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There has been an attack on the incorruptible Blood of Christ in our day. But I want you to know that the vast majority of preachers and commentators across the centuries did not agree with these modern critics. Tonight I want us to examine what three great preachers believed about Christ's Blood.

I. First, James A. Haldane.

James A. Haldane (1768-1851) was a great Scottish Baptist preacher who pastored in Edinburgh from 1801 until his death in 1851. Haldane was educated at Edinburgh University. He and his brother Robert, convinced of believer's baptism, became Baptist preachers. James went on to become a Bible commentator, evangelist and pastor. C. H. Spurgeon, in Commenting on Commentaries, recommended Haldane's Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews. Spurgeon said he "most heartily recommended" Haldane's commentary.

In his comments on Hebrews 9:25 Haldane said,

Our great High Priest had no sin, but has entered into heaven itself with his own blood shed for the remission of the sins of the people (James A. Haldane, An Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews, Particular Baptist Press, 2002 reprint of the 1860 commentary, p. 257).

Again, Haldane said, "He has entered heaven with His own blood" (ibid., p. 262). That shows us what this staunch, well educated Baptist commentator believed in the early nineteenth century.

James Haldane, like his brother Robert, was not only a Bible commentator and pastor, he was also an evangelist. "It was said that no other since the time of Whitefield had been so used of God in the conversion of sinners" (J. D. Douglas in Who's Who in Christian History, Tyndale House Publishers, 1992, p. 299).

James Haldane and his brother Robert became powerful evangelists. The two brothers always worked closely together. Robert inherited a large estate, which he sold, using the money for various evangelistic enterprises. He built a number of churches in Scotland, including the church where his brother James preached for fifty years. Robert also built a seminary and educated over 300 young men for the ministry. He also organized a theological school in Paris.

The preaching of Robert and James Haldane was strongly evangelistic and was attended by genuine revival. The sermons of the Haldane brothers were simple and direct, and moved the hearts of all kinds of people. Robert Haldane wrote Evidences and Authority of Divine Revelation (1816) and A Commentary on the Book of Romans (1834). James Haldane is best remembered for his Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews.

Knowing of the revival that attended the preaching of the Haldane brothers, it is not surprising that they emphasized the Blood of Christ, or that James should have said in his commentary on Hebrews, "He has entered heaven with his own blood" (ibid., page 262).

II. Second, Dr. R. A. Torrey.

Dr. Torrey (1856-1928) graduated from Yale University and Yale Divinity School. He then studied at the Universities of Leipzig and Erlangen, Germany. After a struggle with liberalism, he became a strong advocate of conservative, Biblical evangelism. In 1889 D. L. Moody called Torrey to head the Moody Bible Institute (then called the Chicago Evangelization Society). From 1894 to 1906 he also served as pastor of Chicago's Moody Memorial Church. From 1902 to 1906 he preached world-wide evangelistic campaigns in Australia, New Zealand, India, China, Japan, Germany, Great Britain, Canada, the United States, and elsewhere.

Torrey became the head of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles (Biola) in 1912. He remained at Biola until 1924. During that time he was also the pastor of the Church of the Open Door, at 550 South Hope Street, which was long located seven blocks north of our church, here in the civic center of Los Angeles.

Dr. Torrey wrote forty books. He was strongly opposed to theological liberalism. He was a major contributor to, and complier of, a series of influential books called, The Fundamentals. The word "fundamentalist" was derived from these famous books. Dr. Torrey contributed the following chapters to those books: "The Personality and Deity of the Holy Spirit," "The Certainty and Importance of the Bodily Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the Dead," and "The Place of Prayer in Evangelism." R. A. Torrey made a strong impression on Dr. John R. Rice through his books and sermons. He is probably best remembered today for his little book, How to Pray (Moody Press).

In his book, What the Bible Teaches (Fleming H. Revell), Dr. Torrey made a strong statement on Hebrews 9:21-24,

Heaven itself must be sprinkled with blood to be fitted to be the abode of blood-sprinkled sinners…Jesus Christ ascended and entered heaven, now to appear before the face of God for us - i.e., to act as high priest on our behalf; to present the blood of atonement and make intercession for us. This is illustrated by the Old Testament high priest who was only the type of Him that was to come (ibid., pp. 189-190).

