Chapter XXV: Part III: Selections (2)

In our supreme ignorance we need a teacher--an infallible teacher; and that we have in the person of Jesus. In order to become wise unto salvation, we must hear and learn of Him. In believing what He says, and doing what He directs, we have His divine assurance of salvation from sin and a home in heaven.

NEW TESTAMENT VIEWS OF CHRIST.

VII.--CHRIST THE DELIVERER.

"And he [Jesus] came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up; and
he entered, as his custom was, into the synagogue on the sabbath
day, and stood up to read. And there was delivered unto him the
book of the prophet Isaiah. And he opened the book, and found the
place where it was written,

The spirit of the Lord is upon me,
Because he anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor:
He hath sent me to proclaim release to the captives,
And recovering of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty them that are bruised,
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.

And he closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat
down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fastened on him.
And he began to say unto them, To-day hath this scripture been
fulfilled in your ears" (Luke iv. 16-21).

This sublime passage is a quotation of Isaiah lxi. 1-3. It contains several words indicating a character in which the Messiah was to appear, strikingly appreciated by the Jews at the time of the prophecy. Especially from the time of the Babylonish captivity did the Jews make prominent the idea of a deliverer in the person of their promised Messiah. "_Release_ to the _captives_" and "_liberty_ to the _bruised_"--ill-treated by their captors--was to them a precious proclamation, looked forward to with great anxiety, when deliverance should be proclaimed and Israel should again be the free and favored people of God.

Since this characteristic was so long appreciated as a matter of prophecy, and Jesus announced its fulfillment in Himself, it is a befitting occasion on which to briefly notice the relation of Christ to prophecy. The understanding of this relationship is important at any time, because it furnishes a valuable class of evidence as to the Messiahship and divinity of Jesus. It is especially so at this time, since infidels are making a special effort to destroy the value of prophecy in this respect; and some from whom we should expect better things seem to be assisting in the work.

A great deal of importance was given to Messianic prophecies during the days of the Saviour and the apostolic age of the church. Indeed, this was the main source of evidence to the Jewish mind that Jesus was the Christ. And the use made of it by Christ and the apostles shows that it was abundant.

When Jesus talked with two of the disciples on their way to Emmaus, on the day of the resurrection, He said to them: "O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Behooved it not the Christ to suffer these things, and to enter into his glory? And beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself." Here Jesus Himself states that Moses and all the prophets prophesied of Him. And when He had returned to Jerusalem, and stood in the midst of the eleven, He said to them: "These are my words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, how that all things must needs be fulfilled which are written in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms concerning me." Thus the books of Moses, and all the prophets, and the psalms, contained teaching concerning the Christ, according to Jesus' own statement; and it was all in the form of type and prophecy. Indeed, types are but forms of prophecy.

Jesus charged the Jews with not believing Moses, and gave that as the reason why they did not believe on Him. He said: "For if ye believe Moses, ye would believe me: for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings how shall ye believe my words?" Like modern skeptics, they did not believe the writings of Moses concerning the Messiah--did not believe that they referred to the Messiah; hence their value was destroyed, and they did not believe in Jesus. Had they believed these prophecies they would have believed on Christ.

On the day of Pentecost Peter convinced the three thousand by argument from prophecy concerning the Christ. In his sermon in Solomon's porch the argument was likewise based upon prophecy. Paul's manner of preaching (see Acts xvii. 1-3) was to show the prophecies of the Old Testament concerning the Messiah and then show that these were fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth. Therefore the conclusion was necessitated that He was the Christ. As this was Paul's method, he evidently attached to prophecy the highest possible value. That all the apostles did this is evident from the statement of Peter. Speaking of their being "eye-witnesses of His majesty," and of the infallible signs He gave of His divinity, he says: "And we have the word of prophecy made more sure; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a lamp shining in a dark place."

How are we to determine the Messianic prophecies? We unhesitatingly reply, by the example of Christ and the apostles. Three important points are established by their testimony: (1) They teach that such prophecies are numerous, and made by Moses, David, and all the prophets. (2) They quote or refer to specifically, and thus apply, quite a number. It is evident that these are Messianic, because so applied. (3) Since Christ and the apostles designate a large number as Messianic, we are safe in concluding that others are so that are of like character. They are infallible judges, and they furnish us a criterion by which to judge.

