The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1901, Page 9

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Che Autheran Pioneer,

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

PUBLISHED BY THE HyANGELICAL LuTHERAN SynopicAL CONFERENCE oF NortH AMERICA.

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

Entered at the Post Office at St. Lonis, Mo., as second-class matter.

Vol. XXII.

St. Louis, Mo., March, 1901.

_ No. 3.

Thou Hast Borne It All.

Betrayed, denied, forsaken by Thine own;

Left to be mocked, and scourged, and spit upon;
Crowned with the thorns, and led away alone

To die upon the cross — Thou holy One!

Deeper than all the depths of sin and woe;
Under the awful judgment we incurred;

Thy heart of love did bring Thee down below
It all, and Thou hast borne it all, O Lord.

Forsaken by Thy God! (O Jesus, Lord!)

In deeps unmeasurable and unknown;

Yet glorified by Thee, His claims made good;
His answer is—Thy seat upon His throne.

In spirit, Lord, we view it all with Thee;
Onr hearts run o’er with gratitude and love;
We long the more Thy blessed face to see,
And give Thee full and perfect praise above.

Selected.
———q@- oo ae

The Sinner’s Substitute.

Speaking of the suffering and dying Sav-
iour, the prophet says, ‘‘He was wounded for
our transgressions, He was bruised for our in-
iquities: the chastisement of our peace was
upon Him ; and by His stripes we are healed.”

Christ is the Son of God, ‘holy, harmless,
undefiled, separate from sinners.’’ He ‘‘did
no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth.”
He was no transgressor, there was no in-
iquity in Him, He deserved no chastisement
and no stripes. Still He was wounded, and
Was bruised, and suffered chastisement and
Stripes and the most shameful death upon the
Cross. Why all this? He that is without sin
took upon Himself the sin of the world. He
became the sinner’s substitute, suffering all
the punishment that the sinner deserved. ‘The
Lord hath laid upon Him the iniquity of us
all.” Therefore ‘‘He was wounded for our
transgressions, He was bruised for our in-
iquities.’” The curse of the law, the wrath of
God, the agonies of hell—we see it all in the
sufferings of death of Christ. And that is the
Very thing which we should have suffered.
But He took our place and became our sub-
stitute and suffered and died for us, the Just
for the unjust. The good Shepherd laid down
His lite for the sheep.

How great must be the punishment of those
that reject the sinner’s substitute and will

nothing of Him! How can they escape if they
neglect so great salvation? God spared not
His own Son when He saw Him laden with
the sin of the world, and He surely will not
spare those who by their unbelief tread under
foot the Son of His love and count His blood
and His sufferings for nothing.

How great the blessing of those that behold
in the suffering and dying Saviour their own
substitute! They can humbly say, ‘‘Christ
loved me, and gave Himself for me.’’ They
by faith take unto themselves all the benefits
of Christ’s sufferings and death and enjoy
the salvation which He procured. ‘‘He was
wounded for our transgressions’ —then di-
vine justice will not wound me also. ‘He
was bruised for our iniquities’’—then the
just God will not bruise me also. ‘The chas-
tisement of our peace was upon Him’’—then
the just God cannot punish me also, for that
were to punish twice for the same transgres-
sion. ‘‘By His stripes we are healed’’ —then
I am healed and washed clean by His blood
and need not fear death, for He tasted death

for me.
———. oo

It Is Finished.

Ir 1s FINISHED. ‘‘It??—what? The work
which Christ came to do. He came to re-
deem sinners from sin and everlasting woe by
His life, sufferings, and death. And when all
had been done, He cried out upon the cross,
“Jt is finished!’? ‘Then the work of our re-
demption was finished. :

Ir 1s FINISHED. ‘‘Is’’?—not ‘‘will be’? —not
‘tmay be,’’ but ‘tig.”? Jt?s a past work. It
‘tig’? done, once and forever. Christ has of-
fered Himself once for all.

In 1s FrnIsHED. ‘Finished’? —not partly
done, so that the sinner is to do the rest,
be it ever so little. No. ‘‘Finished’’ — done.
Nothing to add—nothing to make up. Noth-
ing a sinner can do, think, or feel, can add
value to that finished work. The precious
blood has been shed. Christ has suffered and
died. The work is a finished one. God is
pleased with it, for He has taken the Finisher
of it from the grave to glory. Now all is
settled. ‘The cross has met every claim. Every

demand of the law has been fulfilled. The
curse has been borne. Sin has been judged
and condemned. Justice is satisfied. ‘‘Fin-
ished,’’ yes, ‘‘finished.”’

Ir 1s FINISHED. What more do you want?
Do you not see this matchless work of grace
and love finished for you? The moment you
trust in this finished work of Christ for salva-
tion it is yours. Forgiveness of sin—God’s
grace—heaven with all its delights, its songs,
its joys, its glories —all is yours.

“Tt is finished! yes, indeed —
Finished every jot.

Sinner, this is all you need;
Tell me, is it not?”

o> - =m 0 - <2 —____

Behold the Man!

**Behold the Man!’’ When, in the hour
of temptation, the devil shall cast our sins in
our teeth, and shall whisper to us: Behold
the man thou art! then may we also answer
him: ‘‘Behold the Man!’ whilst we point the
accuser to our Surety, who, in the crown of
thorns and the purple robe, expiated our
sins, and through His blood, so abundantly
shed, has obtained for us abundant forgive-
ness. Under suffering and the cross, if we
hear such whispers as these: Behold the man
thou art! by God and man forsaken — where
is now thy God? and if we are ready to lose
patience, and utterly despair, let us make
answer to the tempter: ‘Behold the Man!” .
and let us flee to our dear Lord, who, for
our sakes, has suffered far greater and more
heavy woes than we, and has sanctified our
every burden. He opened not His mouth,
no cry of impatience escaped His holy lips;
and should we murmur and fret over the suf-
ferings which are made so precious by His
sympathy with us as His members? No, we
should rather rejoice at there being in us any
conformity to the likeness of His suffering ;
for then in glory, too, we shall be like Him,
‘because as He is, so are we in the world.’”’
Behold the Man! The sight will not weary us.
It will continue to refresh us until we shall
behold our King in His beauty, and recognize
Him by the marks of His passion, as the

“amb that hath been slain.’
Rudolph Besser.