God’s Chief Mercy (1)

A Sermon by John Maclaurin

Romans 8:32. He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?

The work of redemption was a very great mercy; but to say so is to come far short of doing justice to the matter. Even the least mercy from the sovereign Lawgiver of the world to such transgressors of His laws is a great mercy. It is evident from Scripture that we are always wrong unless we consider redemption, not only as a very great mercy, but as absolutely the greatest: not only as a high manifestation of love, but as the highest. And if this is God’s chief gift, it follows plainly that gratitude for it is our chief duty, and ingratitude for it is our chief sin. It should be our chief joy and delight, the chief object of our thoughts and desire.

As duly to contemplate this doctrine in a special manner is our principal work at this occasion, so its transcendence over all other mercies is one of the most suitable views we can have of it, and the text before us is one of the most suitable scriptures to give us that view of it.

Paul takes a very comprehensive view of it in the context. He looks back on it before the foundation of the world, and pursues the joyful prospect in its consequences beyond the end of the world. No wonder such a view of such an object makes him in a manner pause, as overwhelmed with the greatness of the prospect. Inspired by the Spirit of God, he asks, “What shall we say to these things?” (v 31). He is speaking of the love of God, in the language of men. And when he prays for the Ephesians to be strengthened by the Spirit to know the love of Christ, he says that it “passeth knowledge”. Nothing can surpass the strength of the Spirit, which is infinite; but the capacity of the creature is necessarily finite; and what passes knowledge must surpass all expression.

All great objects naturally cause difficulty of expression. Peter, on the mount of transfiguration, experienced such joy and wonder at Christ’s glory that he did not know what he said. When Paul had a view of Christ’s love and its fruits, he had at least as much reason to be at a loss what to say. He spoke like the Author of these blessings did when He had a view of the sufferings that purchased them: “Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say?” No wonder if the greatest saints so often express their gratitude for God’s goodness by acknowledging that they cannot express it: “What shall I render to the Lord?” and “What can David say more?” We can render nothing, and we can say or think but very little; yet are we not to say or think nothing – our hearts and tongues would then be useless.

We may turn the expression into, What shall we not say? or, What shall we not think? It is our duty to say all we can. This is what the Apostle does in our text: “He spared not His own Son . . .”. Paul had before broken out in admiration at the number and greatness of God’s blessings; but now he shows that, though believers receive all things from God, in some sense they have but one thing to wonder at. After receiving the gift of His Son, they need not wonder at anything else; the wonder would be if, after that, anything else would be withheld.

In the words we have therefore: (1) an account of God’s chief gift, (2) the connection between that gift and all others.

1. An account of God’s chief gift, “He . . . spared not His own Son”. His sufferings were for the benefit of sinners, and He was given up to them when He was delivered up to justice. As to the meaning of His being delivered up for us all, we are chiefly to consider that the free offer of that gift extends to all to whom it is revealed, and the saving virtue of it to all who embrace that offer; and nothing is more just than that they who reject it should get no saving benefit by it.

2. The connection between this gift and all others. Here we may consider separately: (1.) The vast extent of believers’ privileges. (2.) How they receive them. (3.) The basis for the connection between the chief gift and others.

(1.) The vast extent of believers’ privileges: “all things”. We have similar expressions elsewhere: “He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be My son.” “All things are yours; and ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.” Everything that contributes to our good, we may in some sense call ours: and Paul tells us what the believer may say: “We know that all things work together for good to them that love God”. Thus necessary afflictions and fatherly chastisements are privileges, and are contained in the covenant as promises.

(2.) How believers receive all things: “freely”. God gives all things with Christ, and therefore gives all things freely. Christ did not receive gifts freely. Never were gifts purchased at a dearer rate, or given more freely to others. Believers are bought with a price, but both price and purchase are freely given to them. The obedient angels cannot earn the benefits they receive, although they give perfect obedience. The believer is obliged to give sincere obedience, but it is not merely a duty; it is the gift of the Spirit. No gift can be more freely offered than one that is offered to as many as will receive it: “As many as receive Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God” (Jn 1:12). Faith is called receiving Christ; it receives His righteousness and strength, or Spirit: yet this faith, is expressly called “the gift of God”.

(3.) The basis for the connection between the chief gift, the Son of God, and all others. Paul supposes the connection is so evident that he expresses it by a question rather than by a positive assertion. A twofold connection seems to be taught in Scripture: one relates to God’s justice and faithfulness, the other to His goodness. As to the first, we are told that God is just to justify the sinner who believes in Christ. The promise of all things is made to faith. There is an intrinsic value in the Pearl of great price, the object of faith, to purchase all things. But Paul is speaking of the connection between God giving so great a gift and giving all others. So it relates to goodness; it is the connection between a great favour and a less, which, though it lays no obligation on the giver, gives reasonable ground of hope to the receiver.

Thus, if a man puts his life in danger for us, we may be sure of any lesser favour which we need and he can spare. There is an obvious difference between God’s bounty and man’s. If a man gives all things, he will have nothing left for himself; but after God has given the greatest favour, we may expect any other favour we need. Since He has given up His Son to justice, He may justly give us all things. Paul means that, after this gift, the believer who has an interest in it may freely expect every other gift from God till he can think of a greater gift than His Son.

In discoursing on this doctrine, the superiority of the work of redemption over all other mercies, let us consider: (1.) Some of the principal and most edifying truths included in it. (2.) Where the superiority consists.

1. Some principal, edifying truths included in redemption.

One remarkable truth is: the necessity of Christ’s sacrifice for our salvation. This is included both in the superiority of the gift, and its relation to the Giver.

(1.) As to its superiority, it is plain it would not be the greatest gift if it was unnecessary. And as to the relation between the Giver and the gift, we may be sure a good father always spares his own son (unless it is necessary to do otherwise) and will not deliver him up to death needlessly. God was not obliged to deliver up His Son, either as to His justice, or for the glory of His goodness. If God had been obliged in justice to deliver us from our sin and its punishment, there would have been no necessity of a sacrifice to His justice for our sins. When we read therefore the Redeemer’s expression in His agony, “If it be possible, let this cup pass from Me”, we may understand that, absolutely considered, it was very possible that it might wholly pass from Him. The meaning seems to be: if it was possible that it might pass from Him without passing to His people – for He had a still greater aversion to this than to drinking it Himself.

The necessity to be understood here is that His sacrifice was necessary for the relief of sinners, “to declare His righteousness in the remission of sins”. As Caiaphas expressed it without understanding it, it was needful that one should die so that the whole people might not be destroyed, though it was not in itself necessary for one person to show so much mercy.

It would take too long to consider here all the objections against our need of that sacrifice. An impartial consideration of them might easily show that they flow from ignorance of the nature of God’s justice and our sin. If we object, How can my sin have so much evil in it that I must be personally punished, and why do I need such a great atonement? we should reflect on this: to let disobedience pass unpunished is to dispense with the law that governs God’s kingdom; and if God could dispense with it in favour of any one of us, the same reason would allow Him to dispense with it for all God’s other subjects – and so allow Him to tolerate universal, eternal wickedness.

(2.) The chief mercy in the work of redemption was not merely Christ coming to teach us our duty, which He could do through others, but to “purge our sins”, which only He could do.

(3.) In considering the love of Christ, we must consider the love of the Father. Surely it is one purpose of our baptism in the name of the Father, Son and Spirit to oblige us to acknowledge devoutly what each of these adorable Persons does in redemption – to bless the Father, who did not spare the Son; the Son, who did not spare Himself; and the Spirit, who applies what was purchased. So it is no small encouragement, in approaching God by Christ, to reflect that we approach Him by a Mediator that He Himself has sent and anointed, one chosen of God and precious.

(4.) The truth in the doctrine which especially deserves our careful attention is: the Redeemer is not a mere creature, but a divine Person. For surely the way this text speaks of the Redeemer’s special relation to God the Father as His own Son, and of the superiority of this gift to all others, would be unintelligible if the Redeemer was a mere creature. Besides the full proofs of Christ’s divinity drawn from the divine names, attributes, works and worship which the Scriptures so frequently ascribe to Him, the superiority of God’s mercy in redemption is an argument that is specially suitable to affect our hearts with a lively impression of that great truth.

It is useful to observe the name given to Christ in the text: God’s own Son. If that name signified that He was produced by God the Father, it would be true for all creatures; if it signified only the greatest resemblance to God that any creature has, it might agree to many, since no mere creature can have so much of God but another might be raised to have as much or more; if it signified His being created by the Father, whereas other beings are created by the Son, all other rational creatures might have had the same relation to the Father. Accordingly the name of God’s own Son, as it is ascribed to Christ, cannot agree to any mere creature.

(5.) The superiority of the gift. Would there be such force in Paul’s reasoning if the Redeemer was a mere creature – if he spoke like this: If God delivered up one to temporal sufferings, how will He not deliver so many multitudes from eternal sufferings? If He gave up a mere creature to temporal pain for us, how will He not give us the right to everlasting happiness?

If we observe carefully the way Paul speaks of God’s own Son and “us all”, we may see he believes it is evident there is no proportion between Him and us. The only idea the Scriptures give us of superior creatures is that of angels. Man is indeed said to be lower than the angels, but it is only said a little lower (Ps. 8). The Bible gives no indication that the distance between a mere creature and man is such as either would make the sacrifice of that mere creature a sufficient atonement for him, or that the creature could be the chief gift that can be bestowed on us, whereas the Apostle believes it is evident that there is such a distance between the Son of God and us all.

How evidently the Scriptures distinguish the nature of the Son of God from the nature of angels! And if it cannot possibly be conceived that any created spirit could assume the nature of another created spirit (whereas Christ could not have assumed the nature of angels) this is no small confirmation of the great truth we are speaking of. But we may distinguish, in the whole of that blessed work, these two things: the price and what is purchased – that is, on the one hand, Christ’s sacrifice and righteousness, and on the other, all the spiritual and eternal blessings which flow from it. It is clear that the Scriptures lay the stress of the benefits on the price; whereas, if the Redeemer was a mere creature, it would plainly be otherwise. Then people could not avoid saying, “Herein is love” that for so small a price there is so great a purchase; for so cheap a ransom a such wonderful deliverance. The way to commend God’s love would not be by considering that He gave one mere creature, though the highest, to die for multitudes; but that, for so small a consideration, such great blessings are bestowed.

