《静夜亮光》七月六日

七月六日[mp3_embed playlst=”/downloading/audio/evening/07/0706.mp3″]
经文: 我的罪孽和罪过有多少呢?(约伯记十三:23)

你曾否想过百姓的罪孽有多么重呢?请想想你自己过犯的严重性。即使上帝儿女中最圣洁的,在生活中也有多少罪过啊!将每个人的罪乘以蒙救的人数,“有许多的人,没有人能数过来”(启七:9),你就可以对那么多人、那么大的罪有一些概念,而耶稣就是为这么重的罪流出了祂的宝血。这么一来我们对如此多的罪所需付出的伟大救赎就有较正确的观念了。那是上帝唯一,也是最爱的儿子,那稣基督的宝血!祂是上帝的儿子,天使将祂的冠冕掷在祂脚前面!天上所有的合唱交响乐音环绕着祂荣耀的宝座。祂是“在万有之上,永远可称颂的上帝,阿门。”(罗九:5)然而,祂却成为仆人的样式,被鞭打、被刺伤,被压碎、被撕裂,最后被钉在十字架上。除了上帝儿子道成肉身的宝血以外,别无他物可以赦免我们的过犯。人的头脑无法估量这种神圣牺牲的无限价值。上帝百姓的罪恶是如此重大,要除去这些罪的赎价更是无法测量。因此,罪虽如洪水汹涌,回忆过去是痛苦的,但是信徒能站在伟大圣洁上帝的发光宝座前,大声说:“谁能定他们的罪呢?有基督耶稣已经死了,而且从死里复活”(罗八:34)。虽然回顾他的罪使他充满羞耻和悔恨,但他却可以此来表明上帝怜恤之伟大。罪如黑夜,但是神圣之爱的明亮晨星在其中散发着安祥的光辉。

Evening, July 6
Scripture: “How many are mine iniquities and sins?”(Job 13:23)

Have you ever really weighed and considered how great the sin of God’s people is? Think how heinous is your own transgression, and you will find that not only does a sin here and there tower up like an alp, but that your iniquities are heaped upon each other, as in the old fable of the giants who piled Pelian upon Ossa, mountain upon mountain. What an aggregate of sin there is in the life of one of the most sanctified of God’s children! Attempt to multiply this, the sin of one only, by the multitude of the redeemed, “a number which no man can number,” and you will have some conception of the great mass of the guilt of the people for whom Jesus shed his blood. But we arrive at a more adequate idea of the magnitude of sin by the greatness of the remedy provided. It is the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s only and well-beloved Son. God’s Son! Angels cast their crowns before him! All the choral symphonies of heaven surround his glorious throne. “God over all, blessed for ever. Amen.” And yet he takes upon himself the form of a servant, and is scourged and pierced, bruised and torn, and at last slain; since nothing but the blood of the incarnate Son of God could make atonement for our offences. No human mind can adequately estimate the infinite value of the divine sacrifice, for great as is the sin of God’s people, the atonement which takes it away is immeasurably greater. Therefore, the believer, even when sin rolls like a black flood, and the remembrance of the past is bitter, can yet stand before the blazing throne of the great and holy God, and cry, “Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died; yea rather, that hath risen again.” While the recollection of his sin fills him with shame and sorrow, he at the same time makes it a foil to show the brightness of mercy-guilt is the dark night in which the fair star of divine love shines with serene splendour.