Morning & Evening Devotional Reading–

 January 16– Evening

by C. H. Spurgeon; revised and edited by W. C. Neff

“The Messiah shall be cut off, but not for himself.” 

—Daniel 9:26

There was nothing within Jesus himself that caused his death. Neither original sin nor actual sin had defiled him, and, therefore, death had no claim upon him. No man could have taken his life from him justly, for he had done no wrong.

In the death of Jesus, we see that one sins, but another suffers. Justice was offended by us but found its satisfaction in him. Jesus was cut off for us so that God’s wrath could be cut off from us, for, by his death, sin was put away forever. In the death of Christ, we find the wisdom of God whereby he designed substitution to be the sure and speedy way of securing our atonement! Here we find condescension, which brought the Messiah King to wear a crown of thorns and die upon a cross! Here we find love which led the Redeemer to lay down his life for his enemies!

It is not enough, however, to merely admire the spectacle of the innocent bleeding for the guilty, we must take a deep and personal interest in it. It is one thing to know that the Messiah’s death brought salvation to his church, but do we know personally that we are among those for whom he gave his life as a ransom? Did the Lord Jesus stand as our representative? Are we healed by his stripes? It will be a terrible thing indeed if we should come short of receiving personally from his sacrifice. It would be better for us that we had never been born.

As solemn as that question is, it is also joyful because it may be answered clearly and without mistake. To all who believe on him, the Lord Jesus is a present Savior, and upon them all the blood of reconciliation has been sprinkled. Let all who trust in the merit of the Messiah’s death be joyful at every remembrance of him, and let their holy gratitude lead them to the fullest consecration to his cause. [M&E]