The style of the Scriptures is the reverse of this. God Himself knows best how to commend His love to us: “God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”. Then Paul adds over and over again: “Much more, we shall be saved”. The Scripture style is, “God so loved the world”; and, “Herein is love . . . that He . . . sent His Son”; and, “He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, to hear our prayers, to give us all things – as if all the mercy was comprehended in the gift of Christ; and after that, all the rest was in justice due. All the rest is a free gift likewise, being virtually contained in the chief gift, whose superiority above all things is plainly supposed in this: it virtually contains all things.

2. Wherein that superiority consists.

To believe in this superiority has no tendency to lessen our esteem of any other gift of God, but rather to heighten it; it is the greatness of the price that shows the value of the purchase. We know little of the Redeemer if we do not see that every spiritual or eternal, or even temporal, blessing receives additional value and sweetness by coming through such hands, carrying along with it a tincture of that precious blood, and the savour of that infinite friendship. In showing what the superiority consists in, it is not enough to consider only the dignity of the Person given, but also the manner in which He is given and the value of the gift – “the gift of righteousness”.

(1.) The dignity of the Person (which is supposed in this superiority). Other gifts are creatures; this is the Creator. Other gifts are the works of God; this is the Son of God, who is God. He is man likewise, but that does not lessen the gift. The greatness of it consists in His being made man and in what followed. The Scripture style is not that God gave the human nature of His Son, but gave His own Son, and gave Him to be made man. It is not that Christ, who is God, redeemed the Church by the blood of His human nature, but “by His own blood”. He who made the worlds “by Himself purged our sins”. These and other scriptures show that, as Christ is but one Person, so that one person is the Redeemer, the Saviour, the Gift. It is the Lord Jehovah who is our righteousness. This gift therefore must transcend all others: but how far? As far as the Creator transcends the creature; and no one knows that, for no one knows the Father perfectly but the Son, as no one knows the Son but the Father; and there is not a better answer to that question.

(2.) The manner in which He is given. It may be objected that, in the work of grace, the Spirit is given who is God, and in the state of glory the Father gives Himself to be His people’s portion and happiness. And Christ, the Son of God, is given in the work of grace and in glory, as well as in redemption.

The superiority of one divine work does not disparage another. Though God’s attributes are all infinite and equal, yet the manifestations of them are not so. The perfection of God’s works consists partly in a variety, by which some of them far excel others. The least blade of grass is an effect of infinite power, but not the highest effect of it; so the least degree of grace or glory is a manifestation of infinite love, but not the highest manifestation. That the gift of Christ Himself in the work of redemption transcends every gift of grace or glory is evident from the account we have of the special manner in which Christ, who is God, is given in that work.

In the work of grace, Christ makes us to be born of God and to be sons of God; in the work of redemption He is born of a virgin and becomes the Son of man. In the former, He gives us the likeness of the holy God; in the latter He takes on Him the likeness of sinful flesh. In the one, He gives us His strength; in the other, He bears our infirmities. But this is not all. In the one, He heals us; in the other, He is wounded for us. In the one, He enables us to do our duty; in the other, He bears our sins. In the one, He makes us obey the commandments of the law; in the other, He bears the curse for us. In the one, He gives us life, health, honour, joy; in the other, He suffers shame, pain, sorrow, death for us.

When He gives us heaven, He raises us to His high and holy place, His royal palace; in redemption, He descended to our low polluted cottage. There He manifests His glory for our happiness; here He veiled it for our relief. There He receives us to a place of many mansions; here He had no place where to lay His head. There He gives unsearchable riches; here He condescended to ignominious poverty. There He brings us to the greatest honour; here He suffered the lowest disgrace for us. There He gives the waters of life; here He drank the cup of wrath for us. There He makes us see God face to face; here He was forsaken of God for us. There He shows us His own face, shining in glory more than the sun; here He showed His face marred more than any man. There He gives us crowns of glory; here He wore a crown of thorns for us. There He incorporates us in the company of holy angels; here He was numbered with transgressors. There He makes us sit on thrones; here He died on the cursed cross for us.

These instances might easily be multiplied, but they are sufficient to show that though the gift of Christ in His incarnation and sacrifice, and the gifts of grace and glory, are bright manifestations of the same love, yet the first is the chief gift; it is in the first that a divine Person can most properly be said to be given to us. In the other inestimable favours of sanctification and heavenly blessedness, it is as if a king’s son, with his father’s consent, should take a wounded rebel, heal him with his own hands, receive him into his family and give him an estate: in the other great work, it is as if that prince should lay His head on the block to be sacrificed for that rebel.

