Changing Places with God
Changing Places with God
Burton Stevenson, in his Home Book of Quotations, gives the following epitaph from an old English churchyard:
Here lie I, Martin Elginbrodde; Hae mercy o' my soul, Lord God,
As I wad do were I Lord God,
And ye were Martin Elginbrodde.
As a matter of fact, if God and any one of us were to change places things would be exactly as they are now, providing we received all that God is, and He became all that we are. The blasphemy which underlies such an epitaph as this is the implication that Martin Elginbrodde has more loving-kindness and tender mercy than God Almighty. The real truth, of course, is that man has less holiness, less justice.
There is a striking line in the Psalms, "Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one as thyself' (Ps. 50:21). Here is the greatest tragedy in human thought. It is the failure to recognize the truth of the Word of God, "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts" (Isa. 55:8, 9).
The born-again Christian, looking upon his heart, is forced to say: If I were but the justice of God, I would send myself to eternal separation from God. If I were but the holiness of God, I would separate myself eternally from that holiness. Then we can understand that only by that redeeming love which came to the cross and bore the stroke of that justice and the separation of that holiness, is it possible for love to redeem us and draw us to Him.
It has been said that Christianity can be expressed in three sentences. The three sentences are: I deserve Hell. Jesus Christ took my Hell. There is nothing left for me but His Heaven. When we analyze those three sentences we can see that every doctrine in Christianity is included under one of the three. Under the first are the doctrines of the nature of man, of the fall, and of the holiness and the justice of God. Under the second are the doctrines of the love of God, the atonement, propitiation, and redemption. Under the third is the doctrine of assurance and our future hope.
We are delighted to side with God against Martin Elginbrodde and against ourselves, and to ascribe all praise and glory to Him.
1. Which character in the narrative of redemptive history is the focus of humanities redemption?
2. What does it mean that Jesus took my hell and how is that possible? How does Christ benefit humanity?
3. How much of salvation is focused or contingent upon humanity?
