Christ triumphant and Christian ideal

Front matter

and CHRISTIAN IDEAL

P. C. SCHILLING, D,D.

mSSELSL?*****

Chapter I

' ' Fear not ; I am the first and last and the Living One; and I was dead and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades." Eev. 1, 17, 18.

I would to God that we could meditate upon the beauty and effulgent glory of our Christ until our souls were transformed in the light of His presence, being renewed in the power of His personal holiness, translated into His image and so endowed with the gift of acceptable worship, that we might rapturously join the glad acclaim of Dante :

"0 eternal beam! (Whose height what reach of mortal thought

can soar?) Yield me again some little particle Of what thou appeardest; give my tongue Power, to leave one sparkle of thy glory, Unto the race to come, that shall not miss Thy triumph wholly, if thou waken aught Of memory in me, and endure to hear The record sound in this unequal strain.' '

There is no speech nor language, sufficient to express the admiration of the innumerable hosts of the 11 blood-washed followers of the Lamb" for Him, nor to accurately describe His glorious person. Adjectives fail, poetic symbols prove inadequate, the almost infinite thought of the philosopher, the omnipotent rhetoric of the brilliant orator, with the luminous pen of inspiration in the hand of a divine seer, fail to accomplish more than to sparkle forth in fitful flashes, the brightness of "His express image" upon the dark horizon of whirling thought. What a picture is drawn by the entranced Apostle as he tremblingly attempts to portray the glory of the enthroned Christ ! Given a brush made of the sensitive jonquils, a paint made of irisated glory of the universe, and the star-spangled dome of heaven for a canvas, and the most talented Archangel that waits before His throne, would give up the task in despair.

"The glory! The glory! around Him are poured Mighty hosts of the angels that wait on the Lord; And the glorified saints and the martyrs are there, And all who the palm-wreaths of victory shall wear. ' '

The Death op Jesus

' ' I was dead and behold, I am alive for evermore ! Calvary is the most interesting spot on earth. Its dark tragedy holds a magic charm for all men. ' ' The nature of Christ's existence is mysterious, I admit; but this mystery meets the wants of man. Reject it, and the world is an inexplicable riddle; believe it, and the history of our race is satisfactorily explained. Thus the great Napoleon adds his unselfish testimony to the mysterious influence of Jesus, that He exerts in every age and upon all nations and races of men.

Tho it is true that He is unrecognized, in a personal sense, by multitudes, it is also true that He exercises a dynamic power that is felt in all departments of human life, generally speaking, and that compels uncounted millions of people to obey and adore Him. The Christ question will not down • — He is inescapable.

Richter says : " He is the holiest among the mighty, and the mightiest among the holy, has lifted with His pierced hands empires off their hinges, has turned the stream of centuries out of its channel, and still governs the ages ! ' ' Hence it is true, that, tho we disbelieve Him — ignore the covenants of mercy — disregard His invitations to accept Him and be saved, reject His council against ourselves, despise Him and harden our hearts against Him, still from the Cross of Calvary He compels all men everywhere, to consider His person and His claims, whether they believe or blaspheme. Thru His lifting up, all men are made to feel the magnetic force of His divine personality. No man can listen to the story of His death without being drawn to Him. It not infrequently occurs, that persons who feel no interest in the salvation of their souls are suddenly moved to deep penitence, and are brought into reverent contrition before Him. And others who listen to the same sermon are made to blaspheme and revile the Cross, with its doctrine of blood ; nevertheless, it is true that Christ has exercised a compelling power on both classes. The one is laved, and the other leavened, by the blood. Happy are they, who are cleansed from all their defilements, in the royal bath of heaven's crimson fountain.

" There is a fountain filled with blood Drawn from Immanuel's veins, And sinners plunged beneath that flood Lose all their guilty stains. "

