|
Home
You are in Online Reading - The Christian Faith The Christian Faith (index)
The
Suffering Saviour
Pastor Samuel T. Carson (N.I.)
Completeness
; Uniqueness; Substitutionary; Propitiatory
1 Pet. 3 v 18 - "Christ has once suffered
for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might
bring us to God."
Having been arrested by this remarkable text, I
began to ponder the force of the word
"once" - Christ has once suffered for
sins." It seems to me in the first place to
carry the idea of: -
Completeness
All the suffering that needed to be suffered for
sins was suffered when Christ once suffered. He will
never need to suffer again, hence His cry of triumph
upon the cross "It is finished."
Nothing can be taken from His sufferings and
nothing needs to be added. Calvary is a finished
work.
Ne’er again shall God Jehovah
Smite the shepherd with the sword,
Ne’er again shall cruel sinners
Set at nought our glorious Lord.
The word "once" however, suggests the
further thought of:
Uniqueness
No one before or since ever suffered like Christ
suffered. None could ever suffer as He did. The
cross of Christ is the pivotal point of history.
Eternity past looked forward while eternity future
will look back, the gaze of both will meet in the
cross
In the context of eternity the sufferings of
Christ stand alone in all their glorious uniqueness.
Surely we hear the suffering Saviour Himself when
we listen to Jeremiah’s lament. "Behold and
see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow
wherewith the Lord has afflicted me." (Lam.
1:12).
In our text there are two things which mark out
the sufferings of Christ as unique.
First they were: -
Substitutionary
He suffered the just for the unjust. Luke records
that when they were come to the place called Calvary
there they crucified Him. But Calvary was not His
place, Calvary was our place.
He stood there in our room and died in our stead,
when He once suffered for sins. He suffered as the
Just One, how just He was we cannot tell for there
is no yardstick that would allow us, by way of
comparison, to comprehend the intrinsic holiness of
His person.
Moreover, He suffered for the unjust. As we
cannot measure the justness of Christ so we cannot
measure our own awful sinfulness.
The little word "once" tells us that
however great the need of the unjust, there is a
glorious sufficiency in the Just One to meet it. We
sometimes sing –
"I could not do without thee
O Saviour of the lost,
Whose precious blood redeemed me
At such tremendous cost.
Thy righteousness, thy pardon,
Thy sacrifice, must be,
My only hope and comfort,
My glory and my plea."
The other thing that marks out the sufferings of
Christ as unique is that they were –
Propitiatory
This grand New Testament word is scarcely
mentioned in our meetings, and yet it represents a
truth that is basic to the evangel itself.
It teaches that in His death our blessed Lord met
every claim of God’s outraged holiness and now
because of Calvary, God is able to be just and at
the same time the justifier of poor sinners who do
nothing but put their trust in the Saviour’s name.
John, in his first epistle, highlights the grand
sweep of this truth. He points to Christ and
proclaims that, "He is the propitiation for our
sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins
of the whole world" (1 John 2:2).
On this ground He is able to "bring us to
God." On this ground we have been reconciled
and on this ground we can beseech men to be
reconciled to God.
The little word "once" teaches that
apart from Calvary there is hope for none and
because of Calvary there is hope for all. Praise God
there is a sufficiency in the cross to meet the need
of "a world of sinners lost and ruined by the
fall." None need perish, all may live since
Christ has died.
Truly happy is that man who has taken his stand
by faith for time and eternity upon the mighty
sacrifice of Him who once suffered for sins, the
just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.
Because the sinless Saviour died
My sinful soul is counted free,
For God the just is satisfied,
To look on Him and pardon me.
PW 04/01
Home
You are in Online Reading - The Christian Faith The Christian Faith (index)
|
