Sep 23
10
“In those days, and in that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found; for I will pardon them whom I reserve.” Jeremiah 1:20.
What those days and that time refer to is very plain; namely, the day when the great trumpet shall be blown, and when they shall come which were ready to perish; the glorious day of gospel grace by Jesus. For God the Father, having appointed and accepted a Surety for poor sinners, in the blood and righteousness of his dear Son, beholds no iniquity in Jacob, nor perverseness in Israel. Blessed thought to comfort a poor soul that, seen in Christ, and accepted in the beloved, “there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit!” Pause, my soul, over this precious scripture, and take to thyself the comfort of it. If thou art in Christ, thou art beheld righteous in his righteousness; and, as thy Surety, what he wrought, and what he suffered, was for thee. So that, in this sense, thou art, as Christ tells the church, all fair, and there is no spot in thee. So that, amidst all thy groans for the remains of indwelling sin, (and groan thou dost daily,) and as thou sometimes art prompted to think, there is growing imperfection in thee; yet, in Jesus, as thou art found and beheld in him, sin is pardoned, and thy person accepted, and thou art in a state of justification before God in the righteousness of God thy Saviour. And, as this is so essential to be known and enjoyed, see to it, my soul, that thou livest upon it. Go in the strength of Christ’s righteousness every day to the throne, pleading that righteousness, and that only. And, under a perfect conviction that not a single sin of thine was left out when Jesus bore the sins of his people on the tree, beg for grace to exercise faith, and to know that in Jesus thou art justified before God, and that God hath cast all thy sins into the depths of the sea. “Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and goodness of God!” What shall separate from the love of Christ? surely not sin. For Jesus hath put away sin by the sacrifice of himself! The law of God cannot: for that law, Jesus, as the sinner’s Surety, hath satisfied. And justice, so far from condemning, now approves. God is just to his dear Son, as our Surety, who hath answered all the demands of sin, and therefore hath forgiven sin, and cleansed from all unrighteousness. Blessed thought! in this day sin is pardoned in Christ: and in that day, when God shall arise to judgment, the sin of Judah, and the iniquity of Israel cannot be found.
Robert Hawker
Christ Made Sin for Us
2 Corinthians 5:21
Were our sins transferred to Christ and made his, or was our Savior only treated as if that were the case? — What do the Scriptures say? I am not even slightly concerned about what men say concerning this matter. I only want to know this. — What does God say in his Word? This is what God says. — “He hath made him sin.”
“Made”
In this statement, “He hath made him sin,” the word “made” is very significant. It is not a legal term, but a word that carries the idea of “create.” Writing by divine inspiration, the apostle Paul is tells us that God the Father, by one great, mysterious act, gathered together all the sins of all his elect throughout all the ages of time, and caused his darling Son to be sin for us. This is exactly the same thing we are told by other inspired writers (Isaiah 53:6, 12)). Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God, “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).
The Word of God plainly teaches that Christ our blessed Surety was made sin for us, that he bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that the Lord God laid upon him our iniquities, that “He hath made him sin.”
Mosaic Types
This transfer of sin from the sinner to the sinner’s Surety was clearly set forth in the typical sacrifices of the Mosaic law. It was typified and prefigured by the sinner laying his hands on the head of the animal he brought to be sacrificed in his stead before God. You will recall that when Aaron and his sons were to be consecrated as priests unto God, they were commanded to “put their hands on the head of the bullock,” which represented typically the transfer of their sins to the bullock, which was then counted worthy of death. Because the bullock bearing their sins was counted worthy of death, the Lord commanded, “And thou shalt kill the bullock before the Lord, by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation” (Exodus 29:10-11).
Perhaps the clearest, most well-known picture of the transfer of our sins to the Lord Jesus Christ, and of him putting away our sin by bearing them and bearing them away in his own body on the tree is the scapegoat presented before the Lord on the day of atonement.
Lev. 16:21 And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness:
Lev. 16:22 And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.
Carefully observe what the Lord God shows us in this scapegoat typifying our dear Savior. — Here is the transfer of sin from the people to the goat, from us to Christ. — Here is the transfer of the sins of a particular people, of their sins and only their sins, the sins of the children of Israel, God’s elect people. — Here is the transfer of all the sins of all the children of Israel, all God’s elect. — And here we see the sins transferred from the people to the goat taken away. In a word, the scapegoat shows us a clear picture of particular, effectual redemption — limited atonement.
Sweet Assurance
Knowing that Christ was made sin for us, we understand that he was justly punished in our stead, punished to the full satisfaction of divine justice. By his satisfaction of justice for our sins, our sins have been completely, effectually, forever put away, and can never be charged to us (Psalm 103:12; Hebrews 1:3; 9:26-28; 1 John 3:5; Romans 4:8). If the holy, just, and true Lord God cannot find our sins, he cannot punish us for our sins; and that is exactly what he tells us in his Word (Jeremiah 50:20).
Don Fortner
Who is This?
“And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this?” (Matt 21:10).
All religious reformers and messiahs come to live; Christ came to die. All others leave monuments and memorials: no one can find His birthplace, grave, nor one possession. All others write diaries and memoirs; He wrote on the sand. All others choose their followers from the rich, powerful, and influential; He chose the poor and needy. All others praise human righteousness; He condemned it. All others seek those who can help them; He sought those whom He could help. All others promise success and happiness to their followers; He promised tribulation and suffering. All others held their disciples with fear and force; He invited His to leave Him if they would. All others have palaces, mansions, and headquarters; He had no place to lay His head. All others reward the most talented with recognition, Btles, and honor; He said, “The least should be the greatest.” All others say, “Follow me; I will show you the way.” He said, “Come unto Me, I am the way.” All others claim to be the messengers of God; He said, “He that hath seen me hath seen God.” All others stay dead; He arose; and all of His claims, works, and promises are true because God raised Him from the dead. ~Henry Mahan
Murderer!