The Sinner's Ransom

He died the just for the unjust! The law was perfect and in order to meet and satisfy its inexorable demands, it was necessary to have a spotless and incorruptible sacrifice. If Jesus had inherently or by practice, or had retained in His humanity, the least taint of original sin, He could not have fulfilled divine requirement, as expressed thru the law as our holy, all-sufficient substitute. But he is inherently holy and spotlessly pure in nature, word and deed. For thirty-odd years He staggered along His weary way of suffering, mistreatment and neglect, under the heart-crushing burden of the accumulated sins of ages, then, finally bowing His benign head to receive a crown of thorns, as the token of the world's appreciation, and arrayed in a mock robe, He was led like a common criminal to the place of torture, and hellish execution. See the glorious Monarch of heaven die. On either side, two thieves pay the penalty for their crimes. How wickedness is exalted and righteousness debased! Roman centurion, Greek philosopher, Jewish rabbi and the vilest of earth's depraved children, extend the hand of fellowship and uniting in an effort to rid the world of the best MAN that ever lived in it, they rejoice to see Him die. As the innocent blood of the harmless Christ flowing from cruel wounds, stains the cross and incarnadines the earth, insatiate fiends propose a cup of victory, to "The Prince of Darkness;" and offering an oblation to death, they make league with hell, and when the dying Jesus bows His noble head upon His spotless bosom, and gives up the ghost in obedience to the Will of His Father, their shout of momentary triumph rends the vaulted heavens, and resounds to the lowest depths of a rayless hell, where fallen angels creep like hated vipers, loathing themselves, and despising the leprous garments, that remind them continually of a lost heaven, and inglorious defeat at the hands of the guardian angels, set for the defense and honor and dignity of Jehovah 's vast domain.

How pandemonium exults as the ' ' Lawful Captive," delivered for the sins of men is led, bound like Samson at Gaza, into the presence of His enemies ! The haughty Prince of Hades takes his throne. What a roar of malicious, vindictive triumph rings from the hoarse-throated demons of the abyss, when Jesus stoops to taste the cup of eternal torment ! This is the supreme test upon which hangs the destiny of all created things or beings. He must taste death in the sense of comprehending the real, actual meaning of eternal torment. This I believe Jesus did. He became our vicarious Mediator thru death. By no other means would it have been possible for Him to meet all legal obligations, as our Substitute. The law demands eternal punishment for sin, hence Jesus satisfied in His sufferings the very last demand of it " for us." He became sin for us. He became responsible for our sins to His father under law ; therefore, righteousness is imputed to us thru faith. His death makes atonement accessible to us, and makes possible a personal faith that over-leaps the ages, bringing us into fellowship with God; it turns upon the penitent soul the light of immortal hope and the dream of eternal life is realized thru the merits of the Christ of the Bible. He must therefore die, suffer ; in fact, take the full penalty of our judgment, that we, upon the merits of His atoning blood, might obtain remission and be saved thru His life. Were He still the victim of hell's diabolical plot to destroy Him, there would not be the least hope of pardon for men. Yea, heaven would have long since become pandemonium and hell's black borders would have been enlarged to make room for the teeming millions of slaughtered souls, that would have poured into it like a flood of putrid waters. Thank God, such a catastrophe shall never occur. Ah, what new commotion is this that stirs the pit ? Where is the Prince ? Where are his terrible cohorts ? The "Lawful Captive" has broken his bones. See! He overturns the throne and binding Satan, He relieves him of his keys and hurls him back in defeat upon the sulphurous streets of the black city of perdition. He holds dominion over the damned! He wreaks dire vengeance upon devils. He is Lord of heaven and earth and the invincible conquerer of death and

Hades. He waves the keys in the faces of frightened demons, and coming forth shuts the gates upon them forever. Fear not ; I am the first and the last and the Living One and behold, I am alive for evermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.

The Incarnate Son

This is the mystery of mysteries. In the creation man was made in God's image ; in the incarnation God was made in man's image. The relation is beyond human ken. It was a custom of old for the shepherds to clothe themselves with sheep skins to be more pleasing to the sheep, so God clothed Himself in human flesh, incorporating every element of human nature, excepting sin, that the divine nature might be more pleasing to us. Some one has said: "thru the lantern of Christ's humanity, we may behold the light of Deity shining ! Incarnation is the sackcloth of Deity, but Jesus did not disdain to wear the badge of mourning nor was He ashamed to take the body of flesh — token of humiliation — for our sakes and the glory of His father. I look upon it as being the most compassionate provision of the Holy Trinity for the salvation of our fallen and ruined race. The scriptural statement, tho brief, is sufficiently plain to justify our belief of the doctrine. Among the great array of divine passages unfolding the glorius teaching, the one from Paul is enough for our present purpose, viz ; ' l God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself." I understand the Apostle to mean that the three persons composing the God-head, were harmoniously cooperating thru Christ, being united in a form of flesh — a human body representative of a race of sinless men, that will inherit an incorruptible, perfect, deathless immortality in future ages. In Adam, our federal head, divine ideals are manifest, even in our fallen state we see the eternal purpose of our creator to produce a race subject to natural environments, yet immortal — changeable, yet having the promise of changelessness — with whom sin is temporarily identified, but the last trace of it is to be removed from the universe and its every stain cleansed, leaving us as pure, perfect and spotless thru a second Adam, who became our personal substitute, viz; the incarnate Christ. Thus the purpose of God in the creation of men is fully restored and the divine ideal brought to pass in the re-adjustment of the disorganized elements of the human economy, and the harmonious blending of soul and body in a glorified form. Incarnation, therefore, serves a divine purpose that could not have been accomplished thru any other means, instrumentality or agency, except thru the Son God — and let it here be specially emphasized — Jesus was the ONLY Son that God had. Adam disobeyed Him and became an out-cast and his progeny passed under sin; hence so far as the human race and all created beings were concerned, God was childless and the human race were orphans. The entrance of sin polluted human nature and divorced the world from God. It was in darkness

