Matthew Vogan
3. A Liberated Nation. By means of the Reformation, Scotland was liberated from thraldom to a foreign monarchy in Rome. The Papal Jurisdiction Act ended this control, which had been “very hurtful and prejudicial to our sovereign’s authority and common weal of this realm”. The Scottish Reformation also asserted freedom for the Church within the nation from the control of the monarch and so ensured that an entirely biblical establishment was formed for the first time in Europe. William Hetherington writes that “Scotland was the only country in which the great and true principle of the distinct and separate jurisdictions of Church and state was from the very first assumed as the basis of its Reformation polity; and, consequently, it was the first country since the Christian era in which religious liberty was constitutionally secured”.2 Thus they rejected the Erastian system, where the state rules over the Church, as well as the Papal system, where the Church rules over the state; neither was subordinate to the other; rather they were co-ordinate powers. They claimed freedom for both Church and state to function as ordained by God, with mutual co-operation but as separate jurisdictions.
This was strikingly different to the English Reformation, where the nature, pace and extent of the Reformation were determined by the will of the monarch. “In Scotland”, Thomas M’Crie notes, “the people were converted to the Protestant faith before the civil power had moved a step in the cause; and when the legislature became friendly to the Reformation, nothing remained for it to do but to ratify the profession which the nation had adopted.”3 Many times the civil power has sought to have the Church “entangled again with the yoke of bondage” through monarchs, parliaments and court rulings, but the constant motto of those that have been true to the biblical truth recovered at the Reformation is: “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free” (Gal 5:1). It has been a principle for which many were therefore well prepared both to suffer and die.
Attempts to assert a superior authority for the civil power were not slow in emerging. At the second General Assembly, Maitland of Lethington questioned the propriety of their meeting without the Queen’s authority.
1Last month’s article was entitled: “Scotland Revolutionised and Reformed”.
2W M Hetherington, “Toleration, the Law of Religious Liberty”, in Ter-Centenary of the Scottish Reformation, ed J A Wylie, Edinburgh, 1860, p 174.
3Thomas M’Crie (jnr), Sketches of Scottish Church History, Edinburgh, 1841, p 64.
Someone responded, “If the liberty of the Kirk should depend upon the Queen’s allowance or disallowance, we are assured we shall be deprived, not only of assemblies, but of the public preaching of the gospel”. “No such thing”, said Lethington. “Well, time will try,” replied John Knox; “but I will add, Take from us the freedom of assemblies, and take from us the evangel; for without assemblies how shall good order and unity in doctrine be kept?”44 This was the mind of the Assembly, who were persuaded that their authority came from the King of kings alone.
The Reformers also taught, however, a freedom from political tyranny in the state. John Knox and George Buchanan believed that political power was not vested in the monarchy or the nobility but in the people. A covenant existed between the people and those to whom they granted the authority to rule, whether monarch or parliament, and that authority could be withdrawn if abused. This meant that a tyrannising monarch could be lawfully resisted by arms and their authority removed even to the point of killing them in self-defence. These principles were derived from Scripture and would be developed most fully by Samuel Rutherford in his book Lex, Rex (the Law is King).
Such principles had been actively followed through in Scotland. In 1565, nobles took up arms against Mary Queen of Scots in the Chaseabout Raid, after Mary formally declared Henry, Lord Darnley, to be the King of Scots. While the rebellion was unsuccessful at this time, there was a different conclusion after the murder of Darnley in 1567 and the Queen’s hasty marriage to the man widely believed to be responsible for the murder. Ultimately, Mary was declared to be a tyrant and forced to abdicate. This action caused great controversy across Europe and demonstrated that the most radical principles of democracy anywhere at that time were emanating from within the Church of Scotland. George Buchanan outlined them cogently in his highly influential book published in 1579, The Law of Government Among the Scots, one of the most significant political treatises ever to be written. The Reformers had their difficulties with Mary Queen of Scots and her Romanism, which meant at times that the Reformation seemed not only to be impeded but in potential jeopardy, yet events in the affair of the murder of Darnley were to be guided by providence to the firm establishment of the Reformation in Scotland.
