Gems from Spurgeon

Jesus Christ the High Priest, and he only, works the atonement. There are other priests; for “he hath made us priests and kings unto God.” Every Christian is a priest to offer sacrifice of prayer and praise unto God; but none save the High Priest must offer atonement.

The vail of the temple is rent by the atonement of Christ, and access to the throne is now ours. Precious throne of grace! I never should have had any right to come there if it had not been for the day of atonement: I never should have been able to come there if the throne had not been sprinkled with the blood.

By the death of Christ there was full, free, perfect remission for all those whose sins are laid upon his head.

Atonement and jubilee ought to go together. Have you ever had a jubilee, my friends, in your hearts? If you have not, I can tell you it is because you have not had a day of atonement.

God’s great day of atonement was appointed and predestinated by himself. Christ’s expiation occurred but once, and then not by any chance; God had settled it from before the foundation of the world; and at that hour when God had predestinated, on that very day that God had decreed, that Christ should die, was he led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers he was dumb.

We have a spotless High Priest; we have one who needed no washing, for he had no filth to wash away; we have one who needed no atonement for himself, for he for ever might have sat down at the right hand of God, and ne’er have come on earth at all. He was pure and spotless; he needed no incense to wave before the mercy seat to hide the angry face of justice.

Those drops of atoning blood have put fair colours upon all creation, even as the sunrise paints the earth, which else had been one huge blot of darkness.

When we consider the atonement, we should rest, and “do no work at all.” Best from your works, as God did from his on the great Sabbath of the world; rest from your own righteousness; rest from your toilsome duties; rest in him.

The bath of his blood is your only washing; the stream of water from his side is your perfect purification. None but Jesus, none but Jesus, has wrought out the work of our salvation.

As the blood of the goat made the atonement typically, so, Christian, thy Saviour dying for thee made the great atonement for thy sins, and thou mayest go free.

O my soul, adore thy Jesus, who, when he made atonement, humbled himself, and wrapped around him a garb of thy inferior clay. Adore him, for on that day it was the simple clean linen of his own body, of his own humanity, in which fie made atonement for your sins.

O child of God, thy Saviour’s blood has made atonement within the vail; he has taken it there himself; his own merits and his own agonies are now within the vail of glory, sprinkled now before the throne. glorious sacrifice, as well as High Priest, we would adore thee, for by thy one offering thou hast made atonement for ever.

The Bible is the stone that shall break in powder philosophy; this is the mighty battering ram that shall dash all systems of philosophy in pieces; this is a stone that a woman may yet hurl upon the head of every Abimelech, and he shall be utterly destroyed.

O Book of books! And wast thou written by my God? Then will I bow before thee. Thou book of vast authority, thou art a proclamation from the Emperor of Heaven; far be it from me to exercise my reason in contradicting thee. Reason! thy place is to stand and find out what this volume means, not to tell what this book ought to say. Come thou, my reason, my intellect, sit thou down and listen; for these words are the words of God.

This is the Word of God; come, search, ye critics, and find a flaw; examine it, from its Genesis to its Revelation, and find an error. This is a vein of pure gold, unalloyed by quartz, or any earthy substance. This is a star without a speck; a sun without a blot; a light without darkness; a moon without its paleness; a glory without a dimness.

Here, from this fountain, gushes aqua vvtm y — “the water of life,” without a single particle of earth; here, from this sun, there come forth rays of radiance, without the mixture of darkness. Blessed Bible! thou art all truth.

Let no one turn away from the Bible because it is not a book of learning and wisdom. It is. Would ye know astronomy? It is here: it tells you of the Sun of Righteousness and the Star of Bethlehem. Would you know botany? It is here: it tells you of the Plant of Renown, the Lily of the Valley, and the Rose of Sharon. Would you know geology and mineralogy? You shall learn it here: for you may read of the Rock of Ages, and the White Stone with a name graven thereon, which no man knoweth, saving he that receiveth it.

This volume is the writing of the living God: each letter was penned with an Almighty finger; each word in it dropped from the everlasting lips; each sentence was dictated by the Holy Spirit. Albeit that Moses was employed to write his histories with his fiery pen, God guided that pen. It may be that David touched his harp and let sweet psalms of melody drop from his fingers, but God moved his hands over the living strings of his golden harp.

The Bible is a book of authority; it is an authorised book, for God has written it. Oh, tremble, tremble, lest any of you despise it; mark its authority, for it is the Word of God.

The Bible is God’s Bible; and when I see it I seem to hear a voice springing up from it, saying,” I am the book of God: man, read me. I am God’s writing; open my leaf, for I was penned by God; read it, for he is my author, and you will see him visible and manifest everywhere.

This is no common book; it is God’s handwriting; these words are God’s. Let me look at its date; it is dated from the hills of heaven. Let me look at its letters; they flash glory on my eye. Let me read the chapters: they are big with meaning and mysteries unknown. Let me turn over the prophecies; they are pregnant with unthought-of wonders.

Strange that there should be men so vile as to use the pen-knife of Jehoiakim, to cut out passages of the Word, because they are unpalatable. ye who dislike certain portions of Holy Writ, rest assured that your taste is corrupt, and that God will not stay for your little opinion.

The world likes a religion they cannot comprehend! But have you never noticed how gloriously simple the Bible is?

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