EDITOR’S NOTE
In editing these Notes, I constantly feel my need of the Lord’s guidance, and your prayers. The May 2015 edition included ministry on the death of the Lord Jesus by our brother Allan Brown. That ministry contained statements that, on reflection, should have been clarified when I edited it, in order to guard the truth about the entirety of the work of Jesus in His going into death.
It was said that “at the end of these three hours of the forsaking, the whole matter was finished” and “The matter of sin and sins had been dealt with to God’s entire satisfaction”. These statements must be read in the light of the Lord Jesus having at that point yet to die, His precious blood had still to be shed, while He had yet to be buried and indeed to rise from the grave. Each of these precious aspects was an essential part of His vicarious work for us, and each had still to be accomplished when the Saviour said on the cross, “It is finished” (John 19:30), which has accordingly been referred to as being “in part anticipative”3.
The Word of God teaches us much about this holy matter. God made Jesus sin for us (2 Cor.5:21), and as such, He was forsaken by God on the cross (Matt.27:46). Peter tells us that the Lord Jesus “himself bore our sins in his body on the tree”, 1 Pet.2:24. We are washed from our sins in His blood, for “without blood-shedding there is no remission”, Heb.9:22. “Christ died for our sins … he was buried … he was raised the third day”, 1 Cor.15:3,4. In His burial (Rom.6:4), He removed man as under the curse from God’s sight; His burial was in the mind of God in Jesus’ dying sacrificially and that had yet to be gone through when He cried “It is finished”. And of course, His resurrection was for our justification (Rom.4:25) and is the foundation of our faith (1 Cor.15:17). With the exception of the resurrection, each of these holy aspects of the work of Jesus was a necessary part of His atoning work for us. They were all necessary for our eternal blessing, and so were vicarious, that is, they were entered into by the Saviour on our behalf.
Nevertheless, the actual judgment of sin which Jesus bore was completed in the three hours of darkness on the cross, when He was forsaken of God4. So when Jesus said “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46), He was, as Mr Darby wrote, ‘in perfect peace in the enjoyment of sonship’5, while Mr Stoney wrote about how Jesus “in conscious and restored favour, gives up the ghost, pours out His life, sheds His blood …”6.
All of this leads me to see that I should have re-ordered the first statement quoted at the beginning of this note to read “at the end of these three hours, the whole matter of the forsaking was finished”, and changed the second one to read “Although Jesus had yet to lay down His life, shed His precious blood and be buried, the divine judgment of sin had been exhausted during the Lord’s forsaking, to God’s entire satisfaction”. Allan Brown fully agrees with these changes.
In searching, with the help of others, the scriptures and ministry about this precious matter, I have been challenged by its holiness, and the need for great spiritual sensitivity. I trust that you will follow up the many scriptural references to the Lord’s sufferings, His death and burial, and His resurrection, for the Word of God is our infallible guide in considering these matters. There are many helpful references in ministry; two more are given below*. As you search prayerfully, I trust that you will feel, as I have felt, a sense of worship in your soul. Who can comprehend what Jesus has accomplished for God’s glory and for man’s blessing both now and eternally? Who else could have done that work in the unfathomable depth and breadth of its scope, and the perfection of its detail as brought out in so many Old Testament scriptures? We shall spend eternity responding to it, but we can respond now in worship, praise and deep thanksgiving to the One who has loved us and given Himself for us, our soon-coming Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ.
* F.E. Raven Vol.21 (Letters) p. 303
* J. Taylor Vol.45 p.110
Edited and Published by John A Brown
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