4. A Covenanted Nation. The Reformation in Scotland progressed through a series of covenants or bands whereby influential leaders endeavouring Reformation bound themselves together in a mutual oath. Their spirit was that of Nehemiah: “We are in great distress; and because of all this, we make a sure covenant and write it” (Neh 9:37,38). The first covenant of the
44M’Crie, Sketches of Scottish Church History, p 69.
Reformation was taken shortly after Knox’s return to Scotland in 1555. “The Common or Godly Band” was sworn in 1557 by many of the chief nobles in Scotland, with similar bonds being subscribed at Perth and Edinburgh in 1559. In these documents, men committed themselves to establish the true religion and abolish all idolatry.
In the year of the Reformation, 1560, a similar covenant was sworn in April, while the Scots Confession, adopted in August, was also commonly referred to as a National Covenant. The three estates of the nation received it as “wholesome and sound doctrine grounded upon the infallible truth of God”. The articles of 1567, subscribed by the Assembly and the nobility, constituted one of the most significant covenants of the Reformation period. This covenant outlined commitments to the practical implementation of the principles and benefits of the Reformation in terms of scriptural laws, care of the poor, and reformed schools and universities.
The later Covenant of 1580, which provided much of the wording of the National Covenant of 1638, was often referred to as the Negative Confession or Second Confession of Faith. Also called the King’s Confession, it was subscribed first by King James and then by many nobles and gentlemen. The concept of the covenant was also present within the coronation oath drawn up by the Church, which explicitly declared that a “league and promise” should be made to the true Kirk, and a “band and contract” between the prince and God.
In this way they strove to comply with that solemn command to nations and rulers: “Be wise now, therefore, O ye kings; be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry” (Ps 2:10-12). The kiss here is that of full submission by willing subjects and is best expressed by rulers and nations swearing allegiance to Christ as “the Head of all principality and power”. The benediction with which Psalm 2 closes relates to such expressions of obedience: “Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him”. There is another benediction that may be connected with this, of which all rulers ought to take notice: “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord” (Ps 33:12).
Covenanting is a feature of the Scottish Reformation that marks it out from the Reforms in other countries. Some writers have spoken of the difficulty of determining the source of the concept, but it is evident that it was derived from the reforms described in the Old Testament. It gave Scotland the identity and solemn obligations of a covenanted nation; the covenants also provided a banner displayed because of the truth to which the people of God could rally, uniting the generations in a common cause. They bound the posterity of the nation to recognise the deeds of their fathers with gratitude, and to forward and further the work of reformation begun. The
National Covenant represented a point of attainment to which a backsliding nation could later be recalled. John Brown of Wamphray wrote in 1665 that it was “a sweet day when the National Covenant, which had been long buried in oblivion, was raised out of the dust and renewed,” in 1638.5
5. An Educated Nation. Before the Reformation, only the main towns in Scotland had schools. The Reformers envisaged a school in every parish which all could attend whether poor or better off. Boys with a religious bent and intellectual capacity were sent to the nearest town school at the expense of their local kirk session in the hope that they would be future ministers of the Church.6 Where the children of the poor showed sufficient aptitude they were to be encouraged to continue their studies at university. The purpose of such education was both religious and moral, as the First Book of Discipline outlined: For “seeing that men are born ignorant of all godliness . . . of necessity it is” to “be most careful for the virtuous education and godly upbringing of the youth of this realm”.