— lost — and there was no acceptable representative of the race to be found, who could mediatorily restore man to the favor of God, because all had "passed under sin ' ' and the moral law — the law of Moses — the eternal law of the ages, the only, greatest most beneficent rule for the government of men and angels, that God ever gave, had been flagrantly violated ; therefore, God in righteous anger, flashed the judgment of wrath in the face of a ruined world and forbade its return to Him. Strange as it may at first appear to be, it is an indisputable fact, that the universal ruin and sinfulness of humanity provides for the necessity of the Incarnation of Jesus, ethically speaking. The purpose of the creation included the purpose of incarnation. Incarnation manifests an eternal counsel of God, irresnective of the contingency of sin and the purpose of redemption. There was no metaphysical necessity, but a purely ethical necessity, for the incarnation of the perfect God. This view does militate against the idea of "free grace," because redemption thru the 1 ' Son of God ' ' is not an after-thought or expedient of grace, but to be provided for, and made possible in the eternal purpose of creation. Not only in the divine idea of creation was sin rendered possible, but also redemption thru Him, who is the completion and goal of creation. Then is it not true that the world was made capable of redemption in the same thought and purpose that it was made capable of sinning ? The incarnation then, becomes a central and essential fact in our theodicy.

All of God's ways from the beginning lead up to Christ. Recent theology lays more stress upon the cosmical relations of incarnation. The old truth of the natural headship has a large place and a new significance in view of modern theories of the origin and unity of creation. The whole universe was created for Christ, thru whom all things shall at last be made subject to the Father, that God may be all in all. The incarnation then, is the process of union of two natures — a divine and a human nature. ' l The Word was made flesh, ' ' says the scriptures and this becoming flesh, was real at the nativity. The birth of Jesus was the moment of the first actual, real, incarnation. It was begun in a manger, but completed on a throne. Jesus was made perfect thru suffering, because His life was necessary to the perfection of His person, as Redeemer. Jesus Christ did assume the true and perfect nature of man, in a personal union with His divine nature, and still remains true God and real man, in one person for ever. Hence the leading facts in the incarnation of Christ are the following, viz; (1) It was not a change in the nature of the Trinity nor of the relation of One to the other Two Persons composing it. (2) The birth of Christ making incarnation possible, was not the beginning of anything, except the manifestation of God-head in a new relation to mankind; hence it was only necessary to the accomplishment of an external purpose to restore man to the favor of God thru personal, eternal and inseparable contact and union ivith Him. But the pre-existence of Christ was absolutely necessary

— so much so, that His incarnation was wholly contingent upon His eternal relation to the Trinity as being the "Son of God."

The sonship of Jesus is co-extensive with the Godhead. In the ninth chapter of Isa., the relation between the sonship on the divine side and sonship on the human side is clearly denned, and it is said, "as a Son he was given, as a child He was born. ' ' The idea that divine sonship could be produced through an act of creation or of ordinary generation is monstrously absurd. The divine sonship of Jesus is eternal and it could not be created any more than the self-existent Creator could produce himself, therefore Jesus must necessarily have possessed an uncreated and self -existent relationship, as a divine Son of God ; otherwise, it would have been impossible for Him to have entered into the humble relation as the "Son of man" becoming the actual and personal human representative of man as "a child born." Christ is the marvel of marvels. C. H. Spurgeon says: "Consider His eternal existence, begotten of his Father from before all worlds, being of the same substance with His Father: begotten, not made, co-equal, co-eternal, in every attribute very God of very God. Remember that He who became an infant of a span long, was no less than the King of ages, the everlasting Father, who was from eternity and is to be to all eternity. The divine nature of Christ is indeed wonderful. Just think for a moment, how much interest clusters around the life of an old man. Those of us who are but children in years, look up to Him with wonder and astonishment, as He tells us the varied stories of the experience thru which he has passed. How brief it appears when compared with the life of the tree that sheltered Him. It existed long before that old man's father crept, a helpless infant into the world. But what is the history of the human race, compared with the creation? and what is the history of the creation compared to the age of the angel?" They could tell you of the day when they saw this world wrapped in swaddling bands of mist — when, like a new-born infant, the last of God's offspring, it came forth from him and the morning stars sang together and the Sons of God shouted for joy. But what is the history of the angel that excelleth in strength, compared with the history of the Lord Jesus Christ ? The Angel is but of yesterday, and knoweth nothing; Christ the Eternal One, charges even his angels with folly, and looks upon them as ministering spirits, that come and go at His good pleasure. "By Him all things were made; and without Him was not anything made that was made." Incarnation represents the lowest stage of life to which divinity may be extended in association with humanity. But I do not believe in a humanized God, neither do I believe in a deified human. Jesus, in His divine nature has continually existed. He humbly died in His perfect humanity, for imperfect human beings. Divinity suffered for man, but did not die for him. Christ lived in a separate state during the interval between his death and resurrection. "I am He that liveth and was dead."