Thus, we must add the name of Dr. R. A. Torrey to our list of men across the centuries who believed that Jesus' Blood is in Heaven. Let us stand and sing the first stanza of "There Is a Fountain Filled With Blood."

There is a fountain filled with blood, Drawn from Emmanuel's veins,
And sinners plunged beneath that flood, Lose all their guilty stains,
Lose all their guilty stains, Lose all their guilty stains,
And sinners plunged beneath that flood, Lose all their guilty stains.
   ("There Is a Fountain Filled With Blood" by William Cowper, 1731-1800).

III. Third, Dr. W. A. Criswell.

Dr. W. A. Criswell was born in 1909 and died in 2002. He began preaching at the age of seventeen. Criswell became the pastor of the great First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas in 1944, succeeding the late George W. Truett. He pastored there for more than fifty years. A graduate of Baylor University and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, Dr. Criswell was an expert in New Testament Greek. He led First Baptist, Dallas to a membership of over 20,000 people. Dr. Criswell served two terms as president of the Southern Baptist Convention. He was the author of thirty books, including the landmark volume, Why I Preach that the Bible is Literally True (Broadman Press, 1969).

I am quoting several paragraphs from Dr. Criswell's sermon, "The Blood of the New Testament," preached at his church in Dallas on Sunday night (note that he preached on Sunday nights!), November 29, 1959. I am not giving the whole sermon, but just several quotations. The entire sermon is printed at the end of this message, and you can read it on our website. His text was Hebrews 9:7-15. Dr. Criswell said,

"Now the author [of Hebrews] speaks of the great purpose of Christ in His entrance into the veil and offering His blood as an atonement for our souls. And the first reason the author says for the entrance of Christ and the spilling of the blood upon the mercy-seat of heaven is this: almost all things are by the law purged with blood."

"And he said that the heavenly sanctuary has to be sprinkled with, has to be purged with, the blood of the Son of God Himself."

"And, the author [of Hebrews] says: lest heaven be defiled by our entrance into the glory of glories, our Lord hath entered in before us and has sprinkled the blood of atonement in the sanctuary of heaven so that when sinner men come and sinner women come, there is already an expiation made for the wrongs and the sins of our lives… The purpose of our Lord sprinkling the Holy of Holies of the sanctuary in glory with blood of expiation was that we might not defile it."

"Nobody saw it: when Aaron went into the Holy of Holies, no man was in the tabernacle…It was…something between Jesus and God alone. The new covenant is not between God and us: "You do this, and you be that…" That's the old covenant. But the new covenant is between God and Christ. He offered Himself, and to those who will just trust in Him, God said: "For Jesus' sake, for the blood's sake, I will wash you clean, stainless and pure.'"

That is the old-time gospel of James A. Haldane, Dr. R. A. Torrey, and Dr. W. A. Criswell! That is the gospel of a Bloody sacrifice, eternal in Heaven! Modern man, with his sophistry and pride, thinks that he can intellectualize the gospel, dissect it, parse it, and try to fully comprehend it. But that is rationalism - not the old-time religion. I don't want rationalism. I want Blood - even the Blood of Christ Jesus!

"Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood" (Revelation 1:5).

Let us stand and sing the chorus of "There is Power in the Blood."

There is power, power, wonder working power
In the blood of the Lamb;
There is power, power, wonder working power
In the precious blood of the Lamb.
   ("There is Power in the Blood" by Lewis E. Jones, 1899).

You may be seated.  

If you are not saved, come to Christ by faith. You will find that there is still "power in the blood" to cancel and cleanse every sin you have committed!  There is forgiveness and cleansing in that Blood.  Come to Jesus Christ in simple faith, and He will cleanse you from all sin with His Blood!  And may God move you to do that, to come to Christ, to trust Him, and believe on Him!  

