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
And the best of it all is, that it both glorifies the name and
gratifies the heart of God to bring us into this place of
inconceivable blessedness, love, and glory. It would not satisfy the
love of His heart to give us any lower place than that of His own Son.
Well might the inspired apostle exclaim, in view of all this
stupendous grace, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ; according as He hath chosen us in Him before the
foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame
before Him in love; having predestinated us unto the adoption of
children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of
His will, _to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath
made us accepted in the Beloved_, in whom we have redemption through
His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His
grace" (Eph. i.).
What depth of love, what fulness of blessing, have we here! It is the
purpose of God to glorify Himself, throughout the countless ages of
eternity, in His dealings with us. He will display, in view of all
created intelligences, the riches of His grace, in His kindness toward
us, by Christ Jesus. Our forgiveness, our justification, our perfect
deliverance, our acceptance--all the blessings bestowed upon us in
Christ--are for the display of the divine glory throughout the vast
universe forever. It would not meet the claims of God's glory, or
answer the affections of His heart, to have us in any other position
but that of His own well-beloved and only begotten Son.
All this is marvelous. It seems too good to be true. But it is worthy
of God, and it is His good pleasure so to act toward us. This is
enough for us. It may be, and most assuredly is, too good for us to
get, but it is not too good for God to give. He acts toward us
according to the love of His heart, and on the ground of the
worthiness of Christ. The prodigal might ask to be made as one of the
hired servants, but this could not be. It would not be according to
the Father's heart to have him in the house as a servant. It must be
as a son or not at all. If it were a question of desert, we do not
deserve the place of a servant any more than that of a son. But,
blessed be God, it is not according to our deserts at all, but
according to the boundless love of His heart, and to the glory of His
holy name.
This, then, is conversion. Thus we are _brought to God_. Nothing short
of this. We are not merely turned from our idols, whatever they were,
but we are actually brought into the very presence of God, to find our
delight in Him, to joy in Him, to walk with Him, to find all our
springs in Him, to draw upon His exhaustless resources, to find in Him
a perfect answer to all our necessities, so that our souls are
satisfied, and that forever.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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