It is plain that in this case the prince would more properly be said to give himself, or to be given by his father, than in the first case, when he merely gives that criminal life, wealth and riches without such a sacrifice. It would be highly unreasonable to esteem Christ’s sacrifice less, because the divine nature did not suffer, but only the human. In considering any act of love, nothing can be more unreasonable than to esteem it less because it does not contain absolute impossibilities. It was impossible for the divine nature to suffer, but the nature which suffered was the human nature of a divine Person.

Both natures contributed to the sacrifice; the one bore the pain, the other gave the value. But there is only one Mediator, one Christ, God’s only Son, who redeemed His people and purged their sins by His own blood. This was not impossible; but if it went to the utmost verge of possibility, then surely this is more than a sufficient confirmation of the doctrine, showing the superiority of the gift in the manner it was given.

To set this in a better light, it is useful to note the steps of divine condescension in this work. No act of goodness is more attractive than condescension, and condescension in God is infinitely above what is found in any other being. His condescension to the angels is infinite, because the distance between Him and them is infinite. But the lower the object of divine love, the greater the condescension. The creatures below man are not objects capable of divine love in the sense understood here. Man was made a little lower than the angels; therefore the greatest acts of divine condescension that we can conceive of are His acts of condescension to men. Yet while God made man a little lower than the angels, man has made himself a great deal lower by his sin. So God’s greatest acts of condescension to man are His acts of favour to us in our low state.

For their Creator to have taken the nature of angels would have been condescension capable to astonish the highest creatures; “but He took not on Him the nature of angels”; He was made flesh. This was not when all flesh was innocent, but when it was fallen and sunk in sin. It was great condescension if He had assumed our nature in the form in which the Jews expected Him, as the visible conqueror of the world. But He was not only made lower than the angels, but He was counted as no man.

Here was the reverse of the grandeur of princes; here was eminence in sorrow and the deepest level of trouble. Yet a man of low status, low under trouble, may have a high character. But Christ made Himself of no reputation. He brought Himself to that low character before men, that of a criminal. These two extremities, the lowness of man’s state and the depth of Christ’s condescension, how well they meet together! How could man make himself lower than to be a real malefactor in God’s sight, or Christ make Himself lower than to be a reputed criminal in the sight of man?

Though true repentance be never too late, yet late repentance is seldom true. Millions are now in hell who have pleased themselves with the thoughts of after-repentance. The Lord has made a promise to late repentance, but where has He made a promise of late repentance? Yea, what can be more just and equal: that such men should seek and not find who might have found but would not seek; and that He should shut His ears against their late prayers who have stopped His ears against His early calls?

Thomas Brooks

Christ’s Intercession

Thomas Boston

Christ’s intercession involves the following:

1. Appearing in heaven in His people’s nature and on their behalf. After He had shed His precious blood on the earth to atone for their sin, He rose again from the dead and ascended into heaven as their Advocate and Intercessor. He did this so that He, by the virtue of His meritorious sacrifice, might answer all the charges brought in against them and might petition for all the good things that belong to them. “Christ is . . . entered . . . into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us” (Heb 9:24).

2. Presenting the memorials of His death and passion as a moving plea on their account. This was prefigured by the high priest carrying the blood of the sacrifice into the most holy place, and presenting it before the Lord. He was not to go in before the mercy seat without it, and there was no interceding but by virtue of it. So the whole power and efficacy of Christ’s intercession is founded on His meritorious sufferings. His soul was bruised and made an offering for sin, and His body was wounded and broken on the cross; these are daily presented before God and will remain in His presence for ever, as an eternal memorial of Christ’s bloody sufferings.

This prevails powerfully with God. Hence, by a common figure, an interceding voice is attributed to His blood: it “speaketh better things than that of Abel” (Heb. 12:24). Christ’s blood speaks, not vocally, yet powerfully and effectively. It speaks in the same manner that Abel’s blood did, though not for the same end; this cried for vengeance upon wicked Cain, who shed it; but Christ’s blood pleads for mercy and favour to all believing sinners. We have a rare illustration of the effective intercession of Christ in heaven, in the famous story of Amyntas, who appeared as an advocate for his brother Aeschylus, who was strongly accused and in great danger of being condemned to die. Amyntas had performed great services for the state and merited great things from the commonwealth, in whose service one of his hands was cut off in battle. He came into the court on behalf of his brother and said nothing; he only lifted up his arm and showed them an arm without a hand, which so moved them that they immediately acquitted his brother.

Thus you have Christ represented, in a vision, as standing between God and us: “I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth” (Rev 5:6). That is, He was represented as bearing in His glorified body the marks of His death and sacrifice, the wounds which He received for His people’s sins on the earth; they are, as it were, still visible and fresh in heaven, as a prevailing argument with the Father to give them the mercies that He pleads for.

1. Presenting His will and desire to the Father on their behalf, not in a humble and supplicatory manner, in the way of charity, but by a claim in the way of justice. He now pleads that His people may be put in full possession of all the blessings which were purchased for them by His bloody death. We find Him pleading to this purpose immediately before His passion (Jn 17:24). He reminds the Father, as it were, of the covenant that was between Them both, that He performed the condition required on His part, and so He claims the performance of God’s promise as a debt due to His meritorious obedience even unto death. He has made “His soul an offering for sin”; and therefore pleads that He may see His seed, prolong His days, and that the pleasure of the Lord may prosper in His hands (Is 53:10,11).

