Chapter 164—What a Price
Ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver
and gold, ... but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without
blemish and without spot.
1 Peter 1:18, 19
.
“Ye know,” says Peter, “that ye were not redeemed with corruptible
things, as silver and gold.” Oh, had these been sufficient to purchase the
salvation of man, how easily it might have been accomplished by Him who
says: “The silver is mine, and the gold is mine” (
Haggai 2:8
). But the
transgressor of God’s holy law could be redeemed only by the precious blood
of the Son of God.
It was through infinite sacrifice and inexpressible suffering that our
Redeemer placed redemption within our reach. He was in this world
unhonored and unknown, that, through His wonderful condescension and
humiliation, He might exalt man to receive eternal honors and immortal
joys in the heavenly courts. During His thirty years of life on earth His
heart was wrung with inconceivable anguish. The path from the manger
to Calvary was shadowed by grief and sorrow. He was a man of sorrows,
and acquainted with grief, enduring such heartache as no human language
can portray. He could have said in truth, “Behold, and see if there be any
sorrow like unto my sorrow” (
Lamentations 1:12
). Hating sin with a perfect
hatred, He yet gathered to His soul the sins of the whole world. Guiltless,
He bore the punishment of the guilty. Innocent, yet offering Himself as a
substitute for the transgressor. The guilt of every sin pressed its weight upon
the divine soul of the world’s Redeemer. The evil thoughts, the evil words,
the evil deeds of every son and daughter of Adam, called for retribution upon
Himself; for He had become man’s substitute. Though the guilt of sin was
not His, His spirit was torn and bruised by the transgressions of men, and He
who knew no sin became sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him.
What a price has been paid for us! Behold the cross, and the Victim
uplifted upon it. Look at those hands, pierced with the cruel nails. Look at
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