"Salvation is of the LORD." -Jonah 2:9

"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up." - John 3:14 [KJV] The deliverance of sinners from the claims of divine justice was dependent upon Christ bringing in everlasting righteousness for them by the sacrifice of Himself, therefore the Savior said to Nicodemus, "even so  must  the Son of Man be lifted up."  It was in this way the demands of God’s law would be upheld and all the sins of those people entrusted to the Surety before the world began would be taken away, never to be remembered again. Those who insist that sinners can, by will, worth or work, make themselves acceptable to God, render the death of Christ needless and ineffectual. "If righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain"  (Galatians 2:21). Jonathan Edwards said, "If there be ground for you to trust in your righteousness, then all that Christ did to purchase salvation, and all that God did to prepare the way for it...

"And there wrestled a Man with him until the breaking of the day." - Genesis 32:24 [KJV] My soul, here is a lovely portion for the morning. For the morning, did I say? Yea, both for night and morning, and, indeed, until the everlasting morning break in upon thee, and all the shadows of the night flee away. For are not all the seed of Jacob like their father, wrestlers in the actings of faith, and the fervour of prayer, until they come off, like him, prevailing Israels? And who was this man which wrestled with the patriarch? Let scripture explain scripture, and give the answer. By his strength, said the prophet Hosea 12:3-5 “He had power with God; yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed; he wept and made supplication unto him; he found him in Bethel, and there he spake with us; even the Lord God of Hosts, the Lord is his memorial." Here then light is thrown upon the subject. He that is called a man in one scripture, is called an angel in this other...