(Dr. Criswell's complete sermon is printed below)

(END OF SERMON)
You can read Dr. Hymers' sermons each week on the Internet
at www.rlhymersjr.com. Click on "Sermon Manuscripts."

Scripture Read Before the Sermon by Dr. Kreighton L. Chan: Hebrews 9:16-26.
Solo Sung Before the Sermon by Mr. Benjamin Kincaid Griffith:
"Oh, What a Fountain!" (by Dr. John R. Rice, 1895-1980).

Dr. Criswell's entire sermon begins here:

THE BLOOD OF THE NEW TESTAMENT

by Dr. W. A. Criswell
November 29, 1959

Will you turn with me to the Book of Hebrews, chapter nine - chapter nine in the Book of Hebrews. We shall begin reading at verse 7 and read through verse 15 - Hebrews 9:7-15. The ninth chapter of Hebrews, 7 through 15 - now let's all of us read it together - Hebrews 9:7-15:

"But in through the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people: The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing: Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience; Which had stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation. But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctified to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from the dead works to the serve the living God? And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance."

"And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, which by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance."

For these past several Sundays, I have been preaching on the tabernacle with its arrangements, and with its sacrifices, in order that we might come to understand the language of heaven and the deep spiritual significance of the atoning sacrifice of Christ. Now the message tonight is the very heart of that gospel revelation. And I pray that the Holy Spirit will bless this tongue as it seeks to speak of these meaningful things of heaven; and that God will touch your ears that you shall be able to listen to the deep Revelation of what God hath wroth in the forgiveness of our sins in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

And the sermon is largely an exegesis, a presentation of this chapter, a part of which you have just read - one of the great, great chapters of the Bible: into the Holy of Holies, beyond the veil, the high priest alone enters, alone, by himself, the representative man, just once a year - and that, not without blood. "The Holy Spirit, this signifying, that the way into the presence of God was not yet made manifest during all of those centuries of the old dispensation, when the tabernacle was still standing."

In the old law, in the Old Testament, in the old dispensation, the Lord Jehovah hid Himself. He was beyond the veil. Even the light, the Shekinah glory that symbolized His presence was not seen by mortal life. The great teaching and the great meaning was there, that sin had separated man from God. And between a man and God, there hung a thick, heavy tapestry. But, there was a hint - there was a little indication - that that division between man and God was not forever permanent. For example, it was not a piece of brickwork that separated them. It was not even a beautiful arrangement of cedar wood overlaid with pure gold. It was a veil. And, once a year, a representative man lifted up that veil and passed underneath into the very presence of God.

So in the old dispensation, they were taught that sin had separated between a man and his God, but that some day there should be a way manifest by which a sinner man could boldly come into the presence of the great and holy God. And that is the gospel.

In the eleventh verse he says: "But Christ being come…" That's the consummation of all the age - whether it is the first coming in the gospel dispensation, or the final and second coming of our Lord in the ultimate dispensation.

"But Christ being come…" That is the song of the angels at Bethlehem; that's the song of Simeon and Anna; that is the worship of the poor shepherds and the princely magi.

"But Christ being come…" We have no longer an Aaronic priesthood standing before us. But we have the anointed of God Himself - Jesus Christ our Lord.

"But, Jesus being come…" Then he has a little summary here of the significance of that coming of our Lord: "Not by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered into the holy place (beyond the veil) having obtained eternal redemption for us."

Outside of the veil, the priest stood. Did Christ ever stand there? For that is the place of the sinner man - outside of the veil. Yes, Christ stood there in His manhood and in His incarnation. He stood with sinful men. For outside of the veil - the altar and the sacrifice. And for our Lord to be sacrificed on the altar, He had to come out of heaven and stand with sinful men.

He was crucified outside the camp - the sin offering was burned outside the gate. And after His sacrifice; and after the consuming fire had consumed it before God and the fire of the judgment of our sins all fell upon Him, the veil was rent. And our Lord, having completed the purpose of redemption, entered in and sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high. And that sacrifice is described in this text:

"But Christ being come…Not by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into that holy place (and opened it to view for all of us who follow after), having obtained eternal redemption for us."

