The Wednesday Word [18 May, 2022 A.D.]
Christ our Slaughtered Lamb
by D.G. Miles McKeeWe thank God for the incarnation, but it was not enough for Christ to be born; He also had to die (Hebrews 9:22). We are not saved merely because God loves us. Yes, He does love us, but we are saved by love, mercy, grace, righteousness and justice working in concert with each other. There are some, however, who teach that Christ has only come to this earth to reveal the love of God. This is a sad error! “Love is the great issue when it comes to salvation,” they say … but they don’t say enough. They don’t give us the full story. While love is a moving force in salvation, they fail to mention that Christ has come as the great Substitute who satisfies the justice of God! They omit to say that He is the Substitute who perfectly fulfills the righteous demands of God on our behalf. They neglect to tell us that at the heart of the gospel is the truth of substitution. If Christ is not the Substitute, He is useless to us, regardless of how much He loves us. If He did not die justly as our sin-bearing Substitute, then His death accomplished nothing. We’ve got to be clear on this point and not be misled by those who, when they preach, say that love alone saves. This is not gospel truth. Let’s say someone sees a drowning man in the river and he loves them enough to do something for them … does he stand on the bridge and call out instructions as to how the drowning man can swim and save himself? That’s a good picture of religion, but it bares no resemblance to the gospel. If then, the man on the bridge throws a rope to the drowning man, is that a picture of the gospel? Not at all! This image reduces Christ to the role of ‘Rope Thrower in Chief.’ Let’s take this further. If the man on the bridge jumps into the river and risks his life to save the drowning man … is that a satisfactory picture of the gospel? No, it’s not! Is that all Christ did? Did Jesus merely risk His life? No, Christ did much more; He became our Substitute by giving His life for ours. He did not come merely to give rules and recommendments. He did not come merely to throw a rope or risk his life; He came to live and die for us! He was, as it were, ‘drowned in our place’ and rose again out of death carrying us to safety. Horatius Bonar says, “He did not redeem us by a little loss, a little sacrifice, a little labour, a little suffering, He redeemed us to God by His blood; the precious blood of Christ." (Horatius Bonar: God’s Way of Peace.) He gave all that He had, even His life, and gave it for us. This is the kind of salvation that causes us to worship. All glory praise and honour go, “To Him, that loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood" (Revelation 1:5). Nominal Christian wisdom rejects the substitutionary work of the Lord Christ, and glories in a make-believe gospel that needs no sacrifice of the slain Lamb. They have gone, on the whole, "in the way of Cain." Remember Cain? He refused the blood by coming to God without it. By doing so, he declined to admit that he was a condemned sinner, in need of gracious acceptance. The only way we can and must be saved is through the Lord Jesus for He alone is the sinner’s Substitute. Without shedding of blood, there is no remission (see Leviticus 17:11; Hebrews 9:22). ‘Jesus when stern justice said,“Man his life has forfeited,Vengeance follows by decree,”Cried, “Inflict it all on Me.” Jesus, therefore let us own:Jesus, we’ll exalt alone;Jesus has our sins forgiven,And will take us safe to heaven. And that’s the Gospel Truth!
Comments