Amazement at the Mystery of Godliness
Amazement at the Mystery of Godliness
Every humble and devoted believer in Jesus Christ must have his own periods of wonder and amazement at this mystery of godliness—the willingness of the Son of Man to take our place in judgment and in punishment. If the amazement has all gone out of it, something is wrong, and you need to have the stony ground broken up again!
I often remind you that Paul, one of the holiest men who ever lived, was not ashamed of his times of remembrance and wonder over the grace and kindness of God. He knew that God did not hold his old sins against him forever. Knowing the account was all settled, Paul’s happy heart assured him again and again that all was well. At the same time, Paul could only shake his head in amazement and confess: “I am unworthy to be called, but by His grace, I am a new creation in Jesus Christ!” (see 2 Corinthians 5:17).
I make this point about the faith and assurance and rejoicing of Paul in order to say that if that humble sense of perpetual penance ever leaves our justified being, we are on the way to backsliding.
Charles Finney, one of the greatest of all of God’s men throughout the years, testified that in the midst of his labors and endeavors in bringing men to Christ, he would at times sense a coldness in his own heart.
Finney did not excuse it. In his writings he told of having to turn from all of his activities, seeking God’s face and Spirit anew in fasting and prayer.
“I plowed up until I struck fire and met God,” he wrote. What a helpful and blessed formula for the concerned children of God in every generation!
Those who compose the Body of Christ, His Church, must be inwardly aware of two basic facts if we are to be joyfully effective for our Lord.
We must have the positive knowledge that we are clean through His wounds, with God’s peace realized through His stripes. This is how God assures us that we may be all right inside. In this spiritual condition, we will treasure the purity of His cleansing and we will not excuse any evil or wrongdoing.
Also, we must keep upon us a joyful and compelling sense of gratitude for the bruised and wounded One, our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, what a mystery of redemption—that the bruises of One healed the bruises of many; that the wounds of One healed the wounds of millions; that the stripes of One healed the stripes of many.
The wounds and bruises that should have fallen upon us fell upon Him, and we are saved for His sake!
Many years ago, a historic group of Presbyterians were awed by the wonder and the mystery of Christ’s having come in the flesh to give Himself as an offering for every man’s sin.
Those humble Christians said to one another: “Let us walk softly and search our hearts and wait on God and seek His face throughout the next three months. Then we will come to the Communion table with our hearts prepared—lest the table of our Lord should become a common and careless thing.”
God still seeks humble, cleansed and trusting hearts through which to reveal His divine power and grace and life. A professional botanist from the university can describe the acacia bush of the desert better than Moses could ever do—but God is still looking for the humble souls who are not satisfied until God speaks with the divine fire in the bush.
A research scientist could be employed to stand and tell us more about the elements and properties found in bread and wine than the apostles ever knew. But this is our danger: We may have lost the light and warmth of the presence of God, and we may have only bread and wine. The fire will have gone from the bush, and the glory will not be in our act of Communion and fellowship.
It is not so important that we know all of the history and all of the scientific facts, but it is vastly important that we desire and know and cherish the presence of the living God, who has given “the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:1-2).