The sacrifice of Christ was unique and of superlative, transcendent value. All of the sacrifices of all of the centuries past pointed toward that one holy sacrifice of the Son of God. For that purpose, He came into a body. In the tenth chapter of this Book of Hebrews, the author says:

"Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not... Blood of goats and calves, and the ashes of the heifer could never take away sin… But a body hast thou prepared for me… Then said I, Lo, I come (in the body of the book it is written to me,) to do thy will, oh God."

And, in that body of Christ, we are sanctified once for all. Our Lord came down from heaven and dwelt in a body that was prepared for sacrifice. Just like a sinner man would go among the flock or the herd, and he would pick out an animal for a victim to sacrifice on the altar, so our Lord's body was prepared as a sacrifice to offer unto God for our sins.

As the angel said to Mary:

"The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: Wherefore also that holy thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God."

Our Lord came into the world and was incarnate - was given a body - that He might be sacrificed on the altar in atonement, in expiation, for our sins. That's why He became incarnate.

Pure spirit could never be offered unto God in sacrifice: there had to be a victim; there had to be a body. And the pure personality of Christ, a Lamb without spot, without blemish, holy, undefiled, separate from sinners, was offered unto God in expiation for the sins of humanity.

And that sacrifice was personal. It was His own. "Not by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood..."

And that sacrifice was vicarious and substitutionary. If you take vicarious suffering out of the Bible, you have nothing left. It is in the very heart of the gospel of the Son of God. He died in our stead: "Unto him who loved us and gave himself for us… not by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood…"

The pure, holy Jesus owed no debt to the justice of God; and He assumed the penalty for our sins; and He died in our stead. And that great sacrifice has been [made] once, finally and forever. It never needs to be repeated again. This author of Hebrews so emphasizes that - that the offering of our Lord was once and forever. How he repeats it! Look, in the seventh chapter of Hebrews, he says:

"For such a high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, made high up in the heavens (The Lamb without spot and without blemish). Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for their own sins, then for the people's: for this he did once (one time!), when he offered up himself (one time!)."

And again, in the twenty-sixth verse of this [ninth] chapter:

"Nor yet that he should suffer often…For then he must have often suffered since the foundation of the world: but now, once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself."

And again in the twenty-eighth verse:

"So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many…"

And once again:

"By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all."

Such a thing as a mass in which the Lord is supposed to be crucified over, and over, and over again is an impossible thing in the gospel of the Son of God and in the Revelation of Jesus Christ in the New Testament. There was one sacrifice and one only. And, in that one sacrifice, an atonement was forever made for all of the sins of mankind.

Jude said: deliver "the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints." In the Old Testament, if a house was found with leprosy in it, it was burned down. When it was burned down, you couldn't burn it down again. It was forever burned down! The judgment of God had fallen upon it and you could do it but once - one sacrifice, one time, and that's forever and forever.

Out here, in the great west in the days when those prairie fires raged furiously, if a man were caught in the presence of the burning fury of a sweeping fire, the way to save himself was to burn a great area around him and stand there. For the fire had already passed, and he stood in a place that had already been consumed in the burning. So when a man stands in the atoning sacrifice of Christ, the judgment has already fallen, and it never needs to be repeated again.

It's the same thing as in the renting of the veil. If the veil had just been lifted, it might have fallen back down again. But the veil was torn. It was rent from the top to the bottom. It is no longer there. The full and open entrance has been made into the presence of God by the suffering of Jesus Christ. There is nothing to be added; there is nothing to be done. It is a completed, once-for-all redemption and is forever and forever.

Now the author speaks of the great purpose of Christ in His entrance into the veil and offering His blood as an atonement for our souls. And the first reason the author says for the entrance of Christ and the spilling of the blood upon the mercy-seat of heaven is this: almost all things are by the law purged with blood. And without the shedding of blood, there is no remission.

"It was therefore necessary that the patterns of the things in heaven should be purified with these; but the heavenly things with better sacrifices than these."

