Expositions of Holy Scripture: St. John Chapters I to XIVMaclaren, Alexander
Religion
Expositions of Holy Scripture: St. John Chapters I to XIV
Maclaren, Alexander
Bible. John -- Commentaries
To save humanity, to make it possible that men should receive that
second birth, and should enter into the Kingdom of God—that was a
greater work, because a work not only of creation, but of restoration,
than it was to send forth the stars on their courses and to 'preserve'
the ancient heavens 'from wrong.' There is a revelation of divine might
when we 'lift up our eyes on high,' and see how, 'because He is great
in power, not one faileth.' But there is a mightier revelation of
divine power when we see how, from amidst the ruins of humanity, He can
restore the divine image, and piece together, as it were, without sign
of flaw or crack or one fragment wanting, the fair image that was
shattered into fragments by the blow of Sin's heavy mace. Power in its
highest operation, power in its tenderest efficacy, power in its widest
sweep, are set forth on the Cross of Christ, and that weak Man hanging
there, dying in the dark, is 'the power of God' as well as 'the wisdom
of God.' The Cross is Christ's Throne, but it is His sovereign
manifestation of love and power only if it is what, as I believe He
told us it was, and what His servants from His lips caught the
interpretation of it as being, the death for the sins of the
sin-stricken world. Unless we can believe that, when He died, He died
for us, I know not why Christ's death should appeal to our love. But if
we recognise—as I pray that we all may recognise—that our deep need for
something far more than Teacher or Pattern has been met in that great
'one Sacrifice for sins for ever,' then the magnetism of the Cross
begins to tell, and we understand what He meant when He said, 'I, if I
be lifted up, will draw all men unto Me.' Brethren, the Cross is His
Throne, from which He rules the world, and if you strike His sacrifice
for sins out of your conception of His work, you have robbed Him of
sovereignty, and taken out of His hand the sceptre by which He governs
the hearts and wills of rebellious and restored men.
II. Notice, again, how we have here the look at the uplifted Son of
Man.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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