UNION OF BELIEVERS WITH CHRIST

IN HIS DEATH, BURIAL AND

RESURRECTION.

THE Lord Jesus Christ is not only our High Priest, but was Himself the sacrifice-the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

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5: 7).

Rev.

13: 8. "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God" (1 Pet. 3: 18). Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed" (1 Pet. 2: 24). "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us" (Gal. 3: 13). "Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us (I Cor. "He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows” (Isai. 53: 4)). "He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed" (Isai. 53: 5). That Christ is here spoken of, we see in Matt. 8: 16. "When the even was come, they brought unto Him many that were possessed with devils and He cast out the spirits with His word, and healed all that were sick : that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias

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the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses." Jesus applies to Himself the office of Christ as spoken of Isaiah 61: 1-3. "And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; He hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the accepted year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears” (Luke 4: 17). "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" (2 Cor. 5: 19, 21).

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The Scriptures foretold that Christ would come, and would suffer and die in our stead for our sins. "Christ died for us according to the Scriptures" (1 Cor. 15: 3). It was for this purpose that He left the throne of God and came into the world. "Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made Himself of no repu

tation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross" (Phil. 2: 6). "The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many" (Matt. 20: 28). The world and all things were created for His coming. Creation and Redemption were to display "The unsearchable riches of Christ; and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Eph. 3:8). "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world" (Eph. 1: 3). "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, *** but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world" (1 Pet. 1: 18).

Christ offered Himself as a willing sacrifice. Paul writes, "This is a faithful saying, and

worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief" (1 Tim. 1: 15). Jesus says, "The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke 19: 10). He foretold to His disci. ples the manner of His death. "Jesus said unto them, The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men: aud they shall kill Him, and the third day He shall be raised again" (Matt. 17: 22). "Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn Him to death, and shall deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify Him: and the third day He shall rise again" (Matt. 20: 18). It is related, that when Judas came with a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees to take Him, "Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon Him, went forth, and said unto them, Whom seek ye? They answered Him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am He" (John 18: 4). He was a willing sacrifice, the Lamb of God, of which all the other sacrifices were types, "For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore, when He cometh into the world, He saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of

me) to do Thy will, O God. Above when He said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; then said He, Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that He may establish the second. By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all" (Heb. 10: 4, 12).

Through this sacrifice of Christ, believers are counted as having made full atonement for their sins, and are justified in the eye of the law of God. They are also accounted as righteous in the sight of God, Christ having fulfilled the law for them. In the Revelation we read, "After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God, which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb" (Rev. 7: 9). In answer to the question, What are these which are arrayed in white robes ? "He said unto me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb" (Rev. 7: 13). The believer is not only counted as righteous, and clothed with Christ's righteousness, but he also receives the gift of righteousness: he receives the spirit of love to God, because he is holy and