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Title: Jesus Fulfils the Law


Author: One of the Society of Friends



Release Date: June 14, 2011  [eBook #36425]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)


***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JESUS FULFILS THE LAW***

Transcribed from the 1882 Saml. Harris & Co. edition by David Price, email [email protected]

JESUS FULFILS
THE LAW.

BY
One of the Society of Friends.

LONDON.
SAML. HARRIS & CO., 5, BISHOPSGATE WITHOUT.
1882.

p. iiLONDON:
BARRETT, SONS AND CO., PRINTER
SEETHING LANE, E.C.

p. iiiCONTENTS.

p. vPREFACE.

In a day when so much has been written on almost every Scripture subject it requires some apology for offering anything further; but as different trains of thought are more suited to one than another, they may serve as useful remembrancers, although there may be nothing particularly new about them.  The writer of the following pages, being in the evening of life and much retired from its active duties by failing health, often endeavours to look through the lengthening shadows of the evening to the glory which shall be revealed, and delights to ponder over those passages of p. viHoly Writ which form the basis of our faith in Christ.

The following pages make no attempt at scholarship.  The author thankfully accepts and believes the revelation which God has given us in Holy Scripture, and has endeavoured to set forth a plain scriptural statement of the successive steps or development of that revelation, culminating in the Gospel of Christ.

When our Lord says of the final issue of His judgment, “These” (speaking of the wicked) “shall go into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal,” I believe He perfectly understood the subject, and meant what He said.  When Paul also, writing of himself and his fellow-Apostles, said “Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men,” I believe he meant—they persuaded p. viimen “to flee from the wrath to come,” and take shelter in “the blood of the everlasting covenant” (Heb. xiii. 20); according to the words, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God who hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto Me, I will recompense saith the Lord” (Heb. x. 30, 31; and 2 Thess. ii. 6–9).

I have been a fond reader of Holy Scripture from my youth, and have from time to time studied much that has been written in support of its genuineness and authenticity; but now in the retrospect of the past I find no evidence for the general truth of that Scripture at all to compare with the words of our Lord Jesus Christ—“If any man will do His (the Father’s) will, he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God or whether I speak of myself” (John vii. 17).

p. viii“The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him, and He will show them His covenant” (Ps. xxv. 14).  As it is all-important to know that the foundations are sure, and will stand in the day of trial, I have set down in these pages the train of thought which has proved most confirming to my own faith, and trust that some of those who love the Truth as it is in Jesus may find it helpful to themselves.

We live in eventful times.  There is much abroad in the world to excite alarm.  When Atheism and Infidelity are making strenuous efforts to extend their withering influence; when Roman Catholicism and a kindred ritualism are invading our country, there is abundant need to stick to the Law and the Testimony, lest the curtains of darkness should be again spread over it.  p. ixBut notwithstanding that the picture may be somewhat gloomy, it is by no means all on one side; by various instrumentalities the Gospel is being largely and successfully proclaimed, and the message of salvation through Christ alone is now carried to every class, and almost from house to house, in a manner never before witnessed; and the lowest haunts of vice and misery are at least opened to the town missionary, the Bible-woman, or the evangelist, where but recently the police could not venture single-handed; and many are the brands plucked from the burning, so that among these, as well as among the social circles above them, a rich and powerful wave of Gospel blessing is rolling over the land.

If I have fairly represented the teaching of the Bible, it is all that I could p. xaspire to.  The many “divers and strange doctrines” which in one or another way oppose the Gospel of Christ, must be swept away before the grand truths which the Bible sets forth, and which, when time is past and eternity remains, will for ever be a theme of praise and thanksgiving to the glorified beings who shall be accounted worthy to stand before the throne, and swell the anthem of “Glory and dominion to Him who loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood” (Rev. i. 5, 6).

p. 1CHAPTER I.

HOW JESUS FULFILLED THE LAW.

“I am not come to destroy” (the law and the prophets) “but to fulfil.  Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled” (Matt. v. 17, 18).

The above solemn words of our Lord Jesus Christ, being part of His Sermon on the Mount (as related by Matthew), appear to open an interesting field of inquiry into an important portion of Divine Truth as set forth in Holy Scripture.

In what manner did our Lord so fulfil the law given by Moses that one jot or p. 2one tittle should in no wise pass unfulfilled?  Was it when He went to the Baptist, and received baptism, because it became Him to fulfil all righteousness? (Matt. iii. 15).  Was it when He sent the ten lepers whom He would heal to show themselves to the priests (agreeably to Lev. xiv. 2; Luke xvii. 14); or in another similar case, when He said, “Go, show thyself to the priest, and offer those things which Moses commanded for a testimony unto them”? (Mark i. 44; Luke v. 14).

Was it by attending the appointed feasts at Jerusalem, and generally in other cases, recorded or not recorded, in which He conformed, and was subject to the ritual which had been before appointed?  Or are we not to understand the words in a much deeper sense than His personal submission to the Law?—that of fulfilling, perfecting, and giving a living reality to all its foreshadowing types, in themselves p. 3dead and profitless; to seal, assure, and make good all its promises to the obedient subjects of that Law; all its threatenings to the disobedient; to open up to mankind that rich inheritance prepared alike for the men of that day and for us, foreshadowed by the land of promise flowing with milk and honey; to perfect that which was lacking in those offerings of atonement which in themselves could never take away sins (Heb. x. 4)?

The ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ is revealed to us under the two characters of an Apostle and High Priest (Heb. iii. 1).

1st.  As an Apostle, to declare and teach the principles of that Divine Truth, which distinguished the New Covenant of life and salvation from the covenant of bondage to ordinances then about to be abolished, which had been designed as introductory to it; and to ordain and qualify His Apostles to declare its principles more fully after His death and resurrection.

p. 4For obvious reasons the New Covenant could not be fully published until the offering of Christ had fulfilled the Scriptures relating to Him; and when the resurrection had declared Him to be the Son of God with power.

Although our Lord had often pointed out to His Apostles that in His life and actions He was fulfilling the Scriptures, it is clear they did not fully understand their import until after the Holy Ghost had descended on them on the Day of Pentecost, and opened up to their minds, with a vivid remembrance, and clear sunshine of heavenly light, all that Jesus had said and done, giving to them that wonderful power and energy which they afterwards exhibited, as well as those miraculous gifts of the Spirit which were necessary to confirm their doctrine to others.  Thus we read that we ought to give a more earnest heed to the things “which began to be spoken by the Lord, p. 5and were confirmed to us by them that heard Him; God also bearing them witness, with signs and wonders, and divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to His own will” (Heb. ii. 3, 4).

Our Lord had, on several occasions, as before observed, taken care to instruct His disciples in the Scriptures which related to Himself; but He did so more explicitly after His resurrection; beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded to the two on their way to Emmaus the “things concerning Himself, in all the Scriptures” (Luke xxiv. 27).  And when they had returned to Jerusalem, and had related to the eleven (and others with them) what had happened in the way, He stood in their midst, and confirmed their testimony, saying, “These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses, p. 6and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms [6] concerning Me.  Then opened He their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures, and said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day” (Luke xxiv. 44–46).

When Jesus sent out His twelve disciples to preach, He said to them,—“He that receiveth you receiveth Me, and he that receiveth Me receiveth Him that sent Me” (Matt. x. 40), so that in receiving the Apostles’ doctrine and teaching, we receive Christ’s teaching.  Also the same principle is set forth in John xiii. 20, “He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth Me; and he that receiveth Me receiveth Him that sent Me.”

2nd.  As a High Priest our Lord is p. 7introduced in the most solemn words of prophecy:—“The Lord hath sworn and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec” (Ps. cx. 4, quoted in Heb. vii. 21).

This most solemn form of utterance is seldom used in Scripture.  It occurs also when God sware to Abraham, that in his seed all the nations of the earth should be blessed (Gen. xxii. 16–18):—To the rebellious Israelites, that they should not enter into His rest (Deut. i. 34, 35):—To Moses, that he should not go into Canaan (Deut. iv. 21):—To David, that his seed should endure for ever, and his throne unto all generations (Ps. lxxxix. 3, 4).

