31 Meditations for Advent and Christmas
"The King Who is to come; O come let us adore Him."
23rd Day: OUR KING AS OUR REDEEMER
"The King Who is to come; O come let us adore Him."
23rd Day: OUR KING AS OUR REDEEMER
All mankind was, in consequence of its loss of
the gift of original justice at the Fall, handed over
to the chief enemy of our King, who thus became
the prince of the power of this world, and had a
sort of dominion over all its inhabitants. From
this slavery to Satan, our King in His great mercy
determined to redeem us, that we might belong
to Him, and not to Satan. How did He effect this?
He brought us back from the servitude we had incurred by paying the price in His own precious blood. He shed the last drop of it upon the Cross in payment; and this was but the final consummation of a life of poverty and hardship and contempt, all of which was a part of our ransom. To all this He added all the sufferings of mind and of body which preceded His Crucifixion. All this our King paid for us, and paid with a generous forgetfulness of self, which marks His excess of love for us.
Why did He do this when He might have found ten thousand ways of redeeming us without this sacrifice of Himself? It was because He knew that this was, or ought to be, the most effective way of winning our love, of making us hate sin, of keeping us faithful to God. He hoped that, if naught else would move our hearts, at least the sufferings of our King might put us to shame, and convince us of His love.
It is the nature of man to value everything partly according to the price paid for it, partly according to the dignity of the giver, partly according to the value of the thing in itself. What, then, must be the infinite value we ought to attach to that precious blood of our King with which we were redeemed?
He brought us back from the servitude we had incurred by paying the price in His own precious blood. He shed the last drop of it upon the Cross in payment; and this was but the final consummation of a life of poverty and hardship and contempt, all of which was a part of our ransom. To all this He added all the sufferings of mind and of body which preceded His Crucifixion. All this our King paid for us, and paid with a generous forgetfulness of self, which marks His excess of love for us.
Why did He do this when He might have found ten thousand ways of redeeming us without this sacrifice of Himself? It was because He knew that this was, or ought to be, the most effective way of winning our love, of making us hate sin, of keeping us faithful to God. He hoped that, if naught else would move our hearts, at least the sufferings of our King might put us to shame, and convince us of His love.
It is the nature of man to value everything partly according to the price paid for it, partly according to the dignity of the giver, partly according to the value of the thing in itself. What, then, must be the infinite value we ought to attach to that precious blood of our King with which we were redeemed?