us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin” (has “ died unto sin,” as in Rom. 6:10), “ That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God” (1 Pet. 4:1, 2). Standing by the cross, we realize the meaning of such a text as this— “ . . . our old man is [was] cruci fied with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin” (Rom. 6 :6 ); where the crucifixion of our old man, the destruction of the body of sin and deliverance from the bondage of sin are strikingly linked to one another and linked, all of them, to the cross of Christ. Or we read the meaning of another, “ I am [have been] crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20). Here the one Paul (not two Pauls or two persons) speaks through out as completely identified with Christ and His cross. It is not one part of Paul in this clause and another in that; it is the one whole Paul throughout who is crucified, dies, lives! Like Isaac, he has been “ received from the dead in a figure” ; and as Abraham would, after the strange Moriah transaction look on Isaac as given back from the dead, so would Jehovah reckon and treat this Paul as a risen man! Isaac would be the same Isaac and yet not the same; so Paul is the same Paul and yet not the same! He has passed through something which alters his state legally and his character morally; he is new. Instead of the first Adam who was of the earth earthly, he has got the last Adam who is the Lord from heaven for his guest; “ Christ liveth in him” ; “ I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me” (just as he says, “ Yet not I, but the grace of God in me” ); and so he lives the rest of his life on earth, holding fast his connection with the crucified Son of God and His love. Or again we gather light upon that text, “ . . . they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts” (Gal. 5:24); and that, “ . . . God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world” (Gal. 6:14). Standing by the cross, we realize the death of the surety, and discover more truly the meaning of pas sages such as these: “ . . . ye are dead [ye died], and your life is hid with Christ in God” (Col. 3 :3 ); ye died “ . . . with Christ from the rudiments of the world . . .” (Col. 2:20); His death (and yours with Him) dissolved your connection with these; “ . . . if one died for all, then were all dead [riot died]: And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again” (2 Cor. 5:14, 15); “ .. . to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living” (Rom. 14:9); “ . . . he that is dead [has died] is freed [justified] from sin. Now. if we be dead with Christ [or since we died with Christ], we believe that we shall also live with him: Knowing that Christ being [having been] raised from the dead dieth no more CONTINUED
Healer is, . . I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them, and will reveal unto them the abun dance of peace and truth” (Jer. 33:6). Thus it is by the abundance of that peace and truth revealed to us in the cross that our cure is wrought. The cure is not perfected in an hour. But as the sight of the cross begins it, so does it complete it at last. The pulses of new health now beat in all our veins. Our whole being recognizes the potency of the divine medicine and our diseases yield to it. Yes, the cross heals. It possesses the double virtue of killing sin and quickening holiness. It makes all the fruits of the flesh to wither while it cherishes and ripens the fruit of the Spirit which is “ . . . love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meek ness, temperance . . .” (Gal. 5:22,23). By this the hurt of the soul is not “ healed slightly” but truly and thoroughly. It acts like the fresh balm of southern air to one whose constitution the frost and balm of the far north had undermined. It gives new tone and energy to our faculties, a new bent and aim to all our purposes, and a new elevation to all our hopes and longings. It gives the death-blow to self, it mortifies our members which are upon1the earth, it crucifies the flesh with its affections and lusts. Thus, looking continually to the cross each day as at the first, we are made sensible of the restoration of our soul’s health; evil loosens its hold while good strengthens and ripens. It is not merely that we glory in the cross (Gal. 6:14) but we draw strength from it. It is the place of weakness for there Christ “ . . . was crucified through weakness . . .” (2 Cor. 13:4); but it is, notwithstanding, the fountainhead of power to us; for as out of death came forth life, so out of weakness came forth strength. This is strength, not for one thing, but for everything. It is strength for activity or for endurance, for holiness as well as for work. He that would be holy or useful must keep near the cross. The cross is the secret of power and the pledge of victory. With it we fight and overcome. No weapon can prosper against it nor enemy prevail. With it we meet the fightings without as well as the fears within. With it we war the good warfare, we wrestle with principalities and powers, we “withstand” and we “ stand” (Eph. 6:12 ,13); we fight the good fight, we finish the course, we keep the faith (2 Tim. 4:7). S tanding by the cross, we become imitators of the crucified one. We seek to be like Him—• men who please not themselves (Rom. 15:3); who do the Father’s will, counting not our life dear to us; who love our neighbors as ourselves and the brethren as He loved us; who pray for our enemies; who revile not again when reviled; who threaten not when we suffer but commit our selves to Him that judgeth righteously; who live not to ourselves and who die not to ourselves; who are willing to be of “ no reputation” but to “ suffer shame for his name” ; to take the place and name of “ ser vant,” nay, to count “ . . . the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt . . .” (Heb. 11:26). “ Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for
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JANUARY 1957
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