10 or more statements about the cross by John Bunyan

I shall therefore show you, first, what was expected of God in the sacrifice in the type, and then show you how it was answered in the antitype. Secondly, I shall show you the manner of the offering of the type, and so answerable thereto to shew you the fitness of the sacrifice of the body of Christ, by way of answering some questions.

1. God did expect that sacrifice which he himself had appointed, and not another; to signify, that none would serve his turn but the body and soul of his appointed Christ, the mediator of the new covenant, John 1:29

2. This sacrifice must not be lame nor deformed; it must have no scar, spot, or blemish; to signify, that Jesus Christ was to be a complete sacrifice by covenant, I Pet 1: 29

3. This sacrifice was to be taken out of the flock or herd; to signify, that Jesus Christ was to come out of the race of mankind, according to the covenant, Heb. 10:5

But, secondly. As to the manner of it

1. The sacrifice, before it was offered, was to have the sins of the children of Israel confessed over it; to signify, that Jesus Christ must (Isa. 53:4-7, 1 Pet 2:24) bear the sins of all his children by covenant - As for thee, by the blood of thy covenant, in his own body on the tree Zech. 9:10-12

2. It must be had to the place appointed - namely, without the camp of Israel; to signify, that Jesns Christ must be led to Mount Calvary, Luke 23:33

3. The sacrifice was to be killed there; to signify, that Jesus Christ must and did suffer without the city of Jerusalem for our salvation.

4. The sacrifice must not only have its life taken away, but also some of its flesh burned upon the altar; to signify, that Jesus Christ was not only to die a natural death, but also that he should undergo the pains and torments of the damned in hell.

5. Sometimes there must be a living offering and a dead offering, as the goat that was killed, and the scape-goat, the dead bird and the living bird, (Lev. 14:3-6) to signify, that Jesus Christ must die, and come to life again.

6. The goat that was to die was to be the sin offering; that is, to be offered as the rest of the sin-offerings, to make an atonement as a type; and the other goat was to have all the sins of the children of Israel confessed over him, (Lev. 16:7-22) and then to be let go into the wilderness, never to be catched again; to signify, that Christ's death was to make satisfaction for sin, and his coming to life again was to bring in everlasting (Rom. 4:25) justification from the power, curse, and destroying nature of sin.

7. The scape-goat was to be carried by a fit man into the wilderness; to signify, that Jesus Christ should be both fit and able to carry our sins quite away from us, so as they should never be laid to our charge again. Here is grace.

8. The sacrifices under the law, commonly part of them must be eaten, (Exod.12:5-11) to signify, that they that are saved should spiritually feed on the body and blood of Jesus Christ, or else they have no life by him, John 6:51-53)

9. This sacrifice must be eaten with unleavened bread; to signify, that they which love their sins, that devilish leaven of wickedness, they do not feed upon Jesus Christ.

(10) Now, of what hath been spoken this is the sum, that there is a sacrifice under the new covenant, as there were sacrifices under the old; and that this sacrifice did every way answer that, or those; indeed, they did but suffer for sin in show, but he in reality; they as the shadow, but he as the substance.

15 examples of how to look to Christ from Calvin's Institutes

I think this is a well known quotation but not previously known to me.

(We see that our whole salvation and all its parts are comprehended in Christ [Acts 4:12]. We should therefore take care not to derive the least portion of it from anywhere else. If we seek salvation, we are taught by the very name of Jesus that it is “of him” [I Cor. 1:30].)

1. If we seek strength, it lies in his dominion;

2. if purity, in his conception;

3. if gentleness, it appears in his birth. (For by his birth he was made like us in all respects [Heb. 2:17] that he might learn to feel our pain [cf. Heb. 5:2].)

4. If we seek redemption, it lies in his passion;

5. if acquittal, in his condemnation;

6. if remission of the curse, in his cross [Gal. 3:13];

7. if satisfaction, in his sacrifice;

8. if purification, in his blood;

9. if reconciliation, in his descent into hell;

10. if mortification of the flesh, in his tomb;

11. if newness of life, in his resurrection;

12. if immortality, in the same;

13. if inheritance of the Heavenly Kingdom, in his entrance into heaven;

14. if protection, if security, if abundant supply of all blessings, in his Kingdom;

15. if untroubled expectation of judgement, in the power given to him to judge.

