DISTANCE REMOVED BY GOD
[p. 11] DISTANCE REMOVED BY GOD
I need hardly say, beloved friends, that the gospel is the good tidings of God, and it is an important thing that He Himself announces the good tidings. It is not something that we propose to Him, but something which He proposes to us. The great thing for the soul to get hold of is that it originated with Him. He desired that the distance which existed between Himself and us should not continue.
The first thing is that man has offended against God, and the character of the offence is not merely bad conduct: it is will. Eve’s was not what would be called bad conduct; but it is important for us to understand what sin is. “The soul that sinneth it shall die”. That being must go. Could God allow a creature to set up a will against His own will? That is exactly where Eve was. She went against God’s will. That is what made Saul the chief of sinners. His conduct was most exemplary, no one was a better man, “Touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless”.
Man is sensible of the distance. In the opening of the history of the Bible, we have two men, Abel and Cain; and these two men, each in a different way, tried to remove the distance - the distance brought in by sin. The creature had a will contrary to God, and the creature must die. Why? Because it has a will; God cannot allow a thing to subsist which is contrary to Himself. The lost will be the everlasting testimony of God’s power in destruction.
How do you remove the distance? Cain brings of the fruits of the earth; Abel offers the firstlings of the flock. The fat was the excellence of the offering [p. 12] in death. God had respect to Abel’s offering. There was faith - nothing else would suit God. The lamb, not chargeable with the guilt, was bearing man’s guilt, and at the time of death the preciousness of the thing comes out. But did that really fulfil what God said was necessary - that One should arise to bruise the serpent’s head? That is where many souls have a feeble salvation. They are looking at Christ as the Lamb who died. That will not do. He had to meet the judgment - not merely die like a lamb, but bruise the serpent’s head.
Now in the first chapter of John’s gospel, what you have is this: John says, “Behold the Lamb of God”. Faith says, I must have a victim to approach God. That is Abel’s side; but what does John say? ‘That is the Lamb of God’. Think how the Jewish mind was affected by that! Is God going to remove the distance from His own side? We had created the distance - we ought certainly to remove it. I must get a victim not chargeable with the offence, but I cannot get one to meet the judgment. He must meet the power of Satan. If you do not see that He has grappled with Satan, you have only touched the hem of the gospel. Can you understand a pious Jew hearing about God’s Lamb? Has God a lamb? He wants one to remove the distance. See the answer - ‘This is the Lamb of God’. God is going to take away the distance from His own side. “His arm brought salvation”, Isaiah 59: 16.
I do not know anything so reproachful to a creature in the universe as to say he is at a distance from his Creator. What would you think of a son who was not on terms with the best of fathers? It is the greatest stigma upon man that in spite of his attainments he is alien from God.
But now turn to God’s side. A father has a very beautiful clock. He says to his children, Any one that breaks this clock shall leave my house. Well, one [p. 13] of them is refractory and through disobedience breaks it. ‘You must go, or mend it’. He is miserable, he will do everything to mend it. But man is not miserable, he does not care to come back. The child says, I wish I could mend the clock. The next day he is a day older and a day worse. His heart is breaking to get back. That is what you see in the prodigal son, and that will be the terrible misery of the lost, ‘I did not break my heart - I found out when it was too late that God was good’. But now the father says to the child, I do not like this distance to continue; I will mend the clock myself. He does it to his own satisfaction. This is a poor illustration, but still the thing of all others remains, God has removed the distance.
In hell sin will be gone; there will be no power to act, nothing but helpless agony. It is the “smoke of their torment”.
Now let us see how God has done this. Read Exodus 24: 8 - 11. That is a type, a shadow. If a shadow gives you a clear idea, the substance will give you a clearer one. If you turn to Matthew 27: 51, you get the substance, “The veil of the temple was rent in twain”. Jesus dies; He is the Lamb of God. God rends the veil from inside and says, I no longer dwell in clouds and thick darkness. I remember saying once to a poor woman, God is satisfied, and you ought to be. I never saw her again, but heard she had died the next day, saying, God is satisfied, and I am satisfied as well.