2. Presenting His people’s prayers and petitions unto God and pleading that they may be accepted and granted for His sake. Their prayers and religious performances are both impure and imperfect, but His precious merit, applied by His powerful intercession, purifies and perfects them. This skilful Advocate puts their petitions into form and language suited to the methods of the court of heaven, and His great interest there procures them a speedy hearing.

This was well typified by the high priest going in before the Lord with the blood of the sacrifice, and his hands full of incense. After he had offered the sacrifice outside, he was to take his hands full of the spices which the incense was composed of and put them in a censer of gold full of fire, and cover the mercy seat with their fumes. This was a figure of Christ’s intercession and offering up His people’s sacrifices to God. He is the one altar on which our sacrifices must ascend before the Lord, with a smell expressing gratitude; the incense of His merit must be added to our prayers, to make them ascend before the mercy seat as a sacrifice of a sweet-smelling savour. Hence He is represented as an angel standing at the golden altar which was before the throne, with a golden censer in His hand, offering up the prayers of all the saints, perfuming them with the incense that was given Him (Rev. 8:3). By the much incense mentioned here, we are to understand the mighty quantity of merit and the great power of His intercession, which was a sweet savour to all His people’s sacrifices, and renders them acceptable to God.

1. Answering all the charges which are brought in against them. Many times a believer is brought in charged as a criminal before God’s tribunal, where Satan appears as the accuser, brings in the charge of sin, pleads the righteousness of the law, solicits for judgement on his accusations, and for the curse due to the crime to be inflicted. The justice of God calls for vengeance, and conscience thunders out nothing but hell and wrath. Now, while the believer is in these dismal circumstances, Christ steps in and answers the charge. He pleads the effectiveness of His merit against the greatness of the believing sinner’s crimes and His satisfaction to justice by the death of the cross, against all the demands and challenges of the law. And thus the sentence of condemnation due unto the sinner for his sin is averted, and a sentence of absolution is pronounced, upon the merit and plea of this powerful Intercessor.

Hence we find the Apostle glorying in this: “Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth: who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us” (Rom 8:33,34). Satan may accuse believers, but Christ can soon silence him. Thus, when Joshua the high priest stood before the Lord in filthy garments, Satan stood at his right hand to accuse him; but the Angel – the Angel of the covenant, Jesus Christ – interposed, saying, “The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan” (Zec 3:1,2). Though their garments be filthy, yet Christ can take them away and clothe them with change of raiment. Though Satan is always ready to resist them, yet Christ always stands at the right hand of God in heaven, to plead for them and silence Satan.

1Taken, with editing, from Boston’s Works, vol 1.

Effectual Calling

2. Based on a Complete Salvation

Rev D A Ross

Let us now note some of the gospel benefits and privileges revealed in the Word of God. By these gospel blessings we are assured that the purpose of the Most High is to encourage us to believe in Christ Jesus for the salvation of our soul. In the Scriptures, God affirms the suitability of Christ Jesus as a Saviour and the sufficiency of His atonement to save a sinner. He says, “Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near: let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him: and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon” (Is. 55:6,7). As we proceed to notice these gospel blessings I wish also to show, despite this clarity of salvation in Christ, the iniquitous persistence, on the part of sinners addressed, in refusing Christ. Then I wish to show the necessity of the work of the Holy Spirit in the sinner to persuade and enable him to receive Christ as He is offered to sinners in the gospel.

While it is my intention to dwell on gospel privileges in relation to the outward call of the gospel, we cannot omit the fact that, while unconverted, we continue under the covenant of works, and the laws of God cry loudly to us, “Do this and live”. At the same time, our failure to fulfil the covenant of works is itself a loud cry to look to Christ, who kept the covenant of works on behalf of His people. Just as proud Saul of Tarsus needed Christ to do this for him, so do we all. But in our pride we go on believing that we can attain the unattainable. Who will convince us of the impossibility of doing this, unless the Holy Spirit will graciously do so?

The gospel is the good news that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Paul describes the gospel to Timothy: “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief”. Thus there is absolute good here for sinners throughout the world. Again Christ tells us: “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life”. There is here every encouragement to sinners everywhere to believe in Christ.

In this and other statements of the Word of God, we see the universal nature of the gospel. It is to be preached to the whole world; so Christ directed His disciples: “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature”. It is suited to the spiritual needs of sinners to the ends of the earth. It would be unreasonable to send the gospel everywhere if it had no bearing on the spiritual needs of those to whom it comes. However, the natural man does not appreciate such a blessing when it is brought close to him. Like the Gadarenes, he prefers his swine to Christ. Jesus was their greatest good, but “they besought Him that He would depart out of their coasts” (Mt. 8:34). This demonstrates man’s unreasonable opposition to Christ and the need for the effectual work of the Holy Spirit in his heart.

