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But the great truth of justification must not be confined to the question of our sins; it must also be seen in connection with what we are as children of the first Adam. Death alone is God's remedy in this connection. " Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures"; but it is equally true that "He was made sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Cor. 5:21). Our state was in question, our evil nature-the tree as well as its fruit. All must, and did, come into judgment when Christ was made a sacrifice for sin. "Our old man was crucified with Him." "Sin was condemned in the flesh." "In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ." "I am crucified with Christ" (Rom. 6:6; 8:3; Col. 2:11). The cross, for God and for faith, has severed the link that connected us with the first Adam; our death with Christ broke that link, never more to be joined, and by a new life are we connected with the Second Man, the last Adam, Christ in resurrection. So it is written, " He that is dead is freed (or justified) from sin" (Rom. 6:7). God's judgment has been executed upon all that we were, as well as upon all that we had done. We have died and are risen with Christ, and are "become the righteousness of God in Him " (Col, 2:12, 13; 2 Cor. 5:21). God, as it were, says, "I forgive you what you have done, and no more impute to you what you are."
When the soul in truth apprehends this, great is its peace.
The fact is true of all believers, but not in their apprehension of it always. It is for them, if earnest enough, to appropriate and enjoy it. "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed" (John 8:32-36).
In fact, the apprehension of the truth of God is with us all a growing thing. In the family of God you meet with every stage of spiritual growth and every degree of apprehension, and it ill becomes those who think they are beyond their fellows to despise them, forgetful of the fact that they are debtors to the grace of God for this very thing.
Much harm has been done in certain quarters in thus acting, and a spirit of self-righteousness has been fostered which, in the sight of God, is very offensive, and which, if persisted in, can only leave them in the dead condition which pride ever begets. To turn away from the sheep and lambs of Christ's flock because they do not, as we suppose, '' see the end of the first man," is not only very offensive, but contrary to every thought and feeling of the good and great Shepherd, who loved one as much as another, even unto death.
As has been said, the truth is there for our appropriation, for it is the common property of all the people of God. One as much as another has '' been made accepted in the Beloved:in whom we have redemption" (Eph. i:6, 7). Now it is for each one to appropriate and enjoy it, and to grow up in the Lord in all things.
But further:this poor world speaks of progress, and dreams of a future illumined with its own glory, not knowing that the judgment-cloud hangs over it, only awaiting the expiration of the day of grace to empty itself upon it. It stands guilty of the murder of the Son of God, and for two thousand years has rejected the testimony of the Holy Spirit concerning Him. When God has accomplished His purposes of grace, He will not forget the insult put upon His own Son. His patience may be great, His lingerings long, but retribution must come at last. "The Lord of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God that is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness" (Isa. 5:16).
The great proof of this is the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. They have not seen Him since they sealed Him up in the sepulcher, and set a Roman guard about it. The next time they see Him will be when Rev. i:7 is fulfilled:"Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him:and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him. Even so, Amen." What a sight that will be for a guilty world, when they see the once humiliated and crucified Nazarene coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory! Matt. 26:63, 64; Mark 14-61, 62.
God has fixed the day for this world's judgment, and the appointed Judge is the earth-rejected Jesus, exalted to be both Lord and Christ. In view of that, God commands all men everywhere to repent. Failing this, judgment must take its course. "And the times of this ignorance God winked at (or passed over); but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent:because He hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by-that Man whom He hath ordained; whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead" (Acts 17:30, 31).
Repentance is the only fitting thing, in view of man's awful sin and God's impending judgment. "Repent" is the old gospel word, and it is well to ring it out with clarion voice in these ease-loving days. "Repent ye, and believe the gospel" (Mark i:15).
When the Lord rose, and "the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it; his countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow:and for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men " (Matt. 28:2-4). Solemn picture of the world's terror when they see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven to execute the judgment written. Read Rev. 19:11 to end, where you get a description of the judgment of a hostile world. The resurrection of Christ is the proof that God will judge the world by the Lord Jesus. Its doom is sealed, and nothing can avert it. Swift will its judgment be, and eternal its results. Then the rightful Heir will take possession, and from pole to pole will reign with illimitable sway.