It is not true, as claimed, that in order to a Messianic prophecy, the prophet making it must so understand it at the time. On the contrary, Peter tells us that they searched diligently to ascertain the things and the time of them referred to in their own prophecies concerning the sufferings of the Christ and the glory that was to follow. (See I. Pet. i. 10-12). They, therefore, did not understand the things or the time referred to. Since they did not know these, they did not know that the prophecy referred to the Messiah. The same Peter did not understand some of his own utterances on the day of Pentecost. His language here makes the promise of salvation to Gentiles as well as to Jews. But he did not so understand it till he had a special revelation at Joppa and the house of Cornelius.

Nor is it true, as claimed, that a Messianic prophecy must have been so understood by the people before its fulfillment. Many of the Messianic prophecies were not understood as such in Old Testament times. The Saviour charged this want of understanding upon His disciples, and told them that if they had correctly interpreted Moses and the prophets, in this very respect, they would have known that His death was required by such prophecies, and they would not have received the story of His resurrection as an idle tale. Moreover, He charged the Jews that this failure to understand Messianic prophecies, as such, was the ground of their not believing on Him. (See John v. 45-47).

In regard to types, which is a feature of prophetic teaching, and a strong chapter of evidence as to inspiration, Clark Braden says: "There are but few real types in the Bible; that is, there are but few things that men devised and acted with the intention of symbolizing or typifying anything future. There are exceeding few that were devised or acted with that as their sole object." It would be difficult for one to crowd more flagrant error into the same space than the above contains, if he were to make it a specialty. It contains the following positions, all of which are false: (1) That there are but few types in the Bible. (2) That types are _devised_ by _men_. (3) That types were "devised and acted" by the same party. (4) That they were "devised and acted" by men with the intention of typifying something future. (5) That this, in order to their value as evidence of inspiration, should have been "their sole object." This will do quite well for five lines. We would suggest that _God_ devised types, not men. While men were the actors, they were not the originators. While men may not have intended to typify anything in the case, God did. While types were intended by God to typify something future, this was not "their sole object." God had in them a purpose for the actors in addition to their typical significance. The purpose they then served detracts not from their value as types. As to the comparative number, we prefer Paul as authority. Speaking of the wilderness life of the Israelites, from their baptism in the cloud and in the sea, he says: "Now these things happened unto them by way of types [_tupoi_], and they were written for our admonition." This history contains numerous types, Paul being judge. Indeed, the patriarchal and Jewish religions were mainly typical. When Noah built the ark to the saving of his house, it is not probable that he thought of anything typical. Certainly that was not the only purpose, nor the main purpose. But Peter says it was a type, all the same.

The fact that God's people did not understand the full significance of their worship, did not destroy its character or its value. The same is true now. While God's oppressed people worshiped in types and symbols which foreshadowed the perfection to come, they were taught by the spirit of prophecy to look with longing anxiety to the coming of a deliverer. While, in debate, we may not rely on a large number of prophecies as Messianic, because the proof is not conclusive, it does not effect the fact that many of them have that character.

To appreciate Christ as a deliverer one must realize his own bondage--the slave of sin, and sold under its power. There is no appreciation of the Deliverer till there is a longing for deliverance, and no longing for deliverance till there is a hatred of bondage. Hence one must have a just sense of the heinousness of sin before he can appreciate Christ as a Saviour.

In coming to this world to deliver us, Christ had, in a sense, to come within the dominion of Satan, and under the assaults of sin. This is typfied by Moses going into Egypt to deliver his brethren. He had to place himself under the reign of Pharaoh, and in order to deliver his brethren he had to deliver himself. The Son of God took upon Him our humanity. This He had to do to make a sacrifice and be a mediator for us. In doing this He placed Himself under the tempting power of sin, and was tempted in all points as we are. He had to save Himself from this condition before He could save us. This was done through death and the resurrection. With Him the old life ceased at the cross, and the new one began from the grave. He conquered Satan--dragged the captor captive--and was forever delivered from his tempting power. "He died unto sin once," says Paul; and we die to sin just where He did, being put to death by the cross. We are buried with Him, and rise with Him to walk in newness of life. Thus the new life begins with us just where it began with Him--from the grave--the grave of baptism in which we are buried together and rise together. The denominational world want to make the new life begin from the cross. But it did not thus begin with Jesus, and Paul says it does not thus begin with us.

NEW TESTAMENT VIEWS OF CHRIST.

VIII.--CHRIST THE GREAT PHYSICIAN.

"They that are whole have no need of a physician; but they that are
sick. I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to
repentance" (Luke v. 31, 32).

"For this people's heart is waxed gross,
And their ears are dull of hearing,
And their eyes they have closed;
Lest haply they should perceive with their eyes,
And hear with their ears,
And understand with their heart,
And should turn again,
And I should heal them" (Matt. xiii. 15).

