The Great Commission. Miscellaneous Writings of C. H. Mackintosh, vol. IVMackintosh, Charles Henry
Religion
The Great Commission. Miscellaneous Writings of C. H. Mackintosh, vol. IV
Mackintosh, Charles Henry
Theology
It is not that we undervalue human testimony, or reject what are
called the external evidences of the truth of the Holy Scripture. All
these things must go for what they are worth; they are by no means
essential in laying the foundation of saving faith. We are perfectly
sure that all genuine history, all true science, all sound human
evidence, must go to establish the divine authenticity of the Bible;
but we do not rest our faith upon them, but upon the Scriptures to
which they bear witness; for if all human evidence, all science, and
every page of history, were to speak against Scripture, we should
utterly and absolutely reject them; reverently and implicitly believe
it. Is this narrow? Be it so. It is the blessed narrowness in which we
gladly find our peace and our portion forever. It is the narrowness
that refuses to admit the weight of a feather as an addition to the
word of God. If this be narrowness,--we repeat it with emphasis, and
from the very centre of our ransomed being,--let it be ours forever.
If to be broad we must look to man to confirm the truth of God's word,
then away with such broadness; it is the broad way that leadeth
straight down to hell. No, reader, your life, your salvation, your
everlasting peace, blessedness and glory, depend upon your taking God
at His word, and believing what He says because He says it. This is
faith--living, saving, precious faith. May you possess it!
God's word, then, most distinctly declares that man in his natural,
unrenewed, unconverted state is Satan's bondslave. It speaks of Satan
as "the god of this world," as "the prince of the power of the air,
the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience." It
speaks of man as "led captive by the devil at his will." Hence, in
Paul's commission, the third thing which the gospel is to do is to
turn man from "the power of Satan to God." Thus his eyes are opened;
divine light comes streaming in; the power of Satan is broken, and the
delivered one finds himself, peacefully and happily, in the presence
of God. Like the demoniac in Mark v., he is delivered from his
ruthless tyrant, his cruel master; his chains are broken and gone; he
is clothed and in his right mind, and sitting at the feet of Jesus.
What a glorious deliverance! It is worthy of God in every aspect of
it, and in all its results. The poor blind slave, led captive by the
devil, is set free; and not only so, but he is brought to God,
pardoned, accepted, and endowed with an eternal inheritance among the
sanctified. And all this is by faith, through grace. It is proclaimed
in the gospel of God to every creature under heaven--not one is
excluded. The great commission, whether we read it in Luke xxiv. or in
Acts xxvi., assures us that this most precious, most glorious
salvation is unto all.
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