In the day of His glory He will not forget His ancient people Israel, nor the promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They may have failed, and for centuries have been under His chastening hand, but He hath not cast off His people which he foreknew. No; He will restore and bless them according to His own promises; but not apart from their repentance, and owning that Jesus, their rejected Messiah, is both Lord and God (Isa. 25 :9).
Having passed through the great tribulation, the time of Jacob's trouble (Jer. 30:7), they will be ready to recognize their national sin, and fill the land with their mourning. In their distress they will cry, as they tell God of their desolation, "Let Thy hand be upon the Man of Thy right hand, upon the Son of man whom Thou madest strong for Thyself " (Ps. 80:17). Read the whole psalm. A risen and glorified Christ will be their only hope. The confession of who He is will be wrung from their lips.
Grace will operate this in that day. Saith the Lord, "I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications:and they shall look upon Me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for Him, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born" (Zech. 12:ro). How deep that repentance will be we learn from vers. 11-14. Then will the fountain be opened for sin and uncleanness to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, as we read in Zech. 13:1:
The veil that has been upon their heart so long will be removed, and gladly will they own the once-crucified Jesus to be their true Messiah, and both Lord and God.
Grace will accomplish this in them, as it accomplishes it in any sinner in our day. The grace of repentance, as the grace of life, is from God. We are debtors to mercy alone.
Lastly, the time of our full glory is at hand. We are saved in hope of being made like Christ. To His eternal glory has our God called us (2 Tim. 2:10; i Pet. 5 :10). Our bodies are to be raised, or changed to be fit tabernacles for our redeemed spirits to dwell in. "This corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality"; " death shall be swallowed up in victory," and "mortality swallowed up of life" (i Cor. 15:54; 2 Cor. 5:4, 5). We shall be "conformed to the image of God's Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren" (Rom. 8:29). We are predestinated to this very thing.
'' But every man in his own order:Christ the first-fruits; afterward they that are Christ's at His coming" (i Cor. 15:23).
Christ the first-fruits. He was the first to rise to die no more. Death had no claim on Him; but having become man, it was possible for Him to die for us; which, blessed be His name, He did, and made a full atonement for our guilty souls, and then " rose the victor from the dark domains," and became "the first-fruits of them that slept," the blessed earnest of the resurrection of all the saints of God, and of their having bodies of glory like His own. i Cor. 15 is what the Holy Spirit unfolds to us of this blessed, subject. And what a rich and blessed unfolding it is!
At the coming of our Lord all this will be accomplished. '' The dead in Christ shall rise first:then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air:and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words " (i Thess. 4:16-18; i Cor. 15:51-58; Rom. 8:11; Phil. 3:21).
Thus the resurrection of our Lord is the blessed proof of God being glorified about sin, of Satan being defeated, of God's vindication of His insulted and rejected Son, of the believer's justification from "all things," of the world's judgment, of Israel's future restoration, and the blessed earnest of the resurrection of the saints of God.
Of the reality of His resurrection we have only to read Luke 24:36-48. That it is the same Jesus who ascended that will come again we learn from Acts i:ii and Zech. 12 :10-14; 13:6.Acts 7:55 we read:"But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus (not a spirit) standing on the right hand of God, and said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man (a real man) standing on the right hand of God."
It is the same Jesus, who used, when on earth, to speak of Himself as "the Son of man," that is now enthroned in glory. His resurrection proved Him also to be the Son of God with power (Rom. i:4).
God, as well as man, surely. Of whom it could be said, "Who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; taking a place so much better than the angels, as He inherits a more excellent name than they " (Heb. i:3, 4). For, who but One who could claim equality with God (Phil. 2:6) could take such a place as that ? He did this after His work on the cross had been accomplished. The name that He inherits is a revelation of who He is.
Resurrection then is the ground on which God acts in the accomplishment of His purposes. The resurrection of the Lord Jesus is the blessed earnest of all that is to follow. Blot that out, and all is gone; bring that in, and all is assured:God's glory, the blessing of the saints of God in all ages, and the establishment of the new heaven and the new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness and God is all in all. A universe of bliss, when God shall rest in His love, and surrounded by myriads of His ransomed people, will be the blessed result of the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. He shall then see the travail of His soul, and be satisfied, having, as the fruit of His own work on the cross, presented them faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy (Jude 24). E. A.
To His name be eternal praise and glory !