It is treated in Heb. vii. 20–22 as exhibiting the superior authority and character of Christ as a High Priest, in comparison with the priesthood of Levi: “For those priests were made without an oath; but this with an oath; . . . and by so much was Jesus made a surety of a better p. 8testament.”  And again, in ver. 28: “For the Law maketh men high priests which have infirmity; but the word of the oath, which was since the Law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated for evermore.”

It is also treated (Heb. vi. 16–19) as expressing the absolutely unalterable counsel of God: “Men verily swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife; wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath; that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us.”  That hope which is as an anchor to the soul, both sure and steadfast.

The office of an apostle (or special messenger, or messenger with special tidings), viewed separately, has nothing of the priest; but the offices of teacher of p. 9the law, mediator, and priest were combined in the Levitical priesthood; and they were perfectly blended in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Nevertheless the doctrine of the priesthood of Christ could not be much developed or declared until the abolition of the priests of Levi by the termination of that first covenant, when Jesus declared, “It is finished,” and “gave up the ghost,” and “the veil of the Temple was rent in twain”—indicating that the approach to the Divine Presence was opened to all.

During the patriarchal ages, the head of the family or house appears to have combined in himself the patriarch and priest.  Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, offered sacrifices as well as Abel, though the recorded instances are few, and only on very remarkable occasions; such as the coming out of the ark, the call of Abram, the sacrifice of Isaac, the covenant to Jacob.  But we read that it was the p. 10constant practice of Job; for, after giving an account of the burnt-offerings offered for each of his sons after their days of feasting, it is added, “thus did Job continually” (Job i. 5); and such was no doubt the practice of other patriarchs.

At the close of Job’s temptation, the Lord said to His three friends that they should take seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to Job, and offer up burnt-offerings, and Job would pray for them, “for him will I accept” (Job xlii. 8).

Of the patriarchal religion we are told but little.  The Apostle Paul says, in Rom. v. 14, “Death reigned from Adam to Moses”; in Rom. i. 20, that “God’s eternal power and Godhead were clearly seen in the works of creation,” so that they were without excuse; and in Rom. ii. 14, 15, that though without law they had a conscience bearing witness to the law written in their hearts, accusing or excusing their thoughts.

p. 11In the earliest days, the power of God manifested in the works of creation spoke to men more clearly than it may now speak to heathen nations who know not God.

They spoke to Adam and Eve of the God whom they knew, and had had intimate acquaintance with.  The glory of Eden and the events of their life there, with their disastrous fall and expulsion, must have made an indelible impression on their minds.  Knowing their Creator they would have no disposition to worship the sun, moon, or stars, as His works.  It would be contrary to all the subsequent history of the dealings of God with His creatures to suppose our first parents were driven out and left to their own devices as to the means of reconciliation with Him; and though we are not expressly told that sacrifice was offered by Adam, many think that the first instruction in utilising skins for clothing, p. 12referred to the skins of animals offered in sacrifice. [12]

At probably no very distant period from the Fall (described as, “In process of time,” or “in the end of days”), we find Abel offering the firstling of his flock, an acceptable sacrifice to God; the same that was commanded by the law of Moses.

When we take into account the length of Adam’s life and that of his sons, there is no difficulty in concluding that those indelible impressions would be handed down to his posterity, with the history of the Lord’s dealings with him, and what had been revealed to him as the means of propitiation, or being reconciled to Him.

That there was a revelation before the Flood is evident, for Abel offered an acceptable sacrifice, but Cain’s was not accepted; p. 13while the words addressed by the Lord to Cain, “If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well sin lieth at the door” (Gen. iv. 7), clearly indicate that Cain knew what was pleasing or displeasing to Him.  Enoch and Noah also walked with God so faithfully that the one was translated, and the other, by his act of faith, condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is of faith; very clearly showing that faith, rather than works, was in those days the basis of salvation.

When we consider the terms in which the sacrifice of Christ is set forth in the New Testament, as “The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev. xiii. 8); “Preordained before the foundation of the world” (1 Pet. i. 20; Rom. xvi. 25; Eph; iii. 9, 11; Col. i. 26; 2 Tim. i. 9; Titus i. 2; Matt. xxv. 34); it would seem impossible to doubt that the great principle of human redemption or reconciliation, set forth by p. 14so many types under the Law, and by the one Great Offering of the Gospel, should not have had its initiative in the earlier means of grace and pardon of the patriarchal times.

When the children of Israel came out of Egypt, a complete system of priesthood was established by Divine command in Aaron and his sons, assisted in the general labours of the Tabernacle service by the remainder of the tribe of Levi.  The exhibitions of Divine power and majesty which accompanied the giving of the Law from Mount Sinai were of a character to produce the deepest and most lasting impression on those who witnessed them.  And as those institutions have a very important bearing on the Gospel of Christ, it is important to review them, as briefly as possible; and more especially as this portion of Scripture is often not so much studied as it might be with advantage by some of those who, taking a high view of p. 15the essential spirituality of the Gospel, are the less disposed to look into the basis of that spiritual religion, which was laid in the Mosaic law.

p. 16CHAPTER II.

PROVISIONS FOR THE PARDON OF SIN, AND RECONCILIATION UNDER THE LAW.

The regularly ordained sacrifices were the following:—

1st.  The daily sacrifices.  Two lambs of the first year—one in the morning and the other in the evening (and on the Sabbath four lambs, Num. xxviii 9); with their meat- and drink-offerings of flour, oil, wine “for a sweet savour, an offering made by fire unto the Lord” (Exod. xxix. 38–41).  “This shall be a continual burnt-offering throughout your generations at the door of the Tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord, where I will meet with you, to speak there unto thee” (ver. 42).  “And I will dwell among p. 17the children of Israel, and will be their God” (ver. 45).

Whatever other sacrifices were commanded for any or every day of the week, they were additional to these daily offerings, with which nothing interfered.

2nd.  On the first day of every month (or first appearance of the new moon)—

a burnt-offering for a sweet savour, made by fire unto the Lord.

Also one kid for a sin-offering, and his drink-offering (Num. xxviii. 11, &c.).

3rd.  On the 14th of the first month (Abib) the Feast of the Passover, also called “the sacrifice of the Lord’s passover” (Exod. xii. 27).

It was a memorial festival throughout the generations of the children of Israel, to mark their deliverance from bondage in Egypt, and the special Providence p. 18which protected them from the destroying angel, who procured that deliverance by slaying all the first-born of man and beast in Egypt.

A lamb of the first year, a male from the sheep or goats and without blemish, was killed at even, and the flesh roasted with fire was eaten by every household that night, while the destroying angel was at work around them; but prior to this the blood of the lamb had been sprinkled on the two side posts, and upper door post of the houses, “and the blood shall be to you for a token. . . .  And when the Lord seeth the blood, He will pass over you;” so that while every other house had its dead, they ate securely under cover of the sprinkled blood.

This festival was instituted on the departure of the children of Israel from Egypt, and before the giving of the Law, or the appointment of the priesthood of p. 19Aaron and his sons.  As with the patriarchal sacrifices, it was provided by the head of the household.

In allusion to subsequent times, when their children should inquire the meaning of the service, they were to say “It is the sacrifice of the Lord’s passover” (Exod. xii. 27).

The Passover has a very marked reference to our Lord Jesus Christ.  Shortly before His death He said to His disciples, “With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer;” and at that supper He said of the bread, which as the master of the feast He broke, “This is My body which is given for you;” and of the cup, “This is the New Testament in My blood, which is shed for you” (Luke xxii. 15–20).

4th.  Immediately upon the Paschal feast followed, during the next seven days, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, during which were to be offered, each day—

and one goat daily for a sin-offering (Num. xxviii. 17–25).