"He hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted" (Luke iv. 18).

Several times, either directly or indirectly, Christ alludes to Himself as a physician. In this character He is worthy of careful study.

The first thing in order to appreciate a physician, is to realize that one is sick. The Saviour says the well need not a physician. It is equally true that the well care not for a physician. Sin is the disease of which Christ, as a physician, is the healer. The disease is deadly. The smallest amount is fatal. The Great Physician alone can heal it. There is no other remedy. When a man is once affected, however much he may keep it under control, and prevent its increase, there is never a diminution of the disease till the remedy of the Great Physician is applied.

There is much senseless talk about depravity that necessarily implies, though its advocates may not so intend, that sin has comparatively little condemnatory force. The idea so often expressed that one must be "a great sinner in order to need a great Saviour;" that if he is only "partially depraved, he needs to be only partially saved;" that he must be "totally depraved in order to be totally lost;" that he must be "totally depraved in order to be wholly dependent on Christ for salvation," and such like, necessarily puts a light estimate upon sin. The idea is, that if one has but a comparatively small amount of sin, he is not wholly lost and utterly helpless, and wholly dependent on Christ. When the simple fact is, that sin is so heinous in its character and condemnatory in its consequences, that any amount of it, whether much or little, renders one as helpless and hopeless and dependent on Christ as if he were totally depraved by nature and doubly defiled by a life of sin. There is, therefore, no necessity for total depravity, in order that man be in an utterly lost and helpless condition without Christ. A grain of strychnine is just as fatal as an ounce, without an antidote.

In order that we appreciate a physician, and avail ourselves of the benefits of his skill, we must have faith in him. Without faith that his skill is superior to ours, and that he can help us, we will not call upon him. If we have faith in him we will do as he directs. The highest evidence of faith in a physician, and the surest way of being benefited by his skill, is in going precisely by his directions. Some years ago the writer had a long spell of typhoid fever. His physician came to see him one hundred and thirty times. After he became convalescent, his physician said to him one day, "In looking back over your case, I can attribute your recovery to but two things--your unyielding resolution and confidence, and your faith in your physician." What did he mean by faith in my physician? What had that to do with it? He explained. "For," said he, "you followed my directions minutely in everything, and for more than seven weeks the least wabble would have turned the scale against you." This was a fine illustration of faith, but theologically he attached to the word a very different idea.

Such must be our faith in the Great Physician that we apply to Him for the treatment of a sin-sick soul. And having called upon Him, we are to follow His directions. On one occasion He said to the Pharisees, "Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" So in this case He would say, "Why do you call on me as a physician, and do not as I direct you?" As well apply to an earthly physician and expect to be healed by faith in his skill, without taking his medicine or following his directions in other respects, as to expect the Great Physician to heal you in the same way. This illustrates the absolute folly of expecting to be "justified by faith only" in the Great Physician of souls, before and without doing as He directs. Our faith in a physician is valuable only as it induces us to take his remedies. When it leads to this, it has fulfilled its only office. When it does not lead to this, it is worthless. So of our faith in Christ. The only value of faith is in its leading to the observance of the divine will. The faith that does this saves, because it leads us to where God saves us. God promises salvation in the doing of His will. "Not every one that says unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven." Faith leads to the doing of the Father's will. In this it performs its only office, and in this it saves. Faith can have value only as it leads to the appropriation and use of the remedies prescribed.

It is often the case that a physician is stationary, and his patients have to come to him in order to get the benefits of his treatment. In such case, the acts necessary to take us to him are essential to our recovery, though they have no virtue whatever except as means of reaching him. So of coming to Christ. Christ does not come to the sinner, as orthodox prayers at the mourners' bench imply; but He invites the sinner to come to Him. "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." "And you will not come to me that you may have life." Believing on Christ is one thing, and coming to Him is quite another. One must first believe before he will come. Yet, in addition to believing, the orthodox world, so-called, utterly fails to tell us how to come to Christ. They cry, "Come, come," but tell us not how. Christ plainly teaches that we come to Him in obedience. We are baptized into Him; into His body. We put Him on by baptism. Being baptized into Christ is Paul's explanation of how we become the children of God by faith. "Ye are all sons of God, through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ." We come to Christ, then, in baptism. This is the first overt act in the "obedience of faith." Our faith, repentance and baptism bring us to Christ; then He, as the Great Physician, heals our sin-sick soul. There is no healing virtue in these things that bring us to Him; but they are conditions of our healing because they are means of our reaching the Physician.

