From the beginning, the Gospel has come to the awakened sinner with the
same consciousness of important news to tell, as that messenger who ran to
David, after the battle of Mahanaim, exclaiming "All is well !" But even as the
burden of that message brought by Ahimaaz was simply victory, without any
narrative of details, so was the Old Testament proclamation of the good news to
our earth. There was still need of a Cushi to give details; and Cushi did come
upon the heels of Ahimaaz, telling that the essence of the victory lay in the
fact of the leader of the host being himself slain. It is thus the New
Testament has overtaken the Old, proclaiming "Tidings, O earth! Tidings! It is
the Son of God who has died, satisfying the Law of His Father, and establishing
His throne."
In the synagogue of Pisidian Antioch (Acts xiii. 32) Paul
announced to the intently listening audience, "We declare unto you glad tidings
!" and forthwith added, that the promise made to the fathers was now fulfilled
in Jesus risen. It was as if he had said, "The voice from the excellent
glory cries, Hear the beloved Son! and speaks of nothing but what He is, has,
and has done." That vessel which has endured all the storms of wrath, that ark
which has borne unmoved the shock of cataracts from the opened windows of
heaven, and depths breaking up below, contains everything fitted to meet the
sinner's need; and in proportion as the Holy Ghost reveals this Person to the
awakened sinner, there will come to light a store of all things suited to the
cravings of an immortal soul.
When the sinner has got any clear discovery of this glorious Person, he
is a saved man; for so we find written in Gal i. 13, 15, 16, "Ye have heard of
my conversation in time past. . . . But it pleased God . . . to reveal His Son
in me." Matt.. xvi. 16, "Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art
thou, Simon Bar-jona; for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but
My Father which is in heaven."
Resting on this Person for salvation is
called "Faith in Jesus Christ." In this faith, there is an intellectual act -
namely, the apprehending of the meaning of what is stated concerning Jesus. But
this apprehension of the meaning of what is stated, or testified, concerning
Jesus, is but the avenue that leads on to the magnificent mansion. It leads the
soul to the Person of whom these things are declared. It never is the
belief of bare propositions that saves the soul ; for these have to do only
with the understanding. Propositions, however weighty, must guide us onward to
the Person who is the essence of the testimony; and they are made use of for
this end by the same Holy Spirit who enlightens our once carnal understanding
to see the real truth.*
The belief of the testimony, or record, concerning the Son of God, our Saviour, is the porch of the building, through which we pass into the audience-chamber and meet the Living Inhabitant, full of light, and life, and love.
There is a twofold remedy required to meet the exigencies of a fallen
soul.
1st, The soul must feel entirely delivered from that guilt
which has compelled the Holy God to withdraw. The sinner's soul is by nature
laden with guilt, the guilt of original and actual sin; and until this guilt is
altogether taken away, there can be no freedom of access to God. But remove
this barrier, and then the Holy God may meet the sinner, and the sinner may run
to the open arms of the Holy God. This is the bringing of the conscience
to solid rest.
2nd, The soul has feelings, emotions, affections,
which constitute what we call in common language the heart of the man. The
heart, then, must be brought to its rest, as well as the conscience; and
it will be brought to rest, if you can find for it an object vast enough, rich
enough, and so accommodated to its frame as to give ample scope for the
exercise of all its powers, and the play of all its feelings.
Now, both
these ends are answered when the soul discovers the Person of the
God-man. There it is that the twofold remedy is found. For now, the
conscience, enabled by the Holy Spirit to discern and examine the treasures
stored up in the God-man Mediator, finds all the materials needful to its
pacification and rest, inasmuch as His obedience to the law and the
satisfaction rendered by Him for dishonour done to it, are efficacious beyond
measure. And next, when enabled by the same Spirit of truth to explore the
wealth of sympathy, and tenderness, and brotherly feeling, wherewith the
God-man is fraught, and which is given forth from the side of His humanity, the
man finds therein such an object as his heart craved, an object on which his
heart can repose.
It is now that he tastes "The Bread of Life." It is only
now that he knows the meaning of making the Saviour his meat and drink (John
vi. 52); for it is now that he has found out the entire remedy for his case in
the person of a Mediator, who unites the human nature with the Divine, and uses
both in dealing with man. Finding flesh and blood (and, of course, all that is
peculiar to a frame wherein flesh and blood are ingredients) in a Saviour,
whose doing, dying, and rising again brought in everlasting righteousness, the
man can say - " Every part of my nature has been thought upon, and provision
has been made for all my feelings and faculties, as well as conscience: this is
indeed meat and drink to me! His flesh is meat indeed! His blood is drink
indeed!"