5th.  On presenting the sheaf of First-fruits to the Lord, of which it is said “Ye shall neither eat bread nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God” [20] (Lev. xxiii. 14).  On that day was to be offered a male lamb, without blemish, of the first year, for a burnt-offering, with flour, oil, and wine,—“an offering made by fire unto the Lord for a sweet savour” (Lev. xxiii. 13).

6th.  The Feast of Pentecost (called also feast of weeks, Ex. xxxiv. 22), fifty days later, on presenting to the Lord a new meat-offering p. 21from their habitations (Lev. xxiii. 16).  Two wave loaves of fine flour, baken with leaven, “They are the first-fruits unto the Lord” (Lev. xxiii. 17), and the accompanying offerings were—

and one kid for a sin-offering (to make atonement—Num. xxviii. 30), and two lambs for a peace-offering (Lev. xxiii. 19).

7th.  At the Feast of Trumpets, the first of the seventh month—

for a burnt-offering for a sweet savour unto the Lord, and one kid for a sin-offering p. 22“to make atonement for you” (Num. xxix. 2–5).

8th.  On the annual Day of Atonement, the tenth of the seventh month: One young bullock for a sin-offering, and a ram for a burnt-offering for the high priest and his house (Lev. xvi. 6), and two kids of the goats from the congregation for a sin-offering (one for the annual sin-offering, and one for the scape-goat) (Lev. xvi. 5).  Also—

for a burnt-offering (Num. xxix. 8).  And one kid for a sin-offering of atonement (Num. xxix. 11).

This was a day of great solemnity—“It shall be a holy convocation unto you, and ye shall afflict your souls” (Lev. xxiii. 27), &c, “Ye shall do no work; . . . it is a day to make atonement for you before the Lord your God” (Lev. xxiii. 28); and whoever among the congregation did not p. 23afflict his soul, or whoever did any work therein, was to be cut off from among his people (Lev. xxiii. 29, 30).  “It shall be . . . a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day at even, from even to even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath” (Lev. xxiii. 32).

The high priest was not to enter within the veil to the inner tabernacle, except on this day, “that he die not,” and then only with the blood of the sin-offerings for himself and the congregation, peculiar to this day.

Before doing so he laid aside his ornamental garments and put on a linen dress (Lev. xvi. 2–4).  He took in his hands a censer of burning coals from the altar of burnt offerings and put on it a handful of incense, that the cloud of the incense might cover the mercy seat, whereon the Lord appeared in the cloud, “that he die not” (Lev. xvi. 12, 13).  He then took the blood of the sin-offerings, p. 24both for the priest and people, within the veil, and sprinkled it with his finger upon the mercy seat eastward, and before the mercy seat seven times (Lev. xvi. 15, 16), to make an atonement for the Holy Place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions in all their sins (Lev. xvi. 16).

This is the only sacrifice described in the Law, which corresponds with the words in Hebrews xiii. 11:—“The bodies of those beasts whose blood is brought into the sanctuary for sin, are burned without the camp.”

No other blood was annually brought into the sanctuary (or inner temple) by the high priest on behalf of the people, and sprinkled on and before the mercy seat; and the flesh of these, as well as of some other offerings, was burned without the camp.

The service of this day required that in p. 25addition to a bullock for a sin-offering, and a ram for a burnt-offering, to make atonement for himself and his house (Lev. xvi. 3–6), the high priest should take of the congregation of Israel two kids of the goats for a sin-offering (Lev. xvi. 5); he was to present the two kids at the door of the tabernacle (ver. 7), and “cast lots,” one for the Lord and one “for the scape-goat” (vers. 8 and 10).  He killed the former for a sin-offering for the people, and proceeded as already described (p. 23).

In addition to the blood taken within the veil, the high priest was to put some of it upon the horns of the altar, and sprinkle it seven times upon it to hallow it (vers. 18, 19).

Then, as to the other, or scape-goat, Aaron laid both his hands on the head of the live goat and confessed over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins; putting them on the head of the p. 26goat, and sent him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness, and the “goat bore them away to a land not inhabited” (Lev. xvi. 21).

Although every sin-offering had a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ, the kid offered on this day by the masses of the people is treated in Heb. xiii. as having a very special application to Him, from the blood having been carried within the veil and sprinkled on the mercy seat, and from the body having been burned without the camp.  So Jesus, having suffered without the gate, and having obtained eternal redemption for us, not by the blood of others, but by His own blood, having “given Himself a ransom for all,” entered not into the holy places made with hands, but into Heaven itself, there to appear in the presence of God for us.

Again, in the scape-goat, which was the complement of the sin-offering, we have a reference to the Lord Jesus bearing away p. 27our sins “in His own body on the tree,” so that they should be no more remembered against us (1 Pet. ii. 24).

9th.  There remains one more appointed festival, the Feast of Tabernacles, or ingathering (Exod. xxiii. 16) on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when the crops of wine and oil had completed the harvest labours.  It lasted seven days, during which numerous sacrifices were ordained, viz.,—

The 1st day, 13 bullocks, 2 rams, 14 lambs,

2nd „ 12 „ 2 „ 14 „

3rd „ 11 . „ 2 „ 14 „

4th „ 10 „ 2 „ 14 „

5th „ 9 „ 2 „ 14 „

6th „ 8 „ 2 „ 14 „

7th „ 7 „ 2 „ 14 „

with their meat and drink-offerings.  And each of the seven days one goat for a sin-offering.  And on the eighth day a holy convocation, with offerings of one bullock, one ram and seven lambs, with accompaniments, p. 28and one ram for a sin-offering.  “These things shall ye do unto the Lord in your set feasts, besides your vows, and your freewill offerings, for your burnt-offerings, and for your meat-offerings, and for your drink-offerings, and for your peace-offerings” (Num. xxix. 12–39).

The service of the Tabernacle and its offerings were supplied by contributions of half a shekel per head on all that were numbered, from twenty years old and upwards.  The rich were not to give more, nor the poor less.  It was offered to the Lord to make an atonement for their souls (Exod. xxx. 14–16).

As indicated in the latter portion of the above quotation (Num. xxix. 39), besides these stated daily, monthly, and annual sacrifices, which were of a public or general character, there were—

1st.  Voluntary offerings, which do not seem to have been specially enjoined, nor to have had reference to any particular p. 29sins, but arose from the voluntary will and devotion of the person offering, and the priest sprinkled the blood round about upon the altar; “and it was accepted for him to make an atonement for him” (Lev. i. 2–5); “an offering made by fire of a sweet savour unto the Lord” (ver. 9).  It was required to be a male without blemish of the herd or of the flock, two turtle-doves, or two young pigeons (vers. 2 and 10–17).

2nd.  Peace-offerings, also for the most part voluntarily, in which the offerer shared with the priest the offering—a male or female of the herd without blemish, or a lamb or goat (Lev. iii. 1, &c.).

3rd.  The Sin-offering for sins of ignorance afterwards brought to light (Lev. iv. 13, &c.).

4th.  The Trespass-offering.—If any one sinned in hearing swearing and not uttering it, or in any uncleanness, or swearing, p. 30he was to take a lamb or a kid (a female), or two turtle-doves, or two young pigeons, or, if too poor for any of them, the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour, “and the priest shall make an atonement for him for the sin which he hath sinned, and it shall be forgiven him” (Lev. v. 1–13).

In every case the offering was required to be perfect in its kind, and without blemish.

The sin-offering was more especially for atonement; but the voluntary and other offerings are spoken of as contributing thereto (Lev. i. 3): coming from the voluntary will of the people, they expressed the heart’s devotion, and bore a “sweet savour to God.”

But in the days when Isaiah wrote, and when great corruption prevailed, it is said, “Incense is an abomination unto Me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with” (Isa. i. 13).  And Amos says, “I will not smell in your p. 31solemn assembly” (Amos v. 21).  The people drew near with the lip, but the heart was far from God (Isa. xxix. 13); so the sacrifices bore with them no sweet savour of devotion to Him.