The remedy for sin is the Physician's own blood. That is the only thing in the universe of God that can heal the disease of sin, and remove the ruinous consequences. "The blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses from all sin." The blood of animal sacrifices could not take away sin. "For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins." Since animal sacrifice could not meet the demands of the law, God prepared a body for His Son in which to make a sacrifice.

"Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not,
But a body thou didst prepare me."

Hence we are redeemed from the curse of sin, not with corruptible things, "but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, even the blood of Christ." "And without the shedding of blood there was no remission."

It is plain, therefore, that the blood of the Physician is the only remedy. This remedy is freely given when we come to Him.

Jesus said: "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; that whosoever believeth may in him have eternal life." The Israelites were commanded to look upon the brazen serpent; and they that looked were healed. They had to have faith, in order to look with a view to being healed. Looking was the thing commanded. It was the result of faith. In looking they were healed. But there was no virtue in the looking. Looking, in and of itself, had no power to heal. Still it was essential to the healing. Neither had the thing looked upon any power to heal. There was no virtue in the serpent. The healing power lay back of that. It was in God, who had promised. God did the healing. But while there was no healing virtue in the look nor in the thing looked upon, they were necessary to the healing, because to this end were they commanded. They were, therefore, necessary to bring one to the point in the obedience of faith where God promised to heal. So it is with the Great Healer of souls. They that believe shall _in Him_ find the healing power. Their faith leads them to Him, where the healing power is applied, as the look brought the Israelites to the healing power of God. Our obedience that brings us to Christ is the outgrowth of our faith, just as their look was the outgrowth of theirs. There is no healing virtue in the one nor the other, but they were and are necessary to bring the believer where the healing virtue is.

After all that is said about being saved by faith, and by other things, it is simply true that _Christ_ saves us. _He_ is our Saviour. And He saves us by means of His own blood.

"There is a fountain filled with blood,
Drawn from Immanuel's veins;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood
Lose all their guilty stains."

It is thus that Christ is precious to us as the great Physician of souls. We should give heed to His inviting voice, place ourselves under His continued care, follow His directions, and we shall enjoy a healed and healthful state of the soul.

"The great Physician now is near,
The sympathizing Jesus;
He speaks, the drooping heart to cheer:
Oh, hear the voice of Jesus."

NEW TESTAMENT VIEWS OF CHRIST.

IX.--CHRIST OUR MEDIATOR.

"For there is one God, one mediator also between God and men,
himself man, Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all; the
testimony to be borne in its own time" (I. Tim. ii. 5-6).

A mediator is one who comes between alienated parties to effect a reconciliation. He must be the friend, the advocate and equal of both parties. Failing in one of these, he is incapacitated. No one would accept a mediator whom he believed would be wanting in any of these respects in his relations to him. No one is fit to mediate who is not qualified to do justice to both parties. This he can not do unless he knows the rights of both and is the friend of both. He must be unbiased in his judgment and impartial in his friendship. He must be considered the equal of both, in so far, at least, as his knowledge of them and his ability to judge between them is concerned.

A mediator between God and men implies alienation between them. The history of the race shows this to be true. The time was when they were one; when not a feeling or a shadow came between them. The bliss of Eden reached its daily acme when the footfall of God was heard amid its bowers. The hour that He joined their company was that of supreme joy. But man sinned, and then the presence of God was shunned. That which was delightful before is painful now. Such is the principle of congeniality; and such the consequences of sin--to make of heaven a hell. This fact alone should teach us that it lies not within the limits of divine power to make a heaven for sinful men. Separation from God is hell; and with the soul defiled by sin, union is worse than separation.

After the fall of man he could no longer stand in the immediate presence of God, as he was wont to do before. Sin can not approach the divine presence, hence he needed a mediator, one to stand between him and an offended God, through whom he might again be heard and blessed. Mediators of an imperfect and typical character were had in that age of preparation for the coming perfection. But where could a perfect mediator be found to stand between an offended God and rebellious man? Where in all the universe could one be found the friend and equal of both parties? Where could one be found that could stand on equality with God, know what was just and right in regard to Him, and, at the same time know the weaknesses, the wants and the rights of man? Where was one who could poise with one hand the scales of God's justice and gather fallen humanity to his bosom with the other? The boundless dominions of God contained not such a being. Man could not thus act, for the best of men are themselves sinners, and can approach God only through a mediator. The best of men know nothing of God's side of this matter, and they fall below equality with Him, as the earth is below the stars. An angel could not stand between God and men, for he can not descend to equality with fleshly natures, to know their weaknesses and their wants; nor can ascend the heights of divine perfection till he knows the mind and the rights of God. In the Divine Logos, and the Divine Spirit we find, in a sense, equality with God, but no equality with men. How, then, is this great problem, that on which the world's salvation turns, to be solved? The human and the divine must be blended. They must meet and dwell in one. This is accomplished, not by lifting the human up to the divine, but by bringing the divine down to the human. God glories in condescension.