Paul preferred to be a fierce persecutor of Christ, opposing all who showed an interest in the gospel until, in the mercy of God, he was savingly changed. Sadly, the natural man today is no different; he refuses to receive the things of Christ. M’Cheyne, preaching to a large congregation, said something to this effect: While you sit here quietly listening to the gospel, this place would be like a den of devils if the Lord were to leave you to yourselves. Great need therefore for the sweet influences of the Holy Spirit to draw such people to Christ!

In Christ Jesus, there is everything necessary to save a sinner. Isaiah said, “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Is. 1:18). There is therefore no deficiency, even for the chief of sinners, in the salvation Christ has procured; there is every encouragement here to receive Christ. But the sinner goes on refusing Christ although all these spiritual blessings are presented in the gospel: the fullness and sufficiency of Christ as a Saviour altogether suitable for the worst of sinners and His readiness to save all who come to Him. This not only tells us of the power of man’s corrupt nature to resist the outward call of the gospel, but also of the need for the Holy Spirit to call the sinner inwardly.

We ought never to underestimate the completeness of salvation wrought out by Christ. See Isaiah 5:1-7, for example – in particular, verse 4, where God compares the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the men of Judah to a vineyard which is very well cared for: “What could have been done more to My vineyard, that I have not done in it? Wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?” Hence sinners cannot claim on the Day of judgement that something was missing from the gospel and so they could not be saved. The truth is that the difficulty is on the side of sinners, as Christ stated, “Ye will not come unto Me that ye might have life”. A great sin indeed! Evidently the Holy Spirit must apply to the sinner’s heart what Christ has done outwith the sinner.

Again there is no mistaking the reality that the gospel calls all sinners within hearing, each and all, to repent of their sins and turn to Christ to have their iniquities washed away. Time and again they are directed to turn from sin to salvation in Christ. Not one person is left out. It is truly a universal call. Wisdom – that is, the Son of God – cries, “Unto you, O men, I call; and My voice is to the sons of man” (Prov. 8:4). Yet proud man is not interested in God’s gracious call and shrugs off these directions from the Most High, demonstrating the need of an inward call.

Gospel directions come from Almighty God in the form of a command; they thus have the highest authority; He “now commandeth all men everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30). This ought to compel sinners to come to Him trembling in penitence. But sinners defiantly say, like Pharaoh, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice . . . ?” (Ex 5:2). There is no more dreadful form of rebellion than to oppose God in the face of gracious gospel commands. When man is capable of committing such an evil, he surely needs a new heart.

There is another gospel benefit. In certain gospel commands, there is great urgency, as in the call to each of Lot’s family; “Escape for thy life, look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed” (Gen. 19:17). In disobedience to this urgent direction, Lot’s wife obstinately looked back. It is clear from the Word of God that it is natural to fallen mankind to be disobedient, which also demonstrates the need of a new nature.

Notice too the dignity of the messengers God sent to Sodom with the solemn message of imminent destruction; they were angels. Though ministers do not have this dignity, yet they are the messengers of Christ. Despite the presence of angels, and of righteous Lot, who opposed the great wickedness of his family and the city, the wicked people of Sodom despised them, and Lot’s sons-in-law thought he was out of his mind. It is a solemn reminder to us of the spiritual sloth of sinners under the urgent warnings of the law of God and the equally-urgent calls of the gospel to flee from the wrath to come, soon to be poured out. Yet these sinners decidedly refused to do so. Who can change such characters? Only God. And such were some of you.

As well as gospel commands, there are gracious invitations and pleadings. Notice Lot’s plea to his wicked fellow citizens, when bravely confronting their vile obstinacy: “I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly”. However, no messenger can excel Christ’s gracious invitations and pleadings, which remain a pattern for preachers of the gospel.

The Church in Laodicea was nauseating in its hypocrisy, for Christ threatened to spew them out of His mouth. Yet He forbears to do so, graciously showing where they were seriously wrong. What was their response? We are not told; but, going by fallen human attitudes, probably many said, “We desire not the knowledge of Thy ways”. But see the gracious reasoning of the Lord Jesus Christ. He points out the great error in their presumptuous claim that they were “rich, and increased with goods, and had need of nothing”; but did not know that they were “wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked”. Their spiritual ignorance was complete.

Then the Saviour gives the direction they sorely needed: “I counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see”. There is no mistaking Christ’s compassion and concern for them, when He says: “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore and repent. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock; if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne.” In this address of Christ to church-goers who spiritually were poverty-stricken, we can truly say, What a depth of compassion and concern He had for these poor, miserable, blind sinners on their way to a lost eternity!

Yet we know, from many parts of the Word of God, that the natural man is not moved to receive Christ and rest on Him alone for salvation. Nevertheless, the gracious invitation is given, in this passage and elsewhere in the Word of God, so that no sinner under the gospel can possibly be mistaken as to God’s gracious directions to them. Alas, the Saviour has to say, “We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not wept”. What need for the Holy Spirit to accompany the preaching of the gospel with power!