This was asserted with the strongest of motives: “if either ye now thirst unfeignedly [for] the advancement of Christ’s glory, or yet desire the continuance of His benefits to the generation following. For as the youth must succeed to us, so we ought to be careful that they have the knowledge and erudition to profit and comfort that which ought to be most dear to us – to wit, the Church and spouse of Jesus Christ.” John Davidson of Prestonpans believed that schools will “make our preachers multiply”, but “when the schools are not provided, how can the Kirk be but misguided?”7
The curriculum, which included Calvin’s Catechism (tested by the minister on the Sabbath afternoon), was more comprehensive and structured than previously, and those responsible for overseeing the process of education would be “the ministers and elders, with the best learned in every town, [who] shall every quarter take examination how the youth hath profited”. The schoolmaster would be paid from church funds, which would be feasible across the nation if the wealth of the pre-Reformation Roman Church had been given to the Reformed Church.
Ultimately, as is well known, the nobility would not relinquish their hold upon this wealth, and so the vision for national education was not to be properly realised for another century.8 Nevertheless, education was placed in the hands of the Church. Parliament agreed in 1567 that all tutors or teachers
5An Apologetical Relation, cited by Alasdair J N Raffe, “Religious Controversy and Scottish Society, c1679-1714”, PhD Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2007.
6Margo Todd, The Culture of Protestantism in Early Modern Scotland, Yale University Press, 2002, p 67. There were also schools for girls, p 63.
7Margo Todd, The Culture of Protestantism in Early Modern Scotland, p 60.
8A total of 405 schools were, however, established before 1633 (Todd, p 60).
in either schools or universities must be “sound and able in doctrine” in order that “the youth be not infected by poisonable doctrine at the beginning, which afterwards cannot be well removed away”. Any existing tutors not professing “Christ’s true religion” were to be removed from their position. University education itself was thoroughly improved and reformed by Andrew Melville, ensuring suitable ministerial training.
Some writers such as Thomas M’Crie (senior) have compared Knox’s approach to education with that of the ancient classical republics, where children were regarded as the property of the state and to be educated at public expense.9 While this may have influenced French education at the time, we are not aware of any evidence that Knox or any of the Reformers maintained such a view. We suggest rather that they were influenced by the biblical principle that Church and state have parental responsibilities as well as the family. Some speak as if none but parents have the responsibility of the education of children; others speak as if none but the state has the responsibility. The Reformers appeared to take seriously the role of all three agencies. The role of parents was to give their children religious instruction, which would be tested in their religious knowledge at the ages of 9, 12 and 14. The role of the state was to ensure that the Church’s activity was properly funded.
In 1872, after 300 years of such education, Presbyterian churches naively traded Knox’s principle of church-led schools, with a firmly Reformed ethos, in exchange for Knox’s original hope of a universal provision of education. The state’s purpose in this was to ensure an adequate workforce for an industrial age; it is not surprising therefore that religious education became marginalised. In the twenty-first century, the purpose of education is said to be preparation for life, not just the workplace.
The Reformation emphasis, however, was to impart necessary knowledge under the purpose of exhorting children to “godliness [which] is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come” (1 Tim 4:8). This involved church-managed schools, incorporating catechetical instruction delivered by teachers committed to Reformed Protestantism. While we admire the efforts of Christian teachers and individual state schools that are notable exceptions to the rule, there is a stark contrast with today’s education system, where such teachers are in the minority among the irreligious and where teaching on vital areas of morality is expected to be anti-biblical. Today, the only church-led schools in Scotland are counter-Reformational, predominantly inculcating Romanist dogma.10
9The Life of John Knox, Philadelphia, 1839, p 161.
10The new Curriculum for Excellence, for instance, contains entirely vague requirements for Religious and Moral Education. There is a separate Roman Catholic provision, however, which ensures instruction in the mass and Mariolatry.
Mount Sinai and Mount Zion1
John Duncan
Jehovah, He is the God. He is a wonderful God, He is a wonder-working God. God quickens the dead; God opens the blind eyes and unstops the deaf ears; and the quickened soul has a voice wherewith to respond to the call: “Call unto Me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not”. And the opened ear can hear the voice which says, “Look”; and the opened eye can look.
I have been lately, and methinks I still am, at the foot of Mount Sinai; and I heard a voice, and the voice spoke of wrath – the wrath of God, which is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. God thundered with His voice. Who thunders with a voice like Him? I heard the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, concerning which the Scriptures say, “So terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake”.