The Word that was in the beginning with God, that was God in His divine attributes, became flesh and dwelt among us. In the person of the babe of Bethlehem we have a being that never before existed--a being both human and divine. He brought from the skies the divinity of His Father, and dwelt among men with the humanity of His mother. Hence the mighty chasm between man and God, between earth and heaven, is bridged over in the God-man, Christ Jesus. His divinity reaches half-way from heaven to earth, and His humanity half-way from earth to heaven, and the two unite in Him.

In the life of Jesus we see His two natures constantly manifested. As He hungers and thirsts and sleeps; as He weeps over the sins of men, and sorrows over their afflictions, we see His humanity. He seems to be only a man. But when He stills the tempest on the Sea of Galilee, or calls Lazarus back to life, we see His divinity. It is interesting to study His life with a view to the manifestation of His two natures in each event--their distinctness and their blending.

We may never know in this life the reasons for the blending of the divine and the human in the person of the mediator. These things are doubtless beyond the ken of an archangel, in all their fullness. Yet from our point of view, obscured by our fleshly weakness, we may see some reasons lying on the surface why this was a necessity. Some of these let us consider.

Man fell through the weakness of the flesh and the power of temptation. Satan works through the flesh to pollute the spirit. In order to be one with us in our temptation, and perfect Himself as an experimental sympathizer, our mediator must be tempted in all points like as we are, that He may know how we feel under temptation. This demanded that He take upon Himself not the nature of angels, but that of the seed of Abraham. He must, therefore, be a man. But this temptation is to be successfully met. It is to be without sin. No man had ever successfully withstood the assaults of Satan. Our mediator was to do this. Hence the necessity of divinity. He must be human to be tempted; He must be divine to resist it. And to make His victory the more complete, He had His flesh put to the sorest test. After a fast of forty days, when His long pent-up hunger rushed upon Him as a lion upon its prey, Satan approached and exhausted his strength to overcome Him. Not only did He give Satan this advantage, such as he had never had nor needed over men, but He even went out of the flesh, into the citadel of which Satan held the keys, and came out a triumphant conqueror. Hence His humanity in order to enter in; His divinity in order to come out.

The scheme of redemption contemplated a sacrifice for the sins of the world. Men must get rid of sin. They had no power of themselves to do this. Sin must be remitted. This demanded a sacrifice for sin. "Without the shedding of blood there is no remission." The blood shed must be the blood of humanity. It must contain the life under condemnation. Hence the "blood of bulls and of goats could not take away sin." It could not reach and cleanse the conscience. It was used as an imperfect type, but the perfection required the blood that courses in human veins; but the victim must be innocent. It must be absolutely free from sin. Only a sinless offering can meet the requirements of the divine government. Hence, in order to offer the blood of the condemned race, our mediator must be human; in order to offer it in innocence, He must be divine.

The completion of the preparation of our mediator for His work as such, required His death and resurrection. It is shocking to the mind of some to speak of Christ having to be educated and perfected for His office of mediator, but this He asserts Himself. "For it became him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the author of their salvation perfect through sufferings." "Though he was a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; and having been made perfect, he became unto all them that obey him, the author of eternal salvation." This officiating for man as mediator and high priest, is the only thing, as we now remember, in which Christ is said to have been specially qualified by His life among men. This is significant. The reasons for it are easily seen in the foregoing. He had to become a man, and these things peculiar to humanity He had to learn.

In offering Himself a sacrifice for sin, our mediator had to die. In order to His work as such, of which His death was only preparatory, He had to live again. His death was voluntary. He said, "I have power to lay down my life, and I have power to take it up again." In order to lay down His life, He had to be human; in order to take it up again, He had to be divine.

Having accomplished His preparatory work, Christ returned to the Father to make an atonement, and to sit henceforth as a mediator between God and men. He was equal with God before He left the heavens; He became the equal of man in His sojourn in the world. Hence He is now perfectly qualified for His work. But we find that we can not dispose of this subject in one chapter.

NEW TESTAMENT VIEWS OF CHRIST.

X.--CHRIST OUR MEDIATOR.--CONTINUED.

"But now hath he [Christ] obtained a more excellent ministry, by
how much also He is the mediator of a better covenant, which was
established upon better promises" (Heb. viii. 6).