In contemplating the mass of sacrifices thus noted, we may easily enter into the feeling expressed by Paul (more especially as regarded circumcision)—“which neither we nor our fathers were able to bear;” and we can the more fully appreciate the blessing of the Gospel, which has relieved us from all such burdens, and given us individually a free access (whether Jew or Gentile) to the Father of Mercies, through the one only High Priest, Jesus Christ our Lord.

But it was not so much to point out the burdens which our forefathers in the faith of Christ had to bear—burdens which, nevertheless, were light compared with the burden of unforgiven sin—that we have traced the requirements of the law; but to point to p. 32the testimony they bore to Christ and His Kingdom.

Under the law no Israelite could obtain pardon for his sin except through the Priest, who was the appointed mediator—to him he brought the prescribed offering, and slew it at the Tabernacle door; the priest received the blood, and some of the internal fat; the former he sprinkled, and the latter he burned, on the altar; and, in the words of the text, “The priest shall make an atonement for his sin, and it shall be forgiven him.”

We may not be able to define the extent to which the Holy Ghost was then enjoyed, but we cannot doubt that the testimony of a conscience free of offence towards God was sealed on the mind of the offerer when the atonement was made agreeably to the words, “Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments; which if a man do he shall live in them” (Lev. xviii. 5).

p. 33The Apostle Paul confirms this language, saying, “The man that doeth them” (the statutes of the Law) “shall live in them” (Gal. iii. 12); and when we consider the words of the same writer: “The children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished” (2 Cor. iii. 13), we need not suppose the offerers had, in general, any understanding that what they did had a special relation to the better Mediator to come.  As in the case of the brazen serpent they looked to it and were healed; so here they made their offerings believing in their efficacy, and reaped the fruit of pardon and peace.

This divinely-instituted law was enjoined on the people under the most solemn assurances of blessings for obedience, and cursings for disobedience, viz.: “Behold I set before you this day a blessing and a curse; a blessing if ye obey the commandments of the Lord your God which p. 34I command you this day: and a curse if ye will not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside after other gods” (Deut. xi. 26–28; xxvii. 15–26; and ch. xxviii.).  “I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live, that thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey His voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto Him; for He is thy life and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them” (Deut. xxx. 19, 20).

They did what God had provided to enable them to walk with Him, and when they erred or failed to keep His holy law they brought the means of reconciliation He had appointed.  In such way a man might do justly, love mercy, and p. 35walk humbly with his God, which is the whole duty of man.

“Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace” (Ps. xxxvii. 37), might be applied to such an one, and the model may perhaps be useful in enabling us to understand the higher perfection required by the Gospel.  “If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John i. 7).

If we look for the essential principle of this elaborate system of priestly mediation for the forgiveness of sins, as well as for presenting to God the freewill offerings or devotions of the people, it will be found in the 11th verse of the 17th chapter of Leviticus, viz.: “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.”

p. 36Such were the conditions under which the law given from Mount Sinai was presented to or enjoined on the people.  They were to choose between life or death, blessing or cursing, obedience with the Divine favour, or refusal to obey, with the Divine displeasure.  The eyes of the Lord would be over the righteous, and His ear open to their cry; but the face of the Lord would be against them that did evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth—Ps. xxxiv. 15, 16—conditions so different as to constitute the highest happiness man was capable of at that time, or the deepest degradation and misery which he could endure in this life, with no better prospect beyond.

The consequences of God’s favour and blessing are set forth with peculiar strength in Deuteronomy (see pp. 33, 34), together with the consequences of His favour being withdrawn, which we may do well to ponder; as the language quoted above p. 37from the Psalms is adopted by the Apostle Peter as applicable equally to Christian times, and the principles of the quotations from Deuteronomy are equally applicable to the old or new dispensations—viz., obedience to the revealed will of God with life and blessing, or disobedience with death and misery.

“He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses; of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and done despite unto the Spirit of Grace?” (Heb. x. 28, 29).

p. 38CHAPTER III.

THE HEBREW SACRIFICES FROM THE CHRISTIAN POINT OF VIEW.  THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST THEIR TRUE COMPLEMENT.

When we consider the bearings of the Mosaic laws on the religion of Christ, it is impossible to avoid a careful attention to the Epistle to the Hebrews, which so clearly sets forth the unity of design between the different revelations, and the manner in which the institutions of the former prefigured and led up to the higher, purer, and holier covenant of the Gospel.

The mode in which the author deals with the highest subjects and persons bespeaks for him the position of one of the chiefest apostles, to whom abundance of p. 39revelations had been made, and whose mind was disembarrassed from the prejudices of the past, and accepted without reserve the fully developed light and spirit of the Gospel.  Who else could venture on language like the opening verses of this book; or those words in the second chapter, “For it became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings” (Heb. ii. 10).

To him the transition from the Law to the Gospel is perfectly natural and necessary.  As the morning dawn passes on into the perfect day, so the Law, having done its preparatory work, merges into the glorious light of the Gospel of Christ; or, to use the author’s own simile, the Law decays, waxes old, and vanishes away just as the glory of the Gospel appears.  The one must increase, the other decrease; the type be swallowed up in the antitype.  p. 40Nothing is discordant; everything fits naturally to its bearings on the other.  Moses as lawgiver gives place to the Prophet whom the Lord would raise up to His people.  The priesthood of Aaron and his sons is superseded by the High Priesthood of Christ.  The blood of animals, which had no inherent healing power—by the blood of Him, who (uniting the Divine and the human—God and Man), “through the Eternal Spirit, offered Himself without spot to God,” “an offering and a sacrifice of a sweet smelling savour” for the sins of men.  The beneficent provisions of the Mosaic laws—of which Moses could say (Deut. iv. 8): “What nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law which I set before you this day?”—give place to the yet purer principles of the Gospel of Christ.

Had it not been for the long course of typical sacrifices, continued through so p. 41many ages, how would it have been possible in the latter days to establish the value and efficacy of the sacrifice of Christ?  The sacrificial rites of heathen nations, so degrading to morality and purity of thought and life, would alone have led no one to imagine such a sacrifice as His: although when viewed as corruptions of revealed truth they have, as accessories, a valuable significance.

We propose now to look at the intrinsic value of the sacrifices under the Mosaic institutions from the Christian point of view, and the superiority of the sacrifice and religion of Christ, as explained in the Epistle to the Hebrews.

Chapter 1 sets forth that God, who had formerly spoken to men by Prophets, has now spoken to us by His Son, who, being the brightness of His glory and express image of His person, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.  p. 42Here is the first recognition of the teaching and High Priesthood of Christ.  He speaks to us the things of God, and purges away our sins by Himself (vers. 1–3).

Chapter 2 opens with the exhortation that for this reason we ought to give the more earnest attention to what He taught. [42]

Chapter 2 sets forth also that Christ had passed through suffering, in order that He “might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people” (c. ii. 17).

Chapter 3 opens with an invitation to consider this Apostle and High Priest of p. 43our profession, faithful in all things to Him that appointed Him—far exceeding Moses in glory—for Moses was faithful as a servant; Christ as a son over His own house (vers. 1–6).

Chapter 5 says, “Every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sin” (ver. 1), that no man takes this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God as was Aaron.  So Christ glorified not Himself, to be made a high priest; but He that said unto Him, “Thou art My Son, to-day have I begotten Thee!” and again, “Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec” (vers. 4, 5, 6).

Further on, after setting forth, in the seventh chapter, the surpassing excellence of the High Priesthood of Christ in comparison with that of Aaron, and marking how exactly such a High Priest was adapted to our every need, “holy, harmless, p. 44undefined, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens” (c. vii. 26), the Apostle sums up his argument in the eighth chapter: “Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum, We have such a High Priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens—a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched and not man (Heb. viii. 1, 2).  And inasmuch as every high priest is ordained to offer both gifts and sacrifices, it is of necessity that this man have somewhat to offer” (Heb. viii. 3).

Jesus was proved to be our High Priest by offering up His own body for our sins, which is stated in the most explicit terms.  “But Christ being come, a High Priest of good things to come; . . . neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained p. 45eternal redemption (for us)” (Heb. ix. 11, 12).

