.o.d's love, and the Saviour's love. "Herein is love, not that we loved G.o.d, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins."--1 John 4:10. "The Son of G.o.d who loved me and gave himself for me."--Gal. 2:20. If G.o.d's love is amazing in sending His Son to be the propitiation for our sins (1 John 4:10), if the Saviour's love is amazing in loving us and giving Himself for us (Gal. 2:20), how infinitely more amazing is this love when we see that it has obtained _eternal redemption_ for us (Heb. 9:12); that it has redeemed us from _all_ iniquity (t.i.tus 2:14), and that every one that believes is _justified_ from _all_ things (Acts 13:39)?

Reader, the greatest crime that is ever committed on this earth is to reject this "so great salvation" (Heb. 2:3); this redemption from all iniquity (t.i.tus 2:14), and to trifle with the amazing love that provided a way by which He Himself might be just and the justifier of him that hath faith in Jesus (Rom. 3:26). We shudder at the horrible crimes reported in the daily papers, at those recorded in history; but far greater, far blacker, more terrible, is the crime of a human being rejecting this great provision of G.o.d's love. Only intellectual pride, religious prejudice, family or race ties, love of the world, or secret sin, can be the cause of the reader taking such a fatal step; and fearful will be the consequences of letting any one of these cause the rejection of the only salvation that G.o.d's love and justice could provide. The reader cannot plead that G.o.d has not given sufficient proof that He has given us a revelation in His word (let the reader go back and read again the Introduction and the reference for further study); nor can he plead that G.o.d's word does not make the message plain (let the reader go back and study the Scriptures at the beginning of this chapter). It is a solemn and awful step, reader, one never to be retraced, to decide to reject this salvation, and to go out into the dark, unending future beyond the grave, unredeemed from iniquity, with no certain hope, when G.o.d has warned you, "Apart from shedding of blood there is no remission,"--Heb. 9:22. It is an awful, eternal crisis, when you see G.o.d's only provision for you, so complete, so perfect, so sure, and then face His warning, "I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before thee life and death, the blessing and the curse: therefore choose _life_."

_FOR FURTHER STUDY._--There are those who deny G.o.d's justice in Christ dying for our sins (1 Cor. 15:3), in Christ giving Himself for our sins (Gal. 1:4), in Christ redeeming us from all iniquity (t.i.tus 2:14). Expressions from the two most prominent rejecters will show the princ.i.p.al reasons given by all other rejecters of redemption through Christ:--

"Moral justice cannot take the innocent for the guilty, even if the innocent would offer itself."--_The "Age of Reason" by Thomas Paine._ "The outrage offered to the moral justice of G.o.d, by supposing Him to make the innocent suffer for the guilty."--_The "Age of Reason," by Thomas Paine._

"An execution is an object for grat.i.tude; the preachers daub themselves with the blood, like a troop of a.s.sa.s.sins, and pretend to admire the brilliancy it gives them."--_The "Age of Reason," by Thomas Paine._

The other is Mrs. Mary Baker G. Eddy in her "Science and Health, with Key to the Scriptures": "One sacrifice, however great, is insufficient to pay the debt of sin. The atonement requires constant self-immolation on the sinner's part." Again, "Another's suffering cannot lessen our own liability." Again, "The time is not distant when the ordinary theological views of atonement will undergo a great change,--a change as radical as that which has come over popular opinions in regard to predestination and future punishment. Does erudite theology regard the crucifixion of Jesus chiefly as providing a ready pardon for all sinners who ask for it and are willing to be forgiven? Does spiritualism find Jesus's death necessary only for the presentation, after death, of the material Jesus, as a proof that spirits can return to earth? Then we must differ from them both." It is not to be wondered at that she takes her stand with Thomas Paine in rejecting the teaching that Christ died for our sins (1 Cor. 15:3), and that He redeemed us from all iniquity (t.i.tus 2:14), when she says, "Does divine love commit a fraud on humanity by making man inclined to sin and then punishing him for it?" Again, "In common justice we must admit that G.o.d will not punish man for doing what He created man capable of doing, and knew from the outset that man would do." Again, "The destruction of sin is the divine method of pardon. Being destroyed, sin needs no other pardon." There is one vast difference between these two who reject Jesus as our sin-bearer, our Redeemer,--Thomas Paine does not masquerade under the name "Christian." Why should others who stand with him in rejecting complete redemption through Christ?

Catholics by the sacrifice of the ma.s.s, the unb.l.o.o.d.y sacrifice, the elevation of the host, teach that the wafer is changed into the real "body, blood, soul and divinity" of Jesus Christ, and that it is then offered as a sacrifice. They thereby reject the complete redemption through Christ dying for our sins (1 Cor. 15:3), redeeming us from all iniquity (t.i.tus 2:14). They thereby deny that He "offered one sacrifice for sin forever,"--Heb. 10:12, and that "by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified."--Heb. 10:14. Having rejected Him as complete Redeemer, they have no real Saviour at all.

But those who make salvation dependent on moral character, or baptism, or church membership, just as surely as the Catholics reject the completeness of the redemption.

There are some who sneer at this teaching as the "commercial view" of redemption, in the face of G.o.d's word that declares, "ye were _bought with a price,"_--1 Cor. 6:20; "worthy art thou to take the book and to open the seals thereof; for thou wast slain, and didst _purchase_ unto G.o.d with thy blood men of every tribe and tongue and people and nation."--Rev. 5:9. (R. V.)

Consider the testimony of three over against the two quoted against this teaching of G.o.d's word:--

"I saw that if Jesus suffered in my stead, I could not suffer, too; and that if He bore all my sin, I had no more sin to bear. My iniquity must be blotted out if Jesus bore it in my stead and suffered all its penalty."--_C. H. Spurgeon._

"If you believe on him, I tell you you cannot go to h.e.l.l; for that were to make the sacrifice of Christ of none effect. It cannot be that a sacrifice should be accepted and yet the soul should die for whom that sacrifice had been received. If the believing soul could be condemned, then why a sacrifice? Every believer can claim that the sacrifice was actually made for him: by faith he has laid his hands on it, and made it his own, and therefore he may rest a.s.sured that he can never perish. The Lord would not receive this offering on our behalf and then condemn us to die."--_C. H. Spurgeon._

"The law of G.o.d was more vindicated by the death of Christ than it would have been had all the transgressors been sent to h.e.l.l. For the Son of G.o.d to suffer for sin was a more glorious establishment of the government of G.o.d than for the whole race to suffer."--_C. H.

Spurgeon._