The All-Sufficiency of Christ. Miscellaneous Writings of C. H. Mackintosh, vol. IMackintosh, Charles Henry
Religion
The All-Sufficiency of Christ. Miscellaneous Writings of C. H. Mackintosh, vol. I
Mackintosh, Charles Henry
Theology
Do not all these things tell a tale? Do they not prove to us that,
ere we condemn the egotism of our ancient patriarch, we should seek to
get rid of a vast amount of our own? It is not, surely, that he was
right; but we are far more wrong. It is far less to be wondered at
that a man, amid the dim twilight of the far-back patriarchal age, was
entangled in the snare of self-occupation, than that we, in the full
blaze of Christianity, should fall thereinto. Christ had not come. No
prophetic voice had fallen on the ear. Even the law had not been given
when Job lived and spoke and thought. We can form a very poor
conception indeed of the tiny ray of light by which men had to walk in
the days of Job. But to us pertain the high privilege and holy
responsibility of walking in the very meridian light of a full-orbed
Christianity. Christ has come. He has lived, died, risen, and gone
back to heaven. He has sent down the Holy Ghost to dwell in our
hearts, as the witness of His glory, the seal of accomplished
redemption, and the earnest of the inheritance, until the redemption
of the purchased possession. The canon of Scripture is closed. The
circle of revelation is complete. The Word of God is filled up. We
have before us the divine record of the self-emptied One who went
about doing good--the marvelous story of what He did, and how He did
it, of what He said, and how He said it, of who He was and what He
was. We know that He died for our sins according to the Scriptures;
that He condemned sin and put it away; that our old nature--that
odious thing called self, sin, the flesh--has been crucified and
buried out of God's sight--made an end of forever, so far as its power
over us is concerned. Moreover, we are made partakers of the divine
nature; we have the holy Ghost dwelling in us; we are members of
Christ's body, of His flesh, and of His bones; we are called to walk,
even as He walked; we are heirs of glory--heirs of God and joint-heirs
with Christ.
What did Job know of all this? Nothing. How could he know what was not
revealed till fifteen centuries after his time? The full extent of
Job's knowledge is poured upon us in those few glowing and impassioned
words at the close of chap xix. "Oh, that my words were now written!
Oh, that they were printed in a book! That they were graven with an
iron pen and lead in the rock forever! For I know that my Redeemer
liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. And
though, after my skin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I
see God: whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and
not another; though my reins be consumed within me."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account