Spurgeon: Stand Before the Blazing Throne

In Proverbs 1, the voice of Wisdom cries out:

“…whoever listens to me will dwell safely,
And will be secure, without fear of evil.”
(Proverbs 1:33)

On this verse, Charles Spurgeon writes:

Attempt to multiply [your own heinous sin] 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 offenses.

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 who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen” (Romans 8:34).

While the recollection of his sin fills him with shame and sorrow, he at the same time makes it a foil to show that even the brightness of mercy-guilt is a dark night in which the fair star of divine love shines with serene splendour.

Adapted from Charles Spurgeon’s daily devotional Morning and Evening, a best-selling devotional since the 1800s. Read free at Blue Letter Bible.