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
But, blessed forever be His holy name, He went through it all. He went
down under the heavy billows and waves of God's righteous wrath
against sin. He took the sinner's place, stood in his stead, sustained
the judgment, paid the penalty, died the death, answered every
question, met every demand, vanquished every foe; and having done all,
He ascended into the heavens and took His seat on the throne of God,
where He is now crowned with glory and honor as the divine and
all-glorious Accomplisher of the entire work of man's redemption.
Such, then, reader, is the _basis_ of "the great commission" whereof
we speak. Need we wonder at the _terms_, when we contemplate the
basis? Can there be anything too good, anything too great, anything
too glorious, for the God of all grace to bestow upon us poor sinners
of the Gentiles, seeing He has been so fully glorified in the death of
Christ? That most precious death furnishes a divinely righteous ground
on which our God can indulge the deep and everlasting love of His
heart in the perfect remission of our sins. It has removed out of the
way every barrier to the full flood-tide of redeeming love which can
now flow through a perfectly righteous channel, to the very vilest
sinner that repents and believes in Jesus. A Saviour-God can now
publish a full and immediate remission of sins to every creature under
heaven. There is positively no hindrance. God has been glorified as
to the question of sin; and the time is coming when every trace of sin
shall be forever obliterated from His fair creation, and those words
of John the Baptist shall have their full accomplishment, "Behold the
Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world." Meanwhile, the
heralds of salvation are commanded to go forth to the ends of the
earth and publish, without let or limitation, perfect remission of
sins to every soul that believes. It is the joy of God's heart to
pardon sins; and it is due to the One who bore the judgment of sin on
the cross that in His name forgiveness of sins should be thus freely
published, fully received, and abidingly enjoyed.
But what of those who reject this glorious message--who shut their
ears against it and turn away their hearts from it? This is the solemn
question. Who can answer it? Who can attempt to set forth the eternal
destiny of those who die in their sins, as all must who refuse God's
only basis of remission? Men may reason and argue as they will; but
all the reasoning and argument in the world cannot set aside the word
of God, which assures us in manifold places, and in terms so plain as
to leave no possible ground for questioning, that all who die in their
sins--all who die out of Christ--must inevitably perish eternally,
must bear the consequences of their sins, in the lake that burneth
with fire and brimstone.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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