A Gospel Picture

Is not this a picture of the gospel? A picture of what the Saviour has done for every repentant soul? I think I see Him as he brings the needy, penitent sinner into the presence of God, and says, “My Father, he has wronged Thee, he owes Thee much, but all has been charged to My account. Let him go free.” How could the Father turn aside the prayer of His Son after that death of shame and sorrow on Calvary’s cross, when He took our blame upon Himself and suffered in our stead?
But now observe it is not only that Paul offered to become Onesimus’ surety, it was not merely that he offered to settle everything for Onesimus in regard to the past, but he prided for his future too. He says to Philemon: “If thou count me therefore a partner, receive him as myself.”
Is not that another aspect of our salvation? We are “accepted in the beloved.” The blessed Saviour brings the redeemed one into the presence of the Father, and says, “My Father, if thou countest Me the partner of Thy throne, receive him as Myself.” Paul says, “Not now as a servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved, specially to me, but how much more unto thee, both in the flesh, and in the Lord?” He is to take the place, not of a bondsman, but of an honored member of the family and a brother in Christ. Think of it — once a poor, thieving, runaway slave, and now a recognized servant of Christ, made welcome for Paul’s sake. Thus our Father saves the lawless, guilty sinner, and makes him welcome for Jesus’ sake, treating him as He treats His own beloved Son.
“Jesus paid it all,
All to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain:
He washed it white as snow.”
And now every redeemed one is “in Christ before God — yea, made the righteousness of God in him.” Oh, wondrous love! Justice is satisfied. What a picture we have here then of substitution and acceptance. The apostle Paul epitomized it all for us: “Who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification” (Rom. 4:25).
We are accepted in the Beloved. The Lord Jesus became our Surety, settled for all our past, and has provided for all our future. In the book of Proverbs (11:15), there is a very striking statement, “He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it; and he that hateth suretiship is sure.” These words were written centuries before the Cross, to warn men of what is still a very common ground for failure and ruin in business life. To go surety for a stranger is a very dangerous thing, as thousands have learned to their sorrow. It is poor policy to take such a risk unless you are prepared to lose.
But there was One who knew to the full what all the consequences of His act would be, and yet, in grace, deigned to become “Surety for a stranger.” Meditate upon these wonderful words: “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich” (2 Cor. 8:9). He was the stranger’s Surety.
A surety is one who stands good for another. Many a man will do this for a friend, long known and trusted; but no wise man will so act for a stranger, unless he is prepared to lose. But it was when we were strangers and foreigners and enemies, and alienated in our minds by wicked works, that Jesus in grace became our Surety. “Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.”
All we owed was exacted from Him when He suffered upon the tree for sins, not His own. He could then say, “I restored that which I took not away” (Psa. 69:4). Bishop Lowth’s beautiful rendering of Isaiah 53:7 reads: “It was exacted and He became answerable.” This is the very essence of the Gospel message. He died in my place; He paid my debt.
How fully He proved the truth of the words quoted from Proverbs, when He suffered on that cross of shame! How He had to “smart for it” when God’s awful judgment against sin fell upon Him. But He wavered not! In love to God and to the strangers whose Surety He had become, “He endured the cross, despising the shame.”
His sorrows are now forever past. He has paid the debt, met every claim in perfect righteousness. The believing sinner is cleared of every charge, and God is fully glorified.
“He bore on the tree
The sentence for me,
And now both the Surety
And sinner are free.”
None other could have met the claims of God’s holiness against the sinner and have come out triumphant at last. He alone could atone for sin. Because He has settled every claim, God has raised Him from the dead, and seated Him at His own right hand in highest glory.
Have you trusted “the stranger’s Surety”? If not, turn to Him now while grace is free.