And the Lord showed me a biography – a biography written defectively in the memory, which at the best is ever treacherous, but written perfectly in the book of God’s remembrance. And the voice said, Come and read this biography. I said, O Lord, how can I read it?
I have read it, said God, and you must; you must. And when I had looked, still the voice came: Turn thee yet again, and I will show thee greater abominations than these. And not a biography only: He showed me a heart. There are seven abominations in a man’s heart – seven being the Scripture number for completeness. And my eye was fixed on that with horror. I speak not now of godly sorrow and repentance, but of horror; and with something that is surely worse, with shame. For it was not simply my eye that fixed on the heart, but God showing me His own eye looking on it: See thy sin under My eye; see, My eye sees that. God be merciful to me a sinner!
Now I heard a voice, at first distant and mysterious; but it came nearer: a still, small voice publishing peace, proclaiming salvation; a voice which came from Mount Zion, the city of our solemnities, the city of our God; a voice publishing peace, proclaiming the salvation which came from Zion; a voice which, as it proclaimed salvation, so also a Saviour: “Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, for unto you is born . . . in the city of David, a Saviour,” and not merely a Saviour, and a Saviour on earth – Immanuel, God with us, God among us, God for us – but a Saviour slain.
1An address at the Lord’s table in Free St Luke’s church, Edinburgh, on 27 January 1861, by the noted Old Testament Professor at New College. Taken, with slight editing from Duncan’s Pulpit and Communion Table.
Methought then I stood on Calvary and heard these words: “It is finished”. God said, Look into the heart of Christ and behold Him in His vicarious death. Behold Him and know the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, “that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich”. The greatest depth of this poverty was not in His incarnation – though that was a wondrous depth – look at it in His death.
Then methought also that God said, Come by the blood to the mercy seat. And I heard a voice speak from the mercy seat, from between the cherubim. And what voice was that? “This is My beloved Son (not merely with whom, but) in whom I am well pleased, hear ye Him!” said He from the mercy seat, from between the cherubim. “The Lord is well pleased for His righteousness’ sake”, said He from the mercy seat, from between the cherubim. “I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions, and will not remember thy sins,” said He from the mercy seat, from between the cherubim. “Return unto Me, for I have redeemed thee,” said He from the mercy seat, from between the cherubim. Sweet invitation to me, a dearer, is: “Return unto Me”; God assigning to the sinner the saving cause – “for I have redeemed thee”.
Then methought the Lord said, “I know heart secrets”. And I said, Lord, show me a heart which Thou knowest. And methought the Lord showed me a heart. Whose it was He did not say, and I do not know; but a heart which God knows. He showed me something of it.
It was a heart into which He had put a new song. The soul was making melody, attempting to make melody to the Lord. Where it was I do not know, but I heard it singing about the middle of its song. It had been singing other songs before this. It had been singing, “What profit is there in my blood when I go down to the pit?” It had been singing the fifty-first Psalm; and Jehovah had put a new song into its mouth. He had done it, and it was trying to sing; and I heard it in the middle of its song. It had been reading Revelation 5, and trying to sing some of its lines; and now it was at these words, “For thou wast slain”. And O, how it was sobbing and breaking; how it was melting and breaking with a joyous grief, and a grievous joy! It could not get its song sung, though it would have liked it. O how it faltered when it tried to sing, “and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood”!
It was the song of a soul known to God; and many such there are. It was the song of one to whom much had been forgiven, and who therefore loved much; and many such there are. But it was the song of the chief of sinners, of the one to whom most had been forgiven and who loved most.
Yet it faltered and made wrong music; it jarred, and there was discord; and it grated on its own ear and pained it. And God was listening to it – the omniscient God, who knows all things. But the song was presented through
and by the Mediator of the new covenant; and if there was discord, it was removed by grace in atoning blood, by the sweet accents of intercession; for it came up as music in Jehovah’s ear, melody to the Lord. It was not discord in heaven.