“How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” (Heb. ix. 14). (See also ver. 15.)

“Nor yet that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with 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 hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself” (Heb. ix. 25, 26).

“So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many,” i.e., of all that look to Him for salvation (Heb. ix. 28).

“By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Heb. x. 10).

“For by one offering He hath perfected p. 46for ever them that are sanctified” (Heb. x. 14).

The Apostle Paul uses language equally explicit in Eph. v. 2:—“And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God, of a sweet smelling savour.” [46]

Having thus shown how, on the principles of the priesthood of Aaron, the Lord Jesus had proved Himself to be a priest, although of the higher and more perfect order of Melchisedec—the order of righteousness and peace, and everlasting endurance—this epistle points out in a very conclusive manner the defects of the Mosaic institutions, which were enjoined for a time only, to prepare the way, and lead up to the enduring realities of the Gospel of Christ.  And here we cannot but notice again how completely the p. 47Christian mind of the author had passed from all the Jewish prejudices and predilections of his former training, to regard everything in the light and spirit of Christ; while far from disregarding or repudiating that which he showed to be past, worn out, and abolished, he draws from it his most powerful arguments in favour of the New Covenant as required to complete the first, by making good its typical meaning, and securing to all who had passed from earth to heaven under the provisions of the Law, those blessings which they had already entered on, upon the promise of the sacrifice of Christ to come.

“For the Law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God” (Heb. vii. 19).  That better hope is stated to be the “blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God,” purging our conscience, &c. (Heb. ix. 13, 14)

p. 48“For the Law having a shadow (or shadowing forth) of good things to come, and not the very image (or substance and reality) of the things, can never by those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect” (Heb. x. 1).  It was “therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens, should be purified with these, [48a] but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices [48b] than these” (Heb. ix. 23).

The passage last quoted follows verse 22, which declares, “without shedding of blood is no remission” (See also Lev. xvii. 11).  But if it was impossible that the blood shed under the law of Moses (Heb. x. 4), should take away sins, it is evident that other blood must be shed of which that was typical, and which should be effectual for the purpose, agreeably p. 49to Heb. ix. 15, referring to Christ; “For this cause He is the Mediator of the New Testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first Testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.”  In the former sacrifices there was a remembrance again made of sins every year (Heb. x. 3).  But after the one Sacrifice for ever it is said, “their sins and iniquities will I remember no more” (x. 17).

“And having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself, whether things in earth or things in heaven” (Col. i. 20).

“In the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in His sight” (Col. i. 22).

Thus we are given to understand that the sins of future generations, should be atoned by the one offering of Christ, as well as those of past generations, so that all p. 50generations alike owe their salvation to the one Mediator between God and man, Jesus Christ, in whom “all are made alive, and who is the one only hope of glory.  For as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Cor. xv. 22) in such manner that if we are united to Him we partake of what is His, and shall find in Him all that we can need as a Saviour, Mediator, Intercessor, and Redeemer.

Nothing is of us; all from Christ.  In Him is all the fulness of the Godhead bodily (Col. ii. 9); full of grace and truth (John i. 14).  All power is committed to Him in heaven and in earth (Matt. xxviii. 18).  As maker and upholder of all things, blessings, spiritual and temporal, are in His hand (Heb. i. 2, 3); and in Him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col. ii. 3), and “He is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him” (Heb. vii. 25).

p. 51Can we not now with reverent feeling enter into somewhat of the deep meaning of those few words of our Lord, “That thus it must be” (Matt. xxvi. 54)? and of that awful scene which had just passed in the garden of Gethsemane, when He had thrice prayed—“If it be possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt”—when His soul was “exceeding sorrowful even unto death” (Matt. xxvi. 38, 39); and when “there appeared an angel unto Him from heaven strengthening Him (Luke xxii. 43); when His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling to the ground” (Luke xxii. 44).

The words referred to were spoken when Peter had made an attempt at resistance, and smitten off the ear of the High Priest’s servant, who came with others to take Jesus, and when He had rebuked Peter, saying, “Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and He p. 52shall presently give Me more than twelve legions of angels?  But how then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled that thus it must be?” (Matt. xxvi. 51–54).  “The Lord” had “sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec” (Ps. cx. 4).  And then to show that He needed not even the legions to rescue Him, but had still all power in His hands, when about to be “brought as a lamb to the slaughter” (Isa. liii. 7), as soon as He had said to the band of men and officers who came with Judas to take Him, “I am He” they went backwards and fell to the ground (John xviii. 3–7), signifying that they had no power to touch Him until again encouraged by Jesus.  And so at each step of His trial, mocking, scourging, until by wicked hands He was crucified and slain (Acts ii. 23)—it was: “Thou couldst have no power against Me except it were given Thee from above” (John xix. 11).  At each step it was His p. 53voluntary submission to ignominy and insult, and a cruel death, that He might redeem us from death, and from the power of the grave and of hell by His own blood.

p. 54CHAPTER IV.

TESTIMONY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECIES TO JESUS CHRIST AS THE MESSIAH.

We have thus endeavoured to point out in how comprehensive a sense Jesus fulfilled the Law, so that one jot or one tittle should not fail or be lost.

The Apostle Peter, in the third chapter of Acts, says, “Those things which God before had showed by the mouth of all His prophets, that Christ should suffer, He hath so fulfilled” (ver. 18).

It was the beneficent design of our Heavenly Father that so many rays of light, passing through varied channels, and spread over all past time, should concentrate upon Jesus as the Lamb of God that p. 55taketh away the sin of the world, that there might be no excuse for rejecting Him.  Let us recall some of the principal passages in which the Old Testament Scriptures refer to our Lord and His kingdom.

1.  His coming was prophesied from the fall of Adam and Eve, in the Lord’s address to the serpent, thus, “The seed of the woman shall bruise thy head, but thou shalt bruise his heel” (Gen. iii. 15), a prophecy obscure at first, but abundantly explained by subsequent history and prophecy.

2.  The promise was made to Abraham and renewed to Isaac and Jacob, that in their seed, all the families of the earth should be blessed (Gen. xii. 3, xxii. 18, xxvi. 4).

3.  The family of Jacob was chosen to be a peculiar people to the Lord.  Laws, sacrifices, and institutions were given them to be as a schoolmaster to lead them to Christ, and it was declared the sceptre p. 56“shall not depart from Judah until Shiloh come” (Gen. xlix. 10).

4.  As time progressed the covenant was further confirmed and limited to the tribe of Judah, and the family of Jesse, and, again, of David.

5.  The time of the Messiah’s advent was closely indicated by the prophecy of Daniel; seventy weeks of years, or 490 years from the rebuilding of Jerusalem (Dan. ix. 24, 25).

It was to be during the continuance of the second Temple, and when there should be a general expectation and desire in all nations for Him (Hag. ii. 6–9).  He would be preceded by a forerunner, who would prepare His way (Mal. iii. 1).

6.  The place of His birth was pointed out by Micah (v. 2) as Bethlehem of Judah.  He was to be born of a virgin, and called Immanuel—“God with us” (Isa. vii. 14).  He was to commence His teaching in Galilee (Isa. ix. 1, 2).

p. 577.  The character of His mediatorial coming; His humble origin; His lowly, suffering life, and His cruel death—were described with singular accuracy by the Prophet Isaiah;—as well as the ultimate glory of His Kingdom and reign.  And the Psalms abound in references to the sufferings of Christ, often spoken as of David, but having their full accomplishment in Him who was emphatically “the Son of David.”

It was natural that the worldly-minded Jews, in anticipating their Messiah, and looking for one greater than Solomon, should expect to see one exceeding him, not only in wisdom, but in that outward display of wealth and grandeur which the world so much admires, as indicating the royal power and pomp of kings.  But it was not so to be: “He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground; He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see Him p. 58there is no beauty that we should desire Him.”  He would bear our griefs and carry our sorrows while He was “despised and rejected of men,” and numbered with the transgressors (Isa. liii.).

