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THE K I N G ’ S BUS I NES S
am not a prisoner of blindness, but of Jesus Christ. Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine.” Some of us were once prisoners of circumstance, and at first we rebelled. It was a glorious day when we learned that back of it all, Jesus was working out His will and that we were His prisoners. If we belong to Him, then there is never a day when we are out of His hand, for He is the Keeper of the Keys. Jesus Has the Keys of Hell and Death “Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death” (Rev. 1:17, 18). There are four blessed reasons why I need not fear. The first one is because HE IS THE FIRST AND THE LAST. That takes care of the past and the future. He was here before there was anything to fear and He will be here after all that we fear has passed away. This takes care of the present, for He says, “I am . . . ” He is not only Alpha and Oméga, but all the other letters of the alphabet as well; He had the first word, for He was before all things, and He will have the last word, for He will outlast all things. It may look now as if the devil were having his way, but when the world is a cinder, and the furnace of the sun is burned out, and the stars fall like untimely figs, Jesus will still be on the throne. I need not fear, because HE WAS DEAD. That takes care of my sins. “Christ died for our sins,” and “Calvary settled it all.” I do not have to worry about my sins, fpr I shall not meet them again here or hereafter. They are cast into the depths of the sea, removed as far as east is from the west. “Praise God, my sins are gone!” I need not fear, because HE IS ALIVE FOREVER MORE. I need not fear dying for “up from the grave He arose.” He is the Living One, and because He lives, I, too, shall live. I need not fear, because HE HAS THE KEYS OF HELL AND DEATH. That takes care of the hereafter. He has the keys of death. “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy hi’m that had the power of death, that is, the devil” (Heb. 2:14). He conquered death, and will destroy it, for "the last enèmy that shall be destroyed is death” so I need not through fear of death be all my days subject to bondage. As believers, we can shout at the grave: "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” (1 Cor. 15:5). What a Keeper of Keys is Jesus! We talk about “the key to the situation”—He has the key to every situation! Whether they be the keys to the House of David, to world government, to the kingdom of Heaven, to God’s grace, to the Scriptures, to Christian opportunity, to circum stances, or to hell and death itself, Jesus is the Keeper of them all. He can open any door. “Then came Jesus, the doors being shut.” No bars can keep out His presence if He is desired. “Stone walls do not a prison make, nor iron bars a cage.” God used an earthquake to set Paul and Silas free, and an angel to open prison doors for Peter. No power of earth or hell can build a door He cannot enter in order to reach His own. There is but one door He will not open. “Behold, I stand St the door and knock: if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me” (Rev. 3:20). Holman Hunt’s great picture of Jesus knocking at the door shows no out side latch. Jesus has all the keys but the one to our hearts. That key is ours. We are the only ones who can open that door. If we let Him in that door, He will bring along His keys, and open all the other doors for us. “All are yours; and ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s” (1 Cor. 3:22, 23).
The Atonement (Continued from Page 103) Christ Secured Our Salvation
By His substitutionary satisfaction in atonement, Christ secured benefits of eternal value: salvation of the lost; a people for Himself; self-consistency in the Godhead in the forgiveness of sins. By the atonement, Christ actually purchased the salva tion of the sinner. He guaranteed this salvation to all in Christ. The Scripture teaches that Christ died for all men, but especially for those who believe. His death is sufficient and applicable unto all men, but it is efficacious only for those who put their faith in Christ. Salvation includes the forgiveness of sins through His blood, the adoption as the sons of God and the right to an inheritance as a joint heir with Christ. Christ removes all the demerit of sin, restores unto us the position of sonship with God, and bestows upon us the position of sovereignty in the divine kingdom. All of this is supplied by our union with Christ through regeneration and sanctification. His Holy Spirit joins us to Him, so that we are no longer in actual union with the old Adam. This salvation, through the atonement, provides for us glorification, eternal life and the enjoy ment of the new heavens and the new earth in the ages to come. For Himself, Christ gained glorification and the right to lead many sons into glory, to His glory. He prayed, “O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.” By His atonement He produced a posterity for Himself. Isaiah said, “When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days.” By atonement, He obtained gifts and graces for His people. “When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.” Moreover, He re ceived and bestowed upon His people the gift of the Holy Spirit, “Being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.” At the last, He shall receive the heathen for a possession. The atonement of Christ was of supreme value to God. He could consistently forgive sin and exhibit His grace, mercy and kindness. Because of the Cross, God can remain just and still be the justifier of him who believes in Christ Jesus. “In the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.” In the light of this Biblical teaching regarding the atonement, we see the folly of a bloodless religion whether it existed in the days of Cain, in the days of Jude the apostle, or in our own day. Those who profess a religion without blood are those whom Jude described as, “spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.” For “Christ loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it by the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to him self a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing.” The atonement is the reconciliation of sinful m$n and a holy God in accordance with divine love and mercy. We have no message greater than this. This is the heart of the Christian faith. “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures.”
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