JESUS
CHRIST-DEATH-SALVATION-GENERAL
Christ was
all anguish that I might be all joy, cast off that I might be brought in,
trodden down as an enemy that I might be welcomed as a friend, surrendered to
hell's worst that I might attain heaven's best, stripped that I might be
clothed, wounded that I might be healed, athirst that I might drink, tormented
that I might be comforted, made a shame that I might inherit glory, entered
darkness that I might have eternal light.
My Savior wept that all tears might be wiped from my eyes, groaned that
I might have endless song, endured all pain that I might have unfading health,
bore a thorned crown that I might have a
glory-diadem, bowed his head that I might uplift mine, experienced reproach
that I might receive welcome, closed his eyes in death that I might gaze on
unclouded brightness, expired that I might for ever live.
The Valley of Vision, ed. Arthur
Bennett, 1975, p. 42, by permission Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA.
If Christ had
not gone to the cross and suffered in our stead, the just for the unjust, there
would not have been a spark of hope for us. There would have been a mighty gulf
between ourselves and God, which no man ever could
have passed.
J.C. Ryle
The Cross: A Call to the Fundamentals of
Religion.
Our Lord
would have us regard the crucifixion as the central truth of Christianity.
Right views of His vicarious death, and the benefits resulting from it, lie at
the very foundation of Bible-religion. Never let us forget this... If we are
wrong here, we are ruined forever. Error on many other points is only a skin
disease. Error about Christ’s death is a disease at the heart. Here let us take
our stand. Let nothing move us from this ground. The sum of all our hopes must
be, that “Christ has died for us.” (1 Thess. 5:10.) Give up that doctrine, and
we have no solid hope at all.
J.C. Ryle
Commentary, Matthew 17.
Everyone is
born a slave of sin. Jesus Christ said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever
commits sin is a slave of sin” (John 8:34). We cannot free ourselves from this
oppressive master, for no one can live without sinning against God. But the
sinless Jesus – not for His own sake, but for others – came from Heaven to
deliver His people. Jesus allowed godless men to nail Him to a Roman cross, and
three days later rose from the dead so that “we should no longer be slaves of
sin” (Romans 6:6). And all those who trust in His work (and
not their own) as the way to freedom will find emancipation from sin.
“Therefore,” declared Jesus, “if the Son makes you free, you shall be free
indeed” (John 8:36).
Don Whitney
Rest Your Soul in "the Simplicity
and Purity of Devotion to Christ." www.BiblicalSpirituality.org,
Used by Permission.
All are not
saved by Christ’s death, but all which are saved, are
saved by Christ’s death; His death is sufficient to save all, as the sun is
sufficient to lighten all; but if any man wink, the sun will not give him
light.
Henry Smith
A Puritan Golden Treasury,
compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 29.
If the death
of Christ on the cross is the true meaning of the Incarnation, then there is no
gospel without the cross. Christmas by itself is no gospel. The life of Christ
is no gospel. Even the resurrection, important as it is in the total scheme of
things, is no gospel by itself. For the good news is not just that God became
man, nor that God has spoken to reveal a proper way of life for us, or even
that death, the great enemy, is conquered. Rather, the good news is that sin
has been dealt with (of which the resurrection is a proof); that Jesus has
suffered its penalty for us as our representative, so that we might never have
to suffer it; and that therefore all who believe in Him can look forward to
heaven.
James Montgomery Boice
We trample
the blood of the Son of God if we think we are forgiven because we are sorry
for our sins. The only explanation for the forgiveness of God and for the
unfathomable depth of His forgetting is the death of Jesus Christ. Our
repentance is merely the outcome of our personal realization of the atonement
which He has worked out for us. It does not matter who or what we are; there is
absolute reinstatement into God by the death of Jesus Christ and by no other
way, not because Jesus Christ pleads, but because He died. It is not earned,
but accepted. All the pleading which deliberately refuses to recognize the
Cross is of no avail; it is battering at a door other than the one that Jesus has
opened. Our Lord does not pretend we are all right when we are all wrong. The
atonement is a propitiation whereby God, through the death of Jesus, makes an
unholy man holy.
Oswald Chambers