GOD'S APPROACH TO US AND OURS TO HIM
GOD’S APPROACH TO US AND OURS TO HIM
“In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die”. The judgment of death fell on man when he ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. “By man came death”. But because of the evil and violence of men on the earth, it is written, “The end of all flesh is come before me”. “It repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth”. Hence he was not only doomed to die, but because of his wicked works there must be an end of man in the flesh. Thus we have man the sinner under the doom of death, and as in the flesh intolerable to God.
We have now to see how the blessed God can approach him, and how man can approach God. Abel in faith saw a victim not chargeable with his offence bearing the judgment of it and at the time of bearing it having a personal excellency. Therefore he “brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof”. Enoch in another day set forth the faith that pleases God; not only believing in His existence, but in His nature as a rewarder of them that seek Him, the distinct contrast to what Eve had done. Noah is practically saved, and begins a new history in divine favour in the place where he had been under judgment. In Abraham, righteousness by faith is declared. I need not pursue the expressions of faith recorded, as it were, in a chain in Hebrews 11, until Rahab, by faith, is in the land, typically the gentile in heavenly places. I adduce these witnesses of the true nature of approach, for it is helpful to see that God never left Himself without a witness, and in this way the history of their testimony is very interesting.
The law did not really offer an approach to the sinner. It expressed God’s righteous demand, and thus it became to fallen man “the ministration of condemnation”. But consequent on Israel’s idolatry — practical apostasy from God, before the law was given the offerings were appointed by the Lord from the tabernacle of testimony.
Now the offerings did set forth in type the manner and nature of our approach to God, and the ground of it; but in none of them was there definitely set forth the nature and scope of His approach to us. The offerings are of extreme interest, because they open out in detail the nature of our approach, when as yet there was no real [p. 349] ground for it. So much so, that if we had only the book of Leviticus, or if we were confined to our own approach to God, we should measure our acceptance with God by the measure of our growth in apprehension of what Christ, the true offering, is. For instance, a godly Jew after offering his burnt-offering went away with the sense in his soul, a true one too, that he was accepted by God; “God testifying of his gifts”. An enjoyable sense, I admit, but exclusively confined to himself as the offerer. It was all on his own side, even that he was formally accepted through that offering being accepted of God. There was nothing beyond the sense that he stood well with God at the moment. There was no idea that God could approach him. So that if a christian limits the work and offering of Christ to the types, however fully they may set forth his acceptance, it is still merely an atom in comparison with the measure in which the blessed God can approach him. This latter is not set forth in the types. In the offerings from Abel down, the one great thing is that the offerer may obtain acceptance with God. He may, as I have said, be assured through grace of acceptance, as were Abel, Noah, Abram, Manoah and others; but in none of these is it set forth that the initiative is on God’s side. It is on the side of the man, either without law or under law.
There is, however, distinct intimation on the part of God that He desires the approach of man and rejoices in it. Numerous passages in the Old Testament express it. “Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings”, Jeremiah 3: 22. “Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a pleasant child? for since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my bowels are troubled for him”, Jeremiah 31: 20. “And I will cause him to draw near, and he shall approach unto me: for who is this that engaged his heart to approach unto me? saith the Lord”, Jeremiah 30: 21. “Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts”, Psalm 65: 4. We also find [p. 350] several instances in the Old Testament scriptures of the measure in which He could approach to man. “The Lord appeared” we read continually. “The God of glory appeared unto our father Abram”. To Moses He appeared in the burning bush, and still more in the mount; as also to the prophets. But while all these cases evince desire on the part of God to come near to man, He had as yet no ground to come near so as to have man before Him without fear. True, there are reassuring utterances to the prophets and others, to be at ease in the presence of God’s glory; in most cases it was like Daniel, who though told to stand upon his standing, only “stood trembling”; while in the manner in which God drew near to Abram, or placed Moses in the presence of His glory, we are taught His desire and purpose to have us near Him in love.
