Love Lustres at Calvary

A prayer from the Valley of Vision:

MY FATHER,
Enlarge my heart, warm my affections, open my lips,
supply words that proclaim ‘Love lustres at Calvary.’

There grace removes my burdens and heaps them on thy Son,
made a transgressor, a curse, and sin for me;

There the sword of thy justice smote the man, thy fellow;

There thy infinite attributes were magnified,
and infinite atonement was made;

There infinite punishment was due,
and infinite punishment was endured.

Christ was all anguish that I might be all joy,
cast off that I might be brought in,
trodden down as an enemy
that I might be welcomed as a friend,
surrendered to hell’s worst
that I might attain heaven’s best,
stripped that I might be clothed,
wounded that I might be healed,
athirst that I might drink,
tormented that I might be comforted,
made a shame that I might inherit glory,
entered darkness that I might have eternal light.

My Saviour wept that all tears might be wiped from my eyes,
groaned that I might have endless song,
endured all pain that I might have unfading health,
bore a thorny crown that I might have a glory-diadem,
bowed his head that I might uplift mine,
experienced reproach that I might receive welcome,
closed his eyes in death that I might gaze on unclouded brightness,
expired that I might for ever live.

O Father, who spared not thine only Son that thou mightest spare me,
All this transfer thy love designed and accomplished;
Help me to adore thee by lips and life.

O that my every breath might be ecstatic praise,
my every step buoyant with delight, as I see my enemies crushed,
Satan baffled, defeated, destroyed,
sin buried in the ocean of reconciling blood,
hell’s gates closed, heaven’s portal open.

Go forth, O conquering God, and show me the cross, mighty to subdue, comfort and save.

The Valley Of Vision (Carlisle: Banner Of Truth, 2007), 42.

The Supremacy Of Christ In And Over All Things!

Pastor John Piper said:

If there is anything admirable, if there is anything worthy of praise in all the universe, it is summed up in Jesus Christ. He is always infinitely admirable in everything and over everything supreme.

He is sovereign and supreme over all plants and animals;

He is supreme over all weather; all chemical processes and all the amazing grace of antibiotics;

He is supreme over all countries and governments and armies;

He is supreme over all nuclear threats; He is supreme over politics;

He is supreme over all education and universities, no matter what they teach;

And He is supreme over all scholarship and science and research;

He is supreme over all business and finance and industry and manufacturing and transportation;

And He is supreme over the internet and all informational systems.

As Abraham Kuyper famously said, "there is not one square inch on planet earth over which the risen Christ does not say Mine!"

The Centrality Of Christ Crucified

John Stott writes:

He [Paul] found no anomaly in defining his gospel as "the message of the cross," his ministry as "we preach Christ crucified," baptism as initiation "into his death" and the Lord's Supper as a proclamation of the Lord's death. He boldly declared that, though the cross seemed either foolishness or a "stumbling block" to the self-confident, it was in fact the very essence of God’s wisdom and power (1 Cor. 1:18-25; Rom. 6:3; 1 Cor. 11:26). So convinced was he of this that he had deliberately resolved, he told the Corinthians, to renounce worldly wisdom and instead to know nothing among them "except Jesus Christ and him crucified" (1 Cor. 2:1-2). When later in the same letter he wished to remind them of his gospel, which he had himself received and had handed on to them, which had become the foundation on which they were standing and the good news by which they were being saved, what was "of first importance" (he said) was "that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared . . ." (1 Cor. 15:1-5). And when a few years later he developed this outline into the full gospel manifesto that is his letter to the Romans, his emphasis is even more strongly on the cross. For having proved all humankind sinful and guilty before God, he explains that God's righteous way of putting the unrighteous right with himself operates "through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus," whom "God presented as a sacrifice of atonement [propitiation], through faith in his blood" (Rom. 3:21-25). Consequently, we are "justified by his blood" and "reconciled to God through the death of his Son" (Rom. 5:9-10). Without Christ's sacrificial death for us salvation would have been impossible. No wonder Paul boasted in nothing except the cross (Gal. 6:14).

John Stott, The Cross Of Christ (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1986), 35-36.