The Exalted Christ

Jesus is enthroned above all the powers of earth and hell. He holds the reins of authority and power in His hands. He has the disposal of all judgments, and may, without contravening His authority, pass arbitrary condemnation upon fallen angels and rebellious men. He holds the destiny of every creature for weal or woe, as a vested and non-transferable right. Whatsoever the Son doeth in heaven or hell or among the nations of the earth, has the guaranteed sanction of the i ' Father of lights. ' ' He that consecrated himself as the Lamb of Calvary, is exalted to the high throne of heaven and will appear at the judgment as the "Lion of the tribe of Judah — a Lamb of wrath," to take vengeance on them that know not God. Let me present to your imagination this picture. Behold the transcendant glory! The majesty of Kings is swallowed up ! The pomp of empires dissolves like the white mist before the morning sun ; the brightness of assembled armies is eclipsed. He in Himself is brighter than the sun, and more terrible than an army with banners. Before Him, all the mighty princes, the glorious kingdoms, whose power is felt and feared thru the whole earth, shall bow in His presence and "confess that he is the Christ to the glory of God the Father ! " At that period of woeful catastrophe for the Gentile world powers, our glorified humanity shall receive an abiding impress of the seal of heaven, bedecked with every beauty, and every splendor, befitting the heir of an immortal crown, — the tenant of eternal mansions and celestial scenery, everywhere revealing to the eye, in living myrioramic pictures, the combined magnificence of all the worlds of God. Mortality will be made immortal and swallowed up of life and the heirs of redemption will be transferred from the terrestial and finite, to the celestial and infinite sphere of immortality and glorification. The august vision makes us tremble as we gaze, and the sublimest reach of human thought, can only point — and but feebly too — to its deep foundations and God-built stories — its rainbow coverings and sunlike splendors — walled with adamant and paved with sapphire, crowned with the redeemer, and God in the midst. The high circuit of eternity, the scene of improvement, and boundless roll of ages — the only key to the evolution of un-ending wonders.

•' * There is no death ; the stars go down To rise upon some far shore, And bright in heaven's jeweled crown To shine for evermore."

Chapter II

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost : Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you : and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. Math. 28: 19, 20.

The world is made up of harmonious antagonisms. Natural life unfolds itself in form and matter, in root and top, in soul and body ; hence there appear to be many contradictions, but when we separate the apparent incongruous elements and subject them to a critical analysis, we are agreeably surprised to find that the symmetry and harmonious arrangement of the universe, in this blending of incompatible elements, must be secured. Variety prevents monotony and promotes aestheticism. It takes the scientific knowledge of the chemist to extract the medicinal qualities of nature's plants, and the superior wisdom of the botanist to trace the germinal roots of each, but God has so constructed His world as to hold both the learned and unlearned, entranced by its grandeur and beauty.

Thus the rich history of human life has a bountiful fullness of antagonisms. Mortal, yet immortal;

weak, tho possessing almost infinite strength; dying but living forever, we are made to tremble before the august presence of Jehovah, who girdeth us with His power and doeth whatsoever He willeth to do among the armies of the nations.

I am sure that you have been forcibly impressed with the distinctness and importance of the four antagonistic principles in primitive history that precedes Christianity, viz : the individual, the psychological, the ethnological and the economic. With Christianity itself, there appear four new antagonisms, which indeed previously existed, tho not in the enlarged sense in which they at present occur, — hence the individual is absorbed by the organic, the ethnological, by the social, the psychological, by the allegorical and the economic by the cosmical.