Our purpose, then, is to enter into details whereby we may show that the
Person of Christ is, and has always been, the essence of the Gospel. The glad
tidings of great joy all cluster round that Person; invitations and calls draw
us to Him; and warrants for believing the Gospel are in reality testimonies,
the drift of which is mainly this - to fix our eye upon that Person's self, and
assure us of the capabilities of His heart and arm.
And no wonder that it
should be so; for He is GOD manifest in the flesh. To
see Him is to see GOD in the attitude of redemption. To see him is to see the
GOD of holy love putting Himself in a position wherein
He might be able, justly and honourably, to save sinners. To see Him is to see
Godhead finding a way of coming to sinners with open arms, and yet
remaining as holy, and just, and true, as from all eternity.
To show that
this is the essence of the Gospel may be important alike to saints who already
fear the Lord, and to sinners who are only groping for Him. Both are thus led
directly to confront God, - " God manifest in the flesh," in "whom are hid all
the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." The saint finds that here he floats
upon an ocean of grace, and that the more constantly he abides here, the more
is he blessed. The seeking sinner finds that his perplexities are cleared away,
when he is dealing, not with abstract truth, nor with cold statements, but with
a Person, and that person full of grace and truth.
"Come, now"
(come, I pray you; come, I beseech you), "let us reason together, saith the
Lord" (Isa. i. 18). Here are two parties before us - not one party dealing
with the words and declarations of another, but two parties confronting each
other. It is a meeting of spirit with spirit - the spirit of man with God who
is spirit. It is the living man coming to hear the living God tell His heart
and ways.
Bunyan, in his "Pilgrim's Progress," represents Christian, when
relieved of his burden at the cross, singing with joy -
"Blest cross! blest sepulchre! blest rather be
THE MAN that there was put to
shame for me."
And in his "Instruction for the Ignorant," the following dialogue occurs
: -
Question. If such a poor sinner as I am would be saved from
the wrath to come, how must I believe?
Answer. Thy first
question should be, on whom must I believe? John ix. 35, 36, "Dost thou
believe on the Son of God?" "Who is He, Lord, that I might believe on Him?"
Q. On whom, then, must I believe?
A. On the Lord
Jesus Christ.
Q. Who is Jesus Christ, that I might believe on Him?
A. He is the only-begotten Son of God.
Q. Why must I
believe on Him?
A. Because He is the Saviour of the world.
Q. How is He the Saviour of the world?
A. By the
Father's designation and sending; for God sent not His Son into the world to
condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
Q.
How did He come into the world?
A. In man's flesh - in which flesh
He fulfilled the law, died for our sins, conquered the devil and death, and
obtained eternal redemption for us.
Q. But is there no other way to
be saved but by believing in Jesus Christ?
A. There is no other
name given under heaven, among men, whereby we must be saved. And therefore he
that believeth not shall be damned. Acts iv. 12, "Neither is there salvation in
any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby
we must be saved." Mark xvi. 16, "But he that believeth not shall be damned."
John iii. 18, 36, "He that believeth on Him is not condemned; but he that
believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of
the only-begotten Son of God." "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting
life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of
God abideth on him."
Q. What is believing on Jesus Christ?
A. It is the receiving of Him, with what is in Him, as the gift
of God to thee, a sinner. John i. 12, "To as many as receive Him, even to them
that believe on His name, He gave power to become sons of God."
Q.
What is in Jesus Christ to encourage me to receive Him?
A. Infinite
righteousness to justify thee, and the Spirit without measure to sanctify thee.
Q. Is this made mine if I receive Christ?
A. Yes, if
you receive him as God offereth Him to thee.
Q. How doth God offer
Him to me?
A. Even as a rich man freely offereth an alms to a
beggar - and so must thou receive Him. John vi. 32, 33, 34, 35, "My Father
giveth you the true bread from heaven; for the bread of God is He that cometh
down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world." Then said they unto Him,
"Lord, evermore give us this bread." And Jesus said unto them, "I am the bread
of life: he that cometh to Me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on Me
shall never thirst."
Transcribed from The Person of Christ by Andrew A.Bonar
D.D.,
first published
EDINBURGH, ANDREW STEVENSON,
9 NORTH BANK
STREET,
1888
HTML transcription files copyright © 2001-2006.
Jane Newble
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