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Berean Expositor Volume 1
Does "particular redemption" exhaust the sacrifice of Christ?
pp. 55-58
Who among us can claim to have pierced the veil that hangs over the fateful past?
"The secret things belong unto the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed
belong unto us." Though Scripture is silent respecting many aspects of this tremendous
question, there are some phases which are revealed, and they are of greatest importance
to us. John 8: 44 declares that the devil was a murderer from the beginning. He it was
who deceived Eve into sin, and involved our first parents in far-reaching ruin. Side by
side with this we are emphatically told that Christ took upon Himself the likeness of
sinful flesh, "in order that He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the
devil" (Heb. 2: 14). And again, "The devil sinneth from the beginning; for this purpose
was the Son of God manifested, in order that He might undo the works of the devil"
(I John 3: 8).
The work of Calvary included, among other objects, the destruction of the devil, and
the undoing of his works. The Lord Jesus, as He bowed His blessed head and died, said,
"It is finished." All that he came to do had been accomplished, and even though time
were to run its course before the final and complete fruition of His work, we accept the
Word of truth, and believe that He did virtually destroy the devil and undo his works
"through death." If our theology does not allow of this, so much the worse for our
theology. Turning to Rom. 8: 20, 21, we read:--
"For unto vanity hath creation been made subject. Not by choice, but by reason of
Him who made it subject, upon hope that creation itself also shall be freed from the
bondage of corruption into the freedom of the glory of the sons of God."
This passage refers back to Gen. 3: 17, 18, and forward to Rev. 21: 1-5 and 22: 3,
"Cursed is the ground for thy sake." "No curse shall be any more." Literally it is, "And
every curse shall be no more." Here, truly, we see the undoing of the works of the devil.
Turning now to Rom. 5: we have further light on this great question. Verses 1-11 lead
us on to the love of God which surpasses the highest flights of human love. It was not for
"just" ones, or "good" ones that Christ died. God commendeth His love in that whilst we
were yet without strength, ungodly, sinners, and enemies, Christ died for us
(Rom. 5: 6-10). But this does not exhaust the love of God; there is a "much more."
"Much more then, having now been declared righteous by His blood, we shall be
saved from wrath through Him. For if, being enemies, we were reconciled unto God
through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by
His life" (Rom. 5: 9, 10).
"But not as the offence is the act of free grace. For if by the offence of the one the
many died, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, of the one man, Jesus
Christ, superabounded unto the many." "Where sin abounded, grace did superabound"
(Rom. 5: 15, 20).