In Eph. 1:13 the Apostle Paul declares that men are saved and sealed by hearing and believing “the Word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.” This declaration is substantiated by many other passages of Scripture. Our Lord said: “He that heareth… and believeth… hath everlasting life” (John 5:24). This at a time when sacrifices and baptism were still required for the remission of sins. Even then men had to hear and believe to be saved, for “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God” (Rom. 10:17).

Now, however, salvation is received by hearing and believing alone. Works for salvation are not merely unnecessary; they are forbidden. Today salvation is “to him that worketh not, but believeth” (Rom. 4:5). “For by grace are ye saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast” (Eph. 2:8,9).

God has changed His dealings with men from time to time down through the ages, teaching one lesson at a time. This is why it is so important to note the dispensational distinctions in Scripture, “rightly dividing the Word of truth.”

Once the works of the Law were required for salvation: “But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested” (Rom. 3:21) and men are saved solely by faith in Christ, “being justified freely by [God’s] grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:24). We are saved, then, as we hear and believe what Paul calls, “the Word of truth, the gospel of your salvation” (Eph. 1:13), and we are established in the faith as we obey 2 Tim. 2:15: “rightly dividing the Word of truth.”

As true Americans celebrate their liberty, true Christians should rejoice in the even greater liberty which they have in Christ.

Our Lord said: “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” and “If the Son, therefore, shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (John 8:32,36). Likewise St. Paul declares that believers in Christ have been made “free from sin” and have become “servants to God,” who deals with us in grace (Rom. 6:22).

It is strange that so many sincere religious people actually wish to be in bondage to the Mosaic Law, which can only judge and condemn them for their sins. Peter called the law: “a yoke… which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear” (Acts 15:10). Paul called it “the handwriting of decrees, that was against us, which was contrary to us” (Col. 2:14). He called it “the ministration of death” and “the ministration of condemnation” (II Cor. 3:7,9).

He challenged those who “desired” to be under the law:

“Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?” (Gal. 4:21).

“For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written. Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them” (Gal. 3:10).

Thank God, “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us” (Gal. 3:13). Man always responds better to grace than to law. The law was “added because of transgressions” (Gal. 3:19). “By the law is the knowledge of sin” (Rom. 3:20). But Christ died for our sins and now true believers serve God from gratitude and love. Hence Rom. 6:14 says: “Sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under the law but under grace.” Since Christ has redeemed us from the law (Gal. 4:5) God says to every true believer:

“Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage” (Gal. 5:1).

All through the Old Testament the cross is but dimly seen. Though a hundred historical characters and a hundred more Levitical sacrifices and rituals were typical of Christ and His finished work, not once does the Old Testament state this. The silence is profound. The clearest Old Testament prophecy of Christ’s death, Isaiah 53, does not even specify who the Sufferer would be.

It was the same during our Lord’s stay on earth, for only toward the close of His ministry do we read: “From that time forth began Jesus to show unto His disciples how that He must go unto Jerusalem and suffer… and be killed…” (Matt. 16:21). And what was their response? “Then Peter took Him and began to rebuke Him” (Ver. 22). Luke 18:34 states three times that they did not have the slightest idea that He would even die, much less did they understand all that His death would accomplish. Even at Pentecost Peter blamed his hearers for the death of Christ and said to them: “repent and be baptized every one of you… for the remission of sins” (Acts 2:38). The twelve were preaching “the gospel of the kingdom” and knew little about the cross and its purpose.

Not until the Apostle Paul, that other apostle, do we have what is properly called “the preaching of the cross,” i.e., as good news. And in Paul’s great message our Lord is no longer seen as the Victim, but as the Victor, not merely after death, or over death, but in death. His death itself is seen as His greatest triumph. In Heb. 10:12,14 we read:

“…after He had offered one sacrifice for sins [He] sat down… for by one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.”

And in Col. 2:14,15 Paul describes Christ at Calvary nailing the Law to the cross and utterly defeating Satan and his hosts, “triumphing over them in it (i.e., in the cross).” Little wonder the Apostle exclaimed:

“God forbid that I should boast, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ…” (Gal. 6:14).

