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brethren. Judah is the true intercessor, and his pleading reaches its climax in the words:
"For how shall I go up to my father, and the lad be not with me?" (Gen. 44: 34).
Judah's word "blame" in the phrase, "Then shall I bear the blame to my father for ever"
(verse 32), is the word "sin" in Reuben's statement in Gen. 42: 22, "Do not sin against
the child".
It is surely something to ponder that this word chata ("sin" and "blame") occurs in
this narrative in but these two references. There was the sin of Israel's sons, and Judah in
his suretyship seems to suggest that he would bear that sin for ever if he failed. While
this is but faintly foreshadowed in the type, it is wonderfully true in the reality: "Who
His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree" (I Pet. 2: 24).
Judah, like Aaron, breaks down, as types always must, for Judah had sinned equally
with his brethren, but of the true Surety it is written: "He hath made Him to be sin for us,
Who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him"
(II Cor. 5: 21). Christ is more than Hostage, more than Substitute, He is Surety. As such
He has so identified Himself with us, and with our need, that when He died, we died
(Rom. 6: 8); when He was crucified, we were crucified (Gal. 2: 20); when He was
buried, we were buried (Col. 2: 12); when He was raised from the dead, we were raised
(Col. 3: 1); when He was seated in the heavenlies, we were seated in the heavenlies with
Him (Eph. 2: 6). This is suretyship. Its essential element is more than substitution; it is
interweaving, mingling, identification. As we read Col. 3: 1 and Eph. 2: 6, can we not
hear out Surety saying,
"How shall I ascend to My Father, and the child Benjamin (the son of my right hand)
be not with me?"
"With me"--there lies the secret of suretyship, and the reason why it transcends all
the offerings of bulls and goats.
What was the first message sent by the risen Christ to His disciples? The message
that echoed the words of Judah the surety:--
"Go to My brethren, and say unto them, I ASCEND unto My Father, and your Father"
(John 20: 17).
"How shall I ASCEND to my father, and the lad be not with me?" (Gen. 44: 34).
Further, let us not miss the emphasis upon "Himself". Reuben offered his two sons.
Judah offered himself. Paul, in Gal. 2: 20 just quoted, glories in the fact that "the Son of
God loved me and gave Himself for me". The innocent lamb or the splendid bull died as
sacrifices, but it could never be said of such, "It loved me and gave itself for me"? That
is where sacrifice and offering fail, and that is why the Surety said, "Lo, I come".
It is "His own blood", not the blood of others (Acts 20: 28; Heb. 9: 12). It is "His
own body" (Heb. 10: 10; I Pet. 2: 24). It is "His own self" (I Pet. 2: 24). Christ gave
"Himself" for our sins (Gal. 1: 4). "He loved me and gave Himself for me" (Gal. 2: 20).
"He gave Himself for the church" (Eph. 5: 25). "He gave Himself a ransom for all"