The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1907, Page 17

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

Che Lutheran Pioneer.

A MISSIONARY

MOONTHLY.

PuBLISHED BY THE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN SyNODICAL CONFERENCE OF NorTH AMERICA.

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

Entered at the Post Ofiice at St. Louls, Mo., as second-class matter.

St. Louis, Mo.,

No. 3.

Be Ye Reconciled to God.

By the Savior’s agony

In sad, dark Gethsemane,

By th’ amazing bloody sweat
Which His sacred body wet,
Hear the message sent abroad:
Be ye reconciled to God!

By the Savior’s agony

On the cruel, bloody tree,

By the darkness from the skies,
By His awful dying cries,
Hear the message sent abroad:
Be ye reconciled to God!

By the Savior’s rising day,

When He tore Death’s bars away,
By the angel’s cheering voice —
“He is risen! Rejoice! rejoice!”
Hear the message sent abroad:

Be ye reconciled to God!
Selected.

——__——

Christ the Sinner’s Substitute.

A substitute is one who takes the place of an-
other. Christ is the sinner’s Substitute because
He took the sinner’s place, enduring sufferings and
death in the sinner’s stead. There was no fault in
Him. He was “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate
from sinners.” But He took our place to bear our
punishment. ‘The prophet says of the suffering
Savior: “Surely He hath borne our griefs and car-
ried our sorrows.’ He was wounded for our trans-
gressions, He was bruised for our iniquities.” And
the apostles tell us: “Christ died for us.” “Christ
died for our sins.” “Christ has redeemed us from
the curse of the Law, being made a curse for us.”
Christ “bare our sins in His own body on the tree.”
Thus the same Bible which tells us that we as sin-

March, 1907.

ners deserve everlasting punishment also tells us
that Christ bore the punishment for us, that He as
our Substitute took all our sins and the curse and
wrath of God upon Himself and satisfied the claims
of divine justice in our stead. He thus redeemed
us poor, lost, and condemned creatures from all
sins, from death, and from the power of the devil,
not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious
blood and with His innocent suffering and death.

Yes, sinners are redeemed by Him who took
the sinner’s place. His rising from the dead is the
proof that the work of redemption is finished. He
was our Substitute, not only in His sufferings and
death, but also in His resurrection. Therefore the
apostle tells us not only that Christ was “delivered
for our offenses,’ but also that He “was raised
again for our justification.” When Christ, the sin-
ner’s Substitute, was set-free from the prison-house
of the grave, we were set free in Him. When He
rose from the dead, justified and absolved from sin,
we were justified and absolved in Him. Had Christ,
the sinner’s Substitute, remained in the power of
death, the victory would not be won. It would
mean that Christ, laden with our sins, went into
the realm of death in our stead and was held cap-
tive there, and therefore did not redeem us. It
would mean that the burden of our sin and woe
was laid upon Him and crushed Him. But, blessed
be God, it was not thus. The Lord is risen! The
sinner’s Substitute gained the victory over sin,
death, devil, and hell. His victory is our victory,
as His battle was our battle. His life is our life,
as His death was our death. His crown is our
crown, as His cross was our cross. “He was de-
livered for our offenses, and was raised again for
our justification.”