REFLECTIONS

Discouragement to Righteousness is from Satan

“1. If Satan tempts the people of God, that he may discourage them, then they have no reason to be discouraged because they are tempted by Satan. I say, if Satan’s great design, end and aim, in all temptations of the saints, be to discourage them, then they have no  reason to be discouraged because they are tempted, for then they would gratify Satan and fulfill his purpose. Now Satan does tempt that he may tempt; he tempts unto one sin, that he may tempt unto another. He tempts a man to sin against the law, that he may make him sin against the gospel. And what greater sin against the gospel than unbelieving discouragements? He knows or thinks that such and such a person is gone from his kingdom, and he says, Though I cannot hinder his salvation, for he will be saved do what I can, yet I will hinder his comfort and make him go heavily, and if I can but discourage him in his duty, I shall in time cause him to cast it off. His great design is to discourage; and therefore, whenever any godly man is tempted, he should say, well, seeing Satan’s design is to discourage, through the grace of Christ my design shall be to bear up my heart and spirit against all discouragements.”

-William Bridge from A Lifting up for the Downcast  1649  Republished by the Banner of Truth Trust Carlisle  PA  1995  Pp. 154-155.

REFLECTIONS

Payment in Blood

"A worn-out purple robe, once garment of the leader of a Roman cohort, is produced. This is thrown over His back still bleeding from every pore, while the barbarians exult aloud at this supposed witty and appropriate idea. They then break off twigs from a long-spiked thorn-bush, and twist them into a circle, which is afterwards pressed upon His sacred head as a crown. But in order to complete the image of a mock king, they put into His hands a reed instead of a scepter, and after having thus arrayed Him, they pay mock homage to Him with shouts of derisive laughter. The miscreants bow with pretended reverence to the object of their scorn, bend the knee before Him, and to make the mockery complete, cry out again and again, 'Hail, King of the Jews!' It is not long, however, before they are weary of this abominable sport and turn it into fearful seriousness. With satanic insolence, they place themselves before their ill-treated captive, make the most horrible grimaces at Him, even spit in His face, and in order to fill up the measure of their cruelty, they snatch the reed out of His hands and repeatedly smite Him with it on the head, so that the thorns pierce deeply while streams of blood flow down the face of the gracious Friend of sinners.

How can we reconcile such revolting occurrences with the government of a just and holy God! A great mystery must lie at the bottom of them, or our belief in a supreme moral government of the world loses its last support. And is not this really the case? What befalls Christ befalls us in Him, who is our representative. The sufferings He endures fall upon our corrupt nature. In Him we receive the due of our misdeeds. With the shudder at the sight of the martyred Lamb of God, ought to be joined adoration of the unsearchable wisdom and mercy of God and the glorious accomplishment of the counsel of grace. Our hell is extinguished in Jesus' wounds; our curse is consumed in Jesus' soul; our guilt is purged away in Jesus' blood. The sword of the wrath of a holy God was necessarily unsheathed against us; and if the Bible is not a falsehood, and the threatening of the law a mere delusion, and God's justice an idle fancy, not a single individual would have escaped the sword, if the Son of God had not endured the stroke and taken upon Himself the payment of our debts."

-From The Suffering Saviour by F. W. Krummacher  First English Edition 1856  Published by The Banner of Truth Trust  2004  Carlisle, PA.