I would know, O God, what soul that is! O God, let that soul be mine! And tell me of it. Let it be mine! Put a new song into my mouth; teach me to sing it. Teach me to sing it on earth, and to sing it when earth shall be no more.
The Pharisee and the Publican1
J Julius Wood
Luke 18:14. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
In the parable of which these words are the conclusion, Jesus Christ told of a Pharisee and a publican who went up to the temple to pray. The Pharisees were the strictest sect of the Jews, great professors and, for the most part, full of self-righteous pride. The publicans were the tax gatherers for the Roman government; and as their profit depended on what they could collect over and above the sum which they had agreed to pay the government, they very generally used every means in their power, whether just or unjust, to wring money from those who paid the taxes. They were consequently thoroughly detested by the Jews and were, for the most part, persons of very bad character. But the worst are not beyond the grace of God. Indeed, there is more hope of one whom all count to be sinful, and who so counts himself, than of a self-conceited, self-righteous person.
Our Lord represents both the Pharisee and the publican as praying. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed thus, “God, I thank Thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.”
The prayer of the publican was different. He, “standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me, a sinner”. Mark how Jesus judged these two men: “I tell you, that this man [the publican] went down to his house justified rather than the other [the Pharisee]” – words which unquestionably mean that the publican was accepted and justified, while the Pharisee was rejected and his religious services held in abhorrence.
1Taken, with editing, from The Christian’s Daily Companion. Wood (1800-1877) was at this time minister of New Greyfriars’ church in Edinburgh.
On what grounds was this judgement made, and how is it consistent with the whole tenor of God’s revealed will? Observe the attitude and conduct of the two men. When the Pharisee went to pray, he stood by himself, apart from the other worshippers, to mark the opinion he entertained of his own superior sanctity – to draw attention to himself and to attract other people’s admiration. His prayer agreed well with his behaviour when he came to offer it. It was nothing but praise of himself. There was not one expression in it, or even one hint, that he who offered it up was a sinner, a humble dependent on the mercy of an offended God. He looked at himself and said to God, Behold what I am! He never thought of God’s mercy in connection with himself. He had no feeling that he needed mercy; he thought he deserved favour.
And, after all, what did the good amount to that he had to relate of himself? Freedom from some few gross sins and the scrupulous observance of one or two minor matters of the law. Marvellous folly, that a man who has no more to say for himself than this should trust in himself that he is righteous, and despise others!
The publican stood afar off, probably in the court of the Gentiles, as unworthy of a place among God’s chosen people, and especially as unfit to stand near that eminent saint, the Pharisee. Thus shrinking from observation and his heart almost sunk under a feeling of his sinfulness, he would not so much as lift up his eyes to heaven. He felt as David, that man of God, did when he poured out his prayer: “Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of my head; therefore my heart faileth me”. But though he would not lift up his eyes, by grace he was enabled to lift up his soul; and as he smote on his breast in bitter grief, he prayed from his very heart: “God be merciful to me, a sinner”.
The whole scope of Scripture, and many express statements in it, teach us that it is God’s method of salvation to make the sinner deeply conscious of his sinfulness, to convince him that he cannot save himself, and to show him that God can save him and is willing to save him, through the merits and intercession of Jesus Christ. Now not one of these things was found in the Pharisee. He had no deep conviction of his sinfulness; he was not at all aware of his inability to save himself; he had no apprehension of God’s pardoning mercy and sanctifying grace. In the publican, on the contrary, they all appear. He saw the corruption of his heart and the transgressions of his life to be far beyond any remedy that he could apply. And because he had been taught that there is forgiveness with God, he presented himself at a throne of grace earnestly desiring to be a partaker of that forgiveness.
Therefore the condemnation of the Pharisee and the justification of the publican entirely agree with the Bible method of salvation, for Jesus says,
“Everyone that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted”. The Saviour repeated no sentiment so frequently as this. We find it recorded no fewer than ten times in the Gospels. It is no doubt intended to teach us the importance which our Lord attaches to evangelical humiliation, which lies at the very entrance into a state of grace. The sinner who, like the publican, stands self-condemned, grieving for his sinfulness and crying for mercy, God receives in at the strait gate that leads unto life. To such a person He says, “Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee”. Then, in the exercise of free sovereign grace, He begins to exalt the poor sinner who has been abased by evangelical humiliation. He unites the sinner to Christ, bestowing on him the privileges and dignity of a child of God, and at last receives him to perfect happiness and heavenly glory.
On the other hand, pride, and especially the pride of self-righteousness, is exceedingly offensive to God, for it is a plain denial of man’s fallen and ruined condition, and of the usefulness and necessity of that amazing plan which has been devised for the recovery of sinners. Pride puts man in a position in which he does not desire, and will not accept, the salvation which God offers. And it makes God a liar, for He declares that there is none righteous, no not one, and that all the imaginations of the thoughts of man’s heart are only evil continually. The man who possesses this self-righteous spirit indeed exalts himself, but what a humbling awaits him! He will be stripped of his foolish ideas and cast down to hell, a miserable, hopeless wretch, to dwell with devils and everlasting burnings.
Let me pray: “Lord, make me know myself. Make me understand Thy character as revealed in the Scriptures. Then I will lie low before Thee as a sinner; my prayer will be for mercy, for Christ’s sake; Thou wilt hear the prayer, and receive me graciously, and love me freely, and bless me abundantly.”
We may have as free access to the Redeemer now as His immediate disciples had. Faith does not require a visible Saviour for its object, but the blessing is rather on those who have not seen and yet have believed.
Convictions from the holy law of God do commonly precede a true change of heart and are not to be lightly esteemed, for, to all human appearance, the convinced sinner is much nigher to the kingdom of heaven than the careless sinner. It is well for such as are under such impressions, as they regard their own salvation, to do nothing to quench the Spirit, who is striving with them.
That the majority of men possess very inadequate ideas of the evil of sin is evident from their contentment under its defilement.
In the dark and cloudy day of adversity, when thick clouds gather around us and waterspouts burst upon us and all [God’s] billows go over us, what will be our condition unless we have a refuge from trouble in God?
Archibald Alexander
The Peace Offering1
Henry Law
Leviticus 3:1 A Sacrifice of Peace-offering.
“On earth peace!” Thus angels’ lips announce the Saviour’s birth. Peace comes, lives, thrives with Christ. “On earth peace!” Such is the olive branch which these brief lines would wave. “On earth peace!” Great Spirit, plant it in each reader’s heart!
God strives in every way to bring poor sinners to His peaceful sway. Before the worlds, eternal councils planned the way of peace. When enmity began, grace hastened to reveal it. A stream of prophecy rolled the news onward. And here a graphic ordinance portrays it. A model stands to show the parts and working of the reconciling scheme.
Some anxious soul sighs for felt peace with God. What shall be done? God smooths the way. His voice declares, Let the appeasing victim be now brought. Peace rightly sought shall surely be obtained. Now mark this victim. It may be male or female. It may be taken from the larger cattle, or from sheep or goats (Lev 3:1,6,12). This is permission of unwonted breadth. The prince or the peasant, from richest pastures or bare mountain’s brow, may readily obtain the expiating means.
The aim is both gracious and distinct. Where is the man, who would have peace with God? No barrier keeps him back. No distant search is needed. The appointed offering is by his threshold. The soul at every moment may find Christ. The hand may grasp Him at each turn. He is the nearest object to the rich man’s hall. He sits beside each Lazarus at the gate. He is ever present, ever willing. No sinner pines in wretchedness because the peace offering is beyond his reach. The burden of the gospel cry is: Behold Me; take Me.
