Signing Up for Christ is Signing Up for War.

Yesterday I touched on the book - The Atonement by J.H. Waggoner, and what it has meant to me to go through it all in excerpts daily for the last couple months, in fact it was started July 9th and today is September 25th so we've been at it over a couple of months.

The book brings out so many facts but as its title reads- The Atonement - I want to talk about - The Atonement.

When I say "The Atonement" I don't simply mean Christ paying the price for my sins on the cross, making me  AT ONE with Him again. I mean ALL that encompasses. Creation, the fall, redemption and the entire process of being redeemed. Yes, there is a process. Anyone who has accepted Christ as their Savior knows the accepting part is an active on going, daily, and yes, often hourly choice. The accepting is a life lived for Christ. The accepting is acknowledging the word of God as part of our daily sustenance. The accepting is knowing what our Savior is doing on our behalf right now and what His future intentions for us are. The accepting means recognition of our unworthiness and our need of Jesus' worth.

 

Every day you are going to come face to face with trials and tribulations, every day. Some days the onslaught is seemingly unending, and it is HOW we react to our trials and tribulations that will enable us to grow in Christ or falter. And by react I don't mean the knee jerk reactions specifically, but the ultimate reaction to what we face. Sometimes the dust has to settle all around us, the chaos filled dust, before our reaction is decided.

You may meet people who will tell you that they accepted Christ as their Savior twenty years ago and they'll smile and lead you to believe that for the past twenty years their life has been one of ease- made by that decision. You'll feel a longing to have such a life, one where your accepting Christ means joy unending.  A few days later you may see that person unexpectedly in a store vehemently scolding their child, or rudely cutting someone off in traffic using unseemly gestures- in situations that give you pause because you thought they were above such behaviors- Christ unapproved behaviors.

The thing is…  we will feel the joy of our Christian walk, but we need to recognize the fight it truly is. We signed up for war when we signed up for Christ. A lifetime war, a battle that will wage on and on and on until our God determines it can't go on a moment longer and WE cannot know when that moment will be.  That person you saw being unseemly may have a moment later apologized and asked for forgiveness from their child, or repented instantly their use of bad gestures to fellow harried drivers on the road.  The war is real and the humbling of ourselves in being able to admit -at the promptings of the Holy Spirit on our Christ surrendered conscience- that we sinned and need forgiveness is a life lived for Christ, a daily very hard life lived in a sin hardened world.

The Atonement is so much-- I want to recap in another way as well- by looking at the Table of Contents from the book.

'C O N T E N T S

PART FIRST.

AN ATONEMENT CONSISTENT WITH REASON

CHAPTER I. COMPARISON OF NATURE AND MORALITY. 9 Nature declares a God—Cannot teach morals—Did not make her own laws—Idea of the eternity of matter unreasonable—Natural laws no standard of right—Difference of penalties and consequences.

CHAPTER II. THE MORAL SYSTEM .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 17 Reason calls for a moral government—Necessity of revelation—Infinite justice of God—Human responsibility—The wrong-doer an incompetent judge.

CHAPTER III. REQUIREMENTS OF THE MORAL SYSTEM. 25 (Section)1. Sin ought to be punished. (Section)2. Can the sinner be cleared? (Section)3. What pardon supposes. (Section)4. What must be done in granting pardon. (Section)5. Voluntary substitution. (Section)6. Why an atonement is necessary. (Section)7. The sinner must accept, not make, conditions—Rights of subjects—Remarks and question.

- v - J. H. Waggoner

PART SECOND.

THE ATONEMENT AS REVEALED IN THE BIBLE

CHAPTER I. PRINCIPLES OF THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 41 Attributes of God—His Law—Its nature—Ten commandments—Objections considered—Distinctions of covenant and law—Conversion—The fourth commandment.

CHAPTER II. SIN AND ITS PENALTY .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 64 Dr. Barnes’ View—Remorse of conscience not a penalty—Death the penalty—What is death—“Punishment” not a specific term—Destruction.

CHAPTER III. JUSTIFICATION AND OBEDIENCE .  .  .  .  . 75 Difference of justification and salvation—Righteousness of God in his law—Justification by faith has reference to a future judgment—Gospel a system of “naturalization”—Andrew Fuller on nature of the Atonement.

CHAPTER IV. DEATH OF CHRIST VICARIOUS.  .  .  .  .  .  . 89 Substitutionary nature of offerings for sin—Christ’s death satisfaction to justice—Justice and mercy meet—Error of authors noticed—Impressive sentiments from Maclaurin and Dobney.

CHAPTER V. THE SON OF GOD DIED .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 103 Why blood of bulls and goats insufficient—Value of the Atonement in the dignity of the offering—Union of natures in Christ—Methodist Discipline—The Word made flesh—Scripture proofs of the exalted nature of Christ—This Divine Being died for man—Value of the law attested by his sacrifice.

The Atonement - vi

CHAPTER VI. DOCTRINE OF A TRINITY SUBVERSIVE OF THE ATONEMENT .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 115 Trinitarians do not believe that the divine nature died—Their sacrifice only human—Distinctive being of the Father and the Son—Self-contradictions of Trinitarians—”The mystery of godliness”—Incarnation of Son of God beyond comprehension.

CHAPTER VII. WHAT THE ATONEMENT IS.  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 127 The Atonement is the work of the priest—Not the death of the offering—Made in the sanctuary—Blotting out of sin—Typical nature of the earthly priesthood, sacrifices, and sanctuary—Love of God provided the sacrifice—Death of Christ makes salvation possible to all.

CHAPTER VIII. THE JUDGMENT .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 137 Judgment of the righteous precedes the resurrection—”Judgment is come” (Rev. 14) before the advent—A warning must be given—Prophecy of Daniel—Sanctuary in Heaven—Days of Noah and last days—Probation ends before the advent—Judgment proves the value of the law.

CHAPTER IX. THE SCAPE-GOAT .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 159 Distinction of sin offering and scapegoat—Argument of Dr. Edward Beecher—A type of Satan—Binding of the devil—The earth desolated—Sin returned upon the head of its author.

CHAPTER X. THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 170 Erroneous opinions noticed—To be set up on the earth—Prophecy of Daniel—Saints are now heirs—Mortals cannot inherit the kingdom—Possess it at the advent—The two thrones—Work of the saints in the one thousand years—The meek inherit the earth.

- vii - J. H. Waggoner

CHAPTER XI. REDEMPTION .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 188 Salvation and redemption—1. The redemption of man—The resurrection—Literal, or physical—Importance of the doctrine—A substitute accepted—Life the greatest gift of God—Death an enemy.

CHAPTER XII. REDEMPTION.—CONTINUED.  .  .  .  .  .  . 201 The original purpose of the Creator—2. Redemption of the earth—Promises to Abraham—Christ the seed—Believers are joint-heirs—Gentiles made fellow-heirs with Israel—The token or earnest—”The rest that remains,” Heb. 4—Various authorities.

CHAPTER XIII. CONCLUSION.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 222 The new earth—The promised glory—Beyond our comprehension—All things new—Our need of God’s grace to fit us for that glory.'

Do we comprehend the depths of the Atonement? It's necessity, it's truth, it's process through Christ our Lord and Savior, our 'God with us', our God who was 'made flesh' and lived with us? Do we know what God's plan for us is? Matthew 1:23, John 1:14

Let us live in Christ as Christ lives in us (Gal.2:20). 

May God bless us all and help us all, keeping us in Him, keeping us from evil. All by the will, the mercy, the grace of our LORD and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST.