form of an old heresy. Formerly it was simply justification by an infused righteousness, now it is by
1. Mr. Irving, Dr. Newman, and the followers of Mr. Darby, are the modern upholders of this new
form of an old heresy. Formerly it was simply justification by an infused righteousness, now it is by
an infused righteousness derived from Christ's resurrection. See Dr. Newman's sermon, Christ's
Resurrection the Source of Justification.
Chapter Eight
What the Resurrection of the Substitute has Done
eath is not resurrection; and the benefits of the Surety's death are not
the same as those of His resurrection. Yet let us not overlook the
"glorious things" spoken concerning the latter.
Our justified life, or our life as justified men, is certainly in one sense
resurrection-life, produced and sustained by resurrection-power. But not for
a moment is that justified life severed from the cross, nor is the justified
man to lose sight of his indebtedness to the cross for justification.
That we are risen with Christ is the truth of God. Oneness with Him who
rose is our privilege and our standing. But oneness is not substitution; and it
is not by the former, but the latter, that we are justified. Resurrection points
us back to a finished substitution, and seals its blessings to us.
"Justified in the Spirit" is one of the apostle's references to Christ's
resurrection. As He was brought again from the dead by the blood of the
everlasting covenant (Heb 13:20), 50 was He justified in or by the Spirit in
raising Him from the dead. He died as a criminal, and went down to the
grave as such; but the Spirit raises Him, and thereby declares Him
righteous, free from the imputed guilt under which He went down to the
tomb.
But let us look a little more minutely into Christ's resurrection, lest we
should be led to undervalue it. The resurrection must not hide the cross;
neither must the cross hide the resurrection.
The words of the angel to the woman are meant for us: "He is not here;
for He is risen" (Matt 28:6).
Man did all that he could to hinder the resurrection of the Son of God. He
had succeeded in slaying the Prince of life; and he is resolved that, if he can
help it, the dead shall not arise. Samson is in prison, and must be kept there.
The great stone, the watch, the Roman seal, are all proofs of this
determination.
But he knows not his prisoner. He might as well bind the whirlwind with
a cord of silk, or shut up the lightening in one of his chambers, and say to it,
Thou shalt not go forth. Death itself, stronger than man, could not hold its
prey. Ere the dawn of the third day, the earthquake shook the tomb (the
earthquake of Psalm 18:6,7), the angel of the Lord descended, the stone was
rolled away, the seal was broken, and the dead came forth.
Even His own believe not that He will rise. They would not try to hinder
His resurrection, but, treating it as a thing incredible, they act as those who
believe that all is over, and that the cross has destroyed their hopes. They
would not close the sepulcher, nor seal it; nay, they would roll away the
stone and break the seal: but this is only to anoint Him for His final burial.
It is not the expression of hope, but of despair.
But the tomb of the Son of God is the place of light, not of darkness; of
hope, not of despair; of life, not of death. They come to look on the dead,
they find the living. The seekers of the crucified Jesus find the risen Son of
God. The garments of death are all that the tomb contains; the linen clothes,
still stained with blood, and the carefully-folded napkin,-folded by angels'
hands, if not by His own. They had brought their myrrh and aloes and
spices to keep corruption from entering; forgetful that it is the Incorruptible
whose body they are thus needlessly though lovingly embalming, and
ignorant of the meaning of the ancient promise, "Thou wilt not suffer Thine
Holy One to see corruption."
But friend and enemy are both at fault. The unbelief of the former and the
resistance of the latter are met equally with a strange surprise. For God's
thoughts are not our thoughts, nor His ways our ways. The angel of the
Lord descends; he rolls back the stone; he sits upon it, to show himself in
his brightness to the watchers; he opens the gate, that the Holy One may go
forth. Not that he raises or assists in raising the Son of God. That is beyond
the mightiest of these mighty ones, those angels that excel in strength. But
he is honored to have a share in the scene, as porter or door-keeper of that
glorious shrine. With him came the earthquake,-the second that had
occurred during these three days: the first being when the Prince of life
entered the chambers of death, and at the open door many of the dead saints
of other days came forth; the second being when this same Prince of life left
these chambers, and burst the bands of death, shaking creation with the
tread of His feet as He marched forth in triumph.
The earthquake and the brightness were too terrible for man to bear. "For
fear of him, the keepers did shake, and became as dead men." Nor does he
try to allay their terror. Let them tremble on. But for those who are seeking
the crucified One he has words of love and peace. To the keepers he was as
the lightening; to the women he was as the dayspring from on high. "Fear
not ye; I know that ye seek Jesus, who was crucified."