Because of these directions to sinners, not even the most profligate sinner need ever despair of mercy through Christ. How shameful therefore that any sinner goes on refusing Christ! And he will go on doing so unless God in sovereign mercy will act spiritually for him as Christ did for the widow’s son at Nain who, physically, was dead: “Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak.”

1The first section of this Theological Conference paper was an introduction to the subject.

Musical Instruments in Worship

5. The Spiritual Meaning

Rev K M Watkins

The previous four articles have sought to establish from Scripture the truth that musical instruments have no place in the worship of the New Testament Church. “Instrumental music passed away with all the other parts of the ceremonial law when it was fulfilled in Christ.”2 But Christians still read and sing about musical instruments. For example, they sing: “With harp, with harp, and voice of psalms, unto Jehovah sing: / with trumpets, cornets, gladly sound before the Lord the King” (Ps 98:5,6, metrical version). What are they to be thinking of when they sing such words? This article seeks to answer that question.

There is a similarity with the Old Testament sacrifices. Christians sing about these too: for example, “I’ll bring burnt off’rings to Thy house” (Ps. 66:13, metrical version). When they sing these words, they do not for a moment think of actually sacrificing animals to God. They know that animal sacrifice was ended by the once-for-all sacrifice of Christ at Calvary. They also know that the Old Testament sacrifices were types of Christ; so when they read or sing of them, they look for likenesses to Christ and Him crucified.

The passover lamb was to be “without blemish” (Ex. 12:5), to represent the holy innocence of Christ, the Lamb of God. On the day of atonement, the high priest confessed Israel’s sins and laid his hands on the scapegoat’s head, (see Lev. 16:21), to picture the elect’s sins being imputed to Christ. The burnt offering was wholly consumed by fire (Lev 1:9), to speak of Christ suffering the fiery wrath of God for His people’s sin. Bringing burnt offerings to God’s house then means that the Christian is relying on Christ’s suffering unto death as the only way of access to God.

Musical instruments are similar. Like the sacrifices, they are not to be used in Christian worship. But like the sacrifices and all the other ceremonies, musical instruments were typical of something. What exactly were they pointing to?

Not all the Old Testament types pictured Christ’s work of accomplishing redemption. Some of them were pictures of the Holy Spirit’s work of applying redemption to the soul. Old Testament saints received the Spirit’s saving operations in their souls, but as The Westminster Confession states, New Testament believers enjoy “fuller communications of the free Spirit of God, than believers under the law did ordinarily partake of” (20:1). Musical instruments were typical of the increased grace that was to be poured out in the New Testament dispensation. John L Girardeau summarises: “Some [of the types] were typical of the Holy Ghost and the effects to be produced by His grace in New Testament times; and . . . among them instrumental music must be classed”.3

David Dickson, the celebrated Scottish divine of the Second Reformation, commented on Psalm 150’s rich array of instruments, that they were “the shadow of typical music, appointed in the ceremonial law”. He insisted that, while the instruments “be now abolished with the rest of the ceremonies”, yet “the moral duties shadowed forth by them are still to be studied” in the New Testament age. He continued: “The plurality and variety . . . of these instruments were fit to represent divers conditions of the spiritual man”. Their purpose was “to teach what stirring up should be of the affections and powers of our soul . . . unto God’s worship”.

To what particular exercises of soul do the musical instruments point us?

Frequently the Psalms connect musical instruments with joy. “Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous: for praise is comely for the upright. Praise the Lord with harp: sing unto Him with the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings” (Ps. 33:1,2). “Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy: yea, upon the harp will I praise Thee, O God my God” (Ps. 43:4). “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise. Sing unto the Lord with the harp; with the harp, and the voice of a psalm. With trumpets and sound of cornet make a joyful noise before the Lord, the King” (Ps. 98:4-6). “Let Israel rejoice in Him that made him: let the children of Zion be joyful in their King. Let them praise His name in the dance: let them sing praises unto Him with the timbrel and harp” (Ps. 149:2,3).

The seventeenth-century Scot, David Calderwood, explains that instrumental music was “figurative of that spiritual joy whereunto our hearts should be opened under the gospel”.4 The English divine, Thomas Ridgeley, in his extended treatment of The Larger Catechism, agrees: instrumental music “was a type of that spiritual joy which attends our praising God for the privilege of that redemption which Christ has purchased”.5 The Old Testament’s musical instruments pointed to “joy in the Holy Ghost” – one of those “benefits” which, according to The Shorter Catechism, “do either accompany or flow from justification, adoption and sanctification” (Q 36). It was not that Old Testament saints were without joy in the Lord. But it is one of the privileges of the New Testament dispensation that ordinarily it is communicated in greater measure, on the basis of Christ’s now-completed work.

