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THREE DAYS

D. J. Hutson

We have come to the end of these three days together. We have looked forward to them, we have enjoyed the times we have had in fellowship together, and if the Lord leaves us here we shall look back upon them. I trust something will be carried forward by each one of us, because if something has been acquired in our souls, it will find its expression in that coming day, when the heavenly city will come down from God, having the glory of God. So that we trust that there may be some eternal result from our being together. What I want to speak of, in this short time we still have left, is another

three days. They were three days which God looked forward to. We read in Peter that Christ was “foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world”. That would involve His coming in, in view of the three days of which I have read in Corinthians, in view of that great work which was completed in those three days. How wonderful it is that the whole question of sin, the question of sins, the question of sin in the world throughout all the ages of time, could be resolved for God’s eternal glory in three days.

So in Corinthians we have what was delivered by Paul, “what also I had received, that Christ died for our sins”. So we have immediately introduced to us the One who would effect this great work for God. So we might ask ourselves—Who is this? Who would be great enough for such a work? As we read in Romans, it was through man that sin came into the world, and if God is going to be glorified in respect of it, the work must be accomplished by a man. Who would be able for it? But God Himself has come in in the Person of Christ. Indeed as Mr.

Raven said, God Himself came under man’s judgment. God Himself has come in to take up the matter Himself, but this involves that He has come as a Man. He has come in a way which was calculated not to bring fear to any, coming in as a Babe in Bethlehem’s manger, going about here doing good, healing all that were under Satan’s power, for God was with Him. Do not ask me to explain it, because I would say, in a sense, I do not understand it. But the blessing of the gospel is that I am not asked to understand it, I am asked to believe it. The gospel is presented on the principle of faith to faith. I have faith that there are those here who are ready to receive it, and those who receive it are those that God has given faith to receive it.

So we can refer to these scriptures together. In Peter we are told that Christ was foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world, and He has died we are told by Paul. Why did such a Man die—a Man who

never sinned? As the Scriptures say, He did no sin, and, in Him sin is not. He was able to meet the enemy of our souls, so that He could be tempted with every temptation, and was able to come through and be still in the power of the Spirit of God, able to bind the strong man, and to spoil his goods. Why did He die? Every moment He was pleasing to God. Every motive, every action, every footstep was pleasing to God. Why did He die? We die because we have sinned, and because we are sinners, because we are in that condition. As it says, “by one man sin entered into the world, and by sin death; and thus death passed upon all men”

(Romans 5: 12); not because of that one man, but because all have sinned. But Jesus did not sin. Why did He die? He died for our sins. If our sins were to be met to God’s holy satisfaction, they could only be borne by One who Himself was sinless. As coming into the world He came into such a relationship to God, the blessed Son of God. God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, and He gave Him as a sacrifice for sin. Such is that work which He accomplished. I am not speaking of what men did to Him. He was taken by the hands of lawless men and crucified and slain. But before Peter said that, he said,

“given up by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God”, Acts 2: 23. It was in order that He might die for our sins.

The question then arises, dear friends, whether He has died for your sins. The work which He has done is sufficient for it. By what He did, God is satisfied in relation to the whole question, as John says, “not for ours alone, but also for the whole world”, 1 John 2: 2. Peter says also that He “bore our sins in his body on the tree”, 1 Peter 2: 24. He is writing that to believers. Is everyone here a believer? Has everyone put their faith in the work which Jesus did, so that you can say, ‘He bore my sins in His body’? The work is sufficient for it, but the gospel is intensely personal. Although we might speak to a company, everyone in the company must settle for themselves the question of their sins, and their

sinful state, by putting their faith in the work that Jesus did, and in His precious blood. The blood is the witness to His death, and the witness to the love of God. We were speaking in the first meeting about the power of God, and the way that His power in creation can be apprehended by the mind, but there is something more than the mind that God wishes to be known by. So Peter does not simply say, ‘who do believe on God’, but ‘who by Him do believe on God’. That is coming to know God in the way He has made Himself known in Jesus. It is to know Him in His love; that love to which He desires to have an answer. How wonderful it is that God is looking for an answer to His love, from those who once were dead in offences and sins.

