Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Charnock on Christ Crucified

"He [the sinner without Christ] instead of craving the pardon of his Judge, he flies from Him, and when his flight would not advantage him, he stands upon his own defence, and extenuates his crime; thus adding one provocation to another as if he had an ambition to harden the heart of God against him and render himself irrecoverably miserable.
God so overlooks these, as in immense love and grace to settle a way for man's recovery, without giving any dissatisfaction to His justice, so strongly engaged for the punishment of the offence. And rather than this notorious rebel and prodigious apostate should perish according to what he deserves, God would transfer the punishment (which he could not remit without a violation of His truth and an injury to His righteousness) upon a person equal to himself, most beloved by Him, his delight from eternity, and infinitely dearer to Him than any thing in heaven or earth...

It was love that would restore man after the fall; there was no more need to do this than creating the world... But that he might wind up His love to the highest pitch, he would not only restore man, but rather than let him lie in His deserved misery, would punish His own Son, to secure man from it. It was purely His grace which was the cause that His Son "tasted death for every man" (Heb. 2:9)."


Glory to God
Simon

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