By James Smith
What a wonderful person is my glorious Lord! One with Jehovah the Father--and one with me; possessing all that is peculiar to Godhead--and all that is essential to manhood. Equal with the Father, having attribute for attribute, perfection for perfection; like unto me. Having a spotless human soul, and a perfect human body. All the divine attributes, and all the essential properties of our nature, are found in him; and as possessing both natures in one person, he is Jesus--the Savior; Immanuel--God with us.
He brings down the perfections of God to bless me--and takes up my needs to God to supply them. In consequence of my relation to Jesus, and his oneness with me--I am exalted, dignified, and blessed beyond conception or degree. As there are no limits to his fullness, there can be no limit to my supplies, or the least prospect of need. God is in Christ, and I am in Christ; here we meet and agree, and mutually bless each other--he by communicating blessings; I by ascribing blessedness to him. In consequence of this connection I may rejoice--I ought to be confident, and proceed on my journey in peace. What should alarm me? Why should I doubt?
Jesus is my Savior, and that Jesus is God; and by reason of this relation, divine wisdom is employed to direct me.
Jesus is my divine Savior!
His bounty will supply me,
His omnipotence will deliver me,
His omnipresence will protect me,
His omniscience will guard me,
His love will animate me,
His mercy will heal me,
His grace will support me,
His compassion will comfort me,
His pity will relieve me,
His goodness will provide for me,
His tenderness will soothe me,
His kindness will encourage me,
His patience will bear with me,
His justice will avenge me,
His faithfulness will embolden me,
His holiness will beautify me,
His anger will awe me,
His life will quicken me,
His light will illumine me,
His Word will regulate me,
His joy will delight me,
His blessedness will elevate me,
His long-suffering will lead me to repentance,
His immutability will secure the fulfillment of all the promises to me,
His truth will be my shield and buckler,
His sovereignty will raise my admiration,
His condescension will inspire me with gratitude and love, and His all-sufficiency will satisfy me both in time and eternity!
In Jesus, God has reconciled me to himself, imputing my trespasses to him--and his obedience to me. God came down to me in Jesus, and takes me up into union with himself in Christ. God by Jesus takes away all my sins, his own wrath, and deserved condemnation; and brings me into a state of friendship, peace, and blessedness. All good things are treasured up in Christ, were procured for me by Christ, flow to me through Christ, and are conferred on me for the sake of Christ!
The Father's eye is fixed on Jesus, I am viewed as one with Jesus, loved with the same love as Jesus, and destined to be forever like Jesus! How great is this mystery! How wonderful the person of Christ! God and man! the God-man! my Savior!
How exactly suited is the Lord Jesus to my case! Inflexible justice demands my blood-He becomes my substitute, and spills His own!
Infinite justice demands an infinite satisfaction, or it cannot acquit me--and by virtue of his divinity, he can and will give it; his blood is the blood of God, and his righteousness is the righteousness of God. As man, he was adapted to make the required atonement; as God, he was sufficient; and as God-man, he "put away sin by the sacrifice of himself." Suffering was required--and as man he suffered; satisfaction through suffering was demanded--and as God he satisfied. He brought the dignity and wealth of divinity--to give worth and efficacy to the sufferings and death of his humanity; and by so doing, satisfied justice, honored the law, and procured the deliverance of his captive bride.
He took humanity, that in the sinning nature he might suffer and satisfy; he possessed divinity, or he could never have paid down the ransom demanded. The life of his manhood was the price he gave--but it was his divinity which gave it worth, and merited our discharge! He suffered as man, he merited as God-man; he died as man--but as God-man he made atonement for our sins; and as God-man he sits on his Father's throne, rules the world, effectually calls his ransomed ones, preserves his called ones, and will come to, and take possession of, the purchased inheritance, to the praise of his glory! Ephes. 1:14.
His holy humanity endured the wrath divine, his Godhead appeased and removed it; on his manhood the curse alighted, by his Godhead it was taken out of the way; the fire of wrath was kindled in his humanity--but by his Godhead it was extinguished forever.