What the author is saying is that, in the tabernacle, all of the pieces of furniture, all of the holy places, were sanctified with the sprinkling of blood. Last Sunday night I preached on that in the sixteenth chapter of the Book of Leviticus. They caught the blood of the sacrifice in a basin. And they sprinkled the altar on which only holy things were devoted to God. And they sprinkled the tabernacle with the blood in which the holy services of God were held. And they sprinkled the holy place. All the furniture, and all of the parts of the tabernacle were sprinkled with blood because unclean men stood in those places. A sinner man stood at the holy altar. A sinner man stood in the holy place and lighted the seven-branched lamp-stand and changed the bread on the shewbread table. And a sinner man stood at the altar of prayer, the golden altar of incense. And when the high priest entered into the holy place, it was a sinner man that entered in. Consequently, the author said, that all of those things which are patterns of the things in heaven, those things had to be purged by the sprinkling of blood.

Now he says: these things that were in this earth, that were sprinkled with blood of atonement, were just patterns of the great heavenly sanctuary that had to be sprinkled with something better than the blood of bulls and of goats. And he said that the heavenly sanctuary has to be sprinkled with, has to be purged with, the blood of the Son of God Himself.

Why, that's an amazingly startling thing. "Do you mean to say, pastor, that the author of the Hebrews is saying that the heaven of heavens is defiled, and that the blood of Christ must be sprinkled in the heavenly sanctuary for it to be cleaned?"

The author means this: the heaven of heavens is undefiled until we get there. Then, when we arrive, we contaminate, and we defile, the very home of the heavens - for we are sinner people, sinner men and sinner women.

And, the author says: lest heaven be defiled by our entrance into the glory of glories, our Lord hath entered in before us and has sprinkled the blood of atonement in the sanctuary of heaven so that when sinner men come and sinner women come, there is already an expiation made for the wrongs and the sins of our lives. And when the multitudes of sinner people enter into the glory land, heaven is still as pure and undefiled as it was when only God and the celestial angels inhabited it.

The purpose of our Lord sprinkling the Holy of Holies of the sanctuary in glory with blood of expiation was that we might not defile it. But that sinner men and sinner women could appear into the presence of God and the sanctuary still be as spotless and as pure, as stainless and undefiled as it was when only the tenuous, glorious angels of heaven worshipped in the presence of the great king.

I want to show you that: one of the great, great poems of all time and of all literature is the poem of Vachel Lindsay entitled "General William Booth Enters Heaven." That is one of the pieces - great, everlastingly - abiding in love literature. And what Vachel Lindsay has done is this: he takes William Booth, as he leads his salvation army - drums, and trumpets, and tambourines, and all of that motley crowd that he's picked up out of the slums and gutter of the earth - and he pictures them as following General William Booth; these who have been saved out of the slums of the earth, enter behind their great leader into the glory of heaven.

Now you listen to Vachel Lindsay as he writes his poem, and it could be sung to the song of "Are You Washed In The Blood Of The Lamb?" And, as I read it, I want you to keep in mind what this great author in Hebrews said: that our Savior spilled His blood upon the mercy-seat in the sanctuary in order that we who enter heaven might not defile it, but that we might be washed and cleansed in the blood of the Lamb. Now Vachel Lindsay writes and he describes General Booth as he leads that salvation army, recruiting, into the glory of the above. Listen to it:

Booth led boldly with his big base drum -
(Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?)
The saints smiled gravely, and they said, "He's come."
(Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?)
Walking lepers followed, rank on rank,
Leering bravos from the ditches dank,
Drab from the alleyways and drug fiends pale -
Minds still passion-ridden, soul-powers frail;
Vermin-eaten saints with molded breath
Unwashed legions with the ways of Death
(Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?)

Every slum hath sent its half-a-score
The round world over. (and Booth had prayed for more.)
Every banner that the wide world flies
Bloomed with glory and transcendent dyes.
Big-voiced lassies made their banjoes bang;
Cracked, newborn, they shouted and sang -
"Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?"
Hallelujah! It was queer to see
Bone-necked convicts in that land made free.
Loons with bassoons blowing, blare, blare, blare,
On, on, upward through the golden air!
(Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?)