Having considered Christ's preparatory work, His earthly mission, we wish now to consider His office and work as mediator between God and men. Christ sought no additional honor because of His message to men and suffering on their account. On the contrary, He prayed: "And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was." But while He sought no additional glory, He found additional work. The office He now fills existed not till He ascended to the Father from an empty grave. He descended into the dominion of death and robbed it of its power. He dragged the captor captive, and gave gifts unto men. Ascending, as a conquering king, His angelic retinue raise the exultant shout: "Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in." "Who is this King of glory?" the guardian hosts shout back. "The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle." Again, the gates of the eternal city are shaken with the shout: "Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in."

Christ was coronated King of kings and Lord of lords. He began at once His work of mediation. Through the Holy Spirit, sent as His advocate, He convicts men of sin, and brings them into harmony and union with God. His mediatorship involves a work of reconciliation. This is His fundamental work. The old theology was that Christ labors to reconcile God to men. Indeed, the world is not yet as free from the thought as the truth and the honor of God demand. Whatever may be true of the atonement, one thing is certain, it grew out of the love of God. "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life." Any theory, therefore, that does not harmonize with this is false. God already loves the world. He loves sinners, even, who are not penitent. He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. How dishonoring to God, then, to represent Him as unwilling to save agonizing sinners; so that the protracted prayers of the church are necessary, and often unavailing! Paul says that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself. The world had transgressed, had gone away from God, and Christ's mission as mediator, is to bring it back in agreement and submission to the divine will.

The importance of the mediatorial office of Christ is very improperly apprehended. The necessity of a mediator between us and God can never be fully realized in this life. This belongs to that association of deep and profound mysteries emanating from the mind of God, that angels intently desire to look into. We are permitted to see only the surface in this life. But we know enough about the general character of His work, to know, that it has a value far above the world's comprehension.

When one stands as our intercessor we are favored in proportion to his standing with the other party. When one seeks a favor at the hands of the chief executive of the nation, if he has no standing of his own, all depends on the standing of his advocate. If the one interceding for him stands high in the president's favor, and has great influence with him, his request is favorably considered on account of his advocate. When we consider the standing of the Son with the Father; that through Him the Father has sought the reconciliation of the world; that He is the "brightness, the Father's glory, and the express image of his person;" we have perfect confidence that His pleadings will prevail. But when the Father "so loved the world as to give his Son to die for it;" when He so loves sinners that His great loving heart goes out in yearnings for their salvation, why should His loving, struggling children need an intercessor with Him at all? This has been one of the questions of the ages. Theories more curious than satisfactory have been promulgated concerning it by the different schools of theology. We shall not presume to answer it, beyond the simple suggestion that this was the special work for which the divine Logos that was in the beginning with God, had to qualify Himself by special education. Hence it is a matter not of difference between the love and goodness of the Father and that of the Son, but of qualification by _experience_ in the trials, temptations and weaknesses of the flesh. The consideration of this fact would have saved the world from much vain speculation.

When Paul argues the importance of a mediator, it is not on the ground that the Son loves us more than the Father, but on the ground that He knows us by experience. "For we have not a high priest that can not be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but one that hath been in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us, therefore, draw near with boldness unto the throne of grace." The fact that our high priest, or intercessor, was "tempted in all points, like as we are," is the reason why we may approach a throne of grace with boldness. This boldness is simply a profound confidence based upon the humanity of our mediator.

When we approach a throne of grace, conscious of sin and imperfection, how little can we trust ourselves. We realize that we come empty-handed before God. With the poet, each can sing:

"Nothing in my hands I bring,
Simply to Thy cross I cling."

We can plead no merit of our own. We have no legal claim on the store-house of God's boundless mercy and love. But we remember that we have a Friend; that this Friend has suffered the same trials and temptations; that He knows by bitter experience just how we feel; that He deeply sympathizes with us, and that He loves us with a devotion and faithfulness beyond human experience or expression. Remembering this, how can we feel otherwise than confident that an already loving Father will hear our petitions in harmony with His will, and bless us as His believing children? The efficacy of prayer, therefore, grows out of the mediatorship of Jesus, and the confidence in prayer grows out of our appreciation of the mediator and of His work. Hence a light appreciation of the mediatorial work of Jesus leads to a prayerless life.