But it is evident that there was as yet no way in which God could draw near, so as entirely to disarm man of fear because of the gracious loving way He approached him. He could not approach in His love until He had a perfect warrant for the expression of it in righteousness. David failed in receiving to favour his rebellious son without any due expiation or atonement for his guilt. God loved, but He could not receive back the sinner, even if the sinner were willing to come, until He could be just and a justifier. This is the light which shines forth when Jesus Christ comes, “the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God”. God so loved the world that He sent His Son. He came to bear the judgment on man, to remove that which hindered God’s approach to man. He is the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world. The blessed God has found a way in which Lie can approach the sinner in the most touching manner. The Father ran to meet the prodigal, pronouncing in the most affecting way that there is nothing but love on His side; that is, that He can come to the sinner, having so secured His majesty, righteousness and glory in His love, that His love is in full sway in all its [p. 351] delight, and is, as it were, backed up and supported by all that He is. It is not only that there is grace where there was judgment, as with Isaiah, who when sensibly undone before the throne, was relieved by the activity of grace, and placed before the throne entirely consistent with it; but the prodigal in Luke 15 was approached by the Father in the tenderness of His love. The one was set free before the throne, the other was introduced to the heart of God in that full perfect way in which He can now approach the returning sinner. “God is love”. And to reach the sinner in this, His nature, is what His love delights in. He could not reach him to make known His love in anything but love. God is light, and in His light He discloses the sinner’s need of His grace, and at the same time the fulness of His grace. “God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life”. He came not to condemn the world, but to save the world. It is not the sinner that seeks God, but Jesus has come “to seek and to save that which was lost”. The love of God rules Him and He gives the Son. He obtains through Jesus, the perfect sacrifice, a way in which He can come to the sinner in all His love, in all its fulness and delight. Love delights in doing its best for its object. The sinner is God’s object, blessed be His name! and cost Him what it may, He not only reaches him, but does for him not only all that he needs, but all that His love desires to do for him. Who can tell what the Father’s love does for the prodigal? Love must satisfy itself according to its power or ability. No one could effect this for God but the Son of His love, and He could say, “How am I straitened till it [death] be accomplished!” Once the obstruction was removed, what a volume of eternal blessing would flow forth to the sinner!
In considering God’s approach to the sinner, we must bear in mind that it is God’s love that is acting. It is not merely His mercy. True, there is mercy, but His mercy is because of “his great love wherewith he loved us”. Jesus is the only One who ever knew the love of God to the sinner, and He undertakes to remove everything resting on man which bars him from the love of God; but He affords that love a full warrant in righteousness to come to the sinner, and enfold him for ever in the arms of everlasting love. Jesus is not only the sin-offering, He is also the burnt-offering. God is glorified in a Man; He delights in a Man. And now He can come to every one believing in that Man — in Jesus. He can come in the delight of His love, in the full satisfaction of His heart, and fall on his neck and kiss him. While we must not lose sight of the unspeakable gain and endless delight to a sinner to be brought to God, we must keep prominently before us the source from which it all comes. It all comes from the love of God. What God delighted to effect has been accomplished by His Son, and He can now come to the weakest and youngest believer in all the delight of His heart, His righteousness, glory, and every attribute of His nature giving strength and support to His love. The ground for His approach is perfect, and therefore His approach is as full and complete at His first expression of it to the sinner as it ever will be.
Now, on our side it is quite different; we are not only at a distance, but we are alienated from God by wicked works, and unless God in His grace compelled us to come in, we should have remained at a distance, only hardening our hearts, like Pharaoh, after every fresh conviction produced by a manifestation of His power. But God in His grace seeks the sinner. He commends His love to us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Our eyes are opened, we are turned “from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God”. We are compelled to come in, while on God’s side, “all things are ready”.
When I am awakened, I am sensible of the danger that I am in — that I am on the verge of everlasting misery, and that I deserve it. “We indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds”. I see myself guilty, and as [p. 353] such, inevitably lost. It is a moment of unequalled distress, but it only enhances to my soul the greatness of the grace which beams on me through faith in the blood of Christ. I can “arise and go”. I begin to know that through the blood I am safe from judgment. Like Israel in Exodus 12, I am sheltered by the blood. This is my first positive step. When I feed, and as I feed, on what Christ suffered on my account when bearing my judgment, as Saul of Tarsus did during the three days when he was “without sight, and neither did eat nor drink”, so I can draw near to God. My approach to Him is increasing, while His to me could not be any greater; it is already commensurate with His own nature. Every step of my advance is marked by a distinct break from the flesh so offensive to Him. As a convicted sinner, like the thief or the leper, I condemn myself while I in wonder enjoy His grace. But like the prodigal, though His love is expressed to me in the most touching way, I cannot enjoy it, because I am so sensibly occupied with my unworthiness. I feel I am not worthy. It is repentance and contrition with me; and it is only as He invests me with garments suited to Himself, superseding what I am in myself, that I can enter into His house. Every believer who enjoys through the Spirit this new home knows very well the gradual way in which he has approached to God, and what exercises and bitter suffering he has passed through in breaking away from the flesh and losing all confidence in it. What is expressed in a few words with reference to the prodigal may have taken days of bitterness as with Saul of Tarsus, or even years; but be it long or short, suffering it must be.