“I Thought my Number was Up”

A young cadet came to me as a patient—one who had come over with the Canadian contingent. He was telling me about a battle he had been engaged in at the Front. He was in a wood, and the English batteries and the German batteries were both shelling the wood. A huge shell burst not far from him and made a vast hole in the ground. He thought no two shells fall in exactly the same place, so he crept into the cavity made by the shell and lay down. Shortly after another shell burst a few yards away and buried him almost completely. He said, “I thought my number was up.” He was dug out and after a while recovered. What he said about no two shells falling on the same spot made me think of another place of safety. The Cross of Calvary was the place where the fury of the wrath of God fell upon the head of the Sin-bearer-the Lamb of God. “He appeared once in the end of the age to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.” I am safe if I accept what Christ has done as meeting all my need. “I am crucified with Christ,” the apostle says, and “there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.” If I identify myself with what my Substitute did for me― “He loved me, and gave Himself for me”―I shall be safe from all the judgment that is coming upon this world. I can say, “Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Grace hath hid me safe in Thee.” There is shelter, there is safety in the Rock of Ages, and nowhere else.
“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.”