The resurrection of Christ is God’s answer to unbelief. The changed attitudes of His followers who saw Him alive after His crucifixion and the revolution in the life of Paul, who saw Him “last of all,” rank high among the “many infallible proofs” of His resurrection. Cowards were made bold, doubters believed, the sorrowing were made glad, the pitiless persecutor became His devoted follower. The broken Roman seal, the empty tomb, the failure of the enemies of Christ to produce the dead body and a hundred other facts add their testimony in confirmation of the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ has been “declared to be the Son of God with power… by the resurrection from the dead” (Rom. 1:4).

The resurrection of Christ assures us that His payment for sin is all-sufficient and complete, for “when He had by Himself purged our sins [He] sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Heb. 1:3). “For by one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified” (Heb. 10:14).

Next, the resurrection of Christ gives us a living Savior. Comparing the Old Testament priests with Christ, Heb. 7:23-25 says:

“And they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death: But this Man, because He continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.”

The resurrection of Christ is also the pledge of the believer’s resurrection in glory. In 1 Pet. 1:3 the Apostle Peter breaks out in a doxology:

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a living hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”

And our Lord Himself said what no other could possibly say:

“I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live” (John 11:25).

Finally, the resurrection of Christ is a warning to the world of judgment to come:

“Because [God] hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom He hath ordained: whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead” (Acts 17:31).

“Now is the accepted time” (2 Cor. 6:2).

“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31).

When you sigh for heaven, remember:

“…Christ…loved the Church, and gave Himself for it…That He might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish” (Eph.5:25,26).

Too readily we forget that Christ loves us infinitely more than we love Him; that He paid the penalty for our sins on cruel Calvary and shed His life’s blood that one day He might have us for Himself to share His glory with Him forever.

Surely, then, He would rather have us at His side in heaven than here in this scene of sin and sorrow, and sickness and death. We should bear this in mind when we long that we might leave this world and go to be with Him.

But there is more: The Saviour, who was exiled from this earth, and is, even now, rejected by men, has not yet rejected them. Rather, He has left us here as His ambassadors on hostile territory, to plead with his enemies, praying them “in His stead” to be reconciled to God, assuring them that He has done all that is necessary to effect a reconciliation (IICor.5: 20,21).

And this is His attitude toward mankind now, though the prophetic Scriptures declare so emphatically that man’s rejection of Christ was to be — and will be — visited with the severest judgment (Psa.2:4-9; Acts 2:16-20).

But not yet! Though man had declared war on Christ (Acts 4:26,27), He did not yet make a counter-declaration, but interrupted the prophetic program to save Saul of Tarsus, the leader of the rebellion and sent him forth to usher in the present “dispensation of the grace of God” (Eph.3:1-3).

This is why, in His love and compassion, He leaves us here still to plead with His enemies: “Be ye reconciled to God”. And what about His special love for us? Entirely apart from rewards earned by service or suffering for Him, God will richly reward us (II Cor.4:17) just for being here as “ambassadors for Christ”.

Much is said of the “great commission” which our Lord gave to His apostles just before His ascension. We wonder whether our readers have ever examined the various records of this commission carefully.

This “great commission” does not say one word about “the preaching of the cross” or “the gospel of the grace of God”. The “gospel” which they were sent to preach was very evidently the same “gospel” they had been preaching — the Gospel of the Kingdom — only they could now declare, as Peter did at Pentecost, that the King had risen from the dead and would still some day occupy the throne of David.

The “great commission” demanded faith and baptism for the remission of sins (Mark 16:15,16); it included the power to heal the sick and work miracles (16:17,18), but it did not include the glad message that “Christ died for our sins” (1 Cor.15:1-3). At Pentecost, when Peter began to carry out this commission, he rather blamed his hearers for the death of Christ and when, convicted of their sins, they asked: “What shall we do?” he did not say: “Believe on Christ who died for your sins.” He rather commanded them to “repent and be baptized every one… for the remission of sins” (Acts 2:38).

But after Christ and His Kingdom were again rejected, God interrupted the prophetic program and sent Paul forth to proclaim “the preaching of the cross” and “the gospel of the grace of God”. In 2 Corinthians 5:14-21 this apostle proclaims “the love of Christ” who “died for all” and instructs us as to our “great commission”:

“And all things are of [provided by] God, who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, AND HATH GIVEN TO US THE MINISTRY OF RECONCILIATION;

“To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself… AND HATH COMMITTED UNTO US THE WORD OF RECONCILIATION” (2 Cor. 5:18,19).