The Infuriating Doctrine

The Infuriating Doctrine
"Many bulls have compassed Me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset Me round" (Psalm 22:12).

In the book of the Psalms, there is the great prophetic picture of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ (Psalm 22), which begins with the words He uttered on the cross, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?"   There is a phrase in the midst of the well-known description that needs a little explaining.  We read, "Many bulls have compassed Me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset Me round" (Psalm 22:12).  One commentator writes as follows of this passage, "The mighty ones in the crowd are here marked by the tearful eye of their victim.  The priests, elders, scribes, Pharisees, rulers and captains bellowed round the cross like wild cattle, fed in the fat and solitary pastures of Bashan, full of strength and fury; they stamped and foamed around the innocent One, and longed to gore Him to death with their cruelties. . ."  Yes, and adding one further word: that which most infuriates a bull is the sight and smell of blood. That which most infuriates the followers of the Pharisees in our day is the doctrine of salvation by the blood of Jesus Christ.

You may judge them by their fruits in respect to that doctrine.  Go to the smooth–tongued preachers of modernism who occupy prominent pulpits throughout the land.  Put to them this, straight, unavoidable question, "Do you believe that men are eternally condemned to an eternity far from God unless they believe God’s Word concerning the fact that He is forever satisfied with the work which the Lord Jesus Christ did upon the cross in shedding His blood?"  You will see these modern bulls of Bashan chafe as under the goad.

The message of the cross is the same today as when it first divided men into two groups.  Take your stand very definitely with those who can look to God with full confidence and joy in Christ, that He has taken our sins upon Him that we might stand complete in that righteousness which He bestows, by faith, upon all who put their trust in His blood.

Dr. Barnhouse shows us that the lost utterly reject the doctrine of blood redemption because it destroys their self-righteousness.  We must never weaken the preaching of this doctrine for the sake of “tolerance”.  His blood was shed because we are sinners, by nature and by choice, under divine wrath.  Our only hope of redemption is by faith in the shed blood and finished work of Christ alone.

Further Reading: Psalms 22