(In short, since rich store of every kind of good abounds in him, let us drink our fill from this fountain, and from no other.)

John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion (1559), 2.16.19.

The close of the Queen's speech for Christmas Day 2016

One can get quite depressed with the situation in Britain today but now and again there are little encouragements such as the Queen's speech on Christmas Day. It's far from perfect but it begins to get near to something better. She closed with these words

At Christmas, our attention is drawn to the birth of a baby some two thousand years ago. It was the humblest of beginnings, and his parents, Joseph and Mary, did not think they were important.
Jesus Christ lived obscurely for most of his life, and never travelled far. He was maligned and rejected by many, though he had done no wrong. And yet, billions of people now follow his teaching and find in him the guiding light for their lives. I am one of them because Christ’s example helps me see the value of doing small things with great love, whoever does them and whatever they themselves believe. The message of Christmas reminds us that inspiration is a gift to be given as well as received, and that love begins small but always grows.
I wish you all a very happy Christmas.

Christ our Refuge

blueletterbible.org

The Cities of Refuge were towns in ancient Israel where those guilty of manslaughter could claim the right of asylum. Outside these cities, the avenger of blood appointed by his family to avenge the killing of a family member was allowed to put such a person to death. In Scripture we read of six cities of refuge. Golan, Ramoth Gilead and Bezer were east of the Jordan, and Kedesh, Shechem and Hebron on the west. As the map above shows, most people were within a day of one or other of these places. The subject is referred to chiefly in Numbers 35, Deuteronomy 19 and Joshua 20.

Such arrangements may seem a little primitive to us but it is important to bear in mind that there is no evidence of any similar sort of arrangement in other ancient near eastern cultures. There is a degree of sophistication in Israel's approach to murder and manslaughter then and no doubt important principles of jurisprudence are contained in the idea and should shape legislation and practice in the nations of the world.

At the same time in the city of refuge we have a wonderful picture of part of what the Lord Jesus Christ does for sinners. As the Puritan Thomas Manton once put it “Christ is a believer's City of Refuge, or the alone sanctuary for distressed souls.” One 19th Century writer, a W J Armitage, so warmed to this theme that he went to town on it and wrote a book spiritualising all six cities of refuge in different ways to bring out various aspects of this truth (See here).

Without condoning all such spiritualising we ought to remember that Jesus Christ is the only refuge for sinners. The idea of God as a refuge, the one to run to in trouble, is everywhere in the Scriptures especially in the Psalms. In Psalm 2:12 we read of the Son Blessed are all who take refuge in him. The IVP Dictionary of Biblical Imagery suggests that the idea of refuge was very much informed by the existence of these cities and says that for the average Israelite provided "an image at once of safety, protection from pursuit, a renewal of life that would otherwise be doomed and a kind of salvation."

Such thoughts inform some of our hymns - Let me to Thy bosom fly ... Other refuge have I none; Let me hide myself in Thee, etc. Charles Wesley wrote this short poem on the subject

Our City of defence, to Thee, From the avenger, Lord we flee, Who in Thy Death confide; Justice divine pursues in vain The men who God Himself have slain, When sheltered in Thy side.

Jesus is indeed a city of refuge for all who flee to him. It is important then to do two things:

