It Is finished - Chambers, Oswald

John 19:30

The transfiguration was the great divide in the life of our lord. He stood there in the perfect, spot- less holiness of his manhood; then he turned his back on the glory and came down from the mount to be identified with sin, that through his death fallen humanity might not only be redeemed, but be enabled to have a conscious entrance into the life he lived. The church of god is in danger of for- getting what Jesus Christ came for and he is being presented as a mere example. When the conscience of the church is awakened and made to face the cross of Christ, and to take our lord at his own estimate of himself, she will realise the meaning of pauls wordsfor i determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him risen? No. And him glorified? No. Save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. The resurrection and glorification through the ascension are understandable only by the cross. The death of Jesus Christ holds the secret of the mind of god.

1. The vicarious visitation of god

The next day john seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, behold the lamb of god, which taketh away the sin of the world. ( john 1:29)

At the outset of our lords public ministry he accepted his vocation, which was to bear away the sin of the world (RV mg); we must never forget that. Johns baptism was a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, and that was the baptism with which Jesus was baptised. Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness; and right through to the end our lord was identified with that one thing, viz. , sin. The agony in Gethsemane reveals the last reach of the unfathomable depths to which our lord went in that identification. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us; behold the lamb of god, which taketh away the sin of the world; these were almost the first words john the baptist spoke about Jesus, and almost the last words Jesus spoke were to a criminal to- day shalt thou be with me in paradise. The last pos- sible reach of faith is the cry of a sinner who begins to realise that god can save him. Immediately he cries out to god he will find the marvel of Jesus christs salvation wrought out in his personal experience.

The death of Jesus Christ was not the death of a martyr; it was the death of god (cf. Acts 20:28). The son of god was put to death by humanity based on self-realisation; through the redemption self- realisation is turned into christ-realisation, that is, a man enters into a relationship which puts to death, not the son of god, but the disposition of sin. The essence of sin is my claim to my right to myself.

2. The vanishing vision of god

My god, my god, why hast thou forsaken me? (Matthew 27:46)

This is a cry from the depths, it is unfathomable; it is recorded by the spirit of god, and we are meant to look into all that is recorded. God has nothing to conceal in his great purpose for the salvation of man, and we are meant to look into the depths that this cry represents.

Who is it that experiences god-forsakenness? Is it the lonely missionary with no comradeship? He is the one who knows the nearness of god. The ones who understand the experience of god-forsakenness are men like cainmine iniquity is greater than can be forgiven (genesis 4:13, RV mg); men like esau. . . An exceeding great and bitter cry (RV); men like saul god is departed from me, and answereth me no more.

If our lord had never known the vanishing vision of god he could not have been a complete saviour. Agony which has god behind it can be turned into triumph; but think of agony in which there is no god, neither in heaven above nor earth beneath, only the terror of an accusing conscience. No human sympathy can touch that desolation. In all probability the man is to blame for it, and just because he is, no human sympathy can reach him. Anyone can have a fellow-feeling for a poor unfortunate being and can sympathise with him, but who among us can understand agony which goes deeper down than can be put into words? Who but Jesus Christ?

. . . Holiness, without which no man shall see the lord. God cannot look on sin, and on the cross, the worlds sin and the worlds punishment met in the person of the son of man. The cross of Christ means that the salvation of god goes deeper down than the deepest depths of iniquity man can commit. No man can get beyond the reach of Jesus: he made a way back to the throne of god from the very heart of hell by his tremendous atonement.

There is a conception abroad to-day that the incarnation is something altogether apart from the idea of atonement. According to the bible, the son of god became incarnate in order to bear away the sin of the human race. Before a man can take on him the sin of a family, he must be a member of it; and Jesus Christ took on him the form of the human family that was cursed with sin, and in that human form he lived a spotlessly holy life, and by means of his death he can introduce the shamed members of the human family into the life he lived. Our lord made human solidarity his own: he represents the vilest sinner out of hell and the purest saint out of heaven. He stands as the one great representative of the human race, atoning for its sin. It beggars language to describe what he did he went into identification with the depths of damnation that the human race might be delivered. When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin. . . . We praise god for our salvation, but have we ever once thought how it came to us? Through the deep shadows, deeper than any human mind can ever go.

Beware of saying that Jesus Christ took on him the sin of the world by sympathy; that would mean that we can only take on his righteousness by sympathy. Jesus Christ took on the sin of the world by being identified with it, and we take on his righteousness by being identified with it. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who was made unto us . . . Righteousness (RV ).

3. The victorious voice for god

And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, father, into thy hands i commend my spirit. (Luke 23:46)

The cross is a tragedy to man, but a tremendous triumph to god, an absolute triumph. Listen to the clear, ringing voice father, into thy hands i com-

Mend my spirit! The spirit of the son of god only? No, the spirit of the whole human race incarnated in the saviour of the world. My spirit was there, your spirit was there; and by gods mighty grace and the gift of his spirit which our lord shed forth after he ascended, we can know experimentally his complete salvation for body, soul and spirit. Never put it on the shallow line that on the cross the physical sufferings of Jesus were so great that his mind was blinded and he imagined his father had gone from him; that line does not touch the depths of identification with sin to which our lord went. Neither is it true to say that god was angry and hid his face from him; if one may put it so god was never more pleased with his son than when he bridged the gulf between god and man by the sacrifice of himself. When the new testament speaks of the sufferings of Christ, it is suffering in connection with our salvation and in no other connection ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? He suffered according to the will of god. It is not the suffering of a man; this is the eternal Christ of god tasting death for every man. The agony in Gethsemane represents the incomprehensible mystery of 2 Corinthians 5:21. For he hath made him to be sin for us. . . . It is only by thinking along these lines, baresouled, and humbled before god, that we can understand what a wonderful thing our salvation is. Salvation is an immense marvel to me i, a sinner, can be made into a saint; but it is only possible because of what Jesus Christ did. Are the unfathomable depths of suffering through which our lord went to mean less than entire deliverance from sin for us? The reason sanctification is so easy for us is because of Gethsemane. The holy spirit received as a gift into our personal life brings the supernatural marvel of the salvation wrought out by our lord. That is the message the spirit of god has given to be proclaimed to the world. It matters not how sin- stained a man may be, through the death of Jesus Christ on the cross he can partake of that wondrous salvation.

I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. What was finished? The rehabilitation of the human race back to where god desired it to be. It was not the salvation of individual men and women like you and me that was being finished, but the whole human race was put on the basis of redemption. Redemption is not going to be finished: it is finished. Believing does not make a man redeemed; believing enables him to realise that he is redeemed. To any man who thinks, the basis of life is not rea- son, but redemption. The miracle of the work of god is performed when he places himself on the it is finished side of the cross. We take our salvation and our sanctification much too cheaply. We ought to rejoice when a man says he is saved, but remember what it cost god to make his grace a free gift. It cost agony we cannot begin to understand. The christian faith means that the historic cross of Christ is the pinhole in actual history through which we get a view of the purpose of god all through. Jesus Christ is the lamb slain from the foundation of the world.