Chapter 11—Established by Christ’s Death
Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we,
being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye
were healed.
1 Peter 2:24
.
At the very time when they [Christ’s disciples] expected to see their
Lord ascend the throne of David, they beheld Him seized as a malefactor,
scourged, derided, and condemned, and lifted up on the cross of Calvary....
The announcement which had been made by the disciples in the name of
the Lord was in every particular correct, and the events to which it pointed
were even then taking place. “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God
is at hand” (
Mark 1:15
), had been their message.... And the “kingdom of
God” which they had declared to be at hand was established by the death
of Christ. This kingdom was not, as they had been taught to believe, an
earthly empire. Nor was it that future, ... everlasting kingdom, in which “all
dominions shall serve and obey him” (
Daniel 7:27
). As used in the Bible, the
expression “kingdom of God” is employed to designate both the kingdom of
grace and the kingdom of glory....
The kingdom of grace was instituted immediately after the fall of man....
Yet it was not actually established until the death of Christ. Even after
entering upon His earthly mission, the Saviour ... might have drawn back
from the sacrifice of Calvary. In Gethsemane the cup of woe trembled in His
hand. He might even then have wiped the blood-sweat from His brow, and
have left the guilty race to perish in their iniquity.... But when the Saviour
yielded up His life, and with His expiring breath cried out, “It is finished,”
then the fulfillment of the plan of redemption was assured. The promise of
salvation made to the sinful pair in Eden was ratified. The kingdom of grace,
which had before existed by the promise of God, was then established.
Thus the death of Christ—the very event which the disciples had looked
upon as the final destruction of their hope—was that which made it forever
sure.... The event that had filled them with mourning and despair was that ...
in which centered the future life and eternal happiness of all God’s faithful
ones in all the ages.
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