Then it says—He was buried. Why was He buried? That body of Jesus was referred to at His birth as that Holy Thing. Why was it that He should be buried? We are buried because of the corruptible condition in which we are. But although the Lord Jesus was really here in blood and flesh, He was entirely apart from sin. The prophetic word was, “neither wilt thou allow thy Holy One to see corruption”, Psalm 16: 10. It was all part of the work that was accomplished in those three days, as He could say Himself, “even as Jonas was in the belly of the great fish three days and three nights, thus shall the Son of man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights”, Matthew 12: 40. Can we think of what it was to God when Jesus was buried? He lay in the tomb for three days and three nights. And again we say—Why was it? I find that when I am saved from my sins, I am no better in myself than I was before.

Thank God, as before Him, that man is gone. Just as Jesus took my place under the judgment of God for my sins, and He was made sin for me, so also He was buried for me. It was vicarious, it was all on account of others; so that God no longer regards me in that condition, which has been removed from before Him in the burial of Jesus. We are not presenting a dead Saviour, we are not presenting a buried Saviour; we are presenting a Saviour who died,

and a Saviour who was buried, but He was raised again the third day according to the Scriptures. You see it is according to the Scriptures, showing us that God was looking forward to it, looking forward to these three days, and looking forward to what would result from them. It could be said, I believe truly, that those three days are the greatest three days in the whole of time. Everything that went before focused upon them looking forward, and all that has resulted since depends upon them. What three days they are! Although we might say we have enjoyed these days together, they pale in the presence of those three days, which we are speaking of here as the focal point of time and eternity. As to the work on the cross Jesus could say, “it is finished”. Then the man whose place He took was completely removed from the sight of God, and then God intervened by His glory and raised Him from the dead. Now today He is presented as a living Saviour.

Not only was He raised from the dead, but He is now glorified—a glorified Saviour, presented for the faith of all who would put their trust in Him. Indeed I should not say that, I should say presented for the faith of all, for God desires that all men should be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth. That is far more than apprehending His eternal power and divinity by the things that are made. As another has said, the truth is the revelation of God. God has made Himself known in Jesus, and by Him we believe in God, who has raised Him from among the dead and given Him glory. How worthy He is of the glory! Soon He is coming to take it up for Himself in this poor world which has rejected Him and still rejects Him. The time is coming when He will come here to take up His rights, and hold the whole scene in perfect order for God, then finally hand over the kingdom to Him who is God and Father, so that God may be all in all. What an answer! I may say, speaking carefully, it would not be apart from those three days. God has been glorified in respect of the whole question which challenged His throne. Christ was delivered for our

offences, and He was raised again for our justification. Can my sins be brought against me again when the One who bore them is there in the presence of God Himself? God is satisfied absolutely in relation to the whole question. And from that place in glory He has sent the Holy Spirit, so that I might be in the present enjoyment of the forgiveness of my sins, and so that I might be able to answer at the present time to God’s pleasure. Peter speaks of being redeemed “not by corruptible things, as silver or gold, from your vain conversation handed down from your fathers, but by precious blood”, and we believe in Him “who has raised him from among the dead and given him glory, that your faith and hope should be in God”.

So He appeared to Cephas. We have been speaking today of the way in which He has manifested Himself, so that we have the present experience of the manifestation of Jesus by the Spirit, and we have the assurance of the place that He has, of which He is so worthy, among His own. I did notice that before the reference to the three days in 1 Corinthians 15 it says, “by which also ye are saved, if ye hold fast”. I believe that is one reason, at least, why we should have the preaching among ourselves at this time. While the work has been completed by Christ, we constantly need Him as our Saviour. We are reminded from time to time of the work which He has accomplished, and thus our hearts increase in affection for Him, who gave Himself for our sins. We need to be preserved every day, as we are left here in the scene of the testimony. He will come again as Saviour to change our bodies of humiliation, and it will be the last act of His Saviourhood. When we have our bodies of glory we shall not need a Saviour, we shall need Jesus, and we shall ever have Him and be with Him, but we shall not need Him as Saviour, there is nothing to be saved from in the glory.

What a prospect! So we await our Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour. We do not know yet what we shall be, but when we see Him we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is. What a Saviour! May we all put our trust in Him, not only once and for all, but for ever. May we be preserved in the testimony until that time when He comes, for His name’s sake.

Preaching at Vevey
26 October 1997

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