1. To flee to him. We are sinners. We are guilty. However, if we hide in him, we will be safe – in this case, even though we have deliberately sinned against God. He will keep us safe and we will be spared. If a person should leave the city of refuge then he had no protection. There is no protection for us outside of Christ. We must go on hiding in him. 2. Further, we must not only hide in Christ ourselves but be eager to see others saved too. Just as the cities of refuge were numerous, near to all and with good roads so we must do all we can to make Christ available to all through the preaching of the Word. They say that the roads to the cities of refuge were not only good but well signposted – that is how it must be today with regard to Christ. We must cry out to people 'This way! This way!' We must do all we can to bring them safely to Jesus. Matthew Henry says rightly (commenting on Deuteronomy 19:11-13) “It may be alluded to to show that in Jesus Christ there is no refuge for presumptuous sinners, that go on still in their trespasses. If we thus sin wilfully, sin and go on in it, there remains no sacrifice, Hebrews 10:26. Those that flee to Christ from their sins shall be safe in him, but not those that expect to be sheltered by him in their sins. Salvation itself cannot save such: divine justice will fetch them even from the city of refuge, the protection of which they are not entitled to.” The cities of Refuge were not designed to protect murderers and salvation in Christ was never designed to give sinners an excuse to go on in their sins. No, those who take refuge in him must break with their sins and be done with them. They cannot hold on to their sins. It is vital that we see that. Do we? Flee to Christ and turn from sin. One other anonymous verse I came across says

Six Refuge Cities all in one - For Christ is all in all! And they who are in Him, are where No evil can befall. But out of Him no Refuge is No other Name neath heaven To be the sinner s hiding place Hath God to mortals given.

Hymn of the week 17

Every week we sing eight hymns but it's nearly always the Charles Wesley that catches my eye. Here he typically rings the changes by focusing on gospel paradoxes.

1 WEARY souls, that wander wide
From the central point of bliss,
Turn to Jesus crucified,
Fly to those dear wounds of his:
Sink into the purple flood;
Rise into the life of God!

2 Find in Christ the way of peace,
Peace unspeakable, unknown;
By his pain he gives you ease,
Life by his expiring groan;
Rise, exalted by his fall,
Find in Christ your all in all.

3 O believe the record true,
God to you his Son hath given!
Ye may now be happy too,
Find on earth the life of heaven,
Live the life of heaven above,
All the life of glorious love.

Last weekend 04

The Lord's Day was spent as ever in preaching here in Childs Hill. In the morning I preached on the famous first half of Ezekiel 37. It cries out for CGI. The above is a fairly tasteful though not particularly impressive rendition.

I spoke to the kids on Christology (person, nature, states, offices - we take no prisoners). We used a hymn I cobbled together from the catechism. (You can see it at my Psalms and hymns blog. Some sermons get to my sermon blog but it's all rather slow at present). My fourth son asked me if a zig-zag would be a better pattern for the states of Christ rather than the 'V' I suggested. That makes sense but the 'V' wins. When Christ comes again he will set up his kingdom here on earth, as it were. It is a coming down but not in the way he came before.

We are redecorating the dining room so only Rhodri's friend Sybil back for lunch and tea. In the evening I was in Psalm 10. The evening congregation is appreciably smaller than the morning one. Some people missing today. In the evening we also look at the 1689 Confession briefly - the Trinity this time. More theology!

I normally collect people from the after church fellowship around 10 pm but unusually I had a headache and so Eleri went. They had a puncture just over a quarter of a mile away. We found getting hold of the spare difficult and replacing the flat tyre impossible. A relief car took people home and we contacted the AA next day who dealt with things very well.

Jesus Christ Prince of Thieves

I had this passage in Calvin pointed out the other day. This translation has Prince of robbers but I suppose it could be Prince of thieves
See under comments on Mt 27:33-38; Mk 15:22-28; Lk 23:33-38

Then were crucified with him two robbers. It was the finishing stroke of the lowest disgrace when Christ was executed between two robbers; for they assigned him the most prominent place, as if he had been the prince of robbers. If he had been crucified apart from the other malefactors, there might have appeared to be a distinction between his case and theirs; but now he is not only confounded with them, but raised aloft, as if he had been by far the most detestable of all. On this account Mark applies to him the prediction of Isaiah, (53:12) he was reckoned among transgressors; for the prophet expressly says concerning Christ, that he will deliver his people, not by pomp and splendour, but because he will endure the punishment due to their sins. In order that he might free us from condemnation, this kind of expiation was necessary, that he might place himself in our room. Here we perceive how dreadful is the weight of the wrath of God against sins, for appeasing which it became necessary that Christ, who is eternal justice, should be ranked with robbers. We see, also, the inestimable love of Christ towards us, who, in order that he might admit us to the society of the holy angels, permitted himself to be classed as one of the wicked.