Reader, it is a similitude not at all unlike the man in an unregenerate, unconverted condition. For if your sins are not blotted out by the hand of God, a sentence has already gone forth for your blood, and the purposes of God will never be disappointed. For the criminal described above there is no hope. Yes, reader, Jesus Christ interposed his breast in-between the condemned and the arrows of God's almighty wrath, and drank up the cup of sufferings appointed to that number of souls for the crimes which they had committed, and for the character of heart that wished to commit them. Just as if a man had stepped in between the.cgicutioner and the criminal, and had opened thus his breast to receive the judgment of another to work his salvation, so did Jesus Christ, the historical man, answer before the tribunal of God for the sins of all that will believe in Him.
Scripture constantly affirms that it is even so.
Were they the most wretched and vile profligates on the earth, Here is a way of salvation for them, because the way is not of them, but of God, who here proclaims satisfaction in His own work on behalf of their need. That is why Jesus called men to believe on Him. Because it is by faith in His person that men are saved from condemnation. The point is this. This witness is true.