KenH
Well-Known Member
We were one day conversing with an unbeliever who lay on a bed of suffering and was murmuring against the God that made him. He put the question in an angry tone,
“Where did this pain come from?”
“From sin,” we answered.
“But why should pain follow sin?”
“Because God is a righteous God.”
“How does that prove that where there is pain there must have been sin?”
“Because a righteous God must punish what is wrong.”
“Why must He?’
“Because if He did not the universe would go to pieces.”
“How so?”
“Just as a kingdom would go to wreck if the ruler did not punish evil doers, so the whole universe would go into disorder if God did not attach punishment to sin.”
The sufferer thought a little, and then admitted that this was right, and that pain ought to be the consequent of sin, for the sake of preserving the universe in order and happiness.
Again he asked,
“What do you mean by sacrifice, and why was it necessary?”
“Because sin must be punished.”
“What has that to do with sacrifice?”
“Much every way; chiefly this, that sacrifice is punishment—the punishment of one instead of another—for it is impossible that there can be sin without punishment.”
“But is that just?”
“Quite just, if he who is to bear the punishment undertakes it of his own free will, and is not compelled.”
“How so?”
“In this way: If you were in debt and I were compelled to pay your debts, there would be great injustice; but if I came forward and did it willingly, there would be no injustice to any one, and the law would be maintained.”
He thought a little, and then said calmly and distinctly,
“Yes, I see that; there would be no injustice then.”
“Just so is it,” we said, “with the payment of our debts by the Son of God. He came forward and presented His sufferings to God instead of ours, His life instead of ours, His death instead of ours.”
The sufferer was greatly interested, and the light seemed to break into his dark soul, as we then spoke to him of Christ “bearing our sins in His own body on the tree,” “suffering, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.”
It is on this great truth of substitution that the Gospel rests, for without this work of sin-bearing by the Son of God there could be no Gospel to the sinner. The proclamation of God’s love without the expiation on the Cross would be mockery. It would bring no satisfaction, no relief, no peace. Sin must be borne and its penalty exhausted before the guilty can draw nigh to God. And thus a German poet sings:—
“I and my heavy load of guilt,
My sins of crimson dye,
As countless as the grains of sand
That on the sea-shore lie—
These brought on Thee, dear suffering Lord,
The woes which were on Thee out-poured.
“I, I it is, who should atone
Bound hand and foot in hell;
I, I it is should bear the bonds,
The scourge which on Thee fell:
Yea, all that was endured by Thee
Hath been deserved, dear Lord, by me.”
- Excerpt from Horatius Bonar's Bruised For Our Iniquities
“Where did this pain come from?”
“From sin,” we answered.
“But why should pain follow sin?”
“Because God is a righteous God.”
“How does that prove that where there is pain there must have been sin?”
“Because a righteous God must punish what is wrong.”
“Why must He?’
“Because if He did not the universe would go to pieces.”
“How so?”
“Just as a kingdom would go to wreck if the ruler did not punish evil doers, so the whole universe would go into disorder if God did not attach punishment to sin.”
The sufferer thought a little, and then admitted that this was right, and that pain ought to be the consequent of sin, for the sake of preserving the universe in order and happiness.
Again he asked,
“What do you mean by sacrifice, and why was it necessary?”
“Because sin must be punished.”
“What has that to do with sacrifice?”
“Much every way; chiefly this, that sacrifice is punishment—the punishment of one instead of another—for it is impossible that there can be sin without punishment.”
“But is that just?”
“Quite just, if he who is to bear the punishment undertakes it of his own free will, and is not compelled.”
“How so?”
“In this way: If you were in debt and I were compelled to pay your debts, there would be great injustice; but if I came forward and did it willingly, there would be no injustice to any one, and the law would be maintained.”
He thought a little, and then said calmly and distinctly,
“Yes, I see that; there would be no injustice then.”
“Just so is it,” we said, “with the payment of our debts by the Son of God. He came forward and presented His sufferings to God instead of ours, His life instead of ours, His death instead of ours.”
The sufferer was greatly interested, and the light seemed to break into his dark soul, as we then spoke to him of Christ “bearing our sins in His own body on the tree,” “suffering, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.”
It is on this great truth of substitution that the Gospel rests, for without this work of sin-bearing by the Son of God there could be no Gospel to the sinner. The proclamation of God’s love without the expiation on the Cross would be mockery. It would bring no satisfaction, no relief, no peace. Sin must be borne and its penalty exhausted before the guilty can draw nigh to God. And thus a German poet sings:—
“I and my heavy load of guilt,
My sins of crimson dye,
As countless as the grains of sand
That on the sea-shore lie—
These brought on Thee, dear suffering Lord,
The woes which were on Thee out-poured.
“I, I it is, who should atone
Bound hand and foot in hell;
I, I it is should bear the bonds,
The scourge which on Thee fell:
Yea, all that was endured by Thee
Hath been deserved, dear Lord, by me.”
- Excerpt from Horatius Bonar's Bruised For Our Iniquities