Booth died blind, but by faith he crawled,
Eyes still dazzled by the ways of God.
Booth lived boldly, and he looked the chief,
Eagle countenance in sharp relief
Beard a'flying, air of high command,
Unabated in that holy land.

Jesus came out from the court-house door,
Stretched His hands above the passing poor…
The lame were straightened, withered limbs uncurled,
And blind eyes opened in a sweet, new world.

Drabs and vixens in a flash made whole!
Gone was the weasel-head, the snout, the jowl!
Sages and sibyls now, and athletes clean,
Rulers of empires and fountains green!

The hosts were sandaled, and their wings were fire!
(Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?)
And their noise played havoc with the angel-choir.
(Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?)
Oh, shout Salvation! It was good to see
Kings and Princes, by the Lamb set free.
The banjoes rattled and the tambourines
Jing-jing-jangled in the hands of Queens.

And when Booth halted by the curb for prayer
He saw his Master through the flag-filled air.
Christ came gently with a robe and crown
For Booth, the Soldier, while the throng knelt down.
He saw King Jesus. They were face to face,
And he knelt a-weeping in that holy place
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

That's one of the great poems of all ages, and all times. And that is a picture of what this author here is saying, what Jesus has done for him. In that throng behind General Booth, there's a harlot, there's a drunkard, there's a vixen, there's a convict, there's the drunkard. All of them in that sainted band, washed in the blood of the Lamb when General William Booth enters heaven playing his big base drum.

I cannot close without a little, brief summary of so much I prepared for tonight and have not time even to mention. The great purpose of His sacrifice: first, that heaven might be undefiled. When we, who are sinner people, walk into the presence of God, in that glory land yet to come, there our Lord, through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God; and through His blood purged us from dead works to serve the living God. Not what we think about the blood of Christ, but what God thinks about it: "When I see the blood, I will pass over you. When I say," says God, "see the blood…" And it was offered unto God in expiation for our sins.

Nobody saw it: when Aaron went into the Holy of Holies, no man was in the tabernacle by command of God. It was something between God and the representative man alone. So this great, atoning sacrifice was something between Jesus and God alone. The new covenant is not between God and us: "You do this, and you be that, and I'll save you." That's the old covenant. But the new covenant is between God and Christ. He offered Himself, and to those who will just trust in Him, God said: "For Jesus' sake, for the blood's sake, I will wash you clean, stainless and pure."

Why did our Lord enter, beyond the veil, into the holy place made without hands? To appear in the presence of God for us! I am in court, though I may be a thousand miles away, when my attorney, my representative is there. We are in heaven, and Christ has laid hold of a heavenly inheritance for us. And He [keeps it] for us forever and forever. When Adam was driven out of the Garden of Eden, we were driven out. You would have to drive the second Adam out of heaven for us to lose our inheritance in that glory land that He's gone to prepare for us.

And then last:

"Not by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption. And that for us" ….

Eternal redemption - a finished sacrifice, and a complete and forever salvation; and this man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sin forever, sat down on the right hand of God. The work is done! The task is finished! The assignment has been completed! Redemption forever and eternal has been made. And Jesus sits down, in token of a completed atonement, on the right hand of the throne of God in glory.

That word "eternal" is a long word. Having obtained eternal redemption for us (used three times). "Who through the eternal Spirit offered himself… unto God… that we might receive the promise of an eternal inheritance." It's a long, long word: "Eternal redemption." Back into the ages, uncounted and unknown, redemption was in the heart of God. This creation is the platform upon which the great program of redemption is presented. The undertones and the overtones of all the voices of God reach out toward that ultimate and final righteousness. Redemption in Christ is no afterthought of God; it's no attempt, from the Lord, to smash out of an unprecedented, unlooked-for accident - an overwhelming breaking down of his purpose… [Dr. Criswell's manuscript ended here].

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