Heavenly Springs

Holding Fast The Doctrines of Grace

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This is grace!

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The Father:

My son, here is a company of poor miserable souls, that have utterly undone themselves, and now lie open to my justice!

Justice demands satisfaction for them, or will satisfy itself in the eternal ruin of them: What shall be done for these souls?

And thus Christ returns.

The Son:

O my Father, such is my love to, and pity for them, that rather than they shall perish eternally, I will be responsible for them as their Surety; bring in all thy bills, that I may see what they owe thee; Lord, bring them all in, that there may be no after-reckonings with them; at my hand shalt thou require it.

I will rather choose to suffer thy wrath than they should suffer it: upon me, my Father, upon me be all their debt.

The Father:

But, my Son, if thou undertake for them, thou must reckon to pay the last mite, expect no abatements; if I spare them, I will not spare thee.

The Son:

Content, Father, let it be so; charge it all upon me, I am able to discharge it: and though it prove a kind of undoing to me, though it impoverish all my riches, empty all my treasures, (for so indeed it did, 2 Cor. 8: 9. “Though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor”) yet I am content to undertake it.

John Flavel, The Fathers Bargain

“Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” Romans 11:33

HT: John Flavel Quotes

Comments

  1. What a beautiful post….what a reminder of the cost that Jesus undertook for our salvation. It is good to dwell on such rich words and think about what God did for us through His Son our Lord. Christina…thank you for sharing such rich food for thought. Blessings my friend.

  4. “I will be responsible for them as their Surety”

    What costly, precious grace! Thanks for sharing this, Christina.

  5. You’re right, this is grace. It’s astounding, amazing, unthinkable beautiful grace. Thank you for sharing! Love you!

  6. Such unspeakable grace, Christina! Thank you for the sobering reminder.

    I thank God upon my every remembrance of you, my friend. Love you!

  9. I think I tend to agree with John here, in that I think this could be tweaked a bit to show that “the action of Christ on the cross has its primary source in the will and initiative of the Father. Where that is obscured, as in some theories of atonement traditionally most valued in evangelical circles, there can be disaster both at the doctrinal and the pastoral level” – this is a quote from Thomas Smail who wrote a book called The Forgotten Father. Smail goes on to say “This can lead to the kind of attitude which sets the tender love of Jesus who dies for us over and against the stern judgement of the Father who requires that death. The theological consequence of such a view is to throw the unity of Father and Son in character, will and action into jeopardy, the pastoral consequence is to attack our confidence in the Father’s own love for us at its heart.”

    I only mention this because I’ve had a bit of a struggle to accept my Heavenly Father’s love, and it was only when I came to terms with the fact that it was His initiative in giving up Christ for us that it slotted into place for me.

    I am likewise sure that this is what Flavel believes, and I entirely see the point he is making here, and it’s probably not meant to be a complete picture of all that was going on! And probably if I read the whole book that would become apparent too!

    Love you Christina!