As touching his humanity, he was made under the law, as God he was always above it; as God-man he fulfilled, honored, and satisfied it; his manhood did the work, and as God he made it over to me. He made reconciliation in the flesh--but it was effected by the indwelling divinity. As God, he knew what was required for my deliverance, and as man he restored that which he took not away. As God, he knew my needs, and as God-man he provided for them all. His ability was in his Godhead, his suitability was in his manhood; and the union of both the natures in one person rendered his work acceptable. His humanity was in the form of a servant--his divinity was in the form of God. His complex person was peculiar to himself; as a servant he wrought, as God he procured, and as God-man he applies. He could engage because he was God; he could do, suffer and die, because he was man; and by doing, suffering, and dying, he could save because he was God-man.
His engagements bespeak his antiquity, his coming into our world attests his faithfulness, and his return to his Father proves the perfection of his work. His engagement was the proof his greatness, his procuring salvation was the effect of his engagement, and both engagement and salvation the result of his love.
The application of the blessings he procured--flows from his merit, and his merit from his official character; his official character is founded in his Sonship, and his Sonship in the will of God. He was God eternally; he became a Son; as a Son--a substitute; as a substitute--a sufferer; and as a sufferer--a Savior! His person is the foundation of his office, his office is the basis of his merit, and his merit the ground of his people's deliverance. Without his personality as God, and his fitness as man, he could not have been in office; except in office by the appointment of the Father, his work would not have been acceptable. And had not his work been acceptable, his body had never risen from the grave; and if he had not risen and ascended, the Spirit had never come--and so all had been in vain! The office without divinity would have been useless, for his work must have been unsuccessful; divinity without humanity would have been lacking in fitness, and both would have been inefficient without an office. But now--all is harmonious, delightful, and complete!
His engagement secured his merit, his merit secured the agency of the Holy Spirit and the office of the Holy Spirit secures the application of merited blessings.
1. He engaged in unknown glory, John 17:5.
2. He merited on the cross in shame, Hebrews 12:2.
3. He applies on the throne in majesty, Hebrews 1:3.
The first bespeaks his ancient glory;
the second his dishonoring connection; and
the third, his merited triumphs and deserved splendor.
The first was with infinite pleasure;
the second, with unutterable sorrow; and
the third, with peculiar joy and delight. Isaiah 62:4, 5.
The first was of grace, 2 Corinthians 8:9;
the second, through substitution, Ephesians 5:25;
and the third, by invincible power.
In Jesus, I see my sin--and God's justice meet!
He removes the one, and satisfies the other! Here the riches of eternity and the poverty of time are brought into connection--Godhead and manhood united and agreed.
Being reconciled to God by Jesus, Jehovah quickened me together with Christ, having forgiven me all trespasses; Col. 2:13. He passed the act of indemnity in Christ, and then quickened me to live with Jesus; he made my state blessed, and then gave me light to see it, and life to feel it. "Much more, then, being justified by his blood, I shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when I was an enemy, 1 was reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, I shall be saved by his life:" Romans 5:9, 10.
How wise! How holy! How wonderful this plan! O the riches of grace! O the wonders of redeeming love!
But what is Jesus called in God's holy Word?
A Savior--in reference to my lost condition.
A Reconciler--in reference to the enmity that existed between myself and God.
A Redeemer--in reference to my slavery.
A Mediator--in respect to the disagreement between myself and the Most High God.
A Refiner--with respect to my filthiness.
An Advocate--with regard to my perplexed cause.
A Prophet--in respect to my ignorance.
A Priest--with a view to my guiltiness.
A King--in regard to my weakness and foes.
A Bridegroom--regarding my lowly estate and social nature.
A Physician--with regard to my many soul maladies.
In a word, Jesus is "All In All."
O to know more of Jesus, in the glory of his person, the riches of his grace, the perfection of his work, the tenderness of his heart, the strength of his love and the effectual working of his power!
Reader, do You Know this Savior? Do you know him so as to love his name, confide in his word, and depend on his work alone for salvation? Is he to you the chief among ten thousand, and the altogether lovely One? Have you committed your soul into his hands, consecrated your entire person to his service, and do you love to hear him exalted and commended to all around?
He is the only Savior. He can save to the very uttermost, and he will save all who come to him as sinners, and rely on his blood alone? Have you fled for refuge to his cross, and there found salvation? If not, then go now. You need no recommendation, he invites you, he calls to you, and he will never cast you out.
"The axe is laid to the root of the trees."
"God now commands all men everywhere to repent."
"God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins."
"Repent, therefore, and be converted--that your sins may be blotted out."
All over glorious is my Lord;
Must be beloved and yet adored;
His worth if all the nations knew,
Sure the whole earth would love him too!
