The first thing that the Bible plainly teaches on this question is
_the absolute necessity and fundamental importance of the death of
Jesus Christ, the absolute necessity and fundamental importance of the
shedding of His blood_. The tendency of our day in Unitarian circles,
and in orthodox circles that have been leavened by the corrupting
leaven of Unitarianism, is to minimise the importance of the death of
our Lord Jesus Christ. The tendency is to make His life and character,
His teaching and leadership, the main thing. Christian Science even
goes so far as to deny the fact of His death. To them His supposed
death is "an illusion," it is "only mortal thought," but the Bible puts
the emphasis upon His atoning death.
1. _The death of Jesus Christ is mentioned directly more than 175 times
in the New Testament. Besides this there are very many prophetic and
typical references to the death of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament._
When Mr. Alexander and I were holding our meetings in the Royal Albert
Hall in London, some one took away one of our hymn books and went
through it and cut out every reference to the blood, and then sent it
back to me through the mail, saying, "I have gone through your hymn
book and cut out every reference to the blood. These references to the
blood are foolish. Now sing your hymns with the blood left out and
there will be some sense in them." If any of you should take your Bible
and go through it in that way and cut out of the New Testament and the
Old Testament every passage that referred to the death of Christ, or
to His atoning blood, you would have only a sadly torn and tattered
Bible left, a Bible without a heart and a Gospel without saving power.
If I were a member of a church where the pastor said that he preached
a system of "religious doctrine, without a devil, without a hell,
_without an atonement of blood_ and recompense, without an infallible
Bible," to use his own language, he would see his audience "melting
away like snow in the rain" as far as I was concerned. I would either
take my hat and get out of that church, or else the pastor would take
his hat and get out of the pulpit; for I should know that he was
not preaching God's pure, saving gospel, but the Devil's poisonous
substitute for the gospel.
2. Not only are the references to the death of Christ so numerous
in Old Testament and New Testament, but we are taught distinctly in
Hebrews 2:14 that _Jesus Christ became a man for the specific purpose
of dying_, that He became a partaker of flesh and blood _in order that
He might die_. In this passage we read, +"For as much as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of
the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power
of death, that is the Devil"+ (Heb. 2:14). The meaning of these
words is as plain as day. They tell us that the incarnation was for the
purpose of the death. They tell us that Jesus Christ's death was not
a mere accident or incident of His human life (as many would have us
believe), but that _it was the supreme purpose of it_. He became man
_in order that He might die_ as man and for man. This is the doctrine
of the Bible, and it is true for anybody and for everybody.
3. Furthermore, _He died_ for a specific purpose, _as a ransom for us_.
He Himself said so. In Matt. 20:28 He says, +"The Son of man came not
to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom
for many."+
4. One of the most remarkable scenes recorded in the New Testament is
that of the transfiguration, when Moses and Elijah came back from the
other world to commune with Jesus. And what did they talk about in that
great moment of human history? Luke tells us in the 9th chapter of his
Gospel, the 30th and 31st verses, +"And behold, there talked with
Him+ (i.e., with Jesus) +two men, which were Moses and Elijah:
who appeared in glory, and spake of His decease which He was about to
accomplish at Jerusalem."+ His atoning death was the one subject
that engrossed the attention of these two who came back from the glory
world. We are also told in I Peter 1:10-12 that _the death of Jesus
Christ_ is a subject of intensest interest and earnest inquiry on the
part of the angels.
5. _The death of Christ is the central theme of heaven's song._ Rev.
5:8-12 gives us a picture of heaven with its wonderful choir of ten
thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands, and this is
the description of the song they sing: +"And when he had taken the
book, the four living creatures and the four and twenty elders fell
down before the Lamb, having each one a harp, and golden bowls full of
incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sing a new song,
saying, Worthy art thou to take the book and to open the seals thereof:
for thou wast slain, and didst purchase unto God with thy blood men of
every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation, and madest them to
be unto our God a kingdom and priests; and they reign upon the earth.
And I saw, and I heard a voice of many angels round about the throne
and the living creatures and elders; and the number of them was ten
thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; saying with a
great voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive the power,
and riches, and wisdom, and might, and honour, and glory, and blessing.
And every created thing which is in the heaven, and on the earth, and
under the earth, and on the sea, and all things that are in them, heard
I saying, Unto him that sitteth on the throne, and unto the Lamb, be
the blessing, and the honour, and the glory, and the dominion, for ever
and ever"+ (Rev. 5:8-12). So it is evident that the great central
theme of heaven's song is the atoning death of Jesus Christ, and the
shed "_blood_" by which He redeemed "men of every tribe, and tongue,
and nation." If the Unitarian or the Christian Scientist or the New
Theologian should get to heaven they would have no song to sing. The
glorious song of that wondrous choir would sound to him like a song "of
the shambles." He would be very lonesome and feel that he had got into
the wrong pew.