THE KING’S BUSINESS
244 which He offers to them—His own right eousness which is accepted by faith in Christ. It is a “faith-in-Christ” righteous ness. Redemption centers in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the "union brand” of redemption. We know it by the print of the nails. This faith-in-Christ righteousness is for all, without distinction. All have sinned. There may be a difference in the degree, but not in the fact of sin; so all, without distinction, can have the righteousness of G °d. (b) The scheme of salvation, briefly suggested in ‘ « f t ' ÏE « developed in 3:23-31. . . The apostle,drives home the fact of indi vidual guilt and conscious sin, whether according to the law of conscience or the written law, by the expression “all have sinned,” not merely “all are sinners.” The gift of divine righteousness is granted “freely, by His grace.” j It cost God something, and Christ much, as we shall see later, but it costs us nothing. It is free to us because it cost God and Christ so much. The redemption, although of grace, and free, is “through the redemption that is in Christ Jésus,” thus showing us that, while it costs us nothing, it cost Christ His life. The sacrifice of Christ on the cross was a redemption price to buy back lives that through sin and disobedience had. been for feited. Calvary was the ransom price paid for the deliverance of sinftil men. The Threefold Purpose o f Christ’s Death. We have here set before üs a very graphic description of the purpose of Christ’s death. First. I t ls a declaration of God’s right eousness. We do not disparage the cross as an exhibition and manifestation o i the great love of God, but do assert that that was not its primary meaning. The cross stands, first and foremost, for the holiness and the justice of God. This is clear ,by the reference to the Old Testament sins— “the sins done aforetime,” which God is said to have, in a sense, “overlooked.
Because, in the Old Testament, God had not at once summarily punished sin, it is probable that mankind had come to doubt whether God really considered sin seriously or not, and whether He would in any way punish it. The death of Jesus Christ on Calvary shows how seriously God looks upon and deals with sin. Those Old Testa ment saints were saved by looking forward to a hope—the cross of-Christ, just as the New Testament saints are saved by look ing backward to a fact—the death of Christ. Here is a lesson for the day in which we live and for future generations. Because God does not at once punilh sin when it is committed, we may think that He does not cafe, or that He will not punish sin. This is a mistake (cf. Malachi 2:17; 3:13- 4:13; Jude 6:7; 2 Peter 3:344). Qod will surely deal with the sinner and with sin. Christ was “set forth,” that is to say, exhibited on Calvary for this very purpose. Second. The death of Christ was to provide a righteousness for man. That righteousness man had forfeited by dis obedience to the revealed will of God by sin. The death^of Christ was the payment of the penalty incurred by such dis obedience. It was Christ’s death, mark you, not His life, that provided the required righteousness. Even as perfect a life as Christ’s could not atone for a broken law. “The wages of sin is death,” and so Christ had to die to atone for sin. The term “propitiation” is used here to describe the death of Christ. This word is used to designate the mercy seat that covered the ark of the covenant, which contained the law as the revealed will of God. The high priest took of the blood from the sacrifice on the brazen altar, and sprinkled it on the mercy seat of the ark, thus typifying that the blood of an innocent victim had taken the place of guilty man who had violated the divine law. The sprinkling of blood on the mercy seat was an act indicat ing the covering by atonement of a broken law. God accepted that offering, and thus the claims of a broken law were met, andi God could deal in favor with a sinner with-
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