Jesus Himself taught that there is no way of approach to the Father except through Him. "I am the way, the truth and the life; no man cometh unto the Father but by me." No man can approach God _in his own name_. God does not look upon men in their own personality. He looks upon them only _through their mediator_; and what He sees to commend, is seen and commended only through, and on account of, their mediator. In other words, God sees the mediator only, not them. Hence the man that does not accept the mediator cuts himself off from God. He rejects the only way of approach to God. He prevents God's considering his case; for God considers us only through the mediator. It is this fact, that God considers the mediator through whom the petition is made, rather than the petitioner, that gives significance to the fact that our prayers are to be _in the name_ of Jesus Christ; and that we ask that our petitions be granted for "Christ's sake." At a throne of grace we present the name of our intercessor. We ask in _his name_, not our own. We present Him, not ourselves. We hide ourselves behind Him, put Him in our place, and ask what God will do for Him. He authorizes us to thus use His name, and the blessings bestowed are just to the extent that that name prevails with God. Should Vanderbilt grant you the legal right to use his name to the full extent of your desire in presentation of checks, etc.; with his pledge to redeem all paper bearing his signature in your hand, his whole fortune would be pledged to meet the demands of your drafts upon him. Bankrupt financially, as you are spiritually, you present your check for a large amount and it would be rejected. But add to that the name of Vanderbilt, and your check is honored. You draw the money not in your name, but in his. The bank sees not you, but him. Now, just as you would thus present the name of Vanderbilt, with full assurance of your request being granted to the extent of his fortune, you to-day present the name of Jesus at the court of heaven, and a heaven honors that name; its resources are pledged to meet your petition. The name of Jesus, therefore, when thus presented, means to us all that it signifies in the government of God. To the extent that His name is honored are heavenly blessings secured to us.

In the light of these sublime truths, we see the significance of the Saviour's requirement that henceforth all prayer should be offered in His name. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, if ye shall ask anything of the Father, he will give it to you in my name. Hitherto ye have asked nothing in my name; ask, and ye shall receive." What is called the Lord's Prayer, is not in His name, because His mediatorship had not then been established. But now it would be sinful to repeat that prayer, as thousands do, and omit to offer it in the name of Christ. The custom of Masons, and other secret orders, of having a form of religion that ignores Christ, that does not recognize His mediatorship and that is not offered in His name, is supremely wicked. It is a gross perversion of the religion of Jesus. And how Christian men, even preachers of the gospel, can find it in their hearts to acquiesce in such a thing, is to us a profound puzzle. The institution that has no place for my Master has no place for me.

The only way of approach to God is through Christ as our mediator; and the mediatorial office of Christ is in the church, not in the world. Hence, as God can be glorified only through Christ, He can be glorified only through the church. Paul, recognizing this, says: "Unto God be glory in the church, by Christ Jesus, throughout all ages, world without end. Amen."

NEW TESTAMENT VIEWS OF CHRIST.

XI.--CHRIST OUR HIGH PRIEST.

"Now, if there was perfection through the Levitical priesthood (for
under it hath the people received the law), what further need _was
there_ that another priest should arise after the order of
Melchisedec, and not be reckoned after the order of Aaron? For the
priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also
of the law. For he of whom these things are said belongeth to
another tribe, from which no man hath given attendance at the
altar. For it is evident that our Lord hath sprung out of Judah; as
to which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priests. And _what we
say_ is yet more abundantly evident, if after the likeness of
Melchisedec there ariseth another priest, who hath been made, not
after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an
endless life, for it is witnessed of him, Thou art a priest forever
after the order of Melchisedec" (Heb. vii. 11-17).

Each dispensation has had its priesthood. Each has had its priests and its high priests. Each has had its priests, its altars and its sacrifices peculiar to itself. Only priests in any age could worship God; and acceptable worship must ever be in accordance with the law of the priesthood.

During the patriarchal age the father of the family was priest. He offered sacrifice for the family. The grandfather, great grandfather, etc., was high priest over his posterity for all the generations descending from him while he lived. Adam was high priest of the whole race during his life. Then the high priesthood descended to each of his sons for the posterity of each. So Noah was high priest of all the post-diluvian world during his life. Then it descended to each of his sons. Each son was high priest of his branch of the family, in all its generations, during his life. In that age, therefore, as in this, there was a universal priesthood. The priesthood of the Christian dispensation is, in a certain sense, modeled after the patriarchal and in contrast with the Jewish. It is after the order of Melchisedec, and not after that of Aaron. Melchisedec was high priest of that division of the human family to which Abraham belonged, and this distinguished patriarch paid tithes to him. If we do not misinterpret the law of the priesthood of that age, this could have been none other than Shem. Shem was then living, and Noah was dead; and Abraham belonged to Shem's posterity. Hence no one else could be high priest while Shem lived. Many have thought that because it is said he was "without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life," that he could not be a man. But they fail to observe that he was without these things _in the Aaronic priesthood_. For it is said that he had a genealogy, but that it was not in the priestly family. "And they indeed of the sons of Levi that receive the priest's office have commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of their brethren, though these have come out of the loins of Abraham; but he whose genealogy is not counted from them hath taken tithes of Abraham." Shem had neither father nor mother, nor beginning of days, nor end of life, in the sense that the Aaronic priests had them; and this is all that is affirmed of Melchisedec.

