Basic HTML Version
Calvary—God’s Crowning Work, March 4
Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent
his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
1 John 4:10
.
The love of God was Christ’s theme when speaking of His mission and
His work. “Therefore doth my Father love me,” He says, “because I lay
down my life, that I might take it again” (
John 10:17
). My Father loves you
with a love so unbounded that He loves Me the more because I have given
My life to redeem you. He loves you, and He loves Me more because I love
you, and give My life for you.... Well did the disciples understand this love
as they saw their Saviour enduring shame, reproach, doubt, and betrayal,
as they saw His agony in the Garden, and His death on Calvary’s cross.
This is a love the depth of which no sounding can ever fathom. As the
disciples comprehended it, as their perception took hold of God’s divine
compassion, they realized that there is a sense in which the sufferings of
the Son were the sufferings of the Father....
When our Redeemer consented to take the cup of suffering in order
to save sinners, His capacity for suffering was the only limitation to His
suffering.... By dying in our behalf, He gave an equivalent for our debt.
Thus He removed from God all charge of lessening the guilt of sin. By
virtue of My oneness with the Father, He says, My suffering and death
enable Me to pay the penalty of sin. By My death a restraint is removed
from His love. His grace can act with unbounded efficiency
Christ is our Redeemer. He is the Word that became flesh and dwelt
among us. He is the fountain in which we may be washed and cleansed
from all impurity. He is the costly sacrifice that has been given for the
reconciliation of man. The universe of heaven, the worlds unfallen, the
fallen world, and the confederacy of evil cannot say that God could do
more for the salvation of man than He has done. Never can His gift be
surpassed, never can He display a richer depth of love. Calvary represents
His crowning work. It is man’s part to respond to His great love by
appropriating the great salvation the blessing of the Lord has made it
possible for man to obtain
[70]
4
The Youth’s Instructor, December 16, 1897
.
5
The Youth’s Instructor, October 17, 1895
.
69