But from whatever flock the male or female came, one test must prove it. It must be free from fault. A blameless type proclaims the blameless Lord. He is the essence of pure excellence. He was made flesh without corruption’s taint. His walk on earth was holy as His throne in heaven. If but one speck had soiled Him, it would have turned God’s smile into a frown. To have bought favour for Himself would then have cost His all. But His hands are sinless; therefore they can take our sins. He needs no payment for Himself, and so can buy our peace. Such are the marks of the peace offering.
God next directs the offerer to touch its head (Lev 3:2). This act denotes the transfer of all guilt. The burdened thus rolls off his load. The lightened shoulder thus receives relief. This is the happiest exercise of faith. It knows
1Taken, with editing, from The Gospel in Leviticus.
that Christ is called and comes and dies to take His people’s guilt. It sees Him ever ready to receive the weight. With rapid step it ventures near. With eager hand it casts off misery. The unburdened conscience grasps deliverance.
Believer, why should you lie in dust, oppressed and crushed by fears? Why are your eyes so dull to see heart ease? Hark, the peace offering presents Himself. Christ calls, Give me your every sin; transmit the mass of it to Me; I will remove it, so that God no more shall find it. Wrong not your soul; obey. There is no peace while sin-distress weighs down. There is all peace when the huge mountains of it sink. The sting extracted leaves no pain.
The victim is then slain (Lev 3:2). Here is the wondrous fact, which is the light of types and rites and prophecies and solemn texts. Here is the brightest sunshine of the Bible page. Death is denounced as the desert of sin. But, through amazing grace, it falls on Christ. He claims the dying place. He gives His life to the avenging stroke. Each blood-besprinkled altar preached a peace thus bought. It told of satisfying agony and reconciling blood and an accepted surety. It showed the price all paid, the wrath removed, the curse endured, the flock all free. Reader, you often hear and read this blessed truth. Say, is this peace-procuring work the perfect rest of your reposing soul? Do you sit down beneath the cross and sing, The enmity died there?
The slaughtered animal was then divided. The best, the choicest, of the parts were placed upon the burning altar. Devouring flames preyed on them (Lev 3:3-5). Another portion was the priest’s own due (Lev 7:31,32). The rest supplied the offerer with food. Here is a wondrous feast. Three parties are regaled. O my soul, you too are called. The gospel banquet has an open door. Each hungry soul may find a welcome seat.
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God claims His share. All that seems rich and precious is first brought to Him. The holy fire reduces it to dust. It is the fuel of the raging blaze. Thus Jesus meets the fierceness of Jehovah’s wrath. Thus every attribute is filled, as an overflowing cup. Justice exacts its dues. Anger and righteous vengeance and pledged truth have large demands. But are they not content when they have revelled at this costly board? God’s name is honoured in a God-man slain: and heaven takes up a hymn of peace. Reader, place Christ, in faith, between God and your sins, and then live, joy, work, die in the sweet knowledge that God’s scales are full.
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Provision is then made for those who ministered. The altar-servant never lacks. They who leave all for God have all in God. Zeal in His cause is richest gain. The Lord is never debtor unto man. Strength spent for Him is strength recruited with the best supplies. Toil in His vineyard is the wealth of wealth. His service is a golden mine. It is a field where harvests always wave. Each happy workman finds his wages in his work.
But mark what constitutes the priestly food. It is part of the selfsame victim in which God delights. The dying Jesus regales heaven. The dying Jesus regales earth. But the refreshment mainly cheers the pastor’s heart. Here then we clearly learn that ministers derive their health, their vigour, their success, from the grand truth of peace through Christ. They cannot work with zeal, with unction and with fervent love who have not tasted this substantial feast. Knowledge of reconciling grace is the grand pulpit power. It warms the heart. It girds the loins. It arms with courage which no difficulties check. It brings an energy which cannot flag.
Ministers, live at this table. Joy in the victim, who slays wrath and opens wide the gates of peace. And then, strong in the Lord and tranquil in His love, go, toil, strive, pray, till thronging numbers crowd the banquet house where Christ is all.