He should be the mighty God, the Everlasting Father (Isa. ix. 6), whose goings forth have been from of old—from everlasting (Micah v. 2).  “A prophet like unto Moses, him shall ye hear” (Deut. xviii. 15, 18).

8.  Subsequent to the close of the Old Testament prophecy, some very remarkable incidents marked, to the believing Jews, the near approach and the actual coming of their Messiah.

The angel Gabriel appeared to Zacharias as he ministered in the priest’s office, to announce the approaching birth of John the Baptist, who should “go before, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (Luke i. 17).  This visitation was made on a very public occasion, on the p. 59great Day of Atonement, while “the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of incense” (Luke i. 10).  The angel Gabriel appeared also to the Virgin Mary to tell her that she should be blessed among women in giving birth to the Messiah (ver. 28), and “all these sayings were noised abroad throughout all the hill country of Judea” (Luke i. 65).

The actual birth of our Lord was next announced by an angel to the shepherds, saying, “Unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord” (Luke ii. 11); “and suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, goodwill toward men” (Luke ii. 14).

While God in His providence provides abundant evidence for the believing heart, yet it is not so redundant that none can reject it.  It is the eye of faith which discerns p. 60God in prophecy, or providence, or nature, and the opening of that eye is the effect of grace in the heart, at first comparatively small and mixed with more or less of misgiving, as when Nathanael said, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” (John i. 46) but growing with the increase of Divine grace as when he was able afterwards to say, “Rabbi, thou art the Son of God, thou art the King of Israel” (John i. 49).

Let us consider two examples illustrating this principle.

1.  That of Simeon, a righteous and devout man, looking for the consolation of Israel, waiting for and expecting the fulfilment of prophecy, who finding the infant Jesus in the temple, received Him into his arms, and blessed God, and said, “Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word; for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people; p. 61a light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of Thy people Israel” (Luke ii. 29–31).

2.  That of Herod, and the people of the Jews generally, when the wise men came to Jerusalem, saying they had seen the king’s star in the east, and were come to inquire where he was to be born.  The chief priest and scribes, who with the people generally were also in expectation of the promised Messiah, said he should be born in Bethlehem, and referred to the prophetic declaration in that respect; but their unbelieving hearts were aroused, and all Jerusalem was in an uproar, prepared to say, as they did at last, “We will not have this man to rule over us.”  Herod also, fearing a rival king, sent forth his soldiers to destroy the child, by killing with undistinguishing cruelty, all the children from two years old and younger.

In addition to the prophecies which marked the descent of our Lord, and the time and character of His coming, there are p. 62numerous references made in the Old Testament to circumstances of His personal history while He dwelt amongst men.

He should preach good tidings unto the meek, bind up the broken-hearted, proclaim liberty to the captive, and comfort all that mourn (Isa. lxi. 1, 2).

He should open the blind eyes, unstop the deaf ears, make the lame to leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb to sing (Isa. xxxv. 5, 6; xxix. 18).

He should feed His flock like a shepherd (Isa. xl. 11); “I will set one shepherd over them, even My servant David” (Ezek. xxxiv. 23).  “A king shall reign and prosper, and this is the name whereby He shall be called, the Lord our Righteousness” (Jer. xxiii. 5, 6).

He was “to be a priest for ever, after the order of Melchesidec” (Ps. ex. 4).  “He shall be a priest upon His throne” (Zech. vi. 13).

He should be for a “sanctuary” (Isa. p. 63viii. 14); a “rock and place of refuge” (Ps. xci. 1).

He should “enter Jerusalem riding on an ass’s colt” (Zech. ix. 9).

He should “be higher than the kings of the earth.”  His throne should “endure as the sun” (Ps. lxxxix. 27, 36).

He should “open His mouth in a parable, and utter dark sayings of old” (Ps. lxxviii. 2; Isa. vi. 9, 10, compared with Matt. xiii. 14).

The rulers should “take counsel together against Him” (Ps. ii. 2).

His “own familiar friend, who did eat of His bread,” should “lift up his heel against Him” (Ps. xli. 9).

“They weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the House of the Lord” (Zech. xi. 12, 13).  “They gave me gall for my meat, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink” (Ps. lxix. 21).

“Not a bone of Him should be broken” p. 64(Ex. xii. 46; Ps. xxxiv. 20).  “He should give His back to the smitters, and His cheeks to them that plucked off the hair.”  “He hid not His face from shame and spitting” (Isa. l. 6).

The assembly of the wicked should enclose Him—“they pierced my hands and my feet” (Ps. xxii. 16).  “They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture” (Ps. xxii. 18).  “All they that see me laugh me to scorn; they shoot out the lip; they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the Lord that He would deliver Him; let Him deliver Him, seeing He delighted in Him” (Ps. xxii. 7, 8).

He should “make His grave with the wicked, and with the rich in His death, because He had done no violence, neither was any deceit in His mouth” (Isa. liii. 9).

He should “make intercession for the transgressors” (Isa. liii. 12).  “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

p. 65He should rise from the dead (Ps. xvi. 10), ascend into heaven, and receive gifts for men, even “for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them” (Ps. lxviii. 18).

He should “pour out His Spirit on all flesh, so that their sons and daughters should prophesy,” &c. (Joel ii. 28).

To “one like unto the Son of Man” was to be given “dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages, should serve Him; His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed” (Dan. vii. 13, 14).

With what justice could the Lord say, “Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have Eternal Life, and they are they which testify of Me?” (John v. 39).  “And if I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin, but now they p. 66have no cloke for their sin” (John xv. 24, 22) [66]

If such were the evidences furnished to the Jews, the Gentile who rests his hope on Christ as the Rock of Ages can equally enter into and appreciate these proofs of our Lord’s mission, and unite in the triumphant song of David, “Go round about Zion, tell the towers thereof; mark ye well her bulwarks; consider her palaces, that ye may tell it to the generation following; for this God is our God for ever and ever, He will be our guide even unto death” (Ps. xlviii. 13, 14).  As Gentiles we can also look back to the fall of the peculiar institutions designed to point out the Messiah to mankind,—to p. 67the present state of His chosen people, scattered throughout the Gentile world in fulfilment of their own prophecies,—to the triumphs of the faith in Christ,—and to the multitudes who have already been admitted to realise the mansions in the heaven which He went to prepare for them.

As Christianity is itself built on the foundation of the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms, in fact upon whatever of Divine revelation had preceded it, and is the crowning development of the whole, we may not disregard or lightly esteem any portion of that outward work of Christ, of which our blessings are the direct result, and without which we could have no right or title to them.

The new Covenant of Grace was declared by Christ and His Apostles.  The seal of that Covenant was the Blood of Jesus, the voluntary offering of Himself for the sins of men, as typified by the p. 68patriarchal and Mosaic institutions.  It was the purchase of our redemption, and of all those gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit which the Lord Jesus after His resurrection gave to men (Eph. iv. 8, 11; Rom. xii. 6, 8; 1 Cor. xii. 4; &c.).  Thus He is the “foundation stone,” the “tried stone,” the “chief corner-stone,” and “only hope of glory.”  By Himself He “purges our sins.”  By His death He delivers “them who through fear of death, are all their life time subject to bondage” (Heb. ii. 14, 15).  And does not the continual daily sacrifice, morning by morning, and evening by evening, prescribed by the Law, point to the constant bearing on our minds before God, of the sacrifice of Christ, as the foundation of all our hopes, and petitions for mercy and grace? the true propitiatory, or mercy seat, where God will meet with us and dwell with us (see page 16, and Ex. xxix. 42, 45).

“Whatsoever things were written aforetime, p. 69were written for our learning, that we, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope” (Rom. xv. 4).

“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Tim. iii. 16, 17).