C.H.Spurgeon
“And there followed Him great company of people, and of
women, which also bewailed and lamented Him.” Luke 23:27
Amid the rabble crowd which hounded the Redeemer to His doom, there were some
gracious souls whose bitter anguish sought vent in wailing and lamentations—fit
music to accompany that march of woe!
When my soul can, in imagination, see the Savior bearing His cross to
Calvary—she joins the godly women and weeps with them. For, indeed, there is
true cause for my grief, cause lying deeper than those
mourning women thought. They bewailed . . .
innocence, maltreated,
goodness, persecuted,
love, bleeding,
meekness, dying!
But my heart has a deeper and more bitter cause to mourn. MY SINS were
the scourges which lacerated those blessed shoulders, and crowned that bleeding
brow with thorns! My sins cried, “Crucify
Him! Crucify Him!” and laid the cross upon His gracious
shoulders!
His being led forth to die, is sorrow enough for one eternity; but MY having
been His murderer—is more, infinitely more grief, than one poor
fountain of tears can express! Those women who loved and wept, could not have
had greater reasons for love and grief, than my poor heart has!
The widow of Nain saw her son restored; but I myself have been
raised to newness of life!
Peter’s mother-in-law was cured of the fever; but I myself have
been cured of the plague of sin!
Mary Magdalene had seven devils cast out of her; but a whole legion of devils
were cast out of me!
Mary and Martha were favoured with visits from Jesus; but He dwells with me!
I am not behind these holy women in debt to Jesus; let me
not be behind them in gratitude or sorrow.
“Love and grief my heart dividing,
With my tears His feet I’ll lave;
Constant still in heart abiding,
Weep for Him who died to save!”
“He was pierced for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him,
and by His wounds we are healed!” Isaiah 53:5
It quenches the thirst of the soul
(Horatius Bonar, “The Revelation of
Jesus Christ”)
“My blood is drink indeed!” John 6:55
The blood of the Lamb contains the true drink for the
soul. It quenches the thirst of the soul—the thirst
of parching produced by an evil conscience and a sense
of wrath. It removes the wrath and the sense of wrath,
by showing us that wrath transferred to the Substitute.
It relieves the conscience when first we come into
contact with it; and it keeps it relieved from day
to day, as we drink it by faith.
It is ‘the true drink.’
It calms!
It revives!
It refreshes!
It soothes!
It is like cold water to the thirsty lips under a
scorching sun. Nothing but the blood can allay
this thirst; nothing else can be . . .
drink for the soul,
drink for the intellect,
drink for the conscience,
drink for the heart!
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Spurgeon, “THE CHILD OF LIGHT WALKING IN LIGHT” The glorious Son of God condescends to become the atonement for sin– He is taken to the tree; our sins are made to meet upon his blessed head, and there he dies the just for the unjust. He was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Standing by the tree of doom, we look up to that blessed Savior with all-absorbing admiration and love. We admire him as the masterpiece of divine wisdom, grace, power, and truth; and, admiring, we love him; we pledge ourselves to him. Joy, joy, joy for ever! The brightest day that ever dawned on us was that day when we saw all our sins numbered on our blessed Scapegoat and carried away into the wilderness of forgetfulness! Henceforth we live for Christ! Henceforth our chief glory is the cross! Henceforth our best ideal of glory for ourselves is to see Jesus glorified! The torrents have swept us away! We are no longer bound to this earth! We are borne along by the irresistible force of eternal love! |
“Who his own self bore our sins in his own body on the tree.” 1 Peter 2:24
J.C.Philpot
We beg of the Lord, sometimes, to give us a broken heart, a contrite spirit, a tender conscience, and a humble mind. But it is only a view by faith of what the gracious Redeemer endured upon the cross, when he bore our sins in his own body with all their weight and pressure, and with all the anger of God due to them, that can really melt a hard, and break a stony heart. No sight, short of this, can make sin felt to be hateful; bring tears of godly sorrow out of the eyes, sobs of true repentance out of the breast, and the deepest, humblest confessions before God what dreadful sinners and base backsliders we have been before the eyes of his infinite Purity, Majesty, and Holiness.
Oh, what hope is there for our guilty souls; what refuge from the wrath of God so justly our due; what shelter from the curse of a fiery law, except it be in the cross of Jesus? O for a view of him revealed to the eyes of our enlightened understanding, as bearing our sins in his own body on the tree! O to see by the eye of faith, all those dreadful sins which have caused us so much inward grief and trouble, all those fearful backslidings and sad entanglements on which we can but reflect with shame and grief; O to see all we have said and thought and done, which conscience testifies against, and all those innumerable evils that we have never seen or conscience has forgotten; to view them by the eye of faith taken off our guilty head and put upon the head of the Lord the Lamb.
Where, oh, where, can we get relief from any other source or by any other way? There is no relief anywhere else! Where can you find pardon sealed upon your breast, forgiveness manifested to your soul, or any expectation of winning heaven and escaping hell, except in the cross, and some testimony in your own bosom of your saving interest in that precious blood and righteousness, and the knowledge for yourself that the dear Redeemer bore your sins in his body on the tree? I know, indeed, full well, that it requires special faith, a faith of God’s own giving and raising up to believe this, an especial manifestation of salvation by the blood of the Lamb to the soul; a blessed bringing in of the power of Christ crucified to the heart.
But I believe I do but speak the inmost conviction of every heart touched by the finger of God when I say, that until this is in some measure done, there is no solid relief; no true peace with God; no firm, abiding foundation on which we can stand, as if for eternity; nothing strong enough to banish the fear of death and open the gates of heaven.