Hence the finished revelation of God, as it is presented within the pages of this precious Book, indicates a divine unity in design. Every incident of inspired and profane history very forcibly manifests the one stupendous and eternal fact of creation, redemption, reason and revelation, viz : that God, as the moral governor of the universe, in His over-ruling providence, so directs, guides and manipulates the affairs of men and nations, as to accomplish His expressed purpose to re-adjust society, eliminate sin from the human economy by redeeming the individual thru the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus. Thus every occurrence, no matter how apparently insignificant — even the sparrow that flutters there among the daisies in the throes of death — the crawling worm, or insect that was destroyed by your careless tread as you go to a place of business or worship — the opening of Jewish sanctuaries, whose altars run red with the blood of slaughtered animals — the elevation of struggling empires and debasement of magnificent monarchies — the appalling tragedy of calvary — the establishment of the church and the shedding of martyr blood — in fact, no incident that comes within the range of our world's history nor the vast immeasurable eternity that rolls before the throne of God, with the consummation of redemption and the coming of Christ to judgment, contributes to the same grand, all-absorbing and incomprehensible end.

According to Isaiah the scriptures present God (1) as the God of history; (2) as the God of mystery.

Universality of the Gospel

1 'Go ye into all the world/'

The gospel is specially adapted to supply the spiritual demands of all the tribes and races of men under heaven. Every condition of human life, from the worst to the most favorable; from the lowest to the highest, is fully met and abundantly provided for in the Gospel of Peace. And furthermore, it is the palladium of civilization. I firmly believe that the greatness of our glorious Republic is due largely to the love and veneration of our people for the Word of God, and its moral influence upon the public conscience.

The foundations of this mighty nation were dedicated in a spirit of divine reverence and adoration for the Bible, and the sacrificing devotion of the Pilgrim Fathers shapes religious sentiment, and their examples of heroic consecration and unswerving fidelity to the truth, presides like a guardian angel over the destiny of our civil and religious institutions.

Starting at Jerusalem (to the Jew first) in the determination of the Master, it was destined to flow like a river of life, bringing spiritual sustenance and redeeming virtue to those who "sit in darkness and the shadow of death."

The gospel is intensely personal. It deals with the individual upon the basis of his own responsibility, holding him to account for his own sins, not another's, presenting Jesus as his only mediator thru whom he may come to God and find pardoning favor. Thus the gospel singles us out from the rest of mankind and deals with us, just as if we were the only creatures of the kind in existence. Accordingly it raises a man above the conception of a representative of His genius, the endless difference of individualities being sustained (not obliterated) in the great antagonism of creative spirits and receptive communities. The gospel therefore, is world-wide and absolutely necessary to the elevation, classification and establishment of the individual in his proper sphere.

Some would-be religion founder may object to my position, but suffice it to say in passing, that there is as much difference between man and man, as there is between the mighty cedar and the dwarf-fir of the heath; between the heaven-reaching palm and the little holly in the forest.

Law and the Gospel

Upon this head a few words of comparison will suffice. The law is just, holy, good. It is the synopsis of the entire system of divine jurisprudence. It binds all creatures from the highest to the lowest-man and Arch- Angel to the solemn obligation to serve God and live righteously. Unlike the gospel, it deals strictly with transgression, acts of sin. It continually emphasises those deeds of violence, that come from a wicked heart, but suggests no remedy whereby we may be rid of our depraved nature. Magnifying justice, it threatens us with the thunderbolt of wrath. Faith is not comprehended in its sphere of influence. It bears no relationship to mercy. Therefore by the "deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified." But the gospel honors the demands of the law and meets them fully and completely in Christ Jesus who, accepting voluntarily the judgment of law and dying as man 's substitute, becomes the end of it for ' ' righteousness to every one that believed." The gospel therefore condemns sin and lays it under a severer judgment than does the law, but it also offers us a sure way of escape from present and past sin. And though the law cannot by its own force condemn men, neither can it deliver them from sin. When the sinner turns to it for succor, it warns him away saying: "Thou hast sinned ! " " Thou shalt surely die ! ' ' Its authority is confined chiefly to the domain of external ritualism. The gospel does all this and much more, in that it changes the nature and bringing us into mysterious union with Christ, sheds abroad in us, by the power of the Holy Spirit, the power of godliness, enabling us to bear the peacable fruit of righteousness to the glory of His grace.

The gospel is the power of God unto salvation. The law is the power of God unto judgment. The law is weak through fallen human nature, its ethical demands making our sins more destructive, and our damnation more sure. The gospel is strong through Jesus the sinless God-man, in breaking down the strongholds of sin and saving the helpless penitent from the snare of Satan.

The gospel is the culminating result of divine methods, extending through past ages for the salvation of men, and is the last and only provision of mercy that shall ever be offered to our degenerate race.