Nor need any be discouraged; the Bible is God’s revelation addressed alike to all men, rich or poor, learned or unlearned, intellectual or of small powers.  God is no respecter of persons, and to every one alike who can read for themselves, or hear from others, the Bible, without note or comment, may prove under the influence of God’s Spirit, “a lamp unto their feet, a light to their path.”  The less educated will escape some of the difficulties which beset the minds of others, and more easily fulfil the conditions imposed by our Lord, “Except ye receive the kingdom of God p. 70as little children, ye cannot enter therein;” and many are the instances in which persons of comparatively small intellectual power enjoy, appreciate, and bring forth the evident fruits of faith; so that, with the Bible in their hands and the Holy Spirit to apply it, none need despair of finding the way that leads to everlasting life.

The Psalmist asks, “Wherewithall shall a young man cleanse his way?” and replies, “By taking heed thereto according to Thy word” (Ps. cxix. 9), so that he may come to say, “O, how I love Thy law, it is my meditation all the day” (ver. 97).  “Thou through Thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies; for they are ever with me” (ver. 98).

“Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever; they are the rejoicing of my heart” (ver. 111).

“The entrance of Thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding to the simple” (ver. 130).

p. 71The 19th Psalm also says, “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.  The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.  The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever; the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. . . .  By them is Thy servant warned, and in keeping of them there is great reward” (Ps. xix. 7, 8, 9–11).

The Lord Jesus also said of the Father, “for I know that His commandment is life everlasting” (John xii. 50).

p. 72CHAPTER V.

THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST.

Having in the former pages noticed the manner in which the institutions of previous revelation have pointed to and been completed by the Gospel of Christ, let us now set forth some of the leading characteristics of that religion which Jesus, so long foretold and typified, came to introduce amongst men.

We must bear in mind that it was a New Covenant with men, which He came to establish.  The former Covenant had grown old, and was about to decay; and it had been declared in prophecy, “This shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their p. 73inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.  And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know Me from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more” (Jer. xxxi. 33 and 34).

He who came to establish this new Covenant, and teach it to men, was none other than the Word who was in the beginning with God and was God.  All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made (John i. 1–3); who was the brightness of the Father’s glory, and “the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power” (Heb. i. 3).

It is no marvel therefore that the New Testament should teach us that the first p. 74and cardinal point of this new faith was that we should believe on the “Messenger of the Covenant”—the Lord Jesus Christ bearing glad tidings of salvation to all men.

This is done in the clearest and most precise manner.

“God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

“For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved” (John iii. 16, 17).

“This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent” (John vi. 29).

“This is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent” (John xvii. 3).

“He that believeth on the Son hath p. 75everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” (John iii. 36).

“He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life” (John v. 24).

“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” (John iii. 18).

“But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name” (John i. 12).

“I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live” (John xi. 25).

“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts xvi. 31).

In the two verses quoted above, John iii. 16, 17, God is declared to send His Son not to condemn, but to save the world.

p. 76Verse 18 divides mankind into two classes—those who believe in Christ, and those who do not believe.  The former are not condemned, and if they abide in Him will go on to everlasting life.  The latter “are condemned already” for their not believing.  This condemnation is not necessarily a final state, for if they “abide not in unbelief,” but turn to Christ in repentance and faith, they will be brought into His covenant of grace and salvation.  But if otherwise, when God’s longsuffering patience has exhausted the pleadings, warnings, and wooings of the Spirit without response, a time must come when the word will go forth, “My Spirit shall not always strive with man;” and that state of condemnation become an abiding one, agreeably to Rom. ii. 4–10.

“Or despisest thou the riches of His goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?  But p. 77after thy hardness and impenitent heart, treasurest up unto thyself wrath, against the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; who will render to every man according to his deeds:—To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: but unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil . . . but glory, honour, and peace to every man that worketh good” (Rom. ii. 4–10).

It becomes, therefore, an all-important point to endeavour to draw from Scripture some of the chief conditions which are implied in these simple words, “Believing in the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Our Lord has Himself given us an example of what He meant by it when He said, “I seek not mine own will, but the p. 78will of the Father which hath sent Me” (John v. 30).  Jesus believed in the Father, and he that in like manner believes in the Son must seek, not his own will, but the will of Christ.

Jesus said, “I am the Light of the world;” “he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John viii. 12).  “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father but by Me” (John xiv. 6).  He is the way to the Father, and the only way:—the very Truth of God expressed in word and action,—in precept and example,—who “did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth” (1 Pet. ii. 22; and Isa. liii. 9),—and the life, the means through which alone spiritual life is given to a world dead in trespasses and sins.

Our Lord further defines the characteristics of the two classes as follows:—“For every one that doeth evil hateth p. 79the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.  But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God” (John iii. 20, 21).

It is, therefore, a characteristic of believing in Jesus that we bring our “deeds to His light that it may be made manifest that they are wrought in God.”

Jesus was “the Light” but His precepts and example—all, in fact, that He did and taught—are so many lights derived from Him; as well as the light of the Holy Ghost or Comforter, who shines in our hearts to give “us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. iv.  6); and this bringing our deeds to the light includes trying them by His words and example;—the precepts taught by His Apostles, as well as by the Holy Spirit itself,—that by any or all of these accordant tests p. 80it may be made clear whether they are according to the mind of Christ.  “He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me. . . .  He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My sayings” (John xiv. 21, 24).

We have a lively illustration of practical belief in the patriarchs of old, who, believing in God’s promises, and having seen them afar off, embraced them, and shaped their lives in conformity to them:—viz., “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims in the earth.  For they which say such things declare plainly that they seek . . . a better country—that is, a heavenly” (Heb. xi. 13, 14, 16).

Believing in Christ, therefore, implies a belief that He is the Son of God, the Messiah, and Saviour of the world, the p. 81centre and spring of all our spiritual existence;—a belief in His teaching expressed by shaping our lives and conversation in the world by it; accepting Him as our King, whose right it is to reign and rule in our hearts.  He tells us that we must be “born again”—“born of the Spirit” (John iii. 3 and 6)—and the power to truly believe in Christ is coincident with this new birth, and indicative of it, when “the Holy Ghost or Comforter,” convincing us of sin, and of our alienation from God by it, enables us to look to Jesus as our Saviour and Redeemer.  When, by the power of the same Spirit, we are enabled to lay aside our old works, thoughts, and propensities to evil, and walk by the rule of faith in the light of the Spirit of Christ.  As we abide and walk therein, we shall “grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ;” bringing forth the fruits of the Spirit, which are set forth in p. 82Gal. v. 22, as “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance; against such there is no law.”  Again (2 Pet. i. 5–7), as—“Faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity.”

If we examine the nature of some of these fruits of the Spirit, we shall see that though they are produced in us individually by the working of the Spirit, they are not confined to ourselves, but will communicate to others around us.  Thus we all know how communicative is the feeling of joy—it burns to tell others the good news, or glad tidings.  The love of God shed abroad in our hearts makes us long that others should participate in this great blessing.—The peace of God yearns that all should be brought into its heavenly atmosphere: while the other qualities or rather graces described,—as longsuffering, meekness, charity, &c,—mark to others that we have p. 83been with Jesus: and the Apostle Peter winds up his catalogue with the descriptive words equally applicable to both, “If these things be in you and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. i. 8).

Thus the Gospel “is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth” (Rom. i. 16), and as its fruits spring up and abound in any heart they will in some or other form overflow to those around, and make it a minister of righteousness, a testimony-bearer to the truth as it is in Jesus: it may be in word and doctrine, in the private circle of association, or even in the quiet testimony of a peaceful spirit, and a faithful discharge of duties, recommending by its example the Gospel of Christ.

“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. . . .  That the p. 84righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”  “For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit” (Rom. viii. 2–5).

Allusion has been made at a former page (40) to the precepts of the law, having been superseded by the higher principles of the Gospel of Christ.  The New Testament, instead of prescribing precise instructions for conduct between man and man, sums up our duties in the general principle, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself; love worketh no ill to his neighbour; love is the fulfilling of the law” (Rom. xiii. 9, 10); at the same time illustrations are given, both of the fruits of the Spirit, and of the fruits of sin in the heart (See Eph. iv. 22 to end, and ch. v.; Rom. i. 28–32; Rev. xxi. 8).

