It has just struck me that the multiplicity of the considerations here
advanced may lead to some degree of confusion. I will therefore repeat
some of them, and glance at others, condensing them into as few words as
possible. I think the effect will be that the total argument will be
presented with more clearness and force.
We read that Christ "gave Himself a ransom for all." To my mind that
settles the extent of the Atonement. Words could not be plainer. But if
Christ gave Himself a ransom for all, will He be satisfied with saving
only some? Surely He will see that the ransom which He paid will have
its due effect. That means that somehow, sometime, all will be saved.
Else in regard to those who are not saved, He died in vain; which is
unthinkable.
But He will be satisfied. Yes. He will be satisfied. It is so predicted.
Can He be satisfied with less than the salvation of every human soul?
We have seen that He died for all. Can He be satisfied with less than
the redemption of all? If that is not effected now, will it not be
effected later? His administration is from everlasting to everlasting.
It is said again that "He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for
ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world." The scope of His
Atonement is universal. Evidently it fails of its full effect now. There
are millions who have not even heard the Saviour's name; but they are
included in the great plan of propitiation, and it cannot fail.
Then it is written that He "tasted death for every man." This puts the
matter beyond all peradventure. His Atonement was not only for the whole
world, but for every man. He had every individual singly in His view in
making His Atonement; and will it fail of its effect? Surely "His
purpose will stand, and He will do all his pleasure."
We read again that "all Israel shall be saved." The words must not be
minimized or explained away. Certainly Israel is not saved now. Think of
the sins into which they fell in the past; think of all the crises in
their history when God was ready to cast them off; think of their
condition to-day,--a byword and a hissing among the nations. If the
scene is thus to be closed, it seems a mistake ever to have chosen them
as a people at all. But it was no mistake. Their time will come; if not
in this life, then in the life beyond. They will be saved; the promise
will stand.
Again: Christ has promised that if he is lifted up on the cross He will
draw all men to Himself. If that promise is limited to this life it is
not true. Christ has not drawn more than a moiety of mankind to Himself.
But it is gloriously true if we take in the future. He is not limited to
one epoch of time. A thousand years are with Him but as one day.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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