- The offerer then takes his part and eats. Here is a teaching fact. We see the essence of true faith. It finds soul sustenance in Jesus’ work. Light in the head will not give peace. Lips may be fluent in Christ’s praise while all within is death. The outward handling of truth lulls not what the conscience fears. More is required. Christ to be peace must be received within. The hungry soul must draw sweet juices from the dying Lamb. Wretched are they who mourn and pine and starve when such supplies are near!
A solemn warning is adjoined. The legally unclean might not partake (Lev 7:20). Impurity excluded from the table of peace. Means are provided to cleanse stains. But means neglected raise exclusion’s bar. They are cast out who seek the wedding with no wedding robe (Mt 22:13).
Reader, this precept loudly testifies that none taste peace who willfully offend. Sin willingly retained must plunge into a troubled sea. Can Israel prosper while accursed goods are hid? Can he gain health who lingers in infected air? Shall he reap a calm who sows the whirlwind? The path of evil leads from peace. The love of evil hides God’s smile.
But the believer hourly mourns that sad corruption follows, as his shadow. He loathes iniquity, but still its roots are deep, and constant outbreaks prove its life. His thoughts, his words, his works fly as vile broods from a vile nest. May he not venture to the peace-offering feast while this indwelling evil is his plague? The ordinance foresees the case and thus provides. Unleavened cakes must fill the offerer’s hand (Lev 7:12). This leaven is the emblem of the tainting principle. Its presence teaches that sinners may draw near, although the hated trouble be not dead.
Reader, if you have any light from heaven, you see poor nature’s proneness to transgress. While flesh is flesh, its tendencies are base. This malady should not obstruct your way to peace. No, let it prompt you to more vigorous
effort. When the wolf prowls, the lambs leave not the fold. Your restless foe should drive you to the fort of peace.
We next are told what special motives prompted the peace offering. They were twofold: a sense of gratitude for mercies past, and a desire to bind the heart by vow (Lev 7:12,16). He who would praise, he who would vow, thus sought the altar. Here are spiritual dealings which cannot be performed until the soul knows peace with God. These are plants which only bloom in reconciliation’s sunshine. These are ships which only glide on tranquil waves.
Believer, let not this teaching be in vain. There is no moment when the inner man should not flow forth in boundless streams of praise. Count, if you can – but the number baffles thought – the crowning mercies which fill high your cup. Each mercy should awaken songs of love.
Next weigh your mighty debts to God. He ever lives, pouring His blessings on your head. Each binds you to devote your all to His one service. His throne should ever hear your self-surrendering vows. But mark, you cannot praise or vow apart from peace in Christ. These are the acts of an accepted child. This is free converse with a reconciled Father. Praise only lives where peace abounds. He only consecrates himself who fears no wrath. You must draw near in Christ, or you can never serve.
When the peace offering came as token of thanksgiving, it must be eaten before morrow’s light. When it bare witness to a voluntary vow, the rule was still the same. The feast must be without delay. No remnant on the third day might be touched (Lev 7:15,16). Who can hear this and not discern the tenderness of grace? God would not leave one moment’s space between the cross and peace. The gospel cry is, Rejoice, rejoice! Why tarry? Why linger? Why hesitate? What mean those miserable doubts? Wherefore such trembling and reluctant steps? God spreads a feast of peace, and bids His guests sit down to instant joy.
Believer, hasten to obey. Today, this hour, receive the gladness of the proffered blessing. There is some lurking pride, some seeds of unbelief, in slow acceptance of this gracious boon.
Reader, this offering was ordained “to guide your feet into the way of peace.” Come then to the standard of the Prince of Peace. Is not His kingdom peace above, within, around, for ever? The Spirit cries, “Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end” (Is 9:7). Hear and the Lord of peace Himself will give you peace always by all means (2 Th 3:16).
The law leads us to Christ for righteousness; the gospel sends us to the law as a rule of obedience, as a light to our feet and a lamp to our hearts. Thus the whole life and work of a Christian is a continual traffic from the law to the gospel, and from the gospel back again to the law as a rule.
Ebenezer Erskine