Christians have every reason to rejoice. The Holy Spirit has enlightened their minds in the knowledge of Christ. Like the Ethiopian eunuch, who “went on his way rejoicing” (Acts 8:39), the meaning of Christ being led like a lamb to the slaughter of Calvary’s cross, bearing His people’s sin, has been opened up to them. Like the paralysed man lowered through the roof to the Saviour’s feet, they can “be of good cheer”, for their sins are forgiven (Mt. 9:2). Like the returned prodigal, they have been brought back from the far country of sin and welcomed into the Father’s house, where it is only right that they should “be merry” with spiritual “music and dancing” (Lk. 15:23,25). “Is any merry” with gospel joy? “Let him sing psalms” (Jas. 5:13) is the New Testament way to express this joy, not playing musical instruments. This is the Christian’s “pleasant harp” (Ps 81:2).

The joy of salvation is a solemn, deep and spiritual joy. It is not the flip-pant, carnal and worldly merriment of the ungodly. “Rejoice with trembling” (Ps. 2:11) is the way of true, saving grace. Christ is an awe-inspiring King, with “eyes like unto a flame of fire” (Rev. 2:18,), that burn with indignation against sin, as well as a kind Saviour who freely pardons His people. The salvation of our never-dying souls is no light matter, and making our calling and election sure is a serious duty, especially when we consider our treacherous and deceitful hearts.

Therefore the Psalms associate instrumental music with solemnity as well as joy. Psalm 92, the Sabbath Psalm, exhorts us to show forth God’s loving-kindness and faithfulness “upon the harp with a solemn sound” (v. 3). The Hebrew word translated “a solemn sound” is Higgaion, which speaks of serious contemplation and meditation. “The kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man” (Tit. 3:4,), as it appears in the gospel of Christ, calls for the deepest attention of our innermost thoughts.

“Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day” (Ps. 81:3). Yes, there is a gospel feast, “of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined” (Is. 25:6,), but these gospel provisions were obtained at the heaviest cost imaginable – the agony and blood of God’s dear Son. From the blowing of the trumpets over the burnt offerings onwards, musical instruments were usually connected with animal sacrifices. Salvation through faith in Christ crucified brings serious reflection to the hearts of God’s people, as well as joyous celebration. “O death, where is thy sting?” That is cause for joy. But the Saviour suffering death’s sting, that is cause for solemnity.

There is another lesson pictured by the instrumental music of old. Worship should be whole-hearted. “To show forth all His praise” (Ps. 106:2,), nothing less is required than loving the Lord “with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength” (Mk. 12:30). The assembling of so many instruments in Psalm 150 illustrates this, with its trumpet, psaltery, harp, timbrel, stringed instruments, organs and cymbals. As all those instruments would unite in a crescendo of sound, so let all the faculties and exercises of our souls be united in praising the Lord. Let the cymbals of the soul come together, with heartfelt praise resoundingly “loud” and “high-sounding” (v. 5).

Psalm 33 speaks of using “harp . . . psaltery and an instrument of ten strings” (v. 2) and of playing “skilfully with a loud noise” (v. 3). Let all the soul’s increasing “skills” – the gracious exercises produced by the Holy Spirit in sanctification – be employed in devotion to the Lord. Let praise be a “loud noise” of wholehearted proclamation of His glory. As every finger on both hands could be used to play the ten-stringed instrument, so let the soul’s every thought, desire and purpose exhibit complete devotion to the Lord.

We know the stirring effect music can have upon us. When singing of musical instruments, the Christian should be stirred up to worship his Lord and Saviour with his whole heart. This is what he should have in mind when he addresses his soul in the language of Psalm 57: “Awake up, my glory; awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early” (v. 8). His whole soul should be wide awake and fully engaged in vigorously worshipping the Lord. “O thou my soul, bless God the Lord; and all that in me is / be stirred up His holy name to magnify and bless” (Ps 103:1, metrical version).

Joy, solemnity, wholeheartedness – all produced by the Holy Spirit in the believing soul – these are the truths pictured by musical instruments. Surely the spiritual meaning of instruments is of far greater benefit to New Testament believers than their physical use was to Old Testament saints. “The weapons of warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds” (2 Cor. 10:4). Likewise, the instruments of Christian praise are not carnal, but are mighty through God to the stirring up of spiritual life in the soul.

It would be a great dishonour to Christ and His once-for-all sacrifice if professing Christians offered animal sacrifices in their worship. Why do not all Christians see that dishonour is done to the Holy Spirit and His gracious operations in the soul when musical instruments are used in Christian worship?6 For the glory of God the Holy Spirit, let the instruments be put away, and let ever-increasing joy, solemnity and wholeheartedness take their place.

1This is the final article in the series.
2″Acceptable Worship”, editorial in Free Presbyterian Magazine, July 2003, p. 194.
3John L Girardeau, Instrumental Music in the Public Worship of the Church, Richmond VA, 1888, p 74.
4David Calderwood, The Pastor and the Prelate, Philadelphia, 1844, p. 27.
5Thomas Ridgeley, A Body of Divinity, ed John M Wilson, Edinburgh, London and Glasgow, 1844, vol 2, p. 437.
6“As the types of the Holy Spirit in the temple-service are fulfilled in His application to believers of the benefits of a purchased redemption, to retain them in the Christian church is as much to dishonour Him as to retain bloody sacrifices would dishonour Christ” (John L Girardeau, Instrumental Music, p. 74).