That which follows is the angel's message to these women; and to us no
less in these last days. It is the reason for the cheer, the comfort he had
spoken. It is the blessed contents of the cup, the ingredients of the heavenly
wine, which he was giving them to drink of. And the substance of it is,
"Jesus lives." The comfort with which the Lord Himself once comforted the
sorrowing father of Capernaum was, "The maid is not dead, but sleepeth";
so the comfort ministered by the angel is like this, only it goes far beyond
it: "He is not dead; nay, He sleepeth not: He has awakened; He has risen."
And as the Lord calmed the fears of His disciples once with, "Be of good
cheer; it is I; be not afraid"; so did the angel here: or as in Patmos the Lord
allayed the alarm of the beloved disciple with, "Fear not, I am the First and
the Last; I am He that liveth, and was dead; and behold, I am alive for
evermore"; so does the angel soothe the fear of the trembling women: "Fear
not ye; He is not here; He is risen: come, see the place where the Lord lay."
Let us mark, then, the glad tidings which the angel brings us regarding
Him who died and was buried.
He is not here. This is the only place regarding which it could be
accounted good news to say, Christ is not here. Christ is here, was good
news at Bethany, at Jericho, at Nain, at Capernaum, or on the sea of Galilee;
but Christ is not here, is the good news from Joseph's tomb. A present
Christ would be accounted the joy and security of other places; it is an
absent Christ that is announced as the blessing, the consolation here. He is
not here, is one of the gladdest sounds that ever fell on human ears. Were
He still here, what and where should we have been?
And who is it that you are seeking here? The mortal or the immortal?
And what place is this in which you expect to find the Son of God? In a
grave? Is this the place for immortality? Is it likely that there should be life
in the dwellings of death? Why seek ye the living among the dead? No; not
here,-not here; not in this place of death can the Prince of life be found. He
was here, indeed; but He is not. These rock walls and this rock gate cannot
hold Him. He was in Gethsemane, in Pilate's palace, on the cross; but not
now. These He has visited, but in none of them has He remained. He has
left them all behind. With Him it is all life, and incorruption, and glory now.
He is not here!
If not here, where? That we soon discover when we follow Him to
Emmaus and to Galilee. But even though we knew not, does it matter, save
for this, that we may learn that His disappearance has not been a forsaking
of earth, nor a turning His back upon the children of men? His
disappearance from the tomb is only the carrying out of His love.
He is risen. He was laid down upon that rocky floor; but only to rest there
for a day. For that tomb was His first earthly resting-place; all before that
was weariness. Having rested there for a short season, He rises; and with
renewed strength, into which hereafter no element of weariness can enter,
He resumes His work. He has not been carried off, either by friend or
enemy; He has been raised by the Father, as the righteous One; the fulfiller
of His purpose; the finisher of His work; the destroyer of death; the
conqueror of him who has the power of death; the Father's beloved Son, in
whom He is well pleased. This true temple has been destroyed, only to be
rebuilt in greater and more undecaying magnificence. This true Siloam has
only for three days intermitted the flow of its motioned waters, that it might
gush forth in larger fullness. This true Sun has only for three days been
darkened, that it might be relighted in its incorruptible glory.
He is risen! Yes; and now we see more fully the meaning of His own
words, spoken at a tomb, and over one whom death had bound, "I am the
resurrection and the life"; Himself at once the raiser and the raised, the
quickener and the quickened, the posessor and the giver of an infinite life,-a
higher kind of life than that which the first Adam knew,-a life which can
force its way into the dungeons of death, transforming them, by its resistless
power, into the dwellings, the palaces, the temples of immortality and glory.
He is risen! He has tasted death, but He has not seen corruption; for He is
the Holy One of God, and upon holiness corruption cannot fasten. As the
beloved of the Father, He rises from the dead; for therefore doth the Father
love Him, because He giveth His life for the sheep. And in this resurrection
we read the Father's testimony to His Sonship; the Father's seal set to His
completed propitiation; the Father's declaration of satisfaction and delight in
the work of Calvary.
It was henceforth with a risen Master that the disciples had to do. It was a
risen Christ who was their companion on the way to Emmaus; it was a risen
Christ who entered the upper chamber with "Peace be to you" on His lips; it
was a risen Christ who appeared to five hundred brethren at once; it was a
risen Christ that saluted them by the sea of Galilee, and prepared for them
their morning meal on the fire of coals; it was a risen Christ with whom
they companied during the forty days when He went out and in among
them. And it is now with a risen Christ that we have to do in the pathways
of our daily pilgrimage. At every turn of the way, resurrection meets us in
the person of the Lord Jesus, and says to us, "Because I live, ye shall live
also." For the life that is in Him is resurrection-life.
It is with this risen life that faith connects us, from the moment that we
believe in Him who died and rose again. Let us note, then, such things as
these: