The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1897, Page 13

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Che Autheran Pioneer.

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

Pusuisnep BY THE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN SynopicaL CoNnFERENCE OF NortH AMERICA.

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

Entered at the Post Oftice at St. Louis, Mo., as second-class matter.

Vol. XIX.

No. 4.

St. Louis, Mo., April, 1897.

substitute, rose triumphantly from the grave.
He came forth as the mighty Conqueror over
Satan, sin, death, and hell. And His victory
is our victory, for He is our substitute. As
He represented us in His life under the law
and in His sufferings and death, so He repre-
sents us in His triumphant resurrection. His
glorious resurrection is the proof that the
work of our redemption is finished; for by
raising Christ from the dead, God the Father
declared Himself perfectly satisfied with the
work of His ‘Son. $

Are you satisfied? Do you simply trust for
salvation in that finished work of redemption,
or are you trying to add something of your
own? The work of redemption is finished,
and nothing can be added to make that fin-
ished work more complete.

Suppose you have to do a piece of needle-
work. You put in one stitch, and another
stitch —a great many stitches; and then you
put in the last stitch. Can you do anything
more to it? No, it is finished.

You have to do a long sum. You put down
a great many figures—you put down the last
figure. Would it be right to put down any
more? No, tt is finished.

You have to write a copy. You write one
line, and another line, and another line, and
presently you write the last line. Is there
any more to be written? No; t& is finished.

The world was to be redeemed. God alone
could do it. So God’s own Son became man
and, in man’s place, fulfilled every command-
ment of the law and suffered every penalty
of the law. And when He had taken the last
drop from the cup of God’s wrath, He cried
out: “It is finished!’? And when, on Easter
morning, God the Father raised Christ from
the dead, He declared, ‘‘Yes, it is finished.”
Now, can you do anything to redeem your
soul? No. Why not? Because Jesus has
done everything. You can not add anything
to that work of redemption. Jt is Jinished.

Finished! Does not that mean that Jesus
has done everything and you have only got
to trust in what He has done, and you are
sayed? Suppose you owed some one & great
deal of money—more than you could ever
pay, and a-friend came and paid it for you,

It is Finished.

“Tis finished!’’ so the Saviour cried:
And meekly bowed His head and died;
‘Tis finished—yes, the race is run,
The battle fought, the vict’ry won.

Tis finished! all that heaven decreed,
And all the ancient prophets said,
Is now fulfilled as was designed.
In Thee, the Saviour of mankind.

Tis finished! —man is reconciled

To God, and powers of darkness spoiled:
Peace, love, and happiness again

Return and dwell with sinful men.

‘Tis finished! —Let the joyful sound

Be heard through all the nations round;
Tis finished! —Let the echo fly,

Thro’ heaven and hell, thro’ earth and sky.

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It is Finished.

Our Saviour cried out upon the cross: ‘‘It
is finished!’’? What is finished? Why, the
work which He came to do is finished. He
came on earth to redeem sinners by His per-
fect obedience to the law of God and by His
sufferings and death. St. Paul says, ‘‘God
sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made
under the law, to redeem them that were un-
der the ldw,’”’ Gal. 4, 4. 5.

The Son of God became man and was put
under the law, in order to fulfill in our stead
all the demands of the law, which we could
not fulfill, and to suffer the punishment which
we had deserved by our transgressions. And
when all was done that had to be done, and
when all was suffered that had to be suffered
for the redemption of the world, He cried out
upon the cross: ‘‘It is finished!’’? Then com-
mending His spirit into his Father’s hands,
He gave up the ghost. And then the work
of our redemption was finished.

Satan and all our enemies indeed thought
they had won the victory over Him who had
come to redeem the world of sinners. Christ’s
body was laid into the grave, a large stone
was placed over the tomb, the Roman seal
Was put upon the stone, and Roman soldiers
watched the sepulchre. But, behold! in the
carly dawn of Enster morning Christ, our

would there be anything for you to pay?
Now, you do owe God a great debt. You
have broken all His commandments many
times. There’s a debt! Try hard as you
will, you can never pay God this great debt.
But Jesus has paid it for you, for He has in
your place obeyed perfectly all God’s com-
mandments and has borne all the punishment
that you deserved. Your debt is paid. The
work is jinished.

Take, then, with the hand of faith that work *

of redemption which was finished more than
eighteen hundred years ago, and which is of-
fered to you in theGospel. —The moment you
take it, you have forgiveness of sins and life
everlasting. For Christ ‘‘was delivered for our
offences, and was raised again for our justi-
fication,’’ Rom. 4, 25.

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Jesus Lives.

“Does Jesus live?”? This was the question
put to a missionary by a poor widow. It is
an important question. For if Jesus lives not,
then is our preaching vain, and our faith is
also vain; then we that preach Christ and be-
lieve in Christ sre of all men most miserable.
If Jesus live not, why should we then carry
on mission work? A dead Saviour can do sin-
ners no good. If Jesus live not, who would
then bear all the hardships of the mission
field?

Glory to God! Jesus lives and reigns for-
ever! He that is risen from the grave and
now sits at the right hand of God says: *‘Fear
not; Iam the first and the last; Iam He that
liveth and was dead; and, behold, I am alive

for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of”

hell and of death,’’ Rey. 1, 17. 18.

Yes, Jesus is risen! He lives and reigns
forever! The spread of His kingdom on earth
is a proof of His resurrection. We preach,
not a dead Christ, but a living Christ, who,
through His Word and Spirit, works in the
hearts of men and brings them to faith,

When the first two converts of Rev. Lands-
mann, our late missionary among the Jews
of New York city, were baptized, he joy-
fully wrote: ‘Yes, two souls, two enemies

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