There is no door to heaven now - the veil is rent. Anyone who has faith to approach will find it so. It is like the dream of the old divine; he dreamt he came to a fine palace and was very well received at the door, so well that he went inside, where he was still better received; and from one apartment to another, till he was ushered into the presence of the sovereign, where he was received with acclamation. The nearer you get to God the better off you are.
[p. 14] The Jews would say, We were all in apprehension when the high priest went in - never sure till he came out. But now God can be “just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus”.
Turn to Luke 15, verse 20 - “And he arose, and came to his father”. It was not only that when he came he was let in, but the person who was in the lead here was the father. Distance is gone from His side. That is the thing I want you to carry away tonight. I can go and take a poor prodigal in his rags and take him in my arms.
I will now tell you why He did it - it was love. There was necessity; the prodigal says, I know my father is good. I believe a man is converted when he says God is good. A man said to me lately, God is good if we could but trust Him. I believe that man was converted. You may say it is very little. But I say it is enough.
Necessity is bringing the prodigal to the father; love is bringing the father to the prodigal. God got glory at the most distant spot; He can therefore go to the most distant spot and announce His grace. I insist upon it; it is not the parable of the prodigal son, it is the parable of the father’s feelings about the prodigal. What is the difference between love and goodness? Love can never cease working for its own delight. Goodness works to my necessity. In nine cases out of ten, believers never get beyond goodness. Your need is not the measure of His grace - it is His own heart. And what is that? I cannot tell you.
Turn to Luke 23: 42. Here is an actual case. “Lord, remember me, when thou comest into thy kingdom”. You come from the lowest, most degraded, most scandalous position that a Jew could occupy upon this earth, to the highest stage it is possible for man to be in - in company with the Lord Jesus Christ. He comes to the highest spot in one step.
[p. 15] All the distance is gone from God’s side, and therefore He can carry the thief straight to paradise.
I will now turn to our side very briefly. I get two things, not only sin gone, but the Holy Spirit come - I am brought, in a new power, into a new place. “They came... and abode with him”. God has removed all the distance - He has thrown His house open, and sent the Holy Spirit to bring you into the enjoyment of it. Could you get anything to rival this? There is no such thing as a rival to the gospel. It is not simply that Christ is the sacrificial Lamb, and that you are left to get on as comfortably as you can. The gospel of the prodigal son was that he might have safety and happy circumstances. That is the gospel of ninety-nine out of a hundred. “Make me as one of thy hired servants”. But what about the Father’s heart? There is reluctance on man’s side as well as distance. There is no reluctance on God’s side. It is a wonderful thing that God delights in us. “Compel them to come in”, not to be saved, but to come into the house. He brought the sheep, not to the pasture, but to the house, and called his neighbours together, saying, “Rejoice with me”. I am glad to have it. Not a word about the sheep. You talk of sinners’ interest in the gospel - do you ever hear of anyone talking of God’s interest in the gospel? He is glad to have us in the joys of His own house. You come out in a new history in the world. You have a new place - you are a companion of the Lord.
I will finish with an illustration - one that I must invent, for I cannot find a parallel amongst men. We have often heard of a good man risking his life to save a fellow-creature, and I can picture a great man passing by and, seeing one of his fellow-men in danger of drowning, stopping his carriage in order to go and save him. That is goodness. There is an excellent man. But that does not tell the whole gospel. The rest, as I said, I must invent - The great [p. 16] man says to the man he saved from drowning, ‘I am glad you are saved; now step up into my carriage; we will drive to my house, and I will share all I have with you’. You hear the gospel now; do you believe it? Are you in the enjoyment of the simple fact? Where do you dwell? “Come and see. They came... and abode with him”. That is what He likes; the highest satisfaction He can have is that we should be at home with Himself. We can only look to God that He may bring two points definitely before each heart - firstly, that God has removed the distance from His own side. If you believe that, you say, I will approach Him. That is one thing. The next thing is, His love is so great He delights to have your company. It is not that you will feel yourself out of place there - you will be there in all the beauty of Christ.
The Lord grant that any soul in this room who may be burdened may simply understand the gospel - brought home to the delight of God. And to the believer I say, you have never enjoyed your Father’s home and never gratified his heart if you have never ‘gone home with Him’. The further you go, like the good man in the dream, the better you are off. The Lord, in His infinite goodness, cause His word to reach every soul in this room, for His name’s sake.