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T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
April 1924
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____________________________________________________________________ ____________________ |w mwq?wffqpq?vq?q?qp^q?q?q?q?ffffq?ff'?q?q?q?q?q?^q?q?TOq?q?q?qpq?q?q?R?^q?q?q?q?q?q?'?‘? '? w < ? ‘? '? '7 '? 1i?‘? 1?q?lïï1g5g5a5g5H5B5ZSg5a5g5H5a5g5B5g5g5g5Z5e9 W ky D id Christ Die ? Abridged, by permission, from a splendid little book bearing this title by Pastor F. E. Marsh, Weston-super-Mare, England, H T is an unwarranted and an unscriptural fallacy to say, as a prominent Free Churchman has done, “There is a significant omission from the teach ings of Jesus of any definite doctrine of a sub in Heb. 2:17, in referring to the high priest who'“made an atonement” for the sins of the people on the Great Day of Atonement. Utcvm&vr ___1
In the 16th of Leviticus the verb “Kaphar” occurs six teen times, and is rendered “make an atonement” and “made a reconciling.” From the verb “Kaphar” comes “Kopher,” which is rendered “satisfaction” in Numbers 35:32, What the publican recognized in his plea for mercy was the need of atonement, or propitiation, to be made for sin, for we may read his prayer in the light of the word used, and its translation in the other place, “God make reconciliation or expiation for my sin.” At once will be apprehended the difference between the heathen thought of expiation and the Christian. With the heathen it is man’s vain attempt to give satisfaction to the gods, but with the Christian it is what God stated long ago, “Deliver him from going down to the pit; I have found an atonement” (Job 33:24, margin). God provides what He demands. This is the Gospel. “God is Love.” Christ taught that His death was the crowning act of God’s manifested love. When Christ would tell us of God’s love, He says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.” The same testimony is given in other portions of the New Testament. “God com- mendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.”; Mark what it says and does not say; it does not say, “Christ commendeth His love toward us,” but “God.” Again, “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” Everything about Christ on the Cross is a manifestation of love. If we look at the Cross we see The Sacrifice of Love. A truer word was never spoken when the crowd tauntingly said, “He saved others, Himself He cannot save.” If He had saved Himself, He could not have saved others. At the Cross we hear The Prayer of Love. When His ene mies treated Him cruelly, He prayed for them graciously, pleading with His Father to forgive them because they knew not what they did. We listen to The Answer of Love when, in response to the dying thief’s prayer, “Lord, re member me,” He replied, “Today thou shalt be with me in Paradise.” We behold The Thoughtfulness of Love, as He commits His mother to the care of the beloved John, and bids her to behold her son in him. We are moved by The Anguish of Love as the soul of Christ is torn by His inward sufferings and as He enters the throes of being forsaken by God. We see The Thirst of Love as He cries, “I thirst," and discover more than a request to have His thirst slaked, for He thirsted in soul agony that we might never cry for a drop of water in hell to cool our parched tongue. We see The Victory of Love as He reaches the goal of His pur pose to die for our sins and to defeat the powers of hell (Continued on Page 242)
stituted and expiatory sacrifice.” Such a statement dis plays culpable ignorance of what Christ taught about His death. Dr. Denney has well said, “The last months of our Lord’s life was a deliberate and thrice-repeated attempt to teach His disciples something about His death.” . Christ spoke of a “baptism” He must experience (Luke 12:50), of a “lifting up” He would endure (John 3 :14 ), of a goal He must reach (Luke 13 :33 ), of a suffering through which He must pass (Luke 24 :7 ), of an hour with Him which must strike (John 12 :27 ), of a laying down of life which He would give (John 10:11), of a fulfillment of Scripture which He would make (Luke 24 :44 ), of a cup which He must drink (John 18:11), of a blood-shedding He would pour (Luke 22:20 ), of a love He would manifest (John 3 :16 ), of a death He would die (John 12:24, 25), of a vicarious act He would perform (Matt 20:28), of a gift He would bestow (John 6 :51 ), of a work He would accomplish (John 19:30), of a remission He would secure (Matt. 26: 28), of a power He would communicate (John 7 :3 9 )r of a profit that He would ensure (the word “expedient” in John 16:7 should be “profitable” ), of an outcome of eternal life He would obtain (John 3 :15 ), of a consecration He would assume (John 17:19), of a victory He would gain (John 12:31, 32), of an experience through which He would pass (John 12:24, 25), of a forgiveness He would give (Luke 24: 46, 47), of a God whom He would glorify (John 17:4). These are but some of the forecasts which Christ taught about His death. We shall ponder the principal ones, as answering the question, “Why did Christ die?” Divine in Its Provision 1. Christ taught that His death was Divine in its Pro vision. There are two great and yet simple definitions of God, namely, “God is Light5’ and “God is Love.” Both of these facts shine out at the Cross. “God is Light,” and therefore cannot pass over sin, nor allow it to go un punished; and there shines out in letters of gold, too, at the Cross that “God is Love,” for He provides what He de mands in the sacrifice of Christ. Let us look at these two things in the light of Calvary. “God is Light’” and His claims must be met in an expiation for sin, and that atone ment was provided by Himself; therefore, Christ’s death was expiatory in its sacrifice. Christ definitely teaches us the truth of expiation by sacrifice in His parable of the Pharisee and Publican, when He makes the latter repentantly cry, “God be propitiated to me, the sinner” (Luke 18:13, marg. R. V .), or “God make an atonement for me, the sinner.” The word “Hilaskomai,” rendered “be merciful” in the publican’s prayer, is translated “make reconciliation for”
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