February 1927
82
T h e
K i n g ’ s
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Wounded For Our Transgressions B y D avid B aron
lessness or folly, even within the range of what we call “natural law.” A child, for instance, playing in a room beside his mother, moves a bar which he has been for bidden to touch, and overturns a vessel of scalding water. The mother sees the danger to her child, and in an instant throws herself between him and the deadly peril, volun tarily taking upon herself her child’s penalty, and saving his life at the cost of cruel suffering for herself. Cases less o'r more resembling this are not uncommon within the range of ordinary observation. P ropriety of T h is D octrine To leave out vicarious suffering were to erase the brightest pages from the story of the past—of all golden deeds—-of men who have died for their country—of mar tyrs who have gone to stake or. scaffold for the truth’s sake, and helped to pay the purchase-price of our religious light and' freedom; and would leave history but a poor record of ignoble selfishness or mean ambition, a record unutterably sad, little better than the record of a herd of wolves or a Newgate Calendar. Seldom, indeed, has there been love absolutely pure from the taint of selfish feeling; and yet it has been strong enough to take upon itself much suffering in the stead of others; and has taught us at. least to acknowledge that it is a sweeter thing to do good than to enjoy selfish ease and pleasure, a nobler thing to suffer for others than to win the world’s renown. Among the Jews, the idea, of vicarious suffering was far from strange; their sacrificial system distinctly expressed it. Sin (said the sacrificial system) is an offence unspeakably odious to God, which He cannot look upon, but must punish. Death is the due punishment of sin. But God has no pleasure in the sinner’s death. He is full of mercy, and has Himself opened up a channel, through sacrifice, whereby sin may be expiated, and par don granted in righteousness. The sacrifices under the law had no intrinsic efficacy to put away sin; but only symbolized substitution—the substitution of Jehovah’s righteous Servant in place of the guilty. Men may indeed exclaim against the propriety of one suffering for others, and may insist that every man be wounded for his own transgressions and bruised for his own iniquities. But there is no moral reason to forbid love from voluntarily stepping in and suffering for others, to save them from badness and misery. Now in this prophecy, here is One suffering for sins which He never committed—enduring what others deserved—standing in the transgressor’s place, as if Himself the transgressor. How R emove A G u ilty P ast ? Within the human bosom, the world over, are self- accusings and poignant regrets because of ill that has been done, and dread of what may be; when God shall reckon with us. The case may not be clear to the man himself; but the sense of guilt is there, ineradicable—it is done; I did i t ; I cannot undo i t ; no tears or repentings can change the fact; and I dread the future, for I hear a Voice which proclaims with mysterious, awful sovereign author ity, “Woe unto the wicked; it shall be ill with him,’’ And so the conscience of the sinner is in a condition of pain,
“But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed.’’ H OW great were to be His sufferings, both in life and death! He was wounded, literally, “He was pierced through” or “wounded to death,” as Von Orelli, and others, render it-—an expression which reminds us of Zech. 12:10; “They shall look upon Me whom they have pierced,” though the verb for piercing used there is not exactly the same as here. And “He was bruised,” literally “crushed,” by the heavy burden of our sin which He took upon Himself, weighted by the wrath of God. And it was all for ow iniquities and “ for our trans gressions.” What else, we ask again, can these words mean than that He suffered vicariously\ Not merely ■with, but for others? By no exegesis is it possible to escape this conclusion. And there is nothing in the con clusion that need surprise us. It is in keeping with what we know otherwise. You would not abolish vicariousness by getting it eliminated from the Bible. No one can be unfamiliar with instances of one taking upon himself the penalty of another’s reck The Passing of David Baron T>Y the recent death of Rev. David Baron there passes in England a quiet worker who for a long period of years engaged the sympathy and confidence of those who have prayed and labored for the evangelism of the Jewish people of the world. Born in Russia, seventy-one years ago, Mr. Baron had the upbringing of a Jewish lad under strict Rabbin ical influence. As in the case of many others of the Hebrew race, there came to him a. Wanderlust—a desire to see the world—and in due time he came to England. There came upon him a warm spiritual desire, and he found Christ and without delay resolved upon a life of witness among his own people. In due time he was received into Harley College, in East Lon- :don, in the days of Dr. H. Grattan Guinness, sen. After a period of preparatory study, he- began his career as a missionary, and for some years was asso ciated with Rev. John Wilkinson, laboring at home and abroad in connection with the Mildmay Mission to thé Jews. He was, in fact, set apart by ordination for such a life-calling, and later on, in pursuance of ideals which commended themselves to sympathetic friends, he founded the Hebrew-Christian ' Testimony to Israel, and was privileged to see the work grow beyond all expectation. Mr. Baron wrote many books and pamphlets, some of them with the design of assisting Christian people to understand the purpose of God for Israel, and others- in order to expound the Scriptures which lie at the base of all work and testimony for Christ. Among the last activities of a busy life were certain literary interests including the preparation of new editions of his vol umes on (1) The Visions and Prophecies of Zechariah, and (2) The Shepherd of Israel and His Scattered Flock: A Solution of the Enigma of Jewish History. In all his literary work, Mr. Baron was loyal to the Word of Holy Scripture; and therein lay the vitality of his many publications, as they went into successive editions on the demand of appreciative readers scat tered throughout the world.
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