The law written in the heart is the effect of the Holy Spirit’s work there.  p. 85He works in us to will and to do of God’s good pleasure;—“to do those things which are well pleasing in His sight;”—which should “be known and read of all men,” by its effects on the conduct, &c. (2 Cor. iii. 2).  It was the distinguishing feature of Christ’s coming—“Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God” (Heb. x. 9).  And though we cannot attain to His perfection, the work of the Spirit is always to beget within us more of the love of God, and to incline our hearts to serve Him more faithfully.  As we sit, as it were, at the feet of Jesus, looking unto Him, the Spirit or Comforter will take of the things of Christ, and show them to us, and there will be a growth in grace, and in conformity to the will and law of God;—a subordination of the flesh to the Spirit, which has no necessary, or perhaps no natural, limit, but in the summons to quit the militant, and join the triumphant, Church above.

p. 86It is sometimes said that Christianity is an educational system in which the mind is trained, by the restoring grace of the Holy Spirit, to abandon sin, and work righteousness; and that the offer of this restoring grace implies, as a necessary prelude, the pardon of past sin.

Enough has been already said to show that this is not consistent with the general tenor of Holy Scripture.  We know that the minds of susceptible children, nurtured under Christian mothers, do sometimes drink in the truths of the Gospel from their lips, at a very early age, in a way that makes it difficult to mark the period of decided change in them.  They seem to grow up with the Gospel infused into their characters and life.

This is not, however, the common case; neither is it the happy lot of all to be so instructed from their cradles to maturity.  And when sin has taken possession of the mind—whether in the milder development p. 87of what is called innocent gaiety;—the love of pleasure, without vice;—indisposition for serious things and persons;—or whether evil takes a larger development, and vice in its grosser form exists; in either case they cannot be said to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ—nor, as a consequence, to seek to do His will; but are living under the condemnation of those who do not believe.  And these states, admitted and protracted, necessarily tend to harden in sin, and the longer they continue, to render it more difficult to return, repent, and live.  So that in general it is when the fear of death is brought nearer by sickness:—when aroused by the powerful ministry of the Word, or by the direct pleadings of the Holy Spirit, convincing us of sin and of judgment to come:—then, if at all, they are arrested in their downward course, and, through God’s longsuffering mercy, are brought to see their need of a Saviour, a p. 88Redeemer, a sacrifice for sin.  Under such circumstances no necessary implication of pardon will give peace; they must feel that Jesus has borne their sins in His own body on the tree, and that by His stripes they are healed.

How many instances do we read of persons, for long years refusing to yield themselves to God, being at length brought into such depths of misery or danger (in that longsuffering mercy which has followed them all through), and then are they enabled to repent and put away their sins, and, believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, to be saved from the wrath to come.

But some, perhaps, will say: Why cannot I believe in the Lord Jesus as “the restorer of breaches,” and “of paths to dwell in,” without going back to past ages?  The answer is very obvious—that if He be not the Sacrifice, He cannot be the Restorer.  He is one Christ, and His p. 89work one.  If He atones for the sin of mankind, He can be then the restorer;—the one is as much part of His character as the other.  And if we would divide His perfect work in two parts, and reject Him when suffering on the cross for our sins:—that “we might live”:—“to give His life a ransom for us,”—can we be sure that He will acknowledge us when seated on the right hand of God?  Can we be truly said to believe in Him with our whole heart?  If we do not accept what He has said of Himself; by His own rule we are not seeking to do His will.

It is after “having made peace through the blood of His cross;” . . . that He is able “to reconcile all things unto Himself” (Col. i. 19, 20), so that they who “were sometimes alienated by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable, and unreproveable in His sight.” (Col. i. 22).

p. 90In the previous chapters of the Epistle to the Romans, Paul, having taken a review of the mercies of God in human redemption by Christ, and of the calling of the Jews and Gentiles;—in the twelfth chapter he beseeches the brethren “to present their bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is their reasonable service” (ver. 1); and at the end of the thirteenth chapter he exhorts them to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lust thereof” (ver. 14); while the intermediate verses contain a remarkably concise epitome of the character and duties of the members of the Christian Church.

I have endeavoured to draw the character of Christianity as I find it in the New Testament.  No place is made for lukewarmness, indifference, or formality.  Every one receiving the inestimable blessing of faith in Christ is naturally expected p. 91to embrace it; to prize it as the “pearl of great price”; the greatest of all treasures; and to be wrapped up in its excellence, counting all other things as valueless and unworthy of attention in comparison with it.  And the new creature is to grow up out of the new faith, stripped of all that is old and sinful, and clothed with all that is just and true and godly.

To flee from the “wrath to come,” and take refuge in the ark or fold of Christ, is a work of the deepest seriousness, and the joy of feeling that you have attained that shelter and security is depicted in the New and Old Testaments as of the liveliest kind.

“Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say rejoice” (Phil. iv. 4).  “Whom having not seen ye love; in whom though now ye see Him not, yet, believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory” (1 Pet. i. 8), and this in the midst of grievous persecutions.

p. 92“And thou shalt rejoice in the Lord, and shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel” (Isa. xli. 16).

“I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness” (Isa. lxi. 10).

“I will rejoice in the Lord, and joy in the God of my salvation” (Hab. iii. 18).

“Rejoice evermore” (1 Thess. v. 16).

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit” (Rom. viii. 1): born again of the Spirit: believing in Christ: our sins borne by Him on the tree: “the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus making us free from the law of sin and death” (Rom. viii. 2), should we not rejoice with grateful hearts, and through Jesus offer “the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of p. 93our lips giving thanks to His name”? (Heb. xiii. 15.)

But are there not many minds who are more given to dwell in a low state, and in somewhat of that sombreness which is cast over nature when the sun is more or less eclipsed, to whom it is more congenial to look at the doubtful or dark side of things, than to indulge in joyful anticipations?  If such be our condition of mind, should we not strive against it, and examine whether there be not cause for joy?

If through the mercy of God in Christ Jesus our sins are forgiven; if we have passed from death unto life; if Christ, who is the appointed “Judge of quick and dead,” be our Intercessor and Redeemer, who is he that can harm us?  If by means of His redemption we are made joint heirs with Him of the heavenly Kingdom and glory, ought we not to rejoice and be glad?  To have passed p. 94from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God is surely matter for joy and rejoicing, and the feeling is one that it is the duty of all such to encourage, and seek by prayer and meditation on the promises of God in Christ Jesus—promises which are not yea and nay, but all yea in Him—all unconditional—absolutely certain to all who believe in, love, and obey Him, and persevere to the end.

Footnotes.

[6]  These were the three grand divisions of the Old Testament, according to the Jewish arrangement, and comprised the entire volume.

[12]  Cruden says that sacrifice was offered by Adam and his sons.

[20]  May we not learn from this the duty of expressing our thankfulness to the Giver of every good and perfect gift before partaking of it? so also, at Feast of Pentecost.

[21]  In Lev. xxiii. 18, it is stated one bullock and two rams, but in Numbers, just before entering the Promised Land, some alterations were made.

[42]  Mark here the dignity and quality of the teacher—“the brightness of the Father’s glory and express image of His person,”—come to teach men the things which He had seen and heard with His Father in heaven—John iii. 32,—and so completely representing the Father that He could say, “If ye have seen Me ye have seen the Father also” (John xiv. 15).  See also Col. i. 15.

[46]  See terms used in the account of the daily and other sacrifices (Lev. i. 9; iv. 31, &c.), p. 16.

[48a]  The blood of goats and calves (Heb. ix. 12–14).

[48b]  The blood of Christ (Heb. ix. 14).

[66]  See in “Horne’s Introduction to the Critical Study of the Scriptures” a full account of the prophecies of the Old Testament, with their fulfilment in the words of the New Testament, from which several of the above are extracted.  Vol. i., Appendix No. 6.

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