When God called His people out of Egyptian bondage, and gave them the law, He gave them a new priesthood. The priests were now all confined to the tribe of Levi and the family of Aaron. Men could no longer build their own altars and offer their own sacrifices. On the contrary, they had all to bring their offering to the priests appointed of the family of Aaron, and have them make the offering. With a change of the priesthood came a change of the law. "For," says Paul, "the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also in the law." The law thus changed was the law of worship through the priesthood. And as it was through this worship that pardon was obtained, the change of priesthood changed the law of pardon. Hence the law of pardon under each priesthood has been different from that under either of the others. After the establishment of the Aaronic priesthood, a descendant of Jacob could no longer build his altar and offer his sacrifice just as he had done before the change. And now a priest under the Christian dispensation can not offer acceptable worship as did either the Jew or the patriarch. The worship that once brought to one the divine blessing would now bring upon him a curse. How strange it is, then, that the denominational world in large measure go back to a different priesthood for their ideas of religion and salvation.

Under the law the kings and the priests were of two distinct tribes. These were of the tribe of Levi; those of the tribe of Judah. Hence it is written: "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a law-giver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be." Christ was of the tribe of Judah; hence He, like Melchisedec, is both priest and king. He could not be a priest of the Aaronic order, for he was of a different tribe--a tribe of which Moses spoke nothing concerning the priesthood. Hence all the efforts to make Him a priest of that kind are refuted by that simple fact. Many insist that Christ was inducted into His priestly office at His baptism, and many vain speculations are based thereon. But this can not be. Christ was not a priest while He was on the earth, says Paul in these words: "Now, if he were on earth he would not be a priest at all, seeing there are those who offer the gifts according to the law" (Heb. viii. 4). He could not be a priest on earth, because the Aaronic priesthood was then in force, and He was not of the Aaronic family. Since He could not be a priest while on earth, it is folly to talk of His becoming a priest at His baptism. He could not become a priest till the law of the priesthood was changed, and that was not changed till after His death. The Aaronic priesthood was in full force till His death. He was made high priest, not by the legal ritual, but by the oath of God; and this oath was "_after the law_," not while it was in force. The law continued till His death, hence it was after His death that He was made high priest by the oath of God. He was a sacrifice when He died, not a priest. He could not be priest and sacrifice at the same time. After His ascension He, as high priest, made atonement with His own blood which He shed as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. Hence a number of facts show the utter folly of claiming that He was a priest among men.

It is through Christ as high priest that we worship God. We can worship acceptably in no other way. There are no other means of access to the Father. Only through and by the priesthood can God be worshiped. Hence the worshiper must become a priest, and then worship through Christ as high priest. All pretensions to approach God in worship, without recognizing Christ as our high priest and mediator, is only an exhibition of an infidel farce. It is an insult to God, because a rejection of His Son. Hence those who do not accept Christ as their high priest cut themselves off from access to the Father. Christ Himself says, "No man cometh unto the Father but by me."

Paul makes it a matter of rejoicing that we have a great high priest who can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; one that has been tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin. Such a high priest knows how to sympathize with us, and to make for us all just excuses.

The earthly high priest went once a year, on the great day of atonement, into the most holy place, with the blood of others, to make atonement for the sins of Israel; but Christ, as the high priest of the good things to come, has entered the holy place on high, with His own blood, to make atonement for the sins of the whole world. The offerings made by the priests under the law pertained only to the cleansing of the flesh; but the blood offered by our high priest "cleanses the conscience from dead works to serve the living God."

NEW TESTAMENT VIEWS OF CHRIST.

XII.--CHRIST OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

"But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who was made unto us wisdom
from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption:
that, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory
in the Lord" (I. Cor. i. 30, 31).

In this language Paul affirms that Christ is our righteousness. This is a momentous thought. It goes to the heart of the scheme of redemption. How is Christ our righteousness? What does Paul mean by the affirmation? The very life of Christianity is involved in the answer. By one's answer we know just where to place him in regard to the vital principles of Christianity.