. . . to be a propitiation through
faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins . .
. Romans 3:25
The
cross, thank God, is not only exposition. The cross is also proclamation, a
mighty declaration. I like the word that the apostle uses there in Romans 3,
and especially the way in which he repeats it. He likes it himself obviously.
“Whom God hath set forth,” he says “to be a propitiation through faith in his
blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins . . . to declare,
I say . . .” (Romans 3:25-26). Have you got it, have you heard it, were you
listening? says the apostle. Wake up, you sleepy listeners. “. . . to declare,
I say . . .” Have you heard the declaration? Have you heard the mighty proclamation?
What does this blood declare to me?
Let me
sum it up in another word that this same apostle used in 2 Corinthians 5:19,
21. This is the declaration: “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto
himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. . . . For he hath made him to
be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God
in him.”
What does
all this mean? Let me put it in modern terms. The cross tells me that this is
the declaration. This, it says, is God’s way of dealing with the problem of
man’s sin. It has already said that there is a problem. It is a terrible one;
it is the greatest problem of all time and of the whole cosmos. There is
nothing greater than this. There is the exposition of the problem. Then comes
the mighty declaration. This, it says, is God’s answer.
Now our
Lord had been saying that in His teaching, but they could not understand it.
They were blinded, even His own disciples. They were thinking as Jews, in terms
of a kingdom on earth. Man will always materialize the great and glorious
blessings of God’s kingdom.
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