2.03.19. The way and the fruits of redemption

XIX. THE WAY AND THE FRUITS OF REDEMPTION.

“But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation; that ye should show forth the praises of hun who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.” — 1 Peter 2:9.

E proceed now to trace in this scripture the steps by which this great end is attained. The goings of the Lord are glorious — the goings by which he achieves for himself his own peculiar possession. The steps as written here are three: “ A chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation.”

Father, Son, and Spirit appear working here. In that same eternal counsel where the constitution of man was determined, the redemption was provided too. There is more in the purpose of redemption than pity for the perishingIt is much to learn that God is merciful, and that the gift of Christ is the outcome and the evidence of his compassion. That is deep; but a deeper lies beneath it. It was good for the lost sheep that through the pity of the tender shepherd it was brought back to the fpld; but it was better for the owner that he got back his own. There are two revolutions of the earth, a less and a larger. It revolves round itself, and it revolves also round the sun. To revolve round its own axis is great, but to circulate round the central sun is inexpressibly greater. In some such manner and proportions seem related the two gains — the gain of the ransomed when he is saved from death, and the gain of the Redeemer when he wins his treasure.

1. “ A chosen generation,” or race. This is the beginning. The spring of all is in the Father’s purpose.

2. “A royal priesthood.” The Mediator’s hand is revealed here. This is the Daysman’s place. He makes them kings and priests unto God. They are accepted in the Beloved, and in his birthright they reign.

3. “ An holy nation.” This is the work of the Sanctifier. The baptism of the Spirit cleanses. This is “ the washing of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost.”

Chosen by the Father, this is the favoured race; ransomed by the Son, their guilt is taken away, and they are delivered from bondage; sanctified by the Spirit, they are meet for heaven. These three steps in the same order are exhibited in the Lord’s intercessory prayer (John 17:6), —

“Thine they were “ = a chosen generation.

“Thou gavest them me” = a royal priesthood.

“They have kept thy word “ = an holy nation.

I suppose Peter listened while the Master spoke that prayer aloud. It was there he found the germs of the grand theology which he teaches here. These Galileans were not original in their conceptions and dogmas. They teach us in their Epistles what they learned at the feet of Jesus. To what uses will he put his peculiar and cherished property, now that he has obtained it at a great price. His intention in that regard is written here at length, “ That ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.” This is the uniform testimony of Scripture. “ Arise, shine; for thy light is come.” “ Father, I am glorified in them.”

“ Epistles of Jesus Christ, known and read of all men.” That ye should show — should “ angel forth “ — his praise. Do it with your lips, where and when an opportunity may occur, as when the Lord directed the restored maniac to tell them of his own house what great things God had done for him. But in any case the delivered captives should in their lives be witnesses to the Lord that bought them. Israel, after the exodus, turned the great facts of their deliverance into psalms. So here, the experiences through which the saved are led are suggested as the material of their praise. He hath effectually called us out of darkness into his own marvellous light. Say this, and sing it too. They have been called out of darkness ere their mirth began: while they were in the darkness they did not sing about it. Before they heard his call they spake nothing in his praise: as long as they were deaf they were’ also dumb. They make a song about the darkness after they are in the light. Israel made psalms on Pharaoh and his warriors after they saw them sink as lead in the mighty waters.

Suppose a person has been born and has passed his life hitherto in the recesses of a mine. He may have heard companions telling of a glorious light in the heavens, and a lovely landscape spread out beneath it. Some dim conceptions the captive may have entertained of day, based on multiplying many times in conception the oil lamps that guided his steps in the narrow galleries. But when at last he is brought up “ out of darkness into light,” he learns the meaning of both. He sings now intelligently, for the first time, both of the darkness from which he has escaped, and of the light into which he has come. The redeemed of the Lord, when they are brought out of darkness, behold the Light of Life in the face of Jesus.

It is that light off the face of Jesus streaming down into their dungeon that drives the darkness away.